Celtic Pride (Hour 1)

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For trusted protection, Trust Pampers, the number one pediatrician recommended brand. Live from the play show, yet not overly ostentatious, studios of the Infinity Sports Network here in beautiful New York City, sitting on top of the 10th floor of 345 Hudson Street. Welcome on in to another edition and make it a Tuesday edition of the Zach Gelb show across all the great local Infinity Sports Network affiliates, Sirius XM, Channel 158, the free Odyssey app, and of course streaming live on YouTube. 855212-4227 is the number to jump on in.

855212-4227. You could always get at me on Instagram where I'm straight flexing or via the good ol' cesspool of Twitter, X, at Zach Gelb. That's Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B. We got a whole lot to do today. We are rocking and rolling all the way up until 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 p.m. Pacific time.

I got my main man Moist Mike with me, Ryan Botcher as well, and we appreciate you tuning in. Congratulations to the Boston Celtics. I think that was the easiest bet I've ever made last night, taking the Celtics at six and a half, seven points, whatever I got the number at.

Tonight I will take the Florida Panthers, laying a goal and a half as well, which is plus money when you do it that way. And I think the Panthers, just like the Celtics, they close out business on their home ice, on their home court in Game 5 tonight with the Florida Panthers going up against the Edmonton Oilers. But let's start with the Celtics.

Congratulations to the Boston Celtics, championship number 18. They were the best team in the regular season, didn't get a ton of praise, even though they were drastically better than everybody in the Eastern Conference through the first three rounds of the NBA postseason. There wasn't anything outstanding that was going to merit praise just because the Heat were injured with Jimmy Butler, then in round two Donovan Mitchell got hurt, and then in the final two games of the series up against the Pacers, Indiana was without Therese Halliburton. I don't think it would have mattered. Could it have been a closer and a tougher road to get to the final?

Sure. But Boston all throughout the year knew what the goal was, and it was to hoist that Larry O'Brien trophy last night, and they ended up doing so. And they ended up taking care of business in a quick five-game series where they basically just gave up and said, get us back to Boston for Game 5, when they didn't give a rat's ass about Game 4, and that's how the NBA season does end.

I'll say this right out of the gate. It's amazing to me when there was a large majority of people throughout the year who refused to give the Celtics credit. And I get it because earlier on, and we talked about this numerous times, this group, they overachieved, then through time when they kept on getting there but not finding a way to win a championship, then they were considered to be underachieving.

So when you play both sides of that, and you don't have a championship, people are going to say, I'll believe you'll get that championship when I see it. But the one gripe I have with people today is after refusing to give the Celtics praise, and that's every right that you had, to refuse to give the Celtics praise all throughout the regular season, all throughout the postseason, up until last night, when you had the confetti falling, and you had Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown, Joe Missoula, Brad Stevens with Grossbeck, and on and on and on, Al Horford, Drew Holliday raising a championship trophy. The moment that happens, I don't think you're entitled to say, oh, this postseason sucks, and no one's going to remember that the Boston Celtics won a championship.

It just comes off as sour grapes. I understand this wasn't the most entertaining postseason in the world, but it speaks to the dominance and the greatness that this Boston Celtics team did display. So I'm not going to tolerate today people trying to take away or people trying to pivot from giving the Boston Celtics their credit and their due, because this was a group which didn't get a lot of credit throughout the year because of the fact it was all about winning a championship. So everyone could suck it up for 24 to 48 hours and say positive things about the Boston Celtics. With that being said, though, I have a poll question right out of the gate, and there's a lot of times when a team wins a championship, it is obvious who the first person is that gets the majority of the praise. In this championship, I don't think it's obvious, and this is why I created this question, which you can find at Zach Gelb and at INF Sportsnet on Twitter.

Samson will retweet it from the Infinity Sports Network account. Who benefits the most in the public's eye from the Celtics winning a championship? And I gave four options. You know, I did not include Al Horford, who could be going to the Hall of Fame. I did not include Joe Mazzulla, who deserves credit after a lot of people unfairly were ready to get rid of him after last year when he took over the job with the aftermath of the Imea Doka situation, and his time wasn't last year, but the criticism of Joe Mazzulla last year I thought was silly, and he was clearly not deserving of the most blame last year. So you got to give credit to Horford and Mazzulla. It's not me not putting them there. It's I only get four options.

And these are the four options. Is it Jason Tatum? Is it Jalen Brown?

Is it Drew Holiday? Or is it Brad Stevens? And the question once again is, who benefits the most in the public's eye from the Celtics winning a championship?

My answer goes in this order. From one to the most, then four to the least, I'm benefiting in the public eye from the Celtics winning a championship. One for me is Brad Stevens. Two for me is Jalen Brown. Three is Jason Tatum. And then four is Drew Holiday.

Let me explain my reasoning, and I'll do so from four to one, the least beneficial in the public eye to the most beneficial. Drew Holiday has now won two championships, one in Boston, one in Milwaukee. Drew Holiday is a criminally underrated player in the NBA, and he has brought a championship presence to Boston. And his defense all throughout the year, and especially in the postseason, was phenomenal. This championship, and Drew Holiday is not a young man, he's 34 years old, and he's already won three.

First team, he had three times he's been honored as the first team all defensive player. But I think for Drew Holiday, there is more national respect now. It doesn't overtake the other three of Stevens and Tatum and Brown, but there will be more national acknowledgement, more national respect. And people will view Drew Holiday as a very good basketball player, and someone, don't be surprised, I already heard Jalen Brunson talk about this, where I think he said at Taylor Rooks, that Drew Holiday should have already won a defensive player of the year. If Drew Holiday is a good defensive player next year, which he's been three times first team all defense, it would not shock me with now the national attention he received from not only winning a championship in Milwaukee, but more importantly winning one in Boston with his more media coverage. It wouldn't shock me if that changes a few votes and gets him a defensive player of the year award in the next two years. So that's what I think what the end goal for Drew Holiday could be. If he goes and gets a few more all-star appearances with how slim of a standard it is to get into the Basketball Hall of Fame, maybe Drew Holiday will be a Basketball Hall of Famer way down the road.

But that's an F4. I think a lot of people think this question is going to be between on who benefits the most in the public eye from the self-explanatory championship. I think a lot of people believe it's going to be Stevens and Tatum. For me, Tatum was three.

Don't get me wrong. Tatum got the championship. Tatum was already referred to though as a top 10 player in the league at sometimes a top five player in the league. He did not win the finals MVP. He shouldn't have won the finals MVP. I thought it was the right decision to go to Jalen Brown, but most of us already referred to Jason Tatum as a great player.

Now, it's not to diminish this because it's still very important, he's a great player with the championship. But that's why for me, since he was already called a great player, I don't think in terms of the public eye and who benefits from this championship the most, that you could put Tatum in front of Jalen Brown. Because Jalen Brown to me is the second choice. And the reason why I put Jalen Brown two is because I think a lot of us realize that even though we said Jalen Brown's one of the better two-way players in the league, I don't think a lot of us called him a great player.

Right? A lot of us thought he was overpaid last year and a lot of us thought that maybe the Celtics should have traded him and instead the Celtics rewarded him the largest contract in NBA history. What you saw from Jalen Brown in the NBA Finals is a great player and what Jalen Brown has done and now he's going to get more respect and more credit for it.

He is a phenomenal two-way player. I will now call him a great player with this championship before I just said he's a very good player. And when the Celtics needed him the most, where I know Tatum and Brown both showed up and they combined for 61 points in Game 3. But once they had the big lead with that killer instinct and he threw that thunderous slam down in the third quarter of Game 3 and they gave the lead back, Jalen Brown was the one, not Tatum, but Jalen Brown was the one that hit clutch shot after clutch shot going back to that Game 3, which basically won the Celtics a championship because it propelled them to a 3-0 series league. But number one, the person who benefits the most from the public eye from the Celtics winning a championship is Brad Stevens. Because Brad Stevens, if he doesn't win this championship, how do we look at Brad Stevens? Great college coach, right? Brad Stevens got Butler to two championship games, national championship games.

He didn't win either. Losing to UConn and losing to the Dukies. But when you look at Brad Stevens, he was a good coach in the NBA. He started with this court and then he realized whether he was forced or he did so on his own, which you tend to believe that's up to you, Brad Stevens then got this role of president of basketball operations. And when he got that role, I did not think Brad Stevens was going to last that much longer in the Celtics organization. Because I thought Brad Stevens was either A, going to take another coaching job when it became available in the NBA, or B, go back to college. Brad Stevens, though, last year, after his team was down 3-0 to the Heat, got to a Game 7, Tatum rolls his ankle and Jaylen Brown had like eight turnovers and failed to show up, Brad Stevens had a decision to make. And that was, do you break up the J's of Jaylen Brown and Jason Tatum? And you knew if he was going to break up the J's, the one that was going to be the odd man out was Jaylen Brown.

And there was this thought, maybe you trade Jaylen Brown, you get Damian Lillard, and you do all that. But Brad Stevens displayed an incredible amount of patience in Boston, which is not easy to do. In a passionate, loud, and demanding sports city, Brad Stevens displayed patience. And not only did he say we're going to keep this one-two punch together, he rewarded Jaylen Brown off a miserable Game 7 performance in the Easter Conference Finals against the Miami Heat with a record-breaking contract, the largest contract the NBA has ever seen.

And he elected to add to this one-two punch. He got rid of a fan favorite of Marcus Smart, he ended up getting Kristaps Porzingis, also got two first-round picks, and then used one of those first-round picks, and also traded other players to go get Drew Holliday. Brad Stevens was also the one that pulled the trigger on the trade a few years ago to get Derek White, who is phenomenal for the Celtics in this run and is an incredible defensive player. So in this question of who benefits the most in the public eye from the Celtics winning a championship, you know, and you go through it, is it Al Horford, is it Missoula, is it Drew Holliday, is it Jason Tatum, is it Jaylen Brown? For me, it's Brad Stevens. Because Brad Stevens is going to have a place in the Hall of Fame one day, we know what he did as a coach at Butler, getting him to two national championships, he was a good coach in the NBA, but now as an executive, he made the right moves, he knew his group, he knew what he needed to add, and it resulted in an NBA championship.

So that's why I order it. Who benefits the most in the public's eye from the Celtics winning a championship? Stevens won, Jaylen Brown two, Jason Tatum three, and Drew Holliday four. 8-5-5, 2-1-2, 42-27. What say you on that poll question?

You could also get it at Zach Gelbin at INF Sportsnet. Samter, just wondering, who is your top choice in this question when you examine the poll? It's the same choice that is leading the poll by a significant margin. It's Jason Tatum. I think he's the biggest star in the team. He had the most on the line.

He has the legacy conversation the most. Jaylen Brown's great, and what he did with the MVP is great. But he didn't play the best as a player in this series. Brown played better than Tatum.

No, but him now having that title, he's done everything in his career. He's still young, he's been to multiple finals, he's won divisions, he's had the best record in the NBA, All-Star games, all MBAs, he's done everything, Jason Tatum, except for winning a regulation MVP. You were a little bit tougher on Tatum than others. You said he's barely a top 10 player in the NBA.

It sounds awful saying that, but when you go through the list, there's so many good players in the NBA. You had him at 8 or 9, right? So you were in the range of 8-10 with Jason Tatum. Where do you move him up now? With this championship, where do you move him up now? Because for me, even if he goes from let's say 8 or 9 on your list to like 6 or 5, is that that big of a jump?

I don't think so. He was already considered a great player. He was already considered a top 10 player. So don't get me wrong, he doesn't win this championship. That follows him. It's like, Jason Tatum's a top 10 player, but he doesn't have a championship.

So I'm not undermining the importance of that. But the question is, who benefits the most in the public's eye from the Celtics winning a championship? Just from the players. And my answer is Brad Stevens. But just from the players, I think it's more Brown than Tatum, because Jalen Brown was viewed as someone that was good, you know, very good, very good two-way player. But now people are going to call Jalen Brown great, because he is an incredible two-way defensive player, and he was the Celtics' best player in this series in a team that brought Banner 18 to the Boston Celtics. I hate to pin Tatum against Brown today, because they both won and I thought it was very cool how they celebrated both the class and what they said after the game.

And probably if you would have just asked me this question at any given much thought, I'd probably agree with you, it's Tatum. But the more I think about it, yes, the championship is super duper important to Tatum, and he wins a few more, right? That then puts him in a different stratosphere, because he's a better all-around player than Jalen Brown is.

But in this series, Brown was the Celtics' best player, and I think that will put people viewing Jalen Brown, where it was always trade Jalen Brown, trade Jalen Brown, now they'll give him his proper respect and refer to him as a great player. Sure, but I don't think that I'm going to look at one series as the definitive factor of who's the best player. Like, Andre Iguodala won a Finals MVP.

He was the fourth or fifth best player on those teams. So like, winning a Finals MVP, huge deal, right? And Steph Curry finally getting it was a big deal for him. But also, I'm not going to look back and be like, well, Brown won the Finals MVP, Tatum didn't.

Therefore, Brown was the more important piece. No, he just had a better series. So for me, yes, maybe... And he also won the Easter Conference Finals MVP too.

Not just one series. Tatum might have less of an opportunity to go up, but that's also because he's so far up already. And to everyone, every position when you're in the top 10, every single position is a significant jump.

As opposed to going from like 30 to 20, going from 10 to 8 is a big jump. Same thing in the all-time list. If you're top 10 on the all-time list, that's great. But to get into that top 5, top 4, top 3, every single one of those spots in the top 10 is a huge deal compared to going from 30 to 20 or 20 to 15. It is the Zach Gelb show on the Infinity Sports Network who benefits the most in the public's eye from the Celtics winning a championship. For me, it's Brad Stevens won.

It is then Jalen Brown 2, Jason Tatum 3, and Drew Holliday 4. What say you 8-5-5, 2-1-2, 42-27. We'll take a break when we come on back. After losing in the NBA Finals, how do we view Luka Doncic and how do we view Kyrie Irving? What do they need to change?

We'll discuss that next. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. Alrighty, that is the Zach Gelb show. Day after the NBA Finals have come to a close, the Boston Celtics are world champions for the 18th time in their franchise history. I guess our pal Bart Winkler was all annoyed last night that the Celtics won their 18th championship. He's probably just upset that his Milwaukee Bucks failed to show up this year.

Which was very disappointing because I had high expectations for Giannis Antetokounmpo and also Damian Lillard and then they stabbed the coach in the back and then they ended up bringing in Glen Rivers. But I saw that Bart Winkler last night, right here on Infinity Sports Network, said, quote, it's the biggest gaslighting in sports history. You're being manipulated.

You're being lied to. Do you realize how many of those titles have been won with 30 teams in the league? In close quotes, because he was popping off that people shouldn't really praise the Celtics for winning Banner 18 because a lot of times there weren't, with some of those championships, there weren't a lot of teams in the league.

Like how many teams there are today. So I guess that's what Bart was cooking up last night on the Infinity Sports Network as Bart just can never have another city or another fan base enjoy themselves. He has to reign in their parade because he's a miserable human being. And I love Bart Winkler and I'll join us tomorrow on a Winkler Wednesday. Bart Winkler in the radio world is one of my closest friends that, you know, in the radio business. But come on, Bart.

Do we really need to have to freak out? Do we really need to have to be that network that right in the moment where the Celtics win a championship, you can't even have the common decency, Bart, to give the Celtics a little bit of praise. Alrighty, let me get to Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic.

So Sam, can you tell me if I'm being fair or unfair? This is how I view Kyrie Irving after the NBA Finals. I view him as someone that was trying to sell us that he changed, but in reality, he didn't change all that much.

Don't get me wrong. Kyrie Irving is back to being a great player. Kyrie Irving can be once again the Robin to a Batman on a championship team. The Mavericks do have a window here, but Kyrie Irving, in order to win a championship, has to make sure the Boston Celtics don't get out of the Eastern Conference. Because Kyrie Irving is a phenomenal basketball player. He could be a royal pain in the ass. Kyrie Irving, though, tried to tell us before the Finals started that he'll downplay the stuff with the Celtics.

It's not really that big of a deal. He was a different person back then, and he has matured. But in reality, in three games in Boston for the NBA Finals, and I know the Celtics played great defense, Kyrie Irving, who is a great player, was only able to score 43 points. It seemed like Kyrie Irving cared more about getting into a fight with the Boston fans. It seemed like Kyrie Irving cared more about talking to the press about Boston than he did compared to actually showing up and balling out. And don't just tell me, oh, it's because of how great the Celtics played on defense. When you are a great player, you're supposed to have a pulse.

You're supposed to show up and be able to steal one game when you get three chances to do so on the road. Instead, Kyrie could only score 43 total points in three games in Boston, and he didn't secure a single victory. So, the way I view Kyrie Irving, he is still an incredible player. We have not seen this Kyrie in a while because he acted like a fool in Boston.

He acted like a fool in Brooklyn. And for three, four months, there were enjoyable moments that we saw in a basketball court with Kyrie Irving, but his kryptonite are the Boston Celtics. And whatever happens when he walks into that TD Garden and he sees that leprechaun on the court that he once stepped on, Kyrie Irving just can't handle and he doesn't have the mental toughness to defeat the Boston Celtics. And I get it, Kyrie made one of the biggest shots ever in the history of the NBA Finals. But that's when he was on the Cavs going up against the Warriors.

That required an incredible amount of stones. But when he goes up against Boston, he's just incapable. He is incapable of delivering in that building. His mind goes to a different place whenever he hears the word Boston, whenever he hears the name Celtics, and he's just mentally shot. So if the Mavs get back, and they can get back with Kyrie, it's not going to be easy.

The West is very good. But Kyrie has showed us he is more of a Robin than a Batman. And also, if he gets there again, can he win it again?

Yes, as long as the Boston Celtics aren't there. So that's how I view Kyrie Irving. Now for Luka Doncic.

And Samta, you talked about the top 10 list with Jason Tatum and how he's on it. Well, you know Luka Doncic is the top 10 player in the league. Quite frankly, he's the top 5 player in the league. He is so skilled. And it's amazing to me how he's that skilled. And I understand he was dealing with a bevy of injuries. But isn't it kind of crazy, Samta, where you have Nikolay Jokic and Luka Doncic, who both dominate the league. Nikolay Jokic, the Joker, he has been sensational, right?

He's been a three-time NBA MVP. And then you have Luka, who is a top 5 player in the league. But both can be in a lot better shape. Like, look what they're doing now, both of those guys. And they're still not in the best shape possible.

And look at the dominance. I think, and I know some of it could be attributed to injuries, but I think Luka, as the series did go on, and especially as the games went on, you got into the fourth quarters, he was tired. He was maxed out. He has to take care of his body better. And for Luka Doncic, he also needs to, like how Kyrie needs to get the Celtics fans out of his head, Luka Doncic has to get the officials out of his head. And this is something that we all knew going into the series was going to be something when you watch Luka, it was going to be insufferable because of how much he whines and complains about the officials. And that's when Abby Chin joined us after Game 3, who covers the Celtics, she was like, hey, if you watch Luka, none of this is surprising whatsoever. So my message to Luka is get in better basketball shape, and you will win a championship.

And also, you cannot allow the constant bitching and complaining to affect you where it takes you out of the final few minutes of the game, which it did in Game 3. And I know he fouled out, but he was more concerned, like how Kyrie is more concerned about getting revenge on the Boston fans, Luka was more concerned in Game 3 about the officials rather than balling out on the court. So I think Dallas loves a window, as long as Kyrie holds up his end of the bargain, which is a big hip and I can't give him the benefit of the doubt. But for Kyrie, he just has to, he is a Robin, he is not a Batman, that is clear.

And Kyrie can't get back to the finals up against Boston, or he's shot. And for Luka, you gotta get in better shape, and also, you gotta stop with the officials. Everyone can complain here and there about the officials, but you can't have it be insufferable and have it last throughout the entirety of the game, Mike.

So that's my thoughts on where both those two guys are right now. I want to agree with you about the Luka ref thing, but we've seen so many stars, like superstars, like Dream, well not Dream on being a superstar, but Dream on being on a team, Lebron, a lot of these guys who whine and bitch about refs for years and years and years. And also Lebron has won four championships. Don't get me wrong, Lebron complains a lot, but Lebron wouldn't do it to a point where it basically takes him out of a game in the NBA finals when you're down 2-0 and the series is right there and you can get back in that series. You might be right, but I've just seen so many NBA players whine and whine and bitch to the refs that I don't think that's a prerequisite anymore.

I wish it was, because I hate seeing it. It's so sad that they never commit a foul and every time they touch the ball they get fouled and they just whine every single time. But you can't have that overtake you in an NBA finals. If you want to do that in game 76 of the regular season, or you want to do that in the first round of the playoffs, fine. When you're in the NBA finals and you need to lock in down 0-2 and win a game on your home court, you can't let the officials take you to a spot that checks you out of the game.

I definitely agree with the other three things for sure. Kyrie cannot beat the Celtics. He will not exercise those demons. And Kyrie, you're 100% right, he left Lebron to find out if he was going to be a Batman. He wanted to prove that he could be a Batman. We've seen time and time and time again, Kyrie is a Robin. I agree with you 100% and it's as definitive now as we've ever thought it to be.

And that's it. He's never going to be the guy. And Charles Barkley, he's the one with Kevin Durant that said some guys are the bus driver and then other guys are the passengers on the bus. Durant has showed, as great of a player he is, top 15, top 20 player of all time, he is not a bus driver. Kyrie Irving has displayed life after Lebron, right, leaving Lebron and then basically trying to get back with Lebron in the last two years. He's not a driver of the bus.

And that's fine. You can still win, you can still have an all time great career, you can still be a hall of fame player, but there is a distinction in being a guy that leads a team and then a guy that needs someone else to lead them to go win a championship. The one thing I'll say is Kyrie can still kind of be a bus driver.

I feel like the Batman Robin conversation is like number one versus number two. The bus driver versus bus rider is more about a guy who can take charge and be a leader. I think Kyrie can still be a bus driver in that sense, just not the best player on the team. Did you see him in Brooklyn? He's behaved for three months. Yeah, but he's done well enough that I think that he can still be that guy, but KD just does not have that leadership.

He doesn't have the ability, he has the talent to be the Batman, but he doesn't have the mental fortitude and mindset to be the bus driver. So I think that they're different conversations, but they're both interesting and connected. It is Zach Gelb's show on the Infinity Sports Network. By the way, I'm very distracted. First off, the Clean Shave and Manny Rodriguez is here. I didn't even recognize who he was when he walked in.

I had to ask him to show his ID before he walked into the studio. I thought it was like some scrub, you know, some fan just walking into the... You look good. Thank you. You should stop with the mustache and the facial hair. You look a lot better and a lot younger right now. It was a topic of a conversation, aside from my brother getting married last weekend.

I mean, my facial hair and the lack thereof was definitely the second big conversation at my brother's wedding. Where are you from again? New York? Yeah, I'm from Westchester.

Okay. And I went to school at Temple University in Philly. I get a text from Manny when he's drunk as a skunk at his brother's wedding.

He's with someone that I went to school with who's what, best friends with your brother? Yeah, Mark Mangold. How about that? Good old Mark. That is a small world. I know Nick Mangold. No, no relation.

Different guy, okay. Mark and my brother are very close. Mark basically married into my brother's friend group.

How is that right? That's how Mark and my brother became close. I'm looking at this photo. I'm like, is that this guy Mark I went to college with, Mangold?

And Manny's like, yeah. And I was like, what the heck are you two doing together? Because I posted on my Instagram story a screenshot of us having a conversation probably about the Nicks, whatever. Probably when you were crying. Probably. The Nicks got eliminated, my life is over.

Crying Carlisle, baby. And he sent me a message saying, hey, I went to school with Gil at Temple. And then, you know, that's when I let you know about my connection with Mark.

And sure enough, yeah, it's a small world. So first off, you look good, clean shaven. Awesome. Thank you.

But the reason why I'm distracted is not only because you don't have the mustache anymore and you're looking like a million bucks. What's this soccer game you're watching that you're going nuts about? Yeah, we got Portugal against Czechia, which formerly known as the Czech Republic.

It's the European competition. Was that just a penalty shot or something? No, no, not at all. I thought there was a penalty shot. No, no, no, no fouls.

No, nothing at all. There's actually been a handful of corner kicks for Portugal. I mean, yeah, I mean, Portugal, a couple of chances.

I mean, you got Cristiano Ronaldo playing right now and it's must watch television every time. Manny, I will say I did pitch to Zach today that we talked about killing him and his broken nose and how he was missing the game against friends. Did you see the way that his nose was? Oh, that's awful. Ryan, did you catch that by any chance?

I saw the blood. Whoa. You have to you have to take a look at what Killian Mbappe's nose looked like yesterday because his nose was on the side of his face. So I have to type broken nose.

Yeah. Mbappe broken nose. I know how to spell that. Mbappe. Take it easy.

Slow down there for a second. How do I spell this? Next on the Zach Gelb show. Gelb meets Killian Mbappe. Mbappe. One of the best players in the world right now. Probably the best player in the world.

He's headed to Real Madrid next summer. I see like half of his nose off like the side of his face, but I don't see a video. Oh, you'll find a video if you keep looking. An unfortunate challenge yesterday. Oh, he was heading a ball?

Oh, I saw this. He was heading a ball and he hit the guy in front of him. Yeah, it was a corner kick for France and he tried to head it on and it was a pretty pretty nasty challenge, a legal challenge that just happened. Mbappe was in the wrong place at the wrong time and caught a shoulder full of the French. Yes, they did win.

It was a 1-0 win after an own goal. Is he going to Blake? Will he go face mask? No, he's missing the next game against Netherland, which is a huge matchup. I've been looking forward to that one. Why can't they just put a face mask on him and let's go?

Have a little toughness. The nose was so badly injured that he has to have surgery on his face. Well, actually I did hear that there won't be surgery on his face despite the reports, but yeah, he will be wearing a mask for the rest of the tournament. This is a huge tournament. He's missing a game?

Yeah, he will be missing the game against the Netherlands. If this was a hockey player, he's missing a shift. That's it. Get his ass back on there. Put a mask on. The difference is hockey players don't hit the puck with their face.

Soccer players do. Put a mask on. He's going to give it a shot and it's funny because a lot of people... Now back to 2020, I sound like, put a mask on. He has a resemblance to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle as well. So many people, if you take a look at some of the memes that are posted under his last tweet, a lot of people are saying, hey, you should wear a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle mask. Michael Andrew is the only way to go. You're talking about T-Man T, it's only Michael Andrew. By the way, what's my main man Freddie Adum up to these days? Who knows? He's probably doing some broadcasting somewhere.

His career fizzled out faster than Manny's mustache. That's right. Yeah, that's right. Because that's my soccer memorabilia that I have. Freddie Adum. I have a signed Metro Stars t-shirt. I know he never played for the Metro Stars, but there was a thought maybe he was going to, I guess. And it's when he came in and did an interview with Mike and Chris, Chris Russo and Christopher... Chris Russo, Mike Francesca. Do you guys talk soccer?

I forget everything about everything in the world. It just throws me off. And I got an autograph, a Metro Stars shirt. That's pretty cool though. That's pretty cool because Freddie Adum for quite some time was going to be... Did you see it? Oh, was it Landon Donovan by the way?

Dude, Landon Donovan. So he got a hair transplant. First off, what an idiot.

You want to get a hair transplant? That's fine by me. I'm not going to criticize you that. But the TV executives, I guess, told him that you weren't going to be shown, that people wouldn't be able to see what was on the side of his head. How could you be that stupid to believe that?

If you looked at him straight away, you could not tell, but on the side, you can tell. So I blame the producers, I blame the producers and the cameraman. I blame the producer and the cameraman, right? Do not keep the camera on the front. They did him dirty, but he's also stupid, Landon Donovan.

It's a combination of both. You don't go on, wear a hat. Botcher said the same thing, wear a hat. Can you wear a hat at the table though? And also, here's my thing, and I said this with Drew Brees and Jason Witten too. You're on TV, people know you're Bolton, it's fine. Alright?

Not start throwing the turf out of nowhere. Landon Donovan was playing in the MLS with the Galaxy, with the bald head. I don't know why he's trying to, like bro, embrace it, man. We know you're bald. He has nine pounds of hair gel in his face. That's right, I got wax. Listen, Landon, brother, we already know that you're bald.

Listen, just let it go, bro. It is the Zach Gelb show on the Infinity Sports Network. Man, oh man, that was a lot of soccer. I think I reached my soccer quota for the year, so you guys are welcome. You got me back here, we're going to get a lot more soccer, whether you like it or not. Man, no chance.

Remember whose name is on the show. We will not be doing much soccer. Killian Mbappe. Players who you enjoyed watching get the monkey off their back and win a championship. And no, I'm not talking about whatever was on the cabeza leading into the back of Landon Donovan the other day, because that was repulsive.

Here he is, the clean shaven, Manny Ryan. Start your summer road trip at Midas and get up to $30 off your next repair service. Plus, get a free Closer Look vehicle check to make sure you're road trip ready. So if you need brake service and alignment check or tune up, hit up Midas for up to $30 off.

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The step back three. You bet! Music.

You set my world on fire. And even podcasts. Whatever you love, hear it right here on Tune In.

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We already stopped the show. What happened? You didn't update the defensive player of the week? Okay. Well, I can give you the defensive player of the week. How about Jalen Brown for opening up a can of whoop-ass on the Dallas Mavericks?

There we go. Sam Taylor gets in my ear. Just don't read anything more.

Don't read anything more. He's like, why are you doing this on the air? Why are you doing this on the air?

I already stopped the show. You know, the bottom part wasn't updated. What's that noise? Oh, yeah, that's right. Sorry, the bus was just backing up on voice mic. Sorry about that, Mike. No, it's okay. I deserve it.

I just forgot to update it. Yeah, I was very confused. I was like looking at you because I always say this about radio. Whenever the producer gets in your ear, I never could tell if it's on the air or off the air. So I think there should be a ding. So if you're speaking, Sam Taylor, and you're on the air, it's like ding. And then I could hear what you're saying.

But if it's meant to be off the air, I have no clue the distinction between the two. Anyway, the Jays win a championship last night, Jalen Brown and also Jason Tatum. And they got a monkey off their back because a lot of people thought this group was never going to win a championship. So let's go around the room and let's name a player that you enjoyed watching getting the monkey off his back. You know, I was between two. And the two that I was between was John Elway and Alexander Ovechkin. Now, Elway ended up getting two at the end of his career. And we all know he's one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. And he needed to get one championship.

He ended up getting two. But I ended up going with Alexander Ovechkin, who finally did break through in 2018 and did win the Stanley Cup as the Capitals did defeat the Las Vegas Golden Knights. I think that was the Vegas Golden Knights' first year in the league, if memory serves me right. But Alexander Ovechkin is one of the greatest hockey players of all time, one of the greatest goal scorers of all time. We never thought that Wayne Gretzky's goal record is going to be broken. He's not that far off from the great one.

But, you know, he's closing in on it. But I saw a photo recently of Alexander Ovechkin, who just played and had a good season this year. Alexander Ovechkin, man, he was playing pickleball, I guess, last week. And there was a photo that surfaced of him. He looked like all he does is eat junk food.

He was very, very, very chunky. That's the nice way of saying it. And, man, if the season was to start back up tomorrow, I don't know if he's breaking Gretzky's goal record this upcoming season.

But he is zeroing in on that. Alexander Ovechkin, who, right, him and Crosby always compared in this era. And we know Crosby has multiple championships. It was good, even though I can't stand the Capitals because I'm a Ranger fan.

It was good to see Alexander Ovechkin, with his significance in the sport, end up getting a Stanley Cup. Samter, who was yours? I was deciding between a couple as well. I had Matthew Stafford as one of them on my list, LeBron on my list.

The original Celtics Big Three of KG, Pierce, and Allen, all three of those guys. But the one I settled on was Steve Young. Mostly because there's the meme and the image of him actually getting a monkey pulled off of his back when they blew out the Chargers in the Super Bowl.

Like the most lopsided Super Bowl in history. Steve Young was one of the greatest quarterbacks we've ever seen. And there was so much talk because he was following Montana. And he couldn't live up to Montana's expectations and all those titles. So him winning that Super Bowl was great.

And that meme of them lifting the monkey off of his shoulders was pretty epic. And by the way, Ovechkin needs 41 goals to tie Wayne Gretzky for 894 goals of all time. What a hollow record if he breaks it.

Why? Gretzky did things that no player in the history of any sport could ever even dream of doing. Ovechkin just playing an extra 10 years to catch that record. It's impressive, but Gretzky's records are just so untouchable, it almost feels cheap to do it. I don't think it seems cheap, but what I will say is, because right now Alexander Ovechkin has played 1,426 games. Gretzky's played 1,487. So I wouldn't say it's cheap from the gold department, but the crazy part is if you take all of Gretzky's goals away, he still has the most points in the history of the NHL. Botcher, give me yours. Okay, so you're going to hate this because it was during the COVID season. But Clayton Kershaw finally getting that championship with the Dodgers.

4-1, 2-3. I feel like he needs to win another one with all the talent they have on that team. Yeah, but still, he finally had a good postseason, you could say with no fans, but every other team had no fans as well. So, just to see him finally pitched under, I guess, lower than a 5 ERA in the postseason was good to see. So, I was happy for him. Yeah, I will say with Kershaw, who's incredible, obviously an all-time great. The thing I remember most in that World Series run is Rob Manfred not being able to hand out the piece of metal correctly.

Because I guess he was getting the sound back in his ears, the reverb, from being in a stadium and talking with basically nobody in it or the few fans that were in attendance for the World Series that year. Alright, he's coming on back and this is that Gelb show. As you search for hidden objects to uncover the truth behind her sister's death, step into the glamorous world of the Roaring Twenties with stunningly illustrated scenes and over a thousand mysteries to unravel. With new chapters added weekly, you'll never run out of clues to chase and suspects to interrogate. Plus, you can build your own island escape with beautiful gardens and buildings and even join a detective club to collaborate with other players. Experience the thrill of being a detective and unravel the mystery in June's Journey. Download June's Journey now on your Android or iOS device or play on PC through Facebook games.

Tune in is the audio platform with something for everyone. News? In order to secure convictions in a court of law, it is essential that we conclusively... Sports? The clock at four. Doncic.

The step back three. Music. And even podcasts. Whatever you love, hear it right here on Tune In. Go to TuneIn.com or download the Tune In app to start listening.