The Journey to Freedom Podcast
Journey to Freedom serves as an exclusive extension of the Living Boldly with Purpose podcast series—a platform that inspires powerful transformation and growth. Journey freedom is a podcast hosted by Brian E. Arnold. The Journey to Freedom is an our best life blueprint exclusively designed for black men where we create a foundational freedom plan. There are five pillars: Identity, Trust, Finances, Health and Faith.
The Journey to Freedom Podcast
Finding Purpose Beyond the Police Uniform: A Black Officer's Story
What happens when a detective puts down his badge and picks up a microphone? Kevin, a 22-year law enforcement veteran, reveals the powerful journey that led him from the streets of Brooklyn to a successful career in policing and podcasting.
Growing up in 1980s Brooklyn during the crack epidemic, Kevin was shaped by two working parents who instilled values that continue to guide him today. His father, a retired NYPD homicide detective, unknowingly set the template for Kevin's future career path. But unlike many who become consumed by their professional identity, Kevin discovered early that balance was essential for survival.
"You have to have something else to do... You have to have some faith... You have to absolutely have some support from your family," Kevin explains while discussing how he navigates the challenges of being Black in law enforcement during an era when police officers are often vilified. His answer? Creating the Sports Chasers podcast with longtime friends, transforming their passionate debates into a platform that's been growing since 2018.
The conversation dives deep into emotional intelligence, wellness practices, and how faith serves as an anchor when witnessing humanity's darkest moments. Kevin candidly shares how he teaches rookies to prioritize mental health and develop interests beyond the job, wisdom that applies far beyond policing. His commitment to mentorship programs and community involvement demonstrates his belief that success isn't measured by fame or fortune but by living purposefully and serving others.
Whether discussing the evolution of his podcast from humble beginnings to professional syndication or reflecting on generational lessons taught by his grandfather, Kevin offers a masterclass in maintaining identity while pursuing multiple passions. For anyone struggling with work-life balance or searching for purpose beyond their profession, this episode provides both inspiration and practical wisdom from someone who's mastered the art of being more than his job title.
You have to have some other things going on. You have to have some faith. You have to absolutely have some support from your family. I says, when you get this job, you need to have something else to do. You have to have some other friends to hang out besides this.
Speaker 2:All right, welcome to another edition of the Journey to Freedom podcast. I'm Dr B, I'm your host today and just incredibly excited and I know you guys probably get sick of me after 150 episodes of saying I'm excited about this next guest but I am, I truly am. I truly love to be able to sit down and talk with individuals, especially, you know, as we started Journey to Freedom, it is a podcast for Black men, and when you get to sit down with Black men who are doing the thing, who are doing what they were put on this earth to do, that are living in purpose, that are excited about being successful or excited about their futures, so many times I can remember, you know, talking to folks and they just they had no hope. You know, I took a. You know, Kevin, I took a group of black men down to Alabama back at the end of January and we I call it a victory, civil rights victory tour, because we kind of where we're stuck and we're trying to figure out, okay, where did we come from and then where do we be? You know, where are we able to end up and can move forward from right now.
Speaker 2:And sometimes, you know, I don't know where you're from. But I know, in Alabama I almost feel like I'm still in 1970 when I go there, when I go to Birmingham, and I'm sitting down and I ask a waiter, you know how much are you making per hour? Are you willing to share with me? And he tells me I'm making $2 and 15 cents an hour as a waiter. And I'm like also like, are your checks? I mean, you get a lot of tips, Are you able to make you know, a thousand dollars a month or anything? It's like no, I'm usually under $500 a month or anything. It's like no, I'm usually under 500 a month. But I'm like, how does somebody survive? Because I know, I know a loaf of bread doesn't cost 25 cents in alabama anymore. Right, I know it's, you know whatever it is.
Speaker 2:I think 3.99 exactly you know a gallon of gas isn't 28 cents, you know it's, it's three or four dollars. Like, how do you get back and forth? And when I think about that and I go, OK, so I take this group of men because we want to find out. You know the Bryan Stevenson Museum and we're going to the Pettus Bridge and we're at the 16th Street Baptist Church. But more important in that trip is OK, this is where you're at, when do you want to be and how are you going to get there? And so it gets so exciting when you know, because my life now is resolved around helping people become the person they need to be in order to do the thing that they were put on the surface.
Speaker 2:And I think that's what success is. When I, when I'm trying to define success, it's not about the amount of money that you make or the amount of fame that you have Although those are good indicators that you're doing pretty good at what you're supposed to do but it's more about are you living in that purpose? Are you serving others well? Are you getting up every day excited about the next day coming? Are you a pillar in your community? Are you serving? You know?
Speaker 2:Those things seem to be so important as to who is successful, and so being able to draw that out and thinking now, you know, for me, podcasting is what I love, what I, you know, I get up every morning and say I get to do another podcast today.
Speaker 2:You know I'm teaching, podcast coaching and that kind of stuff. And then to hear you is doing some of the same things as you know, having a show and doing, you know, and being able to communicate with others in a way that makes their life better in some way or another, is just so cool. And so I've asked Kevin to tell a story, like I do all of our guests, so we get to know him a little bit and then we'll chop it up after the things that he's doing now and the things that you know and how he interacts with his identity, and you know how that shaped his life. And so thank you for being on, thank you for being willing to spend a little bit of time with us and talk about the things that you're doing, and the floor is yours, sir.
Speaker 1:Dr B pleasure. Thank you for allowing me and having me here on the journey to freedom, man, it's. I appreciate you. I appreciate the work that you're doing and, hey, helping people figure out their life's journey, and I think that's so important. I think that you have an incredible job and kudos to you for doing what you're doing, man. So I definitely appreciate that. So I'll just start off with my story, definitely my story.
Speaker 1:A kid from Brooklyn, new York, growing up in the 80s and in the 90s, and one to two parents mom, she worked for the telephone company for 30 years. My old man, he's a retired homicide detective with the NYPD, and so household to me, my brother and my sister. And I was the middle kid. So, and growing up I liked sports. So you know I enjoyed all sports, played all sports, played baseball, hockey, baseball I said baseball already basketball, football, even on the baseball and football team at my local high school in Brooklyn, man, so I enjoyed it, I loved it. School in brooklyn, man, so I enjoyed it, I loved it, um, and sports has always been a, a, a vehicle for for me, so to speak. You know, been in the boys and leagues, um, pal things of that nature, and, of course, I had a father who's the police, as the kids say, um, you know that also too was some you know some structure and some you know some things of how it's made me today and I'm very appreciative of that of him and my mother and their values of coming up, and some of those things have absolutely instilled in me to this day their work ethic, um, how they went about things and how they they are still healthy, they're still with us, um, in their 80s and living amazing and have you know, they just still have their great health, which I'm very thankful for because they figured it out at a younger age. Hey, to stay around, stay around here for a long time, I need to be healthy, make better choices, be fit, be moving around. So I'm appreciative of that, what they have taught me as well, and my other siblings.
Speaker 1:So, like I said, growing up, it was fun growing up in Brooklyn, and I grew up in, like I said, in the 80s and 90s, in the crack era up there. And I grew up in, like I said, in the 80s and 90s, in the crack era up there. Thankful to God that you know, I was able not to be steered in the wrong direction but yet in the right direction, and I had a lot of you know people around supporting us. You know, takes a village. That's definitely true. It does absolutely take a village and I think it even takes a village even more now, today. So I say all to say this like I said, my mother and my father's work ethic, you know what they taught me, what they instilled me. Um, yes, with the church, mother used to drag me and my brother, my baby brother, to church and some of that stuff is absolutely has instilled it to me. Faith is definitely very important.
Speaker 1:So, so, as I say this, so we do this I've grown up and tell you that my old man he's the police. So guess what happens to me? I'm the police now. So I've been a law enforcement for the last 22 years, not in New York. I moved, actually, to Charlotte, north Carolina, back in 2021. Yeah, 2021, where I was a correctional officer for the sheriff's office in Charlotte and then I became a sworn deputy sheriff and then I did that for about almost 13, 14 years and I moved to South Florida where I'm currently working in South Florida as a, as a detective now.
Speaker 1:And, um, just when you were saying that, brian, about your, about people in their journey and how they, how those things work, and some of the things that you were saying, absolutely I absolutely been involved in uh, big Little Brother, helping kids out Back in 2009, me and one of my homeboys who I grew up with in Brooklyn. He worked for another agency and we took 11 kids that never left the county of Mecklenburg up to Washington DC on a visit to see all the stuff in DC and, like I said, some of those kids never ever left the county and we was able to do that through the PAL program that I was a part of Excuse me, and it was probably another thing. I can't think of it right now, but, um, that was very, that was very cool to to help help them out, and I think two of the kids are absolutely still keep in touch with them to this day back in 2009. Some, unfortunately. You know we try to instill some of those good values, but you know, some some sometimes people fall by the wayside. It's just what it is so fast.
Speaker 1:Forwarding back to what I'm doing today um, there's been a lot of things about policing in the last, I say, 10 years. Um, police are not the most well-liked people and just to kind of one of my co-hosts on the show, he always, always used to say he said, kev, you should talk about what you do. I said no, I really don't want to intermingle the two. I just don't. I just really don't. I said professionally-wise, I just don't. But he said you should too, because it absolutely humanizes you and lets people know that you know there's other sides to you than just being a police officer. Like you're a dude that loves sports, and not only do you love sports.
Speaker 1:The podcast is successful. We've been rocking. We've been doing this thing since 2018. And it just humanizes you, and I think it does. So guess what my brother does too. He's a cop also. Oh, wow, it does. So, my. So guess what my brother does too. He's a cop also, oh, wow. So we have made it the family business, I guess.
Speaker 1:And, um, like I said, my old man, he's retired. He's been retired for since the longest, since the early 90s, and um, yeah, so I guess that's, that's my story and my, like I said, my co-host shout out to my man, dorian. He always says he said I'm so proud of you guys Because, like I said, we grew up together. And he says, yeah, you should absolutely sometimes shout that out, and I do so down here in South Florida. Like I said, I'm a detective and I still do some of those big brother, little brother things. They had like a 500. What's that 500 kids role model? They just did that last week that I'm a part of and, yeah, man, I'm just, like you said, early in your thing.
Speaker 1:People in the community should be a pillar of the community. Who can you help out? Who can you? People in the community should be a pillar of the community. Who can you help out? Who can you. It's just not you just going to the top, it's about helping someone along also. So that's pretty much my story.
Speaker 1:I'm getting I don't know what else to add, but that's just my story. But the whole journey and how, and I'll tell you this about the podcasting thing. So the podcasting thing absolutely, like I said, it was a passion of mine to do, to talk about sports. My co-host, his wife, said one day she said you guys argue so much on the phone. I said have a show. I was like wait a minute, rhonda, that is brilliant. I says we're going to do that and that's what we did in 2018. I know what we was doing. I just started. It had a laptop and I had a microphone and I had some headphones and that's all I knew how to do back in 2018. Thank God for some networking and connecting with people. That's pointing in the right direction, where you know we're. We're making some headway in in the sports genre of the podcasting land and I and I just like it for the fact that podcasting does what it gives people other than how can I say it's more important people a platform to say something, um, which is what I love.
Speaker 1:I love the content creators on YouTube. Yes, it may seem like the Wild Wild West, but you got to pick and choose. Who do you listen to? It's just like anything else food right. Either you're going to go to McDonald's every day or you're going to go to the produce aisle at Publix or whatever supermarket shopping that you go to. So it's a choice. So that's why I love the content creation space. I'm not relegated to just the legacy networks, and there's some people out here in the content creation space who don't have the backings of these bigger media corporations. They're absolutely doing a wonderful job of whatever they're doing and I watch them, and I absolutely watch them and support them.
Speaker 2:So that's my story, man. No, thank you, and thank you for sharing and and I'm gonna ask you a couple questions here. But I definitely want to get back into the podcasting thing because that's you know, one of the things I'm doing is coaching, podcasting.
Speaker 2:Now I believe everybody, everybody could have a podcast uh it is the new frontier and you know, I think people believe. Well, it used to be like TV and radio where it had to be who you knew and who you could get with and how much money you had to be able to do it. And there's so much great, incredible content out there. That is, you know, for you guys. Are you guys doing local sports or are you doing nationwide sports?
Speaker 1:Man we cover it all. Man we cover it all. I actually just got off a call with a gentleman in England about collaborating with them doing some soccer stuff. He found us.
Speaker 2:Love it. Do you know a lot about football?
Speaker 1:No, so one of the things that we do on here, that that we kind of brainstorm and do it. I don't know everything, no, I was. So my sports is I. I know very much as baseball, football, basketball. I know hockey a little bit. But guess what I did? We did I should say, excuse me. I got my one of my dudes who I used to work with. He's an avid hockey dude and that's what we call him, the hockey dude, so he joins the show as a hockey dude, so we cover every anything. So if I need a soccer person, I got two people who I reach out to for soccer. Um nascar, because I lived in charlotte for a little bit. I know some people up there, that'll. You know. Anything high comes up on NASCAR, I contact them.
Speaker 2:Nice, nice.
Speaker 1:And sometimes it's just not a how can I say a famous face, somebody who's passionate about it, who really knows what it was, and it gives them, it empowers them, to be like yo man. I'm the expert too. I'm on somebody's platform talking about something that I know and that is so fulfilling to people and to see that in their families. So I that's just one of the things that we do. Like I said, I don't know everything, but I'll seek and find who does, and I think that's one of the formulas that's working for us.
Speaker 2:I love it. Well, I want to jump backwards a little bit, because you know your story is is one that is, you know, not like not, not not like other folks are. I mean, some folks have pretty similar stories, but what happens is our identity, you know. You know when we think about identity and who we are, who we believe we are, and able to move through. How was your, I mean, excited that you had two parents, and you know we have both sides of it. But you came out saying this my identity is going to be, you know, that of a, of a correct, you know, a policeman, and then that that kind of probably shaped a little bit about who you are, but that something allowed you to move forward in that and be successful at it.
Speaker 2:Because I know a lot of folks that are police officers have been there a long time and they don't move up the ranks, they don't move into detective. They don't move into detective, they don't move. You know, and, uh, you know some that like it, some that don't like it. I know for, uh, I want to thank you for your service because it's got to be incredibly hard. I know, here in aurora, colorado, we had when, um, uh chief metz. You know black um uh chief that came from seattle was our chief of. You know. They hired him as our chief of police and then he created a group of like a community group that I was part of and we got to go there was like 15 of us that we got to meet with him, but then, shortly after he was here, elijah McClain happened and so the whole world goes upside down.
Speaker 2:You know, based on officers, that he had nothing to do with hiring. Nothing to do with it came up but of course he's the one that's taking you know what did these guys do? So, maybe, as your identity goes, what has it been like to keep an identity that's strong, as we have a nation that's decided that you guys are the bad guys, which you're absolutely not?
Speaker 1:I think for me and I can only speak for me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:How you keep an identity. I think you have to have something else more to do than just go do the job and that's it. I also teach a wellness class to all the rookies that come in and I tell them. I says, when you get this job, you need to have something else to do. You have to have some other friends to hang out besides this.
Speaker 1:I says, because this can be a lot and I've always been I can truly say I've never been the guy like if you meet me in the street you probably will say, hey, that guy's, I've been called man, you look like a hedge fund guy. When I saw somebody I never thought you was a police officer because of the way I was dressed. So I was like I appreciate that, but yeah, I don't want the identity. I was like I appreciate that, but yeah, I don't want the identity.
Speaker 1:I think a lot of times sometimes you know some guys that get consumed with it and get consumed of who they are as a police officer. And me I just I treat it as a job and I love what I do. Sometimes I have some good days, sometimes I don't have some good days. It just, it just depends and that's just what it is, and it comes with a job. Like you, as I don't have some good days, it just depends. And that's just what it is, and it comes with a job and, like you said, it's an incredible job that has a lot of power to it, and the right person has to be able to do the job.
Speaker 1:And one of the things I teach too when people come in here, who's not about it, who becomes unfaithful to it, it becomes absolutely a problem for the rest of us, who's absolutely out here doing the right thing. And so, to get back to your original question, Dr B, I just think that you have to have some other things going on. You have to have some faith, you have to absolutely have some support from your family and you know just to. And I think this, and I say this I said I teach wellness right, and you absolutely probably need to go talk to somebody once a week and I'm not talking about your homeboy either Somebody professionally, somebody clinically.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And I'm for real because we see a lot of. I've seen a lot of stuff and I absolutely probably should be somewhere. You know I'm for real because we see a lot of I've seen a lot of stuff and I absolutely probably should be somewhere. But I go talk to somebody. I've been through a lot of stuff. I've been in a couple car accidents that probably could have took my life, things of that nature and police officers they see a lot of stuff, a lot of trauma, and so I recommend you should go see somebody.
Speaker 2:Well, and I'm glad you I'm glad you said that, because there's so many of us that believe we got this.
Speaker 2:I don't need any help, I don't need you know, but that's absolutely so far from the truth is you know, god put us on this planet to be in relationship and he put us in a healthy relationship and when we take that away, you know, and I don't know what like divorce rate is for you know officers, but I imagine it's pretty high and probably within the black families, even higher.
Speaker 2:You know, as a result of what you're saying is not checking your wellness and making sure that you're okay and having those conversations because we almost have to distract ourselves, sometimes no matter what part, and you're just in that high-stress profession that can be very rewarding but can take a lot away from you, I'm sure. At the same time, how did you? Because you had your dad as a police officer and we think about trust and how important it is to trust the people you're around, probably even more so as having a partner or having people that have your back how did you develop your sense of trust? Do you just automatically trust people because you give them the benefit of the doubt first? Do they have to earn your trust in some way? Is there some kind of combination?
Speaker 1:I think for me. I'm very cynical, so I have to fight against that. I'm just being honest. I absolutely have to fight against that because, like I said, I've seen a lot and sometimes to see what other human beings do to other human beings, it absolutely takes its toll.
Speaker 2:So I absolutely have to check myself, make sure I try to get people the benefit of the doubt and um, you know, but you know I still got my eye on you, but um, I've got you, I'm looking at you, I'm making sure, oh my gosh, you do that, which is important because trust is such a a big um thing that if we, we don't, we don't have that, uh, and we just we're trying to walk through without we can't find anybody to trust right right be a lonely a a lonely existence.
Speaker 2:And yeah, has faith played a part? I mean, I think you brought up the word faith, but maybe kind of talk about Faith is absolutely boiling apart.
Speaker 1:I think you, you absolutely saw, I believe in God, believe in Jesus, I'll go to church and all that stuff. Like I said, my mother, she literally used to drag me there to church. Yeah, mom, when you see this, um, I love you. But, um, yeah, we were in church. We was in church all the time, man, you know what I'm saying and um, but now I absolutely learned, dr b, I learned a lot of foundational stuff in church from my pastor at the time and though you know you wouldn't think that you was listening or anything like that, it just absolutely carried me to where I'm at now and you absolutely need to believe that there's someone or something or a higher being that can help and sustain you, even when you know there's nothing around, there's nobody to look to. You know who do you pray to, who do you liken to? Just you know, come in when nobody else is around, and I think faith is definitely important and I absolutely do a lot of praying.
Speaker 2:That's so cool? Do you find that it's, you know, being a person of faith. Is it easier to be an officer when you have that and you know there's a higher power than maybe some of your colleagues that don't have that same? You know faith and belief. You know as you go through your daily you know faith and belief.
Speaker 1:You know, as you go through your daily, unfortunately I'll just go down to the path of suicide, man, how you know where, like I said, you know, officers see a lot of stuff, man, and they can't handle it, man, and then that's the ultimate you know thing that they do which is so unfortunate, unfortunately, and where you know they could have got some help. But you know, ultimately, man, man, just you know, god, what can, what can, what can you do to help me out? What's what's going? How can I, I can deal with this, and that's just such a, that's such a thing, man. So I think with um, such a thing, man, so I think with Faith, I don't know how they do it, I just I'm just being honest.
Speaker 1:It's just because there's sometimes, you know you'd be like God, and there's sometimes at work, you know, like man, that's again, you know your viewers are seeing this. If you haven't really talked to a police officer, go talk to your local police officer, man, especially that's one that's been on the gig and you know they absolutely have seen a lot. If you would see a lot of stuff, you absolutely it would do something to you and you got to have some inner faith. You got to have something to sustain you. That's my belief, that's my goal, and I'm thankful for what my mother had did while when we was younger, of instilling that into us and making sure that we know who what name to call.
Speaker 2:So that's so cool well, and you know I struggle with this stuff I've seen, I haven't seen very much, you know and not and saying god, you are real right right, right right doing your job and not saying, oh my god, what is this for?
Speaker 2:what is it? This is all about, um, one of the things you attributed to your sex, your, your success, uh is that you have support of your family. Maybe talk a little bit like they played. Your family played a part in helping you, not only in the success of your job, but the success of all the other things that you do, being able to support you in all the ways they have.
Speaker 1:Maybe talk about that just a little bit, I would just say, from when we was younger. So my father's side of the family, they it's, it's, it's a bunch of us, it's a bunch of them, and um, we just basically just made a little community man and, and we just made sure we just supported everybody and anything that they had going on. And that's just what the that's just what the name of the game was. And support could come in a lot of things. Support can be just showing up, support could be a phone call, support could be monetarily or whatever, whatever that you need to help.
Speaker 1:I think you know the village, the whole village thing. I don't think that's there anymore. To be honest, I think we have gotten away from the village. I think people have absolutely gotten to their own little cocoons and you know the village. You know you don't have to be alone, but I think people are now choosing to be alone. But I absolutely attest my success of family and community, and not so much your family. I call them family. I've been knowing since I've been six years old that we're still cool to this day and they're like family to me and I'm family to them, and I just think that's just important, that you don't have to go through things alone, but sometimes people think they are alone. But you don't have to go through things alone. But sometimes people think they are alone, but you don't have to be alone. But you got to sometimes do the reaching out too. That's what I find out with people. They're hesitant to reach out and you never know until you do.
Speaker 2:Are you married?
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Okay, what does it mean to you to be? I can tell you're probably an amazing husband.
Speaker 1:I try to be. I try to be.
Speaker 2:You can watch this too right in your profession and the things that you bring home, and to still care for another human being and be able to support them and to be able for them to support you and to be an example in the community. You know there's so many in our community who aren't and we you know we have this. You know I do a podcast on Sunday nights. It's called why Love Waits, and the statistic in our community is that 50% of Black women that are over the age of 40 are not married and out of that, 75% of them have children.
Speaker 2:And so we've decided as men somehow that we don't need to be married, or women have decided that they don't need to be married, and we've taken away the family unit out of our culture. And to me it doesn't matter if you have a diverse marriage, but your marriage. You're promoting what marriage is and we've kind of gotten away from that, and part of it is we took men out of families and all the things that have happened through the last 200 years or whatever 400 years. But you know, for somebody who is married and who is is working through it and has a very stressful profession, maybe you can talk to us a little bit about. What does it mean to support somebody else?
Speaker 1:Um, I think that comes with, you know, because, like I said, there'll be some days you won't have good days and there'll be some days that you have bad days. Your partner just has to understand who you are, what you are, and like really really getting to know it. I think sometimes and yes, that's might not what you signed up for, but it's just what it is, and you know you might need to just get some support and um and think of other people. So my wife she probably you know, I don't know this, but she does a good job of it, but maybe she goes to my mother she's been married to a police officer for the longest, so almost 50 years so how do I do this?
Speaker 1:so, um, but now she's cool. She absolutely does a great job of making sure that I'm not stressed, um, anything that needs to be handled. Um, you know she can wait until I get home or whatever. Not so much now. It's a little bit more slow-paced, being that I'm in a suit.
Speaker 1:Now I'm not in a uniform or anything like that, but when I was in uniform, yeah, sometimes I couldn't be talking or whatever the case may be, because I'm dealing with something, the aspect of coming home to a person, I think they just got to know, they just got to know when to be, you know, not approachable, but they just got to know. They just got to catch that feeling of what that person is. Is might have been going through kind of gauge, hey, let me see, did he have a good day? Or he or she have a good day? Right? Because you know there's women, that's, police officers who do an outstanding job, who absolutely you know the other side. You know the man. They come home to the guy and they're like you know how was your day, or whatever. Because you know my world is definitely different than my wife's world, what she does and and I always say, I say you, would you live in a different world for your whatever hours you work. In my 10 hours that I work, um, my work could be bedlam, it could be fires, unfortunately. You know people laid out in the street, shootings, things of that nature, uh, babies drowning, you know all the stuff that causes trauma, now. So, but I just think that person just needs to be a really good support, a really good cheerleader, so to speak, and to make sure, engage how that person is doing and if they're not doing well, make sure they get them some. Some help needed.
Speaker 1:And when I say help, it come. Help can come in all types of forms. It can come in some kind of stress reliever thing or, you know, when you go to the, to whatever, there's a couple. I've seen it before. What is it? It's a rage. I don't know if they got them out there, but I've seen them down here in South Florida. They call them rages houses where you just go in and just tear up stuff. You pay some people to go to this room and take it like a sledgehammer and just start just tearing stuff up. Oh my gosh, dr B, I love you, not man.
Speaker 2:I was like wow that is, you got some really pent up anger, in you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh my gosh, I guess, whatever works, whatever it takes, Whatever works, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my Lord.
Speaker 2:Well, I know you talked about big brothers and working with the community. Are you a dad as well? No, I'm not a dad.
Speaker 1:I'm not a dad, but I'm like a dad 2.0, according to my niece. Okay, shout out to my niece, kennedy, that's my brother's daughter and, yeah, she calls me dad 2.0. But I guess I've been doing some dad and uncle things Ever since I can remember being in church and being part of Big Brothers and when I was in Charlotte it was right, it was called Right Moves for Youth, that's what I was named. I wanted to give them the right, right moves, right moves for youth, and, you know, making sure that you know kids are on the right pathway and instilling some good values in them and instilling simple things as how to tie a tie.
Speaker 1:I remember the first time my granddad showed me how to tie a tie. I'll never forget it. I'll never forget where I was at. I was in his living room and he's like hey, boy, come here. So he showed me. He showed me. So you take the tie, you do it like this, do it like this. Look, I'm even doing it now with a tie string. I'll never forget it. And I it took me three, three, four times to do it and I finally got. I said, look, randall, I got it. And you know, yeah, some of the fathers are not home in the house, man, but but if a person's available, like in those programs which are very important, you know that they'll never forget stuff like that, absolutely Tying the tie which to me, I still remember to this day, like I said, where I was at when me and my grandfather was getting ready to go to church and he showed me a tie, tie.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and there's so many things that for our youth and for our folks growing up that we used to do because we were in community and we were in proximity. Now we have. If I need to learn how to tie, I just look on YouTube and you probably could. But there's one thing of knowledge, of knowing things, and there's something about the process of you and your grandfather yes be able to be in relationship when you did it that youtube can't take. Now I'm thankful for youtube.
Speaker 2:I mean, obviously we're doing podcasts and yeah, part of our yeah yeah on the internet but it doesn't substitute for being in community with people, and I think we kind of lost that. I mean, I'm assuming it's made your job harder as an officer as well. Is this what people will say to each other that they would never say to each other in the real world? They'll go say it on the Internet. They start stuff. You know when I was a high school teacher, oh my gosh, the stuff that the kids would tell each other things and do things with the internet and just the loneliness of wanting to connect but not knowing how to connect.
Speaker 2:Yes, are you finding that there's ways to still connect people without just doing it online? Or is this just the world we live in now?
Speaker 1:It's very rare, I think now, like you said, with community, because people are so attached to the cell phone device and to the technology, and I think it's a gift from the curse of technology. It definitely is man. And yeah, I think it's harder Because, like I said, I remember. Now you got me thinking. I remember the first tie I tied. I remember my dad showed me how to ride a bike. I remember how he showed me how to tie my shoe and he told me I'll never forget, when I was five years old he said you can't go outside until you learn how to tie your shoe. I'm tired of tying your shoe.
Speaker 2:You got to learn to tie your shoe. That's what Kevin did Learn to tie his shoe Now, it's just Velcro and slip-ons right.
Speaker 1:And Crocs, that's what the young kids they be wearing. Crocs, which is bad for your feet. Yeah, I got a pair too. I got them on right now.
Speaker 2:Yes, oh yeah, Crocs are from a Colorado company too, so I'm even worse off than. But yeah, the kids wear them everywhere. My grandkids all have them. It's just, oh, yeah, it's, it's. It's just such a different world, uh, that we live in. Uh, thank you for for sharing that, because I think it's just so important that we continue to talk about relationship, we continue to talk about family as the things you say. I do want to pivot back over to the radio show now. So, or not? The radio? The podcast, how did you guys get started in it? I mean, I know you said hey, your wife said hey, this would be something that you would be good at. You're talking anyways.
Speaker 1:Actually it was my co-host wife. Your co-host wife, okay, yeah, yeah. She in the background one day with me and Dee and my brother Darrell, was on the phone and she I'm going to put it the PG way, way. But she said y'all be on the phone all day, every day, arguing about this stuff, why don't y'all start a show? And I was like I said dude, what's your? What I said put ronald on the phone. She said, yeah, I should start a show. I said ronald, that's brilliant.
Speaker 1:I says hmm, I said and I said I said I saw this thing podcasted and I'll never forget I was in the present place. I'm in now, but I called the guys up. So my brother Darryl, my man Dorian and my first cousin's son, michael, we came together one Saturday and we was on this platform and it was audio. We was just doing audio at the time. We did it for like 30 minutes and we sucked because we couldn't really see each other. You know what I'm saying. We really couldn't see each other, but we put it together. We've been consistent doing it. Like I said, we just kept on doing it and, like I said, when COVID came, that was a real game changer because we started doing it via Zoom and then we started getting energy and synergy from one another because we can see one another. It's hard to do that when you don't see one another, so you know everybody's cues.
Speaker 1:you don't know how to think, and when we did, when we started coming coming on zoom then, which started where we can start putting it on youtube or streaming live on youtube, that was a game changer for us, man, and we've been watching the podcast grow exponentially, um, since since 20, since 2021, yeah, and then in 2022, we so we was only so get back there. So we was on YouTube and then we was on what's that? Soundcloud? Soundcloud, pretty much, was just only distributed to apple, and then I got got in touch with this. No, I saw this, this advertisement on um instagram. It was this company called potter ties. So, politic.
Speaker 1:I had a talk with the people there shout out to my people's um, um, tracy and tom hazard. Uh, I talked to them about podcasting, to have a syndicated. They say, hey, we can have your stuff expanded more, and I think that was another like a regeneration of the podcast and that absolutely helped us out where you know I'm getting some training, getting some knack and know how. Like I said, I know what I was doing. I'm police 24 seven. I'm no podcasting. So, as you can see, it doesn't say police, it says podcaster. Right, and so we got some neck and know-how from them and they've been syndicating our stuff since 2022, when we had that initial talk to them, man. So they got us a website. We got a website, we're looking all professional, we're looking all great. We have some very interesting interviewees on since then. I'm just excited about the growth of it.
Speaker 1:Man, I think people sometimes think that this is something you can get in, that you go and get rich right away or whatever. No, I says, especially for those that we ain't famous, doesn't work that way. We got to kind of grind a little bit more and when you do that, I think you appreciate it more and I'm even appreciate. Like I said, I was just on a call just before us on dr b and those people found us. I didn't reach out to them. They happened, this was scroll in and it's like hey, we like what you're doing. So you know your, your, your fruits of your labor will absolutely come forth If you keep on putting in the work.
Speaker 1:I think sometimes people just think cause I get asked a lot of times it's like yo, man, I want to start a podcast. I was like all right, cool, are you willing to do this, that, that and the other. That's what you do. Aww, yeah, there's more than besides me just flipping on the camera and getting on the mic. There's all the before and after, the prep work and the after work. I said we can't pay nobody to do that stuff right now.
Speaker 2:I said well, what are they?
Speaker 1:You got to know what you're talking about right, yeah, yeah, yeah, you got to know the subjects and all that stuff. I said this flow that you see. I said yes, we absolutely have to do a pre-talk before we come on, and things of that nature. Yeah, there's a lot of that. So I absolutely have been asked a couple of times and I just tell people, I says it ain't for the week. I says I said pod fading is real. It's like what's pod fading? I says when we don't hear from you no more, that's what pod fading is.
Speaker 2:Nine episodes, you're gone. You faded out the picture.
Speaker 1:I said that that's it. It's 1%. Yeah, I said 1%. Yeah, dr B, I don't know about you, but I don't have no producers yet. Well, I have one, my man D, his son, but he'll be back with us. Shout out to Dorian Jr, but I don't have a machine behind me to get the mic prepped, do the lighting and all that stuff. As you can see, I had to get my own light for today. See, I had to get my own light for today.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, if you're starting a podcast, I believe everybody should start a podcast, because who would allow you to become? But if you're getting into it because you're ready to make money at it, you're getting in it for the wrong reasons.
Speaker 2:You got to get into it because of the love of what it is that you're talking about and what you're doing, and then it has the ability to create you some income. Uh, depending on how much better you get at it. And that's up to you is how much time you're going to spend on it and how and how good you're going to get at, because you, you know, in many cases you got to solve a problem that somebody else has. Yes, if you just get in there and talk about yourself, you can forget it. If you're trying to be interesting, then forget it. You need to be interested where. You need to be interested in what other people want, and then it might be something you want too, and then you talk about it because people are interested in sports, right. But if you just get up there because you want to just talk about yourself, if you want to, hey, I want to tell you that I got up this morning and I cooked myself some breakfast.
Speaker 1:I don't care about that stuff, dr B. Now they might during the sports story and we do that often with us there might be some correlating thing where it's funny and it goes along with it. Yes, absolutely. But nobody cares that I had a Chick-fil-A biscuit this morning. They don't care. They might care if it's somebody famous on ESPN or whatever the case may be, but they don't care about me and I love that. You said that For all you podcasters out there. You got to be, whatever your genre is, you got to be there to solve somebody's problem. That's what you're there for. I learned that not in year one, not two, three, probably year four. I said, oh OK, I got you.
Speaker 2:It is. I mean that that is that's what business is all about. Right, If you get good at that, then you'll be monetized. If you're just getting in there to just talk, just be, and when you get started Kevin even said this we all suck because we haven't done this before. It's something we don't know how to do. You have to go through, and if you only do 10 episodes, if you're going to start to podcast, you have to just say to yourself I'm going to do this amount 20 to 25 episodes before you can ever evaluate whether it's something you want to continue doing, even doing more, because you're not going to be good at first and you're not going to be instant success and you're not going to have all these listeners that are going to just immediately jump to it.
Speaker 2:You might have 10 people. You might just be your mom and your grandpa and whoever else might listen to your show at first, but there is so much reward in you getting to be a better person. I mean you started in 2018. You guys are still going. You guys probably love each other more. You have a camaraderie. You know all these things. What is, would you say, the biggest evolution of your podcast has been from. You know one, I guess you went into video. But beyond just moving from sound to video, audio to video, what are some of the other evolutions? As we're, you know, really kind of helping people right now, think about podcast.
Speaker 1:I think, I think around the like I said, around the 2022 time, when we, when we we got with Podetize and really understood the business aspect. Those folks at Podetize, like I said, tracy and Tom Hazard, they absolutely taught me the business on how this works. You know, you know for all those out there, you understand seo, um, keyword search, all that stuff matters if you want to get discovered because, like I said, you ain't famous and and like you said that to be, you got to help solve the problem and it's up to you as the you know, the, the podcaster, to make sure that you solve that problem. But get back to your original point. I think that was the turning thing Because, like I said, I didn't know what I was doing. I really didn't know what I thought I was doing.
Speaker 1:So, yo, we on Apple, because I was shouting it out. Yo, we on Apple, Okay, you on Apple and what else? Yo, we on Apple, okay, you on Apple and what else? And now, you know, thankful to them, man, we're on Apple, sirius, we're on iHeart, all the major platforms. I can proudly say that today, and that gives you more reach, that gives you more visibility and, you know, gives you where people can absolutely come find you.
Speaker 2:But I was just happy that we was on Apple and SoundCloud back in 2018. I got to ask you this because it's one of the things that I talk about a lot is personal development and becoming that person and being able to work on myself and work on, you know. You know education and entertainment. I got to spend this much time of my life, you know, educating me, learning me, learning how to speak a better vocabulary. What are some of the things that you've worked on since you know 2018 that have made you better at your craft of being a podcast host?
Speaker 1:I'm not going to lie, some of the things that my policing space has granted me the ability to speak public speaking. I was sent to go to instructor school. I could do a little public speaking or whatever before, like I said, the church that my mother used to drag us to, we used to have to get up and give scripture showers and kind of give a sermon ourselves. So I was no stranger to public speaking, so that never really made me afraid of anything. But I the the instructor, being an instructor, that absolutely helped me out because you know I'm, I'm teaching people, I'm talking to people and and though I didn't sign up for it, so to speak, that absolutely has helped me tremendously on the podcasting thing and and if you, and even if you're not a good um speaker, there's places where you can go get public speaking, things of that nature.
Speaker 1:And I'm always reading books on how to better myself. It's funny. You said that I'm just reading this book. I forgot the gentleman's name, but it's talking about emotional intelligence. Okay, and how God, I can't forget the name, but it's a phenomenal book and emotional intelligence, okay, how, uh, I can't forget the name, but it's a phenomenal book and emotional intelligence. It absolutely helps you out to keep your your emotion in check and how to articulate stuff when you're upset.
Speaker 1:Right, you know emotions high intelligence low yeah yeah, yeah, yes, it does you know, the guy's basic book was basically showing you how to cuss people out and and in a way where you can get your point across, but you can do it in an intelligent matter, yeah, and not come off. As you know, you're the angry black man, or you know, sometimes I've been called the angry new Yorker and that's fine or whatever, but I absolutely and I know that I needed that, I absolutely know that I needed this, so I said so, let me just go get this book. I'm an avid reader, I like to read, self-help, get better books and those things. So, yeah, I think that absolutely helped me.
Speaker 2:Oh, good, good, good, good yeah. One of the things that absolutely helped me Good, good, good, good yeah. One of the things that you know I can see with your prep and everything that you guys have to do before you show. It's not like the barbershop where you can just go, make up a whole bunch of facts and then argue about the stuff you just made up because people are probably checking you on it and that kind of stuff. One of the things that I tend to talk about a lot is if you are in a space where you're not creating the success that you, that you have, maybe some of the things, maybe, if you're like a sports fanatic you know, like, like you, you guys have to be in order to do your podcast maybe you should cut down on some of it and work on yourself.
Speaker 2:What would you say? Or at least have a balance where I know, you know I tell people sometimes that I'm talking to you know more about LeBron or more about Michael Jordan or more about Patrick Mahomes than you know about what your kids are doing or what's going on in your community. What would you say to that? I mean, cause I, I, I enjoy entertainment and I. What would you say to that? I mean because I enjoy entertainment and I, and, but I some. I think some people have it as a distraction sometimes to take away from their lives, and I could see where you know I, like I said, I love athletics, I was an athlete and I competed at a high level, but at the same time, sometimes I think it takes away from people's lives. What's your, do you have any thoughts on that, or is it?
Speaker 1:When you say take away from people's lives, meaning that they're just not focused on any other stuff of their life.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So so I'll have people that say I, you know that they'll say that my marriage is bad, I'm not making any money. I, you know, I wish my life could be better, I would have more success. But then they'll tell you every everything that happened in all the basketball games, all the things that happened in all the football games. I'll tell you all the things that you know are happening when they're sitting at the bar and their life's falling apart.
Speaker 1:I got you now, dr B, all right, so let me, let me go. Let me go at this. There's such a thing in life called balance man. You got to have balance man. So if your marriage is jacked up and you're not trying to get better but you know the score of the Denver Nuggets game, shame on you.
Speaker 1:And not knowing what's going on with your wife or what's going on with your man or your husband yes, I say it all the time Work-life balance, balance life, whatever it is. Because it can go the other way around too, like, okay, you're so enthralled with the marriage and stuff like that, you don't see anything else. Yeah, so you need a happy medium and I absolutely you know I try to pride myself on that. You know, if I'm getting to this, to that, you know I want to make sure I'm having some kind of medium and some balance when it comes to that. So, yeah, you can't know what Jokic got last night and the baby's somewhere. And your wife is mad at you. No, you can't. You know you mad because Murray only got 20 minutes of playing and he not passing the ball to Jokic. That's dumb, that's just not good.
Speaker 2:If the game's two and a half hours, then watch your show, and then you'll learn it all.
Speaker 1:Right right, right, right right.
Speaker 2:What didn't we talk about that you want to make sure? I mean, I want to know how to get to your podcast, I want to know how to get to your website and stuff. But what did we not talk about that you wanted to make sure that we talked about today.
Speaker 1:I think we talked about everything that you know. We said that we was going to do. This was very, very interesting For all those. We're on all social media platforms, from Twitter well, excuse me X, facebook, instagram, you name it we're on it. Tiktok sportschaserspodcastnet the website is sportschaserspodcastnet. You just give us a look on there. You'll have all our nice smiley bios on there. Also, you can see our content on there. You can see some blog posts Also, make sure you subscribe. You can get a newsletter every week. You know what I'm saying. So we give you some value with that. And, yeah, that's how you can find us. You know we're just six guys on there. We talk about sports. We have passion for sports and if you really want to know some sports without all the other stuff and all the hot takes, come holler at the Sports Chasers podcast and we'll be happy to have you aboard, man. So I appreciate that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I'm sure I can't wait to go watch it and get my sports fix in a quicker amount of time, and then we can talk about the Broncos or the. You know, I guess my roommate in college played for Kansas City. His name was Christian McCoy, so he played.
Speaker 1:Really Wow.
Speaker 2:And so we get to talk a lot. So I have probably more conversations about the Chiefs than I do about the Broncos at this point. But you know he's a godfather of my kids and stuff. But it's just been amazing to be part of the sports world, that I can I coach, track, I do stuff, and you know, around the city and the town with youth but at the same time, like you said, that work life balance that allows us to do, like you said, that work-life balance that allows us to do, and so I appreciate you coming on to this show and showing us what it looks like to be successful, not only in what you do for a career, but being successful in your life as well, successful in your relationships, successful in your podcast.
Speaker 2:It takes work and it's evident that you've been willing to spend the time and the work to make it happen, and so it's been a blessing for me to be able to have you on the show. Thank you so much. Same thing that he's saying Go ahead and hit the subscribe button, the notification button and the thumbs up and all those things If you're looking for some really cool content of folks that are doing stuff that are in your community in many cases that look like you, that have showed you the way they're doing. If you want to get into podcasts, you can contact either of us and we'll kind of show you what, what the ropes are that you have to do. But be willing to put in some work, my friend.
Speaker 1:It's not for the faint of heart.
Speaker 2:It is definitely not from the faint of heart, but it is so rewarding and something that you will probably enjoy doing. So don't forget your God's greatest gift he loves you. If you allow him to, We'll look forward to talking to you in the next one. Have an amazing, awesome just incredible day today. We'll talk to you soon.