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Anthony Davis is back. I don't know for how long. Joellen beat is done. I don't know for how long. And Jahm Morants in another jam. So we've had the gun issue with John Morant. He went viral actual guns with him before. Now league officials are looking into Jamaran and Buddy Healed after Tuesday's night a Tuesday Night's game.
The talk to involve parties as soon as Wednesday. So I don't know what happened this according to the Mothership, but there is a photo of Jahn Morant and he is gesturing as if he has a gun pointed towards Buddy Healed, but he Healed reportedly did a similar gesture back to John Moran. We talked a lot about Jamrant. We've talked about talented. You get the opportunity, you make a lot of money, you can be the face of a franchise. Your coach just got fired, You're heading into the playoffs, and.
We're still doing stupid things.
And I wonder if you know John Morant, whoever, truly understand it. You would think with all the games that he missed, he was suspended you know, you're publicly ridiculed by the media. He was docked the first twenty five games of the twenty three twenty four season. He flashed a handgun on a social media live video, suspended eight games in March of twenty twenty three for another handgun on social media at a strip club shotgun Willies of course, like,
at some point you go, you're twenty five. You know you're not nineteen twenty twenty one. Not that that's an excuse for you to be able to show a gun on social media, but you're twenty five.
You've got so much ahead of you.
And I know it's just a gesture, but I mean, really, isn't there another way to get back at buddy healed, like scoring, dunking, maybe have something go viral that has to do with basketball. But he's played in forty six games this season and he's averaging twenty two to twenty three game seven assists. I mean, he has the potential to be great. And I remember we brought this up. This was maybe last year, maybe it was the year before. Who would you want long term Zion or Jahn Morant?
And I said, I want John Morant because I don't have to worry about his health. Well, I don't know if I want either of them when you think about it, because I don't know if Zion loves basketball. He had a like a month or six week pocket where it was like, damn, that's what Zion's supposed to be all about. They just shut him down so they can tank for Cooper flag and then you got John Morant. Just doesn't seem like we talk about John Morant the way like
Anthony Edwards. Now, Anthony Edwards, you know, gets a little loose as well, but you know we're not pointing guns or you know, giving the a gesture of a gun towards an opponent. But John Morant should be like Anthony Edwards. He should be, oh my gosh, the future, so bright, so talented, and here we are talking about him again.
Maybe he gets suspended. I don't know.
If you're the commissioner, all I know is the previous commissioner, this would be different. David Stern would be exactly living up to his last name.
You would not be getting by with this.
Not to say that Adam Silver is a softy or easy but I think he's more of a player's commissioner from the standpoint of hey, come here, let's talk about this. Maybe you you know, find him, maybe you suspend it. But at some point you go, is this getting through?
Here?
You are the home stretch of the season. You probably had a role in your coach getting fired. I mean, how many times do coaches get fired with two weeks to go going into the postseason.
I think they're a number.
Five seed, So there's something going on there, and maybe the commissioner comes down on him again, suspends him as well. But the latest news from the NBA, all right, see what's pul question today?
Well, what if we just stick with the Jamaran thing. It is kind of funny that the league is loaded with video of people doing exactly the same thing. It's never been an issue, or it certainly hasn't bubbled up the way that it is now. You can watch just everybody from Lebron James to joke him Noah all did it?
You know?
Anyway, that's funny.
I also think it's funny that when you watch the video, it's Draymond Green who complains about it.
Of course it's him.
Yes, but you do have a rule now. Maybe you didn't have a rule in place before, but now you have it now, you'll have to if you're the commissioner, enforce that that. Yes, people have done this before, but the gesture that he does to Buddy Held and vice versa. So I don't know what happened yesterday with getting the parties together to talk about this, other than it looked like, hey, what was said prior to that. It doesn't matter what's said.
It doesn't mean you can do a gun gesture like, oh, I understand why you did the gun gesture.
Yes, I do like too that Buddy Held is doing it right back to Ja Moran or even did it first, whichever it is, but they're sort of clearly doing it towards each other.
And then Buddy hildes like, hey, he did that. He did that. He did that. You can't say you can't do that. He did that, Like Doug, you you just did that.
Yeah, but Buddy did that. Buddy doesn't have baggage John Moran does right with this.
Yeah, I think it's I think I do think it's easy to there's a certain amount of morality being played about this.
You know that is I don't know, well, I I just I don't have any patience for Jamran doing this. Of all the people who could be doing this, he's the last one can't because we've already seen you do it with a gun, doing something stupid, stupid on social media and then getting suspended and then getting suspended again. Oh man, they wants to play with their guns. All right, it's fake tough guys. Oh, I got my gun? Really, what are you gonna do with your gun?
Nothing?
And then Buddy healed, Buddy, he's up. You know your name is Buddy?
Yeah, in a gangster NYM, Buddy, who's your buddy?
I am?
Oh, Buddy's rolling up?
Yeah, Buddy coming.
H Yeah.
It's not like Omar coming. It's Buddy. Hey Buddy. You know, it's like Buddy and Elf, you know, Will Ferrell's character.
Hey Buddy and his nemesis Pal.
Oh there comes Pal. Watch out for Pal, not gasol. Yeah, pl Yeah. All right, what else do we have today? Marvin sent in a poll question.
Thrown with this one out there since we stick with basketball a little bit, But should the Knicks retire Carmelo Anthony's number of course or no?
Well he just kind of named it the Hall of Fame he did. I'd have to look at what he accomplished with the Knicks, Marvin, do you have that at your fingertips?
He was an All Star a few times, he got to the conference semi finals. He never got to a conference finals or finals.
Okay, how many years was he there?
Checking? Okay?
Wait, I thought you had this already researched here.
No, what PAULI does?
Okay?
Tho, I have Carmelo Anthony playing seven years in New York. Half a season, then six more. He was an All Star all six of those years, the league in scoring once did not get them to the NBA Final. Can you retire a jersey of a non wired, a wire player that doesn't take you to New Heights?
I'd have to see who else the Knicks have retired, because I'm going to guess, you know, Willis Reed and Walt Frasier, probably Bill Bradley and Dave de Busher, Earl Monroe, maybe Dick Burnett, Yes, probably Ewing, Yeah, Pat Patrick Ewing.
Yeah, you're right with all those, every one of those, and almost everyone except for Ewing has a title.
Okay, you know it gets Yeah, sure, I don't care now, like I of all the things today, where you go should Carmelo jersey be retired and be like, I don't care. I mean, he's in the Hall of Fame. Great, and it's the Basketball Hall of Fame. He won a national title, but one Syracuse. I hope they've retired as jersey, but I still go back to Christian Lake belongs in the Basketball Hall of Fame. I mean, it's embarrassing that he's not in the Basketball Hall of Fame. He's one of
the top five college basketball players of all time. If you look at his resume, it's hard to argue. And he played better than average in the NBA. He wasn't great. He made an All Star team first year. I think he averaged seventeen points, nine rebound. I mean, it's once again, it's the totality of your career. He should be in the Basketball Hall of Fame. Back to Carmelo, if they want to retire his jersey, great, build a statue, Like
I don't, I don't really care. You know, if you're a Nick fan, then maybe you go, does he really belong up there with those guys. I'm not a Nick fan, and so it doesn't bother me. You know, does Lebron's jersey get retired by the Lakers and I don't know if all the Lakers, you know, would be on board with that, Like does he He's not really a Laker, like we kind of got him. He came here at the very end trying to win a title. So I don't I don't know. If I guess you do, it's
Lebron getting his jersey retired. So it's Cleveland, it'll be Miami, it'll be with the Lakers.
I'm guessing. Yeah, Paulie.
By the way, Syracuse University, they retire everybody's jersey. They have seventeen retired jersey numbers, including Carmelo, Jerry McNamara and Hakeem Warwick have retired numbers they won a title, Yeah, a lot more.
Yeah.
Pearl Pearl, Washington Firm, Douglas Yes, John Alan.
Houston, John Stocks, Bernard King are among those that have not been retired. So where does Mello fit in with that? When you're thinking of all time great knicks, is Mellow really anywhere near the well?
I would have Bernard King over Carmelo, Anthony Houston.
Hello, I don't know. I'd have to look at his numbers. He was beloved or be did uh? Is John Starks? Is he going to get his jersey retire. I no, okay, okay, I'm just he's beloved.
Oh there's a bunch of guys that are beloved.
Yeah.
I see all those guys in Nick Row with the celebrities and all that. They're there every game. The numbers I get retired.
Yes, yeah, if we were tired a number every time we really liked it, someone was considered beloved, he'd run out of numbers. Someone would have to be like sixty three and fourteen and I would be the whole team.
Thank you to Uh.
He had fourteen every other numbers taken. We really liked that guy. Put him up on the rafts. He was really fun. He was cool with the media.
Yeah, I I if he won too great. I mean it's really about the fan base. But for me on the outside looking in, Bernard King was the baddest man in the NBA for a while as far as scoring, and then he had a knee injury, but he was unstoppable at six six unstoppable and having witnessed those games in person when they'd play the Celtics, when the Celtics were loaded and man and they feared Bernard King down on the low post. He's scoring on anybody, everybody, Yes, Martin.
Just like Carmelo Anthony.
He's okay.
I don't want to fight about this, no fame.
I saw him both. Did you see him both?
Yeah?
BeTV okay, fair enough? You saw him on YouTube? Yeah, I'm fine with it. But if you put Mellow in, put Bernard King in, put them both in, and put their you know, Jersey up there in the rafters.
How did I get here?
That's my pole question?
Sorry about that's right, that's okay.
I just get sidetracked in and I forget where I am. It's like, how did I get here? It's like driving someplace and then all of a sudden you turn around and you go, where am I?
Yes, Paul, I'm looking at a list of all the retired numbers in the NBA. There's some wacky ones.
All right, we'll talk about that coming up.
By the way, if you're Wayne Gretzky, do you now have to be on the road with Alex Ovechkin. He's three away. We'll talk about that, because how's it going to look. I don't want to video tribute where it comes on the JumboTron where Wano is congratulating Ovechkin. And you know, in a prepared speech, but now with three to go, you get a hat trick. Wayne's going to be putting in some miles. It feels like.
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A little bit more on Carmelo Anthony getting his jersey retired.
Yeah, I'm fine with that.
Now he'll be in the rafters with Wald Frasier, Dick Barnett, Dick McGuire, Earl Monroe, Willis Reed, David Busher, Bill Bradley, Patrick Ewing, the former head coach Red Holtzman.
Let's see Ewing and mc s.
Guire have had their numbers retired without winning a championship.
They're the only ones.
Alan Houston, John Starks, Bernard King have not had their jerseys retire. But Mellow is going to have his jersey retire. This is per a report, all right, So congratulations to Carmelo Anthony. He's going to have his jersey retired, I guess, and he's going into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Now, maybe they make room for Bernard King in the rafters. All right, so what do you do if you're Wayne Gretzky. Ovechkin has seven games to play and he needs three
goals to surpass Wayneo's all time record. Does Wayne have to hit the road now feels like he has to seven games? Islanders Chicago, Carolina, Columbus, Islanders Pittsburgh. Do you just jump on the charter, the Capitol's charter and sitting next to Ovechkin because you can't do a video tribute. It's like when Mark McGuire was breaking Roger Merris' all time record. And here's another thing. There are certain players
that you know. Roger Merris was known for the single season home run record, and here you have Mark McGuire break it. That's that's the one thing. And Roger Merris had passed away. But the family, they were the family of the guy who was the single season home run record.
It's like Mark Gastino, he was once the single season sack leader and then all of a sudden, Michael Strahan came along, and of course you had that awkward encounter where McGuire or a Gastano goes and sees Brett Farvan said, you hurt me, you know basically because he gave up that sack to Michael Strahan, basically walked right into Strahan and said, here, now you get the record.
That's what more.
Gaston was all about that one thing, the sack dance, and he had the single season sack record. And that's why you know, now you've lost your identity. Every time he'd sign an autograph, you're Mark Gastono, sack leader, seeing you know whatever, you want to put the number of sacks you had, what was it, twenty two and a half. Now you lose that identity. Wayne is not losing his identity.
In fact, his identity, his greatness has been enhanced by Ovechkin because now there's that reminder of goly that's a lot of goals.
Oh my god, look at the assist.
So Wayne, I think is benefited from Ovechkin passing his you know, all time goal scoring record.
And now you're going to be on the.
Road watching and Wayne will handle this, you know, in a gentleman way like he handles everything else.
He'll be awesome. He's so.
You know, how to describe when you're around him, You'd never know that that's the great one. You'd never know it. And that's the beauty of him that he makes you comfortable.
You know.
It's never there's no diva, there's no nothing, It's just that's Wayne.
Oh hey, Wayne.
I remember going to South Bend and I went for a Notre Dame game, Notre Dame football game, and Digger Phelps invited me, the longtime Notre Dame head coach.
And I walk in the door.
I think it's ten thirty in the morning and I hear and I walk in the kitchen. Gretzky has opened up a beer and he's there to go to the football game. And could not have been just a down there. And I'd met Wayne before, but that's Wayne. I felt bad because Digger Phelps took him into the stands and he's getting autographs and pictures and I was down on the field because I not that I was going to get, you know, bombarded with that, but I thought, and I see Wayne at halftime and he's got his arms up
like help me. And then I kept telling him to come down to the sidelines watch the game down there, because you know, unless a player goes out of bounds and says, hey, Wayne, could I get a selfie here? But yeah, he spent the whole day signing autographs up there with Digger Phelps. But I'm guessing Wayne is going to have to travel a little bit. That's when you know, he leaves the house and he says, you know, his
wife says, how long you're packing for? Well, I don't know, seven days, ten days, but you're gonna have to be there. It feels like for you know these moments, Yeah, Paul, So.
If Gretzky goes on the road, he would have to go to d C, then in New York, then to cart d C, then to Columbus, then the d C New York. This would be a you know, seven game, thirteen day road trip for Wayne Gretzky to commit to all these games.
How much does he have to do it? Well, he is the sport.
And there's a finite window. It's the season's over on the seventeenth.
Yeah, but then if he doesn't break the record then Wayne has to start the season with Alex Ovechkin again.
But yeah, he he I don't want to say.
Needs to be there. He should be there. I mean, this is a great moment celebrated, but.
Yeah, he absolutely needs to be Oh okay, I thought you were gave me a m.
I gave you like he I don't know if he needs Yay he does, Hell yeah he does. He's Wayne Gretzky.
It's take two weeks, go see a bunch of games. He sees. He's seen enough games in his life. I know these ones are special.
Hey, he's gonna get the standing, Oh, ladies and gentlemen, Wayne Gretzky, Yeah, dude, put him up on the jumbo tron.
You know.
Maybe he takes his wife, says Janet about a little vacation here. Where are we going? What country? We're gonna go to d C. We're gonna go to Pittsburgh, the Long Island. Why don't you go, WAYNEO? Yes, yeah, he has to be.
There as an ambassador of the sport and what he's meant. It's just it's just a bad look for him not to be there. I don't see how you can not be part of that for that one day and support, you know, the guy that broke such a huge record in hockey. I just don't see how that could even be an option. I don't, and I don't think the average fan would see it as he's taking some kind of victory lap or look at me, or he's doing it for attention.
He's doing it.
You know, you would hope for the right reasons to support oxorvechk Oh.
Okay, I don't think.
I don't think people would be like, oh, Gretzky's got to be here, look at me, or remember how great I was.
Okay, well, I don't think that's I didn't see it from that angle that Wayne would be doing it so he could be recognized as the Great One.
He didn't start going to Avetchkins games when he's twenty eight goals away. Yeah, like, look at me, I'm Wayne Gretzky.
Yeah, you just you have to go. You pass the baton, and I'm fine with that. I'm fine with that.
Uh yes, Paul, I just heard from a writer and Chris Johnston from The Athletic, who covers hockey. He has the exact details about if Wayne Gretzky is attending or not. What do you guys think Gretzky's doing. Think he's in or out?
In?
In in?
Yeah, everyone think he's in.
Yeah, totally, he's in.
When the Great One will be in attendance part of a traveling caravan that will attend every Washington Capital's home and away game. According to Chris Johnston of The Athletic, Gretzky will be joined by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman as well as other league personnel when the Capitals take on Carolina on Wednesday. So, starting last night, Gretzky's been in the building, okay, and he will commit to it till the end of the season.
All right.
Fritzie sent me something to maybe clarify what I said about Mellow. He has support for his jersey retirement.
Yeah, no official decision has been made, but there's been talk ever since he retired a couple of years ago.
There will talk about that.
There's a lot of people that would like to see his jersey retired, but there's no official word that that's gonna happen.
Oh, okay, So he's going into the Basketball Hall of Fame, But according to sn wise Ian Begley, there is a chance that he will be represented at Madison Square Garden in perpetuity as there is support within the organization to retire his number seven jersey. So no final decision has been made, but still retire Bernard King's jersey too, when you get around to it. All right, A couple of phone calls in here. Uh David in Ohio, Hi David, what's on your mind?
Hey Dan? Yesterday guys were talking about street names. I've done a lot of reshart. They're the Todd Fritz Lane and Williams Fort Pennsylvania, And like Todd's comedy timing, it's the dead end.
Thank you, very nice day, Thank you, thank you. That's perfect.
Yeah, we're looking at all the street signs in Green Bay outside of lambeau Field. You were talking about some of the retired jerseys around the NBA.
You have the list of that.
You said, there's some surprising names that have had their jerseys retired.
Well, there's some names that you were like him and not about the person, but so the window of time they were there. The Atlanta Hawks retired to Ken Bay. Mutumbo's fifty five jersey. He was there for four seasons, four really good seasons, but four.
Yeah, but who else are the Hawks going to retire?
Like?
You have to have a ceremony occasionally.
Right, Dominique Wilkins, Pete Marrivitch, Bob Pettit's Lou Hudson.
That's all they got.
Yeah, I mean see, sometimes you have to have these moments.
Where you go that guy?
How about this one? Is this surprising or am I just being a little petty here? The Celtics retired Kevin Garnett's jersey short window a lot of success, but the Celtics have a lot of jerseys retired. I was a lightly surprised on that one.
I don't know. I mean, is Rajhon Rondo's jersey retired? Uh? Paul Pierce's Ray Allen's Pierce's is Allen's not? Mmm? Okay?
Rajon Rondo unfortunately, now sounds like a lot of politics to me, you know what I mean? And some internal situations. Dino Raja is his jersey retired?
Oh?
Again?
Should be? I think he's in the Hall of Fame.
He is, so is Vadi Deva.
Gloody Devac Charusis and Malos Marcalonis.
How you say his name?
Sharuna's marshal owned That's what I said, Yes, Todd.
But the Subtics aren't the team that has to latch onto every great player. I know there's certain teams that are death. But for that one guy, he was very good. But we need to have somebody up in the raft of someone to represent our team. So I think you know, you got a certain teams can be a little more careful with who they're gonna immediately play.
I'm a little surprised with KG up there. Yes, mar the.
Kevin gard that was the culture changer for that team. As soon as he got there, they became championship contenders.
Well they won one, okay, I mean okay, change the culture. Yes, won a championship by an injury. Minnesota stupidly traded Kevin Garnett to the Celtics Kevin McHale helping out Danny Ainge.
But this one, friends are for Yes.
Well, here's the Detroit Pistons. The names you'd expect, like Dennis Rodman, Isaiah Thomas, Bob Lanier, Dave Bing, Vinnie Johnson's number is retired by the Detroit Pistons, a player who primarily came off the bench but was part of their greatest success.
A little surprising, Hey, you know is Rodman retired?
Yes?
Okay, yes, Tom.
If I yell anything is possible, will you put up my name and a number up on top of the raftives of the studio.
Would that be enough to do that?
There's like a moment in time where everyone sees that anything is possible moment then. So my point is, Okay, you want to see a lot of people have won a championship with a team.
That doesn't necessarily mean no one could wear your number ever again in that city.
Back to you, Nick Collinson's number is retired by the Oklahoma City Thunder. A nice player, not a superstar, but I think he was og and a fan favorite.
Yeah that's a surprising one.
Yeah, but once again, if you're with a team of franchise and they don't have much to celebrate, like you, you want to have some of those nights where you welcome somebody back and it's a feel good moment.
I'm okay with it, man, I don't.
It's really it's about the fan base if they're bothered by it like that guy, I think I think Laker fans would have some would have an issue with Lebron's jeersy being retired.
Why because he's not a Laker.
What does that mean?
Kobe's a Laker, Magic's a Laker, Kareem's a Laker, Jerry West is a Laker.
Elgend Baylor's a Laker. Shack.
You can call him a Laker. Lebron just kind of came in Chamberlain his numbers up there.
Will got traded.
He got traded, Well that is don't matter how you get there.
Well, Kareem got traded.
I'm not understanding.
Well Lebron chose to go to the Lakers, like he's not a homegrown guy.
Most of those guys, but just like you said, Kareem Shack, well, they weren't homegrown guys.
But you're gonna have him up there with Kobe and you know, Jerry West and O Jim Baylor, the guys who are homegrown Hall of famers for.
The Lakers, so you have to be home.
And Kareem spent most of his career with the Lakers. I mean, I don't know how many years Will spent there, but he was part of one of the greatest teams of all time, the you know seventy two Lakers once again, is Gail good Rich's jersey up there? Yes, yeah, yes.
With Lebron, I think if he had gone to the Lakers for three seasons and then bolted for somewhere else, you could say, like, nah, he just did a pit stop. I think he's on year eight. This is year eight, and Shaq had eight years with the Lakers. I want you to get past you made a commitment to a franchise.
Kevin Durant getting his jersey retired in Golden State.
Yes, it's very much like Reggie Jackson with the Yankees. You weren't there for long, but you got memorable moments.
Man, he could have been back with them. KD makes some bad basketball decisions. You know, I'm thinking about taking my challenge to Brooklyn. Hey, you know, I got to get out of Golden State. I'm going to go to Phoenix. Hey, do you want to go back to Golden State?
Nah?
I don't want to uproot my life here and there you are with the Phoenix Suns. Could have been playing at least in the playoffs with Golden State.
And I get it.
If Draymond's still there, do you want to go back and be around him?
Maybe not? And I don't know.
Your legacy is solidified, is it? I mean, one of the great players of this generation but also kind of known as a vagabond. I mean, we would call this a journeyman. It's weird to call one of the greats of all time kind of a journeyman.
Yeah.
Point, you can't make more than twenty million dollars a year and be called a journeyman. There has to be some type of financial rule.
Let me see what do we have here, guy in Minneapolis, Hi guy, what's on your mind today?
Hi Dan? First time, long time, five sixty five.
And I.
Know in regards to the tush push, you feel that like the Eagles, they just do it the best, and the other teams they could do it too. Well. What if they adapted by putting a tush pusher on their roster, maybe a four hundred and fifty or a five hundred pound dude or a big weightlifter, and that would be
his job. So sitting on your bench, you could bring in your little dude to kick a field goal and get your three points, or sitting next to him, you could bring in your big dude to run out and get you the extra four points.
All right, thank you guy. I hadn't thought of it that way.
But if you're going to put somebody on your roster and they allow you to do it and it's within the rules, then sure fine. If they're going to get rid of this, they're working on the language, and all they have to do is say we're going back to the way it used to be in two thousand and four. We never should have allowed this to begin with, and
we did, and now we're going to go back. It's like kind of reinstituting the pitch clock that was always there for Major League Baseball for a long long time. They just never enforced it. And then all of a sudden, we're going to do a pitchclock. You can't do that. We've had one, we just never enforced it.
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Dan Patrick Show weekdays at nine am Eastern six am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Hello Friends, Jim Dant's Hall of Famer lead play by play voice NFL and CBS host of The Masters on CBS. But this week, big time Houston Cougar fan Jim joining us on the program. How nervous do you get before watching your Cougar's play?
Before, during, and even after. I love hearing you say hello friends. By the way, that a good way to start my day, my friend, But I am so stoked about this weekend. Listen, we all have that little boy inside of us, you know, that fan that still lives and has a place in your heart. What sports used to feel like? I have it with all things University of Houston, so football, basketball, whatever it might be. But I am absolutely in love with this team and Kelvin Sampson, the head coach.
He's just incredible.
And I will be there in the stands wearing red and cheering us on against the mighty two Blue Devils come Saturday evening.
How much did Fi slam a jama break your heart?
Oh? Big time?
April fourth, nineteen eighty three, I was sitting in the standsurgerke in the pit at the opposite end from the Lorenzo Charles game winning basket. And you know that date, as you can tell, was only forty two years ago. It's still is very much in my heart forty two years ago. Tomorrow it's it's front and center.
You know.
I got to tell you that was a pivotal day in my life and career because people don't know this.
It's more than just having gone to the school.
My whole career really was channeled being on the golf team and the golf coach introducing me to Guy Lewis, the Hall of Fame coach for Houston, who said, young man, I'd like you to be our public address announcer at our home basketball games, and that turned into me then while still a student, hosting his coaches show on the NBC affiliate. It gave me cred. I was just twenty years old. So yeah, it's been a long running love
affair for some reason. They even have a banner now right next to the names of Elvin Hayes and keem Elijah Won and Clyde rexeler Otis bird Song. It's nuts commemorating my own NCAA tournament years and gifts. I've been able to do the tournament for so long, But in that eighty three game against NC State, I actually rode to the pit on the bus with the team. These were my buddies, you know. I named Clyde the Glide and we were just a very close knit group. Guy Lewis said, you come with us.
Wait, you came up with Clyde the Glide.
Oh yeah, okay, you didn't know that.
Did you come up with Fi Slama Jama?
I did not. Tommy Bank did.
Oh yeah, great writer, Tommy.
Tommy came up with that. Yeah.
I wrote the forward to Clyde's book, And you know, we're all of us are still great friends to this day. Well, they showed up last year when they had that jersey banner race and I love these guys. Anyway, here we are at Albuquerque, and I don't have a credential or a ticket. I just ride in with the team. Guy says, meet us back here after the game. Get back to the hotel. So I go into this arena two and a half hours before the game, and where do you go.
There are no seats with backs, There's only benches.
And there in the corner, behind a basket was the CBS set. And I looked up and there was Brent Musburger running through the elements of the show. He was hosting it. It was Gary Bender. I love Gary. Gary and Billy Becker were gonna be calling the game, so I thought that's where I'm gonna sit. I sat right up against the set. I mean, Brent was I really could have tied his shoes. It was that close. And I was just looking at him. I was the only guy in the arena. He was probably wondering, why is
this punk hanging out this close? And I saw Bill Egan, his stage manager with whom I would later work, saying let's go through this. And I turned around I saw there's a tunnel prompter there and I could hear everything was three feet away from me, and I mean I was mesmerized. The great Brent Musburger, who I adore and loved to this day, was right there, and that was a thrill for me. Three years later, as fate would have it, Brent's now calling the games. CBS is in
an arena that no longer exists in Dabtas. They have a set just like the one in Albuquerque. And I'm the guy that was sitting in that chair. Three years later, in eighty six, I was hosting the Final Four and I was pitching it to Brent courtside at the start of the broadcast. So I've been given a lot of blessings, but that's a very big one.
If I said, you can call one more Masters or one more super Bowl, but you have to choose. Come on what I'm a journalist. I got to ask these questions.
Tom.
It's a good problem to have. By the way, you could get problem one Masters or one more super Bowl.
I think you know the answer to that. I mean, I'll let you answer.
You know the answer to that, And as I listen, I've been given the blessing of having. I think it's the fourth most Super Bowl calls of all time, tied with Kurt Goudi. So they're all special. But I wouldn't trade the Masters for anything in the world. So yeah, it's important me in a major championship golf. We have the PGA Championship. That means a lot to me, big time. I got to call the Open Championship over on the BBC for a number of years when the BBC still
had it was the foreign voice over there. The only one I've never called is the US Open, which you know, would have been a thrill to have the chance to do a national Open because I care so much about it. But the Masters is just it's again that little boy we talked about what's inside here, what's inside the heart. I wanted to be one of those voices. I didn't care about being on television. I wanted to be able to tell the stories like the voices of my youth were telling me long ago.
He's Jim Nance and he will be calling the Masters. What is this the fortieth It will be number forty.
Yeah, which in the Broadcasting Longevity graphic.
If you have it there, time can put it up you're looking over it.
Todd, he can't do it, Jim, Jimmy get to barely get you on the phone.
I tie the.
Great Vern Lunquist for the broadcast longevity records.
So this is a eleven year retirement tour. Is that what? Tod?
No?
Listen, I actually have it. We had this discussion on your show in twenty sixteen, Melissa Miller, my longtime chief of staff. This thing just went viral last week for no good reason. It was not the story. I just happened to say it in conversation. But when it gets fun, like I am declaring or making an announcement, this is my retirement. I would never want that attention. I would
never do that. I just happened to say, like I said on your show nine years ago, and I said to Richard Ditch, and I said to many other people out there through the years, Alex Myers and some other guys. I said, that would be, in the perfect world, my last show. I'd be able to make it if I could. God Willing, CBS Willing, Augusta Willing. I would love to get to the one hundredth playing of the Master's Tournament.
And if that's the case, that if we did get there, that'd probably be my retirement, Dake. But I say that with a twinkle in my eye.
Dan, I don't really think about it. I'm thinking about this show now. By the way. Maybe I don't make it there, maybe I go beyond it. I don't want to start putting a countdown clock on it.
Okay, I got a shot for a gift for you, and so I don't know, do I have eleven years to get you something or.
Yeah, okay, yeah, don't get me one of those rocking chairs.
Now.
No, I'm not going to get you that.
You know, the first time I said it, and you're one of the first ever said it to And we did a whole show on this. My great teammate Kevin McHale, not the basketball player, got a countdown clock and I showed up at our next golf event and it was in the corner of our tower and it said like twenty years, eighteen days, and the second was going like you see down to times square. Yeah, And I thought it was funny.
It was a nice gag gift.
But there it was the next week and the week after, and it really made me uncomfortable. I did not like seeing my life go by like that. I said, you got to take that thing down. So I don't even want to think that way. No, there's no there's no announcement here. All I know is I'm less enough to be able to be there next week for the fortieth, and I'm going to give it my all but deep appreciation in my heart.
Can you show up and just play golf at Augusta?
No, No, I wouldn't probably show up anywhere and just assume anything. No, No, I would never do that. No, Okay, I've been invited as a guest, which has been a great gift. I played there a couple of times with Arnold Palmer bible Way. I just a name drop on you here. I was one of the several of my greatest thrills. And I've had some really treasured invitations to play there, and I have through the years, most recently March a year ago. And you would you shoot, it was a big number.
It was a really big.
Was it three digits? No, not that big, not that big nineties bad way.
It's not that far away from it. Was not good.
And it took me a long time before I've been registered a par Now. I used to you know, I say, like, I played there a lot of times, but I would get stuck on You got to realize, I'm in my sixties now. I mean I first started coming to Augusta when I was three and a half years out of college and I was twenty six years old.
I could still hit it.
I could hit it, I could take the club back to parallel and all these things I can't do any longer. And I could shoot in the mid to high seventies. Those days are gone for me there in Augusta or anywhere else for that matter.
I always marveled that you go from March Madness where your voice is used differently and a football game your voice is used differently, to then the Masters where your voice is used differently, and you don't have that much separation between March Madness and the Masters, but just gearing up and voice wise, and then not gearing down. But like, how do you reset to go?
Now?
This is my mindset's all different. My voice is completely different. I don't think about it at all.
I'm glad to ask this question because if you did,
it doesn't sound authentic to me. If you were to take your show right now and step outside from that warm fireplace environment you have, and you happen to walk outside and you were ringside for a UFC bout, or you were right in the middle of Auburn and Alabama in football, and you continued your show with the next segment, would your voice be like this, No, it wouldn't be, because there'd be all this ambiance sound, there would be all this energy and excitement, and you would naturally feel
like you have to push your voice to cut through that.
I never have given that a thought in my life.
I just go with whatever the environment feels like where I feel like I've got to take my voice. And August is not a screaming place. Golf isn't a screaming sport. It's much more mellow. It's more of a ruthfully, it's more like the setting that I'm looking at you in right now. It's a conversation piece. I find it a great challenge. I know probably most people think how challenging is it. It's not like calling a basketball game up and down the floor.
No.
I actually think it puts a premium on your ability to tell a story and to also be able to see what your skill set is as far as being able to communicate and your word choices and your phraseology and your ability to be succinct or long form storytelling. I actually think it's the greatest demand that I've ever had in my career, and I think a lot of people have done golf would say the same thing.
More concerned about the future of college basketball or the future of golf.
Not concerned about the future of golf. It's been around for five hundred years.
But with Live.
What about it?
Those players playing there? What do we merge? Does golf need to merge?
I don't know the answer to that. Now Lives, I think is in its fourth year. There hasn't been a whole lot of change in the last year. If you've noticed, the turnover has slowed down. Meanwhile, the PGA Tour is developing a lot of great young players. Let's take a guy like Lou vig Oberg, who might win next week, for example. I think the PGA Tour is doing just fine, and that's not an indictment of Live by any means.
But my concern under question is future college basketball. That may not live as we know it another five hundred years. It may not live another fifteen years because the portal in the nil.
It's difficult. I don't paint doom and gloom.
I don't want to say it's about to be extinct. It's not going to be. But what we knew it as what we grew up with. That doesn't that model doesn't exist anymore, and some people have a problem with that. This is I want to put a pitch in here from my school here, the University of Houston, as we go into this weekend. We represent college basketball the way we used to know it better than anybody maybe in America.
Our guys stay. We had everybody come back except Jamal Shad who was done eligibility and went to the NBA. He was a great leader. I grieve that he's not being able to experience his final four. But we have guys that have been there four or five because of the extra COVID year, even six years for Juwan Roberts. And yeah, we have to play the nil game. But our guys aren't racing to the portal. They believe in their coach. There's a family culture there. They're all in
and they love their school. They love their brotherhood and bonding with their teammates, and they love that Samson family.
And in a day.
Where we have to every year be reintroduced to major programs and say, who are the can you cumbers? This year we're going to get to watch for one year? Well, Houston, we've gone through a long stretch and yet we've had to see guys graduate. But by and large, by and large, we are the model that won back in the nineties. Our guys stay and they care and it's neat to see the word loyalty still exist and not racing to
a portal. I mean my last few years of doing basketball, I did the tournament for thirty seven years, either hosting or calling it. You know, I've seen five year players who were five different major Division I programs, even conferences. And you know, you bring a guy in, you train him, you coach him, and the next thing you know, the season ends and he's looking to see what opportunities are somewhere else. So I'm proud of this bunch. I'm proud
of what Kelvin has developed. And this is our seventh time at the Final four. That's a major number. Second and four years under coach Samson, but we've never won the championship. We've got to beat a good Duke team to get to Monday night. But maybe this is our year. We still get undervalue and underrated that someone say to me yesterday, Yeah, you guys are good, but Duke's this, this and this and this. Okay, I hear that every game. I heard it going into the Tennessee game. Ared it
going into the Purdue game? Or are going into the Big twelve Conference which we've been in for two years and we've absolutely run away with the conference two for two, very strong basketball conference.
No, I like this, We'll say, jim nance fan, I like this the past. You know, you haven't had this before.
I'm got to let it out somewhere, you know.
And I'm going to help you. When Ludwig Oberg wins and you go Oberg, oh my, oh, it's a tribute to Dick Enberg.
I like that. You know.
You know how much I treasure the history of our industry and the names of yesteryear, and Dick worked the masters with us probably the last ten years of his career.
Oh my, Ludwig Oberg.
Yeah, there you go.
That's not bad, But that one, I'll put that one older. What should I say when McElroy completes the career Grand Slam?
Instead? Come on, on the spot. You gotta feel it. It's got to be organic.
It's glory for Rory. He completes.
That's the bad, glory for Rory.
Thank you, let's go. Thank you.
I'm going to tell you right now, glory for Rory. It'll make the show wins next week. It may not be the final putt call m. It will be said somewhere from the end of the competition. So when we sign off the air, the glory for Rory, I will be channeling you, Dan at that moment. You have my word right now, if McElroy wins, I'm going to say something about glory for Rory.
And you don't have to mention my name.
You don't know. I was gonna ask you what kind of attribution?
Now we don't run credits at Augusta, but maybe we can find a graphic that says.
Glory for Jim Worried Jim Nan Jim Nance's words provided by Dan Patrick.
You go.
By the way I did my bad moment with CBS when they tried to hire me years ago. Sean McManus, Yeah, yeah, you.
Never heard this story. No, no, I was either hear it mid nineties.
I'm a big deal at the Sports center and he wants to hire me at CBS. He said, pick any job. You can pick any job. And then I said, but I don't want to go to CBS Sport because that's all you.
I think you just had basketball, you had just lost football or something.
We had the n turnament.
Yeah, but I was gonna also had We also had a little tradition.
Unlike anything. They wouldn't have let me. They wouldn't let me not a sport.
Oh no, it's terrible championship, I know.
But I said that I was going to take Pad O'Brien's job, and Sean says, pick a job. And then I was so smug, and I go, but I don't want to go to CBA Sport.
It's terrible. I mean, we could have been cohorts.
I feel like we are anyway we.
Are we are.
I mean I was talking about my Houston Cougars and a brotherhood.
I truly feel like we are. And there's some others that are kind of now we're in the same age bracket here. Yeah, we've all been fortunate enough to beat on the national broadcast for about the same length of time.
Yep, very lucky.
I think, you know, how much I love you, and how Boston I know you are. So we have that. So I do feel like we're cohorts. Cohorts is what you call colleagues.
Just remember it's glory for Rory. He is repleted the career Grand Slam.
You're wanting it right over the plot now, yeah, Oberg, oh my ah, hey, what happened to the old sound alike contest to have about this time of year?
Well, when you lost your own sound alike contest, I canceled it. We had somebody who sounded better as you than you, and I thought, you know what I did.
I did. I lost.
I lost a guy from I think he was from Arizona. Yeah, yeah, that was fun.
I think we need to bring it back.
I'll talk to my people, your people, I'll.
Talk to my people. We'll see if they can work it out.
Thank you, Thank you great talk to you. Have fun.
Appreciate you. I love you and your colleague