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It's the most magical time of the year, and I'm not talking about Christmas. I'm talking about the NFL season. So make sure you're ready with NFL Sunday Ticket and YouTube TV. Get the most live NFL games all in one place. Right now, you can save $85 when you bundle NFL Sunday Ticket with YouTube TV. Sign up today at youtubetv.com slash Spotify. Device and content restrictions apply. Discount apply to first four months of YouTube TV, then $72.99 a month. Ends August 29th. Terms, restrictions, and embargoes apply. No refunds.
School is back, and Dick's Sporting Goods has what you need to win your year. We've got everything from cleats to sambas, dunks, and more. Plus, the hottest looks from Nike, Jordan, and Adidas. Find your first day fits in-store or online at dicks.com. Here we go. This is...
is the Skip Bayless Show, episode 65 in honor of 1965, best year of my life, but that's another story for another podcast. This, as always, is the Un-Undisputed, everything I cannot share with you during the debate show that is undisputed. Today, I will tell you why I believe John Morant has a serious problem. And today, I will tell you about my surreal night
with my wife Ernestine at our first Lil Wayne concert right here in LA. What a night that was.
Today, I will answer many, many of your probing and piercing questions about LeBron and about my Cowboys and about Laker crowds and about our quote-unquote daughter, Hazel, and about whether Ernestine had a happy Mother's Day. I pretty much ruined it, me and my agonizing NBA playoffs. But first up, as always, it is not to be skipped. Here's a little...
inside Undisputed info for you. What NBA topic has rated best for us on Undisputed this NBA season? LeBron? Nope. Steph? No. KD in Phoenix? Sorry. Kyrie with Luka in Dallas? Nope, nope, nope. Hottest topic for us by far, times 10, maybe times 100, Ja...
Morant off the court, not on the court, but off the court, or as Twitter has nicknamed him, Jaw Warant, as in warrant, as in he seems to be one step away from winding up behind bars. Every time we do a Jaw in Trouble topic, our ratings explode just the way Jaw explodes above the rim for a viral slam. Happened again this past Monday.
We had a cowboy playoff game sized rating on a Monday in May because of Ja Warrant. Now inquiring minds want to know if Ja is destined to go from slams to the slammer. And we all sit back and we think exactly what my man, Lil Wayne, texted me the other day. And I quote, WTF is wrong with Ja? We all think.
Man, if I were 23 years old and I already made 40 million bucks and I was set to make 194 more million dollars over the next five seasons and I had a big Nike deal and a big Powerade endorsement contract and I had been Rookie of the Year and then Most Improved Player of the Year two years later and I'd already made two All-Star teams
Would I risk all of that to live the gangsta life? Packing iron, running the streets, hitting the clubs with my childhood friend, Devonte, as in pack, and maybe eight or 10 other quote unquote friends from Memphis who constantly obviously tell Ja he is the baddest MF in Memphis and that he owns and operates that town.
"Would you risk all of that for that?" And we all sit back and say, "WTF? "Jaw, what are you thinking?" As Jaw loves to sing from his favorite rap song, "It's a parade in my city, yeah!" You've heard it again and again. Hmm, yeah, a parade referring to his favorite rap song that is actually a parade of guns and drugs and sex.
I'll quote a quick line from that song. You know which song I'm talking about. "Got that iron in here. Yeah, I got it right by my belt." That's Ja. Of course, now Ja has twice flashed his iron, as in gun, on IG Live. The NBA concluded in its statement that the first time Ja was intoxicated at that Denver strip club as he dangled his iron. And I would say,
In the latest IG Live that I saw, Ja looked pretty, well, lit, let us say. I believe he has a problem. I'll get to all that in just a moment. But here's how that problem started in my humble estimation. Remember the background. Ja grew up in a small South Carolina town about 40 miles east of Columbia. It's Sumter, the Sumter area.
He was fairly well known on the AAU circuit, but not highly recruited, just too small. Wound up at Murray State, not at Kentucky, not even at Louisville, at Murray State. And he stayed there not one year, but he stayed for two years because after one year he just wasn't good enough. But you know what happened? His YouTube leaping got him noticed, made him famous, helped get him drafted second overall by Memphis.
Unfortunately, I believe if Jha had been drafted by, let's say, the Clippers in LA, or let's say the Knicks in New York, or let's say the Bulls in Chicago, he would have been much better off. But no, he went to the NBA's smallest TV market. It's a one-horse town as it goes with pro teams in Memphis, as you know. It's the Grizzlies or bust.
They have a AAA baseball team, which I've always been familiar with because I grew up a St. Louis Cardinals fan. Memphis Redbirds, their AAA feeding team. But remember what this was. This is a little guy who came from nowhere, from little town South Carolina, from little Murray State, who suddenly became the single most worshipped human ever.
in all of Memphis while playing for a franchise that had virtually no real legacy to speak of. No championships, no finals appearances. 27 years that franchise has been in existence. Once it got to a conference finals, I remember it well against my San Antonio Spurs in 2013, but that's it. One and done, swept in that conference finals.
So all of a sudden, Ja was it in Memphis and Ja was lit in Memphis. It's pretty clear that all of the above has gone straight to Ja's head. This little man became the biggest man in a pretty little NBA town. Huge fish, small pond.
And slowly but surely, as you know, his father became more like his brother or maybe a friend, just another grateful member of Jaws traveling entourage, just living the good life, being able to sit courtside with his lookalike, Usher, afraid to tough love his son for fear that his son would pull the plug on him in his good life. You know what happened when his mother thought she'd been disrespected
by a kid working at a sneaker store in the mall. She called Ja, and he and eight or 10 of his quote unquote soldiers came running. They threatened this kid to the point that he had to lock himself in the storage room, the back of the store. And then Ja and his soldiers threatened the director of security of the mall who filed a police report.
Second incident, Ja's mom again called Ja to come help his sister who was playing in a high school volleyball game. Somebody up in the stands had disrespected her and here they came, Ja and his buddies. Right past the security up in the stands, took the cell phone of a young lady who was a student there. I don't know exactly what the details were, but it got ugly. The police were notified of the incident, but not brought to the scene.
You heard about the one where Ja got into it with a 17-year-old basketball player from Memphis in a backyard basketball game. According to the kid, Ja flashed his gun at the kid. And you also probably heard about the Pacers incident in which Ja's childhood friend, Devontae Pack, got into it with the Pacers. Escalating to the point, he got kicked out of not only that game, but that arena for the rest of the season. And then as the Pacers were leaving,
on the back loading dock of the arena to get into their bus, red laser dots were flashing on their foreheads from what they believed to be a gun or guns in the car in which Ja was sitting in said parking lot. One gun incident after another. Obviously, I don't have to say this, but we all know one wrong split-second decision in any of these circumstances
one rage-blinded pull of that trigger and Ja's career could be over, if not his life. And as Lil Wayne texted me this past Monday, and I'll quote, "They don't play in them streets out there in Memphis. They, all caps, BANG for real. So I'm not sure if he with that nor want that, but that's exactly what they give him in a heartbeat.
Maybe all of a sudden your heart's no longer beating. One of these nights, if Ja is not careful, wrong place, wrong time, his favorite rap song just might come all too true with Ja as the victim. You know what happens out there. There will always be somebody out there, some guy out there who so resents your fame and fortune and your fake gangsta image in his eyes that he'll do something about it.
I've even wondered out loud on Undisputed if Ja actually wants this life, that he actually prefers this life to the NBA life because this life actually makes him happier. I've wondered if the NBA life, as full of himself as he wants you to believe, as supremely confident as he comes off, I wonder if the NBA life is just too much for him, that he still looks in the mirror and sees that little kid
from Sumter, from Murray State, nobody thought could make it in the league. I still wonder if there's some deeper insecurity operating and he feels freer when he's playing gangster. Maybe he's not playing. Maybe he is. At heart, maybe that's who he is. If so, I always say to anybody, God bless them. If that's what they want, so be it. Let them have it. It's a free country. But I do promise you, one day,
I don't know when, 20, 30, maybe 40 years from today, I believe John Morant will sit back and say, what was I thinking? Now for his first suspension, at first it was indefinite. Then he issued a statement, you might remember that he admitted, I have a problem and I am seeking help for that problem. He admitted that publicly. That's what the statement said. Whoa, okay,
Then I'm with you. I certainly backed off. Everybody in the media had to back off because, hey, you need help. You're seeking help. God bless you. I've been through it too many times in my life. My father went to rehab stint after rehab stint for his alcohol issue. He failed every time, but at least he tried. My mother finally hit bottom, rock bottom, went to AAA, Alcoholics Anonymous, and it took.
It clicked, it saved her life. So I'm thinking, okay, I got you. You got a problem, you have to acknowledge it. You have to ask for help. You have to give up, give in, commit to fixing yourself. Good for you. Then we heard that Ja had checked himself into some facility in Florida. It was a little hazy, a little murky, but I don't know. And I thought, okay, these facilities require minimum three weeks stay.
Optimal six weeks. You remember Tiger Woods went to a facility in Mississippi for his issue. Stayed there for 42 days. Hmm. So that's a couple days over six weeks. And then suddenly it hit me. Suddenly Ja was back. He didn't go to any rehab clinic. We got bamboozled. We got duped. The NBA and the Grizzlies took us for one quick ride. They spun us silly.
We bought it hook, line, and sinker. And I said, wait a second. He's already back and going up to New York to visit the commissioner. At the most, he couldn't have been at a clinic or facility more than a week. And that would be pushing it. He didn't go. I don't believe he went at all. I think we all got fooled. He was suspended for all of eight games.
First night back at a home game. He started the first night in Houston, then played Houston back-to-back at Memphis. Remember what happened after the game? Ja had a good game. I mean, couldn't have fallen out of shape. He hadn't been gone very long. Remember Luke Kennard had hit a franchise record 10 threes. Ja photobombed that on-court interview. It's a parade in my city, yeah! And I'm thinking, what? You allegedly went to rehab? You fixed yourself?
And now you're acting a fool, photobombing a live TV interview, reciting your favorite line from your favorite song about guns and drugs and sex. I'm not being arch conservative here. I'm just being realistic. I got heavily criticized for criticizing Ja for that, but come on, wasn't that the first shrieking signal?
He hasn't changed a bit. Ja is still every bit of gangsta Ja. The NBA enabled Ja. They re-empowered Ja to be even more gangsta than he had been before. He had to be cackling over all this. I could just hear him telling his buddy Devante Pack, look what I just pulled off. We had the whole world believing we were going to some clinic in Florida. In Florida!
Can't you just hear him cackling about this? What a bunch of stupid clowns the media is. I can just hear it now. So this is just me from a distance, but I believe something is going on very deeply, seriously with Ja. Some kind of dependency on something that is causing his erratic and reckless behavior. Just a hunch from afar, but I believe Ja does need a rehab stint for real.
I'm talking about six weeks for real. But that is something that only Ja can decide. Nobody can make him. Nobody can help him until he helps himself. The league is not helping him. His father certainly isn't helping him. Maybe a lengthy suspension would sort of scare him straight. Maybe he needs to be gone for an entire season. Players Association would fight that. Maybe it should be a half season. I'm sure they would fight that.
For sure, excuse me, for sure I can tell you that my man Lil Wayne would love to sit down right here right now with Ja and tell Ja how he, Wayne, wound up doing time on Rikers Island up in New York. I did reach out for Ja, for Wayne. I doubt I'll hear back. Ja is so highly skilled at telling the adults exactly what they need and want to hear.
He is so skilled. He's all-star skilled at acting mature and contrite and humble. Yes, sir. No, sir. I understand, sir. Commissioner Silver said the other night on ESPN he was shocked at Jha once again flashing his gun on an Instagram Live. This one, his buddy Pax.
And right away after the commissioner spoke out about how shocked he was, Ja posted another statement, obviously not written by Ja, another flim flam good guy statement packed with phony baloney. He's done it again. He's trying to fool the adults again. Just watch what the NBA does. I don't believe they're gonna come down hard on him. I think they need him too much. Watch him get off lightly once again.
Watch John Morant leading the parade in his city right over the edge into oblivion. I hope I'm wrong about that.
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and listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to get your jobs more visibility at 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. Let's get to your questions. This is Jan from Fort Collins, Colorado, who asks...
If the one word to describe LeBron James is flawed, then what is one word to describe yourself? Okay, Jan, you got me. Touche. I did say in last week's podcast, if I had to pin one word on LeBron, it would be flawed. But you're right. I'm flawed too, as I painfully detailed in a recent podcast. You can just ask my wife, Ernestine. She'll tell you in
far more words than one, just how flawed I am. But I did ask her the other night if she could describe me in one word. And she thought for a second and said, complicated am I ever. But when it comes to describing LeBron James, I also from the start have been quote unquote right. The NBA's all time leading scorer is and always has been
a shaky three-point shooter and free throw shooter who has always shot way too many threes, especially late in games, and has never shot enough free throws, especially late in games. When the man I consider the greatest driver of the basketball ever,
is afraid to drive it because he's afraid to have to go stand there if fouled and shoot those two free throws to win or lose the game. 15 feet away all by himself. See game one of this current Nuggets-Lakers series. But yes, Jan, you got me. Flawed I am. This is Dan from Texas who asks, can you predict the Cowboys record to finish this upcoming season? Yes, I can.
My Dallas Cowboys will go 10-7 versus a far harder schedule than they had to play or got to play last year. I believe the Eagles also will go 10-7, but we, the Cowboys, will win the tiebreaker and the division. We will win a home playoff game and a road playoff game to reach the NFC Championship game for the first time
since the 1995 season. Very early prediction, but we will lose at San Francisco for a second straight postseason, for a second time this coming season because we have to play them there during the regular season, and we will lose to San Francisco home and away for a third straight playoffs. So,
Being completely realistic, I believe my Cowboys will finish 12 and 8, including the playoffs. Thank you very much. This is Christian from Iowa City who asks, "What is the loudest stadium or arena you've ever been in?" That's a very good question. To me, loudest happens when a fan base is experiencing unexpected success for the first time ever.
And that fan base, either in the arena or the stadium, just erupts with ear-splitting joy, the likes of which you've never heard before. Loudest stadium I ever experienced was Candlestick Park. This is in January of 1982. Dallas versus San Francisco in the NFC Championship game, the catch game. Legendary Thomas Wade Landry and his Wow Boys.
versus the upstarts Joe Montana and Bill Walsh, who that day basically ended one dynasty and launched their own. It was all new for those 49er fans. It came so suddenly and so shockingly and so greatly. Dwight Clark caught the catch from Joe Montana, San Francisco 28, Dallas 27. The noise was seismic that day in that stadium. The entire press box was
swayed and shook as if a real earthquake was happening. Now to the loudest arena I ever experienced. It was the old Reunion Arena in Dallas, Texas. This was when the young Dallas Mavericks first broke through and played the Showtime Lakers of Magic and Kareem and Worthy and on and on, played the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals.
The Dallas Mavericks won all three home games of that series and forced a game seven back at the Fabulous Forum in Los Angeles. But those three home games won by 14 points, 12 points, and two points against Magic and Kareem and company. Those three got so loud because it was all so shockingly sensationally new that along press row,
My man Ish Haley and I had to wear earplugs during the games, especially in the fourth quarters. Ish was the beat writer and I was the columnist for the Dallas Times-Herald. We sat right at courtside along press row. You could almost see the noise. That's how loud it was. No concert have I ever been to
was louder than Reunion got. I actually saw a lot of concerts at Reunion, but no concert ever got louder than those Mavericks versus Showtime games in 1988. No concert until this past Saturday night. Which brings me to the story of our surreal night at our first Lil Wayne concert last Saturday night here in LA.
I told Wayne as soon as this tour was announced, whatever, two, three months ago, that my wife Ernestine and I wanted to come to his L.A. concert. Then I texted him last Thursday to remind him, and he said, yep, pick up your tickets at Will Call. I asked him just approximately what time did he think he would go on so we would have some idea, and he said 9.15 to 9.30, so Ernestine and I arranged for a car service to pick us up
at our place at 8, because we're about 30 or so minutes away from the Wiltern Theater, which is a very cool old landmark of an art deco structure built in 1931. It's down Wilshire Boulevard from us toward downtown LA. We did arrive right at 8:30. Had no problem being whisked right through the metal detectors into the lobby. But, as sometimes happens in these situations,
No tickets under my name were at Will Call. As it turned out, we were supposed to go through the back gate to the back VIP lot to a stage door Will Call, which we did not quite grasp. So at that point, we noticed these two women standing just to our right near the Will Call window, obviously also waiting for tickets. They asked us if we happened to be friends of Wayne's, and we said, well, yeah, we are.
And they said they also were, and that they had been told by the woman at Will Call that she didn't have their names either, but could they please wait in the lobby and somebody would come with tickets or come to get them and take them to get the tickets. So, Ernestine quickly called Wayne's assistant who said, yes, yes, sorry, sorry, sorry, please just wait there. And then Ernestine said, well, these two women are here, their names are blah and blah. And
The assistant said, "It's okay. I got all four of you. Just wait right there. It'll be okay." So meanwhile, Ernestine starts to talk to the two women and all of a sudden the three of them start to hit it off. I'm pretty surprised. These two women live in Slovakia. I'm not making this up. The taller one is named Ivana. She's a world famous, I understand, tattoo artist who did one of Wayne's tattoos.
Ivana's wife is Veronica, who wrote a best-selling book, and I'm not making this up, and pardon my language. The book is called, and we look this up, again, pardon my language, "Holy Shit, I'm a Fucking Psychic." It's about how Veronica discovered and developed her psychic powers just a few years ago. So there we were in the lobby of the Wiltern with Ivana and Veronica,
who had just flown in from Slovakia just for Wayne's concert. But they fly all over the world. They start telling Ernestine stories of, "We were just in Rome, then we were in Paris, and now we're in LA." And they're talking about having lunch. And I'm like, "Where am I?" So now the concert goers are starting to just flow through the lobby.
And I'm starting to get recognized and people are starting to come over for pictures. And I'm a captive audience because I can't leave because we don't have our tickets. I don't mind these things. I don't mind the pictures. I don't mind a little sports talk. It's just who I am, what I do. Ernstine gets a little miffed, but mostly people want to talk about LeBron and the Lakers. But remember, Ernstine's still a little COVID paranoid, just a little. She's getting better and better. But
She was starting to get a little anxious because if I'm taking pictures, I gotta get right, you know, sort of face to face, side to cheek to cheek. And it's not the best circumstance. We still have some friends here in LA. They just got, their whole family just got hit. Three boys and the mom got it. So it's still out there, obviously. And
We stood and we stood, had to wait a while until the security guard finally showed up to take the four of us inside the theater. We went down a long corridor, then through an exit and down some stairs to a green room with snacks and an open bar. A green room that was already packed with, I'm going to say 60 or 70 people. I'd never seen anything quite like it before.
I knew two of these 60 or 70 people, two that I'd met at Wayne's 40th birthday party back in the fall. One was Wayne's videographer who travels with him. The other was one of Wayne's young money artists and proteges named Alan Kubas, who would soon, believe it or not, become the flashpoint figure of the entire concert night. I'll get to that in a moment.
So I whispered to Ernestine that I didn't really know anybody in the room. And she said, well, it sure looks like they know you because all of a sudden here it comes. And many in this crowd in the green room wanted pictures and a little sports talk. And I obliged and I was happy to do so, except for the possible COVID consequences, because now we're in a really tight space. I'm thinking to myself, hey, remember the
the good old days back before COVID. I mean, I just never thought about this, but somebody could have bronchitis or any kind of contagious this or that, and you could still get that. So I could have gotten that on Saturday night also. It's still out there, but now everything has changed and it's all about COVID. So I did notice all the way across the room from me, I did notice Chris Brown, who did not come over to me.
and certainly vice versa. But I also saw Will.i.am. I'm a big Black Eyed Peas fan, and so I did eventually go over to Will.i.am to say hello, and he seemed to appreciate that. We did meet Wayne's two tour chefs who prepare every meal for him, no fast food, no hotel food,
And we did meet a close friend of Wayne's from Milwaukee who's a professional skateboarder and a huge Packers fan. And those are Wayne's two greatest passions, skateboarding and Packers. And when Wayne crazed Wayne, the Packer fan, does go up to Lambeau for games as he often does, he always takes his skateboarding buddy from Milwaukee with him. But after 15 or so minutes,
In this green room, Ernestine began having problems with the smoke. We don't smoke marijuana. We don't drink alcohol. But obviously a whole lot of folks in that green room and at that concert do smoke and were smoking. And in the tight confines of the green room, it was starting to get to Ernestine.
I don't love it, but I'm okay with it. I'm fine with it. Again, I don't smoke, but I definitely don't condemn it. It's to each his own. I got my vices. I use too much caffeine. Is that any better or worse? I don't know and I don't care. So the green room was a long rectangle of a room, which allowed us to move to the far end where there's still plenty of open chairs and more breathable air.
So now it's around 9:30 and we're thinking, "Where's Wayne?" Still no Wayne. And this was the first time on tour, obviously, when he'd been able to sleep in his own bed out in the San Fernando Valley, maybe 45 minutes to an hour from the wheel turn. And so he and some of his family were being transported in one of those big sprinter vans. And as fate would have it, as we sat down in the far end of the green room, we were joined by the aforementioned Alan Kubas.
He's a favorite of Wayne's and of mine. Like Wayne, Alan Kubas grew up in New Orleans. Dad was from Honduras. Mom was white from Mississippi. There are very few people I will sit with and engage in hardcore sports talk with, but Alan is one of those people. Again, I met him the first time at Wayne's birthday party. He's obviously all about the Saints, Pelicans, but Alan really, really knows his stuff and more importantly, what it means.
He is still torn apart by that play that he correctly believes turned the Breeze-Brady playoff game. You remember three years ago as Brady was on his way to the championship, first year in Tampa. Breeze completes a ball to Jared Cook over the middle. Cook's starting to run with the ball, and suddenly he gets stripped by a rookie safety named Antoine Winfield Jr.,
What looked like a cinch Breeze victory turned into Drew Breeze final game. Allen's even haunted by the fact that Brady actually completed the last pass of that day or evening at the Superdome. This one to one of Breeze's sons long after the game out on the field. That still eats him up. Allen Kubis is a great kid in utter respectful awe of his mentor Wayne.
Great kid who's refreshingly disciplined and dedicated to that long, hard road to becoming a star. He sings as well as he raps in Spanish as well as English. Of course, in the end, it's just all about talent. Unique, right place, right time talent. But if hard work can turn a kid into a star, look out above for Alan Kubas.
he explained to us all about Wayne's three-bus caravan that has driven through the nights across the country and back during this tour. Third bus is for the Young Money artists who do perform every night when Wayne takes a break mid-concert. Two rules on that third bus: you better be on time or you will be left behind. Sounds like an NFL bus.
And, as Alan told us, no defecating on the bus. You must wait for a rest stop or a pit stop for them to refuel. Alan said he's so nervous about oversleeping and missing the bus that he doesn't trust an alarm in the hotel if he's sleeping in a hotel. They do stay in the best hotels. But Alan doesn't use his room. He just sleeps in his bunk on the bus so that he makes sure he does not miss the beginning of the next leg of the trip. I love that about him.
You oversleep once with Wayne, and that could be the end of your potential career. Second bus is for Wayne's staff, including those two chefs. And the first bus is Wayne solo, just Wayne in his built-in bus recording studio. I've seen it. It is miraculous. Wayne has recorded literally thousands of songs that are unreleased, thousands.
We were trying to estimate the other day. I don't know. It could be tens of thousands of songs. Nobody knows for sure. He is just a recording machine. And as they roll through the night in the bus, when moved, he just goes sits in his little recording studio and records. So speaking of Wayne, now it's about 10, 15, no Wayne yet. Now new waves of people are sweeping through the green room. Someone had pictures. I gladly posed.
Then word swept through the room that Wayne was maybe 10 minutes away, and I heard this sort of reverent murmuring as people bustled, preparation to head upstairs to their seats. Then Wayne's videographer said to me, under his breath, out of the side of his mouth, "He's here." It was like he was sharing top secret information. "He's here." And up the stairs we flew out into the foggy thunderstorm that is a Lil Wayne concert.
We couldn't quite figure out where we were supposed to sit or to stand. We didn't actually have assigned seats. I think we were supposed to be in the family and friends section near the stage and up against the gigantic right floor-to-ceiling speaker, but we never quite made it all the way into the section because, trust me, I got mobbed for pictures. I got mobbed. Even after Wayne hit the stage like a lightning bolt,
People were still lining up to get a quick pic with me. I tried to get their names, but suddenly it got so loud I couldn't hear myself speak, let alone what they answered. And because I got sort of stuck along the aisle, along the right wall, we finally just decided, let's just stay right here instead of venturing up into the crowd and maybe inviting more photo ops. But seeing Wayne up there on stage was just amazing.
It's just shocking to me because I don't know that Wayne. He was somewhere else like Cap S, Cap E, somewhere else. He was in some interplanetary zone that few mortals ever have known. The little man has the single biggest stage presence, stage energy that I have ever experienced.
He immediately sent shockwaves through that crazed crowd at the Wiltern Theater that holds, I don't know, around 2,000, maybe it felt like there were 3,000 packed in that night. But Wayne, obviously lifelong Laker fan, hit that stage in a number 24 Kobe jersey over number eight Kobe tights. I did see Michael Jackson live. I saw Prince live twice. Neither created the raw, live energy and power that Wayne creates.
I'm talking about genuine energy and power. Nothing forced, nothing fraudulent, nothing fake, no posing, real, live, one of one power. That's what came flying right out of the box when he did Mr. Carter. Yet I quickly realized we were so close to that giant speaker that loomed above us that Wayne's lyrics were flying out of it so hot and heavy
they broke the sound barrier and inconceivably turned into tons of just raw, muddy noise. I couldn't make out a single word. I couldn't hear my favorite verse to that song, which goes, and I quote, if you don't mind, "I got summer hatin' on me 'cause I'm hotter than the sun. Got spring hatin' on me 'cause I ain't never been sprung. Winter hatin' on me 'cause I'm colder than y'all.
And I will never, I will never, I will never fall. This is beautiful. That is vintage Wayne. I could hear none of these words from where we stood. I could see so many people up in the crowd shouting the lyrics along with Wayne, but not I, too close. I later told Ernstine, we'd have been better off if we'd gone all the way to the top
and stood at the back of the balcony. It's not that big of a theater, but at the back of the balcony, I promise you, we could have heard every single word. We could still have seen Wayne exploding back and forth across the stage. And we'd been able to sort of sit back and behold the magnitude of the entire crowd reaction beneath us. But you know what Wayne later told me? That he actually thought about me
while he was up there on stage, thought about me and Ernestine being somewhere out in the crowd. And he told me that as he closed his eyes, he hit a couple of lyrics even harder than usual because he thought they would mean more to me. That really got me. And I couldn't hear a word. I was just so honored by that. And yet...
We weren't sure exactly how to take this, but he also later told me and Ernestine that he felt like we were almost like his proud-ass parents come to see their son perform for the first time. Well, that made us feel a little older than we'd like to feel. But again, I like to consider Wayne more of a brother. But hey, I do have a lot of kid in me. But if Wayne felt like we were his proud-ass parents, that was fine by me.
But as I mentioned, these old, foggy, quote-unquote parents don't smoke. So once again, the smoke was starting to get to both of us, but especially to Ernestine, who finally said that between the smoke and the extreme decibels from that giant speaker we were standing by, I mean, it was so loud, we were actually physically getting jarred when the bass thumped.
that between the smoke and the extreme volume, she just couldn't take it anymore. She said her head was splitting. We were maybe, I don't know, I lost track, maybe eight or nine songs in, and I said, okay, just one more, and I did get to hear my second favorite song, which is Lollipop. Don't hold me to the words. I just like the song. At least I think it was Lollipop.
But I knew that my all-time favorite, I would not get to hear because Alan Kubis had told us that the grand finale is a Millie, which is, I've said on podcasts before, is my all-time favorite. But it's the showstopper. So we were probably not going to be around for that one. So Ernstein did offer to go back into the green room and just sit by herself. I said, no, I don't love that idea. So we bolted, called our driver, had him meet us right outside the main entrance. My eardrum...
Your drums had taken a percussive beating and of course our clothes reeked and I had had the time of my life. Little did I know that we actually left right on schedule. Wayne was about to take his break that I mentioned during which three of his Young Money artists do perform. Alan Kubis was about to start his second song when Wayne walked back onto the stage and stopped him cold and told the audience
We appreciate it, but we ain't about to be bending over backwards for these folks. He's actually talking to Alan. We work too hard for this shit. We work way too hard. I can attest they do. Then Wayne continued, pardon my language. This my motherfucking artist, Alan. We are young money. We appreciate your time. And he set the mic down on the stage and walked off.
I was told later some of the crowd momentarily thought there was some kind of stun or gag. If I'd been there, I would have said, nope, not playing. Number one, I know how much Wayne loves and believes in Allen, and I do know how hard Allen works. And number two, I've known this for a long time, that Wayne has never loved performing for L.A. crowds. He believes L.A. crowds, in large part, are there because it's the place to be,
that they're there more for themselves than for him. I'm told a lot of artists believe that about LA crowds. So when this LA crowd wasn't giving Alan Kubas much love, wasn't really even paying attention to Alan up on stage, Wayne's patience, so to speak, went up in smoke. It takes a while for Wayne to lose his temper, but once it goes, I know, look out. Remember, this is the same Wayne
who loves the love he's always received in Fargo, North Dakota from those crowds. He loves that love so much, he respects it and honors it so much that he tacked on a return date to Fargo at the end of this tour this next week to make up for a show in Fargo that earlier got snowed out. That's the Wayne I know. Biggest heart of anyone I know. I'm sure some in that crowd Saturday night were furious at Wayne.
as furious as he was at them. But understand, this is a man who stands on his principle for what he believes is right. You can take him or you can walk out the door and leave him. And I quote, winter hating on me because I'm colder than y'all. He is. And I love him. What a night Ernestine and I had at our first Lil Wayne concert. We're still talking about it.
He wants us to come to another show, any place but in L.A. And Ernestine is going to have lunch with the tattoo artist Ivana and the psychic Veronica.
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This is Tito from Temecula. Are the Lakers back to being showtime with all the celebrities that are showing up at games? Yep. But as Lil Wayne will tell you, those celebrities will show up only as long as it looks like the Lakers do have a chance to win it all, win another championship. As long as Laker games are the place to be and to be seen, they will show up.
Without that, you can forget it, which is what Wayne would like to do with LA crowds. Jeremy from Boulder asks, "How did Hazel get her name?" Our six-year-old Maltese, Hazel, our only quote-unquote child, was named by Ernestine after one of her favorite sitcom characters from the 1960s.
Hazel, in the sitcom, is the Baxter's live-in maid who actually runs the household, though Mr. B, as she calls him, never quite figures that out. The great Shirley Booth played Hazel, won two Emmys for playing Hazel, and that half-hour show ran from 1961 to 1965, my favorite year. But even now, many nights when I go into the living room to kiss Ernestine and Hazel goodnight,
"Ernestine will be watching an old episode of Hazel." That's how much she loves that show. I wanted to name Hazel after Ernestine's late great mother, Evelyn. Maybe call her Evie? Sometimes I think Hazel is Evelyn reincarnated. "But no," said Ernestine, "calling our new puppy Evelyn, or even Evie, would just be too painful."
Which brings me to a final question from Oliver from New Jersey. Did Ernstein enjoy Mother's Day watching Game 7 of Celtic Sixers? Man, I appreciate the question, Oliver, but on a more serious note, first of all, Ernstein is not a big fan of Mother's Day. She did lose her mother, Evelyn, 10 years ago, and it just hasn't gotten any easier. She was just so close. She still occasionally and just blatantly
suddenly, unpredictably breaks down in tears, sobbing about how much she misses her mother. I didn't have that connection with my parents and so I actually cherish her depth of emotion when she breaks down missing her mother. It's really beautiful to watch as well as painful. I don't know what I can do to fix it. But on this Mother's Day, I didn't help much because
I watched the first half of Game 7, Sixers at Celtics, while I was running on the treadmill, while I was screaming at the TV over James Bleepin' Harden, my worst nightmare. I'm now ashamed to admit it, given what Ernestine has gone through with her mother and continues to go through, but on my little sports-as-life level, these NBA playoffs have been just pure anguish for me.
You might remember I started by picking the Suns to win it all over the Sixers in the finals. And I really liked both picks. I loved them after the first round. You know, if the Suns and the Sixers had lost just because they just weren't good enough, just because the other team was better, I'd say, okay, you got me. I was just flat out wrong, but that's not what happened. Game two, Suns at Nuggets. Suns are up late third quarter.
Chris Paul has gone three for three in the third quarter. They're up three. They got this game. They got this series. And Chris Paul, as you might remember, pulls his groin. Well, you could say to me, he always gets hurt. I thought this year he wouldn't get hurt. I just thought he wouldn't. Lil Wayne, very close to Chris Paul, kept telling me, texting me, I've been in touch with Chris. He's right on track to be back for game seven, but they got to get it to game seven.
And in game six in Phoenix, my man Kevin Durant and Devin Booker played like Cheech and Chong. I've never seen that. It was the all-time pathetic performance by the both of them. And frankly, Kevin, seven feet tall, seven feet long, shrank by the game against the Nuggets. I've never seen anything like it.
I mean, I tried again. I should have learned my lesson from last year when the Celtics rewrote the book on him. Just get physical with him. Get tough with him. He'll shrink. Nuggets did the same thing and he began to shrink. He had hands like tissue paper. Couldn't hang on to the basketball, turning it over, six, seven turnovers a game. I can't defend it. Shannon Sharpe's all over me about, what happened to your guy Kevin Durant? I don't know. He looks like he is semi-retired.
well he rose and shone against lebron in those two game threes in lebron's building 2017 2018 i didn't see that coming he really impressed me he was the best player on the planet and he cost lebron two championships and he won two for steph curry i don't care what you say he did that yeah he left little russ his little brother high and dry in oklahoma city joined forces with a team they had down three to one
previous playoff round. I got it, but he did that. And then he's made so much money and invested so wisely. I don't see any championship body language. He's not driven anymore. He's basically just playing for fun and it's no fun for me to watch. And I am done with Kevin Durant. Just hold me to this. Next year, I will not pick wherever Kevin's playing. I don't know where he's going to play. Knowing him, he'll
talk his way to Dallas or somewhere. I don't know, but I think he's going to play for the Suns, and I'm not picking the Suns next year. You can mark my word. He is no longer obsessed with winning. He is no longer driven, and poor CP3.
It's right on the doorstep. Kevin said he went there to win CP3, his first ring at age 38, and he's left at the altar once again because they couldn't get back to Denver in game seven. I believe they would have won game seven at Denver with Chris Paul orchestrating, guiding, directing, and making key, crucial late shots. And then me, picking the Sixers. I don't know what possessed me. James Harden led the league in assists.
I predicted Joel Embiid was going to win MVP, and he did. He went right out and he flat out won MVP. And against the Boston Celtics late in the season, he scored 52 points. And I've been showing all of his made field goals against Boston on Undisputed just to remind everybody how great he was against Boston. They could not deal with him. Unstoppable.
Has the greatest touch of a mid-range jump shooter at 7 feet 1 inches tall I have ever seen. He's the best 7 foot 1 free throw shooter I have ever seen. The Sixers led the league in three-point shooting and led the league in free throw shooting and won the MVP with Embiid and James Harden won the assist title and I thought, I got this. And then in game three against Brooklyn as they were on their way to sweeping Brooklyn,
Embiid goes down in a tangle underneath the basket, hits the basket support. I have a really good source in Philadelphia, very close with Joel. That night I communicated, "Is he okay?" "Yes, we're pretty sure he's okay." So on Monday on Undisputed, I said, "No, no, he's fine. He's going to be just fine." Joel kept complaining. They had an MRI. They found a small tear.
in his ligament, in his knee. It is not good. It might require surgery unless they think they can just wait it out through the off season. Sometimes these things tend to heal a little better on their own, but it's bad. And Embiid actually impressed me with his pain threshold, which I think I used to think was very low. He actually sucked it up with a brace and then a sleeve and played, but he was a shadow of what he used to be
against Boston. I have no idea how Philly actually got it to game seven, but they did, thanks to James Bleepenharden. And then right on schedule, game six, game seven, it was almost like he sabotaged. And then I have to read via ESPN that he's down on Doc. Well, he's always down on his coach and he always wants out. Now he wants to go back to Houston or maybe he wants to go to Phoenix. He
He quit his way out of Houston. He quit his way out of Brooklyn. Now he's going to quit his way out of Philadelphia. It felt like he turned on the coach. He's an evil genius. He is a genius of a basketball player. James Harden is. Never seen anything quite like him. He doesn't stay in shape. He's lost some of his burst, but he can still on just pure perimeter genius. He can win games. He won game one. He won game five at Boston. They won two games at Boston. I don't know how with Joel just standing out on the
wing, dribbling the ball into oblivion. I don't know how they did it, but they did. I wish they'd gotten swept. Then it would have put me out of my misery a lot quicker. So I wind up on the treadmill.
Having to watch this mess up on the screen and I'm screaming at it on Mother's Day and Ernestine runs out of the bedroom at one point She says are you okay? No, I'm not okay and when I'm running Sundays the I try to run the hardest fastest and it's not fun It's not comfortable until it's over and so the faster I'm running the angrier I get because I'm angry at it and I'm angry at James Harden and
And I'm out of my mind. And little Hazel is sleeping in her bed at the foot of the treadmill, and she doesn't flinch. She doesn't budge. She just thinks I'm a psycho. So she's learned to live with it. She just stays asleep. She doesn't even look up at me anymore. And I'm losing my mind. James Harden, how can they bring him back? How?
Doc has to take the fall. And the more I think about it, I love Doc. I know Doc. He's a really good guy. And I think he's a very good coach. I can't defend the fact that he's lost 10 game sevens. Seven times he's been up three to two and he lost. But he lost it because James Harden sabotaged him. Let him go back to Houston. Let him get a hold of Ime Udoka and see how he likes that coach. That'll last about 15 minutes.
I'm sorry. I just got to get all this out of my system because with CP3, I should have known better. I should have known he was going to get hurt. I should have known that Joel Embiid was going to get hurt no matter what. He was just going to get hurt. And I should have known that James Harden was just going to get me. He got Doc and he got me.
That's it for episode 65. Thank you for listening and or watching. Thanks to Jonathan Berger and his All Pro team for making this show go. Thanks to Tyler Korn for producing. Please remember, Undisputed, every weekday, 9.30 to noon Eastern, The Skip Bayless Show, every week.