← The Herd with Colin Cowherd
The Herd with Colin Cowherd
What's Wright - LeBron & Nick meet up courtside, Lakers-Warriors preview + Final Four predictions
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- [00:02]
Nick Wright
Something unexpected happened after Jeremy Scott confessed to killing Michelle Schofield in Bone Valley Season one.
- [00:09]
Damanze
Every time I hear about my dad is, oh, he's a killer. He's just straight evil.
- [00:14]
Nick Wright
I was becoming the bridge between Jeremy Scott and the son he'd never known.
- [00:18]
Damanze
At the end of the day, I'm literally a son of a killer.
- [00:21]
Nick Wright
Listen to new episodes of bone Valley Season 2, starting April 9 on the iHeartRadio app. App, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [00:33]
Jeremy Scott
Welcome in what's Right with Nick Wright. Episode 315. After a eventful and somewhat exhausting weekend from New York to Memphis to Vegas, landed back here yesterday morning. That's why we were not able to be on the air Tuesday. Little programming note, however. Couple programming notes, actually. Let me see if I can straighten this out a bit for you guys. There we go. That should be better. My apologies. Um, tomorrow morning, a bonus show to make up for Tuesday Talk. Lakers, warriors, instant reaction. Anything that should be up and live first thing in the morning. And if you're on the west coast, probably while you're still sleeping. So that'll come tomorrow. Tuesday, our annual way Too Early NFL over under show. Normally, we would have done that this past Tuesday. However, we weren't on the air. And so our friends at DraftKings have released the full slate of NFL team win totals. So we will take our first bite at that on Tuesday. However, we got to get right into it. I thought I knew where we'd be starting the show, given, you know, the Internet over the weekend. But then the Internet. Over the last 48 hours, I was involved in a different piece of the Internet. So that's in what missed the cut, but it didn't actually miss the cut. So here's what missed the cut. Demonze, great to see you. Tyreek Hill Stokes trade rumors again. Whatever. He wants the attention. I love Tyreek, but we know what's going on. Greatest player in Syracuse basketball history. One of the greatest Olympians ever. One of the best pure scorers of his era. A no doubt first ballot hall of Famer, Carmelo Anthony. And then there's this, the headline from People magazine, do Travis Kelsey and his, quote, sports friend have beef? So I was playing Demanza in a poker game in Vegas when this got sent to me. And now it's everywhere on the Internet. And I cannot believe I need to address this. I mean, it's on, people. It's on. I think that's Al Jazeera. It's on Us Weekly. It's So I am so incredibly, oddly frustrated by this because I think it is so recklessly unfair to Travis Kelsey. So let me reset exactly what happened. Not restate, not clarify. Cuz everything that I said to Monze was totally 100% clear. The recreation of this in the headlines, I didn't misspeak, I didn't misrepresent has. But the headlines to me are so this is what happened. So New Heights with Travis and Jason Kelsey shouted me out after I invited myself on their show to be their salary cap expert. Right. That. That's. That's what happened. And Travis said, I effing love Nick Wright. And I said as an aside, I was like, you know, I actually haven't spoken a lot to Travis since he and Taylor got together, with the timeline being. I. I said we don't really talk during the seasons. We always, you know, we. We have a kind of annual event of being able to get together at the Chiefs super bowl parade, but two years ago at the parade was cut short by a tragic shooting, and this year the parade was canceled by the Philadelphia Eagles. So those two times we didn't talk. And then the one off season where that, you know, where normally there might be. And again, I. Travis, I am dear friends with Adam Lefkoe, who is an actual dear friend of Travis's. They. I think one was at the other's wet. Yeah, I think le. I think Travis was at Leo's wedding when the. When Travis and Taylor were in New York City for a Yankee game and they did a live shot of Travis and Taylor. I'm like, hey, that's Lefko and his wife sitting with them. They're dear friends. Trav and I have a great relationship, but we don't hang out. We, you know, I don't. We've never talked on the phone. Might text or DM occasionally, but I leave him alone during the season. And then the last offseason, he was the busiest man in the world. So that's what I said. So I said, yeah, so this being like, represented so unfairly up to an including in the Times of India that as if Travis has cut off people in his life or gotten Hollywood. It's just total horseshit.
- [05:43]
Damanze
I feel like you said it in passing as well. Like, I remember when you said it. Like, remember the tone and everything. It's definitely a reach.
- [05:50]
Jeremy Scott
No, listen, anyone. If I felt like I had screwed up, I would apologize. But anyone that watched the show or saw it got the exact right read of it. Where I feel badly is I don't expect certainly Taylor or Taylor's people to watch this show. They're welcome to. And I don't expect Travis to watch this show. And if it's represented as if someone is trying to. You'd be like, like, oh, we used to be super close. And then this guy, like, that's not what it was at all. And so I got. I, I know that this was. I think the producers, when they first like brought it to my attention and pitched me on it. I probably the tone of this was supposed to be. This is hilarious. And it would be if I knew all the parties involved also were on the exact same page. But I just, I do feel that it is a level of fame. When I texted Wilds the People headline after Daniel texted it to me and I said, I really think Taylor Swift might be the most famous person in the world. Like, I. I truly think she might be the most famous person in the world if just someone at my level, whatever that is of notoriety having an aside about her boyfriend. And the last time we talked, if that touches enough, if her fame gravity is so great that People magazine and the Times of India are like, this will get us some, some foot traffic on the website. I. It's incomprehensible that level of fame. And so may maybe there. Maybe when you're that level of famous, you're just used to things being so kind of out, you know, misrepresented or out of whack. But it is. That was an insane and an insane realization of the reach that a true global icon has of which Taylor Swift is. So there's the not even clarification but the true story. And then you got a question for me since.
- [08:31]
Damanze
Yeah. Do. Do you think you're going to start a rebranding now in light of these events?
- [08:36]
Jeremy Scott
Because I was called not my name, but his sports friend. What's right with sports friend. Okay. I mean, yeah, I mean, that's the other thing. It's also a kind of confusing headline because it would. It would appear like if you just read the headline, it sounds like they're talking about another professional athlete rather than me. Because sports friend. I would think that you're talking another professional athlete. So that was one kind of brush with the media machine associated with the world's most famous people. Odd 48 hours because it was my second brush with that of the weekend. Daman say go ahead.
- [09:18]
Damanze
Yeah. So over the weekend you saw Memphis and Lakers face off. You happen to be courtside. Lakers showed out, they got the dub. But the bigger Piece of this story was like what happened after the game? So you're gonna roll it or okay.
- [09:32]
Jeremy Scott
Yeah, we can play it. If you're just listening on YouTube or if you're just listening to the podcast and not watching on YouTube, what you're seeing right now is the like NBA cameras close up of LeBron and I dapping up after the game. And then my favorite part is your mom just standing there like fixing her hair like that. Cut out the full video which somebody got from the crowd which Inc includes the LeBron Hug to your mom. Which is just one of the coolest things you know, ever. And also you know who I thought about when I saw that this video. Cuz this happened Saturday night and it all these videos came out Sunday. You know what I mean? I didn't publish any of these, I didn't amplify but it all somebody, somebody put out this far form video Sunday morning and, and then the other videos came out and it caught fire. I gotta tell you, and I know this is not what probably is smart podcasting. They're like you're bearing the lead but I don't care. I, I what I thought about when LeBron went in for the hug to your mom right after a hard fought basketball game and she reciprocated and gave him the hug. I only thought about you.
- [10:49]
Damanze
Thank you, thank you. Oh my God. Yes, Yes. I was literally dude, somebody brought this up at work and I was like my mom would never hug me if I was in that state ever. Go, go ahead.
- [11:03]
Jeremy Scott
What do you. No, I agree with you not. This isn't a hypothetical. We saw it happen a hundred times. A hundred times. Daman had an awesome either AU or high school basketball game or when we came out to San Diego and watched you in college and you had your career high 29 or whatever.
- [11:26]
Damanze
It was not a full embrace like that. I don't even know. Maybe a side one. Maybe a maybe a side maybe.
- [11:33]
Jeremy Scott
Maybe that's all I could think about was you. I was like oh man, this, this is unbelievable. And so, so funny that you said the same thing. Okay, so I don't even know what or how people and then I want to talk about the actual game. Even though no, I don't think anybody cares about it right now. What are how people want me to say about this? Like I, what did I say the other week? One of the benefits, and this is not my quote, obviously one of the benefits to never lying is never having to remember anything. I have never once ever misrepresented in over or under exaggerating my relationship with LeBron. It's always been I shouldn't, I mean relationships evolve, but it's the audience has kind of been on the journey. I consider Maverick LeBron's right hand man and one of the smartest business people I've ever met a good, good friend because of my rel and I have a something of a business and something of a personal relationship with Rich. Because of those relationships I have a secondary relationship with LeBron where you know, I the occasionally were in the same circle. Very occasionally it's having a couple times. And so it was. I said on this show repeatedly when I knew we were going to Memphis and when I knew that I had gotten and when I knew I had gotten when I purchased the courtside seats that that interaction was certainly on the board. Now it was going to be 100% conditional on the Lakers winning because anybody that's watched LeBron throughout his career knows if they win he'll, he usually has a post game interview, he'll linger a bit on the court and if he has friends or colleagues or whomever courtside other pro athletes, he'll stop by, dap him up. If they lose, it's straight to the locker room. Now what didn't get caught was the pregame interaction. When I was standing with John Morant's Dad T and LeBron came over and said hello to both of us and then he and T had a brief conversation. I don't know what it was about, it was private, but I don't, I don't. I, I was not as shocked by that as, as I think the audience was. The Internet, I should say. And this is where maybe my ego can get the best of me. I was a little offended is too strong of a word. I'll go nonplussed by the number of people who were asserting what a life changing event this this was for me or the. Oh man, finally, you know, after all those years of good pr, finally gets his acknowledgment. That's not what it is either. However I do it, I am a die hard sports fan. It is why I do what I do for my entire life. The NBA up until really Mahomes got drafted, it would. The NBA was a clear number one in my personal sports fandom with the NFL A all by itself, but a clear number two. The last half decade of the NFL has kind of changed it to where now if I'm asked, I say the NFL regular season is my favorite. The NBA playoffs are my favorite. Like my favorite sports watch over the course of the year is the NFL. My favorite two months of the year, the NBA playoffs. But with all that said, I. For the majority of my life, my favorite sport in the world was the NBA. My favorite athlete ever is LeBron. And so, yeah, it's super dope that he and I have even that like level of. I don't know if you want to call it relationship, whatever it is mutual acknowledgment, respect. I call it mutual respect. Yeah, is. Is how I would. Is the way I would put it. And I also think for him it was Ben, it was good timing in that because of everything that he has been involved in in the last month. It was a reminder to the audience. I don't. I'm not anti. All in everyone in the media. Yeah, I'm. You know what I mean? I'm not. I don't think that everybody. It's. There's certain. There's one person in particular and then maybe a handful of unnamed. But we know who they are. Retired athletes in the media that I have a problem with. But otherwise, you know what I mean? Like, there can be a level of. And the other thing about LeBron's relationship with the media is if you ever see any of his pregame interviews, which are almost always done with the local media that covers the Lakers and then what. Who. Whatever team they're playing. He has seemingly real. Not just cordial but incredibly friendly relationships with a lot of those guys. Mike Trudell, who covers the Lakers, there was the video of him giving Trudelle a hard time because he was wearing, I think a manu sweatshirt. And LeBron owned. Is a Liverpool guy because he either owns or owned a piece of it. He had when he was with the Cavs, maybe still a really good relationship with Ali Clifton, who will host Road Tripping with Channing Fry and Richard Jefferson. So I think that's all there. But yeah, so I. I knew once that clip, once the first like far away clip came out, I knew this was going to be something that in some capacity was going to be addressed. But I was probably not as shocked by as everyone else. What I. I really was thrilled though. Damanze. Even though I knew you probably would take it personally, as you should have, that LeBron, who has met your mother once before, recognized her the. And you know, acknowledged her. So that part. Yeah, that part was pretty cool. And then we can get to the game. Go ahead though.
- [18:43]
Damanze
Wait. So wait. Or do you want to get to the game or do we there's actually one more piece of video that we have not shown. It actually has audio we're going to show you guys.
- [18:51]
Jeremy Scott
Oh, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. No, no. Is this the one? Is this the one your mom sent to the group, to our family group chat?
- [19:01]
Damanze
Yeah, 100.
- [19:02]
Jeremy Scott
It's a little.
- [19:03]
Damanze
Yeah, 100. It's a Little bit more up close.
- [19:06]
Jeremy Scott
Okay, so let me give. All right. Before we play this. All right, this is. This is. Borderline's the wrong word, but it's fine. I. But I also, if we're going to play this, I want to. I. I want to give the full background here. So there were two guys, and you see it in the. In fact, I don't know. Before we do it, producers tell me, can we play the vo. Close shot again? The. The. Because I want to give these guys credit. So it was a father and son that were sitting next to us courtside. And you see the father has his phone out, and he's trying to grab a picture with his son and LeBron. And it doesn't, apparently.
- [19:53]
Damanze
Oh, the small child.
- [19:54]
Jeremy Scott
So, no, not the small child. Black guy with the blue hat and his son right next to him. You see that there? Not the little. Little kid. Not the redhead. It's black father and son right next to your mom. So that guy had his camera out recording, in case. You know what I mean, he was able to get a picture with his son and LeBron, he. He did. Didn't end up happening. I then asked him, because of the hug with your mom and LeBron, I was like, hey, can you send me that video later? You know what I mean? I think it'd be super dope to have. And so he said yes. And it was actually a pain for him. I think he had to send it via Dropbox. It was so long. So I want to shout him out because his name is Sean Hornbuckle and his son is Tristan Hornbuckle, and they're on Instagram at Sean Hornbuckle and at Tristan Hornbuckle, too. But. So this one is dope because there is audio and because you hear what LeBron says to your mom. So go ahead and play that, then we'll talk about the game. So I don't know how well that played on the podcast, but it is such pairing. If you're listening on the podcast, it's worth going back to YouTube. Bron and I dap. I think, kind of motion like, hey, there's. There's my wife, who again, they've met Once before. And his total, like, disposition changes from, like, you know, the. The what's the word? Kind of like affirmative dap to just like, oh, great to see you. And then drops a lightning hey there, sweetheart. And gives her a hug, which maybe led to, you know, what we were discussing earlier. So that was dope. That was what, Lexi? The look.
- [22:09]
Damanze
Oh, yeah. No, no, that.
- [22:12]
Jeremy Scott
So that was. That was dope. And you're. And now, I mean, your mom can send that to her grandmother who's 91 years old and the biggest LeBron fan in the world's probably a little annoyed too. The. Oh, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Oh, yeah. Because. Well, it doesn't matter. It's on the. There was Lakers Thunder. I. Maybe this is just because of what happened between LeBron and Stephen A. That there's. I assume there's cameras on LeBron at all times every game, but maybe it's like, you know, pre and post game more now post that. Because Lakers Thunder in la the day after Thanksgiving, the exact same interaction that happened this week between LeBron and I happened there at Staples, except it was longer with a longer conversation and there's no video of it anywhere. And so. But the reason I, the reason I bring that up is that happened about 60ft from where your grandmother was sitting. She was in like row three, a section over. And. And then I walk back to the seats and she was not joking, adamant. Why didn't you bring him over here? Yeah, like, well, so what was the problem? Yeah, so. But. So that was. That was that busy weekend. Fun weekend. I.
- [23:56]
Damanze
You want to talk about Vegas or.
- [23:58]
Jeremy Scott
Yeah, I'll do Vegas quickly and then we'll do the actual basketball. Went to Vegas to do some commentary for the World Poker Tours Squid Hunt, which is coming out here in a few months. And while I was there, lived a poker player's dream, which is got invited into the big, big mixed game in Bobby's room and Bobby's room, which is the world's most famous poker room inside the Bellagio, and then ended up wrapping the World Poker Tour stuff in time on Tuesday to where the same guys who were playing in that mixed game were playing the exact same format on stream at the Poker Go Studio at Aria. And I played in it. I. And this is again, I know some of my poker stuff. You know, the audience doesn't understand this. They really, if you're not a poker player, won't understand because the mix games that we played were. Just stick with me here for a second. Badoogi, badooy. Dramaha. Deuce to seven, single draw, deuce to seven, triple draw, big O and one other one. I can't even remember what it was. Razor. So here's what was so cool for me about that. Demase. And it was the limits were 200 400, but again it's a limit game. So like if you're playing a 200, 400 no limit game, you're gonna not feel comfortable. If you're not sitting with in the 200, 400 no limit hold'em cash games, you probably need at least $200,000 in front of you to feel comfortable and probably more. The 200400 limit games, you could sit with 10 grand and feel comfortable and 20 is plenty. So they just play very differently because no limit, you can bet any amount at any time. Limit games if it's 200, 400, the most you can ever bet on a single one bet is 400. Again, that part doesn't matter. But here's, I'm just giving you guys the full context of it. Here's why it was so cool. Those games that I just Described to you, 6 of the 7 as of Sunday night I had played in my poker career. Zero hands of never played any of them. However, because I'm such a poker nerd and because I really care about learning the games, I have watched the best in the world play them on stream hundreds of hours. So it was a real test case of how much can like studying, learning prepare you to actually do. Because normally someone, first time they be playing wouldn't be playing 200, 400, they'd be playing $3, $6, whatever. But I felt like no, I know how to play all these games and I got to tell you, I think I played great. We'll see it when the stream comes out. I won money. I for the 1% listening die hard poker nerds that'll get this. I got pads poker Patrick Leonard, who is one of the best poker players in the world to break an eight induced to seven triple draw with a check raise bluff. That was the single best move anyone at the table made all night. And it was. And I made, you know, a few thousand dollars profit and more than held my own. And so again I, I think I made a ton of mistakes throughout the course of the night. But that was fine. It was my first time doing it, but it was not a. It was, it was, it went great. So that was, that was as thrilling as anything that happened this weekend. Playing in Bobby's room, then playing with those guys. Shout out one of the Guys that was in the game. David Baker, he's the two time winner or one time winner of the super contest and then won another thing. He. He's one of the best NFL handicappers in the world. He won the Westgate super contest years ago and he was in the game. Nacho Barbera was in the live game, not the streamed game. Bunch of guys. There were three Knicks at the table. Shout out to the other Knicks. Everyone was great. And so. Oh, and the guy whose game it was Crazy Mike. It was the Crazy Mike mix. And so shout out to all those guys. It was awesome. I had such a great time. Okay, now 30 minutes into the show to the actual basketball. Go ahead.
- [28:58]
Damanze
Yeah. Do you want to. You don't want to talk about the game, right? The Memphis.
- [29:01]
Jeremy Scott
No, because we're going to get to Memphis and Memphis later. Yep.
- [29:05]
Damanze
Yeah. So Jokic has been cooking. He put up 61 against Minnesota the other day. It's his highest scoring triple double ant. Acknowledge he's the best basketball player he's ever seen besides. Besides himself. But the big story of that game was Russ kind of choking there at the end. He got the steel, smoked the layup, and then fouled the three point shooter at the end.
- [29:28]
Jeremy Scott
Yeah. And then last night smoked another layup.
- [29:31]
Damanze
Yeah.
- [29:31]
Jeremy Scott
With a few minutes left in a game they needed that they lost to the Spurs. So we'll get to Joker in a second. I don't, I don't take joy in being right on this, but of course we were going. Anyone that has spent a season watching late stage Russell Westbrook play for, for teams with championship aspirations, all of them knew and all of them thought it would be different for them until they realize it's not. I was one of those people once. So here's the deal. Russell Westbrook over the last nearly full decade has been totally unable to contribute to winning basketball. And four contenders have been like, we can change him. And all four contenders were wrong. So he, he leaves the Thunder and they pair him with James Harden for a Rockets team that thinks they can win the championship. Just a year and a half removed from winning 65 games and taking the Durant warriors to a Game 7 in the conference finals. And it of course goes terribly it. They divorce after one year, he's brutal in the playoffs, and then he goes to the one place, the one place that the Russell Westbrook experience made sense was Washington. Because Washington's like, hey, man, car keys are yours. We would just love to win 40 games. And Russ delivers. Average is another triple double it. It's it's all Russ all the time gets him into the playoffs. And then in those playoffs, you're going to be like, oh, what did he do in the playoffs? He averaged another triple double in the playoffs. He shot 33% from the floor and they lost in five. Then the Lakers were like, we can change him. And the Lakers missed the playoffs. The one year he's there in full have to get off him and promptly make the conference finals without him. The Clippers, we can change him. And with the Clippers, they're like, oh, he's better here. He's accepted his role. And in his one full season with the Clippers, they make the playoffs. And in those playoffs, he plays 19 minutes a game, averages six points on 26% from the field, 23% from three. And they move often. And then the Nuggets, we can change him. It'll be different here. And the playoffs are approaching and you got a little sneak preview of what to expect. And again, I take no pleasure in this because I have such respect for Russell's career and the way he approaches playing hard at all times. What I do take a little pleasure in is Nuggets fans who got a little chesty at the beginning of the year. Demase a lot of like do a Twitter search for these three nouns. Jokic, LeBron, Russ and see how many tweets pop up from November and December. Tweets along the lines of oh, why couldn't LeBron get out of Russ? What joker is oh. Oh, you know, Russ got blamed for everything in la, but put him with a guy like Joker and look guys, this train is never late. It's never late.
- [34:06]
Damanze
Russ also has like lost a lot of his athleticism and I think that's kind of like, oh well that's obvious he's getting older. But like on that layup that he smoked, I was telling Daniel like few years ago Russell's was dunking that man. I just. Yes, like it's a little late.
- [34:19]
Jeremy Scott
That's exactly right. By the way. That's the. That's another time where the exact take you gave was the exact take. And this is a compliment that brew gave yesterday. Oh, which is yeah, that that was it might have been wilds one of them but either way the it was that used to be a dunk and it's not anymore. You're on this one and so and it there what it in life what awesome is what al what often is your greatest asset becomes your greatest liability. Russ going one speed at all times. Russ, you Know, playing a certain way. Russ's relentlessness is what made him him. And now it's what makes him a total liability to winning basketball. Also, by the way, the. Yeah, to winning basketball. And it's a disaster.
- [35:25]
Damanze
It.
- [35:26]
Jeremy Scott
The Nuggets aren't deep enough to be able to just put them on ice, but man, oh man, like, I. I don't know. I don't know how you can put him in critical playoff games. And here's the other piece of it. I thought of that sequence. To Monz, the missed layup was the least of the problems. Missed layups happen. I thought it was a bigger problem that after missing the layup in a one point double overtime game with 10 seconds left, he stood under the basket, arms up, whining for a beat, which then allowed the Timberwolves to get the advantage. And obviously the worst part of the play was not only did he foul a three point shooter, he fouled a three point shooter. Demanze on a fake contest. There was like, there was. That. That wasn't one of those. Oh, man, I, I almost. Instead I hit him. No, I mean, it was a fake contest. And then I don't know if you saw Rob Perez's video then when he's leaving the court with the fan. Yeah, I mean, buddy, like, man, I feel the.
- [36:49]
Damanze
Russ is. It's unfortunate, man, why do you leave the camera on the man's face for so long when they make a mistake?
- [36:57]
Jeremy Scott
Well, that's like the drama. I mean, that's how. I mean, I get that.
- [37:01]
Damanze
It's like this is the guy that messed up. But yeah, he's gotta stop chirping the fans. You. You screwed up. And the fans are gonna.
- [37:07]
Jeremy Scott
Right, like now listen, if it comes out the fan, you know, dropped a slur, then of course, whatever. But I. But my feeling was it wasn't that.
- [37:16]
Damanze
No, Russ is going up there. Just off of Westbrook.
- [37:20]
Jeremy Scott
Yes, Westbrook. Exactly. Exactly. And so like it's. It's a tough. Now, our resident Nuggets fan, Daniel, I still believe in Russ. Good luck with that man. Again, Westbrook. This decade. This decade. Guys, it's 20, 25. This decade. In the playoffs, 37% from the field, 27% from three. Three and a half turnovers a game in 31 minutes. Can't win that way. You just can't. And so rough spot. I know you have some follow ups here. Go ahead.
- [38:05]
Damanze
Well, yeah, even with Russ, with Russ playing the way he is, could you still consider counting out the Denver Nuggets with Yic Being on the team.
- [38:13]
Jeremy Scott
No. So listen, that's the shame of it is Jokic has one of the greatest games in NBA history and it gets squandered now again. I. I saw Luca last year have a 73, 10 and 7 and then all year long be fourth or fifth in the standings and be ineligible for MVP. So I'm not doing another MVP thing. Shay's team might win 70 games. He's going to win the scoring title. He's. We're. We are if we want to retroact. Here's the deal, Nugget fans. If you make up this petition, I'll. I'll sign it. If you would like to retroactively give last year's MVP to Luca so Joker can win this year, I'm all for it. But it. Last year the argument against Luca was Joker's team has the best record. Even he's averaging. You know Joker's averaging damn near his numbers are great even if they're not quite as good as Lucas. But it's contributing to winning more. And, and last year Joker was the better defender than Luca. It's gotta be Joker. And Luke ended with four first place votes. You can't then use all of your Joker arguments from last year this year and not end up with Shay. The. The logical consistency of the last two years voting will would either go Luca last year, Joker this year or Joker last year. Shay this year. Joker already won last year so it's Shay's now. Is. Is Joker the best player in the league? Yes. Is Joker the only person? And this is what Nuggets fans should take pride in. Is Joker the only person you could put on that Nuggets team and they would have any chance of winning the championship? Yes. He's the only guy in the league and they do have a chance. Not a good chance, but they do have a chance. The standings. Are we gonna get to the standings later in the show? No. So all I'll do it here. Those two losses however, because they lost again last night. Now they sat everyone. By the way, I should have put this out. Our friends at DraftKings might have been annoyed with me, but I should have put it out. I gave it to hubs yesterday at 1pm the money line for this. The spurs were 10 point dogs and they were plus 380 on the money line. And I said to Hubs, I was like this line is acting like Joker's gonna. I don't think he is. He's played 53 minutes the night before like. And Joker then got announced Is out the line dropped to damn near a pick. Him and the spurs won. So shout out to anyone who sniped that because that to me, I just couldn't believe we knew Jamal Murray wasn't going to be playing. I couldn't believe it. But here's the standings implication. Denver's now the four again. Some time left. Not a lot though. Five games left. Houston sitting at 27. Losses, the Lakers. And at this point in the season, guys just count losses. You can make up wins, you can't make up losses. So don't talk about games back, any of that. Count the losses. That's what matters. Oklahoma City pretty comfortable with 12 losses. Unbelievable. Houston's at 27 and clinched their playoff spot last night. The lakers are at 29, the Nuggets are at 30, the warriors are at 31. Minnesota is at 32. And the two play in teams that are good, the Clippers and great. Well, I don't know if they're good, but that are above.500. The Clippers and Grizzlies are at 32. So Houston safe from the play in barring. Well, no, safe from the plane entirely. Oh, because they. They clinch their division. Does that keep you safe in the plane? I'm pretty sure it does. But here's what I will say about Houston. Houston's next five or last final five. Damanze, Thunder, Warriors, Clippers, Lakers, Nuggets. So anybody that has some doubts is Houston. Well, it's all the teams they could play in round one of the playoffs. Except for the Thunder obviously can't play them. But yeah, I mean we're gonna find out over these next five. The Lakers right now would give anything to Monze to freeze the standings because well, yeah, Denver, Golden State play each other in round one and the winner plays Oklahoma City. If you froze the standings, the Lakers side of the bracket would be Minnesota and then Houston or I guess maybe the Clippers, like the Lakers would love that road. I don't know that they'll get it, but it would absolutely love that road.
- [44:06]
Damanze
You too.
- [44:07]
Jeremy Scott
The. The Daniel asking if I would, you know, like to face the size of the Timberwolves. I again, the west is a monster and there's no, you know, no easy outs right now except for Memphis. But they're, you know, Memphis is gonna, in my opinion, end up the eight seed. So you're not going to be able to get Memphis and yeah, I would take my chances. I don't want to face any of the. I don't want to face Denver or Golden State immediately. And I love the idea of being on the opposite side of OKC like again there. I think the Lakers can win the whole thing, but it doesn't mean all paths are created equal. Here's. I'll tell you who Denver doesn't want to face. Denver would be fine with the Warriors. I think they've beaten the warriors nine straight games. Denver doesn't want to face Minnesota who is now beaten them six games in a row, swept them this season and then beat them Game 6 and 7 of the playoffs last year.
- [45:10]
Damanze
Would you give them the benefit of the doubt if they if they were in a series? You're taking Minnesota, I take it.
- [45:15]
Jeremy Scott
You have to pick Minnesota.
- [45:17]
Damanze
Right.
- [45:17]
Jeremy Scott
Those won six straight. They've won six straight against them. All right, let's talk Lakers Warriors.
- [45:24]
Damanze
Yeah. So Steph is looking good. He's had a few games back since his injury the other day. He dropped 52. He had 12 three pointers. So the warriors are looking pretty good, which is bad for your Lakers who they play tonight and they could also be potentially playing them in the playoffs.
- [45:39]
Jeremy Scott
Yeah.
- [45:39]
Damanze
How do you. How do you feel? The Lakers got them but they're coming off of a lot of rest.
- [45:44]
Jeremy Scott
Yeah. So I think the warriors are everyone's making this Warriors 18 and two with Jimmy. 18 and five since the trade about Jimmy. It's about what it's let Steph go back to being Steph. Before the Jimmy trade was 22 a game. Since the Jimmy trades at 28 a game on better efficiency popped off for 52 the other night. I if you are getting close to prime staff, you're a threat when you have and it's also a reminder if you have one of the greatest players of all time, you have an obligation to always be all in. You can't throw seasons away because you might go another 50 years in your franchise and not have a player nearly as good as Steph Curry. Now I, I think both teams desperately need this game, which is what makes it so fascinating because of what I was saying about the standings. The Lakers. If the Lakers win, all of a sudden they have 29 losses. Golden State has 32. And by the way, the Lakers have the tiebreaker over everyone beneath them in the standings, every single team. So you would a win tonight for the Lakers essentially eliminates any concern of falling into the playin and it doesn't lock up a top four seed, but it essentially does. And if for the warriors if they lose, they're they're at 32 losses. Memphis and the Clippers have 32 losses. They're the seven and the eight. Minnesota has 32 losses. They're at the six. But the flip side of that applies as well. Golden State wins. Demons. A. The lakers are at 30 losses. Golden State's at 31. And Golden State at could potentially forget hitting in the play in, end up with home court in round one. I. The Lakers this year, it's one of the oddest things ever. They are dominant against the Western Conference. So the Lakers and the Thunder have almost the same record against the West. Think about that. So The Thunder are 35 and 11 against the west, which means they are 35 and 11. 29 and 1. No. Is that right? Yeah. 29 and 1 against the East. The Thunder are 29 and 1 against the East. 35 and 11 against the West. The Lakers are 32 and 13 against the West. That second best record of the Thunder by a mile in the Western Conference, 32 and 13. The Lakers are against the west, which means the flip side to that is they are 14 and 16 against the east.
- [49:09]
Damanze
Terrible this year.
- [49:11]
Jeremy Scott
Say it again.
- [49:12]
Damanze
They're bad on the road this year.
- [49:14]
Jeremy Scott
Correct. Oh, yeah. The. So the Lakers have been an awesome home team, a bad road team. But your west and east, you pay. You know, you play half your games against the east at home, half on the road. So the Lakers are at home. They need it. They're playing a good team. I like the Lakers. The. The tricky thing for the Lakers is for when you look at their final five games, you can't do what you can do with most of the good teams, which is be like, oh, oh, and the Lakers don't have five left. Hold on. Lakers have seven left. That's right, because they have the fire games. Yeah, yeah. The. But regardless, most teams, you be like, oh, well, chalk up a win against the Pelicans and Blazers. Lakers liable to lose to any bad team. But they also are excellent against the good teams. So I'm really excited to see tonight. It also, it could be a playoff preview. If it is, I hope it's not round one. Not because the Lakers would have, you know, couldn't beat the warriors, but I just don't want a guarantee one of them, one of the two is out of there in round one. There is a team that I am certain is out of there in round one. It's the team I saw in person on Saturday. Go ahead, Demons.
- [50:43]
Damanze
Yeah, so they. They've been struggling over the last few weeks. They've won two of their last 10 games.
- [50:49]
Jeremy Scott
The Grizzlies this is the Grizzlies.
- [50:51]
Damanze
Yeah. 109 left, nine games left to go. They fired their head coach and now they're at risk of falling into the play. And Ja Morant's holding up the finger guns. I think they're doing an investigation on him right now. But yeah, let's talk about the state of the Grizzlies.
- [51:07]
Jeremy Scott
Okay, so just literally a minute ago, Shams tweeted. Let me read it to you. Exactly. NBA. Sorry, hold on. NBA issued warnings but no further penalties to Grizzlies. John Morant and Buddy healed along with the teams for the gestures. Lee ruled the celebrations were not intended to be violent in nature, but inappropriate and should reflect. Frank. All right, I want to make this clear. I don't care about the gun part of this. I. The. That's a different discussion. The pantomiming guns and it's. That distracts from the point. Here's what I care about. Demanz any type of taunt or celebration when there's 10 seconds left in a game. Your team needed that. You let the other team's guy score 50 and you just lost to continue a four game losing streak days after you fired your coach. And you're being a goofball. That's what I care about there. I. And like I said, I, I talked to T at the Grizzlies game. I like Ja's dad. I like him. Historically, I. I've liked Ja. John, this off season needs to decide who do I want to be in this league? Because you've gone from your. Your numbers have gotten worse over each of the last four years. Your health has gotten worse over each of the last four years. Your team has gotten worse over each of the last four years. You just fired your coach and you're out here being a goofball. Like. And that was. Go ahead.
- [52:59]
Damanze
So they were talking about John Rant being the face of the league a year ago, Correct? Like maybe. Maybe a little over a year.
- [53:05]
Jeremy Scott
Yeah, but yes, of course. And, and even when the stupid gun stuff was happening, it. Nobody questioned his skill, his ability, how good he was. Right? So, like that's the nobody. Nobody was wondering how great he is. He's never got better as a shooter. In fact, he maybe has gotten worse. 30% from three misses, 40% of the games with injury doesn't seem to take winning seriously. The hell's going on? 25 years old and the. To me, the most notable piece of the entire incident between he and Healed was the look on Steph Curry's face. Because Steph Curry's face was like a look of. Honestly, like a disappointed parent. Like, what are you doing?
- [54:13]
Damanze
Like.
- [54:15]
Jeremy Scott
Like, why? What are you doing? Yeah, we. The. The reason I'm saying I'm not focused on the gun piece of it is if the. If the Grizzlies had just hit free throws to go up seven with 10 seconds left and Ja did that celebration, I would feel totally differently. Which means I know for me, it's not about the gun piece of it. And again, gun in quotes, finger guns. Like, it's about being ready to party when your team's falling apart. It's pro sports, man. It's the playoff push. You just fired your coach. You just. It was four straight losses against four, the four teams most likely to stand between you and a championship. They lost to the Thunder, then they lost to the Lakers, then they lost to the Celtics, then they lost to the Warriors. And you're being a goofball. Like, I just. I don't like it. I don't like it at all. Finals are here, and the only thing for sure is it's the last time you're gonna have a chance to bet on college basketball this season. It's been an amazing ride to get here. An unprecedented run to this point with four of the four best teams, including four of the best teams in recent college basketball history, getting there. Maybe there will finally be a shocking outcome. Or maybe we're just going to keep seeing the best, show you why they're the best. More on that in a second. Get in on all the action expected and unexpected with DraftKings sportsbook. With live betting, exclusive content, promos and parlays, DraftKings is the ultimate college basketball destination for March. Ready to make your first bet? Check out the matchups and pick a team to win. It's that simple. Me, personally, you guys know, I was. I was in on Tennessee. It didn't work out. Now we pivot. We. We got. We pivot. Thus far, this has been a tournament where the best team wins. The best team is Duke. I personally like Duke -5 and a half tonight at even money. I. Or it's not tonight, this weekend. I also personally like Duke to win the championship at even money. So Duke -5 and a half in their game on Saturday at even money. Dupe plus 100 to win the whole thing at even money. Better late than never. It's what I'm going with now that Tennessee's gone. Lines and odds subject to change. First time, here's something special just for you. New DraftKings customers bet $5 to get 150 in bonus bets instantly. Bet the unexpected with DraftKings Sportsbook. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app and use code Wright. That's code right? For new customers. W R I G H t to get $150 in bonus bets when you bet just five bucks only on DraftKings. All right, Damanze, let's rapid fire through the rest of these if we can.
- [57:38]
Damanze
Yeah. Aaron Rodgers was seen working out with his new teammate DK Metcalf in Pittsburgh. Are you excited to see that tandem next year? Nah, I'm kidding. He hasn't signed yet. What's going on with Aaron Rodgers? What's going on there? Guys taking his time.
- [57:55]
Jeremy Scott
I don't understand why the Steelers. Here's the deal. I understood why the Steelers were letting him dictate the terms when he had a bunch of options. He could go to New York. Maybe Minnesota was interested. He's out of options. The Giants signed two quarterbacks. Minnesota is not signing him. Tennessee's drafting their quarterback. Pittsburgh, you're the Pittsburgh Steelers. Call Aaron's agent and say we need to know within the week or we are out. The leverage has shifted back to you. He wants to play for you. So why hasn't he signed? I. My guess is he doesn't want to either he doesn't want to be on the hook for the full off season program or more accurately, he wants to be able to potentially pressure you into not spending your first round pick on a quarterback. Be it Shador if he slips or Jackson Dart if you love him and he thinks if he hasn't signed yet but has made it clear, oh, I'm going to sign that you guys won't draft a quarterback because it could upset him. Don't let him run things. He has nowhere else to go.
- [59:15]
Damanze
Then if they do draft a quarterback, what's he going to do?
- [59:19]
Jeremy Scott
If he. If he hasn't signed yet, then maybe he just won't sign.
- [59:23]
Damanze
Okay.
- [59:24]
Jeremy Scott
You know what I mean? Like maybe then he will, you know, retire or wait for to see if there's an injury somewhere, whatever it is. But you can't let a guy who's never played for you and hasn't been in good. Been good in four years dictate your draft plans and your offseason plans. The damn owner of the team came out yesterday and said, yeah, we thought it'd be done by now. I've never seen a team that has no history with a player when the player is not still awesome. Go jump through these hoops. It's just baffling to me. All right, next.
- [60:02]
Damanze
Jerry Jones still hasn't come to closing a deal on Michael Parsons actually taking a shot at his agent. During the process. He said, the agent is not a factor here or something to worry about. And I don't know his name. And so my point is, I'm not trying to demean him in any way, but this isn't about an agent. Why would Jerry Jones say something of this sort?
- [60:23]
Jeremy Scott
So here's the deal, and I actually think this is a real story because there's only two possible truths here, okay? One truth is he forgot the agent's name or doesn't know it. David Mulgetta. If that is the case, David's not an obscure agent. He negotiated the Sean Watson deal. He negotiated Malik Hooker, who's a cowboy, his deal. If your general manager does not know the agent's name for your best player, then it's time to take the car keys away from him, and people are like, oh, well, he wasn't. He definitely knows his name. Okay, that's fine. That's door number two. Door number two is. He does know his name, and he's being unnecessarily and intentionally disrespectful and combative with someone you have to work with. That ain't good. Either. You. You know what I mean? Like, either he's telling the truth and that's a problem, or he's just saying it to piss the guy off, and that's dumb. Like, there's. There's no. There's no win there. No win whatsoever. And it really. Jerry Jones, for a long time, was one of the best things the Cowboys had going for them. He has quickly become their single biggest impediment to winning. And for a franchise with that history and a brand of that caliber, it's just. It's just unfathomable that they are the worst run team in the league, but right now, they appear to be the worst run team in the league.
- [62:29]
Damanze
All right, let's not seem like a great guy either.
- [62:33]
Jeremy Scott
Yeah, I mean, it doesn't. It's just an. Yeah. I. I certainly didn't seem like, you know, that we'd be going to the same parties. All right, let's do mock drafts. Demonze.
- [62:45]
Damanze
So, yeah, you were one of the top MOP mock drafters last year. You haven't said too much about it this year. Do you have a mock draft for the folks out there Monday?
- [62:56]
Jeremy Scott
First things first. Mock Draft 1.0.
- [63:00]
Damanze
Oh, yeah.
- [63:00]
Jeremy Scott
I think I had the, the world's 18th most accurate mock draft last year.
- [63:05]
Damanze
Wow. Yeah, I remember. 18. I didn't know that was the.
- [63:10]
Jeremy Scott
Might have been 21. It was somewhere. It wasn't in the top 15, but it was in the top 25. I remember that. I'll have to look it up.
- [63:18]
Damanze
Double digits.
- [63:19]
Jeremy Scott
Yeah. And there were, I mean, there were hundreds and hundreds done by media members. Schrager crushed. Schrager had the most accurate. So, yeah, Monday on the TV show, the first mock draft gets revealed. All right, next.
- [63:35]
Damanze
All right, so yeah, Cooper. Cooper flags look like the real deal throughout the tournament and obviously throughout his short college career. He will be 18 when he hits the NBA. Do you think that he's going to be a real deal or he's going to be a more of a bust or flame out? I mean, obviously not a bust, but, you know.
- [63:51]
Jeremy Scott
Well, you can't say obviously. I mean, the only way you can be a bus is if you're a super high draft pick. And the only way to be a super high draft pick is if people think you're going to be awesome. But no, I think he's. I am not. So you guys know, I'm not, you know, watching a ton of college basketball during the regular season. And so I had, it's not that I hadn't seen Cooper flag, but I had, you know, not watched him as closely as the people who are college basketball diehards. To me, he's been better than advertised. I thought his game against Arizona was spectacular. And you guys just heard in the draftkings read, I'm in on Duke. I mean, he has just been. He's so far and away the best player in college basketball. And here's the crazy thing, Damasay, he doesn't turn 19 until December. So he's going to be the same age. He's going to be the age LeBron was when he came into the league. Meaning, like he reclassified. So he should be a high school senior, but he's a college freshman. He's tall, he's strong, shoots it well enough, good iq, can defend. No, no, I. Now do I think he's going to be like a super duper star? We gotta wait and see that. But he is the no doubt obvious number one pick. All right, let's go to the Final Four before we get to the listener questions.
- [65:18]
Damanze
So Saturday, Florida and Auburn face off before Duke and Houston face off in the Final Four. Do you have any predictions for this?
- [65:26]
Jeremy Scott
I'd like Houston to win because I like Kelvin Sampson and you know, we used to live there, but the tournament has been chalk and I am going to stick with chalk. Duke over Florida and then Duke wins it all.
- [65:41]
Damanze
What is this thing? I've been hearing it all week. I've not asked anybody. When you say chalk, I'm picking context clues, meaning that it's linear. Like what is it like? What does it mean?
- [65:52]
Jeremy Scott
It's like favorites win cop.
- [65:54]
Damanze
Okay.
- [65:55]
Jeremy Scott
Chalk means it goes the way. I don't know. So a good I've always no, that's you that you're thinking of. Yeah. It's got nothing to do with that. I I don't know. Let's find out together. Why why is a favorite winning called chalk? Daniel says it's horse racing, but I want to know the the so here we go from vocabulary.com the history of chalk dates back to the old days of horse racing, when bookmakers would set the odds for each horse by writing them on a chalkboard at on track gambling stations. The odds would change during the pre race betting period depending on the amount wagered on each horse, so the bookmakers would often need to erase the posted odds and chalk up new ones before beginning of the race. The bookies at the track had to be skillful with the track chalk to keep their slate boards up to date with lace odds. In reporting on horse racing around the turn of the 20th century, sports journalists often referred to bookmakers with such flout flowery appellations as the lively knights of the chalk and blackboard, or more simply, knights of the Chalk. Chalk gradually came to stand for the bookmakers and their odds, making through the process through the process of metonymy defined by the visual thesaurus as substituting the name of an attribute or feature for the name of the thing itself. For instance, a racing column in the October 15, 1903 Atlanta Constitution reported the first race the chalk figures made it look like five entries and six favorites for the event. Those who followed the odds put up by the bookmakers could thus stay loyal to the chalk and bet on the favored horses. Or they could look for an entrant with long odds that could potentially get a bigger payout. A quote from April 27, 1907, Washington Post encapsulates the ambivalence that betters felt toward the chalk of the bookies. Chalk scares many a turf speculator. Let him pick a horse to win, and if he thinks he ought to be the favorites and the bookies lay a big price against him, nine times out of ten the horse won't be Played.
- [68:24]
Damanze
All right, listeners, I made a mistake.
- [68:26]
Jeremy Scott
No, I, I'm fascinated by this and. All right, so, so now we know. So that's great. So that I respect that you weren't afraid to ask the question. And I, I've always known what chalk meant. I didn't know it. That's where it came from. So chalk just means all the favorites winning. So when you're filling out a bracket, picking all one seeds to make the Final Four is a chalk bracket. It happened, though, this year. First time it happened since 2008. Yeah. Let's see what happens next year on it. All right, let's do a few listener questions before we get out of here.
- [69:09]
Damanze
Logan. Nick, why do you still not have an NBA awards vote? What is the process in order to get a vote? And do you think you could get one in the future? You seem like you'd be a pretty good voter.
- [69:20]
Jeremy Scott
I would have thought so. I don't know. And so I don't know.
- [69:29]
Damanze
Maybe it's your relationship with LeBron.
- [69:31]
Jeremy Scott
No, I don't, I, I, I don't know who the. It's fine. I really, really wanted one a few years ago and I tried to get one and I didn't. I think Kendrick Perkins got it instead, and I just is what it is. So. Zach Lowe gave his away, or gave his back. Shout out to Zach, by the way, for being back. Shout out to Simmons. Congrats to him for getting Zach with the ringer. Oh, speaking of awards voters, there, there's a young woman who covers the Lakers who I've never met, but she, she asks LeBron some of the most kind of ins. The question she asked LeBron leads to some of his best answers. She asked him a few weeks ago if you guys saw the viral clip of someone asking LeBron about why he's compared basketball to music or jazz. And then he went on a nice little soliloquy about how basketball is like listening to jazz or different music. And then just the other day, she asked him about why it was important for him to bring back Mind the Game, and he gave a really interesting answer. Her name, and I apologize if I mispronounced, is Claire de Loon. She just tweeted she got an awards vote. So that's awesome. Like, those are people that are at games and watching games and really covering teams. I'm totally cool with them having awards votes. I. Listen, I, I shouldn't act like I'm not cool with other people. I. Since they have expanded the pool to include people that talk about the sport commentators and stuff. I would have liked to have gotten one. I don't have one. It's fine. Brews got one and Brew, you know, so first things first is covered. But Brew has one from back as his days, you know, as a writer, and he's had one forever. All right, let's do a couple more.
- [71:41]
Damanze
Brandon, do you think we'll look back on Giannis like we do Wilt? As in how did someone so dominant not win more titles?
- [71:49]
Jeremy Scott
Well, Giannis got a long ways to go to where we think of him as wilt. But I do think Giannis, you know, Dame's injury in the Bucks future, like Giannis's ability to compete for championships despite being one of the three best players in the league, is very murky in the short term.
- [72:06]
Damanze
Next, Jacob, Santa Cruz local here. Nick, what is your favorite food spot in Santa Cruz? Would you. Would you love to try out a new spot? My suggestion to you is Seabright Deli. Love you, brother.
- [72:19]
Jeremy Scott
Well, thank you, Jacob. I don't know much about Santa Cruz. People have seen me wear the Santa Cruz hoodie. It's because demanz sister, our older daughter, my older daughter goes to UC Santa Cruz, but I, you know, I've only been. I. I haven't spent a ton of time out there, just, you know, moving her into college, picking her up, stuff like that. So I don't know. But I will try Seabright Deli. All right, last one bar.
- [72:42]
Damanze
Nick. I was in New York City a couple weeks ago and I got to. And I got to stop by Trentage. Nice to see entrepreneurial ship runs in the family.
- [72:50]
Jeremy Scott
Yeah, shout out to Trentage. Daniel Store's doing great. Former home of this podcast. All right, great job, everybody. I gotta get to TV again. Reminder, we'll do a quick show tomorrow morning recapping Lakers Warriors. So set, you know, subscribe like rate review. That really helps, by the way. I don't know if you've looked demons A. Let me try to pull it up real quick. Quick, we are approaching 200,000. We're at 194,000 and change. So almost 200,000 subscribers. It'd be sick if we could somehow get to 200,000, you know, early in the NBA playoffs and then maybe pop a big number during a playoff reaction show. Add some subscribers. So subscribe on YouTube, iTunes, Spotify, all that stuff. See you guys on TV in a few hours.
- [73:39]
Nick Wright
What's right, Something unexpected happened after Jeremy Scott confessed to killing Michelle Schofield in in Bone Valley season one.
- [73:49]
Damanze
Every time I hear about my dad is. Oh, he's a killer. He's just straight evil.
- [73:54]
Nick Wright
I was becoming the bridge between Jeremy Scott and the son he'd never known.
- [73:58]
Damanze
At the end of the day, I'm literally a son of a killer.
- [74:01]
Nick Wright
Listen to new episodes of bone Valley, Season 2, starting April 9 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.