 Welcome to another edition of Yes, We're Here with us today. Jimmy Spinarkel, no introduction necessary. You've been with Yes, Forever, as many of us have. Tell us about some of your favorite experiences in the early years at Yes. Well, Nancy, going way back, I mean, with the Yes network and also with the Nets, I go back even further with the Nets. It's always been a lot of fun just being involved in basketball and I've been lucky that I played it as a kid. I played through college in five years in the pro and pros and just felt that getting into broadcasting was a good opportunity for me. I want to always get a chance to make sure that I had a chance to do it, which I was offered that chance way back with the New Jersey Nets long before the Brooklyn Nets. But overall, the experiences have been good. It's been a blend of both the old and the new, getting the opportunity to see guys like Jason Kidd way back and Vince Carter and all the way bringing us all the way through the, you know, as recent as Kevin Garnett and then Paul Pierce when they came and other players and now seeing Kyrie Irving for a short period of time this year and looking forward to Kevin Durant. So I've been lucky. I mean, it's been a span of about 30 years with the New Jersey Nets right through the Brooklyn Nets and with the Yes network in there a long period of time. So I've been fortunate and having a lot of fun just because quote unquote, I'm a basketball junkie and I just love it. You've had great careers. You're a celebrated guy at Duke deservedly. So then you get to the pros drafted first round Philadelphia 76ers. At what point did you think about the next step and broadcasting? Well, I guess not so much the broadcasting initially but I had kind of prepared myself while I was playing basketball with different things like security licenses and real estate licenses and getting an insurance license on that side of the career. But from the basketball standpoint as soon as I finished, I was trying to get into it because I thought I would like it. I thought that I might be able to do it. And interesting enough, it was a crazy story how I got into it because I was reading the local paper here which in New Jersey used to be called the Bergen record, which is now the record. And there was a small little article in the paper that said that the New Jersey Nets had hired Howard David, a very, very well known radio broadcaster for a lot of different teams, the Celtics, the boxing football. And at the very bottom of the paragraph that said they have not hired a color analyst yet. And so Bob Cassio, the old Princeton football coach was the CEO of the Nets. I picked up the phone. I had met him once and I said, Bob, I'd like to come down and just talk to you about possibly doing the color for the radio for the Nets. So we met for an hour or so and then he said, go out and have lunch with Howard David. If you guys get along, you get to have the job. I said, okay, fine. Ended up getting the radio job. And Billy Raftree, who we all know was doing the TV at the time, he had some conflicts during the course of the year and there were about 25 dates that were open. And I was offered the opportunity to do television. So in the first year, I was able to do about 40 games, 45 games on radio and another 25 games on television. So it was a great experience and it was a lot of experience because if you talk to people now, they would die for the opportunity for their first season to get 60-ish games, whether it be a combination of radio or television. So I guess you could say that that was the start of where I got into it and then college basketball followed after that. What was the transition like? It's not as easy as you make it look, but you're such a natural. When did you realize you had that gift? I still don't know if I have the gift, if you will. But I found that with help from some people, because I had never trained for it. In college, I was a history major. I had a pre-law. I was gonna go to law school, which I never really got around to. It was accepted to a couple of law schools. So I didn't go to law school. So just stepping in, it was kind of like learning it by being thrown into the fire quite candidly. Because it was a subject matter that I was pretty comfortable with in terms of the basketball side of it and then working with different people on the play-by-play side, like a Howard David, I worked with Steve Albert, I worked with Spencer Ross, I've since worked with a lot of other people like Morval, but I and Eagle. So I've had a lot of people who've been real true professionals on the play-by-play side that have usually helped make it an easy transition because if you listen to the play-by-play guy, you generally should be able to pick up what they're doing and hopefully not step on them too much. Do you have a favorite player that you'd like to watch since you've been broadcasting? Well, I know Michael Jordan's name has been in the news lately with his new program that's on with that documentary. So Jordan has always been fun just because of the competitive nature of how he plays or did play. I think LeBron James is just fun to watch because of the size, the power, speed and the economy of how he plays. And then there's this guy that the Brooklyn Nets will get a chance to see sooner or later is Kevin Durant. I mean, I think he's a spectacular player. Unique in a sense, similar to LeBron James, James has the body and the size and the power where Durant is a different body type, long and leaner and stronger from that perspective. But some of the things that Kevin Durant can do on the floor in terms of shooting the basketball, it's been a lot of fun to watch throughout his career. Give me a good I and Eagle story. You two, do you have a game in memory where you laugh the most? Well, yeah, there are times with I and over the years that things have happened that we know each other so well from personally because we've known each other 20 plus years but working together. He can sense when things are happening and that I get a kick out of it. So his use of some of the names throughout the course of the year is he emphasizes them in such a way that he knows he'll get me going. And there have been flat out times where I've just leaned on the cloth button and started to laugh. And he will look away and do the play by play if I'm sitting on his right side usually, he will just turn and do it to the left side. And just to get him going, I will lean in to make sure he knows that I'm laughing and just to see if I can throw him off. We've had so many good times together. It's both during a game and traveling together, having lunches and dinners and things of that nature. Close, close friend of mine and just value his professionalism and friendship. You guys make us laugh too. Well, thank you, I appreciate it. Well, tell me a little bit about you, Nance. When did you tell me a little bit about your road to the yes network and how that all started? Yeah, I mean, looking back, you can see how the puzzle pieces all fit together. I was always the New York girl in my head, growing up Niagara region, my dad, big Yankee guy. So the Yankees were always part of life for us. And the yes network came to be. And Fred Hickman, who I worked with at CNN, my first job really, was here. And so that kind of opened the door and I arrived and it was fantastic from day one. And in those early years, I was rotating as well in the clubhouse doing the clubhouse reports. And that was so much fun, as you know, 17 years ago. The sports world was different, reporting was different, broadcasting was different. I love being in the clubhouse because I like to see how guys work. And there were so many different personalities. I immediately gravitated towards John Flaherty because he was a regular, sensible guy. And he would not be shy about giving some insight, but watching guys like Roger Clemens trot in with those cowboy boots, you know, and Andy Pettit following right behind and Randy Johnson sitting there after a bad game, trolling that glove and all kinds of animations. It was amazing. It was really great. Yeah, so those are my early memories. How about just generally the transition to a big city market like New York? How difficult was that for you? You know, it always felt like home. You know, some things you kind of know when you're a kid even, you know, I always knew New York would be my home. And so coming from the global market, which CNN Sports was, the power is so great. So this just felt like I was coming home. That's the best way I can describe it. I know I've said it a few times, but that is the truth. And when it came to be, when yes came to be, seriously, a light bulb went off in my head. I thought, you're kidding me. So this is it, Freddie, what's up? Like, this is the place I want to be. And yeah, it was a beautiful transition for me. I was happy from day one. It felt right from day one. 17 years later, here we are. And we're still doing amazing things. Yeah, so many good memories. I have, there's so many of them flooding back. One of my favorites, Jimmy, definitely the last day at the old Yankee Stadium. Wow. In tears speech. I was standing not more than 10 feet away off the mound area there. And he took the microphone and addressed the crowd and talked about the mystique following us to the new stadium, which it did. They won the World Series the next year, but I will never forget that moment. And I took the time to take it in. I looked all around and all the flash bulbs going out, flash bulbs back in the day, right? All that stuff. It was just, you knew the moment was big and I wanted to take it in. You know, I'm a little disappointed in the answer that you picked Derek Jeter over, you know, the last studio show that you and I worked together. I thought that might be your favorite memory, but we'll move on, I guess. Hey, you know, being at the stadium was one thing, in studio was another. Big old answer. Very good answer, very good. Makes you love the other even more, right? Well, maybe your answer is Jeter on this one, but who was your favorite athlete to cover? It doesn't necessarily have to be a Yankee, but you've spent a lot of time in this industry. You have a favorite athlete that you've enjoyed covering the most? You know, when I was at CNN, I did get a chance to cover the 90s, dynasty years of the Yankees. I knew how big of a deal that was, and I also got to see the 2000s and the 90s braves, which also were, you know, phenomenal. But I don't know about a favorite, like my favorite player definitely was Don Mattingly, was a Mattingly girl growing up. But you know, you know how it is, when you step into the broadcasting arena, yes, you're still a fan down deep inside, but mostly you're a professional at this point. So just liked observing guys. I liked observing Derek Jeter, the way he handled things in that respect. Great family too. Love, Shirley, she's wonderful, his sister. I liked watching how A-Rod conducted his business on the field. Being what he's become now phenomenal. Talk about a comeback all the way back and just a remaking of himself. What about you, Jimmy? You know, I mean, when you mentioned Don Mattingly, I wasn't expecting that, but that's a great answer just because he's such a terrific name throughout the years with the Yankees and I've always enjoyed him. So, you know, there've been a lot of athletes across the board that I've appreciated and it's been fun watching them all, I should say, because it's a treat that what we have to do we're lucky in terms of what we do for a living in terms of broadcasting, but I wanna just thank you for sharing those moments of great memories. You and I have both lucky people, so stay well and stay healthy. Save you, Jimmy, so good to visit. I can't wait until we get back in there and finish this NBA season and onto the playoffs and we're all a great big family in person again. Thank you, Jimmy, take care.