Hello, welcome to the hoop collective podcast. We talk about the NBA and we're doing it right now on Tuesday morning. Joining me from Austin, Texas is Kurt Goldsbury. Hello, Kurt.

Hello, Brian. Hope you're enjoying the the all star break as much as I am. I hope you are enjoying it. My workloads completely stays the same. That is that right there. Joining us from New York City is

is and scapes Mark J. Spears, but he's not going to speak just yet because at this moment we have to congratulate Mr. Spears on being nominated named to the basketball Hall of Fame with the Kurt Gowdy award, which was he was he was given it was announced over the weekend and all star weekend in Salt Lake City.

So we have on this podcast a genuine Hall of Famer. It's kind of it's uplifting to me, Mark, but it's also depressing because I feel like the Hall of Fame is what you get in at the end of your career. You're not that much older than me.

Having said that, you are one of the most respected men in the field and this is a tremendous honor.

Absolutely. Congratulations and I hope you and your family get to embrace this and enjoy it in the induction is in August in the field.

And hey man, congratulations. We're so proud of you and so happy for you.

Oh man, thank you man. It's over the weekend in Salt Lake was just crazy and just the love that I got because you know I found out two days before, but you know, I'm like, well they make your change their mind. I like I need to hear them say it publicly.

So when they did say it publicly, I'm going in with Holly Roe, who I mean, who those to her. She's super amazing. That was actually the first time I ever met her.

I'm still kind of like overwhelmed by it all. But I'm like just just the got like 500 text messages man. Like, yeah, I was I text you congratulations and I was like, I'm all here back from a couple of days.

I heard back you a couple hours. So I knew you must have been on your phone trying to get back to everybody.

Yeah, no, so it was, you know, my wife got to be there too and kind of see like joy from her eyes like, man, I'll never forget that moment.

I'm the as I told him 10 bond temps man like shoot they can put my name in the closet or upside down, but it's in there. Right like it's in the Hall of Fame and you know as a kid like I grew up thinking about trying to be a Hall of Fame basketball player and definitely wasn't that.

But you know, to get in this way like is man super humbling and stunning to me. It's just, you know, it's an extremely probably the most incredible honor in my life for sure.

Yeah, Kirk, I mean, we you look at the list of winners of this award. It's basically a whosoo of the great basketball journal some history. So that's what we've got on the pod with us right now.

It's set in the bar pretty high and then like Wendy said, Mark, it's particularly impressive given that you're not quite an old dude just yet. So have some have some trips to Springfield lined up for years to come and show it to friends.

I mean, that's going to be that's great. I mean, what a mic drop moment for you to be a hey, let's go to the Hall of Fame and then here's here's my here's my little plaque or my exhibit or whatever they're going to give you.

Okay, like you said of it's in a closet. It's in there and you get you deserve it and you get to show that off to people like me for years to come. So congrats.

I'm sure you guys will be there soon too, right? So it's funny. David Aldridge, who I mean, one of my biggest mentors, he like grabs his phone. He said, look at this. I'm like, what?

And he showed me like a picture of his name in the Hall of Fame, like where it was. And that's like that's pretty dope. He was with up.

Like he, he just seen his pride and he certainly somebody that I've really watched. Like you guys understand you have people that you watch and kind of same way players still stuff from people we still stuff from other journalists and how to do our job.

So like to see him excited and show me what it's going to be like.

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