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When Right Is Wrong: Escaping Your Environment
Ikareem "Reem" Lamar Jr. shares his powerful journey from Orlando's tough streets to college basketball success, revealing how faith transformed his life when everything seemed stacked against him.
• Started playing basketball in middle school without early training or support systems
• Grew up in an environment where "right is wrong and wrong is right" with few positive role models
• Met Mr. Jones who offered him a full scholarship to a private Christian school
• Lived independently at age 15-16 while working at Walmart and attending school
• Nearly quit basketball and college multiple times due to overwhelming challenges
• Suffered a significant injury that almost ended his college basketball career
• Found his true playing style in final season, putting up 32 points and 16 rebounds
• Learned that actions inspire teammates more effectively than words
• Discovered that faith provides strength through adversity, not an escape from it
Find God and start working toward whatever vision He's put in your head. Don't give up because God will lead the way.
Check Reem out on IG
https://www.instagram.com/ikareemlamarjr23?igsh=MXBjOGU4NzY2cHR6Mg==
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you're listening to the no shot podcast where we discuss sports, true stories and mental health brought to you by true victory apparel and Radio Influence. Let's get after it.
Speaker 2:Welcome back to the no Shot Podcast. I'm your host, santa, here with my co-host T-Mike and Chopsticks.
Speaker 3:Whoa what's going on, y'all.
Speaker 1:You might have seen me in the streets, but, boy, you don't know me. Let's go. It's the no Shot Podcast.
Speaker 2:Was that from your?
Speaker 1:Mizzou days Negative. Don't even drop that on me. We have an amazing guest on this episode today and we are excited, more excited than ever before, to have this particular guest. We all have ties to him. He's a special young individual. This is a true stories episode Nice. Yeah, Stories episode Nice. We are introducing to the world a guy that we already know Integrity, hard work and a story that we think is going to encourage you, inspire you and make you think. Introducing Reem what up? Bubba Clap it up for him. Yeah, Alright. So Reem, give the world your full name, man, Tell us where you're from and we'll go from there.
Speaker 4:Hey, what's up y'all. My name is I, kareem Lamar, I'm a junior and I'm from Orlando, florida, and basically we talking about basketball. So I'm gonna start it off where it started from, about basketball. So I'm gonna start it off where it started from.
Speaker 4:I started playing basketball middle schoolish, like seventh grade, but I used to always play around with my family a little bit, but I never could really play, so I never really took a big interest to it. So I kind of went towards the football south oh, my bad, you're good, I like football because I felt like that was something I was more into, because it was easier, I don't know, but I think because I could never like compete with basketball, I never really took interest to it. So it was around middle school I moved back to this neighborhood I used to stay in. It was called Tensalou Park and there was a lot of people around there playing basketball and I still wasn't, you know, good, but I still, like I started taking interest in basketball a little bit. Sure, I ended up, you know, trying it out a little bit for the YMCA, but I still wasn't there with it, you know, because I felt I wasn't good, you know, and everybody had been playing basketball since they was a kid and I also didn't have like the support, the money, to pour into basketball. You know, I didn't have that support system behind me like that.
Speaker 4:So yeah, so it was like seventh grade, seventh grade, summer I end up, you know, uh, starting to work out a little bit, you know, trying, trying to get into it okay, but it was kind of like hard because, like, like I said, I didn't have like that support system behind me. I didn't know how to work hard. You know, I grew up around like people like know, nobody wasn't really working hard towards something. You know, it was just a day-by-day thing. So I was used to seeing, you know, the day-by-day thing. It wasn't on grinding, putting in, work, hard work. I wasn't used to seeing that.
Speaker 1:So I'm going to cap you right there just for a second. You may mention where you grew up. What was the atmosphere like where you were growing up?
Speaker 4:What were you around? Oh, man, uh, so, man, so, growing up where I'm from, it's a it's a tough environment, you know. Like you know it's good people, you know, but I think we just was taught our own things and you know, I really didn't have like no good influences around me, you know, for the most part it was some. But like you know, like, where I'm from, it's like the people that's that's that are good influences like they're not cool, you know like, or nobody respect them as much. So, uh, I kind of was, you know, like I was kind of like going towards those good people still, and I, I, like you know, I took the sacrifice of not like having to clout or trying to go towards the people who seemed like the man or seemed like they were just overly cool, and I just backed off and I stayed in my own lane and I was just always myself, you know, for the most part. But yeah, so it's just an environment like. It's like right is right is wrong and wrong is right literally that's tough.
Speaker 4:Right is wrong and wrong is right yeah, so, like a lot of people, you know, they support their own doings and for a long time, like it started from my family, like for a long time, you know, like I always felt like I was wrong and like my heart was always like in the right place for heart was always like in the right place for the most part and like it brought a lot of like stress. It brought a lot of stress and stuff on me, you know, as a kid and like that carried on till like I was an adult and once I separated from my family, like it really that's when I really got on my own and it really taught me how to be a man and God was putting me around people. That was like, you know, growing me as a man, making me be a man, literally like they wasn't going to hold my hand and you know, it's just been a journey, every sense of you know, just detoxing from that type of environment, like growing into the person that God really you know made me to be.
Speaker 2:So a question for you real quick. What figure in your life really pointed you towards that? Was it like an uncle, a coach, like who was it? That was like you got to be different, otherwise you're going to end up like all these other people around you.
Speaker 4:I mean people like it's people in my family, of course used to tell me like, oh, you go, go to the NBA, or like they would tell me positive things, but it's just what I was looking at, you know. It just didn't make sense and I always knew. And because you know, we grew up in a you you know our time we got internet and stuff like that, so I was connected to the internet so I would be looking at stuff myself all the time, like I was into. I look at the high level athletes, you know all this type of stuff to try to do it on my own because, like I said, I wasn't too much around. You know the good influences or somebody that could take me in that route. So I wouldn't say until I got to high school and I end up, it was like, I know this was God's hands all over this.
Speaker 4:But I end up meeting this dude His name is Mr Jones and one day I was just coming from AAU practice and, as I'm coming from AAU practice, I had to catch the bus and the bus dropped me off by McDonald's but my house is like maybe a 20, 30-minute walk from there and I was waiting on my mom and the dude just stopped by and it's like it all made sense, like the dude stopped by and he just was talking to me, he's like it, you something about you, like uh, you're a great kid, blah, blah, like I could already tell, and I'm telling him that I'm waiting on my mom and stuff. At first I was kind of like skeptical. I was like skeptical, skeptical my bad, but yeah I was.
Speaker 4:I was a little bit skeptical, skeptical Step, oh man.
Speaker 1:Skeptical.
Speaker 4:Yeah, we're going to skip that word, that's all right, but yeah. But once time was starting to go by. I was hearing him talk and I knew he was like real genuine, you know, for the most part, and so I started listening to him and then he offered me a ride home. You know, as a kid in high school, you kind of like I don't know, but I just knew that he was like he really was trying to offer me a ride home. But I figured out he was the owner to this private school and, uh, he offered me to come there and stuff and I didn't even have to pay. I ain't paid nothing since I went there. You know, school, you have to pay for it.
Speaker 1:Wow, and wait, wait, wait, skrrt Time out. You're telling me and again, I agree, man, this sounds like God. It really was. Yeah, all the trauma that's around you growing up, wrong is right and right is wrong. Basketball is an outlet. But you're growing, then, randomly, almost an angel interjects into your life. He sees you and there's this wonderful intrinsic motivation that makes you different than many others around you in your community. He continues to pursue you because I guess he can see your heart, he can see the genuineness in you and you took the opportunity to move forward and you find out that this man owns his own private school and he invites you to come, no charge, to see you grow, because he sees your potential.
Speaker 2:Oh man, that's life-changing.
Speaker 4:It really was, and it's crazy, before that, the neighborhood I stayed in in Tensaloo there's a lot of great basketball players that play there, you know, and so it's built around a lot of basketball players.
Speaker 4:But when I was there I felt kind of like the oddball, like I feel like I wasn't getting poured into it. It was certain people who tried to help me, you know, for the most part, but they was more focused on the like, the gender, like they got people, their kids and stuff. They was more focused on that, you know. So I felt kind of left out in a sense, and it's crazy because my mom had to move from over there and I ended up staying back with my grandma and back where I mostly grew up at is Pond Hills, uh, and I moved back over there with my grandma and I had to go to. First I went to Evans High School and then that's when I ended up switching to the private school. And it's crazy how God, you know, he removed me from that situation when I felt like, you know, I couldn't really get an opportunity to, you know, pursue my dream, and then he brought me to a school I was able to grow, you know, the private school I was able to grow literally.
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Speaker 2:So now getting that opportunity that hardly anybody gets, like I don't know if I've ever even heard of that. And then did you start playing basketball there, like what happens next.
Speaker 4:So right before that, that's when I really started saying I want to play basketball. But also with all the things that was going on in my life, from my family, like I said, the environment, you know just everything that was going on. I wasn't. I was, I wanted to play basketball but I wasn't for sure with it yet, you know, because everything that was going on and I didn't think it was possible for real. But I kept trying to grind. I kept, you know, getting up every day trying to find a way to grind, asking for help. You know, and eventually you know like people will come around I'll have friends, will go to the park or something like that and try to put up shots or try to go on the field and do certain work. And you know, with me having a lack of knowledge, you know it was hard to do certain things because I didn't understand, you know the movements and me not being coordinated enough. At the time, it was hard to even try to do the things that I seen. The higher athletes do you know. So it wasn't until you know God started placing people in my life, you know, to help me with those things. And that's when we get further down the line and you meet Coach Miley. You know, coach Miley, when he came around, it was just one of them people, you know, like he really was true and genuine. He wanted to really pour into us, you know, and it wasn't just me, it was the other guys too, and he was just really pour into us, you know, and it wasn't just me, it was the other guys too, and he was just really pouring into us and that really stuck with me because, like I said, I never had nobody around me like just genuinely, just pouring into you, like taking that sacrifice, and that just means a lot, you know. You know, from there it was just okay, just okay. Yeah, I'm putting in the work now, but my mind's still not online with the right things. You know, I I haven't yet truly found god, I haven't yet really figured out I could really do this.
Speaker 4:So, um, this, not to mention also this round of time, I'm on my own, like I'm away from my family. I'm like 16 years old, 15 years old when I first moved from my mom and I was staying with my uh homeboy one of my homeboys, his name glenn and we had an apartment. Yeah, uh, we had our own apartment actually, uh, for a little bit. And we was working at Walmart, I was going to school and I was practicing. There was a lot going on, I was living like a grown man, but it was so stressful and not knowing God too at the time, it was even harder and I think God was using all that stuff to pull me towards him. And the whole time I'm putting in all this work and people see the potential. People always say they see the potential, they see the potential and they'll try to push it out of me, but I haven't yet figured out that I can really do this, or I haven't even took a look at myself for real, you know.
Speaker 3:So with your growth in this sport, like, do you think going from real, you know. So, with your growth in in this sport, like do you think going from you know park ball, rec ball, to like au, to now being in a private school. Like do you think the culture changes have really helped you grow and appreciate the sport? And also like grow in yourself.
Speaker 4:Oh, yes, definitely every. I feel like since I was a kid the environments got better, it was less, it was more good influences in every you know step I done took, you know, so Excellent. Yeah, so now that you know I graduate from the private school and I go through that, you know it was a lot of ups and downs from the private school, like it was a Christian private school, but you know it was tough. You know it was tough. You know it was a lot of ups and downs from the private school, like it was a christian private school, but you know it was tough.
Speaker 4:You know it was tough. You know it was a lot of people there like I didn't get saved there. You know it wasn't a lot of christian like real christians. You know, over there, know that kalima in that direction, you know, especially coming from where I come from. You know a lot of people talk about god but the actions don't follow up so sure. So I was kind of like I never really wanted to go that that route for real, because I never really understood what it was to go that route, you know, at the time being.
Speaker 4:So I graduate and man, so I want to go to college this whole time but I don't have no college opportunities, I don't have no offers and I end up playing AAU right after I graduate and I'm just playing AAU ball the whole summer. And actually one of my AAU coaches actually reached out to us, you know, and he just gave us this on flyer oh, it was a picture, I can't remember it was a picture and he gave us the picture and it was just like a trial for Trinity. But you know I was like, okay, I'm going to try that out. But also this girl I was cool with, you know, her auntie, she was helping us out with college you know the fine colleges and stuff, because that's what she do and so she took us to a few colleges St Leo was one of them, oh, and then it was, like you know, edward Waters, like Bethune, it was like all of those type of colleges.
Speaker 1:Sure.
Speaker 4:And so by that time I had ended up driving up to Trinity for a tryout and the coach immediately this wasn't with Coach Rajiv, this was with Coach O at the time and Coach Clark and they immediately was like, yeah, we want you, you just got to get accepted to the school. So that was just like. That gave me a little bit more hope, but it was just so much more to go with it. Like they wasn't offering you know, this school don't offer like a scholarship, and I knew money would be a problem, you know. So I'm just like man, I don't know how this gonna work, but I'm still gonna go through with it. Like I'm still gonna try to, you know, apply and see how this go. And it's crazy, crazy. Like around the time I was about to get ready to move in and go to college, I told myself the day right before I told myself I'm not going to college. I was like I'm not going, I'm going to just work and just like, do whatever, skrrt yeah.
Speaker 1:Wait a minute. Wait a minute so I get it, coming from where you're from. I get it, I really do. But you just told a story of perseverance, growth, still seeing the bad mixed with the good, even at the private school. But the intentions were right and now there's a door that's finally been opened for you. You can see God working through this entire scenario and then something inside you tells you, almost when everything's about to get rolling, that you need to stop.
Speaker 4:Yep, yep, and thankfully I had some, you know, good people around me. I stayed with my homeboy at this time and he literally was telling me like bro, like you, don't work so much for this, You've been talking about this for so long now. You want to go to college and you know, he basically just told me like, like bro, you got to whatever I could, I could do to help you, to support you. Like I'm gonna do that, you know. And I end up emailing, uh, the financial aid lady and she was just like just come, uh, we'll figure out something. You get here, we're gonna let you move in.
Speaker 2:I'm just like man wow, that's wow, fantastic so where was the majority of your doubt coming from? Just like financial, or was there something else?
Speaker 4:uh, I would just say, everything I was going through, just that push through. You know, that's just with anything like that. It was that push through everything that came with it. It was just so much going on like in my life at the time too, so it was just like man forget it.
Speaker 1:And I got and I don't mean to cut you off, but I got to keep going back to coming from where you're from.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You used to seeing people quit yeah.
Speaker 4:Especially right at the breaking point, you know, and that's just what it was. And you know, my homeboy and my sister ended up going on a visit with me. But that very next day, when I was about to, you know, say forget it, my homeboys we went to Walmart, you know like, got stuff for the dorms and stuff and they drove me out there and then when I got there I was just like man, like this. It was different. You know, it definitely was different.
Speaker 4:You know, being around different people and I had to adjust and I feel like that forced my growth and me just stepping out of my comfort zone and asking for help. You know, because I was used to doing everything on my own, you know trying to rely on myself so much. Know, because I was used to doing everything on my own, you know trying to rely on myself so much and you know that brought me to a lot of stress and you know not being able to push as far as I really could, you know, so I end up on asking for help about situations and that's when I started to really find God. I feel like you and people would just tell me oh, just pray about it, just pray and I'll pray and I'll just start seeing little changes in my life, and you know when I?
Speaker 4:So when I got there to the college and I was playing basketball, like I said, I was going through all this stuff, I'm asking for help, you know, because basketball not going well, because I'm not getting in the game, and I'm used to playing in the game at the private school, so I'm not getting in the game. So that kind of humbled me even more. Like I'm not really, you know, not a humble person, but you know, this humbled me even more and it really showed me that, okay, you're not going to play everywhere Like you got to.
Speaker 4:It's a time for everything you know, like God is God's timing, and that's exactly what it was. And I kept putting, I kept putting in the work but it felt like everything was going wrong and through that whole semester of my freshman year I would go back home every weekend and it was one weekend. I stayed home for two weeks and I was from the dropout, you know, because I couldn't get the work done and it wasn't like I couldn't do the work, I just I, just literally I. It wasn't like I wasn't like intelligent enough to do the work, I just couldn't do the work through like a mental thing, like with everything I was going through I couldn't get that drive, like I couldn't find that motivation to do the work. So that was the same thing with basketball. I started losing my love for it and, you know, like it's just God, he just came around the corner, he saved me from that and literally ever since then I just been depending on God, no matter how hard the situation I've gotten.
Speaker 1:So his faith grew immensely through these trials. Your faith just kept drawing you and you noticed how God just kept grabbing you Every time you're trying to turn around. He snagged you back and put you right back in place and he showed you the truth by comparison to what you deemed was the truth.
Speaker 4:And basically God was saying son, just don't give up. I got you through the whole situation. That's basically what he was saying. And the more I didn't give up, the more I learned, literally, and, like I said, there's so many situations where a lot of people probably would have gave up. You know, and I look back, I'm like man, I should have gave up, but I see why God didn't want me to give up. Yeah.
Speaker 3:I mean, our greatest enemy is ourself, but our greatest supporter is god. Yeah, hands down. Yeah, it's just fantastic story so far, so awesome.
Speaker 2:Um, I wanted to ask you, like, how is your transition from like high school to college in terms of environment? Like how, how was it different?
Speaker 4:like, oh man, like I, I didn't realize this was going to be a factor so, um, basically, like I was saying before, you know, the the more I, you know, take steps up, the more genuine people you meet. You know, still everybody not genuine, you know, to this day, you know you're not gonna meet 100% genuine people, you know, until you get to heaven. So, uh, so I would say just more genuine people, way more genuine people here at Trinity. And, just like I said, they forced me to grow, you know, it forced me to ask for help, it forced me to actually be a little dependent on people a little bit, you know, because God is placing these people in your life to help you. And I'll just say mostly just that. And it's a lot more people like me who want it, who's hungry, who trying to actually pursue God, who actually trying to go somewhere in life and do something.
Speaker 3:It's big.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so not to slow the story down, but I really want a little more clarity in regards to what you feel now, knowing how, as you explained, god has transitioned you from being around people that were broken to people that were genuinely trying to help you, and how you learned to deal with these genuine people by comparison to dealing with people that are disingenuous.
Speaker 4:So it all goes back to the word, you know, and going back to the fruits of the spirit, I try to just be genuine with everybody. You know, I don't let nobody, I don't let no conversation pass by me without hearing them out, you know, even though every conversation or every extended hand might not be the best for you, but it's all words, like for the, like you could hear, hear them out, you know, you could try to see what they're talking about. And I and I had to learn that. You know, I'm not gonna, just, you know, just, oh, I'm not gonna. Uh, oh, he, he look like he don't he, he look like he can't help me. I'm not gonna, just, you know, brush him off, you know. Or T-Mite look like he can help me, so I'm gonna go for T-Mite. He look like he can't help me. I'm not finna, just, you know, brush him off, you know. Or T-Might look like he can help me, so I'ma go for T-Might. Or Josh look like he can't help me, so I ain't go.
Speaker 4:But just understanding that you know it can be the most you know people, it could be the person that don't look nothing like you that can help you get to the next level or the next step. You know what God trying to take you, so just understanding that, yeah, yeah, yeah. So so I just I just been, you know, grinding ever since you know God. You know, ever since I found God has been grinding, just been trusting, trusting in God, just keeping faith, and you know it's really been in the Word, praying, you know, and like it's still been tough, like it don't the journey don't get no easier.
Speaker 1:Yes, sir, I was about to say don't get easier.
Speaker 4:Yeah, but God, just he make you stronger so you could be able to manage more and. I realized that, you know, and I would say my junior year in college, you know, and I almost gave up again, you know, on basketball, because and it wasn't like a give up, like I'm done with basketball, it was more so like I feel like man, maybe God called me to something different, I don't know, because it felt like everything was going wrong again, you know.
Speaker 1:So so what were some of those issues?
Speaker 4:I'll just say one I lost track of Jesus Christ in a sense of that love, you know, like this, I had to remember that I literally grew up in a family and I grew up in an environment where you had to love people who wasn't showing you that same love, you know, or love people who wasn't as genuine as you. So I had to remember that, you know, and I think I lost track of that a little bit my junior year, because it was just so much. I feel like I was pouring and giving and I wasn't getting anything in return and it was just draining me to the point that I almost gave up, you know. So I'll just say mainly just that, and I feel like I had to just let go of basketball a little bit at the moment at the time, and it's crazy, you know God, to use the people that you least expect, you know, expect to bring that life back in you, and God didn't let me quit.
Speaker 1:This is obviously a pattern.
Speaker 2:There's a song by Wilder Woods. The song title is Someday, and part of the lyric says the battle isn't over just because you say amen, like you know, that's when the battle begins.
Speaker 4:yeah and I definitely had to realize that, because when I first got saved, not even when I first got saved, but when I first found it in my heart, yeah, okay, this the route I'm gonna take. Man, it was so much you could t mike is man. It was so much T-Mike is my witness it was so much growth going on I could count 20 years of my life that I felt like I wasn't growing at all. I found God and I really was trying my hardest, I was eliminating, I was changing my music, I was changing my diet, I was changing how I interact with people, I was on a different type of work ethic.
Speaker 4:And when I say God was like growing me so fast and I'm just like, yeah, I can't go back to that old me, like I can't go back to, you know, following people and looking to for people to, you know, take me to this next level. I got to depend on God and that's why that's why I say when I got to my junior year, I felt like God was supposed to just keep giving me those blessings, like how he was giving me, how he was giving me those blessings, like when I first got there and I had to realize like man. Man, he got me this far. So it was just like I'm finna just keep depending on God, even though it felt like right now nothing is going right.
Speaker 2:So when you were going through all that were there like professors and other people that were helping you bring your focus back to Christ. Like what did they say to you?
Speaker 4:Definitely people were there, but at this moment of time it felt like nobody was there. I would go and talk to T-Mike a lot around this time and it literally felt like it was nobody there at the moment. And even if it was somebody there, I was so caught up in myself and my thoughts and to the point that I couldn't even hear if they were there, if they was trying to help me. Yeah, you know so, yeah, so I go and talk to Team Mike. For the most part, that's about it. That's the thing. I wasn't even asking for help anymore around my junior year. That's how bad the enemy got a hold of me. But God, he pulled me back. I'm back here. He's still growing me, he's still blessing me, he's still allowing me to move. We got to keep praising him.
Speaker 1:I got to agree and concur. I was blessed to watch you do this. I was blessed to watch you struggle, and the more I saw you struggle and the more I saw you taking all that weight and trying to carry it on your shoulder when it was obvious God was saying, drop the weight, I'll take it. You saying, drop the weight, I'll take it, you refused to drop the weight.
Speaker 1:Reem kept carrying it, and I understood, though because, coming from where you're from, I totally get that Y'all are used to carrying the weight on your own, and if you don't carry it, no one else will. So, when you had all that weight on your shoulders, what ultimately got you mentally prepared to drop it and rely on God going into your senior year?
Speaker 4:I'll say, with the summer God kind of humbled me again. So at the end of the season I told myself I'm like all right, you know, I had this like this. It wasn't really a horrible season in the sense of growth, because I learned a lot from it. But stats wise, like that was unlike me, you know, like I think I even averaged double digit points or rebounds. So wow. Yeah, so it was horrible, you know.
Speaker 1:Downhill.
Speaker 4:Yeah, so it was horrible, you know Downhill. So I told myself I'm like, yeah, I'm not being that guy no more. Who's going to, you know, try to just overly look out for people, you know. You know just being that guy trying to, you know, help people, trying to be the leader, and you know the overly leader, you know. But I told myself that and I literally started, started putting in work. I'm going back at it again. I'm trying to get bigger, trying to get stronger. I'm hooping every day. I'm doing three, three workouts a day and I end up going to this hoop session and I get hurt and I get hurt bad and I'm thinking like it's over, like literally, like because I never got hurt like that. So I end up getting hurt and I go down and do the time with me being hurt. You could tell the enemy started creeping in again.
Speaker 4:I'm like literally, and I'm just like man. I think it's over with. I think I'm from the hang this up like I'm saying this stuff to myself. I end up talking to Zayn kwan because they was helping me out the whole time shout out to zay and kwan yeah you guys are g's, yeah, so they helping me out the whole time.
Speaker 4:And I'm talking to zay and kwan. I'm just like man. I might tell coach rajiv, like man, I'm gonna just hang it up for this year and maybe I'll, like, come back the next year or something and try to, you know, finish out my last year of my eligibility. So I'm just like man. That's the end of me talking. And the whole time I'm still not healed. You know, I ain't healed until, like maybe the middle of the season I felt healthy, you know.
Speaker 4:But yeah, going back to the summer, like you know, I'm just speaking this negativity into my life the whole entire time, and so I get, I end up getting to the point where I could work out a little bit and I'm just like man, I guess I'll try to push through this, like I'll try to push through it. And it wasn't until the new faces came and then we started to do conditioning a little bit. I'm like I can't, like I can't sit down. You know, I can't sit down no longer. You know, and that's what woke me back up again, just saying that like god could take this game away, he could take anything away at any time. Literally, that injury like brought me back to okay, let me not take this for granted, no more like. Let me try to actually put my all into this, like I know I should, you know, and I know I could.
Speaker 2:So and um, you became an RA at some point in this time and like after you came back from from that, like when you were like back in the game and like your head was in the right place, did you see, see a lot of other guys struggling with the same thing.
Speaker 4:Absolutely, and I was always trying to help, like you, to my witness. You know, I always try to help people, I always try to pour into them. But it's like this thing we talk about when things not going as right, know, with you it's kind of hard to just talk, you know. So I have this thing now. You know, I learned from this season, you know, that just pass, I just do what you know you can do and let them follow in that way. You know, then your words would be more respectable the whole entire time, because I was falling back into that thing from my junior year this season too, a little bit, you know, because I'm trying to help everybody out, I'm trying to make today straight Like I'm acting like I'm God, like I can help everybody. You know, and it wasn't until the last few games I'm just like man. Forget this.
Speaker 1:Now let's break this down, because we're going to turn this into two different episodes. Let's break down what happened in your last few games. Statistically, you went from average to mediocre. To what?
Speaker 4:Oh, I started playing my game. You know I started being me. I started, you know, averaging the points that you know I know I can average. I started getting the rebounds I know I can get and literally I started to see like everything I've been trying to do. You know the guys like they started doing it and I'm just like man, that's crazy.
Speaker 1:So give us an example of some of the points that you put up.
Speaker 4:I think my highest stat line from this season was, I think, 32 and 16 rebounds. Let's go.
Speaker 1:That boy woke up, that boy put up some numbers.
Speaker 4:It's crazy because I was even like after the game and after the game I'm just like man. I was more so like just like God telling me that if I just do what I'm supposed to do, they'll fall in line. And it kind of was like man. Why do I keep putting myself in this position, trying to save people by my words, you know, like trying to make sure everybody else good before you know I'm taking care of myself, because, like, if I take care of myself or you know, when you lean on God, he take care of you. So if I'm focused on God and he taking care of me, then you know my action is going to help them get on track.
Speaker 4:And it's like I kept falling back in that trap. And then when that happened towards the end of the season, literally that before that game I was, I went to sleep late. Uh, went to sleep late. Like I'm kind of mad a little bit, but I'm not gonna show it. So I'm kind of mad, I'm laying down, I'm just like man, forget this. Like I can't do this, no more. Like I can't try to, you know, help the team and do all of this. And then Coach is crazy, like I'm thinking Coach is mad at me. So he ended up having to talk with me before the game and that kind of motivated me a little bit and I'm like okay, I'm locked in now. You know, I kind of started off a little slow and then, yeah, you know, from that I started to see like not everybody's running the plays. We're coming down, we're running the plays. Every time we're coming down we're playing defense People cheering each other on. I'm just like man, like this is what I've been stressing the whole time, like I've been wanting to see this.
Speaker 3:Wow, yeah, you know so far. Your story, like just reminds me of this quote that I read it's adversity is the fire in which strength is forged.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh man, that's strong, that's bold, that's true, and we're going to go into episode with Reem, so right now that means it's Trivia Time. Trivia Time buddy.
Speaker 2:Alright, alright. So the three-point line was tested out in a college game between Columbia and Fordham. The three-point line was at 22 foot, 21 foot or 25 foot.
Speaker 3:Hmm.
Speaker 1:Away from the basket.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, yes, ream Europe.
Speaker 1:So A option A is what?
Speaker 2:A is 22, B is 21, C is 25.
Speaker 4:I think the NBA was 25. Yeah, yeah, so you said for college, yeah, so it was tested out in this game.
Speaker 2:So what was the footage from the rim? 22 foot, 21, 25.
Speaker 4:I'll be honest with you. I don't know you got to choose an option bro. I'm going to go with B. I'm going to go with B 21 feet.
Speaker 3:Okay, I'm going to go with B. I'm going to go with B. All right, 21 feet. Okay, I'm going to go with A 22 feet.
Speaker 1:I'm going to go with A 22 feet.
Speaker 2:It's B man all of our guests are getting ready, let's go 21 feet, man Good gravy.
Speaker 1:Hey A-Town, give that man a ding Ding. Give that man a ding Ding. Give that man a ding. That's what's up. That's absolutely phenomenal. And now we have a random trivia question.
Speaker 2:All right, yep Random.
Speaker 1:This is going to be weird.
Speaker 2:Reem. I'm sorry, bro. Which US president opened a distillery after retiring? Was it A Herbert Hoover B? John Adams C. George Washington. What was the question again which US president opened a distillery after retiring? Was it A Herbert Hoover B?
Speaker 4:John Adams, c George Washington.
Speaker 3:Oh no, I'm going to just choose B again. All right, I'm going with Reem on this one. B John Adams.
Speaker 1:I'm going to just choose B again.
Speaker 2:All right, I'm going with Reem on this one. B John.
Speaker 4:Adams, I'm going to go C. Ah, it's C. You're on his phone, he's on his phone. He's on his phone. Give me a ding A-Town, yeah, bubba.
Speaker 1:Give me a ding A-Town yeah. Bubba, give me a ding A-Town yeah.
Speaker 3:Bubba. Oh wait, that's Sam Adams that has the beer.
Speaker 2:Are you kidding me, bros, my bad.
Speaker 1:And now we are moving on to our eateries in the Tampa Bay area and on this episode we are shouting out Paul Chicago style pizza. Paulie P Chicago style, my Pauly P Chicago style, my word. Clearwater, beautiful Clearwater, florida. In the Tampa Bay area they specialize and take pride in the original thin crust Chicago pizza. Their dough and sauce ingredients are prepared daily and their cheeses are freshly shredded daily. They have some of the most amazing desserts, from the cannoli to the crispy, cream-filled pieces of Italian genius that's associated with all their other breads. Along with the beef and everything else you can imagine. They have some of the finest Chicago-style food in the world.
Speaker 1:The No-Shot Podcast, after every recording episode, goes and eats at Pauly's Pizza. Paul's Chicago Style Pizza. You can find them in Clearwater, 1500 North McMullen Booth Road in beautiful Clearwater. Once again, that address is 1500 North McMullen Booth Road in Clearwater. Go get Paul's Chicago Pizza, booth road in clearwater. Go get paul's chicago pizza. And with that in mind, we are jumping into the general public. Hey, let's go with the music. A town appreciate you, superhero swagger. Yeah, reem, you are taking this gen pub. I need you to say this. If you had the opportunity to inspire a young man or a young woman from your neighborhood when the yeses were nos and the nos were yeses, when the good was bad and the bad was good. To inspire them to get out of that arena, what are some words that you would impart on them? What are some words that you would impart on them?
Speaker 4:I say the first thing is to literally start praying. Find God and for the most part God will guide you that way. And whatever you know you can do, whatever vision God's been put in your head, start working towards those visions.
Speaker 1:And literally don't give up because God will lead you the way. This has been the no Shot Podcast, br, brought to you by radio influence. That's my dog, jay floyd, and my homie back at home, super producer, a town hitting us with the dings and all the other magic in the background. We got an episode dos on this one, so send us out santa from the three-point line, my boy this has been the no shot podcast.
Speaker 2:Go check out the brand at true victorycom and then go support the cast by rating us on apple podcast and spotify. Thank you.
