NEW YORK METS LEGEND DWIGHT GOODEN TALKS CANDIDLY ABOUT DRUG ABUSE ON THE NEXT EDITION OF
JIM ROME ON SHOWTIME®
49ers QB Colin Kaepernick and NBA Commissioner David Stern are interviewed by Rome while outspoken MMA fighter Chael Sonnen calls out LeBron James and others in a lively Open Forum discussion with NFL player Brendon Ayanbadejo and NBA commentator Tom Tolbert
JIM ROME ON SHOWTIME Airs Tonight/Wednesday, June 12 at 9p ET/PT
Only on SHOWTIME®
LOS ANGELES (June 12, 2013) – No topic is off limits as New York Mets legend Dwight Goodentalks openly and honestly about missing the Mets 1986 World Series parade, the first time he tried cocaine, and chokes up when speaking about handing the game ball to his dying father after pitching a no-hitter in Yankee Stadium, all on this month’s edition of JIM ROME ON SHOWTIME—premierestonight at 9 p.m. ET/PT on SHOWTIME.
**Editor’s note: Click the video links below for must see clips from tonight’s episode. All videos can be embedded on websites and/or shared on Twitter.
Gooden video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Also appearing on this month’s edition are San Francisco 49ers star quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who explains the newest addition to his expanding tattoo collection, and outgoing NBA CommissionerDavid Stern, who talks about the highs and lows of 30 years on the job.
Kaepernick video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Stern video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?
NFL player Brendon Ayanbadejo, MMA fighter Chael Sonnen and NBA commentator Tom Tolbertall stop by for a lively Open Forum discussion. The group discusses LeBron James’ greatness and answers Rome’s question: What sport has the toughest athlete?
Providing comedic relief are brothers Jason and Randy Sklar who joke about some of today’s top sports’ headlines and Rome gives some stern advice to Justin Bieber in his “Sincerely Yours” segment.
Following are excerpts from this week’s episode:
JIM ROME: You didn’t make it to the Mets victory parade in 1986. Why not? And where were you?
DWIGHT GOODEN: “That was one in the book that I struggled with putting on paper, but I said that if I’m going to come clean, I have to come clean. That parade should have been the greatest moment of my baseball career and it turned out to be the worst moment of my baseball career. I was active in my addiction. I went to my drug dealers to get some drugs for the parade and then to meet my teammates at a local bar but I never made it. I was at my drug dealers on Long Island in the housing projects. I remember just watching the clock spinning so fast and then watching the parade on TV and that really sobered me up. But I remember the guilt and the shame and the embarrassment that I felt. I remember driving to my apartment and just balling and thinking: How am I going to explain this to my teammates now that they know I have this problem?
ROME: You were on Season 5 of “Celebrity Rehab”. Who had the biggest issues?
GOODEN: I would say Michael Lohan. He was definitely a head case. He’s doing well now but now I can kind of see why Lindsay has the problems she has.
***
ROME: Colin, I know a lot has been made of your tattoos. I know you got some more work done recently. What did you do?
COLIN KAEPERNICK: I got some tribal work done across my chest to finish my chest plate. A lot of different meanings there: Family, inner strength, spiritual growth and humility are the main ones.
ROME: The chest plate is really interesting to me. You have “Against All Odds”. Break that down. Why were the odds against you?
KAEPERNICK: I just feel like at every point, every step of my life there’s been people telling me I can’t do things; that I won’t make it because of this, that or the other. To me, there are a lot of situations where I shouldn’t have succeeded. I really do believe that the odds were against me.
***
ROME: “The Decision” went so badly for LeBron. Do you think LeBron had it in him to turn this thing around like he has?
CHAEL SONNEN: I think LeBron’s a dork. Listen, he won one world championship and it was in the Olympic Games. It’s so aggravating to hear someone win an NBA title and be called a world champion when it’s only done in America. If you’re not at a global event where everyone can participate, then you didn’t win a world championship, you won a national championship.
TOM TOLBERT: All I know is that people love greatness. And they love winners. How’s he a dork?
SONNEN: LeBrons’s a nerd. LeBron’s a wimp. You got this nerd named Ray Lewis. You know, if I saw these guys I’d smack ‘em right in the face.
ROME: If you had to pick pound for pound, who’s the toughest athlete by sport?
BRENDON AYANBADEJO: I would say UFC fighters. It pains me to say it, because we know that fatigue makes a coward of us all. Not only are you fatigued in the UFC, but you are also performing a skilled martial art. You have to go out and execute a skilled game plan.
SONNEN: To me it’s who can overcome adversity. It’s who’s tired and who can push through anyway. I like marathon runners because I know it’s hard. You want to stop but you keep stepping one foot in front of the other. I really admire that.
***
ROME: You presented Magic Johnson the NBA All-Star MVP trophy in Orlando. What made that day so significant to you?
DAVID STERN: I think No. 1 it gave me the opportunity to give him a big hug in front of a network audience stage that told the world that you can’t get AIDS from hugging somebody. It was just so much a moment to cherish that he was alive and we thought we were going to lose him. And here he is alive and well and healthy.
Top highlight from Rome’s “Sincerely Yours” segment:
ROME to Justin Bieber: … I don’t want to hear about Keyshawn Johnson chasing you around your hood because you’re going too fast and furious in your Ferrari. You live in Calabasas, not the Brickyard, Biebs. You’re supposed to be running from 13-year-old Beliebers, not 40-year-old receivers. Be a good neighbor and call your 40 million followers off Eric Dickerson, too. Because the second he hit you on Twitter, your army was hitting the Dick with things like, “Who the F--- are you?” and “Shut up, Grandpa!” Come on. That grandpa was breaking rushing records three decades before you were dropping “Baby”. You and your legions need to respect your elders and step off the NFL, because if there’s any force as fierce in this country as Bieber Fever, it’s pro football. Bieber fans want no part of Raiders fans.
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