Quick Hits on 3 Iconic Post-Game Interviews

00:00:32 Speaker 1: In ancient Greece, the demigods we know of from surviving mythological scrolls and texts like Perseus, Achilles and Heracles and yes, that's how you pronounce it, Hercules is the Roman pronunciation were not thought of as fictional characters. The prevailing belief at the time was that these beings, half human, half god, coexisted with us, mere mortals. The concept of demigods walking among us today might seem antiquated, but the underlying truth is that we've simply swapped them with sports stars and celebrities. The ancient Greeks viewed Heracles as a pillar of other worldly strength, fortitude, and endurance for completing his twelve technically thirteen impossible tasks. And while Lebron James hasn't killed a hydra or defeated the Nemian Lyon, as far as we know, it's impossible not to see some similarities between the two, especially in the way we talk about his superhuman endurance, athleticism, and overcoming difficult trials like defeating the Juggernaut Golden State Warriors team after being down three to one in the finals. In short, ancient societies celebrated demigods for their heroic deeds and athletic feats. Modern society celebrates athletes for their heroic deeds and athletic feats. It's just the context and framing that has changed. We well, some of us worship sports stars to varying degrees. We hang on their every word, judge them based on the small snippets of their lives we actually get to witness, and for better or for worse, we hyperbolize them, turning a bad at bat or miss three point shot into a tragic flaw, and viewing an improbable comeback as divine destiny. There is one major difference that modernity has quite literally brought to the table, and that's microphones. In the age of audio clips and memes, postgame press conferences and athlete interviews have ushered in unprecedented access to our modern day demigods. We relish every word of these quotes and sound bites, especially when they reveal the hidden layers of these larger than life figures, a flash of anger, a sense of humor, or in some cases, pure bewilderment. On this Quick Hits episode to Sports Dot MP three, I'll be diving into the details of three iconic quotes from postgame interviews and press conferences. I've already covered a fair amount of them in past episodes, like Jim Mora's Playoffs, Rant Alan Iverson's We're Talking About Practice press conference, and Denny Green's classic they are who we thought they were, and we'd let them off the hook. In those cases, the context that led to those clips needed a full episode's worth of context to explain the why this episode's quotes aren't as complicated but are still just as memorable. So sit back, relax, and let's get into it. First up, bewilderment, an emotion many athletes experience when a reporter asks them a really stupid question. Let's set the scene. It's February twelfth, twenty thirteen. The Baltimore Ravens, coached by John Harbaugh, are celebrating their recent Super Bowl victory over the San Francisco forty nine Ers coached by Jim Harbaugh, his brother. Just a day earlier, Pope Benedict the sixteenth announced he would be the first pope to voluntarily step down from the position in over seven hundred years. Thrift Shop by Macilmore and Ryan Lewis sits atop the billboard Hot one hundred list. A regular season NBA game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Utah Jazz ends with the Jazz defeating the Thunder. High Flying point guard Russell Westbrook, a player known for wearing his heart on his sleeve, finishes with twenty two points, five assists, and seven turnovers. It's not his best game or his worst. By the time he has showered and changed out of his uniform, it's nearly midnight, but his day isn't done yet. He still has to answer questions from the reporters inside the Thunder locker room. A reporter steps up to the plate and he throws out one of the most generic, cliche and nonsensical questions you can never ask a player, Did you lose the game? Or did the Jazz win the game? What your inspires? Next is an audio clip for the Ages. 00:05:36 Speaker 2: What. 00:05:38 Speaker 1: Bro, what are you talking about? 00:05:40 Speaker 2: Mah? 00:05:42 Speaker 1: Well, I'm out man, I ni's tripped. Two of the best aspects of this clip, which you can't hear, are that Westbrook hits a classic head tilt as he responds one of those dude, did you really just say that? Head? Tilts follows that up by immediately turning around as if to walk away right after his iconic line, but he's standing by his locker, so he just stands there, letting the reporter question his life choices in a lengthy, awkward silence. The moment instantly became a meme, and its passive aggressive nature is applicable to an endless number of situations. You can use it as a reply to your uncle's insane conspiracy theory about five G what your classmate asking if you studied for the quiz you didn't know was happening? Bro, what are you talking about? Mah or basically anything, Skip Bayless says, well, I'm out man. Part of its staying power is Westbrook's authentic display of pure, absolute bewilderment. He really can't believe the reporter asked that question, and you can't really blame him for feeling that way. Athletes are often so guarded and weary towards the media that we get boring, emotionless response, which is what makes something like this so memorable. It's a true glimpse at the real emotions of a sports star, something we don't get very often. And if Westbrook's interview clip is the sound of frustrated disbelief. The next quick hit is pure unfiltered zen with a dash of humor and a somewhat weird voice. In two thousand and six, a Russian goalkeeper named Iliya Brasgolov was a member of the Anaheim Ducks in the National Hockey League. The Ducks had recently traded away two promising young prospects and two draft picks to the Edmonton Oilers for defenceman Chris Pronger. The reason for the deal was no secret. Pronger had demanded to be traded away from the Oilers, which understandably left Oilers fans pretty pissed off. The trade itself also made the fans pretty mad, because, regardless of the sport, fans are always going to feel like they lost when their team gives away the best player in a trade, even if, like in this case, they received four assets for one. With that context in mind, Ilia Brisgalov, one of Chris Pronger's new teammates, was asked by a reporter what he thought of the trade and why he thought Oilers fans were so upset. His response was a mixture of comedy, gold and zen like truthfulness. 00:08:35 Speaker 2: That's a hockey, you know. It's only It's only game, Why you have to be mad? He's a good guy. He may be trd to live here. 00:08:45 Speaker 1: And then because here is a November months is a minus story too. 00:08:49 Speaker 2: Could you imagine it's eight months in eight months in a year snow. 00:08:56 Speaker 1: First of all, that's not Ilia's real voice. Well, it is his voice, just not the one he normally uses to talk with. It's one of the reasons this clip went so viral and has subsisted for so long. There's an almost magical power when pairing a high pitched Mickey Mouse voice with a silly yet undeniably true statement. It really is just a game, and there really isn't a significant reason to feel upset about an NHL trade in the Grand Scheme of Life. Brosgalov's quote grew into a cult classic, so much so that in twenty seventeen, eleven years after he said it, the audio was added as a voice line for a Russian character named Zaria in the video game Overwatch. 00:09:41 Speaker 2: It's only game, Why you have to be met? 00:09:45 Speaker 1: Apparently the developers were huge hockey fans, but even so, the fact that got added in shows its cultural staying power. The best humor is underpinned with truth, and that's definitely the case for this quote. It's a reminder that we I don't always have to take things so seriously. Ilia dropped more than one iconic line, and while his why you have to be Mad is surely the most popular, his quote about bears in the forest is my personal favorite, and I'd be upset at myself if I didn't include at least a snippet. 00:10:17 Speaker 2: What's the biggest threat that the penguins have? You know, I'm not afraid anything count afraid that bear in the forest. 00:10:25 Speaker 1: It reminds me of the DMX freestyle quote if you ever find me in the forest with a grizzly bear, help the bear. End quote. Enough about bears, though, let's talk about rage. Rage in the form of an unfiltered, khaki wearing, clipboard wielding college football coach. College football coaches are sort of like those jelly beans with good flavors and bad flavors, like a green one that's either lime or booger flavored. I'll avoid questioning how those companies know what a booger tastes like, at least for now. Just like those jelly beans, you can have two football coaches that give off similar vibes big mustache, sweaty brows, and the air of a military drill instructor, but are made of entirely different substances and coach in completely different ways. One of the most common tropes for coaches is that of the haardo, a leader who demands the absolute best from players, without room for excuses, One who is more than willing, if not happy, to tell, or rather yell at a player in front of others to point out what they're doing wrong. Some might call the style over the top, others might call it the good old days. Coaches who fall under this designation aren't all the same, and that difference is dependent on why they do what they do. Some, like the booger flavored jelly beans, seem to be fueled by the absolute power they wield over their players, much like a tyrant or dictator over their subjects. The others, like lime flavored jellybeans, are demanding an intense because they truly see the potential within their players, and they believe pushing them to the absolute limit is the best way to unlock that potential. It can be impossible to tell which category a coach falls under, but it can also be quite clear, as in the case of Mike Gundy. Mike Gundy is an intense guy, and that's been evident ever since his first season as head coach of Oklahoma States football team in two thousand and five. He was named head coach towards the end of two thousand and four, but his first season officially at the helm was the two thousand and five season. That season, he expelled eleven players from the team and ended with a four and seven record. From an outsider's perspective, it might appear that he was one of the bad kind of intense coaches, but the whole world would see the true nature of his intensity thanks to a two thousand and seven press conference immediately after the Oklahoma State Cowboys defeated the Texas Tech Red Raiders. A reporter named Jenny Carlson had recently published an article in The Oklahoman that speculated on the reason as to why the Cowboys quarterback Bobby Reid had been demoted to second string. Reid was the starting quarterback earlier in the season and had received public support from the coaching staff too. The article questioned if the benching was due to some type of off the field issue. That line of questioning was basically a giant barrel of gunpowder, and Mike Gundy he was a hot red blowtorch. Gundy immediately called out the article in the press conference, leading to one of the best rants of all time, a rant that revealed his stunning intensity and more importantly, that this intensity was derived from a desire to see his players succeed. The only thing better than a rage fueled rent is a rage field rent that you agree with. And it's hard to disagree with a coach defending his players cue the tape. 00:14:13 Speaker 3: And then you want to write articles about guys that don't do things right and downgrade him the ones that do make plays? 00:14:19 Speaker 2: Are you kidding me? 00:14:21 Speaker 3: Where are we at in society today? Come after me. I'm a man, I'm forty. I'm not a kid. Write something about me, or are coaches go writing about a kid that does everything right that's heart's broken and then say that the coaches. 00:14:39 Speaker 2: Said he was scared. That ain't true. 00:14:44 Speaker 3: And then to say that we made that decision because Donovan was because he threatened to transfer. 00:14:49 Speaker 2: That's not true. 00:14:52 Speaker 3: So get your facts straight. 00:14:56 Speaker 1: I'm a man, I'm forty. It's easily the most quotable line in the rant, but you won't be disappointed if you watch the full four minute long version. He yells, points at people, and even drops a reference about mothers feeding their son's chicken. What more can you ask for in a rant? Gunni's outburst instantly went viral, yet he was sort of ahead of the curve. It became popular as a OMG, look at this insane coaching rant sort of way. As the years have ticked on, however, the clip feels more relevant than ever, especially as concepts like the mental health of athletes have become more mainstream in the sports landscape. It's simultaneously a hilarious meltdown an oppression example of the scrutiny athlete's face, which might explain why it's still remembered to this day. The majority of press conferences and postgame player interviews are boring, and they always will be. There will also always be those rare occasions when raw emotions peek through the curtain and we get to see real rage, passion, humor, or a profound statement deeper than we ever thought possible, whether it's Westbrook's ceaseless disbelief towards a really bad question Brisgolov's funny voice delivering a surprisingly wise saying, or Gundhi's intensely hilarious defense of a player. Each quote reminds us of the real personalities behind these demigodlike figures that we watch and worship on our screens. I think part of the reason these go so viral is because we can see part of ourselves in these moments. Well, sometimes it's impossible for us to actually envision ourselves juking someone out of their cleats or slam dunking on someone. It is possible to see us snapping at a bad question or getting really angry. But that's just my theory. If you disagree or have a different one, let me know in the comments on our Socials at Sports Underscore MP three. I'll definitely reply, though I won't promise I'll agree. And that does it for today's Quick Hits episode of Sports Dot MP three. If you enjoyed listening, please leave a review on whichever platform you're listening to this on. Make sure you're following the podcast on Socials at Sports Underscore MP three, and be sure to tune in next Thursday for a new episode. Thank you so much for listening. And please have a wonderful week. See you next time. 00:17:41 Speaker 2: Peace at don't don't. But it's not about the