Item number, SCP-061, Object Class, SAFE. Special Containment Procedures. The source code for SCP-061 is to be kept on a standard archival quality read-only data compact disc, or CD-ROM. Four copies of the CD-ROM with the source code are to be stored in separate maximum security inanimate object lockers. Except for purposes of approved experimentation, SCP-061 is not to be loaded, compiled, or run. Research proposals for SCP-061 require written approval from Site Command. Only one copy of the CD-ROM containing the source code for SCP-061 may be used at a time. The CD-ROM is to be returned to storage immediately after having been used to load the source code for SCP-061 to a device. SCP-061 must never be loaded, compiled, or run on any device which has a connection to the internet, either directly or via another device. SCP-061 must never be loaded, compiled, or run on any device which is physically capable of wireless connectivity, regardless of whether that connectivity is in use. For purposes of approved experimentation, SCP-061 may be loaded, compiled, and run on a land consisting of no more than three devices plus peripherals. No devices are to be disconnected from the land during experimentation. Following the conclusion of experimentation, all devices within this land are to be immediately reformatted. Audio output peripherals for this land are to be contained within an observation chamber, surrounded with noise-canceling vacuum insulation. In the event of a perimeter breach by hostiles during SCP-061 experimentation, all devices within the land are to be immediately destroyed. Description SCP-061 is an acoustic computer program being developed by SCP researchers, with the intent of producing successful countermeasures to similar programs being developed by governments and individuals around the world. Inspired by research on data expunged, SCP Command saw both the potential and harm in the ability to control the brain functions of other human beings. laymen understand that music can elicit certain emotions and memories, or various sounds can elicit fear and excitement by simply being heard. Governments around the world have been attempting to expand on that premise for decades. SCP research is the first to elicit responses on higher mental activities. Parts of the brain affected by SCP-061 differ from those stimulated by data expunged or by subliminal messaging. Instead of acting on parts of the brain that are thought to be in control of the subconscious, acoustic frequencies produced by SCP-061 intercept conscious thoughts as they are produced and replace them. Instead of a suggestion, the human hearing center bisects the conscious thinking mind of the frontal lobe with a motor control cortical homunculus of the brain. A baseline rhythm convinces the rest of the brain that the conscious mind is asleep and effectively stops conscious thought from continuing to the rest of the brain. In return, the frontal lobe experiences a pause that resembles the psychological effects of anesthesia. Acoustic codes developed by SCP-061 are interpreted by motor centers in the brain as conscious instructions and the subject typically acts accordingly. Subjects will normally have a blank facial expression while under the influence of SCP-061. They are not responsive to attempts at conversation and express no desires such as hunger or interest in sexual advances. Though all commands are followed without question, the effects of the auditory control cease once the subject is no longer able to hear the program. Most test subjects report being unable to remember the actions they performed while under control, but a few had experienced the effect of watching helplessly as their body acted against their will. The intent of such research is to discover ways to counteract the effects of auditory mind control. However, only two methods of counter measures have proven successful as of yet. One, the subject's hearing is impaired so that the individual can no longer hear the program, either by covering the ear or deafening the subject. Two, the program itself sends a coded instruction to the hearing center of the brain, permanently shutting it down. Though the ear continues to hear, there has been no progress in finding the proper code to reboot the hearing center of the brain. Addendum 01, all subjects are placed under auditory control, issued a coded auditory command, and then monitored. Subject 4402F, command, sleep, response. Subject curled up into a fetal position on the floor, and her brain began emitting alpha waves associated with sleep. Her eyes remained wide open in the typical blank, empty expression associated with controlled subjects, but her eyes twitched rapidly in ways associated with REM sleep. Subject 4427M, command, run on treadmill, response. Subject mounted treadmill, and then proceeded to run. Subject did not turn on the treadmill, resulting in the subject impacting the control platform. Subject repeated this until the stop command was issued. Note, more detailed commands are advised for task-oriented commands. Subject 4427M, command, turn treadmill on, run on treadmill, response. Subject turned on the treadmill to maximum speed, mounted, and attempted to run before being ejected off the conveyor belt. Subject repeatedly attempted to turn on the treadmill to a random speed and run on it with various outcomes. Note, more detailed commands are advised for task-oriented commands. Subject 4427M, command, turn on treadmill to jogging speed, jog on treadmill, response. Subject successfully jogged on treadmill until stop command was issued, which resulted in subject being ejected off the conveyor belt. Note, subjects should be in a safe neutral position before stop commands are issued. Lesson complete. If you missed the previous orientation, go watch SCP-060, Infernal Occult Skeleton, right now. Or for the complete course, watch this playlist.


Everybody will remember where they were when LeBron James passed Michael, Jeffrey, Jordan. I've been a long time LeBron is better than Kobe guy. I'm now flipping. Everything he has done off the court over the last nine to twelve months has been setting up for New York. Chris Broussard here and welcome to the brand new Hoops on Fox podcast. This podcast will give you your daily dose of all things NBA from Fox Sports, including the best content from Skip and Shannon, Nick Wright, plus special guest, fresh NBA content from myself, post game interviews from NBA stars around the league, and much, much more. Up first, Skip and Shannon look at what passing Michael Jordan's milestone means for LeBron James's legacy. Okay Shannon, what was your takeaway from last night? All of what he says, Kel Baila. Be looked to be revered like MJ, check. Shoot a fade away like MJ, check. Now he don't stick his tongue out on dunks like MJ. But everything else, check, check, check. For me, Skip, I will remember the last night that LeBron James passed Michael, Jordan, his idol, and a lot of current players and a lot of players and a lot of people's idol as the fourth all time leading scorer in NBA history. And I think 10 years from now, 15, 20 years from now, no one will remember that the nuggets crushed the Lakers in this ball game. But everybody will remember where they were when LeBron James passed Michael, Jeffrey, Jordan as the fourth leading scorer. But unfortunately he doesn't stop there. We're going to talk about this a little later. He's on that rise, Skip.  Oh, you know who? Kobe's neck. You leave, you know who in the D-U-S-T. Like MJ in the D-U-S-T, that's what you're saying? Kick it up in his face. Kick it up in his face. Moving on. Don't buy this business, Skip, Baila. Look, it just goes to show you just how consistently great this young man has been since he's arrived in the NBA. 11 consecutive first team all NBA, 12 overall, until he's a 27.1 career average scorer. Now he's top five in scoring, top 10 in assists. And in a couple of years he's going to be top five in assists. Skip, look, he's been rewarded. He's been very fortunate. Proud of this year. He had really never suffered a significant injury that forced him to miss a significant amount of time. But the game itself, it shows, Skip. It looked like there are a bunch of guys, three of the guys that played heavy minutes last night were in the G-League, the better part of this year. And that's what LeBron tried to beat the Nuggets were, and they played as well as they could. But when you get crushed, the Nuggets are a very good rebounding team, especially on the offensive end. They beat the Lakers overall in rebounding by 14. Cash demand, 18 offensive rebounds, 24 second chance points. And Skip, when you do that, and even as bad as the Lakers played with the underman unit that they had, Skip, late in the fourth, early in the fourth quarter, they had a chance to tie the ball game. LeBron had Josh Hart on a wide open, you know, boom, it's a tie ball game. He misses that. They go down, Gary Harris, boom, three. Now instead of being tied, they're down five. And then Gary Harris comes right back down again, boom, three. And so what should have been a tie ball game all of a sudden is an eight-point game, time out, and the Nuggets never look back. And this is where we are. This has been a very, very disappointing season for everybody involved with the Lakers. LeBron never, ever imagined this season would turn out the way it has, but this is what it is. But there have been some historical milestones that LeBron James has been able to accomplish. And maybe that's the consolation prize for this season. But this season has been a disaster, but LeBron James has been very good. I'm not going to say great because there are some times that I think he could have affected the outcome or impacted the game a lot better than what he did. But he got no complaints from me from what I saw. I am shocked by that assessment of last night by LeShannon Sharpe. That was humble. That was shockingly objective. That had perspective to it. That had a certain grace to it. As opposed to what I saw from your man on the court last night, because I will be the first to admit, by the way, Jenny, do you remember my score prediction? I predicted 115 to 95. Sue me, I missed it by four points because it was 115 to 99. I wasn't going to bring it up. Anyway, thank you. Now, back to your man. Honestly, from my heart, I tried to get into last night because I do believe there's a side of LeBron who obviously idolized Mike and he looked up to Mike and he was inspired to do this and that and all the things that you just listed by Mike. So I'm trying to get into it and I'm trying to go with the flow of the night because there was a tinge of sadness to it because of what has happened to the Lakers, obviously. But still it is an achievement to pass Michael Jeffrey Jordan on the scoring list. And then I saw your man's shoes. And then I read what he had, I think handwritten unless he had somebody write it for him. He write his own stuff. He probably does. He writes left-handed, which is a big part of his game. I know he's ambidextrous, which is a big part of his game. And by the way, I tried to get into the whole mood of he's more of a past first basketball player, which I've always, I always tell you, he's still the best point guard in basketball and he's still the best passer in basketball. He's also still the greatest attacker of the basket I have ever seen at six foot nine inch 200 and whatever he weighs, 270, 280 maybe. No! 270, let's give him 270. Okay. Ambidextrous at the hoop. He can score it either way and I thought it was fitting that he score the two points with his left hand. And one. It was and one and it was even more fitting that he actually capped off the end one by making the free throw because I hate to point out that he missed his first four before he passed Jordan. Am I right? It is. How can you miss the first four free throws? My dogs would jump and skip. I was correct. Bag it LeBron. Y'all looking at me like, Dad, what's wrong with you? LeBrick. They're worried about you? And the thing, they're not even closed. LeBrick. Yeah. LeBrick. They're not closed. LeBrick. LeBrick. Since he came back from injury, he's shooting 61% from the free throw line. I don't know what happened. He's got the demons going. He does. Okay. It's as simple as that.  So now we're back to the shoes. And he hand wrote with his left hand in some kind of like magic marker or something. I don't know. You know he used a sharpie. Sharpie, okay. Sharp. Magic marker. I don't know what it was. What, are we in grade school? Yeah. In grade. Well, he's talking about growing up. You know, he idolized. He might have found a magic marker for all I know. Okay. And what did he do on the side of his shoes? Thank you, MJ 23. If he had just left it at that, I would have been so good with it because that would have been such an inspiring message of the night. Okay, what did he do? But what did he do at the end of that? He grew a crown. He got a crown. And so suddenly the message changes from thank you to thank you for inspiring me to be greater than you, to be the king. Crown him. Right? Crown him. Said LeBron with that message on the side of his shoes. Put the crown on. God, he didn't care. We don't need the crown. Is he not the king? So the whole night was spent looking up to Jordan while looking down on him. That's how it came across to me. No, it didn't. The whole night was one long humble brag. That's what your man does.  And the big picture of this, the perspective I wanted to hear, a little bit of humility from LeBron, it did take 118 more games than Michael Jordan plays to pass him. Well, 118, that's a lot of games, man. Okay, but still, you still won't mention LeBron James is still 1240 shots behind him. And you still won't mention that Michael played in an era in which they did not emphasize even taking three-point shots, not let alone making them. They just didn't care about it. No.  Like you don't do that. If the greater you are, the less you're going to shoot that shot. So now LeBron James, he made two quick, pretty quick last night. He missed his free throws, but he made those two threes and I'm like, oh, here he comes. And he has now scored 3,399 more points from the three-point line than Michael did in his career. Think of that, that's 3,400 more points because he's attempted 3,204 more threes than Michael attempted. Well, that's a shocking advantage to LeBron to catch and pass him. But even with that, even with the 3,400 more points and the 2,000 more threes, he's still 1240 shots behind him. Okay. But again, Michael was a very good passer. Let's not discount that. LeBron is 2,000 assists clear. Okay. But think about 118 games. That's a lot of games. Okay. I think he averaged a little under six assists a game. Okay. So remember, Michael was an 84% free throw shooter and LeBron is still teetering, but his career average still hovers right at 74. So 10% more free throws. If you do that over time, it's a staggering number and more points that you can make in the free throw line. Correct. I still say LeBron has actually neglected the free throw line because a lot of times he was afraid to go in there and do what was going to happen, which is have to march to the free throw line and shoot more free throws. Right. So to me, I needed to hear some of that perspective last time. What perspective? Well, I just told you. Oh, so you want him to say, you know what? I passed Michael my idol, my hero. I looked up to, he gave me inspiration. But guys, I want y'all to know I did play 117 more games. Guys, I did take 2000 more threes in him. Really? That's what you want him to say? Yeah. Perspective. Just say, look, I know that it took me a while to do it, but this was more of a longevity achievement for LeBron. This was more of, I took better care of myself than Michael did. Now I'm always going to give you that because Michael did not take great care of himself near the end, even though he worked out hard. He hit the cigars, you know, all the rest. And I think LeBron starting to go down that path a little bit too much now. If he really wants to pass Karim, we're going to talk about that. He's going to pass him. I don't want to. He's going to pass him. All right. But obviously LeBron has focused harder on his fitness than even Michael did with the great Tim Grover. They used to have their breakfast club. Right. I'm going back to 98 during the finals, you know, during that run. Right. He was in peak weight room sort of shape.  I know he just had the 18 game injury that he just suffered. But here's the thing to skip. No, I've never, and I've seen, I've been alive to see a lot of records passed. I have yet to hear the guy when he passes. I wasn't alive when Roger Maris passed Bay Ruth. And I never, I don't remember hearing in any of his things like I'm so happy to break this record that Babe only played 154 games and I played 162. Yeah. He didn't have to because the New York media and the national media was all over him for daring to do that. Just like you. And Roger Maris' hair was falling out while he was trying to pass.  Somebody's got to be objective. But what about those shots, even though with 2000 more three attempts LeBron James is still 1240 field goal attempts. Oh, three tools. He's still 1240 behind him. I just want to know why. Why? How can LeBron get to pass him when he's taken fewer shots in 117 more games? Well, he was much more of a pass first basketball player. Magic Johnson was passed first. He didn't pass Michael. Oscar Robinson was passed first. Isaiah Thomas, John Stockton, Jason Kidd. They not passing Michael. Maybe LeBron would have won more championships if he would, as you keep saying here lately, have gone hardened more often. Am I right about that? Maybe. Maybe he did not. Maybe he was unselfish to a fault. Maybe he shrank from that responsibility. Next, hear from LeBron himself after he passed his childhood idols NBA points total. Just ran into championships for a kid from Akron, Ohio that needed inspiration and needed some type of positive influence. MJ was that guy for me. I watched him from afar. Wanted to be like MJ. Wanted to shoot fadeaways like MJ. Wanted to stick my tongue out on jumps like MJ. So that's why it's so crazy to me right now that, you know, that's why it's so crazy to me just seeing, you know, where I'm at in the scoring of all-time greats in this game of basketball because I've never been about scoring. I wanted kids to look up to me at some point like MJ and it's just, it's crazy to be honest. I don't, it's beyond crazy. I didn't know how it was going to happen. I figured I can go out there and get 13 points at some point. But I didn't know how it was going to happen. A couple of teammates asked me if I had 12 points or whatever the case may be, 11 points. How would I like it to be? I said either fadeaway in the post or off the two feet, lean in, tongue out, dunk on the break. It was very emotional. Very emotional. A lot of things that was going on inside me at that point in time. I wanted to look up at the scoreboard to kind of see what was going on up there. But at the same time, I didn't want to show what was going on behind the tile. So, and we all wanted to be MJ. We all wanted to be MJ, every last one of us. And it's crazy, like my high school, my high school best friends, they text me and they just like, they can't believe it.  It's crazy.   But Mike had no idea what he was doing for a kid that was growing up in a 45 minutes flight away from Chicago when he was putting it aboard. Now, Whitlock explains to Marcellus and the SFY crew why LeBron should forget about Jordan and start worrying about Kobe in the debate of all-time greats. Has the disaster this season moved LeBron out of the Jordan conversation and into a debate about whether or not he's better than Kobe and I've been a long time LeBron is better than Kobe guy. I'm now flipping. Kobe, the competitive nature of Kobe, the mamba mentality that's being talked about and talked about and talked about, I'm jumping ship to Kobe. You said that with a straight face.  It's amazing in your glory years which is supposed to be the gravy years that we now going to judge you on the meat and potatoes which is the film that said that LeBron is definitively better than Kobe Bryant. He passed Kobe Bryant. You can't go backwards. This is supposed to help you not hurt you these years of LeBron's career. It's just safe for anybody to look at effort which obviously translates to fan. It's competition, Marcel. It is competition but it's also achievement. He's jogging to a 27, 9, and 8. Kobe wasn't doing that in year 16 and Kobe was giving full effort. I'll leave you with this.   Watch that dude. Watch for him. And the coach will say, yeah, if he was a little faster he wouldn't have to die for it. Think about that. LeBron maybe looking like he jogging. You may be misinterpreting all of LeBron's effort as just too casual but in reality he's still putting up a achieving number. Oh, that's shoving him to guard people. But go ahead. One play, bro. One play, bro. At this point, he wasn't past Kobe to me just because of that reason. Yes, if he had the mama mentality he would be the best ever. Close to, I got Kareem at the top to me. But he would be in that conversation even more but not being a competitor, not having that mama mentality not dominating when you know you can plan to the level of your competition he shouldn't be doing that. He wasn't better than Kobe before he came to LA? They're both great in their own right. Kobe is a better competitor. He's a better scorer. LeBron is a better all-around player. At the end of the day he hasn't passed Kobe in points yet. That's coming. He hasn't passed him in championships. So what I'm saying, they're both great in their own right but if I, me personally I have to go with Kobe because that's the type of guy I want on my team. He plays harder and he's great. I think it's more so on the LA level too though because now it's being accentuated here at LA because of what Kobe accomplished. Like nationally I think that conversation is as relevant as it is here in LA because now they're going back to well Kobe would have done this. Kobe would have, he never would have done this. And some of the things that Kobe didn't do right like the game we had in Phoenix were in game seven where he didn't shoot in the fourth quarter people forget about that. Because he was trying to send a message. Now this accentuates everything that Kobe did right because of what's happening with LeBron. Keep in mind, I said this before overall LeBron is a better player but I would rather guard LeBron than Mike or Kobe. Any day.  Well LeBron is some things that I think I can take away and he'll kind of phase out a little bit. Those two, they continue to come at you no matter what. But then they compare and the fans are comparing 20 years here in LA and five championships to one year. You can't do that. You can't do that. It's not a fact comparison. And look at the team he's playing with. It's not a fact comparison. But that's just the fans that whatever you've done for me lately fans they want you to. But that's why I pushed back at Whitlock. I pushed back at a fan that flips. I don't push back at somebody saying he was never better than Kobe for me. I respect that but how does he flip based on this? I'll be asking you new information. That is me for my entire life and so look when LeBron quit in Cleveland the first time playing Boston. Okay, I'm gonna give him that one. He was frustrated. When he had the Dallas series, that was tough. I'm gonna give him that. They went on one, two championships. He won one in Cleveland. Three strikes in your out. This is a hot mess. The dude's not playing defense. He's disengaged. He's not competing. Jim makes a great point. Kobe's went through some games where he wouldn't shoot and that's non-competitive. That's him throwing a tantrum. I'm gonna give him that. They're talking right now about a Mamba mentality. I heard Dwayne Wade reference it. I hear everybody now. Mamba mentality. Mamba mentality. What's the LeBron mentality? But he's never claimed to have that. He's never because he never, that's not part of his DNA. You know that. But here's the thing. What's he leaving? What's he leaving? What are we gonna be talking about? Listen, well, he transformed the game in a lot of different ways. He has transformed that game in a lot of different ways. No question. Nobody has the power. Nobody has the power that LeBron has. We've never seen LeBron. Listen, he changed training camp. He changed the way you looked at free agency. He changed everything. He changed... Let me push back. Okay, go ahead. I just heard Adam Silver do talk about this. We're not old enough to remember. But Adam Silver said, hey man, there's been this ying and yang between player and ownership throughout the history of the NBA. Will Chamberlain made Philadelphia fire their coach and make him the head coach, and then he bounced on him. Bill Russell made the Celtics, make him the head coach. Players have been having and exercising power. The NBA pushes back and takes back control. But he's not... To us in our lifetime, he's the first to have this kind of power. But there have been others who have had that power. And look, maybe that will be LeBron's legacy, the power that he accumulated. But to what good did it lead to in terms of... What? Let me finish. New information. That power, did it contribute to his overall team accomplishments? Did it help him reach the ultimate goal, the way it did, whatever power Jordan had, it led to six championships. Kobe led to five. Magic led to five. LeBron sitting here with three, and damn it, that's underachievement in my opinion. It's not underachievement, because LeBron, it wasn't all about him. It was about every player in the league. He wanted everybody to benefit. That's when he changed. He changed the whole league. Now it wasn't just about him. You sure? You sure? You can see it. You can see it.  Why are guys confident enough to say, I want to work out with this guy, because of LeBron? Why are guys that can't play making money, because of LeBron? Where's their sports agency, why they're still acting? Let me check how the fans hear that. LeBron made it normal for you to give up on competing against your peers and go team up. That's not what he did. That's the signal that's been interrupted right now. Effort translates to fans. They say we gave our hard-earned money. We don't see you giving 100%. We got a problem. But the beauty of what you're saying is, is you can easily be flipped, because all LeBron needs to do is be on a winning team next year with these Lakeleers. Get a free agent. This could flip like nothing for you, for you. But for us who have seen enough of the body of work, it's cemented where you are pretty much. This is the gravy years. I just don't use that to subtract from your greatness. Here's the thing. I'm going to go back to this. There's been players that got power. Will's deal was he had an agreement with the owner of the Warriors at the time for 20% ownership that he passed away. The other owner said no. So that's why Will wanted to be traded. Karim got traded. Michael had power, but when Reinsdorf and that group said, we're done, they're done. Nobody has had the influence all around on just a team and a league like LeBron, period. When you go from changing back to back games, okay, because LeBron wants to do that and the way training camp is and free agency. Think about this. By circumventing the salary cap and saying, okay, the match deals are you stay here. You know what they did? They said, we're going to circumvent this. We're going to do two-year deals with a three-year deal or two-year out. That's how we're going to get around the match deal and get our money. That was him. Yeah. So power-wise, guys had influence. That's one thing. Power? Nobody had it like that. Like I said again, they had power. No, he didn't. He thought about it. Mike didn't have it. Mike still has more shoes than everybody. But that's a whole... That is power. And listen, if he had so much power, why that Bulls team didn't come back for another year? Because they told him no, they were still... Oh, they told him no. Up next, Brian Scalabrini joins Colin on the herd to discuss who he thinks will be the face of the NBA once the LeBron era is over. Okay, Brian Scalabrini, former Celtic and now a Celtic. Are you going to tell us? You can't tease us like that. Mike, I'm not going to... I can't throw my sources under a bus. Oh, my gosh. Hey, big things happen on this iPhone. This iPhone's an iPhone 12. It's double an iPhone 6. Because he does this. And then one day, someone's just going to swipe that thing. And then, you know, the damage is going to be... All your sources are not comparable. Get this over to... I'll get this over to you. You just don't trust me. Your screen is open. Come on, let's hear your source. Let's hear your source. Anyway, let's move on. All right. Okay. First of all, there's obviously a power struggle with the Lakers right now. Sure. You can see that, right? You go to an arena every night. You're hearing things. What did you make of last night? Now, to defend LeBron, he's brand new. What was Kobe's first year like in LA? What was Magix? What was Karim's? Nobody... This was never going to be perfect, right? Sure. You kind of jammed him into a city. He's been playing eight straight finals, but it did feel weird last night, like no teammates, the crowd. It should have been bigger, right? No question. Passing MJ should have been a big deal. Unbelievable deal. I just think when you saw LeBron get emotional, was it a motion out of regret for what he's going through right now and what being in LA and saying, did I make a mistake coming out here? Do you think he thinks that? I mean, look at the moment. You pass MJ. Can you imagine if that moment was in Cleveland? Who cares? He looks up at the fourth or fifth seed. He looks up at the scoreboard. They're not going to be getting crushed by 20. That's a totally different moment than being in LA. People are kind of iffy on you being there. You pass MJ. You're out of the playoffs. You're getting roasted by Denver. So I just think that moment for him, he probably had a sense of regret until he jumped in his car at 75 degrees outside and he's heading to shoot another show or do another business venture in Hollywood. So I think at that moment, it was a little too emotional for him because I think he has a little bit of regret for going to LA. Well, let me throw this at it. You believe you know who's going to be a Laker next season and it should be noted on the secondary market, the Enos Canners, Carmelo Anthony's don't want to be here. Sure. Paul George said no. There's a lot Kawai reportedly not interested. So there's about eight guys that are really good players, maybe seven available. You think you know who the two are? Yeah, I mean, and I'm just guessing. It's not like I have like sources like you with the phone. I just think in Philadelphia, you look at the Jimmy Butler to bias Harris situation. Are they going to come with a 190 million max contract for Jimmy Butler? I'm not sure. They might. It depends on how Philly plays out in the playoffs, but I kind of look at if it's not Philly, it's probably the Lakers. I could see them saying, you know what, we don't have anybody else. We're going to miss out on KD and Kemba Walker and why don't we go after Jimmy Butler and with the amount of money that they have left, I can see him going after the Marcus Cousins as well. Oh boy. So you act. No, but look at that roster. LeBron, Butler, Cousins, and you still have Lonzo Ball, Kuzma, Ingram. You still have those guys. So you wouldn't have to give up anything. No, that's the beauty of free agency, right? You don't have to give up assets to get those guys. So instead of giving your whole team and seven picks to try to get Anthony Davis, you can say, well, why don't we just sign these two guys Adam to LeBron. If you're telling me right now, Jimmy Butler, LeBron and Boogie Cousins, that's too much drama. This year's been too much drama. No, there's never too much drama in LA. They have a high quota for drama in LA. By the way, Boogie Cousins, they acquired Andrew Bogut for a reason. They trust Bogut with four minutes to go in a game. They don't trust Boogie Cousins. But he'll be better next year and then he'll be better as the season goes along. I mean, that's kind of how the Achilles Sings works.  What do you make of that? Well, I think Charles is looking at the team and seeing how inconsistent the Celtics look and at times Kyrie looks miserable out there when they lose but I will say from being on the inside and seeing these guys, it's very... Some days, for instance, you lose to Houston and I thought, oh my gosh, our season's going down the drain and then they make this flight to Golden State and everything has changed. Now Kyrie's like super engaging with the guys and the plane is super loud and at the hotels, guys are talking, there's music being played. It was like a 180 degree turn. So you were there. Yeah, it's just like, it's amazing to me how much difference it's been the last two days. Now is it because there's less than 20 games to go? Are NBA players in general tired of the regular season? Which we're seeing that a lot more now. The Golden State Warriors the other night did not want to be out there playing. And they're the team that I think more than any team in the last five years, they're the team to me that seemed to enjoy playing more than anything. They did not seem to enjoy playing the other night. I think everyone's just waiting for the playoffs to start and whether it's Kyrie and the ups and downs of free agency and all that stuff and dealing with should I stay, should I go, going here, going there. When it's just about basketball for him and he has that pure mind and he wants to play, he's unbelievable. Go back. I don't even want you to watch the offensive end of the comeback from 3-1 against the Warriors. Just watch Kyrie on the defensive end during that. He was so engaged. It was unbelievable to watch that run from him, LeBron, all those guys and just how cohesive they were. And I think at times when the stakes are high, he does seem to raise his level. But then you have those games like Houston and you're wondering, these guys even want to be out here. But from my experience of seeing this team, they're so inconsistent game to game, quarter to quarter. And now it looks like they've turned the corner. The last two games, they've looked really engaged and looked all dialed in and locked in. But I will say the practice over the last two games before the Warriors, everyone talked about how we feel so much more connected. We had sort of a kumbaya moment and everything is going to be fine. By the way, the face of the NBA, so how old are you? 40.  So I've been, well, I'm mid-50s. Not sure about that. I'm mid-50s. And so I've been watching the NBA since the 70s. And there's always been a face of the league. You have to be a great player. Sure. You have to have flair to either your game or your personality. And you got to win titles. Kareem was a great player, brittle personality. I say Kevin Durant, a little bit of an odd quirky personality. These are the faces I believe from the 60s on. Wilt, Dr. J, then it was Larry and Magic, Michael, Shaq and Kobe. Although Shaq was the more... Kobe was the more intense athlete. Shaq was the more engaging personality, then LeBron. And I ask you, the things that you know that you have to be a star, you've got to be great. We've got a bunch of those in the league. You've got to have flair to your game. All these guys had flair. I mean, even Wilt. Wilt was the headband, the jams.  Who's the face of the NBA? It doesn't have to be honest. But here's my takeaway. Didn't play high school here. Didn't play college here. That's a good thing. Well, he was obscure for two years. Didn't know who he was. It is Milwaukee. No playoff success. This is sort of dumb. But generally Madonna, Cher, Hannity, Stern, Imus. One name helps. Bird, magic, Kobe. You tried spelling Yanis? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a little bit of a thing.  I don't think. Based on how good he is, but because his name is Auntie Takunpo. No, I'm not saying that's like 2%. Okay. But I'm saying, I'm not saying it's not everything. Milwaukee. No playoff success. Didn't play high school. Well, that's just now. Like LeBron is still going to control this narrative for the next two years. He's going to be the face of the NBA for two years. For two more years. Yeah, so. And then the torch will pass. So why not jump on Steph Curry? All American family. The second best player in his own team. How do you face the league? Well, he might, but he won a championship without Durant. Listen, I think you're right. That's how I feel, Steph. Sure. But it's really hard when you're perceived as, you're not the finals MVP. Sure. Your teammate is. Yeah. And the NBA has been as strong. As the face of the league is likable. Yeah. Shack and Kobe LeBron, Michael Bird, Dr. J. Wilt. There was a real relatability of flair. I got your answer. Yonah should be. He should be. But I don't know. The superstars today are weird. Right. Durant is weird. Kyrie. Westbrook. Wylennard. Westbrook. They're all sort of like a little bit odd. Yeah. So. If you, like, to me, Yonah's is not odd. He's from. So you think he's the guy? Well, I just think he's not, he's not a weird guy. No, no, no, no. He's a great kid. Yeah. And he's like, I feel like he's going to stay in Milwaukee. He's like, well, we want our superstar to be. But maybe that's us because I'm 40 or 50. And we want him to be all about basketball. Didn't grow up in the AAU culture. Has a totally different mindset. Well, he didn't come. He came into this league. I didn't know who he was until year three. Sure. So. I knew about Kobe in high school, LeBron in high school, Jordan in college, Shaq in college. Generally, I'm introduced to you before you even get. I think Zion Williamson could be it if he goes to the Knicks. If his game trend. Then you got to win. That might not happen. But it is interesting. I agree with you. I think next half decade, it's still mostly LeBron. No, that's five years. I'm just throwing it out there. Come on, Colin. Two years. Everybody's pushing Brady out the door. That's the face of the league is today. Brady, Tom Brady. Yeah, but he's still winning. Like, clearly you're watching the Lakers. I don't, it just ain't going to change. Well, if they get Jimmy bothered, cousins, different conversation. Yannis should be. Yes. And because of that, I'm sticking with Yann. Okay. I can't go on what people think about a high school one because they can't say his name. I can only go on. If I'm a father, I want to sit down and watch a game with my son. This is the guy I want you to be like. No, I'm not denying any of that. By the way, Shawshank Redemption is a great movie. It's a bad name for a movie. This is America. We like simple stuff. That's why I changed my name from the Colin Coward show to Herd. Sure. Rome. Hannity. Imus. Kalei. Share. That's why I'm saying. Joy. Yannis. Give Yannis Auntie the Coompo. Just go Yannis. Just say Yannis. I just call him Yannis. Yannis. I like Yannis. Pretty much everyone calls him Yannis in this one. All right. Yannis. That's only like. That's only. Too long. I know it sounds dumb. That's only like 2% of the argument. No playoff success. Milwaukee. Well, that's just now. They're going to be fine this year. Yeah. And I'm telling you. He's not weird. No, he's not. He's just not weird. So because he's not weird, we can, like us middle aged men can rally around the guys who aren't weird. No, I have him on the show. He's a great kid. He's great. And he's all about winning. And I, the rumors about him leaving in free agency. He just seems to love Milwaukee. All he does is work out and stays in Milwaukee. Doesn't work out with, you know, Instagram. And all this other stuff. Yannis. He's great. I just like. That's a layup to me. He's got to be the face of me. All right. Because I don't feel it's Kevin Durant. I think he's too prickly. I think he's just a little too quirky. I don't think he's as. He's weird. He's weird. Yeah. He's not. These guys are weird. Following that, Mavs assistant coach, God Sham God joins Christine Leahy to explain his unique name and famous crossover. Welcome to Fair Game. I'm Christine Leahy and we're here in Charlotte, North Carolina for the NBA All-Star Game. My guest today was a legend on the New York City basketball courts and the creator of one of the best crossover moves of all time. Now he's teaching those moves as an assistant coach for the Dallas Mavericks. God Sham God is here. How you doing? I'm good. How are you? Good. You know, I actually don't know how you got your name. God Sham God. That's my father's name. His name is God Sham God. When I was in high school, my father got locked up. So I really, in the beginning, I was like really like mad at him about certain things. So I used to, so when I got to high school, I just always put my mom's last name and my mom's last name as well. So when I got in high school, I used to write Sham God Wells, Sham God Wells. Because when I was little, you know, when you live it's hard for kids to call you God and stuff like that without getting teased. So then when I got to high school, you know, I used to Sham God Wells. And then when I got to college, they told me I had to use my birth name or change it. You know?   Then some people made a whole big spectacle of it. And some people thought it was me. Calling yourself God.  You're going to call yourself God and stuff like that. So it's funny, but I think the way I learned how to play basketball and things like that as I got older, it became cool to people. Yeah. Yeah. And then when they see me play, they kind of think it fits. Mm-hmm. You know, because all the dribbling and stuff and things like that. So, you know, in the end it works out. Everything works out.  So many players are replicating it. How did you come up with it? When I was young, I used to always watch film. A basketball player is like to learn. Learn how to dribble because in the beginning I really didn't have no trainer. And then when I first started playing basketball, I used to be so embarrassed that I wasn't good in basketball. So I used to always tell people I was good, but I would never play. You know, so I was like really embarrassed. So once I did it by, I did it by mistake. And then like I said, I used to always watch film. So I saw it on film to myself. And then me and one of my best closest friends that was in college, Corey Wright, we went to the gym. After we watched the film, I'm like, oh, this probably could work. I'm like, this is good. We went to the gym and I had to practice that move like thousands of times. And then it just became a thing. So you said you weren't good at basketball, but then is that what made you good? No, what happened was up until 13, I was like okay in basketball. Okay. So when I was in junior high school, I had a coach by the name of Tiny Archibald. He's like doing the top 50 greatest basketball players. But when I first met him, I didn't know that, you know, because like I said, I wasn't into basketball when I was little. So when I went to my school, you know, I'm learning how to play and this older guy, he'd come to me and he's like, hey, you should do this. And I'm like, this is an old guy talking about basketball. No, nothing about no basketball. So then I go home and I'm watching a VHS tape, you know, back then. And it's like below the rim. And it got guards like Magic Johnson, Kevin Johnson, Tim Hardaway. And in the middle of it, it got older people like Peter Pete Marriott, Earl Monroe, and then of course, Tiny Archibald. So I come back to school the next day and I'm like, why you didn't tell me you played in the NBA?  And then he told me, he was like, if you learn how to dribble, you will always be worth something to a team. So I got kind of like obsessed personality. Like if I really liked something, I'd do it over and over and over again. So then after that day when he told me that I just practiced morning, noon, and night, just dribbling, dribbling, dribbling, dribbling, dribbling.  So then it all just came, it just all came together. And you know, from, whether it's Chris Paul, whether it's Russell Westbrook, you know, Dame Lele, Jamal Crawford. These are all guys that you taught how to do it? No, it was all guys that asked me about it all the time. Okay.  So it's just all been a part of it. And like, you know, when I meet them, it's all like, hey man, when I was younger, I watched so much film on you dribbling and stuff like that. And then when I'm around them, I just show them like different versions of it. Finally, Chris Boussard joins Nick and CeC to break down Kevin Durant's offseason options. Why would Kevin Durant stay in Golden State? What's the case for him staying where he is? Yeah, I've made the argument on this show before that I think it'd be great for him to stay and go for a fourth straight ring. Yes. All the guys, Magic, MJ, LeBron, Kobe, Shaq, all that he's compared to have never won fourth straight. Only Bill Russell. Right.  But watching this season unfold with how difficult, you know, the struggles they're having this year, he and Dre mine going at it. The tension there is with the team. There's a reason those guys didn't win fourth straight, you know, because it's very difficult mentally, emotionally, not to mention physically. So it appears that that would be not quite unrealistic, but very difficult. If they win it this year for them to come back and do it a fourth straight year, it just might be too tough. And look, he's got two great options in my opinion, New York and the Clippers outside of Golden State. So I, as much as I'd like to see him get four straight, I don't think he would say it. Why do you think he is? I know we've talked a lot about Kyrie's levels of happiness and his inner, but I thought the other night when he was, after they got blown out by the Celtics, him, I don't want to say going at Steve Kerr, but his post game press conference juxtaposed to Steph Curry's, where Steph Curry kept the even kill. You said he's the Tim Duncan for, one of you guys said Tim Duncan for the Golden State Warriors. And Kerr, I mean Kerr predates Durant. And Kerr is incredibly popular within that locker room. And Durant just seems generally irritated with the situation. Well, I thought he had legitimate reason after the game. What he questioned was Steve Kerr talked about now we need to play, we need to be a little more mean, a little more intense before and during the season. And yeah, angry. And earlier in the season they were talking about, man, let's play with a little more joy. Let's be happy. So that was the message point. That's Kerr's mantra really was the joy and then he contradicted it. Yeah, but now because we lose this game, don't go behind the team, because he should have told the team that after the game, before he told the media that. Like you can't change your messaging point to the media before you talk to the team because you have to be consistent. And he said, oh, he said that. Oh, I thought he was talking about play with some joy. So that's what he should be able to do. He has the right to be able to do that because Steve Kerr changed a message point that we had. And then he went on to being like, no, it's about playing with some more joy. So I don't have a problem with that. I think people miscalculate the amount of stress that NBA players, and I'm going to say it's stress because dealing with the media, I'm part of the media now, but we used to have a system in Minnesota. And when you only have 16 games and you only play one game a week, all right? And we only typically have two media appearances that we have to do. We have one scheduled during the week and we're definitely going to talk after the game. But you're talking about 82 games. Now you're talking about all these shooter rings. Right, right. There's so many more opportunities. So I'm not making excuses for NBA players, but I'm looking at the schedule. I'm looking at how many sound bites, how many times people can get them tripped up. And I didn't like talking to the media because to me, I got a job to do. And catching the football going across the middle, being in shape has nothing to do with the media. They might think they help you do your job. You help them do their job. So I'm taking it back to my days and there was also some contentious moments. Oh, my goodness. Like because I can't answer all the questions and I can't tell them the truth all the time. So what these media, the basketball players, what they're facing with the media, we should get used to this and maybe have something, not empathy, but understanding of how many times, how many days a week they have a mic in their face where someone is trying to trip them up. Because we don't see all and hear all the sound bites and everything that you get. You get a lot of bad questions from local people, people trying to make a mark, trying to get a sound bite, trying to... We're trying to bait you. Trying to please their boss. I wouldn't be surprised. I know the NBA, they made the season longer, but this is not going to get any easier for the players to deal with. Now, it's a part of the job. It's a part of your responsibility, but we better understand what they're going through and we better start looking at a little bit different if we're going to understand this modern day athlete. When I was a beat writer covering, you know, the Cavaliers, the Nets, the Knicks, I talked to some players, because look, I was at every shoot around, I was at every practice. I'm in the locker room before every game, after game. And I would get sick of going and seeing the players. Because it's like every day, we're asking a lot of the same questions. And I would talk to them, I know you get tired of seeing me. I'm here, so there should be an understanding. And I think with KD, I mentioned that I've been told KD and Kyrie were a little leery of New York. And I'm not saying they won't come, but a little bit leery just because of the meeting. It's something that should be discussed between the two of them. They should consider it. Now what I would say is that when you played, and when I was a beat writer, before the internet, it was a little different. New York was more different than everywhere else. No, we had the internet, we didn't have social media. New York's known for sensationalism. Right. And yeah, the internet was just come, but it wasn't as big of a factor as now. But the internet, I mean, New York's known for sensationalism, tabloid journalism. Now that's kind of throughout the country.  So it's not right. It won't be as different. It won't be as different. It's as jarring. Right, I agree. It's a little bit different, but it's not as much. I understand there's going to be, every city doesn't have a New York post. And I get that. And every city doesn't have the intense scrutiny. But you know, Philly's pretty intense, by the way. Boston local media is pretty intense. And the national media covers everyone. But the national media covers everyone. Right. The internet covers everyone. And so a lot of these guys, it's not at beef, typically, with the local guys. Not all. You know what I mean? Right. Because they do get relationships with them. For Durant, when it comes to the Warriors, everything he has done off the court over the last nine to 12 months has been setting up for New York. Now everything he's doing with Rich Kleinman, the office space that they're trying to set up, there's the element of LeBron's now on the west coast, kind of sucking up that air from the media. The Kevin Durant's ability to go to New York and be the star in the biggest city in the country. And Kevin Durant is in, and Rich Kleinman, to his credit, the mogul business. They have real estate deals. They're doing media stuff, their own media company. So it would be, to me, it would take a massive shift or a seismic event for Kevin Durant to change that course. I don't think he'll go to New York by himself. And I don't think he should. But because of the move they made. You go with Kyrie or somebody else. KD will be a huge draw. Like because of the move they made, it was one of the reasons the Kristaps trade, even if you'll have Kristaps as a player, was such a great move for the Knicks. Because now they don't have to do anything this summer to be able to sign two guys. But they'll be talking, KD will be talking with AD, with Kyrie. I just don't think you should go there alone because you won't win at a high level alone. And if you don't win in New York, it's horrible. And that's where the media will really get back. Let me say this last thing quickly about KD. In discussions with him and what he said about Kerr the other night, one thing I've learned about KD, he just wants to speak his mind. And whether it's some no name going at him on Instagram, whether it's a media person saying something, he's going to confront you. Or Steve Kerr, he's going to say his mind just because that seems to be the type of person he is. Can I follow up just one quick question? I'm sorry, you said about winning in New York. You said it's horrible if you don't win. If KD went to New York and won a title, that's the best. He's got to win a championship. Compared to where they were, all you got to do at this point for the last couple of years, get them into the playoffs. Initially, that's local people. But KD is trying to be one of the biggest names that's ever played in sports and how that gets him in other businesses. We're fans, all right? He's not a fan. He's making a decision that would change his life. Thank you for listening to the Hoops on Fox podcast. Don't forget to subscribe and leave a 5-star review letting us know what you think of the show.


Most of us, we don't bother doing any due diligence. Most people sitting out there are just listening to what other people are telling you and that's what you're following. You are following advice of people who've never done it. You're following advice of people who may be trying to discourage you from doing it or maybe they are fearful themselves and they're pressing their fears upon you. So again, do not listen to the people out there. Just do your own homework. Find out for even me. Listen, you don't have to believe me.


This is Think Tech Hawaii. Community matters here. OK, welcome back to Think Tech. I'm Jay Fidel, 12 o'clock block here on a given Monday. And we want to talk today about leadership. This is making leadership work. It's more than just leadership. It's all those characteristics that form up leadership and how you actually activate them and do leadership. It's an occupation. It's a skill. It's something you learn. It's something that sometimes works. Michael Troy, executive in the hotel industry for a long time, seen it all, done it all, seen the evolution of the hotel industry, and seen companies come and go and morph and consolidate and merge and all that he's seen it all. Michael, welcome to the show. Jay, thank you very much. Pleasure to be here. So you're with Starwood? Well, Starwood is getting acquired by Marriott. And you're the field marketing director. What does that mean? Well, actually, yeah, the transition of Starwood being acquired by Marriott has actually been underway for more than a year now. And so a very exciting time bringing together two large and very well-recognized hotel leadership companies. Together now, there'll be 30 brands under one umbrella under the Marriott umbrella. So very fortunate to be a part of that company, which will have over 6,000 hotels, over 1.5 million guest rooms around the globe. It's quite a big organization that we look forward to having lead in the hospitality area. When I was a kid, we got in the car and drove down the East Coast and stayed at little bungalows along the way. And it wasn't much tourism as a long time ago. But now, tourism is so big. It's so everywhere. It's in every country. And from extravagant to not so extravagant, the industry has become huge. What got you into it? Well, I was fortunate to be introduced to it through a relative. I had an uncle who was a general manager of the wonderful leisure location, the Pittsburgh Hilton. So I actually was introduced to that industry when I went to actually to see one of my cousins be married and went to wonderful three rivers where the Pittsburgh Hilton was sort of situated. I believe it's not even a Hilton brand anymore. But I was introduced to it there. I ended attending the University of New Hampshire in the Hospitality Administration Program. One of those people. And then the opportunity to work in Hawaii was afforded to me through a management trainee program. So Sheraton Corporation was actually headquartered in Boston on 60 State Street and went down there and interviewed and had an opportunity to be offered a management trainee position in Hawaii. That must have been a happy moment. Well, it was a stunning. I had never been west of Pennsylvania, as you can. So for me, it was a big opportunity that was something that I had not expected to be made available to me. And so I thought, OK, I'll try Hawaii. I'd never been here. And I thought maybe I'd do a year or six months or whatever and see how long it would be. And fortunate for me, I've spent over 32 out of the last 36 years in Hawaii. So I've been very, very fortunate. So you came in the 70s? 80s. 80s were the 80s. 81 was a management trainee at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. Pink Palace in the District. Yeah, that must have been pretty exciting. It was just coming around. There was a lot of action going on. My law firm was representing some of those deals. My law firm represented Kenji Osano for a while. Well, there you go. Then they probably were very familiar with the acquisition that they received from ITT Sheraton. They acquired those four properties in Waikiki, along with Sheraton Maui, and then, of course, the Palace in San Francisco. So yeah, Kealia, as an organization here locally, has been a true leader in hospitality. And for us to have such a diverse product, even within their portfolio, I mean, from the luxury property in the Royal Hawaiian, the historic Moana Surfrider, and then, of course, the Sheraton Waikiki, which has gone through several iterations of accommodations being that of a group facility, but also now a very nice leisure destination property right there on the prowl of Waikiki Beach. So hats off to Kealia. They could have taken the Moana Surfrider in the Royal Hawaiian historic properties. There's a lot to maintain there, and I think the fact that they've got that commitment to let those two properties still be the icon. Nice job on the Moana Surfrider. I mean, they're in pictures. They've been in Hawaii 5.0. They've been, I think, when you see a couple married right there on the ocean lawn at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, with Diamondhead in the background, it doesn't get more storybook than that. Really storybook. Shades of Webley Edwards in the Moana Courtyard there with, what is it, Hawaii calls? Yeah, well, there's that Hawaii calls. And then, of course, we had Del Courtney and the T-Dance that was done in the Monarch Room for many, many years. And those things were sort of ending when I was just coming on board.  Yeah, did you know when you came out here that it would be like this? I mean, this was not always the mecca in hospitality that it is today. Did you know that it would unfold this way? Well, I knew that the novelty of the destination was pretty significant. And, you know, when you said you had visited or you were going to or you'd been to Hawaii, everybody had a lot of questions. I mean, you know, some people who had no real concept of the place thought, you know, that there was everything from one street light to grass shacks to whatever, and others who said, well, you know, why could Kiesel Commercial, I just don't want to visit there, et cetera. And yet when they do come out, whether it be a neighbor island experience or, you know, visiting the island of Oahu, I think they're always amazed at just how spectacular an experience it really is. Yeah, and that's because the industry builds this spectacular infrastructure and programs all over the place. It's really quite amazing what happens, you know, we live on the beach, we don't necessarily see it, but if you get into the track, if you get into that world of the tourist experience, it's really something here, isn't it? Yeah, I mean, when you look at what the industry does in generating revenues for the state of Hawaii, I mean, you're right, it's become quite an industry and it's been diversified further by things like vacation ownership and you see that. And of course, now the shared industry where you have people doing their own hospitality with Airbnb and VRBO and things like that. Yeah, and you've had to track on all these things. It's been a moving target the whole time. Yeah, I think the landscape has become quite competitive and certainly in the last decade, I think more so than ever before. And a lot of that do in fact to, you know, changes in technology. I mean, when you look at how easy it is for someone to set up their own operation through, you know, the tools that have been made available from an Airbnb where all you do is, you know, set up your listing and then payments and transactions and correspondence and everything else is all handled electronically, it makes a lot easier.  It's easy to travel, isn't it? Easy to travel. Well, yeah, I wouldn't know if it's easy to travel. We've certainly, the government's certainly making a little bit of a challenge, certainly internationally. I think we in Hawaii could be, well, TSA, but even the permitting, not permitting, but the process to get visas and whatnot to come to Hawaii, I think internationally, we could do a lot to improve that, which would improve our fortunes a lot by having people that have not been to this destination come, which I think is always good to introduce it to an audience that hasn't been here. So where do we stand? I mean, where do we stand in the world? I mean, we stood in one, we had one kind of persona back in 1980. We have another one now. What was then, what was it now? Well, I think the mystique of Hawaii is still there for a good percentage of people who have not been here. I think those that have been, you know, traveling the world and seen Hawaii, if you will, still have not, if they have not taken an opportunity to visit a neighbor island and see the contrast to what's available on Oahu, they certainly need to do that. But what's happened is, you know, the introduction of social media and the introduction of just Instagram in the last five years has made places that were once considered, you know, hidden gems available for everybody to see. I mean, I remember listening to a story about a bridge, about 90 minutes outside of Seattle that was a hidden gem forever, but because it became so popular on Instagram, they're now gonna tear it down because too many people are going up and trashing the place and everything else. And so I think the good and bad of technology is, you know, we're introducing things to people immediately. You know, you can tweet out a picture, you can tweet out on Instagram, but you know, we have to make certain that message gets out there, that we here in Hawaii can withstand that onslaught to the infrastructure. Market is changing, people's tastes are changing around the world, and as you say, travel is changing. So are we still as much in cachet as we were before? And who's our competition rising against us? That's a good question. I know the thing about competition is the places that we previously maybe did not consider competition suddenly have become known to, you know, who thought we'd compete against Costa Rica? Who thought Iceland would become a very popular destination the last two years? You know, I think as you mentioned, people looking for new experiences are out there wanting to find out something that has not been seen before, or things that they just didn't believe they would add to their bucket list. And I think that the ease of getting to Hawaii now is hopefully making it better for people to get here, but I think some of them just, they like that far and out destination that nobody's been to. I think now you're trying to one up somebody else when you look at what's been on their Facebook page or what's been in their Instagram feed and how can you do it better? I think technology has made it a little bit more competitive and the landscape as far as what the internet has done to compete against Hawaii, people are able to find out about destinations now much easier than they were before. The distribution system with retail travel agents being that knowledge base that you went to previously has now been put in the palm of your hand. Now it goes direct.  You can find out about any destination. You can speak a language by just speaking into your phone. The new pixel earphones, which will do it automatically as you speak, the translation will go into your earphone. I mean, it's remarkable the way the world is shrinking because people are less afraid to go into places of unknown because technology has made it easier. And safer, I suppose, usually. Well, you'd like to think it is safer. I think it's safer if you do your research. I think the main thing is, again, technology is making it so that you're able to read reviews from other people. I think people put a lot of faith into UGC or user-generated content, whether that be an image, whether it be feedback, whether that be a description of what the experience is like. And people just do a lot, tend to do a lot of research. People tend to engage more with others once they've found out they've been to a place. Once you find out in somebody's Facebook feed that they've gone ahead and visited a destination, you'll contact them, and if you know them or something, hey, what was it like? What did you say? Word of mouth. Word of mouth has become as strong a marketing tool as advertising. So how has the profile of the tourist, how has the profile of the tourist changed over recent years? I mean, what I hear you saying is the millennials have a leg up on this these days. They can handle and are comfortable with the technology. I don't think we have, I guess we still have a fair amount of luxury properties out there or at least expensive ones. How does the profile change this as a result of these factors? Yeah, I think for us, the millennials, certainly a good target audience to be in focus, keeping it on our radar screen. But when it comes to discretionary spend, I think there's still a lot yet to be captured from the boomer market and the Gen Y, Gen X and that audience that is in some of their prime earning years that is gonna take the time to go and travel, not that the millennials won't be able to come and stay here, but I think they're also, the millennials are much more open to the shared accommodations that we've talked about, things as an Airbnb and VRBO because that's what they're comfortable with. So you're all about demographics and examining who that group is who might come here and also in Tahiti. And this is an interesting changing, kaleidoscopically changing answer there. Yeah, I mean it is. I mean, you have to be able to, I think have experiences that address what it's gonna be like for that specific audience to make certain that what you're putting out there is something that they want to experience when they're here. Whether it's an active traveler, and a lot of this you'll hear from the Hawaii Visitors Bureau, Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau, and those people from the HDA, how we're looking to find the right lifestyle experience for the Visitor to Hawaii to find. Whether you're active and active. Exactly, there's so many various audiences we can go after here in Hawaii. And technology lets us get a good handle on what exactly it is that they're looking. The feedback and finding out more from them, their profiles and the open profiles that people have on social media. You can learn a lot about what people wanna do. Yeah, oh, I have so many questions. We'll never finish on time. This is Michael York. He's a field marketing director of... Well, so now it's not Marriott International. Okay, let's call it Marriott for now. And he covers not only Hawaii, but also Tahiti and the French Islands down there as an interesting combination of things. And we're gonna ask him about the challenges and the problems. We're gonna ask him, what's life to be an executive in this area these days and how we can get his job right after this break? You'll see. This is Think Tech Hawaii, Raising Public Awareness. Aloha, I'm Carol Mon Lee. Think Tech Hawaii is volunteer chief operating officer and occasional host and this is Minky. For the first time, Think Tech Hawaii is participating in an online web-based fundraising campaign to raise $40,000. If thanks, Think Tech will run only during the month of November and you can help. Please donate what you can so Think Tech Hawaii can continue to raise public awareness and promote civic engagement through free programming. I've already made my donation and look forward to yours. Please send in your tax-deductible contribution by going to this website, www.thanksforthinktech.causevox.com. On behalf of the community enriched by Think Tech Hawaii's 30 plus weekly shows, thank you, mahalo and shishir for your generosity. Okay, we're back with Michael Troy. He is the field marketing director of, I guess, Marriott now as it works out and he covers Hawaii, which is 30 properties and three properties in French Tahiti which is all very interesting and you gotta go both places, right? Definitely. Part of being an executive. Definitely. You gotta go check it out. If you haven't been to French Polynesia, it's definitely worth it. So, I guess part of being an executive in the hotel business is you get to spend time at hotels and you can get to enjoy the luxury, am I right? Yes, I've been very fortunate in the opportunity to stay in multiple brands underneath our umbrella and then of course, multiple destinations, both internationally as well as domestically and so it's amazing to see the breadth of our product which, like I said, goes from select serve brands which are those that are sort of the things you might find in our loft or element or some of the Fairfield Inn or various products along. Those lines up to luxury with the Hawaiian, our luxury collection, St. Regis and now Ritz Carlton, all under that umbrella. Ritz Carlton, that's a name we heard last week. All right. It was number 45. Oh, okay. Yeah, stayed there. Must have had a good time. Were you involved in that? I don't know, but keep the towel. We just want you happy. So, there you go. Okay. Well, you know, do you think it's evolving into more luxury or less luxury? Is the market looking for more economy or more high end? I think it's a little bit of both. I think what the consumers look for is for value. Whether you're an entry level consumer or someone who is able to go high end, I think even at both ends of the spectrum, they want to make certain they're getting the value for the dollar that they're spending. So consumers, again, are much more informed with regard to what it is they're going to buy by the research that they're doing and again, the expectations. When you stay at a St. Regis or Ritz Carlton, you expect certain things to be delivered in that experience and if you're not getting them, you're certainly going to voice it and I think we need to be more cognizant of exactly what the consumer is saying, even if it's in our entry level. If they're not liking something and they let other people know, as I mentioned, the influence of social media on people's buying can be very dangerous if you're not monitoring it. That's your job. You've got to find out what they're thinking, how they're feeling, whether they like their experience or don't know. How do you do that? How do you find out? That's a good question. I mean, we participate in the major, I think sort of the top three social media channels of Facebook, Twitter, and of course Instagram and getting the feedback and the engagement from those customers. We monitor it. We have various tools that monitor customer sentiment about what it is they're saying about our brands, what is they're saying about their experience within our brands, what they're saying about the competition. What is it that the competition is doing that we're hearing about when a Hilton or a Hyatt or somebody else is doing something? Is that something we're missing out on or is it something we haven't told them about? So yeah, social media has become very instrumental in helping us to understand sort of what the customer's seeking out in their vacation experience. So if you're a field marketing, what is a field marketing director in here? You know, I'll never claim- It's an impressive term. It is a great term, but we're out there in the field marketing. I'd say it's a tremendous place to do it. So that's what we're doing. Okay, so it strikes me that it's more than placing ads. It's more than going to the media. It's more than creating the persona as you would in all kinds of media, print and television and social media. But it's the other end too. You're also involved in creating the experience that you want to market, right? It's not just marketing and the existing phenomenon, it's changing the phenomenon too. Yeah, it's a team effort. When we work with everybody from revenue management on making certain that the pricing is in the right area, we work with the people on the operations side with how, you know, it's great for us to come up, it's great for us to come up with an offer that we think will do well in the marketplace, but if it's hard to be fulfilled with everybody from the front desk to a spa to a restaurant, then it's not going to work. So we have to work with everybody from operations, revenue management, and then our distribution partners. If we want to put out a package that requires them to be involved in capturing information to our kids coming, is it, you know, what is the makeup of that customer that's coming to our resort? You know, we need as much information as we can and we're matching up the right offer, the right property with the right guests. You ever walk around and say hi? You ever, you know, check them out when they come out of the restaurant or catch them in the lobby and say, you know, how's it going for you? My job probably doesn't allow me the opportunity to do that as often as I'd like to, but you know, we have operations staff, we have actually a sort of a lobby concierge that is engaged in, you know, what is the customer experiencing? How's it going? How's everything that you're experiencing here at the property? We even have it certainly in Waikiki where you need to have that in multiple language capabilities because of, you know, we still have a strong audience from Japan that loves the destination. We want to make certain their experience is top-notch and, you know, like I said, get that feedback. And I, again, a big kudos goes to our team, operations team where there'd be guest service agents, the front desk, the Bellman. They are talking with guests at a time when they're probably, you know, willing to say anything, you know, when you're walking up to them, I can't believe we're here and this and that. Well, what is it you want to experience here? What is it you want to do? It's the same when you're checking in, same when you go and ask about activities. So that team, I think, does a great job in making certain that they can get as much intelligence on what that customer wants to have and then feeds it back to, you know, our executive team. Then you've got to get it. Your group has to get it. You know, Michael, they didn't see enough pictures about what the beach is like or what the pool is like. Okay, then we need to upgrade our visual messaging so that we can address those things. They're doing it in social media, not just on the website, but also in social media. These are the things that they want to see so we want to make certain we put that out there. How about the Chinese? What do you need to do for the Chinese and what are you doing for the Chinese and is there a gold mine there in the Chinese? I think it's still early. I think it's a very nascent market segment to be going after. I think the lift, the visa process still to come here is a little bit long. And I think, you know, from a cultural standpoint, we went through some great cultural training when about a year, a year and a half ago when it became evident that there was going to be that growth in the Chinese market, but it really hasn't materialized to the point where they become such a big part of our market mix. You know, I still believe that the biggest part obviously is our domestic audience, our Japan audience, our Oceana, you know, people from, we've had increased air seats available made now from Hawaiian to the Australian, New Zealand markets, Canada's still a very big market for us. Europe was still a long ways away, until lift coming here, if there ever is a nice nonstop that's put in play where you can bypass and make it easy for that market segment to get here, then. You don't have a lot of controllable lift though. For example, I read yesterday's paper that it was a carrier, a small carrier that's coming directly out of Las Vegas, they're folding. Yeah, Legion is no longer doing their route. Their last flight was just last month, so we have a lot of hopes that Southwest will come in and bring in to the marketplace some new access points where people will be flying from, you know. The West Coast is still, certainly those gateway cities are our biggest cities and where we like to focus and we've got some nice nonstops from the East Coast where, you know, out of Newark, out of Atlanta, but we'd love to have new carriers, you know, open up markets to us that we have not had a chance to in the past. And can you encourage them? Can you say, look, United, we need another couple of flights here, you know, we have the rooms, we have the infrastructure, why don't you send some more people? Well, United is already doing that. At the end of December of this year, United will introduce a significant number of new gateways to Hawaii and more flights, not only to Oahu, but to the neighbor islands as well. So we're very fortunate to see certain carriers, legacy carriers like United still have a lot of a commitment to this destination. And again, I applaud the things that Hawaiian Airlines has done both internationally and domestically to make it work and certainly for Bukamina that want to travel to other places on the mainland, Hawaiian has, you know, really broadened their reach. But there's not much, I think we in the hospitality, we love the airlines and we hope the airlines love us. We have those great partnerships, but there are other things that go on on the government side with regard to gates at the airport. I think those are gonna be the biggest challenges if we grow air seats and not have room to move planes and things around. So I think there's some things in, and you don't wanna have planes flying over Waikiki beach at three in the morning, because I don't think that's gonna make it enjoyable for anybody. Yeah, you know, I wanted to ask you about that, about the community. I mean, is the Hawaii community used to be, in my opinion, a little more aloha than they are now and cared a lot about, you know, welcoming tourists, Ecoma Mai, all that. You know, now it's Waikiki, I don't go to Waikiki, they can do what they want in Waikiki, I don't care. How does this affect the situation and do you feel you're getting enough support, so to speak, from the local community and the government? And let me fold one other thing in there. Oz Stender, a former trustee of the Kamehameha Schools was sat on that chair a few months ago when he said, too many tourists, you have to make a limit. So I'd like to ask you about that too. Well, I think that's all one big question. I think certainly it is a concern that the tourism industry be able to maintain the infrastructure to accommodate any sort of growth so that it is a pleasurable experience, not only for those visiting, but those that work and live here. I mean, I strongly believe that the opportunities to grow the neighbor island experience would be wonderful by having non-stop flights. I think the multiple island visitor that used to come in the 70s and 80s doesn't want to do that as much now because it's a pain in the neck to go through TSA and take four hours out of your day to do an inter-island flight. Not that it's gonna be that on the average, but I've heard of some experiences where that can be the case. And for local people too, by the way. Well, it's been a challenge. So I'd like to think that there is a balance that can be maintained in hospitality that allows for us to have the jobs, have the careers, but also highlight and appreciate the culture that exists here. You talk about Ecomomai and you talk about the care of the Aina and things like that. And I do believe many of the companies in the hospitality industry do a lot to give back to the community. And I firmly believe that from Marriott and even from Starwood that that was a big part of it. You know, the industry, the charity industry, walk that we do annually gives quite a bit of money to local charities and to help out. And I think again from an employment standpoint, the hospitality industry is huge. And then they've worked hard to bring in the youth that are interested in getting hospitality. I think the youth that want to be a part of this industry, there's no better testing ground for learning hospitality than Hawaii. I mean, if you can learn the industry here, if you have the capability of speaking a foreign language, that will certainly go light years into helping you to travel anywhere you want. The great thing about our industry is that it doesn't just exist in Hawaii, it's a global industry. Yeah, so this is a great career. It sounds like you're really into it and you really love what you do and all. But I wonder if we could identify the kinds of characteristics that would make somebody in the hospitality in one of these hotel chains a success. What do you need to have in your kit bag to do what you've done? Yeah, I think if you're gonna reach into your quiver and make sure you have all the right things, it's an industry that is no two days are the same in hospitality. I mean, everybody asks me, what about our weekends different than, every day is a Tuesday. We face changes every day based upon people's moods, holidays that may be international, may be local, may be national holidays. I think if you're gonna be in this industry, you have to have the will to be flexible. I was fortunate to have, as a management chain, learned the different areas of focus in hospitality. I was in accounting for a while. I was in food and beverage, food and beverage control, restaurant management, banquets and catering. I was a property manager and director of sales and director of marketing. Then I get into the digital side, so. And it wasn't always for Starwood and Marion. Well, it was pretty much all with Starwood. Is that right? Yeah, I was fortunate that Starwood allowed me the opportunity to enter into the various aspects of the business. And I think for those that are willing to get into the industry, having the flexibility, having the wherewithal to want to learn, and then the soft skills. I mean, it's great to have an education that knows about the financial side of it and certainly the technical side of doing things, but the soft side of this business is critical. How you network, how you deal with people, how you listen, how you communicate. Things that really don't show up on your resume. It's more that people are gonna say that you do this well, you don't do well, but you can't really list it down there. You gotta showcase. It's down both, and horizontal and vertical.  I mean, that's the big part of what that's all about. So we're very, very fortunate to have some well-trained, some very understanding, and some long-term employees within our employee. You know, the Royal Hawaiian and the Montessor Friday for instance, they probably average 10, 15, 20 years on average some of these employees. That's not just a job, that's a career and a commitment. That's pretty special. Well, speaking of careers and commitments, I mean, where are you in the arc of your career? It sounds like you're in pretty deep by this time after all this time. Where does it go from here? Well, I'm really fortunate, as I mentioned, because I just moved into this new role to be the senior account director for the Hawaii region for Marriott International and will have those 30 properties or multiple, not every property is gonna be a part of the program that I manage, which is field marketing because we have some franchise that run a little bit different. But my opportunity now is to continue to grow, you know, the integration of those brands. With Starwood, I had just four brands to worry about. We had our luxury collections, St. Regis, Sheraton and Weston. Now, we've got Marriott, Courtyard, Ritz-Grawlton, their brands, all integrating in with our brands. So it'll be a new experience in how we get out to that audience. And that audience that has been numbered now somewhere near 20 million loyalty members between the two companies. So new ways to go and research that audience and see how we can get more of them to come to Hawaii and loyalty and the use of loyalty points. How do we get those people to, if they're gonna redeem points, we want you to redeem them here. Come and stay in Hawaii. Yeah, oh, very exciting. And all kinds of new hotels too, new brands, new properties, all that.  Well, you know, it's interesting. I thought that, and he was part of Island Air too, didn't he still own one of it? So I thought he would have kept the airline. You know, the four seasons of branding that they have put on those properties, we previously actually had them as luxury collection properties back into the Starwood management way back when. I don't know if he's gonna expand hospitality there or not. I do believe that it's a destination island that you could do a lot with. Certainly, agriculture was a big part of its makeup for so many years. I think the opportunity to do things in agricultural with regard to food and beverage, I mean, because this farm to table opportunities and things like that, certainly I think taking those experiences, you know, green tourism, maybe there's eco tourism that's tied to Linai. But yeah, I mean, there's this golf, there's other things, but the infrastructure itself, if they're going to take on a bigger audience, they need to add, you know, more diverse things to do and they need to be able to manage it well. Yeah, yeah. And what about new brands? I mean, coming from Asia, for example, Shangri-La, a great brand really around the world everywhere you look, except in the U.S. Is there any chance that Shangri-La could come here? No, I think every brand will look at this destination. I think the challenges that they face in coming to Hawaii is the expense of a new build is quite high. And so if there's an opportunity for a conversion, if you see a destination or a location where, you know, I think we've had like Mandarin or used to be at the Kahala or we do have, you know, a neighbor on opportunity, I think Maui is becoming much easier to get to with flights and if they get international flights into Maui in the future, which I think would be a tremendous opportunity to grow that destination in the right way where it doesn't have to be huge volume, but you can bring in a higher end audience if that's what you're seeking. That could be good, but I think Hawaii also is, it's reaching its limits in a few places where you can build new product and luxury product, that's a challenge. You have to make certain you have the right audience to buy into that. You know, with your arc in the company has now merged. She was, and you've had a long career in Hawaii, you know, to me that's the center of so many things. Will you stay in Hawaii as we go forward here? What do you think you'll be and where is the headquarters of Mary in Washington? So beautiful Bethesda, Bethesda, Maryland. Yeah. I have no wish just to hang out at our corporate offices and prefer to stay home here in Hawaii. I've been very, very fortunate. I raised three children here and no, it's a great destination, it's a great place to live. It's certainly from a hospitality experience. And like I said, you can work in hospitality anywhere around the world, but if you've been, if you've learned it here or if you've experienced it here, there's nothing like the hospitality in Hawaii. And it is truly, you know, there are ways that people say the spirit of Ohio has been lost or it's been somewhat tainted. There is still I think a commitment from employees and from those in the business here that's unrivaled with other destinations. And people are still learning from how we deliver hospitality. So my last question for you, Michael, and there's camera one over there. That's those are the people, okay? That's like right over there. There it is. The red light just went on. Okay, okay. That's camera one, okay? My last question is so, so we have a student at the Schardler College. We have a student at the Tim School, which I guess is these days as part of the Schardler College. Okay. What's your advice to him or her? I mean, how do you enter the, you get into a training program, you get into it here, somewhere else. How do you point your brain cells to have a good career in hospitality? Well, if you're going to enter the hospitality industry, again, I think it's always good if you can get into a management training program where it's made available. I know that in the case of Marriott, they just flew a thousand candidates for management training programs to Texas and interviewed a thousand people for placement in the upcoming year. So opportunities are out there. I think if you can get in and learn the business and learn the various aspects of the business, as I mentioned, there is no limitation to what you can do in hospitality. If you like accounting, if you like management, if you like dealing with guests, if you are creative, if you are technical. So many opportunities are afforded to you in this business that you don't need to be shoeboxed into one thing. I started, as I mentioned, as a trainee, I went into the various areas of food and beverage and also accounting and things like that. But I ended up in the digital side, who would have thought? I didn't think I'd end up in the digital side, but I love it because it's never the same two days in a row. Never underestimate the power of technology in any industry. It's all in the palm of your hand. It's crazy. Thank you. Michael Troy. Appreciate it. Wonderful to have you here. Thank you.