Episode 122: Sports

0:09 Welcome back to another episode of A Record of My Father. Today we're going to be talking about sports. I played lots of sports growing up. I played hockey. I also played baseball, which I was not good at. I also played, what else said, by football, which I was good at. I played defensive nose guard when I was seven years old before we figured out the concussions were a thing. And then what else did I play? I played skateboarding, played the skateboards for about 13 years. You're still. Skateboarding now. Yeah, yeah. I always thought I broke my lower back the other day. I thought was crazy. Snowboarding. Snowboarding. Yeah, Yeah, that's also. We learned that. We all learned together. That was the that was the coolest thing. And 06, I think we went out for the first time. Oh, I played soccer.

0:54 I also played basketball. I also played. Was there anything else? I always like tracking cross country, Trying cross country, Yeah. Yeah, you do a lot of sports. No, I was really big at that. Well, now you just, well, I was kind of a thing. I think when you grow up in the area that I grew up in, your parents make you try something until you are good at it and then or many different things until you find one that you're slightly better AT and not terrible at, you know, like that you're slightly better than all the other ones, Right. Well. What a lot of people try to do what? Yeah, yeah, you go for it. Go for it. As you're really trying to figure out a way to find out what a life sport is for a kid. I think that, I think from my perspective, the thing, the only thing I really wanted you to do was I wanted you to find something that involved physical activity at an early age that you like to do for a long time. Because I mean, when I was a kid, we played army, we played kick the can, we played, you know, the different types of games, hide and seek.

1:58 We played smear the queer. But we're not allowed to say that anymore. What is? What is the? Rules for kick the can? How does that work? I'm curious. Kick the can was one person was under, the would would be it and they put the can light in a public area and then he would have to. The way that you could win was to kick the can and he would catch certain people. He'd spot you and touch you and then you had to come over to where the can was and then somebody would have to sneak in and kick the can to free everybody up. That is totally not what I thought it was. It's dumb. It's it's really. That sounds like capture the flag to some degree. It's, it's a lot like that, but it's more, you know, at least from what I remember. But I remember Army being the coolest thing 'cause we would get, we would get sticks that had like a little front on them in the back and you'd hold them like it was a machine gun, 'cause we would watch combat and silly things like that. We would go out in the woods and we'd pretend and we'd throw grenades and oh, you're blowing up. No, I'm not.

2:59 You're blowing up. And then you punch the guy in the face and then then you, then that's the end of it. Yeah, well, I grew up too, not really watching sports, but playing them. I think I did fencing one year. Yeah, you did. Yeah, I remember that. That was that was funny. Well, it's sort of like your mother was much more into getting you to try a lot of different things, which is very, you know, she was very good at that. And that's why I'm a cosmopolitan today, you know? Let's try this, let's try that. Let's try this. It's why are you judging it before you get to do it? You'd be like, fuck, I don't want to do this. But she would. She would, you know, browbeat you into actually getting you to do it. And then you'd find out many times that you liked it. I liked hockey for a while, yeah. Hockey.

3:44 Hockey you did for five years. Wait, was that really five years? Yeah, it was five years. What age is? Crazy. Do you remember? I don't remember how old I was then. I think you were, it was weird. You were eight or nine and you, you were 8 and I was no, maybe 12. You did it to 12. Did I really? Five years. Yeah, 'cause you were like, you were 12 and you're like, I'm just not having fun anymore. Well, because of all of the people, because I think this was going into 7th grade or no, No, right. Yeah, right. That's it when I was. Playing hockey in elementary school. Yes. No, I wasn't really. Yeah, you were. I was. Was I? I remember you on the ice. I was there at every practice, every game, remember, because I didn't have a job.

4:29 You were unemployed at that point. I was homeless. And I well, it was after I sold the first company, OK. And so I had like. 2005. I told everybody I was retired, you know, so it's probably you did it in O 6, you know, so I would and I don't even. Remember being that small though. Oh, you were tiny. Because the funniest thing is you guys were like Pee Wee League. You were the smallest you could be and you would go out on the ice you put out. It took you like half an hour to put everything on 'cause there's so much stuff. We're going to Fact Check this 'cause I want to call mom after this. You would. Do you remember what ages I started 'cause I don't remember being 6, right? I don't remember that.

5:10 And I don't remember it being five years either. I remember. It you were on the ice, you were on the ice and you had a couple buddies there and, and you would put on your masks and all your gear and you would punch each other as hard as you could in the face and knock each other down and laugh. And you'd like to do that more than you'd like to hold a stick and skate around on the ice. But once you got on the ice, if you hit somebody, you know they'd fall down and then you'd laugh. You know, I might have been 14 when I stopped. That makes more sense. You were, you were like you were, now you were, you were doing 11 league and one practice, which when you're in a league, you have one practice and one game every week. And you had a trainer once a week. And people came to us and said if you really want to make it, you have to join 2 leagues.

6:06 So when you do 2 leagues, there's two leagues in the area. They actually practiced on opposite days and they played on opposite days. And that way you could get 4 days of hockey in a week. And then you were supposed to hire a trainer who's supposed to train you twice a week. And we were like six days a week. And when you started, I think you started, you may have started at 8:00. And they were like, well, it's, you know, it's too late. I remember that. It was so funny. And and the moms were like absolutely serious about their guys being professional hockey players. And I was thinking like, your kid is 8, you know, and we're not in Canada cause nobody that doesn't play in Eastern Europe or Canada is actually any good at this sport. You're, you're good.

7:00 It's kind of like wanting to be a professional skateboarder and not living in LA. You're in California, Yeah. OK, when you're in California, you have like, you have a huge, huge upside opportunity. Same thing as skiers, like downhill skiers. They come out of Colorado, they come out of Alps, they come out of because they're doing it every day. They're, I mean every. Single I remember meeting people that were in Colorado talking about the days of the year they get skiing and it was like 60 or 70 or something and then I've. Only got I've only got 85 this year and I remember hearing that I'm like holy crap. I remember the the year that I worked the hardest was 35 on the East Coast. And you were thinking and.

7:44 That was a hard, those were hard numbers to get. Yeah. And you're thinking to yourself like, Oh my gosh. And these guys do twice that exactly. You know, remember when we went to when we went to Turkey and we were on that boat and that one guy was a downhill skier? Yeah, yeah, I remember that the speed skier or whatever it is, but he. Stopped 'cause he fell. You know, like 100 miles an hour or something. Yeah, and he broke his arm and his back and his leg and, and you know, and you're like, whoa, you know, when he was like 14 and he was like thinking he might get back into it or something, but you were like, probably not. I'll never, I.

8:24 He said I'll never be able to go as fast as I did before, 'cause now I have AI, have doubt. And I remember just like someone that's that young, that's already got that mindset, it's like, whoa, well. That was the whole thing about falling on a skateboard is, I think it was 19 or 18 and I thought I broke my leg and I was driving my car home and I couldn't feel anything below my knee. And it was like, it was very interesting. And then I didn't skateboard for five years. It changed your it changed your mindset when you get hurt doing something. Yeah. And then you're like, well, why? I don't really have to do this, you know, It's not like. That why did I did the forward face plant on skis on 7 springs coming.

9:10 Down the hill. And I slid and I literally dug A trench right up to a log and I didn't hit the log and I had a helmet on, you know. And when I did that, I didn't, I didn't ski for like, I don't know, a year, two years after that. But I remember people going overhead in their, what is it the, the gallows? No, in the gondola. And they yelled down to me, are you OK? Are you OK? Do we need to call an ambulance? And I was just like, because the crash must have been spectacular because I was flying down the hill and I hooked something and I did a forward face plant.

10:01 I'm a forward face plant. See. Like remember when you did the scorpion with? Oh yeah, yeah. I did a forward face plant with skis. So skis, it's like, how stupid do you have? To Was this before or after you broke your lower back? Remember well, I never broke my lower back. Well, the herniated disc is what I'm talking about. Before. Yeah, maybe that will contributed. Do you ever think about that? Yeah, yeah, it's definitely before. When your spine goes in that C pattern. Oh my. I I know exactly what it feels like still. In the last time it happened, I was 8. Isn't that funny? I know exactly the feeling of when your your heels touch the back of your head.

10:42 Yeah, I know exactly what that feels like still. I remember that was just, that was the most ugly thing. You know, when you see your kid get hurt, it's like, I'd seen you all through, like, childhood. I mean, you, you were Mr. Waterhead. Well, I would love to get on top of the chair and then dive onto my head onto the ground 'cause it was fun. It was like I was preparing for your head. Weighed more than the rest of your body, so. But still Dimes. Yeah, but you would walk along and it was so funny because. But it was weird. You know, if you're walking on a a rock, you would never fall. Everything was perfect. You're good. You get on a wooden floor, you get a little unstable, you get on stone, you're going to fall. And when you hit the ground you you hadn't figured out how to put your arms in front of you yet. So it was plunk and it was and I don't know if parents know what it sounds like when your kids head hits concrete. It is, it is, it is sickening.

11:41 It just it just does something to the inside of your stomach, you know, and then you go 123 and then the scream, you know, and that was the same thing with that was exactly the same thing when you did that scorpion. But the weirdest thing is when I saw you like look up at me, the top of your helmet all the way around was split. And so I knew that you hit the ground like, because The thing is, is we were skiing East Coast, which was whitetail and it was solid ice and you'd skied ice before, but and Sibbony or shamany when you were about 1 foot 7 tall. So you were like much shorter, you know? That was the worst skiing I've ever done in my life. Well, we got French Alps.

12:26 Isn't that funny? You ever think about that? The worst skiing you've ever done? In your life, the worst game I've ever done in a bad place. In the world, I think that is the weirdest thing in the world. But we had the greatest time at park were there that I've ever had. I don't even remember you. You we would. You would. You guys wouldn't listen to me the first day and I said you got to stay up. No, no, we got to go to sleep. And I'm like, no, this is going to I. Like how you're complaining about a nine year old not wanting. It wasn't you. I was complaining about your mother 'cause she was like, no, no, you got to give just a couple hours and I'm like, you're not going to sleep over there. You're going to sleep six hours. And you did. Got to tough it. Out and then and then we and then we went and then, but every night at 2:00 AM you would just, you'd pop up and so me and you would leave.

13:12 Where are you going? We're just going to go for a walk. And it was a beautiful Christmas town. You know, Chamonix just, it's all it's, it's like, it's like that shit that you buy and you and you like a little scene. You know, there's, it was just so, and it was snowing and it had, and it had the Christmas sleigh and everything. And The funny thing is you would go out and the, and the, and the buildings over there had really cool, like stone faces and stuff that you'd climb up and you would climb up all these different buildings and run across the rooftops. And you were like, I don't know, 8 years old, seven. It was just, it was funny. And I, and I thought it was cool. And then you come down and you're like, what are all those people doing? And, and it was all the bars were closing. So they were all coming out in the store. All the drunks were coming out and they'd see me. You were walking around and they'd. Be like, that's odd.

14:00 I'm like this man with this young boy. Who are these people? I bought you at the market. Yeah, you sure did at the the French market where you buy the rabbits. But what else was that? Yeah, No, there was a lot of stuff. I never really swam competitively. I remember a lot of people did that. There was swim team. You were like, I'm not going out there. It's cold. Exactly. Maybe out there in October. And I was like, I'm not doing that. Like I don't wanna. Yeah, I'm not cold. The, the, the, the big deal was that they started early and it was, it was kind of like a thing that got people together. Same thing with the the basketball was they. Ended the late. I didn't know they started early. I guess it.

14:43 Yeah, they started. They, they, they it was just, it was kind of weird, you know, But but there were like cliques in the neighborhood. And that's the reason you play base basketball is because one of your friends was in basketball and there was a click in the basketball and you would get in. But then you know, you if you're odd man out, you don't get to play. The only thing you only thing you get to do is practice. And it was the same thing with baseball. Baseball, you were so uncoordinated. You know, I, I. Just was hands down probably the worst athlete of all time except for running. Running was really the only you. Were good at hockey. I mean, you were. You were. Was I? I don't even think I you. Weren't good at hockey, you were good at skating. Oh, it was really good at skating.

15:24 Yeah. No, no, I was an excellent skater. And but the puck handling and things like that, I never really could have that. You never got that. No, I got that. Yeah, I know. Even though I would do the whatever it was. All the drills. Yeah, the all the drills up in the summer thing. Whatever. Hardcore hockey. Apparently that guy got slammed for domestic violence recently. I met a woman, not a. Shocker years in the audience. Go ahead. And she's like, yeah, I worked at Reston Ice Rink. And I was like, I was like, oh, did you know the hardcore hockey people? I used to do that all the time. She's like, yeah, I knew that guy. I was like, what was the guy's name that used to spit on the ice?

16:05 And she knew his name. I, I forgot it. So forgettable. Yeah, about his name. But he got slammed for not only domestic violence, but I think he started beating the kids at the hardcore hockey thing 'cause he would make it seem like it was somebody that never got into the Marines that wanted to be a Marine. And I'm like, this is a sport for 9 year olds. And you're I, I think that's so funny when they become so superficial at these things really don't matter at all, right? You know, like all you got to do is watch them and that's it. But that's. Well, I mean, I remember your football coach was that way. Oh, the guy that pulled my mask? Pilcher, Pilcher, whatever the hell was saying was. See you watching the girls on the playground. If you want to go over there, I'll take your helmet off. You can play with them.

16:51 He's like and then you know what's funny though is you preface that by saying I told my son the same thing and I'm like good looking back at that. I was like, how dare a 7 year old want to have fun, You know like that's just my. Stuff. Well, you guys were over there Like messing with each other and running around the thing and he and you weren't fully paying attention to the football game, which he didn't put you in anyway. Yeah, exactly. And he, he, he'd give you 2 minutes of time over 60 minutes. And you did some. You were actually a pretty good lineman, defensive lineman. Well, that was the first year. I think you're talking about the second year now. Yeah. The second year, The second year was just a shit show. It really. Yeah, yeah. I tried. I tried to be there the first, the first year the guy was really, really he you guys lost most games, but he was a. Oh, we lost every single game.

17:38 He was a good person, was he? Yeah, he was. He was a good person. The. Guy that was always like, we're going to pray to. Jesus, No, no, not that football game today. That was Pilcher. That was from Bob's. Whatever. But. Oh, Bob knew him. No, I was going to say Bob the Builder and the cat. Yeah, 'cause the cat's name was Pilcher. That's pretty funny, yeah. Yeah, same thing. But he was, he's really serious. He was a Bible school guy. I, you know, whatever. But I always love praying to God to win something because isn't the whole ass that pistiligent to not use it as a vessel to alter your world but you have to use it as a mindset to better yourself. Like I didn't really I.

18:21 Think it's fine. I think it's fine if you want to do that, but I think the idea that you got attacked on everybody's feet there is just is wrong, especially when they're kids. I think it's just it's. Well, it's institutionalization, right? And that's. What well, it would be, it would be the same thing as if I was to stand there and be the coach and and and you wanted to cross your arms or something and do some God thing and I and I, but you can't do that because it offends me. Exactly. You know, it's like same thing. I'm, I'm going to force atheism on you, which I, you know, I don't, I, you can believe anything you want. Just please don't try to tack to the soles of my feet or my kid, you know, and that, and that's one of the times that I was weak and I didn't do anything because he was, he was, he was doing the whole cross thing.

19:06 And I, and I really, I should have said something. I should have said something. I look back, you know, that's one of my regrets. If I was to write them down, it's like, dude, don't, don't do that. You have no right to push your religious views on my child. Don't do it. Very weird now that I look back at that. Well, I look back at a lot of the conditioning stuff that we would do in young kids sports when I was 7 even. Hockey. The hardcore hockey game, remember. That Oh, I totally forgot about that. Yeah. Summer golf game. Yeah, I was terrible at that too. Really bad and everything. Really, really bad at pretty much everything when I was a kid except running in high school, and I finally figured out how. To yeah, you were better at running. That was the only thing that I was moderately good at and I wasn't even good at that to that degree. Like I ran a 5 minute mile, but that's not I think any high schooler can really do a 5 minute mile if they're pushed hard enough.

20:00 Except I think. Like there's no, there's no shot I can run 5 minute mile right now. I'm not in high school though anymore so. Yeah, but I'm just thinking about the obesity level of kids in school now. It's just off the charts, so I thought. We were second or third now and we're no longer first. I thought that's what that was. Well, that kind of sucks. I. Thought Mexico replaced us I guess. Somebody told me that the other day. You think they just deported a bunch of Americans? That'd be really funny. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Well, let's see. Let's see. I'm actually curious. Yeah. Let's see what is. Yeah, but I remember you're the reason you did hockey of all weird sports is that your mother was she said he's clumsy. He's really clumsy. You know, you couldn't, I mean, standing up, you would fall over.

20:43 And she was that way too. She she would the one that would trip over her own feet when she was standing still. And she's, and her mother put her in ice skating and she, I, I mean, last time I saw her skate, she could skate backwards, which to me is really cool on one foot and do a circle and, and you, you, you could, you learned your balance and all the kind of stuff when from skating. So it's, it's succeeded at doing that. And it's just like when we put you in the private school, the exercise stuff and all that running, even though you weren't Mr. Super Speedo Guy, the idea that every single day you were forced to do some type of exercise that I think instilled this lifelong exercise thing with you. And that's why you lift weights.

21:34 I guess, I don't know, I started smoking weed towards the tail end of it when I was when I broke my knee and then I broke my ankle and then skateboarding was more fun. It always was more fun than running. Yeah, but that's that. Skateboarding is not the drug addicts. Yeah, I mean, you're not wrong, but at the same time, it's in the Olympics now, so you can only say that. I had a dad, I had AI had a dad tell me that. Really. I don't want to do that. I don't know. There's some skateboarders that I know that have are winding up pretty successful that I grew up with. So that's pretty crazy. Yeah. Or at least have a consistent job network. Yeah, I think that's the, when you start to look at it, it's like you're, you're, you're. I would think to ascribe my values or views on some other parents is, is that we want our kids to be happy, healthy and the ability to earn a living at whatever they love or like to do, you know, and so that's.

22:27 Cool. Well you got to be top 4 skateboarders in the world. It's now more than ever because you used to have ways that you could sell boards easier because the industry was larger. And now the industry is not that large, it's a lot smaller and it's over saturated. So you tell me. You tell me how awesome that market is, right? And then the boards, I think you make like only $10 on each board you sell, but you really want a shoe line. That's what you want more so than anything, because the percentage of Commission on per shoe sale is way higher than a board, right? Because. Because they have the guys from Bangladesh, No Vietnam. Exactly. It's not pressed wood. Pressed wood is hard to make.

23:09 I mean, it's not. You got to have all these things. Whereas a shoe, you just sew it together with strength. Yeah. With. The seven with the three seven-year olds. Exactly. But that's what always I still enjoy skateboarding. I'm still not terrible at it, but I'm I'm still pretty good, yeah. It's an exercise vehicle to. You burn a lot of calories doing that. It's crazy, man. More than you would think. More than you would think, definitely. Yeah, I mean, I think about my my sports as a kid. I did Little League baseball, Single A, AA, AAA majors, so four years. Oh, you did majors too?

23:50 Yeah, Yeah, I did. I did four years, no, five years of baseball and I was like catcher, I was pretty good at catcher. I could hit. I could, you know, by second year I could, I could put a ball to the second baseman without, you know, anything. I, I had the power to do that. I could throw somebody out at 3rd. I could throw somebody out at first if they bunted. I mean, I, I had a lot of skill that way and I could throw a rock, you know, and it came from my throw rock days 'cause we used to practice on throwing rocks at kids that we didn't like. And, and they, and they practice on me. That's why I have a pointy head cause I've been hitting the head so many times. But the.

24:30 Thing is, too, what's funny about being a kid is you think that you're just born with these skills that like, you're either good to something or you're not, and that's it. And as you get older, you realize that, no, there's a lot of accumulated time that you put in something that makes you good at something. And that because I remember thinking, I still remember thinking that I'm like, oh, these people are just naturally good at this. And now, little did I know that the hockey players were waking up at 5:00 AM to go to practice before middle school and elementary, even in elementary, because I remember 5th and 6th grade, they were waking up. They were making 10 year olds wake up at 4/30 5:00 in the morning to go to practice before going to elementary school. That's crazy.

25:15 That's crazy. Think about Brady when he's, you know, he's, he's 39 and it's during the summer. What is his name? You know, the head of the Patriots, the quarterback for Tom Brady. You mean Tom Brady? And he's, and you, and you hear the story and it's like, and he's out there with Shaq and they're doing a celebrity golf tournament in July. And Shaq pulls in and sees Tom Brady running sprints in the parking lot. He's 39 years old and you're like, or 38, something like that. And he gets out and he looks and he's like, what are you?

25:58 What are you doing? You know, And he goes getting ready for the Super Bowl. I mean, that's. Yeah, that's a removal commitment. Or you see, who's the guy that died in the helicopter. Oh, Kobe Bryant. Kobe Bryant, when you when you listen to him talk about what he did and it's like, OK, people would meet him and they're going like, oh, he's like works out all the time. He does this all the time. He's probably going to show up at 5:00 tomorrow and then they show up at 5:00 and he's already been working out for now. Oh well. You know, and you just like and he goes and that's what he would say.

26:40 He would say I'll look at you. And he goes, well, I know I can beat you. Not because I'm a better shot or this, that and the other. I just know that I can work harder and I will work harder than you. If you show up and and you listen to Tyson, he would say the same thing. If you get up, if you get up at 8:00, I get up at 7, you get up at 7:00, I get up at six, you get up at 6, I get up at 5, you get up at 5:00, I get up at 4, you get up at 3:00, I stay up all night. And you're just like in the way he said it. I mean, he would get up in the morning at 7:00 in the morning in New York and to build his stamina, he would walk until 8:00 at night, just walk because he, he believed that strength and legs, which allowed him to do that uppercut power punch was like the most important thing. And he was right.

27:34 You know, that's, that's the reason that he could go down to a full crouching position in front of somebody at lightning speed and rise up with his full body weight and knock them out and one punch and 9 seconds into a match. That's why he had, I mean, the dude did not stop. There are very few people that are exceptional at what they do that don't do it. I, I, I don't, it'd be hard to find someone that's, you know, and let's talk about a lot of, you know, it's like when you think about sports, those guys, they, they have talent and they may have the ability like, like you would never be, I don't care how much you'd, well, you could be a good baseball player, you might be even above average, but you would never be exceptional 'cause you don't have you, you don't have this eye hand kind of thing.

28:31 Me. You're talking about me specifically. Well, there's also a whole thing about pitching and you know what? There there's something about I think only a certain amount of people can be pitchers in the world because pitched well. Did you throw a 90 mile an hour fastball? No mine was like about. Mine was like 85. No, it wasn't. Was it really? No, well, no. I was like, it was a Little League I. Pitched. Oh, it was Little League. Oh yeah, Majors. I pitched until the majors, but I mean, we lost. Majors high school. That's not high school, is it? No majors is like middle school 8th or 8th, middle school 7th, 8th grade about then that's it. That's when you start 9th. Grade Indians in your arm to the tear. I don't know. And I think that also has to do with. Johnny.

29:12 The picture you're going to be for how long? Yeah. It's, it's so sad. It's so sad when where you see people. Donnie Appleseed. Johnny, what is it called? They put like an ostrich tendon in your arm or something? Yeah. They do all sorts of things, Tommy John. There we go, Tommy. John, that's it. Which is 2 guys first names. But no, no, you, you think about it. But those guys, they, they not only have the talent, but they have that matched with the drive and the ability to go after something. And it's like, I think about it. I think about it. I mean, my skill set is in the business side. And I remember going to business going, you know, no matter how late we drank our faces off on a Tuesday night and sleep in an alley in downtown DC, it's 7:30.

30:04 I was there the next day. I may have been a little fuzzy, but I was there and I was working and I was producing and I would do that and I and there was just because I was like, it was, I was just driven to do it, you know, and well. The only other option too, I think after the the mortgage, right, the second mortgage to do the drives was homelessness, right? I think that was that. No, no. Your your mother was making like 90 grand a year. Oh, really? I could have. Yeah, I could have been. I could have been bitch boy. I mean, I really could have been, it could have been and you know, I could have been the guy that was the failure husband that went to work for the government 'cause I could have like dropped back and taken a 'cause I had a college degree and that at that time.

30:48 That was actually valued and people actually cared about those things. Yeah, you could get AGS 5, you know. Yeah, I could get in. I could get into the government at a low level. I could have worked at a as a researcher making a certain amount of money. So for me, it was just like the, I mean, the only thing is, is that it would, it would have significantly hurt US financially. And I don't know what that would have done to us. Because you know, when you see, if, if we were to go through financial stress, it would be, it's, it's hard, you know, and I, I, I was in it my whole childhood where every single conversation that you have starts with how much does it cost? And you don't have a conversation, you don't have a conversation with anyone.

31:40 If you looked at me and you said, I mean, like in our house, no one would have played hockey because the equipment cost too much. Oh yeah, no, no, the overhead. We couldn't have, we couldn't have afforded the bag to carry the equipment. The bag itself is crazy. The bag was a. 100 bucks or 80 bucks and then if you want to put a brand on it, it was a 1:40 and you're just like why would you put, you know the these guys on it for 40 ice? Skates sticker ice skates were crazy. Yeah, and the better. Oh, you got to get the good. You got to get these. You got to get these, you know, and you're like the what's the better? We were in a position. What? Are you talking about the better? Well, the best ice skates were like. Oh, you mean better ice skate? I was like, what do you say?

32:22 They were, I mean, they were $350.00 for a pair of ice skates. No one can afford that. That's crazy. And this was 2009 and and, but, but let us remember that you're nine years old, so this is a one season. And 1/2. Maybe 2 that you get to wear these, otherwise then you got to do it again. It's really unfortunate, too, that I stopped doing that sport when I stopped growing, you know, Why couldn't I have gotten into it when I start? Man, you can't really do that day. Nobody's playing ice hockey and they start when they're 15. Nobody does that. Yeah, I don't think so 'cause you are so far behind skating wise that you're just not doing it. There's no shot.

33:09 Maybe like field hockey, but like, not ice hockey. Like I don't know anybody that's getting when you're 1415, you're that's way too late. You could skate. I could still skate pretty well, yeah. You could take a stick and you could take a puck and you could and then you could learn how to handle. You can now understand it. You. Know you now understand how, what are the motions and movements? Because when you're that young, you don't understand. It's like when I played football, they would tell you tackle that guy, you know, that was it. It was no like there was no, well, you go left and you go right and then fake and then move through the middle and then up, up and he blocked this guy and this is what's going to happen. They didn't tell you that. They would say knock that fucker out, you know, and that was it. Stop him, hurt him, say something. I mean, I remember.

33:56 Step on his face. I played football one season and we were first place. We're second place in the district. First we were like first place conference champions. We're conference champions. And then we played and I played minimally. I happen to be on a team with the quarterback. Turned out he was a he was a football star and a baseball star. He became a pitcher and he pitched for the major leagues. So Sullivan, Oh my God, you know, I mean, the people on the team were, you know, they were amazing at everybody was amazing athlete and there were people that were just freaking hulks. There was one guy, Perry Botto, I remember him. He was like.

34:40 That's a spider man name. We're in, we're in 4th grade or fifth grade and he's probably in 6th grade. He is literally a foot taller than everyone. And you just give him the ball and you just run up the middle and, and you'd say, hey, we're going to give the ball to this guy. Let's see a tackle him now he can still get 4 yards. And you only need, I remember the the coach showing us, he said you need 3 1/3 yards every play to March all the way down the field. So if you can just go this and he would do, if you can just go this, this, this far, If you can just go this far, being 3.4 yards, 4 yards of carry. If you knew 4 yards of carry, you'll win every game, every single game.

35:26 No one, no one, because you know, and he would, you know, if you wanted 4 yards, he'd take it. He could get usually 6 or 8 because he wasn't fast, but he was just a monster and and he would see it would take four or five people on their team to bring him down. You don't really think about it now, boys. I think is the sweating underneath pads is the nastiest feeling in the world. Like I don't know, I think when you're a kid the sensory kind of thing is not a big deal. But now being covered in pants and sweating for 2 1/2 hours would make me want to die. I don't know.

36:06 I I, I just don't. I think the worst way, sweat being pressed up against my skin. You when you went away to skate camp and you came back. Skate camp? Oh, you mean skateboard camp? Yeah, when you did that, you came back and we would pick you up. We would have to like I was. 11 years old and I did not shower. Yeah. And we would have to take you to like, at first we didn't realize what it was, but when you get in the truck, you're like, Oh my God, what in the hell? A shower Wednesday. It's Saturday, dude. No, I didn't shower the whole time. No, you jumped in the wait. Your shower was you jumped in the lake. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. You jumped in the lake, OK, that that was the shower and it was not.

36:49 And you're just like. Thinking about that now is I'd be itchy, I get itchy. That's what would happen. I get itchy in my my later late 20s a lot more than when I was younger, you know? I get swamp ass you're. You're itchy, man, though you're itchy all the. Time. Yeah, well, I got something. I don't know what it is, we're trying to figure it out, but that it happens all the time. But no, no mine. My worst smelling ever was climbing Kilimanjaro. Oh yeah. With that, you know, well, I kind of wonder if it wasn't pretty bad on Guatemala when we did Santa Maria because we had drunk. Well, that was one day though. That was you and I drank a bottle of vodka and then we climbed that thing and all of it came out of us. I'm.

37:34 Surprised I wasn't itchy on that because when I heavy drink and then I sweat a lot the next day. Your skin burns because of the residual alcohol that's coming out of the. Pores, right? I was thinking we should slide a match near you. Yeah, maybe we do. We drink a bottle of vodka. I don't even remember that. Well, that's probably why, but yeah. And we got up at 3:30 in the morning. I remember we went to bed at like. 12 Maybe we just don't do it. Maybe we just hang out here and we let them do it, you know? I'm so glad we climbed that mountain. No, me too. That was crazy. And seeing the volcano erupt when I was up there that was and I watched it with some homeless dog. There's the homeless dog up. There. I was like, how do you live up here? That's what I was wondering.

38:17 Well. Those ladies that came up, that was so funny, 'cause I'm walking up and I'm and these, these, these little Guatemalan ladies, because at the very top of Santa Maria there is a, a place for Catholics or something where they, they have a, what do you call it, a, a sacrifice stone or you know, where they put things. Sacrificial style, Yeah. Where they put? Stuff for memories from their family Memories Religious center and they would bring flowers up and and you see these four or five women that are like 4 foot eight walking past you and they're built like little tanks and they just walk past you and they're wearing sandals, you know, wooden sandals and they have ankle length, you know, cotton dresses. And they're just walking up and they wear and they're all wearing hats and they smile at you and you wait and you say hello and then they just walk right past you and you're like, Oh my God.

39:14 And they do not look like they are fit in the least, but they just sort of just like motor past you. And it was just, did they pass you too? No, no they didn't. Yeah, it was just crazy. I think about my cardiovascular ability back then. It was really good, even though I was smoking all the time. Yeah, you know well, because you. You had it from high school, I. Had residual high school running ability. That's what it was. Aerobically fit. I will never be that aerobically fit anymore unless I change now. I would have to change now. You know what's funny? What I just. I did 5 this morning. Well, you didn't run it, that's the thing. But but the this guy that I went to camp with, the skateboard camp actually just placed for what is it, international championships for Iron Man?

39:59 That's crazy. He runs like a 450 or some 444 hour 40 minute Iron Man. And that's fucking crazy. Well, you know the 100. And 23 mile bike marathon in a mile, swim in the ocean, mile and a half, two. Sorry 22. Is it 2 for Iron Man 2? Triathlon is just one then, right? Oh, is that how that works? 'Cause Bob did Iron Man twice. He did, twice. This guy does them like all the time. And he did. He did it in Hawaii. Well, what was his time? Do you remember? 17 hours and 27 seconds. Oh wow. No, I'm just kidding. I just made that up. But he did. He did the the 26.6 mile, he said the two 2 1/2 mile, 2 mile swim in the ocean where you know the waves are 8 feet and you're swimming over the waves. Oh, it's definitely not in four.

40:53 Hours. What am I talking about? Yeah, that's way too far. Because the fastest one ever, 721. Oh, because he was. It wasn't 4 hours, 50 minutes. He was placed 450. That's what it was. That's why I was misremembering. I was thinking I'm like, yeah, that's way too fast. He does that, then he comes and then you run 26.2 or 26.3 miles and then you get on a bike and it's 117 miles on the bike. 1:17 or 1:23. 123 I got. I don't I don't know the exact numbers. But I don't know why it's that many too. But he did it twice, you know, in Hawaii cause Hawaii is like. 112 let's. See 112. That's the original.

41:34 That's the original Iron Man. That's. 112 Two point four mile swim and then 26.2 mile run. How do you do that? I don't understand. Swim. It's the swim, the bike and then the run. Yeah, no, the swim, the run and then the bike. Right. Yeah, that's some real athlete stuff, man. That's some real, real athletes so. It's, it's, it's athletic, but it's also there's, there's, it's a. Mine thing? Yeah, it's a mine thing. Because when, when, when I remember when doing the some of the the harder climbs, I mean, I didn't really do climb. We did hike, hike UPS when you're doing elevations, when you, when you, when people say they climb Kilimanjaro, there's a little scramble at the end, but it's not really climbing.

42:20 It's just you're just walking on a slanted surface for for for four days or 3 1/2 days or whatever the case may be. You're. Walking up it and then you're walking down and you, you don't really, you know, don't have crap ONS or none of those things that you have to tie on to things and do. It's none of that stuff. It's, it's, it's all just, and you get into a mindset like it's weird and, and I imagine that when people play baseball or basketball or whatever, when they're in the mode that there's a, there's a rhythm that comes and your mind just sort of drifts away. We got to be used to doing that.

43:00 I just can't imagine. You. Know oh wow, I just ran this marathon. I can't wait for the bike. Like what? Like I don't. Understand. But you wouldn't think ahead to that. I mean, I think, Oh my God, the thing that I learned when I was doing Kilimanjaro is like you, You look at the ground and you don't look up. Because if you look up and you see how far you have to go, but if you look at the ground, you only have to make the next step. Well, I think the key too is you're swimming and then you're running, right? And you're like, thank God I'm not swimming right now. And then when you get to the run and after the run, you get to the biking. You're like, man, I'm so happy I'm not running right now. I think that's part of it, right? Or is the run last? Is the run or is the bike last? I thought I don't.

43:41 I think the run is last, yeah. Yeah, that'd be hard. For that sucks, I'd rather the bike in the middle. Really sucks. Oh wow, I'd rather be bike at the end, you know? Yeah. Oh my gosh. Because then it's just a super rot, yeah. 26 miles. Yeah. Crazy. Well, I don't know how. What do we have for time here? We have that are which are we, Central Standard or Southern Standard? We're actually Antarctica time. Antarctica time It is 45 minutes. But 45 minutes? Let me let me say OK, golfing, we did golfing. Oh yeah, I forgot about that. We golfed. I mean, I've golfed all over the world. You've got, you've got into that for a couple of years.

44:23 Yeah, I well, The thing is, is that when I retired the first time I remember I used to taunt my partner about golfing. Such a pussy sport. And if he listens to this, I have to say you were right, I was wrong. And Richard Harrison, you were right. I used to give him shit all the time that that, you know, golfing for pussies and and and I still think you know, and and, and our other partner would always say it's I think golf is the interruption, the unnecessary interruption of a great a great walk. And it's fine and and and. That's pretty good. I turned out to like it and it's not necessarily golfing with me is not, I mean, I'm, I'm, I hit 100. You're not bad.

45:09 No, I remember your your drive is great and you have the weirdest driving I've ever seen in my life. Everybody laughs at it. It's so strange, I've never seen somebody hit a golf. Ball 230 and is I mean my best ever is like 300. So I mean, I got, I can and it's straight. Too and it goes straight, which is even. Crazier, you get 1, you get a couple good hits each each game and you come back for that. And it's also for me, it's not about for for what it is. It's the people that you play with. If you have good partners that are there for fun and they want to challenge themselves, like, I mean, I would golf with Todd and he is just amazing. He's just a great, he's a, he's like a, you know, low 80s golfer.

45:55 So really, really good. But but if he hits, if he hooks into the wind, yeah, whatever. And whereas I've seen people just get so upset if they I mean, it'd be like if they struck out on the field and they broke the bat right there and then took a crap on the plate. And you know, and you're just like, you're not going to be nobody that I play golf with is ever going to be a pro. You're just not. You're not I. Can't believe you say that. You're, you're going to be, you're going to have a little bit of and hopefully you're out here. You don't have to be at work. You don't have to listen to, you know, any family member. And you're getting drunk in the middle of the day. I mean when? You're smoking cigars and getting high and all that other stuff and it's like, This is why would anybody be upset about that? I don't know.

46:41 That's and so as long as you're with people like that, I mean, like me and Bush go, we go off everywhere because he's just so we're relaxed and he would be, oh, I don't know, that's not good. But I mean, that's how upset he would be. Well, that's all. Maybe I should have a beer that'll change that. OK. And I'd be like, OK, you have, I'll drink 2 beers for you so you can golf better. So it's all about it, all about the the people that you're with. Does he still? Play because he got into it for a while too. Yeah, I haven't. We'll see. I haven't pinned shoulder so I've been out of it. For well, he's been everywhere. Yeah, he's been all in the world, but I.

47:22 Don't know if he's been playing golf in that time. No, I don't think so. Yeah, I will have to. I'll ping him in Spain and say, you know, if we're not going to go to Jordan, let's go, let's do, let's play golf and let's do that because I think that would be, well, he's. In Eastern Europe right now and he's talking about December. December or something? Yeah. Yeah, he's kind of all over the place. You. Know because he was thinking about going he went to Sarajevo I. Don't know where that is. Yeah, it's Eastern Europe. Is that a country? Was it? Croatia. Oh, Croatia, OK. Yeah, Yep, Up there in the North and doing that, whatever, whatever. Scuba diving, Is that a sport? Nah, no, that's really a fun thing, boating I.

48:04 Guess like there's some people that do the boating where it's like sailing is that. A What about you? Never did crew. We never. Did no, never did crew. Horse racing, no no boxing. My brother used to box friends in the side yard but never for money or anything up to any degree. No, just fun. I mean, as far as sports besides baseball, Little League football, the one year and the reason I didn't do football again is because it cost so much. Football costs a lot. Cost a lot because you. Got to get the pads. You just need a glove. Do you need the helmet? You don't need the helmet. Yeah. Do you pay? To buy for the helmet, do you have to buy it or could you rent it?

48:46 I don't remember what. I think I don't. Remember what it? Was, but I remember the next year they were when they start out with well, how are you going to earn money if you want to play football? Oh wow. You know, and that's the the question was posed to me when I'm, you know, going into 6th grade. Oh, you want to go skating? Well, Zach, you're going to have to get a part time job to afford skates. And you are. I mean, that's what yeah, that's that's what it was. And so, well, it, you know, and today you look around, there's a lot of people that those are the kind of decisions. It's like, well, do I feed my kids or do I let them skate? You know when you look at your skateboards and stuff like that and it's like that's. Yeah.

49:29 It can be, it can be really expensive or it can be inexpensive. The but the equipment does matter somewhat, somewhat. It it gives you, you can get a competitive edge. You, you absolutely can. If you put two of the same people together and you give me the, the ping driver that drives I, I will do better. It just just for me personally, you feel better when you're playing with stuff that costs more. I don't know why. It's just maybe it's a psycho thing. I'm sure that's a psycho thing. You know, I'm stupid. I I bought, I spent a lot of money on golf clubs and I think like what else? I had friends that are race car drivers.

50:12 They used to build. They had a, a, a. Legal or legal race car? Driver legal legal in Woodbridge. There was one out in Manassas. It was like a track or something. Tracked it was like 1/4 mile. That's pretty cool. I always wanted to build my own car. You ever you ever have that urge? No, I suck ass at that. I mean, I have the urge of wanting to do things that I don't have the capability to do. I don't have the patience. I could build a car with an expert mechanic as long as he said tighten that down three turns. Put this tire on that rear, rear air, put that there. Tighten it down, do this, do this, I can do that. As I was great. I was a great carpenter's helper.

50:52 I'm really, really good at being a carpenter's helper. I could carry everything. I'd move everything. I can anticipate what the person wanted. So I'd bring it to him and when he's like, I need a pencil and I just always carry one with me. And he'd be like, why do you do that? And it's like, well, because you always need one. Oh, you know it just because I, I have a mind and I know that if I work with you for a day, I know what you need when you need it. I don't have my tape measure. Oh, here's one. And I would always carry a tape measure, always would carry, you know, and they'd be like looking at me like, how did you know to prepare for that? And it's like, well, you always seem to need one. So you know that that that's why I'm just Johnny on the spot. And I was, I was pretty much, I was, I was lean after high school.

51:36 And I mean, one of the reasons that I thought it was really good for sports for you is that in high school, I was just kind of a doughy kid. And I think like I, I felt that you would be in public school, you would be this doughy kid that cause. Yeah, I probably was sort of smoking dope earlier. You didn't only have to make it into sports, you had to. You had to suck up or be nice or be recognized by the coach as someone that was worth their time. Well, I think the craziest thing is that I looked at cross country times on Langley High School when I was in high school. I was curious and our fastest guy broke 19 or something.

52:20 The slowest time was like 1530 or something and out. That's like pre Olympic. That's 1535 K. They were walking crazy. You knew that dude. Dang, yeah, yeah, well, that wasn't just him either. That was like the entire team. They're all within like 16 minutes. And he was brilliant. Guess how fast? The women ran seventeens and I was like, whoa man, that's crazy stuff. Goes to show that people that are bad at sports go to private school. That's what you got to do. Right, because then you feel better about yourself. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, good old.

53:01 It's all about it is. Works that way. Feeling good about yourself? Yeah, and, and building habits that later in life that you keep that'll hopefully keep you in some, some semblance of. I mean, that's the thing I think that is missing from high school now is the fact that kids are not drawn in to do physical exercise on a, on a, an everyday basis. Well, you got a. Gym, don't you? Is that a class? Not until class. You do until 10th grade and most people skip it because they're cool. Nobody wants to go in the locker room and take their clothes off in front of a bunch of other guys because my Dick's smaller than. Yours. You get in the locker room with guys, right? I don't know. Yeah, I always thought that was strange. And there's a, there's one guy that I remember in particular, he had sewn A jock strap because they would tell you to pull out your jock strap.

53:44 So they knew that you put your jock strap on. And he had a pair of underwear that he had a jock strap sewn to so he could pull it out. They wouldn't tell you to drop your pants, but they'd say, hey, who who's the, who's everybody pull out your jock straps. I want to make sure everybody changed and don't have underwear so you don't get your, you know, your nod smushed. And we would pull those down on her leg. You know, when you're wearing shorts, so you're pulling it down low. So all you're doing is pulling strap out. He sewed a strap inside of his gem shorts. So then he would just pull it down. And it was just like really funny. And he never had to change his underwear, Which? OK, been weird. Yeah, yeah. Interesting. Strange, interesting guy.

54:26 Wonder where he's at now. God, I can see him. Old jock strap underwear. Bill. Bill. I can't remember his last name. Yeah, I don't know. I'd have to look it up and see. But a lot of interesting characters. You know I. I look at where many of them went or had, you know, we're all in the Northern Virginia area. A lot, a lot of them went down to Stafford, out out east and stuff. A bunch scattered, went to different states, you know, So it depends, you know, everybody kind of is here and there, you know, some went to LA out your way, you know, But wow. But that's the way sports are.

55:09 Sports Comment on your favorite sport in the on the. My my mine right now is not really a sport, but it's hiking. I I the idea of walking through the woods when with your friends or quietly, it's just something that drives me. It's just it, it makes me feel at peace with myself. That is something that and that's why I walk because I'm like, I got to walk as long as I walk. You know what I'm I got to, I'm just did. I just got back to doing lunges yesterday and and I am walking. I started doing them again too, because that you know what's funny? 70% of your testosterone is exerted through your legs, which is really, really interesting 'cause you think about the muscle groups down there, right?

55:58 And I've been neglecting them for two years. Probably. I stopped doing lunges because I got lazy and I would always do some sort of like exercise every time I worked out. And then I stopped doing it 'cause I didn't want to anymore. And then it's funny, I, I just got back into it and I really have atrophied in these two years with the, the whole leg thing. Well, if you do want just two, it's good for your hips. Good for your hips. 'Cause I did, I mean mine was 'cause I had the quadriceps torn in the left leg that it, it, it hurt. And you know, me being a pussy meant that I was not not going to do with any. And then the PT guys telling me you got to do them.

56:39 He told me just the other day. And so we did 60 in his office and. 60 Oh my God, well. We did 1515151515. Oh, that's a lot. You know, that's a lot, man. You know, I don't even do 60. That's crazy. No, it's just two sets of 15 each leg. That's OK. That's sixty. OK total. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So that's not so 30 each. Leg OK, gotcha. I mean. I thought you meant 60 of each leg. Oh yeah. No, but I did. I've done a lot. I remember Kuipers when he was at the height of his, what do you call it, CrossFit. We went over to your elementary school and we walked around that track. He still does that. He's talking about that.

57:19 He didn't do that. Not the lunges. Yeah, he did, He said he did the workout with the the guy. Yeah, but he's only done, he only does one trip around. We did 4. You did four. Well, four. It's on a 400 meter track though. Yeah, you're supposed to do 400 meters of lunges. And that's why you did 2 laps, because it's on a 400 meter track. It was. Like you know what, we probably only did 1 1/2 or something but it but. It felt like 6. For, for, for five days, I was in extreme, excruciating pain. And the worst thing is it's not going up, it's going down. And today I was out doing a five mile hike with two buddies and I got to tell you going down the hill. I walk like baby steps.

58:03 That was the only I was walking. Like a chimpanzee, you know, walking down the hill. I remember you were in the bed and I was like 9 or 10 years old. I was like, what's wrong? And you're like, I just, I'm just not going to get up today. I think that was out of the track working out. Yeah. I don't think you you laid in bed for all day. That's that's so. Bad. That's so bad. Yeah. So funny. Yeah. Lactic lactic acid lives with me. Yeah, it does. That'd be your superpower if you were a superhuman. That's for. Sure, I do have. That Oh, all right. Well, I think we're going to wrap up here. Thank you guys for listening as always. Record of myfather.com, I'm seeing the streams creeping up here. Thank you guys for listening as always. It's really awesome.

58:47 We've been doing this for two years, if that maybe I would say about a year consistently. You're in wait. Is it almost two years consistently? Yeah. 122 episodes. Wow, almost two years consistently, haven't missed 1 yet. Yeah. And look forward to us never going on break 'cause we never will. Cause when we go on break we'll become inconsistent and never get back to it. Well, so we're going to do this for the. Rest of the and now we have a equipment that we can take on the road, yeah, like we did in Moab. So we we're going to do more and next year we need to do 1 from we need to go to North Pole. Let's. Do it. We gotta go to the North so you know. What's crazy is these this woman just won on a cruise for 15 days. Guess how much the cruise cost for one ticket? 70,000,015 days, $1100.

59:37 Crazy, right? Isn't that the best sounding cruise ever? No. Oh, my God. That's not, that's not. I don't know. No, the amenities look great. I don't know the ways that she was filming it. You know what's funny is the key to advertising is film. When nobody's there, that's what you got to do. I don't know. That's the key. Wow. Film when nobody's there. Yeah, but you had to. You had to pay for each meal. No, no, unlimited. It wasn't carnival either. It wasn't carnival, which carnival I've heard is not great. But no, no, that's just me. All right. See you guys. Mushy peas and pork and beans, right? That's for sure. Bye bye, we all want that.