Barkley joined ESPN Radio Chicago to talk about his stance on the NBA lockout impasse, why he’s disappointed in the owners for seemingly going for the kill, why it’s crazy for people to expect Michael Jordan to do anything but look after his interests as an owner, how he thinks the entire season will be canceled, whether he’s still considering giving his entire TNT salary away to charity this year, LeBron and Dwyane Wade’s upcoming exhibition tour, how he thinks the splintering among players will really start to get serious now that pay checks are being missed officially, and how he’s lost 30 pounds during the lockout by doing CrossFit and hot yoga.

If he were advising both sides in the lockout, what would he say:

“Well I’m kind of mad at the owners right not to be honest with you, because I think the owners are just trying to crush the guys. The players have made so many concessions, and it’s like, is that not enough? I try to explain to a normal person, okay, so the players went from 57 [percent] to 50, and that might not sound like a lot to a normal person, but you’ve got to understand — each one of those points is worth $300 million dollars; each one of those points is worth $300 million dollars. So it’s not like the players aren’t trying to make…it’s not like they’re not sacrificing anything….and I think the owners want even more, and I think they’re just trying to beat them to death right now.”

On Michael Jordan’s role in the negotiations and the heat he’s taking for his tough role in the negotiations

“Well first of all, don’t believe everything you hear. But Michael is an owner now. He can’t sacrifice his franchise. Listen, he’s the reason that all us players are making the money that we are today. But with that being said, he’s an owner now, he’s got to do what’s best for his franchise. I think it’s silly for players to think MJ should sacrifice the whole NBA for the rights of the players. He’s not a player anymore. When he played, he spoke for the players, he made sure every player got paid an enormous amount of money, but right now he’s an owner. That being said, I’ve been very disappointed with some of the owners as far as — look, this is a partnership, and it’s not like a regular business. I don’t think the players should never go lower than 50-50. I think they should take 50-50, but the owners I think want even more. And that’s what disappoints me, because the players are clearly trying to make a deal. But I think the union wants to break the union for good and get a ten-year deal where they make all the profits.”

On his previous predictions that this lockout was going to be drawn out and ugly:

“Oh I was the first one. If you go back and look, I remember I was on a TV show last year when the season was going on; they asked me about next year, and I said ‘dude, I don’t think there’s going to be a season at all next year.’ And everybody looked at me like ‘that dude’s crazy.’ What I always knew was the owners were going to get the deal they wanted or they were not going to play. That’s what I knew more than anything. They were going to get the deal they wanted or they weren’t going to play. First of all, they’ve proven me right. If the players don’t give them everything they want, even if it goes excessive, they’re not going to play because they look at it like this — they will lose less money not playing.”

Does he think the entire NBA season will be canceled?

“I don’t think there’s going to be, but that’s just my personal opinion, I don’t have any inside. But I knew it was going to be ugly, I think actually it’s become really personal. I think those owners got so upset at LeBron and Chris Bosh and guys like that that they’d rather burn down the house instead of doing any remodeling. We need great players on small market teams. And they drew a line in the sand and said ‘okay, okay, the inmates are running afoul and we’re going to put and end to this right now.’ That’s what I truly believe. Like I said, even if that means burning down the house, they were going to. It was like ‘okay, I’m sick of these guys.’ And remember, it’s already started for next year with where’s Chris Paul going and where’s Dwight Howard going? So these owners are steaming. Same with Carmelo. So the owners are like ‘these guys all want to play in major markets and screw the small towns, we’re going to put an end to this.’ And this is the point we’re at right now.”

On if he’s made any progress on deciding if he was going to still fork over his salary to charity like he proposed on the show previously:

“Well first of all, that’s a great question. After I got off the phone with you guys, my phone lit up like a Christmas tree. My agent was going crazy. Because, you know what, I was saying stuff and I really wasn’t listening, these idiots might cancel the whole season. So that was his point, he was like ‘dude, I’ve got not problem with you donating your salary for some of the first couple of weeks, or even a month or whatever it is’, but he said ‘I want you to think about this — you’ve told me in private conversations you didn’t think there was going to be a season.’ And that’s where I’m at right now. I haven’t made a final decision, because these idiots might cancel the whole season….You know what, I’m going to stick to my word, I’m going to figure it out. And when I figure out what I’m going to do, I’ll make sure you guys know first since I broke it to you guys first. But it does scare me man. That’s what my agent says. He says, ‘Charles, I don’t care what you give to charity, but what if they cancel the whole season?”

On LeBron and D-Wade’s exhibition tour and whether he’d pay $75 to see that:

“No, because it’s like a glorified scrimmage, it’s like the All-Star Game. To me, the All Star Game…listen, my number one rule for All-Star Games was just don’t get hurt, your obligation is to your team. Just run up and down the court, don’t try to play any defense, just have some fun. That’s all those things are. Unless they’re going to donate all the money to charity, because….listen, the players always get a bad rapt when you have a lockout because fans look at them as greedy. But the only way it’s going to be successful is if they donate all of the proceeds to a charity in that city.”

At what point does the splintering happen amongst the players now that paychecks are starting to be missed:

“I think the splintering has happened already. I think that’s one of the reasons they didn’t put the last proposal up for a player vote. See that’s what everybody doesn’t understand about pro sports. Those guys, they just missed their first paycheck. They haven’t gotten paid since April because you only get paid during the season. So most of these guys haven’t gotten paid since April. Before they weren’t missing checks, but now you’re starting to be missing checks, and it’s going to get real serious right now. I mean, it’s going to get real serious right now. It’s got to be a little scary for some of these players.”

Which player is going to come back most overweight and out of shape when the lockout ends:

“That’s a great question. I will promise you this — it’s probably going to be a big guy, because big guys…like guards like to go shoot around and play, guards love that. But big guys, they’ll go lift some weights and do stuff like that, but they’re not going to go run up and down the court. So it’s going to be a big guy. That’s a great question. I tell you what — I want to see Big Baby Davis when he comes back. I want to see Big Baby Davis. I love that kid, he works his behind off, but playing basketball everyday, that’s going to be interesting.”

On what a day in the life of Charles Barkley looks like lately with the lockout preventing him from returning to work at TNT:

“Well actually I’m working really hard on my body, to be honest with you. I’ve lost about 30 pounds, to be honest with you. My goal by the end of the year, is to probably lose 45 to 50. Right now I’ve lost about 30. But I wanted to do something constructive, to be honest with you. So I was like, I don’t have to travel, so it gives me more time to work out. So like I said, I’ve lost 30 pounds since I’ve been working out, and by the end of the year, I’ll probably lose another 10 to 15. So I just want to lose another 15. So I’m just working out like a mother right now.”

On what he’s doing to lose the weight:

“Well I’ve been doing some Cross-Fit, I got involved with Cross-Fit over the summer.  And I’ve been doing hot yoga. 105 [degrees] bro. It’s 105, but I like it, it helps me with my flexibility. But like I said, I still have got a long way to go. You take a glass of water out of the ocean, it’s still the ocean.”

If he’s looking forward to finally getting to work with Shaquille O’Neal on TNT telecasts once the lockout finally is lifted:

“I am looking forward to working with Shaq. It’s going to be interesting because as much as I like Shaq as a person, and we’re good friends, we don’t know how it’s going to work on television. So whenever it happens, it’s still going to be like cold turkey. But I just miss the basketball, because we always start out, the first game we always start out with the champions get their ring — I would love to see Dirk Nowitzki get his ring because it’s well-deserved. We clearly would have had Miami a couple times now, we would have had the Bulls on a couple times now. So I just miss watching great basketball.”

What he’s thankful for with Thanksgiving just a few short days away:

“Man, I’ve just got such an amazing life. I can’t believe this little fat kid from Leeds, Alabama has been all over the world. I always tell people, if I die tomorrow, I just need ten minutes to tell people just what an amazing life I had. People talk about the recession, I’ve been blessed not to be a part of the recession. I do a lot of work around Thanksgiving giving out turkeys, I don’t have to worry about food and things like that. So it’s cool. I’m just blessed. And I can’t take myself that seriously. I play basketball.”

On the guys at ESPN Chicago looking forward to seeing the new trim Barkley:

“Let me tell you, I’m going to be so sexy when you guys see me. I’m telling you something — I’m going to be so good looking when y’all see me. I’ve been fat for a long time, but the next time y’all see me when I come in the studio, y’all are going to be like ‘damn Charles you look good!’”

Listen here to Barkley with Waddle & Silvy on ESPN Radio Chicago (interview begins at 1:21:40 mark)

Clinton made two radio appearances on Wednesday, primarily to promote his recently published new book, ‘Back to Work: Why We Need Smart Government For a Strong Economy’.  We try to steer clear of politics on Sports Radio Interviews, so we did not transcribe his commentary about the book.  But we did jot down his thoughts from both interviews that pertained to sports — his take on his beloved Arkansas Razorbacks and their upcoming showdown with LSU the Friday after Thanksgiving, and his take on the sex scandal that’s rocked the Penn State campus in recent weeks.

Bill Clinton joined KLAC in Los Angeles to talk about his new book, and how his Arkansas Razorbacks might be able to knock of No. 1 ranked LSU two Fridays from now after, he hopes, first taking care off Mississippi State this Saturday.

On how his Arkansas Razorbacks can knock off LSU two Fridays from now and why he thinks they matchup well with the Tigers:

“Well first we’ve got to get by Mississippi State. It always bothers me when we you get diverted, but if the Razorbacks get by Mississippi State Saturday, then the next Friday they’re going to play LSU. We have had a fair amount of success against them when they are favored, but they are really good. I have to say, I didn’t think they could beat Alabama because Alabama’s defense is so good. And that game, they’re so evenly matched that I’m convinced if they played ten times, they’d each win five. So they’re really great. But I think Arkansas matches up a little better against LSU than they did against Alabama for a lot of reasons that aren’t worth going into. But I really do. First, LSU’s got those great cornerbacks, but we have more receivers than Alabama did. If the line can block for the quarterback, and they can’t just put him on the ground all night long, then he’s got four people he can throw to that will all be in the NFL before long. So I think that we match up a little better. LSU will be heavy favorite, but Arkansas, they had a great game last week against Tennessee, and if we beat Mississippi State than I think we’ve got a great shot to win.”

If there’s any mention of his pal Keith Richards in his new book:

“No, but I gave him an award the other night. He won an award from Norman Mailer’s foundation — it was set up after Norman died — and they gave him the Biography Award and I went and presented it to him. Everybody got a kick out of that. It’s a heck of a book, he did a good job. It’s interesting, my mother-in-law who just passed away at 92 was a Keith Richards groupie; she loves the Stones, she loves Richards, and I think she read his book quicker than mine.”

Listen here to Clinton with The Loose Cannons on KLAC in Los Angeles

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Clinton also joined WIP in Philadelphia on Wednesday to talk about giving the commencement address at Penn State in 1998, two of his in-laws being graduates and former players at Penn State, his thoughts on the sex scandal that led to the termination of Joe Paterno, and what the school can do to go about rebuilding its reputation.

On giving the commencement address at Penn State in 1998, his connection with the university and his thoughts on the sex scandal that led to the termination of Joe Paterno:

“Well, if the allegations are true, it’s a heart breaking thing. And I love Penn State. My father-in-law played football at Penn State and graduated from there; one of my brothers-in-law played football at Penn State and graduated from there; I have always had the highest respect for Coach Paterno and I still do. But this is a horrible deal and my view is you just need to see it through. The personnel decisions have already been made, but now you just need to see it through, find out what the truth is, do the right thing, and if you do that, then the good will emerge again. Penn State is a great university, you’ve got great athletic programs, and I’ve seen all these athletic programs get in trouble when yours didn’t. The enduring truth, the enduring legacy, the positive things that have happened, will emerge, but they can not re-emerge until you get to the bottom of what happened, let the law take its course, and everybody follow the do-right rule. When it’s done, then you can put the house back together. It’s still a great place and Joe Paterno had a great life there, and he did great, great things there. I just think you don’t want to mix the two things up; nobody’s saying that’s not true and can’t be acknowledged. But we need to find out who knew what when, who did what when, who was supposed to do what, and what actually happened. Then the law can take its course and the university can begin to put its life back together.”

Listen here to Clinton with Anthony Gargano & Glen Macnow on WIP in Philadelphia

Now Jenner, once dubbed “The World’s Greatest Athlete,” has watched the Kardashian sisters get married and instead of having to ward them off, he has to deal with the fact that none of them understand his athletic accomplishments.

Bruce Jenner joined 790 The Ticket with The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz to discuss why he doesn’t get sick of all the cameras, Kim Kardashian’s wedding, the emotional nature of the women he lives with and has helped raise, if his javelin was the weapon of choice to ward off would-be suitors to his daughters and whether Lamar Odom and Kris Humphries understand his athletic prowess.

Don’t you ever get sick of all the cameras?:

“To be honest with you, we’ve just had so much fun with doing the show. The girls certainly work a lot harder than I do. … They’re young and they need the work. Me, I like to think of myself as semi-retired.”

What’s the funniest story you can share with us from Kim’s wedding?:

“There wasn’t too many funny things, they were all drama. Trying to calm her down. When you try to blend two families for the first time — the Humphries and the Jenners and the Kardashians and all this big group — everybody’s sort of listening to each other, seeing what they’re doing and trying to get to meet them. There’s a lot of pressure. Poor Kim, she like physically just lost it. … About a week before the wedding it just all came down on her and she just lost it.”

But doesn’t that happen to her a lot? They’re all pretty emotional aren’t they?:

“They’re women. … That’s my wife, she’s always breaking down. I was even laughing last night, ‘Here she goes again.’ … They are pretty emotional, but I’ve been dealing with this for the last 20 years. If you think this is tough, you should’ve seen them when they were teenagers. It was a lot worse when they were teenagers. When they were teenagers, and the hormones were running crazy and the boys were all over the place, they were still in my house. Now at least they’ve moved out and have their own houses. I only have the two girls, the two young ones.”

Are there any stories of boys appearing when they were teenagers and you chasing them away with a javelin?:

“Honestly there was a lot of that over the years. The worst ones were Khloe, when she was like 14 … sneaking out of the house in the middle of the night to go see some boy. I came home and went by her door and tried to turn the knob and the door was locked. … It was about midnight and I went upstairs to get ready for bed and I jump into bed and I go, ‘You know what? Why is her door locked?’ … I go down there, check it and it’s still locked. So I walk around the house and look in through a window off her porch to look in her bedroom and see if she’s there. It looks like there’s a body in the bed. … I go up and jump into bed and I’m laying there and thinking, ‘You know what? I never really saw. It looks like a body, but I never saw a hair, never saw a hand.’ … Now, it’s like a half hour later and I can’t sleep. I get up and walk back downstairs, pick the lock, open up the door and go inside. Sure enough, it was all pillows in there and this and that. And Khloe was gone.”

Was the javelin your weapon of choice?:

“It was for her.”

Do Lamar Odom and Kris Humphries understand just how good of an athlete you were?:

“No, they have no idea. In fact, I told Robert [my son] when Kim got engaged to Kris Humphries, I said, ‘Robert, this is bad news for you. That makes you the number three, now, the number three best basketball player and number four if my knee was better.’ … It’s kind of cool. Lamar, I love Lamar. He’s just a wonderful guy. It’s really been a pleasure to get to know him.”

What about Kris?:

“Kris, we just brought in to the family. He’s doing good, too. … He’s a good guy; I like Kris.”

But they don’t know that you’re an American icon?:

“They don’t quite understand, although Lamar did go to my website and watched the video of all my performances and stuff. He went, ‘Oh my God, you were a stud back then, weren’t you?’ I said, ‘Yeahhhh, I could take it off the backboard and dunk it behind my head. Yeah, I could do that back then. White boy could jump.’”

Listen to Bruce Jenner on 790 The Ticket in Miami here (Interview begins at 55:00)

Beane joined 95.7 The Game in San Francisco to talk about the state of the A’s organization before fielding a few questions about Moneyball — whether it’s true that he called Brian Sabean ‘Sabey Sabes’ like his character in the movie does, his feelings on how accurate the book and movie were, how Michael Lewis’ intimate access to him and the team allowed him to write an accurate book, and why he cares about the film being popular and well-received critically.

In the movie, Beane’s character calls Brian Sabean ‘Sabey Sabes’ — is that accurate? Did he ever call Sabean that?

“Well that’s the thing about the movie — I usually called him ‘Schnookums’ and then I thought we didn’t want to get so private, so we changed the pet name I have for Brian. Dramatic license, change the name, you know, so you guys get it.”

How accurate was the book at portraying every day life as the A’s GM, and if it was not quite an accurate representation, did that mean that the movie had no chance of even being anything close to a realistic portrayal of himself and his job:

“You know, well interestingly enough is the one advantage Michael [Lewis} had — and I’ve always said this — is not necessarily that all was good on my end, but the fact of the matter is Michael was there. So you love to come out if a book is written about you or your organization to be able to pick out the parts you didn’t like and say ‘well that’s not true, I was misquoted.’ But unfortunately I didn’t have that luxury, because quite frankly Michael was right there. So, my mom was covering her ears because there were a few choice words in there that she wasn’t too proud of, and nor was I. But the fact of the matter is that Michael was there, and all I could do was kind of shrug my shoulders. But that being said, he’s a great writer and it was a great experience. As far as the movie goes, my response has always been is I assume there’s some parts you like — and the parts you like, those were all true. And the parts you didn’t like — absolutely made up.”

If he cares much about the film being popular and well-received critically:

“You know, that’s a good question. My benefit from it, I don’t have any sort of financial benefit in it or anything invested in it, and I certainly wasn’t able to write the script or anything like that. And once it sort of happened — hey they’re going to make a movie, it’s going to happen so let’s at least make it right. So I don’t think this from an ego standpoint, but I think in fairness, from an organizational standpoint — and quite frankly all the people that were involved int he film were top-notch, class acts starting with Brad Pitt, Bennett Miller, the Sony producers — they were really respectful, we really got to like them, and you root for them. They’ve put a lot of time, they’ve put a lot of money into this thing, so you’d like to see it do well for them.”

Listen here to Beane with The Rise Guys on 95.7 The Game in San Francisco (conversation about Moneyball begins at 7:30 mark; A’s discussion precedes movie talk)

The face of the women’s team and the face of women’s soccer is Goalie Hope Solo. She’s talented, she’s attractive, she plays with emotion and passion, and she is not afraid of the bright lights. It will be up to Solo and the rest of the women on the team to not lose the positive momentum gained in the World Cup.

Hope is doing her part. Tonight is the premier of the new season of Dancing With the Stars and even though she says she can’t dance a lick, Solo traded in her cleats for high heels and it gives her yet another opportunity to promote a sport which gained so much traction this summer.

Hope Solo joined KCSP in Kansas City with Bob Fescoe to talk about being reunited with her team for the first time following the loss in the World Cup, whether or not she feels the attention the sport received during the World Cup will continue, Olympic qualifying coming up, what it’s like being on Dancing With the Stars, and how tough of a grind the show has been.

How it feels to be reunited with her team on the soccer field for the first time since the loss in the World Cup:

“It’s so crazy because I had so much anxiety coming back in. It’s been two months since we’ve been together, the last time we were together was in Germany, in the final when we lost to Japan, I had a lot of anxiety coming back. I wasn’t ready to turn the page and start focusing on the Olympics because I’m still pretty hurt about the World Cup. Once I got here I saw my teammates and I officially turned that page. I’m so excited to move on and start preparing for the Olympics.”

Whether or not she feels the World Cup recognition can be sustainable:

“It’s strange because we had success in 2008. We won the Olympic Gold Medal in ’08 and we didn’t win this World Cup but what we did is we truly inspired the nation and I think we brought a lot of longevity to the game and added to our fan base. No longer are we playing just for the little girls out there who one day want to play, but we have gained fans like middle-aged men, older men, football fans, and basketball fans. I think we’re really doing a lot for the game and this World Cup showed that.”

If the same team that went to the World Cup final will return for the Olympics:

“Sports are very competitive as you guys know. It’s interesting because you never know who’s gonna be on each new team and each new roster from week to week and month to month. I guarantee you you’re gonna see some new faces going into the Olympics. I just hope I remain solid on the team.”

What it’s like being on Dancing With the Stars:

“It’s been fun and again, all of this, I really feel like I’m taking one for the team because I’m putting all of my insecurities out for the world to see. They have 20 plus million viewers every Monday and Tuesday night and I cannot dance. I truly can’t dance but I do know that we’re bringing attention to the sport and bringing the sport mainstream. Granted it is just me on the show but my team is behind it, we’re getting attention for the sport and again it goes back to the longevity of the game.”

If she wishes that one day soccer would have the kind of following and attention where she doesn’t have to go on a show like DWTS to generate attention for the sport:

“That will happen. Maybe not in my lifetime. Maybe in my lifetime but not in my career.”

How difficult it has been for her in preparation for the show:

“It’s not easy. Everybody thinks the athlete has the advantage and I think the exact opposite because my body is trained to do what it does for over 20 some odd years and now you’re telling an athlete who’s body is naturally trained because of muscle memory to change everything it does. Shift weight, shift balance, and it’s not easy. Plus I really don’t have rhythm.”

Listen to Hope Solo on KCSP here

Sheen joined FOX Sports Radio to talk about why decided to be roasted, whether he was impressed by some of the jokes and cracks that the roasters threw his way, what he’s learned this past six crazy months, what’s next on his plate professionally, and his take on the playoff picture across Major League Baseball.

On why he decided to be roasted:

“I did it because I saw it as an opportunity to just close the book and put so much stuff behind me and just end it all in one epic way on one big night. And I think we achieved all of that, I think we did. And they came to me and are there any areas that are off limits, and I said ‘no, no, leave no stone unturned.’ Why handicap these guys? Let them just go for it! And then nobody can say ‘they didn’t touch on this, they didn’t cover that.’ No, it’s all there.”

Was he impressed by some of the roasters who took cracks at him?

“Jeff Ross I thought had the best set of his career. He’s unbelievable. It got a lot worse though. It started with Seth McFarland reading my obituary, I was like wait a minute. But it was so entertaining. And I think a star was born with Amy Schumer. This young lady stepped up and did things, I was like ‘oh my God, get ready for this one.’”

On what he’s learned from his crazy past six months or so:

“Well as far as the tour goes, stick to what you know, you know? Leave that stuff to the experts. Yeah, I just think you’ve got to be smart about some of the things you say publicly, and how they’re interpreted, and then how you support them afterwards. It would have been so much easier to have gone out after the Andrea Canning interview and just said ‘nah, it was all crap, I was just joking.’ Instead I was like ‘yes it’s all true, follow me back to my home planet.’ It was a runaway train and I couldn’t get it off.  It was a hell of a ride! I mean, I don’t think that can happen again; I mean, I hope it doesn’t happen again just for the sake of mankind. But I think in hindsight, yeah, I learned a lot, and when in doubt, just keep your mouth shut. You know?”

On what he’s got on his plate next professionally?

“I’ve got a pretty full plate coming up. I’m doing a film with Roman Coppola, it’s called ‘A Glimpse Inside the Mind’. I’m Charlie Swan III, and it’s a character piece that’s about a mid-life crisis scenario about a guy that’s lost the love of his life. I think a lot of people can relate to it; I think Roman’s a genius, and I think this is going to really show it. And then I start ‘Anger Management’ after that, a new TV show I’m doing with Joe Roth and Lions Gate. It’s loosely based on the film; I’ll play a counselor of an anger management group. We don’t know where the setting is, we don’t know what the cast is; so I wish I could talk more about it, you know?

Listen to Sheen with The Loose Cannons on FOX Sports Radio in Los Angeles

I hadn’t really heard an answer until now, and it came from the exact right person in this situation, Jonah Hill. You might not know the name, but you’d recognize his face — you know, the heavy set funny guy from Superbad and other comedies. Well, Hill is making the transition into his first drama, which could just create more questions about the movie. But to his credit, Hill makes a compelling argument as to why we should all be excited to see this movie.

Jonah Hill joined WSCR in Chicago with The Boers and Bernstein Show to discuss his overall impressions on the movie Moneyball now that it’s set to hit theatres, whether he played baseball growing, if he had to learn the intricate sabremetrics for his part, and if so, how he went about doing so, why the film sounds boring but will be successful, and why Paul DePodesta — Hill’s character — didn’t want his name associated with the film.

What are your overall thoughts on the film?:

“Oh man, I’m pretty darn proud of this thing.”

Did you play baseball growing up?:

“I grew up playing Little League like every American kid and going to ballgames with my dad and stuff. To tell you the truth, I became more of a diehard basketball fan growing up and then when I got this part in Moneyball I really reconnected with baseball in a major way. And, also, had to learn a lot about behind the curtain of baseball, how the machine works.”

For your part, did you have to learn about Value Over Replacement Player and all the intricate stats that go along with the system?:

“Let me tell you, the hardest job on the set of Moneyball was being my statistics tutor because I can barely count to 10. … [The director] wanted me to be able to improvise statistics, which is a very difficult task to be asked. And this is my first big drama. … I took it really seriously and tried to learn as much of the stats as I could and hang out with some of these people who were using sabremetrics at the time.”

How in the world do you get this stuff to translate to the big screen successfully?:

“I think baseball fans and sports fans are having the hardest time understanding it without seeing the movie. It’s actually kind of exciting to me. On paper, The Social Network sounds like the most boring movie ever. It sounds like it’s about a bunch of nerds who created a software program. No one wants to go see that movie. Then you see the movie and it’s amazing because it’s about something else. … A movie about on-base percentage sounds like the most boring movie ever. People wonder how you make a riveting story out of that. The truth is, it’s a really great sports movie. But, really, what the filmmakers did is they just used baseball as a really beautiful, aesthetic backdrop to a story about underdogs and being undervalued.”

How come you play Paul DePodesta but that’s not what it says in the credits, it calls him Peter Brand?:

“This is something I’ve been really anxious to talk to with sports people because the sports media tended to blow it up into some big beef like Paul was really upset that I was playing with him. DePo and I are friends; he’s great. DePo didn’t like the way he was portrayed in the book. He felt that the book made him look like a nerd and he didn’t feel like he was a nerd. It’s got to be tough having yourself being portrayed in a book or a film. … He was incredibly helpful and we’re totally cool. … Playing a strict impression of Paul or DePo or whatever wouldn’t have best served the story.”

Listen to Jonah Hill on WSCR in Chicago here

Mike Missanelli did his best to get Bieber, one of the top pop stars in the country right now, to talk about his relationship with Selena Gomez, but Bieber calls him out and says they should talk sports. Once there, he declares himself a Toronto Maple Leafs fan, which he says goes to show the world that he doesn’t just hop on bandwagons.

(Editor’s note:  97.5 the Fanatic in Philadelphia just finished the best radio promotion I’ve seen in years.  They have a pair of Eagles season tickets to give away and afternoon host Mike Missanelli created a bucket list of celebrity guests he’d like for his show. Names from Tiger Woods to Shaq to Snooki to Betty White and Mark Zuckerberg.  In order to qualify for the season tickets, you had to somehow track down one of these celebrities and get them on Missanelli’s show.  I love the idea. I’m sure it will be stolen by many stations after they read this. Justin Bieber wasn’t on the original bucket list of 50 names, but Missanelli was obviously shocked and excited to hear from him)

Justin Bieber joined 97.5 The Fanatic in Philadelphia with Mike Missanelli to discuss what he’s up to, why he changed his hair, his relationship with Selena Gomez, his sports fandom, his basketball game, his respect for shows like American Idol and why Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy was briefly a part of his ringtone.

What are you doing right now, are you touring?:

“I’m not touring right now, I’m in L.A. I’m working on my Christmas album. Once I’m done with my Christmas album we’re starting to work on my next album, which drops sometime early next year.”

What’s with the change in hairstyle?:

“My hair, I wanted to cut it off a little bit. It was getting in my eyes and it was pretty annoying. I wanted to cut it a little shorter. … I think [fans] like it; I’ve been getting positive feedback.”

What’s up with you and Selena? Is that official or what?:

“She’s on tour right now. You know, I like to keep some of my private life to myself. … It’s pretty obvious, but I don’t really like to talk about it.”

Are you a sports fan?:

“I am a sports fan. My favorite team, I love hockey, I’m from Canada, so I love the Toronto Maple Leafs.”

That’s a tough team to like. They haven’t won in a while:

“It is a tough team, but you know that I’m not joining a bandwagon.”

You also play a little basketball and played in the celebrity game. Who did you humiliate?:

“I crossed over a couple people. I recently played in [Ludacris] tournament in Atlanta and I crossed over Chris Paul a few times. We played against Steve Nash in New York. That was pretty fun. … It’s fun to go out there and play with these people and have a great time.”

How long have you been playing? And did you play hockey, too?:

“I was a hockey player. I played hockey my whole, life, travelled and all that stuff. I played basketball just like at school and at the YMCA and stuff.”

You were a star that was just discovered without all these reality shows. What do you think of things like American Idol?:

“I think that some of these people, they have no other way to break themselves out into the mainstream world so they go on American Idol. I respect it. Some of the people, you never end up hearing much about them, but I respect it. Kelly Clarkson did her thing on it. Carrie Underwood’s amazing. It was a good thing for them.”

Is Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy really your ringtone?:

“I’m a man; I’m 40. That was my ringtone for a minute. When I first heard it, me and my boys were just laughing. … It’s definitely not that anymore. It’s just something regular.”

Listen to Justin Bieber on 97.5 The Fanatic in Philadelphia here

McEnroe joined The Dan Patrick Show to talk about how different the game of tennis might be today if players still used wooden rackets, if the sport has made any changes to the ball like the game of golf has in order to curb the advances in racket technology, whether he played better or worse when he was competing with somebody he ‘hated’, if he ever wanted to fight Jimmy Connors, his rivalry with Ivan Lendl, whether he thinks it is harder to pick up the game or tennis or learn to play guitar, and finally, to play a few quick songs on his guitar at the request of Dan Patrick.

On how different he thinks the game would look today if players still played with wood rackets:

“Well, it’s getting to look a little bit like Ping Pong out there — guys just wailing away from the baseline. Ivan Lendl was sort of a part of starting that, you know, bigger athletic guy, bigger serve but still staying back and going for broke on the ground strokes. It seems like most if not all the players play a similar style. And when you see guys like Djokovic add a little bit to their game, that’s part of the reason why he’s been able to surpass Roger [Federer] and Rafa. And Nadal did the same thing a few years ago. I love the subtlety and nuances of the game, and the difficulty it was to volley. We did that a lot more often. But maybe even more so, the rackets are 20 to 40 percent more powerful depending on which one you pick up, but the strings that they utilize now to create the spin, it’s changed the game even further, made it very difficult to volley. However, it would be difficult to put those types of strings in a wood racket; they’d be breaking a lot of frames trying to get it tight. I think hopefully in the next ten years we’ll get a combination of what we’re sorting of seeing now, more athleticism than ever, but a little bit more of the old-school style where guys become more aggressive and go to the net.”

Have any adjustments been made to the tennis ball like what has happened in the game of golf:

“Well they can do what they want with it. In some cases they’ve made it heavier, in others they’ve deliberately lighter. The women play with a lighter ball, so they get more speed off the serve. And in my day, they sometimes had balls that weren’t as pressurized so it made it even more difficult to get the ball by a guy like Bjorn Borg who was the greatest athlete I had ever seen at the time; sort of the Nadal of my time. So they’ve been forced to try to experiment, and in a way it’s a good thing, but when you see players play the same way all the time it gets a little old. And I think people realize that even 10 years ago when Pete [Sampras] was playing, [Goran] Ivanisevic was all about the serve, they were talking about moving the service line in a few inches. Now people are staying back at Wimbledon, for example, off the serve — which would have been unheard of 10 years ago — so now all of a sudden people it’s ‘wait this is crazy, nobody’s coming to net anymore.’  So they’re going to hopefully make some changes to encourage players to move forward. But it needs to be taught at a young age, and that part of the game has been left behind a little bit. Because it’s easier to serve and stay in one place and not have to move those quick moves you towards the net, because that’s more fatiguing than people realize.”

Whether it helped or hurt his game when he was playing somebody that he ‘hated’:

“It made me play worse if I got too caught up in the emotion of it, but at times it helped me. When I went out on the court against [Connors] for example, we were just like two bulls in a ring going at it. That was sort of fun. Sometimes I would lose it totally and then it would hurt. And guys like Lendl, obviously there was a lot of animosity between us when we played. Borg though was my greatest rival, but we never had a problem on or off the court. So that proved that at least it didn’t have to happen. Most guys I would get in some type of confrontation with.”

Did he ever want to fight Connors or Lendl?

“Connors I wanted to fight. I thought I liked my chances; he was littler than Lendl. But I was willing to duke it out with Lendl; I probably would have come up short, but that was one of the guys where I was really going to throw a haymaker or two and hope for the best. And I’m sure they felt the same way. I guess that’s why we played tennis, because in the end, cooler heads prevail or we’d get thrown a suspension that was too long.”

Whether he thinks it’s more difficult to pick up guitar or tennis:

“You know, ironically when I first started playing, I had this crazy idea that my wife Patty Smythe and I would start a band because she had become disillusioned with it. And then she goes ‘oh yeah, let’s go play mixed doubles at Wimbledon.’ And I go, ‘well you’ve never played tennis!’ And she goes ‘exactly!’ So she sort of shut that down. But ironically, playing guitar — which I started in my late 20s, not the ideal time to start playing guitar — especially the last 15 years or so when we had the first of our two kids who’s now almost 16, she said if ‘anyone’s going to go play, it’s me.’ And the more I started to play my guitar, the more I started to appreciate my tennis.”

After being asked if he was at home and had a guitar handy, McEnroe was asked to go get a guitar from his basement and play something on the air:

(McEnroe then quickly returned playing and singing Norwegian Wood and Smells Like Teen Spirit. I’ll just say he had his moments, but like his temper, his performance could best be described as volatile. Take a listen for yourself).

Listen here to McEnroe on The Dan Patrick Show

Well, David probably hit his biggest home run this past Sunday night in the most recent episode of season eight of Curb Your Enthusiasm. For the first 10-plus minutes, the viewer is lulled into believing that the 30 minute show will be exclusively about Larry and Rosie O’Donnell’s competition for the same bisexual woman. (Any tiff between Larry and Rosie is always entertaining, so had this been the only premise of the episode, that would have been just fine). But this particular encounter between David and O’Donnell is particularly noteworthy because of how the episode quickly but effectively works in subtle yet glaring commentary on steroids in baseball. In other words, without spoiling the episode entirely, Larry is found guilty of ‘juicing’ in the competition between he and Rosie for the affection of a prized bisexual woman that both desire.

Here’s a clip from the episode. At just under 1:30 minutes, we feel it’s fair use, but regardless, the point of sharing is to encourage you to start watching the series regularly anyway.

David joined ESPN Radio New York with Mike Lupica to talk about Sunday night’s hysterical episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, how episodes  occasionally come together perfectly like on Sunday, how brilliant writing like that comes together, his character’s decision to start taking Viagra (aka ‘juicing’) in the first place, whether he plans to bring the show back for a ninth season next year, the show’s ratings being up 25 percent, why he thinks the show is being so well-received this season if he had to guess, struggling to keep a straight face through filming because of how much fun he and the rest of the cast is having on the show, all sorts of golf commentary (namely shooting a 50 on the back 9 recently after shooting even par 35 on the front), and some back-and-forth about his beloved Yankees and other sports topics over the course of a long, entertaining 20-minute interview.

On the hysterical finale to Sunday night’s episode of Curb:

“I don’t even know. The show is put together like a big jigsaw puzzle, and sometimes these endings just pop up. Thank God it did.”

On his initial decision to start ‘juicing’ in the competition for the bisexual that he and Rosie O’Donnell are both interested in:

“Because I don’t feel like I could match the lesbian performance-wise. I feel they’ve got a big advantage over me.”

On when he gets caught by O’Donnell and finally fesses up to ‘juicing’:

“And also earlier in the show at the softball game when I came up to bat and Rosie accused me of juicing, I looked at her and wagged my finger like Rafael Palmeiro, and I said “I have never taken performance enhancing drugs; no, no, no, no, no!’”

Whether he plans to do a ninth season after the wildly successful start to this season:

“I haven’t decided yet.

But the ratings are way up, no?

“The ratings are up 25 percent.”

What he feels is most responsible for the wildly successful response the media and viewers have had to this year’s season of Curb so far:

“I don’t know. If I could point to one thing it’s probably that we don’t have a story arc this year, that all the shows are sort of independent except for going to New York — that’s really the only little story we have going this season. But other than that, that’s it.”

On how much fun the cast seems to be having this year with the show:

“Well I’ve always had fun doing the show, and I guess that’s why I keep doing it after eight years. But yeah, it’s hard for me to do a take without laughing really.”

Listen here to Larry David with Mike Lupica on ESPN Radio New York