Parker Fox, Episode #99

We are all in-studio for University of Minnesota Basketball player, and budding media personality, Parker Fox, as he shares some stories about his "non-linear" journey thru 7 (soon-to-be 8) years as a college athlete. From All-American to a torn ACL on one leg to a torn ACL on the other to Minnesota Golden Gopher Basketball Captain. He discusses everything from the transfer portal to the big business of college athletics to a couple of U of M graduate-level courses that would make just about everyone blush.  Great guest. Great guy.

Transcript

0:16

Welcome to the Kindness Chronicles, where we hope to inject the world with a dose of the Minnesota nice that it desperately needs. Steve, how are ya? I'm good, I'm good. And KG, we got you, uh, you're out doing the Traffic and Weather Report. What do you see out there? Stay off the roads, everybody. That's my advice. I am telling you, it's a monsoon as I make my way from Minnetonka to beautiful Montevideo. I'm past the halfway point. I've been on the road for an hour and 10 minutes. I anticipate in roughly 20 minutes, I'll be at your house. we will be awarding you with, uh, rewarding you with a fine meal and we'll get you on your way, but we have a very special guest, uh, someone who I've known for a very long time in studio, in studio, I knew him when he was about, uh, Uh, I don't know, four foot six, and now he's six foot eight, six foot nine. We got the, uh, the one, the only Parker Fox in studio, Minnesota, golden gopher, basketball player and becoming kind of a media guy. Very nice. But welcome, Parker. Thanks for having me. for, uh, Thanks for coming in studio. I understand that there's a big game tonight for somebody special in your life. Tell us about that. Yeah, my girlfriend, uh, Taylor Heisey plays a little hockey, so uh, the PWHL is a new league if people haven't heard of it, they should go watch because it's really fun. It's women's hockey, but they're kind of letting them be physical and hit a little bit now, so it's, you know, it's exciting and um, yeah, she's on Team Minnesota and they're playing Boston the Championship, so yeah. And KG, you know a little bit about Taylor, don't ya? Yeah. Tremendous hockey player, a great ambassador for the game and uh, yeah, I'm with Parker on the way this league has kind of, uh, evolved. We've seen it with the WNBA and, and what a great league that's become. It's gone to a new level with Caitlin Clark, obviously this season. But, uh, starting with the opening game or a team, Minnesota with the all time record for attendance, it's been a, it's been a magical run. And specifically for the local team. Uh, the way they got to the finals here being down to nothing in a series and rallying, uh, pretty exciting. And so I know the Timberwolves have taken over the town and I get that. And uh, you know, Parker and all this stuff with my friend Max and Chris Hockey with the shirts coming off, really cool stuff on social media. But it is important that we draw. Some attention to the ladies and uh, they're playing Boston huge game tonight. So, uh, we'll be cheering on Taylor just, uh, just like Parker and Taylor was the first pick in the first draft, right? She is, she's, she's a stud. Without a doubt, I would say the best player in the league, but I mean, there are some really good players, but, uh, you know, her, her name, you know, and again, her kind of her track record is, is, is kind of on par with, uh, you know, if you look at David on the, on the NHL side, she's that player. And so when Minnesota got her a Minnesota kid, uh, right away, I think enhanced the, uh, the idea that they were going to have some big crowds and a big following for this team, their plant, the actual energy center, which is fantastic. They've had some giant crowds. She's a big part of that. Have you had her on the wooden sticks podcasts yet? No, we're going to wait until after the season. Um, I did talk to her general manager, Natalie Darwitz. And Natalie was fantastic. Talk about legends on Minnesota, uh, you know, women's hockey. She's right at the top of that list. So yeah, she was fantastic. Yeah. I reached out to Taylor earlier in the year because Leah Anderson, who runs the minnow tank program, had her in at the school. She connected me with Taylor and she agreed to be on the kindness chronicles before she's on that wooden sticks program. Let's keep her to that after the season. KG, you know, I'm just saying, I'm just saying. Priorities. I hear ya. So, um, I'm just going to go out and throw this out there. I mean, she's 5'10 you're 6'8 I mean, I think that this is a chance to have some really high level athletes. Oh yeah, that's the goal, right? I mean, that is the goal. My friend, uh, my son Jack's friend, Jack, I'll say it, Lindabomb. his objective in life is to find a division one athlete to marry and find, uh, you know, start having babies. That's so romantic. That's so romantic. Very, uh, very fun. So anyways, Parker, let's talk about Parker for a quick second. Parker, I have, uh, enjoyed watching your basketball career back to the days when you were playing at Mata Midi. That's for our friend Michael Dempsey. We always have to talk about Matamitai. Yeah, he's from Matamitai, so we gotta start there. He is from Matamitai. We have a listener who gives us crap about always having a Matamitai angle, a Hill Murray angle, a St. Thomas angle, and a Seinfeld angle. So we're gonna get all those in before the day is over. But, when Parker was a player at Mata Midi, I would say, arguably, at least in my time watching Mata Midi basketball, without question the most dynamic player, Mata Midi has ever had, maybe until his brother Brody came along. Went and played at Northern state. Yes. Tell us about your experience at Northern state, which is a division two school. Division two school. Yep. Yep. So I was, um, I always thought I was kind of under recruited a little bit. You were under recruited a lot. You know, I, I ended up only having one division to offer, uh, and it was to Northern state university, which is located in Aberdeen, South Dakota. So town of about 30, 000 people, smaller town, but, um, I've been to Aberdeen. I know we played there a little bit. It doesn't count. Cousin country of the world. And it's like, if you're, if you're going to, I think they said something like 30 percent of their town's revenue is that two weeks of a pheasant opener. And it's, yeah, it's insane out there. So, um, but no, yeah, I, you know, I only had the one offer and I always kind of thought I was under recruited, but you know, I went up there and really enjoyed my visit and loved it and committed almost on the spot. And, um, so I went and spent four years up there and. Um, went into a team that was really talented. Uh, we, we played the division two national championship game my, my freshman year and uh, I was red shirting that year. So, you know, still at the point didn't feel like I was, you know, physically ready enough to play, you know, college basketball with, with the big bodies and the size and the strength. And, um, so I red shirted and then I came back, you know, the next year for my sophomore year and, uh, had a solid year, um, and then, you know, going forward and eventually became an all American and, you know, had my, weren't you the division two player of the year? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So we can talk about stuff. Come on, man. No, yeah. I had some, you know, we had some really good teams. We want people to know we got a big deal on the show tonight. Yeah, no, I, I, you know, I won a couple of accolades. It came in all American, you know, all that, all that fun stuff, but had really good teams and teams that, you know, I think if, if you don't have teams that allow you to play late in postseason, you don't get those kinds of individual accolades. So, yeah. Um, You know, I was lucky to be on the receiving end of that kind of stuff, but, um, yeah, I had an awesome time up there. I think a lot of, not a lot of people have heard of Aberdeen, South Dakota, but, um, they love their basketball. You know, it's a very, very, um, you know, genuine and caring place. I think every time I went out to eat, somebody at least came up and said hello. And, you know, half the time somebody's, you know, picking up your tab and, and all that kind of stuff. Is that allowed? I, at the time, I don't think so, but now it is so we could say it, but, um, yeah, I had even the president of university one time pay for our wigs and he's like, don't tell anybody, but we'll break it here on the side. But no, I, I love my time there. And then, you know, eventually, uh, you know, graduated from Northern state university and was your senior year. That was the, yeah, the COVID year. So when we played 21 games, uh, we went to the sweet 16, unfortunately lost to a really good, uh, Northwest Missouri state team that went on to win the national championship by over 30 points. So we kind of always said that that was the national championship game. Just how division two kind of plays out with the regions. You can't really to get the two best teams in the championship always, but sure, um, no, you know, I had a great time there, awesome teammates, awesome friends, friends for life, but, uh, eventually graduated from there and Uh, decided to enter the transfer portal, kind of, you know, said I had kind of accomplished everything beside a national championship that I wanted to accomplish at that level and wanted to, you know, reach for new heights. So, entered the transfer portal. And ended up playing for the Gophers. Now, the reason I wanted to have you on is you experienced, for those of you that don't know, you had a very, uh, Interesting first couple of years at the Gophers. Can you just tell us a little bit about how that journey began for you? Yeah, well, you know, I, I always tell people that, um, you know, my journey is, is so up and down, you know, it's, it's not linear and I think so many times in life that, that's kind of a testament to, to what life is, you know, it's never really that linear and it's never kind of how you plan it. But, um, no, so I, I entered the transfer portal and, um, You know, I didn't know what to expect, but I ended up having over a hundred division one offers and basically heard from every single coach in the country. And, um, you know, it was, uh, it was, it was an overwhelming process to be honest with you. I have a question. So you keep saying this and I have never heard of what this means. The transfer portal. What does that mean? I know that you pretty much finished school, but that means. Explain what that means. I don't really, I don't know. Basically what it means is free agency. So as college athletes, we sign a N L I national letter, letter of intent to the school. And it's technically a one year deal. So you can enter the transfer portal at any point. It closes May 1st. So now the transfer portal is closed, but you can basically enter there and coaches can re recruit you. You're like, I'm a free agent. I'm open. Basically. Yeah. So that's kind of what I did. Thank you. Uh, eventually I, I narrowed it down. down to eight schools and, um, you know, a couple to name or, you know, Texas Tech, uh, Texas A& M, San Diego State, Vanderbilt, Ohio State, Florida State, and then Minnesota. And uh, being a hometown kid, um, you know, Coach Johnson recruited me and basically he said, imagine going somewhere else and thinking what it'd be like if you wouldn't have chosen Minnesota. So kind of when he, that kind of message was, was big to me. So I committed to coach Johnson, um, and then literally the next day, um, I was working out, uh, up in Aberdeen still and, um, went up for a dunk and, and landed and, you know, felt my knee kind of shift a little bit. And, um, I didn't think anything too crazy about it. You know, I was like, Oh, I, you know, I'd never been injured before, you know, I have little bumps and bruises. This is probably another one of those things. I'm gonna sit out the rest of the workout and, you know, see what my trainer has to say. Uh, get. Get on that training table and you know, I kind of start to get a little more nervous and um, you know, just An eerie feeling in in the air and you know He checks out my knee and doesn't really say anything he has the next trainer come over and she checks out my knee and And, you know, they both, you know, go and talk and, you know, he comes over to me and at that point I kind of knew, um, and he goes, yeah, I think, you know, you're ruptured your ACL and this to me was like, like the craziest wave of emotions because I heard of all the different people rupturing their ACLs and, you know, a lot of people that I knew didn't really get back from that kind of injury and, you know, I was like, Oh no, how much time was there between here, you know, setting up your plan with you. How much time before this injury? One day. Oh my god. So I'm like at the top of the world. I'm one of the highest recruits in the country. I chose my hometown school, which I grew up being a fan of and going to games. I was a court kid, sweeping sweat off the court. And now I get to go play there. And now all of that's kind of shut down. Um, yeah. So just a wave of emotion. Ran over me and, you know, calling my family and just telling them like, you know, this is going to have to be put on pause and it was, yeah, it was hard. Let me tell you the talk within Mata Midi was immediate. Like everybody was so excited that you're going to be playing for the Gophers because generally speaking, everybody thought Parker Fox is going to Northern State. I mean, great school, but we also thought that you were under recruited. I think your family is famous for, for growing late in life. Yeah, we are. I saw Brody the other day, well, it was, it was a while back. Yeah. When did he get so big? Yeah, he's like 6'5 6'6 now. Yes, and he graduated, he was like 5'10 I know. And he's what, how old is he? He is, uh, 21. Yeah, he's a senior and he's, uh, he's in the transfer portal right now as well. He's actually, um, visiting the Citadel down in, um, Charleston, South Carolina right now. So, um, and then he's going to Robert Morris after that. So he's, he's trying to pick out his next spot, but yeah, we were late bloomers. My dad was late bloomer. I was late bloomer. So anyway, we. We were all excited that that Parker signs with the U so it's like, oh my God, we get to watch him play. Yeah. The hometown basketball. And then it was, it was the next day we like, oh my God. He did what? Mm-Hmm. So, I mean, the word was out and everybody just, yeah. It happened quick. It was unbelievable. I remember Jack called me and he's like, you're not gonna fricking believe what happened. Yeah. Talking about pulling the rug. He said, well, this is how it went down. You're not gonna believe what happened with Parker. I said, yeah, I heard he, he signed with the gophers. He goes, no, no, no. Like, yeah, he did. Yes, he did. However, and just crazy. Yeah. So that was 2021. 2021. Yeah. Yeah. Tell us about 2022. Yeah. So 2021 happens and, um, I still, the gophers, uh, thank God they, you know, they stood by my side. I think a lot of teams would say, Hey, you know, forget about it. We were not going to offer a scholarship to a guy with a torn ACL. You know, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, You know, nowadays with social media, you see all the tweets, you know, why are we taking a division two kid with torn ACLs, you know? Um, and you know, you see all this kind of stuff and you know, it, that stuff kind of motivated me through my recovery. But yeah, so I go through a year plus of recovery. I'm finally back out on the court. Um, really worked my tail off, like, you know, got my body really good. I was the heaviest I've ever weighed, strongest ever been. I was about 235. You know, I was, Uh, really confident in my abilities and got back out on the court. And, um, you know, my left knee was my injured knee and I was like, I'm feeling back to myself again. And, uh, there's one day in practice, we're running a, you know, a three on two drill and I'm bringing the ball up the court and I see our best shooter on the wing. So I say, I'm going to pass him the ball. So I stepped with my right foot this time and. Same shift feeling and no, I, uh, I knew it right away. I actually, my eyes kind of bulged open and, um, the kid made the shot and I looked at my coach and he's like, Oh, good pass. Like, like, what do you want a compliment here? I was like, no, I tore my ACL. And he's like, And I was like, no, I just tore my ACL on my other knee. Like I, and there was no pain, you know, there was no, you just knew it. I just knew it right away, you know? And it was just the same feeling I had felt, you know, in the left knee. And you don't know that feeling until you kind of experience it. And, um, he goes, no, stay positive. Like there's no way and. I'm like, no, like, I know it's okay, it's okay, but I know, so I, you know, we'll go back to the training room and he does the same old test on my knee. It's called the Lachman's test where they basically move your, your femur and your, and your, you know, your lower part and then your upper part of your leg. And if it moves, that means your ACL is, you know, not attached anymore. So he did it and he told me right away, he's like, yeah, you tore your ACL. And, um, you know, I think. the same kind of emotion kind of went over my body. And, you know, I tell, I told everybody throughout that, that 2021 year, I said, if I ever tear my ACL again, there's, there's no way I play basketball because rehab is too hard physically. It's too much of a mental battle. Um, you know, I had spent so many days just, you know, dreading going to rehab and dreading doing this and that. And it's just like so hard mentally, like the mental battle is so much bigger than the physical battle. Um, but right when I tore it. I was like, all right, let's get surgery. You know, I can do this. I did it before and I'm ready to go. So, um, you know, I called my mom and she came down to campus, um, crying and trying to put blame on herself and all this kind of stuff. And I'm like, no, this is, this is me. This is, it's all, it's okay. Thing happened to me, but I'm, I'm going to fight through it. I'm going to be all right. And so. Uh, eventually, yeah, summer of 22, uh, I got surgery on my right ACL, lateral medial meniscus and so I don't, same injury in both knees and, uh, both times the doctor told me, you know, this basketball might not be a thing that you can ever do again, but, um, you know, we're going to go in there and do the surgery and see if we can, you know, allow you to play basketball again. Um, 2023 comes around and, you know, I was healthy and got to play for the Gophers especially. So let's push pause and go back to 21 and 22. Yeah. One of the things that I, and one of the reasons that I wanted to have you on the Kindness Chronicles Yeah. Is, I heard stories about the, the support that you got from Ben Johnson and from the University of Minnesota. And just tell us about that process and how meaningful that kind of support was for you. Yeah, I mean, Division I basketball is, it's a pretty cutthroat environment. You bet. You know, it's, um, it's kind of that kill or be killed type of mentality where, hey, if you're not producing or if you're not, you know, coming and bringing something to the table, it's, uh, you know, it's cutthroat. And, uh, we, I saw it with my teammates, you know, over the past couple of years, you know, you got guys that, um, you know, they're not producing. So it's like, Hey, you know, you got to go somewhere else because we need this scholarship for somebody. Um, you know, coach Johnson, the whole coaching staff, they, they really never wavered and they were always kind of steadfast in their approach of, um, me helping this team out, you know, and that's, I think that's so uncommon, especially when, when you do these two major injuries, especially when they're talking to the doctors and doctors are saying, Hey, For a normal person, you know, this is, this could be career ending, you know, and, um, they just believed in the work that I put in and, and they believe that, you know, in the person that I am, that I was going to persevere and come back from this kind of thing. And, um, I think that kind of, you know, added to my motivation, you know, having that and having their support, I, I wanted to kind of prove them right. And, um, you know, it's, it's rare that you have that kind of relationship with your coach because I think it's, it's not, it's not a common deal. What are the chances if you, if you did pick a different school? Yeah. You know, what, what would've happened do you think? Yeah, I don't, I don't, I don't think it would've been what happened at the U. Um, you know, Creighton was another really big offer for me and they told me, Oh, you know, come down here and get the surgery, but, but that's just one knee. You know, you do the second one and it's like, um, and I also don't think it would have been possible for me to. To do it elsewhere. Um, you know, do it, um, from a city that I don't know very well. And, um, I think, uh, having my family around, having the support of, of them was, um, the biggest thing. Cause for me, it's, uh, you kind of realize once you, once you get into this lifestyle, that everybody kind of wants to be your friend and everybody wants a piece of you and, uh, Uh, the only people that truly do really matter is your family and, um, you know, having their support and, uh, you know, I, I had to move my bed to my living room because I couldn't get up, I couldn't get up the stairs. So, um, you know, I couldn't even get out of bed at night. So it'd be two in the morning and I'd yell up to my mom's room. I was like, Hey, I gotta go to the bathroom. Like, can you, can you help me get out of bed? So it's like these little things like. A lot of people wouldn't be there for you during that time, but that's a mom dad Yeah, being in this kind of you know being around home being around family and being in Minnesota was was everything for anybody that knows Heather and Neil Fox know that They are about as dedicated to their kids as any parents could be and really You know, uh, I mentioned before that, uh, Neil Fox was a football coach and he coached, uh, both my son Jack and Ben. And couldn't have been, one, a better coach, but just a great guy. I mean, just a guy you want to be with and, you know, You know, he's been very busy lately, so we haven't seen him in a while, but I figure if I offer to bring him out to Indian Hills, he'll join me out there. Jack said, I got to get you out on the golf course. I understand you're, uh, you're, you're golfing. I'm bit by it, man. KG has entered the building. He's here! I made the weather bands here. So, so tell us So tell us about the, uh, the, the traffic on the way in. I don't want to talk about the traffic. Okay. Why don't you pull that mic closer to your mouth so I can hear you. All right. Let's, uh, I want to go back to the portal thing. Cause I am, I'm fascinated with the portal and I'm shocked. You didn't know more about it now. It's okay though. How am I supposed to know that? It's a great thing, right? Like it sets you up, but I watched your team this year have such a great year. Like it was a huge step. Coach Johnson, who I listened to all the time on, on the fan seems like such a genuinely awesome. Guy great coach and I understand that there's money involved and there's opportunities for players How do you explain the jettison of players that have now left your squad? Yeah via the transfer portal After such a great year. Yeah, I mean it's free agency, you know, it's that's what it is at the end of the day I think so many people um You know are kind of they don't know the the truths of the real money that's being put into this thing Like i'm talking there's people College kids getting millions of dollars, uh, to go to different schools. And Ben Schweitzer, there's numbers. Hang on. Ben's calling. Are we going to get better, dear? A million dollar kid. Parker Fox is on the, uh, the podcast. Say hello to Parker and I'll call you back. Oh, hello, Parker. Hello, Ben. It's just funny. We were just talking about millions of dollars and all of a sudden Ben Schweitz, the millionaire, shows up. We'll call you later, Benny. Perfect, have a good one. Alright, goodbye. Alright, love you, Dad. Love you, too. Alright, yeah. No, every time. The million dollar man calls up. No, it's wild because there's no contracts, there's no rules. You'd be, basically, every year you'd become a free agent. And now there's no, you know, there used to be rules where if you wanted to transfer to school, even high school, you'd have to sit out a year. Right. Yeah. No, and. And that's not a thing anymore. You can, you could every year you could up and leave and go to a different school and, uh, become free agents. And, um, that was something that, um, was kind of on the table for the guys on our team. Uh, so now you got to compete with NIL collectives and at the U our NIL collective, isn't as high as some of these other schools. So you got guys on our team, like, uh, you know, we had a couple, a bunch of guys lose, but, uh, leave, but. Elijah Hawkins, Pharrell Payne, Joshua Joseph, Brayden Carrington, Isaiah Enan, to name a few um, decided that they wanted to go elsewhere and, and you know, benefit financially. And uh, at the end of the day, you sometimes can't, can't blame that. But um, yeah. Do they text you? Like you guys, basketball is a smaller team than, than a lot of other sports, right? You guys are a close knit bunch, travel together, you study together, you hang out all the time. You know, season long. Is there a text? Is there a call? How does that work? Yeah, we're a really close bunch and I think everybody was pretty transparent with each other about hey This is how much I'm getting here. And this is how much I'm gonna get elsewhere. It's three four times the amount You know, if you're in a job and if you're making, for example, let's say a hundred K and, and, you know, different city offers you 400 K. It almost kind of seems like, you know, you gotta, you gotta make a smart businesses in here for your family. And, and I think oftentimes people get kind of, um, lost in that and they want to understand where the loyalty is to a program. And, you know, it's hard and I don't blame any of my teammates for, for up and going to different spots and helping their, them and their families out financially. And I think it's, you know, it's, it, it can help, you know, This is kind of life changing money. It is. And we're talking about life changing money here. And I think that's, that's something that people don't often understand. So I have a question. I don't want to go down a sports, you know, business rabbit hole, but for both you guys, maybe you two, but how do you then plan Your next year if you got all these guys on the portal or you know, all these free agent guys, that'd be hard That'd be really frustrating as a coach as a manager coaches, right? Oh my god, really big channel You know, that's the million dollar question I think the only true answer to that is fundraising an NIL collective correct support to bring people back You know and and obviously you got to have that relationship with with your players But even if you have a great relationship with your player if that dollar amount doesn't match what another school could possibly give you You It's impossible to compete. I've heard stories, I've heard stories like Colorado for example. One of your former, you know, your brother's former teammates, Javon is playing at Colorado and from what I understand Deion Sanders brought so much money into Colorado that even their basketball team was benefiting from that. You know, it's, there's so much money in college athletics that I think the common fan, you see all the tweets and it's like, Oh, there's no loyalty and this guy's just, you don't even know how much money is in this. Like, this is serious. This is a serious deal here. And, and obviously, I think it's great. I think, you know, we should be able to benefit off of that a little bit. But there's gotta be, we got to figure out some sort of regulations. into, into all of it and, and how, uh, we can kind of maybe get contracts or anything like that. Cause it's just, you want to see like, you want to see the story of the guy that went somewhere and worked his way up and, you know, junior and senior year. Like I think I kind of tested my, like myself with that story where it's like you persevered and you, and you, and you finally made it to that level and then, and now you get to compete for the university and all this kind of stuff. Sure. But it's tough and I think, uh, it's really hard on these coaches. It's, you know, I, I thought about coaching a little bit and getting into that business, but I don't know if it's the route I want to go into now. It's just, it's hard. Yeah. It's really hard. So, but so going back to the, you know, here's an example of Parker Fox. So he loses the majority of your team and you can find grace and give them grace and understand that. You know, for some of these guys, it's more money than they'll probably ever make in their professional careers. You know what I mean? Some of them will go on and play basketball somewhere, but there's not a lot of, probably, NBA players in that group. No, it's hard to make that NBA league. There's, there's so many, there's so few players. Well, no, no, they're do crack, you know, you get those, the dancing bears from, you know, Slovakia and you know, that guy that plays for the nuggets might get, and I heard that this year for the first year, there might be more European born players than the college players in the draft. It's changed in NHL and NBA. I think both it's become more of a global game and there's good and bad with that. But. To your point, John, for the kids that play college basketball here, there's less. And less opportunity because of that. And so back to what Parker was saying with, and again, I think you handled the question. Great. Um, it's gotta be for coach Johnson and that coaching staff, gut wrenching to have the progress you guys had, it was an unbelievable season for gopher basketball last year. And now you, you have to kind of regather a group of guys and rally around the fact that, all right, they're gone, but you're here and we have an opportunity in front of us to play big 10. Basketball, one of the greatest conferences in the country, and you make the most of it. It might mean more playing time for you, which would be really cool. Yeah, you hope so, right? And I think it's hurting the high school kids, too. You know, where it's like, you know, when you take an 18 year old kid with no experience, or you take a mid major kid who averaged 15 points. So it's hurting these high school kids, but no, you're right. I think You know, I think there is hopefully a level of, you know, loyalty where it's like, Hey, you stood true. And I, you know, a guy like Dawson Garcia who could have went other where other places and gotten a lot more money, you know, he stays true and he, you know, decides to come back to the U. So it's like you want to grant that loyalty. And I think that's something to for myself, you know, being a Minnesota kid, um, you know, Being a, you know, a member of the community. I, I want to be here. I want to be, you know, known as that person. So it's like, you know, building your kind of roots, building your brand up. Your Minnesota brand is something that I kind of value as well. Here's a quiz for you, KG. What sports writer. From the, from history would look at Parker Fox and say, Oh boy, this guy's going to be very, very successful. Sid Hartman. Sid Hartman would absolutely love Parker Fox. If you left Minnesota for any reason, you were blacklisted by Sid Hartman. Oh, I get it. I get it. And the fact that he came back and we haven't talked about your plans for next year. Yeah. So you're coming back. Yeah, I'm doing an eighth year. Yeah, you referred to yourself as a kid. Let's see each other here. No, I think we got, we got 17 year old kids on the team and I'm 25 now. So no, it was a tough decision. I think if you would have asked me even with, uh, even on senior night. Um, I, I participated in Senior Night because I was planning on it being my last year and, um, kind of the whole year everybody kind of knew, hey this is my, you know, my last go around in college basketball. Obviously I want to play basketball for a few more years, however these knees let me, but um, no, I, I would have said this is, this is my last year. I'm done. I'm, I'm, you know, my body's worn out. Um, I'm schooled out, uh, I'm ready to be done, so. Yeah, let's talk about the school thing before we get to the basketball. You know, we joke about the fact that after you've been in college for seven years, you know, you're, you're Dr. Fox. Um, but you've already got your master's degree in what, like sports? Sport marketing, yeah. Sport marketing. Yep, yep. Very cool. So, what else can you do? Well, there is some routes to go down, but I, I chose the, the latter of those routes. Um, there was some, you know, some Carlson stuff I could have done. I could have done an MBA. I, I applied and I actually got into a PhD, but it just wouldn't work with the basketball schedule. So, uh, I decided to do non degree seeking and just take classes to, to keep my eligibility. Obviously you need to, you need to be enrolled as a student in college. So I took some classes to maintain my eligibility. So tell us what kind of classes you're taking. Uh oh. Be honest. Last class. Last semester I took two classes, graduate level classes. I took, uh, Naturistic Healing, and Sexual Pleasures and Intimacy. Now, hold on! Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Honestly, yeah. Yeah. Wow. Who teaches that class? That's a class? Yeah, it was. Uh, yeah, it's, uh, H. Sex 6000 was the title of the class. Oh my God! More guys or gals in that classroom? Uh, a lot of gals in that classroom. Oh, really? Online, but online, but, um, yeah, it was, uh, It was kind of above my intelligence level when it comes to, to that field, but, uh, I learned, I learned a few things. You do tricks. I'm not going to touch that with a 10 foot pole. Wow. Okay, we're going to move on from that question. What are you taking this year? This year I'm taking, uh, I, I have yet to officially, you know, get into my classes, but, uh, there's some different like aromatherapy classes, some, some yoga classes. Oh my God. Wow. I'm trying to make it as easy as I can to myself here. Yeah. So that's, that's pretty groovy stuff going on there. Didn't we take like a film class over at St. Kate's when we were at St. Thomas? You got to go over and like watch movies. I was very academic. I never took those classes. Give me a break. I took a film class at St. Cloud State. I went almost eight years, five years. So, you know, that's an average degree at St. Cloud State. Longer the better for me. I loved college. Me too. Me too. I loved it. Parker has a, uh, a professional women's hockey league game that he needs to get to. But I have, does anybody else have a final question for Parker? Well, I, my question would be, um, when you get done, whenever basketball is done, whatever field you get into, how much will being an athlete affect the, the person you are in the workplace? Because I coached women's college hockey. And my message to my teams were always. The office space wherever you end up working is really no different than this locker room. You're gonna You're not gonna love everybody that you play with you're not gonna have You know a connection with everybody in this room, but together you all have to be one you have to come together And for the greater good make this thing work. How much will being a basketball player At the highest level, help you down the road. Yeah. And I think you just look at, you know, the story of how my basketball career went, you know, you can talk about, uh, perseverance as one thing, you know, I think, um, you know, things aren't going to be, we talked about this earlier, but, but things aren't going to be linear, you know, things are going to be up and down and, and that's life and, and being able to kind of sort your way through that. And, and being able to realize that, um, there's always, you know, kind of tomorrow and there's always the next step. This is something big. And then you talk about a team aspect, you know, I think working in a team is, is super, super vital, honestly, to, to anything, you know, obviously when you, when you're in it as a, as an athlete, you, you have to sacrifice, you have to have humility, you have to be able to put. before yourself if you really want to be great. And I think that's something that people don't really realize until you, you know, you kind of get through, um, a couple of years of college, you know, you think you come in, you think you have all the answers and you think you're a really good player and you think you can help the team in different ways. But, you know, Until you really put your ego and your pride aside and realize, Hey, for us to be great, I have to sacrifice. And that's one through for a basketball roster, one through 15. Every, every single kid's got to do that. If, if there's not a kid on board and you know, if there's a kid on board and he doesn't truly have that sacrifice, you're not going to be as good and you're not going to reach the levels that you want to reach. But, um, that's also in life too. Sacrificing for, for your family, for, for the greater good of, of them, for, Uh, if you're working in a, you know, a unit, that kind of stuff. And then, uh, lastly, just the competitive spirit. Um, I think that's something that, um, to get to where I am as an athlete, you have to be a, a, a ridiculous competitor. And, and I, and I see it in, in my girlfriend as well. She's, you know, at the Olympic level, you have to really, really be a ridiculous competitor. And, um, That's, I think that's something you can bring into the workplace where one, no one's going to outwork you and two, you know, you, any challenge that you, you're going to face, you're going to be able to beat it because, because you've been through worse. Like you've been through, you know, there's, there's a week where we have to wake up at 4am and get on the track and be like, That stuff is, you know, that, that physical toll that you put your body through and the mental challenge that it takes, like, you've done all these kind of things, so, so the rest of the things that are gonna happen to you in life are, you know, hopefully gonna be easier, you know, I don't, I don't know that for sure, you know, but, uh, I like to kind of think that way. Yeah, you've kind of answered one of the questions that I, I had. You know, every team that you were on until you went to the University of Minnesota, you were kind of the centerpiece of that team. And I've noticed from watching your games, and then also checking the box score, that you don't take as many shots as you used to. You were kind of the sixth man this year. The Nas Reads, so to speak. Kind of the Nas Reads. That's where we're going to finish this. We're going to talk about, uh, Bring ass. Okay, hold on. But let's first talk about Parker, and then we'll get to the, to the, uh, to the walls. Um, do you have a sports question, Steve? Well, it wasn't sports. It was going to be Can I just finish? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm sorry. Just a quick, kindest question I have for him. It says a lot about you. That you can go in and realize that you are part of a bigger program as opposed to being kind of the guy of the program. But I would imagine that just about all the guys on your team have the same You know, once upon a time, they were always the best player on the teams that they played with. And, how do you guys manage that? How do you decide who's gonna be the guy? Yeah, that's hard. Among a bunch of guys. Yeah, that's hard. You know, I think it's a, it's a, you know, it's a question that only the really great figure out, but you spend, you do spend so much time with one another and you spend so much time practicing and so much time working out that, you know, kind of those, those roles do kind of take place. And I think in any great team and, and this can be in sport, this can be, you know, in an office, you, you truly are able to come as a group, come in one and identify different roles. You know, I think, uh, if, if people are guessing what their roles are and if If this guy thinks he's supposed to be the guy, but it's really supposed to be this guy, or this guy's supposed to get the water bottle, but, but this guy's getting the water bottle. And if this guy's grabbing your towel and, but, but this guy's supposed to be doing it, you know, I think there's that confusion can kind of mess up the team. So, um, one thing I, I, I, Try to do really as a leader on our team as a captain last year was just, um, not, not only just meet with guys one on one and have conversations, but also like meet as a group outside of practice and outside of, you know, that, um, kind of working space and, and just, um, you know, be able to. Kind of just get that out there. And, and we as a team actually worked with our sports psych lady once a week. And, um, we kind of just were able to come in as a group and she would give us different activities, but, um, she let us lead the conversation. And that was something I think was really beneficial. And, and I don't think we would have had as great of a year if we didn't have that, um, you know, kind of stuff. Cause we were able to kind of come to the forefront and say, Hey, this guy's doing this and we like that you do this, but we wish you would do this better. And, and Hey, this guy's scoring 20 points. And that's awesome. But we wish you would, you know, clean your locker or whatever, whatever it is, you know, these little kind of things that, um, you know, make a team, um, make a team, a team. Yeah. And I think it's hard because a lot of teams are afraid to kind of maybe hurt feelings or go through different boundaries. But, um, a group full of men need to act like, you know, a group full of men as a team. And I think the greatest teams are able to do that. This guy's got a future in Broadway. This guy is so smart, honestly. Well, it wouldn't be the Kindness Chronicles without, uh, our audience wants to know, do you have a, a, a kindness or compassionate, uh, influence in your life? Who would be that? Yeah, um, I think I have a couple. I think, um, you know, growing up here in Mata Mirai and, and like, you know, you said earlier, I think, I, I come from a really, truly loving, kind, compassionate family. Um, giving and yeah, a very giving, very generous people and I'm lucky and I, and that's not and that's not seen often, especially with, you know, when you talk about division one college basketball, you, Talk about people from a lot of different upbringings and I've had a lot of teammates from, um, single family homes and, uh, from places that I probably wouldn't even be allowed to step foot in, um, you know, as a white man in America and, you know, just is, I think, um, you see so many, you meet so many different people and you see so many different personalities. Um, so I look back to my family and, and that's something we talked about earlier as, as, um, You know, everybody wants to know you. Everybody wants your phone number, your Snapchat. They want you to follow them on Instagram and all this kind of materialistic stuff. But the people that really matter are the people that they're going to be there for you when things go bad. You know, everybody's going to be there for you when things go good and people are going to want to shake your hand and tell you how awesome you are. But, but when things go bad, who are going to be the people that are there for you to love you? And, um, I, I think about my family, um, and, and just the way, you know, the They pushed me to chase my dreams and, um, never stopped believing, uh, in the things that I loved. And, and it's truly that, that, that love, you know, I think, um, a lot of people can fake it and have different, um, hyper fixations on, you know, little goals here and there or things they want to be good at. But my family knew that that basketball was truly my passion and my love and they poured everything they could into me to, to achieve those dreams. So, um, couldn't have done it without them. Um, so they're, they're the kind of people that I look to when it's like, I need. Um, that kind of love, that kindness, that appreciation, that fuel and I think um, I'm super fortunate because not everybody gets to have that and um, it's a, it's a lucky deal for myself. Yeah, no doubt. Alright, finally here we are. Yeah. I mean this is a big week for all of us Minnesota sports fans. We've been kicked in the, uh, groin region for 30 years too long, right? Wolves Mavericks your thoughts. Yeah, bring your ass bring your ass, right? I mean i'm you know If you listen to myself on k fan and I get to we do the pre and post game show you you can tell the energy incitement I have for the wolves. So I got the wolves in five personally five. Yeah, I got them in five I think we're gonna I think we're gonna take care of business in target center We're gonna get one in dallas and then we're gonna Come back to Target Center and, and get them, uh, and close that thing out. But, um, no, I just, I love it, man. I, my dad texted me after the, um, after the win the other night and he said, this is the most excitement he's had since 1991 twins team. And, uh, and I think that's, that's probably true because obviously we've been through the dog days of, of every team, the wild, the twins, the Timberwolves, the Vikings, that game seven was the most un Minnesota sports event 50 plus years of being a Minnesota sports fan, I'm not getting down 20 on the road. World champions. It's over. Like it is over. And those guys refuse to go away. It was so impressive what they did. Yeah. Our history would have said we were done and I, I think every Minnesota sports fan was sitting on their couch realizing like, Oh, here we go again. Here we go again. No doubt. Like this team is pushing off again, but no, I think this team's different. And, um, I, I hope I'm not wrong, but I, I, you know, I just, I'm excited to be in Target Center Wednesday night for game one against, uh, against the, yeah, doing some awesome stuff with Kay fans. So, um, I've been, I've been blessed in that way too. You know, I think you, you meet so many people and create these connections that like you got to take a step back and realize like, How truly lucky I am. I'm just a, you know, I'm just a kid from out of me die that, you know, fortunately you're not a kid anymore, Parker. Quit calling yourself a kid. I'm a crazy man, child. That's fine. But yeah, no, it's, it's, it's weird, man. To take a step back and realize like how. This journey has, has came about and, you know, there's so many times where, you know, you sat back and you realize, like, you just gotta be so grateful for, for what you've gotten in life and, um, not a lot of people get to, to do the things that I get to do and the places that basketball's brought me and, um, yeah, I'm definitely blessed. Well, the future is bright for Parker Fox and we have to finish with the Seinfeld reference. Are you a Seinfeld fan? To be honest with you, no. What? I just never Okay, so you and I are gonna talk about See, I'm a kid. When he was, yeah, you're a kid, actually Seinfeld went off the year, the year that, uh, before you were born. Anyway, that's true. Remember the Jimmy? Remember the shoes that he wore? The special shoes? The basketball shoes? I was wondering if maybe when Parker was, uh, going through his knee recovery, if maybe they threw him in these shoes. Those weighted clown shoes. Look up, look up, Jimmy holds a grudge, but there's your Seinfeld episode for you. Good luck to you, Parker. We're all cheering for you. You've, uh, you've, you've made us very proud, and it's really fun to know somebody that's famous. Yes! He's real! He's right in front of us! Like, KG's our minor local celebrity. This is a major one! Yeah, we got a real one. Go for basketball! We've arrived. And go Taylor! Yeah, go Taylor. All right, and off we go. Thanks, man. And, uh, I guess with that off we go. Bye bye.