Shaq on NBA Finals, Joining ESPN, Kobe Stories, Being the Black Kelce & A Big Slick Recap | EP 142
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Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to new heights early and ad-free, plus unlock access to exclusive episodes of the show. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify today. All righty, let's talk about the holy grail of candy, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Yeah.

That's right. You know them. You love them. And let's be real. You probably have a stash hidden somewhere right now. Tell me about it. Reese's cracked the code and literally created the perfect combo. We're talking about the chocolate shell creamy peanut butter center. There is something special about unwrapping that orange packaging and sinking your teeth into a Reese's cup.

That's right. That epic combo has been something that has been a go-to snack for many, no matter what they're doing. And here's a pro tip from two Reese's pros here. Try keeping your Reese's cups in the fridge. It keeps that chocolatey goodness nice and chilled for you. But be sure to hide it all the way in the back so nobody can take it. You know what I'm saying? Can't have Ed Kelsey sneaking in there at 3 a.m.,

stealing your stash. That's right. So why wait? See why Reese's peanut butter cups are our favorite. Buy Reese's peanut butter cups now at a store near you. Found literally anywhere you can find candy. Your physique is starting to get there, dude. I'm trying. What are you down to right now? 265. Dude, we're the same weight? That's one of the benefits of weighing your brothers, that you can go to Kansas City and steal his shirts and they fit again. Ha ha ha ha!

I didn't even know you knew what Chanel was. I wore that shirt because it had flamingos, and Ellie likes flamingos. I didn't wear that shirt because it said Chanel on it. I was just walking around. I said, oh, there's some flamingos. Ellie will like if I wear that shirt. Nice. I got positive feedback from Ellie and Benny. Both of them love the flamingos. Ooh, Benny liked it too. What did Wyatt say? I didn't hear a report back from Wyatt, so I'm guessing she's out of the flamingo phase, I guess. Too cool. Too cool for flamingos? I guess. You're going to have to talk to her about it.

Welcome back to New Heights, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. A Wondery show produced by Wave Sports and Entertainment and brought to you by Audible. That's right. If you don't like to read, just listen. We're your friends. I'm Travis Kelsey. This is Jason Kelsey. And we're also your hosts, not just your friends, 92%. Subscribe on YouTube, Wondery Plus, wherever you get your podcasts. And follow the show on all social media at New Heights Show with 1S Jason. Tell these people what we got coming up today.

You got it, Trev. Some shit is going down today. Oh, yes it is. Welcome to another great episode of New Heights. We got one outstanding lineup for you today. We're going to talk about out of the house. Our recap from our time over there at Big Slick. Look at some of the biggest news coming out of the NFL and OTAs. And we also have a huge guest. Literally a diesel guest coming in hot.

NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal will be joining us on the podcast today. That's right. The big Aristotle. Guy's got the best names. We'll get his thoughts on the finals inside the NBA, moving to ESPN, his new Netflix documentary, and more. Can't wait. Cannot fucking wait. Superman himself. Hold on. What? What do you got, a little munchkin over there? Am I going in the pool today? Yes, I turned the heater on. The pool will not be cold.

Freaking bougie. Yeah, well, that's what happens when you raise those suburban kids, Jason. You're right. You're right. I told Kylie we should have raised them in West Philly, and she was like, there's no chance. Oh, yeah. That's how you get cultured right there. All right. It'll figure it out. It'll figure it out. But first, before we get to all that, we're going to start with news.

New News! That's right. New News is brought to you by American Express. Let's talk about a little Beer Bowl action. Beer Bowl is back.

For those of you that don't know what Beer Bowl is, every year, me, the Eagles Autism Foundation, and a bunch of Eagles go and do an event down at the shore. On Wednesday, we do a guest bartending event. Well, we've started doing an event on Thursday called Beer Bowl that has been associated with this podcast. And we went back and forth on it, and we decided let's do it again. Why not? Let's run it back. It is fun. Beer Bowl is back for the third year.

And the reason we're telling you now is because we need teams to be submitted. That's right. That's right. We will be held on Thursday, June 26th in Seattle. And we need 92, 92 percenters to send us your team submission videos. Yes, sir. We are solely judging these based on team name costumes. The most importantly, just the vibe. Drinking ability is a part of the vibe. But listen, if you're funny, charismatic, energetic, energetic,

That's what we're looking for because that usually makes for a better beer bowl for everybody involved. Big change from the previous beer bowls. Now, I don't think we're not making a New Heights episode this year. We're going to still have a video go out on New Heights or something like that. We're going to figure that out at a later date. Yeah. But because it's not going to be a New Heights episode, I will officially be competing. That's right.

That's right. Well, now we know who's going to win. Me and Bo Allen will be competing this year. Oh, never mind. Now we know who's going to lose. If you would have been competing with Kylie, you guys would have won. Kylie does not drink beer. Well, I shouldn't say that because we have a beer company. Kylie does not do drinking games. That's not true. She does drinking games. All right. I don't know what to say. Yeah.

Yeah, me and Bo Allen will be competing. We obviously will not have the chance to win money, but we can, I guess. I don't even know how that works. Somebody's going to win money. We always do a cash prize. I think last year we did $50,000. Let's do $50,000 again. Damn! A little $50,000 cash prize if you win, Beer Bowl. We would love to see the defending champs return. Santa's, oh gosh, what was it? Santa's, was it Revenge?

I feel like it was Santa's Revenge, right? I don't know. I wasn't there last year. Brandon, do you remember? I think Santa's Revenge is right because it was Santa and his helper. Yeah. And they fucking crushed. They killed it. I think it's Santa's Revenge. Yeah, they were good. Santa's Revenge. We'd love to have the defending champs back. Birds of War have been twice now competing in it. We would love to see them back for their third year. It's starting to turn into a tradition. We have all sorts of fun things lined up in the Bay. We have a blob. That's right. We have a blob this year. You son of a bitch. You're going to have to sign a waiver. You're going to have to sign a waiver. You're going to have to sign a waiver.

Trav, you're more than welcome. You're more than welcome to come. I know you're at Titan U, but it is the last day at Titan U. You could sneak out a little bit early and come down for the festivities. Just saying. Deadline to submit your team is Wednesday, June 18th. That's when we're going to announce the teams and who's invited to compete. What games are we playing? We're still figuring that out.

Kind of open to suggestions. Different than last year? You didn't like the way, you didn't like the format last year? The problem is, like, everybody wants to play, like, beer pong, but the problem is beer pong is just not a fun game to sit there and watch. Do three cup. The games need to be action-packed, more quick. Dude, you'll be shocked at how awful people, like, watching people miss turn after turn is not fun. You got to have faster-paced games. I'm thinking more double dare of beer, right? We need flags. We need beer drinking. We need beer drinking.

Maybe incorporate the blob in some way. Do a little beer obstacle course or something. I love that. We do have an obstacle course in the water, like an MXC obstacle course. It's inflatable. Yeah. We can definitely do that. We can incorporate that. Again, anything in the water, you're going to have to sign a waiver, ladies and gentlemen. For sure. For sure. Baby bottle chug is banned. That was the most miserable thing I did last year. That was horrible. It was horrendous. And same with the caps. Oh, the beer caps? Yeah, that was a big fail. Yeah, the beer caps, that was a fail too, unfortunately.

When you get those for $15 a piece on Amazon. We should play stumps again. We got to figure out who's hosting it. The easy answer is Kylie, but I feel like we need somebody dirtier. We'll figure it out. Yeah. All right. Either way, it's going to be an awesome event. It's hard to not have an awesome event when you're down at the Jersey Shore in the summer. At the old OD, baby. Looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to seeing these team submissions. All righty. Up next, Bustin' with the Boys update.

Oh, baby. Our guys over at Bustin' with the Boys, Will and Taylor, responded to us talking about the Nebraska-Cincinnati matchup at Arrowhead. And they hit us with a little wager. They responded. They said, loser of the Cincinnati-Nebraska game goes to the winner's podcast. That's right. And I think we need to –

We need to up the ante a little bit. It sounds like a win-win for everybody. Yeah, I think we need to up the ante a little bit. Maybe... I do agree. First of all, we agree to the terms. 100% agree. We're in. Loser will show up, which I'm excited about because you've been invited on Bustin' with the Boys. I've never even been invited on the fucking show, so I got to get out there. Oh, yeah. I'll actually see him here in about a few weeks at Tide & You. And I probably still won't be on there because Cincinnati is going to beat the fuck out of him.

Come on, Danny. Yeah. Let's go. You see, baby. We got to figure out a – Come on, Sorsby. We got to figure out – There's got to be some other level of bet here, right? Okay. What are we thinking? Embarrassment, right? You know, yeah. I mean – Do you have to show up on the other podcast wearing the other swag, maybe the mascot? I mean, I did that for Texas Tech. You did? I don't want to reuse a bet.

And I would sure as fuck feel stupid wearing a goddamn Cornhuskers. What is Nebraska's? It's not just a piece of corn, is it? It's a farmer. What do you mean? It's like the Cornhusker. Yeah. Is that real? Can I see it? Oh, I think I've seen it. I think I've seen it. He's got the big head. It's almost like a lumberjack. Yeah. You're right. Yep. I've seen it. I think he's got the overalls on. Overalls. Yep. For sure. It's iconic. I fucked with their mascot. According to perplexity, this is the Nebraska mascot. There he is. Not overalls.

Jeans, though. Jeans. No, I think there's been iterations with overalls, though. Yeah, look. Yeah, there it is. Yeah. I'm thinking of the old school one. I know I've seen this motherfucker in overalls. I love that their mascot is basically... Overalls were invented in Nebraska, actually. I love that their mascot is basically just Cam Juergens. That's my favorite part. Like...

This is just Cam Jurgens as a vision as the mascot of Nebraska. Little red. Oh, man. Little red looks inflatable, though. The other guy. I'm fucking with the other guy. Do we want to do mascot head? Let's send it to the boys to see what they think. Mascot head, but only the head.

So naked from the neck down. So both of them have to wear a version of it? That's the thing. It's like one of us. It's two and two. So one person wears the mascot head. What does the other person wear? Damn it. We didn't think about this. Yeah. We just got to wear swag. I feel like we got to incorporate the mascot in some way. Yeah. No, they have to wear a Kelsey Bearcat jersey on our podcast. We have to wear a Will Compton jersey on their podcast.

I feel like one person has to wear the mascot. Whoever decides to do it. I'll wear the mascot since you wear the Texas Tech if we lose. All right. We'll throw it on Will and Taylor on who's going to do what on their side. If you agree to the bet. It'll be good. They'll agree. Well, I guess maybe they'll come back with something better. All right. That does it for new news brought to you by American Express. Let's get to that out of the house section, Trev. Out of the house. Me and Jason both got out of the house.

This weekend. How about that? I brought him over to good old Kansas City. It was awesome. That's right. He got to stay at the place and head down to old Big Slick, Kansas City's

Best event. I can proudly say that it's unbelievable what everybody at Big Slick puts on throughout the entire weekend. Obviously, it starts with the softball game. And then they visit all the kids at the Children's Mercy Hospital. And then a huge, huge gala entertainment night where they really bring in some of the most unique human beings ever.

not just from the city of Kansas City, but from all over and just friends of friends of friends of the guys that are that are really the main crew that run this thing, which is Paul Rudd, Rob Riggle, Jason Sudeikis, our guy, Stone Street, Stone Street, Eric Stone Street, David Koechner. I mean, you name it. There's so many Heidi Gardner's now. Yep.

I think those are the six, right? Those are the six. Exactly. So a lot of people have been coming to it for a countless amount of years. I can't even – I think they're up to like 12 to 16 years, somewhere in there in terms of what year this was. And it just keeps getting bigger and bigger. Every single year I look up at the board at the end and I'm just like, oh, my God, they just raised an entire million dollars more than what they raised last year. What?

And it's all for an amazing cause. It helps families pay for surgeries that don't have the resources and really helps out kids and saves lives. And it's such a beautiful evening. It's such a beautiful week that they do this with. And I couldn't be more proud to be a part of Kansas City and be a part of Big Slick year in, year out, man. Absolutely. No, it was truly remarkable seeing the amount of support

from the audience and people willing to lend their time and money to this event. And also the celebrities that were willing to lend their time. And I mean, there was a lot of people there. It was a huge night. It was my first one. I basically invited myself when Jason came on the show. Yeah.

I don't know if that's how you do it. I mean, I was hyping it up. I was like, dude, if there's one event you want to go to, this is the one. You've been hyping it up for years. So, but no, man, it was a lot of fun. It was just a lot of joy. And it was a lot of just...

incredible people all compiled together. So it was, it was awesome. What was your favorite part of the gala, the entertainment night? My favorite part was probably the video at the end, even though it wasn't like the hilarious part that the rest of the night is and shenanigans, but the part with Peter. It's the part that stuck with you the most, man. I mean, that's, it really brings it full circle as to why you're all there. You know, Peter was one of the kids that was at children's mercy and they were following Peter.

him before the event. And they always do that. But this year, unfortunately, Peter passed before the event. So it was just so much more transparent of like how much you're actually affecting families, lives, people's lives by supporting this wonderful organization. So that was probably my favorite part of it. I mean, I was literally crying in the back of the freaking stage. So yeah, it was intense. Yeah. It got everybody, man. Outside of that,

I don't know. I mean, meeting Johnny Knoxville, if I'm being honest, like I met a lot of cool people this weekend. I met a lot of awesome people, but dude, countless of my youth hours have been spent watching Johnny Knoxville do shenanigans with his friends. Yeah.

Yeah. No, that was incredible. He's epic, dude. He's every bit of, you know what I mean? Who he's portrayed to be on film. And he just has a good time, man. You got to love it. There were so many just awesome people. I know I've said that about 8,000 times, but it was good. No, man. They really are. It was a good time. They really are. They get a good cast. Yeah. And Jason, you went shopping. You went shopping in my closet. Well, I went thieving. Yeah.

I told you. I was like, dude, just smack, grab whatever, right? Yep. We wear the same size now, dude. We're wearing the same. I'm fucking stealing your shirts too. Boom. Well, I still got shirts that are too big, but I got to start resizing my stuff. I like them oversized. Yeah, I got a lot of feedback.

that people are not a fan of the tuck. I'm a tuck kind of guy. I think the tuck is where it's at. I work hard on these legs. I'm going to show them off. Show off that physique, big guy. If I'm putting on a flamingo shirt, I'm peacocking. You know what I mean? That rear end is going to be out. I'm not going to be hiding it under a baggy-ass shirt. You're going to catch these buns, son. Oh. What are you, Sir Mix-a-Lot? Hey, yo. Yes.

That was fucking good. You could do Sa Benzos sit-ups. That's an Ed Kelsey favorite right there. I mean, that's everybody's favorite, I feel like. We also got a little Kelsey to Kelsey connection, which the balls were a little slick. The balls were a little slick. You're blaming me? 100%. Play the clip. Play the clip. Jason Kelsey snapping to Pat Mahomes. Here we go. Redo it.

- He's in the middle. - Does he know how to do it? - Does he know how to do it? - Oh, look at this. - Here we go. Watch the-- - Oh, look at this. Oh, look at this! - Oh! Oh!

Jason, you sailed it over my head. About three tables too far. Thank gosh we had an athlete in the stands. He just saved somebody's life just by catching that rocket of a football. That was a nice little three-step in a crow hop, though. I'll give you that. You just willy-beamed the fuck out of this segment. Yeah.

I'm not blaming you because of the bad pass. That was my bad. I'm going up to that. I'm blaming you because I wasn't supposed to do this, and you put this into my head.

The bit was they were going to steal my snap every time. And then you said, hey, next time, just go up there and snap. Act like you're going to snap it and just throw it. So I'm blaming you because you gave me this idea. It was your shenanigans that caused this. Jason, you just got to be ready for the moment, man. You got to be ready. You're right. I failed. I'll tell you what. You got to rise out of the crowd. The crowd got excited when they saw you drop back. Everybody's seen Pat Mahomes throw a ball in here. Let me show them how we spin it up there in Cleveland, Ohio.

Oh, look at that balance. Not bad in flip-flops. It's actually pretty good. There's a nice little spiral, too. You just threw it. Ten feet too far. The funniest thing was Pat after was like, what am I here for if I'm not throwing the ball? That entire bit was because it was supposed to be Pat throwing a football to a fan.

And instead they get Jason Kelsey botching a throw to a random person. I'll remember that forever, man. Yeah, no, it'd be good. Sometimes you just got to take over the show, but I get it. I get it. Who doesn't like to see a nice Kelsey to Kelsey connection, man. Officially won't be invited back. What was your favorite part of the event?

Oh my gosh. My favorite part of the event. I mean, I don't know why I love running through the crowd and catching the football and like being amongst everyone high-fiving and everything. That's like the most like

fun I have on there, but that looked like a lot of fun. It is. It's, it's a blast. And you get to see faces, some, some familiar faces, some new faces and high five it and just making sure everyone's having a grand old time up there. It's gotta be Seth Herzog. Every single time he does this bit, I go into tears, man.

I wasn't ready for it. So Seth opened for the late night show. We told you that that night. So I had already interacted with him a bunch. I saw a different side of Seth. This was a much more hair down type of Seth. Oh, yeah. And it did not disappoint. No, it did not. Did we have a clip of that? No.

I don't know if we have a clip of that. We got to find a clip of that. Yeah, we got to find another clip of that. But yeah, Seth's performance every single year is epic. He never holds back. He named his nutsack after us. One ball was me and the other ball was Jason. And we were...

Yeah, we were honored. I've never been more honored. I'd much rather, I've been named after dogs a million times, but to be named after a nut, how many people can say that? I'm honored. Those things are doing work.

Nice. Shout out to Seth. Keep fucking killing it. I don't know what it is about Paul Rudd. I just love to hug him and pick him up and just squeeze the living shit out of him. He's such a good dude. He is. And he supports the living shit out of the Chiefs with his son, Jack. And his son, Jack, is fucking tall as shit now. I remember seeing him our first couple years. He was still in middle school, and now he's already in college and stuff now. It's cool to see...

I don't know how everything's like turned out.

transferred over the years. And I remember the first year they did it in what, what is now the T-Mobile center, but the sprint center at the time and how much money they raised. And I was like, God damn, they're raising this much money. And this year alone, they raised $4.5 million for children, Mercy's hospital, which is, um, absolutely mind blowing, but Kansas city is going to show up for, for their own. And, um, and they're always going to make sure they look out for, uh,

for the ones that need help. And that's why I love this city. And shout out to everybody at Big Slick for yet again, another successful year of raising funds, man. Absolutely. Absolutely. And I'm going to say, Paul gets a lot of shine. I'm going to give Mandy Rudd a shout out.

She's doing a lot of the behind the scenes work. Yeah. Help with that thing. Get off family. You know, that's right. That's right. That's right. It's everybody. Everybody's got a, got a piece of the pie. We saw Sudeikis his parents after, and we saw stone streets family after it's, it's just cool to see everyone got to see a Keckner's entire family, his kids.

So it's cool to like be around everyone and get to meet everybody's, you know, significant others and their, their family that kind of makes them who they are. And that's, that those are all the pluses that you get from being around the, the big slick all weekend. No doubt. All right. That does it for out of the house. Let's get to some NFL news. We are less than 100 days from football being back. Yeah.

It's coming. Okay, nice. All right, now. The Chiefs are in the middle of their OTAs. Travis, how's it looking? How's the OTAs looking? Yeah, I was just back there last week. Got to see a lot of the rookies and get to, you know, jump on the field with the helmets and jerseys and, you know, just run around and

See what this new fine-tuned offense is going to look like or at least set the tone for the rest of the offseason and going into minicamp here in a few weeks. Speaking of the rookies, I know you just glazed over, but I want to – because one of my favorite tackles in the draft, I know he's coming back from the patella injury. How's my man Josh Simmons look? Dude, Josh Simmons is – he's, first of all, a great dude.

Great dude. Seems like he's embracing his situation. He's working hard to make sure that he's ready by the time season comes around or as healthy as he can be. You know, I've seen him over there working some pass sets and things like that. And it's just so...

When you see the guy move, he's so balanced and he's such a big athlete. He's so balanced. I'm with you, bro. He doesn't seem like he's ever like top heavy or like he's his very, his legs are strong. His feet are in the ground. He's, he's very precise with this movement. The guy's just, he looks the part right now. He, yeah, exactly. And obviously he puts on pads and probably get a little meaner and, and really bring a lot to the table for us, man. That position gets solidified. Yeah.

That would be such a huge help to the Kansas city chiefs. That was a major struggle last year for them, but they also have another left guard who's playing left guard right now. We got a Kingsley Caliendo as well as in there. Obviously we still got Trey Smith coming back. So, um, nice. We'll, uh, we'll have some, uh, we'll have some depth at guard and, uh,

And I think we'll have some good depth at tackle as well. Good deal. Good deal. The Eagles also had their OTAs featuring Coach Kels. That's right. Jake Kels out there showing them how to do the dance. That's right. You teaching them how to. I'm just watching some big guys move their feet and hit angles and double teams. I just love that I'm in the exact same position as Stout. Like I'm just stealing all of his moves. I'm like hands on the knees, making sure I creep down, look right at.

the right angle to see what it looks like. But I love watching, especially new guys, the way they move and seeing things that they do well. And, you know, if there's anything I can kind of tell them,

to help them out or to spot something that I like about their game or what it is. I just like being there. It also keeps a lot of stuff fresh. Like for me, you'll notice this once you stop Trev, like every year you're out and you're not having those conversations every day and you're not talking about ball. It feels like it just starts to kind of like, you almost are worried that you're going to forget some of it. You know what I mean?

So then you go back and then it instantly just kind of hits you like a lightning bolt, you know, just kind of recharges your brain and all this knowledge that you've built up on something so specialized. Yeah.

that you know very few people really understand the ins and outs of it so yeah so unique yeah i like seeing the rookies i like seeing the new guys that they brought in the off season it's just fun to be in the building too hell yeah man so it was a good time did anybody thank you for saving the tush push i have multiple people uh said good job for sure nice yes nice got some good jobs that's some good jobs it's got to be worth the flight right way to goes way to goes i think

So good team efforts, good team efforts. I think the Eagles are pretty happy that the proposal did not go through and that there will be another year of tush pushes for sure. There you go. I would say it's not too late, but you're down to 260, so probably no chance of you coming back. I was doing a little scout team out there. I was a little defensive end. Defensive end? When they did the rookie period at the end, I got out there, put my hand on the ground.

Nice. He's just three steps and then peel off? I was doing nothing. I was running into him. I like to see what their hands feel like, to be honest with you. Ooh, put your hands on me. Connor had already given me the heads up that one of the guys had some pretty good hands and a punch. So I was conveniently on that side. Let me see if...

I'll be the judge of this counter out there. Just get launched. I wouldn't hate it. I wouldn't hate it. I love it. I'm weird like that. I wouldn't mind getting screwed up. Ah, I'm a little fucked up. I like to like to get a little dirty. Break your nose. Cool. All right, now let's keep this thing moving. It's cool to see you out there on the field again, brother. Um, before we get to Shaq,

Time for some No Dumb Questions brought to you by Perplexity AI. Discover fast and reliable search with Perplexity AI today. From Animal...

Our anime in a day, dude. Out of curiosity, if Kings Island or Cedar Point designed a Kelsey themed roller coaster, what kind of coaster would it be? How fast would it go? And how many times would it go upside down? Interesting. I don't think I've ever seen a ride where you're literally upside down the entire ride. So I think that would be pretty cool. I love it. Like you get in it and immediately just turn upside down and it fucking takes off. Yeah.

I like it. That sounds really fun. I do love roller coasters that go upside down. I like ones that like spin you around. I'm a big fan of those. I'm also a big fan of the high hills. The big drops, yeah. I feel like that's not – I feel like a Kelsey theme is like a splash mountain. We're more of a splash mountain kind of crew. You think so? I don't know. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

I thought it was cool. It's not water. It's something else you're getting splashed with. Garage beer? Garage beer. It's a lake of garage beer. You're forcing everyone to be drunk.

and get sticky. Oh, no, you're just covered with it. That sounds miserable. Nobody's going to like all this. What were your favorite rides growing up? Millennium Force. Big drop. Big Dipper. I like wooden roller coasters. Son of Beast was good, too. Son of Beast, yeah. First wooden roller coaster I ever beat, Loop. They had to take it down, though, because it was unsafe. Shocker. Yes, very unsafe.

son of bees what else uh i love the manis at um the manis the manis was a stand-up one yeah it was what's the uh the raptor was the first one as soon as you go into the left really good that was really good i looked up all of the uh cedar point roller coasters on perplexity the raptor is very good i think they might have renamed it uh maverick isn't bad either

It's one of those ones where you go like forward and then backward, right? And one of mine was like the power tower. You remember that thing? Power tower. One that you would just go straight up and straight down. Yep. Yep. It's like a drop. Oh my gosh. Just the entire time. It just feels like you're free falling and then getting rocketed straight up into the air. That was also the most terrifying one for me because I was just like... There was just like the seat and then I was...

40 stories up in the air that one is scary i would say it would have to be a mixture i remember going to disney quest as a kid we already talked about disney quest and you could literally create your own roller coaster at disney quest and i remember i just kept doing loops i was like i just want to keep going in circles guys that's a good point and uh so a lot of loops a lot of big drops and um

You're upside down the whole time. Upside down the whole time. That's my roller coaster. I mean, people are going to pass out if they're upside down the whole time, right? No, not if you do the loops. When you do the loops, you come back up.

And then you go back upside down. It's not a bad idea. Sounds pretty exciting to me. I also just like a good old-fashioned Gravitron. Just spin that thing around really fast and drop the floor, and then I'm stuck to the wall. No, no, no, no, no. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know what you're talking about now. Yeah. The one that was like a giant barrel, and you would just like, it would just spin. Yeah. And you'd just be glued to the wall. You're an idiot. Yeah.

That was the simplest concept ever. Sometimes simple is better. I don't know. That's it for No Dumb Questions brought to you by Perplexity. Let's get to the Shaq interview. Thanks again to our partner...

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Now, a moment brought to you by American Express. That's right. What region in the U.S. has the best food, Jason? Oh, man, that's tough. They're all so good. I think we can definitely agree the worst is anywhere in the middle of the country, but it's also kind of the one I love because it feels so nostalgic. You don't think East Coast, West Coast, and Southern food is the best? No. Barbecue, baby. Barbecue. I mean, that's kind of Southern to me.

me. I mean, what's Southern about barbecue? Everything like what? Barbecue is synonymous everywhere. And obviously it's synonymous with Kansas city. But like when I think of barbecue, I think of down South, I'm just gonna be honest. I think you think of Texas, Alabama, I think you're like all the places where there's

like endless amounts of barbecue food. There's endless amounts right here in Missouri and Kansas. Travis, are you saying that Kansas City has the best food out of everywhere in the country? I'm just saying you're out of your mind if you think it's touching the East Coast, the South, or the West Coast. To each his own, Jason. With Amex Platinum, you get access to global dining access by Resi when you add your Platinum card to your Resi profile. You can experience some of the hottest restaurants with access to exclusive reservations and

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Thank you to our partner, Boar's Head. Break out the good stuff this summer with premium grilling products from Boar's Head. Travis, what are you topping your burger or your frank with? I'm more of a burger guy. I think, you know, I like double burger, double patty, double cheese, lettuce, tomato. I like a nice little special sauce in there. Maybe like a little truffle sauce, maybe a little truffle ketchup. And then I like a nice toasted bun.

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Look at that. Ooh, baby. Got the glasses on. He means business. You put those glasses on like it's Superman's outfit right there, baby. What up, brothers? The Diesel. Sorry I'm late. Oh, no sorry's, man. How we doing, Black Kelsey? We doing good? Oh, yeah, we good. Black Kelsey, that's what they call me.

That was so funny. Gold, man. Oh, gosh. All right. Who's the guy in the green fucking shirt?

I'm Brandon. That's intern Brandon. Oh, intern. Hi, Brandon. I'm doing my best. Making my way up in the world. Yeah, yeah. You're good, Brandon. Thank you. Let's roll. Our guest today is 7'1", center from Louisiana State University. That's right. He's a 15-time NBA All-Star, four-time NBA champion, three-time Finals MVP. God damn.

Damn! A league MVP, Olympic gold medalist, and an NBA Hall of Famer. You know him as the Big Shamrock, the Big Aristotle, the Superman, Shaqtus, the Diesel, we got him! Simply Shaq! A.K.A. the Black Kelty, brother. Let's go! 92%ers, can you dig it? Please welcome Shaquille O'Neal!

Yeah, baby! You know what's crazy? I was thinking if we would have grown up together, we would have fucking been crazy. Us three at the same high school, I would have been fucking... It would have been so fun. Been fucking mayhem. We would have had a blast, man. You would have blended in perfectly in the Heights, baby. Yes, I would have. Man alive. Appreciate you joining. Well, how we doing? I can't complain. Thanks for having me. You know, I love both of you guys. I want to say I'm proud of both of you guys, and I appreciate it.

I know we don't see each other a lot, but when we do see each other, it's all love and respect. Always, man. Even though I am who I am, I'm still a fan of the game and a fan of sports and the way you two gave your all.

Much appreciated. You know it, baby. Thank you so much. We took notes about how you played it and how you've done it in life. I'm still taking notes about how you did it. You got to get me on the DJ booth, man. You got to teach me your ways, dog. I got you. I got you. Whatever you got. And you know what's crazy? You opening up for your girlfriend, bro, you'll be a fucking star. Ha ha ha!

10 minutes. 10 minutes hyping up the crowd. Oh, my God. Come on now. You know I'm a hype man. You know I'm a hype man. You can get a rocket in there. So good. Have the Swifties bouncing off the walls before Tay gets out there. Speaking of Swifties, your brother did something nobody else in the world can do. He walked me right over. I got to shake her hand. Oh, nice. And, you know, she was with Ice Spice. I was more on Ice Spice than I was on your woman, but...

Thank you, brother. I appreciate you very much. Oh, my God. Ice spice. Hey, boo boo. How you doing?

That was awesome. That was awesome. That was the Super Bowl I like to remember. No, man, I appreciate you saying that, man. You mentioned this already. You were on Inside the NFL, and you said if you played in the NFL, you'd be known as a black house. We're going to play this link for anybody that hasn't seen that clip yet. We thought this was one of the funniest things we've ever seen. Brandon, can we play the clip? Let's go, intern. This is what happens when you have interns that work for you. He's on your ass.

- Intern. - What NBA players do you think would transition well into our sport? - Me. - Tight end. - Wait, wait. - Yeah, I like this. - No, no, that's right. You're too big and too much of a target to play tight end though. - I am not. You know what they would call me? They would call me the Black Kelsey.

That was my man Ocho Cinco giving it back to you. A lot of people don't know this, that when I was coming up, football was my sport. Okay, so you played? Yeah, I was football all the way, and I was really good. I used to tell people Too Tall Jones was my father.

I really played, and I played a nose guard on defense, and I played tight end on offense. That's what I'm saying, baby. I knew you were tight end, man. And I used to bring the pain. Yeah. I can only imagine. All the kids in school, they used to talk trash. And this was in the days when you could rough people up and try to hurt them. Oh, yeah. It was that guy. It was encouraged. It was encouraged. And then one day my junior year, I scored.

And a little freaking dude hit me on the side of my knee, and I was out for about eight weeks. So, you know, football is my thing. And then my father came in the house one day and smacked me in the back of the head with a paper. It was like, you need to fucking stop playing football and focus on basketball. And when I opened up the paper, John Koncak had just signed 15 for three. Oh, wow. Yes. So I'm like, first of all, who is John Koncak? My dad was like,

I got some tickets. We're going to go watch them. I was living in San Antonio at the time. So the Hawks were playing the Spurs. And no disrespect to John Konkak, he was an NBA, he was a pro, he was a good player. Made a lot of money, it sounds like. Yeah, he made a lot of money. But I was doing the things in high school like he was doing in the pros. And I was like, shit, if this dude's making 15 for three, my dream was to make 8 million for 10 years.

That's my whole dream coming out. I wanted to make eight million for 10 years and I had it all set up. I wanted a Mercedes Benz. I wanted a Jimmy Bronco. I wanted like it. That was my whole thing. So I started playing basketball, but I used my football pain experience when I was playing basketball. Like when I turned,

With the elbows up, I'm trying to knock your teeth out your mouth. Oh, yeah. No doubt. People always go back to the hacker shack and they're like, oh, he got filed a lot? I never felt it. That's because of my football prowess and my football experience. But I think if I would have stuck with football, I probably would have.

I probably would have definitely made tight end. Like, I hate when people look at me and be like, oh, you'd be a good offensive. I'm not a lineman. I'm a showman. In the 90s, for sure. You running up and down the floor, I could see it right now. People that say that don't remember Orlando Shaq, right? They don't remember him running the court like that. That's what they don't remember. Duh. We had a...

We had a play in high school on the goal line, alley-oop on three. Yeah, alley-oop on three. I go five yards in and turn towards the corner, and you just fucking throw it up, and I would fucking go get it and snag it. I used to watch – And how about they go to Coach Reed right the fuck now? Yes, I used to go –

I used to watch Kellen Winslow. Oh, yeah. And all those guys. Yeah. So, yeah. So, you know, football was my sport. That's awesome. I believe it. Every time they ask me to do these rosters, build an NFL roster, who are you picking? I'm picking Shaq every day of the week. Because you did play basketball like an NFL player. Like, anybody that watched you play in the post is like, yeah, that dude could rush the passer. He could catch the ball. Like, he could do it all. I don't know. Just put him out on the field. I ain't worried about it one bit.

I'm going to send you a picture of me winning my first punt, pass, and kick contest. Yes!

Yes! At Fort Momma, New Jersey. Man, please send that. Please send that. Did you have the whole outfit on? No, I just had sweatpants and a t-shirt. T-shirt and everything. Because Coach Reed has one out there where he's got the full Rams get-up on. The helmet, the shoulder pads. Oh, man, it's hilarious. I saw that. Was that him when he was like 12? That was really him, yes. That's him? Bigger than every kid out there? Yes.

That wasn't him. Yes, yes. He tells the story. I saw that clip the other day. I was like, who the fuck is that? He was dominating them little kids. Too funny. I have to ask you this right off the jump, big guy. Was it not allowed for you to go straight to the league? Or did you just want that college experience or that LSU experience? It was, but my father was so big on education. I got you. He was really big on education. I got you.

He did a great job of teaching me horror stories. I always tell this story, and some people may take it the wrong way, but I really appreciate what he did. The day Lynn Bias passed away from coke, my father came in and touched me up very nice. And the message was, if I ever catch you doing drugs, I will fucking kill you.

So I didn't know who Lin Bias was, and he came in the house fucking crying, uniformed, and he just fucking grabbed me. If I ever catch you with coke, I will fucking kill you. And in my mind, I was like, Dad, we drink Pepsi. I'm like, I think I'm like 13 at the time, but he felt like that was his son. He felt like a guy that had it all.

You know, it was going to be the number one pick, get drafted by the Boston Celtics, and he made a terrible mistake and he passed away. So I never did that. I always stayed away from that. But every time an athlete got in trouble, I would sort of get in trouble for it. So every time I, you know, when I became a professional athlete, all the stuff that was in my mind, especially athletes that...

Five years after they play, they don't have any money. I was really, really conscious about, you know, business and saving money and, you know, doing the right thing. So hell yeah. I'm telling you, Diesel, I'm still taking notes by how you're doing stuff. You've done it such a professional way.

professional way, your professionalism on the court, off the court, in the business world, man. I've been taking notes for a long time, man. You've been doing it the right way. Well, thank you. I appreciate it. And I'm taking notes from you guys, too. You guys are doing your thing. Do you ever wonder what it would have been like playing in, like, today's NBA with all of the social media and the podcasts? And it's like, you were a larger-than-life NBA figure, not just as a player, but, like,

major motion pictures coming out in like what do you mean kazam are you fucking kidding me this guy I was about to ask him why he stopped being in the acting world hey second favorite genie second favorite I'll give Robin Williams a nod Robin Williams gets one but Shaq is getting my second favorite genie ever yes so I I I

I always tell athletes it's okay to be professional jealousy of somebody else. Like I'm jealous of you guys. You guys podcast is fucking killing. It's making money. But instead of using that to create envy, I use that to create motivation. So to answer your question, if I was playing, I'd be a trillionaire. I believe it. Because when I use social media, I said to myself, like,

When I first got on social media, I was shown off. And then my mother got on social media. She was so disappointed. She's like, baby, you don't have to show off your gold chains and your cars. So I had to figure out a way to use social media. So I use 60% to make you laugh, 30% to inspire you. Like if I see something inspirational or cool, I'll forward it. And then the last 10% is, hey,

This is Shaq for beatbox. This is Shaq for ICS. So I do it like that. I probably would have had the same method growing up. I would have made so much money. I'm writing this shit down. I'm telling you, it's brilliant, man. Business mind. And then you got a lot of bums making a lot of money.

And you guys know this, like if it's a tight end making a certain amount, he's making more than you and he did that, you're going to use that as motivation. Oh, this motherfucker had 12 touchdowns and he's making 100 million. You're going to go out and get 19 touchdowns and then just tell your agent, hey, they're giving me a new deal. So I would definitely love to play in this era.

I would still bring the football pain and I would be different. You know, I'd be watching these podcasts and say, oh, Shaq couldn't play in his era. He couldn't guard the three. They're out of their minds. It would be simple. As soon as Joker shoots a three, I'm going to run right past him and I'm going to pulse up in the lane for 100 seconds.

So if you hit the three, good. But I know by the time we get the ball and throw it down, I'm definitely going to hit the two. I'm going to hit more twos than you hit threes. So I would probably only shoot a three like if we got up. But I would not go away from my strength. My strength is power and height. So I'm going to take the high percentage shots because if I'm averaging 30 –

It's an easy job for my agent. If I'm standing out there shooting threes and averaging 15, that's a tough job. But if I'm averaging 30, scoring a lot of points, then my agent can say, hey, Rudy Gobert got 250. Me and Shaq, we want 700. There we go. We want 700. If Rudy's getting 250, that's what I'm saying. Tetson's more dominant, so the numbers got to make sense. Do you think the modern NBA is missing that aggression in that way? Because it wasn't just you that used to play that game. Yeah.

The post, it used to be a much more physical game. It's all of sports nowadays, you know? Oh, sure. You can't hit anybody. Baseball, you can't even fucking block the plate at home. But that was one of the reasons I wanted men to, like, after the Cavs got eliminated, one of the reasons I was rooting for the Timberwolves is because Anthony Edwards looked like he was mad the entire game. Like, at least this guy's showing some aggression. I like the way this guy's playing. Exactly. You're right. I wish in this thing of ours...

I hear you. I like that. It's tough, man. It's tough. It used to be the most exciting weekend of my life.

I don't know who's in charge, but it's terrible. So to answer your question, the league is getting soft. The game is getting soft.

And it's going to take a couple of people to bring him back. Like, I don't – I hate big guys shooting threes. Victor Wimbeon is a great player, but I would love to just see him dominate so much that people start complaining and they change rules. Like, I could shoot, but I'm not going to shoot a three. Why would I shoot a three when I could put your little ass in the basket and dunk on you? Put these balls in your face. Oh, yes! I'm getting so freaking fired up right now. Yes. Yes.

That was amazing. Absolutely. Before we get to your documentary, because I definitely want to pump that up, man. I got to ask you now that we're talking about balls in your face. What, what, what,

What exact, who do you think gave you like the hardest time playing? Like who defended you the best? What teams did that? The little guys always defended me the best. The Charles Oakleys. Cleveland's finest, baby. The Anthony Masons. Yeah, the four guys I had a problem with. I didn't really have any problems with any big guys.

The big guy that taught me the most valuable lesson is Akeem Olajuwon. Because the year we made it to the finals, we beat Michael Jordan, the greatest player ever. So I already thought the job was done.

And then we had 10 days off. And living in Orlando, you're going to restaurants, it's standing ovations and, you know, you're getting extra deals and it's the parades. And, you know, me and one of my other teammates were jumping on private planes. We're going to Miami and partying. You know, because I like to get ready three days before. But you got 10 days off. I couldn't be like this for 10 days. So I'm like, you know what, let me take a couple days off. We're definitely going to win. I'm playing against the king. We won one, we won one. He's the same size.

We're definitely going to win. But he taught me never to celebrate too early. So when we played in the finals, I didn't see that Akeem. And they had just won the year before. So they were going for it back to back. And he just fucking taught me a lesson. So I always said to myself, if I get back to the finals again, I'm going to dominate so fucking much that it won't be a question of who's going to win. So, you know, he kind of got his way in that finals.

Me and Dave Robson, probably even. Me and Tim Duncan, probably even. Me and Patrick Ewing, even. Me and Alonzo, even. Like, we always try to, you know, cancel each other out. I couldn't stop them. They couldn't stop me. But the guys like Charles Oakley and fucking Karl Malone, the little guys that can get...

Get leverage underneath you. Yeah, get leverage. Yeah, those are the ones that gave me problems. Rick Mahorn had this move because he was a big body. He put his body on you. And as soon as I fucking go backwards, he would move and I would fucking fall off. Pull the chair on you? Yes, yeah. Right on.

That move right there. Man, that's crazy. Let's go ahead and shine some light on the new documentary called Power Moves out now on Netflix. We got the trailer, but if you want to, please tell us about it. Yeah, let us know what we're getting into. So when I was coming out of high school, I went to Nike and I went to Reebok. Reebok gave me my own deal because I wanted to have my own shoe and all that. So...

Signed with Reebok. Got away from Reebok a little while. Started my own shoe brand, which is still out there. Shag brand still doing very well. So now...

I'm sitting around one day, and again, this is like this professional jealousy thing. So I go see a lot of kids, right? And I get them whatever they want. Hey, man, what you want? Shoes. So one kid was like, hey, I want some Jordans. So I bring a whole bunch of Jordans to the place because I don't really care, like a Jordan, an Under Armour, whatever the kids want, I'm going to take care of it. So the kid goes, no, man, I want some Jordan 11s.

I'm like, what the fuck is Jordan 11th? Right. And so I go look and Jordan got all these fucking shoes. So now I'm jealous and I'm pissed. I'm like, where are the Shaq ones, the Shaq two, the Shaq three. Yeah. So I call Reebok and it was like, Hey man, we've been purchased by Adidas and we're not really doing much. Like, what do you mean? We're not doing well. We need to fucking do a deal. Now we get some Shaq ones, two, three. So the company that I'm with authentic brands group, I went to my guys, Jamie and Corey. And I was like, man, we need to buy Reebok.

Because I remember at the time, we were never number one, but we were never number three. We was always a respectable number two. They got Mike. We got Shaq. Y'all got LeBron and Kobe and all those guys. And we got AI. We was right there in the conversation. The first valuable lesson I learned, because when I came in, I was like, hey, man, where's the high tops? They was like, we don't do high tops. Like, I don't give a fuck what you don't do. We're doing high tops. And then I brought my son in to help me.

speak the language of these youngsters. Because as you guys know, these fucking youngsters are crazy. Different dudes, man. Different dudes, man. So my son was very smart. I told him very well. He knows that he can't confront me. So he said, Dad, I want you to come to the tournament with me. So I go to the tournament. He's like, I don't want you to watch the game. I just want you to look at all the shoes. And I'm like, OK, smart guy, low tubs.

And I'm talking 20 fucking courts, not just one court. It's like a stadium full of courts. Low tops, low tops. I was like, holy shit. Everybody was right. We don't even do high tops no more. Everybody's shooting threes, man. But like I said about the championship experience, I said, okay, I know I'm the president, but pipe down a little bit and you don't have to, you know, come in with your shoulders all broad. Just listen to the people and see what they say and just be a great teammate. So yeah.

We launched our first shoe in July. And the first Sunday I had to make was Angel Reese because I know her. Oh, yeah. The LSU connection. That's right. She's the type that. So I went to her and said, listen, I could do something nobody's going to do for you. What's that? So I can give you your own shoe. You want to go to Nike and wear everybody else's shoe or you want to have your own shoe? Like it took Asia Wilson, the best player in the league.

She's been in the league all night long, but she just now got her first shoe. I said, I can do that for you right away. So that was my first signing. We're going to go young. I signed a couple of young guys and we're just going to, you know, regrow the brand and, you know, just keep putting ourselves in position because it's a lot of, it's way too many shoe brands out there now. When I was coming up, it was Nike, Reebok, and maybe Converse, and maybe Puma. And I'll say this, not to interrupt you Shaq,

please do this and do it right because there are so not only there's so many shoe brands they're all such shit they're made so cheap they don't feel good Trav knows this I've been complaining about cleats in the NFL for like the last what 10 years Trav like something has happened where I don't know if they've gone to cheaper materials or what's happened but my feet like don't

It's different. It's definitely the materials. They're going for lighter materials. And you guys have a shoe deal. Trav does. I got an on the, on the field deal. Yeah. I,

Off the field is, that's just, I wear Jordans on the field. Like they're, because they have that old school retro Jordan high top from the 90s that I really love. Yeah, I don't know how long your deal is, but whenever y'all want to talk about Kelsey Kleeks at Reebok, I could fucking walk you in. Hey, no, no, I'm serious. I could walk you in personally. I got the key card. We get the football pumps going, baby. Okay, well, so hey.

Whenever y'all want to talk business, let me know. Reebok was, uh, they, they were sponsors. The people forget they were the NFL spots when I first got it. They did everything. All of them. So, you know, Adidas did a wonderful job by, by purchasing them and then taking all their deals. I was like, it was actually a brilliant move by Adidas, but now we're coming back. All right. Love it. This is awesome, man. I cannot wait to see power moves out on Netflix. Now, um,

Did you and Iverson, did you have any sway in bringing Iverson to Reebok? Yes, because I'm at the point in my life where it's never been all about me. And I realized that I was the man at Reebok, but AI took it to that next level. Oh, yeah. Because again... His inspiration throughout the league was crazy. Throughout the world, I should say. I'm a big guy and...

You know, I know I'm loved by many, but little guys are always loved and always admired for some reason. Hey, man, I got a question. Hey, don't be selling that. For some reason. AI is big, but hey, come on now, Shaq, come on. I have a question. Don't be saying that. All right.

How come they didn't use you a lot at the Super Bowl? I know you were fucking pissed. Like, I don't want to get you in trouble because I know you're not a T.E. You already know. We were trying to use all the pieces, man. No, no. Fuck all the pieces. I didn't know. I didn't know. I need the pieces to help us win the first fucking Super Bowl. Yeah, don't be trying to do new shit. Like, I don't want you saying they didn't get in trouble, but I wasn't happy about that. All right.

I appreciate that. I appreciate that. The Eagles are doing a pretty good job of bracketing me and shit like that. No, stop it. Will you fucking stop it.com? Ha ha!

Stop trying to be funny. I'll tell you what. You don't have to talk, but I'm going to talk for you. Coach, Coach, he's fucking 6'8". Throw him the goddamn ball. Single coverage, double coverage, goal line, alley-oop. Coach, that's the play you call it. Alley-oop, baby. Alley-oop. I'm telling you, I'm going to Coach Reed with that one right now. And wait till you see this year, baby. I'm coming back with a little bit of Shaq fucking pissed off.

and ready to rock and roll, man. I know you are. All right, let's talk about the finals. How about that? What are we thinking? Pacers, Thunder, who do you think is going to take it? I think it's going to be a very interesting finals. You get all these experts to talk about, oh, the big market teams aren't there. Well, the big market teams ain't fucking good enough. They ain't good enough. It is what it is. So now you got Shea Gilgis-Alexander, who's the best player in the league.

Okay. And you got a guy on the other side, Tyrese Halliburton. You call him overrated. You kick his father out the stadium. You know, you're starting off at Madison Square Garden. You're never going to win there. And they pull it off, and they win. I think it's going to be very exciting. I think it'll either be a sweep or a close series or OKC wins 42. Like, you talk about Shea and you talk about Tyrese, they're probably going to

I don't want to say level each other out. I know Tyrese is going to do his thing. Shea is going to do his thing. But J-Dub scares me. J-Dub, that motherfucker can play. If he has great games...

OKC by far. But if Indiana can somehow slow him down, I think they have a chance. I think it's going to be fun to watch. You got two young teams that they run. They shoot threes. I think it's going to be very, very interesting. I'm actually doing game one and two, so I will be there live in the flesh. I can get a better feel at the game too. But right now, I think OKC has a nod for everybody thinking they're going to win. But Indiana's not going to quit. I believe it. I believe it. I'll tell you what, though, man.

OKC is about three hours from Kansas City. I might have to go up and catch a game. No, you take your ass to OTE. I'm working. I'm working, but a three-hour drive after practice isn't terrible. I got a question. What does OTE stand for? I always hear that. Jason knows this one. I don't know this one. Organized team activities. There you go. Oh, OTAs. OK, got it. I always thought it was off-season training.

activities and some shit. And are they mandatory? No. You got four days. You got four days that it's mandatory. Every team has a mini camp where it's mandatory. The mini camp is the only thing. Okay, because I see guys on boats and at water parks and smacking ass in the video. I'm like, aren't they supposed to be at the OTAs? I ain't going to say no names. I'll let you figure it out. I'm like, damn. Yeah.

Smack in the ass. That was a wild video. That was a wild video. I love. What is the, you played in the finals six times, Shaq. What is there that's, that I guess is different about playing in the finals as opposed to the rest of the postseason or regular season? It's different because whoever you think you are, whoever they say you are,

Now it's time to prove it. Mm-hmm. First time I went. It just fucking got me fired the fuck up. God damn it. First time I went, oh, he's the new face of the league. He beat Jordan. Him and Penny were the next Magic Johnson. And then we get swept. So now I'm fucking pissed. So now I got to come in the next season and try to do it all over again. It's like making a fucking perfect sandwich. And it's your last piece of bread. And you fucking drop it. Ha ha ha!

And you fucking drop it. Everybody knows that feeling, man. Yes, I'm saying. Everybody knows that perfect sandwich. Not only do you drop it, you drop it on the dirtiest fucking floor. And the heat goes over here. You see a fucking bug run on top of your bread. So now you're like, fuck, I got to start all over. And then, as you know, being great athletes, it's not guaranteed the next year. Nope. Right. So then I fucking go back and I lose again. Then I was like, you know what? I'm going to another team. And then you get swept. And then you get swept.

and then you lose and then you can sweat. You just fucking, it just, ah, so I've always said to myself, if I get back

I'm going to let people know I am what I say I am, and I am what the fuck you think I am, and I'm going to prove it. So that's why that first final, I tried to damn to average 40. Like I always said to myself, you need to average seven points a quarter and then maybe eight points a quarter when you get to the postseason. But I was like, you know, I need to average 10 points a quarter. Free throws or not, I need to somehow average fucking 40. So when I got that first one,

It was a relief. And five buckets of cord, like that's, that sounds so doable for the diesel. You know what I mean? It is. That's what I'm saying. Yeah. Damn. If you break it down like that, fuck. When I got that first, I was like, yeah, what the fuck you motherfuckers gonna say now? Give me my props. And then,

They let you rest for two days, but then can he do it again? Right. Yeah. I'm like, fuck, you're challenging me again? You're challenging me again. Oh, he likes to do rap albums and fucking movies. And he shouldn't have won this one or this and that. And the referee did this. I'm like, OK, so now I go get two.

And then I'm like, okay, what they like, say it, say I'm the fucking best in the league. Just fucking say it. Oh, can it be a dynasty? Like, so it's always the fact that, yeah, the fact, and then I, uh, I give all the credit to my father because growing up after you win, he take the trophy away.

Like, you remember playing youth football on Saturday and come to the house and a little cookout? By Sunday, that motherfucker's nowhere to be found. So one day, finally, I got the courage to ask him, be like, hey, man, where my trophy's at? He's like, I don't know, motherfucker. Go get another one. So that's why the...

so that's why growing up football, baseball, basketball, track and field. I did everything except wrestling. So like, it was just like, I'm, I'm trying to get another trophy just to put in the house, just to, you know, impress him. So when I got that first, that, that first MVP, NBA finals, MVP trophy, I took it to the house. We had a party and,

he's like you know this motherfucker staying with me right i wanted to take to my house he's like i was like what do you mean you know the routine i'm like i'm like i'm like for what he's motherfucking on esp and talking shit about you they told him look like he was like he it was like never enough for him never enough baby it's never enough when i sit back and look at all the stuff that i did i got i uh

You already know you've got to start from square one. You've got to get back to the basics early on in the offseason. You've got to build that thing so that by the time you're into, you know what I mean, the beginning of the season, even then you still have to build it throughout the season. That's great fatherly advice right there, man. Yeah, so I just wish these teams well. Ask me anything, fuckers. Let's do it. We're brothers and we're brothers and we're brothers. I got to ask you.

What was your favorite version of Shaq? Was your favorite version of Shaq in L.A., of Orlando? Like, what was your favorite stop? My favorite stop would probably be L.A. because I had another guy with me that was just as crazy as I was. Nice. And, you know, a lot of people, like, if you had all over to do to get them to have a better relationship, what would you do? The answer is nothing. Yeah. Yeah.

I know I drove him crazy. Because as a leader, that's what you do. I'm sure there's a lot of guys on your football team that you know they're really good, but you know they can be a whole lot better. So you push them. You push their buttons. Like I used to tell them he wasn't great. Like I don't give a fuck what they say about you. This is my fucking team. I'm the man, motherfucker. And you follow suit. And you used to drive them crazy. Yeah. You used to drive them crazy. But I know that, like, listen, I know I got to average 20, 30. What you going to do, you little punk? Yeah.

And he was trying to always outdo me. So once we... And he's a competitor, so you already know he's going to try and answer that bell. So Phil developed a system. Go to fucking Shaq early, get him involved. If he's not hitting the free throws, Kobe is your show. Yeah. And that system fucking worked. And it worked and it worked and it worked. So all the problems y'all thought we had were not really lifestyle, realistic problems. They were workplace problems.

big brother, little brother problems. Like I'm, I asked, I asked you Jason about, did you and Travis ever fight? And you told me one story, but I know there's a million fucking stories. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. But it, but if you look at the outcome, both of y'all are great. I know you push your little brother, Travis to be great. I know he probably wanted to outdo you and beat you up and all that stuff. But,

it causes greatness. Like, you know, when you're a leader, you either focus on the relationship or you focus on the task. I am focusing on the task. And sometimes when you focus on the task, the relationship may dwindle. My favorite, my favorite documentaries are looking at these teams and like, holy shit, you thought the bulls run was perfect. I didn't know they had to like that. That was the greatest documentary in my life because you know what? It made me feel like I was normal. The only shit that I was doing was like, Mike did the same shit. Right. Ah,

Thank you, Jordan. Scotty and Mike, y'all got to be honest. You got to have a little crazy in you, man. You just got to have a little crazy in you. Keep everybody on edge.

You do. I'm glad you brought that up because I watched that documentary and one of the guys I had a lot of respect for that I had always thought Phil just got surrounded by great players. I was one of those naive people. And then you watch that documentary and see how great he was at getting the best out of all of the players and the personalities. Like, what was it like playing for him in L.A.? You know, Phil treated you like a man. Yeah. Like, I always used to go to Phil's like, hey, man, you better get this little motherfucker. And he was like...

No, seriously. I'm like, you better get him. And Phil was like, no. I'm like, why? He's like, I always want him to have that aggression. And Phil was one of those smooth talk guys, never raised his voice. Like the way he explained it, he's like, if we take his aggression away, we'll ruin him. And you're going to need him down the stretch. Just work through it. So when I was leaving, I was like, this motherfucker just mind fucked me. Yeah.

It worked. It just got me. Yeah. It's so good. Because I used to go in his office and be like, Phil, you better get this motherfucker. You got to handle this shit. I'm going to handle it in a different way. And he was like, no, I'm never taking this aggression away. Michael had that same aggression. I see something in the kid. Y'all got to work it out. That's so cool, man. He, you know, treated us like men. Like, if you go back to those days, like, Phil never had really much to say about our

our so-called problems like he said no i'm not gonna take his grudge when i let him i'll i'll you know hone him in every now and then like hey dinner but you're gonna need this kid down the stretch i love it the first finals you know i'm playing great i'm averaging 40 but there's one game i i filed out i'm like fuck and and the fucking kid looks at me and he goes like this

And I said, what? He was like, I got you, Diesel. Watch this. And the motherfucker took over the game. And he actually helped us regain momentum for this. And then the next thing, we both did our thing, and we was able to win our first one. But if he don't go off in that game, I may not be able to get that first one. So I needed him. We used each other. We drove each other crazy. But, you know, I have a little brother, and I do the same thing to my little brother. And then when you told me that story, Jason, it made me feel normal. I was like, you know what?

A lot of people outside of the Stinger Vibes that don't understand, you understand the language, your brother understands the language, and Kobe understood the language. So, you know, they always ask me, what would you do different? Nothing. Nothing at all. Oh, yeah. I am getting fucking goosebumps right now. He's a real one, man. Yeah, man. It's unbelievable. You just got such a good way of describing it, man. It's fucking, it fires me the fuck up, man. Thank you.

Howdy, y'all. Before we get to more of this Shaq interview, a quick message from our friends at DraftKings. That's right. I can't be a part of this segment. As you guys know, I'm still playing. And I don't want to get caught up in the gambling. So I'm going to shoot it over to two guys who can be a part of this. Intern Brandon and Jets Jake. Hey! It's us. All right now. That's right. I'll see you guys.

Bye, Travis. Thank you to our partner, DraftKings. This week for the NBA Finals, Jake and I are going to be playing DraftKings Pick 6. We're each going to pick one square from Pick 6 board and build you guys a nice little pick set. For those who are unfamiliar, all you need to do to create a pick set is choose two or more players and select whether they'll have more or less than a certain stat and play for a huge cash prize. So, Jake,

who is the first player. I would like to say you making me do this after the Knicks ripped my heart out last week is just cool. Oh, it's weird.

It would have been great. It would have been so great. But because I can't, I'm going to be riding with the Thunder, obviously. I'm going to go with Chet Holmgren. More than 16 and a half points. Ooh, this is Jake's hater's pick. Okay, I'll complete the pick set here. I'll complete the pick set here. I'm going to go, Jake, don't listen. I'm going to go with Tyrese Halliburton. More points. I'm going to go with Tyrese Halliburton. He had a good season.

He had a great series in the Eastern Conference Finals, unless you're Jake and you hated it. Either way, that is our pick set for the week. And as much as I hate Tyrese Halliburton, they are running a promo right now where you can get more than .5 Tyrese Halliburton points. Think, even as a hater, that's too good to pass up.

Those are just the two picks we're sharing today, but you can make your whole pick set on the Pick 6 app now. And if you get all six picks correct, you had a minimum 25 times your cash. Dunk on your competition and it might be worth 500 times your cash. That's the type of upside Pick 6 provides.

Now that everyone knows about some of the awesome picks available on DraftKings Pick 6, you are ready for the NBA Finals. And for those of you who haven't checked them out yet, you can get a new customer offer. All new customers who play $5 will get $50 in bonus picks available in most states, including Texas, California, and Missouri. Get in on the action now. Download the DraftKings Pick 6 app and sign up using code NEWHEIGHTS. Pick 6 and pick us.

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in hospital rooms and doctor's offices. Hi, I'm Mr. Ballin, the host of Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries. And each week on my podcast, you can expect to hear stories about bizarre illnesses no one can explain, miraculous recoveries that shouldn't have happened, and cases so baffling they stumped even the best doctors.

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What had everybody else fired up and at least emotional was the end of the NBA on TNT the other week, man. After 35 seasons, it was the end of NBA on TNT. But inside the NBA is headed to ESPN. So you guys are staying together, right? Yeah, we're staying together. And, you know, I've been getting a lot of flack about this lately because I have no emotions. Wasn't allowed to have emotions growing up.

Of course, when certain things come in, like Kobe passing away, I cried like a baby. My sister passing away, I cried.

My father passed away in crime. But other than that, I don't really have emotions. So everybody's sad and all that. But I turned it around, and I just bring it into military style. What I mean by that is when I played in Orlando, it was four years. And you guys know military terms is four years. So I spent one term in Orlando. I played eight years in L.A. I spent two terms there. I played one term in Miami. I've been in TNT for 12 years. That's three terms.

Wow. Now it's time to do something different. Like, you know, Ernie, my guy the other day, you know, he came looking down on why everybody was sad. He's like, man, we're not going to be able to say TNT anymore. And I was like, yeah, I understand. But we're still together. The four horsemen are still together. Still it. And it's time to go to a new army base and take the fuck over. And I let everybody know that I'm going to that next network.

I'm on their ass. Yeah. In quotes. Who's ever in the way. You're at ESPN? Yeah. So, yeah, I told him, I said, whoever's in our way, we're on our, we don't know what the show's going to be. We don't know what it look like, but us four together, I'm sure we'll be able to figure out. Oh, man. I don't get sad.

Don't get happy. Yeah, so. Best show in sports, baby. A lot of people are like, hey, man, you need to show emotions. That's not healthy. My thing is I've been very successful doing it this way. Why would I change? Exactly. Yeah. Imagine me being soft, Jason, and Travis. Do you want me to be soft? Do you want me to be soft? No, man. We want you to be the diesel, baby. That's what I'm saying. I can't do it. I will have to ask you this. What's your favorite moment of,

from the show on TNT. Charles talking about the women from San Antonio. Oh my God. And hold on. This is one for the intern to do it later when he's at it. And if you haven't seen Charles talking about women from San Antonio, here's a clip right here. There we go, Shaq. There we go. This guy's a pro. They do have some big old women. Oh my God.

I mean, come on now. See what you do to him. Oh, my God. I'm sure living in San Antonio, you saw it from a completely different angle, but that shit's hilarious. We had a moment one time where, like, they never call us in for, like, you know, pregame and tell us what they're going to do. But I get a phone one day, emergency meeting.

So we fucking get there like 2 o'clock, shows not till 7. You got all the big wigs coming down. And it was like, Charles, you know, you're talking about the women from San Antonio.

we need you to apologize. So Charles says, okay. He's like, okay, I'm sorry. So we get to the show and Ernie starts the show. He's like, Ernie, can I say something? He said, you know what? I like to joke around and talk about the people from San Antonio, but if you think I'm going to apologize, you got a whole nother thing coming. And just went on.

I'm telling you now, if you think I'm going to apologize, hell is going to freeze over. You ain't got to like the show. You can fire me right now. I'm going to get paid. He just went out and I was like, oh my God, this is the best thing ever. So good.

So good. I'm not apologizing or nothing. Santo was a great guy, and y'all know y'all got some big old women. I know I just be joking. And he just fucking went out, and I was like, oh, my God. He's the funniest guy ever. In tears, man. What was it like joining the show in 2011? Yeah, compared to how it is right now. I was nervous, and I was terrible because—

I wanted to be on my Brian Gumbel. Oh, okay. And I used my hands. And the producer, TK, called me one day and said, if you keep doing that, you're not going to be here. We want you to be Shaq. I was like, what does that mean? He's like, fucking be Shaq. I was like, oh, I get to do that? Yeah. So once I realized that, I was able to just be myself. Because good game, bad game, doesn't matter. After the show, they want to hear experience.

They want to hear stories. And they want to hear tactics from respectable people. Like, I don't know a lot about football. I'm listening to both of you motherfuckers. I know what y'all did. I'm listening. I don't give a fuck what you say. You should wear pink socks. The motherfucker should wear pink socks. I know what. Listen, I've seen it firsthand what both of you have done in championship situations. So y'all are like, ah, to me. So I know when you listen to a Shaq, he must know what he's talking about. He's been there six times. Barkley's a Hall of Famer.

Kenny's won it twice. And then we add a little fun to it, a lot of humor to it, and I think that's what's always made our show great. I don't respect people that don't really know about this thing of ours. I will respect your opinion, but if you ain't really been there and done that, that's just me. There's a lot of great guys that do a lot of great job of commenting, but if I can ask, how do you know?

that means that you're a little bit unreliable. Like, you guys know. Like, you know what it is in the Super Bowl situation. You know what it is in the playoff situation. You know what it is in the must-win situation and a bye week and all that shit. You guys know. I don't know. I'm Shaq, but I'm Shaq over here in this world. Just because I'm a commentator don't mean I know it. So the fact that we all have that experience, that people know we have, I think that, and then we're allowed to be ourselves here,

I think that's what makes it very, very exciting. All right, we're going to ask this. I know you've been asked this a million times. What's your all-time starting five, Shaq? Curry at the one. Curry, okay. Kobe at the two. Jordan at the three. Tim Duncan at the four. Okay. And me at the five. I mean, goddamn, that's a good-ass team. And nobody's beating that team. But, like, I hate doing these lists because I don't know –

I don't know how your guys are going to edit it, right? But let's just say I did that to somebody that didn't like us, and then they'll lead it off with Shaq excludes LeBron, right? And, like, it causes, like, you know, unnecessary beef. That's not the way we do it. Exactly. I know. I understand, but I'm just saying, like, I hate doing these lists because, you know, I don't want people to think I'm dissing them. But you asked me my team. I need a shooter.

I need the best shooter in the world. Second guy I name is a guy who I helped raise. I know he's a fucking dog. I know what he's going to do. And the other guy, Jordan, is the guy everybody looks up to. He's on everybody's list. Exactly. I know Kobe's going to be trying to do what Jordan's trying to do. So you got Steph shooting threes when I get double. You got Kobe and Michael doing this inner thing. And then you got the big fundamentals taking that motherfucker facing you up, shooting off the glass. Off the glass. And then

You got me. That's my team. I mean, that's a fucking – That's a damn good roster right there. Hell yeah. I always hate these lists just because I feel like it's hard to go – when you're going different generations of – at least for football. Like, I don't know how guys that played in the 80s and 90s would fare up today or especially guys that played in the 60s are going to play against modern – like, the game has changed so much. And I imagine it's similar in the NBA, but – And I love those –

questions because it's really not an answer. Like, we'll never know. So basically, it's your... I've seen a guy in a fucking barbershop almost come to blows. We're talking about if Jordan could play in this era. I'm talking about they was fucking really good. I'm just sitting there watching like...

And they're fucking, Jordan could have played. No, he couldn't have. They're just going off. I have a question for you, Travis. What's good? Has anyone ever hit you and made you kind of, and I know you're not a punk. I know you're not scared, but has anybody ever hit you and made you like say, okay, I need to watch out for this motherfucker because he hit me so hard?

Bernard Pollard got me my first game ever in the league. And ever since then, my head – I was so much more aware of what coverages they were in before the ball was even snapped. Like I told myself, I was like, man, I got to stay out of that situation. Right, right. Because I could have ran my route slightly different to avoid the aggressive head-on collision. He would have still lit my shit up, but –

I would have at least been going in a different direction than instead of looking back at Alex Smith going directly at him. That was probably the one time where I was like,

I got up and was like, what the fuck just happened? Got it. Like, it took me a second to realize just, like, because it all happened so fast. And I was typically a bigger guy in college amongst, you know what I mean, the Big East and the guys that size. Bernard Pollard was 6'3", 6'1", 6'3", somewhere in there, and, like, a big, like, old-time, like, safety size. So when he hit me, I felt like a train just came through and just –

Smoke me. I'll give you two. I'll give you two, Shaq. One, Brandon Spikes. I went up against this dude. He played for New England. This dude had the biggest, thickest head, and we're in training camp playing the New England Patriots. Biggest, thickest head. We're in training camp. We run this little pin and pull play where me and the right guard pull. And I'm supposed to block him, but he beats me to the hole and just decapitates the right guard. And I'm like, oh.

We're strapping up today, boys. Put the mouthpiece in like that's the way it's going to be. Bro, you would hit him and your whole head would hurt. It was crazy. I don't know how. And then another guy, Gerard Davis, who played for Detroit, this motherfucker wouldn't even try to make the tackle. We would be looking at each other right before the play. Like we know we're both about to hit each other. And he would just cut. And we would both like two Rams just playing in the middle of a field, butting heads so much so that the ref,

came up to me after like the 10th play of us doing this like the whole game's happening but outside of this whole game it's just me and this dude and we're just butting our head every single and it's like the ref the ref comes up to me in the huddle he's like man you and 40 are really going at i'm like so it isn't just in my head this is actually this looks what it feels like

I'm like, this dude was hit so hard. I never understood. I'm like, dude, if you just tried to make a tackle, you'd probably be one of the best linebackers in the NFL. All he wanted to do was knock people out. It was crazy. That's crazy. That was the league, baby. I have one more before we get to this last segment. I was going to ask you, I just came back to my memory. Growing up, like I know there was nobody that was really –

You're the most dominant that's ever done it because of the size, your athleticism, your mentality. But was there anybody that you tried to like kind of channel or take pieces of their game and bring them to yours when you were growing up? Great question. Shaquille O'Neal is a mixture of Patrick Ewing. Okay. David Robinson and Magic Johnson.

Nice. You know, Kenny Smith said this the other day. He said, the reason why the league is the way it is because everybody's a product of their environment. When I was really starting to dominate, all the other centers would get scared and try to step out and shoot jumpers.

So as I'm fading out, now you got the Dierks and you got the KGs and you got the Tim Duncans. They were phenomenal post players, but they also shot a lot of jumpers. So now the kids are watching them. Like when I was coming up, it was fucking jump hooks and drop steps and dunks. That's because I saw Mr. Patrick Ewing. You want to hear a funny story about Patrick Ewing? Please. I saw him the other day. Patrick Ewing.

I actually saw him the other day. He's like, man, we used to have some battles here. I was like, bro, you were my idol coming to high school. His eyes got wide. He's like, for real? You didn't fucking know that you were my idol in high school? You guys had so many battles. That's why. He was like, for real? I was like, Pat, I wore 33. I wore the fucking knee pads. That's because you did it. Like he had no idea. That's crazy. So I grew up watching those guys. And then I remember watching Dave Robson run the fucking floor.

and catch that alley-oop. So I went to my friend Joe Cavalero. I was like, we're going to try this play in high school where when the guy leans, I'm going to fucking spin and you throw it up. And did that in high school and college. And then Magic Johnson was a big guy that can handle the ball and, you know, make fast shoot plays. So those were the three guys that I tried to pattern myself after. And then there's one more guy, Ronnie Cycli. When he was in college, he used to dunk and get his knees up. Oh.

Oh, that's where we got the Shaq logo. Exactly. So I did that one time in the game in high school playing against some little kids, and the whole gym got terrified. I was like, holy shit. I figured something out. So every time I dunk, I try to get my knees up, which makes you look powerful, makes you look like you're trying to tear the rim down. So, you know, it's crazy. Nobody's ever asked me that question, but that's who I patterned my game up. Man, I love it.

I love it. Who would have knew? Patrick Chewing, baby. Yes. Legend. This is our last segment, Shaq. We're going to rapid fire some questions at you. Feel free. You don't got to answer it. It's called We Gotta Ask. Let's do it. Do you remember your first dunk? Yes. How old were you? 16. Everybody remembers their first one. I was having a game. Remember I told you Magic Johnson was one of my guys? This game, I'm on my Magic Johnson shit. Tone's down here. Tone's down here.

tallest guy on the other team is six foot. So I'm going to get it, take off the glass, just lay it up. So I got 40 by the end of three. One time I crossed the dude up.

And I finger roll it and I miss. And my father's in his, like, my father was the guy that's never impressed. Like, he would be the guy that if I have 40 and miss 10 free throws, you should have had 50, pussy. So, like, I'm doing all this shit in the game trying to impress him. He's not smiling. So, I cross the dude up, AIs the ha, finger roll and miss. He walks on the court in his Army Fatigues, timeout. Like, we're in the middle of the game. Call a timeout. So, I call a timeout and say, come outside.

So I go outside and he said- There's no way this is real. This cannot be. I promise you this is real. So we go outside the gym. Little gym. Because, you know, my graduating class was 39, but from 9 to 12, it was only 200 kids. Small gym, one side of the bridge. He said, go outside. I said, yo, man, what the fuck you doing? So, you know, I'm all American, cool. He's like, man, I'm just working on my magic. And before I could say Johnson, whap. Fuck Magic Johnson. Whap.

beat Shaquille O'Neal and start dunking and shit. I'm tired of watching this shit. So now, and then again, and then again, remember I told you about emotions? It hurt, but I can't go in the gym crying. Right. Yeah. But everybody, like all my boys already knew what the fuck happened. Saw it on your face, yeah. Yeah, so now I go in the gym and I'm looking at the coach and he called the play. I'm like, fuck that play. Give me the ball. So he got me the ball and I'm, and now he's celebrating. That's what the fuck I'm talking about. Yeah.

Kill that little motherfucker. That's my son. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You got a motherfucker 6'2". So after that, I was like, okay. So that was 16, my junior year, and I was 6'11". Not that I couldn't dunk. One time I tried to dunk in a game and I missed, and I missed at 6'11". So I kind of, you know, everybody was laughing, so I kind of just, you know, shot away from him. But he took me outside, bro, and touched me up.

And I've been dunking ever since. Bro, can you imagine the guy that was on the receiving end of this on the other team? He's just like, God damn it, Mr. O'Neal. Why did you fire him up like this? My dad was 6'8", drill sergeant, PT every morning. Everybody, the whispers throughout the entire community are just like, hey, listen, if you're playing Shaq, if his dad takes him outside in the middle of the game...

Just quit. Throw the towel. Get off the court. Throw the towel. It's going to get ugly. But it was like a smack that was heard throughout the gym because before I left, it was two cheerleaders. As soon as I walked in, everybody was like, eggshells. That is such a wild story. That is so amazing. And I'm looking at everybody and the coach is like, okay, we're going to run. I was like, we're not running that play. Give me the fucking ball. Give me the fucking ball, man.

That's fucking legendary. Do you got a favorite dunk of all time? My favorite dunk of all time was two of them. And I actually just seen this dude the other day, Chris Dudley, and he loved it. I was like, are you trying to fight or are you trying to give me a hug? He started laughing, I started laughing, gave him a hug. Nice. I took it as a sign of respect when you didn't double me. So I'm back and I don't even know who's on me. Like, you know, they're switching. I'm like, I know this ain't fucking Chris Dudley.

So I take one little dribble to double steal. Like, you know, he's trying to. So I'm like, I take one dribble. Like, the fuck? I take two dribbles. I even carry on the second. I was like, oh, these motherfuckers not coming? No, I got to take that. And then just drop step and then boom. And like he was all on me. And I was like, fuck off, man. And then my second favorite dunk was game seven.

Portland is kicking ass. They are kicking ass. So we come to the time on the fourth quarter and Phil Jackson, remember when you used to like mind play with your minds? Mm-hmm. All right, guys. Great year. They're kicking ass. I'll see you next year. So now we're like, Kobe's pissed. He said it. I'm pissed. He said it. I'm like, man, fuck that. Let's go on a little run. Legendary quote, man. Kobe's in Kobe mode. He's getting to the hole and two people, three people, he don't care. He knows he has to score. And I'm telling him the whole time, hey, man, that fucking lob is open.

All right, all right. Hey, man, that lava's open. So we make kind of eye contact. I won't say he winked at me, but he looked at me, and he crosses Scotty up at the top of the key. You know what? I'm not going to even talk about the clip. Here it is right here.

Brandon. Enter Brandon. Don't you fuck that up. Yeah, don't you fuck that up. I'm going to be on your shit, Brandon. But that was like the backdoor oop, the spin-off of him. And they go, man, iconic. No, no. That was the one where he crossed Scotty up and he got in the middle lane and he threw the motherfucker up too high. And I had to go get it. There it goes. Oh, okay, Brandon. Okay, Brandon. Right there. Throw it up, Kobe. Throw it up, Kobe. Oh!

Yeah, Colb. Good pass. Yes, sir. That one right there. That place is fucking rocking. Oh, my God. Because I kept telling him, I was like, yo, man, the lob is there. He was like, because listen, one thing about Colb, when Colby gets in a killer mode, don't fucking talk to him.

Like, he's not trying to hit nothing. Like, he knows he's in attack mode. He's going to score first. I'm like, yo, man, that lob is there. All right. Yo, Kobe, the lob is there. All right. Motherfucker, I said the lob is there. Yeah, all right. And then, like, he at the top of the kid, he gives me one of those things right there. And I'm like, huh?

Is this it? And then when he threw it up, the motherfucker threw up too high. I had to fucking go. I was like, oh, I don't know. And then, you know, as you see, I didn't catch it. Like, I just set it myself. I set it myself. I get my hands on it, just fucking punch it through. Play it again, Brandon. I mean, because it wasn't really a clean catch. Hurry up, Brandon. Play it one more time, Brandon. He's not ready. He's not ready. Come on, Brandon. Look right here.

See, he backs it right there and right there. He said, okay, boy, yeah. See that hand? That's the second one. He threw it and I just fucking slapped it. Yeah, I just slapped it through. That's fucking electric. Talk. The whole crowd, that place is going ape shit. Oh my gosh. You watched that shit all day, man. Yeah, I just slapped it through. Spiked it. Oh.

Oh, man. Absolutely legendary. Man, that's fucking electric. Which was worse, eating the hot chip on Inside the NBA or eating Da Bomb on Hot Ones? The hot chip on TMD. I thought I was going to die. That fucking, the hot chip. That was the craziest experience I've ever been through. That ruined me for the next three days. Yeah, that was the worst experience ever. It ruined me for three days straight.

I was shitting out fire. It was ridiculous. I was too. I ate it and it wasn't that hot, but because it was an old, dry chip, I was like, let me drink some water. That water activated it. Activated it? It activated to where my throat started closing, so I'm a type of like, I go to the top of my, I know I'm not about to die on TNT. Oh, no.

I was like, so then I had to drink more water. That shit just kept getting hotter. But then I remember, and this is how I got my Icy Hot deal. One day I had a fucking thigh bruise and the trainer rubbed Icy Hot on it.

And that shit rolls up to the boys. Oh, yeah. My shit got so fucking hot. So I'm in the shower one day like, ah. And the Spanish guy was like, senor, senor, milk. I was like, what? He got milk. I was like, what the fuck you mean milk? I was like, bro, you playing with me? He's like, no, papi. We eat a lot of spicy foods. Yeah, he's like, no, papi, we eat spicy foods. And the capsaicin, you put milk on it. So I said, here, $100, go get me milk. So I'm in the shower pouring milk on my body. And everybody worked.

I said, so now that I'm like, oh, I need some water. I told him, hey, go get me some milk. So I'm in the back drinking. He was like, why are you drinking milk? I was like, because it stops the capsaicin. Oh, my God. That shit was so hot. I went ice cream, but like I said, it ruined me for the next three days. Oh, ice cream works too? I think it's any dairy, yeah. Okay. I think it's fat. Fat, for some reason, it messes with the capsaicin. Got it. What do you think of the new Magic jerseys? I haven't seen them. Brandon.

Good time to shine. Brought back the pinstripes. I like the one on the right. Oh, the one on the right with that 32 would have been fucking nice. The black pinstripe. I likes it. Yeah, it's good.

The Wagner boys. Yeah, those are my favorite brothers since the Kelsey brothers. The Wagner boys. Yes. Hold on. I just made an idea for you guys to do a reality show. Okay. A million dollars prize, the best brothers in the world. Be the Wagner boys, you, the Mannings, the twins that play for Detroit and Houston. Be like five teams and y'all just go through three crazy obstacle courses. Really?

If they do the show, I want an executive producer. Okay. Listen, I'm in. That's a great fucking show. They don't want to see me and Jason in on this one. I promise you that. I know. I know that. That's what I'm saying. It'll be a great show. I'm in on that. What was your welcome to the NBA moment? My welcome to the NBA moment, my first one, because I'm a crazy kid. First time I felt scared. So Chicago had an old stadium.

And you got to walk up the stairs. And when you walk up the stairs, they play that old Bulls music. Yes. That fucking laser show come on. And there he is. God. And there he is. The same God that was on your poster in high school and college. Yeah. And he's there. He acknowledges you, but he gives you that look like, motherfucker, I'm about to kill you. Because I see him. I'm like, what's up, motherfucker? I'm like, oh, shit. That's the first time I got... And then you...

You go for a shot and he's right there. He comes down, he doesn't move. And I'm like, this motherfucker's perfect. But the moment that changed it was...

Even though I'm terrified, I'm never going to show you I'm terrified. So he came up for screen one time and he shot. I didn't block it, but I was right there. I was like, aha, he's human. So after that, I was okay. But the first time going to play against Jordan, I was freaking, my heart was going to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to.

And then I was like, you know what? He's Mike, but I have to play well. I didn't do bad and do great, but I think I held my own. But I was terrified out there. I can only imagine what it was like.

That's awesome, man. Shaq, thank you for the stories, big dog. Thank you for your time. Yep. Tell your families I said hello, and I'll definitely see you guys again. You know it, man. You're the best, man. I can't wait to watch these first two of these finals. Hold on. I can't wait to watch Power Moves out now on Netflix, everybody. I got to show you guys something. Two seconds. Take your time. I got to tell you, Shaq, I don't even need to see the edit. This is probably one of the best episodes we've ever done. We didn't do nothing.

That's my favorite song in the world, brother. You didn't know it. Just got that song back, too. Just brought all our music back, so it finally hurts, too, man. I appreciate that, dog. I love you guys. Love you, big dog. Everybody, the diesel!

Well, that was fucking electric. Oh, baby. Some people just know how to tell a fucking story and just be themselves. God damn, man. I was over here just fucking relishing in that, man. The diesel, man. Incredible. Hopefully you guys enjoyed this one, man. All right. And that wraps up another episode of New Heights. Next week, Chiefs fans, we've got a great guest for you. That's right. Steve Sparrow.

is coming on. That's right. We're getting the old ball coach, defensive coordinator, one of the best to ever do it. So make sure you're subscribed on YouTube to the New Heights channel and follow New Heights on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes of New Heights early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. That's right. Once again, New Heights, a Wondery show produced by Wave Sports and Entertainment and brought to you by Audible.

Follow the show on all social media at New Heights Show with 1S. For all you 92%ers, appreciate you guys tuning in. Hopefully you guys enjoyed the Shaq diss as much as we did. And thanks to our production crew for always making us look good. We love you guys. And we'll see you guys next week with My Guys Spags.

I got to leave this on to the uploads, right? You know it. That's Riverside. You know the rules. Thank you so much. Love you guys. Shaq, that was amazing, man. All right. Thank you so much for the time. That was so fun. You actually did a great job, I will say to myself.

I was saying to myself, if you fuck up one time, one more time, you're going to be working at fucking Doritos, taste testing spicy Doritos. But you know what? You did a good job. No, yeah, you did a good job. All right, guys. Love you. Follow New Heights on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to New Heights early and ad-free. Plus, enjoy exclusive episodes of the show by joining Wondery Plus.

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