Assalamu alaikum, welcome to virtual university, I am Surya Yashofi, your tutor for English. Today's lesson, I hope you are fine, had enjoyed your last lesson, lesson two is going to be about using the dictionary to learn the pronunciation of English words. Now students of English are often worried about English pronunciation because they are used to looking at words and the students pronounce words the way they are spelled. And English spelling can be quite confusing as far as pronunciation is concerned. Students have, I am sure you have often had difficulty in correctly pronouncing the words, you pronounce them the way you spell them. Now this lesson is going to be in two parts. In the first part I shall familiarize you with a set of special symbols known as phonemic symbols, that is a technical word phonemic. These are the sounds, symbols used to denote the sounds of the English language. And in the second part of the lesson we shall work out a few exercises so that you are able to read words in the dictionary and you are able to pronounce them. Now if you look at your screens, you will notice that I have written two words for you. The words are chorus and church. Chorus is spelled C-H-O-R-U-S. Church is also spelled C-H-U-R-C-H. In the first word chorus, C-H has a k sound, k sound, k. In the second word church, C-H has a ché sound, ché, ché like we have it in Urdu and Punjabi as we have ché, ché's sound comes out, here in church C-H is called ché, ché, ché. And in the chorus it has a ka, kaaf sound. There is another word, ration, R-A-T-I-O-N, look at the word machine, M-A-C-H-I-N-E. Now in both these words, the sound is the same, it is the ché sound. But in the first word, the letters are T-I-O-N, T-I-O-N is pronounced as ché. While in the second word, C-H is pronounced as ché, right. Now the word chorus begins with the letters C-H, is pronounced as ka, while the word church, in the word church, the letters C-H is pronounced as the Urdu-Panjabi letter sound, ché. And it is the same in ration and machine, both pronounced as ché sound. But they are spelled as T-I-O-N and C-H-I-N-E, right. Now the problem is that students are familiar with the 26 letters of the English alphabet. These 26 letters, they are not sufficient, they are not enough to describe all the sounds of the English language. That is why you have problems when you read a word and you do not know whether it is to be pronounced as ché or to be pronounced as ka. Now phoneticians, people who deal with sounds, they have worked out a list of symbols and you will find that in your dictionary, every word, every word has its pronunciation written in this special script. You open your dictionary and you will see that the word is there and the first thing that comes after the word is the pronunciation of that word. And you will find that the pronunciation, those symbols are written within slash brackets. They are written in a strange script. Today, in today's lecture, in today's lesson, I shall teach you those symbols. Once you become familiar with those symbols, you will not have any problem in pronouncing English words. So these people, these phoneticians as they are called, they have used symbols to represent the sounds of English. Your dictionary will help you learn the pronunciation of any word. And for this, you have to be familiar with the symbols, the symbols which are used to indicate each sound. All dictionaries have a table, a pronunciation table or key either in the inside front or back cover of the dictionary. You make sure that you go through that list. All languages of the world use, regularly use a small number of sounds. These sounds are of two types. One you are familiar with this word, are known as vowel sounds and the other known as consonants. Now in English, there are 44 sounds. Please do not confuse these sounds with the letters of the alphabet. English has 26 letters of the alphabet but 44 speech sounds. Now we will look at the vowels and consonants of English and we will look at their symbols. Some of the symbols that have been used, you are familiar with. You will find that you have come across them in why you were learning your English alphabet. Some have been created. Now remember that your phonemic symbols, let me repeat this again. When you look up the pronunciation of a word, you will find that the symbols are within slash brackets. Now I shall say the vowels of English and you will repeat after me. Look at the shape of my mouth, the lips and the jaw. Sometimes you will find that I will drop my jaw and sometimes it is tense like this. Now English has 20 vowel sounds. Vowel sounds are those sounds that are produced without any obstruction in the mouth. Listen to this word. E, A, in your English lesson sometimes when you were in school, you learned there are 5 vowels in English, A, E, I, O, U, fine but today you are going to look at the symbols that represent these sounds. Now English has 7 short vowels. Repeat after me, E, as in pit, E, as in pit, A, as in hat, A, not A, A, as in putt, putt, why is that a sound, putt, A, as in pot, A, pot, A, in the word hot, this sound that A sound that comes in the word hot, pot, pot. Then you have this OO sound which you get in putt, right? Put the kettle on the fire, putt and then you have another sound. The symbol is like E but upside down. This is known as the schwa and it is the most common sound in the English language. This sound occurs in words like upper, about, right? Let me repeat again pit, pit, that, about, upper. Notice that all these 7 vowels were short. You will notice the difference when I say the long vowels. On your screen you will see the long vowels. Look at the symbols. They are the same symbols.  The sound becomes longer. Like ki, in English we say ki and it is the same E sound but longa. Ki, when you said this sound in pit, the sound was short, pit, but when you say pit, the sound E sound is lengthened or symbol is small i and it has 2 dots in front of it. Ki, fi, si, ti. The next long vowel is a, as in the word ka, fa, o, as in ko, the ko, po, u, as in ku, 2 and a, the a sound as in ka, po, the kat, po,s, po. These were the long vowels. So in English you have 7 short vowels and 5 long vowels. And together they make 7 and 5, 12 vowels. The difference is that the long sounds, the long vowels have little dots in front of them while the short ones are without. Now I will introduce you to another feature of English sounds and that is diphthongs. These are sounds made of two sounds which are produced by combining two vowel sounds. You have one vowel sound and then another and while you pronounce them, you move from one vowel sound to another. There is a movement, a glide, you move from one sound to another. And in English there are 8 diphthongs, 8 diphthongs. Now the first diphthong is a, notice it is a, a, as in se, he, re. It is not one sound, it is not ra, it is re, there is a movement, re. I, as in by, by, by this. And an English person would not say by, it would be by, right? Oy, that is another diphthong, oy, as in boy, toy, joy. Notice it is a combination of two sound, oy. It is like this, oy, be, by, boy. The next is ear, as in pier, when you look at something like this, you are peering at something, pier, pier, ear, pier, air, like in pear, the pears that we eat, naashpati ji se kete, pear. Typical English sound, pear, pua. Notice the sound in pua, it is pua, pua, right? And the last two, as in go, it is not go, go, it is go, aau, as in kaau. If you look at your screen, you will see the symbols and you will notice that when you pronounce them, you move, the sound moves, glides from one vowel sound to another. It is a combination of two vowels put together. Let me repeat again, a, as in be, or re, i, as in by, oy, as in toy, joy, ear, as in pier, pe, you have the word ear, ay, as in pe, or he, ua, as in pua, oy, as in go, aau, as in kaau. A lot of our students say soap, now in English they say soap, in English they say soap. There is a glide from the first vowel to the other, soap, it is not soap, it is soap, hope, right? So, we looked at eight diphthongs which are double sounds, we looked at seven short vowels sounds and five long vowel sounds and you should become familiar with the symbols. Now we will look at the consonants sounds of English. Now what are consonants? Consonants are those sounds which are produced, when you produce that sound, there is some sort of obstruction in the mouth, in the oral cavity. Now in English there are twenty four consonant sounds, remember, in the alphabet you came across twenty six letters, actually the sounds of English are more than the letters of the alphabet. If you become familiar with these symbols you will not have any problem learning the pronunciation of English words. Now look at the consonants, there are twenty four consonant sounds in English and these are produced by a complete or a partial stoppage of breath. Now you repeat after me, pa as in p, p is that we eat, pa as in p, pa as in b, the honey bee, ta as in toe, anguta, pehrkanguta, toe, d as in doe, hirni, doe, k as in cap, g as in gap, ph as in fat, v as in vat, ph notice the shape of my lips, ph notice that I stuck my tongue out a little, ph, it's not th, it's ph, ph as in thing, the as in this, sir as in zip and zeh as in zip, sure, look at the shape of this symbol, it's just like a, like an earthworm, gandhoye, gandhoye, a as in ship and yeh, yeh, it is like the sound in measure, measure when you measure something, yeh, yeh sound and then ha as in hat. Now we've got three nasal sounds, sounds that are produced through the nose, m as in map, n as in nap and ng as in hang. Now this is a sound which most students have problems with, apne vulafs dekai sing, likata sing, kartaar sing, hum jisko ng karke bolte ha na, ng sing, it's that sound, but not ng, yasai ki angrezi ka ik lafs hai, sing, apne usme gh ka ki avaz nahi nikal nahi, sing, sing karke chhod dek, gh nahi bolna, sing, sing, sing. That symbol, enwala, enki ek tang lambi ki viye, that symbol is for the sound, right. Now we've got la as in lead, a lead pencil, lead, la, la as in lolly, ra as in red, yeh as in yet, yeh, yeh, yeh and yeh can be very confusing. Jo pehle apne sunata wo tha meh yeh, yeh, mehya wala, it is like a z, symbol jo hai, small chota z nahi banate jasai, jasai hai, yeh jo sound meh, jisko jay ki shakal mein, jasai jay nahi banate alphabet ka jay, yeh vasai likhawa, likin avaz hai yeh, yeh, yeh, yet, yet and then wa as in wet, wa, wa, I want you to pay attention, notice there is a difference between the way wa as in bat, bat, violet, violin, wa and wah sound mein bada farak, humare bachhe aksar inko confuse kar dete, jaha wah kena hota wah kena hota wah kena hota wah kena hota wah ek nishani hai ki wah sound jo hai, it is always pronounced with the underlip being bitten by your apateeth, hoto ko daant ka saath dabana hai, sorry, violin, bat, violet, phool ka naam violet, violin, he plays the violin, violin, wah aur wah mein, wet, when, where, here the lips are rounded, wah, wah mein, ap apne hond ko daant se dabata hai, avaz mein phark bada and then at the end we have got the cha sound, cha as in chin, if you look at the symbols one is a T and the other is the cha sound, chin, these two sounds cha and ja are made by combining two symbols, for chin, for cha, the cha sound is symbolized with a T and a long shah, chin, cha, church, chin, choose, cha and ja as in gin, ginning mill, kya taini aki ji un ke paas ek ginning mill hai, wo mill jo haan ruiko gin ki aajata hai, gin and the symbols are a D and a ja, gin, right, so you repeat after me, pa, ba, tha, daa, ka, ga, sa, wa, fa, daa, yeh daa aise jese ke maara dal hai, dal wali sound hai, daa, daa, daa, wo hai faa jese te he ki bani saa, zor nahi tha, nahi ka naa, faa, faa, faa, daa, saa, za, sha, ya, ha as in hat, ha, ha, ha sound, ma naa, ma naa, then la, ra, ya, ya, ya, ya, then wa, cha and ja and we have gone through the 24 consonant sounds of English, you notice that when these sounds, these consonant sounds when I was going through them, there was some blockage, some obstruction in the mouth when I was saying these sounds, do not be frightened by the symbols, they look frightening at the beginning, but once you go over them again and again, you go over them and you will find that some of them are, you are already familiar with and there are a number of exercises given in the package and when you go through them, you will find that it is no problem, you will not have problems with pronouncing English words. Now, that was one area, the other area that is related with English pronunciation and is a problem, that is the area of stress. Now, what is stress? Stress is the extra force used in pronouncing or speaking on a particular word and you will find that your dictionary is very helpful because English is a stress timed language. And foreign learners of English like you and me, when we speak English, we do not know which part of the word is to be stressed and your dictionary comes in very handy, it is very helpful, your dictionary will tell you, there is a little signal, there is a little symbol used in the dictionary and once you become familiar with it, you will have no problem in knowing where to place the stress. The dictionary will indicate this stress by a tiny mark on top of the word, you open your dictionary, look at any word and you will find that where the pronunciation is given in slash brackets, you will find a tiny mark at the top, you will also see a tiny mark at the bottom, but we are not looking at the marks at the bottom, we are only going to look at the marks that are at the top of the word. If you open your dictionary, take the word mother, you will notice that when you say the word, it is not mother, it is mother and the stress falls on the first part of the word, mother, you open your dictionary and you will see that where the word mother is written in phonemic script, there is a tiny mark above M, above the M phoneme, mother, take the word table, it is not table, it is table, the stress is on the first part, table and open the dictionary and you will notice a tiny mark above the T phoneme, table, in the same way look at the word after, you will find the symbol above the letter A, after, now in all these three words that I, it is the first part that is stress. Now in English stress varies, sometimes you will find that the first part of the word, of a word is stressed and sometimes it is the second, some dictionaries will also give you the rules for stress, where the stress falls, you do not have to worry about that, all you have to know is that when you look up a word, it is pronunciation, you must also at the same time look at where the stress mark is, the top mark on that word and that will help you to place the stress correctly. There are three more words given in your, on your screen, the word H-O-T-E-L, most of us pronounce it as hotel, hotel, hotel, in English it is not that, it is hotel, the stress falls on the second part, hotel, the word B-A-M-B-O-O, it is not, it is not bamboo, it is bamboo and you will notice in the dictionary the stress is above the letter B, the phoneme B-B-Bam-Boo and in the same way the word banana, it is not B-Nana, it is banana, the stress is on na, banana, so do not be upset, this will help you in pronouncing English words correctly, if you are learning a language you must learn to pronounce the words in the correct way. Now there are some words in English which have the same spelling but they belong to different parts of speech because they are stressed differently, you have seen the word R-E-B-E-L, rebel and there are other words, many words, same spelling but different meanings, how do people know? It is from the way they are stressed, when the word is stressed, when the stress falls on the first part, rebel, the rebels laid down their arms, here the word is a noun, the rebels, the stress is on the first part of the word, rebels, when you put the stress on the second part of the word, it changes its form, it is no longer a noun, it becomes a verb, children rebel against their parents, the word is the same, it spells the same way but it is pronounced differently and because the stress falls on the second half, it is a different word, children rebel against their parents, notice the stress is on the second half, the word present, B-R-E-S-E-N-T, she gave me a lovely present, present, the stress is on the first half, on pa, the present was lovely, she gave me a lovely present, right, but if you say, the teacher says to you, please present your work, it is the same word but the stress is on the second half, present, it becomes a verb and the same word becomes an adjective, were you present at the party, let me recap for you, let us go over what we have done in this half of the lesson, you have looked at the sounds of English and how those sounds are converted into symbols, these symbols are known as phonemic or phonetic symbols, all dictionaries, all language dictionaries will carry a page, a list of these symbols, if you want to learn the language you must learn how to pronounce the words, you have learnt the vowels of English, the symbols for those vowels, you have learnt the symbols for the consonant vowels and you have learnt the symbols for the diphthongs, so all in all you have learnt 44 sounds of the English language and with that we come to the end of the first part of our lesson, you will now listen to a very interesting passage on computers, computers in our daily lives and after that you will have a comprehension test of what you have heard, computers in our daily lives, computers are now an integral part of our lives, many things that we do during the course of the day, public or private is affected by them, visit any public organization or office, from hospitals to schools, from the meteorological bureau to the stock exchange and you are sure to come across people working at computers, gone other days when entries were made manually in registers and ledgers at the bank, now all monetary transactions are conducted by the computer, most films and TV advertisements use graphics or pictures produced with the help of a computer, there is hardly a severe of life that does not involve the use of a computer, even when you go out on personal errands to the travel agent to buy an airline ticket or to book a seat on the intercity bus to the shopping plaza or a grocery store, the man behind the computer often uses a computer equipped with laser and barcode technology to scan the price of each item you put before him and then he uses it to add up the price to present you with the total, all within minutes, a barcode is a pattern of thick and thin lines and spaces that represent characters that can be read by a scanner, the barcode identifies the item to which it is affixed, the scanner transfers the signal to a computer that matches the code to a price or inventory unit, computers are no longer things only encountered outside the home, they are very much a part of household items, one cannot imagine a world without computers, good comprehension is recognizing the main idea, now when you read or hear any passage, ask yourself the basic question, what is the main point the author is trying to make, the answer to answer this question you will first have to determine what the topic is being discussed, in the passage that you heard the topic was computers and the main idea about the topic was the role of computers in our daily lives, now we will do two exercises, one to test your listening comprehension and the other to practice stress, computers in our daily lives, computers are now an integral part of our lives, many things that we do during the course of the day, public or private is affected by them, visit any of public organization or office from hospitals to schools from the meteorological bureau to the stock exchange and you are sure to come across people working at computers, gone are the days when entries were made manually in registers and ledgers at the bank, now all monetary transactions are conducted by the computer, most films and TV advertisements use graphics or pictures produced with the help of a computer, there is hardly a sphere of life that does not involve the use of a computer, even when you go on personal errands to the travel agent to buy an airline ticket or to book a seat on the intercity bus to the shopping plaza or a grocery store, the man behind the counter often uses a computer which is equipped with laser and barcode technology to scan the price of each item that you put before him and then uses it to add up the price you present and then he presents you with a total all within minutes, a barcode is a pattern of thick and thin lines and spaces that represent characters that can be read by a scanner, the barcode identifies the item to which it is affixed, the scanner transfers the signal to a computer that matches the code to a price or inventory unit, computers are no longer things only encountered outside the home, they are very much a part of household items, one cannot imagine a world without computers, now which words did you hear, did you hear the word integral, yes, did you hear the word games, no, machines, yes or no, ledgers, yes, flight, flight, no, involved, yes, maintain, yes, no, errands, yes, grocery, yes, libraries, no, bookkeeping, no, encountered, yes, scanner, yes, art, all right, next, exercise time, yes, yes, yes, too, in this exercise we shall, you repeat after me and we shall practice stress, placement of stress in these words, students often find the words that we are going to do go through now, find problems, they have problems placing the stress, some of these words if you look up, look them up in your, in your dictionary you will find, will have two sets of pronunciation given you, one will be the American, the other will be the British, both are correct, you just be consistent whichever one you prefer keep using that, now listen and repeat after me, advertisement, advertisement, affected, affected, affect, affect, bureau, bureau, character, character, the word is not character, it is character, computer, computer, exchange, exchange, inventory, manually, manually, meteorological, meteorological, technology, technology, thick, thick transactions, transactions, well I would like to give you a short, you can do this exercise at home write down three words, photo, photograph, photography, photographic, look up these words and notice where the stress falls, you will notice that the stress keeps changing, you should not make any mistakes in placing the correct stress after this lesson, now before we end today's lesson I would just like to go over what we have done, you have learnt the sounds of English, the vowels and the consonant sounds, you have learnt their symbols and you have learnt where to place the stress, you are going to use your dictionary to learn the pronunciation and stress of English words, now before we end this lesson I would just like to talk about what we will be doing in our next lesson and we will be talking about comprehension, good comprehension is recognizing the main idea, now whether you hear or read a passage, you ask yourself the basic question, what is the main point the author is trying to make, whether it is a passage that you hear or a passage that you read always ask yourself this question, what is the main point, what is the main thing the author is trying to say and to answer this question before you can answer this question you have to find out what the topic or the subject is being discussed, in the passage that you heard today the topic was computers and the main idea about the topic was the role of computers in our daily lives, so till next time just think about this, next time our lesson will be about the topic, about how to find the topic and the main idea about a reading passage, till then I have given you homework just go through those three words four words photo, photograph, go through them see where the stress falls and spend your time practicing stress, thank you, Allah Hafiz.


Good Wednesday morning, our final day here at the LA Studios. Anybody want to say anything about that? Final time of the season, many more to come. Wow. This is a beautiful setup that they have for us. I'm excited to be here with all of you fine gentlemen. What's happening? What? I was kidding. What? I hope not. So I'm sure all of you, by the way. I love the studio. It was like a toast. We never got LA weather. We came here 40 times. We did it. June Gloom baby. The last two months overcast. It's much more beautiful in Chicago, San Antonio. Thank you. New York. Actually, no. New York's air right now is having a problem. Anyways, what are we doing? We have a game. We finally have a game. We've been here for a couple of days and now we get to talk about something happening. Two nights finally, numero three down in Miami. Sean, you're going to be there. What are you looking forward to? What do you think is going to happen? I love the crowd, the atmosphere in Miami. I've been covering games in Miami since 2013. My first NBA finals. It gets rowdy down there. It gets crazy. I can't wait to be there. But to me, I want to see the role players on both teams. On Miami side, Gabe Vincent, Duncan Robinson, Max Struse. The series is going to be decided by the role players. I think we're at this juncture. We know what Nicole Yoko is going to bring. I think Jamal Murray is going to have a bounce back game in game three up to his all star elite type status. Jimmy Butler, we know what he's going to do. He's been stellar so far this series. But on Denver side, KCP, Michael Porter Jr., Aaron Gordon, seeing which of those guys steps up. And shout out to Gabe Vincent. He's going to go into free agency this summer. It's clear he's earned himself a big contract. This guy's averaging 21 points per game. Almost five threes. His splits are crazy. 58, 56, 100 from the free throw line. He's been big time for the heat. Sean, you've got a little pep in your step today. What's happening right now? Did you have double opium? No, I think you inspired me. You inspired me. Chandler inspired someone? He told me about the ways of how you can be energetic. Shoms is going to Miami tonight. You got a table. What do you got, Shoms? But I agree with Shoms. I think tonight, the start is huge, right? Miami's been getting off to bad stars. The heat have been, you know, they got to get off to good start. They got to get this crowd engaged early. And I agree with Shoms. At this point, you know what the stars are going to give you. You know the scouting reports. You know the game plan. So I really look forward to like Jimmy Butler getting off to a hot start, doing all those little things, getting on the floor, setting the tone early. Because this is a team that they depend on their physicality, their defense to slow it down. And they have to be able to do that tonight. What if he goes seven for 19? You know, again, seven for 19 is not a horrible game. People are talking about that. He had 21, nine and four. You're seven and 19. I just think he needs to make a concertive effort to get to the free throw more, take good looks. And like Shoms said, these other guys are going to have to knock down shots. I'd love to see Gabe Vincent, Duncan Robinson, Mextures.  They're going to get open looks. The way their offense and the way their counters and plays are set up, they're going to get open looks. They've got to be able to knock them down. They shot 17 at 35 from three the other night and barely won by three points. And a lot of that is because of Jimmy. He did not play to the caliber. He set the first nine games of the playoffs when he had the huge game against the Bucks and on and on and on. He just hasn't been that same player in his last nine games of the playoffs. He needs to reach that level if they're going to win this series. There's no way around it. They're not going to shoot 48% from three every game. They're not going to hit 17 threes every game. So they need that from him, especially a lot of people thought Tyler Harrow was going to be back for game three. He was ruled out yesterday. We don't know. It's up in the air. If they're not getting Tyler Harrow back, they need to play off himmy butler back at some point. And tonight would be a great time to start. Nuggets favored, barely two and a half, still favored in the series. Doesn't feel quite as confident as it did before this thing started. You still buying that? It shouldn't feel as confident. The heat acquitted themselves well in Denver. Yes, they lost game one and they finished tough. And like Chandler mentioned, they keep starting slow. But they've showed that they can play with this team. They showed that they can match up strategically and they showed that they have the firepower to make it happen. They do have to knock down shots. They do need a better Jimmy. They do need BAM to continue to do what he's doing. But they're a live dog in this team. So it should be a close one. And at the same time, you best believe Denver, they hear everything. They got Coach Malone's message loud and clear. And when you look at the history of the finals, when the series is tied one to one, whoever wins game three goes on to have an 80% chance of winning the championship. So everybody on that court tonight, everyone in that building site knows what's at stake. You get a huge upper hand if you can find a way to get game three. So I look for Denver to also come out and they need to throw the first punch. They got to be physical. We know what they're going to do offensively, but they have to lock in. Guys like Michael Porter, they have to step up. They have to be down.  And that's hard to do when you're going against Miami Heat. Is there a team we trust more in this thing? Because for me, it feels very equal, weirdly enough. You got Miami asking if they miss so many shots. I mean, not Miami. Denver is getting asked if they miss so many shots in the fourth because they're young and this is their first time in the finals. I think the natural inclination is to trust Miami more. They've been here. They have Eric Spulsher. They have Jimmy Butler. They have Kevin Love who has this exorbitant finals experience. I trust them a little more, and then they're at home. So that helps. Crazy. We're taking a less talented team. We're trusting a less talented team just because of that coaching, because of that experience, because of Jimmy Butler. It's just the way he can get his guys going. So it is interesting. I think Denver gets it done tonight. I think they bounce back. I think they're going to play extremely hard. I think they're going to get off to a good start. What is happening? I just got an email from Relax The Back. Okay, well, that's important. Bob got that update in the show. Important email. But yeah, I fully expect Denver. They've been the best team all year long. They know this is their chance right now and whoever wins this game, again, the odds are in their favor to win the series. So this is huge for both of them, but I expect it to be a highly competitive close game. We mentioned Tyler Hero. And he ruled out for... But any chance we see him? I think there is definitely a chance. I think he is moving closer. He's still a soreness in that hand that he fractured in game one of the playoffs. But I think they want to make sure he's right. And this series is also one-one. They're coming off a win. And, you know, they might never admit to it. But I mean, I think when you look at how this team has won without him, Duncan Robinson. I know for sure. That's the guy that's probably not playing right now. Tyler Hero is healthy. So how they handle his return, making sure he's 100%, I think that is definitely what they're focused on. But right now still has swelling, some soreness in that hand. Here's my thing.  He's going to mess up the system. And no, this kid is a guy who they've paid, who they've invested in, who's a critical part of their future, who's an absolute bucket, by the way. And that's exactly what they need. So I believe in Eric Spolstra to be able to plug him in into spots, bring him off the bench, give him that lift that they badly need with Caleb Martin's sick and not playing like he did in the last series, with Gabe Vinson's ankle bothering him, with Kyle Lowry up and down, with Duncan Robinson, everything he's going through. Tyler Hero is a great basketball player, and he can help them. And he's one of the guys on their team that can go get a bucket, that can ISO, that the end of the shot clock can make a play and score points. That's exactly what they need. It's the team that gets bogged down, they play slow, and Tyler Hero is the opposite. He can actually give them that breath of fresh air. He can go get a bucket, but... Oh, my God. Yeah, I mean, it's the shocking outfits. Sir! Also, I hear that he's still has swelling in the hand, and it's his shooting hands. Right. That plays a huge difference in his... Changing their sources. Progress, yeah.  But it's tough, and you don't want this to linger. But I look on the other side. He's got all off-season to heal this thing. If you can play and you can go help the team win tonight. I agree. Go do it. Well, I guess it depends on what happens, right? Yeah. The things he provides is exactly what Miami needs right now. They need that ball handler. And if they want to target Yolkets, and the way they did it in the last game, attacking him at the top of the key, a lot of dribble handoff stuff, a lot of... Then running into pick and roll. He's the best pick and roll player on their team. Him and Bam, pick and roll is one of their pet plays, one of their pet actions they get into whenever they get down. If they can get Yolkets in pick and roll, and Jamal Murray, another defender that teams like to attack, that completely changes the Miami Heat offense. Again, the Miami Heat were the worst scoring offense in the league during the regular season. They were second in scoring in the post-season, only behind the Denver Nuggets. So if they can add more scoring points to that, it gives them a better shot to win this series. And they're going to need to be where they're at right there, 111 to win the game, 115, 120 to win these games. And Tyler Hurley only helps. Yes, he will hurt a little bit on defense. But so does Duncan Robinson. So they're playing zone, and they all know how to play this zone. So you got to take that with the plus, with the bonus you get from him on offense. So let's take it back out there. Can you play on a broke hand? Like, is that like a thing you can pull off? I mean, the fact that it's been this long, it's mostly healed, I would assume. And again, it's his shooting hands. That's tough. He's dribbling. He's passing. He's doing everything with that hand. But again, this goes back to Spoe. He's not just going to change everything because Tyler Hurley's back. He's not going to limit anyone's minutes or to not play Duncan Robinson. No, he's not going to fix what's not broken. But Tyler Hurley can help. And you can implement in some part of the game tonight to give them a boost and to give them some scoring. We get one more outfit at least, though. And good for us. He's been rolled out tonight, Shoms? Or nothing yet? He's been rolled out tonight. He's been rolled out. One more outfit at least. Lucky, lucky eyes. The Corgi's back. It's the Nate Silver of Dogs. Oh, brother. Here's the deal. Once you get a big one wrong, do we have to listen to you anymore, Corgi? No, his credibility's out the window. Yeah, literally. He does have Denver in six or he. I'm not even sure. Which I guess could work. It's a she. Oh, confirmed she. Can we get a French Bulldog do this? I trust the Frenchie better. Can Gator do this? I'm going to stay away from the French Bulldog comments. No, you really can. My pug used to do it. Yeah, he can do it. Scoop time. That time of year. Always on the phone. Busy, busy, busy. What do you have for us? No doubt. So James Harden, he's going to be a free agent. He's going into free agency this next month or so. My sense is that James Harden is really torn right now on his free agency decision. I don't think he knows today which way he's going to go, but you look at the two teams that it'll come down to the Philadelphia 76ers staying in Philly or going and returning to Houston, his roots, his family there in Houston right now. I'm told James Harden is torn on where this is going to go. I would expect conversations over the next few weeks, especially within the sixers, Nick Nurse, Darryl Mori, meeting with them, and the Rockets will have upwards of 60, 70 million in cap space. So as we get closer, June 30th, July 1 gets closer, you would meet and do meetings and see exactly what both teams' visions are. But whichever way this goes, I'm told it's going to be close and I think any sudden movement as we get closer is certainly possible. So Chandler, when you look at it, going in Philadelphia gives you a chance, I think, right now to win Houston up-and-coming potential team. How do you handle the next few weeks if you're James Harden? Well, again, I don't know if this is a leveraged play, if this is, because he just went through the whole thing saying he wants Doc Rivers out, apparently, and they hired new coach, which seemed to be the guy James Harden wanted, and he knows that they don't have a chance of winning in Houston, right? So I know his time was there. I was there with him. It's a great city. It's a great town. They would love to have him back. They have zero chance. They would love to have the fans or the players. I don't even know if the players would necessarily want them back. I think Kim and Martin headed on the head the other day where this could possibly stunt the growth of a lot of these kids.  So I don't really understand it either way. I don't know if this is the guy that you want mentoring these young guys. I don't know if this is the guy that's going to help these guys grow. And when I'm James Harden, I'm sure maybe it's another year on the max deal or something they're going to offer that Philly won't. But you have zero chance of winning in Houston and you go retire there when you stop playing in a couple of years or whatever that may be. But it just doesn't make sense to me at all because all he needs is a championship to really stamp and he's not getting that in Houston. This is a guy that took less money last year, right? To bring in PJ Tucker to supposedly build a championship corps. This is a team. They went seven games with the Celtics. They were just right there. He had two big shots in that series. They had a couple of great games. He's told us time and time again. James, you've told us time and time again that you want to win a championship. That's all you have left to do in your career. He'll be 34 years old before he plays again. I don't understand why this is under consideration unless it's a wide gap in money and years. And then that makes sense, sure. But if he wants to win a title, this shouldn't even be a conversation. He's already taken less money. They're coming back with whatever the offer is now. I'm sure it's an incredible amount of money and it shouldn't be a decision. I don't understand what he looks like on the Houston Rockets. What does that do for Kevin Porter Jr.? What does that do for Jaylen Green? Two guys who need the ball in their hands. You're trying to groom to be your stars, as Kenya Martin said earlier this week. What are we doing? Did they have what, the third pick? They have another high pick. They have another person they're going to slot in there to try to build around. James will come a stunt that you mentioned earlier. The win a couple more games with James. Is this going to hurt their future as well? It takes them out of the tanking sweepstakes with him. They're going to win more games with him. I'm with you. It doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense for either way. I don't know why James would want to go to a way worse team. He's playing with the MVP in a great town with a real championship contention next year. Why leave that? He's on the poor slot and he's saying, I'll go get that Corolla. I will leave right now. The poor people are like, yeah, all right, bro. Very confused. And the coach thing too, I think, is big. By all accounts, he wanted to dock out. When you leave, it doesn't make any sense to me. Also, Daryl Morey comes from Houston to Philly. Then he's going to shoot. Yeah. It's just, it's all, the NBA is crazy. It makes sense. Make it make sense. More coaching news though. Yes. Frank Vogel, his coaching staff has said he signed a five-year, 31.25 million-dollar contract to be the head coach of the Suns.  And then David Fisdale is not coming on board as well. He's getting around $1.5 million on his coaching deal. So this is a Suns coaching staff that for their top three guys, their head coach, their lead assistant, their second lead assistant, a total of $10 million per year for those three guys, Vogel, Kevin Young, and David Fisdale. And I think you're starting to see a real, I think elite coaching staff being built in Phoenix right now. Matt Ishpia, James Jones, they're showing that they're willing to pay. Now we'll see if it turns into results and how Frank Vogel fills out the rest of his staff. All three of these dudes for the price of Monty Williams. Well, that is an outlier, isn't it? I will say David Fisdale is the man. He was my guy in Memphis. He is the coolest. He's a J.B. Bicker staff. He knows how to relate to players. He knows how to get the best out of players while still demanding respect from them. He's going to be huge. K.D. is going to love him. Devin's going to love them. He's going to have a lot of success. And I think he gets another shot at head coaching job. Yeah, I'm excited for Fis on this one. Yesterday, Frank Vogel, as you saw, was walking around. He had his press conference. A big introduction time. And DeAndre Aten is a big subject. What's the deal with that? Here he is. Yeah, well, I think he can be one of the best centers in the league. You know, I think he's shown it at times throughout his career. You know, I know he showed it when we played him in the playoffs a couple years back. And he shot about 80% from the field and deterred every drive, every cut, every effort to attack the basket. You know, he can be a big time deterrent. And there are still areas that he can grow offensively. But I'm intent on really connecting with him and restoring him to an all-star level player. It's crazy to me that we're still asking, what do we do with DeAndre Aten? I don't get it, but what do you think the future for him is in Phoenix? The fan theory is Frank Vogel wants him. Look what he did with Roy Haber. Look what he did with all of the bigs he had for the Lakers. I would imagine he does, too. And the thing for them is, they saw what the market was for him last year. Then they wrapped him up in a deal. We don't know what the market would be like this summer. I think they're going to figure out what the market is for Chris Paul as well. They have to figure out one, if they can even get anything for him, if it's better off to just keep him. And two, if it makes sense for Frank Vogel, and it sounds like it does, it sounds like he's excited, excited to have him and figure out what he can do. This is a number one overall talent. He was taking number one overall over Luca, over Trey Young. And nobody really batted a knock, because he was that good at Arizona. So, yeah, if you can make something out of Deandre Aiden in the same conference where you have Nikolai Okitz, obviously, and Anthony Davis and Kevon Looney and all these bigs that you had to deal with in the playoffs, you got to make something out of him the best you can. Yeah, and say what you want about the kid and the struggles that he's had in Phoenix. He's the top five center in the NBA and he has extreme value on this team and this roster, and he's a great piece to put with KD and Devin Booker. And for him, it's a huge breath of fresh air that he gets a new fresh start with a new coach because clearly there were issues with him and Monty and now this is almost a new beginning for him and I think they keep him. I think he has a really big year. That's crazy. He's always talking about it. All right, we're taking a break here. Well, we come back. Matt Barnes is in the studio, ready to say words, all of which will be... None of it will be controversial. I know this for a fact. What's up, buddy? What's up? What's up? Comfy, I see, huh? I know, I like this. How you doing? Good. I'm just a little vibe. Our guest today played 14 seasons in the NBA, won a title on 17, and of course, one of the hosts of all the smoke, Matt Barnes is here. And can we just... The podcast world is crazy, right? Yeah.  Did you have any idea all the smoke would be like this? No clue. We didn't even know what a podcast was, to be honest with you. When we started, we were just both doing Fox and ESPN, and we knew that we can kind of get away with a little bit more from an extracurricular standpoint on a podcast. And it was kind of a... struck lightning in the bottom when someone from Showtime happened to connect the dots, and I pitched them our idea, and they didn't really know we had. I didn't know we had, but they took a chance. And our first year out, we won Sports Podcast of the Year and kind of cemented us in this space, and we've been enjoying it and learning ever since.  Who knew it paid off? It paid off after basketball. Not during... It cost me during basketball. Yeah, we'll get to that. At some point, I want to start with a guy who I think he thinks he can get away with a little more than he probably can, but Jaumarant. We had the Adam Silver announcement that he's not going to make an announcement until after the finals about what's going to happen. Was it a good move the way Adam handled it? And what kind of a suspension are you thinking? I think they should have just kept the information to themselves because they knew they weren't going to announce it and they had the world buzzing because they said they didn't want to distract the finals, but now we're still buzzing because we're like, what's the deal? If he's going to hold off in announcing, it's got to be a huge suspension. So I think they should have kept it to themselves. On the flip side with Marant, I mean, image is everything. You know what I mean? And I think these young kids, we can't really speak to what it's like, feeling like you have to show every moment of your life on social media so people can validate you, stamp you and give you likes.  Like they're telling on themselves every single time. So I don't get like, why you keep telling on yourself? So I think the reason why this punishment has to be so harsh with Jai is because he's the next guy to kind of carry the NBA from American standpoint. You know what I mean? The European international players have dominated the MVPs and they got a handful of those guys in the top five right now, but Jai is along with Tatum and Booker and some of these younger guys that are supposed to carry the torch after Katie, Steph and LeBron leave.  So I wish the best for him because we all know he's such a tremendous talent and he's must see basketball, but I also think he needs to learn a lesson and unfortunately this time I think it's going to be harsh, but I think he'll learn this time around. It's like Matt said, he's built up as one of the marquee athletes in this league. He has the Nike deals. The Powerade doesn't have the Powerade deal anymore. Did they take it? Yeah, they took that away. He's one of the, you know, NBA is putting him on their marquee. They're marketing that team, a small market team for primetime games and on network games. He has that responsibility. I know he's only 23 years old, but he has to understand what that is. And like you said, we only know about this stuff because he showed us. We wouldn't have known about any of this unless he showed us. The only thing we got to see that we weren't supposed to see was when the strip club leaked the picture. And that's what strip clubs look like. And that was kind of cool. Yeah. That was kind of fun. He had your brain in there and what else out of that. Like you said, we should have never known anything else. So we only know what they showed us and where their own accident or purpose or however you want to say it. So he could have prevented all this. He had plenty of reasons to do it and he chose not to. That's what he's got. The problem is it's the second time. You do it once and I thought the suspension was a little lenient in the beginning. It wasn't that big of a deal with everything. How sensitive the world is to this. Again, it's all self inflicted. And so I'm hoping he's taking this time to kind of find himself and get a smaller circle and find people he can actually trust and rock with and enjoy this life. People would do unimaginable things to be in the position you're in. Don't ruin that. You know what I mean. By the way, I worry too though if he is suspended an entire season and he doesn't truly get it, that's a lot of idle type for a guy who doesn't seem to handle idle time. As sad as it is, it could be the worst thing for him. It could be. Suspending for the whole year to give him all that time on his hands with the people that he's surrounded himself with. So I think it's going to be extreme. I think it's going to be close to 50. I don't think it's going to be a whole season. I don't think so either. I think it goes back to something that I've talked about for a while. It's just there's no veterans in the locker room anymore. We came in the league. I had vets that were 38, 39, 40. Some played, but most of them just contributed to the teaching. Although Steven Adams is a veteran, I guess he wasn't enough to get through these guys, but there were guys when I came in the league that would put you in a headlock. Or do some other stuff for you. You have a tremendous opportunity right now. Go ahead. Yeah, Steven Adams, you made a great point. He spoke up a couple weeks before the Denver Nuggets situation in Denver happened. So if you were a teammate of John Moran, what's your direct message to him? Headlock.  Let's talk about this. Honestly, sometimes it really just takes a show that you care. Sometimes you can't just talk down and talk at people. You have to go down to their level and bring them up with you. So I think it's just really showing them that you care sitting down, having a conversation with them. And almost if it doesn't get through initially, just staying on them because making him understand how important he is to this team and to this game. You have a good point about the vets too because nowadays it's hard to see who scores the most points. But it wasn't like that back in the day.  Stephen Adams is much as a good leader and a good dude he is. He has no juice. He has no sabre or John Moran's actions. So it's different now. It's a different time. It's a different era. And the best player does what he wants. So Matt, you want to ring with the Warriors? Yes. Bob Myers just stepped down as President GM. How do you think that's going to be? That's going to be huge. I mean, Bob's been one of the most impactful front office guys for the last 10 years. And I think sometimes stuff just runs its course. I mean, being on a championship team, but then being on a part of a dynasty where every year the expectations are championship or nothing and he helped build that. So I just think he needed some time off. You know, I heard someone I can't confirm this stuff.  And I don't know if ownership actually fits their team. But I heard, you know, I heard that. So I think it's a standpoint where Bob's going to take a step back. I honestly thought that if Polinka didn't, you know, make the moves he made in the Lakers didn't make a run, it was going to be a smooth transition for Bob to come back home and move into the Lakers front office. But I think to credit, excuse me, Bob to come back and move into the Lakers front office. But to credit Rob, he did a great job at the trade deadline. The Lakers made this Western conference final run. And waiting for a great opportunity. And someone's going to throw a ton of money at him and once he's rested and back home with the kids all the time and be like, I think I need to get back on the road. I think Bob is going to make a move and wherever he ends up going, there's going to be a huge plus to that organization. I'll say this, as good of a job that is, I don't want to replace Bob Myers, right? Like everything he's done and he's kind of getting out at the right moment. They're kind of on the decline. Is the era over? I think Bob has huge decisions to make that impact kind of the future of this whole organization. So whether it's Mike Dunleavy or whoever it is, they're really, really, really big shoes to fill. And this guy, this guy did an unbelievable job. I feel like half this show is Chandler telling us jobs he doesn't want to do. Yeah. Well, the way these coaches are getting paid now, I might start now. Start thinking about it. I think the one thing that Bob, I'm guessing, got through is core intact. I think understanding that it's important to re-sign Draymond, you know, again, he's a guy that doesn't have his number to drop off the page, but playing with him and playing against him for so long, he is a heart and soul of that team and I think everybody knows that. Steph Clay know that and I know they've been advocating for him. So to be able to keep that core together, I think it was Bob's last goal and then now he's chilling. Well, I mean, from the outside looking in, it looks like they're almost forced to re-sign Draymond. You sit him down, you're trying to work it out. I don't know if that can be, you know, I actually had a, I was doing the King's Warrior series in Sacramento and I got a chance to sit down and fellowship with Draymond after one of the games since you like that word, right? I mean a lot of different things. And he told me he's just like, you know, I lost my voice almost until February in that locker room and he said, I saw a lot of slippage but I wasn't really in a position to kind of put my foot down and be myself and organize things and he said by the time he felt comfortable to do that, it was February. So that was a lot of bad habits that kind of went awry for almost a, you know, three quarters of the season and it was a little too late to, you know, kind of fix it once, you know, stuff hit the fan come playoff time. I wasn't worried. Obviously, you would like to see Jordan Poole play better. He was given a lot of money and he was great in last year's playoffs. You would like to see him better, but I wasn't necessarily watching that and I think Chandler he blew off Draymond and the way he wouldn't look at Steph when Steph was talking, I mean, you're dealing with Hall of Famers and although like I said, I don't know what their relationship is and if it can ever be repaired with Draymond, but at least pretend you're listening at some point and I just think he's one of those younger players that, you know, he got a lot of money played very well for that money but then next year he didn't come on perform. So I wouldn't be surprised if, you know, they could possibly be shopping him, to run with. I just look at it, I like to like, if you're Jordan Poole can, is that something you can get over? Like you do punching in the face in the whole world. It wasn't as bad, right? Hearing it, but when you see the video you're embarrassed. And, and Chandler, you know, like stuff like this happens all the time, but again, like the strip club thing, like this shouldn't ever got leaked. Like to me, they need to find out whoever leaked that and out that person but I think just having to deal with that every single day your family sees it, your friends see that and you have to go to work and try to mend this because now there's means and all this other BS that comes with it. I think if it would have stayed under wraps, it possibly, and then this again, this is a speculation could have been a little bit easier to deal with but I don't know if there is any mending that but to me, you just have to have a line of respect from a standpoint and we're on that court. It's a common goal. That's crazy. You're right, he's with these guys I mean, Steph was not happy in that way. Even him he needs to be aware that there's cameras everywhere even if this was something that wasn't his fault or whatever, you got to know what this looks like and at this moment, this magnitude of the game, you can't be doing this in fairness though, there was the moment where Anthony Davis sort of looked like he wasn't into the LeBron James celebration game. Like sometimes you just forget even in this day and age. We film everybody all day. We're going to see some funny stuff. It's crazy for Jordan pool because if you're him, they're thinking about what they're doing. He's got to fill the walls closing in. So it has to be a frustrating situation. Maybe it is something they can sit down and iron out, but I don't know, it looks worse by the day. Steve Kerr is doing Tramon's pot. I know. He looks like an outsider. Sides have been chosen. He looks like an outsider. For sure. So Sean is reporting that Kyrie trying to recruit LeBron to Dallas. Thoughts on that, the validity of it, the idea of them playing together again. What are his intentions here? I just don't see it happening. I think LeBron has set up stake in California with several houses. And his son going to USC now, his kid's getting a little bit older. I don't see him uprooting the family for one year because you got to think Bronny's all intentions to be in two years for Bonnie to be in the league. And Bron's goal was to play with his son. So I think it's wishful thinking by Kyrie. I think the Lakers came out and kind of said, hey, if we're sending our big dog your way, you're sending back it. Absolutely not happening. And then from the flip side, if you're the Lakers, you saw what happened with Phoenix. And it's kind of unfair to kind of judge Phoenix because they only had a handful of games together, but they were a very top-heavy team with zero depth. And that just doesn't work anymore. So if the Lakers were to go all in on Kyrie, you're giving away a lot of young core pieces that came in and really complimented your two stars really well. So as much as I would love to see LeBron and Kyrie get back together because I think LeBron will help. And if that does happen and Kyrie is able to get with him, because stuff happens so much, we'll forget about all the BS he pulled the last five or six years if he's able to get with LeBron and somehow win something. And I don't know where that would be, because we're in such a what have you done for me lately. So I mean, I think he understands getting with LeBron will kind of help fix his trajectory and his legacy because it's been a little checkered when it comes to playing basketball to say the least.  I mean, when this guy is just focused on basketball, there's not, you can't name five guys better than him. Yeah. I also think it's like, it's a chess move, right? It's like Dallas fans look at me. I'm trying to recruit the best player of all times. I'm changed. I'm ready to fully buy from a basketball player to a basketball dad. And as a new father myself with my first boy coming in October, how has that been, you know, coaching, watching your twins? You know, you know, they're 14 now, headed into high school and it was, to be honest with you, it was the reason I retired. I signed a three year deal a year. I happened to get to go in the state and won a championship and I stepped away because I was just feeling like I was missing too much time and as a father it started wearing on me. So that was the main reason why I retired and from the second I retired, it was taking pride in our and 20 minute round trips, school drop-offs and coaching them in every sport they play. But it was just like those things you miss as a dad. So fast forward, you know, I coach them now. We have a top five AAU team in the country. Shout out my little guys. We're 14 years old. So it's just been a blast to be able to pour into them and being able to coast there. We could be able to keep our core together for like the last five years. So just kind of raising their friends as well. So fatherhood is the best job in the world and it's why I've turned down other jobs that that have been nice but they wanted me to travel too much and I just nothing comes before my kids anymore. So if I'm able to fit in, you know, media which I am now it kind of has to go around my children. So there's nothing like fatherhood and congratulations on the little man coming back. So what if he hates basketball? Oh, he's going to. Okay. I just want to make sure we were mentally prepared for that. We're taking a really quick break. We'll be we'll be right back. Matt Barnes not going anywhere. We have a lot more questions. Run it back. Run it back. Run it back. Run it back. Run it back. Run it back. We were talking basketball. In the break there. Matt Barnes still here. I know we want to talk finals, Chandler. Yeah. It's really in control. It's 1-1. I think Miami went in and did their job. But I've been impressed with their confidence, you know, when they lost game one and you saw Jimmy in the podium, it's just like, you know, everyone's smiling, you know, having a good time understanding we just need four games. So a confident team is a very dangerous team for them to go in to Denver and make that fourth quarter run and pull that one out. Just showed me a lot but it shouldn't surprise me because they've been doing this since the beginning of the season. They've been playing and then you run through Milwaukee, Boston and now you're 1-1 in the finals versus Denver. So, they feel confident with that being said, I just love the chess move between Spolster and Malone, two of the best coaches in the game and I know that Denver will be ready to do what they need to do tonight. So I think Tate game three but I think there's going to be a great series. So Matt, you had some legendary battles that got to take the best score every single night. It's multiple looks. The one thing I don't like about the game right now is I feel like the primary defender gets switched off too easy. They set these fake screens. To me, if you're the guy that's supposed to guard the best player, you're fighting through screens, you're going over, you're going under, you're being physical with them, you're giving them different looks. And Chandler will tell you, anytime you get cooking, I have to make these guys work. You know what I mean? I mean one thing, guarding Kobe was great scores are always going to be good defense but you just want to make them work. If Kobe or Jimmy or KD were going to score 30 on me, I want you to take 30 shots. I want you to know that I'm going to put you on the ground a couple of times with some hardfows.  So it's just kind of sending a message knowing that it's going to be a long night but great offensive which I know, right? I feel like that's actually surprisingly low. It was for like a half a million though. Good. Now I want to know which one of those was the one that was money best spent? Do you remember? Man, I was I used to get fine for like pushing people. I remember I used to spend two games for pushing. You can't do that, man. Yeah, right. Like at least let me throw a punch. I remember I pushed Sergio Baca one time with that clipper and during that clipper to a two or three game suspension. So I think my suspensions and fines were more reputation. I don't really think I got any really like oh, I got him good. I'm going to take that fine like mine was talking back. Like you appealed all of them. Oh, absolutely. And Kiki you still yeah, I'm thinking either you see like guys going to have some leniency. Kiki didn't mess with me at all. I'm sorry, Matt, but you know what I mean. So I can't say that any of my money well spent. Because again, it was who I was. I was just a competitor and was willing to do anything to win. But I wish I would have got to earn more. Like at least let me throw a couple punches if you want to suspend me two or three games.  Were you on that team then? Hey, that was crazy, man. And and sending my best to that family and Mrs. Harden, but she was talking reckless. She said some things that I was saying this to me. And I didn't know who she was. So, you know, me and it was so loud. It was during the playoffs. I mouth something that I probably shouldn't have mouthed. If I would have known it was his mom, I probably wouldn't have said what I said. But that was a big one. That was like 50 or 65,000. That was a big fine. That's so much for words. That was a heavy hitter. Those words were there. Yeah. Yeah. This guy not for TV. Yeah. Imagine. That's expensive. Yeah. Someone's mom. Harden's mom. Shout out. She's like in it. She got me. She got me. But, you know, after again, I'm someone who lost my mom had the most respect for for moms and what they go through. I just didn't know who she was. And I was thinking after I said, I'm like, she has to be someone's mom. She's sitting court side right underneath the hoop. So I'm just like, she has to be someone important. But after, I'm like, I'm like, I'm going to find her and try to apologize. And it took two or three times for her to actually at least shake her head to accept my apology. And I think Mother's Day was right on that time. So I gave her some flowers. Yeah. It was in the heat of the battle, man. You just, I'm trying to go to war every time. And if some people get in the way, sometimes they might catch a strike. It's crazy. The complete side topic. People will think they just don't know what to do and when they're walking in the tunnel, like I don't like that. And my whole thing is don't say nothing to me. You wouldn't say to my face on the street.  But I know 99% of the time it's because they know that we're kind of in a cage and we can't really do anything. So. All right. So your championship season, the 17 Warriors, I've talked with Kevin about this before. I think it's really tough to see any team beating them. We go all the 96 bulls, everybody. So is that got to be the most dominant team you've played on, right? Yeah. I mean, I think what stood out to me the most about that team was how ego-less it was. I mean, if you think you're bringing in a Rockstar coach, you have Steph Curry, you have Clay Thompson, you have Dre Montgomery, you have Andre Waddala, you have Sean Livingston, you have David West, and then you bring in arguably the best score, pure score of our generation, one of them. And to think that they fit seamlessly.   And I think it's hard to compare eras from a standpoint of Shaq. You know, Shaq was a whole another. And as much as I love Dre Montgomery, there was no garden, a Shaq. It's just kind of different kind of comparing who would have did this and could they have beat Michael. But this team had guys, three or four guys, they can give you 30 to 40 points any night. And there weren't too many teams in NBA history that can say that. And their chemistry was crucial. And I think that's what's most important, you know, fighting up these up and down battles and the ebbs and flows of the season. And that team was on one page the entire time. And it's almost while you see, you know, Steve Kerr not necessarily naming no names, but that locker room is not used to people pouting and kind of brushing people off. Like it's always been for the betterment of the team. And if these superstars can do it, how do you not do it?  I just wish, you know, I came in that season when Katie went down and, you know, played a handful of games and literally the game he came back. I had like the worst ankle sprain in my life going into the playoffs.  I'm just like, oh, I'm finally here. Like this is, it's going to take a while. And, you know, really literally the game. So I never, I played 10 minutes with Katie. Katie came back. I got hurt that game and that was kind of it. But that team overall was incredible. Yeah. Speaking of that, you brought that up. You once said that you didn't count that as a championship because you got hurt the week before.  And I wouldn't want it any other way because I had such an appreciation for the journey. And I finally get to a point where I'm on a team where I have a perfect role and I got hurt. You know, I would have been the guy out there guarding Kawhi. I would have been the guy out there guarding the Bronn and the Finals and the fact that I couldn't do that because of this bum ankle really hurt me. So it wasn't that I didn't appreciate the ring. I just didn't, it doesn't, like it's sat in it's sat in its little jar or it's just scatting its case on the bookshelf and I was going to ask if I didn't want it. It's just, I just don't count it. And the reason how it got, it's been some crazy story that I didn't want it. What happened was they did a special ring ceremony for me and I came back and my kid, the twins got rings too. And it was in this big old box and I went back and watched the game. So the PR guy, Raven Ritter, it's like, hey, let me put this in this office for you till the game's over. We bounced early. The office was locked and I'm just like, damn. So it went like I was thinking about it. But again, I appreciate just the opportunity and the organization and the people there are great. But yeah, I'm someone who needed to earn everything and I just didn't feel like I earned that. So nonchalant year and a half later. Right. I'm going to need my 85 diamonds. I need it now. You mentioned that you would want to run for political office maybe at some point. So Senator Barnes, first thing you do is what? What struck my eye in this was I'm from Sacramento and Kevin Johnson was the mayor. And to me, at first, it wasn't so much on the political side. It was more just I saw what he did to his former neighborhood and his former neighborhood murders were happening. My aunt got killed, throat slashed and left in the gutter in that same neighborhood. So to see what he was able to do in that neighborhood and in the businesses he was able to bring and kind of the life he brought back into that neighborhood really is just like, yo, if you can do this to Oak Park, I want to do this. Fast forward, I kind of got on the political side a little bit more just understanding process and policy and have helped push bills for the capitals. So it's something that I get, at like 34 or 35, I said at 50 I want to do it, but I'm like 43 now and it's getting closer and closer. So it's just like, if I'm going to do this, I need to kind of start. So it is something I'm interested in. I mean, if all the cards are laid how they should be by the time I'm 50, it'll definitely be something that I check out. That would be awesome. We'll help you. Yeah. You guys can all be in my cabin. Yeah. Matt, never a disappointment. Always great to catch up. Thank you guys for having me. Love that you were here. We will take a break. We will be back. Matt Barnes. Run it back. Run it up. Run it back. Run it back. Run it up. Run it back. We get in on the NBA finals action right from the first day with Fandle. Right now, you can make the finals even more exciting with bets that can get you an early dub. Bet on race to 15, first basket score, a method of first bet. No better place to bet all the finals action than America's number one sports book. Download the app. Get a quick W today. Fandle official sports betting partner of the NBA. All right. We got some Dame Lillard talking points. So he was on a Showtime basketball podcast and was asked where he would... I love that we've gotten to this point in the Dame Lillard time. Where would you want to go in a theoretical trade? And he said Miami, obviously, because bam is my dog. I mean, we have gotten to the point where I'll never get traded to... And is it because bam is his dog or is it because Miami is awesome? He's been in Portland for 10 years. Both of those things could be true? Yeah. I mean, listen, imagine him on that team alongside Jimmy and bam, it kind of gives them this whole other dynamic and Gabe Vincent has been great, but who knows if they're going to keep him and what he's going to demand this summer. But yeah, I mean, look what they're doing without Dame Lillard. You put a Perennial All-Star, a Hall of Famer, that would be something. So, I mean, shout out to Miami. If they can get him for Duncan Robinson and Kyle Lauer, he's contracted. Wow. Yo. You got Lino Messi. That's a pretty big hit. What to do an investigation on what Pat Riley has on the Portland Trail Blazers. But he is one of the better fits for him in the off market. I think the Nets are there as well. I think there's trade packages at work. And like Chandler mentioned, of course, he lives in Portland and it rains on him 250 days a year. Of course, he's looking at Miami like, yeah, I remember BAM from the Olympics. He was cool. I'd love to be out there too, buddy. But should they trade the number three pick? Should they? Because I think what we're waiting to see is what is the game plan for Portland? Because now would be the time. Miami also is obviously in a position right now to win. So, I mean, if you can anyhow, like I just said, if you can package a bunch of picks or get off Duncan Robinson's contract and you can somehow get Dame Lillard with this core they're the favorite to win it if they somehow land Dame Lillard. I'm just saying Katie's defense apparently the rule is you can't go to the team that is that lost the championship. So, he better hope they win and he can go. But you can go to the team that wins the championship. Yeah, I don't know what the rules are with this stuff, man, but it's a mess. It's weird. Look, there's an actual game tonight. We're kind of excited about it. Nugget's favorite by two and a half Chandler. Do they cover? They cover the spread two and a half. I think they win pretty easily tonight. Pretty easily. Yeah. I think it's close but I think Nugget's pulled out and win by eight. Not feeling that. I got Miami. I got Miami.  We're going to be sick of the Seven Nation Army by the end of the game. The women in the gowns court side. We're going to be sick of DJ Callan, Diddy and young Miami. Is there any way any of the players on the Nuggets went out last night? No. Can you find out Chandler? I don't think so. They don't strike me as they're kind of pretty. I don't know. Michael Porter Jr. is a little young. Maybe he won. I don't think so. I'm not wasting a Miami night. I tell you that much. Dinner doesn't count. I'm not counting that. Eddie, you had Jim Wal-Murray. You did the first basket score thing correctly. The only one of us that's gotten even close. Who do you have for first basket tonight? I'll go with Bam. Really? I don't know. Get the big fellow involved early. Let's find him a bucket. I mean, that's been their pet play all series long. Man. Pick and pop to Bam. Back record is speak for itself. I'm going plus 800. Michael Porter. I think I did that last game and wasn't even close. But I think they're going to make an initiative to get him going, to get him involved, to get him focused on the defensive end and to have that happen for someone like that. You've got to get the shot going. You've got to get them looks. I like Michael Porter. Off a nice pin down jumper. Oh, you're doing the double. Was that a parlay? It's like the heat. They just say this stuff. Eventually you're going to believe it. You're going to be right one out of ten and that's what I'm doing. That's what I'm doing. I'm coming left right on the elbow. Do we think Messi will be at the game tonight? He just signed. I know. For like a billion dollars and half of that. He went to Saudi Arabia for four hundred million a year. They lured him from them. They lured him. Not everyone can be bought, Chandler. I mean, you can, but just in a different place. Michelle, I'll be at the game. Are you wearing this or are you going to wear all white? No, no. He has another outfit in the suit.  Full suit? Fondue? Eddie's been with me at the game. Yeah. Tye? No, Tye. A lot of pictures for some. He's an influencer. That's going to do it for us. We'll see you guys next week. Run it over. Run it back. Run it back. Run it over. Run it back. Run it over. Run it back. Run it over. Run it back. Run it over. Run it back. Run it over. Run it over. Run it over. Run it over. Run it over. Run it over.


President Bala Tinubu has hailed Chief M. Q. Abiola describing him as a symbol of democracy. He added that his administration would not condone conflicting and illegal orders that undermine Nigeria's democracy. The president, who said he identified with the pain of Nigerians in the aftermath of the fuel subsidy removal, argued that a temporal discomfort was necessary to save the country from going under. It is a learned problem that can be eliminated with clearly thought-out social and economic policies. It is for this reason that in my inauguration address on May 29, I gave a fact to the decision taken by my British husband, Abiola, to remove the fuel subsidy. The abattoirs and the free of the collective views of much-needed resources, which are either to be pocketed by a few rich. I admit the decision we impose extra body on the masses of our people. I feel your pain. This is one decision we must bear to save our country from going under and take our resources away from the stranglehold of a few competitive elements. Painfully, I have asked you, my competitors, to sacrifice a little more for the survivor of our country for your trust and belief in us. I show you that your sacrifice shall not be in vain. Tinnibu described the bill he signed into law on June 8 for the harmonization of the retirement age for judicial officers as one of the many policy reforms to come. For Chief MQ Abiola, December of this day, in whose memory June 12 became a national holiday, democracy is a turn-up. It is about rule of law and vibrant judiciary that can be trusted to deliver justice and strengthen institutions. It has become imperative to state here that our necessary illegal orders issued to clonkate or abridge democracy will no longer be tolerated. It's a harmonization of the retirement age of the judicial officers. It's meant to strengthen the rule of law, which is critical pillar of democracy. The reform has just started. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and don't forget to hit the notification button so you get notified about fresh news updates.


Hey everyone, I'm Mayor Betsy Price and welcome to It's Your Fort Worth. Today we're going to talk about a topic that's very important to me, compassion. As children, many of us were taught to remember the Golden Rule, to treat others as we want to be treated. Whether it was at school in a religious service or maybe around your dining table, as kids we heard that theme time and time again. As adults, how often do we practice the Golden Rule? Not enough. When politics, religion, values and beliefs clash, it can be hard to recall, let alone practice, this major code of respect. This happens across the globe, throughout our nation, and sadly, it happens here in our own dear Fort Worth. That's why this past August, City Council and I voted unanimously for a resolution affirming Fort Worth's support for the International Charter for Compassion. With this vote, Fort Worth joins a worldwide network of compassionate communities who share a common purpose to restore compassionate thinking and action in every facet of religious moral and political life. In order to carry out this mission, we established a stewardship group. This group will promote and create a shared vision of enhancing positive civic engagement in our city and focusing on the three pillars of unity, volunteerism and abundance. As the holiday season approaches, a time of reflection, thankfulness and giving, I can't think of a better opportunity to reflect on and discuss our city's commitment to compassion and to this outstanding charter. With that in mind, I've asked the Compassionate Fort Worth Stewardship Group to join me for a discussion here at the beautiful City Life Center of Fort Worth. First we have Rabbi Andrew Bloom of Congregation of Vance Shalang. Welcome Rabbi. Thank you for having me. Glad to have you. Also joining us is Tim Woodie, Lead Pastor at City Life Church. Thank you for sharing your facilities, Tim. Thank you for being here. And Charles Robinson's joining us today, the Associate Pastor at Meadowbrook United Methodist. Charles, thank you for coming and joining us today. It's a pleasure. Thank you. Charles, Tim and Andrew, we really do appreciate your hard work on this Compassionate Charter. I thought we would just go through a few questions about what we're doing and why we're doing it. Rabbi, I thought I'd start with you to kick off the conversation. We keep throwing around the word compassion and as a faith leader, what does compassion mean to you or what do compassion and acts mean to you? Compassion for me comes straight from the Book of Genesis of the Torah of the Bible where it says that each person is created in God's image. Unfortunately in today's society we only look at our image or what other people's image like us is. I think compassion is seeing that light within each person and then meeting them and helping them wherever they are. It's interesting. Each and every one of us knows the great story of Noah's Ark in the turbulence. We live in a time of turbulence and the Ark of today, which we in our group hope to, and I know you in the city hope to enhance, the Ark equals acts of random kindness. I think for Compassionate Fort Worth, under your leadership, we are not only building the Ark through acts of random kindness, but through all acts of kindness, helping the city grow and become more in the light of God, in the light of each person no matter what their belief is or who they are. Do you see the need in a community like Fort Worth to form more compassion and more compassionate acts? Coming from the East Coast, I've been blessed to come here and I see what a compassionate city Fort Worth is. It's really a large city that feels like a small city and thereby people support each other both on the communal, individual and family basis. And I think what we're trying to do under your leadership is expand that. There is definitely a need, always a need for more compassion, but I think the base of this community and this city is so high, thereby we can succeed as a diving board to the next stage. And I'm really appreciative and I thank you very much for asking me to serve on this great community. Well thank you for your hard work on it. And you know that's a challenge for us in a high-growth city is how do we maintain that small-town feel and with that small-town feel comes more compassionate acts because people are more connected to each other. So Tim, in your congregation, do you also see instances within the city where people can exercise simple random kindness and compassionate acts? Absolutely. There are needs all around us. Fort Worth is already a compassionate city. We just want to see that even taken to the next level. So our people and the people that I interact with, they are always looking for, we're always looking for another opportunity. And one of the great things behind the Charter for Compassion and the Compassion at Fort Worth new agenda that we have here is to unite those people, to unite the people that want to display compassion and pull others along with us because as we do that, we can show that we are really a city of abundance and we're a city where we can come together and volunteer and make this a better place to live and do business and to worship and in every area we want the city to be better. But it really goes back to helping people who are less fortunate than ourselves and that's where Compassion comes from. Can you give us some specific ideas how we might accomplish that? Well, absolutely. In fact, one of the things that we are going to be doing as Compassion at Fort Worth is we are looking to recruit hundreds, really, of volunteers to help, simply help people with their taxes to help them to get the refunds that they need. They're needy people in our city whose family income is around $16,000 a year and we can come alongside and we can help and we can be generous with our time and help them to move to the next level for themselves and to give training and support and encouragement and sure it's the random acts here and there that we should all be doing every day. But there are also what I would like to call targeted acts of kindness and that is, that's where we look for opportunities to pull our resources together and the best resource we have is people. People. And so we come together with people and we can accomplish great things. I agree. I think the kids always say pay it forward. And sharing your knowledge with other people, particularly as you mentioned the tax field will be great. They're willing. They can, you know, $16,000, maybe they have a refund for $500 coming in, it cost them $100 to get that refund done. And there are groups helping do that but this will be a great example. Appreciate your support on it. Charles, can you tell me a little bit about why you chose the Meadowbrook area to get involved with us at the Compassionate City? You started out with my faith-based group and I really appreciated that. I did. I appreciate the invitation. I think that through that invitation, I was able to experience the Compassionate City's movement by working with Rabbi Bloom and Pastor Tim and some others like Melinda Veitch and Jack Ernest as well and Father Hasso. And in that experience, you know, I saw the Compassion, just the group meeting, there was a Compassion that sat around that table that I wanted to be a part of.  As a matter of fact, Jesus talked about having a group of people follow him and he was filled with Compassionate, says. And so that's one of the scriptures that motivates me in trying to be a Disciples Crisis to be filled with Compassion like Jesus for people of all faiths, all religions, all colors, all ethnicities. And you, Pastor, in an older part of Fort Worth, oftentimes there's great need and it's a great opportunity to bring other parts of the city in to see what we have going on in all of Fort Worth. How do you see this group helping expand the efforts in these older, reemerging areas of the city that need help? Well, it's great you asked that. About a month ago, we experienced one of our initial launchings of the Compassionate Fort Worth movement in stop six, where we gathered from all parts of the city in stop six right down the street from Dunbar High School and we picked up trash throughout stop six. And so just seeing the people there unite on that front, I think sparked this movement even more. And we want to take this movement throughout all parts of Fort Worth where there are those who are impoverished and many who are dehumanized and degraded and forgotten in outcasts and communities and we want to show them that, hey, there's compassion and there's love for you too.  I truly believe that the more tolerant the community, the less violent it is and the police do a better, great job because they don't have to fight other things for us. How would you say a more tolerant United Fort Worth might really look in 10 years? That's a difficult question because there's tension between the two terms themselves between tolerance and unity for someone who has a high tolerance and someone who has a low tolerance. There's just obvious and explicit tension between those two persons. But we're hoping that in our disagreements and in our fellowship that we can find a middle ground and find a place where we can be tolerant and compromise to be tolerant with each other. Stand on a place where we can say, hey, you need this, I want this, let's find a place where we can meet each other's needs and the needs of the community are more important than your needs individually and my needs individually. And so if we can find that middle ground and I think in that we find unity. For example, the Glen Gardens situation with the whiskey distillery being built there and the council voting for that to be built there, many in the community I have heard and read messages that were sent my way don't agree with that distillery being built there. But at this point, I think it's better if we find a way to work with the distillery. How can this distillery benefit the Glen Gardens community? Maybe it may be through a foundation or some sort of endowment that the distillery could provide. But how can we move forward in working together, although we disagree? I agree that's a tough vote, but it's just an example of many tough votes. But education is a big piece that people have not just your school education, but talking to each other and learning about each other. So how do you think citizens, any one of you can get involved at this point and what can they expect and how can we touch them and raise their awareness? I think one of the things we're doing and just to touch on Charles's point, I would hope in 10 years they don't need us. I would hope in 10 years that each community, each neighborhood says you know what, we're inspired, let us have a compassionate neighborhood. And we can do things not only for our neighborhood, but for our neighboring neighborhood. And that is through inspiring people. I think one of the ways we can get involved in this another program we're doing is we are having a communal garden. The communal garden happens to be in my congregation, but we're having beds from the compassionate Fort Worth where anyone who can come out and wants to learn some gardening skills, we will offer the compassionate Fort Worth through the city guide will offer classes for them. Because not everyone is as blessed as we are to have food on our table. And to be able to grow some of their own, I think would be a huge help to those families. And not only that, there are some people who don't have food and we as a group are planning on donating our produce to them. So to give everyone the dignity of being able to have a good meal, the dignity of being able to provide for others, I think is one way we can do this. And we're asking for volunteers to come till the garden. And it doesn't have to be someone from in our community or from in our committee, someone just needs to call one of us or get in touch with us and say you know what, I'd like to learn and we'll be happy to help them do that. And I think that's the way we can be compassionate and to feed people in need as well as teach them a skill for their own benefit and for the benefit of their community. And community gardens are a growing trend across the nation and start with yours and maybe we'll teach them and expand them out into some of our vacant lots in the city and put in more community gardens, which would be great. And we have to engage businesses to be part of this compassionate effort. Yes, yes. And here in downtown where my congregation is located, our building is located, we're interacting with professionals all the time and one of the things that I know a lot of businesses, a lot of professionals are looking for, just opportunities for someone to say here's an opportunity for you to be involved and for you to engage because they want to, they really do. And that's a big part of what Compassionate Fort Worth is about, is about providing the avenues, providing the roads for various people to walk down. But ultimately it's about helping us all to come to this common understanding that we're all God's children and when one person hurts, we all hurt. And I'm sure there's a lot of hurting people. And if we can just help one person at a time, I have a little saying in my congregation we do for one what we wish we could do for all. But as we keep doing that, as we keep doing for one what we wish we could do for all, we're making a difference. And this city is becoming and will become a more compassionate city. We say our little motto is we are building bridges for a more compassionate Fort Worth and that's it. We're looking for a way to build another bridge, build another bridge, build another bridge so that this city can come together and that will be marked by that term compassion. Great. It's a great way to do it. What's next for Compassionate Fort Worth? Well we have two of the programs we mentioned. One is the Garden. One is the Tax Program. We're also planning on having the Martin Luther King Day of Service. I'm sure Charles will explain a little bit more about that and we're planning on having a main faith-based event which is open to say yes there are differences but we're all united in our humanity and that is the big event we're going to have in order to show everyone that doesn't matter who you are, where you come from or what you believe you're accepted, we're compassionate towards you and we want to grow together. But Charles I think can explain more about the MLK Day. Well January 19th we're partnering with the Meals on Wheels and Neighbor for Neighbor initiatives to launch this, I think it's been going on for a while but to participate with the Dr. Martin Luther King Junior Day of Service and that will take place, like I said, January 19th at Broadway Baptist Church and so we're looking forward to that. We're also on Facebook so for those of us who want to connect with us they can connect with Compassionate Fort Worth on Facebook. Exactly and we list our upcoming events and activities on there and that MLK Day of Service looking forward to that and in fact Mayor I know you're going to be speaking at the luncheon that day but that's just one of the events where there's need for more volunteers and right now as we're initiating this movement we are looking for efforts that are already organized to some degree but there's great need for volunteers, that primary resource which is people and what we are doing is we're able to pull those people together and bring them from all parts of the community, all parts of the county and serve together, learn from one another, serve with one another, therefore making this a more compassionate city. And many people are willing to donate their time to volunteer, they just don't have time to set up an organization or to get involved in the hierarchy and so having a group that's already there that can identify needs, you could go and give an hour or you could give several hours and that's the idea that they can come and do whatever. Louisville, Kentucky had better than a hundred thousand people participate in their day of random acts of giving. I'd love to see Fort Worth have that many people at some point. I'd love for us to talk Louisville. I'd love for us to be Louisville, that's right. We can issue that challenge to Mayor Fisher and say we're going to beat you. Well thank you all for joining me, my guests today are Andrew Bloom, Tim Woodie and Charles Robertson. Thank you for your hard work on this issue. Well thank you for your leadership. Thank you. As our stewardship group discussed, there are many areas in our lives and in our city where we can and must express more tolerance and understanding. Friends, I hope you'll join me in this great group of compassionate Fort Worth stewardship in showing more compassion in your everyday thoughts, action and behaviors. In doing so we can foster a community built on respect and equity. We can alleviate the suffering of many citizens and we can create a strong and unified Fort Worth. For more information on compassionate Fort Worth, visit FortWorthTexas.gov. Thanks for watching today. It's a pleasure being with you. I'm Mayor Price and today I'm reminding you it's not just your Fort Worth, it's your compassionate Fort Worth. Well folks as the holidays draw near, so does the end of the year. It's been a fantastic, inspiring and productive year at City Hall. I'm proud to have been a part of so many exciting initiatives. Some of what we've accomplished include the arena vote, thank you everybody, Fit Worth, Blue Zones, Steer Fort Worth, a year of technology, customer service, and fiscal accountability. But 2014 isn't over yet. We've still got some great events in Fort Worth and a calendar that's so full you don't want to miss a single thing. Christmas in the stockyards is Saturday, December the 6th from 12 to 5. Congregation of Voss Shalom's menorah lighting is December the 20th. You can look on their website and find out the time. And if you're looking for a special way to give back this holiday season, check out these organizations for volunteer and donation opportunities. Cowboy Santas, they provide toys for children to low income families during the holiday season. Terrain area food bake, you already know them, they're a great resource for people in need of food. Empowering our community by providing that food and resources to individuals and families. And of course United Way is just beginning to wrap up their campaign. It's a local organization that will point you in any number of directions, including to compassionate Fort Worth to help make a lasting difference in our community. Have a great holiday season and look forward to seeing you soon.


Toxel or lifting hand is simply just lifting the hand and some people say this is not actually a Wing Chun technique It's just something to reset the arms when you're in the middle of the Wing Chun dummy and the arms get out of position Either way, it's in the form So we have a double Toxel or single Toxel. I use with a hand now What you can do is actually it doesn't your fingers doesn't your hands don't have to be this way It can be a lifting up this way or lifting up so anything that lifts up Somebody's arms or lift stuff. Somebody's limbs is called a Toxel