Joe Kick!

Transcript

Mark: This week on the Nuggets Pod, Joe Kick.

Jenny: Joe Kick?

Mark: Joe's kicking butt.

Jenny: Who did Joe Kick?

Mark: Who you telling Joe Kick? Joe Kick him.

Jenny: Who you telling Joe to kick? Did you say that on purpose?

Mark: No. Oh man. I was trying to read a note and I wrote, Jokić. And I just processed it in my brain as Joe Kick. Joe Kick.

Jenny: Oh my gosh.

Mark: Jokić got a haircut. That's what I was trying to say. Joe Kick.

Jenny: Joe didn't kick anybody. Nicola Jokić. Nicola Jokić got a haircut.

Mark: Finally. but still is playing like he's going through a bad breakup.

Jenny: A little sad. Peyton Watson is back.

Almost.

Jenny: Almost.

Mark: Almost back tomorrow.

Jenny: You think?

Mark: I think that's the word on the street. He's coming back later in the pod. Jenny shares her 15 point plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. All that and more coming up.

Jenny: Nuggets played last night.

Mark: Mm-hmm.

Jenny: Looked like a decent win.

Mark: Yeah, the Raptors are solid. Their defense is really good. Jokić still looked. weird, passive.

Jenny: Frustrated?

Mark: Yeah, like too focused on trying to get fouls called. Hopefully he gets over that before the playoffs. But yeah, they won that one. Since we last recorded, they lost to OKC on Shay's buzzer beater.

Jenny: Right, but they scored 40 points in the first quarter of that game.

Mark: Yeah, they look good.

Jenny: Aaron Gordon looked excited.

Mark: He's, oh man.

Jenny: and ready to play.

Mark: We'll get to it. But he without him, they are a much worse team. Just like not just a factor of him, like contributing the stats that he puts up, but just like kind of he's the soul of the team.

Jenny: I think so.

Mark: Yeah.

Yeah.

Mark: After OKC.

Jenny: Hold on, I have to tell you a tiny story about that one. So that game, Lou Dort had another flagrant on your pitch during that game. It was like, was that intentional? You know, everybody was kind of up in arms and we were explaining to one of our children what had happened in the previous game because the child had not seen it. And I was like, he got ejected from that game. Like, it was so bad that they like he had to leave the game. And this child said, did he just have to stand in the alley eating Twinkies?

Mark: That's not even a punishment

Jenny: But can you please draw a picture of that because I want to see it and it might get a tattoo of it you never know I It just was really funny. I was like, oh no, he probably Got to like sit in the locker room and just watch on a TV but I don't know I kind of think go to the alley and eat Twinkies and

Mark: That's like a reward. I think more people would get ejected on purpose if they got to do that.

Jenny: I get to keep my job, but I'm going to go in the alley and eat Twinkies. Yeah, I don't know. It just made us laugh.

Mark: Yeah, that is funny.

Jenny: It was fun. I also, if you might remember that my guess for free throws attempted by SGA in that game was 18. He shot four. Glad you took the under on that one.

Mark: Yep. It seemed like everything was kind of lining up for them to pull that one off and then he just made a couple. Great shots at the end.

Jenny: Yep.

Mark: Tip your cap as much as it pains me to say that.

Jenny: Yep.

Mark: It was a fun one to watch. Yeah, it was.

Jenny: I saw a comment somewhere on the internet after that game that said iron sharpens iron. And I was like, oh, that's like, I like that. I like that way of thinking about it because it really is. It just makes the whole thing more fun to watch when they play against each other.

Mark: Yeah. They definitely get up for OKC games more so than probably any other team.

Jenny: Yep. That was fun. All right. Then they went to Houston.

Mark: I think was Houston at home. I don't remember. Hold on. We can cut this out. That's just looking at our phones.

Jenny: That one was here. That was that's OK. That's the one I went to. I have all these notes here and I just. That was my game because I got to go at the last minute. Shout out to our baby brother.

Mark: Yes.

Jenny: He texted me like two hours before the game started to say, do you want to go? And I said, yes. That was the first game of Bruce Brown's new facial hair.

Mark: Was it?

Jenny: It was the first one I noticed it.

Mark: Okay.

Jenny: They played the song, there's a, do you know the K-pop group, Blackpink?

Mark: Sure don't.

Jenny: There's like one member of that group whose name is Jenny. There's a song called Like Jenny.

Mark: Ooh, right up your alley.

Jenny: And it really is like, haters wanna be like Jenny. Get your hair done, nails done like Jenny.

Mark: Oh, okay.

Jenny: but they could never ever be Jenny. And then it's like, Jenny, Jenny, Jenny, Jenny.

Mark: Reminds me of the JLo song Jenny from the Block from decades ago.

Jenny: Yeah, all my anthems over my lifetime. This one was just fun because I was at the... It's the first game I've been to this season. I was not expecting to get to go and I got to go at the last minute and then I played great and the dancers danced to my present day anthem and I just was having a blast.

Mark: Did the players join in? Did they have like a choreographed... line dance that they did to that song.

Jenny: They did the electric slide at the end of the first quarter.

Mark: Awesome. So glad they brought that back.

Jenny: No, I didn't notice any players dancing, but I'm still watching for it.

Mark: Nuggets could end up playing Houston in the first round, which seems like it could be a decent matchup for the Nugs.

Jenny: Yep. That was, okay, that same day, the day before that, Gosh, I should have maybe made a note. There was, it was either earlier that, like that morning or the day before that, I was at a doctor's office and I had a Nuggets t-shirt on. And I got in the elevator to leave the doctor's office and it was full. There were like eight people in it. And when I stepped in, this older lady was with a man that like had a walker. And she looked at me and she was like, I love your shirt. I was like, thank you. I love these nuggets. And then the man that she was with said, how are they doing? And I was like, I mean, pretty OK this season. And then this guy behind me was like, they played great last night. So it must have been after that game.

Mark: Oh, my gosh.

Jenny: Were you in the memory care ward of the hospital?

Mark: Are you sure this wasn't a dream you had?

Jenny: It wasn't, because the whole story was about me telling the people in the elevator that I got to go to the game the night before, so it was the day after. And it just turned into this whole elevator full of people being like, Yeah, let's go. Yes.

Mark: I was like, that's awesome.

Jenny: This is see, this is what this is what I'm here for.

Mark: The nuggets bringing the city together.

Jenny: Yeah, it was really just fun and unexpected. But yeah, cool.

Mark: Tell that old man he needs to start watching. If he's using a walker, he's got to have a lot of downtime on the couch or in bed.

Jenny: It was a little bit hard to understand what he was saying, so I'm not totally sure. Even if he had been watching, if he would have really remembered what he saw, but it was a fun interaction.

Mark: Love it.

Jenny: Yeah, it was great. That was a good game. That was a fun one to watch.

Mark: Then they went on the road to San Antonio the next night. Is that right?

Jenny: Yep.

Mark: They were down most of that game. Looked like it was kind of going to be one of those like, oh, they're on a back to back tired. They just had like a big win against the Rockets. This one is kind of an understandable. fine if they lose loss and then they scored 83 points in the second half yep and won the fourth quarter by 17 points and beat the Spurs 136 131 Christian Brown had nine rebounds oh man that game that game was really fun Jamal had 39 did you get 31 20 and 12

Jenny: Did you see the blue arrow almost come out? No, he did that like kind of towards the end of the game. Do you think Spencer?

Mark: I would be shocked if he didn't. If you had to bet your life on what one thing that was in Spencer Jones briefcase, what would it be? I would go sleeve of club crackers.

Jenny: gum?

Mark: what kind?

Jenny: or mints of some kind?

Mark: yeah.

Jenny: altoids?

Mark: he seems like he would be conscientious about his breath

Jenny: yeah and maybe like some flossers like little floss picks

Mark: yep get the cracker crumbs out of his teeth

Jenny: yeah i don't know that was a good one

Mark: it was. No Wemby in that game but the spurs are still really good without him all their guards yep I love Steph Castle. I wish the Nuggets had him. He reminds me of Tyrese Maxey. Tyrese Maxey, when he was drafted, I think he went one or two picks before the Nuggets picked that year in the draft. And as Maxey was sliding, I was really excited because I just thought he was going to be so good and wish the Nuggets would get him. And then he went right before they got to take him. And they had no chance at Stephen Castle because he was like the second pick in the draft or something. But he just is really good. It seemed like he was going to be good.

Jenny: Where did he come from?

Mark: Yukon.

Jenny: Okay.

Mark: Yep.

Jenny: Cool.

Mark: Yeah. After the Spurs, the Nuggets played the Lakers and were in control for pretty much the whole fourth quarter of that game. Until once again, as they've done so many times this season, they fell apart in the clutch and lost in overtime. I think they showed a stat during that game of like the clutch time records for both teams.

Jenny: Okay.

Mark: And the Lakers have been really good this year. But I can't remember what it was. It was like the Lakers are like 16 and three in the clutch. And the Nuggets were like 17 and 17. I was like, man, that seems right. It seems like they've had so many games this year against good teams, bad teams, where it's just been close right till the end. And a lot of them, they have not come through, which has been disappointing.

Jenny: 17 and 17?

Mark: I think that's what it was. I don't remember for sure. Yeah, yeah, a lot of clutch time games.

Jenny: But also do you think that's partly because of all the games that they've that they played without players?

Mark: Yeah, definitely.

Jenny: That they just did everything they could to kind of hang in there. Man, that is a startling one.

Mark: Yep.

Jenny: That day, though, I saw there were Nuggets fans everywhere. Like we went. That was the day we went on a hike for a family birthday. Then I went out to lunch with our sisters. There were Nuggets gear at that place. Then we went out to see our another family member play in a youth basketball game and then went out to eat after that. And there were just Nuggets fans like. Everywhere we went I was like, oh, it's that it's that day now gets play the Lakers. Yeah That was a dagger Dagger. Yeah one bright spot of that game for me was the I think it's a Cera-Ve commercial with Kevin Durant and the like Legs from what's that movie that it's from? Naked gun, I think It's like a it's like a nod to a scene from that movie, which is from the new one or the problematic No, no like the original one. Okay, and It's like a woman's legs and it has two sets of kneecaps. I had never I've never seen that movie, but Learned about it after the fact But I was dying.

Mark: I saw that commercial. I was like, what is happening?

Jenny: And then I was like, it's Kevin Durant. He's hilarious.

Mark: I remember when I first saw that picture of his leg looking like old beef jerky that had been out in the sun for like 200 years. And I could not believe that was real. It looked so dry. But yeah, he seems like he has a pretty good sense of humor about himself and that kind of stuff.

Jenny: Yep I appreciate him when it comes to that kind of thing. Yeah, I also appreciate watching him play basketball He's so good.

Mark: He's an all-timer.

Jenny: Have you ever seen him warm up? No, he was doing I can't remember when it was the recent past we were at a Nuggets game and he was

Mark: Was it the Rockets game?

Jenny: No, it was like a like before this season. Maybe when he was in Phoenix, so not that long ago, but he was like holding the ball in his hands. I think both hands and he would squat down like to the ground on one foot. twirl to come back up. Like he was doing like a break dance move with the basketball and then shoot it.

Mark: I could not do that without a basketball in my hand. Like a figure skater does when they're like crouched down?

Jenny: Yes.

Mark: Cool.

Jenny: And then throw around and shoot it. I was like, oh, well, I guess if you get really good at doing that kind of stuff, it makes sense why you'd never miss a shot.

Mark: He's probably practiced every variation of a shot possible a million times, including that one, because you never know.

Jenny: I just remember looking at him like, what is he doing? And I was like, oh my gosh. Well, no wonder he's good. Anyway.

Mark: Just in case there's like an NBA finals game where they couldn't get the wood floor down over like the hockey ice. And they decide to just lace up the skates.

Jenny: Kevin Durant is ready. Durant's gonna be out there freaking schooling everyone.

Mark: Going backwards.

Jenny: I can't imagine being that tall to begin with, but then to be able to control your body in that kind of way. Life's work, Kevin Durant.

Mark: Good at basketball, hot take on the pod.

Jenny: Hot take.

Mark: After the Lakers game, what happened, Jenny?

Jenny: They played the 76ers. What happened? What happened at the Lakers game?

Mark: No.

Jenny: After that?

Mark: Yeah.

Jenny: They played Philly?

Mark: Yep.

Jenny: Yep.

Mark: Killed them.

Jenny: 40, they had 40 points in the first half.

Mark: Yeah.

Jenny: That's not enough.

Mark: No. Hard to win an NBA game with 40 points and a half.

Jenny: That game I was feeling concerned about Jamal Murray's shoulder. That was, I think, was that the first one that he had that tape on?

Mark: I don't think so, but yeah, he didn't look good in that game. Thankfully, he didn't have to play that much.

Jenny: Yeah, but I felt worried about that. But I noticed they just looked like they were having fun. They were smiling. They were high fiving. They were like the passing. before anybody took a shot.

Mark: The ball was popping, as they say.

Jenny: It was popping. Yeah. And then they won.

Mark: Yep.

Jenny: I don't remember what the score was. I don't know.

Mark: It was 40 points or something. It reminded me of how they looked at the very start of the season when they came out just on fire and everybody was healthy. It ended up only being 124/96 against the 76ers. They were ahead by 30 for like almost the whole game after the first quarter. Yeah, so like coming off of that week where, yes, they lost to OKC, they lost to the Lakers, but they played pretty well in both of those games and both of those teams are good. I think everybody was feeling like confident. David Adelman was like kind of defiantly puffing his chest out like, well, yeah, we have lost a couple of games, but we've been playing really well, blah, blah, blah. And then they absolutely shit the bed against the Grizzlies the night after the Sixers game.

Jenny: Yep.

Mark: The Grizzlies who have maybe one or two players that you have ever heard of healthy and playing. Yeah. And a whole bunch that I bet you haven't heard of ever.

Jenny: That's correct.

Mark: And the nuggets looked terrible.

Jenny: Yeah.

Mark: Lifeless, disinterested.

Jenny: No AG.

Mark: No AG.

Jenny: Which great, because that's the right decision.

Mark: I will take that loss in favor of his health a hundred times out of a hundred.

Jenny: Yeah. But to your point, like, Is that why? Like are they just, are they just like sad pups when he's not around?

Mark: I think he makes a huge difference in that regard. And I think they would have won that game for sure if he would have played. But again, I'm glad that he didn't even now like they're vying for playoff. Seeding if Jamal Murray's hurt I would say sit him right been saying all year if They're healthy in the playoffs. They can be anybody Yep But if they're gonna like make everybody play 40 minutes a game just to try to get up to like the fourth seed instead of the fifth seed That's stupid

Jenny: I agree.

Mark: Let everybody get healthy. Who cares where you're seated and make a run in the playoffs with everybody as healthy as possible. That's what I think.

Jenny: And if you're a player and you're being stubborn and saying, yes, I'm in pain, but I got to get out there. Stop it.

Mark: We know you're tough, Jamal. We've heard the stories about your dad making you sit, do wall sits with hot tea on your legs like a million times.

Jenny: We got it. We've seen the photo of the, remember the blister?

Mark: Half of his skin hand just like peeled off on the floor.

Jenny: Right.

Mark: Yeah.

Jenny: We got it.

Mark: We know. Take a rest.

Jenny: Yeah. You don't win a medal for like, toughing it out.

Mark: No.

Jenny: You win a medal for winning the right games at the right time.

Mark: Yeah. No, it's not even a medal. It's a win. We'll give you a medal.

Jenny: Yeah. If you sit out when you're hurt, I will give you a medal.

Mark: I'll bring it to your house. Just tell us your address, what time you'll be home.

Jenny: We'll be there.

Mark: And drop it off. You will have to sign for it in person so it doesn't fall into the wrong hand.

Jenny: And a few hundred times. We will need to sign a few hundred times on various different items.

Mark: Yeah, maybe some authentic game-worn jerseys if you have them lying around.

Jenny: Oh my goodness. Yeah, no, I'm with you. I was feeling a little concerned and then, but last night he didn't have the tape on anymore.

Mark: Yeah, I noticed. He was kind of shaking his arm out a little bit, but he definitely looked better last night. Him and Tim Hardaway Jr. So this was Friday night. They played Toronto at home and won. It was close the whole way. Jokić, we mentioned he got a haircut, but still looked way too focused on what the refs were doing and very passive for the most part on offense, even though he was being guarded by guys like eight inches shorter than him. But Jamal and Timmy J came through.

Jenny: They sure did.

Mark: Yeah.

Jenny: Jamal had this move with it was like two and a half minutes left. He just drove it like he turned into like a little chameleon to his left hand and just laid it in.

Mark: He did have little chameleon arms on that drive. I know exactly what you're talking about. I was like, that's not going to go.

Jenny: We switched hands. Did it. He did it. And then I don't know those last, I didn't see the whole game, but those last couple minutes of. Mr. 90 degree angles playing defense on Scotty Barnes.

Mark: Oh man, just made him look like a clown.

Jenny: Loved it.

Mark: Scotty Barnes tried to flop for a foul and just crumpled to the ground. Did he even jump to block that shot? He just reached up, one handed, completely stuffed it, brought it into his body and kind of... look down at Scotty Barnes and disgust like pathetic. The one brilliant thing Jokić did, Nuggets up 119-115 with 10 seconds left and Toronto taking the ball out on the side and If you can't just like run up and bear hug somebody on the other team while they're taking the ball out on the side if you do that and there's like they don't have the ball or like the play hasn't started or anything like that it's like a take foul and the other team gets free throws plus the ball but if somebody on the other team is involved in like a screen, like setting a screen or coming off of a screen, then it's okay for you to foul them because that's like a real play. Like you're fighting through the screen or you're trying to switch or something like that. And so Jokić, as soon as he saw Poeltl for the Raptors go to like set a screen, he immediately just like recognized that that was happening, ran over, grabbed Poeltl who's like a 50% free throw shooter, Pertil miss both both free throws and the nuggets got the rebound and they made some free throws at the end But that was like the one I'm sure not the one, but like a really good, smart play that Jokić made.

Jenny: So the brilliance of it was fouling Poeltl so that he would be the one to shoot the free throws. That's what I told my family because they were confused and I was like, I think I know.

Mark: But the extra genius part of it was like if Poeltl had just been standing in the corner, doing nothing, the Nuggets couldn't have fouled him or else Toronto would have gotten free throw plus the ball. It was only because Poeltl like started to go set a screen and like be involved in the play that it made it okay for them to intentionally foul him. So that was good.

Jenny: Is that called a take foul?

Mark: Well, that's the thing is like a take foul is like when you do that, but you do it illegally. Okay. And that's when you get penalized by the other team getting free throws. They avoided the take foul.

Jenny: Got it.

Mark: Yep.

Jenny: It was great.

Mark: So, yeah.

Jenny: So Joe kicked.

Mark: Kicked his brain in the gear. He said, I recognize I can foul these men now. Poeltl, you are mine. Poeltl.

Jenny: Poeltl.

Mark: I'm not 100% sure I'm even pronouncing his name correctly.

Jenny: No, I think that's right.

Mark: Close enough.

Jenny: Because we were talking about it. We were confused. And then one of the people on TV said it. Poeltl.

Mark: You know who else has been playing well in this stretch when the Nuggets mostly have been playing well? That Memphis game notwithstanding is Cam Johnson.

Jenny: Yep.

Mark: Looking... better than he's looked since, I think he was playing really well right before he got hurt. And then he got hurt and missed a bunch of time and came back and had not been playing very well until the last couple of weeks and he's looked great the last like two or three weeks. Did you know that Cam Johnson started his high school career at Moon Area High School?

Jenny: What?

Mark: Yep. Nope. Moon area high school outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Jenny: Moon area. Two words. Yeah. M-O-O-N.

Mark: Yes. Like the area around the moon. The celestial body.

Jenny: Is that also the name of a municipality?

Mark: It's like moon township or something, I think is like the little town that he grew up in. And then he was good enough that he transferred to like a prep school for the rest of his high school career. But that was his first high school.

Jenny: I had no idea.

Mark: And then he played at Pitt for three years because he was from that area. He redshirted a year and then graduated in three years from Pitt.

Jenny: Smarty pants.

Mark: Transferred to North Carolina. Played like his two last years of eligibility at North Carolina. He was roommates with Luke May at North Carolina. Do you know who that is?

Jenny: No.

Mark: You know who Drake May is?

No.

Mark: OK. Are those both NBA players? Drake May is the Patriots quarterback. They just beat the Broncos in the AFC Championship this past season.

Jenny: OK, that name sounds kind of familiar.

Mark: Drake went to North Carolina and played football. And his older brother, Luke, went to North Carolina and played basketball. Got it. And was on the same team and was roommates with Cam Johnson.

Jenny: What's Luke doing now?

Mark: Last I heard he was playing basketball overseas But I'm not sure if that's still the case or if he's done with that or what but I know that there's like more May brothers and they're all really close I remember that being a big story during the NFL season this year But yeah, Cam Johnson seems like just a great thoughtful guy Glad he's playing better there was

Jenny: Cam slam in the third quarter of that game against the Spurs. That's what I'm calling it. A cam slam? A cam slam. Which I feel like I was like, I don't know if I've ever seen one of those before.

Mark: There haven't been a lot of cam slams.

Jenny: It was a fun one.

Mark: But that's, yeah, that's like he's been way more aggressive, going to the basket, playing with confidence.

Jenny: Grabbing those rebounds.

Mark: Rebounding. His three point shot has looked much better. I don't think this is really what happened, but I like to imagine that Cam has a kinship with the moon.

Jenny: Yes. He's from the area.

Mark: Because of where he grew up exactly. And when he's trying to break out of a slump, I think he strips down naked, goes into the woods at night and howls at the moon like a wolf. But if that's not what happened, what do you think he did to turn his season around?

Jenny: I think he probably just had enough heart to hearts with people who care about him. People just telling him the truth about who he is and what he's capable of. And then like that it's time to do that instead of whatever he'd been doing.

Mark: Yeah.

Jenny: I don't know. I kind of like your story better.

Mark: We don't know. I don't think anyone can prove that that's not what happened.

Jenny: I think you're right.

Mark: So in my mind, at least. Cam Johnson's a werewolf. He's from Moon Township.

Jenny: It would make sense. He also, okay, this sometime this last week, I watched an interview that Aaron Gordon did. I don't know who he was talking to, but he was talking about books again and how he loved the library when he was a kid and like loved the Harry Potter books. And the interviewer was like, now do you actually read all those books on your bookshelves or is this like a Lebron situation? I don't know the backstory about Lebron not actually reading his books, but apparently that's a thing. And Aaron Gordon relayed that the night before they had been on the plane all together as a team, and Cam was reading some book about quantum physics or something like that. And then Aaron Gordon had a different book and somebody asked him about it and he was like, my mind just started buffering and I couldn't get the words out to tell them what the book was about. And then he was like, they all started clowning me about how I'm LeBron and I don't actually read the book.

Mark: Just looking at the pages. Completely zoned out. Thinking about pizza rolls.

Jenny: I just love, I just loved it. I was like, I believe it that Cam Johnson's apparently like always got a book.

Mark: And you and A.G. have a connection then because he loved the Harry Potter books when he was a kid. And you were telling me before we started that you really love J.K. Rowling's political views that she's expressed the last like two or three years. You want to say more about that?

Jenny: I loved the Harry Potter books when they came out when I was in college.

Mark: Oh, you don't want to talk about that other thing on the pod? Jenny will tell you more about that offline. You want to know what I think about JK Rowling?

Jenny: Yeah, we can talk in real life. How much you love her?

Mark: How much you agree with her public statements?

Jenny: I find some of the things she has said problematic.

Mark: That's not what she told me, everybody. Up for debate.

Jenny: No, I just love it when I love books, and I love it when people talk about books. I mean, you and I were both English teachers, so our Pawdience probably already knows that about us, but come on, books.

Mark: We love books, and we don't care who knows.

Jenny: We don't. Let's talk about your poster.

Mark: Yes, the lunch bucket brigade.

Jenny: Your childhood poster.

Mark: Before we recorded any episodes of this podcast, Jenny and I were just thinking and talking about our memories of the Nuggets over the years and how much they've meant to us since we were little. And one of the things I remembered as I was thinking back was that I had this poster on the wall in my room when I was younger of like the 80s Nuggets. And I can't remember at first if I thought they were like dressed up as firemen or what, but I knew it was some kind of like blue collar job that all the players and coaches were dressed up as like blue collar workers, not in their uniforms. It wasn't like a team picture in the arena, like at half court. And we looked around and we found this poster. It's the Lunch Bucket Brigade and it's all the nuggets dressed as construction workers. A bunch of them have hard hats. A bunch of them are just wearing like tank tops and like tool belts and stuff. and there's at least one like metal lunch pail alex english has like a metal lunch bucket under his arm yeah and some work gloves on it's it's wonderful to look at and just brings back so many memories of these guys T.R. Dunn, Fat Lever, Mike Evans, Bill Hanzlik of course, Alex English, Calvin Natt, I think Is Blair Rasmussen in the background there? Maybe Danny Schayes was still on the team.

Jenny: Do you remember where you got this poster?

Mark: I'm looking at a picture of it right now. It has a Rocky Mountain News logo in the corner. I don't know. It maybe was a giveaway at a game or maybe it came with a Sunday newspaper or something. I don't remember for sure it was so long ago, but I do remember having this poster and loving it.

Jenny: It's pretty awesome.

Mark: Yeah. Some old assistant coach with like blueprints unrolled on his lap in the front. Not Doug Moe. Doug Moe is kind of in the background. You wouldn't really notice him right away. He's behind Calvin Natt, who's like, like a freaking marble statue. He's rightfully like the centerpiece of this poster. But yeah, that was just one of the like relics that came to mind when I was thinking back about the days of my youth, my nuggets fandom.

Jenny: I don't remember. I don't have a memory of you having it when we were kids, but it's fun. It's fun to see. I also learned that Bucket Brigade is like the whole idea is that they are like workers. They are here to like do a job to like share them concrete share the load in this like team of this brigade situation. And yeah, it's funny and fun.

Mark: So we're gonna- And they did like a few different versions of this over the years, right? Was there one where they actually were dressed up as firefighters?

Jenny: I think there may have been, yes. I haven't found a photo of it in my internet searching, but I think that that may have been one of them.

Mark: I really wish they would still do this. It would be really fun to see. Yeah, sure. Jokić dressed up as like a, I don't know, what would be a funny thing? Yeah, like a some other kind of job that everybody else on the team is dressed up as. Yeah, yeah. Like a nurse or something.

Jenny: Medical professionals. Yeah, it would be it would be fun. Mm-hmm We're gonna do a little digging and see if we can learn some more about this About this poster in the background of these situations ask a bunch of questions about how this all came together. Yep We're gonna more to come on that. We're we're looking into it Cool. I have two quick updates about things that we said on the podcast previously. Okay. First one being our baby brother Justin. who was six months old at the time, was in fact there at the Western Conference Finals game that we went to.

Mark: Semifinals. Game six, Jazz at Nuggets, 1994.

Jenny: Yes, in 1994.

Mark: Yeah, I didn't remember that.

Jenny: He was there and just like in the, like a lap infant, like you take on an airplane just sitting with Our parents during that crazy game.

Mark: Good to know. And he hates the Nuggets now. It scarred him to this day. No, he loves the Nuggets.

Jenny: He's a big fan. The other update is I went back to look at the book Skunk and Badger because I was like, I feel like it doesn't sound right that the word shit was in that book.

Mark: I was really surprised that you said that.

Jenny: It was not. So I was confident with my storytelling and I was wrong. So lesson learned.

Mark: Lesson to the kids. Admit your mistakes. Nobody's perfect.

Jenny: before you put it out in public and also admit when you're wrong. The story, I've got clarification from my children, the story goes that we were reading the book altogether, one of the children drew a picture of the badger saying, Oh shit like during a part of what was happening in the book like just came up with that Was it like a stressful part of the book? Yes made her the badger is the badger is like vomiting Oh, and so we were reading it and like, oh no. Yeah, what's happening here? And this the child was just drawing and drawing away and when the child was retelling me the story recently They said yeah, we all had a good chuckle

Mark: We all had a good chuckle.

Jenny: Yeah, I drew it while we were reading. We all had a good chuckle.

Mark: Then we went out in the alley and ate some Twinkies.

Jenny: Then we went out in the alley and ate some Twinkies and now we all have tattoos of it. Anyway, those are those are my updates. I just wanted to make sure that we

Mark: Thank you.

Jenny: Stay factual here.

Mark: Yep. Thank you for your intellectual honesty.

Jenny: Yeah. And nuggets play 3 p.m. tomorrow. It's a Sunday. Does that count as a matinee or is that late enough to feel like we can do it?

Mark: Feels like a matinee to me, but maybe they'll surprise us.

Jenny: I'm going to the game tomorrow. Great.

Mark: You were good luck the last time you went.

Jenny: Maybe that'll be something.

Mark: Yeah.

Jenny: I don't know. I'm excited to go again. It'll be fun.

Mark: Portland.

Jenny: Portland.

Mark: Similar team to Toronto, I would say, where they're pretty solid. Play really good defense. They'll probably like pressure the Nuggets guards in the back court. And the Nuggets will have to play well to win.

Jenny: Yep.

Mark: But Jamal, if you're hurt, just sit out.

Jenny: Yeah.

Mark: We'll bring you a medal.

Jenny: 100%. All right. See you next time.

Mark: We're not doing recs?

Jenny: Oh, I forgot.

Mark: Good thing I'm here, everybody. Good thing I'm here.

Jenny: Oh my gosh. You have to go first, though, because I forgot to write one down.

Mark: I watched Hamnet last week and loved it. I know not everybody that's seen it has loved it. I saw some people thought it was too sappy, too obvious in how it was trying to make people have an emotional reaction to it. I just really liked looking at the screen and like the outdoors-iness of a lot of the stuff where they're like in the woods and whatever, contrasted with like the indoor, like the almost claustrophobic feeling of like the shots where they're inside the house. And I don't really know what it was like to live in Shakespeare's time, but it seemed like pretty authentic. And I really like Hamlet, the play. The real Shakespeare play. It's another controversial take of ours. Hamlet is a good play. I've always just had a soft spot for that. kind of like intertwining of the fictional story of the Shakespeare's with like the real version of Hamlet in the movie is cool. And yeah, Jessie Buckley won the Oscar, rightfully so.

Jenny: She was incredible.

Mark: Yeah, she's good in everything I've seen her in. But that movie in particular, I just thought she was really good. And if you haven't seen it, check it out.

Jenny: That's a good rec. I just watched it yesterday on your based on your suggestion to me offline. And the image there's one image where she's In labor in the woods and that shot of like she's just alone and she's surrounded by the woods and she's like Giving birth was just like I will never I don't think i'll ever forget what that looked like I thought it was beautiful and I thought yeah same thing that she She's a star. She sure is What a star what a gal All right. Well, my rec is on the fly this time because I forgot to think of a good one. But this is this actually is a good one. Ride a bike.

Mark: Yeah.

Jenny: And point step one of my 15 point plan.

Mark: Kind of hole in the bike.

Jenny: Address the Strait of Hormuz is just ride a bike.

Mark: Yeah.

Jenny: Ride a bike. It's going to be okay if you just ride a bike. No, actually we have been in my family riding bikes to a lot of different places just that we had to go in the last few days, last week or so, because the weather in Denver has been especially warm and just like bike friendly. Yeah. Can't recommend it highly enough. It's really fun. It's nicer than driving a car, in my opinion. It's easier to park. It's good exercise.

Mark: Yeah.

Jenny: Just all around.

Mark: It's one of those things, too. It has to be one of the best ways to feel like a kid again. If you haven't been on a bike in a while and you hop on a bike and just pedal.

Jenny: Yep.

Mark: Like down a hill. If you're going downhill especially. Man.

Jenny: Breezing.

Mark: You'll feel like you're eight years old again.

Jenny: So great. Yeah. If you can and you want to, go ride a bike. You'll feel great.

Mark: Yep.

Jenny: That's my rec.

Mark: Great. Great one.

Jenny: Cool, man. All right.

Mark: Go Nugs.

Jenny: Go Nuggets.

Mark: Talk to you next time. Later. Bye.