"Where was LeBron?!"
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Here we go. This is the Skip Bayless Show, episode 76. This, as always, is the Un-Undisputed. Everything I cannot share with you during Undisputed, which, by the way, returns with nuclear force on August 28th. Be there. 9.30 a.m. Eastern on August 28th. But today...

I will delve into why LeBron James did not attend Dwyane Wade's Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Saturday. Huh? Today, I will tell you how one cowboy door just closed on Ezekiel Elliott and another one just swung wide open on Deuce Vaughn. Today, I will tell you why I find James Harden so offensive.

and I do not mean with a basketball in his hands on the perimeter. And today, as always, I will answer several of your probing provocative questions, including, have I ever been heckled in public? That's a good question. I got a good answer. But first up, as always, it is not to be skipped. I want to be completely clear about this. I have no idea...

why LeBron James was not at Dwyane Wade's Hall of Fame induction ceremony or his after party. This was, of course, last Saturday in Springfield, Massachusetts. I am 99.9% sure LeBron was not there, and that shocked me. I found that extremely odd.

I thought LeBron and D. Wade were extremely close, as in big brother, little brother, close. CP3 was there on Saturday. Melo was there on Saturday. Chris Bosh was there. Pat Riley was there. Everybody was there, except for LeBron. Did anybody out there find that weird?

or bizarre or crazy the way I did? Why wasn't more made out of this? Oh, yeah, that's right. LeBron James is the most protected athlete in the history of sports, so I guess got to sweep that under the carpet and move along. Nothing to see here, except for me. I'm sorry. I'm going to ask the question, where was LeBron? Now, he was given...

The final word on the sort of congratulations tape that they played, Dwyane Wade's previously recorded intro video, featured dozens of sound bites from, you probably saw it, teammates, coaches, his owner, various family members. I get that. LeBron did have the final word, but that was it. There was no in-person LeBron.

So did LeBron just have a prior commitment? I mean, come on. This was Dwayne Wade's Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Did it have anything at all to do with Bronny's condition? Maybe he can't fly right now. I don't know. But you would think LeBron could have been there. Now, LeBron did offer up on Saturday social media congratulations.

So surely there can't be any bad blood or hurt feelings or falling out. I just can't imagine that. But I don't know. It was odd that on Monday, LeBron did post a video of himself driving around Akron

singing along with Michael Jackson's Heartbreak Hotel. Maybe you saw the video. I finally found one thing I do have in common with LeBron James. Neither one of us can sing. I think I might even sing a little better than LeBron does. But the point was, there he was back in his old stomping grounds in Akron, having the best old time, driving around, singing to Michael Jackson. And I'm thinking, well, that was Monday. Just Saturday, you couldn't have been in Springfield, Mass.?

I don't know. It just perplexes me. So it was also intriguing to me that Dwayne Wade's family sprang a big surprise on him at the after party. That was one of his all-time favorite performers, maybe the all-time favorite for D. Wade. My brother Lil Wayne surprised Dwayne by showing up to perform at the after party.

And because Dwayne was so genuinely surprised and touched and blown away by Wayne's presence and performance, Wayne later told me that that performance was so meaningful, so special to him, that it was right up there with any performance he's ever given anywhere in this world. It meant a lot to Wayne to be there because it meant so much to Dwayne to have him there.

So I later asked Wayne, "Did you see LeBron at the after party?" "Nope, didn't see him." Wayne even said that he and D. Wayne, Wade, took some pictures together kind of backstage at this little club that they were in. And Wayne thought, "Well, if LeBron was there, if he's sort of staying out of sight, maybe he would show up for the backstage pictures." "Nope, not there." So Wayne and I discussed the possibility

of LeBron being in Springfield but staying completely out of sight, maybe because he didn't want to upstage Dwayne's day. And it reminded both me and Wayne of Kobe's memorial service, you might remember. So on the Friday night, just after Kobe passed, it was the first game the Lakers actually played. Remember, LeBron gave a great speech at midcourt, handheld microphone, pregame.

Of course, then Dame took the game itself over after that. But LeBron owned the pregame. It was a great speech. But then obviously he was told at the subsequent memorial service at Staples that he would not be speaking. And a big deal was made out of him staying sort of off-camera behind the scenes, out of sight at Staples, presumably because we were told that he was just too torn up to be out in public.

It also might have been because he knew he could not compete with or compete for the spotlight with the biggest name who was there, a man who was scheduled to speak that day at the memorial service. I'm talking about the greatest player ever, Michael Jeffrey Jordan. So maybe LeBron stayed out of the way to kind of stay out of Michael's way. But the irony was I thought LeBron got more attention for not being out in public at Staples.

than he would have if he had just shown up with everybody else, business as usual. So was it at all possible that LeBron stayed away from Dwayne's Hall of Fame induction just so he wouldn't steal any of the spotlight from Dwayne? I mean, please, we're talking about Dwayne Wade here. I'm his biggest fan, one of.

We're talking about Wade County here. We're talking about the most beloved player in the history of the Miami Heat, including, obviously, LeBron James. LeBron could not and would not have upstaged Dwayne Wade's day. On the other hand, the LeBron I have studied would never miss a national photo op opportunity. I mean, LeBron is the greatest camera hog in the history of cameras.

Silly me, I thought he would be front and center on Saturday, hugging Dwayne up on stage at the induction. He'd be up on stage. If Dwayne were there performing, he'd be rapping along with Dwayne and Dwayne, basking in the spotlight. Nope, nope, nope, nowhere to be found. So I wondered on Saturday night, was Dwayne hurt by that? No idea. All I know is I was very surprised.

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and Indeed.com slash Bayless. Just go to Indeed.com slash Bayless right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com slash Bayless. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? You need Indeed. Get to your questions. Let's get to Asher from Florida who asks, what is Skip Bayless's biggest fear? Boy, these questions are getting deeper and deeper. Next week, I will answer what is the meaning of life?

Not that I know. Okay, Asher, I do like this question. I'll give you a short-term and then a longer-term answer. Short-term, my biggest fear is that I won't live up to the dream team that Charlie Dixon has provided me for the new Undisputed, launching August 28th. Probably jinxed it by calling it a dream team. So be it. It is my dream team, and I just hope I can live up to it. Longer-term, my biggest fear has always been

that I will die without maximizing the talent God gave me on TV, on podcasts, writing books, writing screenplays. By the way, I am now to the final scene of the screenplay I am currently writing. Hope to finish it tomorrow. Let's see if I can get anyone to make it. I'm pretty sure it's very controversial. So here we go again. It's going to be, it'll have to be another God thing.

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That's BlueNile.com. Now for a word on my Dallas Cowboys. Obviously, the biggest news of the week was a Cowboy tie to now the Patriots. Ezekiel Elliott has now been signed by the New England Patriots by Bill Belichick out of desperation. His lead back is obviously Ramondre Stevenson. I was a big fan of his.

when he played for my Oklahoma Sooners. But right now, behind Ramondre is next to nobody. Zeke was signed as depth. I'll say it again about Zeke. I was his biggest fan, certainly his rookie year, but that was by far his best year. That was his one and only great, great year, during which he literally carried my Dallas Cowboys all the way to the one seed in the NFC.

And his stats went consistently down, down, down, down, down, as he suffered the fate of what I call Earl Campbell syndrome. He just took too many hits too quickly. He used up his hits in the National Football League. You've heard of shot fighters just taking too many punches. You've heard of cauliflower ear in boxing. To me, Zeke is a shot back.

He's just died for too many cowboy causes over these seven years. I don't think he has much left. I will not miss him. I will not fear him when New England comes to play at Dallas. I think it's October 21st. I will not fear Zeke. I'm sure he'll suck it up and give whatever he has left to give. But as I said in the open, as one door closes, another swings wide open because I first guessed Deuce Vaughn.

You can second-guess me and say I'm overreacting. You can say I'm jinxing. You can say I'm damning young Deuce with fame praise. Not faint praise, but fame praise, because I'm already predicting fame for this little big man. Deuce Vaughn is 5'5", listed 176 pounds. When you see the practice tape, the camp tape of him out of practice,

He looks like a peewee football player playing with grown men. But I first guessed it. The moment they took him in the sixth round, I tweeted, they just stole Deuce Vaughn. I am the biggest fan. I am the biggest believer. I know I just saw one preseason game, only the first one. But I saw special. I'm going way out to the end of the limb to tell you I saw catalyst.

I saw spark plug. I saw fire starter. I saw key play, big play, play maker because I've seen it for the last three years at Kansas State. I watched a whole lot of Kansas State. Unfortunately, I watched a whole lot of Kansas State against my Oklahoma Sooners. And little Deuce got loose against my Sooners again and again and again.

All he did was produce against my Sooners, against the Big 12, against everybody he played, including Alabama in last year's bowl game. They could not contain Deuce from getting loose. He's a very gifted little football player. He is dynamite in a very small package that works.

I'm not saying he's going to beat out Tony Pollard because Tony Pollard made the Pro Bowl last year. Tony Pollard had a breakout season. Tony Pollard is the realest deal. Tony Pollard has some jets. I'm talking about icing on a cake that's already being baked. I'm talking about the sweetest icing you could ever put on the cake because I've seen this happen before where some player comes out of nowhere

as a rookie and ignites an entire football team on offense and defense. The whole team starts waiting for this little man to make a play. And I'm predicting right here, right now, it's going to happen this year for my Cowboys with this rookie back. A sixth-round pick at 5'5", 176 pounds.

He translates. He already translated against Jacksonville. Did you see the 40-yard run that he made? Did you see what he did to the Jacksonville safety? And the safety runs into the corner head-on, nearly wiped out each other. It was enemy. It was like friendly fire. What? I saw it. I knew it would translate, but I had to see it on a football. I don't care if they're fourth stringers. They're NFL players. Trust me.

He works. All you have to do is trust the numbers that you saw at Kansas State. He led the nation last year in total yards, in combined rush pass yards, almost 2,000 yards, 5.8 yards per touch last year at Kansas State. Every time he touched the ball, that's what happened.

Look at his career yards at Kansas State. It's almost 5,000 yards. 6.4 yards per touch. Think about that. Per touch. Every time he touched the ball in three years of college football.

He averaged 6.4 yards per touch. He scored 43 touchdowns because he can run it, and he can run it between the tackles, and he can catch it. Dak Prescott said last week at Cowboy Camp that Deuce Vaughn just might have the best hands on the team. I said this on draft day. I said he can flat out catch it. I know he's got a very small team.

radius and catch base and rate where it's just hard for him to be taller than 5'5". But if you get it in his vicinity, if he gets one hand on it, he'll catch it. If he gets both hands on it, it's money. He runs between the tackles because there's a little bit of Emmitt Smith operating. Not that Emmitt was this small. Emmitt went 5'9", 205-ish maybe.

But Emmitt had the same concept operating because he was so small behind his elephant offensive line that with Emmitt, he got lower, he ducked, he darted, and suddenly he's into the secondary and you can't find him until he's six yards clear.

Emmitt timed 4.6 in the 40. Deuce is 4.5. It's fast enough. I never saw Emmitt Smith get caught with a football under his arm. He had what's called football speed. Deuce has football speed and, more important, quickness. And he's just as effective ducking and darting between the tackles as he is on any kind of sweep or screen or little pop pass on third down. I'm looking at the numbers against my Sooners. I...

I know I watched every down of this in 2020. He only rushed eight times for 35 yards. Okay, but he caught four balls for 129 yards and killed us in Normandy killed his 38 to 35. We did beat him the second time but he went he rushed 15 for 51 yards and caught 10 balls for 104 yards. We couldn't stop him last year.

Beat us at home again. Beat us in Norman, 41-34. He rushes 25 for 116, just caught two balls for 13. I'm sure Brent Venable said, we're not going to let him catch balls out of the backfield. Yeah, he goes 25 for 116. He killed us again and again and again. He's nothing but productive. Will McClay, the scouting director, said that when you watch him run between the tackles, he said, you see 6-2, 230.

That's what you do. You see the impact, the effect of 6'2", 230. You see Ramondre Stevenson. Will McClay also said that people see height as his negative, but that Will sees it as his superpower. I agree with you. You can't find him. The Cowboys running backs coach, I'm not that familiar with him, but he called him the best gap scheme runner in the entire draft, regardless of size. I agree.

I fully expected Deuce Vaughn to go maybe second round, no later than third, and Dallas stole him in the sixth round, and the story became the wrong story. It was a sweet story. It was a storybook story. It was a fairy tale.

that his father Chris is the assistant director of college scouting for the Dallas Cowboys. You saw the video of Chris coming into the room and getting surprised that they're gonna pick his son. It was a great moment, but that's not the moment. The moment was we just stole Deuce Vaughn. I'm happy for his father, but I don't really care about his father. I only care about what Deuce is going to do for my football team.

And then I watched his post-game interview on Saturday. I don't know this kid, but you want to talk about yes, sir, no, sir. You want to talk about raised the right way. You want to talk about saying all the right things and backing it up with work ethic on the practice field. It's gold. You can't get better than this. Again, I love Zeke. Zeke went about 230. Zeke was unstoppable. His what?

Last two years, really three at Ohio State. But then for that one big year, led the league in rushing. He obviously led in average yards per game, three straight years. Had the suspension the second year. But there's nothing like Zeke in year one, rookie year. I'm not saying that Deuce will have that kind of lead back impact because he doesn't need to because Tony Pollard is Tony Pollard.

Hoping he comes back 100%. They say he's looking 100% off his lower leg injury, and it was a bad one. He had that tightrope ankle surgery. I'm hoping it took. They say it took, but you never know until you try. And we probably won't know until the first regular season game because I don't expect to see much of any of Tony in any of these preseason games. I'm just here to tell you I'm not going to miss Ezekiel Elliott, and I do wish him well.

This is Caleb from Baltimore. Do you ever get nervous before a podcast or undisputed show? Good question. Caleb, I don't. I get anxious. I get keyed up. I get way amped up. I get locked in. I get intense, probably too intense. I get excited, probably overly excited.

Live TV is about preparation, concentration, and extreme energy. So I'm ready to come out of my chair as soon as that red light I'm looking at right now comes on. I often need a seatbelt on Undisputed. I guess you could say I get good nervous, but I do not get nervous nervous. This is Chase from Champaign, Illinois. Have you ever had a fan heckle you in public?

And if so, how did you handle it? That's a very good question. Chase, I have not. Honestly, I have not. You can ask my wife, Ernestine. She's been out in public with me many times over the 18 years we've been together. Nobody, nobody has ever trash talked me or yelled at me or cursed at me out in public. Not one time.

Now, people will say, "Hey, why are you so hard on LeBron?" Or sometimes they'll say, "Sorry, but I just despise the Dallas Cowboys." But nothing ugly. It's all in good spirit. I do these receiving lines after road shows. Hope to do more of them since we've gotten through our pandemic. We've never had an incident. I've done dozens of these road show receiving lines where I'll talk to, I don't know, 100-plus people. Never had an incident.

Maybe I will at some point, but I haven't yet. I know the internet says I'm a really bad guy. I know the internet says that millions of people out there hate me, but I haven't run into any of them in public, or maybe I should say they haven't run after me or run at me or run into me. Not yet. Maybe we're talking here about keyboard courage. Maybe they do hate me, but...

they're so surprised and happy that I'm actually talking to them because I'm happy to talk to everybody. Maybe they just melt. Maybe they lose their keyboard courage in my presence. I don't know. But Chase, nobody has ever heckled me, and if they did, I would just laugh it off and move along. This is Jamie from Dallas who asks, "At this point, would you rather build your team

around James Harden or Kyrie Irving? Talk about lesser of two intangible evils. The obvious answer to that question is neither. Both, to me, have very low leadership intangibles. I think that's pretty obvious. Both are obviously all-time great players, both first ballot Hall of Famers. I don't even need to state that.

I will say this, James Harden is the slightly better career basketball player. He's just slightly better because he's three inches taller at 6'5", better passer, he's led the league in assists twice, including this past year. He's the better rebounder, better defender, did lead the league in steals. Prime James Harden was right there with Kyrie as a shot maker, a shot creator, and beyond Kyrie.

as a free throw taker because in the history of this league, no guard has ever gotten to the free throw line the way James used to get to the free throw line. None. No, no, ever. Both these guys can be clutch in regular season games because trust me, James used to destroy my Spurs when they were still the Spurs.

used to destroy them and make big, great late shots. I'm talking about regular season. Obviously, Kyrie has been far more clutch in the postseason, including the game-winning shot that he hit for LeBron in Game 7 against Golden State. I mean, James has won an MVP. Kyrie has not.

If you look, just go look it up. Look at basketballreference.com and just scan down all that James has done, how high he's finished in so many categories. Kyrie's never won any of those categories. James, a little better all-around career basketball player. But right now, if you forced me, I'd have to build my team around Kyrie. For one, he's in much better shape. James Harden is almost 34 going on 44.

Kyrie is 31 going on 31. He stays in very good shape. Body looks good. Wind looks good. Looks like he can last a while in this league. I'm not so sure about James. So I'll just give you my white guy from Oklahoma City perspective here. I grew up, I wanted to be James Harden before there was a James Harden. I wanted to be Kyrie before there was a Kyrie. But James, that's, man, again, Pete Maravich was my idol at that point because it's all I had to work with.

Both James and Pete, six feet, five inches tall. Pete, I've told you before, he was just a magician with the basketball. So was James. Maybe not as flashy, splashy as Pete was, but I've never seen anything like James Harden. So I'm coming at this with that white guy overachiever mentality and point of view. But James Harden has come to the point where

He offends everything I'm made of. He offends everything I believe in. He's in sorry shape. He loves his nightlife. It's fine if you stay in shape, but he doesn't. He obviously eats with no conscience. He quit his way out of Houston, as you know. Quit his way out of Brooklyn, as you know. And now it looks like he's preparing to quit his way out of Philadelphia.

Because he now wants to play for the Clippers. Can you remember, can you just imagine? Two things, James Harden in Los Angeles and La La Land in Hollywood for half the season. Heaven help the Clippers if that ever comes to pass. Can you imagine James reunited with Russ, as in Russell Westbrook? Another guy with low intangibles, to me, as in winning intangibles. Another guy who's a poor jump shooter,

who has often led the league in turnovers. Can you imagine those two repaired, obviously as babies in the NBA? They were teammates on the Oklahoma City Thunder, speaking of my hometown. Man, it's from bad to worse. And by the way, I do hear about Kawhi. It's why I loved Kawhi from the start. He's my kind of guy. He is an overachiever. I'm hearing Kawhi is in the lab like crazy.

Still trying to rehab his knee. But nobody works harder than Kawhi. He just doesn't put it on social. I heard from an insider the other day who watched a Kawhi workout. He is gutting it out at the highest level. Whatever Kawhi can be at this stage and age, given how battered his body is and his creaky arthritic knees, however great he can be, he's going to be that great. I picked the Clippers last year to get to the finals just because of Kawhi.

and he just wasn't there for them. And I still don't know how much he trusts his body. Sometimes I think he overreacts to the slightest bit of pain, but that's a whole other issue. Nobody works harder. Nobody does it the way I was taught to do it any better than Kawhi does it without posting it on social. So what am I supposed to make of James? I tried to roll with him last year. I tried to roll with the Sixers. I'm a big Embiid fan. I love Tyrese Maxey. I loved Doc.

I thought this is their year and it was Joel's year. Maybe it's the worst thing that could ever happen in the Sixers. He won the MVP of the regular season. Maybe now he won't take it as seriously as he tends not to take it. But I got seduced by James' supreme perimeter ability. Remember, he won three straight scoring titles. 2018, 2019, 2020, won the MVP in 2018.

He led the league and made threes in 18, 19, and 20. He led in steals in 2020. He's an 86% free throw shooter. He's led in free throw attempts seven times in his career. Led the whole league in free throw attempts seven times. 15 and 16, he led the whole league in minutes played. So you can't say he's jaking it. You can't say you can condemn Kawhi for load managing. James wasn't load managing in 15 and 16.

Four times in his career, he's averaged eight-plus rebounds. That'll work, man. That'll work. So last year, I plunged. I got sucked in. I fell into the trap. I picked the Sixers to win the East right on schedule. Joel gets hurt in the first round of the playoffs, and he never was right, wearing a brace on his knee. Something's always wrong with James. It's a hamstring or it's attitude or something, or he's unhappy with Doc, or something's always wrong.

terrible loser intangibles. Yet, he led the league in assists last year for the second time. Helped to have Joel, but look at his numbers from last year. 21-11-6. That'll work. In a vacuum, if I said 21-11-6, you'd say, I'm there. I buy. I'll take it. Remember what he did? Game one at Boston, he scores 45 points. Seduced you right back into being a Harden fan.

Game four, remember that in Philly? 42 points. But I added up the other five games and averaged them out, and he scored an average of 14 points in the other five games. 14, so he goes 45, 42, and then in five games, other than those two, averages 14, including a grand total of nine points in game seven. Nine points in game seven. He no-showed. But you look at his playoff legacy, his resume,

And it's potholed with no-shows. They're everywhere. You can't trust him. I'm sorry. Daryl Morey, GM of the Sixers, he's a smart guy. I've been around him. He's Mr. MIT conference speaker. He is still seduced because he is still so intrigued by James' next-level stats because they're just sensational. Subtle MIT impact. But one day, Daryl Morey is going to regret

that he bet on James intangibles. Cannot be trusted. I made such a mistake last year picking the Sixers. Not again. I'm out. This is from Aaron from Indianapolis. If you could tell your younger self anything, what would you say? Wow. Even deeper water. Very good question, Aaron. I appreciate the question hugely. Obviously, this is a hypothetical.

But if I could go back in time and talk to my younger self, especially my high school self, I would tell my younger self, "Trust the talent God gave you, especially as you go forward, trust your TV talent. Don't doubt it. Don't second guess it. Trust it." Remember, I was the oldest of three kids by two years. Did not have a big brother or a big sister.

to show me the way and the ropes. Both of my parents had big, bad, serious alcohol issues. My home was broken early on. Neither of my parents ever encouraged me. Neither of my parents ever told me I was any good at anything. So it took me a long time to realize, "Oh, wait, maybe I can do this."

I went through a lot of soul searching. I went through a lot of sleepless nights because I just wasn't sure what I was working with. If I could go back now, I could save myself a lot of anguish, a lot of sleepless nights if I could just say, you're okay. Trust it. This is from Scott from Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Power rank your top five favorite TV shows of all time.

Wow. Well, that kind of narrows it down, doesn't it? So this is a tricky one for me because right away I'm thinking, so do HBO and Paramount Plus, do they count as TV shows? Is that what we're watching on HBO? Do series on HBO and other networks, cable networks, count as TV shows? My producer, Tyler Corn, assures me absolutely they do. Okay.

So, the first of these two are very personal to me and you can laugh at me if you want and that's fine. This is my power ranking. Number one on my list, it just has to be. It's very old school.

Maybe you don't know it. If you don't, you should. You should go watch it. It's I Love Lucy. Why is it so dear to my heart? Because it's my wife Ernestine's all-time, all-time favorite show because she is Lucy Ricardo in real life. I live with Lucy Ricardo. I live with I Love Lucy, and I do love Lucy as in Ernestine.

She's got all kinds of Lucy paraphernalia. She's got Lucy pillows on the bed. She's got Lucy pictures on the wall. Lucille Ball is pretty much her idol. So how can I not say I love Lucy? And by the way, the chemistry on that show between Lucille Ball and Ricky Ricardo is the greatest ever between a TV husband and wife. Trust me on this.

If you haven't ever watched it, you can call it up now. That's the beauty of what we have today. You can just call it up on demand wherever it's on. I'm sure Amazon Prime. We still watch it. And if you start, you won't be able to stop. You'll watch four or five and then you'll say, maybe I should watch some more. They still work today. They still hold up. They are still very funny. Number two, this is also personal. I've told you this before.

It's Jeopardy. Is Jeopardy a TV show? I know it's a game show, but doesn't it qualify as a TV show? We watch five a week. We tape them. We watch them either Friday or Saturday, depending on my sports schedule. Friday night or Saturday night, we watch Jeopardy, and we do play against each other, and it's been our thing for 18 years. So how can I not put it top five? Because I got it number two. Number three, speaking of HBO and series,

This is just me. It's the Sopranos. I mean, Tony Soprano, played by James Gandolfini, was the single most compelling character in the history of television. I dare you to find me a better one. I'm talking about compelling. I'm talking about absorbing. I'm talking about riveting, where you just can't take your eyes off the screen. I watched every single minute of the Sopranos.

all the way home to "Don't Stop Believin'." Number four, I got to go "Sanford and Son" from the great Norman Lear, who gave us "All in the Family" and "Good Times" and many others. But I could go home tonight and watch 10 straight "Sanford and Son." Sometimes I do this and be wildly entertained, a lot of laugh out loud. You know why? Because it's smart, funny, and Redd Foxx simply owned that stage.

Can't take your eyes off them. Number five's tricky for me. I'll give you a couple of near misses, but understand, I love Taylor Sheridan. I'm a big fan. We got hooked on Yellowstone. I know it's kind of falling apart now between Kevin Costner and Taylor Sheridan. Taylor did 1883 and 1923, and I love them even more than I love Yellowstone, but they felt more like movies, so I'm not going to qualify them for my TV list.

My friend Billy Bob Thornton is scheduled, if the strike ever ends, to play the lead in what's called Landman, which I can't wait, from Taylor Sheridan. He's genius. He's gifted. But in the same vein, sort of along the same lines, same genre, fifth on my list is Justified. It's another personal favorite of both me and my wife. But Timothy Olyphant, especially in those first three seasons,

was can't miss television for us. We could not wait for the next Justified. Talk about a badass. He was a modern day John Wayne in those first three seasons. They've tried to bring Timothy back with Justified for a fourth season, maybe, I'm sorry, a final season. Maybe you've tried to watch it. We're not big fans of that. And it pours a little bit of cold water on my face.

fifth pick on my list but still though especially the first three seasons justified that's top five for me just ahead of ray donovan i talked about that before i talked about it last week and i'll throw one other old school at you if you've never watched it the beverly hillbillies that conceit of hillbillies strike it rich and move to beverly it still works and it worked for every season they did a month or so ago we started watch on our friday night

on demand some hillbillies. And we ended up watching eight in a row because they are still hilarious. Trust me. But that's my top five. Last question is from Sean from Los Angeles. What did you do for Ernestine's birthday? Are you guys big gift givers every year? Sean, we aren't big gift givers because we are not big spenders.

I do spend on very nice flowers for her for her birthday. I do spend on dinner. Obviously, this time we went to Steak 48 in Beverly Hills. She loved it. If she tells me she wants a piece of jewelry, I always get it for her. But I'm also big on telling her, look, if you're not sure what you want, let's just go shopping. Let's just go. Pick a store. Let's just go. Saturday afternoon, we'll just go. And we've done this many times where...

She picks a nearby store and we just go in and she looks around and she says, you know, I would like, all right, let's get it. But here's my bottom line to you. Our birthday and Christmas tradition mostly revolves around card giving. I'm talking about just cheap little cards that we carefully pick for each other because of their message.

But we do then take said card and hand doctor maybe the cover of the card and maybe hand write with inside the card a personal touch, a little personal message to go along with the message that's already there. Some are funny, some are very serious, some inside jokes. There are lots of references that nobody but the two of us would get.

Ernestine's huge on feeding the squirrels in our complex. When we walk Hazel in the evening, the squirrels come out because Ernestine's got nuts. I think she's now doing almonds. I'm not sure what she does, but she's got nuts. And I've told you before, our dog Hazel is as fierce as any Maltese on this planet, but for some reason, she does not mind squirrels. Every dog I've ever had wants to kill the squirrel.

Hazel, blase, oblivious, not interested in the squirrels. They'll come right up to Hazel like, "Hey, how you doing, Hazel?" She'll just look the other way. Every other dog in our complex, squirrel's dead. But the point is, I got Ernestine a squirrel card. And it's funny just because it's a squirrel and it looks funny and the squirrel's speaking on the cover and says, "Don't worry about another birthday.

Age hasn't affected you at all. And then you open the card and the squirrel is yelling, "Age hasn't affected you at all!" As if you can't hear because you're getting too old to hear. It's just silly squirrel card stuff. And she laughed because it's funny. I always, always, always get her a Hazel card, a doggy card. I found a card that looked just like Hazel, saying, "I love you, Mom."

For Ernestine's birthday, I got her, I'm pretty sure, seven cards. And opening those cards was once again the best part of her birthday and is always the best part of our Christmases.

That's it for episode 76. Thank you for listening and or watching. Thanks to Jonathan Berger and his All-Pro team, especially to Angie for making this show go. Thanks to Tyler Corn for producing. Undisputed returns, remember, August 28th. Be there. The Skip Bayless Show returns next week.