NBC Sports' Noah Eagle Returns to Boyers Not Ballers

Hello everyone, and welcome back to another episode of Boys Not Ballers, a very special episode. We are joined by Emmy Award winning sports host for NBC, Noah Eagle. Fresh off the Olympics in Paris. C.J., what an honor. I mean, we've never had an Emmy Award winner on this show. I've imagined that I was an Emmy Award winner numerous times and a Tony Award winner and an Oscar. You know, all of it. Academy Award winner. But Noah is here. Fresh off the Olympics, fresh off Chargers preseason action up top. What was more exciting? The cover. I'm just kidding. Yeah, I think you really stack on one by one. And the Trey Lance five interception performance, or even I go back to the first charger game I did the week prior, which was a game in which the Chargers did not score a touchdown. I would say that was one of the more impressive rushes of my life. No, it's it's impossible to compare. I will say that I too, dreamed of being like Jim Carrey, a two time Golden Globe Award winner that was, would have made my life complete. But one day, one day. I think the Golden Globes are going to cut this clip and start using it as like a save the Globes like PR marketing campaign, because. Save all the odds. For all the awards shows, the Globes are hanging on for dear life. But Noah, it's been it's been a year since you're last on this show. What a year it's been for you, man. Congratulations on all the many accomplishments up top. If we miss any of them, do not take it personally. Rather, it's a compliment because you've just done so many and we can't afford to pay a proper researcher on the show. But I'm curious, did you buy property in Paris this summer because you were over there a couple times and spent a good amount of time there? How was obviously the Olympics? And then of course the French Open as well. What was it like being in France for two really incredible sporting events? Yeah. So I mean, I'm starting to feel like Michael Jordan. Last dance is how you're picturing me when you forget certain accomplishments with the bat in the locker room, like you're waking up with a cold sweat at 3 a.m., like, Nickelodeon, I forget. Yeah, I guys, it was really cool. I mean, I, I was working on my French and I really going into both because it was a combined 40 days in France. So I was like, all right. If by day 39 I'm not basically fluent in French. Well, failure. And I'm here to report I am an epic failure. No, it was like. Suck, I blew. Yeah, I mean, I got enough that I could kind of converse and I went from Dumb American to he's trying. So I'll take that as a win, but definitely not fluent. The trips themselves and the events themselves were incredible. You know, I got to do the French Open in 2020, guys. And it was Covid. So there were no fans and it was so different. It was so odd. And even the city walking around, that was my first time in Paris. There was nothing happening and there was a curfew. There were things, the heavy police presence. So for me, this was the first real time I got to be in Paris, got to experience it. And for that first trip with Roland Garros, it was 18 days and I had three full days where I had nothing. And on those three days I just walked and explored and tried different things and just tried to do everything I possibly could. And I saw so much of the city that by the time I got back for the second trip, it was like I was a local. I'm like, oh, these are all my favorite places. Let me show you this one. Let me go to this one. Let's let's go over here. People are like, oh, what should I do on this day off? I'm like, go over there. So it's great. And I also knew that I wasn't going to have any time on the second trip, which I didn't. I mean, we had games literally daily, whether it was 1 or 2, we had at least a game every single day. So I didn't have any days off. Not to mention that first ten plus days we were in Lille, which, as I describe it, had charm. Don't get me wrong, because it's going to sound way worse when this when I say this than it actually was. But the equivalent of Lille was like saying, hey, you're going to call these games in New York and you're in your head thinking New York City. And then you get to Buffalo, New York, and you're like, this is not quite what I expected it to be, but it was still nice. And we had our little areas and we found our little restaurants and everything. When we did have earlier games. So yeah, it was it was definitely different, the two experiences, but they were both incredible and ones that I'll definitely never forget. Yeah, I'm thinking the tourism department is going to ask that we strike that on the record. Golden Globes, keep it. We'll take it away. Focusing. We'll get to more French Open a little bit later, but I think starting off Olympics. Whoops. I'm curious going in, if you had any expectation, Noah, and how it may have been different than what you anticipated, what were the things, whether it was the environment, the fans, the play, the experience, what were those things you naturally, as a human being, you're like, it's going to be like this, this and this. What surprised you from just the overall Olympic experience? Honestly, C.J., I think I was I was pretty uncertain about the whole thing going in because there were so many factors that were up in the air, in my opinion. You know, I think when you go in, I'll take the French Open as the other example, I knew exactly what I was getting into. I was working with John McEnroe and Mary Carillo, who had done this event quite literally for 40 years. Right. So they knew this. They knew exactly what to expect. I had done it, as mentioned, during Covid. So I kind of knew what to expect. And you look through all of that and you say, okay, you know, like, yes, this is going to be exactly what I know it's going to be versus the Olympics. I was working with Dwayne, who had never done a game before when we started this. So I was like, how's that going to go? Well, China and I had never worked together. I knew she was going to be a pro. Our sideline reporters, I knew, would be pros, but our entire production crew was back in Connecticut. So there's that factor of it. We had one onsite producer, we had a couple of technical crew people and like production managers, that was mostly it. So there was that. There was the fact that these are guys and ladies that I had never seen before on most of these teams, you know, Greece outside of Yanis and Thomas walk up and Nicollette this and I guess coach does Papa Nicolaou for me. It really wasn't it wasn't a who could forget I was. Just Papa Nicolaou. Yeah. Come on. That was a Knicks draft pick. That was another boom at the at the draft for the other I, I could not for the life of me tell you many of the other guys on that team and there was one Yorgos Papa Yanis who I said on air, said Yanis is checking out in favor of his father, Papa Yanis, which I felt really proud of in the moment. But yeah, that other than those guys like brand new team, right? Thanassis is hurt now playing coach this day after the ball was going to play. He then doesn't make the team. Eventually I will say that Lille. The hotel did not have a gym. But there was a gym right by. There was a mall. One was connected to the hotel. There was a gym in that mall. So I was like, we're going to be here. We were there for basically two weeks out of the three weeks that I was in France, like, all right, let me see how much it is to join for a month or whatever. Pretty cheap. I'm like, all right, I'll just join. And within two days the NASA, US coast, US and Alex Antetokounmpo all joined that same gym. And it's great when you feel like you know what that must mean. I'm doing something right until you realize you have to share equipment with them. And they might they might be the sweatiest men on the on the planet. And that was never, you know, when you had the direct right after them was never ideal. But yeah, I think there was this uncertain feeling, okay, how's this going to go? And obviously exceeded everything. I mean, the crowds were unlike any crowd I'd ever experienced in my life. And, I mean, I've done big time college football where the crowds are incredible. NFL playoff game crowd incredible. NBA conference finals crowds off the charts. But this was it was a different level of fandom. I think that was included. I mean, I did the Super Bowl. I think it was even better in some senses than that. The fans were more locked in, the fans were engaged start to finish. I mean, when we we had France games, literally, it was full. They would play the just the music of the French national anthem, and every single French person in there would belt it at the top of their lungs, and you got goosebumps every single time. So I never experienced anything like that. And then obviously the quality of the games end up delivering in such a way that I never could have imagined. You know, I think we expected the women especially to really coast. And that final came down to the literal final seconds. And the man, you know, I don't think that I, I or Dwayne or really most of our crew expected them to completely coast. I think we expected them to win and probably win every game and realistically win by 8 to 10 points. If it was a close game, we did not expect a Serbia game in the semifinal. We did not expect France to compete the way they did and keep it as close as they did in the final, so those were moments that really helped make the experience, long term. Yeah. You mentioned that, Serbia game. I wanted to ask you because Dwayne Wade asked you like right after, did you, did you actually think they were going to lose in your soul? Did you believe when they were amongst friends? Yeah, yeah. When they were down 12 with nine minutes left, did you think, wait, we're going to lose this game? So yeah, Dwayne goes at the end of the game. He said, were you were you ever worried or something like that? And I kind of joke. And he was like, no. And he goes, me there, me here. Yeah. We were both worried. You're both concerned. I mean, there was a moment I would say especially third quarter. So even at halftime, because I think a lot of PTSD stuff was happening for Dwayne from 2004 as this is happening. And we had talked about in 2006, the World Cup, and he had talked about, I mean, he wasn't shy, especially off air, to talk about a lot of that stuff. And we were he was telling stories and he was like, look, if this happens, they can lose. If this happens, they could lose. And he had been saying that the whole time. To his credit, you know, from day one of getting there, he's like everyone kept saying to him, like, I remember we met these German reporters and they were so excited about how great this Germany team was playing and winning the World Cup. And this was week one, and they've been rolling for week one, and they saw us and they asked way. And you're like, do you think that Germany has a chance to beat the US? And he goes a chance. And they go yeah. Do they have a chance? And he goes, yeah. Every single team here has a chance to beat them. And they're like, no. But really. And he goes, no, really. Every single team here has a chance to beat them. They go, why do you say that? He goes, because all it takes is one bad quarter to completely derail the entire thing. One bad quarter and it's over. And I think that's what we were seeing to a certain degree against Serbia. Now I actually give them more credit than I'd say the US was at fault. I think Serbia just played a near-perfect three quarters and then kind of faltered towards the end, left the door open in the US, took advantage, but you have down 17 in the third down 12 in the fourth, all of that stuff. Yeah, 1,000%. I looked at Dwayne at times in that game and it looked like you saw a ghost. I mean, literally to his face, it was like the emotion was stricken from it. Our onsite producer, David Gibson, looked like not only had a seen a ghost, but that ghost stabbed him in the heart. And here I am, and I'm like, how am I supposed to call this? And in my head, that was what I was starting to think in the third quarter was, okay. If they actually lose two things are going to happen. One, I need to call a loss, and I need to still be excited for Serbia because that's my job. And I do think that we did a good job of staying, keeping a good energy for everything good that was happening on the Serbia side, because you can't be so skewed. At the same time, I'm thinking I'm going to go from people really enjoying our commentary to everybody hating both of us as broadcasters forever, because that's what happens if you're on the call for when the United States loses right off the gates of your first Olympics, it's over. There's no recovery from that. Everyone associates you with failure at that point. So that's now I'm thinking of all this like, yeah, you do what you. Do on ballers, not ballers pitching a job because you'd be 100%. I feel like I would love to host the Golden Globes, guys, I'd really like that. Yeah. Go back to the TV dentist thing. That'd be great. I'd be down. I'm ready. I've always been ready. Yeah, it was. It was weird, though. And so I'm like, okay, how I'm trying to formulate in my head how I'm going to frame it. And then they kind of make a little bit of a push like, all right, let me, let me shove those feelings down for a little bit. And then once they made that initial surge kind of midway through the fourth quarter, I think we both looked at each other and were like, oh yeah, yeah, we're good here. And obviously they found their way through it and they win that game and they move on. But that was one of, if not the best basketball game I've ever called. It was certainly one of the top three. It was just such a high level. You have the best player in the world, and Nikola, your kids playing like it broke down. Bogdanovich was playing out of his mind. Alexa from of it, who nobody has ever heard of is knocking down every shot he looks at. You know, Goodrich came off the bench, had like a big four point play. Me it was huge. So they just got contributions from everybody with the last name ending itch. And finally the US scratched their own itch and got it done. Oh I did not want to use that one in the moment, but I'm glad I could save it for you guys. So I kind of wanted to piggyback off of what you had said earlier. When you call games for Nickelodeon or the French Open or when you're doing college football, you obviously have to do your very best to remain as 5050 impartial as possible when you're calling a game for your country and you know the broadcast is being, you know, it's mostly an American audience that you're broadcasting to say, yeah, with a very heavy rooting interest. To what extent do you like let yourself be a fan of your country as opposed to, hey, like, this is a global event. I got to be happy for Serbia as well. This is an incredible moment for them if they were to pull that off. Yeah. So it's all philosophical in my opinion. What I interviewed with Steve Ballmer for the Clipper job, he asked me my opinion on being a homer. And I know that there are fan bases that want Homer ism, but there are others that don't. And I grew up in a New York market that frowns upon Homer ism, that if you're a homer, you lose all your credibility. That was the way I was raised. That was the way that I viewed it and viewed the job more than anything, is you're a professional. Before you're a fan. And so I told Steve, look, I'm not going to be 5050 if I'm calling the Clippers, because that would be wrong. But I'm also not going to completely ignore when somebody else does something great, because that would also be wrong. And so that's my philosophy. On any game I call, but certainly in this I skewed it that way as well. Where I was in 5050, it was probably more 7030 or 65, 35. But at the same time, you still need to achieve that 35. You still need to achieve that other side, and you still need to celebrate when something great happens. And that's always been the way I viewed it. Is that something great happened? Okay, I need to call it as if it was great because that lives on forever, and those highlights live on forever. And for some of those players that might live in the United States long term, it lives on forever for them and their families as well. It's a soundtrack for them, and that's the way that I see it is. Excuse me? That's it's got to be genuine, a genuine reaction. It can't be, I think makes it not like what they were doing was special and deserved to be celebrated as well. Now, the way I see it is when it's the US, it's an elongated celebration. When it was Serbia or France, it was a much shorter celebration. So even when you obviously has the crazy dunk on LeBron, I can't just downplay that. It can't be subdued with that. You have to call that because that was one of the more exciting plays of the entire tournament. So you got to call it as such. But I feel that way all the time. And I mean, I'll just use one more example. So my dad's obviously done the nets. Now this will be your 31 for him, which it's insane to think about. So a lot of calls and this was his courier. Yeah. And so this was his philosophy and has been his whole career is call the play for what the play is. So years ago I think it was the first year in Brooklyn, actually Kobe Bryant. It's one of the great highlights of his career. Has that dunk down the middle of the lane where he almost splits in the air, Kris Humphries and Gerald Wallace and just just punches it on the entire team in like a clutch moment too. I think the game was tied late in the fourth quarter and my dad got really excited for it. He called it and he got up for it. I think he said Kobe Bryant on a rack attack and it was it was great. It was a great call. Every time I see that highlight, whose call to they attached to it, they attach his call to it. It's not the Laker side of call. And Billy Mack's call was very good. But I do think that I can kind of see that as a badge of honor, where it's like, it's not even my team. They're still using my call. That means my call was really good, and that's how I always wanted to do it myself, is like, I just want to make it a good call all the time. That's incredible. That is my reputation. And I take that pretty serious. Yeah, I think I read somewhere or heard you talk about. I think it was for the France game when Steph Curry was hitting the night night and going absolutely nuclear. And Dwayne Wade is like on your back celebrating as you're trying to make the call. I don't think a lot of fans understand that. You have human reactions to the things you see in front of you, right? There's a great clip. I love Kevin Harlan's calling a college basketball game. Henry, do you remember that game was called. I Can't write? No, I'm still busy trying to figure out what Noah was saying. Gershon Yabu silly dunked on LeBron. I don't think that happened. I, I know you must have been fooled by I or something I think. Yeah. Crazy right? It's crazy. I mean, it's. Crazy that Henry doesn't remember this moment that. Are you sure you don't remember the teams that were. Was it Furman? Maybe. Who were the. Are they like it was a Furman game or something? Yeah. Who were they playing though? Do you remember him? Anyways, I guess the moments passed, but no, I'm curious. Like it felt to me listening to you and Dwayne that you guys were having as much fun as we were at home. So is that something that happens a lot where you're like, you're reacting, you're moving? I think a lot of people assume when you're a broadcaster, you have the headset on and you're seated and you're just watching. How do you like balance, like the natural urge to get out of your seat or to hit the table or your partner's jumping on your back? Like, what is that like for you? That energy? Well, I think that's important. I honestly, I think it's necessary when you're calling a game to still embrace the fan side of it. Now, you can't be a complete fan. You have to be a professional form of a fan, but you still have to embrace that, because that's what everybody who's watching at home is feeling. And you want to feel the same things. I mean, that's why we love sports is because of the raw reaction that it can bring out of people and this level that none of us thought we could reach of fanatic. And I think that's what we felt definitely through a lot of these games. Now, the first part of that is goes back to the environment we were in because the crowds were so good, it got us even more hype. It got us even more into the games, and I think the best thing that Dwayne did was embrace that and not shy away from the fact that one, he's a former player that loves players and loves to see players succeed of all kinds, in all countries and all backgrounds. That was very obvious. I feel like, well, we're on the air, but two, he just likes to have fun. I mean, when we're off the air, everything you saw on the air was exactly what we were off the air. We were just telling jokes. We were ripping each other, we were telling stories and were laughing. And that's what we were doing. And so we just transferred that right on the air. He's definitely a pretty physical guy. Or, you know, he's a laugh or and grab your shoulder or he's a laugh or and just kind of move around a lot. And so I wasn't shocked when he jumped on me, with the snap shot, but I was shocked that he, he, like, legitimately jumped. I figured he was just kind of jumped up and down. No, no, he like actually jumped. And then the funniest thing is, if you go back on that clip, let China Robinson came to the game and let China talk about a professional. She is as professional as they come. She is awesome and one of the great people you'll ever meet. And she shows up to the game. First of all, she was such a supportive teammate that she showed up to the game with headphones so she could listen to our broadcast while she watched it sitting right behind us, which is, I mean, talk about dedication to the team. So she's doing that on a slight delay on her phone because it's obviously streamed. So she sees everything happen, and then she listens to hear how we called it. And if you go back to the clip and look in the background, Dwayne's on my back and the China is literally jumping up and down smiling and like almost like clapping like this, jumping up and down. And afterward I was like, do you realize that you were jumping up and down she goes. I really tried so hard just to stay seated, but I couldn't. It was that was one of the craziest shots I've ever seen in my life. And so that's what we took that emotion we wanted that, we kept that, and we wanted everybody else to feel that. So I was glad that it ended up coming through the screen, because you don't always know how it's going to be delivered. Sometimes some people might think it's too much, some people might not, might think it's not enough. Really. You just have to do whatever comes naturally and hope it sticks. And so we were glad that it did. Yeah. So I kind of wanted to like we talked a little bit about the broadcasting aspect. I want to talk a little bit about like the basketball aspect of what you actually watched. I guess feel free to spitball whatever you, whatever you want, but what were your big takeaways from the actual whoops? Because for me, everyone's always talking about all the difference between NBA and international. The physicality, the it's called differently. The refs don't don't allow as much in the NBA that they do internationally. And I think I definitely noticed that in the women's specifically in the final against France, they were very physical with A'ja Wilson. Did you notice that? And also like were there any players that were not LeBron or Curry or Wembanyama who you think actually like showed up and made a name for themselves in this tournament that you're like outside of, I guess, Gershon Yabu Kelly's the obvious one. Yeah, he was there. The dancing bear. He would be the pick. Yeah. I guess the first part of it is the difference in the Fiba and the NBA game. First thing that I, I really wish the NBA did was adopt the goaltending policy of Fiba, because I do love some of the plays that it creates. You know, late in the final for example, when when you have a misses the bank shot and he comes right over the top and just kind of pushes it back in, like, I love those types of plays. He also was really smart in how he knocked it off the rim, and I think that that's an exciting play. I think that it can be something that's really used and almost strategy, and you get to see it because it doesn't happen that often. It's only every now and then in games. But if you're smart enough and for a guy like Victor Wembanyama, it creates so many more highlights for them. Not like he needs them, but I just I would love to see the NBA adopt that. I think it would be really good for the game. The physicality part of it. So Dwane made the point and he had played a lot of five of basketball through team USA. And he made the point. And I think it's probably accurate. The physicality that they allow is a lot more away from the basket. Once you get to the basket, it's pretty much called the same. And anybody who's arguing that I would say is wrong. Now, I think the women's final is probably the one example. They were definitely super physical and really letting it go and letting it play out a little bit more. But for the majority of the men's games, you know, if you drove hard to the basket and you got fouled, they called it foul. I think the ones they didn't call a foul, they were probably ticky tacky. They were. And there were some that maybe would have been called in the NBA, but I think most of them wouldn't in like a I'm thinking of in a playoff situation because that's what this is like. You have to keep in mind the difference of a six game season versus an 82 game plus postseason season. That's a huge difference. Not to mention a 40 minute game with five fouls for a foul out versus a 48 minute game with six fouls for a foul out. I think that's a huge difference as well. So I would say that the the physicality thing gets overblown a little bit because if you really watch it, it was mostly similar. Now, I do think the foul baiting that that was not going to be called, and I think we saw that through the exhibition games and I appreciate that. I think that you're you're forced to really play through it, which is for the best for all of us and the NBA is slowly trying to phase that out. But you can't do it overnight. And I think that's what they've struggled with is, okay, how are we really going to police this? Because these players are so used to it. It's going to completely change this game. So they they're trying to slowly phase it out, which is not an easy thing to do, but the rules themselves, it was fun. It was a fun brand of basketball. And I think it reminded me a lot of the NCAA tournament because of especially the second week at single elimination and guys wanted it so badly. You know, there was this level of desire that you just don't necessarily see all the time. And especially from the NBA and WNBA players, there was this level of desire of, okay, we got to go out and we got to get this and for for the United States. I thought you felt that on both sides for the other kind of powerhouse teams coming in. You certainly felt that. But there's this different level of of emotion that comes with representing your country. And Bam Adebayo talked about seeing that with Australia in Tokyo and seeing guys bawling their eyes out for winning bronze. You know, it means so much to the majority of the world just to medal. Just to be in a position of medal, that it puts it in perspective of what this means. And I think that's what this year's United States groups really, really saw and really embraced it on their way to the gold medal. In terms of players that really impressed me. One, I think Franz Bogner impressed in a lot of ways before kind of the last couple of games there of just how. Yeah, I that KG take that see just. How he he really went after it. Now he was terrible in the bronze as he was in the semifinal. But I thought the the games leading up to those, he looked really, really good and he's still super young. So I liked what I saw out of him. I would say a lot of the guys on the South Sudan team were impressive, and that's not an easy position to be in, really. He deserves a ton of credit for how he coached that group. But you could say I mean, we knew when you and Gabriel, because he had played six years in the NBA or whatever it might have been, not a ton. He had the one year where the Lakers, where he played 64 games. But other than that, you know, it's been a cup of coffee here, cup of coffee there. But we knew he was a high. He was a five star recruit. He's a McDonald's All-American. He was a guy that was highly touted. But some of those other dudes I mean, Cali Jones, obviously he's going to stand out for the way he played, even just in the exhibition play against the US with a triple double. But he was impressive through the tournament in my opinion as well. I thought he really showed out. I thought Santi Aldama looked like he took another stride forward and could be a big player coming up for Memphis, a team that I'm really intrigued by this year, just because I think they've got all the pieces in place. If they stay healthy and their IQ is in the right place, let's say from their superstars off the floor. Yeah. I mean, it's a fun tournament because you see all these different players. The other guy on France was Courtney. He was really impressive in big moments and moments where it looked like France was dead in the water. He and LA were really the reason that they made it to the gold medal game. I mean, Gobert obviously barely plays. He plays a little bit more in the gold medal game, but his minutes just go all the way down. But those two guys come in and provide just this different level of spark that we did not expect. And so they deserve a ton of credit for the way they played. On the women's side, Julie Von Low was really good. I mean, maybe some, so I'm not going to include like all the stars necessarily. But von those a rookie this year on the W and I was thoroughly impressed. My Yamamoto for Japan is like five foot five, but is such a spark plug. So I always love watching her play. And China had the I was really upset because they have a seven foot three, 17 year old and she wasn't allowed to play because you have to be 18 to play for China, I think. So that was that was a power and Yao Ming was on the sideline for their games. Yeah, we ended up getting in there for the end of the China Spain game, which was a, I want to say, their second group play game, one of the craziest games of the whole tournament. A four point play sent it to overtime, and China eventually choked their lead basically down the stretch. And to watch Yao Ming's reactions was so worth it. I was. I've never seen Yao Ming more displeased in my entire life. It was on believable and he was trying so hard to, like, stay positive for all the girls. He couldn't. He just couldn't do it. He was so upset. It was like a parent knowing that their child has committed the worst, like sins of all time. And it's just. Oh. It was great. So yeah, I really enjoyed all the tournament. I enjoyed watching all the players and seeing all the kind of people you don't expect, but it was just a fun experience and I hope that some of those, those men and women that really made a name for themselves, the Alexa Rama bitches of the world, to get their chances. Now moving forward. Noah, from a team USA like prep perspective I know for NBA like Clippers and now with the nets, I imagine before a game you're talking to coaches, you're talking to the PR people, you're talking to staff, some players. You kind of have a sense in pregame what's to come right. Does that differ at all for team USA? Is it a little more guarded or do you have similar access that you wouldn't say an NBA or WNBA scenario just with different people? How do you prep in advance for that? So yes and no. I think it's for our purposes this year, it was really helpful that Eric Spoelstra was an assistant coach because of two things, right? Dwane would text him and SPO would send him that. The entire scouting report of the I mean, he would just be like, hey. So he just had it right up here. Hey no other. Sources say it. Well he would just be like, hey, here's here's the guys that you should be focused on. This is what they do. Well. And then Dwane would go back and on top of that he would go back and watch film from the from their teams I mean Dwane for a guy who is as accomplished as he is for Hall of Fame player, he worked his tail off through this whole thing. I mean, he worked with a vocal coach before we got to France to learn how to pronounce the European names. I mean, he was he was all in. And so he watched film of all these teams. He had notes, but he did text for all the time. And SPO would also give him the keys of what the U.S. wanted to do. So at least gave us a little bit of insight. And then SPO would also come out, especially week one, because our setup was so unique, where we were completely separated from all the fans. So SPO would come out usually, I don't know, 90 minutes before tip and we would be down at our table and he would just come and hang out with us for like half an hour before the teams would come out. So we would talk to him. Grant Hill would come by and we would talk to Grant. But outside of that, no, I mean, Steve, we very rarely saw, you know, we would see every now and then and say hello, but we weren't getting much. We're working to really ask him much anyway. And realistically, you know, a lot of what they said in the press was what we were going to use anyway. And most people at home watching weren't following what they were saying in the press. So it was as if we talked to them anyway. You know, I was going to use I used all the quotes from everybody on every team that we had and basically just use that as our quote unquote meetings. But yeah, it's different. It's not the same as when you're covering an NBA team, and it's not the same as when you're doing an NBA game for a network, either, because when you do an NBA game for a network, you meet with both head coaches before the game and in a separate room, you get to ask whatever you want. And some are really good. Some don't want to give you that much. You still get the opportunity to do that, and then you can go up and talk to players if you really wanted to. In our case, Dwane obviously could talk to whoever and he if he wanted to get information he could. But realistically we felt like we were good and we felt like we had what we needed. So I don't think he wanted to bother anybody. He let everyone do their thing and then went from there. So yeah, different experience, definitely different gathering information because a lot of these as team as mentioned, a lot of these teams had guys and women that didn't necessarily have the reputations maybe of the United States team. So you had to go digging for a lot of that information. And I really had to go digging for stats from other clubs and things of that nature. So that was the challenge. But it was a fun challenge at that and obviously worth it in the end. Yeah. I think you've mentioned both Dwane and LA China a lot through our conversation thus far. You have a lot of broadcasting partners right. You've called games with a variety of different folks. I'm not asking you to give away your secrets here, but how do you get to know the people that you're broadcasting with? Because what I'll say, Noah, I think a common thread through all of the stuff I've seen you do is the chemistry that shines through to the audience, with the people you're with on the air. Which everyone likes you. Everyone that you broadcast really likes you. How do you how do you so good at winning friends and influencing people? I read the book three times. Yeah. Yeah. And I, I think once I realized SpongeBob and Patrick were my friends, I was like, all right, I'm good at this. I'm I'm I'm fine. I got invited back to Bikini Bottom. I was like, whoa, we're in. So no, I, I it's so interesting because I do get this question a lot. And I think everyone expects some complex answer of, hey, this is you do this and this and this. It's really you just get to know the people and genuinely have an interest in them in their lives. And that's that's been my philosophy, period. I, I do that with broadcast partners, producers, directors, statisticians, spotters, graphics coordinators, cameramen, whoever is part of our crew. Yeah, you just want to get to know them. You just be that you're a family. It's no different than being on an actual team in a locker room. And so that's the way I view it is, hey, this is our locker room. This is our team atmosphere. Let's let's embrace that. Let's be a team together. So yeah, I, I really just try to get to know these people. And I just try to be a good guy and hope for the best. You know, I, I'd like to think that I have interesting stories that tend to try to captivate people or share interests. You know, I definitely the best thing that my dad always told me, and I know he's said this when he when he's gone back to Syracuse and given speeches and things, but the best broadcasters are also well-rounded people. And so for me, being a well-rounded person outside of sports, having interests outside of sports was paramount because it allowed me to connect with anybody of any age. You know, the first article written about me when I got the Clipper job was he's 22 going on 52, which some people like. That's literally what the headline says. And some people might look at that and go, oh, that sucks. I look at that and I say, that's great. I can I can relate now to anybody. If I have the mind of a 52 year old that I can relate to, someone who was 22, I can relate to someone who's 72 and anybody in between. And I really do view that as a big asset. And so that's the way I do it is I just I have a shared interests, common, common hobbies or whatever else it might be, and I just kind of take it from there. I just take the time to try to get to know the person. And then a lot of times over time, it gets better and better and better on the air together. And I think that's what happened with Wayne in LA, China, you know, from day one, both were awesome. Both were easy to get along with. And it only got better and better until we got to the gold medal game. Yeah. Not, not to ask for company secrets, but we all know NBA on NBC is coming back. Are you pitching in these meeting rooms? Hey, we need Dwayne back like, get Dwayne on these games. He's fantastic. If I am asked, I would love to have Dwayne back. And I think NBC would love to have him back as well. If I was just a guessing man, that would be my my hypothesis, my educated guess. But I also know that Dwayne has to decide for himself whether he wants to do this long term. And we have long conversations about that. You know, we had, some of the earlier games where we'd go to dinner and he would ask me a lot of things about the business. You know, he truly was a neophyte and was trying to figure everything out. I think as we were doing this, he was just trying to see if this was for him, and he was asking me questions to the point of like, hey, what's a number one team? What does that mean? Because everyone keeps saying that, like, you should be on a number one team, but I don't know if I want that. Like, okay, here's here's what the number one team is. You know, this, this, this and this. So it's a lot of that. It goes what what what would a week look like like of travel. And this. So he's so new that I think he's still just trying to collect. He's in the collecting data stage right now and he's currently on vacation. So I don't think he's going to make any decisions yet. And then when when the time comes, he'll be ready to make that decision. But I can tell you this much. He had an absolute blast doing it. I think he loved being at the events. You know, he had done studio before. And I think this is this made him realize how special being there is and how much of a difference it can make, and energy and enthusiasm and all of that. He love seeing all the people that he obviously is known through his life. So there were so many aspects of this job that I think he really loved. There were so many aspects of this job that I thought he was really good at. And for somebody who, again, never called a game before a real game, the only game he had ever called, I think, was the Rising Stars Challenge, which we know is not a real environment to do. How dare you? You must respect the quality of the rising star. The only person that likes the Rising Stars challenge is the man in the Laker jersey right there. Yeah. You and, fellow Syracuse legend in our neck of the woods, Dion Waiters or the old actually like the Rising Stars challenge. But yeah, I, he had never called a game. And for somebody who never did I was like, whoa. His raw ability is insane. He it was crazy. We did one rehearsal the day before we went on the air the first day, and within the first minute I go, oh, we're going to be great. This is going to come really well. So if you wanted to, I think he could be the best analyst doing it because of that work ethic that I talked about and because of his will to be great and his willingness to be coached. You know, any time that I told him something, a producer told him something, he took it to heart and he used it to better himself the next game or the next possession or the next time out or whatever. So if he wants to, I think he could be great. I would love for him to stay at NBC selfishly, but I also know that he's got to do what's best for him, so I won't hate it either way. I'll be happy for him. Yeah, I think the fans would love to see you two back together again because it was cool. No. What? I don't know if this is like intentional, but when moments that stick out to me, like Captain America. Excuse me. Yeah, like Captain America, human eraser. When you made the Lance Stephenson remark to D-Wade. Lance Stephenson, what's so cool about, I think watching you with both D-Wade and the China, it's like the the way you all talk about the game feels very similar to how the audience talks about the game. Right? So it is that Leo Once Upon a Time in Hollywood meme, when you hear some of the remarks, he's like, oh, like, that's I say stuff like that. That is really cool for the fans and especially for NBA and WNBA fans. They're younger, they're pretty rabid. They're perpetually online. They're a bunch of Henrys. Basically. I think when you able to have that really cool welcoming, like, hey, we talk about things similar, we see things similar. That is quite the skill. So this isn't a question more of just like, I want to give you the praise that you and your teams deserve. I know my younger brother, who is 22, was greatly appreciate being like, wow, Noah and co talk about the game. The way I talk about the game. He's also 21. He's at 22. I just feel like like that from the tapes like that from the tape. But I just wanted to say man, like congratulations on the coverage. It was awesome to watch. You guys absolutely killed it. So thank you, man. Thank you. Yeah, I really I think going in every game in my head, I it was WW HS what would Henry say. And I just I just went with that you know when. He I said. OMB alien you know like Captain America like he would say all those things. So yeah let's just let's just do that. But no I was right. The headline now, NBC broadcaster Noah Eagle looks to Henry for inspiration. Yeah, man. No, I think that honestly, everything you said is massive praise because that's the way we look at it is we want to hit the basketball fan. And the big Syracuse thing that has been passed down. The adage that's been passed down for generations for Marty Glickman was always consider the listener. So for us, what's our listener? What's our viewer? Our viewer is basketball people. And then we also knew as we got into the bigger games. So non basketball people. So you've got to find a way to invite all of them into it. And by having fun, by using different lingo and then by doing a little bit more explaining, I think we did definitely do all of that, which was really the biggest goal in all of it. On top of just having clean shows, was trying to invite everybody in. Yeah, you did that for sure. I guess, Henry, do you want to talk a little NBA? You got some NBA stuff you want to throw as the NBA fan here? I'm just, you know, talking. But as the NBA fan, you want to get into some chopping it up a little bit here. Oh yeah. Sure. Why not. You pull my leg I was Hawks. He has a Lakers jersey on folks. I'm wearing a shirt from the gap. So you can kind of slice that. By the way gap. Gap is in. The. Eye. Gap is completely that's actually complete fact I get a lot of stuff from the gap now. It's very high quality. All right. All the way out. Forget about take this all. Don't need this. Back it up. No no, no. I know you're obviously going to probably be part of the coverage in two years. So you got one more year to kind of sit back on the sidelines, and I'm sure you'll be doing some yes stuff. I don't know if that's, been publicly announced, but I would assume so. Is there anything this year in particular that you're looking out for? Is it? I mean, I don't know, the growth of Webb, perhaps to becoming an MVP candidate. Any rookies that you're really excited about? I know you, mentioned earlier Memphis, a team that you're really high on. Are you an idiot or would you consider yourself an idiot? Yes, I actually would, though, to to answer the question before you move on. I got to do a bunch of Purdue games last year and Zach Edey to me is if you took a visa Zubat and put him in a seven foot four body to added four extra inches and a visa Zubat. So it's good. Yeah, good. And then he shoots 60% from the floor. He is a great room protector. I think if Eddie can learn to move his feet well enough defensively that Memphis team is going to be freaking good because people forgot how good job Morant actually is because he was suspended and then he got hurt and he basically missed the entire year last year. And for all intents and purposes, that dude is ridiculous. Ridiculous. He can do things on a basketball court that nobody else in the league can do. So we're going to see that on the floor with Marcus Smart, who you guys know as well as anybody, can ignite an entire team and fuel a fire of an entire team with Desmond Bane, who's a guy who can put up 20 points per game every single night. Jaren Jackson Junior, a defensive player of the year, whether or not his blocks have been inflated, that remains to be seen. But but he but he is an elite defender and he's a very good shooter. This position stretches the floor and now he's going to play the floor because you've got Didi at seven foot four in the middle, you've got JJ Jackson, who was the youngest player in the league last year who really flashed. You've got a guy now in Santa Aldama who I thought was really impressive at the Olympics. Like that's a team to me. That is really scary. And no one's really talking about in the Western Conference, everyone is rightfully talking about Oklahoma City. I'm excited to watch them because I love Isaiah Arnstein. He was at the Clippers for the one year when I was there, and he's one of the nicer guys you'll ever meet in the NBA. On top of that, he is one of the hardest working guys in the NBA, and he's a perfect fit for that team along with Caruso. And to think of what they have now just in their top seven, really their top seven is loaded. Every single guy is high impact. I mean, Lou Dobbs is going to be coming off the bench probably at this point. So you're going to have Lou Dore, one of the best defenders in the world coming off the bench Isaiah Joe knocked down shooter coming off the bench. The other Jalen Williams who is high energy as well coming off the bench. And what does Chet Holmgren look like now year two. Does he take another step I mean J dub is ridiculous. He is an incredible player. So Oklahoma City's here. They've arrived. And when people say like who's going to challenge the Celtics. That team is a complete team. They probably could. Now I'm not saying they will. Not saying they beat them. And I'm look the Celtics have to go about something that's difficult and that's repeating. And they're going to have to do without Porzingis for the first half of the year. They're going to have to do it with now Al Horford another year older. Although it seems like you find the fountain of youth every year for some way and some oh yeah. So yeah yeah I think I'm excited. Like what does the Eastern Conference look like. Does Philly completely implode. Like a lot of people think they will. Or do they defy the odds and find a way? I think the Yahoo LA signing is big for them. If he can play first of all, he might now have to because everyone knows the dancing bear. I think the nickname I saw on Twitter for him might be the new one that I saw. Might be the best one. I don't know if you guys saw what some people were calling him, but he is now being known as Benny Wallace. Yes, I'm all in on Benny Wallace. So are Benny's French or are they just like Francophone French Quarter? There's a French Quarter of New Orleans. Come on. Yeah. They're French. Yeah. He's he's been Jay Wallace now. So they got Benny Wallace in Philly. The Paul George experience. You know that's going to be brand new for them. Are the Knicks going to be as good as people really expect them to be. Or do they take a step back. Was was last year more of of an outlier than a consistency? I obviously saw a lot of Michael Bridges. He's in a much better role now than he was in Brooklyn. I think he feels that way as well. He's comfortable with this group. But how does it fit in? Does Julius Randle stay there for the entire season? You know, I think there are so many questions in the East that are intriguing to me. And in the West, I mean the West is still loaded. And the funny thing is like New Orleans makes the big deal to get the job. They Murray over there and the Pelicans feel like they've got a roster that can compete. Can they realistically Sacramento is DeMar DeRozan. How are they better than Sacramento. Are they better than Oklahoma City. Are they better than Dallas. Are they better than name most of the teams Memphis I don't think so. But if Zion is truly this slim Zion that we're seeing, which we say every year, every year, and maybe who knows? The dude's a freak of nature. So yeah, I, I'm there's a lot that I'm looking forward to when I wanted to save until the end because I didn't want you to just, like, lose your, your entire being what I mentioned. But, yes, I am very, very much looking forward to Victor Wembanyama year two. I don't know what the team is going to look like. You know, the Chris Paul thing is interesting to me. The one thing I'll say about that is there are no expectations for them to go out and compete. There's no expectations for them even to make the playoffs. So for Chris Paul, I'm going to look at him like I did when he was in Oklahoma City. He was still really good. He was an all star in Oklahoma City that one year. But what he did for Shay Gilgeous-Alexander was he gave him a graduate degree in basketball IQ, and that's when we saw his career completely take off. I think he could do that for Victor Wembanyama in a lot of ways as well. And just really being additional coach on top of great Popovich. So you think about the accelerated development for a guy who what impressed me the most out of him in the Olympics was despite the shooting struggles, never shied away from the moment when the moment called for it. He was always there to at least give effort. He never said, I'm going to defer. He was never a defer guy. That's huge for a guy that's 20 years old. At a moment like that. Big moments, big crowds in front of the hometown fans shows me he's never going to be afraid of the moment. And so couple that with the coaching of both Popovich and Chris Paul, he's got a chance to be really, really scary, obviously. Period. But that could accelerate his growth even more. I think it's it's still going to come down to how much he can add weight in the next couple of years. He's still going to add another 30 pounds, at least, if he wants to be the dominant figure that we know he can be. If he wants to be an All-Star every year and be he can stay the way he is, that's fine. But if he wants to be the MVP in the face of the league like he seems like he does, he's got to add 30 more pounds. And if he does that, he's literally an unstoppable force. Yeah. Put when beyond the Luka Doncic offseason. Oh I'm wrong 30 pounds. No. But obviously we want 30. We want 30 pounds of lean salmon and legumes not 30 pounds of milk dollars. And yeah. I'd like hanging out with Luca. I think guys always crushing beers in private. I want to hang with the Serbia team as well. I loved how you you mentioned earlier. No, like how much meddling means. I love seeing the fellows go out and just get banged up and then come back for the medal ceremony. That was said. And then yoke. It's just bought his entire team Rolexes. I was like, what a teammate man. What a guy. Yeah he is. He is hilarious I love Nikola Jokic. So that's the other thing about this NBA season. No more KCP in Denver. But they're still ridiculous. Now the rust thing is interesting I don't know how that's going to go. Interesting is a word. That's a word. Yeah that's the word I'm going to use I like to see how that's going to go I mean Jokic is the one who asked for them. So clearly he has something in mind. But like as Christian Brown ready to assume that starting role and still be that great of a starting lineup. Probably. But I don't know if it's KCP level. You know PCP is proven to be one of the best winning players in the NBA, which is crazy. Saying something about a guy who in Detroit looked anything but that. Then goes to the Lakers and had an ankle monitor. I mean that's that's what's. Good at the state of California. Yeah, but I love the way he plays. He's in Orlando. I think Orlando's intriguing now. You know that's going to be a fascinating situation and a fun team to watch. So yeah but I definitely like Denver. To me they're still as good as anybody. And Jamal Murray's got a lot to prove after the Olympics. I can tell you that much. And after last season. No one no one dislikes Jamal Murray more than this guy in the Laker jersey here. Henry is like the leading. Why? Because he buries the Lakers all the time. Yeah he was he was asked in the second round against Minnesota. And then he wasn't even good against the Lakers. He just hit a couple of big shots like he. Yeah he's a big shot maker. That's that's what he is. I think the sooner people come to terms with what Jamal Murray is, because Jamal Murray has never made an All-Star team. He probably should have one of the years, but he's never made an All-Star team. Jamal Murray during the regular season you know he's going to coast through. He can get you 20 and eight over the course of the season. He's an excellent player. But what he is more than anything, it's like I hate when people say to me, Drake is a rapper. No, Drake's a hit maker. Like that's what he does. Jamal Murray is not necessarily a superstar. He's a big shot maker. And honestly, sometimes. You need. Those. You need those even more than you do the superstars on your team. Paul George is a superstar, but as Paul George is a big shot maker down the stretch in the fourth quarter of a playoff game, I take Jamal Murray every single time. No, he's a big side of the backboard. No don't oh come on. Come on guys. Hit the big shots over I'm sorry I'm sorry. We like Paul George. I wanted to ask you about that as well because you were obviously with the Clippers for a number of years. How do you feel that the Kawhi Paul George experiment is over? I think it's not the worst thing for the Clippers. I think that for them paying a 39 year old Paul George 40 million or whatever, is it more than that? I think it. Was a million mid 50s. Yes. So 55 million, whatever it is, is not what their plan was at this point. I think they've got a very clear plan. Now obviously you bring in Harden and you've got Kawhi. Their contract will expire simultaneously in two years. So in two years with a brand new into a dome and the nicest facility probably in the NBA that's top to bottom nicest arena in the NBA. Nicest everything. And the richest owner in the league. You're going to have more cap space than any team in the NBA. And you're in Los Angeles. So you they've already shown they can attract the top free agent. So I think that's their plan. Just reading the tea leaves I don't know for a fact. With that being said, how do I feel that the two and three era is over? I mean, I'm a little it's it's bittersweet in many ways. You know, I think that when it started and I got there the year it started, there was this level of optimism of this is going to happen. And finally, the Clippers have something to be happy and excited about. And honestly, that first year it worked. It really did. Up until Covid stopped the season. Then when the Lakers were the best two teams in the league, in my opinion, they were battling it out. They were continuously beating the brakes off of other teams around the league. I remember the the Clippers beat the rockets right before that by like 35. The rockets had James Harden and Russell Westbrook. But they beat the Warriors by maybe even 40 right before like the day before the league shut down. And they battled the Lakers. They'd beat the Lakers twice. The Lakers beat them right before Covid shut down as well in this incredible battle right before right in early March. And it was awesome. Right. And we're like, this is going to be the conference finals. This is going to be incredible. And I think the bubble changed a lot of that for them. I just think they weren't equipped for the bubble. Their personalities were not equipped for the bubble. Doc rivers and his, lack of in game adjustments against the nuggets did not help. And I don't think it was all Doc's fault. I think he gets put, the blame gets put on him a lot. The players just weren't built for it. So that part was brutal. And then after that, they just were never healthy. And that's that's a bummer. With that being said, the reason that I find it interesting that this happened this year was when I first got there in 2019. Jerry West told me, this is a five year thing. We have a five year window of winning a championship with these two guys. Five years. I was like, That's very specific. Like that's very interesting. And this past year was year five of those two guys. And they basically said, you know what? This isn't going to work. We're not going to go all and they wanted to bring Paul back. It's not like they didn't want to keep it going, but they weren't going to beat them. The number that Philly was and Philly went all in on it. I can't blame them. They have to. They've got me for a finite period of time. They've got to find talent. That's what they did. So I can't hate on that. But with that being said rest in peace to Jerry. But he said it five years. And sure enough, five years later, here we are. It's now the beard and the claw as opposed to Pg13 and the 213. This is probably my worst transition of all time. Speaking of rip, rip the Pac 12, let us get into this. This is one of my worst transitions. Oh, yeah, that was tough. Yes. Heard that I love you. I am sorry for that kid. Probably. He's probably MF. You use MF in you right now. Well yeah. He's going winning time. Angry mode at me from from above. Now a Big ten football coming back. Big ten Saturday night coming back. Very excited. I saw you and Todd Blackledge talking this week or I guess last week. Now, Todd said that the landscape of college football has changed in the last 2 to 3 years, more than the previous 30 years combined. Right? So as a broadcaster, how do you approach the weight of that moment? The Big Ten is wildly different. You'll be going out west now for Big Ten games. Like how are you approaching this season? How are you feeling heading into what surely is going to be a year unlike any year that we've seen before? Yeah, my first approach is continuously building my Delta status. I mean, it is off the charts with the mileage I'm about to get for the West Coast games. Yeah, I the approach is excitement. And I think Todd also put it really well that this year in particular, this first year of all this conference realignment, not just in the Big Ten, but the big 12 with the SEC, is going to be one of the most fun years that we can remember, because it's going to be so different. It's so new. This novel feel to it is going to provide the spark, I think, with these new matchups where for years and I think Nicole Auerbach made this point and she's correct. For years, all of the fans of certain teams were clamoring for ads to make these difficult out of conference matchups, so we could see USC play Michigan so we could see Ohio State play Oregon. Now, you don't have to do that. Now. It's right there, baked into your schedule. And so fans end up getting better quality of play. The conference as a whole ends up getting better quality of play. And with the expanded playoff on top of that, in the first year of the expanded playoff, all of these teams feel like they're in it way later into the season. You can lose two games and make now the 12 team playoff. You could never lose two games and make the four team playoff. And so. Florida State, if they can make it after losing in Dublin. They could if they if they they probably have one more loss that they could allow. If it's a if it's to a good enough team and still make it 1,000%, they are still very much alive, right? In the past, their loss here might have ended their season week zero literally. But for week one, their season might have been over. And so that already add to the intrigue on top of now these brand new matchups. So I'm approaching it with adventure and excitement. Oh, this is amazing. This is good for the sport. I know that a lot of people like the tradition side of it, right? And for the traditions, it's different. But I think we get to build new traditions. And that's what's fun about sports is you're continuously evolving while keeping some old traditions. You're evolving some fresher ones on top of it. So we're excited that we get to be there for it. We're excited we get to do some really great games, and I think this season has a chance to be, as mentioned, one of the more fun and interesting seasons in recent memory. Did you see, Saban on McAfee talking about the expanded playoff and teams from the South having to travel, said a team might have to go to Michigan or Syracuse. What do you what do you make of that? Because that's crazy. Things like the other teams. You're all on on Kyle McCord and Fran Brown. Orange start baby dart. Let's ride. Yeah, I love that. I love that aspect of it. I think the NCAA women's basketball tournament does that wear to the top seeds end up hosting the first two rounds and I think that's really amazing. First of all you're rewarding teams that had great seasons, which is always a good thing in my opinion. But on top of that, you're forcing teams to have to go on the road. And what might what's the best part of the NCAA tournament? Guys, the best part of the NCAA tournament is upsets like Furman beating Virginia. It's a great upset over a tournament. Where has that happened? Crazy, right? Sorry. Let me let me get it. Better for you like Vermont beating Syracuse. Right. Great. Upsets that. Happen. See what we can handle. This conversation we're at. That's. So we're getting that because I never really felt like we got that in the playoff to to a crazy degree, right? TCU beating Michigan two years ago was an upset. I think nobody really expected them to keep winning. But at the same time they were undefeated for the regular season. They had one crushing last second loss in their conference championship game. That was it. So it was a great team with a number of NFL players on it. It's not like that was a shocking upset now of a group of five school in Cincinnati had this opportunity. They got blown out by Alabama. But if a group of five school not only makes the College Football Playoff, which they will inevitably every single year, which I think is great for the sport, but then goes on the road and beats a power conference team on their home field. It's going to be incredible. It's going to be an incredible scene. It's going to be a scene that we've never had before in college football. And that to me is a better addition than anything else that we've had this year. The conference stuff is amazing. I'm really excited for it. The 12 team playoff in general is amazing, but the fact that schools have to go to other schools and there's a potential of crazy upsets and there's a potential of crazy matchups and power schools going head to head as well, and we're going to have legit insanity ensue. That's the best part of all this by far. Yeah, completely. You talked about the miles you're going to accrue. Your delta status is going to rise. I'm curious. Next weekend, you'll be in Brazil, correct? You got the the Peacock exclusive game. Eagles. Packers. Congratulations. That's huge. As we saw from I don't know a lot about Peacock just from research obviously, but as we saw from the exclusive wild card game that did great ratings, I imagine, with two very rabid fan bases. I can't wait for the people of the great state of Wisconsin to be calling into the Peacock, Help Center to get access there, but it's surely going to be a great game. I wanted to ask how how you're feeling heading into that game. You got Todd and Kaylee with you two. Again, absolute praise. Obviously, Kaylee does a great job for Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime one. How are you feeling heading into that game? Two are the Big Ten duties off that weekend, or are you going to go on a crazy flight to maybe in Oregon, perhaps from Brazil? No Big Ten duties are off with a slight bummer, because that game, Big Ten Saturday night that week is going to be a fun one. It's Colorado at Nebraska, so we will not be there for that one for coach Prime and company, but we will be there. So what it looks like coming up here this weekend, I've got Michigan hosting Fresno State. So we'll go to Ann Arbor. We'll call the game Saturday night. I'll leave Sunday night or Sunday morning, I should say, to get back to New York. I'll have the rest of Sunday and then through the day Monday and Monday night, I think 10 p.m. I'll take flight to go to Brazil, and it's a ten hour flight. So nice sleep on that read. I get there on Tuesday morning and we'll be there Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday game is Friday night and then the travel back is arduous, but it'll be well worth it because that is going to be an experience that I'll never forget for sure. That's an experience that I think I'm going to soak up start to finish. Those are two incredible teams and two teams that believe they can win a Super Bowl this year. And realistically, when you look at the rosters and their coaching staffs, you say, yeah, you probably can. I mean, the Eagles not only had Saquon Barkley, but now they make a trade to get your hand Dotson in there. And they've got one of the most formidable offenses. They still have one of the best offensive lines in all of football. Some would argue the best offensive line in all of football. With Saquon Barkley one of the most dynamic running backs, AJ Brown, Devonte Smith and Jahan Dotson. Now I just wide receivers in Dallas. Got it. A tight end to go with Jalen Hurts as the threat that he as a quarterback. How do you stop that offense. That's an offense that on paper should be quite literally unstoppable. And then they poured into their defense both in the draft and resigning some of their important players to defense. That was really good for the first half of last season. And I think that they're going to find that form again. It's almost a tale of two halves for both teams because you had Philly that I think started nine and one, at least eight and one last year and then faltered at the end of the season and eventually loses. In the wild card round, you've got a green Bay team that looked like they were dead in the water. They're four and five, maybe even four and six, and then they power their way to the rest of the season. Jordan Love just catches fire, and that young receiving corps has a chance to become the best receiving corps in football. Top to bottom. The deepest receiving corps. Because they've developed guys. They drafted them, they brought them in. They were all second round picks, essentially. And they're like, these are our guys. And guess what? They delivered. And I think Christian Watson, who has been hurt for the first two years of his career, from what I heard, is basically, I didn't even know this was a thing. But yeah, I think Summer. Had this too. Yeah, some sports science thing where he found out that one leg was quite literally like twice the size and strength of the other one, and that's why he kept pulling his hamstring and kept tweaking it and having major issues with it. So he quite literally had to work this offseason on just one leg. And now apparently he's fully healthy and he's running at speeds he hasn't even seen before. It's insane. So you have a guy like that, you've got Romeo Dobbs. We've seen productive, Dan Tavian, which was unreal down the stretch last year. Jaden Reed was a huge second round pick. I mean, they had four legitimate guys on top of their two tight ends, on top of a quarterback that looked lights out and dominated the Cowboys, which was one of the best defenses in the NFL. The wild card round last year and took the Niners all the way down to essentially the final play of the game. So it's a young team that believes they can compete for a Super Bowl now, and they've got young talent, but a lot of talent on the defensive end as well. So I'm excited for both teams. I'm excited to get there and see what the atmosphere is like in Brazil. It's never been a game. Ever been a pro American football game there. So I think that the fans are going to be into it. I've just been told I'm not allowed to wear green. That's apparently a big thing. It is gang affiliated guys in Brazil. And if you wear green, it's basically like their version of the Bloods in the Crips, so. Oh, so then it's a great choice to have the Eagles and the Packers. That's correct. Yes. That's that. They will be wearing black and white. I would hope so. I would hope so. What I find really interesting is that, the crowds really show up for the Munich game. They show up for the London game. I'm really excited to see what happens in Sao Paulo, especially with two of the you probably see like five biggest, most passionate fan bases in the NFL with the Packers and the Eagles like rabid, rabid fans for those two teams. So I'm excited to see how they travel. Are you going to hear a lot of Wisconsin lingo in Sao Paulo walking the streets? I'm interested to see how they travel. All I'm going to say about that is if you are a Packers or an Eagle fan and you plan on traveling to Sao Paulo, do not wear green. Please. Just just wear black or something else, like find a different shirt or sweatshirt of your team and wear that one. Just just be conscious of what color you're wearing and being out and about. I do think that they'll travel some, but I do think a lot of it will be locals as well, because it's going to be like, hey, we've never experienced this before. And my favorite thing about the London Games and the Munich or wherever else is, they get excited for the most random moments in the NFL, like the punts. They're like, yes, I'm like kicking. We know that. Right? Kind of inconsequential. But I think that's going to be like the same case here in Brazil. So it'll be fun. Noah, we'll give you a couple more. We'll get you out of here. I know that, you did the French Open, which we talked about at the top. Kind of an interesting time for you to come in, do the French Open to legends Mary and John. And then for that also to be the final French Open on NBC after a 42 year relationship. French Open, going to TNT. What was that like? You were very graceful about it on air talking about it, but how was how were the vibes behind the scenes? I imagine it must have been a difficult time, right? Because that's been a very key part of the sports portfolio for NBC for so long. And so to kind of lead the audiences into that good bye, you know, what was that like for you? Yeah. So it was interesting we found out that we were losing it, I think the day, semifinals, maybe the first day of semifinals. And our producer called us afterward and she was in tears. I mean, she loves the event. And we all do. I mean, it's it's an amazing event to do. It's an amazing assignment to get. And I love I've always loved tennis. I went to the US open every year. Growing up. I was a big fan of the sport. I love, like random players. My favorite player was always, well, I was always a Nadal guy, but my favorite player was always David Ferrer or Alex Koppel. I love mosses, I love Evo Carla. That's right. Like random players that I was always following. So to get to call it then the last five years called a sport was amazing. And you get to do the this specific event was the pinnacle. It's a major. And I got to call the final of a major. And so forever I'll always be able to say I got to call Carlos Perez. And he goes beyond tech winning the French Open in 2024. And it was everything that I dreamed it would be, and especially that men's final. I went five sets we had that. You had Jannik Sinner and Alvarez battling it out in the semis. I mean, we had Nadal's probably last ever singles match at the tournament that he's owned. We got to do it. I got to do it like, that's amazing. But after we found out we were going to have this and as mentioned, John and Mary had been coming to the French Open for 40 years. They won the mixed doubles together and I think 79. And they've been doing this on TV for 30, right. So here I am in year one. And my dad, I talk to him afterward. And he was like, yeah, you're like Paul rotten friends. You know, like everyone on the last episode was crying and Paul Rudd just turns to Jennifer Aniston. He goes, what a run, Like that was me. That was literally me. I was just like, hey, yeah, this is a pleasure, guys. You know, like I said, but I do think that John and Mary will be fine. I hope that Turner makes the right choice and bring both of them on. I think John most certainly will be there, and I'm pretty confident Mary will be as well. But man, it was, yeah, it was weird, I was excited. I'm like, this is going great. John was loving it. John was like, hey, this is the biggest compliment I got from John McEnroe because John does not give compliments. After day one, he came up to me and he just goes, hey, you know something? I'm like, yeah. He goes, you're all right. And he walks away. I'm like, let's go, let's go. That's huge. That's fucking bad. This is great. We're going to be doing this for years. And yeah, no, we're not doing it for years. But it was the one year we did was really special. Well I love the Iron Eagle pole for the Paul Rudd for this. That's that's outstanding. Outstanding. Yeah. The, Noah last year you you talked about, you know, you had these opportunities and I asked you how you like stay present during it all. And you mentioned how it's often like at the airport after you have those few moments to yourself where you reflect and you're like, wow, like, I did that. Has that changed at all this year? Because I know the the work has grown, the opportunities have grown. You've grown in the industry. Again, congratulations on the the Emmy win. I'm just curious how you're if there's been any change to how you're saying present this year, or is it more just like there's a lot of things to reflect on you, you've naturally you're feeling, you know, good about that. Yeah. I don't think much has changed. Honestly, C.J., I think for me, I still get so entrenched in the moments that I'm focused on that. And even the gold medal game was probably the best example of it, where I, or probably even the Serbia's semifinal Olympic game was probably the best example of like, I could have easily gotten wrapped up in it. And I just remember at halftime getting up, looking at Dwayne, he was I crushed, I think. But I got up, I kind of go around and I'm like, I'm going to go to the bathroom. And I just looked at myself in the mirror. I'm like, all right, you got two quarters here. Just just get it done. And so that's what we did. We just got it done. Stayed in the moment with him on my back or whatever else. And then I really like it. Didn't fully, fully hit me because the other part of that one that was different was unique, was I had a game I two games the next day, and then I had two games the following day, and then I had two games the following day. So I was like, I can't even really take the step back and really appreciate or think about it. Now, the one thing that probably changed for for some of those was the Serbia game. I remember after we go back to the compound and Zora Stephenson who was our sideline reporter, goes, Where's Dwayne? I'm like he's he's walking out of here. And she goes, I need to debrief them. Like, okay, let's debrief, I guess. But in my mind I'm like, I gotta worry about doing Australia and the U.S. women tomorrow and then Belgium and France. So that's what I was thinking of. So I think it took me until getting back to U.S. soil when I was really like, okay, let me actually think about what happened here. Let me think about what's going on here. You know, the amount of I got a lot of text from people that were like the Golden dagger that just popped into my head like, I it everyone's like, you had that ready. Like I didn't play, it just came out naturally. And yet somehow the shots known as that like that's a broadcasters dream. And so I've since reflected now on that of how cool that is and kind of having that moment. But no, it hasn't changed. I would say through this year, I think I would say probably the Trey Lance game. I just did. I knew the significance of that one. But other. Than magnitude. We all knew where we were. When Trey Lance threw five interceptions in the preseason game. Yeah. Otherwise it's been all the same man, which I hopefully it's working. So I'll keep it rolling. Well Noah thank you as always for joining us. Unbelievable stories. You did you mentioned the Golden Dagger. That's a moment that people are going to remember for 3040 years. And that Steph Curry shot will always be known as the Golden Dagger. And it's actually pretty funny that you said that you didn't actually practice, that you weren't in the mirror the night before being like, okay, if someone hits a shot, that's the golden dagger. Noah. Do not forget that. No, no practice though, right? I, I did get asked the night before though. Guys, I got asked, do you have your final call ready? And I never do. I never formulated the night before. I for me, it's always you let the game kind of tell you how to call it. So by the end of the third quarter you have an idea and like kind of have like a at some kind of idea. But that game was too close. So I, I didn't have really an idea of what it was going to be. But you do know when you got a player like Steph, you always have to have a next level because he can keep going. You know, if I had lost it on the third three and then I would have looked like an idiot on the fourth three. So I'm glad that I at least kept something in take. I didn't know what that something was until the possession started, but once when he had the ball back in his hands and like, alright, if he hits this, that's the this has to be that. And I'm glad that it hit because the other one I had was cloudy with a chance of Curry's, which I did not practice either or have in my head, and some people really liked it and others really hated it. So we'll take that as a 5050. I think the Golden Dagger got a higher approval rating. Yes, I would agree. And just a quick aside here. I don't know how much you follow, any soccer broadcasters, but you want to know what that moment reminded me of? I don't know if you know this, but 2012, Manchester City won the Premier League and Martin Tyler's call in the goal in stoppage time. And the plus third minute for Manchester City. And he just screamed agario and like this is the guy that is the most composed soccer announcer in the world, Martin Tyler. And he just like, it just seemed like something blurted out of nowhere. And that's kind of what it felt like with the Golden Dagger. I'm just like, kind of. That's what it felt like to me. I don't know if you you should go back and watch that. Watch me. I will, I will, I did, I will I'll leave you guys with this by the way. So I never do anything like this. But I felt that the run with both the men and women was so special that I had to get like something to commemorate it. So I went online and I got shirts of like the teams right where it's got all their faces. I remember racially graphic shirts and that same website had Curry doing the night night after hitting that, that last shot. And I'm like, I gotta get this. I got this right. So if you see me walking around with the curry, the curry shirt, you know why now it had to happen. It was awesome man. Congratulations. It was so epic. And yeah, that's immortalized. Now the Netflix doc in eight years, it's going to be so fun sick. The new ready. Yeah. We can't. Wait like him Bart Scott guys can't wait can't. Wait again Noah, thank you so much for joining us. Continued success. As always. Wish you the best of luck even though we know you don't need it. You're extraordinary and I'm looking forward to the Big Ten Saturday night games. I'm looking forward to you eventually calling NBA games nationally on NBC. I know you can't say anything about that, but we know what's going to happen. Let's be real here. And I can't wait to hopefully hear you, SpongeBob, Patrick and the gang calling the Super Bowl again on Nickelodeon. Appreciate it guys. Pleasure as always. Thanks for having me. And yeah, I feel like, I'm like halfway to booya. I'm like, just boy. So I'll take that. So I'd say you're more of a baller, buddy. More of a baller. Let's go. Let's go. Thank you man appreciate you. Thanks guys. I know.