00:00as we just got the Woj bomb to end all Woj bombs literally and figuratively.
00:08Adrian Wojnarowski I am pleased to say has become a dear friend. The two years
00:14that I spent covering the NBA for our network I spent more time I think with
00:20Woj on the road than I did anybody else. He and I for whatever reason always
00:24seemed to be the ones who were leaving somewhere at the same time going
00:27somewhere at the same time in a car he going here going there spending time on
00:31the road and we are like-minded people we have a lot of the same interests and
00:34so I went from someone who just has always admired him for his
00:40professionalism and magnificence in the way he did his job as well as anyone has
00:45ever done anything certainly in my 30 years in the sports media business but
00:51but I was so I went from being someone who admired him like crazy to someone
00:55to whom I would add I really really like. So we're all sitting here in our
01:00commercial break with nothing going on and all of a sudden everyone at the same
01:06time sees this message together. I will read it to you verbatim from Adrian
01:11Wojnarowski's Twitter feed. I grew up the son of a factory worker two miles from
01:16ESPN's campus and only ever dreamed of making a living as a sports writer. 37
01:22years ago the Hartford Courant gave me my first byline and I never stopped
01:25chasing the thrill of it all. This craft transformed my life but I have decided to
01:31retire from ESPN and the news industry. I understand the commitment required in my
01:36role and it's an investment that I'm no longer driven to make. Time isn't an
01:40endless supply and I want to spend mine in ways that are more personally
01:45meaningful. I leave with overwhelming gratitude for countless mentors and
01:49colleagues, subjects and stories, readers and viewers. No one has benefited more
01:54than me from the belief, trust and generosity of others. The past seven
01:59years at ESPN have been a particular privilege. I'm appreciative of the
02:03company's leadership especially Jimmy Pataro and Christina Douglas for the
02:07understanding and acceptance of my decision to make a life change. After all
02:11these years reporting on everyone's teams I'm headed back to my own. He is
02:16going back to his alma mater St. Bonaventure where he will be the
02:20general manager of the basketball program. I'm not exactly sure I
02:23understand what that means, how that differs from in different roles from
02:28being the athletic director. I don't know I guess maybe it's the AD but specific
02:33to the basketball program. I won't speculate. I'm sure we'll find that out
02:36quickly. He'll let us know but I'm just shocked. I don't really know anything
02:43else to say. I don't have any great insight. I can tell you that I
02:48witnessed up close and personal what it takes to do his job at his level. I
02:55watched for two years that guy never sleep. I mean we would get out of here at
03:011130 midnight 1230 after games and he was going to meet people. Like he was at
03:07that point going to meet a coach, meet someone to go you know he's building a
03:11relationship, developing a story, whatever it might be constantly on his
03:15phone. You know texting people and getting stories and every single night
03:20of the NBA season there's an injury he's on it right. Someone gets hurt up he's
03:24there with the agent he's gonna get the story and he was so driven as these guys
03:28tend to be. He and Shafty and all the reporters who were in that line of work
03:33are so driven to have the story first to break stories. It's such a part of their
03:39DNA of what they do and I had a similar job to that on a microscopic level
03:45comparatively speaking for a very short time when I covered sports in Chicago
03:50and I can tell you it almost gave me an ulcer. Like waking up every morning to
03:55see did I get you know did anyone out there break a story about the team I'm
03:58covering which were the Bears or the Bulls at different times working locally
04:01in Chicago. Not working against Adrian Wojnowski or Adam Schefter or people
04:05like that. So the point I'm making is it takes a toll and I do sometimes find
04:11myself wondering like how do guys like Shafty and Wojnowski and not just them but
04:15but we'll use them because I think they're the two best known. Like how do
04:19these guys relax? How do they and the answer is they generally don't and
04:24that's a lot of stress and that's tough to live with in your life and I think
04:28Wojnowski is right around my age. He might be a little older. 55. 55 so he's a just a
04:33tiny bit younger than me and you know it is a time in life I can say from
04:38experience now where you do really start making a lot of decisions when you're
04:43younger like Hembo or your age now certainly Cam your age and all that like
04:48every decision you make is I want more I want more give me more give me more work
04:51I want to be I want to have the biggest career I can I want to and then you
04:54reach a point where you do start saying to yourself how is this affecting my
04:59health how is this affecting my relationship with my wife with my kids
05:02which has a wife he has grown kids so I'm not that surprised by this like the
05:08world will be stunned in my initial reaction to it was shock but now that
05:14I've sort of let it sink in a little I get it I get it so I just sent him a
05:19very long text and and but I wanted to share my thoughts I'll keep that private
05:25but I will share these thoughts here he's the best ever to do it man like I've
05:31been I've been in I've been in the sports media one way or another since
05:351990 and in that time no one has done a job better than he has done his I'm not
05:40saying he's better than everybody else I'm saying no one else is better at
05:44their job than he has been at his so I wish him nothing but the best I wish him
05:51endless success and very briefly before I give it to you I can also tell you
05:56that we would spend all these nights sitting here watching the NBA if st.
05:59Bonaventure basketball was playing he was glued Woj was glued there was always
06:05one TV in that conference room that had the st. Bonnie's game on and he was
06:09watching that and he was into it like me watching a jet game so this really
06:14matters to him it is something that is incredibly important to him and I'm
06:18really happy for him that he's making this decision very few of us get to go
06:23out on top willingly choose is no way in the world if anyone out there is
06:28speculating oh did he absolutely not no way in hell this was a decision that
06:34anyone but him made so to get to choose when you go out and how you go out and
06:40to go out to something that really is meaningful to you like this there is no
06:45better ending no question so congratulations to my dear friend I
06:48don't know him nearly as well as you do but I have worked with him a good bit
06:51and I guess the two things that I would say top of head obviously not having
06:54seen this coming the first of which is ruthlessly excellent at what he did at
07:00what he does I mean to such an extent that you can't help but notice and
07:03respect him vehemently for it he was ruthlessly great at that job until the
07:08final day he did it and secondly I think it's safe and fair to say that he
07:12transformed the industry that he was in he transformed it the Woj bomb became a
07:17thing the way that people broke news and scooped news has always been a thing of
07:22course he did it so well so effectively so furiously that he has like a cottage
07:27industry of people online that loved him for it and he became the very best in
07:30the world at what he did and I'm not sure anyone could ever do it better than
07:34he has Nikki sent me a text not today but Nikki is a huge Woj fan my daughter
07:39Nikki I'm talking about and she sent me a text one time like a screenshot of a
07:43text that someone in her social circle had gotten engaged and the way that that
07:50person was informing all their friends was Woj bomb we got engaged last night
07:55like that's literally what a 24 year old woman texted to to a large friend group
08:01Woj bomb everybody I'm getting married he changed the world he lived in man yeah
08:06he really did yeah the Woj bomb is a thing wow I'm taking it back I mean I
08:10you know I I don't I don't really know exactly what else to say we'll pause
08:14briefly on that you know delightfully he's not dying he's not sick he's
08:21just a little stunned we'll be right back on ESPN radio
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