 the commissioner emeritus of the NBA and we will talk about that quite a bit but you know Alan Hans had it on the show before our show he might be probably is the greatest commissioner of any sport in history and I read all these stories about him over the last day and there was one that jumped out of me you know he took the NBA global and he kind of cleaned up the NBA because when he when he became commissioner in the NBA I think 9 of 11 of their past NBA final games around 1130 on tape delay on CBS right wow can you imagine 11 and this is this is still a magic and bird when the league everybody thinks that you know they help clean up the league and they made it big again their their games are on tape delay so David Stern when he took over as the commissioner he started taking VHS tapes and sending them to people that he knew in China so that they could be exposed to what basketball was and that opened up an entire new revenue stream for the NBA and they are probably the most global brand of any big sport it's it's I think it's basketball it's hockey it's football and baseball is trailing on the backside and they're trying to make you know obviously strides with the London games and all that but he opened up just a portal of revenue for the NBA and also he realized something that Buick you didn't realize that even Pete Orzel didn't realize and that is is that the key is to market the players make the players the star not the game the players now in football it's hard to have helmets on baseball they didn't really do that that much they didn't do that that much because they were always fighting the union David Stern realized the guys those guys those are the stars they're allowed to market their brand he did some things that were people are on way every interaction that I ever had with him personally was always pleasant but he was tough you knew that when you asked him a question you better hurt your facts because he'd come right back at you this was a really really smart man and he was in good health 77 years old had a brain aneurysm while he was having lunch in Manhattan and he passed away yesterday yeah it's this amazing life and he deserves a tremendous amount of credit for where this sport is right now and in some places in this country it's number two I know baseball is fighting that but in certain areas when you look at the television ratings and the popularity that it could be the second biggest sport in this country and it was unthinkable you know the finals on tape delay you can't even wrap your mind around like that right and it would be between him and Pete Rosell because both of them were innovators both of them made their sports monsters but you're right that sport was broken they had a massive drug problem you know games on tape delay and he was able to build the sport into where it is today it is a global sport and it's popular and it's the most global sport you know and specifically that that story Michael about sending tapes to China and then you think about what then later ends up happening with Yao Ming and where we are how direct an impact he had on that specific part of it which is so much money for them about the talent on the court Peter if not for the global expansion there's no Luca Donchich yeah there's none of these guys these great foreign players it just isn't so he opened up that too and if you think and there's a lot of people that do not like him but considering that we're a day removed from a winter classic that included the Dallas Stars and the Nashville Predators who do you think is responsible for Gary Batman David Stern absolutely you know and you know he was under his wing and was learned from him and became the commissioner he is based on what he was able to be educated by the greatness of David Stern and be able to grow the NHL in the way that the NBA is trying to grow itself and to build and so he's got a tremendous reach in all of sports and you know when I heard the news we were actually on the air when it kind of trickled down about the brain brain in your wisdom and we're just kind of hoping that he'd be able to recover from it unfortunately he was unable to