Game 1 with Joe Mazzulla | 76ers vs. Celtics (2022)

I'm attracted to the dark side of greatness or the dark side of like the tugs of identity and love. And the gap between a hero and a villain is much It's very similar to like the gap between winning and losing and greatness to you know, be good to great Like that gap is so much closer than people think, and it's very small, fundamental details that separate you. That's the space that I like to like dive into a lot.

What is it the saying you live long enough to the hero, you die the villain or something dark knight, dark Knight, the dire hero, live long enough to be the villain. I mean, that's as true as you can get. Welcome to Games with names. I'm Julian Edelman. They're Jack and Kyler, and we are on a mission to find

Just don't make this about your first game. Make this about how we can win the game.

Coach also shows us a tattoo that has never been shown.

This is the first time, I mean since so I have this.

Wow, what makes Boston such a great sports town?

When I see people wearing Celtic gear and they don't see me, I got goosebumps.

And then we get into talking about what it's like crossing paths with other pro athletes. In this week's Chill Zone, presented by Cooler's Light, you gotta stick around to the very end. Let's call games with names of production of iHeart Radio special announcement. I repeat, we have a special announcement. We got plans on August twenty eight.

You got plans on August twenty.

No, they have plans on August twenty because we are doing another live show. Let's go.

It's just games.

The names dues and dudes.

Gron's going to be there.

I don't have a name yet. Well, regardless, we do have a play dues with games. Where's the place we have a place? MGM Music Hall at Fenway in Boston. One night only, one night only, one show, a lot of people. Yeah, scary in Fenway. You basically I think you could take a door to We're definitely going to Tickets are on sale today at ticketmaster dot com. Use the promo code nuthouse. If you're listening, they're live at ten am. If you're watching this on YouTube, they are live right now.

Promo code nuthouse n U T H O U s E. It's gonna be awesome. We learned a lot from last year. I like to call it nuthhousesnuthus.

I don't know. Let's get back to Joe Missoula October eighteen, twenty twenty two, TD got Boston, Massachusetts.

Two Hopefield campaigns can go off on the parquet.

The Missoula era is underway ones all right.

Now.

How many times do you think about the Roman Empire a week? This is like a masculinity thing because it's going around on the internet. What is like men? If you're such a masculine man, you probably think of like the Roman Empire like five times a week.

Really, that's something I think about it at least once a day.

I don't want to come off as dark, but I think there's a lot of lightness in the dark. But I think a lot about the duality of like life and death and the decisions that you make and the balance of you know, the rise and fall of the Roman Empire and how the rise and fall of dynasties organizations yourself, your family.

Like all those spaces of like that going too.

I think about that probably thirty times a day, you know, just the duality of competition and what that means and your own mortality and how to play your part in that and going after something. And you know, a lot of times when people pick a dream or pick a goal to go after, they only look at the positive side of that. They don't look at like the dark

My dad used to say, goals without actions are just fucking dreams.

Yeah.

But at the same time, sometimes are the dark things that you have to do, the sacrifice, the accountability, the ship that you have to run through to get to the top, that you have to you have to experience, the losing to get to where you have to go. And you know, failure the failure because the you know, you feel like life is all about failure. There's like five or six times where you don't fail. You're just hoping that those five or six times are badass.

Yeah, no question.

Life really is just a bunch of failures used to try to get as many successes as you can.

Man, we're getting We're getting fucking deep. Let's let's let's welcome our guest. We have a very special guest. No, we gotta welcome a very special guest today here in the Nuthouse, Boston. Addition, to talk about Game one twenty twenty two, twenty twenty three NBA Season seventy six ers versus the Boston Celtics in game one of coach Missoula's coaching career in one sentence, don't get two in depth. We'll dive into the game in one sentence. Why this game?

I mean it's the Celtics, and uh, you know, it was the beginning of our journey that you know we're now three years into. And uh, you know, I think you can never you can never stop learning. But when you when it's your first game and it's your first opportunity, and you look back three years from now when the journey that you're on. It's always good to go back and kind of see, like, man, that's what I was thinking in that moment and kind of where you're at now.

You know, it's just the greatest game of all time.

No, definitely not no, All right, well, we just hope the greatest game of all time hasn't happened yet.

Yes, you know, let's go. That's a great answer.

But hey, thanks for talking to the team this year, and I'm happy to be here, so I appreciate the growth of our you know, relationship.

You know, I'm hoping my words meant something. Maybe not work, Coach didn't wandn't work. It didn't work, So I got to fucking work. So maybe don't call me next year. I won't ever come talk to the team.

Guest speakers that aren't welcome back.

And I guess I'm on there. No fly list, bro, no fly list, jesus, I feel like a soft Now, Coach talk to us about the off season. How's it going so far?

I think your buddy's hoodie when I walked in today said it best. Happily miserable.

Happily miserable.

That's how it's going.

Yeah, we got to bring that, We got to get you a happily miserable. It's hootiful.

It's a beautiful expression and a very honest and uh.

What does it mean to you?

I mean, I think it's the space.

It's the space of of where people are trying to live and you know, I don't I don't think you can have one without the other, and I don't think you can have too much of one. And so I think it's a balance of like, you know, you're in a space right now. We didn't achieve our goal. I mean, our goal is to win a championship every single year.

So you have to be able to accept both of those things.

And you know, I think the scariest thing is, like, if you plan on coaching or playing for a long long time, if you look at the ratio outside of like John Wooden right out back and Phil Jackson, the ratio of like successes to failures weighs heavier on the failure side if you count not winning your championship as a failure. And so that space of happily and miserable is somewhere where you've got to be extremely comfortable, because I think that's where you grow the most.

You know, Yeah, I.

Mean that's how the off season's going. That's how now you guys are faced with some adversity. You know, I used to hear every every last meeting of the season, Bill would say, you know, that's the last time this team will be together. Next year. There's gonna be new coaches next year. There's gonna be new players next year. There's gonna be guys that leave, there's gonna be guys that come. How do you deal with an adversity like losing JT and then going into another season not knowing

Mentally, I mean, I think at the end of the day, like you got to sign up, you sign up for the journey. I don't think you sign up for the short term approach to one year. You know, if that was the case, and I would have retired after year two, you know. And so I think you sign up for the journey, and you don't sign up for just one

And so that's kind of how we look at it.

Coach. You have such in depth answers, like we haven't we were talking before the show, and you just you're always very deep. Do you read a lot? How fuck do you know all this shit? You're fucking younger than me.

Thirty nine.

I'm thirty nine.

I mean so a couple of my favorite books are probably some of yours. Oh that's great. I think you have to.

I think the most important thing is I've been blessed to have great people, great family, great opportunities. But I think you've got to fight for a perspective because if you don't, you could lose yourself. And that's my biggest fear in life, is losing myself amongst all this worldly stuff that we're going after, which is important to go after.

But like Ecclesiastes is my favorite book.

No, that's not one of my football guy, not a big reader. Audiobook guy, I gotta listen. I can't read very well.

Proverbs favorite book saw Ecclesiastes, Proverbs, Psalms, the Book of Wisdoms. Like I think, I think, you know, we were talking about the history of Israel and Rome. I think you just have to understand everything that came before you, and you have to understand what's possible to come after you. And so I think you have to fight for that perspective, and it's so easy to just get caught up in your own world and think what happened to me is either the greatest thing or the worst thing.

Now what you just said there, you said you have to know what came before you do. You see coaching a new these newer players that they struggle with seeing and learning from the past, because you know, every older generation that leaves a locker room and welcomes a new generation into a locker room's like, man, I feel like every old guy says, man, they don't they don't they don't fight like they used to. Oh man, they don't

Or I think that comes from the generation being attached to its identity and not being able to let it go right like you see it all the time when like it happens to me, like I was a shit player, Like I was an average basketball player at best.

You know, I just kind of tried hard.

But the older you get, people's memories focus on certain things, and so I think you end up becoming better than what you once were at the time because everybody he always wants to remember that emotional good thing and that like that attachment to the identity, and it's like the older you get, the better you were.

You know what I mean. No, I it's it's crazy. I'm the complete opposite me. I am personally too. Yeah, Like I get the more I laugh at how bad I actually was, exactly like I I don't think, like when people come up to me all the time and say, man, how'd you make that catch in that Super Bowl? I go, I don't even think. I think about the third down that I dropped coming out of the fucking halftime, same being the raw Rock guy saying it's gonna be a

But I think I think most of I think most and it's probably a little bit of a generalization or attached to the identity of what they once were, you know. And so I think that's where the oh, you know, we never did this stuff or you know, and I think that's part of our responsibility is to your responsibility in the present moment is to give it everything you have, and then you know.

When it's over, you're just forgotten about. Like, I think that's just kind.

Of I think it also goes to that dream thing that we were just talking about. You know, a lot of these guys, a lot of people like you said, we are given information. Now everyone can see an experience with other people experience. Some people forget about their own journey and forget about Hey, let's make our own experience and live off of that. Yeah, you know, they.

Also forget about like Like, one of the things I like to do as an exercise is, you know, I think everyone studies successes, but I always go back and look at the best players and the best coaches and all the mistakes that they made, because it's tumbling because like one, they're all better than Like, all the coaches in the past are better than I am, and all the players in the past were great players, but you've got to look at all the mistakes that were made.

And it's a balance.

And so, you know, a healthy exercise is to go back and be like, Okay, you know, why did this team, you know, blow this lead in a ninety five NBA Finals in a game?

Or like what adjustment was made there?

And so I think you have to find the balance of like you want to look at all the best things that coaches did, but you also got to look at it's easy to forget all those things. You know that the mistakes that were made before your time, and and and.

So I try to do both of those.

You know, you have to study the successes, but you're also going to study the failure is because it gives you a perspective.

One thousand percent. You know, a mistake is great because it's a learning experience. You just can't make that mistake twice, Yeah, right, try not to try.

You're gonna make it. You're gonna make a different.

One, but but you're gonna make a different one. A different one is okay, you just can't. Like, That's what I always told young players. You're gonna make mistakes. Just don't make the same one twice.

Yeah, but make a different one.

Make a different one. But you'll learn from that, you know what I mean. Now you have such a you have such a learning mindset. You grew up in Providence, Rhode Island. You're on a border hot Tucket right over there. We're in We're in fucking roady. We're a roady. Okay, we're a roady. Now where did this love of learning come from? You? Your dad was a basketball coach? Is that where this all came from? What's a young which was Zula?

Like?

Yeah, I mean I probably didn't.

I probably wasn't as much of a growth mindset until I graduated from college. I mean I was probably very the opposite in college, but I was. I was very I was very blessed. I always had, you know, my parents were there for me in different ways. My mom was the academic side, you know, making sure I did my homework. My dad was like the mindset side. But I always had great coaches, Like I never had a negative coaching experience, and I think that's huge for a kid,

You know, now you never had a bad coach, What makes a great coach then.

I mean at every level.

I mean, I'll tell you my CYO coach at Saint Phillip's, we practiced i think three four days a week from five thirty to eight and it was a drug. It was just drudgery. We did the same thing every single practice, ran the same place. But you know, Mike and Jeff did an amazing job of teaching us the fundamentals and putting us in position to win. And like, you know, same thing with my AU coaches, you know, Coach Vitale and you know those group of guys like to me,

If have you noticed coaching styles evolve these days compared to what we used to go through.

I mean, everything matters the times, you know, and I think you always have to evolve. I think there's moments I think I think it's more about what the personality that you have, right, And I think as we get into this game, you know, looking at that as I'm standing on the sidelines, even that moment, I'm like, Okay, who am I going to be as a coach?

You know, who am I? What am I going to be?

Like?

What's my identity?

How are we going to how we're going to go about things as a team, as a staff, How am I going to handle things individually? And So I think it's more like personality based, where as long as you can become an authentic to who you are as a leader. People will respect that and they'll go with it. And it doesn't mean it's gonna be perfect all the time. But I just think it's constantly involving because people are different and personalities are different.

What's your identity as a coach?

Yeah, I mean I think it's based off of the players that I have. I think I think to be a great coach, you have to have great players. You have to have a group of players that allow you to be yourself. And I think you have to create a space where you allow your players to be yourself. And so I think that identity. You know, where I think it is is, you know, being authentic to who

Yeah.

I suck with a lot of things, you know, I mean we all do. Yeah.

Is there anything that you pulled from growing up with a dad as a head coach? Because my dad was a coach, And there's shit I pulled on how I would I've never coached, but you know, when you get to become an older player in a locker room, there's kind of that way to communicate with younger guys that comes off as like a coach. Is there anything you pulled from your pops?

I mean so much most of it's illegal now, but there's still a lot of stuff that ye into it. I think he just wasn't afraid to be himself. He wasn't afraid to be himself. He wasn't afraid to win the moment however he thought necessary to win.

To win that moment, you know, whether.

It was basketball, soccer, track like, he was always going to do whatever it took to get the most out of that guy in that moment. And that's something that I could always get better at. I think that's you know, you're always being challenged of like how could you be better in this moment? And he was just relentless, Like he was relentless in his mentality, like relentless in his mindset, relentless and his approach towards the fundamentals on and off

Now, you grew up in Providence, you grew up a massive Celtics fan.

Yeah, I was a Red Sox fan before Celtic.

So let's hear your sports hierarchy of what your fandom was.

Well, so my uncle Mike, credit to him. He got me into like the history and a study of sports. So he was a huge forty nine Ers fan, huge Mike, and he collected all these he collected. He just collected memorabilia and stuff. And so it started with like these pencils. I don't know if you remember these old pencils of like all the different NFL teams. So we had one of every team, but I wasn't allowed to use the forty nine Ers one.

And then uh, that was his. That was his team.

And then the Patriots were coming to UH training camp at Bryant College, so my dad went, yeah, and so he would take me to Bryant College for training camp all the time, and so I got these pictures with like a young Adam Vnit Terry.

Uh.

Because you had to walk that dirt road, you know, from the dorms and anything. So we would stand on that dirt dirt road. Had had a ball signed by Vinitarry had a ball signed by that whole team. I don't remember that. So it started with like the Patriots in that, so.

You're your Patriots is number one.

It's not hierarchy as much of it's like this is how it went okay time and then it went red Sox because the All Star Game came to Fenway in ninety nine and you.

Went and I went, So we went, so that what what's the what year is that? That's is? That's maguire.

I really don't in the nineties.

That was I think Ken Griffy had I really don't remember much of it, but I think Griffy had a huge game that All Star Game.

So here's the story.

So we went up just for the festivities, like we didn't have tickets to the game, and so we're standing around Funway going through all this stuff and then we get into a taxi to go somewhere and we end up we're in a taxi with Ray Knight.

Uh you know who scored.

I think he scored the winning run in the eight series to beat the Red Sox.

So we were in there randomly randomly, Hey, let me get in taxi. Yeah, let's get one. Yeah you do.

And then like some random person comes up to us and was like, hey, I got one extra ticket to the game, and that's you couldn't You couldn't do this now. So I'm eleven ten at the time, and We're an hour ten minutes away from home and this stranger comes up and offers us one ticket, and my uncle's like, you gotta go. So he sends me into the All Star Game.

How old are you?

I'm ten?

Oh, my sololo solo.

Yeah, sends me into the All Star Game.

That's a cool uncle.

By myself, and he's like, hey, like, I'll meet you right here.

I think he called my dad and my dad drove down, which I don't know what the hell he was going to do, like uh, And so I just sat in the sat next to these two people in the stands by myself watched the ninety nine All Star Game and I had this book that in the back of the book taught you how to throw all the pitches. And that's why I would I would like I was in the baseball for a little while, so I would like

Wow, what about some of the spots, uh Boston sports heroes, did you like?

I mean, vine Terry was one then to start because he signed he signed the ball, and then I was watching the first Super Bowl at my grandmother's house and he hit it was that Panthers was the first one.

Turf.

Yeah, So he hit the game winner, I think on that one.

And that was also the year he hit the snow one.

Yes and the Raiders and so that and then the Panthers one was another game winner that he had.

Yeah, And so he's up there, you like clutch guys.

Yeah.

And then I had this plaque of Celtic players of all the greats of the eighties and nineties, and for whatever reason, I like Robert Parrish.

I like the nickname the Chief. So like I just.

Liked the Chief. That the Chief, you know, I mean that was just a cool nickname to have. So from a childhood you remembers that. And then you know, you got those years in college of when it was like Pedro and Kurt Shilling and and like that whole.

Crew Bloody Saw Big Pot was just a huge just motherfucking on broad teeth.

Yeah.

And then and then but like and then Garnett in that era, you know, so like.

Uh yeah, just you grew up in a great time, grew in a great time, great time, and now I get to Uh, it's it's it's like a full circle because the great time that I grew up on as a kid. For whoever long I'm here, I've been in with this opportunity, ownership, responsibility to like do what was

It is tough, you know, and and you know you have you feel like you have this responsibility because of what you experience as a kid being part of this community. Now you have relationships with other coaches. You talk with Rabes at all, talk.

With uh, you know, coach Mayo was great, Rabes has been great, just his perspective.

Uh, you know, Alex Core is awesome.

You know, he's been around, he's seen and I haven't tapped into the Bruins or the Revolution like I need to. But I think it's a fraternity that you have to have, right because Coach Belichick's been great, like especially my first year, he was great.

Right.

But I think it came, didn't You came to our facility.

I remember seeing it there, and he came to a couple of games and then you know, we talked a lot about just the perspective and how it goes about things. But like, to me, it's just a fraternity that you have because we're all going after the same thing and we're all carrying, you know, the responsibility and the weight of bringing what Boston, what the city deserves and what and there. So yeah, I think I think it's a huge connection to have that.

It's so crazy that like this is like the perfect pro sport city. It is has everything everything, Like it's not a college area. I mean, we have hell of good colleges, but it ain't college sport area. It's it's not fall spring, summer. It's football season, baseball season, basketball season, hockey season season. That's the only way they live out here. It's crazy. You know, I grew up in the Bay Area and we had the Niners, we had the Giants. The Sharks just came out, but it wasn't the same.

People, I think I think here in Boston, there's no distractions like it. You know, each sport is is like a foundation of like a family. Like there's there's nothing. I get goosebumps when I see people wearing Celtic gear and they don't see me. I get goosebumps because it's like, I know they're wearing that with like a sense of pride, and there's a story behind why they're a Celtic fan.

Now what's now? What's young coach Missoula's favorite place on Federal Hill?

Panavino?

Panavino.

I think I worked there for like two days.

What happened?

Not a big manual labor guy, and so I was like, I'm not I'm not doing that.

I can't do this.

I think you had to like if I remember, you had to ask for like three Now I guess the people that like, now I'm that guy because I always want sparkling water instead of distill. But you had to ask for like three different waters?

Did you want on still flat sparkling?

Yeah, and then like the utensils had to be like three fingertips from the thing. And I was like, I'm just gonna go to the gym.

Tight ship, baby, they run a tight shipped over in the hill. Did you ever go to Olfornos Alfornos?

Maybe once when I was a kid, but like I don't remember it as much.

Did you ever go to Sienna's? No, that was over there on the hill. We used to go there. We weren't allowed to go to Federal We weren't. We weren't really allowed to go to Providence. Coach didn't want us there.

And there's a lot of great restaurants on one island. Corserti's Pizza is obviously a big one. Yeah, Rosa MEAs pizza in Johnson is phenomenal. I got what's called Rosie you gotta find It's like the true Sicilian pizza, like nice thick square slices.

What kind of sauce. It is a sweet sauce, not too so wet.

It has like the it's got like pepperoni and the pepper's on there and like built underneath the cheese.

We get that a lot with my grandmother.

Now, does your grandma make like a hell of a like red sauce and ship?

Have you seen known as on Netflix?

Great?

Yeah, great movie, It's fun, right, yeah, but I was, I couldn't remember if my grandma they're called her sauce, sauce or gravy, gravy, but she made a hell of a you know, a sauce or gravy.

You know.

I always want to experience that Italian East Coast mom that was us that.

Every what Sunday, I mean every night, so every night because they she lived in the same house by dad, there was I think there was nine brothers and sisters combined, but you never knew who was coming over. So she would make dinner every night, and it was it was just an open door. So like whoever came in came, you know, if you got there late, you didn't eat you and so but on Sundays we would have like a you know, a big, a big ordeal, like all

It was cool.

It was cool to kind of relive that I watched that other night with my wife.

No, we got bread for every everything. Right, bread has to be bread. I've learned that in the Italian house, you gotta have a piece of bread in the hand at all time for the sauce, the fucking noodles.

That you can't You got to dip the bread in the sauce. You can't let the sauce go to wait. I don't eat as I don't eat as much bread anymore.

Can't coach I know.

I mean I'm getting old and uh.

Not getting old. But I I've heard the interviews. You got to stay in shape so you you can understand the the perspective that the players are in.

Right.

I think that's important. I think that's a way to be empathetic for what those guys have to go tell. Yeah, but I lost touch. I don't do the coffee uh after dinner. I can't do that. I'll never know to sleep, I can't.

No, I'm sensitive that stuff too. What do was like the t is that the alcohol just d just E is a dj D. What else is Zambuca? And then there's another one. There's a Lemon Lemonello. But there's there's a tomorrow that's phenomenal. Like the tomorrows are great. I used to drink those a little bit. They always say it makes your stomach feel better. I felt like it made me drunker. I think both can be true. Effect we'll be right back after this quick break. Coach, you

Yeah, I mean I think, uh, it was such a it went by so fast. It does, went by so fast that the week leading up to it went by really fast.

You know.

First, like college, I had two great coaches and I started out with coach Bline. It was great, and then I you know, and then I started and then I went to coach Huggins. It was phenomenal. And then we just had great teammates, like and now you we went to the final four. It kind of all came together. But that was when I realized that, like man, winning is not as fun as people think it is. Like it's it wasn't an easy year like we were in the I think we were in top top ten.

Most of the year.

I think we finished thirty one and nine or something like that, but one and seven, but it never felt like that.

It felt like we were five hundred the whole year.

And that was that that prepared me for kind of where we're at now and the healthy approach to like nothing is ever going to be good enough when you have a responsibility to greatness and so like I just remember like practices being miserable, Like it was like, man, this this responsibility to winning goes beyond the always of winning and you have to fight for their perspective, but you also have to take on That was the biggest

Now who would bring that mindset of mediocrity even though you guys were above you. Guys were fucking thirty one and seven? Was that Bob Huggins?

Oh are?

Yeah? How was it playing for him? He's alleged he.

Is a legend, very misunderstood guy, but he was the best, and he was very He reminded me of my father, but he was the best.

To play for. How how did he remind your father?

Just no nonsense, had a nate ability to the fuck you and I love you became synonymous and you couldn't tell which one was which. Yeah, that's the best way to describe it. Like sometimes when it was fuck you, I was hearing I love you, and sometimes when I was hearing I love you, I was hearing fuck you.

Does that make sense? It does. It's bad that I know and understand that.

And so like so like my dad, like coach Hugs were like the same there where it was like I just couldn't tell what it was that day, but you knew it was to get the best out of you. It was the only thing he cared about, was like getting the best out of you, and he'll go to any measure possible to get the best out of you. There was no restrictions towards that. But The best thing he did was when the game or the practice was over.

Yeah, that's I mean, people don't what goes on in a game is different than that. I think that's what the good coaches and players relationships.

Like.

I remember there's a few times, you know with my chat chatty o'sha, my receiver, coach, we're fucking each other up, you know, on the sideline after the game we get to win, all right, Ye, all right man, you know that's just how it goes in battle.

Yeah, that's it.

But I think you got to be able to take the cap off though.

You have to be able to and I think that's that's the biggest thing I learned from him, was he was able to take the cap off more times than that of like, you know, how I hold you accountable on them. It's because I love you. But then this love kind of looks different when you're off the floor. And he was amazing at that. Yeah, amazing.

Now I heard this story about what is it the Ultimate fucking the Ultimate Alpha challenge with your dad. Yeah, well it struck me because where'd you hear that? I heard it. I think barstool maybe, Oh yeah. And it struck me because you guys went to a baseball field and you had to get out.

Yeah, I went.

I had a similar situation. It was just I was doing batting practice with my dad and I was dipping my shoulder. I think I was thirteen, and I finally at that age, was like trying to bow up and he was brushing me off the plate.

Yeah.

Right, and this is before a game. This is at like four three. You get a little VP before a game. Then we go to the game and fucking I got sick of it. He threw at me. I threw the bat down and I charged amount of my daddy one tude me put me on the ground. I ended up going to the game with the bloody, bloody jersey.

Yeah.

People were asking me. You know, I was like, but that didn't practice when didn't go? Well, now, actually, now look at you, but like, is that the pulling the best out of you?

So I would so if I think I remember this story correctly, I I our soccer game got canceled. It was raining, and he was probably pissed that he had to come all the way out to Walwick to pick me up and h he was given my friend a ride home. Uh you know Mark good friend of mine. You know, he was on the soccer team, and uh, you know he was so he had to be pissed because it was a tough place to get you it was right now the airport.

Yeah yeah.

And so on the way to dropping Mark off at his house, I'm being you know, he's mad.

I'm being even more mad.

I'm showing off in front of you know, my friend here, and you know, he was just like, okay, I'm going to take care of you.

After we dropped this kid off. And so, you know, I mean, the kid's house is on the right.

You come out, you take a right, you go down the main road, you take a left, and then off the main road, there's this baseball field and it's raining, and he's just like he's had enough. You know, I'm just being a fucking dick, and he's just like, winner take all. And we go into this we go, we go into the batting we go into the batting cage of the field and he's just like give me your best shot, like you know, and like you I think I have a chance. Yeah, I really thought I had

Yeah, oldest trigger try it.

Yeah, But the thing is, they bught us the trick. They taught us.

The trick catches my heel leg, sweeps me, mounts me, and just starts fucking just wailing on it.

Yeah.

By that time, we're late to Grandma's dinner and I'll never forget. He just looked at me and he goes, you don't fucking say a word, like nothing happened. And so I walk into my grandmother's house. Was just like a wet beaten dog. I just I just eat my meal as if like it. You know, I was just dead. It humbled, But he did it did. I didn't go back to my dad ever again after.

I never tried that, never tried that again, never.

Tried it again. You felt the strength they never felt before.

But I felt it was important to try it.

You had you got to test the limits. Who are you if you don't try it? Hey, he had me down trying to get him his ship. I remember, he's like he done yet. Oh I heard that story. I cried. I was like, God, there's other crazy fucking people out there. Yeah, because I mean people used to drive by the fucking field with me and my dad were having batting practice and he'd be like, oh, man is wailing on his kid again.

I knew that today's birthday. Actually he passed, but his birthday.

Birthday pop by, Happy birthday, l ip man. Man.

He gave me so many I mean I remember, like I used to I used to have to kneel on rice. But when I got in trouble that hurt, Like I have to like sit in the corner like nelon Rice.

That's a Catholic shit.

But like he just he brought something out of you that like to this day, like you it's necessary to take on whatever it is we're taking on right now. So like that was just the beginning. Yeah, I mean I remember we played. I sucked one game and this dude just beat the hell out of me. I think I filed out and he like went over to my coach. I was like, I'll give him a ride home today.

Yeah.

I was like, now, I'm good, I'll take the bus, get him ride.

Home, you know what. And my dad used to coach me, and everyone would be like, oh, man, your dad's a coach. I was like, yeah, right, I got to go home with her. No, what's your favorite memory about your dad? Though?

Man, my favorite memory about my dad was how he coached my cousin. So, my cousin, she was one of the you know, one of the best players in Rhode Island. I used to go to all her games and all her practices, and he would make her cry every day. Yeah, whether it was a game, whether it was a practice, like it was his goal to make her cry. That's my favorite memory. But she needed it, she needed it, she loved it. But it was also like to watch him he did. He wasn't just coaching me that way,

And I mean all the time.

Yeah.

And then in eighth grade he coached my eighth grade team at Saint Mary's and uh, let's just say he had a couple run ins with you know, faculty on coaching me a little bit too hard.

Yeah, yeah, and that that sounds about right. Yeah, that was different generation.

Did he transition into like becoming more like when I got to college.

He wasn't like that, No, because he became a man. He became.

Yeah, like when I got to college, he was the opposite, Like he was just a supporting figure.

He was like a you know, you know, he did the exact opposite.

It was like I did my time, you know, and he let me kind of grow into who I who I was at the time.

It's crazy, that's exactly how it was with me, because once you surpassed their nol, not like their knowledge, but once they like let you out, it was like, now we're here to support.

Yeah, So they weren't like overbearing.

He's doing it for a clear perce. Yes, it would have.

I would have not have appreciated it if he kept it going in college. He wasn't making it about him, No, He's making it about me. And he was able to release that.

Wow. Yeah, love that. Let's go into a segment where you go back in the time when the game took place and we go over pop culture. This game took place October eighteenth, twenty twenty two. Number one movie Halloween Ends. Didn't see you see a coach, Nope, never heard of it. It's that one of the Halloweens.

It's when Halloween ends.

Yeah, I'm not a big I don't like Halloween. Scary movie with your coach, big Halloween. I never liked Halloween until like, I have a little girl and she like we're already talking about costumes. One song, Bad Habits Steve Lacey never heard of that ever heard of NBA Champions Denver Nuggets with Joker. Joel Embiid was the MVP. Chiefs win the Super Bowl. Patrick was the MVP. First time that was done. MVP wins the Super Bowl in a long time. I Grove Astros win twenty twenty two World

It's between the town and the depart I'd say.

Yeah, depends on what kind of relief you need. Do you want to know what kind.

Of mood you're in?

I mean, I grew up on the Departy, but the town as I got older, And the reason why I kind of resonate a little bit more with the town than the part of it is is the identity and

What's more, you know, Yeah, it's darker. Yeah, it's really I'm attracted to you know, like the party is comic. There's some comedy relief with you know, Jack and how he does things. There's a little funniness to it. Yeah, the other one town and there ain't nothing that's that ship feels real. It's just dark.

I agree with you, And I'm not saying it as like a staying like I'm attracted to the dark side of greatness or the dark side of like the tugs of identity and love and lead shadows.

You're part of the Batman people. I mean trilogy is by far the best trilogy that is by far by far. Yeah, I mean the Dark Knight is dark. You know what. You know what I loved. I loved Batman Begins because I was a huge Batman kid when I was a kid, and to see the origin of where it all came from, Like I was like, oh my god, that's how they got the Batcave Holy Ship. Yeah, oh man, that's where he got his fucking moves. He went to i know,

And I think the Batman begins third. I think it's Dark Knight, Dark Knight Rises, then Batman begain.

I think I'll go Dark Knight, Batman Begins, Dark Knight Rises. It got a little long at the last one.

Yeah.

But the space I love is like villains, you know, like the movies and like these are like the themes that I always think about of, like there really isn't much difference between the hero and the villain, right, And I think that's the space of why the villain gets so frustrated is like the self righteousness of the hero thinking he's better than someone else because he's quote unquote trying to do the right thing, you know, and so they're more similar than than you think.

Are you a Star Wars fan? I'm not because I have that same argument with you know, the dark side and having the force, you know, I think when you're what are they called sith a sith? When you're a Sith, all they are people that have the force, that make decision through emotion. Yeah, when you're a Jedi, you're making decision emotionally, so it's more peaceful. But why are we getting mad at a person that's making emotional decision because we all do that.

Yeah, I know the spaces, but the gap between a hero and a villain is much it's it's very similar to like the gap between winning and losing and greatness to you know, be good to great. Like that gap is so much closer than people think, and it's very small fundamental details that separate you.

Uh.

And that's the space that I like to like dive into a lot. What is it the saying you live long enough of the hero, you die the villain or.

Something dark knight, the dire hero live long enough to be the villain? I mean, that's that's true as you can get it is. Now, who's your villain? Who's who's the villain?

Joker? You're the Joker? Yeah, that's your guy. That's that's like, that's my guy, like the.

Heath Ledger version. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, I heard the first time. I mean, so I have this, I mean I got this.

So why you're so serious form?

Wow?

Because of like that perfect balance of like you know, you know, it's a great question.

Yeah. Yeah.

Now what he goes into like telling the story as to like how he got to that.

Point, you know, but it's like, you know.

It's amazing how he Like if you look at the Batman and the Joker, it's like the Joker had no rules, but he really just wanted honesty, you know, but he just went to the wrong depths to try and get that honesty. Meanwhile, Batman was like, you know, I'm doing I'm doing this for all the right reasons, when in reality, like was he and you know, they're not much different.

They're not you need to do a movie podcast, that's what you should do on your spare time. I was gonna ask you what do you do on your spare time? But probably gona get better at my job first. That's the start there there, that's the coach right there. What are we watching anything? Like? When we have any downtime right now.

I try to watch so during the playoffs, I was watching the bin Laden documentary.

I watched that too, man.

I mean they should so you know they have like, no, they have what's that thing called? Were you like? Escape rooms?

Yeah? They should have.

We should start a business where you have like situation rooms and like you can sign up and go in and like reenact different things. You know, like hey, what are you doing tonight? We're gonna grab dinner and then we're gonna go reenact and been lot and raid, you.

Know what I mean.

Like like I think the escape room is just the beginning. It's like, hey, what are you doing tonight? We're gonna simulate these.

You go down to like the West Coast, you can go deal with those like they teach you how to like the John Wick guy that teaches you gun.

Like I'm talking like down here on like the main road. You know, I'm not saying like you gotta go out. I'm saying like you can find an escape room anywhere, like at a billiard spot. Yeah, like tonight we're going to reenact for no. Maybe we talk about morality, but tonight, we're going to reenact like negotiation tactics, like hey, you're gonna get you know, after dinner, you're gonna be kidnapped, and I gotta I.

Gotta use my negotiation tactics to like get you.

Back, like more strategy than yeah, yeah, you know what I mean.

I just want some situations.

Like so I whatever I watch, I try to tie into like how you can you know? Another great one is so we should think more about that business.

I'm into it. I like that boardroom screen someone comes in.

My favorite movies is the Game?

Is that Michael Douglas.

Yeah, where he hires the people to put himself in that situation because he wants excitement.

Yeah, yeah, huh, I'm just playing in this night.

I like this fun Friday night.

I mean escape rooms are just the beginning.

Oh yeah, that's child's blake.

Come on, I mean, I mean that's over. I mean that's.

Boring, trying to go PF Chang's maybe a little water boarding afterwards.

So Ballas I told me a story about he brought in a guy. Yeah, I don't know, I don't know if we're supposed to talk about this.

Yeah, we we tried it. There was a there was a select few, but send someone tr Yeah, there's a few of US enhance interrogation techniques. I can't I don't want to put it on the name on blast, but like we used to have a bunch of Navy seals that would come and train with US teachers hand combat, the line of scrimmage ship. Yeah, and a couple of bold guys are like, hey man, we want to try this, we want to get water boarded. Yeah, and it's pretty weird.

Yeah, did you know?

I didn't.

I'm surprised by that.

Well, I was out. It was a linebacker group that hung out with them the most. Uh okay, But I wasn't scared of it. They just they were doing it. Sounds like you were a little scared of it to me, Not really. I honestly don't see how it would be that weird. If you just put a what do you put a fucking tall over your face? You pour water on and now they're not gonna kill me. I'm not scared.

But do you know that they're not gonna kill it? I mean, I guess you do.

Yeah, I mean they're pros, you know what I mean? To of Obayose guys, have done that million opened up wrs. I'm sorry, Jesus, I wasn't thinking water blass. Sorry I took it to another I'm sorry. You gotta try. You gotta drown yourself.

The kidnapped the president's daughter. And now you gotta like your.

Kids, Like now you're teaching your kids, like you know now you have like your life and your kids. You have a different level of trust of like hey, like you know my oldest Hey, I'm gonna go in first, you get my back, You check the corner like you work on those things. Like I think there's a great not only team, but like those are just great, you know, dynamic building things out.

There be a distraction.

I'm gonna go this way, you go that way, Lily all right.

Hey starting young baby, starting like it. I also, I'm really because of how deep you are. What's on your pregame playlist? Because is it? Are you? Are you? Like?

Because I'm an instrumental guy. So you listen to music every game. And I don't sit in my own office. I sit in the assistance room. We all hang out together and like you know, just we kind of meet all the time. And so Matt Reynolds, your your boys, great guy, great coach. He takes turns. Each guy gets to pick their own playlist, and so it just rotates throughout the entire season.

Rotating the ox what's on yours?

Well, when we went down, Uh it got pretty it got pretty dark. There's ah we had, you know, Gray to die, Biggie, ain't no sunshine. D m X filled in the air Phil Collins and d m x's uh redo of that, Somebody's got to die tonight. Pearls by Saday, you know.

You gotta smooth it out like that's still a little you know, Pearls is a little dark though you know it's it's it's it's in there.

Got some worship songs on there, just to kind of bring you back so that you don't you know, you got to keep the balance a little bit. Every song I listened to, I asked, can I come out to this for a UFC Championship fight.

That's a good test that.

You know that that's to know if it's a good song or not.

I like so I would always go with like Hans Zimmer movie music, so like inceptions, fucking man, you know, like that Interstellar, like those those playlist or those soundtracks because I didn't want words. I wanted to think my words. So I like, I like that. I like also I wanted to I wanted to like I wanted to walk through my play sheet, and I wanted to see the

Yeah. No, what are those called montages? Maybe?

Yeah? Maybe those Yeah, But.

I like a song where I can match the montage.

And so like Naughty by Nature is hip hop, Array is in the Last Dance, and so I'll listen to the song and replay that that segment of the Last Dance. Yea, you know there's there's another one of there's a KRS one song that is really cool that's in the last Dance.

I'll listen to that KRS one song. So like, I like that, I might take that.

I'll send you a couple.

Yeah, the best one is from The Dark Knight Rises, when he's in that cave and they're chanting and he's gotta, he's gotta.

You know, we'll think, get out of the cave.

If I'm trying to be real crazy, what I'll do is I'll get up on my skateboard, I'll throw on the Dark Knight Rises soundtrack at night and you go fucking cruising. You feel like you're Batman. I swear.

Done this.

I'm million times. Is that when you got hit by that guy I was longboard. It's some dude to hit me when I was playing, well, I fell into him. I look at him. He looked at me. He goes, are you all right?

Yeah, man, I'm good.

He's going the Dark Knight Rises soundtrack. Yeah, or if I'm on a dirt bike or something.

Moonlight Sonata is a good one.

Yeah.

It kind of just takes you and I'll that's on the playlist. Moonlight Sonata the song from the Dark Knight Rises. I forget the name of it.

I think it's just Dark Knight Rise Hans Zimmer because it goes by the scene.

Okay, yeah, you gotta check it out. I like Moonnight Sonata. That's a good one.

I'm gonna check it out. Yeah, let's Jackie. Let's jump into this match up. Should we get into these sixers? Real? Get into these sixers?

Fifty four and twenty eight finished third in the East. This was the final year of the Doc Rivers era in Philly. This was, of course, Joel Embiid's MVP season notably led the NBA in free throw percentage eighty three and a half and three point percentage thirty eight point seven. Re signed James Harden after trading from the year before h Mac mclung dunk contest winner two way guy. We all remember that one though, and yeah, finished third in the East.

Coach, how do you describe the Celtics seventy six ers rivalry? I mean, these are two some of the oldest cities in this beautiful country that we live in. The Bell being cracked over there, John Hancock being buried here. I mean, we could go into the history. What does this rivalry mean?

I learned more about that watching Celtic City, you know, because I think the you know, watching that dynamic there. Yeah, so I think that runs deeper than maybe I understood, you know that that particular one.

Yeah.

Yeah, Now let's do some dude talk. What makes Joe Embiid so so good?

I mean, you know the thing I appreciate about him that I'm pretty sure he was a soccer goalie, So I think his foot that is correct. Yeah, his footwork, his hand eye coordination, and him and a goal his timing, his timing and his angles like that. Studying some of those guys brought me back to like the building connections on different sports, right like Tim Duncan being a swimmer.

Uh, I wasn't.

I didn't have a lot of talent, but because of my soccer background, I was conditioned really well and that's that helped me defensively take on angles and footwork and changing directions and so always fascinated by his how seeing what a goalie does and how he translates that. Yokic is like that with water polo. If you watch water polo, you're essentially watching Yokic post exactly.

That's how he plays.

Yeah he plays he yeah, like he would he You can tell how he palms the ball, how he won touch passes it when it's mid air, how he how he almost embraces people draping on him, because like you're you're having to do both of those things, and like watching him is like watching a water polo there, So I've never.

Put that together. That's that's the first time I ever heard that. Yeah.

So like when I watch Yokic, I see water polo.

When I watch Embiid, I see how you know, his soccer background gave him the footwork, the angles, the handoue, coronation of timing to be so effective at such a for such a big guy.

Yeah, what about James Harden His he watching.

Him plays like listening to like Moonlight Sonata, like never get sped up, plays at his own pace always, yeah, always smooth, smooth.

Knows how to knows how to make a basket when he needs, knows how to just get to us, you know, just do those those rule books too.

Yeah, yeah, you know, I like that does what he does? You know?

All right, let's let's let's jump into the Celtics. Jackie break into the Celtics. He's twenty twenty two Celtics.

Fifty seven and twenty five went into the All Star Break with the best record in the NBA at forty two and seventeen.

Uh coming off of Finals loss.

The year before, the Golden State added some new key pieces Malcolm Brogden, Gallinari, Blake Griffin. This was the first full season with Derek White after bringing him in the year before, resigned Luke and Sam in the offseason and.

Prior to this year.

This will be a little foreshadowing for the game lost the legend Bill Russell in July, which was a huge loss for the Celtics in the basketball world as a whole. And of course you got the Jays Jalen Jason from the year before. So we're yelling coming into this year and we got Smart still there, and we got a new head coach, and we got a new head coach our main man, what was.

It like being called to be the nineteenth coach for the Historics Boston Celtics.

I mean, that's kind of where my faith came into play. It just felt like it was a true gift from God. Really, Like it was like, I don't belong here, you know, you go through a little bit of like how the hell did I get here? Slash I don't belong here, but I also I was put here, you know, by God, and so like that's really the only way to describe it.

Can you describe to people, our viewers that are from different cities, how the Celtics are different than any other NBA Yeah, franchise.

I think it's it's starts with the history, you know, it starts with the tradition, it starts with some of the greatest players to have ever played the game, and then it goes to the city. Like you know, there's not much difference between how Hugs motivated us the year we went to the Final four and what it's like

That responsibility to be able to do it.

But you know, there's nothing better, and it's just different, and I think it's it's a list of all those things.

Yeah, we'll be right back after this quick break. Let's get into some of these roster guys. Who who on this specific team twenty twenty two Boston Celtics, who is the team asshole, Like the guy that not like an asshole, but a team asshole our in our world is a good guy that holds people accountable, may not do it in the most proper way, but works his dick off. Yeah, that kind of asshole, not like an asshole.

Yeah, I mean, let's not use that word because I don't like who's a team enforcer.

Yeah, there's so there's like a few guys.

Everybody is in their own way, right like vocal, Like Jason does it in one way, Jalen does it in another way, al does it in another way. For this season and for his time here, you know, you have to give that to smart like his ability to do that and an underlying one who was ended up being one of the best people I ever coached was Blake Griffin. You know, he became like just an amazing guy. Uh and his ability to lead in different ways, both in action and in words, and so you know, they all

Now how did Blake do it differently?

I mean it was actually interesting because like I didn't again, I was the interim and then we signed Blake, and I'm like, shit, like how am I going to coach this guy?

Like he was a former number one pick, Like it's Blake.

Griffin and you know, his humility, Like he came in and our relationship changed, and it you know, motivated me. When he came to me, it was like, hey, how can I get better? And for a guy of his stature and where he's been to have the foresight to be like, hey, I want to get better, Like how can I?

You know that was.

Huge, right, And and you know every time he talked and decisions that he made, we weren't about him there about you know winning.

Yeah, now you talk about Jason Tatum and how he treats people, that's probably a huge component of why he is who he is. What else makes him great?

Yeah?

I mean I think you live in that space of like greatness is viewed at as differently.

And I think another thing when you play.

For the Celtics and you have a great team and you have multiple guys, you have to take on everybody's greatness and you have to allow space in order for greatness to kind of be exemplified in different ways, right, And you know, like Al does it in a certain way, Jalen does it, and Jalen does it in his way and his approach and his fierceness and his warrior mentality.

Al what he deserved.

Yeah, and that was that was something that we had to carry into the next season.

He's just a consummate professional. When I was there, like, that was the vet pro guy. Yeah, because when I was there, it was I went there and I hung out with you guys in like twenty twenty, like Jalen and Jason they were still babies. Yeah, you know, Al was the old guy, and he wasn't old yet. He's kind of getting old, I mean, but he was the guy that like was the example for how these guys need to be as a professional. How he came into work, how is his preparation habits were, how he took care

Yeah, And I think everyone does in their own way. Like I think you know Jalen he does it with his mindset and his warrior mentality. Jason does it kind of the way out died it, you know, and you need both of those. And I think from what you're talking about when you were there to now, like you know, you've transitioned into each guy does it in their own way, and you need each guy's way to be able to set the.

Tone and like the temperature of it.

And it's crazy in basketball because of the smaller rosters, they have such an impact on it. Your five guys that your guys, they have an impact on everyone. Yeah, So they all have to come together and do their individual thing and do it in a different way because it influences everyone else.

Yeah, and everyone else influences that and it's just kind of like a melting pot of it is an influence and I mean it's a chain it is. I think that's the fun part about building a team and building an atmosphere in an environment.

Is that fun part of how do you put all that together?

Yeah?

You know, but the guys make it easy, you know, and I think you know, your best players make it easy.

You know.

Jason makes it easy, Jalin makes it easy, and then it just goes on.

Down the list. Yeah, let's jump into the game, Jackie.

I was gonna say one of my favorite we're talking building atmospheres here in building cultures. I think one of my favorite moments, and I'm paraphrasing here, coach, was when I think Xavier Tillman joined the team and they asked him what you told him when he first walked in.

It was don't be a jerk. I love that. Did I say that, I don't know that's what he said.

Then I said something like, don't be weird, don't like, don't treat me like a coach.

Okay.

I like that, you know, in the sense of like I always think back to that.

You know, we got we gotta break down the barriers, like whatever it needs to be said, needs to be said, like don't I think I was trying to say, like don't.

I think everybody does this, but you see this sometimes, Uh, don't.

Whatever it is your previous relationships with your coaches are, don't bring in a preconceived notion of what that's going to be like for us, because I want to do it completely different, you know, and not to say that one is better than the other, but let's let's bring an open mind to how we could build our relationship and how we're gonna build a relationship as a team together.

You know, that may not be different. It could be fabricated to what the other coach did, if that's the best for the player.

Yeah, exactly.

So like it was more like just coming with an open mind and we're gonna we're gonna start from scratch.

We're just gonna do this together.

Sorry for botching neck quote, but I love that that point.

He's a good guy. I like coaching him.

Shoul we get in this game. Let's get into all right. So before this game, we we talked.

Of course, the last time the Celtics had been on the parquet was a loss to the Warriors and the finals. Uh, but both teams were expected to contend for the East here the Sixers and the Celtics. So hi, hope trust the process, man, trust the process. This was kind of that's what I've seen.

Yeah, marketing ploy keep going, sorry for cutting the marketing ploy at that Philly they get me, I know. Unfortunately after you come at me on this right, all that bullshit, get at it here with your tush push come on. Uh.

But a little bit turmoil going on in the Celtics organization coming into this one, with injuries to Robert Williams to start the season and Gallinari of course, tore up his knee in the in the Euro Basket planning and I think Georgia so coming in what a little banged up. And then of course before this game, a really great tribute to uh you tore it up in Worlds. Yeah, euro basketball. That's that brings a point to me.

Yes, So, the NFL just passed that one player per team could go play on the Olympic flag football team. Really yeah, And I don't know if it's going through or what, but is there some kind of edge that you have when your guys go and play for the country because they're not you know, they could get hurt or is there like we kind of forget that because it's America.

I think.

I think that's always a that's always a point of contention. But I think the good outweighs are bad.

Yeah.

I think when you have guys want to take on the responsibility of their country and pray play for another something bigger than themselves, I think the only right thing to do is to, uh is to have them do that, and you take a lot of pride in that.

Yeah, it's it's it'll be interesting in football though, because a it's a different fucking sport only sixteen games.

It doesn't really but it's not.

I mean, it's like it doesn't have the history of what like the you know, no going to play euro Basket or going to play like it doesn't have that.

No.

I mean it could one day, but it just doesn't yet. Yeah, but you have a chance to win. I guess it's cool because you know, I don't know, not every sport has a chance to win.

To go to Metal Hall. This is our first time. So I think I think.

That that's something that is something that you got to go after.

I'm to get the knees ready, coach, see if I still got a couple of me, give one of these little Spanish boys give you get to see what these Portuguese dudes know about a real shake route.

They ain't never seen a return they turn out. Coach, So this is your first game, right, well, how nervous were you? Did you have nerves going into this? How did you handle the team? What was your first game? Like first pregame speech? Did you have something that you remember from that?

I don't. I get anxious before every game.

Yeah, Like I'm just like, you know, sitting there, I get more anxious, like I can't you know, so.

That that's never I hope that never goes away.

It won't.

I hope that stays.

I don't remember exactly I remember if like, just just don't make this about your first game. Make this about how we can win the game, you know, And that's kind of what I was, like, don't make it about you. It's really not. It's about you know, we gotta gotta win the game. It's the first one. But at the same time, I think you go through of like, you know, let's see what this is all about, you know. I think it was like, Okay, what's the difference between being an assistant being a head coach?

What makes Doc so good? What makes the players so good?

Like I was.

It was I was excited to.

See whether I was going to be good at it or not right away, and what I was going to learn from it and how quickly I can make that adjustment.

But at the same time, I was like, you got to win this.

Game, got to and it couldn't be a more movie type game where you're playing against the Philadelphia seventy six ers, against your coaching, against Doc Rivers, who won a championship in the city you're coaching for that you were probably a fan of when you were a kid, like that had to bring some more anxiety, no, or do you not worry about them? You?

No, No, that's definitely true. Like I think, especially my first year, and I think it will always be this way. The people who I looked up to and studied are the people that I'm in the arena against now, like and I think, you know, every coach you have to be able to have a respect for but also steal what

Yeah. Now, how was the energy that night in the in the guard that wasn't That was insane?

Yeah?

That was insane. I mean you can't even simulate That's like it's like taking a drug.

I've never done that, neither.

I need my doctor to prescribe me. Boston Garden game night, Come on now, me going, well, I don't need this be twelve what little game night, Boston Garden atmosphere.

Bro. If you could like put that in a pill.

That is it's different.

So what was your first test as a head coach in this game? Coach? You remember a specific time out, a specific you know, your.

First test came we were losing, right.

Yes, we were really Uh started with a nine to two run, seas were up. Then you got outscored twenty seven to fifteen for the rest of the first quarter.

Yeah, al a test right of like you know again, you can plan as an assistant. You know what your philosophy is going to be, like, what your identity is going to be like, but you don't know what type of job you're going to take over until you're in,

Yeah, I remember the plays that we ran.

I mean, Grant was a huge part of executing some of those off ball actions that we got a couple open threes and a layup on. And it was a fruition of some of the stuff that we know we needed to get better at throughout the season, where our off ball actions, and you know, Game one kind of tested that.

Now do you remember that and what you just said, those situations in this specific game because it was your first your first game, or do you have like a photographic memory where you remember like coaches usually did. I don't know.

I don't want to give I don't want to give myself the credit of saying I have a photographic memory, but I remember I remember I can remember a lot, a lot of stuff.

Yeah, I can remember pinpoint situations.

Yeah. Yeah, because it's crazy coaches they always yeah.

It's all we're watching. Yeah, you know, you end up watching one game three or four times and then it becomes embedded and then you use everything as a reference point.

And even more probably if you play that team again and if you want to get back.

So it ends up like, yeah, I got a good memory, but at the same time, I'm constantly retrieving it, watching stuff, watching the same stuff. So it's more about the retrieval over and over again. And then you need this situation to be able to uh uh, to fall back on for something else, you know what I mean.

Do you guys break down? Do you guys have situational basketball like we do in fair Thing? Yeah, I think I said, And that's one of the things that Bill was so big on, and he was one of the pioneers, which some people could say it was parcels, which it probably was, but breaking down the game and situations, you guys have like a two minute basketball, like playing more.

End a quarter, start a quarter, end of the quarter, the start of the quarter, end of a half, last two or three minutes. You know, to me, that's where the I mean similar to that's where the games are won and lost. If you get to the point of where it's a close game, it's a I mean the margins. I mean it sounds redundant, and but it just that that it's the end all be all.

Yeah, the end all be all, all the margins.

And they leave this they controlling the margins get will dictate how much grace you're allowed to have throughout the game. You know, and you know, if you get into a situation of where it's a one point game, uh in the fourth quarter.

It's it's it's it's almost one.

Hundred percent because of there was a margin won or lost in a situation. And then the second piece is like, how do you manage those runs? Every team's going to go on a run. It's can you not have it twenty seven to fifteen? Can it be nineteen to fifteen run or twenty one to fifteen run. I think those two things get lost in the shuffle of all the stuff that you know gets talked about amongst games.

Of why you won or lost. They get paid too. Yeah, this is National Basketball Association. Okay, they're fucking good. Yeah, there's gonna be some big ass plays. You got to be able to have a short memory, boys. Yeah, get back into the new situation. Jack, can you walk us through until halftime?

First quarter was was defined by that run that we talked about, and Harden got found on three three pointers, which is incredible, like just insane that the Garden was not loving it.

We weren't loving it. Eight for eight on free throws.

He had sixteen in the first big for JB in the second fourteen shots seventy one percent in the second quarter. The Celtics did as a team. No turnovers was a big one in that one to Harden finished the first half with four to three, so he and indeed were heating up doing the pick and roll thing. They're both getting going. Uh tied it up at the half after a big second quarter. That takes us into the half.

So halftime, what's what's the what's the locker room like?

Under the coach, I think you're as soon as that horn goes off, even during the first half, you're I'm constantly saying, Okay, what did we do well, what didn't we do well?

What hurt us?

And you try to anticipate on what's going to happen in the second and then when the horn goes off, it's about a forty five second to a minute walk to the back. You're you're kind of deciding about like all right, like what does the team need.

Right now in this moment? And then you know, what are we going to focus on?

And so in that game, you're talking about the you know, you follow a three point shooter three times and you give them nine potential points out of that that you have to take that away. And so I think you're just constantly and but it changes, right, Sometimes you're in there and you show film, you know. Sometimes you're in there and like you don't show any film. Sometimes it's like, okay, who does an individual player need something? Or does the

There, Now, how long is the halftime?

It's fifteen minutes.

By the time you get back to the locker room, It's like thirteen thirty and then you got three and a half minutes to look at the halftime minute to see what you want to show, and you try to show the half time innute at like ten.

So do you have cause like whenever our halftime it was it was clockwork. We would come in for halftime, it was thirteen minutes or twelve minutes. Coaches would have two minutes together while we were undrained, like let our emotions get down, and then we break up into O and D. Offensive coach would have his four keys that were going into defensive coach would have his four keys.

Yeah, it's different. So I think you're in the back.

As far as roster size.

No, by the time we get to the team, it's probably four clips offense, four clips defense, or if one side of the ball is just so much more drastically different impacting the game, you just focus on that. But it's like that in the staff of like, you know, the offense team will give their insight, the defense team

Yeah, Jackie, let's go to the second half.

In the second half, really turn up that defensive intensity on Embeid, almost like doubling on the catch. The coverage was awesome. Smart was in there making it hard for him, not getting to his spots. And then, as we talked about a little bit earlier, creating fast break opportunities five for five on turnovers in the third Celtics were off sixers turnovers.

I think that's where we changed the matt up and put Smart Unembid.

Yep. Yeah, and he was able to draw a couple file.

He was able to Smart was able to take advantage of that matchup defensively, you know, raising some hell and and creating that. That was a big shift in that game. And then you know, we ended with I believe we ended with It was Jason, Jalen, al Grant, Uh and Derek was the end lineup. I believe that that put the matchups, you know, embid head to decide who he

I think that changed the momentum of the game a little bit, it really did.

And then and JT was getting downhill all third seventeen, just in the third alone, like attacking the rim, getting fouled, uh, just really taking over. And then of course wouldn't be a Celtic Sixers game without a little scuffle.

Baby. We got smart and Inmbeid going at it.

Yeah, I mean that's why you put the match up there is you know, smart and take advantage of those moments.

Yep.

And then in the fourth really opened up that lead and came out of this by.

One on the fourth though, I know, but but it's the grace of winning the third, yes, you know. And so yeah, that's the margins, the margins we had how many turnover was did we force in the third quarter.

Of six five five scored on all of them.

Yeah, you forced five live ball turnovers and you score on that that can change the game.

And then you look back to the whole game, like coach was saying, and the Margins won the fast break scoring advantage twenty four to two, which is massive.

But what was the points off turnovers?

Oh?

Points off turnovers? Ours were twenty two twenty two to fifteen.

Yeah, yeah, so they weren't necessarily fast break points as much as they were like points off our defense, Like, you know, so that's huge.

And then end up winning this thing one twenty five one seventeen thirty five apiece from Jalen and JB.

That's huge. First thought that comes to your mind after getting your first win in the NBA of your childhood freaking team in the garden, Like, what's that first thought?

I don't suck as much as I thought.

Happily miserable? Is that bug is deadly miserable? That was really it.

I was like, man, I didn't like, I remember I remember my dad's voice, like, don't fuck this up. I was like, Okay, I didn't fuck it up too bad? No, got a shot at this thing. Yeah, yeah, you remembered your dad's voice. Yeah, don't fuck it up man, that's awesome.

Aftermath in February, the interim tag was removed was awesome, rightfully so. Celtics winning the season series against Philly three to one. Beat Philly in the second round of the playoffs. Epic seven game series made the playoffs for this ninth consecutive season. We did upset by Miami in the Eastern Conference Finals in seven games less. Fast forward to twenty twenty three, twenty twenty four, raised Banner eighteen beating Dallas four to one.

Baby brought that Larry O'Brien trophy back home. I mean this some could say this is the start of the new generation Celtics. This specific game. That's how important this specific game could, yep, be considered. Tell people what it's like to win a ship entitled town. To me, it is.

You feel that you feel the responsibility to the city, uh, to the people, but really to the players. And there's so many people in the organization that do so much that people don't know about and.

Staff, the lunch ladies, yeah, the people that let you in the facility, people parking lady, the parking people, the people that clean up after you.

But also the business side, right, people in the business, and so I think it's a culmination of uh, gratitude for everybody involved and and you know, to the city, but for me it's it's uh you know, my my priest sent me a text the day of the parade and me and Luke Cornett talked about this. Winning the parade is very similar to Palm Sunday. It's not Easter, you know, and Palm Sunday is is it puts you now now it gets harder.

Palm Sunday is the week before Easter. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and then you got ash Wednesday.

Yeah, no, no Friday, aginning, you got Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Holy Thursday, good Friday, and then Easter. And so winning is like Palm Sunday because you're waiting for that next Easter it may or may not come. That that's the space of like happily miserable, of duality of there's the people and the players, and then there's like that space between Palm Sunday and Easter. And all all we're doing now is we're in that space of that week of

He may not come.

It may stop a good Friday, and you fight like hell to to make sure you get another one. I mean, when that horn went off, that's the only thing I thought about, how we're going to do this again?

What do we have to do? And not in an unhealthy way. I think.

You know, you live in a space of like I don't know how long I'm gonna do this, but for however long, that has to be the focus. It's got to be the relationships to people. And it's got to be like how do we get back to Easter Sunday again? And you just have to constantly think about that every day.

You ain't got to explain yourself to here people. You know, people don't understand when you're in the grind of trying to chase your dreams, and once you get your dreams, you recalibrate your dreams, like you don't have time to sit back and say, man, this is cool. You don't like you don't get time to enjoy it. People that are successful as certain things, they can say they enjoy it, but if they're having a long sustained career in something,

And comparatively speaking into your life, no, without a doubt, and so like it's not unhew healthy to live in that space for ten twelve years.

It's a balance.

People.

Family are important, but so is going after greatness. And there's no trajectory as to what it's going to look like, you know, Like you know, that's the perspective that we talked about. Do I think we'll get another one, Absolutely, we have to. But the spurs one to five over the course of ten years, you know, the eighty one team took eighty two and eighty three and all that pain to come back in eighty four, you know. And

You gotta do it. Let's great the game, coach got me ready to run so far all let's name the game. These are some names we came up with. If you haven't suggestion, you can you can give us the suggestion, of course. The first one is the sweetest Joe's First Game, the Joe Opener. This one's jo the Jopener. This one's for Bill because Bill Russell rp.

Oh, yeah, that one you didn't have to finish the rest of This one's for Bill. This one's for Bill.

What did Bill Russell mean to the Celtis organization?

I'll tell you what, Like you realize what he means.

And then you hear about Jalen talk about what he means from a from a off the court perspective, and he sets the tone. Uh, he sets the standard of what it's like to be a Celtic. I've so enjoyed what listening to Jalen talk about how he's impacted him and and uh, you know how he's impacted the game. And it's been great to see the relationship that Red and Bill have had but it's also in to see

The greats they all have one thing. They have the ability to compartmentalize like no other. That's something that like Tom Brady I noticed, you notice from him, like whatever was going on in his life, how he was at work, was it was work time.

Yeah, it's not always that's that That space is difficult though, because then you just feel nothing. No, you're you're essentially a serial killer. Ye, no, you are. You are, And like you drag your wife and kids into it. You drag your family into won't get into that, but yes, you just dragged Like like, my wife is dragged into this.

This is her life. But she loves it and I'm grateful for that.

She's every great coach has a great wife.

And sit at the game with her. She's a fucking maniac. Maniac off to sit in the game. Actually pretty awesome to watch. I'm actually it's actually really cool.

Is she from out here? She's from West Virginia, West Virginia. Let's go. You brought you brought someone? Dial below that that Macy Dixon line up here to the north. All buddy, let's score the game. Is this the greatest game of all time? Let's score it. Seventy six Ers versus the Celtics season opener, twenty twenty two to twenty twenty three NBA season coach Missoula's first game as head coach of the Boston Celtics, stakes zero to ten. Decimal's okay, coach, I.

Mean you stakes were pretty high. Would imagine you can't be an intern? And lose your first game. That's kind of your fucked Yeah, so.

What are you gonna have? Zero to ten? Descis ten? Ten?

Yeah?

I've never been in that situation. I don't know the coach's life, but I'll give it an eight.

I like that.

I want ohoh three point two? Man?

What is my what do you do?

I'm Russian judging us. I'm tripping, geez louise.

A five point one regular season game. Our perspective, your perspective obviously at ten.

Yeah, star power of the game, a lot of great. That's a ten ten?

Ten?

We are we, coach? Are we all right? Ten? I will go look Jalen and Tatum, they weren't them yet.

They combined for seventy points.

I know, but we're talking in time and place in the in the era of where it was at. I'm gonna go with an eight point one. I went with an eight point nine.

Let's go seven point nine.

All I'm really kicking myself for that stake score. I'm sorry, coach, that's all right.

The gameplay of this game, back and forth, how it was visually for the viewer, could be gameplay for you as a coach. How you had to coach situationally zero to ten decimals. Okay, I'll go eight and a half. I'm gonna go. It was an opener gameplay. Crowd was going cranking, go with it. Eight, we're all there names and ten the name is a ten, coach new I'm gonna go with the nine point five. It's it's the great one. We did a we did an autograph signing my rookie year with him.

I got ja.

I scored this before we knew what we decided on. I'm got to give this a ten. Yeah, the greatest winner of all time ten.

At a one point eight. I want to change it for eighteen championships. I'm gonna go for say, you know one, actually, you know what? Eight point one?

Yeah? I like that. Now, where does it stack up into the games we've done all time?

Was Patrick Waller goalie in that two thousand and one broke Stanley Cove.

Yeah, we're doing that one tomorrow anyway.

Yeah, he was he the goalie.

Yeah, and then Brenda Moore was the goalie for the doubles, the no Martin Berger Martin Brow.

Yeah, I remember those two goalies. They were fucking that in incredible.

So you're a hockey guy played NHL as a kid the Detroit Red Wings with my team.

They had Chris Osgood and you know, but beween the pipes. He was big time. Everyone Chris was on that team.

Was on that team.

Nicholas Lindstrom was a hell of a defender.

McCarty, Yeah, you know so, but I mean Martin Broda versus Patrick Wattan, you don't get a better game than that.

Fighting Night at the Joe is one of our highest recommended game tomorrow. Just so you know, this will be coming out way later tomorrow. Stanley Cup's coming here with Ray Bork. We're talking about that game. Yeah, over the moon. Who else was on that team?

It was?

It was a forward, you know, the I'll think about the Red Wings. The Red Wings had a forwards that was unbelievable. I think he was a Russian guy.

No, oh federal off, Yeah he was.

He was big.

You know your NHL head. Yeah, like sports, but I mean you always learn the rosters through playing the video game, Yeah, no question, Like that's how I know FIFA like soccer. Ye sick. We'll be right back after this quick break. Where'd the game at?

Was an eight point one one? It puts us it's our new thirty fourth game overall, just behind the two thousand and seven Western Conference Playoffs game five Mad versus Warriors that we did with Mark Cuban, and then uh Believe game. That's what we did with Russello, right, No, this was the Davison Daron Davis.

Yeah, we Believe Warriors.

And then just ahead of the Avery real game Devils versus Rangers, they go, we did a Sean Avery.

So thirty four it's not bad, it's not good.

No regular season game, it's pretty good.

And you can come on and you have plenty of games that will score a lot higher.

Malcolm Butler game.

I was on a bus for Glenville State College driving back from a game, watching it on my phone when he got the interception, remember that one.

I was sick Merracle on ice. That's a great movie.

Low for fourth, but it's okay.

I mean that's a great one.

We stopped the Cold War snowball game. That was huge. Snow Yeah, we did, you like, are your wrestling fan w W? Yeah? Yeah, which ones we have.

On Becky Lynch we did. We also do one with Sean Sean Michaels, the young Man.

That match was insane. You don't have you don't have the Rock, you don't have the Astrodome. What was the wrestle manning at the Astrodome was at the Rock versus Stone Cold.

See, so there are plenty of matchups that aren't on our list because we haven't done then yet.

These are all games that we've This is the games that we've had.

I think the Rock stone Cold at the Astrodome.

One that was like that our age.

And then you have the Rock man kind on the on the just know.

The steel case cage. Yeah, the tax Yeah, I used to love that ship. I mean that was like, if you told me it wasn't real, I would I would putch you.

In the face. I guess suspended for giving a sucket signed to my teacher.

Yeah, I mean, who didn't been there? We've all been there. X Poc was one of my favorite x pock with the Rodeo because he was small. Yeah, he was fucking awesome.

X Poc was huge, Coach, did we miss anything from this game?

No?

Game was the worst part about today.

This game's fucking awesome. We in Boston are are very extremely happy and excited to have you as our head coach. It's a person from the community. You know, it's amazing you've gone out and you've had great success early on in your career and you look to learn to get it to continue it. Like you're constantly learning. That's something that I've always felt when I've talked to you in our conversations. Hasn't been many, but you're always on like

Yeah, no, thanks for paving the way with the success you've had as a player. And I've said all the time, like the people before us, because they've won, they've made this job what it is. And the best compliment in the gift that you have is coaching in Boston, coaching the Celtics, coaching for the responsibility in the ownership of

Those two things. Every day I wake up.

I'm grateful for that, you know, because I don't know how long it's going to last, but for however long it does, you got to make sure we try to leave it in a better place. And I think, you know, credit to our former ownership of Wicked PAGs is they got it and they left it in a better place. And I'm thankful to them for giving the opportunity. And then now we have you know, new ownership and Bill and and Wick and and you know they'll look to

Oh Man.

From a fan perspective, Coach, thank you for everything you do. Man, I look up to you.

I love you.

You've given me some of my best sports memories of all time, So Jack, thank you you guys. I was at Game five with Sam and I think a lot of us are best memories in life revolved around sports, and they do.

That's right up there at the tippy tippy top.

So we got creating.

Forever grateful for you. More. Yes, let's create more. Everyone go check them out. Boston Celtics mindset is gonna be on fire this year. Let's go and thank you coach Joe Missoula. Thanks brother man a white whale guest for me. He's he's got a mindset. I'm excited to watch him continue his coaching career. Me too. And I feel like I'm a little more invested to the Celtics now because I'm rooting for him.

Oh, me too. Like I would run through a wall for Joe. I'd go to battle for Joe. I'd go to the depths of hell for Joe.

I do.

I'm a Joe guy, and that would just put it over the top. Took it to a whole other level. And there's kind of this weird We talked about it a little bit, but when you don't win the ship and when the season comes up short and it feels like a failure, like me as a fan, he going to kind of more like You're like, it's a weird you know what I mean. The whole offseason is just a bummer. But hearing from Joe and his positivity and his mindset and a tenacity like I'm back.

Baby needed that miserable. He loves it. He loves it. We just sent him like fifteen new hoodies.

Yeah, we're gonna start to that's.

A happily miserable.

We got it over that big time. That's a joe. He loves that. Doing a happily miserable segment. Maybe every once in a while we can talk about the things that makes us happy that we're miserable about.

Well, let's let's let's pump the breaks boys.

Cheez, it's a.

Three sixty situation. See, the segment will help us sell merch. The merch will help us.

Let's just pump the breaks. Okay, it's time. You know what it's time for. It's time for the Chill Zone, brought to you by Cores Like get cools Light delivered straight to your door. Visit coreslight dot com, slash g w N and celebrate responsibly.

It's pretty cool. He opened it with one hand like that. Cheers, Bubba. You've never done that. My decksterity not quite that good.

I don't know. I'm a two hinder. That's like, I don't know. That just feels white trash to me.

You just be like, now it feels like that's like your little Texan guy coming out your reach over, grab you court.

I think that was like how one of like my uncle's friends used to open the beer. He was the man. No, he was complete degenerate. Sounds like my kind of guy. Yeah, we were. I think we were at like my grandma's trailers. Let's get into this though.

Since this episode was all about the Celtics and there's this there's this great bond between athletes, especially in Boston, we want to pull back the curtain a little bit and talk to you, Jules about what it's like to hang out with other pro athletes from other sports, within your sport, around the league, just everywhere.

In that kind of bond you guys have.

When you're yourself are a pro athlete, how those friendships are made, how they're maintained, Just kind of kind of get a sense of how it is because you know, as a fan, you wonder, is that guy really budgs with? That Guy's that guy you know like and it's it's I think it's especially cool in Boston.

So yeah, you know, early in my career, I would see Veritek got a lot of like charity pet colts I never really saw Padoya always wanted to. I mean we I used his bat and batting practice, laser show, Laser show, laser show. Uh so that was like my my red Sox. And then I used to hang out with what's his name, Gabe Napoli. Napoli, you know, we used to like it's in those days. We would see each other at local bars. That's when Daisy Buchans was

This hold on. So you're at the club, you're at a bar at something, and you see like the Celtics guys over there. How does that like does someone go up? Do you like guys wreck as each other? Like like is it just like a head nod or like, how does that actually go down?

It depends because like, I don't. I wasn't. I was still young. Then I became closer with Like I met Jalen Brown a few times a game and hang out. We hung out a couple of times, and the old the newer Celtics, the older one. I was still too young in my prime and I didn't live in the city yet, so that was early on my career. I would come into the city. When I moved to the city, that's when I started hanging out more like nap and you know, a couple of Celtics. I would see them.

If you're going to like let's say you're going to a Celtics game with whoever, are you interacting with the Celtics like after or before or like like because they if the Celtics, Oh, we know that's a Patriots guy.

You connect or something. It's ahead nod. Let I know they're working. Yeah, you know, I remember when you know you have people at the game and you know, like this is their job, you know. I like what's up? Adapt maybe you know, maybe an inner joke with Jalen I love when jab comes DAPs you up?

How does that when you were a football player, because so far removed from the state, Like are you ever noticing guys that are in town or people?

You know what you would see because like after teams would win, they would come and we'd had cool like they would wear like a Patriot jersey or in Boston Celtics jersey or a Bruins like there was a lot of those types of things where you would go to their games. We dropped pucks, we threw first pitches, and they would come to our games to be honored before the game or at halftime or something like that. And

There a been like a sibling rivalry between the sports in a city like Boston, Like, oh, they want a championship more recently, that's we got to go out and do it, Like, is there anything of that? Friendly?

Friendly? It was never like fuck DMN, yeah they wanted. It was more like may motivation, fucking Bruins just want one. Let's go get one. That was our time. Yeah, that's our time. I saw that damn parade. It look pretty damn fun because you know, the Bruins won right before I we won I think was eleven or twelve eleven, and then three years later we won our first really in the first and ten years for the Patriots, so people were kind of forgetting about us, you know, the

So taking it outside of Boston, you kind of mentioned it slightly earlier, How does it? How do you like meet other players in the league if you didn't ever like play with them or like being in high school with them or callegs with them, how do you meet those guys?

Early in my career would be like word of mouth type stuff teammate of a teammate now social media, but I remember early in my career, you know, Larry Fitzgerald used to hold this camp in the off season for receivers. Is like one of the first, Like you know there's

Are there any like off season like congregation points, like oh, a lot of guys go to La to train, or a lot of guys go to like, you know, Arizona to train in that week.

So a lot of the there's like usually there's like five hubs early. You know, back in my day it was like Arizona like and the off season, guys would chase the Sun want to be able to train and work out in Sun or in their hometowns. A lot of guys come from the South. You know, a lot of guys come from South Florida. So South Florida was a big one. The Tampa there was like training facilities there. It was like the APIs the EXOSS, and there's these

You know.

When I was training at API that turned into EXOS, we would I would train there for like three months, but there'd always be new guys in and out because they do a commercial in LA, but they still need to get their workouts in, so they'd come to API get their workout in through and we'd jump into groups and and and then we would train. And that was like some of the coolest stuff of about the off season is when I would train and there'd be like

Sound was before you guys were teammates.

Before we were teammates, you know, So we started training together. There was a group of guys. You go to u c l A and there'd be a group of receivers and coaches out or not coaches, receivers and quarterbacks, they're like coaches. They would run it and we'd you know, run routes and that was like a way to a compete.

You can't go get a beer with a drugs gun like you can Matthew Stafford afterwards, either exactly, I'll tell you why that ball didn't hit the turf that day.

And how do those sessions work? Are they like or what's the vibe? Are they kind of chummy or do they sometimes they get a little like competitive and a little bit like depends on who who's there or does any rivalries exist into those things where like oh this guy beat us last playoff, you I'm going a little harder. I'm gonna have a little Now.

Which sessions are we talking workout sessions are throwing sessions?

Well, explain me the difference.

First, So you know, the workout session was literally at a workout facility. So you go to exos and you do like your plometrics, your field work, your explosion work, weight room work, and then you would condition. That was like like an hour workout that was like fast tempo, constant competition. That was great because you do like all these you know, change of direction, drills and you were racing guys, so like it it brought in you know, it brought up the intensity. You know, you go do

Courses before the Kentucky Derby to trot around.

Yeah, so like dout them all over the first you know, so guys would naturally compete through how they ran their route and the smoothness of how they cut or their explosion in and out of a break or they're selling of a double move route like that was their way of like competing. We didn't have many one on ones, like I think now I see one on ones. It was there really just for conditioning and and and like route technique, you know what I mean.

Do you ever learn anything about like another player from those sessions that you brought back into the New England be like, hey, you know what, Carson Palmer, take a look at this, or this is this or you just that's not really the mentality that goes into those.

You talk with guys. But you also like you wouldn't tell them everything. Yeah, if they were telling you everything, that's all on that. This ain't no patient client confidentiality. Amen, I think it's gonna help our team.

So if you're planning.

He said, you got no hippocratic oaths plas, you're at the point like it doesn't matter.

Yeah, you're actually gonna learn in that moment. That's actually gonna go to the next level.

You can take little things like on how guys like cut in and out of breaks or how you know, you know they would sell something, you know, head shoulder movements, you know, like that's the kind of shit you would take. Stacking the ball, tracking the ball, uh, those types of things.

Was there ever a session earlier in your career excluding Tom that you were in one of those sessions and you're kind of the slaptick and some like hot shot, like big swinging dick guy was there that you're like, oh my god, like Randy Moss or Jerry Rice is here or something like that that you got to learn a little bit from earlier career.

There's one time, I think too showed up to one of those U C. L A things, and you know, yeah, I was a slap dick at that time, but I I I went one hundred miles an hour always, I was always I really I would look at them and in awe. But you're in a point where you're like you're still working, right, Like that's how I I did? I you know, I I so, but you you'd watch and used to go a lot lots of those TJ used to go they were like the bigger name guy

But wasn't like watching t O in person. Just his like freakish like body size, but speed conbined, just like.

He was a little older. Yeah, but I mean he looked apart. He still looks apart. I mean he's a he's a he's a he's a freak. Yeah, he's a freak. He's a freak. He's a specimen.

I got two four years jewels. Say you're out painting the picture here, not in your home city, and in Boston, maybe Miami, somewhere, out for a night out. You look across the bar, you see a dude you battled, you don't know him, maybe a jet and maybe an arrival.

You battled with this guy. You look across the bar, you lock eyes.

Then a conversation starts and you kind of bury the hatchet and break bread with each other.

Has that ever happened? I wouldn't say break bread, but you know, there's been a few of a better term. Sorry, there's been a few times where you see a guy that you know you're not expecting to run into him out somewhere. Yeah, and you got you love competing against you. Yeah, definitely keep it moving type type, keep it moving. Yeah, I feel that. And then who looked at us differently though? Yeah, I was gonna say, it's beating out of everyone, you know what I mean, Like you go to the you

Yeah, you know what I mean.

You can't knock the hustle. You can't knock hustle. You can't knock guys that are trying to get better as there.

Ever, we talked a little bit earlier about the beauty of social media with helping guys stay in touch and connecting and dudes you may have never crossed paths with just being able to hit him up with a click of a button. Have you ever gotten one of those guys giving you I like your game type vibe that like really meant something or major eyes light up when you got that message, like it came out of the blue.

Not really, but I feel you, you know, Like Brandon Marshall when I first started working with him, he it kind of blew my mind out, Like you know, I don't know if he was fluffing me, but he was like, Jules, I love your game, your su like he Brandon Marshall always used to hype me up, the original Glazer. I like it. He's he knew how to charm me nice. I like that.

He's also that prototypical like number one wide receiver kind of vibe. Yeah, yeah, that's right. I did it for a long time.

Dude. At thirty one, I think he had like a hundred and something catches pro Bowl legend. He's he was a monster people forget about you know, it sucks that he never played in a playoff game because he had such an elite career. He had a crazy career.

And like he did it with the quarterbacks that were throwing it to him pretty consistently.

He's like, wow, yeah, yeah, he's a large man. Oh yeah, b Marsh.

Marsh's is a most size and personnality.

But I think it's also even more like with the players and friendships and stuff. Now it's it's to an all time high. Now, yeah, it's it's almost too much. Like you said, it's almost it's two k key, it's a little two key key. I'm with you. I don't like seeing it's weird to see as a as a fan. I want you to hate each like yeah, I mean it's kind of you gotta we have a responsibility, man, keep you like ww you guys could be boys in the off season and stuff, but like, at least, like

You can't have the iron chic in the whole traveling to the event together everybody in the world sees them.

The jig is up. It's up. I'm with you, you know. Macho man, Randy Savage and fucking Andre the Giant didn't like each other boo. They also showed that they didn't like each other in the ring either. Amen. I don't know where that Yeah, I just saw that was a great one.

Yeah, so great segment. That was awesome. Was insightful audience. More comments, voicemails of in depth things you wanted to find out about the life of a professional athlete. Please let us know. The segment's awesome.

The hockey guys you just got. You know. I went and visited one of my boys in Toronto, JPR and Cebia. He was a catcher, took VP with them out there and ended up linking up with Sagan and the hockey guy. Those got hockey guys. It's fucking it. There are different breed. PK Suba like I hung out him, like these guys like they can go drink and then go like perform at a high level. It's insane, Bill Diffy.

A lot of them have been doing like the professional routine when they're teenage yea right, not being at home on the road all the time, practice in school and this and always like learning it. And then they become pros at being pros early as.

A great way to put it, they're pros pro And maybe just because my I'm back in Boston and my homerism is coming out. But what other city is a NBA champion and two Super Bowl champions hood sliding out in LA together after years and years?

What?

Who else is doing that? Nobody but Boston Baby? Oh, Paul, I see him at work all the time, I say, Paul. We can't hang out, Paul, we can't hang out.

Yay.

Last time we hung out, Bill took my captain away. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

And if you want to know more about that story, there's eighteen other episodes you can refer to to get the to get the ending.

Yeah, we're not getting into you again. And that was the Chill Zone. Thanks to our favorite beer cores like it, Coors Light delivered straight to your door. Visit Coorslight dot com, slash gwn and celebrate responsibly. Guys. Those blue mountains keeping blue Baby, Well, what a game. What a start off to an awesome, awesome and hopefully continually awesome career for

I don't think you might. You never understand.

I like that layer though. I like a lot that oniony. I like that onion. That's been another episode of Games with Names. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Comment a game you want us to do and remember right and review and leave us five star review on Spotify while you're there. You know what that reminds me of when you do that. I've been watching the pee Wee Herman doc. Incredible. It's very good. Bob Herman as a kid, me too, and that gives

Spot on next And she's friends with one of the priusers of that she's been talking about for a year.

I love pee Wee r P l r P for real. Remember to follow Games with Names on YouTube, Instagram, x TikTok, and snapchat. Leave a comment on the YouTube full episode and we'll read the best ones. In the future, leave a message on the old hotline at four two four two nine one two two nine zero and we'll see you guys next week. Games with names of production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, wherever you get your podcasts.