9 Unbreakable Rules of Consistency and Commitment | Ed Mylett

27:31But, you know, Ed, I'm asked a lot about why I work out so much, why I do all this. And the reason really is simple, that I feel like my success as a player was because I just refused to be outworked. And so I was going to do whatever was required. And when I got into broadcasting, I'm not the greatest speaker in the world. and uh but i just said i'm gonna i'm gonna i'm gonna give myself at least a fighting chance and i'm gonna i'm gonna put more time into this and so i i work hard at trying to be as prepared as i possibly can be to go into a broadcast and then with the working out now in my personal life it's been about discipline uh and commitment and if i let myself go i feel like it i feel like then I become a bit of a fraud and what I believe is the foundation of who I am and why I've been able to have some degree of success.

28:29And so I think it's, you know, when you talk about a through line, when you've been asking me those questions, that's the through line for me. It's discipline, it's consistency, and it's commitment. Very short intermission here, folks. I'm glad you're enjoying the show so far. Don't forget to follow the show on Apple and Spotify. Links are in the show notes. Now on to our next guest. Welcome back to the program, everybody. I'm so fired up today. I have some man I've admired from a distance for so many years. He is one of the great leaders in American sports. He just is. And he does it with a style that is all his own.

29:02And it's one that I've admired from a distance. Some of our mutual friends have confirmed what a good man he is for me. And let me tell you, 140 and 33 while he's been at Clemson as the head football coach there, but he started to get better and better and better last three years only lost three games undefeated in 2018 two national championships the list goes on and on and uh this is from a guy who was a walk-on at Alabama by the way which is even more ironic that you went to Alabama now you coach at Clemson but I am honored to have Dabo Sweeney on the program today coach thank you for being here thank you Ed it's good to be with you man this is uh what a what a great uh great great treat to to be on uh on this podcast or show and and uh opportunity to to meet you yeah my pleasure coach so we're gonna go all over the place we're gonna talk leadership recruiting culture all these different things but this is like a master class on leadership and recruiting but there's one thing i gotta ask you because i've always wondered this about you lots of coaches talk about faith in the locker room right before a game let's pray together or or they're they're they're Christian men or women that lead teams.

30:11You were the first coach that I saw do it outside the locker room in like post-game interviews. Now, I'm sure it's been done before, but it's not been done before to my understanding on the level you compete at, the magnitude of your job. And I remember watching you get interviewed after a game going, this dude fires me up. Man, he always acknowledges God. He always says something about his faith and that's bold. And I actually thought at first, I thought it was aggressive because or amazing because I wonder if it cost him some recruits and it must be okay with him that he does do that. Was that a conscious thing where you're like, I'm going to be bold about what I believe in the locker?

30:47I'm the same guy in the locker room that I am in an interview that I am with my family that I am coaching baseball. And I'm sure you might have caught a little flack for it at one point in your life for being so bold about it. I just want to know your thoughts about your faith, how it plays into being a coach, a leader and your boldness about it. Oh yeah. I've caught a lot of flack about that. I think, you know, when that's why the Bible says you better put your armor on every day. I mean, like every single day, you know, and listen, I don't judge people or think I just, I just believe what I believe.

31:19And, you know, Colossians 3.23 says, one of my favorite verses says, it says, whatever you do, do it with all your heart as if you're working for the Lord, right? Whatever you do, all right? And I tell them, if you're cleaning the room, your bedroom, do it as if you're working for the Lord, because that's the perspective God wants us to have. And that's, you know, we have a really crazy world. You know, we're in a fallen world. Sin is real. The devil is real too. Nobody wants to acknowledge that. That's what I believe, all right? And maybe I'm wrong. I'm going to meet my maker one day, but I know what I believe.

31:55And I believe in Jesus and I believe in God. And I believe that in Colossians, where it says, whatever you do, you do it with all your heart, as if you're working for the Lord. And when you do something with all your heart, you're going to go above and beyond, right? And everything that you do. And so God, I don't, I don't get how you can separate that. And so, yeah, I've had all kinds of flack. One year where some, some, some group that, man, they tried to, you know, come and like, they said all this crazy stuff. Like, I'm only playing Christian. I'm like, let me tell you something. If I'm only playing Christians, we ain't winning like we winning.

32:31I promise you, you know, ain't nobody checking roll at chapel. I got chapel, but, but I don't sit around and go, Oh, you didn't come to chapel. You don't play today. No, give me a break. You know, I just think you have to be who you are there. And that's what, that's what I said back then. There's nobody that comes to Clemson. If I was an atheist, Guess what? Everybody who came to Clemson would know that. I think you just be who you are. And there's nobody that comes to Clemson and goes, well, that guy, man, I know Coach Sweeney was a Christian. And so I just think you just be who you are. I know what my job is.

33:02My job is to win football games. But I know who my maker is, too. And I know that when you are a person of faith and you're a Christian, that's not something you turn on and off. Whatever you do, you do it as if you're working for the Lord. And so, yeah, my paycheck says Clemson University, but let me tell you, at the end of the day, I'm working for the Lord. Because one of these days, there's going to be a scoreboard a whole lot bigger than the one that hangs out here in Death Valley. And it's going to be, you know, Dabo, I gave you all these things and all these young people, what did you do for me?

33:33And listen, my job's not to save them. But I do feel like that I have a responsibility to be an example. And I try to live my, man, I'm the biggest sinner in the world. I try to live my life in a way that glorifies God. And in those moments from time to time, listen, I don't ever want anyone, we live in such a superficial world. I don't want anyone to ever think that, man, this is because anything that I am is because of God. Anything that I've done is because of God's favor on my life. God's grace, you know, man, God's grace and his favor, his, his, his, his will. his Holy Spirit, you know, leading the way.

34:17I mean, that's just how I look at it. And so, because we live in this world now where everybody wants to put you up on this pedestal. And I try to be quick and say, hey, listen, ain't nothing great about me. If there's anything great about me, it's the Holy Spirit inside of me. All right. And guess what? Everybody can have that. And you said something a minute ago. And listen, greatness is for everyone. And I told our team back in 2013, we beat Ohio State in our first ever BCS win in the Orange Bowl. And then we've beaten Alabama a couple of times. And we've beaten some of these big, big schools.

34:47If we walked out there at the middle of the field and we compared checkbooks and we compared budgets and we compared all, we'd get dominated. We would get smoked. Or guess what I mean, number one recruiting classes we've had in 12 years as a head coach? Zero. Zero. None. None. You know, so it's not all about that. All right. It's about it's about people. It's about passion. It's about, you know, synergy, iron sharpening iron. It's about attitude. It's about belief. That's what it's all about. And so, you know, I don't see it as being bold when I give God the glory. You know, I don't want it for anything that that happens in my life.

35:34we're two guys that have that in common. I'm a sinner saved by the grace of God to thank God. And, uh, but I'm told that I'm bold when I do it because I catch some criticism for it, just like you do. That's, I think what I meant by bold and, and, uh, I like you so much. Yeah. Well, I can't worry. I just don't worry about that. You know, I mean, listen, I mean, that, that, that outside noise is always going to be there. And, and again, if we spend our lives sitting around worried about, you know, what we need to worry about is pleasing God. And when you live your life, and that's your belief, pleasing God, well, you're going to upset people.

36:09That's just part of it. And you know what, the, the, it goes back to what I said earlier, being inside out, you know, I don't know who said it, but there was a quote, I love it. It says, you know, ships don't sink because of the water around them, they sink because the water gets in them. right and so we can't let all that stuff in us yeah and you know we got to let the light inside of us be brighter than the light on us at all times you know and so the light gets bright man that was the last thing i told our team in 16 i was like hey you know this is what we got to do the light's gonna be bright man but we've got to we got to let the light inside of us be brighter what an opportunity that we have and and listen you know what some of the best opportunities that we have is when we have failed miserably.

36:54All right. That's, that's, that's when, especially when you're a Christian, you know? And so, you know, it's, it's, it's all good. That's what God teaches us. It's all good. All things, all things work together for the good, for those who love the Lord. And so it's a mindset. It's a mentality. Yeah, it sucks. We hate it. We don't, you know, but guess what? All things. All right. And so we're all here for a blink of an eye. I mean, a blur. I mean, we've lived long enough, you and I, we've seen young people die. I've spoken at a bunch of funerals. I've had, you know, former players die. I've had family die.

37:30It's boom. It's a blink of an eye. So are we going to live for something that's just superficial? You know, that's not my choice. And here's the good thing about the God we serve. He gives us the choice. it's a choice and it's everybody's choice but i hope that that we can live our lives in a way where maybe other people may say you know what there's just something different and you say well let me tell you about that there's this guy named jesus and man if you just put your eyes on him in the good and bad and you believe and you don't quit man he's he's gonna he's gonna bless your life and some things this side of eternity we'll never know we'll never understand yeah all right but that's what fate's all about you know it's really just just believing when you don't understand and then one of these days when we meet our maker man we're gonna we're gonna celebrate and uh you know and and see the bigger picture uh of life so awesome i was saying earlier i just like you i just like you i respect you but i like you i'm so glad i like you you know when you have somebody from a distance you've admired, then you meet them to kind of exceed your expectations.

38:42That's a wonderful thing. And you're doing that for me. And I know this for millions of people, too. That was a great conversation. And if you want to hear the full interview, be sure to follow the Ed Milet show on Apple and Spotify. Links are in the show notes. Here's an excerpt I did with our next guest. Welcome back to Max Out, everybody. I'm Ed Milet, fired up about today because this is a man that I've admired from a distance. We have some mutual friends that connected us. And today is about really the longest tenured WWE superstar in the history of the organization. Kind of the leader in the locker room, more television appearances than anybody ever.

39:19Had the streak at WrestleMania forever. But what I'm excited about is we get to talk out of character now, not just in character the whole time. So we can talk about life and growth and longevity and being productive with someone who's highly qualified to do it. So my guest today is The Undertaker, aka Mark Calloway. So Mark, thanks for being here, brother. No, thanks for having me, man. I'm excited. Talk about the very unique relationship you have with the overall leader of the organization in Vince McMahon. It seems that that's become a special friendship forged through loyalty, probably more than anything.

39:55And I got to think that friendship's been both good to his career and your career as well. So speak to those couple things. Yeah, absolutely. So as far as the, you know, being the leader, it was never really, it was never really something like I tried to pursue. It just, it just kind of happened through the years. And I fell into this unique position where the, the boys, the guy, the wrestlers, you know, they saw what the business meant to me and that the business always came first. no matter what the business came first as far when we're out on the road obviously you know your family comes first but in a business sense when i'm when i'm there i don't care how late we stayed out how whatever we did nightlife wise it did not affect the next day's performance if it did then you knew you were going to get you know you get pulled aside and say look if you can't handle this, then maybe you shouldn't be doing this.

40:56Because at the end of the day, it depends on what we do for our audience the next day. Guys appreciated that, but they knew like, okay, Hey, you know, takes one of us, he goes out and he has a good time, just like everybody else. But at bell time, all that goes out the window until after it's all over with. And so, yeah, so there was this, I had, and then I had the, also, I had the trust of what we call the office, you know, there's the office and then there's the boys. Somehow or another, I kind of landed in the middle. I was always accepted as one of the boys, but the office knew that they could, they could trust me.

41:38And there were a lot of times like whoever our, our, our talent relations VP was, there was a lot of times they would come to me and say, Hey, this is, you know, we're having this, this issue. And I could go to the guys or a guy or a person, pull them aside and say, look, man, you know, I understand. And they appreciate that because they know that I'd been through every, everything possible to go through. So, you know, it wasn't like, Oh, well, you know, undertaker's a stooge for the office and he's trying to, right. You know, they trusted me. So I had that trust on each side, but I could many times I could talk to somebody and say hey look this is this is their perspective okay I understand your perspective because I'm you know I'm talent right I'm Tom I'm with you so a lot of times that happened and I could divert bigger issues with guys if they could kind of get over you know if they could get over the ego and then they knew and they trusted me enough like well you know taker's not going to screw me over so it worked out it worked it worked out really nice and then with vince and and the loyalty and everything else i um so i was told by wcw i was told i went i'd been there for about a year my contract was coming up and i went in to renegotiate my contract and i wasn't looking for a huge bump but i was looking for you know I've been I had a pretty good year and I was just looking for a slight just a slight bump and I was told by you know Jim Hurd who was running the company at the time Ole Anderson and Jim Barnett they looked me square in my eyes and they said you're a great athlete but no one's ever going to pay money to watch you wrestle

43:39seriously okay that's all i needed to hear so vince so i get a meeting with vince and you know he eventually gives me that opportunity and that's all he ever promised me was an opportunity he never told me hey you're going to be you're going to be this guy here for 30 years and do all these things he said i'm going to give you an opportunity and and then but that's all I'd always remember. When I did become a commodity, when WCW wanted me back, you know, they wanted to pay me big bucks because they were paying everybody big bucks. Yeah. You know, it's like, no, I can't do that. You know, they're offering me a lot more money, but this is the man who made me, and that's just the way it is.

44:25And then, obviously, we just are – we've been through so much together, professionally, personally, that most times now I don't even deal with Vince hardly when it comes to business. Our relationship 90 % of the time is more of that of friends than it is of business. Unless there's a special ask that nobody else wants to ask me to do, then they say, you're the only one that's going to be able to get him to do it. Before we start the interview with my next guest, just want to remind you all that you can subscribe to the show on YouTube or follow the show on Apple or Spotify. We have all the links in our show notes.

45:04You'll never miss an episode that way. Now on with the show. Welcome back to Maxed Out. I'm Ed Milet and I am so fired up about today's program because I have one of the most successful human beings on the spinning earth right now that is under 35 years old. This guy to my right right here, you all know who he is. You can tell from looking at him, but let me give him the right introduction okay this young man right here founded elite daily sold that thing for about 50 million dollars he's one of the great thought leaders on social media today he's a serial entrepreneur Forbes magazine called you the millennial mentor right and above all of that stuff having getting to know him today I must tell you my favorite thing about him is a caliber of man that you are and how generous you are and your spirit and your heart and your character so today is gonna be amazing and so this is Gerard Adams Gerard thanks for for being here, brother.

45:54Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. So inspired right now. It's one thing when you look through the lens of social media and you look through on the videos, it's another when you're able to actually come and feel the energy and see it. And most importantly, right back at you, brother, there's a lot of successful people in the world, but for me, it's about character. And not only do you show up for your community, but the way that you are, when I met you and how humble you are and how welcoming you were for me and our team, really appreciate that, man. Thank you. It's my pleasure, man, to have you here.

46:28You know I wanted you to do this for a long time, and so the stars align. So let's do something great here today. I hope my billing of you was accurate, because Gerard has a lot, you know, the very few people you would meet with the success that Gerard's had so young, who has kept such a humble spirit about them, too, and such a generous, giving person. But I think some of that, having got to know you a little bit, has to do with your upbringing. I always like to take people back just a little bit. And so you grew up a little bit like I did in the middle, right? In the middle class. But tell everybody, you know, just a little bit about young Gerard, even though I still think you're young.

47:01But young, young Gerard, how did you grow up? Tell us about your background. Well, you know, I really had an unbelievable upbringing because I had a really strong, you know, group of parents. Like my mother, you know, she just really showed me love and compassion and empathy and like the things that, you know, and a lot of people I feel like don't have that's worth more than anything in the world. And my father was just a strong man. He really instilled the leadership in a very young age. What he used to do is he used to write notes and leave them for me hidden in throughout my house. So if I went to go get a glass of milk, there's a freaking little ripped up note in there.

47:41If I went to bed, there's something under, when I pull the blanket up. If I wanted to go to school, he's dropping something in a freaking notebook for me or something and there were these, You know, just quotes them, whether it was John F. Kennedy, Marcus Aurelius, you know, just different leaders. And for me, you don't really understand it when you're really young. You're kind of like, oh, this is kind of cool again. But I really started to appreciate it as I started to get older. So I grew up with unbelievable parents, hardworking. They really instilled the work ethic for me. But I walked to school.

48:11I took the bus. I loved BMX. I was a skater. and you know for me I was just a very creative person even you know yeah I had charisma even when I was young I used to make my own clothes I used to I loved I begged my parents for one thing only put me into art school really yeah I wanted to go to art school were you only child no I have two unbelievable sisters okay yes did he do the same thing for them was he writing them notes too was that something he did just with us you know it's funny I've actually never asked them yeah it's interesting to know I'm like, are you the only one getting these notes?

48:44You know, it was just, you know, they were, he was very protective of my sisters. Okay, yeah, I'm sure. You know what I mean? Yeah, as a dad. And he just, you know, they were way more educated and of course he nurtured them. With me, it was a little more tough love, for sure. And your mom, by the way, I just get this feeling your mom's a major influence just because of how hard you worked in. I watched earlier when you talked about your mom, there's certainly something very special there with you and your mom too, right? What'd you learn from mom? Well, you know, on both sides of my family, I'm extremely grateful of my heritage.

49:17Which is what, by the way? People, I know you get asked this all the time, right? I'm Colombian and Italian, but you know, my mother's side, I just, I'm gonna say like 30 days ago, I went and visited my grandfather. He turned 99 years old. And I, you know, I said it to myself, I wrote it down, I was like, my grandfather's turning 99 this year. I don't care what I'm doing. I don't care what interview. I don't care who wants to pay me for anything, what business opportunity there is. I am going to see my grandfather to help celebrate his 99 and ask him these questions about immigrating to this country.

49:53And I'm second generation and I just feel like, my mom's parents, my grandparents, they came here with that typical immigrant story with nothing. My grandfather came here first, then he's sent back for my grandmother and my mother, my mother was born in Columbia and she came here, so I think that work ethic and that, you know, and just the appreciation for being here and making and building a life is instilled in my mom and then, so I really think about that and that's what really drives me, but it was the moment that I saw my mom working seven days a week in a supermarket and that was my first job, you know, I wanted to work, I wanted, you know, my parents weren't like, they didn't give me things, like I had to earn it.

50:36So my first job, believe it or not, was like working at the supermarket where my mom worked. She was an employee there. And I'd never forget getting that first paycheck. And it was like maybe$300. I looked at that paycheck and I remember just seeing my mom working there and I'm just like, wow, like there's no way, like I gotta get my mom out of this. Like this isn't real money. And at that moment I started to really feel and think about that. I'm so proud of them. I'm so proud of what they've done. You watch your mom work. You see this struggle that she's gone through. You go away to college, which I'm sure was like a major priority for your dad and your mom, especially for you to go, right?

51:16But you didn't last in college. And so I want people that are listening to this because a lot of millennials are going to watch this because you're here. They're in my audience as well. What happened with you in college? Well, this is really interesting. I really didn't want to go to college. I was a bad kid right before graduating high school. In fact, I lost touch with a lot of my good friends that I had grown up with earlier. I started hustling weed when I was in high school, and I almost had a moment that really set me back. And I'll never forget the day my father caught me scaling in my bedroom.

51:48And typically, my dad was a little bit more than the old school Italian, so growing up, if I did something wrong, he kind of like, I got the belt. My dad pushed me around. It wasn't like - I know what you mean. You know what I mean? I relate. And I had a moment where I got pulled over and I thought that moment, I was about to get arrested and it was going to completely ruin the respect that my father would have for me and just for my community. And that story I've talked about, but someone was committing Grand Theft Auto in front of me. And when I was doing this drop off, they ended up figuring that out, letting that person go and saying, hey kid, all right, get out of here.

52:26And when I had drove all the day, that was the day that was like, okay, I'm going to college. Whoa. Okay. Like I got it. I got to take this muscle mentality and I got to learn about business. Like I cannot be someone who ends up. Life altering moment. That was a life altering moment for me. But I ended up crying during graduation because my father wanted me to get into a good college. He wanted me to go to Princeton. And I went to, I got into a barely a community college. So I remember just completely freaking distraught. Were you crying because you thought you let your dad down? Actually, no.

53:00I was actually really more about the fact that like, the people that I had been friends with, they were going to these great schools. And I was alone going to this community college and I was like, fuck, I'm such a disappointment to myself. But going to college that first semester, I instantly was like, this just isn't for me. You just knew. I just knew. I think it was part of the reason why I hustled. Like I just always was this creative, I wanted to be outside the box, I didn't wanna be, I wanted to break the rules. That's that art thing in you, huh? The art thing in me, very creative to this day.

53:36And being in school, I was like, this isn't for me. Yeah, I went to college and it's one of the things that I, there's more and more people I interviewed but that wasn't their thing. And I think the consciousness about that is changing too. Because when I was in college, one of the things that I observed too was like, it just sort of brings out these cookie cutter people, the business school, you know, and it sort of squashes from people, their ambition, their creativity. I'm not knocking college at all. I have a degree. Me neither. And I'm projects. And if I had kids, I would sell them. It's a great debate in my family.

54:04My wife's like, they don't need to go to college. They go, absolutely. They're going to college. Well, they're going to be entrepreneurs anyway. It'll give them experience. And it's an achievement. It shows work and finishing an idea. That was a great conversation. Be sure to follow the Ed Milet show on Apple and Spotify. Links are in the show notes. You'll never miss an episode that way. Here's an excerpt I did with our next guest. Welcome back to Max Out, everybody. I'm so excited about today's show because this is somebody that I admired from a distance for, shoot, a couple decades now at a minimum.

54:31And to put it bluntly, he is the most successful man in the history of his craft. He's the most successful man in the history of sports radio. And he's done a whole lot more than that when it comes to television as well. Right now, the Jim Rome Show is hosted on the CBS Sports Radio Network. It's simulcast over to the CBS Sports Network. He also makes appearances on CBS for the NFL. And he's had a storied career in an area and an arena that I'm very, very fond of. And it's great to have him with me here today. So, Jim, thanks for being here. It is so good to see you. Boy, that is some kind of you, my man.

55:01That lives up to all the hype. That is a beautiful, beautiful scene. Well done. Very blessed, for sure. And so have you been, by the way. Sure. I'm curious as we start, because most of my audience knows you for sure. And I've admired you for so long. And one of the things I admire about you is your humility for how successful you've become. But today, I want to give you permission to be, you can brag a little bit when it comes to the truth about your career. So I want to ask you, how did you get started? Because I know that you went to the University of Santa Barbara because we were both in the Big West Conference.

55:29But did you know way before you even got to Santa Barbara that this is what you wanted to do? You know, I would say this. My only advantage I think that I really had was I did know exactly what I wanted to do at an early age. You know, unlike you, I mean, I had professional athletic aspirations, but I did figure out early on this was not going to happen for me. You have to understand, I grew up in Los Angeles at a very different time when there was no Internet and there was no cable. But I was obsessed with sports, man. I loved it. I had my childhood heroes and I couldn't get enough. I mean, if my old man was not saying to me, get your ass out of the house, it's a beautiful day.

56:00I would have watched sports all day long and read sports. But I did realize at a pretty early age that I could not hit a curveball. I was not blessed with his great size and ability. So how do I stay in sports? And I just kind of got it in my head. Maybe I could be on the radio. Maybe if I got really lucky, I could be on TV. So I knew at an early age. And what that did for me, Ed, was I knew that the second I got to UC Santa Barbara, I checked into the dorm and I went right to the radio station and I never left. And I just kind of locked in. So my one advantage was I knew when you're not supposed to know.

56:32Who knows when they enter college what they want to do? Did you know? Well, you want to be a pro baseball player. And it didn't work, right? Yeah, you end up doing what you want. But I think it's like my son just started college. It's okay not to know when you start college, right? Absolutely. But I knew and I was willing to lock in and start paying the price. So, yes, I knew. That's awesome. So, you get started. I was a radio TV broadcast major. I was a communication major. And one of the things that I tell all entrepreneurs is I think, especially in this day and age with the internet, technology, everybody wants stuff to happen right now.

57:00Right. Like, hey, man, I'm going to give this a shot for six months. I'm going to make a run at this, you know, until it hurts a little bit. one of the things I admired about you because you chose a craft that it does not happen quickly in. So what about like staying power? You get going, you leave Santa Barbara. It's not like the next year you're, you know, in San Diego, you know, becoming the Jim Rome that we know now. No, no, there's like, there's lots of layers to that. It's a really interesting question. You know, like Mike Tyson said, everybody's got a plan till they get punched in the face.

57:26Everybody's like, I'm going to do this. Like when I was in Santa Barbara, we all thought we would go right to the top because you're in college and you're naive. You don't know how the world works just yet. So we all believe that until you actually get into it. And then all of a sudden you see what's going on around you. So when I was a young person in the business, I would apply myself. But then I see my other friends who are not in the business and they're going to law school or they got into marketing or they got into sales or they went to Wall Street and they're killing it. And all of a sudden now I'm still grinding in market 174, which is Santa Barbara.

57:57And I'm not making much money. And all my buddies are just thriving and they're killing it. it's at that point that people start to say it's a dream it's a pipe dream it's not meant to be it's not for me I'm going to give in and then people give in so I would say this is a great story I knew not to give in but you know what I did I was one of the guys that gave in so here's what happened when I was in college I had seven internships in three and a half years because I was obsessed man I was like I was terrified of falling behind and I was so committed but then I had one bad experience. I got punched in the face once and did not react well to it.

58:32I worked for a radio station in Santa Barbara for free for nine months. A paid position opened up. The news director says to me, you're the guy. You've earned it. It's your time. I'm just getting you cut a demo tape. We played for the owner and then you're in. The owner hears it. He hates it. He goes, I'm not hiring that guy. And I'm like, wow. But I had a fallback plan. My parents owned a business. So I go to my old man because I have visions of there's the BMW. There's the house. There's the presidency So I go to my tough old man from Boston. I'm like, hey dad, listen, I want to go to work for you He goes no No, I'm like dad every old man wants their son to follow in their footsteps or legacy He's like not this one And I'm looking at him like what and he says to me you've never once Displayed any interest in the family company.

59:20You don't come to me now right now and say you want to know He said no. I'm like, yeah, I'm like, what do I do? I want to control my own fate, my own destiny, and radio's not fair, life's not fair. So I talked him into it. I wore him down. Because I always had this kind of drive and passion. I wore him down. I worked on him for six months. Of course it was the wrong thing for the wrong reason. He fired me. And then, you know, to make this super long story short if possible. I've never heard this before. Yeah, it's unbelievable. Yeah. And keep in mind, I grew up at a dinner table every night when my parents owned a small business.

59:51They were manufacturers and they manufactured high-tech garments and they had a factory in Chatsworth. And I heard every day at dinner, business is business. Business is business. You take care of the business, the business will take care of you. So about six months in, he fires me nicely, but business is business. He said, what are you going to do now? I said, I'm going to go get a sales job. He looks at me like I'm crazy. He's like, you suck at sales. I just fired you. I'm like, no, I suck at selling your product. I will sell something else. I got a job working at Harris Lanier selling dictation equipment.

1:00:22Oh, my God. And because when I went to a headhunter, they said, we're going to send you out. And here's the best one. Here's the one that everybody wants. I can always sell me. Yeah, you're right. But nothing else. So I got the job. I stayed there 38 days. I quit. They're furious. And then I'm selling phone equipment. And it's going terrible, man. I'm getting my face beat in. And finally, in a fit of just, like, I'm near tears. I call my old boss where I had an internship in Santa Barbara and I said my life he's like hey Rome What's going on? I'm like nothing good. Nothing good. He's like what I lay out my whole sales life.

1:00:58I'm a failure I'm worth nothing. Do you have any radio work in Santa Barbara? He said got one thing 30 hours vacation relief traffic reports five dollars an hour. Do you want it? I said yes Yes, and I tell my old man He's like, how you gonna live? I said I have no idea but my life is going right down the gutter I got to get back up there. And so I committed to this at$5 an hour, 30 hours a week for one month, no benefits because the kid was on vacation for Christmas. And I said, I'll figure it out when I get up there. I just know that I'm not good at sales. Wow. Brother, I don't even know where that question started.

1:01:36Sorry about that. No, no, no. I knew your whole story and I did not know that part of it. Like that's a huge thing. Like I'm so grateful you said this because a lot of entrepreneurial types listen to this, right? And probably in your life, you know, you've pursued the business side, and maybe a lot of you listen to this right now, you've gone back to some goofy plan B that you know you don't belong at. You know it's not your calling. You know you're not great at it. It's like this place you're kind of hiding because this other thing's so painful. And it's really cool to know that, I mean, and you're humble about it, but someone who becomes the best of all time at what they do.

1:02:06This man's in the radio hall of fame, guys. I mean, legitimately three decades plus on the air. I mean, the staying power has been unreal. To know that you went through this little stage where you were a little bit lost is nuts to me. Yeah, I'm sorry, go ahead. Yeah, no, no. What I was going to say, the thing that I admire about you is that post that, it seems to me you made this decision like, okay, I went and played with this stuff I'm not any good at. And then there's becomes this part of you, I love what you talk about this. You're like, this is what I'm going to do now. I'm going to figure this shit out.

1:02:33And it's like a burn the boats type thing for you. You've almost got this theory about success that it doesn't always go to the necessarily the most talented person with the most gifted person, but it goes to the who. No, and I've seen you talk about this as well, that it's not always the talent, but it's the grind and it's the effort and it's the dedication. And I think that's where the separation is. And by the way, if you know that you're not the most talented guy and you know that you're not the most brilliant person, what are you going to do? Like, here's the one thing. The one thing that I had aside from I knew what I wanted to do at a pretty early age.

1:03:05I knew the price that I was willing to negotiate with myself to get that done. Like, that's the other sidebar. When I was in UC Santa Barbara, I thought nothing of getting up at 4.30 in the morning to go work an internship for free. When the other kids were saying, dude, I'm not going to make that 8 o 'clock class. And I'm not saying I'm a hero for doing that. In fact, I'm kind of a loser for doing it because I was terrified of falling behind. I was afraid that somebody else would get that gig if I didn't do it. But because I knew what I wanted to do and because I negotiated that price with myself at an early age, it was nothing for me.

1:03:38In fact, it felt good, man. I've heard you talk about this, like the dopamine that goes off in your head. It was a drug. It was an adrenaline thing, it was natural. I felt good. I was getting up early, going to work, getting the line on the resume, so I felt good. But at the same time, to your point, the reason I was self-aware, and the one other advantage I had, I did this, I did this math. When I got to UCSB, I thought to myself, why you? Why you? You were not a professional athlete. You don't have an amazing look. You don't have an amazing voice yet. You want to be on the radio yet You want to be on TV exactly?

1:04:15What do you have to bring to it? Why you and I couldn't answer the question at first And I thought man if I don't come up with that answer, I'm not gonna make it So why you why you why you and what I finally came down to was this It's gonna be me because I'm gonna come at it differently with a different slant rather than being the the answer man on the radio I'm gonna come out with a declarative slam, a point of view, a take, have a take, don't suck. And then the other thing that I was gonna bring to it, if I wasn't smarter and I wasn't better, I damn well we're gonna want, I was gonna want it worse than anybody else.

1:04:46I was not gonna give in. I was not going to give in. And I learned my lesson by going into business and sales. Luckily I got my face beat in. So now I knew what it took. I'm like, this time you don't punk out, you lock in, no matter, it's not up to you to know how long it's gonna take. you just put your head down and you go to war until you find out. And that was my thing. I freaking love it. And that's what people that I know that know you, that's what you're known for. This dude has a psycho work ethic. He's ferocious. And I'm curious about the mechanism that drives you. Like that's loaded with stuff there for all of you trying to do something great.

1:05:23I'm curious. You said something like almost like fear-based. Like, hey, I might miss this or it may get past me. That self-awareness piece is a monster. You and I both, most of the most successful people we know are very self-aware. They know what they're good at. They know what they're not good at. That's it. That's it. You agree with that? Yes, I do. Immediately I'm meeting you too. It's like this is one of your great gifts. And I think it also gives you an element of humility too. I know what I'm not good at, so I'm going to have to outwork somebody. But I'm curious what's made you. To this day, I don't know the answer.

1:05:53I'm curious. Do you have this little thing where you're afraid it may leave you? Is that a driving mechanism for you? Or is it always what you're trying to create? Which one moves you more? It really is both those things. And I think one drives the other. And understand this, I don't, yeah, I have this fear that they're gonna come to me one day, and listen, if they came to me today, if I walked outside your door and somebody came to me and said, yo, old man, you've had a pretty good run, and we really don't care, the last thing this world needs is a 50-something smack talker. Man, to hit the bricks, eh, old?

1:06:20Then I far exceeded anything that I ever thought that I would do, and it was a great run. However, I don't want it to end, and not for the reasons you may think. Like, I'm not one of those guys like, I gotta be on the radio, I got to be on TV. It's not about that ego. It's about the process. It's about wanting to be relevant. It's about me still wanting to be competitive. It's about me wanting to have another act. It's about me wanting to reinvent. It's about me wanting to have people look at me and my brand and say, damn, man, that guy's not looking for an off-ramp. That guy's not going away.

1:06:49I still care what that guy thinks because one day it will be over and it will be a great run. But man, I feel good and I'm still really motivated by the puzzle. The whole world has changed. It's not the way it was when I got in or when you were getting in. So now it's up to me intellectually to figure it out again. And I want to be able to say, hey man, I did not give in and the world changed and I changed with it and I'm still relevant. And that's important to me. That still gets me out of bed. Like literally right now, as much as when you're that guy that got the$5 paid 30 day deal, like you think you want it that bad still right now?

1:07:22Yes. And I frequently, I don't keep notes, but I don't have to. I remember what my mindset was. It was a weird deal. You probably know this too. Like, I could get into a flow state back then. Like, I knew. I knew. I'd walk around campus and I could lose an hour at a time because I was just so into this. This is what I need to do. This is what I want. And if you think about it hard enough and you're vivid enough with your imagery and how badly you want it, you lose time, don't you? You do, brother. You get into a flow state. You do. A hundred percent. And I knew it. And so now I'm trying to think back.

1:07:53Like, any athlete, right? The guys, they want to get back in the flow state. So when they had their best game ever, what did they do? They thought about what they did that morning. They thought about what music they listened to. They thought about the rituals. And I'm trying to think, man, do it again. Do it again. Do it again. Do you have a big ritual you do? Do you have anything specific you do? You get up real early, don't you? Yeah, I drink coffee. That's my ritual. Yeah, I get up early, but not as early as I would like. And I fight that thing every single day. But I try to be very ritualistic about it, man.

1:08:21Get up, get going, get to work, lock in. And, you know, like anybody else, like any entrepreneur watching, get yourself to do the things that you do not want to do because that's also one of the separators between those who do and don't. Make yourself do the things you do not want to do and do them consistently. You guys see where I wanted them on? I think because a lot of us read the same things, think about the same things. Like even before I got into this, I probably read a lot of the stuff that you read on the way up. I would read Zig Ziglar, Augmandino, Tom Hopkins, Dale Carnegie. And some of it resonated more than some of the other stuff, but I read a lot of that stuff too.

1:08:59Yeah, I have this feeling, and you don't need to acknowledge it, I think that some of your brand is going to end up in this area. I think that, here's what's rare about you, and it's significantly different about you. One, you were born with some incredible giftedness to articulate thoughts. Let's be real. I mean, you're given a great voice. You were given the ability to think and process information through your mouth at the speed of thought. That's a very rare thing. But you seem to be, I think a lot of people, success leaves clues. I think there are a lot of people, and you've met them too, I don't think they can explain to you why they're successful.

1:09:30A lot of people have arrived to success because they're not self-aware. They can't explain to you the steps. You're very unique in that you do know what the things were that made you who you are. And you can articulate them very well. I think you'd be shortchanging people by not doing more of this stuff. This is fun. Yeah, I mean. This is fun. I like this. I've always liked this. And again, I think about these things. I think the reason I can articulate it is because I've thought about it long and hard because of what you're talking about. I'm not being cute when I say this. I really think that I'm pretty average in most things.

1:10:03So I wanted to figure out where I could be above average or way above average. and the only thing I kept coming back to was have a very different approach to the format as it exists and if you're lucky people will like it and then control what you can control and that's your attitude and your energy and your grit and your ability to deal with adversity and bounce back. Yeah and you do something else. I've seen guys that outwork everybody the first year or two or the third or fourth year and then there's this point where like they're bought. We all know these. they just get bought with their success.

1:10:37Their price tag gets met. And then all of a sudden, they don't show up like they used to. They don't innovate. They don't evolve. They don't think through. For most people, what makes you special, why I was so attracted to you is, it's 30 plus years and you're still trying to get better. You're still fighting for these inches. That's the separator. It's like, that's what separates to me someone like a LeBron in his 17th year from somebody else. Don't you? 100%. I was just going to say to you that you will recognize this. It is exactly like LeBron. It's exactly like your guy Tom Brady. Explain to me how people who've had that much success, that have paid that kind of price, that have all the shiny things and the view of the ocean, why are they still working as hard as they are?

1:11:22Because you know what? It wasn't about the shiny things. It wasn't necessarily about that money, man. It was about the right stuff. Who in their right mind is still getting up at 3.30 in the morning when they've got money that they can't get to and their kids can't get to and they can't get to? Because they still want it so badly. This is what I'm saying. This is why I watch you and we talk to similar people. How do you bottle this stuff? How do we get this stuff? How do we give it to our kids? Right. Right. How do you do that? By the way, that's a whole sidebar. But when you have this, your kids aren't coming up the way you came up.

1:11:57That's right. So how do you explain that? I know. Your kid never went to a public shower at a swimming pool, right? You know the whole story. Because this old man busted his ass. Exactly. So how do you put that in your kid? And by the way, if they don't want it as badly, that's fine. It's okay. That's okay. However, just know the whole world isn't this. It's tough out there. I do think one of the ways you do it, by the way, I have a dad from Boston too. Really? I was born in Boston and my dad and mom. You were born in Boston? Yeah. I didn't know that. My dad and mom are Boston too. But one of the things I've tried to do, and you have the same situation.

1:12:27Your children have grown up completely different than you grew up, right? But one of the things I think is a key to that is that they have seen their old man still after it. In other words, they've linked it to the work. So many kids that get to this. Another thing, some of these that have a success, if you have children, your children may be later in life than your effort was paid, your price was paid. My kids have still seen me paying the price even after the money part, don't you think? Oh, yeah. It's the same with yours. I bet if I asked your kids, they'd be like, hey, one thing about my dad, he's a horse.

1:12:56This dude gets up and goes all the time. They've linked what they see you doing to the work, as opposed to maybe someone who inherited it or something. You'll get this. Like my son, Jake, so now he's a freshman at the University of Madison, Wisconsin, or Wisconsin-Madison. And what I do on Fridays, we have a little ritual. I'll go in my backyard. It's probably like you, Ed. Like how hard do you work just to get the five feet over there? Right. It's not easy, right? Right, right. And so you spent your whole life trying to get to those five feet, but I bet it's hard to get to it unless you already understand.

1:13:25I know I'm killing myself to get to that backyard. It doesn't happen very often. On Friday afternoon, once I put in a long work week and I've done my workout, I'll go in the backyard and I'll pour myself, you know, a dope beverage. And I'll take a picture of it and I'll send it to my kid. And I'll write, cheers. Love you, son. And you know what he says to me? Dad, now pops, pops, you earn that. I love that. Enjoy that. I love that. And I'm like, man, that is just so deep. Like, it worked. He got it. He got it before he left the house. Not, not, I love you. I miss you. send money and that may all come later on.

1:13:57But the text always says, you earned it, enjoy that. I love that. It's beautiful, right? That's beautiful. That's the key, man. That's one of the keys. One of the things you've done well that I've noticed, so you said something that is another line that I agree with, line of thinking, I mean. I had a guy on here a few weeks ago named Mark Laurie. He runs Walmart. He's had a couple big exits. Successful dude. Pretty good. By the way, just at the Combine for 250 grand, he's a 43-year-old middle-aged white dude. For 250, he races Jerry Rice in the 40. How'd that go? He beat him. Yeah, man. He beat Jerry.

1:14:27And Jerry, by the way, Jerry's taking care of himself. Yeah, and Jerry's in still good shape. This isn't like running against some guy who's put on 30 pounds. He beat him. I guarantee he didn't want some rich guy to beat him either. Yeah, I know. Like, legit. He beat him. He ran right around about 5 flat 40, which at that age is remarkable, right? Anyway, one of the things he said was, I said, give me some advice for entrepreneurs. And he said, find something that already exists and just do it better. Quit trying to make up some brilliant thing. And what you've done on your show, I want you to talk about this for a minute.

1:14:52One of the separators for entrepreneurs for any business is culture. Your show with the Vine, the Jungle, the Clones, Have a Take, Don't Suck, the way you lead the group, the way you talk to them, there's a culture to the gym room experience. Did you consciously kind of create that whole deal? Not consciously, but I think it was part and parcel of what I was doing, that it was different, and I didn't know how they would react to it. Here's the funny thing. The real secret to the whole thing is I just did on the radio what I was doing with my buddies in college. We just talked shit. I just love sports.

1:15:23And that's just the way I saw the world. Literally, I did not sit around with a legal pad at night and just think of, I'm going to just make up all these terms and just like call the Knicks the Bricks because they can't shoot the ball. That really was the way I saw the world. You know, and we would just talk shit. I'm like, wow, this is amazing. They might pay me to come up with this as a format. Right. So but luckily, again, understand the world that I came into. I got my first big break in 1990, not to date myself, that there was there were two sports talk radio stations in America, FAN in New York, and Extra Sports 690.

1:15:54In fact, when I started to apply for that station, which is a whole different story onto itself, they weren't even all sports. They were like news talk, but they had the Chargers rights, and there was a sports talk show in the afternoon. Were they the Mighty 690? Sure was. Mighty 690, exactly. So there was nothing, and when they did that, there certainly was not a format like that. You had a couple of gunners that would kind of come pretty hard, but I just came at it a whole different way, with a vernacular and the way I was kind of going after athletes and doing tough interviews, but smart. I want to make sure that I could always back up what I was saying.

1:16:24Like, even if you didn't agree with it, it was well-reasoned. I didn't just get in there and start running off the mouth. You're not a hot taker. You, like, really believe the things you're saying. Yeah. Yeah. You might not like me at all, but this is really who I am. Now, that said, I think part of your thing might be like, I want to talk to this guy because I think there's more to this guy than that guy who's on the radio. Of course, it's a show. Now, don't get me wrong. I mean, I mean what I say and I say what I mean, And I wouldn't walk any of this back except the stuff that I was factually wrong about.

1:16:49I mean, this is who I am, but I don't go around talking smack 24 and 7. It is a show. The one thing I did figure out, too, be different, never give in, always keep coming, but give them a show. That much I understood early in my life. Make it a show. It's showbiz. Anything you regret you've done? I mean, sure. I mean, sure. I mean, yeah, I kind of regret calling Jim Everett Chris several times. I regret that I didn't understand that situation better. That's really interesting. So Jim Everett, a lot of people know me as the guy, the quarterback attacked him. Understand this about this incident.

1:17:25That was not a setup. That was not me. People think this, really. What happened was there's a whole backstory to it that I've told a few times. But this guy was coming on the show, and it was kind of interesting how it got booked. I didn't say go get this guy as a guest, but I always had a standing policy, yes. You understand that. That's good. We have always had a standing policy, especially back in the day when I was really coming hard, really coming hard, that if somebody, and I can tell you lots of stories about athletes that had an issue. And I said, if you have an issue, here I am. Here I am.

1:17:58Come on the show and we'll discuss this. And we'll be up. Let's put them all on the table, man. And so he wanted to be on the show. And I'd been pretty critical of him. And I said, good. That's fine. But I didn't know how that came to be. so I said to my booker did you call him and my booker said no he called us I said okay because that's what my policy was and then right before like the night before and I asked the question a few times now you called him he called us right yes yes yes Jim he called us right before my booker admits to me I called him I said all right let's get on the phone and be sure that he knows he knows so my producer who is an extraordinarily successful guy by Mark name Mark Shapiro he ran He's been on ESPN for years.

1:18:39He now is with William Morris, where I am right now. And he said, hey, listen, you know Rome has called you Chris Everett. Yes, we know. He's talking to him. He's like, yes, I know. You know he's going to say it on the show because he would never not say to a guy's face what he said about him on the radio. Yes, I know. We know what show we're getting on. But this is not going to be the show. We really want to do this interview. There's a lot here. He's like, I know. I'm aware. And then he came on. And then I said it. And then he goes, I bet you don't do it again. And I said it again. So one regret is I didn't need to say it again.

1:19:13You know, and I really, honestly, I didn't know he was that angry. It was live TV. And I didn't play it right. That's right, it was live. It was live. It was live. Yeah. And so that was a really bad day at work for me. Jim, good to have you on the show. Good to be here, Jim. Thank you. Check that. Chris Everett, good to have you on the show. You know what? You know, you've been calling me that for about the last five years. About two years, actually, Chris. Well, hey, you know what? Let me say one thing. In that game, how many sacks did I have that we came back and won? How many sacks did you have?

1:19:39Yeah, how many game? How many sacks? Well, see, but this was back in 1989. Okay, that was about six. See, you may have even been Jim Everett back there, but somewhere along the way, Jim, you ceased being Jim and you became Chris. Well, let me tell you a little secret. That, you know, we're sitting here right now, and if you guys want to take a station break, you can. But if you call me Chris Everett to my face one more time. I already did it twice. You better, you can call it one more time. We better take a station break. Well, it's a five-minute segment. Our five-segment show. We got a long way to go.

1:20:03We do we got a long way to go we do I'll get a couple segments out of you before It's good to be here with you though Well, it's good to see you too. You know because you've been talking like this behind my back for a long time But now I said it right here. Right exactly. Well, we got no problems then I think that you you probably won't say it again. I bet I do. Okay Chris

1:20:25That was a really bad day at work. Was that a career threatening type day for you? You bet it was you bet it was you bet it was and people people to this day say to me It made you. It made you. I kind of take exception to that. I didn't want to be known for that. I did not want to be known for that. Look, I'm accountable. I had a bad day. That was my bad. I've apologized for that a million times. I always will. I did not handle that well. Period. The backstory is pretty interesting, though, to be honest with you. I mean, he knew what he was getting into. The reason I asked you - I think here's the thing, though.

1:20:55Somebody said to me, excuse me, somebody said, I think he was coming for you. I don't know that he was. I think that And he got really upset, and understandably so. I think in the moment it came upset. You bet. Of course he got upset. And you'll find this even more interesting. For years I tried to do the interview after it happened. I'm like, let's get some closure. And not for the wrong reason. Now people want to see it just to see it. Would you believe to this day we've never spoken? I tried for years and years and years to do the interview, and he always said no. And I just stopped asking after about 10 years.

1:21:27Well, of course, after a decade of asking. Maybe he'll see this and agree to do it. Maybe. That would be awesome. Maybe I don't want to anymore. It's a big takeaway. The reason I asked you, I wasn't going to bring the incident up. I was going to see what you answered was, that's the other thing I kind of want people to get another lesson through you, is that that could have been a career-altering day for you. It certainly didn't. No, no, it was scary. Right, it certainly didn't make you. That's not true. What's made you is the prolific culture you've created and your relentless work ethic over time.

1:21:54That's what's made you. Your preparation, the way you interact with the athletes, your ability to articulate. However, it's a great lesson. It's a great lesson because I look at a guy like our mutual buddy, A-Rod's a good buddy. And I look at A-Rod, you know, three, four years ago, he was a pariah, right? Like nobody in the world would touch him. And he's remade himself into this, like he's the face of ESPN baseball. He's revered again, right? And so the reason why that's important is for everybody, a lot of us have this one mistake in our life. It could be a divorce, a bankruptcy, and we shame ourselves the rest of our life.

1:22:27Like, okay, I can't win again because I've made this one particular error in our career. You're proof of that. Whether it was an error or not, on air, it was one of the most shocking sports interview moments in the history of sports interviews. I don't want to give myself too much credit. It was one of the most shocking moments on TV. Ever. In a long time. Ever. Ever. And I will tell you one more thing too. I don't know if you know this, but it's a little cheesy, but I think it is apropos. The LA Times did a Peace shortly thereafter. And the title of the article was, is this the end of the Roman Empire?

1:22:54I put it on my mirror. I looked at it every day for a year. I sat every morning when I shaved. I sat every morning when I got out. Like they're speculating that my career is over before it starts. And so it's one thing to pump yourself up with don't give in, don't quit. Yeah. Easy to say all that until adversity hits. Adversity hit. And, you know, the world was different then. I mean, there was no social media then, which would have made it tougher. But I'll tell you what there was. There was Saturday Night Live, Katie Couric talking shit about me. They were killing me on Saturday Night Live. And so people like now say, yeah, well, that's awesome.

1:23:31It's not awesome when you're in it and you think that maybe you're not getting contracts renewed. And then all of a sudden, when people don't know you, you're going to restaurants and everybody knows you. And it's for the wrong reason. Because it was one bad night. And let that be a lesson. One bad decision could impact the rest of your life. During those moments, I'm curious about Janet. I've been married once, and she's had my back through a bunch of different ups and downs. You talk about Janet on the show, but I think she's only been on the show one time. One time. We both also have this thing where we're real private with our families.

1:24:03We're doing a lot of posts and pictures and things like that. I'm protective of that, too. But if you don't mind talking about it, because I just think she's been such an important part of your life, how important has Janet been through moments like that in your career? Or are you just like, do you do your thing and she does her thing? No, no, no. She's definitely right in the middle of that whole thing because we met through the business. The funny thing about Janet, when I met Janet, she was way more successful at this business than I was. She was a vice president of the corporation that owned the Mighty 690.

1:24:33Janet heard me and tried to fire me right away. So Janet's a vice president of human resources. And the funny thing about because the corporate office was in San Diego where the station was, but they own several stations nationwide They all had a vote at the conference table about programming I always thought that was kind of weird that why is it counting voting on programming? Why is human resources voting on programming because they could I guess they did because I did this differently than anybody else had They had never heard anything like that before so Janet grows up in Long Beach She's a huge Dodger fan and I get on the radio and I said let me tell you about Fernando Valenzuela Man, that old man will be on food stamps by the end of the week.

1:25:11And she literally was mortified. This is a church-going girl who grew up loving the Dodgers, and she was mortified. She's like, I don't know who the new guy is. I don't know where he came from. I move that we fire him right now. Really? So I married her, ultimately. That's awesome. But the moral of that story is she was doing way better than me, making a lot more money, way more successful and she saw me before any of this happened and so we I kind of schooled her and my friends and family that when I came up and people who liked me loved me and people who didn't like me hated my guts and said things that were not nice in some cases horrible and didn't know me and the family and friends get really upset I'm like listen this is part of it this is what we signed up for so you need to understand you cannot react to this you can't fight everybody who says something yeah but they don't know you Well, you can't control that.

1:26:05So she knows that. So when it hit the fan, she was there. She was fine. That's awesome, man. You've had a great partner all these years, which led you into, I just want to talk about this for a little bit because I think this is a really weird part of your story. Like somehow this sports guy was in all these other sports and I knew enough about you. We had no interest in horse business before. Yeah. Like all of a sudden you're like, and by the way, like anything you've done, like you didn't just do it a little bit. I mean, eventually you got into like, you're pretty deep. Yeah, I was really deep.

1:26:34And I had no interest in that either. No interest in that. So there's a guy named Billy Koch. And Billy Koch actually was a college baseball player at Northwestern and a Beverly Hills kid. And he was in this. He had a racing syndicate. So what he would do is he would go out and he'd find people and they'd invest and they'd buy pieces of a horse. And he saw me in Del Mar and said, hey, he knew me. And he's like, you're going to love this. You're going to love this. I'm like, no, I won't. No, I won't. I have no interest. I have no interest. Why would I want to do that? I want to go to Del Mar. I want to watch the races.

1:26:58I'll put on a suit, have a few pops. and I'll do that once or twice a summer and I'm good. He's like, no, no, you'll love it, you'll love it, love it. I didn't want to do it. Janet says to me one night, you know, we should do this. I said, do what? She said, buy a horse. I'm like, why would I do that? You need a hobby, you need a hobby. We buy 10 % of a horse. I go to Santa Anita. The horse is Argentinian bred. They bring him in. He runs and I was naive. I thought, I'm a sports talk show host, man. I know everything. I didn't know that much about horse racing. I really didn't. Running styles, strategies.

1:27:26I buy 10 % of the horse. The horse is running dead last. I'm like, I must be the biggest sucker ever. There must be like easy mark on my forehead. I'm like, I'm trying to put a stop on the check in the middle of the race. Asshole. The horse comes from dead last to win the race in the most exciting fashion ever. And I've told this story. It's like somebody rolled up behind me and injected me with equine crack. I look at this guy. I'm like, dude, you got anything else you can sell me? What else do you have for sale? And I couldn't stop. It felt so amazing. So then I'm all in and some of the best and worst days of my life have been at the track.

1:28:00But you went up to like 14 horses or something, right? And then you get to Ms. Direction and you're talking about a horse that's like multiple victories at the Breeders College. So the really short version is, so Janet's like, hey, how much money have we lost, by the way, doing this? I'm like, a lot. She's like, maybe we should stop. I'm like, you told me to get a hobby. She goes, I didn't tell you to get one that expensive. I said, here's the thing. One more time. There's this horse named Ms. Direction. She's like, Jimmy, stop. I'm like, listen to me. This horse won. It's made and raced by nine and a half lengths.

1:28:30We've never been anywhere near an animal like this. I want to take one more shot. She's like, all right. So that was it. Ms. Direction literally saved my horse racing life because up until then, that was the last shot. And then I bought in. They made us the majority owner. We ran in our silks and she won two Breeders' Cup races against the boys, which was unbelievable. And to this day, I've never experienced anything in business that felt like that first win that she had. It was the most surreal moment of my life that did not involve the things that matter. So that was the high, the lowest shared belief, right?

1:29:00The lowest shared belief. Yeah, just tell them about that. So shared belief was a... So we sold Ms. Direction at auction because we wanted to retire her, give her the right life. Shared belief is a horse that we bought that we thought we'd have some fun with. He was a gelding, okay? So you cannot, if they're gelded, they've got no residual value. You cannot breed them. That's why he was for sale. And we bought the horse and the horse was unbelievable. We had no idea. He went from a horse that we thought we'd have fun with to the top-ranked thoroughbred in the world. He was the number one-ranked horse in the world.

1:29:30He beat California Chrome. He won the award for the two-year-old male of the year. He won the Pacific Classic in Del Mar, which is the biggest race here, I think. The San Diego Handicap. I mean, I'm an unbelievable athlete, Ed. Unbelievable. And then he comes down with colic. I get this phone call one morning during my radio show from my race manager, Alex Solis, who says, Jim, the big horse has colic. And I said, oh my God, how bad is that? He goes, they're rushing him to Davis Medical Center. He may not make it. Keep in mind, the horse is four. The horses lived to be in their 20s. And he was like larger than life.

1:30:07And the horse passed away, you know? And I'm still not over it. Like, it's like anything in life, right? Really bad things happen. You hope to get beyond it, but some things you don't really ever get over. so it's like also in sports the lows are much more intense than the highs are high yeah so as good as it was that misdirection won the breeders cup twice the intensity of losing shared belief like that i think will far outweigh everything i can see on your face yeah it's hard man even now like yeah i said in my i told the story maybe you've seen the video i did but i said to my 10 year old at the time logan was in my office crying my desk at work i had this whole thing man don't you ever cry at work don't cry i don't care how bad your work day is you don't cry at at work unless you get a phone call with some really bad news you don't cry at work and my 10 year old goes dad I've never seen you cry I said because I don't very much man I love that animal oh man I'm so sorry I love that animal but the whole reason you did it I'm gonna get into like your mind a little bit so or you I'm like be real let me know you've been real like be real you needed a hobby that that sounds like something my wife would say and one of the things that I've always struggled with and I just want people that are like this maybe you're this way maybe you're not, I'm not, as much as I relate really well with people, I'm not like one of the guys.

1:31:21Do you know what I mean? No, I know exactly what you mean. Like my, because I think this is a model or a personality trait that I see in a lot of people that are successful that surprises people. But like my social circle is not as big as most people would think. Like as many people as you and I both know, like who I really spend time with is surprising you. I'm shaking my head because I totally know exactly where you're going with that. Yeah. So what is your, what is that like for you? Like, is your social circle really as big as most people would think? Are you, or like, what are you like socially?

1:31:48And what's your kind of, are you, are you a dude who's like kind of playing grab ass with dudes all the time? Or are you typically more serious? No, no, no. I've got like four guys. I got friends. I have associates, but I've got three or four dudes. Like I don't, I used to be a big Bombay Sapphire guy. So we had a Bombay club because who drinks gin? Only old men, old lawyers and me until I didn't. But I, but I had a crew. I got some guys and I don't want the guys. I'm not doing this in any order of importance, but my guys are guys like Rob Guthrie, Mike Treasle, Matt Coleman. I just have a crew.

1:32:24And we used to be almost fanatical about once a quarter. No matter where we are, we drop everything. We go out and we hit it pretty hard responsibly. And as you get older, it's tougher because everybody has lives and kids. But no, I'm not. My job was my thing. My career was my career and family. career and family, family and career, family and career. I didn't need all that other stuff. And if I had to blow off some steam, I'd blow off some steam and then get right back to the grind. So when you say to me that you have a tight knit circle of the people who matter most to you that you want to hang out with, I understand that.

1:32:56I really believe what you said. Like I take to heart that I think you have some unbelievable gifts and talents, but I know from being around you now, like this man's made it because he's a crazy competitor. He evolves, he works his ass off and he flat out wants it probably more than most people, right? And I feel like I'm kind of in that boat in my own unique way too. Like I know I don't have a super high IQ. You know, I'm not six foot three. I'm not super gifted in any particular area. Yeah, but Ed, you can bench the house though. No, I can't bench the house. You know what I, I had Michael Hearn on here, if you know who that is.

1:33:29That dude can bench the house. But comparatively speaking, but I do like, I really want to win. Yeah. Like I really want to be somebody. I connect with athletes. Why do you think that is? like what here here's the thing i always always ask guys like this nature or nurture are you wired for it or are you a product of your culture where does that come from what do you think for you what do you think for you i i think okay for me yeah for me this is the ultimate question of all questions right here because i have an upper middle class upbringing me too okay i did not i did not come up the hard way either I lived in a gated neighborhood okay I didn't quite go there but same close I mean I wasn't you know my parents were not wealthy but they worked hard and they had a business and they did well I'll be honest with you me personally because my even my old man my dad he passed away when he was 59 he had leukemia and this is amazing to me really just sidebar really quickly he was fine with it like it's a strange thing like he this Boston guy he's diagnosed with cancer at 50 and he and my mother don't tell anybody.

1:34:36They don't tell anybody. Even you? Yes, just us though. Okay. My sister and I. And they say to us, we're not telling anybody. I'm like, what? You just tell me you have leukemia and you're not telling anybody. He didn't tell his mother. They didn't tell anybody in business. They're like, this is how we're handling it. If you want to talk about it, we'll talk about it all day, every day. But we're not talking about outside these doors. I thought that was unbelievable. Oh, that is unbelievable. And then when it gets into his brain and it's terminal, he has brain surgery, he's fine. He's fine. He's at peace.

1:35:05He's like man. I had an amazing life. I've got these incredible kids He didn't you know, he's like I had this I never thought I'd be good in business I am like he was fine. He had this peace of mind, but we had this one talk back to your question He's like you got to relax. I'm like, what do you mean? I got to relax He's like, I don't know where you got your drive from you didn't get it from me. Yeah I'm like, I don't know dad. You've had a pretty good run He's like you didn't get it from me. So to answer your question where'd it come from? I don't know man. I kind of had a chip on my shoulder Maybe it was because I was a dorky kid.

1:35:34Maybe, I don't know, but I wanted it. I wanted it and I was able to feed it and tap into it. And you still do though. That's the crazy part. You still do. Like, I can feel you. Like, I think you're as hungry like this minute after Hall of Fame, 30 years, millions of dollars in income, live a great life. Part of it is game recognizes game. I think I'm kind of in the element. But no, I mean, I still, it gets me up in the morning still yet. And you got to answer your question now. Where did yours come from? I think it's a great question. I think it's probably similar to yours. My dad, here's what I got from my dad.

1:36:11Maybe you did. I did model like a work ethic from my old man, like, and a decency from my parents that they treat people well. There's a, like, I think I picked up some of that. I hope. Like I, but my dad never had ambition. My dad's told me many times, I just wanted to work and provide for the family. I wanted a good life. like what the hell happened to you? My dad and I have this conversation all the time. I bet. And it sort of shocks him. I don't even think they saw, I think they knew they wanted me to be successful, but I'm not sure they thought whatever happened happened. I think that... So what happened?

1:36:43I don't know. I think some of it was that I was an undersized athlete, stuff like that too. But again, I think it's probably more nature because I'll just, four siblings grew up in my household. We're very different people. Same stimulus, same family, same parents. And I'm different. I'm always fascinated by that. I am too. But I think that the people that have that psycho streak, that have that I want to be somebody thing, need to know that it's great. My dad says that to me too. You need to chill. Like, hey, when's enough enough? And hey, even this morning we're talking about some deal I'm doing.

1:37:11He's like, you know, put the pressure off yourself a little bit. Because I think as a parent you want them to be okay. I don't know that that's, maybe it's good that he dials me in once in a while that someone does that. But I wouldn't recommend that to somebody. Like if I'm not in pursuit of something, I'm miserable. I tried for like a half a year to like golf and sit on the beach. And I just, it's not what makes me happy. Yeah, but you enjoy this though, right? I do. I think it'd be a real mistake to hit it. And it took me a long time to figure this out. And then you have all these things that you work so hard for, but you just keep grinding and grinding and grinding.

1:37:43And then it got, it got away. Right. It didn't take that minute. Yeah. I'm not saying dial it down. I'm not saying downshift. I'm saying this is the best view I've ever seen. Hopefully you get your ass out on that deck and you have, some of that tequila once in a while. I mean, you have to do it, right? We both had a little before we started today. I didn't. Well, maybe a little. You had a sip, but I had a lot. I had a little bit. I do do that. I think that's one of the things that maybe you're right. Maybe one of the things you're pointing out something out to me. Maybe I need to show that side of me a little bit more that people go, I want to be like that.

1:38:12Like, I want to have some fun doing it too. Or not even show yourself. Just do it. Yeah, do it. Just do it, man. Just do it. Like, I'm not saying you don't ever, ever compromise who you are and what you do because you're right. You're not going to be happy yeah yeah what are you gonna do i did not not get up in the morning and work out not get up and go to work right you know one day maybe