Episode 49 - Simpson Hardware's very own, Shawn Matthews!

What a great conversation we had learning more about one of our title sponsors. Simpson Hardware has been a great partner and we loved having Shawn on to talk about stories he's experienced during his time there. We couldn't help but laugh a good bit, and we heard an interesting challenge from Bubba in a beach game. We hope you enjoy listening!

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Mostly Legal is brought to you by:

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Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:59

After he joined the group forces with the boat for the legal team.

SPEAKER_01 1:06

Well, I got my gun and I started walking down the trail, sneaking up on that beer. And he wanted a dog collar to make that dog get shot so hard it turns flips.

SPEAKER_03 1:24

I will beat their brains out. Absolutely beat their brains out of Bajiball.

SPEAKER_00 1:30

Ladies and gentlemen, outdoorsmen and outdoor ladies, welcome back to the Mostly Legal Podcast. We're excited for another episode. My name is Stephen Dinkins. I'm here at Dinkins Mill for another recording. I'm here with my great friend Bubba Johnston and my brother Scott Dinkins, and we're delighted to have another fantastic guest, a great friend, but a good guest that we're going to get into that I know is going to have some great stories that you're going to enjoy very much. Before we jump into that guest and the rest of the episode, we do have a listener of the week. Scott's going to speak to.

SPEAKER_04 2:01

Yep, our listener of the week this week is my cousin Jake Maddox. Our cousin. Sorry, pardon me. Our cousin. Jake and his wife Haley live up in Wrightsville Beach. Jake told us this past week we were with them on family vacation down at or up at Cherry Grove. And he just told us, you know, I don't I don't love hunting and fishing like y'all do, but I love to listen to y'all tell stories. And uh, you know, so there you we talk about our footprint. I mean, Eastern North Carolina is included in the seven continents that listen to us regularly. Um so Jake, we appreciate you listening. We hope you enjoy uh the stories that we tell. I know you really listen uh to hear Bubba talk like most of our listeners, but um, we're thankful that uh that you enjoy it. I hope you tell your buddies about it, pass it around, and keep making mostly legal go.

SPEAKER_00 2:52

Jake also reminded Scott and I of a couple mostly legal stories that involved him uh and us down at the beach. We might jump into those. Maybe we they come out tonight or another episode in the near future, but uh it was good to reminisce with him.

SPEAKER_04 3:04

Yeah, some of those stories aren't the most flattering stories. No, but they're good. And that's what we do almost lately.

SPEAKER_00 3:10

That's what we do. That's right. Well, speaking of stories that aren't always flattering but are often funny, uh, we want to jump over to our guest now. We're excited to have Mr. Sean Matthews. Mr. Sean is part of the owner, one of the owners, part of the family uh Simpson's hardware and sporting goods. Sean and I go a long ways back. He and I were actually college roommates at South Carolina many moons ago. Uh Sean ended up dating and marrying one of my great uh friends from high school, Miss Molly Simpson. Now Molly Matthews, and they are good friends of my wife and I, and uh we're excited to have him on the podcast. But Sean, before we jump in and start asking questions and laughing and hearing stories, uh all three of us, Bubba, Scott, and I want to thank you for Simpson's support. Uh this podcast would not be possible. We would not be knocking on the door of 52 straight weeks of podcast episodes if it weren't for the generous support of Simpsons and you personally, but your whole team there and the whole family. So we're very grateful for the way you guys have uh been in our corner from the start.

SPEAKER_02 4:08

Absolutely. Well, and it's been impressive that y'all have continued on. I remember that first phone call and laughing more than I took it serious. You're gonna do what? A podcast? And you want us to sponsor it? So I'm glad that we're a part of it and glad that it's continued. And I am a regular listener, so I look forward to it.

SPEAKER_04 4:29

That's very flattering. But you you had a long line of people that you were in front of on the sponsor list. I just want you to know that.

SPEAKER_02 4:36

Well, we're honored to be a part of it too. I mean, I do think it's a good fit. It's a good fit. What y'all do, what we do. We like being partners together.

SPEAKER_00 4:45

Yeah, even if you weren't a sponsor, almost every episode somehow there's a story that involves going to Simpsons and reloading on what ammunition or fishing gear or whatever, or running into somebody there and bumblefinding out the hot fishing hole or whatever. So it's a it's certainly a hub of outdoor stuff in Sumper County.

SPEAKER_03 5:01

Absolutely. We uh we we do love the hardware. We we we travel there and frequent there a lot.

SPEAKER_00 5:06

My wife is very fond of y'all's ladies' section, so you know now you the audience won't hear this for a another few days, but uh we're actually recording on uh a big sales day for Simpsons. Sean just got here and told us Father's Day is coming up and they're having their biggest days of the year. So happy for Simpsons. If it's uh is by the time you hear this, it's too late to go get your Father's Day present. But if if you're that late and behind, it's not too late to get down to Simpsons and find something. I'm finding it before your day.

SPEAKER_03 5:34

But I I don't think it's a coincidence that they're having like these best days of the year and stuff after he's joined like forces with the mostly legal team. I'm just thinking it's absolutely like got to just dovetail together.

SPEAKER_04 5:48

It wasn't long ago they they won like, I don't know, some award in the Southeast.

SPEAKER_03 5:52

Absolutely, some kind of some awards.

SPEAKER_02 5:55

Once again, I mean they are like shattering glass ceilings because of this mostly legal podcast. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 6:03

I don't think it's entirely because of us. I don't want you to want to get pride from the bottom.

SPEAKER_02 6:07

Well, we're doing some work behind the scenes, but you know. Thanks, brother. Thanks. Great. Like I said, very honored to be partnered with you guys.

SPEAKER_00 6:17

All right, Sean. Did I um uh week, and I'm sure that we'll get around to at some point, some stories that just involve us and being young and dumb and in college and even the years after that since then. But you know, a lot of our stories originate with the outdoors, uh, people getting in trouble with the law or catching too many fish or just generally having a life or death, a near life or death experience uh while they're outside. And uh, we love those kind of stories. So you are at Simpsons. I imagine you come into contact with all kinds of outdoorsmen when they're coming in there for guns or ammunition or fishing stuff, and I bet you've had quite some experiences with the outdoorsmen, is that right?

SPEAKER_02 6:54

Yeah, I mean, and honestly, I am not the the biggest hunter or fisherman that you would have met for sure. And so coming into Simpsons, there was a lot that was a little bit of an introduction, and the very first like introduction I got at Simpsons one night. I was closing up and a guy called and he was very emphatic that his camo didn't work, and he was gonna come up, and what was I gonna do about it? Because he expected a full refund.

SPEAKER_04 7:21

What was it? What was the story? Like it like he was deer hunting and the deer saw him? I mean what are we talking about?

SPEAKER_02 7:27

He jumped right in and it was hot, so I didn't know either. So I start asking, it felt like a prank call, like like I'm being recorded. Like Steven set you up with some. Exactly. I was trying to think of names. He's done that kind of thing. I mean, he probably was involved. Well, this guy got hot quick, but I thought he was all kidding, and I'm not afraid to get a lot, so I went right back at him. Well, tell me your plan. Like, how did your camo not work?

SPEAKER_01 7:52

He said, Well, I got my gun, and I started walking down the trail, sneaking up on that deer. And then right when I was about to fire, boom, the deer ran off.

SPEAKER_02 8:04

And you know, I again not the biggest hunter, but I was pretty confident that's not the best technique to kill a deer. So I decided to call him out on it. Like, how often is that effective for you? And he kind of came back all about how his refrigerator full of meat, and and I, at some point, he kept going at this, what you gonna do about it? And I, you know, pushed back and he told me what he was gonna do.

SPEAKER_01 8:29

And I'm gonna come up there with my white beater and my tiny whiteys, and I'm gonna whoop your A.

SPEAKER_02 8:36

And for some reason, I was semi- sounds intimidating. I was semi-new to Sumter County, and I started thinking he might be serious. Like, he might really come up here. He fits the profile with his tiny whiteys and his white Peter, and he might take out my skinny A.

SPEAKER_03 8:55

So maybe you were on the phone with a Carolina fan. But definitely fits more. The Clips of Family. Oh, yeah. Joder. Okay.

unknown 9:07

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 9:07

So uh what happened? I mean, obviously.

SPEAKER_02 9:12

Nothing. I don't think he came. I mean, plenty of other awful returns and situations, but that guy, thankfully, we never met face to face. Never had started. Never had to see him all the way. That's right.

SPEAKER_03 9:22

Well, I I had success with that camo the next time, so I kind of backed off a little bit, okay? I mean, I could so see you doing it. I mean, I I I'm sure somebody did it.

SPEAKER_04 9:30

Well, once you got to know Bubba a little bit more, did you recognize the voice? That was good, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:35

I mean, he did a great presentation just then.

SPEAKER_00 9:37

I mean, we're talking about the bubble voice until we got it. That was good. You know, I I completely innocent. I I didn't have anything to do with that call, uh, but I think it makes me think of a call with another guest of ours, Stephen Lincoln of Raccoon Jesus Fame. That guy. He when we first got out of college, Stephen worked for a company called U.S. Laser. And what U.S. Laser did is they didn't sell lasers, um, they sold toner cartridges for laser printers. And so Lincoln would call on big offices, you know, that had lots of copiers and whatnot, and sell toner cartridges. Um, but I always kind of got a kick that the name was U.S. Laser. So I got a new phone. This was when, you know, cell phones were just coming out. And so I had a number that he did not know, and I called him up, and he was like, U.S. laser.

SPEAKER_04 10:29

That's pretty good. I thought he was here.

SPEAKER_00 10:31

And I said, And I said, uh, I said, yes, sir, this is Billy. I'm looking for a laser. I need a big one. He goes, Well, sir, uh, we don't sell, well, sir, we don't sell lasers. And I said, I said, Well, what the hell's your name US laser for? And I made him like explain toner cartridges at length. And I was like, okay, that's good about the cartridges, but I really want a laser. Can you at least tell me what you and about five minutes into it? I just broke. I cracked. I started laughing. And he was like, son of a He probably thought he was on the phone.

SPEAKER_03 11:06

Daughter Evil. A laser. One million.

SPEAKER_00 11:11

Well, so you've got to be careful. You never know who you're gonna. That might be another prank call. I told you. I'm not calling. Here we go. But I won't tell that one right now because that guy might get mad at me. He's gonna get me back. He don't listen to this. He does.

SPEAKER_02 11:24

Well, there. I mean, I if I thought hard, I could remember this person's name. And it was another phone call. And he was upset at his shih tzu in the backyard eating his her poo. And he kept calling her that female dog, and it was colorful.

SPEAKER_01 11:42

And it got he was upset, and he wanted a dog collar to make that dog get shocked so hard it turned flips when she starts sniffing her poo, you know.

SPEAKER_02 11:54

And um, he wanted to light her up. So, I mean, we have all sorts of colorful. And you know, I had actually a shit too. You should not talk to him what kind of dog food he was feeding that dog. Yeah, I kind of troubleshot that a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 12:09

Dog food's too good. Yeah. She wants it twice. Yes. Right. So did he come in and get the shot collar?

SPEAKER_02 12:15

Yes, most certainly did.

SPEAKER_00 12:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:17

Was it a dog? Was it a dog tra or I mean I had no idea. There's a little dog a kingdom. Poor dog probably got a little bit. No, I'm talking about the collar. Like what he went with. I don't know which kind he went with.

SPEAKER_00 12:28

It'd have to be a small one for a little dog, isn't it? That wouldn't take much, I wouldn't think.

SPEAKER_02 12:32

Yeah. It's like a lab.

SPEAKER_00 12:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:35

That's good stuff.

SPEAKER_03 12:36

So, Sean, how is it, and this is not putting you on the spot or whatever, but the Simpsons have been around something forever, and you come in as an outsider into the Simpson world. How was that transition? How did Bicall just welcome you in with open arms? Like, like he kind of feel you out, like, like Frankie, look what Frankie says.

SPEAKER_02 12:57

I mean, well, you know, I am not the first son-in-law in the family, but I was the first son-in-law in the business. And it is almost like I got this little reputation. And I mean, I definitely started out. I mean, I was in hardware. I was in lawn and garden. I was a normal just guy on the floor. I never was gonna be your most knowledgeable hardware in lawn and garden, but I kind of would specialize in little niches. And way back when it was grilling at the time, and this guy came in, and and this will just give you a picture of, I guess, what I feel like was the son-in-law reputation. And um, he had a problem with his grill. He's he claimed we sold him the wrong propane container to go, and I was listening. We were in the back, he was mad. He I know he was from the north. I just can't remember just the way he was interacting. Like Pickens County North or different north, like further north. And um like Charlotte. Sure. And I said, What well who you know, clearly he thought someone sold him the wrong thing. Well, who sold you the grill? Or what happened? He says, You know, is that damn son-in-law? And at that time, again, I was the only son-in-law that was working in the business. I said, Oh, well, that's interesting. Because I'm the damn son-in-law. And he was like, Oh, no, no, no, I like you, you're great. I was like, Well, I guess my reputation precedes me. So, I mean, I think being a little bit of an outsider, it was always an uphill challenge. And not being as much of an outdoorsman.

SPEAKER_04 15:25

And you're not from Sumter, so I mean, it's a little bit of a culture change. You grew up in the upstate.

SPEAKER_02 15:30

Yes. Yeah, the upstate. Spartanburg. Yeah. I mean, I mean, I did, Bubba. I was I, you know, I started out a Clemson fan. I was from the upstate. I went to games with Ryan Wolf. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Let's you you started out a Clemson fan? Did your dad go to Clemson? No. He just, you know, we got season tickets. We would just go. I mean, it was maybe I was just a fair weather fan, but I mean I was into it. It's back when they were good. Did you wear orange? I'm sure I wore orange, yes. I bet he had some overalls.

SPEAKER_03 16:03

I bet he had some Clemson overalls.

SPEAKER_02 16:06

No, I don't I didn't have Clemson overalls. Did you have one of those orange wigs? No, I didn't have anything.

SPEAKER_03 16:11

Did you ever milk a cow?

SPEAKER_00 16:15

Yeah, I'm just curious.

SPEAKER_03 16:16

You ever yell go cocks? What's wrong with that? I mean, there's nothing wrong with that whatsoever.

SPEAKER_02 16:23

But I, you know, I I seriously, so seriously, I had a conversion experience. Let's talk about that. Let's talk about that. I mean, I I went to Carolina Columbia. I went to Carolina and I remained a Clemson fan as a student the first couple weeks. And you know, football season happens as a student. So why did you go to Carolina? Well, there was there was more opportunity. They have um I had an honors college opportunity. I had a roommate, and um, yeah, it was just who was your first roommate?

SPEAKER_04 16:56

Daniel Warbane.

SPEAKER_00 16:57

Oh, I didn't realize that's who you started with.

SPEAKER_04 16:58

Yeah, okay. And and what was your major? Business, business management. Yeah, obviously, you know, top business school in the country. That's right. Internationally.

SPEAKER_02 17:07

So it just was an opportunity. It seemed to fit. The Lord led me there, clearly. But in the beginning, I seriously with some of my new friends, like y'all, I mean, I I don't know what it's gonna be like. I don't know if I can cheer for Carolina. And leading up, it Charlie Ward was a quarterback, and they played Far State. Clemson played Far State that Thursday night, and I found myself kind of like okay, Charlie Ward going off on Clemson, which maybe he did, maybe he didn't. I don't remember. But that Saturday. He was good. I can't remember who we played. Maybe let's just say it wasn't George Tech. I can't remember who we played, we opened the season with. South Carolina. South Carolina. Who we Yeah?

SPEAKER_00 17:51

You think you might it would have been somebody small if we were opening with them. Yeah, maybe.

SPEAKER_02 17:57

I don't remember. But I was there, and I again questioning, am I gonna be able to cheer? I just don't know. And it seriously happened. I I am a Clemson fan, and then all of a sudden, 2001 played. And it literally goosebumps, and it is like the garnet has been flowing through my body ever since.

SPEAKER_00 18:17

I mean was it was it when they got the shower curve and cocky was there, and it was like bam! That's the shot.

SPEAKER_02 18:23

I've never been as big a fan of that. And you know, you may not remember this, but later my freshman year, I took a trip to Clemson when Carolina played, and just as I don't, you might not remember his name is Tannehill or something.

SPEAKER_03 18:34

You may not remember, but he acted like he peed on a Dagger Ball after he won the game. I know what he did.

SPEAKER_02 18:41

I remember I mean it was a beautiful day for Carolina fans, not as beautiful, not as beautiful for y'all. But um we've been on the non-beautiful side. Seeing the color orange, it felt different. We'll just say that. And so, I mean, I just you know, it's a conversion experience.

SPEAKER_00 19:02

That was a pretty wild year to have your first year at Carolina and as a Carolina fan. Because we were, if I remember right, not good in the 0-6. Yes, and it was the player revolt with Sparky Woods.

SPEAKER_02 19:13

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 19:14

And that's when he pulled the freshman, Tannehill, and put him in. Yeah, and he won the next five games. Special. He was incredible, and that's when he went up to Clemson and yeah, pulled off kind of the miracle because we were big underdogs.

SPEAKER_03 19:26

Yeah, but I'm sure we don't want to talk about that. I remember, no, we can talk about it. That's fine. We need to chair so came cop victories. I mean, not a whole lot of them. We can talk about them. We have not had this many.

SPEAKER_00 19:37

You were right. Yeah, unfortunately, that is that is true. Um, Sean, you know, we talk to a lot of different guests, and a lot of them, of course, as you know, have a tremendous amount of experience in the outdoors, you know, lifetime of it. And they've got these different stories of having run-ins with the law. Have you ever been uh hunting or fishing and had a run-in with a game warden where you had a had a ticket?

SPEAKER_02 19:59

I have not had a run-in or gotten a ticket. All right. I maybe have not been fully legal at times. Bubba's already pointed that out. I mean, just saying, just asking. But yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:12

No run-ins. So you got a clean record. Clean record. That's good. I do too. Bubba doesn't, but you and I do. So that's good. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 20:20

Okay, it happens. I mean, it's a big book. Lots of rules in that book. Lots of words in that book.

SPEAKER_04 20:27

And it's only a foul if the referee blows the whistle.

SPEAKER_00 20:30

Now, Sean, have you been uh hunting or fishing either on your own or with parents or with uh friends where you've you know had some memorable stories that have come out of it where you, you know, didn't something went different than you expected?

SPEAKER_02 20:46

I mean, not of much consequence for the most illegal podcast. I mean, I you know, my dad had some land up in um outside of Concord, and one night, uh one day we went out with a shotgun. I don't think we had our license just on his land, and I, you know You shouldn't have needed a license record. Shot. I mean, just the first bird I saw. And then, you know. What was it? I think maybe just a little song bird, probably. Tough to tip mouse, probably. And probably a cat bird. And you know, my dad grew up the reason why Matthews wasn't much of a hunter, it goes back to really my dad. My dad my granddad, both my granddads actually, they were built like in my jeans, I made for the job I have. My granddad on my mom's side was in retail, like grocery store, and kind of an entrepreneur of sorts. My granddad on my dad's side was a farmer, hunter, fisherman. I mean, built his own pond in the back, would hunt all the time. My dad had two older brothers. They were 14, 7 when he was born. So seven years between. So as he's growing up, just dragged out to hunt all the time. He hated it. So he never would he never took us. But when we I killed that little songbird, he made us, you know, cook it and eat it. So I I I I ate it.

SPEAKER_05 22:16

There you go.

SPEAKER_04 22:19

You do what you gotta do. That's right. Suffer the consequences. So I got uh a question just for time frame wise, you know, because Simpsons used to be over in uh what was the name of that plaza? Palmetto Plaza. Palmeta Plaza, yeah. Get here. Um and and then it burned and it moved to Westmart where it is now.

SPEAKER_00 22:38

Well, it moved to the uh well, Westmart, but the where the Westmart Shopping Center Plaza, where the beacon is, it was down in that corner for a year or two.

SPEAKER_02 22:46

But you are right that it was all temporary spots until we until we built where we are now.

SPEAKER_04 22:52

Right. And so how long was it where it is now until you came on the scene? Like what did that look like? Do you remember?

SPEAKER_02 22:58

Yeah. Well, it's it's in I'll back up a little to the fire story because it is kind of interesting. A lot of people probably know this, but you know, as you you guys were mentioning, it jumped around. But Carl already owned the land and had a little warehouse, and I think a dream and a plan to one day build his dream store. So the warehouse was not in the right, it was kind of off-centered so that the building, and we still have that warehouse. That's your father-in-law. My father-in-law. Right. And so the warehouse is we we actually still have now, and the store was built over and around it. So essentially a year and a half to get to the point when we opened in 2002. It kind of the fall of 2002, and then I came along the fall of 2004. Wow. Two years ago.

SPEAKER_03 23:47

Now, was Liberty Street the first?

SPEAKER_02 23:49

Was it was Liberty Street the first? That's a good question. Liberty Street actually is the first ace hardware in South Carolina. Carolina. No kidding. No kidding. The whole state. I mean, what else y'all want to know from me, OM? Good job. So, and this is a little plug for Simpson Hardware. This is our 75th year. No kidding. Been in existence. So 51 is when uh Molly's granddad or Carl's dad started the business. It actually started in Camden. He was there a little while, moved to Sumter in 61, and became affiliated as that first Ace Hardware.

SPEAKER_00 24:26

Well, that Liberty Street store, I'm very fond of it. I live on Salem Avenue. I live less than a mile away, about a half a mile, and I'm there all the time. I got plenty on my honeydew list. And Sarah and I are fixing up another house downtown. And so those guys see me all the time. I think they roll around when I come back in. What do you need now?

SPEAKER_02 24:45

Well, uh interesting. I've always found this fascinating, and I don't think most people know, but someone remembered this. It actually used to sell at Liberty Street Honda motorcycles, Browning Shotguns, and Converse All-Stars.

SPEAKER_00 25:00

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 25:00

And so definitely my father-in-law Carl should be known for the one that exploded the store, the business, and got into other niches. But his dad always was into other things through that store, too.

SPEAKER_00 25:16

Now we kid around a little bit about how many people listen to the podcast and how many continents they're home. Obviously, we like to exaggerate a little bit, but we do have a lot of listeners that are not in Sumter County, have never set foot of, never set foot inside of Simpson's hardware and sporting goods. And so I do want to say it's a very unique store. It's the biggest Ace Hardware store that I've ever been in that I'm aware of. I've had people come to Sumner and when I've asked them like where they need directions, and they're like, Well, I'm over here next to Cabela's, and they'll call it Cabela's because they've been inside and seen all the stuff that you have. It's a big, unique store. And so if you're out there and you're hearing us talk about what you think is just a regular old Ace Hardware store, whatever you have in your mind is probably not the right picture.

SPEAKER_03 25:58

I think you can actually go online. No, can't you shop online? You sure can. Tell them about that, Sean.

SPEAKER_02 26:02

Yeah, you don't have to buy it. Y'all come all the time, actually. Shopsimps.com, or if you're more for looking for hunting fishing, huntsimps.com.

SPEAKER_00 26:11

All right. So if you can't remember those, Google Simpsons and something find it.

SPEAKER_04 27:15

How long has that initiative been going on? I mean, I know it takes a while to get that off the ground.

SPEAKER_02 27:20

So you know it's been a few years, and we've had I mean we've had exponential growth with it. And there are times when you beat your heads up against the wall because there's so much involved to getting products online, and there's so much involved to shipping it and doing it well with excellence. So we're still learning and trying to get better. But it's a viable part of our business.

SPEAKER_00 27:44

It's awesome. Well, I think you're moving that way for sure.

SPEAKER_03 27:47

So when you mentioned the store like that, Palmoto Plaza catching on fire, I can remember uh when was that? What year was that? Um It was 2000, April of 2000. I can remember going on. It was on a Sunday or Sunday, you're right. Because we went on the same court. We there was a group of us went and we watched the firefighters fight it. There's a little coat of sack on the same court and had a vacant lot right there, and there was a whole group of people who sat there and it was interesting. You could hear the bullets. That's exactly what I've always heard. It's like a fireworks show in the sense where you could hear it. Yeah, you could hear the popping.

SPEAKER_04 28:18

Yeah, it was pretty waiting to see when when things settled if he could get in there and that's a fact.

SPEAKER_00 28:26

He's probably wrapping himself in temple.

SPEAKER_03 28:29

I was very fond of that store. Um, I bought for my birthday, whenever they came out when the Air Jordan came out. And it had Wilson Hall blue and white Air Jordan. Yes, sir. I got me a pair of Air Jordans, and that was a big deal back in the day. I mean, to go along with my basketball ability.

SPEAKER_02 28:48

I mean, I've just got this picture of Bubba with with the Air Jordans and wrapped in temp foil. I mean, it's just a beautiful picture.

SPEAKER_00 28:57

Unbelievable. No, Bubba, that's funny you say that because I remember getting shoes in that sentence. I still remember the layout. I still remember going back the back right to where the shoe section was, and Grant was selling shoes there. Now you now he's still working with you, but his son's working with you as well.

SPEAKER_02 29:10

Yes. Well, his son is our marketing director, and he it leads the online and does all of our marketing. He has a team with him.

SPEAKER_00 29:19

So, like in 85, 86, I don't know, I'm 10 or 11 years old. I remember when those Air Jordans came out, if they were a size seven or bigger, they're their men's sizes, they were Air Jordans. But if it was like a kid's size six or less on the little logo was Sky Jordan. And I was like a five and a half or six, and I remember being so disappointed that I didn't get the Air Jordans. I had the Sky Jordans. I was like that.

SPEAKER_03 29:43

I think those original blue and white sell for a high dollar now on the resale market. So, yeah, I mean, lots of people, it's amazing to think of the people. I remember like Roy Creech. Yes, Roy Creek worked back there, and uh, Jeffrey Schupin was one of those. I mean, a lot of people that are businessmen now in Sumter all work, you know, Jeffrey usually went with him to Louisiana, but it's amazing the people that have come through there that worked at Simpson over the years.

SPEAKER_02 30:08

And now we get some second generation, which you mentioned, Grant, but I mean we have some carry-out guys whose dad also worked in the business of seeing around town. And did you know my child works there? You know, sometimes you don't know.

SPEAKER_00 30:19

Yeah. But it's uh Liberty Street, you got a lot of guys there that are always helpful, but the the older gentleman, Mr. Melvin. What's Mr. Melvin's last name? Mixon. Mixon. He takes care of me every single time. He sees me coming in. He, what you need, he'll take me over to the paint, get it right, take me over to the light fixtures, get it right, the wires, whatever. He's he is you guys are known for your customer service in both stores. That's what sets you apart.

SPEAKER_02 30:41

We have a salesperson working at Liberty Street, Mr. Art. Well, I shouldn't say his age, but let's just say Yeah, I know his experience.

SPEAKER_00 30:50

He's experienced. Very experienced.

SPEAKER_02 30:52

Yes, he is. It's impressive.

SPEAKER_04 30:54

So he works at Kiki on our what we're kind of pinpointing, tiptoeing around. Um, y'all have a really good HR department, and you do a really good job of training people and treating them well and making them want to stick around and work with you for longer than maybe they would be in a normal retail store. I think what's the secret?

SPEAKER_02 31:13

Like, well, I would say that you know, the caliber of our people and and I think the expectation and the culture we try to create, it kind of fosters excellence from the others. I mean, it is hard as we get bigger to maintain that. Right. And we've we work real hard to do that. And I know we fall short, and plenty of people have stories of their own of how we fall short. You're human, like everybody else. Um But yeah, that's what we effort to do.

SPEAKER_00 31:43

Well, you do it well.

SPEAKER_03 31:44

Yeah, and customer service is a big deal. I mean, really, when you walk in there, I mean it's it's you know, you're not on an aisle for long that somebody asks you, can I help you with something? And it truly is. And Johnny, y'all have Johnny over there, and he is Johnny's awesome. I mean, I remember from him Beth Lomber days, and then y'all got him over to he's an he's a major asset. Johnny's a great guy.

SPEAKER_02 32:01

I mean, you meant we've mentioned some names, but we can keep going of dozens of like legends of names of people, you know, just want to help, they care about helping people.

SPEAKER_04 32:12

You know, I live in Chaffin. We've got a great Ace Hardware in Chapin, Bowling Hardware, and great family, they do a great job. Um and they got a big store, but they don't have the apparel side of things like y'all do. And that that is I think one of the things that makes Simpsons unique is the broad uh variety of the same.

SPEAKER_00 32:32

Everybody in your family can go there and shop.

SPEAKER_02 32:33

I mean they got everything. You really can. It it's a challenge to keep up with the ace side. I mean, I'm not s gonna say it's easy, but it's a whole they ACE makes it a whole lot easier to just order that side, and you don't have to have a lot of thinking. The other side is so competitive and difficult. Product product, the niches that are sporting goods or clothing or shoes. I mean, I remember when you know, and Molly was working in the store back in 2004 when we were there, and our clothing department, some will remember, basically was just filled with racks with like sweatsuits. I mean, like blank solid sweat dressing. It was a lot like racks of Russell. Oh well, Baba was looking for the pony.

SPEAKER_00 33:24

Sweatsuits, definitely. Yeah, just as image. I mean, what's about Clipson War? You guys wore ponies. Yeah, that's that was your that was your for a long time.

unknown 33:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 33:34

I can tell that you are definitely refreshed from which this is your second or third vacation you've been on this year. Um like in the last month. This is your second third. I mean, you're very you're on your A game today. I'm feeling good about it.

SPEAKER_00 33:45

Why are you taking offense to me, Twitter? I'm just saying I'm feeling like you're on your A game over today. I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 33:50

Hey, I'm I'm your man, but you you're my guy. I mean, you're my guy. I just I'm trying to figure it out. So you're speaking, hold on. Well, okay, we're gonna talk about this real quick. So we love something hard. We've we've we've established that it is a great store, it really is. And we appreciate all they do. But I'm getting ready to hammer Stephen, not hammering Stephen. Um so I've completely lost my train of thought. But we'll bounce out back out of this. So while he was on vacation, while he was on vacation, it's bad. There has been a challenge that's been issued, and y'all may want to be part of this or not. I don't know. But another sponsorship opportunity. I understand that that Stephen Dinkins has is the self-proclaimed bocce ball world universal champion.

SPEAKER_04 34:38

This is this is a team.

SPEAKER_03 34:39

No, this is not a team.

SPEAKER_04 34:40

Well, I beat his tail individually.

SPEAKER_00 34:42

Well, he doesn't I'm not sure that's true. Do you think that's a good idea? You're never sure anything's true.

SPEAKER_03 34:50

There's been a challenge, and uh obviously I'm I don't even know that I'm I'm with a player. I must be am I supposed to play you?

SPEAKER_00 34:56

You get a partner and get away from the ball. Bye. That shows that you don't even know much about bocce. That you think before red ball.

SPEAKER_03 35:07

Or do they have all the things? Do they have they all have the same design on them? They didn't know because they were two. They've got their teammate, two for the other teammate.

SPEAKER_02 35:14

So what wouldn't you say if you're a just establish, do you know how to play bocce?

SPEAKER_03 35:18

I will beat their brains out. Absolutely beat their brains out of bocce ball.

SPEAKER_00 35:22

We're gonna find out. I mean, we're gonna groom this beach right out here at Dingas Moon.

SPEAKER_03 35:27

There's not nearly enough room out there to play bocce ball. Oh gosh. I I like I like the long game and the short game. I mean, there you go. There you go. Can I like golf? I'm off.

SPEAKER_00 35:37

We're hoping we'd come up with some something else to talk trash about and compete with.

SPEAKER_03 35:43

All the millions of listeners out there, y'all stay tuned because we will have a result of the bocce challenge eventually. If we got to drive to the beach just for Saturday to get it on, it's gonna happen. We'll just find a beach over there somewhere. Uh we we it's gonna happen, it's happened sooner for that.

SPEAKER_02 35:59

Y'all sell bocce sets at some point. We do.

SPEAKER_00 36:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:01

Like that's uh sponsorship, maybe I'm sure we could help with. I love the ibocci.

SPEAKER_03 36:08

Abocce tournament. So, but highlighting, going back to products or whatever. Yeah, we were talking earlier, or whatever. Let's talk about the young man that the the the bait guy. What was the young young guy? That's right. Swamp.

SPEAKER_02 36:20

He's got the lures. Yep. Yes, swamp bait company. Swamp bait, not swamp lures. Swamp bait. I think. Y'all, he is a rising eighth grader, and it is stout how dedicated he is for his little upstart company. And um, I you know, my son is a rising ninth grader, and I'm involved in wildlife, and so I'm out regularly at the middle school lunches.

SPEAKER_00 36:48

Wildlife being a young life ministry for middle school kids.

SPEAKER_02 36:51

Right, thank you. Right, yeah, go ahead. So I'm regularly visiting, just hanging, seeing kids, saying hello. And Wyatt, I mean, he is focused. And hello, Mr. Showen, how are you doing? I'd love to get, you know, we start talking, these are my new baits, and he shows me, and you know, it's great. Uh enjoy getting to know him, and our fishing buyer is Chase Smoke, right, whose uncle and father have been on the show. Right. And so Chase and Wyatt begin a conversation relationship, and and Chase is probably helping him, coaching him a little.

SPEAKER_05 37:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:25

And they have, I mean, when he first went in, I think in less than a month, he almost completely sold out of what we bought. So it is selling. So people are catching. So how's that how's he making these baits? Like he's got a little studio at the house. He's I I mean, yes, he's got something. I don't know if it's the basement, he has molds, and he um, I mean, he's do he's doing it.

SPEAKER_04 37:45

Well, I'm glad he doesn't live in Lexington County because he would probably have the wrong permit to do that there.

SPEAKER_02 37:51

I mean, I think he's had to do the permit.

SPEAKER_00 37:55

I think he is mostly legal for sure. That's pretty awesome. Eighth rising eighth grader got a growing business, selling fishing baits.

SPEAKER_03 38:05

When he showed you these baits, you felt pretty good about them. You like the way they look and everything. I felt really good about them.

SPEAKER_02 38:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 38:10

And he's got video.

SPEAKER_02 38:11

I mean, he's like on the he's on the YouTube. And he's catching stuff, and yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:15

He's got one of those internets? He's got one of those.

SPEAKER_03 38:19

That's pretty funny.

SPEAKER_00 38:20

That's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_03 38:21

All right. Well, um I might have to get Steven on the pro staff. You know, he is the founder champion, Dinkathmill classic founder champion of the city. Charter member division. Charter member division, that's right.

SPEAKER_04 38:31

That was former, that was previous, not current. Well, technically. Technically, no.

SPEAKER_00 38:36

No. We'll get into that. Um, Scott, you just ask about this young man having all the right permits or business licenses. That's right. There's always a lot of bureaucrats that want to get involved when you have an endeavor. Um, and you know, we're mostly legal. This podcast is about people who are making attempts to be legal, and we're mostly getting there. And I think there's a story out of Lexington County where you were mostly legal and you had an enterprise of sorts. Is that true?

SPEAKER_04 39:01

Well, I need to I need to check into uh the statute of limitations before we get into that.

SPEAKER_00 39:06

Well, hasn't the trial like been settled? I mean, haven't we?

SPEAKER_04 39:10

There's an appeals process that might not appeal.

SPEAKER_03 39:12

An appeals process. Do you know do you have a good attorney? Do we know a good attorney that like I know the best attorneys? Oh, that's nice.

SPEAKER_04 39:22

You get them on retainer.

SPEAKER_00 39:23

I do. I do. Um, so I haven't anything. We're gonna leave it there, or we're gonna leave it there.

SPEAKER_03 39:28

Well, just we're not gonna quite leave it there yet. Okay, so so last week I'm not sure what day was that Thursday or Wednesday?

unknown 39:36

Tuesday.

SPEAKER_03 39:37

Wednesday, Tuesday, Tuesday. I called Scott to ask him something about the podcast or whatever. I think to make sure that Sean was on board for the day and that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_04 39:45

I think you were asking about the ticker, how many thousands we had hit this previous week.

SPEAKER_03 39:49

Yes, or something wrong, yeah, something like that. And so so anyway, Scott told me he's in the car heading heading to to chapin because he's got an appointment with the the court system or the legal environment. And and so anyway, that's when I found out that there was we can't really say because what is the statute of limitations?

SPEAKER_04 40:07

Well, that you know, let's just say that they are very very busy um updating their ordinances in various areas, and I would just advise y'all and all of our listeners to make sure you're keeping up with all of your county ordinances as they change. And the only real way you can do that is the interwebs, uh, social media, and you know, uh the WIS or the local newspaper. I mean, these are the ways you are to keep up with the local ordinances that do change based on who's you know sitting on county council.

SPEAKER_03 41:25

So the one that you may or may not have violated it changed?

SPEAKER_04 41:28

It um it has been a work in process.

SPEAKER_03 41:31

Oh their fault, all right.

SPEAKER_04 41:35

In 2025, it became a little bit more strict. Uh Lexington County, just so you know, is one of seven counties in South Carolina. You know how many counties are in South Carolina? Bubba, do you know this?

SPEAKER_03 41:45

I do not know this.

SPEAKER_04 41:46

46. 46.

SPEAKER_00 41:47

Do you not know that, Bubba?

SPEAKER_04 41:48

15% of the counties in South Carolina have breeding ordinances for dogs, and Lexington County is now one of them. And uh so they they they do pay attention. So those guys.

SPEAKER_00 42:00

If a dog gets pregnant, now you gotta find in Lexington County. Potentially.

SPEAKER_04 42:04

Potentially.

SPEAKER_00 42:05

Thank you. George Washington would be proud.

SPEAKER_04 42:08

250 years of freedom. Great doubt. Just down the drain.

SPEAKER_00 42:13

Yeah. What are you gonna do?

SPEAKER_04 42:17

Just tell the bait man to be careful. That's all I'm saying. Got it. You know, we did it.

SPEAKER_00 42:20

We had another young entrepreneur on the podcast several episodes ago who was also got tied down by big government. That's exactly right. He was making um bow ties out of out of feathers uh from wild birds and uh doing it the right way, not letting anything go to waste. And big government, big brother, comes and throws the hammer down on him and uh just yeah, decimates his business. And it's sad to see you know what happens when you turn bureaucrats loose and give them unchecked power.

SPEAKER_04 42:48

Well, that's why it's refreshing to have somebody like Ken Simmons, who was a former guest, uh, who was with the DNR for 28 years, come on and you get a perspective that you really appreciate. You know, and and Ken was kind of one of those guys that if you had to meet the mud, what did we call him, the mud marshal? If you had to meet the guy, he's the guy you'd want to meet. Rabbit sheriff.

SPEAKER_00 43:16

He was uh gonna be reasonable.

SPEAKER_04 43:18

That's right. He he wasn't he wasn't looking to fill a quota or to you know flash a badge or look down his nose at you. He was he was just there to make sure everything was safe and secure and everybody was on the up and up. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 43:31

That's a good word. Okay, so uh DNR officers and Simpsons, y'all cross paths a lot. You guys have all kinds of outdoor type exhibits or events or sponsoring different things. Um have you ever some some stories been burst out of any of those events that are worthy of retelling?

SPEAKER_04 43:49

Hmm. Or maybe we could set up some kind of cage match between mostly legal and and the DNR representative. Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_03 43:58

GOE, let's do it.

SPEAKER_04 43:59

That's interesting. I put Steven in there. No doubt.

SPEAKER_03 44:04

Can we bite? Were you speaking with Steven at a cage match? Were you y'all were roommates, obviously, were you there when what was the guy's name that slammed you or broke your back or whatever we did?

SPEAKER_00 44:17

Wow. I'm not sure we're gonna edit that. What is it? Well, I mean, new stuff.

SPEAKER_02 44:22

I was asking Sean was there. Well, I was not there, but Baba, you the story of all stories is some kind of wrestling match between one of the sponsors, Wayne Ridgeway, and Dink. And it is it involves Papa John's pizza and butter. I and you never will get to the real story. Oh, yeah. And all of our friends are curious, and one of them will say one thing, and but I mean the one you're referring to, it's it's real and it's sad, and it ends kind of poorly, but that's okay. But it's been redeemed. It's been redeemed, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_04 44:58

No, uh earlier before we uh hit record.

SPEAKER_00 45:01

And we will have our other sponsor, Mr. Wayne Ridgway, on, and we'll let him speak to the Papa John story. And when he does, it's a shame he couldn't be here today. I'll have a rebuttal. We'll be good.

SPEAKER_04 45:11

So we were talking about that. We were talking about Ford Wilder, who's just gotten an opportunity in Versailles of South Carolina. Congratulations, Ford. I'm sure you're listening. Congratulations, that is awesome. Uh but you mentioned that last year, uh, I think in the world.

SPEAKER_02 45:24

I'm sure he he's probably gone on the record thanking his fourth grade Y basketball coaches for his success. He's a pro Molly and Sean. Molly was the head coach and I was her assistant. Is that still the way it is?

SPEAKER_00 45:39

In a lot of ways. Yes. It worked remarkably well. Let me stop right there, real quick, uh, because a lot of listeners don't have any idea what we just referred to. But Ford Wilder, a young man that played on the basketball team of Wilson Hall here in Sumter, just got offered a position and scored a spot on the University of South Carolina basketball team.

SPEAKER_05 45:57

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 45:58

Um, and that is big news to come out of a small school, or really any school in Sumter, and then to go make it and play in the NCC, is a big deal. So we're real proud of Ford Wilder. Uh, Sean's son and my son have played basketball with him on his team, and so it's uh easy to celebrate. We're excited for him and his family.

SPEAKER_04 46:12

But the reason why I brought Ford up is because you mentioned last year in summer league basketball playing AAU or something, he broke his arm dunking.

SPEAKER_02 46:21

Yes, that is the story how I heard it. Yes. Okay. Now, I I seem to remember you also had a basketball injury. Maybe SLD set up there. I mean, it had to be his pride that was hurt. Because I don't think anything else. Although that's very difficult to hurt his pride. But yeah, you know, this is back in Kyle. I am prepared for this story at all times, but I would do not bring it up. And I was not going to share it.

SPEAKER_00 46:50

I'm going to bite my tongue for another.

SPEAKER_03 46:51

But it is still brought up, so we might as well just listen to detail.

SPEAKER_02 46:55

It was a natural lead-in. Yeah. And you were a part. I was there. You definitely. Yeah. He got the assist of sorts. Well, I don't know, actually. So Scott and I, this was basically also the Game Cox ever bowl victory, Carquest Bowl. 1995. It was on New Year's Day, which is a big day back in the day for retail to do inventory. So Carl, Molly, and the and the girls, whoever was there, I was not doing inventory. I wasn't part of the team. I wasn't on the team yet. So I was hanging out with the Dinkham boys and we were watching some football. Well, at halftime, we decided to go play a little eight foot goal, or I'm sure it's like nine foot, probably. Nine and a half. It might have been eleven. I mean that might be. Jack that thing up. So we were playing in the yard. Rhett Davis and the goose. And he's a tall drink of water. He is. And Dink were on one team, and Scott and I were on the other team. And I mean, I don't exactly know what happened. I just know I had the ball up top. Rhett being the tall drink of water, really just invited with wide span. I mean, I went between Rhett's legs from the right hand to the left hand, went back to the right hand. Stephen, who was guarding Scott, decided to come off the ball and try to that's what I should have done. You should have done what I needed to do. Well, maybe you shouldn't have. Because I had I mean it was a tomahawk. I mean, I would not say a tomahawk. It was just a strong dunk. No tomahawk. You going up, and I mean, I didn't really. Well, what did you do? I gotta go right. Maybe you kind of shuddered it. Oh, don't do it too hard. I don't know. All I know is it ended with my dunking on you.

SPEAKER_00 48:44

I think a better way to say it is ended up with you getting two points. Great job. And then we went on to win the game.

SPEAKER_02 48:49

No, no, no.

SPEAKER_00 48:49

What happened to the reason why this is a good thing? What is it?

SPEAKER_03 48:55

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. The fact that you even got to shoot in a game where Scott and Steven were on opposite teams, it's absolutely amazing. So I have been I've been in some games with them too where they were on opposite team, and we just all the the other four on each team, we just stood on the side and watched them play one-on-one. What how I remember Scott and I worked very well together.

SPEAKER_04 49:16

Somebody's gonna miss, it might as well be me.

SPEAKER_03 49:19

I mean, I mean you missed you miss, I mean, what are the the all the shots you don't take on?

SPEAKER_04 49:24

100%.

SPEAKER_02 49:25

It's laughable that he he's claiming that they won. He has no recollection of that.

SPEAKER_04 49:29

Do you have a recollection? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 49:30

I mean, I'm confident in my memory that we did well together. Also confident.

SPEAKER_04 49:35

Well, I'm also confident that you were no longer able to play because what happened was when you tomahawked it, his thumb was dislocated on the rim, which is why it relates to the Wilder story.

SPEAKER_00 49:46

You're confusing stories. That I that happened. That was not that was not on that dunk. Oh, well, maybe you got dunking on a lot. I don't double down a lot. That the the thumb dislocation happened when I think I was dunking on you, Tom Hawk's though. Bam!

SPEAKER_02 50:07

That's what happened.

SPEAKER_00 50:08

That's what I remember.

SPEAKER_02 50:09

It gets cloudy. We're old. You and Rhett. You know.

SPEAKER_03 50:12

I'm sorry. I'll still like that. You're depressed and you got to shoot.

SPEAKER_02 50:15

Well, you know, his boys come back from Africa on visits, and you know, I hated to break it to them that the dad got. Show me that guy.

SPEAKER_00 50:26

I love y'all, love your dad, but I do want to tell you something because I know he's told you how good he is. So I just need to put some things in order. There was a time.

SPEAKER_02 50:34

Oh, but Dick, I would love for you to tell my favorite story of your Wilson Hall days. Okay. When it was one of your best games. Yeah. And, you know, talk about exploits.

SPEAKER_00 50:44

Yeah, it was, it was, it's a it's a good story to tell because, you know, there's something good that I did, but then it would, it kind of turned and revealed something else. You're just setting up a teammate the way I was. I will say this. Um, I love to play basketball, but I was very much a role player. Like I would try to hit an open shot, but try not to turn it over, but be where I was supposed to be. I was not a great scorer. Um that wasn't my role on the team. We had a guy, Chip Humphries, who works at Simpson. That's right. Longtime teammate there. Uh Chip and I played ball together. We grew up together and through Wilson Hall and played on every team we could together.

SPEAKER_04 51:17

Chip Chip was the forewilder of your team.

SPEAKER_02 51:20

He was right. He was a great basketball player. Also, Chip and Molly grew up next door to each other.

SPEAKER_00 51:24

Next door to each other.

SPEAKER_02 51:25

Both my kids were working this week, and Chip was retelling Molly and Chip stories when they were with Hugo. And so anyway.

SPEAKER_00 51:32

Did you pull up the highlight video? Did he show you the high? He did that video pictures.

SPEAKER_02 51:36

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 51:36

Chip was a great basketball player, and I like to pick on him about the highlight video because back then there wasn't like Huddle or any of these AI online kind of highlight deals. Like you had to cut and splice BHS deals.

SPEAKER_04 51:47

He had Ivan the video man.

SPEAKER_00 51:49

Exactly. That's exactly right. Ivan would make those for you. And Chip had it coming because he was wanting to play college ball, and he did end up getting to go have an opportunity down at the Citadel. But uh so Chip was our best player. Chip was our scorer. And we made it to the state tournament, and we were playing at Exhibition Center, which was always a big venue for us. You know, all of us are playing in our small schools and our small gyms. I didn't realize this is in the playoffs. This is great. This is playoffs. I mean big time state tournament. State tournament. This is probably a quarter final game, and uh we're playing a team, uh it might have been Florence Christian. No, it wasn't Florence Christian. It was a team we hadn't played before in the regular season. So they didn't know what they didn't know how good you were or how good Chip was. That's right. The key to the story was they there was no scouting report.

SPEAKER_04 52:29

Torre McCord wasn't catching there by the back.

SPEAKER_00 52:32

He did not watch the film, he would have known. So um we come out and we get the tip and they pass it over to me. And I wasn't a great basketball player, but I did get to start my senior year, and and they passed it to me on that wing, and I just like, you know what? We got to lose this state tournament. Let it let it rip. So I shot the three just wet, just boom. Three three nothing bearings.

SPEAKER_04 52:53

And that, you know, that uh crossbow or a bow and arrow thing that they do. Stephen did that long before those guys kept it humble.

SPEAKER_03 53:00

Deshaun Watson got it from FEMA.

SPEAKER_00 53:03

So three-nothing bearings. We go down, they we're on defense. Um, I probably made some stellar defensive play to get the ball, I can't remember. But you're very quick. And uh, we run our fast break back down and pass me up on the wing. Our trailing uh big guy comes and he's kind of open for the pass down a little bit. I decided to. Sorry, Jimmy. I'm not passing it. I shot again. Boom! Six-nothing Barons. I'm two for two. I'm looking good, I'm feeling good. And it's a big crowd, everybody's cheering. Oh, man. And all the other teams that you have played or are gonna play, they're all kind of watching. So I mean, it's a big stage for Ask team. Yeah, NBA Jam. I mean, you're heat back. Basically NBA Jam. So no. We go back down and for some more stellar defense. We get a rebound, we kick it ahead, same thing. It might have been like Trey Brown or somebody coming this time. Nope, no Patrick's. Nope, sorry, Patrick. And uh, I shoot again. Three for three. Bam! Nine nothing. And I mean there really no passes. It's just like they make the ball. It wouldn't go anywhere else. So my head is about this big about that big. I probably had scored nine points probably all season long in a game, and now I'm got the first nine points of the game. And uh that's amazing, right?

SPEAKER_03 54:15

Hold on. So the great.

SPEAKER_00 54:21

So that so when I hit that third shot, boo, timeout. Their coach calls timeout. And the place is going crazy. You know, everybody's cheering. It's nine.

SPEAKER_04 54:29

I mean, people everywhere.

SPEAKER_00 54:30

Everywhere. I love to see the scene. Imagine the scene at the state championship of Hoosiers with Jimmy Chitwood. It was very similar to that. A lot like that. A lot like that. And so they call timeout. So we go to our bench and we get Gene Hackman over the we kit in our huddle on the bench, and like basically we're all just laughing because that's pretty unusual that man gets three in a row to start a game.

SPEAKER_04 54:52

And they're like, Pretty unusual, as in it's never happened before.

SPEAKER_00 54:56

It was just kind of unusual. Let's leave it at that. It was unusual. But did you get the big hand? And so, coach is like, okay, Steven, way to shoot. You know, if you're feeling it, keep shooting, you know, but let's make sure we're doing an offense. It's intentional. I don't know. But in the meantime, what we had thought about was that their coach called the timeout and he's over there coming up with a new strategy. And when we break the huddle and they come out. Remember, they don't know our team. Okay, they don't know who number three is. Maybe that's me. Um they don't know who number 12 was. It was Chip. I think Chip was 12, I can't remember. But they come out and they're in a box in one defense with the one guy on me trailing me everywhere I went. I could, and I'm so slow I couldn't even get the ball anymore. I couldn't go get around a screen to get the ball. But I guarantee you were trying. And so I what was weird was we came out and we started running the offense and we couldn't figure out what they're in. Because if you know about basketball, box in one is like a 2-2 zone, and the one guy is playing man, man on man. He's following that one guy around. And you usually do that when you got one score that you're worried about, and they had deduced that I was a score to worry about. So this guy is following me around. It took me forever to figure out what's going on. And then it hit me. There's a boxing one on me. And I looked at Chip, I was like, Chip, it's a boxing one on me. Chip was disgusting. He thought he was so insulting. So he got the ball, and then he scored like 12 straight points. And the coach was like, Time out, the right room. And when it came out of that timeout, they had the boxing one right. They had the boxing one on him.

SPEAKER_03 56:29

So that opened you back up. I'm sure now you did all you could tell.

SPEAKER_00 56:34

Well, Friedman made a couple free throws. Oh, goodness. But we won that game uh and went on to lose to Fox Christian in a semifinal estate game, uh, who was our nemesis that year. They beat us more than worship they had. But uh they were coached by Glenn Rector, who was now at Wilson Hall. He was a great coach, they had some great players back in the day, but a lot of fun hearing that story. But uh there's a connection to Simpsons and Chip Humphreys right there.

SPEAKER_02 57:00

There you go. That's good.

SPEAKER_00 57:01

All right. Uh, we're gonna end uh this episode with that story. I wish there was a better story for me to end on uh as far as Stephen Dinkins is concerned. But you did great. That's a great story. Uh we're thankful to you, Sean. We look forward to having you on for another episode. But we're thankful to Simpsons. I want to say again, we're uh very grateful to the whole team at Simpsons, but to you being an advocate for us and an ambassador. And it is our joy to get to promote Simpsons and talk about them a lot because we're great customers, and we had been before this podcast ever started. We're gonna continue to be uh no matter what the Lord has in store for this podcast, but we're gonna keep going because we haven't had a ton of fun and we're coming up on one year. It's exciting. We've got four episodes before we hit our 52nd episode. So that's the same.

SPEAKER_02 57:41

Maybe we need to have like a live something.

SPEAKER_00 57:42

Like I mean, we're gonna be talking about that. We're gonna come up with something special because uh we've done some research, and like only 10% of podcasts or less ever make it to a year than our weekly podcast. So part of uh being successful is just staying in the game and kind of continuing to learn. And we're trying to do that. We appreciate our listeners who are hanging in there with us. We have sometimes bad sound, good sound. Uh you know, we have different things happen. We have to do sometimes remote locations or on the computer, but y'all hang in there, we really appreciate it. Bad guess, good guess. Good guess.

SPEAKER_04 58:11

Y'all keep coming back. I'm not talking about today or not at all, not at all.

SPEAKER_00 58:17

But on behalf of Bubba and Scott, we're uh grateful to Simpsons, we're grateful to you listeners, and uh we're gonna wrap it up. We're gonna toss it over to Scott in just a few minutes for a uh segment from the Word, and then we look forward to coming back on another mostly legal Monday.

SPEAKER_04 58:33

Well, welcome back. I hope y'all had a happy Father's Day. I just want to give a shout out to the dads and granddads out there and think just for a few minutes about a verse dealing with fathers. Father's Day is kind of uh difficult uh for some because maybe you didn't have a very good father. And so your idea of an earthly dad leaves you with a difficult uh perspective on what it means to call God uh father. Because in all of your dealings, all of your experience, you only have known a father who wasn't loving, he wasn't kind, he didn't uh support you or encourage you, uh maybe he even left you, maybe you never knew him. Or maybe he died at an early age, and so you miss the idea of what it would have been like to have known him. Um nonetheless, the verse I want to look at deals with a new covenant promise. It's from the prophet Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament. Uh the book before what we know as the 400 years of silence before Jesus showed up on the scene. Um Malachi is prophesying about uh what God is going to do in the future. And this new covenant promise is wrapped up in family language. And Malachi chapter 4, um, talking about the great day of the Lord and what it is going to look like before Jesus returns or before the Lord returns. Jesus' name wasn't known yet in Malachi's day. But he says in verse 5 of Malachi 4, Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes, and he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the hearts of children to their fathers lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction. And so this New Covenant prediction is that one of the signs of uh the Lord returning is that fathers are gonna love their children well, and children are gonna love their fathers well. There's gonna be uh an establishment or a re-establishment of uh family, um re-significance of family values and the importance of family and culture. I would echo all of these things as being necessary for any healthy community. You know, we joked a little bit this past episode about uh different communities and ordinances and whatnot, but the backbone of any community is not law. It's family. Um maybe those two things are not mutually exclusive. Maybe you have to have both um uh without a family unit, a strong family unit, and the emphasis on uh love between fathers and children, between parents and children, um that community is gonna struggle, it's gonna fail, eventually it's gonna unravel. And so um as we think about what God is doing before the Lord Jesus returns again, he's he's strengthening communities, he's spreading the gospel, and that strengthening of the communities looks like fathers loving their children. So if you're dad out there and you know that you know uh mostly legal is really focused around fathers and sons and uh getting outside and fathers and daughters and getting outside and just being with uh one another and enjoying outside together, and then reminiscing on how we did that with our own dads. Um look, this is a great opportunity. We want to continue to encourage you uh to get outside, even if you don't hunt and fish, you know, get outside on a boat, get outside on a hike, get outside on a camping trip, um, and just be together, make memories, look for things that you can do uh that your kids can talk about, and um and continue to pour yourself into the relationships you have in your home. Hope you have a great week. Um keep this in mind. Look for ways to love on your kids and grandkids if you have them, uh pray for them regularly, and just ask the Lord to help you continue to lead them well, or start to lead them well if you need to get better at it, like I do. Uh we'll talk to you soon. Hope you have a safe week.