Joy Taylor | Ep 97 | ALL THE SMOKE Full Episode | SHOWTIME Basketball

guest today, a friend of the program. We've all got a chance to work with her over at Fox. Joy Taylor, Hi, guys, thanks for having me, Thank you for joining us. We appreciate your time. Let's jump right into it. The current state of sports media, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Um. I think before it used to be we're reporting on sports. Now, I think with the infusion of social media, now we're reporting on a lifestyle more than sometimes just what they

actually do. What's your take on that? Well, I try to look at covering sports is a human thing anyway, Um, because we're covering human beings, not robots or not merchandise. You're not a commodity, and we sometimes when we talk about sports, we tend to talk about athletes that way, Oh he got traded here, he got cut here. It

just becomes very inhumane. So in some ways I kind of like that we get to know athletes on a more personal level through social media, through the different you know, channels, this podcast, things like that, So it humanizes athletes in a way for not just the media, but also for fans to understands there's a deeper, deeper level to everything that's happening in sports than just when losses and points

and quantifying everything. So I think it's actually, in a lot of ways a positive thing because it forces us to humanize athletes more. How has social media and your opinion kind of changed? Almost your job supports media as a whole, because I mean, you see breaking news left and right. Now social media is somewhere where it's literally a lot more negative than it is encouragement or positivity. So how do you feel like social media has kind of changed the landscape of kind of what you do well?

Social media gave everybody a voice, some don't deserve it, which is a great thing. Social media gave everybody a voice, which is not a great thing. And that's not to be condescending. But I went to school for broadcasting. I have a you know, a journalistic education. Even though I'm not a journalist, I still feel a responsibility to, you know, to some level. I can't just retweet anything, you know, I try to be careful about what stories I dig

in on. If I'm ignorant on a topic, I'm not necessarily give my opinion just because everyone has given their opinion about it. If I don't feel strongly or compelled about it, or I don't feel fully educated, or I'm ignorant about it, I'm gonna layout. So social media has kind of made everybody feel like they have to have an opinion about everything, and you don't. And also your opinion isn't needed on everything. I mean, you don't walk into your house and tell your mama what you think

about her dress. Now, you have an opinion about her dress, but nobody asked you for your opinion on her And if you give your opinion on her dress, you might regret your opinion on her dress. And it's just a it's a way of life that's become normal to us. And overall, I think it's a positive thing, but it has changed how we do business. I mean, when I started the business, we didn't use social media at a

level there's two thousand seven. It existed, but it wasn't an every day I mean, you're not checking Twitter every thirty seconds. I've alerts on for certain reporters, you know, just to keep back of everything. I think it makes our jobs easier in a lot of ways because we don't have to do at least I don't have to do sourcing. You know. I can let a reporter do their job and they're trusted and their reputation is, you know, strong. I can just use their information. But there's there's pros

and cons for everything. I think the important thing is to just find what works for you and balance. What do you think about the give and take now with athletes that respond to the negativity because now they're like, well you're so and so, why are you even responding these people? But people don't understand what enough. People are fuckingnagonatual and saying crazy ship all time. The human reaction is to defend yourself. Anyone to just ignore it has

never been in that situation. What do you think about that give and take? You know, you can take Kevin Durant, or you can take several to myself, several different athletes. Some people jack that respond to the negativity, but then are kind of looked down upon by supports media for doing it. Everybody can dish it, but everybody can't take it. Everybody doesn't get it right. It's very easy to tell somebody do this or behave this way when that's not

your lifestyle. If you're Tim four five six seven, nobody's bothering you, nobody knows who you are, so it's very easy for you to say, Katie shouldn't respond. You don't have ten million people telling you you're a sell out every day. Have that happened to you, and then we can come and have a legit conversation about it. I think whatever makes you feel confident or comfortable or whatever it is you want to do is what you should do.

Don't let them get you emotional. Though, Like people ask me all the time, why do I Why do I respond? Sometimes I just feel like it. Sometimes somebody's I gotta I have to sacrifice someone like saying too much, like you don't want today you have to get roast. I got time. I'm in the car. I'm an uber, all right, it's you today, You're the one. But it doesn't hurt

my feelings because I'm a face to face person. If you would not walk up to me on the street and say this, and we know they wouldn't, that's not gonna hurt my feelings. But I also know that there are women who follow me who don't feel uh not as confident, but it does affect them and they don't they don't want to respond that way, but they like when I do because they're getting the same things. So you know, there's different reasons why I respond. It works

for me. It doesn't change my day. I'm gonna leave here, I'm gonna watch the game. I'm enjoy my night. Like that's not gonna affect my day. Um, but I think it's very easy for people who aren't in that situation to tell other people how to behave I got been the asked by responding just yesterday and I responded to some negative ship in the morning, and in the afternoon I got a message, your Instagram account has been disabled, So like, I'm off Instagram right now for responding? Is

the bullshit I do? A couple of customers you have to do a couple of cust words in there there that's forgot damn sure. And yeah, bro, I don't got an Instagram account right, No, hopefully I can get it backcause I just tapped a million. Don't steal that ship from the Instagram. It took me a minute to get there.

But anyway, carrying on race, gender, inequality when it comes to sports media coverage right now, that's really kind of the center focus, which I think is great because it's it's they've always kind of been separated and you kind of have been able to keep sports and sports has always kind of be in that safe, that happy place. But now more than ever, we're just being real. There's you know, there's there's race issues, there's gender issues, there's

inequality issues in sports, and now we're discussing those. How do you feel about that as far as like women's sports and men's just in general just kind of doing giving this, you know, it's due diligence towards just well, I think I think the time for just accepting what is for what it is, and I don't say turning the other cheek or just putting your head down and working through it or just doing things the way we've done it, and that's why we're going to keep doing it.

Like that's over and and it should be over all. Those are weak excuses for behavior, and it's similar to social media getting people a voice. Social media has been instrumental in spreading the word about inequal at ease and I think, you know, the women's tournament this year was a good example of that. For me, it's like, why what is the win? Why is this so difficult? Why

can't you just see ahead of the curve? Like somebody walked in the room and saw that this was not equal and was like there were six weights in here in the whole room, the Amazon weights. Why does why does the men's room look like this and the women's room look like this? But because people don't do that, there still has to be this push for equality. And that's just that's just one example of it. But yeah, I just think the time for accepting things for what

they are is is over. And the faster that companies and organizations and leagues understand that, than there'll be less of that exposure. Like I said, you gotta make an example. It's been the blind leading to blind for so long. It just feels good that everybody's opening their eyes. Well, a lot of it is people in charge. I mean it is what it is that you've got a bunch of people in the room making decisions who are all the same kind of people, the same the same come

from the same background. And the problem with that is and then when you challenge that, it's like, oh, well, these are all the right people for the job, but the best people for the job. Why were they the best people for the job because someone who looked like them decided they were the best person from the job,

and so on and so forth. And the problem with having a bunch of people in the room making decisions who are all from the same place, who all look the same, who are all the same gender, is they're all gonna make the same They're don't come the same conclusion.

There's not going to be any challenge because there's no perspective to have a challenge or understanding, right right, So, like the value of diversity, its people who don't like diversity, like the idea of diversity, always challenge it as well. They're you know, we're making exceptions for people, or this person didn't earn it. It's like it's Diversity isn't just

for us, it's for you. Right not even learn something, You will make more money, You will be more successful, your employees will be happier, your company will do better if you are inclusive. It's not about a slogan or a Twitter hashtag. This is reality. The evidence, the numbers are there, and it'll save you if that's all you care about from some pr scandals. If you can't see past all of that, at least let me boil down

from that to you. You won't be trying on Twitter because will be someone else in the room who can stop you and say, this is not how people that look like me are going to respond to this. Just so you know. So, I think it's just holding people accountable and all of it is it comes full circle with you know, we're not We're not anywhere. Everybody need to be able to accountable, and not just it's not

one particular race or persons or people. I think it's just very hard to have nuanced conversations on the Internet. And that's where a lot of conversation has had now, which isn't a negative thing because at least it starts the conversation. But the next step of course is action, and you know sports is a good place for that to start because sports is a microcosmos society. What's your thoughts on Shakar Risks. I don't know. I have lots of shagary um. Well. I ran track. That's the sport

that I played the longest, ran track in college. Also a huge Flow Joe fan. Try to get people to call me flow Joe. I never stuck. My name is too short to have a nickname. Joy. No, No, it's flow Joy. That was my email like everything. So, you know, I was very excited to see Shakery run and very disappointed, like everyone else was, to hear the news. But I think there's I mean, there's a million different angles on it.

But the first thing for me is that I think what's being lost in the conversation about Shakery first and foremost, this young person lost her mother, and there's no empathy around the conversation is straight to follow the rules or the rules need to be changed or Michael Phelps and how she found out too, like the reporter told her that was the first time she heard that her mom died from And there's no empathy for this young person who is clearly suffering from a loss that all of

us can understand and empathize with, but nobody is is putting that as the first thing that we're talking about. So first and foremost, like condolences to her for losing her mother and then losing her opportunity to compete in the Olympics, and then becoming a week's worth of news conversation about her personal life and her decisions and all of that is a lot for someone to go through,

first and foremost. Second, I think sometimes in life, really dramatic things have to happen for there to be changed. And I mean, we all obviously are comfortable with the use of marijuana. Everyone around the world, everyone around our country is not, and that's okay. But facts don't care about feelings, and the facts are it's going to be

legal everywhere. It's inevitable, it's not. It's not up to you, and like where you stand on it morally or religiously, like comes down to money, like everything in life, and it's going to bring in billions of dollars in tax money. So it's going to happen, because it's already happened in thirties six states and four territories and it's legal and dozens of countries around the world because there's an understanding

and education about it. So, look, people don't like to drink, some people don't think that you should drink, but it's still legal and there's bars on every corner because the government makes money off of it and people like to do it. And when they stopped making alcohol legal, what do they do. It's speakeasy, like people still drink. People

are gonna do what they want to do. Now, when it comes to marijuana and athletes, m I just think it's very hypocritical for leagues and organizations to not allow athletes to use marijuana, CBD or whatever it is when they're competing. But you don't test for alcohol, and you're which is worse, and you're comfortable with opioids and toward all shots and whatever else you can prescribe to someone to get them out on the court of the field of the track, but you have a problem with marijuana.

So those things don't medically make sense, which then, of course leads to the conversation of this is institutionally a racist policy. Now again, it's a very nuanced conversation, so there's a lot of lots of breakdown. The bottom line is the rule needs to be changed. It's legal here, I don't care about around the world because everyone's talking about all I guess alcohol is not legal everywhere. They

still don't test for alcohol. And more importantly, I think the main thing with this is it doesn't matter if she uses marijuana every day or not. She said she told us, And who am I to say she's a liar or you or anyone. She said she was in a moment of pain and chose to use marijuana legally because she was suffering. Right point blank, she wasn't competing high. This is not what's that's not what happens. And even if she was competing high, it doesn't matter, obviously because

we all are aware of the effects of marijuana. But she wasn't doing that. So there's there's fifty million different layers to it. Bottom line is changed the rules so she can run. The sad part is as a as a community, so much as happened to us, they just expect us to be numb to everything, like just deal with it and move on and and and that's and that's really what I got out of it, Like, even

even though you know it's rules, to everything. But at the same time, they don't expect us to be able to go through anything like deal with it and move on, and they expect us to be numb to everything, and that's not real life. We're human, Well that's what That's why she's tweeted, I'm I'm human. Yes, it's we can go on and on and on about the lack of empathy for black women and you know, their experiences and all that. Again, a whole other podcast we could do.

I just try to get to a simple thought about it, and it's empathy first for what she's going through. And the rule has to change. And I think that because she has become the star that she is, and because it's so impactful with the Olympics being right around the corner, which they've already had a postpone because of COVID, Like this is a very big, powerful moment and everyone needs

to be measured about. Okay, it's time to change the rule, and not just for track and field, not just for the Olympics, for all these leagues and find a way to provide alternatives for athletes that are not as harmful as the pills and the and the shots. And it's not like I'm not on this whole holistic thing. It's

just these are fat. Like I'll talk to NFL players were like, yeah, I took a handful of pills because so much pain just to get out on the field, Like a handful and my hands are like little, Like this is a big guys like extra, like I don't know, I remember how many more pills you could fit. Not exaggerating you guys know. So I just think it's not for change, and it'll happen, I believe, because she has

so much power. I'll take it even a step further, not only in athletics, but just the workplace in general. I mean people from a day to day deal with a lot of ship and like you said, alcohol is in testas, so people can binge drink and be funked up the next day, or pop a bunch of pills and go to work. But if you medicate with cannabis, you're a risk of losing your job. I don't want to measure what people feel like others should do because it's really like none of none of your business, you know,

to each a zone. But it's a matter of education, Like there's just been this stigma applied to marijuana. That is not true. It's just not factually accurate. And I don't have a lot of patients for like lies like it's not it's just not true. So I think in a good level of education, taking the stigma away from it, making people aware of what it actually is and what people actually use it for, and stop making it be this like Nancy Reagan Gateway drug thing, like it's that's

that's that was a lie. Real, it's not real. It's not because it's my opinion. It's facts like it is. There's there's actual there's like educational things you can study. If she wasn't black, do you think it would have been a big of a deal. No, I don't. I don't. I agree because the reason why I say that because there was even attack and the Jamaican women talking about their testosterone levels was too high for women, you know,

and they were talking about the other woman. They can't wear the swimmers couldn't wear certain things on the head. But you have a white lady, white man who now a woman competing in sports. But nobody's saying nothing about that. And when people are people are talking about it, you know what people are talking about it. I think, um, I will actually shouldn't say that it's just because Shakey

is black. She Carry is a star. She carry out a moment and everyone got excited about it, and everyone was ready to see her and in a in a kind of rare space for us as a country because we don't agree on anything, and everyone was excited about something that we only get every four years, which is the Olympics, which we can all get behind. It's a really interesting moment of a lot of different aspects coming

together to get people talking. So I think it's important and I hope, you know, I hope she Carry is being supported because she's been talked about a lot and that can be very stressful, I'm sure, but you know she is. She is now the face of it, and I think that I think it's I think it's important that she is because she's she has that kind of star power to make a change. Well, I think, I mean, I don't think it's on the level that he was on, but I think it's, like you said, the star power

that's going to get things moved. As a Kaepernick situation, you know, he had to be the sacrificial lamb. She is a sacrificial lamb in this situation. Fortunately she's young enough to still be able to compete. She can compete later or next year, UM, and hopefully make the next of limits. But like you said, I think the star power it starts the conversation in sports, which leads to hopefully some sort of change. So hopefully something good to

come out of this. UM. Let's go to your upbringing Pittsburgh. But spent a lot of time in South Florida with your brother playing out there. Talked to us about your upbringing. So I was born and raised in Pittsburgh four one two. UM. I was actually homeschooled until my junior year of high school. What was that like? I couldn't imagine it was. Um. Well, I mean a lot of people just through this last year school in a way. So really, from kindergarten to

your junior high school, you never went to a real school. No. I couldn't wait to get out the house. That's why I'm outside all the time out. No. I played sports though, so I was running track, um au when I was really young, played basketball, soccer, volleyball. Uh was a church kid, so I was always a always at church, always out in the neighborhood and a bunch of kids and uh in the neighborhood. So I was very socialized, which is

why I'm only like kind of weird. Um. But yeah, so I went to school at Wooden Hills where I played sports my junior year, so I kind of knew, you know, a decent amount of people because I was there with anybody who played sports of school there, I knew. So I was like half a new girl. Um. But Pittsburgh is a great place to grow up. It's a

you know, it's a sports town, blue collar place. Yeah, my brother was drafted in kind of not like it was different then, like everyone thinks now, like you know, you get drafted, it's like the whole you know, big draft days, schefters say in your name, and it was like we had like a bunch of people in our house and Turtle Creek and he's like stressing over the phone,

being at the wall. But it was it was interesting seeing him go from you know where we grew up to Miami to then becoming a star in Miami and then eventually becoming a Hall of Famer, which is probably why I look at sports as we started talking about it from a more human perspective because I've seen him, you know, try to make the team and then you know, be so big walking around Miami he couldn't like eat our restaurants, and then not being with the Dolphins anymore,

and got to make the team in New York and then coming back and retiring, and then you know, I was there with him when he got told he was

making into the Hall of Fame. So I've seen everything that cuts the trades, and I think like that and me being an athlete my self growing up, you know, getting recruited for track and soccer in college, I just have a different perspective on on sports and just what it means when I cover people and talk about people, like I kind of look at it as whatever I say, this person is gonna hear, Like, there's a camera right there, so this is this is face to face to me.

So I think that kind of changed my my perspective on things and just being a woman in sports. Like everyone in pittsburghs a sports fan. So when people are like, oh, like how did you get into sports, I'm like, I don't know, how did you get into sports? I don't know get your family watch sports? And like you had a favorite team and like the same way you did.

But my grandmother and my two aunts lived together and they were like whatever they watch on TV all day when the game's on, turning over and they're mad or they're happy, and then they're back to talking about the weather like this was. These three old ladies did so watching sports and being a sports fan, which just never it was never like a thing to me. Who did you enjoy watching and who are you rooting for? So everyone's a Steelers fan obviously in Pittsburgh, you're know allowed

to be there. Although my mom made her way around that she's a Cowboys fan, but she liked them. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. Here you go. I don't know how she got away with that. Um yeah, yeah, I love the Steelers, but I also love Dan Marino. He's a pick guy. So I always had like a thing for the Dolphins, and then you know, I'm gonna I'm a root for whatever team my family's on. Of course, you know we were talking, uh to Mark Sanchez earlier about the two thousand ten Jets. I was like, I

was a Jets fan that year, like Jason's. I don't hate the Jets any other year, but Jason on the team, Like I'm a root for the Jets. What you're talking about his family over everything. But yeah, it's and I still I don't really get hurt by any team anymore, but I still let the heat hurt me a little bit. This is a little bit. It's like a you know, it's different when you're doing national because I can't like dig in with the team, you know everybody. Definitely, I

do love the heat. Any memorable stories being around your brother and the Dolphins that you were kind of coming up in this space, let me see which one I want to tell. Uh, let me think. So he was he just needs to be really protective in me. Uh, he's not. He don't care any more. No, No, because he's older. He's twelve years older than me, and I don't have a relationship with my dad, so he you know, he wasn't really like around UM that much growing up

because he's so much older than me. Um. And then he was in Florida, so like I pretty much grew up with him, you know, not being in the house around. But when I got to Miami, you know, he was like, you know, because I went to college on there like this is my sister or whatever, and I was always really respectful, like this is his space, so this is my space days and uh, you know, one of his teammates switched out to me on my Space like that's

the old school d ms. But you remember, my Space didn't really have like verified pages, so it was really kind of difficult to find out if somebody was like this page or is just like a big time fagure. The one time I was on my Space when we played for the words together, I left the girl at the door because she didn't look the same in the picture. Then she did when she came to the door, so she got left there. But go ahead and finish yourself. Left you didn't lie to me, she looked like her picture.

That's a lie, whether you're talking or show. And that's a lot. I gotta see the evidence. I'll trust you on it. Um. So anyway, I didn't know if it was him, but then I was like, he's not like he's not big enough to have a fake page, you know what I mean, Like either this is a serial killer or like this is him, like they're was making a fake page for him. So anyway, he said something

about my pictures or whatever. So I went over to Jason's house the next day and I showed uh, showed his ex wife and she was like, oh, you gotta tell Jason. And I was like, we wah. I want to tell him, but like what is there to tell? Like I didn't like not talking to him, like this is the entire exchange. So he comes in whatever I showed to him and he goes, I mean nuts, He's screaming. He's so mad at me. I'm like, I didn't I

didn't do anything, like I'm showing you. This is the this is the entire exchange, Like I'm showing this to you, like I don't care about First of all, I adn't go risk it over. This one was real, but like I'm showing it to you. I'm like, why are you so mad? He's like, well, he he saw you in the parking lot at the last game. I'm in college at this point. He saw you in the parking lot and he said something to me about you, like in the locker room, and I told him, don't talk to her.

That's my sister, Like she's not she's not for you. Don't talk to her, don't say her name, like nothing because he didn't. He didn't also didn't like him to begin with, so it's like so so I'm like, oh, so he like he did it anyway, and he was like, yeah, I'm a I'm gonna see him tomorrow facility. So I'm like, all right, whatever, I don't care what you do, Like, I don't care what you do with him. It's not

I'm just telling you. This is what he did. And he saw him the next day and like in front of him, and the dude was like, I don't know what you're so mad for. There's mad bitches on my space. Which why you would call someone sister a bitch to their face after you got to talk to her in the first place, I don't know. But anyway, um, they proceeded to fight and tear to locker room up a little bit. But I thought that was, yeah, that is good because I was innocent, innocent, innocent on all counts.

He was going to take a beat down over the floor, you know, Joe Jay is what all pro the man right here on the team. So you're really it wasn't a logical decision on any on any account. I mean, it just was. It was wild. It was wild. To me because I'm like, I didn't even do anything, Like I'm just here existing over here in mind of my business, trying to you know, pass just pilosophy of art, and you're bothering me. But tell us about Barry University where

you went in Miami. You were there for four years oh five or oh five to oh nine. Talk to us about that experience and what it was like and how you kind of found your footing and broadcasting making me feel Actually, I transferred to Berry. I was. I ran track my freshman year at I e. P In Pennsylvania, and then I transferred to Berry. Berry is great. I mean,

I love that school. I I wound up there because I couldn't find how to get there when it was what was the two thousand and six I guess I was trying to find directions and I called I mean there was in GPS. Then. I don't know how old people are really watching this, so I'm just driving around trying to find it. And I called the office and um, one of the secretary stayed on the phone with me for like forty minutes, got me there, set me up with a tour, and like that was my whole experience. There.

It's very like small school, private school, and the professors really care about, like you, developing and learning every aspect of the business. So you learn how to produce, you learn how to make a show, you learn how to use the camera, you learn how to edit, you know how to do radio, like you do everything in there.

And I feel like it really helped me, Like it really gave me, not just the education on like you know, I graduated from college, but I really learned how to like be a broadcaster, what all this means, what all the technical stuff means. And I still apply that to what I do today. Like things I learned in college, I still use today. Probably the most useful thing, which I was not listening to at the time was writing. All My professor was like, you have to write. You

have to write, you have to write. You're gonna have to write forever. You have to write, and every job you have. And I like to write. But I didn't understand the value of what they were saying until I really got into the business and I was like, oh, yeah, I guess this is the thing you gotta do every day. And I still write. I still write every day. But Barry was amazing. Um and I'm I'm really grateful I got together. What are some of your early memories breaking

into radio while you're in college? So I started in radio at Barry Actually we had a student radio station there and I was a manager. And radio is just there's no no pause. There's no pause in radio. You just have to make mouth sounds for as is on. But I love That's why I love radio. I really love radio because it gives you an ability to create a scene for someone while they're listening. So they call it theater the minds, and a great radio show is

part of your people's routine. They're driving into work in the morning, or they're driving home after work. Are there, you know, a delivery driver and they listen every day and they just become a part of your life, and you become a part of theirs, like what's what's going on your personal life, like what your ticks are, all of this, all this becomes a part of your personality. And I love that radio gaves you the opportunity to

do that. And TV can do that, but you don't have the flexibility on television because you have heart outs and the commercials and commercials and radio, but it's not the same thing. So yeah, but you have to be able to talk a lot all day, all day. So preparation is really what radio taught me the most. If you're not prepared, you're not going to do a good radio show. We've all listened to terrible radio shows where they're just babbling and like scratching trying to find something

to say, and it's a lot of pressure. But I'm I'm I'm glad I got to start where I did because every rep makes you better at anything, the sports, television, radio, whatever, and I got to get a lot of my my worst moments out when nobody was listening. Post college, what was there an opportunity or two that helped you break into the industry. Yeah, one of the things that definitely helps me get from the next level once I started in radio. I mean, interning is very important and this business,

having an internship is important. Um. I did two internships when I was in college, both radio wanted an entertainment radio station music station and a sports radio station, which both helped me tremendously because really all of this is entertainment, like,

this is the entertainment industry. But actually being told I wasn't good enough for a job really kind of pushed me into what eventually became my first full time job in the business, and then that led to me having the radio show in Miami that I had for a few years before I came to F one, which eventually led me to FS one, which eventually led me to hear on this couch with you two. So every note

isn't a bad thing? Um? I was. Ironically, I was filling in as an update anchor, which is now technically my unt I was filling in the regular guy was al he was sick. The program director told me to do the updates and so I did them as like a Friday. Came back Monday and I was doing them again because the guy was still loud. He came in yelling screaming at me, who who told you to do updates? Mike?

You remember them all day and Friday? Yeah? And uh anyway, long story short, he told me I couldn't do them anymore. Then I talked to another boss and he was like, yeah, you're You're not to do updates. At this point, I already been at the station for a year. I've already graduated from college. Multiple internships, including one at the station I'm working in now, I'm doing fill ins on the weekend, Like I can read a thirty second script with some scores on it. I believe in myself, like I know

I can at least I can do that. I can do it. And I was ready, like I just felt like I'm ready for the next step. But had he not done that, I probably would have stayed there. I would have kept working part time eight dollars an hour whatever it was before taxes, and working five days a week on South Beach bartending. I probably would have kept doing that. But because he told me no, I was like, all right, I think it's probably time to move on. So I started reaching out and see if there were

any other jobs available. I got interviewed for the executive producer job, got that job, and then this is history. William mentors and role models in the media space. UM, I don't. I wouldn't say I had a lot of mentors. Danne Lebatar was really helpful for me and my me. He was big for me. Zan is a big advocate of all of his people. He's a big advocate of diversity obviously. Um he helped me alive and that was that was his station. Nine, Um where I started when

it started IF at sixty, But he was big. Um. Joe Rose gave me my first internship. Internship in the business IF I Have sixty, which is where eventually got hired DJ Las and Miami was big. He allowed me to produce his show as an intern, gave me a lot of responsibility. But that taught me how to make a good show, how to be flexible, do things that relate to the community, really relate to the listener. So

he was big. Um. I didn't have a lot of female mentors, which I wish I had more of, but there you know, could use a few more women in the business. Um. But yeah, those those guys definitely really helped me. And I mean I've worked with amazing, amazing talent. Colin has been huge for me. Um. Skip Bayless obviously did a lot for me and my my career. He was great to me. UM Shannon as well. Uh Jonathan Zaslow, my co host in Miami. He really advocated for me. Um.

Dan Celio said Rosenberg. I mean I worked with just a lot of a lot of men that really really pushed for me and fought for me, and that's that's helped me a lot in my career. So when did you realize or or what point in your career did you realize you were heading in the right direction, Like, Okay, this is where I'm supposed to be. I'm starting to

make waves in it. So after college kind of had the ability to relate to a lot of kids who are coming out of college with COVID this past year, because it was very scary for anyone obviously was graduating from school trying to find a job, especially in this business. When I graduated from school, I was lined up to essentially take over the job I was already doing at Para Nundy six in Miami with DJ Last, and the whole industry had a hiring freeze because clear Channel, which

is now I heard Media fired half their staff. Yes if I half their staff, So it froze the whole the whole business, And so I couldn't get the job because I was technically an intern and they would only promote from within and I wasn't actually an employee, So I was kind of stuck. After school, I know what to do, Like I had all my eggs in that basket, like that was a job I was gonna get. I didn't look anywhere else. I didn't I didn't know what

to do. So I kind of like wandered around freelancing doing random things for about a year and a half after school, and I had a bad relationship, wound up in a kind of bad space, and I mean I was just like completely and totally lost back in Miami, trying to figure out what, like, what's the first step to really like get on the path to launch my career. I don't know even know where to go. Nobody's hiring, I don't have a job. I'm sleeping on my friend's couch.

I gave her that couch two years ago, right, Like, I don't know what's going on. And I was talking to a friend of mine is very successful, and I'm complaining and I'm bitching, and he's like, just stop talking for a second. What's something you want for yourself and the next three years? Give me anything? Could be a man, could be a car, like a job, whatever. What is it that you want for yourself in the next three years, not ten years. What do you want to be when

you grow up three years? I was like, I want to be full time on air radio or TV in the next three years. He's like, great, how much of your energy are you putting towards making that happen? And I thought it was a very specific word. He used, not time, not money, energy, And I was like, I don't know ten like, I have a job, I have no money, I'm sleeping on a couch. I don't like, I don't know what to do, and my family is not talking to me, Like I'm in a bad space.

He's like, well, why are you surprised that's not happening for you then? And I don't know if it's where I was or like everything I had just gone through or was listening, or I was just at that moment in life. We all have it where we like stop trying to figure everything out for ourselves and listen to people who know more. And I haven't strayed from that mantra ever since. I was like, Okay, I have this goal.

Everything I do is going to align with reaching that goal, and all my energy is going to go towards that. And energy is like, if you understand the concept of energy, it's a lot more than just one thing, and it has to be all of those things in order to be successful. Because people talk about I want to be successful all the time? Successful at what what are you willing to do to get that? What do you want to do? But what is it that you want to

be successful? Do you want to be a successful entrepreneur? Do you want to be a successful doctor, successful lawyer, a successful fashion designer, photographer, television hosts? All those things have different paths and different things you need to be doing right now to reach that goal, and your energy has to be put towards that. It's just like sports. If you want to be the best player of all time,

would you gotta have mamba mentality? You can't just show up and shoot around for fifteen minutes and think that's gonna happen for you, even if you are the most talented, so mamba mentality. So no, it's that's that was really like a moment for me that changed my not just my career but my whole life. But it definitely put me on the right, like the right path. How do you feel how important it is it is it to become an inspiration for women in the sports business. I

want to be in sports. Um, it's very important for me because I really didn't I didn't have I had a few people who reached out Leslie Visser and a few other people. But I think that it's I didn't really always realize the power or the importance of it. You know, when you're younger, you don't realize that people

are looking at you. And now it's the it's the most important thing to me, because what a lot of guys talk about, like, oh, like, why are women so supportive of each other in the business, Like you know, men aren't like that. Men are more competitive, like we always got we we always got. And the more women that there are in the business, the less of a thing it is. Then people turn on the TV and see a woman and they're like, oh, well, that's good,

that's good that they put a girl on the show. Like, no, it's just this is what I'm watching. You don't think about that when you watch news men women, all women hosted show, all men hosted show, it's not thinking you're just watching the news. But with sports, that's not what it is. And there's always a qualification and there's always a need to explain why she's qualified for this particular job,

and it's always a thing. So to me, having more women in the business, a variety of women in the business. Empowered women in the business is very important. So it's my main goal in my career two leave the business looking different than the way that I came into it. Right, Absolutely, What has your experience been like? Its Fox? Fox has been Fox has been great. It's been a huge platform

for me. Obviously, I started in Miami, which is a big market, but I wasn't a national voice before I came to Fox, and I hadn't done live national television. I worked for CBS Sports when I was in Miami. But um, working with Skip and Shannon was unbelievable. I mean, if you know the Skipp as Shannon, you know that that's like an intense show to do and it's you know, three twenty in the morning, it's a two and a half hour show together. Yeah, yeah, So it's a it's

a big undertaking. But traveling to your point, Cleveland and Oakland and the Super Bowl and McGregor fight in New York, like the US Open, having all those experiences really just I think for me helps me develop in a huge way as a talent. I mean, there's a lot of stuff going on on that show behind the scenes, and as a moderator, you gotta make sure everything's going like they're just they're in their own zone. Like you gotta do all the technical things, prompters down, you gotta read

it on the scripts. I hope you got your scripts in order. Like there's a lot of stuff going on. So that really helped me a lot. And now working with Collins been favorite, by the way, just as far as people just talking their ship, Collins one of my favorite and he's the best. Add to him, he's the best ad reader on TV. Let's do a good read. Colin has been great. He's he's a you know, he's

a family guy. He's chill. He likes having his his cocktail and his um, you know, his nice piece of fish, and he's just he's one of those people that just really loves life. And that's a that's a that's a relief as a talent to work with somebody else who's very chill, because it's a stressful business and you know, there's this there's some shows like listen, you can't calling sick like I couldn't call and sick on Unisputed, I called him sick twice in two years. And I'm not

sick a lot. But like there's no one else to do the show four o'clock in the morning, you can't call, there's no one to come in. It's just like you even figured out. So it's uh, it's been amazing work on call. And he's a huge UH supporter and um he makes he makes a show really fun and easy. You killed Undisputed. But people don't know how difficult it is.

It had to be a strong woman with a high with a high i Q to run that show with them too, because I've been on the show and she knows, she knows when to cut him off to go to commercial. She knows, Like it's not easy with two people like them rambling at each other the whole time, like they won't even think about a commercial. It takes a respect to do that job because you do have to cut them off. So you gotta know when to cut them off.

So it's not of salty situations. Right. Look, they're both professionals. They know we're doing a television show. At the end of the day, we got commercials. We gotta get to break, we gotta get to the next block. But they would just do that same topic for the next if you let them. So. The funny thing that people don't I guess the thing that they assume about Undisputed. I don't know how it is on first day because I don't work on that show, but I'll disputed. People always like,

what's it like in the breaks? I'm like, they're not fighting in then goes over to the quarter, He's looking at his notes, Shannon's on his phone, or he's you know, singing or whatever, like as soon as the as soon as the camera's off, like it's onto the next blot, So there's no real like animosity. It's like arguing with your friend, like all right, all right, we're done. Where we're gonna go eat? You know. That's that's kind of

how it is. But people always think it's like more in the break, and I'm like, damn, we would be tired as hell. Great great sparring sessions though, session. So I'm gonna give you these three men that you've worked with, and just tell me a little bit about or what you think about each of them. Uh, Shannon Sharp. Shannon has become one of the biggest stars in sports media.

He was already obviously a star in football Hall of Famer legendary broadcaster, but now he is like on a whole other level like Unk has become and what it is is because he gets it, Like he really understands social media. He understands how to do a great show, he understands how to do a great interview, and he doesn't take himself seriously, which I think is so important for that show. Is that he's gonna go at it

with Skip. They're gonna have their battles, their sparring sessions, but at the end of the day, he's gonna crack a joke, keep it moving like he is. He really knows how to maintain that balance. So he's he's so fun to work with and just he's a great person. Shout out uh Drip Bayless, Drip Veyless. I love love that chain. It's amazing Skip is. Skip is great, Skip has been. I don't even know how to describe what Skips don't like just done for me in my career.

A lot of people think Skip is like very hard and like mean. He's he's a passionate person, so I think he's misunderstood. And look, they do a show where they give their opinion. Some people are gonna like your opinion, some people aren't. But I've seen Skip on the road. You've seen Skip on the road. Don't get it twisted. People love Skip. They love Skip, and Skip loves the people.

And Skip is gonna sit in there after every show, shake everybody's hand, take a picture with whoever is there, talk to them for as long as they want to talk to him. And he really loves doing and cares a lot about doing a great show. And he understands the importance of people are giving their time to us to watch this show. So I'm gonna do that my best buy them and give them an entertaining show. And he lives and breathe and die sports, like his wife wrote a book about how to do with someone who

is obsessed with sports. Like he's on another level with that. He's gonna watch anything that's on TV when it comes to sports. But he's also just a really sweet person. Like we had to work Christmas Day for the first two years of month disputed, which is for me, is hard to have a big family, and like it's hard for me to be on l A. Out Here in l A, everybody's in the East Coast, so I can't go see them, Like Kim and his wife had me at their house for Christmas, Like there amazing people, and

he's been incredible to me. I love hearing that soccer side because I mean, Shannon told us how much he advocated for him to be on that show. He Skip said he wasn't going to do that show unless Shannon Sharp did it, you know, So to be able to see the other side of Skip, because, like you said, unless you know him behind the scenes, you only see Skip from from the show, and you think, you know you that's like only seeing us on the court. You think that's who we are as people. But to see

it and hear the other side, I think that's dope. Well, Skip and I actually talking about being a face to face person. When I was getting talking to a Skip and everyone about being on the show, some tweets came out from me about Skip in the past when I was in Miami, and you know, Skip as a Spurs fan that hard. I'm a Heat fan, and I'm want a show in Miami when the whole world hates Miami.

So Skip and I had already met a bunch of times before this, and then they came out and I was like, all right, well, you know, if he doesn't want me to be on the show, I don't understand like that sucks, but I understand, like this is just what happens. But I was like, I want to talk to him. I must tell him face to face, explain myself and you know, have a conversation with him. So I went met with him and I was like, first

of all, I apologize. Obviously, I know you personally I don't feel this way, but you know, first and foremost, I think it's important when you say something that harms someone, it's okay to really actually apologize, Like it doesn't make you less of a person, he doesn't make you like anything. It's the right thing to do. If anyone in your life did something and they said you hurt me or this or that, are you offended me? Just apologize. So I said, I'm sorry for that, and this is why

we're doing the show in Miami. Everyone in the world hates Miami. You're a Spurs fan. Obviously had some things to say about and he would like could not have been better about it to me. He was like, it's it's cool. I get it. I get the show we do. I get the show you how to do in Miami. I've done local before. Like fans want to hear only positive stuff about their team, and he was like, understand that this is what sports radio is and like could

not have been cooler about it. Love Ski. That's the reason why I'm still working on Disputed and started work because the skipped like he loved to have me on, not just because I was brought a championship to the Spurs, but he loved he loved different aspects. Uh. And then you know, with him being so smart, he still want to hear what players have to He's a showman. I love it, like I said, I just like he likes said.

I think those two together know how to make their great showman until they know how to make a great show. I think the show triggers people because the beats of the show require you to have strong opinions you don't back off of, and people think that the opinions are manufactured, and they're not. It's just a well produced show. So even if they do topics they agree on sometimes because they have to do the topic, but they're gonna come

from their angle and that's what makes the debate. So it's not oh uh, what do you what do you think about the game tonight? Well, I think you Honest, you know is pretty good. I think you honest is going to do well to okay, me too, what I'll say, he's gonna suck. That's that's not how it's produced. It's a question, and then they naturally have other opinions, and that's how the show is produced. So people think it's all manufactured and it's not. Last but not least Colin

cow Her great Colin Coward, Colin is. He cares so much about doing a really good show, So we prep different. There's a little like behind the scenes for Undisputed are show meeting thirty minutes if that usually twenty minutes, and it's just here's the topics, here's the question, who's going first, who's going second, Here's where the guests are, everybody out. There's no conversation about what Skip's opinion is or Shannon's

opinion is. They both go their separate ways with their producers and start working on their notes, and then I go to hair and makeup and start working on my notes. So there's no long conversation in the meeting. Heard is a two hour meeting. We're going over every single topic, every single angle. All the producers are weighing in, I'm waning in Collins weighing in. So it's a completely different process to prep for the show. Now there's two different shows.

Colin and I do a three hour radio show and that's the debate shows, so the beats are different. But he just preps so much like he doesn't like having space where he's just rambling. He hates that. Now he and I can have it back and forth. But you'll notice we don't do a whole lot. We're not gonna have a whole segment where we're talking about like Dorito's like, we're just we're doing a sports show and we want

to do a good show. And he's gonna show up every day giving you the best show that he can do. And he's just like I said, he's a family guy. He loves hanging out with his wife, loves hanging out with his kids. They have six of them together, so he's like all about his family and just enjoying life. Like he's he's a very cool, fun person to work with. We wanted to moving from Undisputed to What's the Hurt? Well, Um, So I started in radio as we know, so and I talk a lot as we know I think you

can tell that by now. So when I started on Undisputed, well, when I came to this one, I guess I should say I was doing a four hour radio show in Miami before I came How long is the hurt Her three hours air? Hour on air? Yeah, yeah, I mean with commercials and all that, Like you're not actually talking for the three straight hours, but it's a three hour show. I came to FS one to be an opinionist, so

you're not giving your opinion and your moderator. Now, it's a huge platform working with Skipp and Shannon, and a big opportunity, and it was vital for my career to do that show. But when I went into the show, I was like, Okay, I'm gonna do that for this these reasons and to get you know, live television experience and all these things. But I can't do the show forever, Like this is not what I came here to do.

I can't give my opinion. I have things to say, and this is this is not the role that I want to have for ten years, six years whatever, no matter how great the show is doing. So I want like two years, two years and then I got to move on. Also, you don't have any kind of life when you're on that show, like the in bed, like in bed at nine o'clock, not going to bed at nine o'clock, showered, in bed with the lotion on. So you like during the week, you just don't do anything,

which is fine. I still kind of don't do anything, but it's a it's a very scheduled life. So I got two years of this, and Christine was leaving the Herb right around when the two year mark was coming up, so it was a kind of easy transition just to move across the student. You know, Colin I had done the show a lot together because anytime she was out, I would fill in, so I already knew the beats of the show and had a pretty good relationship with Colin.

So that's that's really how it worked out. And then over the years, I think Colin and I have just gotten to know each other better and the chemistry had gotten a lot better. And then last year having to work from home and do a three hour sports show with no sports on for four months, things many things. Now it feels like we don't even have to like we're we're on that, We're on that next wavelength, like the you know, we don't have to talk just this, Okay,

you need me to talk here, let's go. Because that just that made things so difficult to work through. So um, but yeah, that's that's really the reason why I'm how do you personally judge or kind of measure your performance from show to show? You get well obviously, like I don't get ratings and we don't really pay attention. That's that's that's where the suits to work about. Like we're gonna do the show and we're good are our ratings are are really good? There? They are really good. But

I don't work ratings for me. If Colin is excited and he and I are having like a good exchange and the conversation moves past whatever the first level of it was, to me, that's a good show. It's not necessarily what people are reacting to on social media, because sometimes people just get upset about something you say, and

that's not necessarily engagement to me. I'm like, if I feel like Colin was activated, like he has thought of something different or thinks about something different than the way he can thought about it coming into the show, If he and I had a good exchange throughout the show, and we had good guests and like the energy was just flowing. Like that's that's a good show to me.

So outside of that, you have your your podcast. Maybe I'm going crazy said, you guys are on a little break right now, and then Thursday night Football Scouts feed um on Prime Video. What is it like just being able to maneuver in all these different fields for someone who loves sports so much? And I mean you're getting paid for all of it that tom boy, I mean I am, I am a tomboy. It's a blessing. I

mean so blessing to be able to do this. This is this is the dream, right we just sit around and talk about sports and talk about what we love all day. It's not easy. I don't ever want to give out away that impression. It is still a job. It's still work, um, But if it's work that you love, it's not tedious. So you know, there's never a point where I'm just walking into work and like just doing work today. Like there's a process. You have to watch

all the games. Sometimes you don't feel like watching the game, Like sometimes you just want to watch a movie. You don't care about this game necessarily because everybody doesn't care about everything all the time. Even if you are a big sports fan, that's only skip, like only skips in that space. But yeah, I mean it's it's amazing. It's

a blessing. It's it's given me the opportunity to meet people that I never believes I would ever be in the same room with, to see places all over the country, um that otherwise I might not have seen, be at events, be it history spaces. And also to have a voice, which you know, I think having a voice, especially in today's society, a voice that isn't just redundant or you know, kind of pushed into the crowd is I mean, that's that's an incredible thing to have and something I take

very seriously. It's powerful. So all of that to me is just, um, I just feel really blessed. I got two questions, what are your career goal goals going going forward? And what happened to turn up Fridays? I should change it to turn up Friday. Well, nobody was in the building. Yeah, it's hard to do dance park Friday by myself. I look crazy. I can barely dance as it is. So that's what having a dance park Friday I guess I should bring it back because I might change it to

turn up Friday. A lot of people, a lot of people at the office was looking forward today, I know, but like there's no way in the office. And then like people would see me coming and like one because they didn't want to be on dance party Friday. But yeah, that's what happened, a dance party Friday. Um. But my goals, I mean, I want to have my own show in the opinion space, UM, which will hopefully you know, be

coming soon. And then my long term goal is to have my own network, I think, being able to produce content for other people and give other people voices and look to be honest. You know, I don't. I don't you you have a lifespan on camera, you know. So long term, I want to be able to transition into a space where I can create things for other people and you know, tell other people's stories and um, be able to leave an impact on the on the business

in that way. I love it so quick hitters. First thing to come to mind, let us know your female athlete Mount Rushmore. Actually, I think I've done this before, so I don't want to mess it up. I wish you had given this to me this before, so I could really all right, So don't quote me on this because I might change my mind. But gott be Serena Williams. I'm gonna obviously put flow Joe. I'm about to say,

don't do that, don't leave her. It's gotta be flow Joe. Um. You know what, I'm gonna make this my personal amount rush because obviously, like this is debatable, but for me, the women that impacted me flow Joe Um, Serena Williams, Uh, Cheryl Swoops Honestly, for me growing up, she was on the show I Love Cheryl. I thought it was I thought her name was so cool and she I was just like, I'm gonna be Swoops. She had a shoe like she She was amazing to me, big inspiration growing up,

being you know, five foot basketball player. Thought it was gonna be Michael Jordan's but Cheryl Sloops was amazing. And who did I love? Because I don't want to leave. I don't want to be disrespectful. You know what, lay l Ly I like that Latelally, you know, because I'd be fighting sometimes so lail Ly, Uh, flow Joe, I like that. Three songs that describe you in the present, the dance fever. Um. You know what, I've been listening to a lot of afrobeats lately, Um, a lot of

Nigerian music. So I love Burner Boy, who's afrobeats. It goes so some girl in the gym that I worked at was on her afrobeats stuff and I asked to say, what is that though, it's African music? African music? Okay, yeah, okay, okay, so I would say burn So I'll say Burner Boy. Yeah. You know, I'm always in a two pocket of my up mood. So we'll we'll keep that up there. And it's gonna be a song right now, which is a song in general, it's present, you're jamming in the present.

I'll do uh, Mystery lady, Mystery lady. Yeah, alright, I'm gonna pop a question in here before it's not on here. But I want to know I've known you for a while and you're always very wild, banner calm together. Have you ever had a fan moment, like, is anyone, like an athlete or celebrity kind of give you a fan moment? Oh? Yeah, when I met Junior, say, I cried, yeah, p Junior because he played for a year in Miami, so I got a chance to meet him, and he was so cool.

Actually the picture as me I'm like and I'm crying. Um, so yeah, I was. I was tripping when I met Junior. Say, oh, I mean I met I met Michael at his golf tournament. This is actually a funny story. This is a better Jason story than what I told earlier. So Jason was playing with him. He was a Jordans athlete, so he was playing with him in his his golf tournament and he brought me down for my twenty first birthday to

the Bahamas with him. So I'm like, look, he's always bragging about how he sees Jordan all the time, and I'm a huge m j Zellett. So it was like, if you don't introduce me to Michael, I'm not gonna talk to you anymore. Like we're not family anymore. It's ridiculous, Like you you know him, you're gonna golf with him, I should get to meet him. So I'm being a pain ass little sister because he doesn't like doing that stuff. So Michael walks in the first night into the restaurant

and I'm like, all right, let's go. Like I need to meet Michael a chance. I'm in the same place I got to meet him, but I'm like obviously very nervous. So I walked up to him and I'm just like hi. He's like like whatever. They're talking. He's like, it's my little sister, Mike Hindice to meet you. He's like, it's it's her tow my first birthday today. So Mike's like, oh, it's to my first birthday. That's so awesome. Like, let's go do it. Let's go do a tequila shot. I'm like, fuck, yeah,

I don't do a tequila shot with Michael Jordan. Let's go. And Jason was like hell no, really no, he totally blocked it. I'm like, come on, this is Michael and he's like, no, no, it's cool. Mike, like we're having dinner or whatever, and he's like all right, and he's like, if you want that shot later, let me know. I'm like I will when I get away from him. But yeah, I was like, what are you doing? He's like, now you can't go with Mike. I'm like I'm not. It's Michael,

Like what is what are you talking about? You can't tell Mike. No, so I didn't get to do the shot with with Michael, but I guess it's a it's a better story now until I've talked to him about it. The super Bowl actually with Colin and he said the reason that he didn't let me go because he was mad that Michael didn't ask him to do a shot with him. Top five most important sports moments to you. These are tough questions, guys. These are lists. I like

to put effort into these lists. Let me get three then, because five is a lot, give me three. Okay. Um, I think you know these are also important to just like things that come to my mind because I don't want to be like I don't want to there's obviously bigger social moments. Don't overthink it. Yeah, okay, So I think Tom Brady coming back in the Super Bowl against the Falcons was a huge moment. I think that, for

at least from me, solidified him as the greatest quarterback ever. Um. I think Lebron's first championship in Miami, Miami UM a little biased, but I do think it was important for him to get over that. And uh, I think that era of the heat, the Big Three in Miami is I've never seen any team get more hate ever at

any point in my life. The first Big Three Lebron leaves Cleveland, they do that ridiculous press conference, which, by the way, I love extra ship, but I was watching that like this is a disaster, Like everyone's already mad at him, and then Miami's gonna do what Miami does and there's the fire and the like lights and the fans. We're just gonna rub it in everyone's face now and

then talk about seven championships. I was like, oh, you'll never even play together yet down yes, yes, does it set the bar a little lower, but whatever, it worked out. So I thought that was a huge moment. You know what. I think it's not an actually on the court moment. But I'm being very like recently bias here because I would do a better list if I could think about a longer. But I think nama Osaka not sitting out the sitting out the tournament was really really important because

she is becoming one of the biggest stars. She's the highest paid woman female athlete last year I think dollars or something. She's becoming the biggest star not just in sports. But of course, you know, Serena is eventually going to retire. I'm not retiring seren Williams obviously, but like Nyamasaka is becoming a huge international star, she already is. She's becoming

a superstar. And to see the support that she got for that, and the reality of the impact of how unnecessary some of these as someone in the media, these media press conferences can be, how intimidating it can be, how we expect everybody to have the same kind of personality and ability to absorb those moments. Um. And for her to stand up and say she wasn't going to compete because she wasn't going to participate in it, I thought was a really impactful. How young she is. Where

is your brother breaking record? She's gonna be bad to me for that. Um. You know, it's weird when I think about my brother's career. I think when you're close to somebody, it's in some ways desensitizes you to like some of the what their accomplishments are. When I saw him, like his reception at the Hall of Fame, it was like really a a sobering moment to like everything he's

really accomplished. Yeah, and I always knew he was great, but it's like it's you, it's your brother, so you don't really absorb it the same the same way as somebody who's a fan or somebody who doesn't doesn't know him. But yeah, I mean he's he's. He and I are very alike in a lot of ways, but he is a much more patient person when it comes to dealing

with like the media. I'm glad that he played before I got in this business, and that was coming full circle because my nephews are about to be playing in college and uh, you know, hopefully we'll make the league as well, so I'm gonna be covering them, which will be an interesting H five dinner guests, dead or Alive, Tupac Tupac, Whitney Houston, she's my favorite, Muhammad Ali, Oprah, and Howard Stern Step five. I like that Howard Stern one message on the billboard, What would it be that's

seen around the world? Do your research, man. I can't stand that ship. I cannot stand when people say ignorant shit when there is information available to you. I think a lot of people are more afraid of learning something and then their original thought being disproven than being educated. That is not cute. Who told you that was cute? It makes me insane as somebody who like understands I could get sued for saying something on air that is inaccurate.

I'm like this, you don't have any kind of threshold for that. And we live in a time. We live in a post truth society, and the Internet, for all of its you know, glorious Provisions, is also a place where you can get information that is completely untrue, and I under I sympathize with people in that there's just a lot of information. It's it's hard to find the truth right, to find actual facts. And you can wander across a blog that looks legit. All the graphics look good.

But this is just an opinion space for something. Yes, but it is, but like in a way it's not because this could just be somebody's opinion. This this is not necessarily a fact, Like where are you getting this information? Could you use this as a source in a college paper? Should be like the standard for where where you're getting your facts from? Like has this been approved by multiple people from a high level of whatever this business is as actual information? People just get their news off of

stickers Internet stickers. This is a meme someone made on word swag like this is where you're getting your news from. It's maddening to me because then they share it and it becomes facts, and then that person tells somebody else and then all of a sudden, it's just real and it's not. So do your research and and and don't do it because for any other reason, then you need to know what the truth is when you're saying right,

So you want sound dune, want to sound dune. That's about now, I mean to me, now, it's about being first, not necessarily being right. And then you go back and you're not right that that what do you do? Then you know you're allowed to have an opinion, but you're also allowed to change your opinion. You don't have the same opinion on life you have when you were sixteen years old, Nor do you, nor do I. I don't have these same opinions about stuff I had yesterday because

I have new information. We know we all went through this last year, right, And I don't want to get into like whatever is anyone's opinion about whatever it is. It's fine, right, But the thing that may me the most crazy is every time we get new information, everyone be like, well, your scientists said it was different yesterday. That's how science works. That's why they do research. So if the opinion changes, they have to tell you it's different now we have new information. You wouldn't go to

the doctor and be like, I want that surgery. Do surgery. They did it the way they did it fifteen years ago, Like okay, we can do with a laser now and you don't have a scar, and like you probably won't get an infection and die like no, no, no, you said before that this way worked, So I don't like this new way even though it's been proven for fifteen years, Like, you gotta do it the way that was in the book, because otherwise you lied. Like it's not a lie, it's

an update of information. It's not just about the medical community. Like in life, it's okay to change your opinion, do your research. Last question, Joy, Um, who do you want to see on all the smoke? And you have to help us with your answer? Oh that means I have to book them just Um. Well, I'm glad I was finally invited. Um, you guys have been nice enough to come on my podcast, so I appreciate it, and I think you were on the Facebook Live show too, like way back in the day. Who would I like to

see on here? Um, I'd love for you guys to have Shakery on here. Awesome. We can get her for sure. I think she would be a great interview. Who else? You know what I think? When when Tom Tom's not going to do the best interview now, But if you could get Tom Brady on here, I feel like you can finally get all the t You saying names, but you forgot I can't book Tom. I'm just saying you gotta help us. We didn't say book you said hell. Hell, I'll sweet at him. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You gotta get

Shaky on here though. For for starters, I would love to hear just more about her story from a comfortable space. Come and get you scared, come and get you. Well. That's a wrap. Joy, Thank you for your time, Thank you for having me. Another addition to All the Smoke, Joy Taylor, you can catch us on Showtime Basketball, YouTube, and the I Heart platform Black Effects. See you all next week. This is All a Smoke, a production of The Black Effect and Our Heart Radio in partnership with Showtime