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All Things Owensboro
All Things Owensboro is a podcast built around the table.
We sit down with people from all walks of life to share real stories, honest journeys, and the moments that shape who we are. Some conversations are about work, some about struggle, some about joy, and sometimes faith shows up along the way.
You don’t have to have it all together to belong here.
Just pull up a chair.
Join host Brad Winter (a professional of nothing, but a fan of great conversation) as we uncover the stories that make Owensboro anything but ordinary.
Local legends. Hidden gems. Community connections.
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All Things Owensboro
What Happens When Purpose Meets A Badge
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The moment you realize your job shows you only the worst ten percent of life, something has to change. Brad sits down with Sgt. Cody Clift of the Owensboro Police Department for a candid, thoughtful conversation about calling, faith, fatherhood, and the everyday work of serving a city with integrity. Cody traces his path from a college criminology class that lit a spark to years on patrol that tested his belief in people—and how a renewed relationship with Jesus reframed the whole picture. Most folks are doing their best, he says, and community policing works when officers meet them in the good moments too.
We get real about the night-shift grind and what it takes to be present as a new dad, even after a 7 a.m. clock-out. Cody shares the fight he was losing that became his fitness wake-up call, the mistakes he made with crash dieting, and the strength training habits that now anchor both safety and mental health. As a certified fitness and nutrition instructor at the OPD academy—and a crisis intervention instructor—he lays out why readiness, appearance, and resilience matter for trust and performance.
The story stretches beyond the badge. From moving from the Chicago area to Owensboro’s neighborly rhythm, to the film obsession his dad passed down—think Train to Busan, Saving Private Ryan, and Clone Wars deep cuts—Cody shows how art sharpens empathy. We talk Star Wars, Disney, thin-crust truths, and why Owensboro feels like a big town that still behaves like a small one. In the end, his legacy goal is simple: enforce the law with dignity and leave people feeling respected.
If you value honest conversations about purpose, community, and personal growth, press play and join us. Subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who loves Owensboro—or needs a reminder that respect can change everything.
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It's been a great episode and I hope you share this with all your Owensboro friends! Thanks for the support and again, if you have questions or guests ideas, send a text!
What I know now is it was God telling me this what he wanted me to do. Welcome to All Things Owensboro. I'm Brad Winter, and today's conversation is exactly why this podcast exists. Real people, real calling, and real impact right here in our community. Joining me is Cody Clift, a sergeant with the Owensboro Police Department, a dad, a man of faith, a movie buff, and someone who wears a lot of hats serving the city. This is an honest conversation about purpose, community, and what it looks like to serve Owensboro with integrity. I'm glad you're here. Hey guys, welcome back to All of Things Owensboro. I say this every week, but I do have a special guest this week, Cody Cliff. He works for the Owensboro Police Department and he is a sergeant there and he does a lot more than just sit in a patrol car. He uh teaches classes and does a lot of different things, wears many different hats, and I'm excited for you to hear the interview today, or the conversation, I guess you would say. Uh, but thanks for tuning in this week. Thank you, Blue Bridge Crew. That's a new name that we come up with that we're hope is not too cheesy, and you guys are going to attach to that and go with it. But thanks for listening today. And Cody, thanks for coming on today, man.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, absolutely. Glad to be here.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I'm excited just to talk through, you know, I know you're a big movie guy, but also Owensboro hasn't been home. It has been home probably more than what your original home was, but we'll talk about that stuff and and all kinds of things. And so, you know, at first, you know, a lot of kids they grow up and they're thinking, I want to be a firefighter, police officer, I wanted to be a zookeeper, whatever. So, so what inspired you to become a police officer officially and go with it? And how has that job shaped the way you see the world?
SPEAKER_01:So I went to college to be a teacher. Okay. Uh initially. I wanted to be a history teacher and a track and field coach was my initial intent. And I was doing that at Kentucky Westland. I was running cross-country there. But, you know, as in college, which I don't, you know, whatever people's opinion on college is fine. I don't think that you should be required to take classes that uh you don't want to take, but hey, it worked out for me. I took a criminology class and it was like it was like a light switch turned on for me. Okay. What I know now is it was God telling me this is what he wanted me to do. And I knew that it wasn't that I wanted to be a police officer, it was that like that's what I was supposed to do. Yeah. So and so I immediately went and changed my major after that, and and that's what I I knew I was gonna do. And I mean, the way that it shaped the way that I see the world, I will say initially you are seeing people on their work day. You are you there's not a lot of calls that you're going to where people are in like a great mood or like uh it's it's a it's a wonderful day, right? Yeah. Uh so you just see a lot of negative on a day-to-day basis. So it kind of because we're humans too, police officers are human too, so we have regular emotions, it can kind of turn things dark at times. The great thing is, is once you've been doing it for a while, and obviously I I fell away from my relationship with the Lord while I was doing that work because it was just so negative. Luckily, renewing my relationship with the Lord gave me a much greater perspective on the things that I was doing at work. And I realized as I'm driving around town, like, and I'm thinking to myself, like, oh, this, you know, wow, this is I see the negative and stuff like that. But I'm like driving around town and I'm like, I've never been to a call on any of this street, I've never been to a call here, I've never been to a call here. So you realize, like, in the grand scheme of things, almost everybody in this town is trying to do the best that they can for themselves, their family, trying to provide, and they're not causing any problems. And and that is the way that it is, frankly, across the United States. We deal with a very uh small minority of people, honestly, that commit most of the crime.
SPEAKER_00:So yeah. And I had Aaron Hamilton in on, I haven't released his episode yet, but he's even said like it's very it's a very small percentage that we actually deal with, and it's usually repeated, right? Repeated I saw you three times now in the last two years, you know.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so I mean it the the great thing is is that I came to realize that really people are people are great, really. I mean, they're not people are just trying to do the best that they can do, and they're the world is not nearly as negative as the job made it feel at first. And honestly, it is it is a great job. And you do the longer that you do it, and too, and the great thing about the Owensboro Police Department is we do a lot of community events, so you do get to actually, if you go to those, you get to interact with the community on a very positive basis, and that's one of the great things I think that we try to do. We we have really, really tried to be a community-oriented police department and try to have relationships with the community.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I was to say Aaron pretty much did the same thing. Uh, you know, he was very big on like, you know, I love doing the shopping with the cop and the do no donuts, and he's like, it's just a lot of fun that we get to be out there and you guys see us as people too, right? And not just, oh, you're your authority, you can't can't have a relationship there. You know, talking about just authority, you have another new role in your life recently, and you become a dad. Uh so congrats on that. Connor's getting big, and but you know, what what how what is it kind of give us an insight of what that looks like as a balance between being an officer and dealing with all the stuff that you have to deal with, but also being a dad as well.
SPEAKER_01:Right. So, you know, I've said I kind of feel bad for my son in some ways because I I feel like because he has a father that's a police officer, that it it might make me a little bit more restrictive in things as he gets older. I'd like to say that I'm gonna play against that and not try to do that to him, obviously. But two, I mean, balancing the schedule also along with being a father. So I'm a night shift supervisor, one of the night, one of the three night shift supervisors. And, you know, so I'm coming home. I get off at seven o'clock in the morning, and then I gotta come home and I gotta try to sleep. And then I get up typically, you know, mid-afternoon or whatever it may be. And then, you know, I I gotta start my role as dad. You know, I try to take over for my sister-in-law who watches him, who does uh an absolutely stupendous job watching him, and and I take over for her, and then I kind of take over dad mode until my wife gets home, which typically uh uh lately, because she's changed her role, she gets home a lot earlier than she used to. So we we have a lot of time actually as a family now, which is really great, but it is certainly a thing because you know I could next year I might not be on night shift, I might be on afternoon shift, or I might be on day shift, or I might go to a specialized unit. I I I don't always know okay um as a supervisor. There there can be a lot of shifts as on what you're gonna do. So and that's just something I'll have we'll have to tackle when it happens, if it happens, I it and it most certainly will eventually. I've got I've got a lot of years to go. So but yeah, I mean the good thing is is that I I I love my job, but being a father is priority over being uh of my my job. So I try to throw myself entirely into being a dad when I have the opportunity to.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's cool. And I know there's a hard balance, like you said, you're you're uh you gotta compartmentalize, you know, it seems like a lot of times and those and those types of jobs. And I'm a pastor, and there's times where I've had to compartmentalize certain things. And so, you know, talking about you taught you hit on this just a little bit about how you know when you first became a police officer, the the native really kind of influenced your relationship with God. And you said you, you know, the longer you're in it, the the more you've come back to God and through all that. And so, how is your faith for your faith influenced the way you approach your career in law enforcement?
SPEAKER_01:So, yeah, so you know, to get back to that, it did, it did, it was like I fell away from my relationship. I I got baptized a little bit later on my own volition. I was I think I was 17 uh when I decided to get baptized. And I threw myself full force into that relationship with the Lord. And then when I started doing this job, again, you just see a lot of negative, a lot of darkness, and it kind of I frankly, it made me question how a loving Lord could allow some of this to happen. Again, though, going back to the fact that really in the grand scheme of things, when you start looking at things, there is a lot of positive, and frankly, the positive greatly outweighs the negative. Um, and so I don't really know how I was able to do it for for the years that I did without that relationship, without my without having a church family. I know that I think I'm a better police officer, undoubtedly, due to my relationship with Jesus Christ. So I mean, like that it makes me, I think, more kind, without a doubt. I actually and I and I do actually think that I treat my my guys and my girls that that I have to supervise, it it it makes me treat them with more grace as well.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:If he's gonna give me all the grace that he that he gives me that I definitely don't deserve, then I should obviously be reciprocating that to the people that that I have to deal with, whether that be officers, whether that be people on the street. So it it has really influenced and it it it's made me a better person. It's made me a better police officer.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's really cool. I mean, so let's put the badge down just for a minute. And we're gonna go into another passion of yours, and that is movies. Yes. And so uh you're known as big movie buff. I know that because in Sunday school, when we come up with stuff, you you have a movie in mind. And so what where did that passion come from?
SPEAKER_01:It came from my my father. Okay. Um, my my biological father, he he really instilled that in me. I'll be honest. Uh he took me to some movies that I probably shouldn't have gone to.
SPEAKER_00:I'm pretty sure I was, yeah, I'm pretty sure my dad did too.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. At the age that I was at times, um, but he really introduced me to a lot of different movies.
SPEAKER_00:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:You know, uh, while I probably should have been watching like Toy Story, he was having me watch like Desperado, which, if anybody has seen that movie, probably not what a six, seven-year-old should be watching. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Running at the same time like Pulp Fiction came out. Right, right, which, you know, I probably, as somebody that loves the Lord as much as I do, probably shouldn't enjoy Quentin Tarantino movies as much as I do. Um he's a very good filmmaker. Yeah, but yeah, I mean, it it all to my father, 100%. I mean, he's the one that put that in me. And now I've probably taken it a little further than even he, yeah, his enjoyment.
SPEAKER_00:Uh but I do love film. I love the art. It's that's cool. It's wonderful. No, that's awesome. Uh, I actually took a uh film class, film history class in college, and it was really cool. It introduced me to like Casablanca, yeah, the good, the bad, and the ugly. I mean, we watched all kinds of stuff. It was it was fun. Uh, it's definitely an art. So if somebody said, hey, Cody Cliff is an expert, a movie expert, what is the first how like what is the movie you would recommend to prove it? Hey, quick pause. I'm Brad Winter, host of All Things Owensboro Podcast. If you're looking for a church that feels like home, we'd love to invite you to First Baptist Church Owensboro. We gather Sundays at 10 30 a.m. right next to the Blue Bridge. Infos in the show notes, and if you reach out, my family will gladly sit with you.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, so it's October, so it's spooky season. So let's uh I I I'll say, okay, so we'll just go with like maybe like a horror film that I would say would be really cool. So there's a a Korean film, it's called Train to Busan. Okay. And it's a zombie film, but the mo the wonderful thing about that movie is so the cinematography is absolutely stupendous in that movie. The actors are unbelievable. And people think zombie film, it's just it's just zombies trying to eat people. There's nothing there can't be anything to it. But I'm the there's so much heart in that film. There's so much passion that look like it was just poured into that film. That would be a that would be one for sure. I'll tell you what, the the South Koreans know how to make movies. Really?
SPEAKER_00:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:Korean films are unbelievable. I would tell people if you're okay reading subtitles, you should be watching Korean films. Okay. Some Japanese films are absolutely amazing. I would have no I would have not expected that, but yeah. But if I have to, if I have to like if I have to bring it back to say American films where people maybe maybe a little bit easier for people to digest. You even brought up like the good and the bad and the ugly. Yeah. That that trilogy of films that Clint Eastwood did are absolutely amazing. My favorite film is Saving Private Ryan. Okay. Yeah, the to good film. I think from start to finish, script-wise, obviously Steven Spielberg is a wonderful filmmaker. But the one thing that I I love about film a lot of times too is obviously I I want a great story, but how beautiful is the film? How one uh you know, I I really love a good cinematographer. Like if I know a certain cinematographer is actually attached to a film, it actually makes me want to watch that film even more. So, like say Blade Runner 2049, beautiful. Uh just watching that film is just it's just beautiful together. I haven't seen that one yet. Yeah, so those would be some things maybe. Uh those would be some ones.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. So there you go. Well, so you know, because we talk about movies, and you can't really list movies without talking about Star Wars. Right. Uh, or for the most part, people have their differences, whatever. Yeah. But you know, Star Wars and Disney, you know, clearly has a big part of your life. Yes. If you guys go to Disney a lot, you collect items for Star Wars and Disney and whatnot. I guess they're the same thing now, but but you know, they used to not be. But what is it about those universes that really connect to you personally?
SPEAKER_01:So, right, so Star Wars episode one, so not the obviously the OT or the original trilogy, uh, as people call it. Yeah, yeah, the prequels. The first one came out in 1999. I was 10 years old when it came out. My dad took me to go see it. Okay. And I don't think as a 10-year-old, you can go to the scene which most people know is the duel of the fates with Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jin, and Darth Maul, that that, you know, that scene, and not walk away from that and be like, this is one of the most amazing things I've ever seen as the 10-year-old.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, this true, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So, and then of course, my dad started buying me the toys and stuff like that. Oh, yeah. So, and he showed me the original trilogy. Okay, and I absolutely fell in love with like you know, Han Solo and Luke Skywalker and that's a big Chewbacca fan. Yeah, Chewy's amazing character, even though you can't understand a single word that he's saying, but he's still Peter Mayhew. He's my favorite one. Peter Mayhew makes Chewbacca come to life, yeah. Even when you can't understand a word that he's saying.
SPEAKER_00:So, cool, cool fact. We went, we're in New Orleans, we went to the Kurobu, which is a parade right before Mardi Gras. It's all Halloween themed, and he was the one of the marshals. So that's um that's amazing.
SPEAKER_01:Unfortunately, you know, so many of those actors are now passing the website. We're we're losing we've lost so many of them like pay like Peter, yeah, and Carrie Fisher and Kenny that played, he played R2D2. Most people don't realize that there's actually an actor inside R2 D2. I think I've seen that before, yeah. Yeah, so Kenny Baker actually played, he was R2D2. Okay. You know, so there we've lost a lot of those guys, those original actors, you know. Luckily, we still have Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill. Yeah, but you know, and I think Harrison Ford will probably act till the day that he passes. Probably. And he's a good actor. He is a really he is a really good actor. But yes, I Disney, you know, I I we're we're you're just about a year younger than me, I think. So 89. 89, yeah. May of 89. August.
SPEAKER_00:So we're like two months ago. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So we're a lot closer than I thought. So Disney was, I think, at the height, really. The animated films, like Toy Story was coming out, early 90s, but you know, like Fox and Hound. Right. You know, a lot of a lot of Tarzan and much back in Notre Dame, whatever it may be, all those films were really that 90s, like and early 2000s, like art form. I really think that's where Disney was really at its peak. That was when we were kids.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Exactly. And I think it, you know, a lot of those things, you know, like Robin Williams playing the genie. Like I was love that when I was a kid. Now I will say my my wife is a giant Walt Disney World fan. Um, so when we got married, I had never been to Disney. Oh, okay. I did not know that. Yeah, and in the first year and a half that we had been married, uh, I went three times. So yeah, she loves Disney. Yes, that grew the passion too. Okay. Um, obviously it doesn't hurt that Disney has gone on to to buy properties like Star Wars um to make it, you know, Marvel. Yeah, I was yeah, I thought they yeah, I thought it was well, you know, they've also bought these properties that are very popular for better or for worse. Yeah, you should have a lot of people. Uh how people might feel because some of the Disney products that like for Star Wars, for example, uh been a little hit or miss.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. I've heard that. So it's funny, I'm a big Star Wars guy, but I haven't watched a lot of the series. Yeah, but I've heard like, you know, the great like the Mandalorian, great, amazing, uh, Han Solo was good, and then there was like a couple in between there. It was just like, yeah, let's just leave that alone.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, like the acolyte, uh yeah, that's what it was. Yeah, uh there was there was like a good character in that in that show, but not his name is Chimere, he's actually the bad guy of the series, yeah. Yeah, yeah. He's but he you know, cool, cool character. You know, Obi-Wan Kenobi is my favorite character, so I was very excited when that TV series came out, but even that kind of disappointed me in some ways, you know. And but yes, Mandalorian season one and season two. I mean, some of the best television, I think. I need Star Wars.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and the guy who directs it, John Favreau. Yes, like all his stuff's good. Like he was in Rudy, and then Iron Man was great. I watched I know him past you, but I did watch a movie called Chef that he made that I chef is amazing, but it was a really good movie. Very good. Probably should not be advertised, but a good movie.
SPEAKER_01:Probably probably not, but he is uh he that was a passion. Chef is actually a passion project of Favro. I didn't know that. And he actually went on to create a a cooking show, actually, after he came out with that. And and that cooking show is actually great. I recommend that to anybody that loves cooking. What's it called? It's called the Chef Show.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so and it's real, it's really good.
SPEAKER_00:Oh yeah, I'll check that out. I did I did not know that. So well, here, I mean, we could talk probably about Disney and Star Wars and what that uh, which is great. But you know, you grew up a lot of people don't know this, but you grew up in Chicago, yeah, and you made your way down to Owensboro, like elementary school age, right? Middle school. And so what's unique about this community that people don't realize? Oh, hold on, sorry, wrong question. Let's go back to this. All right, so you know you've made Owensboro home. So what was that transition like uh moving from Chicago to Owensboro? And what makes Owensboro feel like home now?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. So you would understand this because you being from Philly, yes, and and obviously you also lived in New Orleans while you were in seminary, right? So when you move from a a big city, so I actually I I grew up in a town called Winthrop Harbor, okay, uh, which is about depending on depending on traffic, I can get into the city in 45 minutes to an hour. Hour. Okay. So, like a drive to Evansville for most people, yeah, would be a good correlation for people that live in Owensboro. So you 20 minutes in every direction, I have anything that I could want. Oh, yeah. Even from where I live. Because even so, if you look at a map of Illinois, Winthrop Harbor is the top right corner of the state. Okay. It is actually the last town, village, as they call them up there. Like before you get to Indiana? Before you get to Wisconsin. Oh, Wisconsin. Okay. Okay. Yeah. So even Kenosha, Wisconsin, which unfortunately became famous a little bit during 2020, but that, you know, that's a great city, even in Wisconsin. So, you know, and that's not far from where I lived either. So there was a lot of things very close. So moving here was an interesting transition because I grew up in a neighborhood. I could get on my bike, go everywhere. I walked to school. Oh, yeah. I did too growing up. And I moved here and I lived out in the East County. Okay. And I didn't really, I was, I couldn't walk places. I rode my bike and I skateboarded a lot when I was in Illinois. And I do I wasn't able to do that here. We didn't have the skate park back then, you know, that we have now. So it was very different. It was definitely a culture shock. It was definitely a culture shock too. And and and I will say, I will say this too. And this isn't this isn't this isn't a bad thing, but up there, very diverse. Yeah. And when I came down here and I went to Davis County Middle School, I walked in to the school and I was it was very strange to just pretty much see everybody look like me. Yeah. And that was actually strange to me. So that was definitely a big culture shock as well. Yeah. Because I think a lot of people give Chicago a hard time because of crime and stuff like that. Yeah, yeah. But but but it is a wonderful in a lot of ways, it's it it can be a wonderful place to be. And that's still where most of my family is. Yeah. So I mean I go up as as often as I can.
SPEAKER_00:Get yourself some pizza.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, very much.
SPEAKER_00:Maybe a dog. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yes. I mean, if Chicago knows how to do things, it's pizza and hot dogs, for sure.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So, but yeah, I mean it's very it's very different. But I absolutely now I absolutely love Kentucky Owensboro.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, yeah. Yeah, we love Owensboro too. So, like, what's one thing when you think of Owensboro that makes you really think like this is why I love Owensboro?
SPEAKER_01:I mean, honestly, the the the people, and and I say this again from my perspective as somebody that deals with the crime of the city. People are really great here. I love seeing how people interact with each other. Okay. We have a lot of festivals and a lot of community events here in the city, right? And people genuinely treat each other very well during that time. Do we have issues? Of course we do. Oh, yeah, yeah. Everybody's gonna have issues, yeah. But for the most part, I you know, another thing I love is we have a lot of like local uh businesses, a lot of like the food trucks and all that kind of stuff. Yeah, and there is a lot of like support for those things. I love how this community kind of kind of just loves each other and and really supports each other. And it it kind of sounds like a thing that everybody says about this community, but it is really a good place to raise a family.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. And we've heard that a lot. We've heard a lot about the people, like the people is what makes Owensboro, you know. And so, you know, going into even the next question, you know, maybe have a different thing aspect on like a different outlook on this one since we kind of already answered this, I feel like, but you know, for you, what makes Owensboro Owensboro? Like you get a different perspective, and you we've talked about already, but like in reality is you're a police officer, right? So, like what what for you, like what makes Owensboro Owensboro?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so the the cohesiveness as a community, I I think is what makes Owensboro Owensboro. That the fact that the people around here do really support each other. When you have somebody that like say somebody's going through something tough, even around here, a lot of this community will rally around each other to to support that person. That goes for people that might be dealing with an illness. That goes with say a business owner, a local business owner that might be struggling. A lot of times, if if they put that out over social media, I think I've seen it blow up. Yeah, I think Owensboro does a really good job of coming out to support those people. I would agree. So I think that that that is a really the we are not actually a small city. I mean, people I think people from the outside see us as kind of like like we're small, yeah. As somebody again that sees it from a law enforcement perspective, we're actually a lot, I think we're a lot bigger than people realize that we are. I mean, our our metro population is I think over like I think around 120,000 people.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, if Count County, I think it's like over 110 or yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So and and then of course we get people coming in from McLean and Hancock and and southern Indiana all the time. They're coming in every day to work here, to shop here, whatever it may be. Yep. So it really is a lot larger than I think people realize, but they really do treat each other still as like a small town.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, I would agree with that. And if you've listened to this podcast for any amount of time, you know, I've said like it's a big town, it's a small town with a big town feel.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_00:So it has all the amenities you want. Like it's it's it's bigger than what you realize. Like, there's not a lot of towns that are size that are doing the Illuminate, that are doing air shows, that are doing all the festivals, Porch Fest, you know, Friday at the Five, all that stuff. So I think they're doing a good job. You know, let's just gear just a little bit. So you ran cross country at Davis County. Yes. And so what was what's one of your favorite memories from those days?
SPEAKER_01:Okay, so Coach Roe, I always have to just I need to give that man a shout out. He's one of the most influential men that's ever been in my life. He was the cross-country coach at Davis County for many years. He's a uh I believe he won National Cross Country Coach of the Year twice. Oh wow. We won't know that yeah, we won a lot of state championships when he was the coach there. And he is a when I uh when I got baptized, I was at I was at uh Macio Baptist, okay, where I went to church, and he was actually our music minister there. Oh, okay. And so he actually influenced me greatly in that aspect of my life too, my relationship with the Lord. So, but but I just wanted to give him a shout out. But the the fun things about cross country were I were the times that we would do stuff, we called them adventure runs and stuff. So essentially what it would be is we the whole team would obviously go out, it's practice, but we're gonna go on a run. But what you do is you you essentially we'd leave out the back lot of Davis County High School and we'd go right or left. Oh wow. And somebody would call it out, and that's what way we would go, and then we'd come up to the next street, right or left straight. Yeah, and you go the somebody call it out, and you go and those and you you'd essentially just hang out with each other. So you obviously, as a cross-country runner, you get in a good enough shape where you can actually hold conversations while you run. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I can't do that. You don't yeah, I can't do it now either. So put it in perspective, but you you just hung out with each other, but you went on like sometimes we would run like half marathons. Oh, wow. Essentially, yeah. Um, and but also like get to hang out with each other. Those are some of my most fond memories, I think, of is the teammates. I had wonderful, wonderful teammates at Davis County.
SPEAKER_00:That's really cool. And then so maybe I'm maybe I'm making this up as a folklore of the years, but like, did you have a chance to go to Alabama for cross country? No. So I will say I got accepted to Alabama.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, maybe that's what it was. Okay, yeah, I got accepted to Alabama and I and I did, I was my intent initially if I went there was I was going to walk on to the track team. Okay, okay. Um, because outside of cross country, I also ran like I specialized in the 800 meter dash when it came to when it came to track and field because I initially, my freshman and sophomore year of high school, I was actually a sprinter. Oh, and primarily the 100 and 200 meter dash. Yeah, and then you transitioned. I transitioned a long distance my junior and senior year. Okay. So the happy meet middle of that is the 800 meter dash. Okay. I get to bring in my sprinting ability, but I also have my my extra endurance now that I've built up from cross country. Okay. But yeah, that was I I got I actually I went to run cross-country at Kentucky Westland. And but I was I was gonna leave KWC after my freshman year, and that's when I got accepted to I got accepted to uh a few schools like Louisville, UK, Alabama, stuff like that. And my intent at any of those places was that I I wanted to walk on. But as a giant Alabama fan, yeah, yeah, yeah. I I I really wanted to go there. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to without getting racking up uh an incredible amount of loans.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I wasn't gonna be able to go there. So it just didn't it didn't end up working out. But yes, that was my intent if I was gonna go there.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, we don't have to talk about Bama a whole lot. We will at some point. Uh but yeah, actually, it's the next question. Look at that. So, you know, you're a big Bama fan. Cool story, I'll put it out there just because we're talking about Bama. I did get to teach Sai Simpson first grade Sunday school. Yeah, so it's pretty cool to see him slinging it on national television. And actually, there was a lot of doubt going into the season of can he be the quarterback? And uh I think he's left no question that he's the guy. So I think he's playing at a the level no other quarterback's playing at right now. 100%.
SPEAKER_01:I think he's I people can talk about Diego Pavia at Vanderbilt all they want, but he I think his is just like grant hustle, you know. Like I think Ty Simpson is number one in the Heisman race right now. Yeah, I think without a doubt. I think you can obviously say from Fernando Mendoza at Indiana is probably right behind him. Yeah, but whatever one too. But I think Ty Simpson's amazing. Yeah, your your wife actually told my wife the other week that you guys had taught. And I was like, wait, how am I just now finding this out?
SPEAKER_00:So I will say, like, I don't know if I ever reached out to him. Uh he probably I don't know if you remember or not or not, but his dad's a coach at UT Martin, Tennessee Martin. That's where he went to college. Right. That's where I met Brittany, and we taught some in school there, and he happened to be in first grade. Uh, I hope he's matured a lot since then. I'm sure he has.
SPEAKER_01:I think if you listen to him too, I I love how much Ty talks about his relationship with the Lord.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, and that's really courtesy of First Baptist Martin and Brother Mike Sam's, and I can go on just an episode of that. But yeah, uh that church and that even my brother Mike has had a really big influence on me and Brittany's relationship too. But we're not here for that. Honestly, so Chicago, how in the world did you become a Bama fan?
SPEAKER_01:Okay, so my stepfather who came into my life when I was, I think I was five when my stepfather came into my life. A lot of his family, they live in like the Red Bay and Hamilton, Alabama area. Oh, okay. Like the vast majority of his family lives in Alabama. Now, the problem with half of them is that they're Auburn fans. I've actually gotten I've actually gotten several arguments with my cousins while I was, you know, we'd be down in Alabama visiting, and I distinctly remember a time where I think I had a cousin throw a flip-flop at me uh during an argument over Alabama Auburn. But that's really what it was. A lot of my stepfather was an Alabama fan. A lot of his family were Alabama fans. I don't really remember a time not being an Alabama fan because obviously at five years old, I don't remember a whole lot before that.
SPEAKER_00:So it's like a year off their national championship, you know. Yeah, so even when you're five, you don't realize that stuff.
SPEAKER_01:But here's the here's the crazy thing too. Like when I was in high school, Alabama was terrible. Oh, yeah, yeah. They were not Don Shula, right? Yeah, they were not, they were not good during like the like the mid-2000s. They were not, they were not a good football team.
SPEAKER_00:No, actually, in fact, Saban's first year they lost to a non-BCC. They were the first BCS school to lose to a non-BCS school.
SPEAKER_01:Six and six, Saban's first year, which was 2007, which is actually the year I graduated high school. Yeah, me too. So I mean like it, I that whole time, really, like end of end of middle school, really the time when I moved to Kentucky on through high school, not good. So being an Alabama fan was not like it was not trendy. It was not repping the the Crimson Tide was not uh not popular. Yeah, yeah. Um, so but you know, I stuck it through, and and that's the thing. I'm not just an Alabama fan when it comes to football. I I I love all of their teams. I regularly try to watch like as much as the I love the baseball team, the basketball team. Okay, and again, going back, the basketball team was very bad until very very recently, until NATO showed up and really, you know, Avery Johnson had some good years before, but you know, he he there's a reason why he went back to broadcasting. Yes, 100%. So, but we were not good there either. So it has not always been the like it is now, you know, with the Nick Saban years and all that kind of stuff. But yeah, I mean I I do love the Crimson Tide. I, you know, a lot of I I you know, we gotta throw out a guy that went there, uh Justin Thomas from Kentucky, but went to Alabama, played golf, one of the best golfers in the world. Like, you know, I even love not a golf guy at all. See, I even love supporting the golfers that came out of Alabama that go to the pros, like Bud Collie and Justin Thomas and some of the other guys, and people are like, what are you talking about? Yeah, yeah. Because they're like you. They don't I don't I don't I don't pay attention to the game. They don't pay enough.
SPEAKER_00:They don't pay enough attention to that. That's the one sport. I just I just I can't. I just I try. But no, I've been I actually been down to the campus before. It's really pretty. Uh we went back in 2000, it was right after the tornadoes went through. It's like I think like nine or ten, maybe. Yeah. I mean, it was pretty, it was still pretty fresh. It was it was it was eye-opening for sure. I mean, so but Tuscaloosa is a really pretty town. Um, and football literally is life there, uh, just like basketball is life in Kentucky. Right. And so, you know, let's we'll go a little bit uh in a different direction because again, another topic that we can talk about for hours, but you know, fitness is is a big part of your life, and you need to be fit to be a cop. I know people make fun of like the cops that are like the big overweight guys. Yeah, but fitness is important, and so what does working out give you mentally and physically, especially with the stress of what you guys what you guys go through all the time? Looking for a place to get active, connect with others, and have fun as a family? Then come check out the rec at FBC Owensboro. From open gym and a weight room to upward sports and community events, there's something for everyone. Memberships are super affordable, just$2 a day,$10 a month, or$60 a year. And get this, families, you only pay$120 max for the entire family for the whole year. And if you're a senior, college student, or one of our city heroes, like a teacher, first responder, or healthcare worker, you get a discount too. The rec is more than a gym, it's a place to belong.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so to be frank with you, I I got out of shape when when I stopped, when I stopped athletics in college, I got horribly out of shape. Thankfully, going to the police academy, it got me back into decent shape. Okay. And then when I got out, you know, training, you know, got back to Owensboro, and I'm training, you know, with another police officer riding another riding in a car with another police officer training, you know, to get out of my own, I kind of let it go back to the wayside and eat it very ate very poorly.
SPEAKER_00:Which is easy when you're in a car for 10 years.
SPEAKER_01:And so I unfortunately one of the things we have to do when we as a police officer is sometimes people want to fight you. Yeah. Right. And it's not it's not a personal thing. They it's the uniform, the badge, they don't want to go to jail or whatever it may be, right?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So I got into an altercation with somebody that I was gonna take to jail and they didn't want to go to jail. And I realized in that that moment that I was losing my endurance very quickly, and that that situation could have become very dangerous for me. And I was losing that fight, just to be to be completely honest. Yeah, I was losing the I was losing the fight, right? So thankfully other people arrive, other police officers arrive. You know, that was a way uh wake-up call for me. Okay. Um and so I I knew I needed to get back into shape, so I made it a priority. So that would have been 2019. Okay. And really, really just started making it a priority again. And it took me a while. I didn't do it correctly even when I first started doing it, right? So like you know, the the one way that you to lose fat, yes, I realize scientifically there are other ways that people can gain weight outside of eating, but generally for the general public, the the only way to lose fat is to be in a calorie deficit. So I went way too far into a calorie deficit. So you can be dangerous, obviously. Yeah, yeah, you can go to the extreme, yeah. Um, so I wasn't doing good on that front. So it took me a lot of time to actually learn what how to correctly do it, right? And and then lifting weights and the benefit of actually lifting strength training.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And that and this goes for everybody, men and women. Strength training is one of the best things that you can do for yourself, just overall. And so just learning how all that. And the great thing too was that I went through something in 2019 that was a strain. I I was uh my wife's probably gonna love that I'm gonna talk about this, but I was engaged with somebody else at that time and the relationship ended too. And mentally, you know, exercise and focusing on my health was a was a great benefit to me during that time. I I used to make a lot of jokes during that time. It is a joke, but it isn't a joke, that I'm gonna go essentially I'm gonna go move the heavyweight to make the angry voices go away.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. You know, yeah. Well, I always see like the meme of like the guy who like goes from like looks like me to looks like you, and are like who who broke up with them, you know, like who hurt them.
SPEAKER_01:There is some there is some validity to that though.
SPEAKER_00:There you're well and C Corney benefited from it too, you know.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. So, but I I do I do love fitness to the point that I am I am now a certified fitness and nutrition instructor as well. Yeah, I went out to Kansas City and got certified through a a company called Fit to Enforce, which is run by the the the lady that runs the Miami Dade Police Department's fitness program. Uh and she's been doing it for a really long time. She's absolutely phenomenal at what she does. Her list of credentials is outrageous. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Um you get to help officers see the benefits of a healthy lifestyle.
SPEAKER_01:So now I teach fitness and nutrition at our academy. Oh, okay. At the Owensboro Police Department's basic training academy. So I teach the new officers coming in the importance of fitness and nutrition. So like I'll teach in-class stuff about fitness and nutrition. Yeah. And then I also teach, I'm one of the instructors that also goes into the weight room with them. Oh, okay. Um, I'm not the only instructor that does that, but I I have some great other police officers that are Is Logan one of them?
SPEAKER_00:Because you know, he started working out it back again like really seriously, and now he's like, you know, massive.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, he Logan is not doing it anymore. Okay. Uh primarily right now it it's me and two other people.
SPEAKER_00:Um I was just curious because like Logan's been a part of a basketball league. My friends are on Facebook, and I'm like, man, he's getting jacked.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, he he he takes fitness and nutrition also very seriously. I don't get to see Logan as much anymore because I used to be his supervisor on day shift, but I'm now being on night shift, I I don't get to see him as nearly as much anymore. But but yeah, I mean he's he's very serious. I actually he went to Kansas City with me. Okay. Um when we went to go get certified, him, uh me and another me, him and another officer. Yeah. But yeah. I mean, I I think it's super important. Police officers specifically, I think, need to be in good physical condition due to the demands of our the demands of our job at times, which isn't always fun to talk about because when it gets demanding, it's because something bad has happened, right? Somebody's running from us, somebody's fighting us, somebody is doing something that they shouldn't be doing. Yeah. And it becomes physically demanding. I also think that we police officers should be held to a higher standard. And I think our appearance is important.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And so I do think that we when we're out in the public, I do think that we should we should try to to to look good, right? We should try to look put together. Our unish uniform should look well. We should be well groomed. Um you know, things of that nature. And I I do think physical fitness comes along with that. Yeah. So I mean it uh outside of even to the you we talk about the mental aspect. I'm also a crisis intervention instructor. Okay. So I teach a lot of mental health stuff too. And so that is a very important aspect of fitness as well. It really, really can benefit you mentally on top of physically. Yeah. So super important.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I always feel like when physic when one's better, like when the mental health or even the physical health is good, they usually add up to like it's usually you get benefits of both when it happens. Absolutely. Yeah, yeah. I mean, you look at me now, you couldn't tell, but I was I used to be skinny.
SPEAKER_01:Well, and you're and you're very and you're strong. You need to give yourself some credit. You're you're pretty you're pretty good in the gym.
SPEAKER_00:I don't know, you're pretty you're a beast. Uh I didn't work out today. Oh man. Okay. Uh well, let's move on. We're gonna ask one more question and go into rapid fire. Um, and then I have a question to ask everybody at the end of the podcast. You know, it's just kind of a more of a morbid question, but one day when everything's said and done, when you put the badge up, when you know life is over, you have that dash in between the dates, you know, what do you want, what do you want to leave behind for your kids, your department, you know, your community. Like when people say Cody Cliff, like how do you want to be remembered?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so I mean I I I think that we can break that down, right? So what I leave behind for like my kids, my kid, because unfortunately I'll I'll only have the one. You know, I want him to I want him to think that I did everything that I could to be a good father for him. I hope that the legacy that I leave for him is one of a strong relationship with Christ, being the most important thing, honestly, for my son. But yeah, I just I I hope that he takes the things that I learn and and when he hopefully has children, he does an even better job than I do. And that's what I hope for my girls, yeah. And and that's that's really what I hope for him. And just you know, I guess even in the broader scope of the family, just that I I try to be the best son, brother, you know, uncle, whatever it may be, you know, whatever role I may hold that I could be, you know, so that that would be the family thing now for the department in the role that I'm in as a supervisor and as an instructor for the academy. And I hope that I teach well. I hope that guys and girls take stuff away from something I've taught to them and bring it into their career and really benefit from it and maybe go on to teach somebody else. And and that continues down the line for many, many years to come.
SPEAKER_00:That's cool.
SPEAKER_01:And I plan on being around the Owlsborough Police Department for I got I I you know I can't retire for another 12 years as it stands anyway, but I I'll I'll probably be around longer than that. And so I I mean I'll be there for a lot longer, but I hope, you know, for even the years after I leave, because I know that I most certainly talk about guys that have retired uh and the influence they had on me. And I try to teach, I try to teach men, you know, men and women now that come into the profession things that I was taught by those officers. Yeah. So putting on that that that ongoing legacy, like somebody that, you know, you brought up Aaron Hamilton earlier. Yeah. He recently retired from the Owlsboro Police Department. One of the most influential men in my career, without a doubt. Okay. He never he was never actually my training officer. But when I got out on my own as a solo patrolman, he was on afternoon shift with me. Okay. And and I credit him and a couple other guys. If it hadn't been for them, I don't know how good of a police officer I would have been. Yeah. So I mean, that is what that that is the scope of influence that you can have. One officer just sitting down with another officer and really talking to them and trying to make them better can have such a lasting impact.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And that I think correlates to the community, right? For Owensboro. I want I want to be fair, obviously. That the scope of being a police officer should be that you are you treat everybody fairly, right? That that goes for any police officer in the United States or really anywhere in the world. You know, you you should be treating people with absolute fairness. Obviously, you have to enforce the law. Sometimes people aren't gonna enjoy that, right? I mean, that's just the unfortunate thing about it. Some people don't want to go to jail, some people don't want to be charged with crime, but in doing so, you can still treat people with dignity and respect, and you can still treat them fairly.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And the and the great thing is, is in that in that thing, you know, you have people that do come out of of the life of crime and they improve their lives.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:You know, I I won't say her name on the podcast just because I wouldn't I don't know whether she would want me to or not. Yeah. But I have somebody that I was one of the last people to ever arrest her. Okay. Uh I was the second to last police officer to arrest her. She got arrested one more time. Like I think the week after I arrested her, she got arrested one more time. And then after that, she's never been arrested again.
SPEAKER_00:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:She went on to get sober. Okay. And now she went on to work at a local place where she helps a lot of people to improve their lives.
SPEAKER_02:That's cool.
SPEAKER_01:And I had a very in-depth conversation with her the last time I arrested her about how I believed in her and that she could improve her life. And I'm not saying my conversation had anything to do with her because she had to make the decision. My conversation with her, I don't think ultimately had any impact. But I do think treating people with fairness can also lead them to make better choices. And and I and I hope that I hope when I retire that people think that I that Officer Cliff, Detective Cliff, when I was in that role, Sergeant Cliff, whatever it may be, treated them with kindness and fairness.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. That's really cool. Like I so I interviewed Aaron a couple weeks ago. I haven't I don't know if it's episode out yet, but I'm definitely gonna put it out before yours because I feel like I mean he said he said a lot of the same things. Like he hopes that we remember him as a fair officer. And so that was really cool. Well, let's go into 270 seconds of fame. You can't phone a friend, uh, no deep thinking, just quick answers. Are you ready, Cody? I think I I think I'm ready. All right, deep dish or thin crust, and from where in Chicago? Uh thin crust is uh the actual Chicago style.
SPEAKER_01:Really? Uh deep dish, deep dishes for the tourists. Um I did not know that. Yes, deep dishes for the tourists. Um, now I I will say my go-to spot in Chicago is probably not the go-to spot of some of the locals. The locals will have even probably um more narrowed out um uh local places, but I do love Pisanos. Um part of that has to do with I have a cousin that works for the Chicago Cubs. Um she uh she actually has a relationship with Pisanos branched off from Lumal Nottis, which most people know in Chicago Lumal Natis.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:Um they're the same family. Um, but Pisano's specializes more in the thin crust. Lumal Nottis is kind of more known for their deep dish. Um, but they you know, I I do think that is my go-to is Pisano's. The the Pisano specifically, that's fairly close to um Millennium Park, which most people know for the bean and all that kind of stuff. So it's pretty close to the park. So if you're ever at the park, uh it's really like three blocks down the road. Okay. It's right there. And that's my go-to spot.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, we'll have to get you some New York pizza sometime, but you know, we won't go that way. Uh, first movie you remember absolutely falling in love with. First movie I absolutely remember falling in love with. Oh, that's difficult. I don't know. I figured that'd be a good one.
SPEAKER_01:As a movie, as a movie. No, you know what? I'll I I'll just go. We were talking about it earlier. I will say uh Star Wars the Phantom Menace. Okay. As a 10-year-old, uh, that blew me away. I'll just say that. I don't love it as much as I probably loved it as a kid now. Yeah, yeah. I still think I I still love that movie, don't get me wrong. But as a kid, as a 10-year-old, yeah, unbelievable.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Well, okay, well, we talked about Star Wars. You I think you mentioned it earlier, but who's your favorite Star Wars character?
SPEAKER_01:So Obi-Wan Kenobi is my favorite Star Wars character of all time. Uh, I think he is the greatest Jedi to ever live. People will be able to do that.
SPEAKER_00:Original like older Obi-Wan or the younger Obi-Wan. Either one. I think you and McGregor.
SPEAKER_01:I think you and McGregor obviously brought uh a great light the younger Obi-Wan Kenobi. Actually, and I would I would put people onto this too. Uh, there is an animated series called the Clone Wars. Uh and the Obi-Wan Kenobi that is voiced by James Arnold Taylor in that TV series. Unbelievable. Okay. Makes you love Obi-Wan Kenobi even more. And and for anybody that loves Anakin, you want to watch the Clone Wars animated series. It's it's awesome. But I would say that I I will say with a caveat, there is a character that most people will not have a clue who I'm talking about. Uh his name is Quinlon Voss.
SPEAKER_00:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:Uh and he is an unbelievable character. There's a there's actually a book called Dark Disciples that he's one of the main characters in. Okay. Unbelievable Jedi. Uh, everybody should check that guy out.
SPEAKER_00:There we go. You heard it here first. All right. So uh who plays you in the movie about your life? Oh, goodness gracious. Oh, who plays me? I was gonna say like Bradley Cooper or something, but you know, he's an Eagles fan. He's from Philly.
SPEAKER_01:But yeah, no, I don't hate the I don't hate the Eagles. Uh I grew up, uh one of the uh kids that I grew up with outside of Chicago, he was actually from Philly. Okay. Uh Ray was his name. Uh and he was a big Philly fan. So I actually watched a lot of Eagles games growing. Go go bird, Ray. Yeah, I I'm all actually I'm all for the Eagles. I don't I don't hate the Eagles. Um but man, yeah, I mean Bradley Cooper would be amazing. Take away his uh his his uh uh political and religious beliefs, but I love Tom Cruise, he's my favorite actor. Okay, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:If he's a little older, obviously. So like a younger Tom Cruise, like like Mission of Possible.
SPEAKER_01:He's short, I'm short, so I mean that would be if somehow we could bring him back from uh you know he's 60 years old now, but he still looks like he's yeah, he still looks great for his age. I would love, you know, that that right there would probably be amazing.
SPEAKER_00:That would be cool, yeah. He's yeah, like you said, push everything else aside. He's a great actor. Yeah, he's a great actor. All right, so tougher crowd, toddlers at bedtime or suspects on patrol?
SPEAKER_01:Tougher crowd.
SPEAKER_00:I you know what?
SPEAKER_01:Probably toddlers at bedtime. Frankly, I would think a lot of suspects, honestly, a lot of people that you come into contact with. I've arrested a lot of people that are actually very cooperative and very like I've had some people that I've arrested that are some of the kindest people I like that have been incredibly kind people. Wow, okay. So I mean like totally understanding. Uh yes, of course, do I have the ones that make it tough and want to find me and run away or whatever, of course. But Tyler's at bedtime, man.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it's tough. They they can I don't know if it gets any easier.
SPEAKER_01:So you you wonder sometimes if they're uh demon possessed.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, the way that they're acting. So I yeah. Well, hey, well, we're gonna switch it up a little bit to Disney. Uh, what's your go-to Disney park snack? And I don't really have I've only been to Disney twice. Right. So most I don't know.
SPEAKER_01:So most people I most people think about like uh like the turkey leg, which I would definitely not recommend. Don't get the turkey leg. Uh or like the popcorn. The popcorn's big because they have the popcorn buckets that are really famous there, but honestly, there's a place in Epcot. So there's four, so this is hard because they're obviously in Walt Disney World, there are actually four parks. Yeah. They're not connected. That's true. I think some people actually get confused and think it's all one big thing, but it's not.
SPEAKER_00:No, they're pretty they're pretty good distance.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and they can be a good big distance part. So like Magic Kingdom has its own things, Epcot has its own things, uh, Hollywood Studios, its own things, but there is a place in Epcot. So the one with the big uh dome that most people think the big ball, the sparkly ball, um, which is actually a ride, um, Spaceship Earth. And you but there is a place there on in the German pavilion of Epcot called Caramel Kouche. And they have uh like a it's like a um it's like a dessert sandwich. It's like a you can get it in multiple different things, like they have gingerbread or snickerdoodle sometimes, but it's like a caramel, like almost like an oatmeal cream bar that like for people that are trying to like if I'm trying to correlate it to anything, one of the best things I've ever eaten in my life. Wow, okay. All right, that's cool.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, well, I was there the last time I was there was uh we got married in 13, went there for Anyman. Uh so it was long before they turned uh Norway into Arendelle and Reno and I think Guards Galaxies in Epcot. Is that right? Cosmic Rewind is in is in that's an amazing ride, so it's awesome.
SPEAKER_01:I I I it's one of the the great thing to in reference to the go-to snack, just real quick, Disney food, amazing. Okay, you should be going to Disney Foods. You pay a lot for it too.
SPEAKER_00:So just yeah. All right, so what's uh what's the best advice a fellow officer ever gave you?
SPEAKER_01:Best advice. Um I would I would say uh along the lines of like there's no reason to let it's not personal. Yeah, I I would say that that's probably the thing. When we're dealing with subjects and they might get mad at us, it has nothing to do with you as a human being. Um it is it is because of the uniform that you are wearing and the badge that you have on your chest. Yeah, they they see that they don't see the person that is in there. Most people don't see the person. Um, so your interactions with people, negative interactions with people, do not take that personally.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that is the best advice I was ever given. Okay, there you go. That's a good one that we could all probably live by. Uh, what's a favorite movie line you live by? Or one that you like to quote? I don't know. Yoda.
SPEAKER_01:Do or do not, there is no trial.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, that is a good one. That's my graduation card for high school. Uh that was good. Uh, who wins in a fight, Darth Vader or Iron Man? Oh, Vader owns. Really? Oh, oh, he crush he crushes him. He I guess that's true. I guess he's a good thing.
SPEAKER_01:He uses the force and he absolutely he he he entombs Iron Man in his in his uh in his out. There you go.
SPEAKER_00:That I haven't heard that's a good one. Uh if you could patrol any city in a movie, uh, which one would it be?
SPEAKER_01:Patrol any city in a movie.
SPEAKER_00:I know that Chaddy helps me out with these. I don't.
SPEAKER_01:Oh my goodness. Patrol any city. I certainly, as a Batman fan, I don't want it to be Gotham City, though. That would be terrible. That would be uh man, that is tough. I that is really, really tough. Um any city in a movie. I mean, most cities are like obviously our own cities in movies because it's real real world, but if I had to go with fictional, if there's maybe, you know, I'll go with Star Wars again. I'll I'll keep cop into Star Wars. Uh, you know, there are obviously uh law enforcement in those movies. I don't want to be a stormtrooper. Yeah. Uh hopefully the Empire's over and I'm, you know, uh, but like Curusant, the the the city that the whole planet is the city. That's a one a lot of people probably think of. Yeah, that'd be a cool one. That'd be interesting. Yeah, yeah. I'd I might want to do like where the Ewoks are at, you know. Yeah, Endor. Yeah, the moon of Endor. Yeah, that'd be man. Shoot, if I could do it anywhere, I guess, you know, like I could go really, like, really peaceful on that front and go pick pick some like Disney place or something like that, like Zootopia.
SPEAKER_00:I don't know. They're coming out the number two. We'll see how that is. But all right, well, going into your Chicago sports, you know, you got they may not win all the time, but everybody knows their names. So you got the Cubs, the White Sox, the Bears, the Bulls, the Blackhawks. Yes. I'm sure I miss some sky. If you want to go WNBA, yeah. I do support the Sky. Yeah, so so what's your what's your your team? Like, there was one team over every other team in Chicago. What's your team?
SPEAKER_01:If you had to make me pick one team out of all of the professional sports teams, it'd be the Cubs. Oh, okay. Um, I I would I would go with the Cubs for sure. Um, I I have no shame in saying when they won the World Series in 2016, I sat in my living room four and I cried. I thought about all I thought about like my grandfather who was born and died and never even saw the Cubs in a World Series. You know, because the last time that they had even been in a World Series was like 1908, right? was 1945.
SPEAKER_00:Or 1945, that's right.
SPEAKER_01:They didn't win. They hadn't won since 1908. They won back-to-back years in 07-08. And then they they didn't, they were the last World Series they were in was 45. Black Hat. Yeah, and then they and then they weren't in one. So I thought about like I thought about stuff like that, and that made me emotional too. But I do love the Cubs. Um I like I said, that that would be the team I would pick.
SPEAKER_00:That's cool, yeah. Have you been to Wrigley Field? I have many times. Yeah, I I love Wrigley. So, so I know that we're kind of diving, we're deep diving a little bit, but uh no pun intended. But um, you know, what's your favorite seat? What was your favorite seat in Chicago? Like where you got to sit in the stadium.
SPEAKER_01:Man, I do I do love being I do love being right behind the Cubs dugout.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:Um, but I don't I don't know that you can beat the left field bleachers. Yeah. Um the bleacher, the the those guys, the the guys and girls that go out there are are crazy. They're crazy.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, okay. That's cool. I mean, I think it'd be cool to like sit on the rooftop and like. Yeah, that would that yeah, that would be cool. That'd be pretty cool. All right. Uh, what's your favorite workout song that gets you hyped up every time? Oh goodness. I know, I know. I'm asking some hard questions.
SPEAKER_01:Hold on. I I can get you, I can get you an answer. Let me let me so my my go my go-to one of my favorite bands now um that I absolutely love, they are uh a Christian heavy metal band. Uh they are called Wolves at the Gate.
SPEAKER_00:Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Um and I absolutely love them. Uh there is a song from their early years uh called Pulled from the Deep. Okay. Um that there's actually like in the middle of a song, they actually they actually put a pastor in that's giving a sermon, even. Okay. I I love heavy metal music. Uh it's one of my favorite genres. Uh you can still uh promote the Lord in heavy metal. I think you're the one that I mean, I listened to a few of their songs because you've introduced them to me. Yeah, I and I so I would say probably something like that. They're they're pretty much anything that Wolves at the Gate actually honestly puts out. They're yeah.
SPEAKER_00:That's good. So, what's the hidden gem restaurant in Owensboro you think more people should know about?
SPEAKER_01:Hidden Gym Restaurant in Owensboro. Man, we have so many great local places. We really do, yeah. I love the local that's one of the things about Owensboro. We have so many great local places to eat. I would agree, yeah. Uh, but if I had to pick one, I guess being a West County person, I would almost I almost want to give like the cottage a shout out. They're good, they're good. Um, but two, I mean, like, you can't go wrong with places like Kobe's or like City Walk or something like that.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, yeah, City Walk's good, yeah. All those places are good. Um, people it's funny, people ask me like, where do you want to eat? And I'm like, I'll name off the places like I've never been there, and I'm like, well, where do you want to go? Like, well, we want to go to Beef Foot Bredies or Chili's. And I'm like, guys, come on. Like, there's too many. There's way too many, yeah. Yeah. You gotta try local. No, it's good. All right. Uh, if you could have dinner with one movie character or one real life hero, who are they?
SPEAKER_01:One movie character, one real life hero.
unknown:Oh man.
SPEAKER_01:Uh, if I could okay.
SPEAKER_00:So I'm we're thinking Obi. One if you think of Star Wars, I'm sure.
SPEAKER_01:So yeah, like I would say that, you know, maybe uh an odd one. Ethan Hunt from the Mission Impossible movies. Okay. Yeah. That would be uh that dude's awesome, like, or like Maverick from Top Gun. I know I'm naming off Tom Cruise movies here, um, but uh something like that. Um but like real life um even person, man, that's that's tough. I mean, there's so many, there's so many great people. Um I don't know. Okay, I don't know that.
SPEAKER_00:That's fine. Let's hit to the movie stuff. All right, uh cross uh your weekend off. Are you going on a Disney trip or a movie marathon? If I have a weekend off, um probably a movie marathon. Movie marathon, all right. Uh cross country race you'll never forget.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, so it was Christian County. Um I I ran the race of my life and placed first. Okay. So that's probably why it's gonna stick with me because I I came in first place. Um, but yeah, it was a Christian county race that I came first place, and that'll always stick in my mind. I actually uh I I actually lost my first place medal on the way home. Uh on the way home? On the way home. On the on like sometime from like getting it to getting on the bus to getting back to Davis County, I lost my medal.
SPEAKER_00:Oh man, that stinks. All right, well, uh so Faith and Film, what what movie best captures your view on hope or redemption?
SPEAKER_02:Faith and film.
SPEAKER_00:Some of these are deep for for everything.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Um I know it's not necessarily a film, but like the chosen TV series is, and yes, obviously they they ful fully put out the fact that they have to take some liberty because the Bible doesn't tell us every little walk that Jesus and his disciples had. That's really great. But um man, there are there, you know, Passion of the Christ is I think can be very difficult to watch, but I think and sometimes in a good way. Um because that's you know, it's not like Jesus is having a good time during that that moment. Um but uh, you know, I think I think something along those lines. Anything anything that really puts Jesus at the forefront, I think is where I'm gonna go with anything that film-wise that if they put him in the front.
SPEAKER_00:So yeah, no, that's good. Uh what's one thing Chicago has that Owens Perl needs? Is it good pizza?
SPEAKER_01:Or no, we actually have good pizza here.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, I like I like the pizza. So I do like the pizza here.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, like Pisos and Feta and places like that. Those are great places. They they put out great pizza. Um uh man, I would love you know, sports. We're it's hard because we're just not that big of a city. And and I know we've tried um with like semi-pro teams and stuff like that. Like we had an indoor football team at one time, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Semi-pro basketball.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, basketball. Um you know, that would be awesome. I mean, we do honestly, Owensboro does a lot of things like really well for our size. Um, but yeah, I mean, just the avail we're and we're doing more. We keep we keep putting places in here for like um to buy things, like availability of things.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I mean, golf streams buying it all up and selling it out.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so they I I guess that would be a thing. It's just when you live outside of Chicago, like anything you could possibly want is within a very quick drive.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, there's definitely some pros and cons to big cities for sure. All right, and then the last one is where do you go for an Owensboro date night with Courtney?
SPEAKER_01:Um, okay. So Courtney would want me to say that we're going to probably like Papa Grande. Okay. Or or we're going to Wasabi or something like that. Um, but if we're going like if we're going like fancier, I really do love the Miller House. I think it can be really good. Um, you know, our favorite place unfortunate like her favorite, her one of her favorite places, unfortunately, isn't actually in Owensboro, it's in Newburgh, but um Cafe Orazu. But okay. Um, but yeah, I mean that's not a far drive away. But yeah, Owensboro, the great thing again, going back to it, Owensboro has so many great places to eat. They really do, yeah. You really can't run out of options in this city, and and local, the the local places are are awesome.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. That makes sense. Well, you did a great job. You passed, good job. You know, we won't give you a sobriety test or anything like that. Make sure you're all right. You know, let's go into that last question that I like to ask every guest. Uh I always think it's good, and I always like to do it. I mean, if you listen to the podcast, you know it's coming, but I try to make it to where people don't know because there's all I feel like there's always gold in that. And that is like if there's one thing, like if they listen, and I think this episode's been great. Um I've enjoyed talking to you and hearing and like learning things. But if there's like one thing that you that the audience were to leave with, like something encouraging, challenging, inspirational, like what advice, whatever, maybe someone's thinking, hey, I want to be an officer at some point, like, what is one thing you want to leave with the audience?
SPEAKER_01:You know, I I would say it can be hard, especially as a police officer again. But I would tell people Jesus teaches us to Jesus teaches us to love people. And I think Owens World does a really good job of that, but I would just I would just say try to uh try to be respectful. Respect is a big thing to me. Like you show people respect, treat people as human beings. Everybody deserves respect. So that that would be the the one thing, and so just do that.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, no, that's great. Well, Cody, man, it's been great. We learned about your movie heroes, uh, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Tom Cruise, all that stuff. Your your piece of preference didn't cross over a deep dish, you would have known. Your Star Wars at Disney, your Owensboro day night game. Cody, thanks for being such a great sport. Even if you are a Bears and a Coast fan, it's okay, we'll make it work. But man, guys, if you're listening to this, make sure to give Cody some love. Any officer some love, really. You know, Cody's out there serving, parenting, and proving that Owensboro got some pretty awesome people behind the badge. And then we also had Aaron Hamilton on when we will. So go ahead and share these episodes with people that you know. Go ahead and do something special this week for an officer. Pay for their meal, uh, maybe get them some coffee. And Cody's not paying me to say this, but you know, make sure to go out there and show some love to Cody. Cody, man, thanks so much for coming on. It's been an absolute pleasure, Brad. Thanks for tuning in to All Things Owensboro, where we celebrate the stories, people, and places that make our city special. If you enjoyed today's episode, be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who loves this town as much as you do. Until next time, Owensboro, keep loving local, supporting one another, and making Owensboro a place we're all proud to call home.
