Ride Home Rants
Ride Home Rants
Soccer, Finance, and Finding Your Path in Your 20s
Ever wondered what happens when the final whistle blows on your college athletic career? Quinn Flaspohler takes us on his journey from Oxford, Ohio to Cleveland as he navigates the transition from student-athlete to young professional.
Growing up in a family of academics – with his father teaching psychology at Miami University and grandfather teaching statistics at Xavier – Quinn carved his own path playing soccer at DePauw University before pursuing a Master of Finance at Case Western Reserve University. With refreshing candor, he shares how he balanced the demanding schedule of collegiate athletics with rigorous academic pursuits, and the unexpected challenges that emerged when his playing days ended.
The conversation delves into life in Cleveland's vibrant Little Italy neighborhood, where Quinn currently resides while coaching soccer, working in a restaurant, and interviewing for corporate positions. His experience working as a Graduate Assistant in university admissions reveals valuable insights about the skills developed through diverse work experiences during the formative post-graduation period.
Perhaps most compelling is the discussion about team dynamics and how the lessons from athletics transfer to professional settings. As our host Johnny aptly puts it, "When you're a part of a team, everyone is equally important, and without all those people, there is no team, it's just a bunch of individuals." Quinn's story reminds us that career paths aren't always linear, and sometimes the road less traveled leads to unexpected opportunities.
Whether you're a recent graduate, a current student-athlete contemplating your future, or simply interested in how young professionals navigate today's job market, Quinn's journey offers valuable perspective on finding your way forward when the structured world of college athletics comes to an end. Subscribe to hear more conversations with emerging professionals and established leaders sharing
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Welcome everybody to another episode of the Ride Home Rants podcast.
Speaker 1:This is your special guest, host Fitty filling in today for Mike Bono, and we have a great and special episode for you with a great young man who's going to be talking all things about a lot of things with us today.
Speaker 1:Before we jump into the show, though, make sure you peep all of our sponsors in the pre-roll and the post-roll. Most are small business owners and they are great supporters of the show, and please go ahead and support them by checking out the links attached to the show and also checking them out on social media. We couldn't be here without all of our sponsors and, of course, all of our guests, so make sure you're checking out all of our season five guests, but don't be scared to go back and check out seasons one, two, three and four as well. Over 250 episodes with a lot of different guests and a lot of different topics bring a wide variety of shows for your listening pleasure. Without further ado, I'd like to introduce Quinn Flashpolar, who is coming to us today from Cleveland Ohio, but originally from the other side of the state. Quinn, welcome to the show.
Speaker 2:Thanks for having me, johnny. I feel like I got some shoes to fill Season five. Man, it's cool. So, yeah, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's been fun. When we started this out for the listeners that don't know the newer listeners, or maybe the ones that have been listening for a little bit but don't know the background Mike just kind of started this podcast on a whim. He was working during COVID in customer service and he would just rant on his way home about the stupid questions that he gets all day, thus how the title of Ride Home Rants started. And then, for people that don't know, mike had a few individual episodes and then he was looking for guests and was like hey, like does anybody want to be a guest? And I'm like I'll be a guest. And then, after we recorded way back in January of 2021, then I came on as the manager and we've been hosting people every week.
Speaker 1:So, for people that don't know, a little bit, behind the scenes here and Quinn, you'll find this out is Mike and I work in tandem with all of our guests. We have pretty much had all of our friends on the show and a lot of people we've connected with during various stops in our careers as well. And then really, mike does all the technical great stuff with the show and all the editing, and he does all that stuff, and I come up a lot of times with the flow of the show and the topics and things like that. So we really work hand in hand. That's a little bit behind the scenes for everyone listening right now about how we do this. So, and Quinn, you just found that out too. So there you go. There's your like tidbit of cool information from the day.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah. Oh yeah, it's cool. It's the dynamic duo, so get to be with one half. Obviously, we know each other proud to the show, but um, yeah, it's really cool to know, and you guys have come a long way since, since the covid days, so keep it going?
Speaker 1:yeah, we have, we have.
Speaker 2:So, quinn um, tell us originally where you're from yeah, so originally from oxford, ohio, so from Oxford Ohio, so Miami university, if you know, for those listening it's about four hours Southwest of Cleveland, about an hour North of Cincinnati, um, so yeah, I grew up there and small town um, as many, many other probably fellow guests of the show are from, it seems to be a common theme small town, ohio kid. So now living in Cleveland, although I'm a Cincinnati guy at heart.
Speaker 1:So yeah, Okay Now, quinn, this is actually probably something for all the listeners that they'll find out. So your first name's not actually Quinn, it's actually one of many names that you have. So can you tell the listeners actually what your name is? And then, how did you start to go by Quinn?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a great question. I feel like I don't even know the origin story of why I started to go by Quinn, but my legal name is technically David and then my two middle names are Arthur, quinn and last name is Flassbower. I think my parents chose Quinn and then they chose David and Arthur because those are my two grandfather's names, um, and then I think they just felt like that was the best flow of the four. Like if you were to sound it out or say it out loud, I think that's probably the best way. So maybe that was the decision, but it still seems to be a mystery. I mean, they, they had to come up with something original themselves and it just stuck.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, stood the test of time so was that hard when you were like going by quinn but you were like saying like elementary school or even in middle school or high school and people seeing like David on like your attendance book, did you get like have to tell people a lot that you're? You went by Quinn but your name was David.
Speaker 2:Still still, to this day, like I mean, yeah, it's uh, it's confusing because people are like I can't find your name in the system and then I'm like, oh yeah, that's because my real name is is david or vice versa. So people still struggle with that. I mean I'm constantly telling people no, my real legal name is david. So, yeah, been doing that for for 23 years, so it's been fun I gotcha, I gotcha.
Speaker 1:so, originally from oxford, ohio, you grow up there, um, you know, and then you go off to college. So you do your undergrad out in Indiana. Tell us about why you chose that school. What school did you choose? You know what was that experience like and you were a student athlete. So what was that recruiting process like?
Speaker 2:So kind of walk us through that whole process like so kind of walk us through that whole process. Yeah, so I chose to attend depaul university. It's a small liberal arts school in green castle, indiana, kind of middle of nowhere, um, again, small town feel, which I think there's a common theme there. But um, essentially I knew I wanted to go to school to play soccer. That was pretty much the number one thing for why I was pursuing any school.
Speaker 2:I knew of DePaul because I had two cousins that had previously attended and played sports there. So I'd heard of the school. I had visited, been there a few times and felt like looking into it and reaching out to the coaching staff at the time and I think, after visiting a number of times, felt like it was kind of the right school Small feel, felt like I could play my sport kind of right away and be impactful and get a good education. And then, in terms of distance, was like you know, two and a half hours from where I grew up, so kind of perfect balance of not too far but far enough, and had a lot of family that grew up and then lives in Indianapolis, which is like 45 minutes away, so it's like kind of had some familiarity with the area. So it was. You know plenty of schools out there. It was just about making a choice, and I chose DePaul.
Speaker 1:Okay, and you mentioned you played soccer.
Speaker 2:What position did you play in soccer? A number of different ones. I started my career out as a winger and then, the way I look at it is, as I progressively got older and slower, I started to move towards the middle of the field, which is, I think, sometimes a common theme. So winger to then center attacking midfielder and then to defensive midfielder. So that was kind of the natural progression of things, gotcha.
Speaker 1:Now you mentioned Indianapolis. I've heard a lot of great things about there. I've personally never been there, but for people that don't know much about Indianapolis, it holds the NFL Combine there every year at the Colts Stadium. The Big Ten Championship game is played there as well. Usually Ohio State is representing one of the teams there, it seems like, but you know what was Indianapolis like? I'm sure you visited, only being 45 minutes away, you know, I heard it's a very fun town. What was that like there?
Speaker 2:I've been to a number of Pacers games and have been downtown a few times. To be honest, I haven't spent a ton of time in Indianapolis, but similar to a Cleveland or Cincinnati or Columbus, it's similar size to my understanding. I mean some really great companies there. You know Eli Lilly, one of them that I think about a lot, among many others, but it's a great city, very Midwest kind of like similar vibe to. You know a lot of the cities in Ohio, Pittsburgh, so on and so forth. So yeah, it's a good time, think it's, it's on the come up, I mean it's. It's still got a lot of work to do in terms of development, but there's a lot of opportunity and a lot of great people live there. So I love it. Um, and I think the surrounding areas of indianapolis you kind of break into, like the caramels and the zinesvilles of the world, like those two places, are really spectacular, so a lot of great friends from there as well.
Speaker 1:Are you a Pacers fan?
Speaker 2:I think like it depends on who they're playing. I mean I would root for the Cavs over the Pacers, but I'd root for the Pacers over the Thunder. Like I'm not a huge NBA guy, to be fair. I'm more of a college basketball fan, to be honest, but I mean it was cool to see them get that far. It's unfortunate that they didn't win the ring, but, um, yeah, so so, kind of to answer your question, I'm kind of a fan of the pacers. Maybe fair weather would be the right, okay definition.
Speaker 1:Okay, who you rocking out with college basketball? Who's your squad?
Speaker 2:well, xavier musketeers man, that's my school. Yeah, that's just kind of the the family lineage parents went there, grandfather uh, you know other family um, grandparents taught there, so on and so forth. So yeah, I've been a xavier fan since I was like born, I guess okay okay, I am.
Speaker 1:I am a. I am a Hawaii Warriors basketball and football fan.
Speaker 1:So I, you know, you know me I got my like Yeti Hawaii um water mug in my office. So, um, not not too many people, you know, cheer on Hawaii sports here on the mainland but, um, you know people that don't know. Xavier, it's a really nice school. It's a smaller Division I school. It's a Catholic university, so you do have a large contingency of Catholic students there as well. But down in the Cincinnati area actually big rivals with Cincinnati and also Dayton due to geographic location. So just throwing that out there for Xavier. So I know this. You mentioned this to me before and you just kind of talked about it. Um, a lot of your families worked in higher ed um, and more of the academic space, um, I believe. So can you kind of talk about, like, what family has worked. You mentioned about Xavier, but I believe one of your parents works in the higher ed space too. What is, uh, you know where, where, where were they at?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so my dad is currently a professor at Miami university the school where you know it's where I grew up and whatnot. Um a professor of psychology, clinical psychology. He um has taught there for, yeah, probably 22 years now. Um did his PhD at university of South Carolina, then did a sort of fellowship at Yale and then started his career at Miami and has kind of been there ever since. So, yeah, I think he kind of followed the lineage as well.
Speaker 2:My grandfather was also a professor of statistics at Xavier and you know, other members of my family are in academia and whatnot. So it's nice because that's where I probably get a lot of my school brains from. For sure, my dad's a pretty smart fellow, so it's cool. It's something that I've always kept in the back of my mind, like, am I going to keep the family tradition alive or do I do my own thing? So, um, yeah, it's nice to to grow up with a smart guy, um, but he's kind of ventured off into different areas over time but he does still teach. So hope that answers the question.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. And you know what? It's never too soon or too late to get in the higher ed space. So you have a lot of time, many, many years in front of you. So maybe you'll get your graduate degree from and continue with your last year eligibility for soccer. So kind of walk us through that now, because that's a little bit different and I think people that know the eligibility stuff and the things that happen with COVID is that a lot of students got an extra year or two, maybe some even three, and they went on to other schools as graduate students and playing. So walk us through the graduate recruitment space and where did you ultimately end up to play soccer for your last year?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I graduated from DePaul in fall of 2023. And this was kind of an interesting time because, as you, you, you well know that most people graduate in the spring. I was a winter grad and was for a long time. I wanted to use the last year of eligibility, um, so a big part of graduating and then, um know, figuring out the next steps, was like finding the right school and so thinking about schools that I had previously communicated with, um, schools that I knew were in the area of where I grew up or, you know, close to depaul and whatnot, um, and programs that had done well on both the soccer standpoint and had good academic programs, were kind of the main things that I was looking for. I just felt like I had some extra power in the legs and so, yeah, I found Katie's Plus.
Speaker 2:That's where I ultimately decided to go to school. I'd been recruited there previously, when I was in high school, which feels like forever ago, but I used that last year to do the master of finance at Case, which was a great program For me. I wanted to go to school again, but only for a year, and provide that flexibility. Let me, just let me fix this real quick, okay, so anyways, let me let me know, is that better? Are you getting any? Yeah, yeah, okay, sorry about that, so anyways yeah, slight technical difficulties.
Speaker 1:It happens when you're on zoom.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it's all good yeah, yeah, okay, sorry about that. So anyways, um, yeah, I found case or kind of revisited, felt like it had the best graduate program in terms of what I was looking for. I started econ at DePaul and then, yeah, I felt like the combination of finance was a great duo, so reached out to the coaching staff, got connected with them, who I had previously been in contact with when I was in high school. But this coaching staff, the head coach, was at a different school back then. So, yeah, long story short, the kind of process looked like reaching out to a bunch of schools and communicating with coaching staffs and sending film and talking about my grades and my academic pursuits and whatnot, and just Case Western was kind of the best, um, mesh of those two worlds. So that's where I ended up and it was a great experience, I think. Um, exactly what I was looking for and happy to continue playing for another year at the college level.
Speaker 1:So Okay, and for people that don't know much about um, case Western Reserve University, it is in Cleveland. It is a top 50 school in the country academically the second ranked school, or first ranked school depending on the rankings in the state of Ohio with Ohio State by a pretty wide margin, verse number three. About 6,000 undergrads there and then about 6,000 master's degree through doctorate students as well. So very good academic school. So, quinn, how did you balance such a high academic school with being a student athlete?
Speaker 2:I didn't, no, I'm just kidding. Yeah, I think it's all about coming up with a list of priorities. Yeah, I think it's all about coming up with a list of priorities and I think the story has always been school first and then sports second or having fun second. So, yeah, it was about getting the work done and sacrificing time. Sacrificing, you know, going out on the weekends and whatnot. So, yeah, I think the nice thing about the Master of Finance program at Case Western is that a lot of the work that you do is in groups, and I think that the groups that I worked with were very accommodating.
Speaker 2:They understood that I was an athlete and what I wasn't able to do some weeks I'd kind of balance out by doing extra the following week and so on and so forth. So I think that's it was a blessing that I think the program that I was in was flexible, the people were great, the faculty and the staff were great. I mean it was. You don't really know what you don't know until you really go through something like that. And I think, looking back, I'm very grateful for um the ability to manage my schedule more than anything, because if it weren't for the people that helped me, then I probably would have been able to do it. So Absolutely.
Speaker 1:And you know one of my own college coaches um, shout out to to Tim Weaver, who was previous guest on the show one of my college football coaches used to tell us and he said when you're a college athlete, priority one can be sports, but priority 1A better be academics. And it's okay to flip that and make academics priority one and sports 1A, but you can't play sports in college without your academics and you're not going to have much of a career if you don't emphasize the academics. But the sports are giving you the tools to also succeed in academics too. So I always remember that. I always used to tell my guys that when I coached for a long time and it's just a great thing to think about when you're a college athlete that you really need to make sure both of them are on par with one another. So soccer ends and you still have another semester to go.
Speaker 1:The Master of Finance is a two-semester program, so you actually get a job as a graduate assistant, in theory a lead ambassador in the admissions office for graduate admissions at Weatherhead, so uh, which is the management school at case western. So, uh, what was that like?
Speaker 2:yeah, it was interesting. Like you retire from from sports, you realize that you're likely not going to go pro. I don't know if I'll ever say never, but uh, you know, career is over and and so it's like you. You kind of got to fill in the gaps because it's like you've got all this time on your hands.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, I found this incredible GA position with the lovely Weatherhead School of Management admissions team and it was great, really experienced before in terms of reaching out to people, doing some perspective stuff, speaking with people from other countries every single week, emailing dozens of people every week, um, basically telling people that case western is the school for them. Um, and it very well could be, for for many people it turned out to be, so it was really fun. I loved working with the team and Johnny, as you may well know, working with me every week. It was a lot of fun. So I learned a lot and was led by some great mentors at the Weatherhead School. So it's a skill or a job that taught me many skills that have been helpful, um, as I kind of continue to pursue professional opportunities.
Speaker 1:So it's been great it was great, absolutely Well, on behalf of all of us there. We appreciated you, uh, you know, jumping in and working hard for us every week and doing all the great things that um you, that you could do for us and especially all that reach out. So really grateful.
Speaker 2:And talking to all the prospective students when they were on campus it's fun I got to add, it's fun because to anyone that's maybe going to be a college student, I would highly recommend doing something like this, because you learn skills, you learn how to speak with people, but you feel like you're providing people with such a great service and you feel good because it's like you're kind of paying it back in a sense. You know you had a lot of questions when you were thinking about going to school, as I did, and being able to answer them. For people that are curious and want to figure out the next steps for life, it's like, oh man, what's better than that?
Speaker 2:So, yeah, yeah, absolutely, that was just add a detail.
Speaker 1:All right, sorry, yeah, no, absolutely no, feel free to add. You know, I think I would always tell people, whether you're a graduate student or undergrad, you know, find opportunities to connect on campus and I'm not just saying that with sports right, if you're an athlete and I was an athlete, you were an athlete or if you're in the band or cheerleading or whatever clubs and organizations. But find other opportunities like working. Right, you're going to meet a lot of professional people. If you have a work, study job or a graduate assistant job. I mean a lot of people you're going to learn from a lot of great people in a lot of positions who have been there for maybe a couple months or their whole life. You know you're going to learn a lot of skills from a lot of different people and you're going to pick up on one or two things and I think learning those skills from professionals as a young person you know 18, 19, 21, 22, whatever it may be you know it's going to help you with the longevity of your career because, as I'm sure you've seen, you know our office has had many different individuals in it and you probably picked up a skill or two from each of us or just some type of mannerism or something like that. So you know, I would encourage people to connect that way.
Speaker 1:It's also great to work on campus and when you make those connections, those people really good job references. You know they're great for letters of recommendation. Those people are really good job references, you know they're great for letters of recommendation, you know, later on. So I would encourage people to work, you know, just for a little bit when you're on campus and just connect with the professionals there, because a lot of people in higher ed, as you know with, like your dad and your family, not are always higher ed people. They know a lot of people in the public sector or the private sector or health care or whatever it may be. So I think it's always great to connect with those people and work on campus. Did you work at all when you're at the pod? Did you have any jobs or anything?
Speaker 2:No, I didn't work for the school at all, I just yeah, I was just a full-time athlete.
Speaker 1:Gotcha, you know I was right there with you, though I did when I was at bethany when I was doing my degree you had to do. At that time I was in sports management. Um, you had to do two on campus on practicums and then also an off-campus internship. So I'll never forget my two on campus, um, practicums. One was I was responsible for filling the vending machines in the athletic center every week. So I had to like, of course, with, like my advisor, but I had to fill the machines, tell the, you know, write down how much we needed of each pop, or soda, as people say, or soda pop, as some other people say. But I had to do that. I had to deposit the quarters. I had to manage that with, like the business office. So I think that gave me like a really well-rounded set of skills to do something like that. And then my other one was I had to manage the 6 am to 2 pm work shift in the rec center with the workers. So that was always was always um, interesting and and fun as well, um, so those are two I did when I was on campus.
Speaker 1:So so you're at Case. Uh, you know, originally from Oxford, so you're getting a chance to, to learn about Cleveland. Um, you know, and you end up finding a place in little Italy, uh, the famous little Italy in Cleveland. So tell us about, um, tell us about living in little Italy.
Speaker 2:That's great. It's a great area. I mean. I think pretty much anyone that lives here can testify to that it's uh, it's not short of great food, plenty of stuff to do. I mean it's a cute little spot not too far from university circle, which is ranked as one of the, I think, best places to be, um, definitely in ohio, in terms of just culture. Um, so your your stones throw away from from case, from a bunch of different museums, so it's a great place to be. I mean, I've loved living here. I've been here for about a year and you know, every day I'm walking to, you know, somewhere nearby, whether that's a restaurant or a cafe or a market or whatever. So it's fun and if you're ever in Cleveland, it's definitely worth stopping by and grabbing some food or a drink or something like that.
Speaker 1:What is your favorite restaurant in Little Italy? I'm curious to hear this.
Speaker 2:Home Bistro.
Speaker 1:Oh, I did not expect that from you.
Speaker 2:You know why? Because I work there now.
Speaker 1:Oh nice.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so that's my weekend thing, but no, it's actually, I would say, because every place has a great food. The thing that Home Beach, charlotte, it separates itself is because it's not Italian. I mean, you go to Little Italy, of course people are like everything's going to be Italian food. It's not, it's New American and it's very good. So that's my pick, although of course you know you've got plenty of great Italian restaurants. You know, sometimes it's nice of of great Italian restaurants. Um, you know, sometimes it's nice that there is something different to the mix.
Speaker 1:So shout out Okay, a little shameless plug right there. We appreciate that. Uh, you know, shout out the businesses. So I would say mine is probably Trattoria. Um, I really, really love Trattoria, I love the patio there. So, yeah, I just think that's probably my favorite. I know a lot of people are very opinionated on their favorite restaurant in Little Italy.
Speaker 2:To be fair, I've only really experienced four of them in terms of going out to eat, so that's my ranking for now. Okay, I'll, but trattoria is definitely up there. I, I like trattoria. We had a good. We had a good meal there late in the semester, in may, so yeah, that's a great restaurant as well so did you like to go to corbo's bakery a lot I've only been there probably three times.
Speaker 2:Okay, I gotta stay away from the bakeries. That's the thing. It's right there. It's so tempting to go there, or to go to the Murray Hill Market or to get gelato right up the street. It's always tempting. Yeah, I've only been there a couple of times, but it's great. I mean, I've gotten a bunch of the cakes. I got a cake there once, like what, got gelato there, um, a bunch of pastries. So, yeah, it's, it's good. Is that your? Is that your spot? When you're you're done? Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, no, for sure, for sure. Um, they did our desserts, uh, desserts for our wedding. So it was really, it was really awesome. But even before that, you know I love going there. Cannolis are wonderful the rainbow cookies some people call them seven layer cookies they're. They're great too. They sell a great Corleone sauce, clemenza's, highly recommended for all my paisans out there that love Italian food and love a good sauce. Shout out to Clemenza Corleone sauce. But no, definitely love Corbo's. They do a great business there. They have the other business in Playhouse Square, so big fan of them. So the other thing, talking about a little bit of self-control, of going to the bakery, you're also pretty in shape still. You still like working out, you still like keeping busy. So what were your workouts like when you were in soccer, compared to now being a retired athlete?
Speaker 2:so I guess, in terms of like in in college, uh, the workouts would definitely change year to year. Um, I would say a lot more fitness, a lot more running. I think the I feel like a lot of student athletes would attest to this. Um, the natural progression is like you finish your sport and a lot of people get into, like weightlifting, and I feel like that's what's happened with me, where it's been less about endurance and running and more about let's bulk up and build some strength, you know. So that's kind of the big difference. I think the workouts as a soccer player are heavy cardio, of course, strength training, but it's not about size, it's about speed and agility and whatnot. So you can kind of imagine the differences in the workouts today, where it's more about getting big and strong versus just being fit. So, yeah, I would say I need to start running again. Let's just put it that way. Yeah, I'm already out of breath, if you can't tell.
Speaker 1:You got to run when you can because it's harder as you get older, especially with the wear and tear from being a college athlete.
Speaker 1:I don't know if I ever told you this. So you know, after I retired from playing football on track and graduated, you know, I did used to bang the weights out pretty good and then I started to have some back issues and then I found out I had degenerative arthritis in my back. So I've had to really cater my workouts around that. But probably about maybe about six years ago, leading up to our first game, when I was coaching college football and working in admissions, I was like I want to run sprints, I'm going to do a pyramid and run 10s, 20s, 30s and 40s. And don't you know, my last 40, my last 40 of that workout, I significantly pulled and tore my groin. So I don't know if I ever told you that and that was the end. That was the end of my running days. It's been nothing but the elliptical, the stairmaster or power walking, and for anyone that's never tore their groin partially, it's terrible, more than full muscles. So not a fun time. So I've had to adjust big time.
Speaker 2:I gotta just mention how much I resonate with you in terms of the low back problems. That was something that I dealt with a lot in college and had disc issues and had surgery and whatnot, and I've been looking into getting one of those Nordic benches. Been going back and forth with this guy on Facebook Marketplace trying to get a good deal. Those things are like fantastic, though I'm sure you know a lot about the.
Speaker 2:Nordic bench. So that's like I'm trying to build my own home gym, as kind of the next thing you know, I'm becoming an adult. Own home gym as kind of the next thing you know, I'm becoming an adult. I feel like that's what adults do. So building my home gym. I got to have an order of pension there, but I got to get a good price on it on Facebook Marketplace first, so the low back stuff is no joke. I had sciatica oh, it was horrible.
Speaker 1:So that's a career breaker for sure I remember I remember so, even horrible, so that's a career breaker for sure. I remember. I remember so, going, even before that, dealing with the back issues, I remember I was like weightlifting, I was coaching high school football and then my back just really flared up and it was probably the worst flare up, um, I ever had, and I was trying to coach a seven on seven passing scrimmage with that and I remember I could barely get out of my car when I got home and then, like the next day, I couldn't even walk. I actually I like I fell over in my house and had to pull myself up by the doorknob.
Speaker 1:So you know, back injuries are no, no joke. Um, so I would tell people, you know, got to take care of your back, you got to do abs, you got to do lower back exercises to strengthen your abs. Um, even if, even if you, you've catered your workouts differently, still do those, you need to keep your back, because your back, as you know, quinn, controls every other part of your body, and if your back is hurt and you can't move your neck and your head from side to side without shooting pain going down through your back and to your legs, as you probably know, yeah, it's no fun, people.
Speaker 2:Just keep your listen to John. I'll just put listen to John, all right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, and when I started catering my workouts different, I would go to Planet Fitness, which is a little bit more friendly to what I would want. And you know I can see why that a lot of people who go there, you know, enjoy going there because it's not like being in a typical gym and banging out just heavy weights and deadlifts and squats, a lot of it's, you know, the dumbbells and the Smith machines and things like that to really help, you know, people out. But we're in the process of putting a home gym in in our basement right now. There you go. So we got a bench down there, got some dumbbells, um, you know, got got a um strength grip bar, so just enough for me to do what I need to do, and a lot of body weight exercises too. Right, so you can't, can't really.
Speaker 2:You got the bicep curl machine in there yet not the bicep curl machine.
Speaker 1:We got an easy bar, though yeah, we do have uh, we do have, uh, we do have yeah, you know, it's kind of kind of all I need.
Speaker 1:You know, I was just talking to somebody the other day and they're like well, what do you do for your leg workouts? I was like, I do, I do sumo squats, uh, with a dumbbell, I do a lot of calf raises on the steps, I'll do side raises, uh, lunges, body weight lunges, I'll do like hip thrusts, like things like that I think is just just enough for me. And you know, going on my walks and stuff too, so, um, so that's all you need, Right, so you graduate from Weatherhead, right, you just graduate. Um, you know, really, seven weeks ago, eight weeks ago, Um, you know what's next in the journey for Quinn?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a good question. I think I'm. I wish I had an answer for you, but uh, what I do know is that I'll be in Cleveland, um, you know, I'm coaching soccer, um keeping myself busy on the weekends, making some money working at you know, a restaurant, waiting tables and interviewing, uh, still. So, uh, it's one of those things where been in a handful of of of interview processes and they've just not, um, they've gone well, they just have. I've come up short a handful of times. So, just continuing to be persistent and and we'll find something that fits what I want to do, be persistent and and we'll find something that fits what I want to do, hopefully soon. But, um, at the same time, I'm enjoying kind of the time off. I mean, I'm still, um, you know, doing some stuff here and there and keep myself busy as much as I can. But, yeah, hopefully, hopefully, corporate life at some point and then just doing a whole bunch of other things.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, well, and that leads into a great segue here, because I think when you graduate from college, whether an undergrad or graduate degree, I think people are always reaching for this shiny object, and the shiny object sometimes isn't always there, right, and people have to take some other jobs and but they learn other skills, right, and they do things that they may not have thought before and they find a passion for that. You know, I probably would assume maybe when you were in the finance program you probably thought you know, hey, I'm not gonna coach, I'm just gonna go work in the corporate world. But then yet you found yourself in that path and another door is opened. Well, maybe the corporate finance door hasn't opened, or the psychology room hasn't opened for someone, or economics, or math. You're opening new doors for yourself and I think that's great for any graduate to experience.
Speaker 1:You know, I got out of my degree and I didn't land something in sports management right away, but I found my passion and coaching at that time and working with individuals in the sports space, and I think that that really helped me in my life get to the part of the career I'm in now. So that's great, you're doing that and I would encourage anyone you know to dive into something too if something's quite not in front of you. You know that shiny object that you're searching for because it'll be there and you'll get there. You'll definitely get there, but definitely take the road less traveled, I like to say, for certain people, right, because the road less traveled sometimes leads to the highway, uh, forever for yourself. So, um, you know, good, definitely good luck to you in that you know that realm.
Speaker 2:So let me just say you've got like the best sayings, like the best phrases, stuff like that. Dude, you've been having that since, like I think, we met, so I just got to give you a shout out. You've got the good. What's the? What's the name for having? What's the name for the phrase?
Speaker 1:It's like.
Speaker 1:I'm coming out no, you're good, You're good. I'll say no, Thank you for the, the the compliment there. So you also in life you learn. You learn a lot of cool sayings as you get older and you're around a lot of other people and you'll take those life experiences too. But no, thank you. Thank you for that. And I think you know probably one of the best things I've told people, whether it was working in higher ed or coaching or really any spaces and I just said this the other day too.
Speaker 1:Again, my college coach, Tim Weaver, used to say when you're a part of a team, no matter how many people are on that team, whether it's a team of 120 guys in football or an office of 10 people, right, Everybody is just as important as the next person on that team.
Speaker 1:And the moment people stop realizing that they're just as important as the next person, the team suffers and you become a bunch of individuals. And I really have resonated with that with my career, because in my life and I used to tell people that because when you're a part of a team, everyone is contributing in a different way, whether you're the best recruiter out there and somebody else maybe isn't, or you're the best football player or the soccer player or the track person, whatever it is, but there's always somebody else on the team contributing in a different way, you know, bringing some type of positivity, some type of good nature and something to that team. So I think that's probably one of the most favorite things I ever heard is, when you are a part of a team, everyone is equally important, and without all those people, there is no team, it's just a bunch of individuals. So that's probably my favorite quote. I can tell you right there yeah, there there's no.
Speaker 2:Uh, there's no iron team team right.
Speaker 1:Exactly Very old school right there. One of my I think eighth grade teachers used to have this saying on the wall and it said another just funny saying here says I can't died in the war of I'll try. So I think that's something else I can't died in the war of I'll try, um. So my ape green, uh civics teachers used to have that on the wall.
Speaker 2:So this is what this'm saying, johnny, you've got the sayings. I'm glad you said that, because I think it's not just myself I would assume it's not just myself that is going through any kind of process or whatever it might be, that's similar in terms of trying to find their next team or the next thing. Any kind of process or whatever it might be, that's similar in terms of of of trying to find their next team or the next thing, and and so um, yeah, I think that you kind of spoke to that very well and like um, and whatever it might be, you know it's, you're just as important as the next guy, so yeah absolutely Absolutely so.
Speaker 1:Quinn, before we wrap up the show here, I want to talk to you a little bit more about Cleveland. So you've been in Cleveland about a year. You know, living in Little Italy we talked about that, we talked a little bit about University Circle and the museums, but what have been some of your favorite things that you've experienced?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's the nice thing is, I've got a lot to explore, but I think the highlight has been the Metro Parks for sure. I think that's just an obvious one. I think there's pretty good food, I mean, even outside of Little Italy. Ohio City is a great place Tremont plenty of nice places to go and eat and hang out. Been to a Guardians game although they lost, I think it's a pretty cool field and then a Cavs game as well. So, actually, good sports, which is like, I mean, maybe not the Browns, but it's good to have a couple of good teams in your city.
Speaker 2:What else do I enjoy? I enjoy the fact that it's an affordable city to live in. I'm sure you can probably agree with that. It's, I mean, it's nice that you could do fun things and not, you know, burn an arm and a leg while doing it. So, yeah, there's, there's a lot, and I I'm sure that I'm going to need to take a few more recommendations off of your you know your list to do this summer. But no, there's there's a lot of fun things. I've enjoyed it and, um, it's convinced me to stay for the future. So that kind of speaks for itself, I guess. How about you? What's your favorite. What's your favorite part? I know you're a Willoughby guy, but um what else do you?
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's that. That's a great question. So shout out Willoughby, love Willoughby. I would say it's one of the best suburbs in Cleveland I'm biased though.
Speaker 1:You know I'm biased. People like to say, though, when you're in Cleveland I'm sure you've seen this there is like a divide of the east side versus west side and that divide is real. For people that don't know, the west side don't mix with the east side and the east side don't go to the west side for some reason. But you know I love Willoughby and shout out Willoughby. We actually did a show about all things Willoughby a while back with a lot of great guests, so that's really cool. If you want to check that out, definitely recommend for you to check that out. But I love Willoughby. You know actually was just at Wild Goose, one of the best pizza places probably in all of Cleveland. There it's really cool. But the things probably that I would say I've enjoyed in Cleveland we've been to a Cavs game, which is fun. Been to a couple of Guardians games, which are fun.
Speaker 1:There's some great restaurants. Lulo's is great Latin American food, probably one of my favorite restaurants. Been to Morton's, been to the Marble Room, which are really cool experiences when you're there. And the suburbs offer a lot too. I mean there's a lot of great things on the west side. Been out to Avon to watch the Crushers play a game on the east side Been to watch the Captains play, who are affiliated with the Guardians. The Crushers are an independent ball club, so you know there's a lot of great things like that. I mean, you know University Circle is great, love the Coffee House. You know it's a great, great staple there. I was just there today. Yeah, it's great.
Speaker 1:And it's just so affordable and cheap. Shout out the Coffee House there right by Weatherhead if people want to go check that out. It's literally a stone's throw away. So you know, I think those things are really cool. But I think the suburbs have a lot to offer too. You know, the thing about Cleveland is and I've been to a lot of cities, I've been to Baltimore, been to Erie, pittsburgh, morgantown, charleston, west Virginia, memphis, I mean a lot of different places, omaha, nebraska, ann Arbor I think the unique thing about Cleveland, compared to all those other places, is the suburbs offer just as much, if not more, than the city too.
Speaker 1:And the city offers a ton, but the suburbs are fantastic. I mean for people that you know haven't checked out Willoughby or Mentor or Westlake, haven't checked out. You know something like Chagrin Falls as well. I mean there's a lot of cool. You know suburbs with a lot, a lot to do in Cleveland and you know the one shameless plug I'll put out there is a new Superband movie for everyone that's going to check that out Coming out this summer here. It was actually filmed in Cleveland. Superman was founded in Cleveland, I think, like 1932 in a comic book. So they came back to do that. So, and can't forget the beaches when you think of Cleveland, you probably don't think of the beaches, but there's a lot of great beaches right by the city or in the city itself with like Edgewater so, and there's Mentor Headlands and there's Fairport Harbor, even out in Vermilion a little bit way on the west side there. So just a lot of cool places to go there. So you know, hopefully you and all the listeners who get a chance to experience Cleveland can check out all those wonderful things.
Speaker 1:So, quinn, we're going to finish up the show with the vaunted Fast 55. And it's five random questions brought to you by yours truly that literally talk about nothing we've had on the podcast. So you can choose to elaborate on these and go into as much depth as you want, or you can just answer them quickly and we can move on. But for all the new listeners out there, this is a segment we came up with, mike and I, back in the summer of 2021 to kind of end the show on on a on a funny note. So we've had all types of answers here, all types of questions. I just think of them and then we come up with them. So, wayne, if you're ready, we can get started all right, let's do it okay, number one.
Speaker 1:This is a tough one. What is the best soap to use in the shower?
Speaker 2:My soap, I don't know, that's a good answer Soap brand.
Speaker 1:Yeah, soap brand.
Speaker 2:Yeah, hmm, I don't know. Honestly, I feel like everything has all these crazy chemicals in them nowadays. Get something, get something handmade. That's my, that's my tip. Go to your farmer's market, get something handmade. Can't go wrong.
Speaker 1:Okay, shout out farmer's markets right there and some farmer's market.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, you gotta go to the farmer's unbranded. That's my choice non-brand.
Speaker 1:Okay, you love a good, love a good farmer's market. Are you a farmer's market fan? That's not a question for the fast five when I'm.
Speaker 2:When there's one around, I feel like they pop up like carnivals. You know, you never really see them, they're just like they're there once in a while. When I see one, it's like let's get at it, let's get all the soaps possible.
Speaker 1:So yeah, I like farmer's markets.
Speaker 1:They're cool yeah, farmer's markets are definitely great and shout out. Willoughby's farmer's market is every Saturday, rain or shine, 8 am until noon. You can go. You can go to brunch after a lot of great brunch spots down there, seoul, go to the wild goose, go to Fiona's and get coffee right across the street, you know. Go to the bakery right there. So definitely check out Willoughby's Farmer's Market. But question number two for you, quinn what's worse If you have to eat cereal with water or having to eat cereal with a fork?
Speaker 2:Cereal with water, for sure, like you can have milk with the cereal, but you have to eat with a fork. Or cereal with water, oh yeah, cereal with a fork. You have to eat with a fork. Or cereal with water, oh yeah, cereal with a fork, because then it's like you're not ruining it. You know what I mean? You can still. It's like, is it as good as with a spoon? No chance, but you can still consume the whole thing. Water with cereal, that's like right. I don't think any cereal tastes good with water cereal added, so that I'm passionate about that one. Okay, okay, what's your favorite cereal of war?
Speaker 1:One big cereal added, so that I'm passionate about that one. Okay, okay, what's?
Speaker 2:your favorite cereal. Cool Depends on the day. I'm a big Captain Crunch fan, big Cinnamon Toast Crunch fan those two.
Speaker 1:Are you a fan? After you eat Captain Crunch and it rips the roof of your mouth apart.
Speaker 2:I mean, do I like Getting my mouth ripped apart? No chance, that didn't sound right, but no, yeah. No, that's not fun, but Captain Crunch is the best. So thanks, okay.
Speaker 1:Okay, question number three when do you think the GPS ranks as one of the top inventions ever?
Speaker 2:Alright, I gotta clarify what you're asking. So there's a ranking system of what's the best inventions. Where do I think it falls?
Speaker 1:Okay, who? Where do you think the development of the GPS falls in the best inventions of all time?
Speaker 2:It's got to be top 20, in my opinion.
Speaker 1:Uh, I'll go 17th okay, I would say to me it's probably top five, because the gps literally makes the world go round now with trains and buses and trucks, and but you gotta think though if it's top five, that means's got to beat a lot of other really good inventions Like top five, like granted, you need a GPS in order to use many of the other inventions.
Speaker 2:So I do think that's not a bad take, but I could maybe get behind top five, but I'm going to stick with top 20. I'll go 70. Okay.
Speaker 2:Question number four Areriars overrated or underrated, underrated, underrated yeah, I think so, because I think they're underrated, because I feel like you don't really get to have them that often and like it's kind of a good time to get away from the TV and sports and you know crap on the internet. You know you're outside, you know you're cooking s'mores. Some hot dogs, like you, can be versatile with a campfire. Yeah, I think it's underrated. What about you?
Speaker 1:I think they're underrated. Do I like smelling like smoke after and having to clean it up? Probably not, but if we're just talking about the ambiance of a bonfire, sure, I would say they're underrated.
Speaker 2:I kind of like the smell of fire on the clothes.
Speaker 1:It makes me feel cool, you know, like, yeah, it's a fire man, all right. Last question, and this is going to be one you're probably going to have to think oh great, if you and your best friend were locked in a racquetball court? Okay, so you know the size of a racquetball court. So you and whoever your best friend is are locked inside a racquetball court and you had one flare with a flare gun, a box of pencils and a hose that has water in it that you can squirt, and you're in there with a blind but angry polar bear. Do you think you can last five minutes For a million dollars?
Speaker 2:First of all, that is such a great hypothetical. I mean, it's a scary one, but five minutes for a hockey ball court is small. Flares, dude. If the polar sees me, it's you have a flare gun with one flare.
Speaker 1:But the bear's blind, but it's angry. So, I have. I have water. You have a garden hose with water, a box of pencils and a flare gun with one flare. You and your best friend in a racquetball court With a very angry but blind Polar bear.
Speaker 2:I'm going to say, yeah, yeah, I can make it. Why not Five minutes? Let's be optimistic because, yeah, five minutes, let's do it. I'm just going to say I think I can do it. I don't doubt my best friend's abilities with those pencils. So I think we can take the Polar Bear if we really have to. Okay, yeah.
Speaker 1:So I think we can take the polar bear, if we really have to.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, so for people that don't know, I used to come up with a lot of those questions like the Fast 55. We just had especially ones about animals when we were in college. We'd be in stretch line and I'd be like, hey, who do you think wins in a fight? Like five guys or 100 emperor penguins. And we would just have these conversations and stretch. And you know it's so funny because we did the bethany football reunion show a couple weeks ago so we had a lot of my old coaches and and former players through the program on there and it was brought up and, uh, you know, guys were just talking about the nonsense we would, we would talk about. So that's kind of where the fast five originated about 20 years ago when I was playing uh, playing college football.
Speaker 1:So, um, quinn, thank you so much much for being a part of the show today. We really appreciate you taking your time out of your evening to be on here with us. I'd just like to say best wishes and all of your future endeavors and thank you for your hard work. You know that you helped us with during your time as a student at Weatherhead. So, as always, if you enjoyed the show. Be a friend and tell a friend and if you didn't like it, tell them anyways, because I bet they'd like to show just because you didn't. And once again, make sure you check out all of our sponsors in the pre-roll and post-roll as small business owners. This is Fitty signing off and we will catch you all next week.
