Keepin' It A Hundo

Growing up in South Central LA, Gary Hamilton didn’t even start playing basketball until he was 16. He was lightly recruited, but ended up playing at UMiami. He’s now in his 15th season of pro ball and his 10th season in Japan. He has some game off the court too, which explains how he’s married to a beautiful Japanese woman. They also have 2 kids. Don’t sleep on what his 3 brothers have accomplished in their basketball careers. The resume of the 4 (Gary, Jordan, Daniel, & Isaac) of them is on par with just about any 4 brothers you’ll find. Jordan and Daniel played in the NBA and all of them currently play professionally. They all cut their teeth in the Drew League too. He went from rocking Snoop Dog Collection velours to silk kimonos as seamlessly as he transferred from Crenshaw to Dorsey back in high school. Check out my conversation with Lurchy!

I met Mike Bradley at the Hard Rock Hotel in Vegas in 2004. I was with my good friend Elton Tyler. They both remember it fondly because they hadn’t seen each other in a few years. However, Mike didn’t remember me. Well I remember Mike dominating high school basketball in Massachusetts when I was in high school and Mike was at Burncoat High in Worcester. But I didn’t remember he averaged 40 points per game in high school. That would explain why every college in the country wanted him. He committed early to Boston College along with Elton, Jonathan Depina, and Sean Connolly. Long story short, BC is/was racist and none of them ended up there. Then Rick Pitino lied to him and convinced him to go to Kentucky, where he was part of a national championship team. But he never played for Rick. He had already started running/ruining the Celtics, but that’s another story. Ultimately, Mike transferred to Villanova and became an All American and a first round pick in the NBA Draft. He spent 6 seasons in the NBA and a few more in Europe. As impressive as his basketball resume is, I find his post career endeavors even more impressive. He and his wife Ellen have been traveling the world with their 3 children (Taylor, Kya, and Shae) and immersing them in cultures and places that will have a profound effect on them. They call it “world school”. So far the kids have been to 36 countries and they’re all under the age of 16. When they’re not traveling they are surfing and being homeschooled in Nosara, Costa Rica, where the Bradley family has lived for a few years. I love talking basketball and I love talking travel so Mike was a perfect guest for Keepin’ It A Hundo. Hopefully, he remembers me now.

When I saw Matt Hubbard dissect a frog in Mrs. Polgren's 7th grade biology class I realized at that very moment he was going to be a comedy writer. Although this may not be true, I recognized at a young age that Matt was going to be successful at whatever he chose to do. He was always kind, thoughtful, and self effacing. I'd be lying if I said I knew he would follow in the footsteps of Conan O'Brien and become the editor of the Harvard Lampoon while attending the prestigious Ivy League university. However, it wasn't a shock when he won 2 Emmy's for writing and producing the acclaimed NBC show "30 Rock". I was more surprised that Walter Patterson got mentioned by Matt in his Emmy Award speech, for punching him in the face in 8th grade. In our conversation we discuss all of this as well as his relationships with savants like Donald Glover aka Childish Gambino and about the time our 6th grade social studies teacher squirted whipped cream down Matt's pants.

JamesOn Curry has the dubious distinction of "shortest career in NBA history". He played 3.9 seconds for the LA Clippers in 2010. His tumultuous journey to the NBA began with him signing to play at the University of North Carolina as a freshman and finishing his high school career as the all time leading scorer in North Carolina high school basketball history. Despite his success on the court, UNC had pulled his scholarship after an arrest for selling weed at school. He ended up starring at Oklahoma State, where he left early and was drafted by the Chicago Bulls. We discussed why his success at every level including the the NCAA tournament and the D League never translated into NBA success. JamesOn was also very candid about his legal troubles and the car wreck that changed his life in 2017.

Mike Procopio, better known as Sweetchuck, looks like a cross between Danny DeVito and Uncle Fester. He scored 4 points in his high school basketball career and Kobe Bryant trusted him to be his personal "basketball whisperer" for 4 years. From helping out with the BABC AAU team in Boston, to assistant coaching at Suffolk University, Sweetchuck is an unlikely basketball savant. He parlayed those gigs into a scouting job with the Boston Celtics and eventually a 6 year run as a player development coach with the Dallas Mavericks. We took a deep dive into how he gained the trust of some of the greatest minds in the game including Danny Ainge, Kevin McHale, Tim Grover, Dirk Nowitzki, Rajon Rondo and the late great Kobe “Bean” Bryant. And I had to ask him about the time Chris Herren tried to stuff him into a trash can and roll him back to Revere from Fall River.

Back by popular demand on Keepin’ It A Hundo, Indiana Pacers assistant coach Bill Bayno stopped by while quarantining in Miami. We discussed the affect the pandemic has had on the NBA and particularly on him. His mother Sophie passed away last month due to complications from COVID-19. This has been been quite a trying time for Bill. We also broke down the current state of America and how divided it is. And of course two hoop junkies had to discuss the MJ doc and how Bill got to know Jordan. This podcast is dedicated to Sophie Bayno.

In 1984 my first grade teacher, Mrs. Dea, asked me to be nice to the "new kid" in class. The "new kid" was Jai Eswara and we both loved 80's hip hop, the Celtics, and Fletch. Pat "Hendu" Henebury was in our class too so Jai Bahr, Hendu, and I have been tight ever since. After playing football together in high school Jai Bahr went on to Johns Hopkins for undergrad and eventually Harvard Med School. He is currently the Chief Urologist at St. Elizabeth's Medical Center in Boston. He is an extremely talented surgeon and one of the only doctors in the greater Boston area with an expertise in urologic trauma and reconstruction. Last month, he tested positive for COVID-19 so we discussed how that affected him and his family. We also did a deep dive into our trip to Japan last year. We discovered the best pizza in the world is made in Tokyo and Zima is alive and well in Japan. We also explain the time honored tradition of eating at Sushi Dai at 5am in Toyosu Market. He's the most intelligent dude I've ever met and he may be just as funny as he is smart. He's also one of my oldest and closest friends.

I was attending a wedding in New Orleans over the weekend so I reached out to NOLA native Nesby Phips to grab some lunch and record a podcast. He’s engrained in the community there and the music of NO is engrained in him. He grew up in Hollygrove and the 3rd Ward with hip hop luminaries like Lil Wayne, Curren$y and Mack Maine. As a rapper/producer he’s worked on albums with them as well. He’s also put in work with NO legend Juvenile and some notables outside of NO like Wiz Khalifa and H.E.R. We chopped it up in the 3rd Ward at Heard Dat Kitchen. He told us about his family lineage, being the grand nephew of legendary gospel singer Mahalia Jackson and about the time he rode a horse named Shiloh at 4am, somewhere on the outskirts of Boston. I’m also fortunate to have his music as the theme music for Keepin’ It A Hundo. All of the music you hear on my podcast is courtesy of Nesby Phips and his instrumental album Phipstrumentals.

You can't make this stuff up. Todd Marinovich was born and bred to play quarterback from the womb. His father, Marv Marinovich, was innovative if not abusive. He carefully designed a strict diet and training regimen for Todd that was way ahead of its time. Todd had even achieved Marv's dreams and beyond, for a few years. Todd was named national high school football player of the year and was featured in Sports Illustrated when he was 17. That is when I became aware of him. I was playing QB for my Pop Warner football at the time. I wanted to be like Todd, so I stopped eating fast food. Todd went on to start at Marv's alma mater, USC, as a freshman. After just 2 years he was taken in the first round by the LA Raiders (also the same team Marv had played for) and started as a rookie. But Marv's dream wasn't exactly Todd's dream. After just 2 years, he was out of the NFL. He had always used drugs to cope with the pressure. Now he was a full blown drug addict. It got so bad that Todd was smoking crack and shooting heroin in the locker room at halftime of his CFL games. Not long after that, Todd Marinovich was a meth addicted skateboarder living in the streets of Newport Beach, CA. Now Todd is a father and an artist. He loves to create. He paints, he plays music, and he's clean and sober. He is one of the most interesting and complex people I've ever met. My conversation with Todd was nothing less than therapeutic.

Jermon Bushrod has been a model of consistency and perseverance throughout his life and into his NFL career. From a small town in Virginia to Towson University to a Super Bowl title with the New Orleans Saints, he established himself as one of the best offensive tackles in the NFL. In 2011, he led the entire league in snaps played. That means he doesn't take plays off. It earned him his first Pro Bowl appearance and followed it up in 2012 with another Pro Bowl. He spent most of his 12 year career with the Saints, but also spent time with the Miami Dolphins and Chicago Bears. Last season, in his second stint with the Saints Jermon and his wife Jessica lost a child during the season. Being the dependable teammate that he is, Jermon returned to the team with a heavy heart and helped the Saints reach the playoffs. His teammates appreciated it so much they voted him as the recipient of the Ed Block Courage Award. Jermon Bushrod is a real one.

My good friend EJ Manuel stopped by to talk about his transition from NFL QB to college football analyst. We get into his decision to retire and start a new career as well as some food, travel and NBA talk. Now I've eaten at a lot of interesting places, but I've never eaten at a restaurant that is pitch black with blind waiters. EJ has.

Boo put himself on the hip hop map when he was featured on Fiesta and the Fiesta Remix, with R. Kelly and Jay-Z. The song was #1 on the Billboard hip hop chart for 5 weeks and #6 on the Billboard top 100. It was also one of the anthems to my college experience and I always took pride in knowing he grew up with one of my closest friends, Courtney "Blacknoyz" Chew. Boo was also featured in several other R. Kelly songs, who Boo credits for putting him in the game. We had to have a tough discussion about his mentor and the man I once considered my favorite singer. I'm glad he's finally locked up. Let's hope he stays there. He was also signed to Cash Money and was featured on the Big Tymers platinum album "Hood Rich" with Lil Wayne and Birdman. The Chicago native eventually came back to The Chi and opened the best sneaker boutique in town. It's called Flee Club.

When I was 15 I went to the Boston Shootout and saw a kid my age, that resembled a man, dominating against guys that were 2-3 years older than him. And they were already headed to play at big time colleges. The Manchild’s name was Schea Cotton. That was the day I realized I had no future playing basketball. From that point on, I followed his career. I even had some of his pictures from Slam Magazine on my wall next to posters of Larry Bird, Michael Jordan and Reggie Lewis. Schea Cotton was the best high school player in the country in 1995 and was destined for NBA greatness. But things didn't exactly go as planned and he never played a game in the NBA. Ron Artest called him, “Lebron James before there ever was a Lebron James...” He once dunked on Kevin Garnett 3 times in an AAU game and finished the game with 38 points. KG was a senior. Schea was only a sophomore. If they only had YouTube or social media back then. Needless to say, a series of unfortunate events and outside influences derailed his NBA dreams. He did go on to play 10+ years overseas and he is currently doing a lot of work in the community in his hometown of Long Beach, CA. Mentoring, motivational speaking and player development consume him these days. He also has a documentary coming out called Manchild: The Schea Cotton Story.

Bill Bayno is an assistant coach with the Indiana Pacers, but I first heard his name when he was a young assistant coach on John Calipari's UMass staff in the early 90's. Led by Marcus Camby, they were as good as any team in the country. His success there landed him the job as the new head coach at UNLV. He also coached under the legendary PJ Carlesimo at Seton Hall and Larry Brown at Kansas, where they won a national championship. Despite all of that coaching success, Bayno was struggling with drugs and alcohol. Some of the most impressive things Bayno has done hasn't been as a coach, although his impact as a coach is undeniable. He has been sober since 2002. He’s adopted children. He was a D2 All American at Sacred Heart. He once dropped 53 in a Rucker League game. He had dinner with Larry Bird and gambled with Charles Barkley. And in 1976, when he rapped under the name MC Snow, he may have been the first white rapper ever.

Brandon Okpalobi is a disruptor. My good friend is hellbent on putting his stamp on the community. His foundation Dibia Dream is really making a difference in the city of Miami. Whether it's educating kids in inner city schools with his "STEM Saturdays" program or donating cars to single moms, his presence is being felt in Miami. His basketball roots that began in New Orleans at St. Augustine High School and continued at University of Miami, are also serving the community well. B Dot's career started as a walk-on for the University of Miami basketball team and ended with B Dot as a scholarship athlete getting minutes for The U. Jefe Dibia is coaching and runs Dibia Athletic Development in Miami, New Orleans and Bermuda. I swear Nigerian's are taking over the world. Please enjoy my conversation with the man who never met a nickname he didn't like.

You may know him as Calogero, but his name is Lillo Brancato. He became an overnight celebrity as a teenager when he starred in “A Bronx Tale” with Robert DeNiro. Not only could I feel a connection to the character he was portraying, but there was also a physical resemblance between the two of us and there there still is. He had a role on The Sopranos as well. Much has changed since his days as a movie star. He spent 10 years in prison and overdosed on heroin in Riker's Island, while awaiting trial for murder. He talks about how he overcame his drug addiction, his new addiction working out, and his mutual respect for black women.

This week I'm talking travel. My guest is Hawaii. I discuss my perception of Hawaii when I was growing up and how Greg Brady and Magnun P.I. helped shape that perception. I also delve into how I met my new best friend surfing. Grab a shave ice or a Kona Longboard and enjoy the show.

You may know Rachel Lindsay from The Bachelor or The Bachelorette. In 2017 Rachel became the first black bachelor or bachelorette on the ABC reality juggernaut. The Jackie Robinson of reality TV ended up finding true love on the show and is now engaged to be married in August. Rachel also hosts an ESPN radio show called Football Frenzy and has made appearances on ESPN's First Take, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Steve Harvey Show and several others. This episode EJ Manuel joins me to co-host the show as we discuss with Rachel her thoughts on Colton's virginity, Matlock and why they call her "Fireball Rach".

Nathan "ShoNuff" Carroll is a high school dropout turned real estate mogul. His marketing/business style is unique. Imagine you were going to buy a home and your realtor showed up with gold teeth in his mouth, smoking a Newport and he says, "I'm ShoNuff. Come rock with the flyest." That's how ShoNuff handles his clientele. Being around ShoNuff is like being in Miami during Hurricane Season; he's always making it rain. You can find plenty of this on his Instagram and you can also find him counting his hundo's off of a naked female's butt-cheeks. He's one of the only people in America that still cashes his paychecks instead of depositing them. From nothing to something, this is my conversation with the Flavor Flav of Fall River, Mass.

I promise you’ve never met anybody like Myron Rolle. Retired NFL player, Rhodes Scholar, former #1 recruit in the country, Freshman All American at Florida St, confidant of former President Bill Clinton, Harvard-bred, featured on a Bahamian stamp..these are some of the things that describe what Myron Rolle has accomplished, but it does not begin to tell the story of who he is. He has chosen the road less traveled. I forgot to mention he’s also a neurosurgeon at Mass General Hospital in Boston, one of the most prestigious hospitals in the world. In 2010 he was listed as the second smartest athlete in all of sports. He has been a positive role model for so many, especially in the black community and in the Bahamas. That would explain why Jesse Jackson once told him, “If Dr. King were alive today, he’d be proud of you.” I am honored to have him on my podcast. Please enjoy my conversation with Dr. Myron Rolle.