REShow: Danielle Robay - Hour 3

The Labor Day event from Dell Technologies is here and it's time to take productivity to another level. End the summer strong by upgrading your growing business to the latest tech. This new season begins with up to 48% off top performance laptops like Bostro, taking performance to the next level with 12th Gen Intel Core processors. You'll also save big on monitors, docks, mice and more must-have accessories. Plus, get free shipping on everything. It's the perfect time to get ahead with powerful tech designed to stay motivated throughout the year, and encourage collaboration and innovation among your team. Now, at special prices for a limited time only. Summer might be gone, but it's just the beginning. What's next for you?

Upgrade today by calling 877-ASK-DELL, that's 877-ASK-DELL, to save up to 48% on our latest technology. James Caan, you are the best for doing this. Earlier on the show, singer and 49ers fan, Asher Roth. Host of the Cinephile Podcast, Adnan Virk. Still to come, host and reporter, Daniel Robey. And now, here's Ben Lyons. Welcome back. Hour number three, the show flies by.

Ben Lyons in for Rich Eisen all week long. Appreciate you rocking out with us, making us part of your day, your routine. Going to work, going to the gym, whatever it is you're doing. Going to the golf course, I hope. Thank you for listening, for watching. Rating, reviewing, subscribing, tweeting, hashtagging, doing all the content.

Daniel Robey, speaking of content, creates a lot of content herself. Podcast, TV show on E. Now she's out at WNBA All-Star Weekend, covering all the festivities in Chicago, which looked like a lot of fun. I went to a game the other night in Brooklyn, overtime game. They lost to the sun, but Sabrina put on a show.

It was my first time seeing her in person. Bigger than I would have thought and can handle the ball and post up and work out of the block. Brooklyn's struggling a little bit. A little bit of a fashion show on the sidelines every night. People are more excited to be in street clothes than they are wearing uniforms.

But, you know, we've got to get it going for the second half of the season. Speaking of basketball, Chris and I saw this. Were you in Greece and you happened to hit a Greek basketball game and took part in something, right? I was in, I went to a friend's wedding. Shout out to my buddy Danny A. and his beautiful bride, Mai.

Is it real? Yeah, it was in Tel Aviv. Mai and Danny got married and I went over there for a few days. And a mutual friend, I think Kenny Hamilton, was like, hey, I got tickets tomorrow night.

Tel Aviv versus Jerusalem. It's a playoff game. You want to go? Are you with Kenny to this? Yeah. I was like, let me call Delta. We're going to move this flight around.

Got some e-credits. And, yeah, I stayed. I went to my first international sporting event. I went to a basketball game. No, I've been to some soccer games.

I'll say that again. But my first international basketball game, which started and then was delayed for 20 minutes because those Jerusalem fans, they're a crazy lot. They all had some smoke bombs on fire in their sections and smoked out the arena.

And you couldn't breathe in there. So Jalen Adams, the former guard of Connecticut, had to take a 20-minute breather. And it was incredible. And somehow, such as my life, real fan with real access, ended up shooting a half-court shot, which was kind of a thrill to be over there on the court in Israel, in the Holy Land, playing basketball, trying to win a sponsored television that I couldn't get in my check bag on the way home.

It was great. Also, Ben and Chris, we talk about foreign players. And there's a lot of times people, for whatever really reason, maybe it started years ago, they associate these foreign guys with being soft. And it's like you go and you look at how Joker and Luca and guys like that come. There are people with AKs in the stands. And there were fans setting off fires and so on. You were not... Hey, Utah Jazz fans, no matter what you're chanting, you're not going to rattle a guy who's been playing with a dude with an AK standing behind him. Well, this is what I was thinking because Kyrie Irving in Boston this year had a meltdown because some fans said, boo, you stink. And he lost it. Or people calling him Russell West Brick and he's this attack on my family and my legacy.

Go to Tel Aviv and see a Jerusalem-Tel Aviv playoff game and watch the fans give you the finger, curse out your family, slit their throats at you. I saw that. And it's all good. Nobody stops it. Nobody cares.

Nobody cares. I left five minutes early because I thought it would be a riot. I was like, I'm not staying around.

These guys have been fighting the whole... It was so high octane. If you have the means to do that, invest in it, save up for it, go see a basketball game in Europe. It is a life-changing experience. Speaking of basketball, I want to talk with TJ about the greatest players in the history of each NBA franchise and ranking them all-time. Is this part of the TJ's Big Ass Grab Bag franchise? Is this part of the universe of TJ's Big Ass Grab Bag?

No, this is something completely separate. This is something that I was bored like a year and a half ago. And I was just like, start writing these things down to kind of pitch them to Rich and Chris, see what they think. And then I brought this up to Rich and I was like, we could all do this.

And Rich was like, no, you do it and we'll just comment on it. So we did the football. It turned out, I think, fairly well.

It was pretty well received, especially on social media. And I saw a lot of comments of people going, hey, you should do this for the NBA as well. And I figured, you know, with you here and you love basketball the way we do, that it would be a perfect time to give our NBA goats. All right, let's do it.

So how are we bringing this down? I'm here all five days. We're not going to do all the teams today. Can't get all the teams today. I will say this. We will, Friday, we'll do the Atlantic, the NBA Atlantic division since that's all of our favorite teams. So we'll end the week with that. But yes. I didn't even know the NBA still did divisions until this exercise, but apparently they did. Yeah.

The central division is first up on the slate today. Yeah, man. So I don't know. Jason, I don't know what he's doing over there if we've got music or anything, but I'll just keep talking until, you know, it's just because, you know, sometimes they are paying attention, you know, they got other things going on because, you know, hey, you were having a good day. You know, Maseratis don't pay for themselves.

No, he's setting his lines for fast eleven. More NOS. There we go. So anyway, yeah. So we want to continue this whole franchise goat greatest of all time and we're going to move it over to the NBA. So what I want to do now is when I kick it off, like you said, Ben, with the NBA central division, that is the Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons, Indiana Pacers and the Milwaukee Bucks.

And I figure, Chris, I might as well just make this very easy. We'll get the Bulls, get the Bulls out of the way. Bulls will get this out of the way and just let people know that artist. Gilmore is on probably the Bulls Mount Rushmore, but he's not the one I'm going with. Number one, obviously, is Michael Jordan on the Chicago Bulls. All due respect to Dickie Simkins. With all due respect to Dickie Simkins.

All respect to fill in host friend of the show, John Spider Sally. Of course, you know, you know, you got Scottie Pippen, like I said, artist Gilmore, you know, Reggie Fierce. They had some great players, but come on, it's Michael Jeffrey Jordan. We don't even need to discuss that. Next up is the Cleveland Cavaliers.

And again, this one was pretty easy as well. With all due respect to Mark Price and Brad Daugherty, Jim Jones, guys like that. But it's LeBron James, obviously. Clearly, well, I played there 11 years and won one title. I know. But how many does this franchise have without him combined?

I don't know. I know they call it the Q. They really should call it the Z for Big Z. So shout out to Big Z. But yeah, shout out to all the ex Knicks who win championships in Cleveland. J.R. Smith, Iman Shumpert, Timothy Moskov, Channing Fry. It's just all ex Knicks.

It's where the Knicks go to get to get raised. Interject for a moment, OK? I'm like 78 percent serious when I say this. If the Cavs don't win that title in 2016, obviously so much is different. But I'm talking specifically just about the Cleveland Cavaliers. Is their greatest player Mark Price? No, it's still LeBron James, bro. Come on.

Stop. I mean, he went to five finals, so that'll do it. Yo, shout out to Craig Elam. Mark Price had a tough time getting out of that first round.

He would have been 0-5. He loved the chair drill, I heard. You know the chair drill, Brock. Shout out to sweet Bobby Sura as well. Bobby Sura. We went on to marry Emily Ratajkowski. Wait a minute. What? No, we didn't.

Not true. Inside joke from me and Ben from our phone call last night. Bobby Sura. What up, C-Boat? What up, C-Boat? All right. Are we good?

Continue. All right, so next up we got the Detroit Pistons, OK? The bad boy era two-time NBA champions. Again, this one, a lot of great players in that franchise, but it's Isaiah Thomas. He is so underrated.

Let me explain to you. He is so hated on and he is so underappreciated. This man beat the Celtics, Lakers, and Bulls. He played in the NBA Finals on one foot and scored like a gazillion points. 25 points in the third quarter, one of the greatest performances in the history of playoff basketball. They need a deep dive. I want like a four hour Isaiah Thomas documentary about his life growing up in Chicago, entrepreneurship, everything that happened, the good, bad, the ugly with the Knicks, his career with the Pistons.

That'd be amazing documentary. But why is he slept on? Because he was a terrible GM with the Knicks? He was left off the dream team. He was a terrible GM and nobody laughs at their own jokes harder.

The guy loves laughing at his own jokes. NBA TV loves it. No, but I think with Isaiah Thomas, it's because of the fact that Michael Jordan, you know, like push him off the dream team and he wasn't immortalized on that group. That group was so elevated and so ingrained into our psyche, their greatness, and he was not a part of that.

So he will never be looked at as being on that level. It's really a shame because Isaiah Thomas, just for you young kids who don't know, and I don't really curse in this, Mike, but I got to say this. Isaiah Thomas would bust your ass.

Like straight up. I mean, the dude was a killer on the basketball court. He went and he stared Michael Jeffrey Jordan in the face. He stared Larry Bird in the face.

He stared Magic Johnson in the face while kissing him on the cheek. Doesn't matter, though. Isaiah. And he doesn't get the props that he deserves.

Ben, you're right. But Isaiah Thomas was a beast on the basketball court. And I'm sorry, two years old when he retired because of the ankle.

32. That's one of the top five greatest point guards of all time. And I'll argue that with you all day if you want. I Drexler probably shouldn't have been on the dream team, right? No.

What are you serious? Oh, instead it should have been Isaiah instead of Clyde. I was a small forward anyway, but no, Clyde at that point. Clyde Drexler. Clyde Drexler. At that point, Isaiah Thomas was more accomplished than John Stockton. John Stockton had never been to the NBA Finals.

92 Stockton compared to 92 Isaiah. All right. Well, let's come back to this.

Because I want to talk about this. Yeah. Indiana Pacers.

I got them up next. And it's, you know, really quick. It's Rick Smits was great. You know, but it's Reggie Miller. I mean, come on. Reggie, you know, had the joke about Reggie was he was the only NBA player that wasn't as good as his sister, which, by the way, Cheryl Miller on my Mount Rushmore basketball, women might have the top spot on there for sure. Reggie, you know, one of the greatest shoes of all time. And yet if you were going to teach someone to shoot, you probably wouldn't show Reggie videos because he had that awkward release where his hands like kind of cross clap. But Reggie, in perpetual motion, every game, the guy just ran off a screen after screen, a better defender than people give him credit for. Yeah. And, you know, we played his whole career there.

And it's kind of cool. You know, back in 08, though, there was a thing where he was could have come out of retirement to join the Celtics to join that team. And he didn't want to do it. And I kind of wish he would have because I get that you want to stay with the Pacers. But getting that ring, man, that kind of kind of says something. And lastly, this was the toughest one, guys, the Milwaukee Bucks.

I went back and forth over this for about an hour yesterday. And, you know, we have Giannis and we have Kareem and you got Oscar and you got Oscar. But Oscar wasn't there long enough. Brandon Jennings, who had a 50 piece game. Look, Ben, you know, come on. Let's be real here.

All right. But I went back and forth between Giannis and Kareem. Giannis and Kareem.

And I'll just say this. If Giannis will ten years from now, when this list is done, he will be the greatest Milwaukee buck of all time. But as of today, I got to say, looking at what the man did, it's Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Greatest Milwaukee buck of all time. You're talking three time league MVP championship rookie of the year. You know, people always thought Kareem didn't defend.

But in his first five years, I think he was first or second team all defensive team every year. So, again, it appears it will be Giannis. Yes, but for now it's Kareem. To Giannis' greatness and Kareem available. I'm looking up Kareem's stats in Milwaukee, played 82 games, 82 games, 81, 76, 81. Like, dude was there.

He averaged, I think, 30 and 15 throughout his six years there. So it's I mean, Kareem is just. Yeah, but now Giannis is still writing his legacy.

Right. And I think with with some of the years from now, it'll someone will do this list. And it'll some of the moves they made in the addition to Chris Middleton coming back healthy. I think the Bucks are the favorite to be back in the Eastern Conference Finals. We have Michael Jordan, Lebron James.

That was an easy division. Michael Jordan, Lebron James, Isaiah Thomas, Reggie Miller and the great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. I feel like as we continue on with this list and we're going to do it every day on the show this week. I feel like some of the teams are going to have some some names up for debate as the greatest player of all time.

It's not going to be chalk like that. It's like I said, I might as well get the easiest one out of the way for sure. Yeah, the Knicks for sure. You think? I mean, there are I mean, there's an obvious Nick answer. And then there's depends how it depends how you define this. Well, I think an obvious right off the bat. There's a guy who who is the best player for two weeks in the history of the Knicks. Well, that's what I'm saying.

That's obvious. You want me to say Jeremy Lin, but I'm saying it's on Friday. That's on Friday.

Friday. We're going to we're going to. I'll help the Celtics. I'll hit the Knicks.

Remember, I was talking about how much I love this community and respect all the people who listen to this show because they respect me. So I will save you from four days of, you know, talking about how no team in the NBA backcourt and frontcourt like the Knicks. We'll save all of that till Friday. Very exciting. They resigned a draft pick. It doesn't happen.

They do that twice. Well, again, we'll save it for Friday. That's a strong list there, TJ. Strong list. You know, we got to do later in the week, too. We got to the W list.

We got Daniel Robay coming in. You got 12 teams in the W. Greatest player in the history of those franchises. Lisa Leslie, I mean, sparks. As you guys know, I have many top five lists down.

I had to have my top five favorite female basketball players. Leslie turned 50 last. Yeah. Happy birthday. I was like, wow. Incredible.

You know, I watched that documentary about the 96 women's basketball team that won gold in Atlanta. That was really good. Incredible. They were to see some of that footage of Lisa interacting with just I mean, the who's who of the day.

This is awesome. Seeing the young Philly ball on Staley out there like that. Just correct. Yeah, because it was the thing about Don Staley was they were like, she's too small. And I'm like, Don Staley's five, six. Like for a woman, that's pretty tall.

But as a female basketball player at that time, that's what I'm saying. When I saw Sabrina play live, I was like, wow, she's a lot bigger than you might expect on television. So I'm excited to talk some W with Daniel Robay.

She was just down in Chicago at all the festivities. Kelsey Plum won MVP and we'll catch up with Daniel coming up next. I love it.

Yeah, very cool. Ben Lyons here filling in for Rich on the Rich Eisen Show. Does your antiperspirant keep you dry all day? Dove Men Plus Care Dry Spray goes on instantly dry for a cleaner feel and offers 48 hours sweat and odor protection.

Let me repeat that. 48 hours of sweat and odor protection. Use it and don't even think about it. Also Dove Men Dry Spray contains Dove's unique one quarter moisturizing cream that helps protect your skin. Try Dove Men Plus Care Dry Spray. Goes on dry.

Clean feel all day. Ben Lyons hanging out for Rich on the Rich Eisen Show. We'll be back all week long. And I am very excited about coming back and that invitation still being in good standing, because when I told Brockman that I hadn't seen an episode of Better Call Saul, I thought he was going to rescind that invitation. Dude, it might just be me. TJ literally might just be you. Why are we posting the show this week?

Jon Salley later on. Just you and me tomorrow. I guess so. I haven't seen Breaking Bad either. I hear it's good. I'm sure everyone has one TV show. They're like, oh my God, you haven't seen that? Never seen The Wire. I don't want to do the show anymore. And The Office.

Waiting for more people to talk about it. But there's there's I don't get jealousy too often. But when I look now at your future, I'm like, wow, you got five seasons of The Wire in front of you and it's all new.

And I don't have that. Damn, that's really cool. And by the way, we fill that up with you with Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. Yeah, yeah.

I think my list, sadly, would be a lot longer than people expect. Somebody who did get to watch the WNBA All-Star Game in person this weekend. I was stuck watching it on TV yesterday. But my friend Danielle Robay, who's out in Chicago, is now kind enough to join the show here on the Mercedes-Benz Vans phone line.

How is Chicago? Are you still out there? Ben, what's up? It's so good to hear your voice. I'm still here. You know, I was born and raised here. So I took a day or two after the All-Star Game to hang out.

All right. Set the scene. Describe the vibe that Chicago Sky are defending WNBA champions. So the party and all the festivities was at their house.

What was it like this weekend? So there was a lot of celebration going on because obviously it's WNBA All-Star. But also there were a few people that were retiring.

I know Sue Bird, one of the great Sylvia Fowls. So there was just like a lot of love in the air celebrating those women as well. So I touched down in Chicago. And before anything got started, everybody wanted to party, including some of the WNBA players, let me tell you. So there was actually like a big dinner at Tow. We hung out. And then Candace Parker had an after party, which was really fun.

She rented out a rooftop. And it's kind of like another celebration Saturday night. During the day, AT&T, who sponsored the event, like threw up a ton of her game things for like clinics for young girls. And the WNBA players were out teaching them, training them, which was really dope to see.

And then, of course, the game. Yeah, and the game was incredible. Kelsey Plum wins the MVP, like you said, honoring a lot of the legends who are retiring in the W. What was that moment like when they introduced Sue Bird for her final All-Star game?

You were there. It was sort of bittersweet because, you know, like she's one of the biggest names in the WNBA. I think when we think about stars, we think about Sue Bird, Candace Parker, Diana Taurasi. And so it's like one of the big names, people that bring eyeballs, which the WNBA needs, is retiring. And so I think as much as people were celebrating her, they were also kind of sad. And she's a leader, too. You know, she's like super philanthropic, uses her voice.

So I think people were sad to see her go. Daniel Robay joins the show out at Chicago for WNBA All-Star Festivities. TJ, one day when we grow up, if we could just go to a Candace Parker after party on a rooftop, like that sounds killer.

That's what's up. That sounds like a lot of fun. You know, what I love about you as a sports fan, Dee, is that you are always looking for great stories. And it's less the X's and O's and who won the game, but more finding great stories. What are some of the stories you kind of found in the WNBA from being around the game and the culture this weekend?

That's such a good question. You know, people were really talking about how the WNBA doesn't get enough coverage. So women's sports in general received only 4% media coverage, sports coverage. And 4% is really kind of a low, a wild number.

I think that everybody was trying to figure out, like, how do we brand these women as stars, almost as celebrities outside of the WNBA, to get more eyeballs on the game? Can I be super honest? No, please lie to our audience. What? Tell the truth.

I don't want to lie. So I felt a little bit bummed out watching the game. And I'm dying to know what you think, because you're one of the biggest basketball fans I know, and it's not just the excitement of the game. Like, you truly love the game.

You do love the X's and O's. And so I felt a little bummed by the basketball I was watching. I felt like I didn't see enough sweat. The most exciting moment was obviously Sylvia Fowles' dunk on the breakaway. The whole building went nuts. I wanted to see more of that.

And the women can do it. But, Dee, it's because it was the WNBA All-Star Weekend, and everybody was out at Candace Parker's rooftop party to see the sun come up. Like, that is the true All-Star Game experience. I mean, the NBA All-Star Game is the sloppiest display of basketball, even worse than that Hamptons camp I coached last week.

Yeah, this is a really good point. But I felt like there was more competition. Like, I wanted to see more three-point shots, more dunks. You want some juice. You want some action. Dee's like, I took the lesson.

Minus 20 points. He wants some action on it, yeah. You know, this is such an opportunity for them, for the whole league, to get more eyeballs. I just, I don't know.

I'm not sure it succeeded in what they were trying to accomplish. Daniel Robay joining the show, covering all the festivities out in Chicago for the WNBA All-Star Weekend, looking for serious hoops come All-Star Sunday. I love it. And the same thing in the NBA. Honestly, Anthony Davis playing volleyball out there for two hours. They call it an All-Star Game. You get to work with AT&T, and you cover a lot of these cultural events and these kind of gatherings and stuff.

You and I reconnected at Summer League a few years back. Walk me through what exactly, and I mean this in all sincerity, what do you do for them? You just get to go and hang.

Ben, my dad actually asked me the same question this morning at breakfast, so I'm prepped for this answer. So I go out, and they actually have a lot of dope social content. So it's AT&T, DirecTV, and they sponsor all of these awesome sports and entertainment moments. Like, I went out for Tribeca Film Festival. So we go and they get access to huge stars. Like, we interviewed Lotto, Chance the Rapper, had the WNBA players on the carpet before the concert started. And then I cover it on social for them. So it is really fun. I get to go to these events and enjoy, but I'm sort of the eyes for everybody that's not at the event and try and cover that story. It's a great gig, and I hope you get your agents a wonderful gift basket every holiday season, because you've got to keep that going, getting to go to the coolest events and hang out and get all access.

It's amazing. You said the vibe at the W was all about how to get more coverage for the game and for these women who are out here as incredible athletes playing at the highest level. Obviously, everybody is keeping Brittany Griner top of mind, and you can feel her presence out at All-Star Weekend this year.

Talk to me a little bit about some of the conversations you had with people out there about what she's going through right now. You know, it's interesting. A lot of those conversations were behind the scenes. I think that in terms of the actual weekend, people wanted to keep it really celebratory behind the scenes. All the women were talking about her.

They're really worried, really concerned. I know that after the game they had a moment for her that I think meant a lot to the women and to everybody watching, because you can't ignore what's going on. I do have hope that she's coming home. I think as soon as she pleaded guilty, that was a positive sign.

What did you think? I agree with you on that. I think her pleading guilty will move this case forward.

I want to get into too many of the details, but because of what she's being charged with, I think it will come out that the severity of her punishment will not be as serious if she had contested the charges. Yeah, exactly. It was cool to see the players wear the Brittany Griner jersey during the second half. That was a big moment. It's a big moment.

Absolutely, and I hope it does them good and we get her home safely and very soon. Dee, in addition to covering all the All-Star festivities for AT&T, for hosting now over at the VAL over on E! News and IMDb, it's not a board game. It's a card game.

How do you describe Question Everything? Ben, I've got to get you one. You don't have one in your hand? I don't have one right here. I have a Magic 8-Ball that doesn't work in my hands, and I feel like your Question Everything would be far better than this.

Yeah, this card game doesn't tell the future, but it does help you get to know your closest people. Unlike you, we ask questions for a living, and so I thought, let's put this in a game so everybody can play and ask questions, get to know themselves better, get to know their closest people better. Larry King was a huge mentor of mine, and he was one of the most innately curious people I had ever met. I would sit down for breakfast, and he'd be like, Why'd you order blueberries? Does your dad like blueberries?

Who in your family likes blueberries? He just, the little minutia. And learning from him really made me realize the importance of questions, even detailed ones. And so this game is 52 questions for deeper conversation. Some are light and fun.

Some are deeper and more reflective. But I played with my mom and dad this weekend. I played with some of the influencers at the party. I gave them out, and we were all laughing and crying.

It was really fun. Daniel Robay joins the show. I just love the idea of you sitting with the late Larry King and Nate Niles, and he's talking produce with you.

I love that you know it's Nate Niles. You know all the Beverly Hills delis. Where else is Larry King having breakfast with you in Beverly Hills? Are you kidding me?

This is very true. Getting back to the WNBA quickly before we wrap up, when we talk about this Brittney Griner thing, that's the thing that sticks with me with the stories. Why is she over there in the first place? Oh, she's over there because she has to make money because she can't make enough here.

Why can't she make enough here? Well, it's because basketball fans, we don't watch and pay attention enough. So that's really inspired me in a lot of ways to lean in more and to just pay attention to the W more in the last five years, and it's been amazing. And I went the other night in Brooklyn and had a blast, despite the Liberty losing. I think going to the games will introduce people who might be skeptical or haven't had the chance to experience it. For you, what is it that draws you into the world of the W and women's basketball? I love that you said that.

You have been such an advocate for the WNBA, and I think I got into it more out of advocacy than even love of basketball at first because I'm a woman who wants to support women, and I thought they're getting 4% of media coverage. That's not fair. They're not getting paid. Most of these women, not just some, most have second, sometimes even third jobs because they don't make enough money to support themselves or their families, and they don't have enough time to be doing that. They should be able to be training. So it started out of advocacy, and then as soon as I started watching, I was like, if you love basketball, you love the WNBA.

It's all the same. I interviewed Renee Montgomery a few months ago, and she said the same thing. The skill set is there.

These women are so talented. They just need a little shine, and I think, you know, Kobe Bryant was such an amazing advocate for the league, and when he passed along with, of course, just the sadness of his passing, I was really bummed because I felt like some of that spotlight might go with it. But I think men like you, I think there's a few NBA players. Javonte Green from the Bulls made it a point to come out. He actually emailed the league and said, I want to come, not just to the game, I want to come to all the events this weekend.

Chance the Rapper did the exact same thing. He's a huge supporter of the WNBA. I think the more men that we can get out to support, the more shine the WNBA will get. I'm here for it.

Real hooping. I love it. I'm excited to go see the Sparks when they come back to New York in two weeks, and I hope we get to cross paths in real life. Thank you so much for taking some time away from the fam out in Chicago to hang out with us. Thanks for having me on, Ben. They're so lucky to have you. There's no one better than you. Keep talking, keep talking, D. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. It's so great having my friends come on the show and Adnan's telling Rich how I'm the best, and Danielle's telling you guys that you guys should give me more money and pay my – That happened. No, that's nice.

She's right, though. And I think we've done a fun job last year and then this year as well, talking more W on the show when I'm in here. And I think if you have a chance to go to a game in your city, it's a different energy around basketball, and it's a lot of fun. I think I'm going to go Thursday night here. I'm trying to get Elena Delle Donne on the couch this week. She's in town.

The Mystic's playing. I'd like to go see the Sparks while I'm in town. That would be incredible. If we can get EDD here – That would be amazing. That would be nice.

That would be really nice. Just dropped her own signature shoe with Nike, by the way. Very cool. Oh, yeah.

Very cool. You know, I had fun. I was watching the game, and she's right. The first half of the game, I think the one team had 39 at halftime.

I forget which team it was. No, I'm just drawing a blank. It's not East and West.

They do it like the NBA where it's like Asia. Yeah. But, you know, the one thing was that they were showing love for Brittany Griner, which I thought was incredibly great. And then the second half, both teams all came out with Griner 42 jerseys on. And I was just a little bit torn there because I love the fact that they're drawing attention to BG. But also I'm like, all right, you're still trying to grow this game, and these women unfortunately still aren't well enough known that they don't have their own names on their jerseys, because there was some I didn't even, you know, I knew most of them, but I'm just saying. So that was just a little bit like, it's dope they're doing this. But like, no, I think I'd love to see the game in primetime because they're putting their own personal brand aside to go, this is for her and we're doing this for her. So I take back what I say. That was no, but I hear you. I get it. It's, you know, it's a constant issue around the game of how do you get more exposure?

How do you get more eyeballs? And I think just go out there and be dope. And that's what they're doing. They're just going out there and balling and standing for the right side of things.

And when you look at history, they're the first ones who are talking about voting and social rights and human rights and all these things. So I love women's basketball, the culture around it, and the fact that I couldn't be there. And this weekend in Chicago, it was really bummed because that was circled on the calendar for a while. But Danielle gets to go and we get to live vicariously through her and hear all the fun stuff. Candace Parker after parties on the rooftops?

Sounds killer, bro. Brockman, do you have a Candace Parker story? I've been to a Halloween party at Candace Parker's house. What?

What are you talking about? What did you dress as? What did she dress as?

I have so many questions. As soon as her name got brought up, I looked at Chris and I was like, oh, yeah, he's got a story. I'm trying to think when this was. How did this happen?

This might have been 2015. So I am good friends with Candace's good friend from college. And so I just. Oh, just your friends and just I'm friends with Justine.

And so it was just kind of like, hey, what are you doing? We're having this thing at Candace's. If you want to roll through.

Sure. I bring a buddy of mine and we just kind of like roll over there. And it's basically on their back because Candace used to be married to Sheldon Williams.

I've driven in his BMW before. And it was just like it was on their basketball courts. And Jaleel White was dressed as Kanye.

There was like a karaoke contest. It was that would if Kanye was crazy. If Kanye knew that Jaleel White dresses him for all. And I think that would mean a lot to Kanye. It was the Kanye to wear like the shredded sweatshirt phase that he was going through.

Sure. It was it was a really crazy, weird night. I love it. I love it. That's a Hooper, by the way. Jaleel is one of the best basketball players in Hollywood the last 10 years or so. Yeah, he always used to do like the Rockin' Jocks and stuff like that. He was in the NBA E-League, right? Yeah. Hold on. You're in the presence of an E-League All-Star.

You guys didn't respect me on the Rams Super Bowl. E-League All-Star? E-League All-Star.

Put it on J. Cole. What are the qualifications to be an All-Star in this thing? You have to outplay a Superman.

It could be an E1. It could be Dean Cain. It could be that one from the movie, Brandon Routh. Brandon Routh, one and done. Any Superman, you just got to outplay a Superman. I feel really bad for Brandon Routh, to be honest.

Why? Brandon Routh just didn't work out. Yeah, that guy should have been Superman.

There was a night there at the E-League when he was playing against Dean Cain and there was an energy in the gym. It was like the Spider-Man meme, kind of? That's so good. That's really good. Well played. That got me. You? You? That league was so dumb because you'd be literally on the free... That league was so dumb.

You'd be on the free throw line and you're like sweating because you're like playing. I got Efron. I got Efron.

You take Efron. What? Yeah, I remember they used to do the E-League back in Santa Monica, Crossroads show. Yeah, yeah, it was at Crossroads, yeah. They got too serious. Shout out to Shane. They used to bring the cameras out. When they're doing halftime interviews, I'm like, I got to go.

I'm going to bust. I told Brockman this. This was the early 2000s, but you remember the TV show Blind Date?

Oh, yeah. Roger Lodge, man. Roger Lodge, he's got a jumper. Did you know Roger Lodge? Roger Lodge was one of the best shooters I've ever seen. Roger Lodge and Steph Curry could go shot for shot. 100 percent. I'm just going to say that. Roger Lodge from Blind Date.

If Roger Lodge was a Curry in the Curry family, real talk, it would probably go in terms of shooting Steph, Roger, Seth, Dell. Yo, when I was... I didn't move out here until 2009, so like in the mid-2000s living in Maine, I wanted nothing more than to play in this league. I was like, I will tear this league apart. Yeah. Now there were some balls. Some cats could ball though, bro. League All-Star. Check those seeds.

Just want to put that out there. I remember they went on a tour with like some WNBA players, and I just remember I got this story because I didn't go. This was like 2003 or 2004 that somebody was trying to hit on Sue Bird and all the guys were like, man, you ain't got a chance. And his reply was, a chia pet grows in three days, meaning I'm planting the seed, just letting it grow.

So that's something in my small group of friends will be like, a chia pet grows in three days. Easy fifth series regular from CSI Miami. Calm down. Right?

That's what that league is. Easy guy who got a CBS pilot. Relax. Or was it Lauren Jackson? It was either Sue Bird or Lauren Jackson. It was Lauren Jackson. You get it, Joel David Moore.

Those avatar residuals are killer. Like, we get it. It was Lauren Jackson, the 6'5 watch trillion.

Great battle. She was an amazing Seattle star. And Susie was hitting the line.

It wasn't Sue Bird. I take it back. We get it, Casper Van Dean. You were a big deal in the 90s. Like, we get it. I wanted to play in that league so bad.

I know you did. That's so good. So bad leagues. Oh, it's like, hey, we got celebrity birthdays coming up next. Time the show flies by. Ben Lyons in for Rich Eisen, day one, all week long. It's going to be a party here on Peacock. Welcome back to The Rich Eisen Show.

Ben Lyons filling in for Rich as he eats all the pasta in Italy. Gesundheit over there. Bless you.

Thank you, guys. Thanks for waiting just till the rejoined to sneeze. We had a five-minute break.

And right as we came back on the air, just let it rip. I mean, I turned my mic off. Nobody heard it. You didn't have to mention it. It's one of those things, like, literally no one would have known out there that that happened. Except the three other people in this room. That's how we do the show.

We bring people in. Hey, Kevin Hart, E-League legend. Oh, yeah. Kevin Hart used to ball in the E-League way before. Hey, Ben, look over your right shoulder right now.

Way before, yeah. Oh, it's Art. That's Raiders Art, the board op. That's literally the board op for the radio listening audience. Art, who does the board for the radio, is just casually rolling calls over my right shoulder here on Peacock. He's got a very... He looks like the logo. He's got, like, a leaf in his... Oh, he's got an orange shirt. So people just know that there's always people walking around.

There's usually guys who would just post up behind Rich because they can't see in the studio because the blinds are down. So you just got Art. Big Raider fan. Guy loves the Raiders.

But you're right. He is kind of looking like the WNBA logo. Look at him. He just posted up with his arm in the wall, chilling. Brockman, look at your man.

I know. He's just hanging out. Like, does this guy understand what's going on?

Like, we're trying to do a program. He's just chilling. Oh, that's so good. Is that calling me? If I call him, will he answer my phone? Do you want to just, like, peek behind the curtain and, like, knock and be like, dude, get out of the shot.

Hey, can you move? I'm making a radio show here, dude. Oh, my God.

This is the best. We're going off the rails on day one. I mean, I feel like he finally left. There we go. So you text work. He was like, oh, sorry.

I was like, move, dawg. This is my big opportunity. The biggest names in track and field head to Oregon for the World Track and Field Championship Saturday 3 Eastern and 9 Eastern on NBC and Peacock. That's pretty fun. Love me some World Track Championships. You ever been to a big, like, the Melrose Games in New York or anything like that? No, I haven't, but I will say in my previous life as a high school newspaper reporter back in Maine, one of my favorite things to cover were the track and field state championships. It was just so exciting.

The energy. There's like five events going on at once. You're trying to pay attention to the relay, but the javelin and the high jumper going on. It's like one of the coolest and most fun things to do is cover track and field. So interesting to hear you say that made me think you get in this cycle in sports as a fan or even what we do covering sports, talking about them, where it's so much hype for what's going to come the upcoming NFL season. We're so excited. And most of the sports we like from a day to day, you get that hype going. And then the game lasts a significant amount of time. I don't think I've been so excited for a football game as I was on New Year's Eve this year for Michigan in the college football playoff.

To then, within 10 minutes of the excitement, be completely horrified and wanting it to end. And it couldn't. They should have. If they had said at halftime, we're done, I wouldn't have held it against them. It's OK. Game six of the NBA Finals.

It was just awful. So track and field, you get this build up, you get this build up, and then it's like 12 seconds and then it's done. So even if you get smoked, you don't have to sit in it for 40 minutes. You run the 200, that's about 25 seconds. She's 19 laps in front of her.

You know, you don't have to sit and watch that unless you're like really into the steeplechase. All right, let's get some celebrity birthdays going. Rod Strickland, the point god. Shouts out to Rod Strickland. Top 10 still in NBA assists. I know there was a long time he was on there.

I don't know if the professor, Andre Miller, who did a great podcast recently with Quentin Richardson, if he passed him. But Rod Strickland, Kyrie Irving's godfather. Rod Strickland now 13th. Joey Bosa. He's turning 27. What do you think a Bosa brother's birthday looks like?

Say that three times. Yeah, more intense than a Gronk brother birthday. Like who wins in a birthday off? I think the Gronks are the Boses. The Gronks feels more fun and inclusive. The Boses feels like a private room that you're like not welcome into.

I might not be welcome in a Boses. I feel like the Boses is more Eyes Wide Shut vibes than a Gronk party. Gronk parties like Project X. Gronk parties like American Pie. Gronk party is Project X.

Right? Bosa party. Eyes Wide Shut. There's some masks.

There's some masks on. Fidelio. Every time I see Joey Bosa on the football field, I'm just going to scream Fidelio. Fidelio. What?

That is going to carry this entire football season. By the way, inside joke between literally the three of us. Who else had a birthday today? Lil' Kim. I used to live on the same block as her offices in New York City.

Yes. Saw her in my deli once. Lil' Kim. Who else? Giorgio Armani. Happy birthday Giorgio Armani.

Has anyone changed the game? When I think of passion for fashion, it's these three hunks in front of me right here. Yeah, I'm wearing Lulu today. I'm wearing Polo. Oh my gosh.

Who are you wearing today Ben? It's a cool fact. Nine years ago the movie Sharknado came out today. Look at that. The first one?

Yeah. Love Sanders. Love that man so much. So happy that he got to get some Sharknado love. Wait, only nine years ago or was it 2009? It says 2013 Sharknado. The first Sharknado was only nine years ago?

Yeah, it wasn't that long ago. Do you think it's this storied franchise that generations have been enjoying? No, but what I'm saying is aren't they on like Sharknado 8 or something? Oh yeah, they mass produced them. One a year they're just pumping those out?

They're pumping them out. They take a very DMX to his music approach, the way he had two number one albums in one year. Sharknado's like, let's just keep cranking these out, you know? But Sharknado is nowhere near as dope as any DMX album. By the way, Sharknado slot machine, very underrated. What's that Chris? Sharknado slot machine.

See, I'm telling you, he has an addiction Ben. On this day in 1914, Babe Ruth made his debut in baseball with the Boston Red Sox. How'd that work out for us? Babe Ruth. You know, I love Babe Ruth.

Didn't play against black people, so I don't think any of it really should count as much. Not gonna lie. Wow. A hot take to end the show. That's a pretty aggressive hot take to end the show.

Well, I'll give you an even more aggressive take then. A lot of people believe that Babe Ruth... Ben, a lot of people believe that Babe Ruth... Was African American. Was African American. I don't know if there's any truth to that. Also, I once got into an argument on Twitter with Stan Van Gundy about this very fact. Do you think if Babe Ruth played today that he would suck? Because Stan Van Gundy does.

Really? He does? He thinks Jacob DeGrom would make him look foolish. And I'm like, look, Babe Ruth, you know what his career average against Walter Johnson was?

Like arguably the greatest pitcher of all time? No, we gotta throw the numbers out. We gotta throw the numbers out. The numbers don't count.

Why? He played against only white guys. We're talking about Babe Ruth, greatest hitter of his time, against Walter Johnson, the greatest pitcher of his time.

We've asked her around both. Babe Ruth hit like 400. No, I think from everything I've heard that Ruth would be able to figure it out.

Like he just seems so... He swung a 50 ounce bat. You know how impossible that is as a baseball player? Most bats today are 30 to 33 ounces. He swung a 50 ounce bat.

It was like insane. You know, somebody got on me about when I did my football goats about Washington and not having Sonny Jergensen. Remember what I said? My response was he played half of his career before the NFL got integrated. So unfortunately, if you take offense, I'm sorry, but I'm not counting that. You can't take offense to that.

I'm not saying, not you, but I'm like anyone out there if you take offense to it. Oh no, it's a fact. You can't really take offense to facts. Right, it's an offensive fact. And by the way, like the issue at debate is far more offensive from someone else's perspective.

So like, what are you talking about? Ridiculous. I mean, I'm not discounting Babe Ruth. Hey, Richie Sambora's birthday. Richie Sambora mean anything to you? I feel like you're a Jon Bon guy, I know.

Of course. Jon Bon Jovi, very close to the Hogan Patriots, good friends with Bob Kraft. He once tried to buy the Buffalo Bills.

What's your favorite Bon Jovi song? I mean, Living on a Prayer played in our prom limo, I don't know, 19 times in a row, probably? I hung out with Richie Sambora when the Super Bowl was in Dallas, the Packer-Stealer at Jerry Jones' pre-Super Bowl party.

Got the kick of Richie Sambora. That's amazing. That's good.

That's good. Was he wearing leather pants? He was not wearing leather pants. Really?

I would expect Sambora, Super Bowl weekend. This was like 2009, not 80s, five, bro. Do you iron leather pants? Do you steam them? Do leather pants get wrinkly? They don't get wrinkled, bro. They're leather. Like, they're not getting wrinkled?

What are you talking about? Do leather pants get wrinkled? I don't know, should we call up like Shay Gilderas Alexander and ask him? Well, it's kind of like shoes, right? You get the little creases.

Well, I would say probably at the knee, you're like a little creased out. I'm being honest with you, I think I may have rocked leather pants in like 85 once when I was in like elementary school as a breakdancer, but I don't... I was going to say, wait, you said 85. Now I'm picturing like eight-year-old TJ in like Altoona, Pennsylvania, in leather pants breakdancing.

I'm pretty sure, yeah. What a crazy person. I love this.

Well, in the 80s, everybody was breaking. I love it. Leather pants with zippers on them. In fact, we were going to Chess King, getting all our merch here, you know what I mean? Chess King was the spot back then. Oh, man. That is amazing. We went this whole show and didn't talk about Zach Wilson once. Yeah, and I'm not saying... I really can't believe, like honestly, we have 20 seconds left.

We'll get to our 80s preview tomorrow. That's what we want to talk about, which team can overtake Josh Allen in the East, right? That's what's on your mind? That's not why I want to talk about Zach Wilson. Hey, remember on Friday when Craig and Smokey saw Ms. Parker walking?

That was Zach Wilson. Hey, great to be back on the show, Penn Lines. Hopefully, we'll be back tomorrow for more Rich Eisen Show.

Hope you will be, too. For the real story behind some of wrestling's biggest moments, it's something to wrestle with Bruce Prichard and Conrad Thompson, too. All-time Hogan opponents, Macho Man's got to be in the conversation. Where's Andre for you? I've always said Andre was number one. Because even going back before Hulk Hogan was a babyface, Hulk and Andre were able to go in and headline at the New Orleans Superdome at Shea Stadium in Japan. Wherever they went, that was an attraction. It's something to wrestle with Bruce Prichard. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.