The Dave Pasch Podcast - Jeff Van Gundy

a little laughter. So I reached out to my friend Jeff Van Gundy, who I will work with this week along with Mark Jackson on The Sun's Mavericks Broadcast and ESPN, to come on the Dave Pash Podcast and talk not only NBA broadcasting NFL, including his beloved Houston Texans, but to tell some great stories like the time he blew an opportunity at a date with Jody Foster in college. I turn around and it's Joey Foster. I absolutely choked

and I am not joking. I turned around, yeah, and I sprint through the gate and back to my room. Also the dinner that he had with a legendary comedian, plus the time he held on the Alonzo Morning's leg after almost getting knocked out by one of his own players, Plus when his car got destroyed by a seven thirty seven jet I lost a car and I lost a game on the same night. All that and more coming

up with Jeff Van Gundy. We are presented by betmgm, the official sports betting partner of the Arizona Cardinals, and by Hila River Hotels and Casinos. Sign up for BETMGM today using code cards one thousand and get your first bet risk free up to one thousand dollars. New customer offer paid in free bets. Visit betmgm dot com for terms and conditions. Twenty one and over Arizona only. Please gamble responsibly. Gambling problem call one eight hundred, next step.

So here he is in his fifteenth year with ESPN and ABC as the lead color analyst on NBA broadcast along with Mark Jackson and Hall of Fame play by play announcer Mike Breen. Here's Jeff and Gundy. So, Jeff, I've always felt, and I've said this, and I know it probably like it is embarrassing, but I've always felt that Mike Breen, Jeff and Gundy, Mark Jackson is the best broadcast team, not only the NBA but in sports television.

And you guys have been doing it for fifteen years together, and I know I get to pinch it here and there like this Wednesday for the Sun's game against Dallas. But can you believe that it's been fifteen years for you at ESPN fourteenth coming up on the NBA Finals. Can you believe it's been that long? But also that you guys have been that successful, because it's hard to stay together this long in our business. Well, first of all, I didn't have any plan when I got let go

by the Rockets. All I knew Davis. I didn't want to move, And thankfully I had a guy who used to work at TNT when I was there for a brief time one year between when I coached the Knicks and the Rockets named Mike Pearl, who then was now you know, when I got fired by the Rockets, was at ABC, and he said, well, we'll try it, We'll try you out. We'll give you a chance with them. And I got fired the same day I did a Western Conference final game and or Western Conference second round game,

and it was in San Antonio. So I get fired at like two forty and I'm in the car at like, you know, six fifteen, so and I just thankfully it's stuck. And you're such a great play by play guy yourself, and so you know, the value of a great play by play guy is like a great point guard in basketball, And so I always consider myself the spot up shooter of the corner. Mike's the true greatness. I'm spotting up

in the corner. And Mark is that guy who does everything he's good at, like taking us to break and

all the things I can't do. So my job is pretty easy, and I am grateful and thankful every day that I get to do these games with great friends who accept me for who I am and what I bring or what little I bring that, And you know, it's just like you know, you look up and time flies, and like I started this because I didn't want to move my oldest daughter, who was going into eighth grade, and here we are, and now she's a young adult

and I've got another one in high school. So it's I am eternally grateful for this, you know, good run of fortune. I want to get back into broadcasting. But you talked about staying in Houston, and I know you're a diehard Texans fan. We've talked about it for years. How did that start? Was it just because you were living in Houston or did you get to know somebody in the organization And who's your team growing up? Again, I can't remember. I know we've talked about it, but

who's your team growing up? Well, my team growing up was the Raiders. I grew up in northern California, so Darryl Lamonica, George Blandickin Stabler, Fred ballet Nikoff, the Stork. I mean, what great teams. And they John Madden was even before he was this iconic broadcaster. He was so beloved in Oakland, and we got to I don't know if there's well, they're probably not doing training camp anymore there,

but back in the day they would. They would do it in Napa, which was like an hour and a half from my house, and you could literally be They would have it roped off and you would like be like five feet from the field like you're watching Freddie blet Nikoff would stick him reach out and the ball just stick to his Hey. I mean it was it was amazing the access you got, and we would go up there. My dad would bring us up there every

every summer and I loved I loved the Raiders. I still do, but the Texans part was my older one loves sports, and she was getting to that middle school age where she hated everything that I did. And so the one thing she liked that I did was got season tickets and we went, you know, ten times a year, you know, and it was we always played the twelve o'clock game at here. So it was like this routine that we got to share together, and you know what grew out of it not just was good for us,

but the whole row of fans was the same. So we got to like have our little community there. And the weird part now is I've only gone one time this year, but also the pandemic changed everything. Now when I went to the opener this year, no one was the same. And I don't know if that was just Houston because we've got a historically bad team this year, or if it's across the board throughout the NFL. What did you notice during your time there around the team

and go into the games about JJ Watt? That makes him bigger than life because he's here now obviously with the team, and he's out. We're hoping he returns to the playoffs. We don't know. But when he got here, Jeff, he was a big part of a major locker room change. And I don't know if you saw that firsthand. I don't know if that started right away when he got there in twenty eleven after being drafted in the first round, or if that's something that developed over time for him.

But I know he's got a big imprint on the Houston community and his involvement with charity work and stuff behind the scenes that not a lot of people. Some people know, but not everybody knows all that he does. I'll say this, he was a great player right off the bat, and he was relentless with an incredible motor. The first play I remember was he had an interception

for a touchdown against Cincinnati in the playoffs. You know, one year and then you know he was used on offense some and so that's cool, like when you see a defender out there catching touchdown passes like Mike Vrabel used to do for the Patriots. So that was cool. But where he really, you know, stepped up was during the flood here in Houston. What started at very modest goal, Like I didn't know what his initial goal was, let's say a million dollars, and he ended up brazen I

think over thirty million dollars. I mean, he has a magnetic personality. He cares deeply about the community, even when he was I think he was in It was Coach O'Brien's first year here and we contacted him through I'm on a board of a school called Provision, and we had to go through his mom and we were just going to have Mark Vandermeyer, the great announcer for the Texans. We just wanted him to talk. It was like during the spring about you know, his relationship with his mom.

And we sold out the place and they actually postponed or got off early from one of those OTA sessions so he could still fulfill his obligation. And Coach O'Brien came and you know, jj wat could have easily said, I can't make a new staff OTA, but he was adamant that he was going to fulfill his obligation and that was just for Provision Academy. Like But so, I've always appreciated like his motor on the field, but he has even a bigger motor in the community, and it's

much appreciated. When I saw you last week and we did that Rockets game, I'm sitting there after the Cardinals or eight and one saying, oh, they're the best team in football, and then they lay a major egg on Sunday. Everybody in the NFL lays and egg. This just happened to be the week the Cardinals did it. I got a text from Bob Greasy after the Cardinals loss saying, you know, thank you can appreciate it. We're having another toast tonight because they're still the only unbeaten team nineteen

seventy two. He was the quarterback on that team. Patriots got close, but other than that, that's it. Everybody gets a loss in the NFL and everybody has a bad game. And I know you watched a lot of NFL. Do

you think the Cardinals are the best team right now? Well, I think it's hard to judge them when they're not whole right, like yeah, yeah, I mean Murray could be the MVP and Hopkins is like I saw it here literally, if I was a quarterback, I would never worry about separation with Hopkins because he doesn't get that much, but he's gonna get every ball. He's got the best hands I've ever seen, and he's strong, he's physical. What do they call those those contested catches like he's like amazing.

So when those two guys are bad, I think I think you are. Now there's no prize for being the best team after nine games, and so the NFL is unforgiving, and you know, it only takes one bad bounce. It's not a playoff series like these other sports. So it's it's really hard to say, but I would say in the NFC, you know, the Cowboys laid an egg and then they bounce back with a terrific win. And you

have to say the Packers too. Aaron Rodgers is taking a lot of grief, but you cannot underestimate his greatness and their greatness because he's so great. Do you think that a Shaun Watson situation with the Texans? Because as we talk about the best teams, there's also teams that are looking to the future and trying to either rebuild or reboot. And I'm not sure where the Texans are. I don't even know what the word for our team is. Well that's what I'm saying, So where are they. It's

hard to reboot, it's hard to rebuild. It's hard to focus on what the next step is if you don't know what's going to happen with your quarterback. How do you are you surprised it hasn't been resolved yet. Is this kind of what you thought would happen where we'd be in the middle of November and he's still not playing and there's no word from the NFL and he was not traded. I just don't. I can't. I told you this last week, and I still it boggles my

mind that we're paying this guy not to play. So if he's healthy, I think what would help his trade value is to play. If he was to play, there is again, like I was just saying about Rogers. You can judge his personal life, you can like do all that, but what you can't do is say this guy's not a great play. He's a great player and he comes up big in big spots because our line has been sort of shaky the last few years, and he's made something out of nothing over and over and over again.

So I don't get why we're not playing him. I get why we haven't traded him, because if you're the management team of the Texans, you have only one chip. He is that. So you either have to play him or you have to trade him. And you can't trade him for fifty cents on the dollar. You have to try to get maximum value, and I think waiting you can see where the actual in this year's draft, where

you'd actually be drafting with those draft picks. And then you have to be great, you know, in drafting, and you have to be great in the free agency by identifying the right guys. Certainly, but right now we don't have We don't have a present, and we don't have a future, and we can't even start on the future until this whole Watson dilemma is resolved. Your partner, Mark Jackson, who was invited to join you on the podcast, but he's traveling to day so we couldn't connect. But Mark

is he was a fan of the Patriots. Now he's a fan of the Buccaneers. The reason is, Tom Brady. Do you have a problem with Mark or anybody being a fan of a player and following like his favorite team is whatever Tom Brady is on. Does that bother you? Was he a Michigan fan? No, this dude is a front runner. He's a front runner. He didn't become a Brady fan until they won a championship all of a sudden. He's a fan of a dynasty. Well that isn't a fan. That's a front runner. So let's clarify it and call

it exactly what it is. Who wouldn't be able to admire Brady's excellence? You know all this time? I mean forty four and they're struggling a little bit, But I mean, who would have ever thought somebody could be this good for this long? And so I admire Mark for admiring Brady, But come on, that's week. I'm a fan of whoever

Brady plays for. He's a front runner. One of the things I've always appreciate about both you guys is you are who you are, like people will see you on TV and that's you, like, that's Jeff Van Gundi and Mark Jackson's the same way. Were you guys like that in New York when you were a coach and he was a player, And I think you coached him in

Houston too, right, I did. I was really thinking I got to coach him as an assistant coach and then I got to coach him as a head coach in New York, so both assistant and head coach in New York. After he had moved around to other teams, he came back to US and then in Houston. In my first year there, we were desperate for solid backcourt help and we picked him up in the spring. It was the last year he played. And I always say this about Mark, He's got the best vision I've ever seen on a

basketball player. I think he should be in the Hall of Fame. I think he's excelled at everything he's touched in basketball. He wasn't the most talented guy, but he's in the top five and assists. He played for seventeen eighteen years. He's been a great broadcaster. He was an ultra success head coach in the NBA. I mean, first of all, I don't even understand why somebody else hasn't

picked him up as a head coach. I look at all these vacancies and I'm like, that's just negligence by a lot of these teams who are hiring head coaches. Because he's a great, great leader, I mean, fabulous leader. And so one thing about him. He wasn't always easy, because people who are great never are. But he also had a great deal of respect for the position of coaches. That doesn't mean he always agreed with them, but if you said this is how we're going to do it.

That's how he did it, and that level of respect for the position was a testament to how he was raised. And you know, all the coaches that he had along the way that it instilled that in him. And so we could be very honest. And the great thing about Mark is he's got great sense of humor and he can laugh at himself. And I think Greg Popovich says this all the time, but you want people in your program who have great humor and who have gotten over themselves,

and that's Mark Jackson. So I've always enjoyed being around him. And he's a dear, dear friend that I can count on. And when you think about it in life, how many friends can you truly count on? You also mentioned pop and you were part of USA Basketball, still are and you've been a part of USA basketball the Olympic gold medal. I'm sure you've had opportunities to look at other coaching positions.

You stay with the ESPN, ABC doing the broadcasting. Is it cool to have the mix to be a part of coaching and a program like USA Basketball get a gold medal and then still be able to broadcast the NBA Finals. It is I'm really you know, in the dictionary under lucky. It should be my picture because everything that has happened, you know, from when I got to the Knicks and then I got my head coaching chance

at such a young age. Whoever, you know, starts out with a Hall of Fame player like I had in Patrick Ewing, who you know, basically carried me, you know, and you know, and so I loved USA. I still I loved USA basketball. I love everything it stands for. And the Olympics this year it was hard because we

didn't get you know, you know, Devin Booker was. I was on the flight with him after the finals, he and Middleton and Holiday we were on the flight together and the Olympics were starting the day we landed, I mean, and they played, so you know, a quarter of our team was arriving as the games were starting. And it wasn't easy, and we got beat by France early. We were down fifteen to Australia in the semifinals back in one, and then beat France in a five point, hard fought

game in the gold medal game. It was it was exhilarating to be a very very small part of that, but to watch Greg Popovich and watch these great players, and I think I mentioned that, you know, to see the work ethic of a Kevin Durant was you know, greatness is never a coincidence. It's like this dude. I watched him work after practice, so efficient, so diligent, and I see, you know, to go along with his great God given abilities, but the work ethic has made him,

you know, this incredibly skilled player. I mean, the dude in his workouts literally doesn't miss. And then people think, oh, you're exaggerated, No, I'm not twenty five minutes and I'm gonna say he probably misses, you know, one out of every ten fifteen shots. It's it's and this is full speed. This isn't like some half ass, you know workout. This is like game speed, game shots. It was really really great to watch. So you're on the flight after the

NBA Finals going over for the Olympics. It's a quick turnaround from you broadcasting the NBA Finals to then get back into coach mode. And for Devin Booker, you're playing in the NBA Finals, now you're getting ready to play in the Olympics. We're obviously doing a Suns game. This is airing on Wednesday. The Suns are playing great basketball right now. It took a little while for them to kind of get untracked at the beginning of the season. Do you think the Suns can do it again? They

took everybody by surprise last year. But I remember you and I did a game, I feel like it was late in January, and you could tell there were some signs that they had a chance to be really good. And you even said, I remember on the air, they're not just a playoff team. They can do damage in the playoffs, and they certainly did that. They came within two wins of an NBA championship. Do you feel like they can get back there? Jeff, I know it's hard to get back to the finals, and everything had to

go right last year. You know, it certainly didn't hurt that Lebron was hurting the Lakers weren't the Lakers. But do you think they can do it again? The Suns? Well, I don't think the West is as deep or even as good at the top as it has been, so I think there is great opportunity there. Chris Paul, Devin Booker, and Monnie Williams, to me, is a great threesome to lead a team. I think a lot of it goes to, you know, does Ayton continue to grow and get better?

I thought he was phenomenal last year. Does his contractual situation at all up end his progress? Does any of the noise on the outside right now about the Sun's leadership in an ownership, does that get in the way. But I like what they've done with their team. I think they're probably going to try to add even a little bit more. And yes, there's no doubt they can. They could win the West. It's right there for them,

and a lot goes into it. A long way to go, but they're talented, they're well coached, they're deep, and I really like the addition of Javelle McGee. I think Jabelle McGee gives them a lob threat at the rim in short minutes that they haven't had. And Frank Kamenski has really as a third center, has really filled it in well when Ayton's been out with injury. So I think

they have a lot of pieces. And one of my favorite players in the league that we didn't speak about, but one of the best complimentary players in the league is Michael Bridges. I just love the way he his strengths mesh so very well with Paul and Booker. I think he's a terrific, terrific player. When Monnie Williams was with the Knicks, were you an assistant or are you the head coach? Then I was an assistant. Montie Williams

and Charlie Ward they came in the same year. They were both late first round picks, and they were incredible friends right away, and we were a threesome. That was before every practice. Neither one got a ton of minutes.

Monty played son, Charlie played not at all. But I laughed to myself right now, a coach would be absolutely sued if they had to go through the workouts that those guys had to go through with me, and then go through a truly a three hour practice with Coach Riley back in the day when you practiced like hard

and all out and physical, man. And I'll tell I'll give you this one story, Dave, the most incredible thing, and it's obviously wouldn't fit today's times, but back in the day, Coach Riley had the draft choices run what he called the gauntlet, meaning he had the players line up, you know, across from each other and the rookies had to run through and anything like within reason went So guys were body chucking him and Monny went through and we had like I mean, we had a nasty group then,

I mean, and they were big and strong. It was a different league. It was like the hand check era, and you know, there was no such thing as a flagrant foul. It was like, you know, it was just like going to the lane at your own wrist. So Monnie went first. My man came out battered and bruised on the other end, and then little Charlie. I was worried for him because I was like, this guy's gonna

get killed. And he came through with his high knees like from his football days, and he had such great balance that they were hitting him and he didn't even move, and like it was amazing. Like I don't know if Monny remembers that or he's blocked it out of his memory, but it's something I'd all never forget. One thing I didn't know about your time in New York and Jim, I'm a hundred. Our producer was researching and brought it up, and I had no idea about the story. Did your

car get blown away by a jet. Is that a true story? Yes? We had four straight years we played Miami in the playoffs, so and each of the series went to a final game, and they had home court advantage in all four series. So we were coming back. We had just lost a game five in Miami, and we flew into this small airport in white planes, New York, so just outside the city, but they would bring our

cars onto the tarmac and I was always first. And it was late spring, so it was the second round of the playoffs and we had just lost a heartbreaking game to go down three two. So we're flying in we Land. I'm gonna say probably you know two two thirty. And we used to have the same pilots basically ninety percent of the time, and they would just come in and they would park, we would get off and the cars will be there and everybody would get in the

car and go. And my video like a video guy would always be sitting in my car to hand me these stats that I wanted and breakdowns that we'd already called for so I could watch it. Right. So our pilot, this backup pilot, comes in and instead of just pulling in, he does like a circle, So he goes in front of the cars and then circles and then comes in. So I see my car out of my window. And then he pulls in, and I'm always first off. I'm in the first seat getting off, and I get off

and the video guy, it's a warm night. The video guy is standing right at the bottom of the stairs. And now my car's not there, and I have a Honda, and I'm like, where's my car? Don't us with me tonight. It's not even close to what I said. But let me paraphrase, this is not the time to mess with me and hide my car. So where's my car? And this young guy, like he starts pointing, he goes, it's

over there. I mean over there. As he pulled around, the exhaust from the airplane blew my car, he said, fifty feet up in the air and it came down and it landed and it totaled my car, Brennan Malone's car, Alan Houston's car, and somebody else's. There were four cars totaled on that like tarmac because this knucklehead had hit the you know, I guess you know the So I have no way home. We just lose Game five and thankfully.

Usually the video cordair would be sitting in my car, but because it was so warm out, he was standing up or he would have been shot up in the air with this thing. Yeah, so I lost a car and I lost a game on the same night. And and Mark always jokes about, he goes, that was God's plan that that Honda ended. It's like six or seven year run that night on the tarmac. Well, you're not a fancy car guy, if I think you still drive

a Civic. I got a Toyota Toyota Hybrid though, all right, a little bit more elitist than than you had before. Maybe you talked about the rivalry with the heat, the Alonso morning thing when you ran on the court there and grabbed him. I don't feel like people talk about that anymore. Like that was back because you touched on the NBA. You touched on the NBA and how physical it used to be, and it's still physical. But they just can't get they can't get away with the stuff

they used to get away with. Obviously, what do you think of that if that happened today, if a coach ran out of the floor and grabbed a player, Now you grabbed his leg to break up a fight. But what do you think would happen today if that occurred. Well, first of all, I started in high but then I slithered down because one of my players, Larry Johnson, who was in the midst of swinging at Mourning, actually clipped me.

And I have a like, now I can say this, I have the glass jaw of all coaches, like a sort of slithered down onto his leg. But think about what if they would have said, Okay, you want to you want to be involved in this, Yeah, go ahead, you and Mourning, you know, so go at it. I mean all I can say, people say, well, what were you thinking? I was like, obviously not, I was not thinking, and I just plead temporary insanity. I know why now criminals plead that because I have no recollection of what

I was doing. And I am so grateful for Mourning being like, get this fly off me, but not just cracking me, like and I sat behind the next year Dave after or all that, and then you know, we go down there and win a game. You know, Mourning was suspended, Johnson was suspended. Like, we end up winning the series and the next year I'm fortunate to coach the All Star team, and I never talked to any play. I never spoke to a Heat player. I hated them so much. My brother and I even stopped talking, like

because of these fights. Right, so we didn't talk. You know. Coach he was an assistant, he was an assistant on the mind. Yeah, Coach Riley, who I worked for, he wasn't talking to me. There was like true animosity. Right. So the next year mornings on the All Star team and like, I'm like dreading having to coach him in hardaway. I just want to like it was awful. When I

was an assistant for Coach Riley. We had Jordan and Pippen and they were beating us like every year in the playoffs, just breaking our hearts and like having a look at them in Salt Lake City, I was like, oh man, I just want to like douge people's eyes out. So anyway, I'm walking in to do the media and I'm gonna actually have to talk to Morning, right, and he comes up from behind me and bear hugs me

and breaks the ice. And I was so thankful that like he didn't hold it against me, and that you know, for that forty eight hours we actually enjoyed each other's company, and then once that ended, it was right back to the old animosity, which I appreciated about those series. Somebody

needs to do. I don't know if a book's been written on your life, but we need a book or a movie because it's not just that you've had an interesting life, but it's how colorful you are and funny and I just feel like somebody's missing the boat here. There needs to be a book or a movie on either just Jeff or Jeff and stand like, who would play you? If you there was a movie on Jeff van Gundy, who would be the actor to play you?

First of all, no books, no movies. But if I had to have an actor like you don't have to try to find the ugliest guy that you could find and then try to like put makeup on him to make him even look worse, like I would hate to say, oh can you don't imagine if an actor said I look like Jeff dang gunny, he'd be banned from movies for life. So you know what's interesting is I never when I was growing up, all I wanted to do was like I wanted to coach. My dad was a

small college coach. Man, I would have been happy doing that. I really like and to get all these like you know, because coaching isn't like playing playing. The best players make it, you know, it's hard, but they make it. But coaches, you know, so much of it is timing and good fortune and being in the right place at the right time. And Man's that's the name. That should be the name if you ever did a book Lucky being at the right time, at the right place, at the right time,

Jeff bing Gundy's story. You know, I've gotten to be friends. I know you're not on Twitter, but they have this thing on Twitter where it's called DM Direct Message, and I've got I've become friends with Richard Lewis. He's a huge Ohio State fan, the comedian who's part of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Oh yeah, and I heard that. I guess he I assumed probably was going to the games back when you were coaching. Absolutely, But but I go back and forth with him all the time about Ohio State

and college football. Maybe Larry David, maybe he can ask Larry to play you there. There's some similarities there, a little bit. Maybe, you know, one of the best times in my life somehow Mike Bream got to know Larry David and we were in LA and he said, I don't like to I'm not a big like go out to dinner guy on the road because everybody takes too long. I want to order the entree, the appetizer, entre, and dessert all at the same time and be out in

twenty seven minutes. Right. Mike likes to like sit around and talk and it just drives me crazy going to dinner with him. Right, But he says, you have to come to this dinner. So I said, okay, and I said, who's coming. He goes, it's a surprise, but you'll like it.

It was me, him and Larry David. This guy had me laughing so hard, and I think he was actually he was going in a couple of weeks to do a play and I forget the name of the play he did in New York, but I know he was working on material in his head as he's like looking at all these people in like it's fact, great comedians are like fascinating. He had me doubled over and I don't even know if he was trying to be funny, he just was. I mean, great comedians are truly geniuses.

They really are, and I was Mike pulled me. That was the one dinner I went to with Mike that I would have sat there all night. I thought it ended too early. Most times the dinners with Mike, I can't wait to get out of there so long. I gotta let you go here soon because I know you

have better things to do. But since we're talking about actors, and I know the story, but I want you to tell a story because you're not restricted by television right now, where you only have a short amount of time, So feel free to take as long you need to tell the Jodie Foster story from which would have been what nineteen eighty Okay, So Jodie Foster and I both enrolled at Yale in the same year. I lasted one year

and then I found my rightful place in junior college. Okay, But in that one year at Yale, they have an unbelievable freshman quadrangle and the entrance. One of the entrances is that I would take every day to go to classes, yes, but to the gym like it was right by this candy shop. I mean, this candy shop on campus was phenomenal, not sure it's still there. So anyway, we know Jody Foster lives in this quadrangle. I actually have a class with her, but it's a big class, so it's not

like I'm getting any chance meetings. So early in the semester, we had twelve guys on the floor, three rooms of four. Everybody puts in one hundred dollars. First guy to get a date with her a legit date gets twelve hundred dollars, so early in the semester. Now I am coming back from the gym, and I'm right by the candy shop, which cooks the best popcorn you could ever hope to eat,

and it smells unbelievable. So right at the moment I hit that shop and I'm about to turn into the grid, this gate sirens come wailing down the street, like five or six of them, right after one after another. And so I am stopped outside the candy shop and the gate, and I watched these sirens, and as the last one clears me, a voice from behind me says, boy, that

popcorn smells good. And so I turn around because I'm the only one there, and I'm gonna say, yeah, it smells awesome, And I turn around and it's Jody Foster. And instead of saying, you know, like someone with some poise would would have done, Hey, yeah, it smells good. Do you want some, I'm gonna go in there and buy something. I could have had twelve hundred bucks plus I could have gotten to know Jody Foster. I absolutely choke,

and I am not joking. I turn around and go yeah, and I sprint through the gate and back to my room. And that I mean. And so now Rich Eisen, who a great talk show host, has her on after I tell this story on the air, As you said, it was abbreviated, and he says, hey, do you know Jeff Van Gundhi? He mentions you on the air, and she goes, oh no, He goes, does this photo from college? Look at all? Look at all familiar? She goes, She looks at the camera, goes, na, not at all. If I

ever see her? She and she made fun of me after that. So not only did I choke lose twelve hundred dollars a chance to meet her, but now she's embarrassed me because she mocked me. So she's she's had a Laker game. Every once in a while. I am going up to her, and I'm going to ask her for the twelve hundred dollars and I want to get my self respect back because I choked so badly back in nineteen eighty. Well, first of all, you're you're doing

okay financially without the twelve hundred from that day. And we all know who is most thankful that things didn't work out between you and Jodie Foster, and that's the legendary Kim van Gundy, or or you could say after dealing with me for over thirty years that she, God gosh, I wish it would have worked out. So you can

look at it either way. All right. Last one, I don't know if it's a serious one, but just a hard right turn back to basketball, because I'm sure people listening watch your thoughts on Lebron James because you've done his games since he's been in the NBA, and he coached against Lebron. You coached against Michael Jordan. I'm not going to follow the trap us saying who's better, you know,

Jordan or Lebron. But where when it's all said and done, how do you think we will look back at Lebron James's career in comparison to other great players, And I think that's a great distinction Dave his career versus who's the better player. When Lebron James ends his career, he could be very well the most prolific scorer that ever played, as far as passing Jabbar for number one on the all time scoring list. And it's not even his best skill on the court. His passing is his best skill.

So I think Lebron James most definitely has a top three NBA career of all time and very likely could have the best career ever depending on health and continued you know greatness. What he's doing this deep in his career, playing you know, deep into the playoffs every year, I think, you know, it could go down as the best career of all time. Now, Michael Jordan, that's not to diminish him, because Michael Jordan is the best player that I would

I ever coach against. Like I was an assistant when Jabbar was at the end of his career and a man, that guy was phenomenal, like what he accomplished in college and the NBA, and I mean just ridiculous. And I think he gets far often too overlooked and frankly, what he's accomplished after his career, you know, so bright and

so terrific with his thoughtful approach to serious issues. But Jordan, I always reflect back and how efficient he was, and he played under totally different rules where the spacing wasn't as good because there wasn't as many three point shots, where the level of contact, you know, the level of contact that great scores are facing. Now, it's funny they're all complaining that pales into comparison to what Jordan had to face and the physical toll that that must have taken.

But he remained so highly efficient. He's the best player I've ever coached against. But lebron Man, this guy's career I think at the end of the day is going to be second to none. Awesome stuff, Jeff, thanks so much for the time, Brother, appreciate you. I knew Jeff would deliver exactly what all of us Cardinal fans needed. Some laughter after last Sunday's game against the Carolina Panthers.

Great stories by Jeff going back into the archives. His incredible recall about the time he blew an opportunity to get a date with Jody Foster and also win twelve hundred dollars, the time that his car got destroyed by a seven thirty seven jet, a moment that sports fans all remember, The time that he was hanging onto the leg of Alonzo Morning, plus Jeff's thoughts on the Cardinals, growing up a Raider fan in his beloved Houston Texans,

the Phoenix Suns, Lebron James, and so much more. We are presented by bet MGM, the official sports betting partner of the Arizona Cardinals, and by Hila River Hotels and Casinos. Thanks again to Jeff Van Gundy for being this week's guest on the Dave Pash Podcast