It's A Lot Y'all
It's A Lot Y'all
Episode 3: Nightmare on Mavs Street, Producer Nicole talks Cavs, and what is Parker McCollum doing here?
On this episode of It's A Lot Y'all we take a deep dive into one of Ali Dee's reoccurring nightmares about missing a live hit during a game. Let's just say it starts with a Chucky Cheese meets Las Vegas Hotel-esque arena and it all goes south from there. To her dismay, that nightmare almost becomes a reality as Producer Nicole and her talk through the moment when last game, they thought it may come true. We also learn more about Producer Nicole's former NBA experience and y'all, we have a major celebrity in the house to participate in a promotional time out.
Hey everybody. Welcome to the, it's a lot y'all podcast. I'm Allie d and with me as always, producer Nicole. And we have got a lot to go over this episode. First, a quick recap on how we met. Nicole and I worked together in sports, specifically sports entertainment, in game entertainment. She is a stage manager. I am on camera, and so we have been through triumphs and tribulations in the sports. but here we are. We're making a podcast about it. We're glad you're here listening if you've made it. This is episode three first of all, cowboy season has come to an end. It was a great year. We had a great time. Great run. The boys did. Great. what's your thoughts on the season? Overall from an entertainment perspective, I think we did great. We made it through a whole season again with our squad, me, you, and dj, elusive. we killed it. Nicole, you were just like chilling, watching some pre-game, chilling, fall chilling. Yeah. What do you got going on cuz as we were getting ready, start the podcast. Yeah. We're recording this on a Sunday. Yes. It's huge games. So AFC have a little FFC n FFC championship. So as we were getting ready, I was just cozy up over here, um, watching some of the pregame elements, with the 49ers and Eagles yeah, so I just noticed I was telling you a little bit earlier, Rob Kowski is at the commentators table. it's so interesting to see him in that position. I noticed him last week, during some of the playoffs games in studio for N F L on Fox. it's just weird to see him cuz you typically see Rob like in a funny element or he is always doing like silly commercials. Um, and he's super serious, at the table. So it's a different side of Rob, but I'm here for. Okay. Does he have some good things to say? I know our girl, Aaron Andrews was just on You were like, I gotta watch her. We love you Aaron. Andrews big fans over here. and we need some like, gear, you know? I know. Wear ea. I like how I'm repping cowboys. You're repping masks today. Yes. Look at us. I know. okay, so let's get into some of the exciting things that have happened in the past week or so with our awesome, fun job. we have since concluded the cowboy season, which means we are mainly focused on the N B A now and the Dallas Mavericks, which is really in full swing. So we have, I don't know, worked a hundred games in five days somehow, magically, I don't know. I was talking to Chris Arnold the other day. Chris Arnold is a co. At the Dallas Mavericks with me on camera, but he's also literally a Hall of Fame Texas radio guy. Mm-hmm. Like he is just legendary in the Dallas scene. so unbelievably knowledgeable and just love him. So anytime I get like a little one-on-one chitty chat time with him, I'm like soaking it all in, just everything about it. The way he tells stories, the way he Yes. You know. Engages you, his tone of his voice, everything is just perfect and dreamy. Love it. And he knows so much history too. Yeah. Like he can take you back to like 10 years ago and tell you exactly what happened this game night and the history behind it. Records broken. Yeah, it's so cool. So as we were sitting courtside, we were watching the guys warm up and you know, I was hoping to catch another viral moment like it did last game, but that didn't happen. But, um, what I did tell Chris was, gosh, these guys like, I don't even have one 10th of the athletic energy, or I could never even dream of. Exercising as much as they do every single day. I mean, just think about how much physical exertion they have. I know it's such a grueling season. Not only that, let's just say you're doing that and you're playing, you know, 80 games at home, but half of those you're playing away, which means you're traveling, you're going to different time zones, you're staying in hotels, you're eating funky food. their life is, is definitely a whirlwind. And I just thought, man, I can barely get off the couch today. And here we go. They're just flying all over the country. I know. Mm-hmm. what's unbelievable when you really think about it, how often they do play games and how many, like even back to back games in different cities that they have. Um, so yeah, the athletic ability for these guys is unbelievable. I do feel like we've had a lot more back to backs this year than normally. I don't know what's going on, but it just seems like these guys are just constantly playing basketball. I know. When, when is their nap time? Do they get naps? Because I would definitely be like on the nap bandwagon if I was there. I know, and we have a lot of games coming up this week too. I think we have one tomorrow. Monday. Yes. And then one on Thursday night, um, against the Pelicans, my former team, so I'm so excited. They'll be back in town. Hopefully Zion will play, We need to talk about that and the Cavaliers shortly, cuz I think you have a lot to add about your experience coming to the maps from your other NBA teams that you've worked with. But before we get to that, I wanna touch on the end of last episode, or I think it was towards the end, I talked about how I have this reoccurring nightmare of missing. The timeouts. Okay, so let me just tell you, my nightmare is very funky. I have it like once or twice a year. It's the same nightmare. I've been having it for 16 years. and basically just scares the daylights outta me, and it's usually before the Mav season. So what happens in my nightmare is I'm in the arena. What does the arena look like? It looks like a Las Vegas hotel slash casino slash Chucky cheese. In my dream, it's like, oh my goodness, A lot of animated stuff going on. The carpet is like really bright colored, a lot of noise and like a lot of confusion. So it's just like that sense of like the chaos and confusion. The carpet's really bright. There's all this paint on the walls and I am. Circling the arena, trying to find the entrance to the tunnel to get down through the tunnel. Oh, no. So I'm just trucking along and I've got my microphone. Sometimes I'll forget my microphone, depending on the nightmare I'm having. And I'm just circling the arena, trying to fit, find my way down to make my time out, which, I usually don't make it. And then like all, you know, start crying hysterically and wake up and I'm like, oh, it was just a. Right friends, let me tell you, this dream almost became a reality last game. It was freaky. So to tell you what happened, Nicole and I have a timeout. What was, what was it first quarter break or was it, it was the quarter break. Yes. I think it was have, yeah, I think it was first quarter break. Nicole and I are staged at where, the drum line is. So it's me and her. Mm-hmm. we get up there early cause that's our personality. We wanna be up there and ready just in case anything like the contestant doesn't show up, we have to find someone last minute. All that stuff. So we are ready to roll, by the drum line and we're just chatting and then all of a sudden, what, what were we gonna do? It was like a movie poster. So it was Guess the movie poster, right? Yes. Mm-hmm. So we would show the picture of the movie poster without the title and the contestant would have to guess what the title is. So we were getting ready for that promotion and then around three minutes left in the first quarter, I'll never forget it. I look at Nicole and I'm like, Hey, where's the contestant? Like we may need to start, thinking about getting someone else. And then so what did you start thinking at that point? At that point? Well, and also like, I'm just programmed that, like how Allie mentioned, we always go way ahead of time because it's almost like you wanna think. what's coming next? So once the first time out happens, I'm already thinking of, okay, what's the second time out? What's quarter break? So typically after the three minute mark, if we haven't already had the second time out, the next set ball will be a time out. But in this case, we've already had our second time out, so the clock's running. So around three minutes every time I'm up there with all, and first of all, this entire season, we've been staged for our promotions at the drum line sound stage. So we're always at the sound stage. We know where we're going. so at the three minute mark, I always am looking for the camera guy. That's like my main thing. I'm like, okay, where's my camera guy? What if this timeout comes quick? Well, in this case, since it was the first quarter break, I was like, okay, well we have time. I got three minutes for the camera guy to get to me for a contestant to come here. But at the three minute mark, I just started feeling like, is something off. Now if I may interject. Mm-hmm. So in order for this to go smoothly, here's the moving parts. We've got Nicole, stage Manager. We've got me on camera. We've got a cameraman who is roaming the arena, doing lots of things. He needs to show up and be ready. We've got the contestant and we've also got the hoop troop member that's gonna have the prizes, so Correct. None of the people were there except Nicole and I. Continue. my sirens are kind of going off like something's weird. So time's ticking, time is ticking. Hoop troops know where to be found the contestants, know where to be found the cameraman I haven't seen. So all of a sudden something just tells me, you know what? I need to just confirm our location for this live shot. So of course I communicate to the director on my headset, and I'm like, Hey, Carla. just wanna confirm, are we doing this promotion at the Drumline sound stage? Well, to our surprise, we knew something was off. We were doing this promotion on the complete opposite side of the court. Now I wanna also paint the picture We're about like, a minute left now until the quarter break, guys? A minute left until the timeout begins And we have to make it from one side of the arena to the other. remember, we are up a huge flight of stairs. We are on the top of the first level. So now we have to get from the top of the first level. all the way down to the floor level and then all the way across the court and then all the way back up to the other platform. See, because on our notes it had said platform and so we both assumed it was a drum line platform and we did assume incorrectly know what they say about assumptions and make you me So Ben, it did that day. So Nicole's. We can make it. And I go, Nicole, we can't make it. I'm in four inch heels. Tell'em we're not making it. Nicole's like we're making it go. So here we go. She's got her hand lightly on the back of me and she's like trying to shuffle me, like it's gonna help me move it faster. A little tap on the back, like, okay, Allie, how keep it going. Okay, so now we get to the bottom. There's 30 seconds left, and we still have to go all the way across the court up and then up. Mind you, I've already spoken about my athletic ability. It is zilch. And now you have me doing cardio in front of all the people in the freaking arena, and I'm gonna have to go onto the top of the concourse and then try to speak without being outta breath. All this is going through my head as I'm. Sprinting the hell Sprint from one side of the basketball court to the other. So Nicole goes to go to the right and I'm like, Nope, we gotta go behind the players and behind the bench if we have any shot at all. This So also, I just all of a sudden go to the right and Allie's trying to go to the left, and she's like hollering my name like Nicole. Nicole. So this eats up like another 10 seconds, right? And Meanwhile, my eyes are literally on the clock. I'm like, okay, now we're down to 30 seconds. Yeah. So I'm communicating on the headset. I'm like, Carla, we are gonna try to make it. I will confirm when we're in position, Now we're going. Behind the bench of the Mavs players, which there is literally like six inches of room to walk. There is some room, you're like walking to the side, side, shuffling, side, shuffling all the way down past the benches, past the scores table. Now I'm past the opposing team benches. They're looking at me like, what is this crazy girl doing? I've got some fans in the way and I'm like, guys, you gotta move, move, move it along. We gotta get somewhere. It is panic ensuing. to our advantage? Thank goodness somebody fouled the ball So somebody fouls, which I didn't know that like yes. Which gave us about like another like, I don't know, it's super quick, but maybe 20, 25 seconds. I'm like, oh, thank goodness there's a foul. So I'm like, Allie, we are making this. We're trying to go up the stairs. fans are coming down on both sides. Yeah, so I'm behind Allie, still have my hand on her back, like kind of tapping, like keep going. And then I'm also to the side like, move. You gotta move, Right. Well, you know what's funny is I didn't realize there was a foul called, so I actually thought that I did have some like athletic skill. Cause I'm like, I can't believe we made it up here, But anyways, we do finally make it to the top of the stairs and onto that platform. I mean, when the buzzer rang, right, literally when the buzzer hit. Going into the quarter break, And typically what happens is like we're there in way enough time to where Allie and myself can speak to the contestant, get to know him a little bit, just kind of refresh our memory, go over what this promotion's gonna look like. because they're super nervous, You know, the contestants are super nervous and like, that's our job is to calm them down. Be like it's gonna be so much fun. And we're also super nervous. So we, we get up there, we're panting and I'm like trying to stage Allie. confirming on the headset we made it. We're here we can go. And poor alley. You're trying to catch a. Oh my gosh, you guys, it was so embarrassing. So I guess you did confirm to Carla that we made it, which I, this whole time I'm turning around going, we're not gonna make it And I'm getting mad cuz I'm like, I am not gonna freaking, you know, get on that camera and just be a total Sweaty, hyperventilating mess, but I somehow pulled it together. I don't know, by the grace of God, when that little red light turned on and the camera hit me, I just held my breath because I was breathing so hard and I was like, ok, we got so and so here. Go to the big screen. Like I wanted to get off camera as soon as possible, take the camera off of me. But I will say, you did a great job. No one would've known that. You just sprinted completely across the court and literal. Under 40 seconds. Yeah, that was amazing. And I did wanna be slightly mad at you for trying to push you along, like that was gonna help at all. Anyways, I'm glad we did it. You did a great job in giving. Confidence to just go for it. So thank you so much for, holding it together for me, cuz I certainly was falling apart. and speaking of holding it together, I feel like you've done a really good job just adapting to the Maverick's lifestyle and how things go. I know this is your first year with the team, but you do come to us with experience from other N B A teams, specifically the Cleveland Cavaliers and the pals. Mm-hmm. So talk a little bit about how you think that experience has Made you so comfortable and just ready to jump in here with the maps. Yeah, for sure. So I would say like in my career too, especially with the calves, I was obviously a lot more involved and I learned, I feel like everything I know just being with that organization, um, along with the maps, they have a really great show. You know, got way more experience with all the audio work, with lighting, and just having a sense of the timing. N B A, and especially with the production of it all, it's all about timing. So our timeouts, if you're not aware, timeouts are two minutes and 45 seconds, and then our quarter breaks are two minutes and 30. So it's kind of a mindset thing that you know how to move pieces around to get, like, let's say we have a minute video into this timeout. Well then I know coming out of that minute video, I have a minute and 30 seconds left. is it like. How I kind of internally know what a minute feels like. So if they're like, Allie, we've got a minute till we go to you. You kind of know. Yes. Actually a minute's, a long time until its a long, long time. Yeah. When you have a minute to prep something, you can be like, oh, I'm going sleep for 30 seconds cause I've got all the time in the world. So actually when you have a minute, but it becomes like an internal clock. So for you, was this something that you were trained on? Was there training on like, this is how it's gonna go? Yes. Did you just follow someone around or how did that happen? I think it was just drilled in me at the beginning like, keep your eyes on the clock. especially when you're on the court and let's say you have a promotion or a lot of moving pieces on the courts. We always had this rule that at 30 seconds left on the shot clock, you gotta start clearing the court. So that's usually the first horn. So if you're at the game, I challenge you to kind of listen during timeouts, like when that first horn hits, it's always at the 32nd mark. And then when that second horn hits, it's 15 seconds and you better be clearing the court or on the baseline. So I think that was always drilled in me, and I always express that to my other teams. Like, guys, listen to the horn. First horn, start clearing the. Second horn, we got to go You know what's funny? I think a lot of fans don't realize too, is not only do we have to get off the court, but like you have to get off the court. Because if you're not off the court in time, you're getting fined. And that is a big, obviously No, no. Mark Cuban does not wanna get the fine. Yes. For us taking too long on the, you know, jellyfish, Jambo, was going on, on the court. the reason. Said that because I remember one time we had this timeout that was just a total disaster. This is before you were there, where it was something like, it was like a Dallas Aquarium promotion and we had like this pool full of like those little bouncy balls and they just went everywhere. And so everyone was panicking me cuz we were trying to pick up all the little bouncy balls from all over and it was a total nightmare. And I think we did actually get five because we didn't get a month in time. Yes. So we just say that timeout was killed and never happened again. It and it's funny because. that same game we had the water burger fries promotion, which just shout out to Whataburger. This is not sponsored, but this is my favorite cup of all time. My water burger. Allie, Allie loves water burger I love water burger and I y'all, this is like my prize possession and I got this. Because I actually got this from them for doing some promotional stuff for the Mavs. This was in the little gift pack package, and they're like, oh, you can keep it. So whenever I go to Whataburger, I'm always like, Hey guys, And I'm trying, they don't, they don't care that the window, they're like, what is this girl doing? Because I'm, I always wanna show it off to them, and they just don't care. They're like, Just take your burger and go. And I'm like, look what I got. Uh, anyway, you always have that water burger. I know. Um, Tumblr too. it's like a staple It's part of my existence. so water, burger fries is going down normally guys, what happens with water burger fries is we've got these oversized giant foam of french fries. So a picture, like a pool noodle, something like that. and all they have to do is we've got two contestants and they have to throw the Whataburger fries into like the fry container, which is about, I don't know, 20 feet away or so. Mm-hmm. and they're, they're at like mid-court and um, The, whoever gets the most french fries into the container has a chance to win free Whataburger for a year. So it's very exciting. The contestants, the fans, everyone goes nuts. We love Whataburger fries. and so we usually have two random contestants. Mm-hmm. Now, this time in particular, we had us. Superstar contestant that was joining us. However, what was so funny is Nicole did not know that this was a celebrity in the contest. Guys, let me just tell you who the celebrity was. You may or may not know his name is Parker McCollum. He is a country music superstar. This guy sells out everywhere he goes, um, playing Houston Rodeo, like all the big places. Everybody knows him and loves his music. So anyways, I'm like, There's Parker Mcca and this is gonna be funny. So Nicole's prepping for the entire timeout. And so what you normally do is you kind of give the contestants, like we were saying, we wanna butter them up, make them feel comfortable, right. So you start doing that, right? Exactly. And I first off wanna say I didn't get the memo that we had a special contestant this game, so it's actually funny because we give these contestants Whataburger t-shirts and. Spicy and one's fancy. So I like to always just introduce myself to a contestant, make sure they know what's gonna happen. They're comfortable, they understand the game, and then I get their names for the MCs. little did I know. this guy's like a famous country pop star. So I walk up to the two contestants with him and his friend and I'm like, Hey guys. I'm like, okay, can I get your first name? So I got the first guy, And then I got Parker's name, Something was like off because everybody was kind of being like hush hush, like, oh, we have parking. There was more people standing around than usual, you know, normal Parker. He had a a little bit of an entourage. Yes. So I don't know who was there with him, but I felt like maybe a manager or something. There was a few people like standing around and people were being like a little. Correct. So, okay. Get their names. No big deal. So now I'm tasked with, get the last name and how he wants to be introduced. So I walk, which never happens. Never happens. Like, so Nicole, still not getting like the light bulb moment still not happening for her. So not only has she asked. Basically the Madonna of the country world, um, what is your name? Now she's gonna go ahead and say, oh, and what's your last name and how you wanna be introduced? like what do you mean? Normally it's like, hi, I'm Joe Smith from Plano. Like, now here we're gonna, okay, so go ahead. So he tells me his last name and I'm like, McCollum, Oh God. It just guys does not register to me. So long story short, after I asked the name, I was super embarrassed, but you know what? Maybe it kinda could have humbled him. Who knows? Yes. Shout out to Parker McCollum because I do love you and I do love your pretty heart song, So I'm very familiar with the song. Um, but overall, Besides that mishap, the contest went really well. And you know, it just happens. There's a lot going on. It's a lot happening. And it's a lot, y'all. just to wrap that up with the prettiest bow ever, Parker, I just wanna say you need to practice your water burger, fry throwing, because I don't think him or his friend made us think. Actually, I think, was it Parker that made one at the bar, made one. We almost had no fries in the container. Parker needs to work on his fry throwing because there was just one little fry that made it at the very end, which means he got to throw the special fry for the free water burger for a year, but he did not make it. So, sorry, Parker. You're gonna have to buy your own water burger. I'm sure you can afford it as a huge, country superstar. So thank you for participating in our stuff, Nicole. I can't believe it, but we have just flown. Through today's episode, we're at a time sister. Noah. I know. Yes. So y'all, thank you so much for hanging out and listening to episode three with us. We'll be back next week with another episode. We had a few little technical difficulties we had to work out. We've got those all worked out. But please, please, please follow us on social media. We're on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, all the things at, it's a lot. Y'all. You can find Nicole and I both there. We love to, you know, chitty chat with you and exchange ideas. Anything y'all wanna hear about what. To talk about on the show. Please let us know. We're gonna have some great guests coming up this season. lots, lots more in store for you, so we're so thankful you're on this journey with us. Have a great week, everybody, and we'll see you next time.