Game 7 -- the greatest two words in the world.
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00:00Well, I think Game 7, two greatest words in sports, kind of says it all.
00:06But I think the brand is going to be built on the premise that everybody in life has
00:11a Game 7 moment.
00:13What are the skills that are required to perform when the pressure is the highest, when it
00:17matters the most?
00:18Obviously, we're telling the stories through these iconic Game 7 moments with these athletes
00:23that have delivered on their most scrutinized, pressurized moments.
00:27The docu-series with Conor Schell, Words and Pictures, and my partner Danny DeVito,
00:33it was something that resignated with me for my own journey through sport, acquiring the
00:43skills required not only to play the game, but also to perform when the stakes were on
00:50the line, when the stakes were the highest.
00:53So I think we did a great job of really depicting five really unique Game 7s, and the athletes
01:00that were involved in the series, in the games.
01:06And of course, the unfortunate part about any Game 7, certainly a championship Game
01:107, there's going to be a winner and there's going to be a loser.
01:12I hate the word, to use the word loser, because I don't think anybody's a loser in those moments.
01:17But unfortunately, or fortunately for us, we get to kind of hear both sides of it, which
01:22I think is an important lesson for all our young boys and girls that are going to be
01:26faced with their own Game 7 moment one way or another, and what are the real tools that
01:31are required to make great decisions and decisions that will change the trajectory of your life
01:37one way or another, whether you're in a sport or not.
01:39It could be the music, the arts, any different walk of life, but you will be faced with a
01:44Game 7 moment.
01:45It's a five-part series and you happen to play in two of them.
01:50Did the 87 Game 7 get you prepared for 94?
01:55There's so many similarities, exactly, to your point.
01:59I guess the only similarity is that we had a couple Stanley Cups before the loss in 86,
02:07then the rebound back in 87, get up 3-1 in the series, only to lose Game 5, go back to
02:14Philadelphia, where they trounced us, and then ultimately winning in Game 7.
02:19In 94, the same thing.
02:21We came home with the foregone conclusion that we were going to win the Stanley Cup
02:24in Game 5, but sports has a way of equalizing everything out and humbling everybody.
02:30We go back, we get crushed in Vancouver in Game 6, and now we've got to figure out a
02:34way to win a Game 7, which, as you know, anything can happen in a Game 7.
02:38Just because we felt we were good enough to win doesn't mean exactly that we were going
02:43to win.
02:45You mentioned your partner Danny DeVito.
02:47What was it like working with him on this project?
02:50Well, it was amazing.
02:52My partner Isaac Chura, I was his family friend with Danny, and when Isaac was telling Danny
03:00about what we were doing at Game 7, he looked right at Isaac, he goes, Isaac, I have my
03:04own Game 7 moment.
03:07And Isaac, he goes, you do?
03:08He goes, what is that?
03:09He goes, I was cutting hair over in New Jersey, I got an opportunity to read for a new sitcom
03:13that was coming out.
03:14Someone says to me that night, don't screw this up tomorrow or you'll regret it forever.
03:20So he goes in to do the reading, doesn't know what to do, he's got to stand out from all
03:26the other casting folks that were there.
03:29He takes a script, rips it in half, throws it back at the people that were going to interview
03:33him.
03:34He goes, who wrote this garbage?
03:36And they all sat there silent.
03:37They started laughing, they go, you're Louis de Palma, and he got the part in Taxi.
03:41So that was his Game 7 moment.
03:43Is Danny a sports guy, sports fan?
03:46His mom and dad grew up in Brooklyn.
03:48His mom was a big Yankee fan, and I think his dad, if I remember correctly, was a big
03:56Brooklyn Dodger fan.
03:59And he became a fan of both, moved out to LA, obviously, and is a general sports fan.
04:09To his own, using his own words, he's mesmerized by about Game 7s.
04:15When you get to that level and the stakes are the highest, he's watching it from a much
04:19different perspective there.
04:22As somebody who's been involved in multiple Game 7s, what would your advice be to any
04:28athlete or anyone in life who might experience their own potential Game 7?
04:34That's the question.
04:35Why are some athletes able to perform when the stakes are the highest, when the pressure
04:39is the greatest?
04:42What are they doing differently?
04:45What are the skills that they have?
04:47To me, obviously, it's unwavering self-belief that you have.
04:52Most players, when they get to that level of sports, have the skills required to play
04:58the game.
05:00But it gets much more intense as far as the emotional standpoint, the trust in yourself.
05:09And I think part of the series is designed to help young boys and girls, or everybody
05:15for watching, for that fact, the skills that are required.
05:18We tell it through the lens from the players that played in these games in this five-part
05:21anthology series.
05:23We're telling it from the perspective of sports.
05:26But in life, what are the skill sets that are required to enable these great athletes
05:33to do unbelievable things in the most pressurized moments?
05:38I think that was what interested me about the whole project from the get-go, is how
05:43can we tell these stories through the lens of a young boy or girl, or anybody watching
05:48it there, and help them, prepare them to make great decisions of their own when they're
05:52faced with a Game 7 moment.