Hour 3: 2-Time NBA All Star Carlos Boozer, Comedian David Cross

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0:45Rich Eisen:This is the Rich Eisen Show. Hey, everybody. Can't get enough of the Rich Eisen Show? You're in luck. You can find us everywhere. Watch us weekdays on Disney Plus from noon to 3 Eastern. Miss the show? We've got a podcast so you can listen anytime. But here's the best part. Our YouTube channel. Subscribe at youtube.com slash Rich Eisen Show and you'll never miss a moment. Now, on with the show. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. The opening of the baseball season. The season has begun. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Web swing on, drive to the gap. Dice hit first. He's in there with a triple.

1:29Earlier on the show, NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero, two-time NBA All-Star Carlos Boozer, coming up, actor and comedian David Cross. And now, it's Rich Eisen.

1:48Rich Eisen:Now, number three, the Rich Eisen Show is on the air. We've had a fun time. We were on the air live watching the Pirates give Paul Skeens a two-run lead before he even threw a pitch in the 2026 Major League Baseball regular season opening day for the Pirates in Citi Field against the Mets. 2-0 Pirates, and then the Mets scored five on Skeens and knocked him out of the game in the first inning. Skeen's entering his second start of the season, whenever that is, with an ERA of 67 and a half. It's 5-2 Metropolitans. Opening day, the Dodgers will have at it against the Diamondbacks at Uniqlo Field at Dodger Stadium.

2:36Rich Eisen:Am I saying it right? I have no idea. Okay. I don't know. Uniqlo? When you say Dodger Stadium, what's that? No, no. The Clo. The Clo. They're at the Clo of Chavez Ravine. Let's go. It's going to be just like Staples Center. Oh, good. But it's March Madness, guys. Guys, everybody focus. David Cross is going to be coming out of our green room in about 20 minutes. He just came. Did you see him? Oh, is he here? Yeah, he just came. Fantastic. I love it. He came to the back door here. Fantastic. We appreciate that. We would assume the analogist would do that. The famed one of what? I'm making an Arrested Development reference.

3:11Rich Eisen:I know. All right. He's here in our green room. But joining us right now is a proud dad, a proud Duke Blue Devil, and the man who I believe was chosen with the draft choice and the last Cavaliers draft choice in the draft before they took LeBron James. Carlos Boozer is here on The Rich Eisen Show. What's up, Carlos? How have you been, man? Guys, how are you guys doing? I'm doing terrific, man. Couldn't be happier. How are you guys doing? I bet you're happy. My gosh. What is it like for you and your family to watch your sons in action for Duke? What is it like? I mean, you go through all the emotions.

3:49Obviously, this is the best time of the year for college hoops, and the stakes couldn't be any higher. So you go through the excitement, the nerves, the anxiousness, the celebration at the end of the game when they win. All the emotions, man, but ultimately just proud. You know, I'm super excited for them to have this experience. You know, I went through it a long time ago, and to watch your kids go through it is a whole different kind of satisfaction.

4:11Rich Eisen:Well, Michael Irvin, who I adore and have hung out with quite a bit, told me once upon a time that he told his sons there were three things he couldn't, they had to do. They were beyond their choice. Everything in their world is their oyster, and they could choose to do whatever they want to do, but three things they could not choose were their religion, their last name, and the fact that they had to go to the University of Miami. Those are the three things he said. So I'm wondering, is it the same thing for your two basketball playing sons, Carlos? No, no, I didn't force it on them at all. They chose it on their own.

4:48They went through the entire recruiting process. They met all the coaches. They went on their official visits. And they decided to play together and play at Duke. And I was obviously extremely happy about that. It's obviously worked out pretty well for them. But they went through the process on their own and did a hell of a job making a good choice.

5:06Rich Eisen:And how did you find that out? How did you and your wife find out that they were going to play together and that they were going to go to Duke? How did you guys find that out? That's a good point because, like, for example, the option of, like, if there was a situation that was better for Caden than Cam, there was an option for them to go separate, right, and have a chance to go to college in two different places. Yes. If it was better for one or the other. But they sat down and handled it like some men and decided they wanted to choose to play together because it's going to be the last time they get to choose that.

5:37Obviously, the NBA is very different. And they chose to go to Duke, and I was obviously very excited because they had to get to know John and the staff, and they did, and they chose to pick that staff in this program. And as a proud alum, I can't tell you how my phone was blowing up when the boys decided to go to Duke from all the alumni, like Grant Hill was calling, and J. Will, and Battier, and the list goes on. So they made the brotherhood very proud.

6:05Rich Eisen:Did anybody call in advance thinking you could put your thumb on the scale, knowing about how talented they were and they wanted them to go to Duke? Was your phone blowing up prior to the decision? Yeah, definitely. Definitely that, too. But I think I did a good job of letting them just stay out of it, letting them decide for themselves. And then, again, I just know with my wife and I with three kids and having to, you know, play zone defense sometimes with everything that they do extracurricular outside of school. What made you happier, the fact that they chose Duke or the fact that they're playing together and you and your wife would just have to go to one place?

6:43Rich Eisen:Oh, my God. How convenient is that? Because we've done, obviously, our oldest son, Carmine, plays baseball. Yes. But we've done the, like, you know, three hours on the baseball diamond and then rushing across town in Miami and to go make sure we catch the basketball game inside. And sometimes baseball, you have a doubleheader, so you've got to double back. We've done that before while they were younger. So I'm very, very, very, very happy that you're at the same school. That's a great point. Hey, man, I'm a dad too. And I know my role is chauffeur sometimes more than anything else. For Uber rides.

7:18Rich Eisen:My gosh. And you mentioned Carmani. I would love for you to tell this story, Carlos, about Carmani's health and your two boys, the twins, and the family planning you went through and why. Because I don't know if a lot of people know this story, Carlos. Would you mind telling it here on the program? Yeah, yeah, sure. Absolutely. So obviously, me and Cece, the boy's mom, we married, and we're so excited to have our firstborn. I have sickle cell trait, and then she had sickle cell trait, which we didn't know. and that gives you a 25 % chance that your offspring will have sickle cell, like the flu bone disease.

8:00Carmine fell into that 25 % and we found out maybe like, you know, four or five months in, we did an amniocentesis and we tested the fluid and we found out that he had it. And we got tested. We were not a match. And we found out that the most effective match is from a sibling. But because he's our firstborn, there is no siblings. So Cece took it upon herself to get more information about IVF and in vitro and that whole process. Because we were, I mean, we're young. We're in our early 20s and we don't know that much about that kind of stuff. So we got educated very quickly and we went through the process and we were able to pick out, you know, two embryos that did not have a sickle cell or any sickle cell gene in it that were, you know, just healthy, healthy embryos.

8:48And we put both of those inside her and they both took. And that's how Cameron and Caden came out. And then we used the umbilical cord, the cells from the umbilical cord, to run through Carmonte's body. So basically, Carmonte has his brother's blood running through his body. And he's completely healthy. He's a 19-year-old stud baseball player at the University of Fort Lauderdale. And thanks to his brothers, he has a pain-free, injury-free life. My goodness gracious.

9:18Rich Eisen:So cool. Wow. Wow. Talk about, you know, being blessed and talk about obviously being blessed in a way that you you have the technology and the ability to do it. Right. Absolutely. My word. That had to have been a process, obviously, for you guys. It was. It was a lot. You know, we had just given birth to Carmine. Carmine was young. He was 15 months old. So he was a youngster. Was still like, you know, just speaking very basic words and and communication wasn't like, you know, full blown sentences. So you had to kind of read him, you know, if he was having pain or if he was having discomfort or things like that.

9:58So and it was tough because, you know, he had to go through the entire process of, you know, he lost all of his hair. You know, he lost all of his cells. They had to redo a port and move it from one part of his chest to the other part of his chest. And again, he's barely over a year old. So this is all, you know, I almost feel like a guinea pig at times because it wasn't that many kids his age. He may have been the first 15-month-old kid to go through this process, you know, way back when. So to us, it's a modern-day miracle. We thank God every day for it. And just grateful that the boys are all here, half healthy and happy, man.

10:34Rich Eisen:And honestly, I did not know that until just a few weeks ago when I read about it, Carlos. And it's just something for everybody to keep in their mind's eye as they obviously watch your sons do what they're doing on behalf of Duke and such a massive platform for the tournament on behalf as well of their brother. It's truly something else. You guys must get emotional. Appreciate that. You know, you guys must get emotional watching it. Yeah, we do, man. I mean, it's popped up a lot recently. Right. So we did, you know, ESPN did like a 30 for 30, like an E30 or whatever it's called, E60 story on them or something.

11:11It's pretty nice. So it's been nice to get the love from the people who haven't known about it, some close friends that didn't even know about it. So it's been nice for the boys. And the cool thing about it is you can talk to the boys about it and hear their perspective on it now because they're old enough to articulate themselves very well. So it's great to hear the boys' perspective on it too.

11:30Rich Eisen:Born for and with a purpose all at the same time. You know, it really is remarkable. Carlos Buzi here on behalf of DraftKings, which we'll talk about. St. John's, you want to turn to a pundit here and not just a dad? I mean, you know, Patino and St. John's. This is a significant opponent for your sons and for Duke coming up on Friday in D.C., I imagine. Yeah, very, very good team. Obviously, extremely well coached, Hall of Fame coach. They got some studs over there, some grown men. It's going to be a great challenge and a great battle. I'm looking forward to it. I just got to D.C. I'm here now.

12:05I just landed about an hour ago and jumped on with you guys. But I can't wait to watch the game. And Carmine will be here, too. Carmine will be here, too. So you guys will see him in the crowd as well. But, no, St. John's is a terrific team. I've been watching them all season. They had a great, great finish to their regular season. Battled a couple of tough teams like UConn twice and got the dub. Had a very good tournament thus far. They can score. They can defend. They defend like crazy. and obviously they you know coach patino does a great job of putting his players in a position to be successful so the challenge is going to be there and um we're looking forward to it okay um

12:42Rich Eisen:and obviously you survive in advance enough um you might end up watching duke take on arizona how ironic would that be obviously if your son was at a national championship with duke against the same opponent that you did back in the day for Coach K, that would be, I mean, it's possible. It's entirely possible right now. It's very, very possible. And it's been so many full circle moments this year with them wearing that uniform and being on campus. So if that were to come to fruition, that would be incredible, man. Yeah. And, you know, you won it all with Jay Williams, who you mentioned before, Shane Battier mentioned before, the current general manager of the Golden State Warriors, Mike Dunleavy Jr.

13:27Rich Eisen:I mean, look at that. What do you think of when you see this shot right there on the screen? Dang, I feel like I had hair back then, you know, without the Sharpie stuff. It's so good to have some young hair back then without the Beijing. But no, we had a good team, man. I mean, Shane was such an incredible leader. I don't know if these young kids know how great Jay Will was as a point guard in college. He was magnificent. Dunleavy was going into a sniper, sharpshooter. He was like 6 '9", 6 '10". And we just had a team full of guys who loved to compete, didn't care who got the name in the paper.

13:59We just wanted to win. And that's what this group is like. This group is a group of guys that just wants to win. They got a brotherhood, a very close-knit group this team is. So it's been fun to watch them battle some adversity, go through the ups and the downs, you know, losing guys to injuries, guys coming back from injuries. And no matter what they do, they just next man up. They circle the wagons. They believe in their coaching staff and each other. and it's been fun to watch. It's been fun to watch this team grow together.

14:24Rich Eisen:Any similarities between Coach K and John Shire, Carlos? Oh, a ton, a ton, man. What do you got for me on that? You know, obviously people that may not know, but John was a phenomenal player, you know, at Duke won a championship and also was an assistant coach under Coach K for nine years. So he learned a lot from Coach K before he took over. I think one of the things that John is learning in his young coaching career is the poise under pressure. Coach K was a master at being poised under pressure. You know, you go all the way back to the beginning with that Glatner shot against Kentucky since we're playing Patino coming up tomorrow.

15:02But just to have plays in the back of your mind, to know in every situation or what's a call, to have composure, like that's a skill in my mind from a coaching perspective, not to freak out, but to be poised because guess what you are? You're the leader. and the team sees you as that leader. And John has developed that. It's been awesome to watch.

15:24Rich Eisen:Yeah, I bet it has been. And again, for you to maybe have that full circle moment with your kids on the floor, you know, Carlos, that would be amazing, obviously, for you and your family. What are you doing with DraftKings? I'd love to give you the floor on that, Carlos. Thank you. First of all, what a great time of year, man. The games have been so close. There's no better place to bet responsibly than DraftKings. They do a great job. of giving mystery options for, for, for the consumers. There's, they're putting together this super apps. You can do everything at one location at draft Kings. Go guys, go draft, go bet at draft Kings and bet responsibly.

16:01Rich Eisen:Okay. Everybody make sure you do bet responsibly, obviously when it comes down to it, Carlos, I had Jamal Mashburn on the show yesterday. And I talked with him about how Stuart Scott and I called, you know, his highlights from sports center back in the day. Yeah. Same thing with you, sir, when you were doing your stuff with Duke. Honestly, I was calling all your highlights. So was Stuart. Well, I'd probably call all of them. Stuart wanted to have nothing to do with Duke. You know, being from North Carolina, nothing. He wasn't terribly happy. Then I went to Michigan, and I was with him, too, on that front, as you know.

16:35Rich Eisen:We were like oil and water, Michigan and Duke, when it all comes down to it. But you were there when LeBron showed up in Cleveland. You were in year two. What was that like when LeBron showed up in Cleveland, Carlos? He was, to be honest with you, I don't think any of us knew how good he was going to be. You know, we watched him in high school. We seen a ton of guys in high school that were dominant. But he stepped in as a rookie and was just as dominant. Like, he was the best player. We knew he was the best player after the first practice we had. And I was blown away. This kid was 18, built like a grown man.

17:12You know, you've seen guys come out of high school and they had the skinny frame like most of us had as an 18-year-old, he was stronger. He was more athletic, obviously, but he had a good build to him. And his vision, his IQ, his basketball, just natural born-giving ability was beyond what we had seen before. So it was a whirlwind, man. We went from having no media coverage to every game being on ESPN and national television. That was great. but he made the game easier for us because to me it's so it's so fascinating to me how he's the all-time leading scorer but to me his best skill was his passing ability he made the game so easy because you could see a play ahead he was tall enough to see over the defense he put the ball on time on target for you as a scorer as a finisher and he's leading he's led the entire nba in history with the most points but i still feel like his best asset is his passing ability

18:09Rich Eisen:Did anybody dare to haze him? Rookie haze him? Oh, he had the same. Yeah, he had the same stuff. He had to, you know, get donuts. He had to get coffee for Big Z. Yeah, he was a great rookie, man. He loved every bit about being in the NBA. He was ready for it. He stepped into it with a great maturity to him. He wasn't above, like, all the regular hazings that we all had to go through. I went through it, too. Everybody went through it. He was a terrific teammate, honestly. So Zydrunas Ilgauskas has told LeBron James in his life, get me donuts. Is that what you're saying to me? Absolutely. That's happened?

18:45Absolutely. She told me to my rookie year. Absolutely.

18:48Rich Eisen:And what donuts did Big Z like? I mean, I liked it a lot. He liked Glaze, Glaze Krispy Kreme. You know, standard, I think. Nothing too special, but you still had to get it for him. Yeah, in Cleveland, boy, I'm going to tell you, it was some days that you didn't want to go, but you had to go. Hey, Carlos, what a great way to catch up. I really appreciate it. Congrats to everything going on. Yeah, it's been way too long. Let me know whenever you're out here in Los Angeles. We'd love to have you here. We'll just chop it up. I love that, man. Thank you for having me on. Have a good time. I greatly appreciate it.

19:21Rich Eisen:I wish you the best of luck, unless there's one particular opponent that you do see. We already played you guys. Come on, man. I mean, we did, but, you know. Why don't you tell him? He's still complaining, Booth. No, no. He's still complaining. Go ahead. No, no, it was eight on five at times. Oh, boy. Eight on five. Eight on five. Your son never travels. Ever. Never. Do they even call traveling anymore in basketball? No, no. Certainly not against the Duke Blue Devil. Oh, boy. But against the Wolverine, absolutely. That happens. No, it happens. It's okay. It's so good. It's okay. I'm glad you appreciate it.

19:58Rich Eisen:It's so good. I feel the opposite. I feel the exact opposite. We'll talk about it then. We'll talk about it again, man. Thanks for having me on, guys. In the meantime, we go our separate ways and wish each other the best and hopefully face each other in Indianapolis. That would be great. Take care, folks. That would be amazing. You go. That's Carlos Boozer, everybody here on the Rich Eisen Show. I felt it was nine on five for a second. Wow. Him being here. Hey, I'll say it. Okay, great. I was trying to be classy. Well. And you dragged me down to your level. How dare you? That's not his level. You say it out loud.

20:29Rich Eisen:Yeah. We hear it on the mic. That's true. Yeah. Don't be scared. Eight on five. It's very difficult to win a basketball game. Five guys in white jerseys, three guys in black and white stripes. It's very difficult to win those games. St. John's will find out. I'm very worried about this game. Why are you worried? Why are you worried? Duke fan. Oh, that's right. My bad. I keep getting lost. And he's wearing a vampire. Okay. Yeah, that's true. Let's take a break. David Cross is here. He has a new comedy special that we'll talk about with a man from Georgia when we come back on The Rich Eisen Show.

21:18Rich Eisen:The Rich Eisen Show podcast.

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