(upbeat music) - This episode is brought to you by Honda. When you test drive the all new Pro-Log EV, there's a lot that can impress you about it. There's the class leading passenger space, the clean, thoughtful design, and the intuitive technology. But out of everything, what you'll really love most is that it's a Honda. Visit Honda.com/ev to see offers. - Yes indeedy, here we go. ♪ Hold my banner, championship parade edition ♪ ♪ Ha ♪ ♪ We've made it to the parade baby ♪ ♪ Brr, brr, brr ♪ ♪ More bio, more bio, more bio ♪ Woo, Travis Thomas here with the walking, talking, triple, double producer extraordinaire. I'll take Campbell, come on in here because you know. We have a big show today. We have Michael Bivens on the show. We have Alex Cora on the show. We're talking parades on the show. I mean, Auntie, we got all the business, baby. - Yes, we do, Travis. I wanna see, are you gonna try to hop on a duck boat today? - Oh, hey, hey, you know what? Spoiler alert from Auntie. I was gonna surprise you, but let's start right there. So, Tay, we'll bring you back later on. Talking parade all show long, of course, amongst other things. But as Auntie said, I, yes, yours truly will be at the parade today. What an experience for me. I have covered multiple championship parades in a different city, but still, I've been there, you know, talking to all the fans, getting the interviews, getting the flavor of the day. I've covered parades in studio, sort of providing a play-by-play for what's going on at the parade and what you're seeing as a viewer. I've done it all. I've covered the championship run. So I've been at the multiple playoff games, interviewing you, the fan, all the way subsequently to the title game, and then the parade. But I've never been the one just as a fan, just hanging out. So as soon as this show wraps, I am heading down to the parade. So if you're going down, come say hello, let's party together. And I'm anticipating a parade filled with love. I mean, listen, this is a likable team. Let's just face the facts here. This is why I said we know Jason Tatum's getting a bag. Jalen Brown's already got the bag, but I've said time and time again, great investments. Smart by the Celtics to wrap these guys up, pay them all the money in the world. It's smart investments because they are so likable. Everyone on this team's likable. No one's bigger than the team about me over we. There's no bad character dudes on this team. They're all spiritual, they're all nice. They all say the right things. They're all involved in the community. They're just good guys. And it's why I believe today, this parade is gonna be amazing because we all feel that as fans. Sometimes I know some of these guys play for your team. So you gotta root for them on game day, but you know, after game day, you're kind of holding your breath. You're like, oh boy, let's hope this guy's not out in the club tonight and makes a bad decision or when a bad decision is made and something bad happens, we've all been there where we go, oh gosh, I saw that coming with that guy. Not surprised at all. It's not the case with these Celtics players. They're all good dudes. Now I'm not saying they're perfect. We all make mistakes, but from what we've seen, and we've seen a really good sample size as it pertains to Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum, right? They've been here long enough. We have a good feel for who these guys are and they're great dudes and they lead the way for the rest of the culture with the Celtics. Now how I'll remember this playoff run, I'm going to be honest. I'm not going to look back and remember all the injuries to the start players of the opposition. No, not going to do that. I'm not going to look back and think, well, you know, they weren't really tested. No, not going to remember that. You know what I'm going to remember? How they mocked, they mowed down everyone in front of them, which is exactly what they're supposed to do. I will over time look back on this and remember how dominant the Celtics were in a boring playoffs. I mean, that's not a knock on the Celtics. It's just the truth. I was thinking, how boring were these playoffs? I don't really remember outside of Jalen Brown's big shot against the Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals. I don't remember a ton of buzzer beaters. I don't remember a ton of drama. So I went back, looked at some numbers just to see if I was right. Eight playoff series, eight in this postseason were finished in five games or less. The numbers support what I'm feeling. I mean, you can't get more boring than that. Eight playoff series in this postseason were finished in five games or less. That's dominance. And hell, we watched all the Celtics games. How many games did we watch absolute blowouts from the Celtics team? So although they handled their business, smoked everyone in front of them. I will remember that, but I also remember hand in hand here. Yeah, that playoffs outside of the Celtics watching them and covering them kind of sucked. It did, it was boring. But nonetheless, the championship is the championship. All right, now here's one thing I'm looking for today too. I need Brad Stevens to get his flowers. He deserves so much love at this parade. This guy has had two stellar careers already. Wrapped up in the one. Think about this as a coach. Let's look at this. He was national runner up twice at Butler an obscure school that he made relevant. Don't kid yourself. He didn't do this at UNC for God's sakes or Duke. It was at Butler. Then he coached the Celtics to three Eastern Conference Finals. Now, I already know what the haters are saying who's watching this. Well, he didn't win the big one at either place. He didn't win an NBA title. He didn't win an NCAA title. Okay, fair enough, but he's off to a much faster start now as an executive than he was a coach and oh, by the way, think of this, he was smart enough. And the Celtics organization was smart enough to make the pivot from head coach to, let's put you in the front office here. Now, as an exec two years ago, his team broke through, made it to the finals, although they came up short last year, Eastern Conference Finals. Finally this year, the victory cigar. I mean, this guy's had two stellar careers already and oh, by the way, he's only 47 years old. So we're talking 20, 25, 30 more years of this. I mean, this guy Brad Stevens, I will be, now that I'll be a fan and I won't have to have that professional decorum of interviewing anyone, I'm just gonna yell out, "Bread, I love you, man, I love you." All right, if you're going to the parade, come see me. You see, I'm already in parade form. I'm just counting down the minutes 'til this show is over so I can get there. So let's bring him in, Aunty Campbell, who at one point, when I said these playoffs were boring, I saw him shake his head and mouth something to himself. So I know you're gonna tell me this is the greatest playoffs ever and I'm just hating, but I'm telling you, the numbers tell you. I mean, these playoffs were boring, brother, it was. - Yeah, I mean, I guess 'cause we stayed up and watched the Celtics games. Those ones were boring, for sure, but when we were staying up late to watch those Western conference games, not just the finals, but all the playoff runs in the West, it was a lot more interesting, a lot more interesting basketball over there. They had most of their stars over there on that side of the bracket, so that was a lot more interesting, but yeah, the Eastern conference was a real snooze fest. - To say the least, it was a snooze fest. But listen, again, even looking back on it, though, Tay, I'll think, yeah, it was boring in totality, but the Celtics beat the hell out of everyone. Like, I literally, that will be etched in my memory as time goes on about just how dominant they were during this postseason. Now, Alex Cora was on 310 to left, and of course, right now, Celtics is on everyone's brain, so those guys asked him about it, and not only did he agree with me, Tay, in giving Brad Stevens his flowers, his props, showing him some love, he also predicted a lot more rings for the Celtics organization. Let's take a listen. - We talk a lot about the Brotherhood of Athletes in a town, but there's also Brotherhood of the Coaches, the Managers, right? You knew Brad pretty well when he was coaching the team, stayed close with him as he's put this team together. You've got to know Joe, talk a little about that relationship, and what it's been like to watch them complete the mission, right, that this was the team that went into the year, expected to win it all, and it's not always easy to live up to those expectations and they did. - That's hard to do, man. When the only goal and the only thing you expect is to win the championship and to do it, it's very gratifying. We've been in touch throughout the season, was part of one of their coaches seminars. I took our coaching staff to the Celtics facility right before Winter Weekend. It was a great, great experience for our guys just to see how they develop players, and then we are in a season that we're trying to win as many games and we're developing players, and we learn a lot from Joe and his staff. Brad, I mean, he's been great. You know the story, you know what he's all about? He's a basketball savant. He's very smart, very bright. A guy that he keeps it simple, and that's what I like about him. He's very genuine. He doesn't have all the answers, but he'll reach out to people and try to make it as clean and perfect as possible. And what he did with this roster, it was amazing, going into the season for those who follow basketball and follow the Celtics. It was a master class of running an organization, and this is just a beginning to be honest with you. I do believe this team and the culture that they have is one of those that you expect them to win probably two more in the next four years, right? And they're really good at what they do. The two kids, they're men now, not only with the way they go about their business, but physically, they're becoming monsters. And when you get that taste, you know, you want more. And I think Harford said it best, you know, they were in Hungary, they were starving. But now, you know, you just got to continue, continue to strive for greatness and they will. - You could check out Alex Cora on 310 to left on Ness and YouTube, Facebook, Twitch, wherever you get your podcasts. Also, make sure you follow us on all your social media accounts for all of our best content. Ante, I completely agree with him. It's something you and I have talked about. Now that you have that first one, that pressure off of your back, I think this team's going to be a lot more loose. - Yeah. - Moving forward. I just need some of the things that Alex Cora said to come to fruition. I need physically, Jason Tatum, Jalen Brown and others to continue to get better and stronger, bigger, faster, stronger, the whole deal, right? I need Joe Missoula to step up his game. We've talked about losing assistance as you win more. So Missoula, I'm going to need more from him. I'm going to need him to elevate in the way that we all believe he can. But I think the culture there, and now having that pressure off of you of winning that initial ring with Brown and Tatum, I agree. I think two, three more is not far fetched, but it starts next season. I think this team has a chance to repeat. I would not be shocked if they repeat. I think they'll beat the nuggets next time around. But hey, you got the first one, Tae. You got to start somewhere, right? - Yeah, definitely. And I think a lot of the things you said is true, and of course that is very true. But two in the next four years is going to be rough if these guys become complacent, honestly, you know what I mean? If they're just going to take the summer off, well, we know Tatum and maybe White, but obviously Drew aren't taking the summer off because they'll play for USA this year. But if they take the summer off to the party and relax and all this other stuff, the rest of the league is hunting. Everyone's tired of hearing about the Celtics. You know people around the NBA who aren't Boston Celtics fans hate the Boston Celtics. So everybody wants to beat them. So there's just a huge target on their back. So it's not going to be any easier than it was this year. That's for sure. So two in the next four years is a tall task, but they have the opportunity to do that. But look, as we transition, man, we talking about the Celtics, they obviously have a championship parade coming up. But I want to ask you this, man, let's draft an all-time Celtics team. My team versus your team, okay? So I'll allow yourself to have the first pick since I'm coming up with this game. And whatever guy you choose, obviously, will be off the board and I won't be able to do it. So let's do a starting five, a coach and one bench player. - All right, listen, you and I are very competitive people. So with you giving me the first pick, I just tell you, I appreciate it. And also my team's going to kick your team's ass. And with the first pick, I'll take Larry Bird, please. And thank you. - Oh, wow. Okay, I love that one. Larry Bird, okay. What was this? What was this you're going to have on my tribe? I got to write this down. - Don't worry about my team. Just give me your pick. Don't worry about what we doing on my side. - Okay, well then, look, I'm going to go ahead and put Bill at the five. I'm going to put him, Bill Russell. - Respect. - At the five. That's what I'm going to take as my first pick. - Respect. - Well, you got next, man. - Give me Paul Pierce. - Please. - Yes, boy, that front court looking real nice, ain't it? - Yeah, it is. And I'm a little nervous about that. So I'm going to take the opportunity to take, obviously I have to take Tatum. I have to take Tatum at the three right here, right? - Okay, I don't hate it. I don't hate it. - Yep. - All right, listen, I already have two scorers. - Yeah. - And Bird and Pierce. - Yep. - Two very dominant personalities. Two guys that are going to want the ball in big spots, right? - Unlike your pick you just took. - Of course, with Tatum. - Hey man, don't be disrespectful, man, that's the champ. - So I also need an alpha to run things for me. So I may shock you here going this high, but I'm building my team to beat yours. Give me Ray-John Ronda to run my point guard. Thank you very much. - I hate you. - I mean, I already won. I'm three players in. - Hold on, hold on, hold on, you're not eating. You're not eating, you know why? - Why? - You gotta take one of his running mates, Kevin Garnett at the floor. - Now you got a big dog. - Yeah, and I know you love KG. - I do. - So I know that hurt you. - Oh, that crush. - That hit you right in the chest. Like you just hit me in the chest of Ronda 'cause I said one of my favorite Celtics is Rondo. - I'm not going to hold you, that one hurt. All right, listen, if you have Garnett and Bill Russell, I mean, you have so much defense. - Yeah. - I have no, I can't score interior in the interior the way I want to. There's nowhere I can really go. So I need a solid big man who will play his position, who will also play defense, who will match toughness, but he just won't give me what I need offensively, but I can't expect him to with those guys you have. Give me Robert Parrish. Give me the chief. - Okay. - I need prime Robert Parrish here. Not the guy I saw as a kid. Okay, where he was old and slower than molasses. And he prime Robert Parrish, and I think he can at least hold his own there, but you're clearly going to win on the interior. - Yeah, yeah, I'm going to win that. And with that, I need to go get a point guard at somebody who's going to lead my team. You know I'm a former minor, all right? So I got to go with Tiny Archibald, man. He's going to be in that thing distributing. You know what I mean? No disrespect to Bob Coosie, obviously, we know he's the go point guard of Celtics nation. No disrespect at all, obviously, I just got to go where home is. So I'm going with Tiny Archibald, man. - Okay, well listen, I respect that, but respectfully, I need an athletic freak on my team. I need someone, I could say go over there and guard that guy. And you know what else? I need a bucket too. Go get me a bucket. Go to the cup, dunk on somebody's face. Or if you're open, because I really like this Travis. Don't do me like this. Larry Bird getting all the buckets. Just stand out on the three. And if you get hot, let it fly, baby. Oh man. I need your Easter conference finals. Your NBA Finals. I knew it. MVP, Jalen Bryan. Yeah, yeah, dang. I was hoping that you might have, you know, forgot about him. But look, all right, that's fine. This team that I need, need shooting. Cause, you know, I don't want to see that side step from Tatum. You know what I mean? 40 times a game. I got to be able, KG, you know, he's going to knock down 15 footer. But I really need to, you know, expand the floor. - I know you're going. - You know, exactly where I know where you're going. Used to be the greatest, when he retired, he was the greatest shooter of all time. - Yes, yes. - I need Mr. Ray Allen at the two. - Yeah, I respect that. - Yeah. - All right, are we bench? We're on the bench now, right? - Yeah, six man. - Okay, so my starting four, I mean, my starting five is Rondo, Jalen Brown, Paul Pierce, Larry Bird, and the Chief. - Yup, it's a great team. - Boy, that's a good lineup. - It's a great team. It's a great team. - I need a little more interior, I think. I am very concerned with Bill Russell and Kevin Garnett. I'm very concerned. - Yeah. - I tell you what, coming out the bench, and I get a little more scoring out of them, give me Kevin McHale, give me those post moves inside. I need McHale, I can bring him off the bench, he could score for me. I just need Paris to just tread water against those big monsters you got, and then I'll bring him McHale off the bench to score. - Yeah, I think my team is pretty good defensively, like really good, you got Tatum, K.G, Bill Russell, Tiny's gonna guard with a heart, 100% rate, not a sloppy defender or anything like that. So I wanna add another guy who is a great shooter, good on defense. I gotta add our boy, Tuan, bro. I'm added Tuan, that's my sixth man, man, so shout out to Antoine Walker, bro. - Wow, all right, and now what's left, a coach? - A coach, man. - Oh, it's on me, red, the end. Get the cigars ready, my team wins by 20, thanks for playing. - And you know what I've gotta go to? You're gonna hate this. - Don't you dare. I need Joe Missoula, man. - How am I? - I need a guy who understands the ins and out of basketball. West Virginia, hard-nosed, he's a real dog. You know what I'm sayin'? I'd love to do my little bark on here, I'm not gonna do it today. - Yeah, I don't do it, don't do it, 'cause you know what's gonna happen? Your team's gonna get dog by 25. - Nah. - Red's gonna break out the cigars, baby. - Nah, I'm not rockin' with it. Please, I'm not rockin' with it. - All right, well, Tay, let's do this. I wanna share more with our audience from our interview with Boston icon, Michael Bivens. Now, when we caught up with him this time, we talked about his storied music career, his family, and growing up black here in Boston. Take a look. You got some family back there, Mike, man? What we got, it's a family affair, baby. - Robert Tower, she's just gonna pop there. - All right, all right. - She's about to get in the pool, man, listen, let me tell you about this new social media, this new media platform stuff. I don't do this for me, man, I do it for them. So, my baby can come in here and say, "Ah, she got a little juju bun goin' on." Let's put this up here, coming in, then going to share. - How you doin'? - How you doin'? - Hi. - How you doin' your name? - Hi, thanks. - Oh, that's such a pretty name. - Come on, come up with me, baby. - It's such a pretty name. - We swim in the pool. - We swim in the pool, right? - I love it. - That's right. And you about to go take a dip right now, you gonna get in? We doin' an interview, so you wanna just tell them, "Peace goes Celtics." Say somethin', "Peace goes Celtics." (laughing) - Peace goes Celtics. - Love you. (laughing) - Listen. - Hey, Mike Bibb, man. Happy belated Father's Day to you, too, man. Happy belated Father's Day, man. - Hey, man. And guess what I did, bro? - What's up? I went with my baby and my oldest, my other three girls, they cooked me food, man. I sat right here outside, got TV right here. I caught up my outdoor sports bar, and I was watchin' Caitlin Clark in Chicago play. - Yeah. - Man, and I ate, and I just realized, man, we don't realize how much time to sit down and chill and relax is important. I think every guy I knew just fell back Sunday and just totally chill. That's a dad. - Yeah. - That's my word. - No doubt. No doubt, bro. - So thank you on that, man. You're a parent, y'all parents? - Yes, I am. I have two kids, man. - Happy Father's Day. Yes, yes. Tell him, Uncle Mike said, "What's up?" That's right. There we go. - Hey, don't worry. I'ma bring him by the crib, man. We gonna hop in the pool and be at the sports bar right there in the backyard with you. (laughing) - Listen, listen, listen. I guess you're poppin' back here, man. This is a fun spot. (laughing) You know, we family, man. You and Ness and our family, and you know, we appreciate you. And I told you from the jump, man. I gave you your flowers when we first talked. Thank you for all your contributions, not only to music, but to society in general. So I cannot let you go without asking a couple of music questions. You know, obviously-- - Okay. - 702 ABC. We know a lot of the groups you discovered and your contributions and many others. But I need that boys to men origin story because is it really true what we hear in Motown Philly? Is that the story that they just ran up on you and essentially audition for you on the spot? Give me that boys to men story, man. I need that. - Man, hey, listen, man. They were backstage. They snuck into a show. They ran into Ron and Rick first. They ran into me second. We exchanged numbers. They sang. They sounded magnificent. It took two years to groom them and artists to develop them. And I signed them through my production to deal with Motown and boom. Long story short, man, one of the biggest best groups in the world who sold a lot of ton of records who broke a lot of records. They were probably the group that established me as an executive. And now. - Wow, bro. That's incredible, man. And even so I explained to you last time we talked, when new edition first started, I was a little too young, but I was there for the back end and then the reunion. I still listen to that reunion album, man. I know you guys are torn all over the place. I just can't even imagine the generational fan base that you guys have. People that grew up listening to you now, their kids are listening and they put their kids on. I mean, is that not Mike Bivens? Is that not the beauty of music, just connecting generations of people from all different walks of life together to love what you created, right? - Well, you got to know, right? No addition was kids. So majority of our catalog is teammates. And when you play our music for another kid, it's not hard for them to identify with it because the voices are young, right? When we got older, we didn't change the conversation or we didn't get vulgar or change the approach to the woman, we just talked to them as if they went from teenager to young woman to woman. So it's still safe. And that's what it is about no addition. It's safe. Now when we get to Bobby Brown, BVD, a little bit of poison, they do meet... (laughing) It's safe, but it's a conversation. This isn't really a conversation. - Grow folks. - But the grown folk, right? But the crazy thing is all of that was on radio. All of it's on radio, so it was safe for radio. But you could even see we came into our own too. So I would just say it is generation and now poison is part of the family. It's just as big today as it was in 1990. - Wow, that's incredible, man. And a testament to the work you've put in now. You know, I have two more questions for you and they're both pretty deep. Number one, I know that's in and yourself, it's family. And that meant a lot to me to do this interview and that's why I'm gonna go here with you because cancer has affected all of us in one way or the other personally. You do a ton and have done a ton over the years with the Jimmy Fund. Can you talk to me, Mike Biv, personally, why you are so involved in that? I know obviously you're involved in all community events when it comes to your city, but the Jimmy Fund specifically for you, what does that mean to you and why are you so deeply involved in it every year? Well, when you get the call to go on for an hour, they book you as a celebrity, right? - Right. - On the call sheet, it says celebrities and call-ins. You're like, okay, but if you take the word see from celebrity, you could put it over to see for cancer and it just changes all of that. You don't have time to be a celebrity. You have to be compassionate and be open to the stories you're gonna hear and you have to be able to understand this parents come in here with children that's been through some emotional pain, some family adjustment, sometimes one parent is more attentive than the other. It takes you on a whole 'nother rise. You have to have the mental capacity to understand people and the route that they go through in life and being sick and wanting to get the cure, this, that, and the third. So what pulls me into it is I like stepping outside of the music zone to be a people person, to be compassionate, to listen. And then when I'm on there and I'm hosting for an hour, I think even me, like how you guys are, I learned a little bit more about questions, not to have long questions, not to try to trip somebody up, be able to fluently speak in the way that the mama or the child can answer because you allowed them to walk right into it. So I'm like, when I'm on the air, man, I be so focused, I get there a little bit earlier than my time slide bro. It brings out a whole 'nother thing. I got my polo on and I sit up there like I'm working for nothing. I don't go up there like I might be able to entertain. That's trivial. - Well, listen, we feel that, Mike, we feel that. I mean, that resonates with what you do there and obviously we appreciate all that you have done and you continue to do over the years. I'll leave you with this. I wanna know about growing up black in Boston because I had told you where I'm from, from that DMV area. And when I got the job here, dig this. I had two different reactions when I got the job at Nessin. My white friends said, Boston's gonna love you 'cause you're passionate, you know your sports, those fans are passionate, they love their sports. So they're gonna love you 'cause you're high energy, right? My black friend said, hey, be careful, be careful. We know, we understand the history of race in this town. So I get here, Mike Biv, I'm going on three years being here now and I lovingly say to you, I have had nothing but love. I've had no incidents, no hate at all. And I'm doing, bro, OG, I'm doing radio, podcast, TV, if there was gonna be hate directed at me, it could come at me and it's been nothing but love. - It's been any time. - It's nothing but love, dog. And then not only that, but when I went the first time to get my haircut in this city, I was in Roxbury and I'm looking around, I'm like, it's diverse here. So can you just talk to me about growing up black in Boston and the kind of reception you got from our people when you went outside of it that they had a different perception of this city than maybe what was your reality? - Well, you know what's interesting? This is a sports channel, right? - Yeah. - Isn't this nothing, right? - Yeah, yeah. - Doing this sports network. Do you know why people think Boston is racist or why there's so many white people in Boston? Because when you watch the Patriots, you see white fans. When you watch the rest of us, you see white fans. When you watch the game last night, you saw white fans. The thing is, people only see what they're magnified. Now, the interesting thing about your question is, the reason I fight and do what I do to sit courtside for the Celtics is for all of the black kids, one who couldn't afford to get that ticket, two who don't know nobody to get in that seat, and three, each time I'm at the game, I'm representing a sea of black people who were home watching it on TV. So I take it upon myself to represent the voiceless, the people who don't have the finances to do it. And I think because I was bus from Roxbury and went to school in Belmont, or all white school with only 18 black people, I got a chance to get the best of both worlds. So when I'm sitting there trying to explain people, Boston, from a racial tone of what's real or what's old, I try to help them things. We have gotten better and we have come a long way. Can we do more? Absolutely. But we can't control the uprisings and someone gets shot in the neighborhood and our people want to wild out. That's pain, that's emotion, that's family, that's the neighborhood. But what I can say is, when you look at the Celtics players, you look at the Patriots players, you look at Hoppe in them and the Dominican and all that, you can see the team has a flow in the spread out. But you can't control the stands. And that's where people got their opinions because of the stands watching the sports. And because our team was always at the end, the Super Bowl, the World Series, the NBA Championship, the Stanley Cup. You got to see us so many times that he was like, "Well damn, that don't look like Atlanta." That don't look like, you know what I'm saying, you compared it to the other, that don't look like DC when you can see a little bit more color. But as a black man, man, I'm proud. And wherever I go, I defend Boston, rather I'm defending white people, it's saying people Asian or black because I wear that B proudly on my chance, man. And I try to correct people on if they think it's something. And if they're right, I'll say, you know what? When I go home, let me see if I can address that. I appreciate that. - Yes. - Oh my. - Take responsibility of their curiosity or how they feel and I don't fight it because I say, you know what? That's from another person's point of view. Let me take that and say, hey, well, I was out of town. They said, this, this, this, this and that. What can we do to fix that? Are you open to it? 'Cause people want to come to town, stay at the hotels, go to the restaurants. They want to support us, but we have to welcome them to make them feel welcome. - That's right. - So we welcome you from the DMV, just like the DMV has welcomed me. So hopefully I answered your question. - You definitely did, brother. And even where I sit, you know, it means a lot to me. Now that I'm here, I never want to leave. I love the city, bro. And hearing what you said about representation really matters because listen, I look around this town in this industry that I'm in, Mike Biv. There's not a lot of people that look like me. So I understand the responsibility that I have to hold it down where I'm at. And I also hope, by the way, and pray for the same type of runway as some other folks who have been long-time broadcasters in this town for 20, 30 years, I hope I get the opportunity to do that the same way some of them have as well. So I can continue to represent it for generations as well. - Absolutely, absolutely, let's walk in it. And that's what, we'll continue to do stuff together because when two or three people get together, it makes it even stronger, you know? - Amen. - So you have me as a support and you have me as someone you could reach out to off air. And what do you see I was there yesterday? I had to be there, man. And I left with an NBA championship snapback. You feel me, bro? The executive VP said, here you go, babe, I put that joint on, took a picture, and I got my old weight hat, and I took a picture this morning, I put the old weight hat next to the 2024 hat, and said, I was there two times, man. I am living my best life as a ball player. - Man, you are blessed, brother. That's what that is, you are blessed. By the way, let me leave you with this, Mike, babe, 'cause I'm looking at these numbers. I'm gonna have your city stun on 'em as we leave here. Boston Championship since 2021. All four of the major Boston sports teams have won 13 titles, six from the Patriots, four from the Red Sox. Now, two times from the Celtics and one from the Bruins. I mean, Mike, babe, this is the city of champions, dog. This is your city. - Hey, listen, if you want me to come behind that excitement, I will not do that. You end with that excitement. (laughing) What's that dude that say he's got to know when the flow's over and the whole lesson? Listen, we gonna call that the headliner right there. That's the headliner outro. I will not come behind that. I need you to let it back. Drop the mic. - Shout outs to my friend, Auntie. He's my friend now. Michael Bivens for coming through and blessing us there. Now, from one music career to another, your boy, Kendrick Lamar, showed out in your hometown of Englewood with his pop-out concert, Kendrick Lamar and friends. It was on Amazon, Auntie, first of all, thank you for hipping me to the game because I didn't know it was on Amazon. I had heard there was a concert you had told me like a week before. Hey, Juneteenth, make sure you're tuned in to Amazon. I said, oh, it's streaming? I was locked in, we were texting throughout. Let me tell you something, man. First of all, I've always, and I've told you this when we met, I grew up wanting to grow up in Long Beach because of Snoop. I felt like I knew Long Beach just because I grew up listening to Snoop. I got that same feeling with this show, with this Kendrick Lamar show where I felt like, man, Compton, Englewood, Long Beach, all these areas in LA, it was so LA, that concert, Auntie. I am willing to tell you right now, that was the greatest rap concert I have ever seen in my life. Kendrick Lamar crushed it, all the West Coast artists from Don Kennedy to YG to tie dollars on you, name it. J-Rock, all of them, crushed. And I'm just, I was in awe. The breath control of a Kendrick Lamar, he doesn't have sing-songy songs, like he's got bars, he is rapping his arse off on all these songs, and to be able to have that kind of breath control and crowd control. And then at the end, he brought all of LA up there. There was gang bangers from different sets up there in peace. I mean, you can't make this stuff up. I've never seen anything like it in my life, Auntie. You must be on Cloud Nine right now. - Oh man, you know how much I'm on Cloud Nine. I loved hearing Englewood every 10 minutes of that concert. Just, "Hey, Englewood, we love you, Englewood." - Shout out to my city, man. - Yeah, man. - There's a parade inside my city. - Yeah! - Y'all are up right now, bro. - You know what I'm saying? So, yeah, bro, you know, it was a great night. The other night watching that concert. Just seeing Mustard bring out everybody. - Everybody. - I mean, YG, blast. Don Kennedy, you know what I'm saying? You know, obviously, Nip would have been there if you had the opportunity to be here, rest his soul, man. - Yeah. - So, you know, Dre. - Yeah. - Dre and him setting up. - Yes. - Not like us, like, oh my gosh. That was really just a great moment for my city, man. - It was. - It was like a black sorway. - Sorway. - It was on Juneteenth. - Yeah, man. - I mean, that was even, that added to it. And then, as I said, you know, Bloods, Crips, everyone coming together on this stage, he had the whole NBA. It felt, I mean, I saw every NBA player from LA on stage. How many times did he do not like us? - He did it five times. - That's it? I mean, it felt like a hundred times and it got better each and every time. - Oh, man, yes. And I love seeing the Marta Rosen out there. I know that hurt Drake. I'm sorry, Drake. I'm sorry. He chose. He switched sides, right? - You're not sorry. - He chose. You know what I'm saying? - LeBron was there? - LeBron was there singing all the words. - Oh. - You know what I'm saying? - Bro. - Good for you, man. It was a great night. - Shout outs to Englewood. I know all your folks watch this. I love y'all. When I come, listen, I'm telling you right now, I want to come to the barbecue, all of that. I want to party with y'all. - Hey, you're invited. You just know that. You're invited. - Thank you. - No question. - All right, Tay, I want to give you my top five rap concerts. Some of these I've been to, some of them I just watched on TV. Okay? I'll go five to one. - Okay. - Five black album tour at Madison Square. I only watched that. - It was like a documentary on that. - It was also about the hooded side. - And I love that documentary. - Yep. - So I'm going to go black album tour at MSG. You know I'm a Jay Z fan. That's my guy. So black album tour at MSG. Number four, I was at this one. Wu Tang at the 930 club in DC. Small intimate venue. All members of Wu Tang were there. It was incredible to be in the building. Number three was up in smoke tour. My parents didn't want me to go to it. I was young. It had every rapper who mattered ever. Look it up. Jay Z was a part of that as well. - Hold on. I need you to slow down. There's a little bit. Wu was that like it? - Well, I don't remember much, but it was, let's call it foggy. Hazy. - All right. - Hence the name. - I got the hit. - All right. - Number two, the Los Angeles Super Bowl halftime show. With Snoop, Dre and all that. You see a lot of West Coasts in my top five. - Yeah, yeah. - I mean, Tay, I'm from the East, but I got loved. - The list is up, baby. It's up. - You and I were meant to be my friend. - Yes, sir. - I thought that was the greatest Super Bowl halftime show I've ever seen. And so that was number one until this Juneteenth when Kendrick took the title. It was amazing. And I already thought that that was the best concert that I saw. And then him bringing everyone up on stage like he did in Unity to end the show is really what put it over the top for me. So there you go. My top five rap concerts ever. - Okay. Yeah, I like that list, man. I have nothing else to say about it. That's a great list. Showing respect to the West Coast, you know what I mean? I love y'all bossing. But I, you know, Juneteenth was about LA, man. I can't lie. - I would love to see Kendrick do that every Juneteenth. - Me too. - You know, like, I mean, Drake has an OVO fast, right? Like a lot of these Jay Cole as Dreamville, I think it's called or Dreamfest or something like that. So I feel like Kendrick could do this every Juneteenth and it would be awesome for hip hop and awesome for music overall. Hey Tay, you're awesome, man. Bask in your West Coast glory right now. You guys are up and I love it, man. I'm happy for you. - Top two when we ain't two, baby. Let's go. - I like that right there. All right. I want to end with this before I haul out of here and head to the parade. So J.J. Redick named the head coach of the Lakers four year deal. Congrats, man. I mean, it feels to me like you were hired to get fired, but that's just a reality of coaching anyways. This is what happens. Lakers are in bed with LeBron James and this is what it looks like. He is the Alpha and the Omega. Now I do believe they wanted Dan Hurley. It didn't work out cool, but this is LeBron's guy. This is probably who LeBron wanted from the beginning and he's getting what he wants. J.J. Redick's going to come in. I think he'll do a fine job, but I don't think he'll do a good enough job to keep the expectations of Lakers fans satisfied. And that's probably the reality of the Laker job, right? Now Dan Hurley goes in there. It's a little bit different, but when you don't have that kind of cache as a head coach and you have literally zero experience, I just don't believe J.J. Redick is going to be able to live up to that. We'll go into that deeper Aunty and I on the next episode of Hold My Banner. Also, big trade in the NBA, Alex Caruso, Josh Giddy. All right, so now we'll also go into that trade much deeper for both of their respective teams, particularly as you look at the Oklahoma City Thunder, who we know has all the draft capital you can dream of. They have a ton of cap space. Now you move off a guy and Josh Giddy, who's sketchy, who's sus, to say the least, Google that. So I think the Thunder here gained some more flexibility, good for them. We'll break that down on the next episode of Hold My Banner as well. Hey, enjoy the parade everybody. If you are there, please come say hi to a brother. I can't wait to meet you. We'll take pictures. We can show it on the next episode of Hold My Banner as well. For Travis Thomas and Aunty Campbell and you, another championship here in Boston, baby, the City of Champions, you gotta love it. We'll see you next time on the next episode of Hold My Banner. Peace. (logo whooshing) Want to hear more on the latest in New England sports? Download the Neston 360 app to stream live Red Sox games, highlights, game recaps, and more. Sign up or log in for free with your TV provider to start streaming now.
