Kobe Day

On the heels of a great sports weekend, we welcome you into your Monday afternoon. Robert Walsh, I am beaming today as I have a new pair of shoes.

I swung a golf club for the first time in a decade at Topgolf in Richmond. And man, when I made contact, I was just hitting bombs. But let's get to Luka Donkic, where I usually tell people. If you're a hardcore sports fan, I'm not the most fun hang to watch games with.

Because I'm pretty good at telling people how I see it in real time and doing so without bias. This has always been the case with me dating back to college. I remember when I was at East Carolina, and there was a pass interference call that everybody had issue with. They were yelling about it, and I was the guy who said, eh, he kinda did lead with the helmet.

Then instantly all these people started yelling at me at the party, and one guy even threw some ranch dressing at me. I say all that to downplay a little of the overreaction we've seen after Luka's buzzer-beating shot yesterday. There are a number of people saying he might be the greatest 21-year-old to ever play in the NBA. Nobody's accomplished more at 21 years old than Luka Donkic. I question, when people say this, how long they've been watching the NBA. Detroit Pistons, a couple years removed from winning the championship, and took them to seven games. LeBron was doing that at 21. Young Kobe, here on 8-24 day, which we'll get to in a minute. Kobe day. He was winning a title, his first with the Lakers, first of a three-peat. Magic Johnson, he was just 20 years old, his rookie year in the league, averaging 18 points a game, before the three-point shot is done. This is what it is today, and in game seven against the Philadelphia Sixers, either game six or seven back in 1980, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar couldn't play. I think it was an eye injury he was dealing with. So Magic had to play it the five, and that's when he had the memorable skyhook to win the Lakers a championship.

One of the five that he won with Los Angeles. So, I get in the immediate aftermath of something. Recency bias happens.

It's awesome. A lot of bad things have happened in 2020. 40-point triple-double, they beat a team that many people have said they're gonna win the championship, myself included, the Clippers. But, eh, let's pump the brakes on Luka Donkic, best 21-year-old who's ever played in the NBA. I will give him this though.

This is something I haven't seen before. I don't think we've ever had such a sudden, star in the NBA, like Luka. Let me explain. He didn't get the hype ramp up that almost every NBA superstar has had.

Every single one. You name a superstar, we got a chance to see the development when they begun to reach that start-up. When they reach that point.

Think about it. Zion Williamson, he was covered since his junior year at high school at Spartanburg day. His entire year at Duke.

We were talking about how great Zion was before he played a minute for the Blue Devils. LeBron the same way. His high school games on national television.

He's doing an interview with Kirk Herbstreet. He's picked number one. You think about Shaq. He was a sensation at LSU. Then goes to the NBA, number one pick.

Everybody's vying to get him on the roster. We all knew he was a phenom. Magic Johnson.

Larry Bird. They played each other. 1979 championship game.

It was Indiana State and Michigan State. We knew of these blossoming stars when they entered the NBA. Like even going back to Kareem. Greatest college basketball player ever as far as I'm concerned. Michael Jordan, he was voted the greatest college basketball player ever by ESPN earlier this year. And even with him, as somebody who was not the number one pick. We knew who he was because he had that game winning shot giving Dean Smith his first title in New Orleans. The assist from Jimmy Black at the Superdome. So we've seen the ramp up for all of these players that quite frankly we haven't seen with Luka Doncic. What part of the development have we seen? We knew that in the EuroLeague, which is the second best basketball league in the world, as a teenager at 19 years old he won the most valuable player playing against adults.

Playing for Real Madrid in Spain. We knew that. But we didn't see it. We didn't see what he looked like playing high school basketball. We missed out on all of that development. It's why you can justify, to a degree at the time, the Atlanta Hawks drafting him at 3 and then trading him to the Dallas Mavericks at 5.

Another thing is this. It usually takes international players more time to adjust than it's taken Luka. Take Giannis. Giannis is such a dominant force now and he's only 24 or 25 years old that I think we forget it took four years for him to be an All-Star. His first few years, he really struggled.

He tried to figure it out. He hasn't been playing basketball for a very long time. His fourth year, that's when he started averaging 20 a game. Luka is in his second season and he's dropping 40 on the Clippers in the playoffs. It usually takes international players more time.

Tony Cucco, she talked about this in the last Dance Documentaries series. Don't you remember when all these players in the Dream Team went after him because of the interest Jerry Krause showed in him in the early 1990s? At that time, it wasn't a physical game they were playing overseas. But the American game, starting with 1992 and the Dream Team, it's had so much influence on how basketball's played around the world that the rest of the world has caught up. Maybe not to the degree where America isn't still the centerpiece, still the leader in basketball, but I can't think of a time where you could argue that the top two basketball players in the world are from overseas. I can't think of a time, and I'm not talking about Canada being included as an international player.

Guys from Canada, like Steve Nash who won the MVP back-to-back years and then that was followed by Dirk. Like you have isolated incidents, like Dirk and Hakeem Olajuwon, but can you ever think of a time, Robert, where the two leaders in an MVP discussion, which I suspect is going to happen for 2020-2021 next year, are both international players? No, I can't think of a single time.

Can't think of a time that's happened in the NFL, can't think of a time that's happened in Major League Baseball. So this, that is something I'm willing to say we have not seen before. That, I don't think, is an overreaction in any way. Let's go to Mark in Greensboro who has a thought on Luka Doncic. Mark, what are you willing to say as a reaction to yesterday that isn't overstatement?

I'm not. I think an overstatement is we're not a top five player in this league. And I think part of the reason, and listen, I am not trying to get into any race politics or anything like that, but there is a, it's a predominantly African American league. So when you get a white kid who's six foot eight, who was questioned for his athleticism, I mean, we all know the keywords that announcers use when a white guy... Oh, sorry.

I think we have a bad connection on you, Mark, but I get exactly what you're saying. The keywords that announcers are saying, you're talking about a white guy playing basketball, the guy is deceptively quick, and there are a number of things, Jim Rat, if you'd like to come up with some other ones there. But yeah, race definitely does play an element in this. International players that plays an element in this.

If you're an international guy, odds are, eh, well, you're not going to get the same run. Like why else do you think Giannis, as someone who's about to win the MVP back to back years, keeps getting the one o'clock slot like he got earlier today? Like can you think, dude, would that ever happen to LeBron? Could you see LeBron playing at one o'clock in the afternoon in the middle of the week?

No, that's the death zone. That's where they throw the games that they don't think could get any ratings at night. You don't see MVPs going there.

You don't. So I think that happens. International players, there is a reason, there is some truth to that. Perception feeding, hey, one of the international guys probably aren't as good or we don't have as much interest in the international players than we do the ones that we watched in college, watched in high school, and watched develop in the NBA.

And race, yeah, it plays an element in it. But I do believe Luca is a special player. He's a special player and even though he's not the greatest 21-year-old who's ever played in the NBA, it is rare company that he's sharing.

As I mentioned, looking at the calendar, it is Monday, August 24th, otherwise known as 8-24 day, Kobe day, which comes a day after Kobe Bryant would have turned 42 years old. I find it's hard to capture somebody as important as he was in America right in the moment. It takes time. It takes a lot of reflection, quite frankly. But now that we're nearly seven months removed from Kobe's tragic death, I've spent a lot of time thinking about his legacy.

And here's what I've come up with. Would anybody disagree that Kobe is one of the five most popular athletes in America the last 50 years? Most popular, not greatest, because I would say Tim Duncan's a better player than Kobe. I'd go as far to, of course, LeBron James, better player than Kobe, Michael Jordan, there are so many guys I'd probably say that are better, maybe not so many, but a handful, more than five. But I think Kobe is one of the five most popular athletes we've seen the last 50 years.

I believe this because he checks three boxes, not a lot of guys have been able to check. Playing for a signature franchise, talking about the Cowboys, the Lakers, the Packers, the Yankees. I wouldn't even put the Red Sox or the Steelers in this category. Winning a Most Valuable Player award, being the best in your sport, and winning multiple titles.

Having that type of production for one of those teams, that is very rare air. Cowboys, Lakers, Packers, Yankees, here are the guys that check those boxes. Last 50 years, Emmitt Smith, Shaq, Magic, Kareem, Kobe. The Lakers, they always matter.

Here's how you know if you're a signature franchise. Have you always mattered? Since the 1920s, the Yankees have always mattered.

Always. The Yankees have been relevant in some way, even when they're not good. They haven't won since 2009. The Yankees always matter. The Lakers, they always matter.

Always. The Lakers matter. I don't even think you can say that about the Red Sox. They didn't win in 86 years. Chicago Cubs, the same way, didn't win in 108 years. The Lakers, the Cowboys, the Packers, the Yankees, they always matter.

So that's how I classify that. Here's what makes Kobe a little bit different than some of those guys. He only did it with one team.

Emmitt Smith, he had that run at the end where he tried to make it with Arizona. Kareem, of course, won a title with Milwaukee in the 70s and won some MVPs in the 70s before joining the Lakers. You're talking about Shaq, who obviously won a title with Miami, then just went on a run playing for a ton of teams. Played for Phoenix, played for Boston, played for Cleveland, I think. He did it all with one team. Only Magic and Kobe can say that.

That's rare, and I think it matters. It adds to the connection Los Angeles feels for Kobe Bryant. And he embraced the spotlight. In a way, say like Tim Duncan did it.

Tim never was about it. When he was at Wake Forest, there were times where reporters tried to write a story about him and he said, I've had enough written about me. How about you talk to Tony Rutland? How about you go talk to Randolph Childress?

You know, I'm just not really interested in talking and having more of the spotlight on me. And that's fine, but Kobe, it definitely helped. He embraced being in Los Angeles. He embraced the spotlight. He gave us access to his life, even after he retired.

Always near a gym with his daughters, creating stories, winning an Oscar. And he gave us access to his family and to his kids, where we all saw it. So it felt very personal, considering how long he played, how much access he gave us to when he passed away nearly seven months ago.

So on Kobe Day, that's how I think about his legacy. I'm really excited about this. Ryan McGee is a great friend of this show. And he's played sports information director this weekend. As he told us on air, the next time you talk about the book that I'm writing with my brother and my dad, that sidelines and bloodlines that drops on September 15th, you need to actually bring on my dad. You need to do that because he's a much better storyteller than I am.

And then I did my homework. And surely enough, Jerry McGee, who now joins us, a former ECU baseball player, former president of Wingate University, and a longtime ACC field judge, who has done quite a bit in college football, including working in the Rose Bowl, working the national championship game, doing so much. And again, you can read a lot about it in sidelines and bloodlines. Jerry, appreciate you spending time in the triad.

This is where I want to start. What level was generally more hostile towards the officials, high school or college? Definitely high school. You know, in college, we had a lot of protection. You know, many times we dressed in a nearby hotel and were escorted, that police escorts into the stadium and were immediately taken away. So people were a long ways away from you. But in high school, you parked in the same parking lot and you dressed, you either dressed in the parking lot or you had a little small room where you dressed and everybody, all the locals knew where that was. And they would beat on the door and say things that I could not put in my Sunday school lesson. What college football fan base was the harshest you've dealt with?

I think maybe in the earlier days, it was Clemson. But I think, you know, it's funny, you have to kind of earn your stripes. The first few times you go to a new school, they kind of know you're the new guy. And as one coach told me one day, if a young official shows up in our place, he doesn't have some gray hair, it's my job to put some there. And they make you really earn your stripes. After you've been there a few times, they usually realize you're going to do something crazy.

Then they kind of come around and treat you with respect. But you had to really, really earn it at Clemson. Who's the coach that taught you the most early on?

You're talking about, hey, if you don't have a lot of gray hairs on your head, it's my job to put that on your head. Who exactly is coming to mind there in terms of coaches who taught you a thing or two? I think probably Bill Dooley. We worked a lot of Bill Dooley's games when he was at Virginia Tech and later at Wake Forest.

And what I always found about Bill is if he got on you about a call, you probably should go look at the film because you might have missed it. But he was one of the people that talked to us a lot during timeouts and dead periods in the game. And he taught us a lot about how to get along with coaches and what they expected from us.

And I think I learned a little more from him than most people. Jerry McGee's with us here. The book Sidelines and Bloodlines with Ryan McGee. All the McGee's writing this book.

You can find it on September the 15th. Just reading a couple of things about it. I heard that you've had a number of interactions with Joe Paterno. Was there ever a time being a field judge where you're right there on the sideline, you're right there next to those coaches, where even you had to kind of pinch yourself who you were dealing with, where you were working?

Oh, absolutely. I think when you, early on, I had Notre Dame at Penn State one night and Lou Holtz and Joe Paterno, when you stand on the sideline, they get ready to have the coin toss and you look out there and you think, holy Toledo, how in the world did a kid from Rockingham wind up here? And, you know, after some of the experiences we had of officiating games where we had to have special ground rules for when, if a kick football hits the wire that's running across the field at the 40 yard line, what do you do with it? Here we were officiating in some of the meccas of college football and that was quite an adjustment, but it was also great fun and there was a little satisfaction to say, you know, when that guy down at Red Springs, North Carolina told me how sorry I was.

I wonder if he's watching the game tonight. And it really, it was kind of reassuring that hard work was paying off. See, I used to be a referee myself doing some high school and lower level soccer and I think this is often forgotten when you talk about the referees. I mentioned your full track record going in, president of Wingate University and everything else because you officiated because you love football.

I think that's something that people forget. The referees, they do this and they take a lot of the abuse because they love being a part of the game more than anything else. That's the only reason you do it, you know, because you think okay I'm gonna, I'm gonna get up at six 30 in the morning and run every day from from August the first from April the first through the season. I'm going to get on an airplane and fly halfway across the country. It takes me two and a half days to go over there and back and wind up for just four hours of officiating a football game. You have to love it and the money is, is, is literally meaningless. We used to always say, you know, I love this game so much I would officiate, even if they didn't pay me. Don't quit paying me because I give my wife to check and then she said, then it's okay for me to go away the next weekend officiate, but it does it the book will tell you. It really is a family commitment, because you're not around a lot, and the families can go to some games but not all the games, and everybody has to step up and do a little something extra to fill in the gaps when dad's not there. So since you're an ACC referee.

We are being joined by Jerry McGee again the book is sidelines and bloodlines you can find it on September the 15th. Now let's have a little fun here. I only refereed for maybe five or six years, and I had my fair share of officiating gas at the college level, give me the time Jerry McGee was most embarrassed on a call that he made. Well, it was, I was a victim of our very aggressive mechanics, but when I, when I look back at some of the old film from back in the early 80s and 90s. We were literally jerking the ball out of a guy's hand as soon as he hit the ground to get the ball back in play.

I don't know why we didn't get killed as we literally were right in the middle of the action all the time. And they had us even the sideline guys that the ball went to the other side of the field. They wanted me aggressively coming, at least all the way out to midfield to help officiate across the field. And I did that in the citrus bowl one day. Brigham Young was playing Ohio State Robbie Bosco rolled out to his left.

All the way out to almost midfield. And then he stopped and threw the ball back across the field to my guy on about the 15 yard line, and I'm standing on about the 30 at mid in the middle of the field. I had no chance to get to the goal line, making that call.

And he. I ruled a touchdown. Everybody stay in front of the touchdown. Everybody watching TV so he stepped out of bounds on the one yard line.

So I live with that one for a long, long time. Wow. You've seen a number of great players strictly from a sheer athletic standpoint. Who was the most impressive athlete you had a chance to call or maybe one or two? Yeah, well, I think as far as the defensive player dominating a game, I don't think anybody did it any more impressive than Julius Peppers. I saw him sometimes just literally take over a game. High school and college? No, just in college.

Okay. And just, I mean, the guy trying to block him had no chance when he turned his game up. And obviously Bo Jackson was a physical phenom. And some of the things I saw him do on the field were pretty incredible.

But there's so many great athletes. I remember William Perry being the first really big guy that could run. Oh, my gosh, he weighed 300 pounds and he ran like a halfback. And he could chase plays from sideline to sideline.

And now everybody's got 12 of those guys. But he was the first one. And he was so impressive. And even though he was a big, big guy, I've seen him get trapped on one side of the field and literally on the reverse run the guy out of bounds on the other side of the field.

It was incredible to watch him. I can't wait to read the book. Man, Bo Jackson, Joe Paterno, Lou Holtz. If you love college football, if you love ACC football, then you'll love the book, I assume, as well. And I was talking to Jerry earlier today. He said, you know, this isn't the type of book you're going to be reading at your Sunday school meeting. This is not the Sunday school book club book. You might learn a couple things that coaches had to say on the sideline, right?

Yeah, if you ever wondered what Danny Ford was saying to me on the sideline, you're going to find out. It's right there in the book. The book is Sidelines and Bloodlines.

It drops September the 15th. Ryan McGee and his dad, Jerry McGee. The McGee's all together writing this book. We look forward to seeing it. Thanks for spending the time in the Triad today, Jerry. I enjoyed it.

Thanks. Kobe Bryant Day. You also got Luka Doncic, who's the center of the sports universe with his 40-point triple-double yesterday.

And at the end of it, a step-back three-pointer to extinguish the LA Clippers and tie that series at two games apiece. Then locally, it's the Charlotte Hornets getting the number three pick, improving their draft lottery position based on where they were supposed to be slotted for the first time since returning to Charlotte basketball. Returning in 2004 with the Bobcats. So things are looking up for the Charlotte basketball. And to talk about that, our good friend Rick Benal joining us. Longtime Hornets beat writer for the Charlotte Observer.

I heard you last week, Rick, talking to Mitch Kupchak. And he gave the answer when you asked him about his approach to the pick. We're not in a place yet where we're going to pick for need. We're going to try and pick the best player available.

And if there's some duplication, we're okay with that. So after hearing that answer, how wide do you believe the pool of players to be the Hornets considering for that number three pick? Well, I think that, frankly, Josh, I think that regardless of whether their need was going to factor in the decision, in this particular draft, you were going to have a wide pool for the third pick. And what I mean by that is, last year, it was very clear, regardless of how the lottery teams lined up, who would be going the first couple of picks. It's far less clear this season. There is nothing like an obvious first pick like Zion was last season. But I do think it's really important that Mitch has messaged that. He's had conversations with me for two months now, before they ever knew that they were picking third, when they were slotted by reverse order to pick eighth, that the talent was very clearly his greatest concern, that they are in no position right now in this rebuild to have the luxury of picking for roster balance.

What that means is, even though you would think of power forward, and to maybe a larger degree, point guard, as the positions where they're sort of closest to being settled, that would not stop Mitch at all from picking a player in either one of those positions. You've covered this team for such a long time, so I'm interested. When's the last time you had this much trust in a general manager and a head coach at one time, this combination of Mitch Kupchak and James Borrego that Charlotte has?

That's an interesting question. Strangely enough, it's the same guy. When Bernie Bickerstaff was both the first general manager and the first coach of the second expansion team, Bernie really knew what he was doing. It was very smart of Ed Tapscott to hire Bernie for both positions in that particular situation, because Bernie never worried about the losses on his coaching record. He worried about what was good for the long fall as general manager. It's very difficult having a good marriage between a general manager and a coach, and as the last two people in those jobs in the Hornets demonstrated, those two people not being on the same page can be really bad.

Follow him on Twitter, at Rick underscore Benell. He's joining us, covers the Hornets of course, and you're talking again about that number three pick, and I heard Mitch last week say that, odds are we're not going to be able to bring any of these guys in. So what fascinates you about the evaluation process of not having a combine, not having these workouts, and really having to base a lot of this on interviews and tape that's already out there? I think there's a significant contrast between the NBA draft this year and the NFL draft that happened a couple of months ago in the sense that when the world shut down in mid-March, basically the hay was in the barn for the NFL draft. The vast majority of their evaluation was over.

This is very different. As you recall, because you're in the triad, the world shut down right in the middle of the conference tournament. There was no NCAA tournament.

There was no Hoops Summit. There was no opportunity to go to Europe in late March and early April for the height of the EuroLeague, and there may still not be any combine. As you mentioned, Mitch is running under the assumption that he will not be allowed to bring anybody in for job interviews in person or workouts in person, and that's all very different from what we're used to.

I will say this. Mitch said all the way back when the season was declared over for the Hornets that he would have been perfectly fine if they had left the draft on June 25th, that he felt that prepared to do this. He told me that he usually likes to go to Europe in late March. This year, by coincidence, he happened to be there for much of January, and so he feels like he's seen everybody.

By the way, since you're at the top of that question, you asked me about idiosyncrasies about this. Remember that hypothetically two of the top prospects in this draft, LaMelo Ball played professionally in Australia, and we haven't seen James Wiseman since he dropped out of Memphis two or three games into their season. So there's a lot of scouting that never could have gone on. It's crazy to think that James Wiseman, he got finished playing at Memphis November of last year. The next time he might be playing a competitive basketball game might be more than a full year later, and that's assuming, if the regular season is to start on time, but as Adam Silver said last week, that's not even a guarantee.

Rick Bonnell joining us from the Charlotte Observer. I do want to get your thought on what Luca did yesterday. I'm somebody that might be difficult at times to watch a game with if you're a big hardcore fan because I don't really like overstating things.

I don't like being emotional in the moment. I see a lot of people saying, oh, I don't think we've ever seen a 21-year-old do this, and I'm thinking, ah, Kobe Bryant, he was 21 years old and winning a title. LeBron was taking the Detroit Pistons in 2006 to seven games. But it is remarkable, and it is rare air that Luca is flying in.

How far are you willing to go without risking overstatement? I think it's absurd for somebody to have officially declared Luca the greatest 21-year-old basketball player ever. Having said that, that doesn't diminish the fact that he is just remarkable, highly skilled, a competitor, somebody who handles pressure well. But the other element to that that I think people need to keep in mind is remember that Luca played, I mean, the EuroLeague is easily the second-best league in the whole world. Luca wasn't just playing in the EuroLeague when he was 16. He was an MVP of that league when he was 18. But there is a savant quality about him, kind of like how we remember LeBron coming out of Akron.

It is truly rare, and you've just got to keep in mind that every once in a while those things happen. I've heard Bobby Marks talking about when he really was just starting out kind of as an intern with Nets, driving to Philadelphia to watch Kobe Bryant play a high school playoff game in Lower Marion and just think there is something really rare about this guy already. Let's finish things with Kobe Bryant since it is 8-24 and also a day after what would have been his 42nd birthday.

We've now had more time to reflect on what exactly his legacy is, and since you're in locker rooms and you get a chance to talk to these guys, you have access to them. In terms of this generation of players, how many guys are more influential than Kobe Bryant? Well, I mean, you can make an argument for LeBron. I mean, you know, LeBron has become a true cultural figure. Somebody whose interest and whose touch goes beyond just playing basketball. But Kobe touched people. He inspired people. There's a generation of basketball players who expected more of themselves for having grown up watching Kobe play kind of like, you know, I was a junior tennis player.

There are people who watched Borg and McEnroe play who devoted themselves to being a better tennis player just for how dramatic it was when those two people played each other. Follow him on Twitter at Rick underscore Bunnell. Read his stuff, charlotteobserver.com, and in the pages of The Observer. I really do appreciate the insight, Rick. It's great stuff as always, and we hope we can catch up sometime soon. Take care, Josh. Thanks for having me.

You got it. That is Rick Bunnell from The Observer. Providing you with the kind of sports programming that makes some people laugh.

But most people just wince. You're on the drive with Josh Graham. Guys, I got a ton of hot takes today. It's time for Let's Get Crazy where we look journalistic integrity right in the eye. Then we throw it out the window for this one segment.

We get reckless with our opinions. We welcome you to join us. This is where we call for your involvement in the show at 336-777-1600 in a segment we call Let's Get Crazy. Let's fire it off. Cue the print.

Again, that number 777-1600 on Twitter at Sports Hub Triad. I'm gonna get us started here, Robert. Did you see the trailer this weekend for The Batman? I did.

I did. Getting our first look at Robert Pattinson playing Batman. Very film noir of them.

It really was. It was incredibly dark. And to that I say, dark Batman movies aren't any good. Now, I don't view The Dark Knight as a dark Batman movie, but I view the Suicide Squad, Jared Leto-type theme, the ones that DC are doing. The Ben Affleck one was really dark.

Not a big fan of it. Are we losing sight that Batman is intended to be a children's character? I still think that the best Batman ever is Adam West.

I don't know if that's a hot take. It isn't to say that the Adam West Batman movies were better than The Dark Knight directed by Christopher Nolan, but I believe Batman is a children's character. Why are we making Batman movies that kids cannot watch?

Answer that for me. I guess it's not just for kids. I know, but like, if you're making a Batman movie, at least make it suitable for kids.

At least make it suitable for kids to watch. Like, don't make it so scary and so over-the-line dark where it seems like this is going to be a thriller. Like, you have the Riddler. You got the Riddler and you got a dead guy and you're playing a Nirvana song in the trailer. Like, it was incredibly creepy. I would just bet that most Batman fans are not kids.

I would bet that. Well, when I was a kid, my favorite superhero was Batman. You couldn't find a black crayon in my house when I was four or five years old, and there's no chance four or five years old Josh Graham would be allowed to watch this, I'm sure to be, rated-R movie, The Batman. Sure, you'd have to wait until you were like 10 or 11 and you weren't such a wussy. Well, no, legally I wouldn't be able to watch it. There's no real law about that. There are no laws. There's no real law. They wouldn't let a five-year-old in to watch The Batman.

If a parent brought him, either way, I'm not arguing. Robert, let's get crazy. Pat McAfee over the weekend was on TakeOver 30, an NXT pay-per-view for WWE, and I'm going to say he had the best non-wrestler match of all time. That includes people like Money Mayweather against Big Show, Yoko Bono against Big Show. Do you count Ronda Rousey? No, she was a wrestler. She got trained. And he was also trained, but not before this match. He had never had a professional match before this.

He did a lot of stuff. It looked very natural. He looked great.

I enjoyed the match for what it was. Better than LeVar Ball? Much infinitely better than LeVar Ball. Better than Shaq? Infinitely better than Shaq, even though that match never happened. Shaq has never had a match, but if he did, I would be there to watch it. Better than Trump?

Woof. He never had a match. Really? I thought he actually took someone down. That was the battle of the billionaires when they both put up a wrestler. He put up Bobby Lashley. Vince McMahon put up Umaga. Bobby Lashley beat Umaga, so they got to shave Vince McMahon's head. But Trump did take someone down, though.

He did a little crappy clothesline and then got on Vince and did some dumb potato punches. But not that great. 3-3-6-7-7-7-1-600. Let's get crazy. I went to Top Golf this weekend in Richmond. First time I went there. It's the first time I've swung a golf club in ten years.

I'd prefer a Top Golf membership over a Country Club membership any day of the week. I figured out something this weekend, Robert. I figured out something about me that I did not know.

What was that? I don't really enjoy playing golf. I just enjoy being on the driving range.

It's what I enjoy. It's kind of like fantasy football. I realized about five or six years ago, I did not enjoy having a fantasy football team as much as I enjoyed coming up with a funny fantasy football team name and drafting the team. I did not care about the season after I drafted the team. I did not want to follow it because on the weekends, I'm generally very busy. I don't really care about my fantasy team regardless of how much money I have invested in it. So I got out of fantasy football because I realized, I just don't really care that much about anything other than draft night, the sound that your computer or your phone makes when you're up. Right. I care about that and having a funny team name.

Aside from that, I couldn't care less. Same thing when it comes to golf. Top Golf membership probably going to be a lot cheaper than a Country Club membership. I just enjoy being on the driving range. There's games that you can play. There's alcohol being served to you. Yeah, Top Golf, really good time.

I prefer that over a Country Club membership. Robert, let's get crazy. I had a lot of time on my hands this weekend. I had a lot of fun, but I wanted to rewatch one of my favorite shows and it has proven to me now that Ozark is the best Netflix exclusive. Better than Orange is the New Black. Better than Stranger Things. Better than 13 Reasons Why. Jason Bateman is immaculate. So good.

I love Ozark. It's the best. House of Cards with like a word. No, a little too boring. I could fall asleep in that show. Just five minutes of House of Cards, I'm out.

I loved House of Cards. You love random, just long dragging dialogue. I enjoyed Kevin Spacey before we learned more about Kevin Spacey. Long dragging dialogue. And he had a great accent.

Like just an all-time accent, Frank Underwood. For sure. Alright, let's get to sports. Let's get crazy. Houston Rockets, NBA champs.

Look at you. They've been the most impressive team in the bubble to me. Without Russell Westbrook. That's crazy. That's why we're doing Let's Get Crazy here, right? Like the Houston Rockets, they've been doing this without Russell Westbrook.

I have a follow-up pop take related to that. The Rockets are actually better without Russell Westbrook. I have been flummoxed and amazed by how difficult it's been for the Clippers to stop dribble penetration. They're supposed to be one of the best defensive teams in the sport. But Luca's getting whatever he wants at the rim.

But it's not even just Luca. Like Tim Hardaway. Alec Burks. Like these dudes, they're getting to the basket with ease against guys who are all-stars. And I'm thinking, if you're having issue with Burks and Hardaway, what's going to happen when you do face James Harden and Russell Westbrook and these Rockets who can all drive and can all shoot?

That, I think, could be a really big problem. Robert, close us out. Let's Get Crazy. I've been a dog guy my whole life, and everybody thinks that dogs are the best pets. But I'm here to change all of your minds. Cats are far and away the better pet than dogs. Wow.

See, you're biased. You just got a cat last week. How's Winston doing?

He's doing fantastic. If I could put side by side my first week owning a dog and my first week owning a cat, there is so much more damage, there is so much more money spent, there is so much more time spent with this dog. This cat, the only thing he needs me to do is pop the top on his wet food.

He can do everything else. It took this cat six hours to figure out his litter box. He has not done anything outside of that litter box.

The dude hasn't tore anything up. He sleeps with me every night, right beside my head. He's so soft. They're the perfect pet. He's the sweetest cat. I love him.

That was very sweet. Yeah, I wish he was listening. Do you regret...

He is a big fan of the show. Do you regret all the times you made fun of me talking about Winnie, my cat? I never made fun of Winnie. I made fun of your presentation of Winnie. Do you regret making fun of me for my presentation of Winnie?

No, I do not because you've got to stop treating animals like they're a small little alien. You always videotape Winnie or any animal as if they're like this strange experiment. You'll walk up to them very slowly and be like, hello, hi. You just just talk to them. Just talk to them. You got to quit treating them like... You're a serial killer if you talk to your pet like it's a person. I do.

That's crazy. I do. You are a sociopath if you do that. You know what? Cut the music.

In the music, I want it out of here. You honestly talk to your cat. You're like, hey, Winston, what are you doing here? Dude, I'm like, Stone, let's go downstairs and get some French toast. And he's right there with me. You don't talk to your pet like a person.

I do. Like, I talk to my pet. Hey, Winnie. Winnie. Winnie.

Winnie. I talk to my pets that way. I think it's the more normal thing to do. In fact, I'll put this up to the audience.

What's the normal course of action? Talking to your pet like it's a person or talking to your pet like it's a baby. Yeah. Because that's really what it is. It's like a baby. They're not as smart as people are, you know, as adults are. So, you know, you treat it like a baby.

It's like the same size as a baby. That's how you treat it. I mean, I talk to Winston all the time. This weekend, I was like, Winston, I'm about to go outside and rip a heater.

You want to go? That's ridiculous. He's like, meow. That is.

Come out here and check it out, dude. That is sociopathic behavior. And then he's sniffing around the backyard.

I'm like, new smells? And he's like, meow. That's sociopath stuff, man. Like, talking to your pet. He loves it. As if it's a person is a crazy thing to do.

I'll never understand that. You know what? We're way out of time here. All right. Without overstating Luca's 40-point triple-double yesterday, we put the 21-year-old's first two years in the NBA into proper context next on The Drive.