Chuck Norris, Internet Freezes, And AAU Chaos

500 followers doesn’t sound wild until you picture 500 people packed into a room, listening, reacting, and carrying the conversation into their gyms. That’s where we start: gratitude, a little swagger, and a real talk check on what community means when it’s earned one person at a time.

Then we do something we think martial arts culture needs more of: we correct ourselves out loud. Herb offers a public apology to Coach Curry, and we unpack why respect between coaches matters even when you disagree. From there, we shift into legacy and character with a heartfelt tribute to Chuck Norris, not just the jokes, but the humility, the mentorship, and the credibility that made him a symbol for an entire generation of fighters.

The back half gets into the uncomfortable stuff shaping taekwondo right now: AAU governance, suspensions tied to speech, slow responses, and the kind of power plays that push good people out while others look away because it “doesn’t affect them.” We connect it to athlete development, inconsistent rules, and why unstable systems reward survivors instead of building champions. We also touch international momentum, including Uzbekistan (Tashkent) for Junior World Championships and what events like the Belgium Open can tell us about the current Olympic cycle.

If you got value from the honesty, share this with a coach or athlete who needs it, subscribe, and leave a review so more people can find Warehouse 15. What’s the one change you’d make to protect fairness in the sport?

Transcript

500 Followers And New Swag

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Wow, 500 followers for Warehouse 15. Congratulations, everyone.

herb 0:08

Get a beer.

unknown 0:08

You got that.

herb 0:09

Just messed up the beginning open. Welcome to the Warehouse 15, where TJ is always on CPT, always late. And then when he finally does get on, he says, Should I go get a beer? I mean, is this a question? It's the warehouse 15, baby. But check out this swag. My swag came in. And then because TJ's been, and this is in Korean, says, sorry, nuts, sorry, snowflake. But this is in case TJ gets out of hand. I got my chocolate. I've a flicked this bad boy, like you know, my mother used to when I made something. What's up, gentlemen? What's going on?

SPEAKER_01 0:46

What's up? What's up? Just chilling. Excited for always a good day in Monday, Monday nights. Always excited to get on here and uh talk about some past events. It's been some cool little things that have happened since we were on here last time.

herb 0:57

Indeed, indeed. Always good.

SPEAKER_01 0:59

Coach Moretta, what do you got?

Public Apology To Coach Curry

SPEAKER_02 1:01

Look, man, I'm going with the no gel today. I got the old school peak shirt on. Love it. I'm being a bum today. But no, I'm excited. You know, I got a bunch of travel coming up, so we're gonna have to do some remote uh podcasts with you guys. But let's get into it.

herb 1:19

Well, let me, I gotta, I gotta start with an apology. So it's rare that um I feel obligated to apologize, but in this particular case, I owe an apology to a coach, a friend, and an athlete. So I took a shot at him because somebody brought his name up and uh he was kind enough to contact me privately and tell me he was offended, and and rightfully so, because uh probably I shouldn't have said what I said. So, you know, Mr. Curry, Coach Curry, you know, you I hope you accept my apology. I know you we talked about it offline and I want to be public about it, but I think if you insult somebody publicly, you should apologize publicly. So unlike some of the organizations we deal with um who don't apologize for the mistakes, uh it's never our intention to offend a fellow fellow warrior or athlete. And you were both a warrior and an athlete and a coach, and you continue to to do stuff in our sport that matters to many people around you. So please accept my sincere apology for any offense. Um USAT, I'd like to apologize for nothing! All right, that's my congregor for you for uh bringing it back real. But uh Steve McNally, yeah, still get on a plane. But sincerely, uh Coach Coach Curry, uh, I wish you the best and continued success.

SPEAKER_02 2:34

Listen, I I mean I'll just chime in. Like for me, he's always been super, super nice. You know, I I I think he's he's developed into uh uh a nice coach. When I say nice, I'm not saying nice as a nice, but as a as a good coach. I think he's a smart guy. He's probably one of the under underrated coaches because he's not so public. He really is kind of quiet, kind of does that. I I wish he would be more vocal, to be honest with you, because he was a guy that was in the establishment, in the room from the beginning. And if anybody should have been, according to them, if anybody should have been climbing the ladder, it should be him. And so, you know, now he's got his own program. He, you know, he's doing this his thing at uh Menlo Menlo College, and he has two two two people on the team. It should, it should have been recognized. He should be on this year's staff. Um, it just again to me is my what I keep saying, it's another person that should be involved with the development as an American coach, as a person that's you know, fought for the country, developed for the country, and is in the mix now to not utilize him, I I think is an injustice to him, as it is to a lot of the other coaches that I've mentioned in the past.

SPEAKER_01 3:49

So, you know, I think just that note is a little bit um to to point out, kind of like pinpoint that little note. Someone that has been in the system, someone that has been through the system and has been around the organization, and leading into this new regime of coaches and situations, you're right, he has been there from the beginning and been a part of their development and people that they've chosen to work with as coaches. So it is kind of I don't know, like I said, I say think I say it every week. I just want you to make it make sense how if that guy's not getting a look and he's been kind of in the room, traveled with them, around them, been close to the athletes, been requested to be with the athletes, it's it's kind of um it's it looks a little funny, it smells a little funny, it's probably not the right decision.

SPEAKER_02 4:30

So I mean, I would add TJ, like if if like you said, make it make sense to us, especially when you've gone and picked these other people that weren't in the room, haven't developed people, and now they're the psychics, they're they're they're right there in the mix. Like it just yeah, you can't I can't say it any better. Make it make sense to me. Make it make sense.

herb 4:51

I I I'd like to say that we're a podcast of ethics and morals, and so I I am uh I overstepped in my zealous response to Sven from uh from uh frozen and uh and oh yeah he created his own podcast. He's using us as a jumping off point. You know what I mean? He's trying, he's trying to he's trying to write off our our congratulations to you both. 500 plus subscribers to our thing, and that may not sound like a lot to all of you, but that's a lot for us, and we're gonna celebrate that in many different ways, including the swag. I'm gonna get a beer glass up there because I'm tired of drinking it out of a uh plastic cup. But congratulations to you both, 500 in a short period of time, and it will soon be 5,000. It will soon be 5,000.

SPEAKER_02 5:42

You know what the funny thing is, like we don't I mean, we've had a couple episodes that have gone, you know, like thousand plus people. So I mean, not everybody's uh you know subscribing and stuff like that, but it's kind of cool that we have our our little cult following, you know, that just just kind of keeps ticking up, keeps ticking up, and you know, I can't say it enough.

herb 6:01

Well the biggest the biggest complaint I get when people talk to me is that they can't see TJ. So I I just want him to smile more so we can see him and maybe get a red light instead of a blue light, because the blue light, you know, I don't know, man.

SPEAKER_01 6:14

You never really see my blue light, but you never even see my blue light because he changes the background when we post it anyway.

Chuck Norris Stories And Legacy

herb 6:19

This is true. Maybe I should leave it up this time. But you have a nice smile. You have a nice smile. But on a separate note, um, I've been fortunate over the years to have had great opportunities because of century martial arts, not a sponsor, but should be. Um, and one of my favorite days was a photo shoot I had with the legend Joe Lewis, legend Kathy Long, and the greatest legend of all. And I have some very funny stories about it, Chuck Norris. And I can tell you this that I never met more of a gentleman. And when you see all these posts about him and his unfortunate passing, um, you never see anything but kind words about him and the things. On that day, I got the opportunity to spend an entire day with him in uh century and taking photos and talking and watching him and Joe Lewis and Kathy interact. And then we had a lot of private time together. Years later, when I wrote a book, I got a call from my publisher and asked me if I could find anybody, knew anybody famous. And I was like, What about me? And they're like, You're not famous enough. And so um I said, Well, you know, I did a photo shoot with uh Chuck Norris, and they said, So I call him up and um I very embarrassingly I said, Co uh, I said, Master Norris, Grandmaster, can can I uh my publisher asked me if you would consider writing a a quote for the the book. I'm doing this book on children martial arts, and he says, Herb, on one condition. And I said, What? He said that you sign and autograph a copy for me. And that just goes to show you the humility and the and the kindness of the way he approached and asked from me. And uh on the cover of my children's book um is a quote from him and a foreword, and I was so honored. And the way he handled it taught me a lot about how to truly be a gentleman and be a be a master of the martial arts and be humble. And one of the reasons he enjoyed such a long and storied career, um, and even now people are hesitant to post kind of jokes, although they're they're starting about him because you know it's a you know, Chuck Norris doesn't breathe, he holds air hostage. But um, he was always that gentleman. Everybody that I knew, including Mike Dillard and the guys who knew him at Century, always were uh quick to say what an amazing young man he was back then, and and certainly how he carried himself through his life. So I just wanted to share that because I know that we all have a lot of um people forget that he was the original old G. He won the All-American in '66 and I won it in '86. And uh I mentioned that to him too, how honored I was to win something he had won. He was the original Rambo, MIA. He was the original ninja movie guy, he was the original action movie guy, he was the original Zen guy, he was the original power gym guy, of which he tried to tell kind of sell me one when I met him, but that's another story which is funny. But he was the first guy to do everything always, including um to this day, you can't turn on a TV channel around the world and not find an episode of Texas Walkaround. And he took care of many great martial artists from our sport, including Clay Barber, who was on that show a bunch as well. But anyway, may he rest in peace. And I just wanted to share that and take the thunder of my two colleagues.

SPEAKER_01 9:47

What do you think? Well, that's uh TJ, you have any I love Chuck Norris. I mean, I was a big 80s movie kind of taekwondo, karate, martial arts, action kind of movie guy. And one of his favorite movies of mine, I don't know if you guys know this, it was uh sidekick.

herb 10:04

Ernie Radio is trunar. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:06

Oh my gosh. That was one of my favorites. It was, you know, uh for the ones that don't know, it was basically a kid that would daydream, and basically uh Chuck Norris became this kid's like sidekick in like his daydreams, and they were taking down ninjas. But it was kind of about him, like almost what you just said, him kind of helping mold someone to be braver and to be more outspoken and do the things that they dream about.

herb 10:25

So it was do you remember him in the volleyball in the uh in the dodgeball movie?

SPEAKER_02 10:33

I was just gonna say he's like, and then he's like then he's like the the guy's like man fuck you joke nurse. Fucking jerk nurse.

herb 10:44

He was always good at poking fun at himself. Um, and he enjoyed, you know, like there's a clip you should watch on uh YouTube of him on the David Letterman show, where he's you know, this is still when he's kind of quasi-famous, he's famous, but like not crazy famous. Oh, when he's kicking. Oh my god, what a beautiful, what a beautiful uh whatever. But you know, our generation before us, you know, Mitch Barberl fought Chuck Norris in Madison Square Garden, you know.

SPEAKER_02 11:11

So but you know what I love with Chuck Norris. I mean, first of all, same thing. I grew up watching my my favorite movie is The Force of One because I thought that was bad. That when Bill Superfit Wallace was in it, it was just Joe Lewis too, right?

herb 11:24

Oh, he was in Jaguar.

SPEAKER_02 11:25

No, no, Joe. No, yeah. I remember going to the movie theater and watching that one. And it was just like, I don't know. But anyway, listen, he would like you said, young, he was the the the original badass. He was a good-looking dude. He he fought for real. He he trained with the Bruce Lee's of the world in that era. He was always humble. He talks about when he went to the Gracie's, how he he went there and they just like tied him up like 25 times in two seconds, and he was like, he he couldn't believe it because he knew some you know how keto and some judo and stuff like that. And he just the ultimate man's man, the ultimate humble guy, like I said, good-looking guy, champion, did all the different movies. Um, I I back in the day, like in the early mid-80s, I should say, yeah, early 80s, he was doing this thing, kick cancer out of America. And he was going and doing these fundraisers, and schools would raise money to to cure cancer. And if you raised enough, you would come to your school and hang out. So my instructor knew him pretty well, and he came around the Midwest a lot with Arlene Lemas, Tom Latooli, and all these different people. So we gotta see him at our school, we gotta see him at tournaments. So it was it was weird. Like I did a demonstration one time at a kickboxing event, and he was there. And I mean, I met him, I met him quite a few times, but it's just actually my wife's like, You gotta get a picture, you gotta get pictures, I gotta go through like one of my boxes and find it. But just he's one of those, like, like you said, those, those, those legends that everyone now look, you know, they talk about how tough he is and things like that. It's it's just a a cool person that we could say we grew up with, and it's sad.

herb 13:00

He he was a he was a real fighter. I mean, you talk to people like I was talking to uh he bought he brought spinny kick to the spinny back kick, yeah. He was the guy. So when you talk to, and I mean, I'm talking about like to Koreans. I was talking to old G Koreans who fought back then, Daewon Moon and guys like this, and and he fought Daewon Moon, I think. Um David, David Moon. And um, they were the first people to say, no, he was the real deal, he could fight. And even my seniors in Taekwondo, you know, they still talk about him and and all the things that he did. But he, you know, that that's an interesting difference between the generation of fighters now who try to ignore the generations of fighters past. I knew all the guys that came before me.

SPEAKER_02 13:44

And I think John Cole Ben Dem and Steven Segal, all these martial art guys, they they never really fought, right? And so that's why.

herb 13:54

Dolph Lundgren was a I know him from a mutual friend um and trained with him back way back, way in New York. He was a Kyoko Shin guy, full contact guy. Oh no, he was a real deal. But uh John Claude Van Dammer was a he was a big he was a ballet dancer, and Steven Segal, he married a Japanese girl whose father owned a dojo in a keto dojo in Japan. So that's how he ended up teaching the Japanese.

SPEAKER_01 14:21

But I like John Claude Van Damme though.

herb 14:25

You like you do his dance? Can you do his dance?

SPEAKER_02 14:29

Nobody could do his dance better than Tony Graf. Tony Graf is I remember the best. Again, back in the day, he was built. Like he was he was strong. Like he took like physical training, you know, at that era that it wasn't so popular with martial artists. So, like, you know, maybe he did some of it for movies, but anyway, the real deal.

herb 14:56

Yeah, but he couldn't he couldn't wear a cotton shirt. Because he had to wear rayon. No, because he had so much hair on his chest, if he moved too fast, it would set that bad boy on fire. So that's the Bruce Lee thing, but Bruce Lee pulls it off.

SPEAKER_02 15:10

Look, and he never he didn't care, boy. He's like, Look, man, magna PI.

herb 15:14

I'm a man.

SPEAKER_02 15:15

He's a man.

herb 15:16

I'm a man now, man. Yeah. TJ, you got any hair on your chest? Nah, four. I was a beach this weekend. You got you got some dirt, you got some dirt under your lip. Is that just a shadow or is that a mustache?

SPEAKER_01 15:28

That's my I'm almost 40 mustache. I'm trying to look more mature as I you know, turn into a 40-year-old.

herb 15:34

Well, I got some bad when you get to about 60, it stops growing, so you gotta like enjoy it now. Cause I shave, but you know, hair starts to do it.

SPEAKER_01 15:42

I've never been able to have like a mustache or a beard. I'm not, I'm not that guy. I wish I could grow.

herb 15:46

You gotta stay taking those hormones, man. You could you have it all you want. You stop taking those hormones. Like what? Anyways, is your hopefully your mom can't hear any of this because at some point I'm about to go get her in like two seconds. I got I got to do it. I'm gonna leave. I'll leave the podcast on, I'll go for a walk. But uh, you know, I have no I I I I have mad respect for moms, especially your mom. So I'm like I ain't playing around.

SPEAKER_01 16:13

Yeah, no, but I I know you talk about it fast, but I I am I like I know you talk about I'm super happy that we do have the the following that we do have. 500, baby. I was telling Coach Moreno, it's weird because you you see we're all caught up in the world of like followers and subscribers and people and all that stuff. But if we sit in a room right now, S3 with 500 people, that's a lot of people. And like you said, some of those episodes that we've done that have hit uh 1500, 2000, 2500, like that's a lot of people. Imagine us sitting in a room talking to that much many people. So I'm just happy that we got you know, yeah, that many people are willing to like at uh Toko Shareno, you know, to go to the Warehouse 15 website and and hit follow because they could read it and just be on the outside, but they choose to follow and be a part of the conversation and open to the conversation. So that that's what makes me happy. So again, uh like I said, I know we'll put out some t-shirts and stuff for the you know founders 500, but it's it's pretty awesome. It's pretty awesome from where we started to where we are now.

SPEAKER_02 17:07

So we still have to get a find a way to interact with people a little bit more, like on the show, because I think people, you know, it's not for everybody, not everybody wants to partake. They mean they they enjoy listening, they enjoy the topics and things like that. But there's a few out there that have asked me to, you know, they would love to be on and stuff like that.

herb 17:28

But listen, I I think we should have a like I think we should have people on every week that want to come on, even if it's only for a portion of it or all of it or whatever it is, depends on who it is. You know, he was pretty awesome. Oh sh Lauder Lor, what's his last name? Lautermeer, Lorimere? Lorimere or what's the name of his podcast? What's his new podcast?

SPEAKER_01 17:50

Um Verbal something. Verbal something.

herb 17:52

Verbal assault.

SPEAKER_01 17:53

Is that what he was first charged with? What was it? Verbal verbal violence, I think that's what it was. Maybe I think it's verbal violence. I think so. I think we lost Coach Reno again.

herb 18:01

I think he's frozen again. He's always he gets like a good 10 minutes and then he comes back. Now we flip the switch. Now you're on the other side.

SPEAKER_02 18:09

But it's weird because it says that now it started recording again.

herb 18:14

You know why? Because you gotta pay your internet bill. Like you can't have like, are you still doing dial up? Are you hearing like, whoa, no, no, no. You got like AOL dial-up.

SPEAKER_01 18:23

You probably got a hard wire at some point. Straight to your laptop, straight to the I don't get it.

SPEAKER_02 18:29

It never worked. We didn't have that problem before. I don't know. Hopefully, it doesn't mess up.

herb 18:33

You gotta start there.

SPEAKER_02 18:35

You're back. Damn.

herb 18:36

Oh, you're gonna mess up this one. Now you're messing up our podcast again. Jeez. I don't know what the heck.

SPEAKER_02 18:43

It's so my signal's strong.

herb 18:48

Well, that's what that's your that's what I don't want to say. That's what they always say. Don't mean it's true.

SPEAKER_02 18:53

Yeah, maybe not. Um was no what were we saying right before this?

SPEAKER_01 18:59

Oh, just talking about the 500 people followers and like just kind of like getting the conversation going and then being a part of it.

SPEAKER_02 19:05

No, I was gonna say, I was gonna say, like, you know, Sven. I know we talked about we had him on last time, and he's gonna do the verbal violence. I think it's a funny name. But like, it's cool, I think. Like when I look at other podcasters and you know, these comedians that have podcasts and how they they get on each other's show and they talk about each other's show. I I think it's great. The more the merrier. I mean, I'm so happy that he's doing something.

herb 19:25

Listen, I saw his post, he's very articulate, right? He he um he's very passionate, and he has a lot of people that chime in on him. Most of the people, some of the people he has on his website I've blocked already, so like I can't see their comments, but uh, you know, there's some people I blocked, but I'm getting a lot of friend requests because apparently he's a very popular guy here and in Guyana. So he must he must have like some banana farm down there or something that he's doing. I don't know if he's doing, but we did an honor to him in our last podcast where I had three Guan uh Guyanamanians or Guayamians or whatever you call them or Mangolanians, whatever, and they did a song for him and about him and his fighting stuff. So I hope he appreciated that shout out. He's always welcome back, he's always welcome back. It was one of my favorite moments. Um, but I think we should do a live live feed and and invite people in. I can tell you that there's gonna be an event that we're all gonna go to and we're gonna host a hospitality room, and we'll do a podcast from it at one of these events coming up. So that's my my thing. And then you just got I just got a text from Juan Moreno saying, I froze. You're unfroze, brother. But it took a while to get through to my phone.

SPEAKER_02 20:41

Yeah, man. Maybe you gotta pay your bill.

herb 20:43

Dude, I I got two in my house. I have three internets. I got the one I pay a lot of money for, I got the other one that I have just because I have, and then I have the other one, the other one. But in my school, I've got the super giga fiber optic. I mean, I breathe in that thing, download something. So I should be filming from my school. I think I got the super, I don't know, man.

Travel Plans And Junior Worlds

SPEAKER_02 21:03

Anyway, what's it? Well, you're coming, you're coming out this way next week, right? Dude, my schedule gets crazy, man. Like I go from uh I go there on Friday, fly out Saturday night because on Monday I have to leave to Uzbekistan. So I'm gonna be in Uzbekistan for a camp and the junior world championships as well.

herb 21:23

Don't clean the room. He's not staying. No, he's not coming. I know, I know Nico was very excited to see him. I know Sierra wanted to show him the pictures. Tell him he's not coming. No, no, I'm not I'm not popular enough. He's going to like Antioch or something. Go ahead. I'm trying to do it.

SPEAKER_02 21:37

Actually, I'm traveling with I'm traveling with my daughter, so it's gonna be fun.

herb 21:41

Oh, I've been.

SPEAKER_02 21:42

She's going to Zekistan? No, she's going to just uh California. Oh, okay, okay, okay, okay. I was like, dang, Camila's going to real. Like over two weeks, so it's gonna be a long one. But I get back from there, go straight to New York, come back from New York, go straight to Michigan, come back. Michigan go to Chicago. It's gonna be a uh a rough month.

SPEAKER_01 22:05

A rough month. But it's kind of cool though. You're gonna be um you're gonna you said you're gonna be there for the junior world championships too?

SPEAKER_02 22:11

Yeah, so we have a training camp that we're doing with our our Olympic uh track people. Um we're going back to his Olympic fat people?

herb 22:20

You have fat Olympians?

SPEAKER_02 22:22

What track track T-R-A-C-K- Oh I thought you said fat people?

herb 22:27

I was gonna say that's not politically correct, as my daughter would say, not kind nor is it curious.

SPEAKER_02 22:33

So Olympic track people.

herb 22:37

All right, good. Uh I'm rubbing my bearing.

SPEAKER_02 22:42

Same time as the junior world, so definitely gonna go over there and see uh where the junior worlds is here in Uzbekistan, in Tashkent.

herb 22:51

I love Uzbekistan, just really one of my favorite places.

SPEAKER_02 22:54

Yeah, it's gonna be I I'm really excited because I'm sure the you know the Asian countries are gonna come strong, the the former Russian republics are gonna come strong. So it's gonna be tough. It's gonna be tough for some of uh, you know, I know I was actually commenting today on the US players. I think the US team has a really strong team with a bunch of experience, but nevertheless, it's gonna be hard. It's gonna be a very tough tournament, especially when you get down to those quarterfinals, round of 16. I mean, without a good draw, it's gonna be tough, but you never know. I like uh I like some of those kids.

herb 23:35

I didn't know from somebody asking me about this AAU response to you guys, a response to anybody else. You guys have an update on the AAU debacle, the conundrum, the kafluffle.

SPEAKER_01 23:48

And then there was a it's great, it's crazy. The the speed in which it works the opposite way is not as fast as the other way. I'll tell you that.

herb 23:58

Well, don't they have an obligation to respond within 30 days?

SPEAKER_01 24:02

Yes, I think they're coming up on the end of their 30 days, but I mean, is this a clown show?

herb 24:06

What it what who's the clown running this show? Is it Owen Crew or Covert or is it Mirza? I mean, Mirza's I think he's a clown, but go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 24:16

Yeah, I think the like the letter they sent me was you've basically like we talked about before, you've been suspended for being on a podcast. And I think my response was you know, asking exactly asking them what podcast, what was said, what what rules did we break, and then uh uh you know asking for more time to actually clarify what's going on.

herb 24:33

But obviously, do you think they mixed you up with me? Like, I know we look the same, I'm a little more handsome, but is it possible that they mixed me up?

SPEAKER_01 24:41

That might have been it. I just I just find it very you know unprofessional that you you you get your feelings hurt and you hop on your computer and you send an unsigned email document telling people they've been suspended, and you know they've they've they've they've uh let us know they've accepted or have received the response, but there has been no actual movement on you know what's happening.

herb 25:01

Did you see enemy of the state? I think it was Will Smith and Gene Hackman. So I think maybe you find yourself in that world of that, man. Maybe you're an enemy of the state, and you've got to get off the grid. I mean, you're in a blue room, so you're pretty much off the grid, but I mean, it's unbelievable that they haven't responded. They have an affirmative obligation as a nonprofit and part of a multi-sport organization to not suspend you in the first place without a hearing. Second, if they do suspend you, provide you with an opportunity to to deal with and respond in a timely manner.

SPEAKER_01 25:31

Yeah, it's it's just crazy to me how all these AU officials or whoever are function a little bit, you know. Obviously, we put some, and I I'll say I, but we put some um a lot of information out there, a lot of a lot of things that were said, and what what is really going on, and there's really no way to walk those words back, but you watch these guys clown around and you know, swear up and down that AU's the best it's ever been, and and everything.

herb 25:55

Well, do you think they find themselves in a Jep's uh Jeffrey Epstein sort of moment where they're gonna find one of those guys in a cell and then he's gonna mysteriously, you know, towel around the neck thing? I mean, are they trying to are they trying to do the uh you know over here thing?

SPEAKER_01 26:13

They always are trying to do the look over here thing, but it's just it's just a matter of just waiting it out and bearing it, hoping people forget. I think that's that's one of the biggest problems in our culture right now is people forget. People forget, you know, they put post after post after post after post, and people kind of let it die because it's like I got a real life, I gotta worry about this, I gotta worry about that. And you know, people just kind of forget where we're standing, forget what's actually going on, you know. I know we're gonna talk about it a little bit, but just the movement of still trying to pull the same whole thing and put more tournaments on top of other people's tournaments and and push these guys out is it's still happening currently, and it's just it's always funny to me how we can just again, I think the word is forget, and the word is to have uh short-term memories that let things just kind of roll.

SPEAKER_02 26:56

I don't I don't remember the exact the exact experiment or whatever, but it was something done on where somebody needed some help, and you know how people just kind of walked past and stuff like that, and one of the the outcomes was basically like if it didn't affect them personally, then they just moved on. You know what I'm saying? They just went out.

herb 27:16

It wasn't it was an experiment, that was a true story. The name of the woman was Kitty, can't remember her last name, but it was a New York, and then it became an experiment. In New York City, there was a woman being murdered, and people turned off their lights, turned up the TV, closed off, walked by, and the woman was murdered, and it became a then became an experiment where they went out and said, Let me try this. And they did various experiments to find out at what point do people intervene. And you'll see them on the internet now. People were walking. Yeah, they do these things like that. Yeah, yeah. But this started out in New York City when a woman, Kitty, I can't remember what her name, but it came, it was a very famous case.

Complicity And District Power Plays

SPEAKER_02 27:56

But yeah, so I mean, my point is, TJ, like it's it it doesn't really affect them. So yeah, we'll just go to the next event and shake hands with the people that you know said this or said that. And it kind of brings me to this. I mean, maybe that's a perfect segue. I mean, I mean, I I saw a post about the the district that's you know event that's gonna be happening in North Carolina. I know that you turned it down, and then Bernard Posey turned it down, and now there's a gentleman, the third, you know, third person down the line that's gonna run one of these districts that supposedly is not supposed to happen, and to try to compete with Mr. Abdul. I just think again it's it's pretty shady, it's pretty weird.

SPEAKER_01 28:40

And why would that person knowing because he knows what they did to Abdul, what they did to TJ, that that's been in my gym, he's been in my gym. I've I've I've been around him a bunch of few times. It's crazy, and I know he knows Master Abdul, and I know he knows the situation. It's so crazy to me that people would even uh allow yourself to want to position that badly that you're willing to forego.

herb 29:07

There's no shortage, no shortage of those guys, TJ. Look at the USAT. So, this is one of the problems with, and I had this conversation way back with Jay, Daysung, Han Wan Lee, all these guys. At the point where the USAT was screwing people left and right, I said it will come your turn. It will come your turn. And they'd watch another guy get done, another guy, and then finally it became each one of their turns. Each one of the guys I mentioned, by the way, got done by the USAT. And so it's it's true, right? And at some point, you know, the question becomes when something is so important, and I was just watching the watch this movie if you get a chance. It's Russell Crowe, and it's Russell Crowe as Nuremberg, and the other guy is Malik. I watch it. Amazing. I watch it. Great movie. Yeah, yeah. Great movie. And and what it talks about is that thing where people are complicit. Now, you don't have an affirmative obligation to act, but you do in certain circumstances, but you have an affirmative obligation not to participate. So if you that's my point, yeah, that's do less, my boy.

SPEAKER_02 30:11

I mean, do less. And TJ, you're right. I mean, this guy has been to your gym, he knows you, you know, exactly what you went through. And and and now you're just gonna step up to bat and do something that's not supposed to be done in the sense of having a second district in the in the state, and and and you know they're all for the 10 seconds of fame.

SPEAKER_01 30:33

All for the 10 seconds of fame. It's gotta be bad. It it looks bad, it feels bad. And you know what? And I know we we we talk about you know the the core tenets of taekwondo and like where we all come from. I think all three of us in this this podcast for sure kind of live by those things, and those things are ingrained in us from the time we started this sport, and it's just it's just wild to me that we're able to again, you call yourself a martial arts, you call yourself a black boy, you call yourself a friend in some cases or or acquaintance, people that have been around, and you just are to pretend that you don't know how bad this is just simply because you think this is your opportunity to strike the iron or be a part of something.

herb 31:13

Olympus speaks. Is giving you the universal gesture of what they're doing, and to be the third person in line about all this crazy.

SPEAKER_01 31:23

You're number two. How do you feel good about that? How do you feel good about that?

herb 31:27

That's what I'm saying. They don't care, they don't care because you got to understand what you're dealing with. You're dealing with a culture of, and I just I'm working on this new book and a sparring thing, and I was talking about it a little bit, and you're dealing with a culture of never would, never had, never should, never could or would, never would have been, would have been if people. They're Tanya Hardings. So at the point where something happens to you or somebody else and they get to step in your shoes, they can't step in them fast enough. They don't care what the motivation was, they didn't swing the bat to break your knee, but they're the first ones in the room when your knee's broken. And in this particular situation, based on what the, you know, the people I respect are the people that they see what's going on in this country and they step up, even to their own personal detriment and harm, and they're willing to speak out and do whatever. They don't go, oh, that doesn't affect me. They say, no, this is just patently wrong. Like me, I'm not a member of two or three organizations just because I don't I don't like what they do. I I went and worked with other organizations because I can't be part of it. And there are other people that haven't found a free ticket, a plane ticket, or a dinner that they didn't like. And this is Jay Warbrick, Steve McNally. The list goes on. If you take a hard look, and I mean a hard look, at the current staff of AAU, anyway, that's a different story, USAT. What are you going to find? Name one top-level performer. Just one, not 12, not two, not three, one. You won't find them.

SPEAKER_02 33:05

Yeah, I mean, I just again in this in this specific situation, I just, you're right, TJ. This is a third guy down the road. I, you know, it's his senior, it's someone that he knows, someone that he's supported, you know, someone that he's respected. And now you're gonna try to undercut him. I I it's just it's slimy, it's ugly.

SPEAKER_01 33:24

I I hope people wake up soon enough that they don't show up to this tournament. And I'll say it because now it's not about him, it's not about the organization. You're you're you right, you've been told what's going on, and there's no way that I can figure out a way in my brain or anybody else's could be thinking that it's okay to go support an event like that. You know it's not right, you know it's not supposed to happen. They slap A10, A12, A2 and a half on it, like that means something for AU because you know, and that's another thing. Everyone's looking for this. Oh, I want to be ranked number one at AU team trials. Like, it's it's so silly, it's opposite of development, and now you got these guys popping up tournaments to pad their pockets and pretending that it's so much better than the other one. Like, what the difference is. Meanwhile, wait, wait, wait, wait. Meanwhile, they're letting international people go to nationals now without doing the qualifier after they've had everyone else do qualifiers.

Athlete Development And Rule Chaos

SPEAKER_02 34:14

If it's not about the money, what is it? It is about the money, it's not about real development and and even like the different regionals. I know they're they're kind of pressed to do these regionals, they they really want everybody to do it, but I you know, I see they're they're not all using the the platform from AAU, they're using their own stuff, whether it's um I don't want to use the it's it's name the platforms, but like it's you know, saying like Uventex is the platform for you for AAU. People are using their own to run it. So I'm like, I thought that was interesting. They have their own rules, some are single elimination, some are double elimination. I'm like, is it shouldn't it be standardized for everybody? Because for example, let's say you have one in your region and it's single elimination, you're done, you're out. In my region, let's say it's a double elimination, you know. I get extra chances.

SPEAKER_01 35:01

Like it's just it's single elimination. You're thinking too far ahead. They're just shooting from their hips.

Tights To Tall Heavyweights

herb 35:07

I mean, if you're talking about development, then you gotta have a development strategy that yields the best. And it's you know what I always refer to. You guys have heard me talk about the flowers and weeds, right? Weeds will figure out a way. Weeds were what we had back in the day. Weeds were guys who, no matter what you did, they changed the development and the qualification system during my time five times. What you had to fight, what you had to fight in to win, how many times you had to fight, how many times you had to fight the same guy twice or three times. And they changed that during my tenure and in Coach Moreno's tenure they five times. And weeds figured it out and won. Flowers, they don't figure it out, they move on. And that's because you have to give a flower a certain amount of water, and when the water or the sunlight changes, flowers dies. Weeds survive. So the question is with the AAU, oh you deal with flowers and weeds, and to be frank, you're dealing with flowers. The actual average AAU player wants to put on their resume to get into middle school or whatever school they're trying to get in. I was AAU regional champion in the second region of the third division of the nowhere division, and that that's historically been the AAU, even though it's elevated slightly more, um, which goes to one of their mentors now, which is Steve Umpalumpa.

SPEAKER_01 36:31

Oh, bring that up. That is that is what the hell is that's a big boy.

herb 36:36

Is that the seven foot three guy? Oh, I saw him fight some little guy. Yeah, but I fought a seven foot three guy. Nobody's talking about me. I fought that guy from Finland. Dude, 1991.

SPEAKER_02 36:47

I fought he was not seven three. That boy was seven one. He was seven one. He was seven one's four foot nine, so he looked like seven one. He was seven one.

herb 36:56

I'm I am five foot eight and a half on my best day, and now I think I'm five foot seven and a half because everything is shrinking except the most important part. And I know what you're thinking, but I'm saying my brain. So at that, no, no, dude, this guy was huge. I fought this guy, he was from Finland. They fed him some reindeer. I walked in the ring and with people laughing. But when they said that, I was gonna almost post, hey, I beat this seven foot one. I come on, how many guys did I fight that were huge? But this guy, seven foot three.

SPEAKER_01 37:26

Yeah, I fought Lance Farrell.

herb 37:28

He was seven. No, he was only six four. Lance said he was six two. I said, You were seven, he was six four.

SPEAKER_01 37:34

Yeah, yeah, that that that's a big boy, though. I'm always I'm always curious. I know the smaller guys, but when he gets in front of like the the Italian boy and uh the the Egyptian guy, I think they're just gonna be too little, too athletic for him. Yeah, they have too much skill, too.

SPEAKER_02 37:47

Like he he's big, but he was just cutting and he wasn't doing too much.

SPEAKER_01 37:51

But but I want to see him in Sansaurus.

herb 37:54

Let's go. Can I ask you guys a question? Whatever happened to those tights that you guys used to have to wear?

SPEAKER_01 37:59

Like they I'm so happy they got rid of the things.

herb 38:02

I saw like an old match of tights with bad taekwondo. There's nothing worse than bad taekwondo, but when it's done in tights, it makes it worse.

SPEAKER_02 38:09

It was bad. No, all the uh all the uniforms are like like polyester lycron type stuff, and they're just loose fitting, which is cool. I think they should be.

herb 38:19

I I I always advocated we developed uniforms, and I thought the Dinus ones are tight.

SPEAKER_02 38:23

The Dis ones on the girls are tight.

herb 38:29

Yeah. Do you really want to see a heavyweight Mexican fighter? By the way, I gave you that, I gave you that video. I'm watching Jeopardy, which I watch every day. They have seven, six categories. They do the first five categories, and it's like, you know, science and math that matters, and this. And then they get to the last category, and it's like the guy ran out of categories. He goes, Mexican geography. What the hell is that? What is Mexican geography? I mean, where is Mexico? South of uh US? I mean, I I gotta watch it because I'm gonna watch it to see what they say. Like, where is common bill? No, in Egypt. Could be could be an hater, could be an hater. Give me a Mexican geography fact that I need to know.

SPEAKER_02 39:12

Okay, where's where's Guadalajara? What part of the country?

herb 39:16

Who cares? Next question. What is who cares? That's the answer in Jeopardy. What's another one?

SPEAKER_02 39:22

Hey, I want to get back to tights.

herb 39:24

Where okay, wait, where is where's Mart Juan Moreno from? Chicago, not Mexico. Okay, next question. Come on, one more Mexican geography. I know you only have one. What's the name of the game that Mexicans played that basketball was based on?

SPEAKER_02 39:40

They talk about the little ball where they hit the ball there, but you know, you know what happens when they put the ball in the ring?

herb 39:44

What's the name of it? Chucha Frita. Go ahead. We're good. Only Mexicans get that. They kill him. They kill him.

SPEAKER_02 39:55

They kill him.

herb 39:56

The winner dies.

SPEAKER_02 39:57

What game is this?

herb 39:58

Oh, no, I guess.

SPEAKER_02 40:00

The ball is on fire. It's like there's no rings on each.

SPEAKER_01 40:04

But is it a real thing or from a movie?

herb 40:06

No, it's a real movie. What is wrong with you? We're not talking about that movie where nobody talks. You know that Mexican movie where nobody talks in their warriors? Flaming basketballs. And if I make it, I lose. I'm gonna ask Siri. But the killing. Okay, Siri, what is the original Mexican sport back from the day that basketball is based on hoops and flaming balls? Wait, hold on. Siri will tell me. Oh no, Siri's not paying attention to me, bastard.

SPEAKER_01 40:34

That's a that's a big boy, though. I I that's a big big boy.

SPEAKER_02 40:40

It it's uh no, he's he's a big guy.

SPEAKER_01 40:44

He got third in um he did he get did he win the whole thing, or he got silver and just now in uh Belgium. Oh, I think he got silver. I don't think he won. Actually, and then bronze the week before, maybe. Oh, really? Like, I don't know. I think he got I think two back-to-back now. Someone posted it.

SPEAKER_02 40:59

Oh, it's it's called Ola Malitzil.

SPEAKER_01 41:03

Is this what is it? Look. That's it. Aztec ballgame, yes. In some versions of the story, players.

herb 41:10

No, it's not the ball game you're thinking about, TJ. Not that ball game. Put your hands on top of the table. Winners were killed, is crazy. Winners were killed. That's like you're playing a game, you're sparring. Remember, we used to have that tag game, you kept in as long as you kept scoring points.

SPEAKER_01 41:25

It's like my guys would eventually just try to get hit so they could get out, but I would be the most uncoordinated, not able to see the ball.

SPEAKER_02 41:34

But it was really hard. It was really it's a it's a obviously it's a stone ring, it doesn't face like this, it faces like this. So you also have to hit it from the side, and it's it's it's super high up, and they're down low.

herb 41:46

They gotta hit it with their hips.

SPEAKER_02 41:48

First of all, I don't think anybody ever made it.

SPEAKER_01 41:52

Really? I guess I'd I'd want to know the history behind why the winners would be killed. Like no other game.

herb 41:57

You have you have the internet, right? You have the internet, you can figure this out instead of watching Batman movies.

SPEAKER_02 42:02

But on I'm gonna go back to tights. I'm gonna go back to tights.

herb 42:05

All right, let's go back to but one last thing, one last thing. On this game, right? You talk about the this is a taekwondo thing, just to leave it in perspective. There was a time when the Iranian team, if you lost, they'd send you to the front line in the Iran-Iraq war. And then they finally figured out if you lost in Taekwondo. So you went to the World Championship and they were always losing. So they would send them to the front line. So you're taking your best players and killing them, right? So they figured that probably wasn't a good development strategy.

Ego, Legacy, And Winning

SPEAKER_02 42:36

That wrestler that they hung? Dude, I posted it just because somebody else posted.

herb 42:43

I was like, man, that's can I say one last thing and then we'll move on? I watched this weird, you know, because somehow I get CJ Curry or CJ, not Curry, CJ Nicholas on my um feed, and he's doing some interview at the Belgium Open, and he says, I am going to be the greatest taekwondo player in the history of the sport. And I'm like, dude, you can't be ever in the history of mankind, ever the greatest history taekwondo player. You lose way too much. The guys who were the greatest players in our sport, like John Cook Young and guys like this, they didn't lose. They didn't lose a match. They won consistently for the entire time they were in the public eye. So wake up, take off the leather jacket and the fur jacket, put on a shirt, stop hip hopping, tip topping, dancing, and capoarrowing, and just focus on winning a tournament or two, like the Olympics. Anyway, I needed to say that because that came up on my feed today, and I commented and I'm like, really? So this is when you forget your past. This guy's not even uh a woke woke enough to remember guys' names like he probably can't, he probably even know who Jung Cook Young is. But anyway, go ahead. Sorry. It's my inky, my my inky, inky and the grain. Inky and the grain stout with Phil's coffee in it. I'm not responsible because notice the notice the alcohol content. 10.5, man. He won the Belgium. So so what? So what?

SPEAKER_02 44:25

Hey, you know, talk about the Belgium. Man, you got me messed up with my tights thing now. Anyway.

herb 44:30

You've been wanting to talk about the tights, which is bringing another question to my mind, but anyway, we can talk about that offline. I notice you got you got this on today. You let your hair down a little. You don't want the gel getting in your eyes. Is this something you want to share with the group? Do I need to stay on? Do I need to stay on after the podcast so we can have a moment? He made him put his hat on. Have you watched DTF? Do you know what DTF stands for? All I'm gonna say to you is powerhouse. Watch DTF, Jason Bateman.

SPEAKER_02 45:02

68. Did you see the 68 Janubi? That boy, this guy, Young, he's got uh uh I think two Olympic silver medals. He went to like a Grand Priest Young. This guy like got like five silver medals in a row, like he just couldn't get it done, couldn't get it done. Finally he won. But anyway, he went from 58 to 63, and now 68. 68 is is the hardest category because even the bad people are good. Yeah, and this boy just and he beat a good field. He beat a good field, he's like low-ranked, so he doesn't have any buy or anything. He I mean he just won it. Yeah, he just won the Belgium Open. I'm like, I mean, China was in there, uh, Olympic champion, uh Taipei was in there, two Turkish athletes that were very good. I mean, Chile was in there.

SPEAKER_01 45:59

I watched them a lot because of one of the um the 58s I had when I was at the World Class Athletes program. That kid, he can just play. He can, and I ain't using the word play, but he understands spacing, he understands distance, he understands tempo control, he understands controlling the the ring, he understands the referees. He's he's impressive to me simply because, like you said, from 58 to 63 to 68. One of we talk about one of the hardest divisions in our sport. And to win at Belgium Open, historically, Belgium Open is one of the harder opens. Belgium, Dutch Open, it gets a little crazy, the field gets thick, and everybody shows up for Dutch Open, yeah. But just to see him be able to do it at I don't care which open it is, at 68, it's kind of kind of interesting to see.

SPEAKER_02 46:44

Yeah, I was I was pretty impressed by him. But China, China was pretty uh impressive. China hired an Iranian coach that has spent a lot of time in Europe, actually. Um, but uh he's coaching some men, so that was pretty interesting, but they did it pretty well on the women's side. Um yeah, it's gonna be, you know, I think this year is, I mean, people you know forget that you know the junior world is in in Uzbekistan and the senior worlds is in Kazakh next year. The G finals in Kazakhstan. I mean, these you know, former Russian republics, you know, are gonna be these guys are gonna be tough to be as we move through like this whole Olympic cycle. Are really tough to beat, especially since everything is over there. You know what I'm saying? You got Grand Prix and the first ones in Rome, second one's in Korea, third one's in Paris, and then the Grand Prix final. Those, you know, you got it's gonna be tough. The big ones are gonna be invasion.

herb 47:41

Was um was gold member there? Gold member, I don't know, gold member who he was he's from the Dr. Evil movie with Austin Powers. He's the Belgian guy. Was he at the Belgian? Yeah, gold gold member.

SPEAKER_01 47:59

Ask him who, just say who, just ask him who. You don't remember gold member from the from the I remember, I remember it's pretty funny. Let's talk about the he's talking about the USA coach, he's talking about Gareth. Um, gotta be. Stupid. Um but yeah, no, I think they took um how many people they took a good group of people over there, huh? Who the USA team. They took a good group of people over there. It was like uh at least anyway.

SPEAKER_02 48:24

They took everybody except for Victor Rodriguez. Um and that's it.

SPEAKER_01 48:33

Right? Yeah, I think so. I'm not sure. I I again I haven't really went back and looked all the matches. I got some 68 matches I've been told I need to look at, but I haven't got there yet.

herb 48:42

I watch the matches. I watch the matches when I want to go to bed. The 54 lost.

SPEAKER_02 48:47

The rough 16, I think our first match, I'm not sure. 68 lost his second match.

SPEAKER_01 48:53

I think he fought 58. I think Ethan fought 58. I think so. I think when I saw the Bragg he's in 58, but I think he lost his first match, and then um who else?

SPEAKER_02 49:05

Uh 74 didn't go, 80, because he did one and the other one lost. And then John Healy got a bronze. And then the women's side, I think uh 49 lost in the quarters. 57 lost, I'm not sure where, but she lost. I think quarters two. 62. I don't know. Did I don't know what that one girl did? Sight 62 or 67.

SPEAKER_01 49:29

Again, I was at the beach this weekend. I haven't got a chance to fight. Me too. You have sun.

herb 49:36

You're at the beach?

SPEAKER_01 49:37

Miami Beach, baby. Nice. I'm talking about you at the beach, DJ? I went to the beach. What's wrong with the beach? I'm just at sunscreen. Oh no, I don't need sunscreen. I'm saying my skin absorbs the sun. That's it, baby.

herb 49:50

You gotta like me, Puerto Rican. No, yeah. I just can't what they have they have a beach in North Carolina? You guys have a we went down stupid.

SPEAKER_01 50:00

We went down to Myrtle Beach. It's about three hours from my house. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's North Myrtle. It's really nice. We're like where we stayed is like uh a quick little two-minute walk to the beach. So it's but did you get that invite?

herb 50:12

I must have missed it. Did you get an invite to go to Myrtle Beach this weekend?

SPEAKER_01 50:16

I'll send you an invite once I get my invite to California. Dude, I'm I keep inviting you.

herb 50:20

Just tell me when you want to come, you come. That's all I gotta do. All right, I'm gonna start looking at my dates tonight. You send me a date, you come. All right, bet. You send me a date, you come. You gotta smile, you gotta teach, and teach some taco that involves stepping. I'm not talking about lifting your leg and farting. I don't so just go back to like 2008 when you came, you came before it was 2008, I believe, and you taught. So, like that long ago, holy dude. I got it comes up in my videos. My kids loved you. You were entertaining 2008, it had to be after the Olympics event.

SPEAKER_01 50:50

I think it had to be no you might have been after the Olympics. Either way, I remember I remember that trip. It was it was awesome. Your schools are all your schools are beautiful, but we're lucky.

herb 51:02

We have I've been fortunate to have some of the best athletes in the world come visit us. You know who stopped by my school unannounced was Hadi. Like he was coming to get a falafel. Yeah, totally just randomly shows up. I'm like, dude, what are you doing here? He's like, I'm there's a good, good uh Persian restaurant right next door. So he was in town. I was like, oh, I was like attacked by a mosquito. You'd be so well that's uh there's a different reason for that. The blue light, memory. But um, anyway, what else we got tonight?

SPEAKER_02 51:37

What else you got to talk about? Man, I'm really I got so much in my brain because I gotta travel so much, I'm like, oh. But uh I think we I mean probably next episode we gotta swing back around to like some of these audio tapes and kind of dive into them a little bit because uh I think it's you know, like I said, I think it's worth uh keeping that alive, you know what I'm saying? So that they don't get just push it under the rug and kind of let let it just kind of simmer away. Because I don't think too much has happened, in my opinion. Too much has happened.

herb 52:08

I'm working on go ahead.

Cancel Culture And Moral Courage

SPEAKER_01 52:11

No, I said I've gotten invites to places to do training seminars and events, and then you know, after talking to AAU, I've gotten the other responses of oh, you know, they can't cover it with their insurance and this. Really? Yeah, yeah, yeah. We've entered the world of, and I'm not mad about it. Look, you know, I I I think that everyone gotta, you know, you gotta do what you gotta do in your situation. And I'm gonna give you uh trying to go through the right path to make sure they don't get themselves in trouble. But it's crazy that again, like out of a shop holding.

Next Week Teasers And Sign-Off

herb 52:40

Hold on to those because when the money comes, that'll be part of the money settlement. But here's the thing I'll give you one of my favorite guitar players, and I met him um, and he went to an event where Andre Segovia, one of the greatest classical guitar players in the world, said something to him about his tuning. And he's at like one of these things where they have all these prodigies. And he says, You're out of tune. And then he says something back to Andre Segovia, says something else, and then he plays the piece, and Andre Segovia starts to say something to him. So this young kid says something back to him. At the end of that event, this is a guy who's a world-class guitarist, up-and-coming prodigy. Every date he had was canceled. My his name is Michael D. Champlain, and amazing guitar player. I saw him in a private showing here. My guitar teacher hosts this big guitar event, and I was one of the sponsors. So I got to meet the guy, nicest guy, no one, great player. But because of he stood up for what he thought, literally, the day after that thing, which was like this huge, um, it's on YouTube, you can find it. He got canceled, literally canceled. Like he's got halls and tours, and this is how guys make money. So just stay strong because for every AAU sissy that won't stand up, that'll take the money, that'll take the third uh division and be that guy, there's a guy who'll stand up for what you believe in and will become one of the 500s. And as the shirt says, Han mi han heo mi an eo, an mi anel, which means not sorry, sorry. So just remember those words, just remember those words on the shirt, because at the end of the day, you'll be right. And when you go to bed at night, TJ, the question is do you go to bed at night respecting yourself, or do you go to bed at night respecting others' opinion of you? So that's that's what we do, and that's what I hope the 500 people that listen to us now that'll become a thousand people, and then it'll become exponential do. And at some place you guys will replace me because I'm old and bold, and you need somebody young and maybe like Sven, Lauren Lorimer, and uh and let it go, let it go. So Sven, but Sven, we miss you, brother. But um, anyway, last words. We got some stuff to catch up on next week, which we haven't covered this week. We'll have our second installment of the awards and uh talk about the Paralympics and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01 55:27

Yeah, we got we'll we'll wrap back around. So no no victory. I just I like when I see people that have been in our sport for a long time doing good things and you you know their their passion, and you can you can literally just see it from walking past a ring and watching them do their thing. But I think we'll spend some time on that next week because we're almost at an hour now, but yeah, we'll get back to it.

herb 55:48

Right, coach Moreno? I don't know you're out this way and you're gonna be in and out, and I know Foster is too busy, but uh you know, like if you're gonna be out this way before you get to he froze again. He froze again. And every time he makes that face, you know what it is when he goes like this? Then it freezes for some reason. It must be like a sign on his internet. Any qu any words of wisdom, Coach Moreno, or advice or no, no, no, just another good episode.

SPEAKER_02 56:14

And uh, like I said, next week I'll be on the flight. Next, I'll be I'll be able to get back with you guys next week so we can uh get back to some of these other topics that we didn't get to today. But it's always fun to see everybody. I missed you guys. All right, brothers.

herb 56:32

Maybe I'll this has been the warehouse 15. We have once again torched it, burnt it, brought it back, wrapped it, slapped it, flipped it, and whatever else they do in those rap songs. And we are out.