L. Jon Wertheim Tells The Ultimate ‘Sheed/Isaiah Rider Story

Drew Magary|published: Wed 29th April, 13:00 2009

We got two excellent stories out of this week's Deadcast guest: Sports Illustrated writer L. Jon Wertheim.

The first one is a story from his recent, excellent book on the UFC, "Blood In The Cage," regarding an old judo master who made Steven Seagal poop himself. Nice.

The second story involves Rasheed Wallace back in his days playing for the Trail Blazers. Early in Wallace's career, he was involved in a nasty child custody battle with his baby mama. That woman ended up kidnapping Wallace's son. Wertheim, working for SI, was sent to Portland to cover the story of the kidnapping. Wallace agreed to cooperate with the story as a way of raising awareness of his son's disappearance. (He had, in fact, gone on live TV to ask people to help in the return of his son).

But when Wertheim got to Portland, Wallace told him that, before anything, he had to go out bowling that night with Gary Trent and Isaiah Rider. So Wertheim, in his rental car, followed the three players in their SUV as they made their way to the alley. Only they couldn't find the alley, so the three players then decided to stop the car RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FUCKING STREET while they tried to sort out where the alley was.

One motorist honked at the players to get moving. In response, Rider proceeded to hock a loogie on the motorist's windshield.

Oh, Isaiah. Don't you ever change. Wallace eventually found his son and gained full custody. Not before bowling a 132, one would assume.

Wertheim and I also discuss how Dana White's online tirade against reporter Loretta Hunt affects the UFC, amateur MMA night at rural strip clubs, the future of Sports Illustrated, his new book on Federer/Nadal, and lots more.

This week's podcast is available for your listening pleasure right here. You can also find the new Deadcast in the iTunes Music Store here. Special thanks to Liberated Syndication for hosting us. Got an email for me or next week's guest (Stefan Fatsis) you want read over the air? Send it to me here. Now sit back, relax, and listen to Jon's loogie story.