NBA Champion Metta Sandiford-Artest: Why He Changed His Name, Jewish Community Support & More!

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I didn't know what Zionism was October 7th one of the first celebrities to start getting involved you know when you see a child being taken you see a mother being taken but it's not something that I felt that I can just [Music] watch ladies and gentlemen at small forward standing 67260 lb from St John's NBA Allstar our Defensive Player of the Year and NBA champion meta sandord our test you're in the building baby yeah we in the building good to see you man it's great to see you absolutely great to have you here I know I know it's good to be here thanks for having me on the podcast so first of all mlove on your new child thank you how many kids do you have now yeah have five children amazing 70 nieces and nephews 70 70 When you're counting the great great but still that's that's quite a number you're accounting other nieces and nephews I've acquired along my journey which I love I love them dearly and then two grandchildren two grandchildren yeah wow blessings man yeah okay so I want to start with the obvious the obvious question that I think probably most people listening and watching this are thinking which is what the hell is meta World Peace doing on this Jewish podcast and I want to start that with how we met right which was there was this one day lab here in LA put on by an organization called Jews talk Justice which is a branch of the Tel Aviv Institute uh that I often talk about on this show and I walk in I see my usual sort of Jewish Advocate faces and then I see Meta World Peace so what were you doing there that day at the Jews talk Justice lab when I first came out and I was probably doing something in philanthropy on October 6 and October 7th happened and I'm like oh wow I could un believe my eyes but I'm not saying I don't respect or I'm not taking in consideration the history you know of the Palestinian people I'm saying at that moment I saw something I'm like wow it hurt my heart so I was probably one of the first celebrities to actually comment yeah you know and then so you know just from that perspective you know being at an event I want to understand because I didn't know what Zionism was I didn't know what anti-Semitism the the actual jaring and what it meant yeah and even other cultures I don't know different things in other cultures I just don't know because I'm I'm doing philanthropy so for me is about learning about the different cultures but that's so huge just having that desire to it's impossible for us to know everything about every culture you just have to want to be open to learning and understanding and and and it's so great that that's what you're doing yeah you mentioned uh October 7th that's when you like first felt you had to say something one of the first celebrities to start getting involved you wrote an amazing article for the New York Post what compelled you like in that like I got to I got to write something I got to put something out there I'm definitely not for any any terrorist attack anywhere around the world of course that one particular statement was was CED towards what happened you know when you see a child being taken you know if you see a mother being taken I don't care who it is you have to have a s SP it's not something that I felt that I can just watch yeah my fight and my um and my focus and my concern is like for people to be happy why is that like where did that come from why is that your mission know why did I changed my name in the world peace you know um had to do it started in 1990 when I seen the war in the Middle East as a 10 year old I was affected why I don't know I can't tell you but as a 10-year old I was affected by seeing images of other people even though we going through all stuff here in America but I was affected by that so then that got me on on thinking about things globally but I think um we got so much potential we got I think everybody's so focused on fighting here we're forgetting about exploration you know we're forgetting about why we're here and I think we're here to do something special putting on my psychologist hat for a minute do you think the fact that your upbringing your childhood which we'll get into in a little bit was so tumultuous and and traumatic do you feel like that's sort of led to to you trying to devote your life to creating peace and happiness for others yeah I didn't grow up you know in peaceful uh conditions or environment yeah or even a mindset I grew up in survival mindset watch your back mindset you know and it's very it's tiring you know it's tiring to be on edge all the time and it's like you know what how about we flip that on his head how about you know I think differently which could then have somebody from a neighborhood like where I'm from thinking peacefully thinking about academics thinking about working with others you know not being afraid to work with others not being afraid of someone's culture because you don't understand it don't listen to TV and oh I'm not good enough or I can't approach this person like Hey sir hey ma'am I would like to intern at your place you know maybe you don't have the jargon you know but you'll get it right and just how do we become comfortable and for me I want to leave confidence in people you know I don't want to leave fear yeah the hardest part is to you know feel someone's pain and then try to come up with Solutions that's the hard and that's the work I want to do your Twitter uh it's really like a positive place to be I love your feed it's like a lot of positivity a lot of real like bridge building talk a lot of love for the game and and current players which you don't always see from you know know veteran players yeah is that you just being you when I first got into the public space I was fresh out the streets yeah you know so for me I was very standoffish I did not want to be around people I did not know right you know what I mean you don't know who you can trust don't know who you can trust we're still going through things in our neighborhood and I think everybody's against us right right and then as I as I learned I'm like I want to have my own opinion you know I want to meet people you know when we were growing up we because we grew up in a box you would have a perception of um an Asian person a Muslim person a Jewish person a Jehovah Witness you know cuz you in your own little box not like a real relationship with them just just IDE maybe somebody said something maybe you read something maybe you saw something and because other people feel like that now you feel like that you know and and I feel like you you know still Embrace who you are embrace your culture but just don't have a preconceived negative opinion of a group of people you know should shouldn't be too difficult but you know it is for folks yeah so in your playing days you were famous for some pretty out there sound bites a lot of out there sound B if you want if you want to Google baby teeth that's one of my favorites and of course you know malice at the palace and your struggles with mental health do you feel like now the man that you are today people that you are interacting with like see this new meta or are some people still looking at you as if you're Ron from Days of old I'm not really concerned with what people think because as I think about what some people actually thought I mean some of these people that thought hey met is a thug or they actually even said that when you look at their track record on one giving back to people helping people being selfish um and not speaking up you got them beat on all counts on key issues yeah yeah I'm like I don't judge him I'm no better but when you look at my track record okay yeah from Queens richd projects grew up in a with a mom and dad they separated at some point in time grew up rough um you know took on the culture people got a chance to see the culture through a basketball player which was not normal actually seeing how real people you would call hardcore call them rappers whatever you want to call it but you kind of saw it through a basketball player that wasn't normal I like you know how was this guy like that but then yeah I wear my emotions on my sleeve and this is really where I'm from but then you see the transformation of the mind then you see somebody who's loving somebody who's the leader one of the leaders of mental health push in sport in Pro Sports 100% it hasn't been internal mental health therapist social workers and organizations until I made that announcement yeah that's given back to the world I don't care how much money you got I don't care who you are you could be going through things and I wanted to let people know it's okay you you mentioned the mental health stuff in the in the NBA and in sports now I know you've said that when you before you started speaking out you were afraid to because you knew the media would make a big deal about it it would create this perception and then you went ahead and did it and now as you've said it's normalized it's sort of everywhere everyone can speak openly about it do you like take a lot of pride in that do you feel like yeah I I did that yeah I mean if I came out in 2004 or 2000 2000 and say I'm having problems the media was uh kind of one funnel in that era yeah and though not even just the media if feel like Society we like weren talking about that stuff yet it's true he wasn't talking nobody was talking about it and we we didn't have much sympathy or empathy for it yeah like I had a nervous breakdown in my Brookie year you know I I told the story a couple times maybe I told it on my documentary I had a nervous nervous breakdown on the highway you know I had to pull over get out the the nervousness yeah you know the episode and then go to the game you know because it was a lot of pressure then on top of the pressure I was drinking a lot of alcohol I didn't understand that that you know alcohol is a depressing so I didn't understand that as a 19yearold so that that on top of everything so from that perspective I said you know what this is 2007 I'm feeling better about myself I'm seeing therapist I'mma tell I'm tell the world and what about the person that can't afford therapy right I had concern about that person so I said I'm going to go on Nation I'm I'm G start talking about my journey so people feel comfortable if you don't have if you can't afford it at least you know that someone also feels like you you know and so powerful it's so important yeah so you Coach Cal State LA women's basketball yes and you talk about coaching a lot online and publicly what do you love so much about coaching I love coaching it's the number one thing in my life I started coaching I think well even when I was in high school I had a lot of great coaches that coached me and one day Rick car out told me I was going to be a great coach it was 2003 that's a good compliment it was a great I was in practice I'm super intense in practice at this point in my life I think yes I'm the greatest Defender I'm becoming an Allstar I'm hard-nosed I'm pretty good at basketball and that's it that's my identity it's not a businessman it's nothing else but that yeah then one day coach Carell comes into practice well we're in practice he says meta Well Ron test at the time he say Ron you're going to be a great coach I said really it's stuck with me and it gave me confidence and I called myself a great coach I coached women's basketball for 10 years I've been coaching women's basketball while I was in the NBA after my practices I was going to Palisades to coach under coach Torino Johnson and now he's at Cal State so I've been coaching under him for 10 years wow and I really love women's basketball what do you love about it I love the fact that what one said you can't do that you can I like I love giving the confidence that you can do everything they said you can't you know women are dunking now oh yeah at Duke Toby far from Canada she's dunking cace's obviously dunked you got some girl some girls is um dunking with two hands you know and I feel like you know don't train like you're beneath a guy right train like you're trying to go to play against the guy you know and I think you'll see an evolution um like I I believe Caitlyn Clark can play no disrespect to the guys I really don't mean it but I I feel like she could play on someone's team maybe at the end of the bench I'm not gonna now I'm not g to get beside myself but I feel like she can make a roster yeah I feel like you can't leave her open right I mean guys is getting scored on anyway yeah you know yeah right now MH you can't guard job anyway so so now here we are I think at some point you'll see a female in the NBA we've mentioned you changed your name obviously from Ron arest to meta world peace in the Jewish tradition a name change signifies like a great Evolution transformation there's a biblical story where Jacob wrestles with an angel and then God says your name is now Israel that's where we get Israel from what did your transformation signify for you what was that Evolution well initially I was going to change my name to So Hood So So Hood I think you made a better choice so well when when Shadow SLE changed his name right and from Chad Johnson and Ultra I was like that is so cool now this is this was in a time where I was 27 years old okay I think he did in 2007 so I was still evolving in terms of still not even knowing who I am yeah yeah so but the names every year would change then I said I'm going change my name to so I said that's dope then I said I'm going change my the Queensbridge M Queensbridge in the back but every year it's kept evolving and I was like no I'm going to change my name to this and then after I got with the Lakers won a championship I was already loving therapy at this time I was already and then I was I evolved from therapy to meditation what kind of meditation most had my my my therapist was Indian it was more mostly breathing meditation and once I once I learned how to control my breath I was like this I was like this is a gift like literally get from God because I said I never knew I had this control I never knew I had control over myself once I realized I had control my game got better you know um you you'll see when I played against the Lakers and the Rocket series that was the best playoff series I ever had you'll see how I played they don't show the highlights but pretty impressive we can find it on YouTube find on YouTube yeah and then then you go with Phil the Zen master winning the championship and just like being grateful and saying okay I'm going to still change my name so I got influenced by Buddhism right but that's where meta came from means love and kindness love and kindness you know the ultimate level of Love kindness and friendship because I didn't feel like that internally I didn't feel like I wanted to be someone's friend for a long time I didn't want to get to know nobody and I was like I gotta flip this on his head and then world peace came from just being affected by the Afghanistan war being affected by the war in 1990 you know um not necessarily putting the blame on any one person but just like wanting to make a difference so initially I was going to change my name to another Buddhist Indian last name because meta is from the Indian hindai culture or Hindu culture but I wanted to have I wanted to have something more broad there so the world peace came and I was like man should I do it should I do it it's a big decision it's a big decision and then I was like man well when people hear the name people always going to say world peace they always going to be saying World Peace and I'm like wow I said that could be really really impactful so I said I'm gonna do it you know and so it was it was a thing where I have a platform to do good you like call up your agent you're like hey can you get me some name change papers he's like excuse me what name change paper yeah I think it cost like we had somebody to help us maybe it's C like 30 Grand at the time to like just to get help because I didn't know what to do yeah you know but we got it all changed up and um you know I thought it was worth it I remember my first game I played was the Lakers versus the Clippers I was with the Lakers I was a sixth man at this time or a seventh man so I'm coming out I'm going into the game and I'm like you stupid idiot what have I done I remember getting to the scores table and literally like looking at we was we was away at the Clippers place I'm just like you stupid idiot I'm like please I need to change this name right now I didn't want to go into the game I felt so it felt so embarrassing I get it they like r a world p and people were like oh all right cool we did it just rip the Band-Aid off rip the warm off right off okay so what about Panda's friend that was another name change what did what was that transformation it wasn't a name change it was more like um an image I was going to China I was really starting to get inspired by Buddhism because you know the Asian and uh whether you're Chinese or some Japanese and then also Indian kind of has Buddhism around that region mhm so I was looking at the ying and yang symbols and the panda and the color and is just trying to bring more you know love and like I said flip the negativity on his head turn into a positive and the panda friend was more it's a consumer brand but it was like a friend of people like this brand I'm a I'm your friend I'm not your enemy I'm your friend the last name change you go from meta world peace to meta sandord arest so what is that one signify my first wife I met her when I was 15 years old in Queensbridge from M deep block nice yeah it was great and we had three children together and I have another child with another lady from Queens you know we had we were Partners we're in business together so it was great but I thought it was a great relationship it was a 17year relationship oh wow um I was young not mature which is something else I want to start talking about relationships and you know when I got divorced after 17e relationship um I met my my new wife last name is sand De Ford right and she said you're going to change your name to sand De Ford and I said no I'm not and she said yes you are and why was that important to her I thought she was right and for me someone that's for women empowerment because the things I've learned on how to treat women I've learned how to use the analogies from music that becomes culture you know um the the the jargon the language and um I felt like wow and then I've made music that was not not disrespecting but using language that should not be used um so I I became motivated you know to uh almost write my wrongs with women in General on behalf of people that's afraid to maybe publicly want to write their wrongs as a culture as men you know um it's not being so s right you know I mean it's not being soft it's about just paying homage you know um the the we we help creation but women really they carry us yeah literally they literally carry us for six for nine months you know and that was really important to me so now do want to get into a little bit of your early life back in Long Island City uh growing up in the projects you you already mentioned there was you know no Jews around you just had this idea of what Jews were can you recall like the first time you actually were in community with the Jewish person or exposed to actual Jewish people my first perception of a Jewish person probably was from Scarface No Godfather oh cons consiliary that's right yeah so that was probably my first like okay I seen this movie counil GTI you know you go to somebody Jewish when you need to make some money you know right but then you know at some point in time I wanted to learn about culture yeah I wanted to meet the actual people who's a part of culture not like reading the book yeah right how did you discover basketball like what did being on the court mean for you growing up I was 8 years old so I was ready to getting in trouble so my dad was like you need to you need to release your energy so my dad brought me to the basketball court on 12 Street on Mob deep block lot happens on Mob deep vog lot happened on Mob de vog A lot happened that's for sure um but yeah and then I remember going outside playing and that's why I I remember not being able to put the ball to my legs and you know not being good losing basketball game games I remember um and then the losing just giving me the drive to I I don't I hate losing I hate losing because when I lose you go home you have you go home you go to sleep a loser yeah and that bothered me so I think that motivated me but yeah 8 years old my dad introduced it to me as a way to relieve energy it wasn't to make it right and I think that was a gift and encourage because when I played the game I played the game to relieve energy and to out frustration versus playing the game to execute right so there wasn't that pressure on you i' I got to succeed at this to change my future it I'm just playing to get this energy out and to feel good but if you don't know how to feel good then you're taking that bad energy on other people so as I learned it about myself that's why therapy came into place I don't I don't want to play to survive I want to play to win you know and to be your and be your friend later right right versus I don't like you and just competing and if we fighting and all that stuff okay so then 1999 16th pick of the NBA draft what was that moment like for you and your family we were in DC that's where the draft was that's when um rip David Stern when he was the commissioner he bringed you up to the podium and um I remember um the night before iron and my dollars iron in your what my ones my my dollar bills cuz at this point I still have crumbled up dollars in my pocket okay and you're like I'm about to be a pro I need to have Chris Bills I might have had $60 or something like that and I remember just getting ready for this moment so I ironed all my dollars and Baron Davis came into the into my room and he's me he's like what you doing I said I'm ironing my [Laughter] money um and then you know crying the day that we got drafted because it was just just having that amount of money now I can help my family when did that become a consideration for you like on your path of like hey I might make it this thing and I can then you know provide for my family and help change our situation I think when I was 16 I know I think I can make it so that young when you were in high school like this could be the real thing at junior year I said oh well I think I can make it but before that I didn't know you were you were McDonald's All-American right I was a McDonald's all americ yeah so you you were one of the best in the country yeah I was definitely one of the best in the country you know they tried to keep me out the game and you know but I was you know me and Elon BR we sh had New York City player the year I was pretty good we went we went 27 and0 in the city we lost in the state which is a who you lose to any any NBA guys oh I got to give these guys credit Long Island Lutheran oh I do have to give these guys credit BR still hurts it burns but they they deserved it they played well I have an excuse okay Captain ratest calls his team and says uh hey let's go swimming tonight we're going to play Marco Polo this is what the night before the game yes okay and let's get into jacuzzi team and hey one more game before we are state champions and guess what we had no energy that next day and I remember being out on the court I'm talking to my teammates the second we're down 20 I remember going through that moment and we came together like like sorry guys like Hector depri sorry man I'm so tired I can't stop him they deserved it I I I don't want to take nothing away from Long Island Lutheran okay one of my favorite stories about you from this these early NBA days is that you worked at Circuit City for like a day and a half during during your rookie season in Chicago because you were you liked hanging out there and you were buying all these DVDs and you're like well if I work here I get the employee discount yeah Amazing Story what did the manager say when you're like yo I'm Ron our test can I please work at this Circuit City when I first got drafted it was 999,000 I have to tax 500,000 right right so I borrowed some money from the bank whatever you're already in debt right but you think you know you think you're $999,000 you know is you think you're Bill Gates right I can buy years old I can buy as many Reese's Pieces as I want I can buy as many tesan treats remember tesan treats back in the days I don't know that one it New York City drink okay you know and it's like um but at some point in time it's like okay I'm buying a lot of bag of chips I can buy lots of egg sandwiches right but at some point you start taking flights I want to fly first class but nope you can't this time because you don't have enough money in your account this this time and then I want DVDs 16991 19999 I get 20 20 and DVDs and VCRs like hold on I need to work at Circus City because I'll get a 50% discount so when I did that people look at me like I was crazy said you know what are you doing working at Circuit City I'm like because I need the discount the logic's working I get it but what what did they say to you like he's like sure come the manager was great I wish I I wish I wish I knew his name the manager was great he actually like respected that I wanted to do it sent me through the process and hired me and do do you remember what DVDs you got with that employee discount um probably Men In Black I watched that so many times maybe uh what's that movie hey you guys what's the name uh The Goonies probably The Goonies definitely The Goonies um movies like that I watch over and over again right on yeah I want to touch now on malice at the palace yeah I that's one of those moments in my life like I remember exactly where I was when I saw I was a freshman in college it was fall of4 I was on campus I went to upen in Philly uh in a restaurant pizza place called alros which sadly just got rid of their nighttime late hours which is insane for a college campus algr get it together and I'm getting pizza it's late I look up on the TV and I see it going down I'm like holy this is crazy and my takeaway when I'm watching it was very different from what like the narrative ended up being in the media I was like I couldn't believe what the fans were doing and you know I'm a performer so I'm I'm on stage a lot there's like there is a social contract there like we're over here we're doing our thing and you your thing is to be over there and to be watching what we're doing yeah so I mean that's a real breach it is a breach you know big time when the fan threw the beer at you you're trying to calm it down you're trying to deescalate then you get a beer thrown at you like what switch flips in your brain is it that is it that fight or flight from youth mode so the whole night so we're playing well so keep in mind team was awesome great team a lot of different things unpacked with the Pistons and the paces so yeah yeah me and Ben Wallace are the best defenders in the league yeah at this time Ben already got his first defensive player of the year and then the next year I was up for it but I I led the league in flr fouls and Texas Ben got it again never defensive player year so I'm already like oh I got to get one of these and I got to get an MVP so you know they beat us one year uh the year before PRI and they go to win the title they beat the Lakers I remember it well it wasak terrible time for me it was all Carl Malone's knee oh yeah that's true I heard about that screwed us so the next year we come back and I said I'm not getting in trouble this year I'm not fighting anybody I'm in therapy I'm literally in therapy no matter what happens if I'm fighting somebody I'm get into a fight or argument on the court I move away so I moved to the when I moved to the stands you know um after he went through the commotion I went to say okay where am I going to sit it was so much commotion yeah the bench was here the seats they move the only thing that was sturdy was that table so I go to the table and I lay down I'm like okay this should be over like in a minute Ben's probably gonna get ejected referees the referees probably should have shared the fine because they didn't they didn't inject anybody right then you get the gentleman John Green who I'm a friend with he throws a bear at me hits me in my face and at that point you know when everybody was like oh this is the black eye the black eye of sports was I don't want to get into the black eye yeah and then I'm G have to talk about when when when African-Americans wasn't allowed I don't even want to get into that it has nothing to do with that I a guy threw a beer at you yeah it has you know what I mean and then people and then what happened was when he hit me and I and and I addressed it and then I saw people trying to make it a a race thing and I'm totally against I'm totally the opposite you know what I mean so then I reached out to John the gentleman who threw the cup lost a lot of money because of it and future revenue and still I and still um opportunities is not be not thrown my way really because of this still 100% damn but I reached out to him because since I wanted to show people that you can have confrontation and you can talk about it and you can move on you know and and and and don't let people make things a race war of of all the Fallout the the lost money the lost wages the the year suspension all that stuff like what hurt you the most missing the games that still hurts MJ hit me up it's like you know hey young fell you're gonna be all right I'm gonna try to get you back in here so I thought I was going to get back in when Michael Jordan said get back in I'm like okay it's like the only the only battle Micha Jordan's ever lost apparently he lost that one it didn't happen and um I remember just saying just take the money like I just want to play because we we can win a title you know um I didn't start it you know um another I I'm G be All-Star I'm gonna get defensive player of the year again I'm gonna be first team or NBA or second team I'mma uh I'm another First Team all defense and opportunity to win a title I don't need no money yeah yeah I'm like the money the money hurts believe me the money hurts take the money I'm telling you to take the money but they they couldn't just do it they had to make it money and the games at least let me come back for the playoffs right you know 86 games so that the games biggest suspension ever what is okay you know yeah you have you got you got other accolades and I got a lot of accolades I still got a lot speaking of accolades which one meant the most to you uh the defensive player of the year the the Kennedy Citizenship Award or being an NBA champion kennessee Citizenship Award I knew you were gonna say that yeah that award is incredible what does that mean to you winning that it means that I'm becoming who I want to become it means we making a change that award is so special to me you know I raffled off my championship ring gave all the money away to mental health institutions I I gave actually gave some other Awards away but that award is one award I'm not parting with all right going to take a little detour now to Laker land because I'm a giant Lakers fan as anybody who has followed me for any length of time would know uh I I grew up watching Kobe uh been going to the games started with my dad almost 30 years ago so Die Hard Lakers fan um playing with Kobe playing under Phil Jackson these are really strong Dynamic personalities I imagine that would have been you know for some people intimidating but for you maybe really comforting because you've got these you know you've got a a strategy you have a formula you have a role I mean was was that the experience initially it was difficult cuz what you're used to being the man you know for six years of my career I was you know a go-to guy but going to La I had to be a role player that was tough in my Prime and it was tough because in your Prime I was only averaging seven points my first year as a Laker but I was really good right you know it's not all about the points you were doing all kinds of other stuff yeah I was doing other stuff but the year before that in the playoffs I was averaging 20 5 or 22 in the playoffs against the Lakers MH that you know so I didn't get a chance to really show what I can do in my Prime yeah but you you had to know that was coming going to Kobe Bryant's team right or did it catch you off guard did they sell you on a different Vision no it wasn't done what really caught me off guard was not being able to adjust the first half of the season I didn't know how to be effective as a role player the Rhythm it's a different Rhythm totally you know yeah you're playing the game a different way you're playing a different way but I be I became good playoffs yeah in the playoffs I found the Rhythm it's like the Rhythm was meditate relax play in the Rhythm and don't look at the stats just play a game I've actually been to a number of your big games including what what I would say is probably at least for me and fans the biggest game five 2010 Western Conference finals against the Suns to go up three games to two you hit the gamewinner at the last second get that that layup unbelievable moment I actually have the video to prove it so what did that moment mean to you in the moment and like what does it mean to you now that that gamewinner you know what it what it was was a gift from the basketball Gods because when I was going through everything I was going through in my career when I wasn't as friendly to my teammates um or I wasn't as outgoing to my teammates and getting in trouble and just throwing it all away because of my emotion maybe I was going through stuff maybe I had a right that people didn't know about maybe I could have made better decisions but I said I said because of this I'm never going to win a championship like I wanted to now here we are in 2009 I'm playing with the Lakers got a chance to win a championship I'm like the basketball Gods Must Have Said you serve your time yeah you're you're on the right path and they're they're recognizing it it boosts my ego I'm gonna tell you that yeah so I I get it definitely boost my my ego it validated that I was good you probably needed that after this whole year of playing you know fourth banana and after the whole career of just like uncertainty so it was just like to have that moment you know I sometimes I I watch the shot I be like yeah kind of root for myself you know um in the moment I was numb in the moment I didn't know what I didn't feel anything you know no fans no noise I was having a really horrible game right but that's one of those things where when you're a role player you can't because you're because you're playing bad you can't just say oh I'm not going to shoot you got to keep shooting the shot that's there you might go one for 10 the fans might say you suck you know and you're in your Prime I know I don't suck yeah but I'm just not a rhythm and then I hit that shot let us a game six and then I got then I had 26 in the close out game you know so I had I had I had some big moments that that was actually really cool because I didn't really know what happened honestly Kobe jumps on me the team jumps on me I know it's big but not as they think it's bigger than what I think it is you know what I mean they must have been psyched for you like they they must have seen your struggles through the year right and now you get this incredible historic moment I think so all right little lightning round throw a couple quick ones at you favorite Jewish food you've ever tried the crispy rice totic that's the rice where they and they FIS top yeah okay so this is like aaric Persian Shabbat so you you got some Persian friends yeah for sure yeah yeah yeah definitely definitely um but actually um these Shabbat was mixed tell me about this well I would have never thought about it until you just said that about what versus another type of of culture Shabbat yeah different how many shabbats have you been to in your day uh maybe I don't need an exact maybe 12 okay a bunch bu yeah oh right on obviously shabbats are great know just eating together there wasn't something that we did all the time as a you know in our house we did it at one point in time but it's not maybe as a family yeah we kind of we broke up but to do it every Friday I think that's like something you got to take and run with yeah no doubt what's the best advice a Jewish mother ever gave you eat meals together spend time with your family who's your favorite Jewish athlete I'm going to go with farmer I actually just saw him at the uh Dodgers World Series game one went up to him and said what's up oh he there thanked him for his Lakers service yeah absolutely I also like Omar I mean um casby yeah yeah he's omry omry casby yeah he's um I mean I think he was one of the first he was the first first Israeli player in the league yeah a really good player too a good player yeah meta thank you so much for being here man this was incredible so great talking to you absolutely thanks for having me CH that just happened thanks to meta Staniford our test for taking time out of his very busy schedule to be here with me today your journey is so inspirational and I know everyone learned a lot from you listening to us thanks to ju talk Justice for putting me and meta in the same room thanks to all of you out there enjoying this show please help us spread the word in whatever way you can I'll see you back here for the next fabulous episode of being Jewish with me Jonah plat [Music]