What You Do In The Dark Shows In The Light

A new year is only as strong as the habits you’re willing to build in the dark. We kick off 2026 with laughs about late-night pizza, Book-It memories, and family traditions, then get brutally honest about what holiday breaks can do to structure, routines, and performance. When kids coast for two weeks, the game shows it. The fix isn’t fancy—it’s sleep, reps, and honest self-checks that turn intentions into outcomes.

We also unpack resolutions that matter: going to bed earlier because mornings demand it, reading to coach better, supporting those who serve, and getting comfortable with silence. That launches a deeper dive into fear and toughness, including the 40 percent rule from special operations and how it applies to youth sports, coaching, and parenting. High standards and patience can live together; the art is knowing when to lead, when to listen, and when to let training take over.

On the baseball side, we teach an overlooked skill with real impact: the on-deck role. Clear the bat path, line up the runner, and make the slide-or-stand call. Awareness creates runs. We talk practice standards at Sparks North, why “what you do in the dark shows in the light,” and how ongoing rehab matters long after you’re cleared. Alumni drop by, stories flow, and we end with unapologetic NFL takes—Bears-Packers, playoff predictions, and the joy of sports-fueled chaos.

If you’re chasing better this year, start with presence: put the phone down, trust your reps, and own your assignment. Subscribe, share with a teammate or parent who needs the reminder, and leave a review telling us the habit you’re building this month.

Transcript

Cold Open And New Year Vibes

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Well, hello there. Thank you for pressing play. Thank you for allowing us to come in whatever space you're listening this to, whether it be on your laptop, your computer, your iPad, your tablet, or even you astronauts listen to us out in outer space looking for a friend back home. If you haven't figured it out already, you're listening to the Good Man Show brought to you by Dan Brewer and Josh Casaris. So over the next hour or so, we're hoping to positively impact your life in ways beyond measure. So it's cold outside. It's the Christmas season. Grab something hot, whether it be a drink or something to fill your stomach, and say, hey, dude, you over there. Yeah, you yeah, you over there. Yeah, I'm looking at you. Give me something to positively impact my life for the next week. I got you. We got you. We're in this together. So take a seat, turn on that car, drive, and just immerse yourself in the good man show. Here we go.

SPEAKER_01 1:19

Welcome to the good man show with Bruce Sauce and Lord Puck. Born to be alive.

SPEAKER_02 1:27

Born to be alive. Yeah, we were born. Born born. Born to be alive. We're born to be alive tonight as the wolf. How's that the blue moon?

SPEAKER_01 1:46

2026.

SPEAKER_02 1:47

2026 has arrived. It's come. It's a new year. Yes. We're here. What's the statute of limitations on saying happy new year?

SPEAKER_01 1:57

I I don't think there's any. I I mean, I was gonna lead it off with a little happy new year for our fans.

SPEAKER_02 2:02

I heard it was January 4th.

SPEAKER_01 2:04

Well, you know, whatever.

SPEAKER_02 2:06

I bought chicken on the second.

SPEAKER_01 2:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:09

Expired on the fourth.

SPEAKER_01 2:11

You got bamboozled.

SPEAKER_02 2:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:13

It's like sometimes you go buy milk.

SPEAKER_02 2:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:16

And you gotta go to the back because they put all the ones that are expiring early up front.

SPEAKER_03 2:21

I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_01 2:23

You gotta check those things, man. It's like this. You ever go grocery shopping? Do you grab that front? Like if you grab cereal, do you grab the front box?

SPEAKER_02 2:30

No.

SPEAKER_01 2:30

Never.

SPEAKER_02 2:31

No. Or like bread? Never. My dad told me. Okay. Josh, never pick anything in the front.

SPEAKER_01 2:37

Gotta get something like second or third.

SPEAKER_02 2:39

But then I'm like, what if everyone else told their kids that?

SPEAKER_01 2:45

I mean, that's a good point.

SPEAKER_02 2:46

So like does that offset everything?

SPEAKER_01 2:49

No, I think there's certain things. Like I when I go buy the pudding. You buy pudding? Yeah, when I make my chocolate declare cake, I gotta buy pudding.

SPEAKER_02 2:57

How often do you for the kids' birthdays?

SPEAKER_01 2:59

And my own birthday. I make my own birthday cake.

SPEAKER_02 3:01

So four a year?

SPEAKER_01 3:02

Yeah, three. What about your wife? She doesn't she doesn't want the cake.

SPEAKER_02 3:07

So it's you and the three kids? Yeah. Four.

SPEAKER_01 3:10

Four?

SPEAKER_02 3:10

Four chocolatey clare cakes.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

Yeah, she's more of like a red velvet.

SPEAKER_02 3:14

I love red velvet.

SPEAKER_01 3:16

If you find a good red velvet, it is tippity top.

SPEAKER_02 3:20

I heard it's just chocolate with food poisoning. Not food poisoning, food. Food? Food coloring.

SPEAKER_01 3:27

You're telling the fans that velvet, red velvet's food poisoning?

SPEAKER_02 3:31

No, no, no. Well, whatever's in that dye.

SPEAKER_01 3:34

Yeah, but it's good for you for sure. Poison. What is good for you nowadays?

SPEAKER_02 3:38

Well, I was that water that you're drinking right now and that plastic, I was in this long conversation with my uncle. He's like, it's plastic, man. It's plastic. It's gonna kill us, man. And I'm like, yeah, but what else? I'm not gonna, I don't, I don't have the money to go buy glass.

SPEAKER_01 3:53

I don't have any bottled water at my house.

SPEAKER_02 3:56

Oh, so what do you drink?

SPEAKER_01 3:58

Go in the fridge and get the old out of the fridge.

SPEAKER_02 4:01

Oh, but you just you drink it like you put your mouth over the bottom.

SPEAKER_01 4:06

I mean, but I'll I'll drink, I'll drink water out of the tap. It's good for you.

SPEAKER_02 4:09

I drink water out of the hose.

SPEAKER_01 4:11

Some of the best water you ever drank was out of the hose.

SPEAKER_02 4:14

Back when I was roughing it up in the mud, oh yeah, battling the fake soldiers on the other side of the yard that they were fighting for my independence.

SPEAKER_01 4:22

Did you you didn't play football in high school, did you?

SPEAKER_03 4:24

No.

SPEAKER_01 4:25

Dude, I remember playing football in high school, and we'd be at summer camp, and they'd send you to like the troughs for water, and it'd be like the Wrigley Field Troughs? No, not those, Josh. But it'd be these metal things, and there'd just be like six water spouts coming up, and it's like that's what we drank.

SPEAKER_02 4:43

Like I saw that at the zoo the other day.

SPEAKER_01 4:45

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 4:46

For the lions.

SPEAKER_01 4:47

For the lions, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:48

In the jungle, the mic. I heard you saw a kid at the zoo. Logan Naraki.

SPEAKER_01 4:53

Ah.

SPEAKER_02 4:54

I talked to him the other day. Yeah. He's like, what are you doing over there? He's like, man, I know. I don't know what I'm doing. Logan mine, you lives in Huntley. Hampshire. I thought he lived in Huntley. Hampshire. H H. H H H. Triple H. Isn't he a wrestler? Triple H. Triple H.

SPEAKER_01 5:10

Hunter Hearst Houndsley. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:12

So no, he he a pedigree. He said he loves his friends that much. Pedigrees, I thought that was dog food.

SPEAKER_01 5:19

Go on.

SPEAKER_02 5:21

Wow. Logan said he loved his friends so much that he met him at the Brookfield Zoo.

New Year Traditions And Family Moments

SPEAKER_01 5:26

Good kid.

SPEAKER_02 5:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:28

He's a good man. Yeah. He is a great man. But to the New Year talk.

SPEAKER_02 5:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:33

I know we missed our last show, so we didn't get the episode in before the New Year. Right? Had some, you know, tough times at the brewer household over break. It's a long break. I heard the black crows almost were circling overhead. The brewer women had a tough, tough time. Did you kill those crows? The brewer men survived. We got through.

SPEAKER_02 5:54

Tough times, make tough men.

SPEAKER_01 5:55

New Year's, though, I gotta tell you, was fantastic. New Year's Eve is one of my favorite nights. I let my kids stay up till midnight. And I bring an old brewer family tradition back where I take all the kids out, my my kids, my nieces, my nephew, who's ever over, and I hand them all pots and pans and some spoons, and we go out and just start beating the crap out of pots and pans, dude. And just bing, bang, bang, bang, bang for five minutes. Just wake up as many people as you can. Are you are you the people by the United Center before Bulls games then? No. I don't have that good a rhythm. I'm just on the whap, whap.

SPEAKER_02 6:38

How can you well, you need motion to be part of the movement.

SPEAKER_01 6:43

Agree. I mean, there's some sort of tone to what we're doing, but I wouldn't say it's Deaf tones. Yeah. There you go.

SPEAKER_02 6:50

The band?

SPEAKER_01 6:50

And then you put those blowers in them the whole time. I mean, it is fantastic. It was a great time. I actually sent the video to uh my stepmom so she could see it in honor of my old man so uh you know he could be remembered for the good old New Year's Eve uh festivities that took place at the brewer house. But we had a great time. How'd you celebrate New Year's Eve?

SPEAKER_02 7:14

To that point, like I I love that. You know, you know when people, you know, they pass away, but you only pass away the last time someone mentions your name.

SPEAKER_01 7:24

Correct.

SPEAKER_02 7:25

They're always with you. Yeah, so I really love that. Uh we have a tradition where we go bowling every New Year's Eve.

SPEAKER_04 7:31

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 7:32

So um like late night bowling? Uh no, my mom, my mom doesn't stay up till midnight. She can't. Um, she's my mom's a nurse practitioner for all you listeners out there, and uh, she works, she starts at 6 a.m. and ends at 3 p.m. and never breaks off that schedule. So always go in bed by 8 o'clock. So we did 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. My brothers, I have two brothers, um Caleb and Noah, and my mother. I have a sister, but she's a traveling nurse, so she was out on the road, wasn't able to see her. I saw her for Christmas, but wasn't able to see her for uh the new year. And we bowled, and I almost lost my foot because there is when when you go out on these types of nights, you never know what you're gonna run into.

unknown 8:19

Nope.

SPEAKER_02 8:19

There's always a potential hero or killer lurking around every corner. And there was this group of hooligans next to us bowling, trying to perform tricks as if they were the Harlem Gold Globetrotters of bowling. And the ball missed my foot by an inch or two and missed my brother's head by a couple inches when the kid tried to throw it, and the ball went launching back uh rearward. So um we did that, and then we watched uh football because I believe there was a football game that night. Was it in was it in Ohio State? Yep. Deleted from the college football playoff. See ya. And uh I went to bed around 11 and then I woke up and worked out the next day. So that's how that's that was my New Year's.

SPEAKER_01 9:03

Very nice. Yeah, I actually took the kids, so we went to uh top golf. Now you told me that from six to eight o'clock, and it was cold. Did you run into hooligans? No, no hooligans. We were the hooligans. I'll tell you what though, I happy Gildmore about 10 balls in a row, and I actually unloaded on one and got it midway up off the back.

SPEAKER_02 9:28

Did it go through? No, it wasn't that hot.

SPEAKER_01 9:31

It was cold. Cold. I actually squared one ball up, I mishit it, and I thought my hands popped off. Like I actually called it quits after that one hit.

SPEAKER_02 9:41

Like playing ball in the cold?

SPEAKER_01 9:43

Yeah, yeah, like playing up east in in April and and praying the guy in front of you got on base with nobody out, so you could just lay down a sacrifice bunt so you don't have to waste in the bat, kind of cold.

SPEAKER_02 9:53

So riddle me this. You just described 10 degree weather. So you would rather question it. Would you rather play in that or in 75 degree weather?

SPEAKER_01 10:04

Would I rather play baseball in 10 degree weather or 75? I think that's a rhetorical question. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 10:09

So um, so you would play in September, right? Yeah. You would prefer, right?

SPEAKER_01 10:15

I mean, if it's gonna be 6570 in September.

SPEAKER_02 10:18

Usually is around here? Sure. Rather than March 10 degrees? Sure. All right, I just want to check that.

SPEAKER_01 10:25

Some has some have said that like baseball should be played in the fall, football should be played in the spring because the weather matches up better for the sports.

SPEAKER_02 10:33

Some just say I'm gonna eat 10 frozen pizzas and take it off.

SPEAKER_01 10:37

It is Monday, you get your half-price pizza Durbin's. I actually I I you haven't had that in a while, have you?

SPEAKER_02 10:44

No, I had it a couple weeks ago. They know me. I I call by name? Yeah. It well, I give the phone number. Yeah. I go, Josh. I go, yeah. Usual. Yeah. 20.

unknown 10:55

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 10:55

See ya. But usual. I cheated on them yesterday. Okay. Because I got here. It was a long day yesterday here. Yep. Um, and I was going tough tough day too.

SPEAKER_01 11:06

But we'll check it.

SPEAKER_02 11:08

We'll get there. Um, I was going to my uncle's. I hadn't eaten in 20 hours. Okay. And there's this place who during COVID, we had a good bond. Place called Vince's.

SPEAKER_03 11:20

I'll be like, Vinces?

Bowling, Hooligans, And Football Talk

SPEAKER_02 11:22

I'm like, yeah, it's Josh.

SPEAKER_03 11:24

Oh, Josh. What do you need?

SPEAKER_02 11:27

I'm like, I need a I need a frozen p not a frozen p. I need a large pepperoni. Twenty minutes or dollars?

SPEAKER_03 11:36

Dollars.

SPEAKER_02 11:37

How many minutes?

SPEAKER_03 11:38

30. See out the window.

SPEAKER_02 11:40

And during COVID, you couldn't go in.

SPEAKER_03 11:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 11:43

Um, so I'd meet my guy. I forgot his name. He had an apron, but Italian-looking, like old school Chicago guy, the guy that should be talking about Dirka and Burkis. Vincent. Vince's.

SPEAKER_01 11:53

Yeah, well, that was Vincent.

SPEAKER_02 11:55

He looked more like a Sal. He's a Vinny. Yay, Vinnie. Vinny. What are you doing over there? So I had that yesterday. And here's the thing. They're charging more for these pizzas that are smaller in size. I felt ripped off yesterday. And I'm a Chicago guy. You can hear my accent through and through with pizza. But if you're gonna keep taxing me on these pizza prices, I might as well just go to Little Caesars. I'm dead serious. And then also, I saw some lies yesterday on my television. Tom Brady was in a Pizza Hut commercial. I'd put$1,500 down right now that Tom Brady has never eaten a Pizza Hut pizza.

SPEAKER_01 12:37

Zero.

SPEAKER_02 12:38

Even thought. The thought has never even come through his head. You mean pizza hut? No one. Absolutely no one outpizes the hut.

SPEAKER_01 12:51

I found amusement out of it because I thought the same thing when I saw. I was like, this guy's never touched that.

SPEAKER_02 12:55

I turned to my brother and I'm like, Caleb, no way in hell that guy's eating that. I don't know. I can't even trust this guy's football opinion now.

SPEAKER_01 13:04

Maybe when he was at Michigan.

SPEAKER_02 13:06

Michigan man.

SPEAKER_01 13:07

I mean, I mean, if you look at that guy's draft phone.

SPEAKER_02 13:09

Then he's eating little Caesars, then. It's not Pizza Hut.

SPEAKER_01 13:14

No, well.

SPEAKER_02 13:15

Hey, but shout out to Pizza Hut when I was six and seven years old. They had this beautiful program. I don't know if they still have it. You would read books. You'd have five books you'd have to read. You check it off. You bring it into the restaurant, you bring it in, and then you get a free personal pizza. I look forward to that. They made me read. They were smart, they were educating while feeding me. Feeding me.

SPEAKER_01 13:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:36

And you know what? Pizza Hut breadsticks. I used to go to Target. I you would never see me walking to Target. But they had Pizza Huts in the Target, and I'd have the breadsticks with the pizza. And again, no one outpizzas the breadsticks of the hut.

SPEAKER_01 13:55

I I I did not know your love for Pizza Hut.

SPEAKER_02 13:58

Well, I haven't had in so long.

SPEAKER_01 14:00

I know, but you sound very passionate about it.

SPEAKER_02 14:02

Well, I that reminded me yesterday. But Vince's.

SPEAKER_01 14:04

Did just your voice change the softness at the end?

unknown 14:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:08

Just it, your passion and love for the hut. It's it's I did not know that.

SPEAKER_02 14:14

No one out pizzas the hut.

SPEAKER_01 14:16

Fair enough.

unknown 14:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:17

So I I gotta ask you, um, you got any New Year's resolutions?

SPEAKER_02 14:23

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 14:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 14:25

Can you share or you you hope these ones? No, no, no, no, no. I I I'm sharing. Um I have a couple non-serious ones. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 14:34

Well, how many do you have?

SPEAKER_02 14:36

Four.

SPEAKER_01 14:36

Four New Year's resolutions? Yes. Okay, go on.

SPEAKER_02 14:40

Number one, yeah. Going to bed earlier.

SPEAKER_01 14:44

It's a good one.

SPEAKER_02 14:45

Mostly because I'm forced to.

SPEAKER_01 14:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 14:47

If you don't know my other job, I we have early practices. Yep. And um, if you don't know my other job, we have late practices. So the only way to survive, go to bed earlier. Gotta go to bed earlier. So that's New Year's resolution. Resolution number two. Okay. I'm going to read more. What are you trying to read? Well, today I was reading the um inner game of tennis.

SPEAKER_01 15:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 15:16

And it helps me become a better coach. So if you're in sports, I would go read that book.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 15:27

Because sometimes we think baseball is a team sport, which it is. But a lot of times it's a one-on-one sport. And it's the same as tennis. So that's my second resolution. Okay. My third resolution, I'm going to back the blue a hell of a lot more than what I'm doing. And if you don't know what backing the blue means, me and Nikki C, we love going to culvers. And we're going to back the blue every chance we get. Alright. And then my fourth one, which is, you know, a one that, you know, I've thought about for not a long time, but it can it just dawned upon me when someone sneezes, I'm just going to look at them.

SPEAKER_01 16:13

You are so good looking.

SPEAKER_02 16:21

That's all I'm going to do.

SPEAKER_01 16:23

So a person sneezes, you're just going to stare at them.

SPEAKER_02 16:26

Yeah. You know why?

SPEAKER_01 16:28

I'm I'm hesitant to ask, but I'm kind of curious as well. So why?

SPEAKER_02 16:33

I feel people are not comfortable with silences.

SPEAKER_01 16:37

I agree with you.

SPEAKER_02 16:38

I feel when someone sneezed, someone just felt so uncomfortable where they just had to say something. Bless you, bless you. You know, I met a guy one time, he said he got stabbed by John Dillinger 15 times and he lived to tell the tale. His name was Frank.

SPEAKER_01 16:53

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 16:53

I met him at a church. He's like, Blaze you, blaze you, bless you. And so whenever someone says bless you, I just think of that guy and his lies.

SPEAKER_01 17:04

So you're you're siding with 26, sneeze, stare off.

SPEAKER_02 17:11

Yeah, I'm not gonna say anything. I mean, what's the purpose?

Pizza Prices, Ads, And Childhood Book-It

SPEAKER_01 17:15

Uh well, you gotta be polite there, Josh. What are you talking about? I agree with that. I mean, so my kids will wake up in the morning and you know, like my oldest will wake up and he snees us like five times. And I've got no point where like I don't say God bless you anymore. I'm just like, dude, go blow your nose. Like, come on, man, enough.

SPEAKER_02 17:33

I saw him yesterday. He's a good kid, he's a cool dude. If they were making a second Rough Rider or um, what's that gun with the the pellets?

SPEAKER_01 17:43

You're talking about the Red Rider BB gun?

SPEAKER_02 17:44

The red rider BB gun. If they're making a commercial and he he needs to be on the horse, he's like, I'm shooting a red rider.

SPEAKER_01 17:52

We're just waiting on the pellet, the BBs to get in, and then we're gonna be on target practicing. There you he's we got the red rider BB gun. He's the commercial Red Rider BB gun.

SPEAKER_02 18:02

He's he's the kid for the commercial. I mean, he's like a young Woody out of Buzz Lightyear and um Toy Story. I heard it, partner.

SPEAKER_01 18:16

I don't know what you're my favorite deputy. There's a snake in my boat. Oh man.

SPEAKER_02 18:27

Love that kid.

SPEAKER_01 18:28

So I gotta tell you, I I really only have one resolution.

SPEAKER_02 18:33

What?

SPEAKER_01 18:34

And that's I'm I'm gonna try to be nicer to my kids.

SPEAKER_02 18:41

So you're gonna say bless you when he sneezes.

SPEAKER_01 18:43

Nah, I'm just gonna try to be. I I would say at times I'm tough on my kids. I I have high expectations and I try to pull the most out of them, but I think as my kids are getting older, uh, and unfortunate, like you always say, with our hours and how much we're here, especially this time of year, like I'm gone a lot, so I don't see them as much.

SPEAKER_02 19:04

So I feel like we've been here for 13 hours, by the way.

SPEAKER_01 19:08

I know, I've yeah, I've been here since 11. It's almost it's almost 11 o'clock already, but uh yeah, I'm I'm going to try to be um kinder and uh just just more understanding to them as a father to try to uh teach them some things and and show them things differently instead of uh you know getting upset at them or or punishing them or you know yelling at them. So my goal is to be a little bit um kinder to my children.

SPEAKER_02 19:44

What's a typical punishment?

SPEAKER_01 19:46

Depends.

SPEAKER_02 19:48

I have one. I got punished. I had two. I was actually talking about this the other day. So she's like, How did your parents punish you? I said, Well, my dad, God bless his soul, you know, my dad. That's passed on for you guys that don't know.

SPEAKER_01 20:02

All right.

SPEAKER_02 20:02

Died to throw uh throat cancer a few years ago.

SPEAKER_01 20:05

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 20:05

But um he had this wooden paddle that he drilled holes with. Like he drilled holes in the paddle. I gotcha. And if I ever jacked up, man.

SPEAKER_01 20:15

See, but you were the oldest in your family.

SPEAKER_02 20:18

The other three were raised a little differently.

SPEAKER_01 20:20

100%. Like Jake is the oldest of our family. I'm the youngest. Like I watched my brothers.

SPEAKER_02 20:29

I got into fist fights with my dad.

SPEAKER_01 20:31

Yeah, I mean, I if the things that I think our parents and even the older generation probably did to kids nowadays is viewed as a um abuse.

SPEAKER_02 20:43

Oh, you know what it taught me?

SPEAKER_01 20:44

Discipline.

SPEAKER_02 20:45

And also, if I wanted to run my mouth, I'd have to stand on business.

unknown 20:51

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 20:51

And and that's that's a thing that's missing today.

SPEAKER_01 20:55

Oh, I agree. I think, I think, you know, I that's why I say it. I'm I'm not easy on my kids, and I try to instill a lot of discipline and accountability and and those types of things into them. But I think there's a fine line, as any parent would say, that all your kids are different, so you parent them different because you try to get them to gravitate towards what they want to do, but also pulling them in the direction that you're trying to teach them. Because as a parent, it's our job to teach our children and show them the way. And I think that my job with my children is to show them how a father is supposed to act and treat and be there for them, but also, like you said, like there's a fine line of respect and and them understanding that there is discipline and what they have to do and should be doing. Like that's what I'm trying to also get them to understand is like fine, you guys have to do these tasks or chores, or you know, clean this up or take care of that, or or get your stuff ready for school these ways. And if you do that, then sure, like we can compromise and make deals other ways. So I agree with you, but like, yeah, I mean, I look at my upbringing compared to Jake's upbringing, and the way my father, who also has past, um, treated him compared to me. Like, we have sat down and joked about it many times, and it's just like, man, dad didn't do any of that stuff to me. I saw it all happen, right? And I think that's what also struck fear to me. That was like, okay, I'm not doing that. I don't want that, those consequences.

SPEAKER_02 22:36

Fear is good sometimes.

Resolutions: Sleep, Reading, Back The Blue

SPEAKER_01 22:38

Agree. I I think there's a fine. Well, if you look at take the Navy SEALs, for instance, like the training those guys have to go through to reach the point they they get to, like, it's not easy. That's that's why the the quit rate in that is through the roof. Like, people don't make it through that because it's not supposed to be because to go do what those guys have to do is the most difficult thing to do. Like, it's it's ridiculous what those guys are capable. That's also why I love using one of the Navy SEAL things I learned was um when your body has exerted 40% of what your output is, that's when your brain starts to shut down and say, like, quit, you're done. You have nothing left. But in reality, like you still have 60% left to exert energies in your body. But the brain is going to continually tell you no, no, no. So you have to find dark places and and mental toughness to push through that. And the Navy SEALs have found that training and pushed their bodies to those limits to kind of figure out those statistics. But I always thought that was interesting. That's like when you're at 40%, your body and your brain wants to say no, but there's a lot more left in you that you have to find and figure out. And fear is one of those things that you have to be willing to push past to become great. And I think that's what we do in here a lot is try to push the kids past their fear of failure to reach their maximum ability and reach their true potential.

SPEAKER_02 24:10

Fear is a powerful tool. And I and I, to your point, I tell the kids, well, catching, I use this. I say, you have fear, a lot of the kids are fearful of blocking a ball. Understandable. It is a 90 mile per hour hard thing coming at you.

SPEAKER_01 24:28

It hurts.

SPEAKER_02 24:28

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 24:29

Especially when you get one in the wrong spot, it hurts.

SPEAKER_02 24:31

Correct. So here's the thing we have the fear of get a feeling a little pain for possibly a day or two. Or are you fearful of the embarrassment of a hundred people, family members, friends, coaches, teammates, them looking at you and the embarrassment that you're going to have with the ball sliding in between your legs because you just didn't want to block the ball. So you want the fear of embarrassment or you want the fear of physical pain?

SPEAKER_01 25:02

Hey, if you want to be a catcher, once you hit a certain age, if you want to be a catcher and you're in fear of getting hit, you don't want to be a catcher. You have to, it's like playing goalie in hockey. You we gotcha. But I said it to the kids tonight. It's no different. I mean, those dudes take pucks. And when it's a hundred mile per hour flying frozen piece of rubber. It's it's insane watching those guys.

SPEAKER_02 25:30

The defensemen are actually the more honorable men. I remember back in the Hawks heyday, they had a guy named Duncan Keith. Duncan No Teeth. Exactly, to my point. Nicholas Jolmerson, Johnny O'Doya, these guys, Seabrook, Brent Seabrook, these guys, Jolmerson, Nicholas, love you, would just throw themselves in front of those pucks. And they don't have all the gear that the goalie has on. That I don't know. That's insanity. But they did it.

SPEAKER_01 26:01

Imagine when they were playing without the like face shields on, too.

SPEAKER_02 26:05

Well, they couldn't lift the puck, though.

SPEAKER_01 26:07

I'm for sure. The sticks were way different than what they are now. Like their capabilities to whip those sticks now are ridiculous.

SPEAKER_03 26:14

Bobby Hall. Yeah. Stan Makita.

SPEAKER_01 26:16

But like those, I mean, you go to the olden days, goalies were playing without masks on.

SPEAKER_02 26:21

Yeah, no.

SPEAKER_01 26:22

It's insane. No. Like those dudes who got in the net with no mask on. There's there's some screws loose up top. But like you got some, you got some respect for that man. Like that hey, tip my hat to you, sir. You sir are are you're tough.

SPEAKER_02 26:43

And these were plumbers, too. Like these were plumbers, electricians. Let's just put the gear on for the hell of it.

SPEAKER_01 26:48

Let's go. But hey, we'll see. What are you most looking forward to this year?

SPEAKER_02 26:54

Oh, um, I was thinking about that the other day. I I think there are things on the horizon for everyone that I that I'm close with, and I really think that this year we're gonna take a couple leaps and a couple bounds.

SPEAKER_01 27:16

Love it. Couple leaps, couple bounds.

SPEAKER_02 27:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:20

Flying high in 26.

SPEAKER_02 27:22

It's time.

SPEAKER_01 27:23

What are you gonna miss about 2025?

SPEAKER_02 27:27

Um I was listening. Well, here's uh another resolution of mine.

SPEAKER_01 27:32

This is five.

Parenting, Discipline, And Toughness

SPEAKER_02 27:33

Oh, yeah. Sorry. I what I've realized is if I I want you to think of all the times. I mean, you played ball at a really high level. All the times that I'm just trying to relate here, all the times where you felt uh invincible, Superman-like, were you thinking during those times? Or were you just going?

SPEAKER_01 28:02

No, I was just trusting myself and it felt easy. You were going, and you were just playing, exactly. It was like you were uh it felt like you were a kid just in the schoolyard, childlike, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 28:17

Yeah, so what I've realized is the best moments and the moments that we love, you don't appreciate them in the moment, you appreciate them afterward. And so with me, I'm just not trying to think during certain things and just to do, and I'll appreciate it talking about in a couple weeks.

SPEAKER_01 28:39

Okay, let me ask you a question then. Yeah, if you go to a sporting event or a concert, are you videoing plays or like end of the games or last songs at a concert?

SPEAKER_02 28:58

No.

SPEAKER_01 28:58

So you're absorbing that by visually seeing it and letting it register it. Correct. I think that is one of the most lost aspects of individuals that bothers me. Like it's like going to a family thing or or or getting together with people on the holiday. Like, I don't spend time taking pictures or videoing this or that. Like you can take one picture, even like here, and I'm faulted for this. Like, I probably should have taken videos of my kids during Christmas today or on Christmas morning to capture that. But like we grew up and it was like, you know, someone's got the camcorder. Now it's like I don't want to have my phone up, like I don't want to have my phone up recording the kids doing it. I want to visually see it and remember it for myself and let my memories sink into my core memories and and kind of honor it that way. And that's you know, you go to a sporting event, it's like amount of people who are watching it through the lens of this, and it's like just watch it. Like you're here, you paid to be here. If you didn't want to watch it, just don't spend the money and sit at home. Correct. And and I like that. I I think that is a good way to look about it. Of you want to be involved in the moment and be in the now, but don't think about it. But don't think about it.

SPEAKER_02 30:18

Enjoy it, especially whether it be coaching or and I'm gonna tell our players this just you need to combine there are two people usually going on. And when you're you talk to yourself, I talk to myself, you talk to yourself a lot. Who's talking? Usually it's two people, two consciousnesses inside you. It depends. The one is trying to dictate the narrative, yeah. The second one can either follow the narrative or go in its own path. So we got me, I gotta think how going back to our highest moments, whether it be athletically or non-athletically, those two come together as one. And the narrative, there is no narrative anymore. Everything, all the time and the effort that I've put into this, it's just gonna go now. And so that's what I want again. For example, you take one bad swing, number one is talking to number two, dictating the narrative of saying you suck. I'm not letting number that one dictate me. Okay, that's why I just gotta go unconscious, like, oh, he's playing unconscious right now. Well, what what does that mean? And so that's what I'm trying to do, and also I'm gonna try to talk less during lessons.

SPEAKER_01 31:44

You're on like six resolutions.

SPEAKER_02 31:46

I know, I've been thinking about this. I've just stopped. I've I have I've been gone for a week. I've got a lot of time to think. No, sometimes bad.

SPEAKER_01 31:55

No, I don't think thinking's ever bad. I mean think too much sometimes. To your point, your first one was sleep more, right? I wish that I could make that my resolution, but for example, it's hard for you. Oh, for sure. But Saturday night, like I should have gone to bed early, and somehow I was up till 12:30, 1 o'clock because I can't go to sleep, and my brain's just working non-stop, and then I have to be up at 5:30 for high school practice, and then we run a high school practice. I'm here by 6:20. Uh then they suck. Oh, baby, we'll get there. Then we uh, you know, I practice till two because my little guys, and then you know, it's home, get all the stuff. Kids got school on Monday, so we gotta get all that stuff going, and blah blah blah. Watching football, game finishes. It's like, okay, I should go to bed, right? It's 10, 10:15, and then somehow don't go to sleep till 12:30. And it's like, why? I don't know, but I wish that could be my resolution. The one positive. I get it from my mother. My mother is is a night owl and she's nocturnal and doesn't sleep. And unfortunately, I kind of got that habit from her. But there's a one positive, though.

SPEAKER_02 33:07

I'm usually up late night too. You're the only guy usually can text.

SPEAKER_01 33:12

Well, Bob used to be up late too, but Bob's gone to bed earlier now.

SPEAKER_02 33:15

Bob's gone.

SPEAKER_01 33:16

And well, he when you know, he's there sometimes. Sometimes you can hit Bob late.

SPEAKER_02 33:21

Once in a while.

SPEAKER_01 33:22

Yeah, but yeah, you listen, if you want to text me at 11, 12, you feel free. I've told parents in the high school, like you're in just in the organization in general. Like, you can reach me anytime. People find it midnight.

Fear, Navy SEAL Grit, And Pushing Limits

SPEAKER_02 33:35

Like, you go ahead, I'll be up. Don't call Nikki C. He's up watching the wire.

SPEAKER_01 33:39

Nikki C.

SPEAKER_02 33:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:40

Good man.

SPEAKER_02 33:41

He was up till three watching the wire. Speaking of good man, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:45

I notice you don't have your good man shirt on today.

SPEAKER_02 33:48

No.

SPEAKER_01 33:48

But for those on Sunday. But for so did I.

SPEAKER_02 33:51

Yesterday.

SPEAKER_01 33:52

We all look good in that good man shirt. Sold another one tonight to a good man.

SPEAKER_02 33:56

I think we need to sell out this week.

SPEAKER_01 33:58

I do too. I think it it's a new year. There's still shirts, guys. If you want a shirt, come get it. There's not many left. I'd love to order more. I know the youth kids want some use sizes. I'd love to get some more hot on the press and and get them going. So if you're looking for a shirt, you know where they are. You know how to get them. Come to the office, man. Get yourself a shirt. All right. Let's talk Sparks North. Yeah. Let's keep quick. We have no Warriors to announce today. We only had one practice, and that was yesterday. And we sat there for four and a half hours watching baseball. And I mean, maybe there was one, maybe two kids that you could have argued, like, sure, we can dish it out to him. But as a mass, that was one of the worst practices.

SPEAKER_02 34:52

They need to go to mass.

SPEAKER_01 34:54

As an organization after that. That was one of the worst practices as an organization I think we've had in five years.

SPEAKER_02 35:02

I a couple times I've wanted to walk off the field.

SPEAKER_01 35:10

I did walk off the field. I vacated five separate times.

SPEAKER_02 35:13

We've been doing this a long time now here. So we've seen many a practice. That one, it was just, you know, again, 8 a.m. I mean, you and I were talking about, you know, wondering if should we even practice at this time anymore because, you know, we're coming out flat. And and then I'm like, I was thinking about that. We play at 8 a.m. during the summer. Um they they need to go to bed earlier. I'm sorry. Again, and then they get to college. I'm telling you, I I work for a university. Um three out of our four practices are before 8 a.m. And again, it's it's not it's not an anomaly that they're gonna run into that during high school and um college. And don't tell me, oh, it's not productive. Well, it's it's it's gonna happen, dude.

SPEAKER_01 36:14

See, but I don't know, I don't know if I can a hundred percent agree that it was because it's early. I think it's because it's it's my theory that I I have I have stood on this hill and on this mountain for a long time when I talk about kids and I talk about when they go on these two-week breaks, they lose their structure, they lose their routines, they lose their brains because they stop going to school and getting their their learning and teaching and and functioning and the things they have to activate as kids, and they turn to mush, and then it doesn't matter how many times we tell them, like you have to get your work in on your own because we're on break. I get it. This year was tough because uh Christmas and New Year's both fell on like Wednesdays and Thursdays, so it's middle of the week, so it was weird weeks because all this stuff is happening right in the middle of the week. But you can make excuses, you can blame whatever. It was point blank the fact that the kids didn't spend time doing anything, and then they showed up just expecting that, like, eh, we're good. You could tell kids hadn't swung bats, you could tell kids hadn't picked up balls, you could tell pitchers hadn't done anything, like it wasn't just one side, it was everything. And I wrote this down, I think it's important to share, and it's a little just quote that I kind of put together, and it's what you do in the dark is what is shown in the light.

SPEAKER_00 37:57

Johnny Cash.

SPEAKER_02 38:01

God's gonna cut you down.

Presence Over Phones And Flow State

SPEAKER_01 38:03

What you do in the dark when nobody is watching, okay, is going to be shown in the light when everybody is watching. And if you don't do anything in the dark by yourself, for yourself, you're never gonna be the guy. You're never gonna get to that point that you're saying to let go and be let relax and be the kid in the schoolyard just having fun because you've never been in the grind by yourself, you've never been in the tough place, you've never pushed past that 40%, right? You've never found those dark holes and dark places and and wants to push. And then you think the lights are gonna shine on and you're just gonna be good to go. And it doesn't work like that, man. I told the kids the other day at practice when I was chewing them out after the upperclassmen I was happy when I saw they were the early group because I thought it was like, all right, they'll get off too good. They had me blowing up by 7:45. And at the end of practice, I just basically laid things out and I said to them, uh 90% of those kids walking around are bigger than us. And for me, I'm sitting there saying, like, great, dude, you guys are all monsters. But if you don't play the game the right way, it doesn't matter. And if you think I said this, and this isn't like at specific guys, this is just in a realm of baseball and a realm of athletics. You can have as much money as you want, it's not gonna pay your way to get to anywhere. Your game and what you do is going to pave your way. You can be dirt poor and have the best work ethic and not need anything and figure things out and make it to the top. You can be as rich as you want, but if you have a work ethic to push and grind and do all the little things, you make it to the top. But if you feel entitled that something is going to be given to you just because of whatever, dude, you are wrong and you are you are sadly mistaken. And that's what I tried to tell these kids. I was not the biggest. Kid or biggest player or biggest guy on any team I played on. Right? I could I could vividly remember being in the AAA locker room and looking around and being like, man, I am tiny compared to these dudes. I'd go out to lunch with all our pitchers. They're all 6'5, 6'6, 6'7, 220, 230, 240. Here I am, 5'11, 190 pounds. Right? You aren't the biggest dude. So what do you do? You better do everything right and you better outwork them in every aspect of the game. And I try to tell kids, the only reason I made it to where I made it to was because of that. I had something inside of me. And I'm sure it's probably because I was the youngest of four boys. My brothers kicked my ass, dude. They pushed me. They always brought me to play with them, but they were always telling me, you either put up, dude, or you shut up. Like you either keep up or get out of here. So, like my options were figure it out, right? And compete and get there and grind and do the stuff to make sure you could fight and reach potential. Right. And you try to tell these kids that, and I swear to God, man, some of these kids look at you and it's like straight through you. And it's like, dude, sure. Maybe you don't want to listen to me, and maybe you don't believe me. And maybe it'll work out for you. But I'm telling you that the statistics on that happening are so slim. Because some of those kids ain't even, they're not even the best player in here. And then you factor in like, great, dude, if you're the best player in here, cool. But you're competing against kids across the country. And then if you want to play this sport at the highest level, you're competing against kids across the world. And let me tell you something. Some of these dudes who come from overseas and in the Caribbean.

SPEAKER_02 41:49

They have no plan B's.

SPEAKER_01 41:51

They have nothing. I've been out there, I've played out there, I've seen what these kids deal with with what they play with. I had to play in the minor leagues in Venezuela because I had to get a few at bats before they activated me on their like what's the big league roster. And I had to go travel and play and stay in a hotel by myself down in God knows where Venezuela. And I see what these kids play. The field we played on was a brick wall with no track. Like the grass just ran into it. I'm like, how are you supposed to know the wall's coming? And they're like, oh, the off-out feelers are. I'm like that kid's 16 years old and doesn't speak a leak of English. And I speak no Spanish. You think the two of us are gonna be able to communicate with each other? You know what happened that day? Your boy ran straight into a brick wall.

SPEAKER_02 42:44

Is that when you started not to be able to sleep?

SPEAKER_01 42:47

No, I don't think I've ever been able to sleep. But to my point, man, it's guys, players who are listening to this. Okay. What you do when nobody is watching is all that matters. You don't need approval from somebody else. You need your own approval. You look yourself in the mirror. If you feel like you have done everything you can do, and you feel like you've put in the time, that work will show up. And trust yourself, man. Trust yourself. That's all you need to do, is trust yourself.

SPEAKER_03 43:26

I don't want to talk about it anymore.

SPEAKER_01 43:29

Well, we do have to talk about a few more things.

SPEAKER_02 43:33

What?

SPEAKER_01 43:33

Nothing about practice.

SPEAKER_02 43:35

Yeah, no more practice.

SPEAKER_01 43:36

But I gotta say, I was sitting in my office today.

SPEAKER_02 43:40

Yeah.

Sparks North Practice Standards And Work Ethic

SPEAKER_01 43:41

And I had one of our alumni which one walk in. And you know, if you walk past my office right now, the shirt's hanging, so you can't really see in and out, which is funny. But I saw the kid walk up to the door, and all I could see was from his waist down. And I saw this kid's shorts, and I knew who it was before he even walked to my office. Big old tree trunk legs, short shorts. I'm like, oh man, that's Jack Calcogno. I know it is before he walks in. And all of a sudden I hear, I'm like, yeah, come in. Hey, what's up, man? I'm like, good old Jack Calcogno. How are you, man? And listen, I love Jack. He is he is one of my favorites. Um top 10 for me. I coached a kid when he was 14. One of my favorite teams I've ever coached. And he stood in my office, man, and we talked for like 15 minutes. He also coaches for us in the summer. He coaches with Marco. He's great for these kids. But uh Jack came in, man, and he told me some unfortunate news that uh in the fall he ended up hurting his arm a little bit. He's had a slightly tear in his labrum, so he's had to do a lot of rehab. He just started throwing again. But um he told me he was gonna be listening. I told him I had to throw a shout out to him. Jack, I love you, brother. Get yourself healthy, man. Uh, we don't ever want to see you kids hurt, but I know you're tough, dude. I know you're a strong kid, I know you're gonna get through it. So get yourself rehabbed, man. Keep on your rehab, um, which is another thing I was telling him. Like, you know, and I think this is good for all of our players who get hurt. Like, you guys do rehab stuff or or you you go see your therapist. Like, you once once you finish with that and you get cleared, that doesn't stop. You have to keep doing your your therapy and your rehab because that's what's going to keep you healthy for the longevity. Um, I think too many times kids who get hurt and then get healthy think like, oh, okay, I'm good, I'm clear. It's like, no, you're you're not 100% strong. Like, sure, you've gotten to a point where you're cleared to do something, but um, I think it's important for these kids to understand that like the continuation of your rehab and keeping yourself healthy is important. So, Jack, get yourself healthy, buddy. Take care of your arm. I know you were slated to hopefully have a big year at Tampa. Uh, I hope you can get yourself healthy and and and continue on the path that you're on down there. Uh, we look forward to having you this summer and coaching the boys. You'll be with Marco with a 17-year-old. So um, one other guy I gotta throw a shout out to, and he got a little upset at me today. My boy Jack Rosmus, another dude I coached when he was like 13 years old. Uh, I trained him since he was 11. Roz comes up to me, he's like, Hey, how come how come during the show, you know, you you said you like Finn more than me? And I'm like, all I said was that if I had to start a catcher, I'm starting Finn. Like, would you want me to lie to you, Roz? Like, I love you, dude, but Finn was better defensively. But and then, you know, he starts biting his tongue and doesn't know what to say. And I'm like, listen, you've had one too many concussions. I don't need you to hurt yourself, Roz. You'd still be in the lineup. T T E Ross. You'd still be in the lineup, bud. Like, you're still in there. Don't worry, but like, you know, I know you got a better arm than Finn, but he gets rid of the ball quicker. ETE Ross. But it was good, dude. A little back and forth banter with my boys, dude. It's always great to see the alumni guys.

SPEAKER_02 47:15

Um, especially when they're real alumni.

SPEAKER_01 47:18

Yeah, when the real alumni guys coming in, you know, the the guys who just show up and think that they get this place like that is what it is, but you know, we'll we'll talk about that some other time. So, all alumni boys who are finishing up their their winter, uh, it's been great seeing you guys. I know you're all headed back to school here in the next week or so. So good luck this year, man. Season's gonna start here soon. It starts in what four weeks, four or five weeks from now. Um, we'll be keeping tabs on you guys. We'll be doing a lot of talk of uh what's going on. So we wish all the alumni, the 23s, 24s, 25s, the best uh uh of luck this this year coming up.

SPEAKER_03 47:56

We love you.

SPEAKER_01 47:57

Love you. So it's time for a cup of brew.

SPEAKER_02 48:01

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SPEAKER_01 48:27

Love New Newman's Corner Pub. Yes, yes, good old Hampshire. Yes. Get out there, get out to the West Suburbs. But today we're going back to the talk about the Lavinue. Okay. As you and I were sitting down on Sunday, and we got a little bit over our anger. I started talking to you about things that I want to teach these younger kids. And we talked about a little bit last uh two weeks ago when we talked and what we're doing and in advance of stuff. And you know, the the fortunate part I have with this group is they are very good at listening, they're advanced for their age, um, they understand the game. The baseball IQ is there, they are all students of the game, they actually watch the game. So for me, I was like, I'm trying to come up with creative ways to teach them new things. And one aspect of the game that I think drives me nuts in youth baseball and even high school baseball is show up to a game and watch kids on deck. Right? And most kids, when you watch them on deck, they just stand there. They don't get prepared to hit, they don't have a clue of what they're doing, they don't have a routine, they literally walk out there and they just take aimless swings or stand there just talking to whoever, or you know, staring up at the clouds. And to me, it's like, well, that's your time to prepare to hit. But I think the thing that is never really taught to young players is your job as an on-deck hitter, if there's runners in scoring position, is to also be their help when they're scoring. So what I did with my kids is basically I put half the team on second base, and half the kids were on deck, and I would hit a ball and play. And sometimes I would drop my fungo, sometimes I wouldn't. And what I was trying to teach the kids was when you were on deck, if there's a base hit and the bat is in the way, one, you gotta get your butt up there and get the bat out of the way, and then two, you have to get in a straight line with the guy scoring from third to direct him, whether he has to slide or stand up. Um, and you have more than just a job of getting ready to hit, you have a job to be a good teammate. And I was telling the kids this, and they're all kind of looking at me, and they were like, huh. And I was like, Well, have you guys ever seen that? And they're like, Well, no. And I was like, if you watch enough baseball, right? And you watch pro baseball, especially good baseball, good baseball, especially playoff baseball. Yeah, you will see the guys do it. Now, sometimes if you watch on deck guys, like they will do it very half, you know what. But that's usually when the guy smokes a double to the outfield and they're just hey, you're up easy, you're up easy, you're up easy, right? So we practice that. Um, it's teaching the kids that what look at one, you're on deck to get prepared to hit, two, you're on deck to help the teammate score if you need to. And three, it's a point, and I believe Marco said this two weeks ago is you always have somewhere to be. Doesn't matter what you're doing on the field or what you're doing involvement in the game, you always have something to do and somewhere to be. And if you're not where you're supposed to be, and you're just standing, you might as well just put a mailbox there because that's what you look like is a mailbox. So that's what we worked on. The on-deck importance. I want the kids who are listening to understand that because I think even our high school kids uh don't do that. Um, I think it's something that we need to get all of our younger players understanding. Um, but this is also, I think, the point that we need kids watching the game of baseball and studying the game of baseball more. And it's not always about talking about this two weeks ago. It's not always about the fundamentals of proper fielding forms or drills and this. It's teaching the game, teaching the game, right? The involvement of the game. Every minute you have of practice or every minute you have in a game, there's something to do and something to learn. If your brain is continually operating, like this game is fun. A lot of people say baseball is boring, or baseball, there's there's not as much um action. Action, thank you. There's not as much action to it as a sport like football or basketball, and that's why more kids will gravitate towards other sports. And I don't disagree. Baseball is a mental game, but it's a mental game of thinking of things you have to do to help or back up or be there. There's things to do that create action, but you have to think outside the box, and you have to think what might happen or what needs to happen if this happens, and I think that's what makes this game so great, is it's played more between your ears than it is with just brute force.

Alumni Check-Ins And Rehab Mindset

SPEAKER_02 53:24

Well, going back to what you said, you were in a room filled with people sometimes a foot taller than you, but you were still there, and I and you're no dummy. So you had to think a little bit to be there, and that's the beautiful part about it, and also the beautiful part about it is that yeah, you might be 6'10, and I might be 5'9. You still gotta throw that ball over the plate, you still gotta throw that ball over. That's the equalizer. That ball has to come over this plate, and that's the that's the beautiful part about it, and also to your point, in terms of watching, um, you know, we both love the great game of tennis, and I've picked it up over the past couple years. I the only way that I've I because I can't afford tennis lessons, you see, um, and they won't let me near a country club, I think. So I the only way I can learn is um watching the tennis channel, watching those guys play. And I was watching a really good rally from the great Iga Swantec and Eva Lease yesterday, and I actually used in one of my lessons today with um rear leg drive. But that's I I images are more powerful than words.

SPEAKER_01 54:41

Yeah, well, I think majority of us and majority athletes are visual learners, so you learn from watching or seeing or studying than you do from reading. Like, I'll tell you this if I'm building something, like you know, kid toys, kids whatever. Like if the as I call them, the destructions, uh if the destructions are just words written, I don't even bother with them. I just try to put the thing together on my own. If there's pictures, then I look at the picture of it of what has to go and how it goes together without reading it, because my brain comprehends things way easier, uh visually seeing things than if you make me read something. Like I I jokingly say this reading was English and reading was a very weak point of my studies as a kid, and I think it's an reason behind me not really understanding and comprehending uh what I read. Um compared to when my mom started to give me books on tape, so like instead of me then reading it, she would give me the book and then it would be on tape, you know, put the old uh track in, get on your old Walkman, throw the headphones on, and listen to the book. And I'll tell you what, the few times I did that when I was in school, I was much better taking that test than I was if I someone said, Hey, go read that book. It's like no chance. So I think like you watching that is what helps you understand it to then utilize it as a source to teach kids how to hit.

SPEAKER_03 56:30

Me how to hit a ball.

SPEAKER_01 56:31

Gotta hit a ball. So I don't know if you're gonna want to talk about this tonight. I know it's late, but we have to. Playoffs are coming.

SPEAKER_02 56:44

I'm not gonna talk about the last two weeks. We got a game on Saturday.

SPEAKER_01 56:47

Oh, well, we're listening we're not living in the past. Yeah. The past is the past. You don't want to hear my take on last week.

SPEAKER_02 56:53

No, I don't want to talk about this.

SPEAKER_01 56:54

Billing, first, I'm gonna say one thing.

SPEAKER_02 56:56

Consume?

SPEAKER_01 56:57

I'm going to say one thing. When they were fourth and one on their own 30 or 35-yard line, and Billingsley jumped off sides.

SPEAKER_03 57:09

Consume.

SPEAKER_01 57:11

I wanted to jump through the TV and grab that large man. Good luck.

SPEAKER_00 57:20

By his roles and start going and then just shake him before he eats you first.

SPEAKER_01 57:29

And then listen to the announcers being like, oh yeah, he jumped off sides and touched the center. And then it was like, he obliterated the center. He didn't just touch him, he obliterated the man. How in the world do you jump off sides? Did you really think they were going for it?

unknown 57:46

Never mind.

SPEAKER_01 57:47

I know Dan Campbell goes for it. There was no chance he was going for it.

SPEAKER_02 57:52

Is it just Mere? Was he calling more conservative yesterday? Like those fields.

SPEAKER_00 57:56

Calling conservative. Every play was a post in the middle, a drag route in the middle. Gardner Johnson, Torch. Gardner Johnson. Jalen Johnson. Torch. Jalen Johnson, Torch. Jaquan Bursker.

SPEAKER_01 58:12

I the last play, the last play, after because my my brother and sister-in-law were over with my nephews, and they were eating pizza. And my sister-in-law at one point was like, Dan, aren't you going to come eat? I'm like, I'll be there in a second. The game's almost over. I'm watching it. And then they threw the same play for the 500th time, a drag right across the middle of the field. And who's there? Nobody's there. Who got to the quarterback? Nobody gets to the quarterback. And there goes the dragon for another 35 yards. And then who wins? Not us, but hey, great job, guys. He really came back in the fourth quarter and showed some heart and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. He really loves Caleb Williams. I love Colson Lovelin. I think that guy is going to be a Travis Kelsey monster. Travis Kelsey-like. Like I'm I honestly I don't. Ethan's in this little like phase that he'll watch football games with me and be like, hey dad, is so-and-so a Hall of Famer. I'm like, dude, he's played like a year. Like Puka Nakua. Is he a Hall of Famer? I mean, dude, he's played two seasons. Like sure. If he keeps, he did ask me that. I said, Matthew Stafford, I believe, is a Hall of Famer. And VP asked me about Justin Herbert. I'm like, not no. He's got a lot to do to get there. He's like, what about Josh Allen? I said, to be honest with you, if Josh Allen doesn't win a Super Bowl, I don't know if he makes it as a Hall of Famer. I think he's got potential to be. But like he so he's asking me all this and all this. What about DeAndre Swift? No chance. What about and it's just funny to me he'll never say.

Teaching The On-Deck Role And Baseball IQ

SPEAKER_00 1:00:00

Caleb Wood. What about Andrew Billins?

SPEAKER_02 1:00:03

I think he's ready for the Hall of Fame.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:07

Invite him over right after that play, though.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:11

That man's running off the field. And I text you it. My wife goes, look at that booty. I'm like, I don't think that's a booty. I don't know what that is. That man. Gonzu. But then it's like, what'd you run a 40 in? 4'9, 5 flat? Like, which is a good 40 for that human being moving. Like that.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:35

That was his first penalty of the year.

unknown 1:00:37

Oh man.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:38

It was so bad.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:40

But what I'm mad about, not looking towards the future, I don't understand. I don't understand how NFL, the NFL's oldest rivalry, you are putting on a Saturday night on a website that started selling books. I don't get that. And then you and then you won't, but it won't be for us. It'll be on fire. The rest of the country.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:05

I don't care about the rest of the country.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:07

I don't care though.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:10

You think I care about what the West Coast gets?

SPEAKER_02 1:01:13

I it this should we should be the premier game. And the premier game, like Carrie Underwood said, I've been waiting all day for Sunday night. I'm not, yes, I'm not. Ajack, here's a fact. I don't know if I've expressed my distaste for Kirk Herbstreet and his stupid dogs that continue to plague my TV screen and my my phone. I I can't stand that guy. He thinks he's the Pope of college football. And then Al Michaels, I I Al, you've done a ton. You've done a ton in your broadcasting career, but it's time. But to my point. Okay, who plays Sunday night? The Chargers and the who are they playing? The Chargers and Exactly. You gotta see his face right now. The Chargers are on Sunday night football. Why? Great question. Who are they playing? The Broncos? No, the Patriots. It's the Patriots and the Chargers.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:14

Well, that's why it's the Patriots.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:15

Who the hell cares about Drake May?

SPEAKER_01 1:02:18

Um everybody up east in Foxboro?

SPEAKER_02 1:02:22

We're the Bears. And I don't care. The Packers, I think, have a larger global following than the New England Patriots.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:30

Yeah, but Drake May is going to win the MVP, so they gave him a few. Matt Stafford should win the MVP. No, he shouldn't.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:35

The man has 45 touchdowns against a much harder schedule. Look at who Matt Stafford's played.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:43

I will right now.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:45

He has gone against a way tougher schedule. I let the dude at 45 touchdowns. I know. I heard that stat the other day. That's ridiculous. And this dude's nearly 40 years old. So again, I expect the Bears win. We should win by 10. And that's all I'm really going to say.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:05

Houston, week one. Tennessee, terrible. Philly, terrible.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:09

No, no, no, no. Nope. Nope. The Philly week three is a good win. I think they lost.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:13

They beat Indy early when he was good. They lost to San Fran, beat Baltimore when they were bums, smacked Jacksonville before Jacksonville figured it out. New Orleans stomped San Fran, beat Seattle, torched Tampa Bay, Carolina. They lost to Carolina. Playoff, hey, division winners. Yeah, yeah. The playoffs in the division winners.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:37

Baker Mayfield.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:38

Bum. Arizona, terrible. Detroit, can't say they're terrible. They beat us twice. Seattle, Atlanta, Arizona.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:49

Anyway.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:50

I just like that schedule's alright, but like I don't think it's as tough as you're making that out to be. No, I'll say this 45 touchdowns is ridiculous. But Puka Nakua is probably the best receiver in the game right now.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:05

We had Devontae Adams.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:07

And Devontae Adams is an absolute red zone machine.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:12

But I get it. I I think there's an argument that he could be. I think Drake May's gonna get it. I hope Ben Johnson wins Coach of the Year. No, she won coach of the year. Mike Vrame.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:23

No. No.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:29

Kyle Shanahan. He had nothing. He has that idiot playing quarterback. You don't like Purdy. He's a jackass face. You want to punch.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:42

He was Mr. Irrell.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:44

I don't give a damn.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:45

Man. Yeah, you love Caleb Williams.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:49

The Iceman cometh. The Iceman giveth. And the Iceman's gonna give us a 10-point win on Saturday on Saturday.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:56

I hope he does. First things off, we better get the ball more than eight minutes.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:01

How are we gonna show up Sunday morning after this game, huh?

SPEAKER_01 1:05:04

If we lose.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:05

I'm not showing up. Why bother? The Bears lost. Why bother?

SPEAKER_01 1:05:12

If they win, those kids can't ruin our Sunday.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:16

They can't. They can't. They could blow the place up, and I don't care.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:20

Well, they could.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:22

They can still ruin my Sunday.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:23

No. The Bears win.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:30

Chicago Bears.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:32

So what's gonna be the big win or big big reason we win week one?

SPEAKER_02 1:05:38

You mean here? And then uh because we lost two and we're due. That's it.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:42

That's your that's your big take. We've lost the last two, so we're due.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:47

Yeah. And uh that team, we're gonna beat beat the bricks off that team. All right? Send them packing. Then we'll go get another bunch of clowns, then we'll get them.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:56

Okay, so we're gonna beat Packers week one. Who do you think we get week two?

SPEAKER_02 1:06:00

Wouldn't it be the Eagles or something?

SPEAKER_01 1:06:02

Well, if that's if the Eagles win.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:05

Eagles are winning. You think the Eagles are gonna win? Eagles are winning. Again, attacking Nick Siriani and the boys again.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:11

You think the 49ers beat the Eagles?

SPEAKER_02 1:06:13

No, the Eagles. Or the Eagles beat the 49ers. Yeah. I think um, you know who's gonna go off?

SPEAKER_01 1:06:20

Who?

SPEAKER_02 1:06:20

Saquon Barkley.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:23

He hasn't all year.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:25

It's time. It's time.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:28

It's time.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:29

The Eagles, I think, um, it's either them or the Bears are going to the Super Bowl.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:34

Whoa. You're not even counting the Seahawks.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:39

That guy's a clown.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:41

Who? The redheaded defense is good, dude.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:45

He's gonna give the game away.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:48

I've been saying that since since he saw Ghost.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:51

It's time.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:52

But he hasn't.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:53

It's time.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:54

He hasn't. It's they got a good running back, and they got a dude receiver. It's time.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:01

I hope you're right. I do. I just and then guess who is coming out of the AFC?

SPEAKER_03 1:07:07

Oh my mom and fear for my life from the long arm of the law. Loman.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:20

I don't know the rest of the words, but hey, baby. What a win last night.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:25

This man has the Steelers going to the Super Bowl.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:29

My terrible towels in the mail.

NFL Rants, Bears-Packers, And Playoff Takes

SPEAKER_01 1:07:31

He's my terrible towels in the mail, he says. It was a great game last night. The last five minutes of that game got real entertaining quick.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:40

He would not die. Nobody would. Oh, yeah. One guy would. Who? That kicker. Don't forget. Don't forget. No, like people were ragging on him for that um the missed field goal. He made another cardinal sim before that, too. Kicked the ball out of bounds. For sure.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:56

That was a bad one.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:57

And then, you know what? Credit to Mike Tarico setting that whole thing up, like ragging on Justin Tucker. And then, you know, they had to get rid of Justin Tucker, and here we go. Oh, Justin Tucker wouldn't have done that. I'm going to tell you that right now. All right.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:11

No, Tucker would have drained it. Yes. And then talk trash to everybody. They should have brought Martin Grammatica out of retirement.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:18

I don't know who the hell that is.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:20

You don't know who Martin Grammatica is?

SPEAKER_02 1:08:23

For another show.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:24

For real? His son's a kicker at South Florida.

unknown 1:08:28

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:29

Fun fact of the day. But all right, hit us with the ending, Grace Puck.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:34

Um, well, if you're going out to that Bears game, it's gonna rain. So make sure we're a poncho. Say hi to my guy Rob Baba there. He's gonna be there. So if you're sitting in like the 100 level, say hi to his whole family for me. All right? Now, don't let someone dictate your narrative. I want you to go wake up tomorrow, go get a lifting. And all you people that are trying to get fitness, your fitness goals in, don't stop after a couple weeks. I'm gonna tell you right now, you're gonna thank me in May. Don't go taking those pills. Don't go trying to take easy shortcuts or whatnot. You're gonna feel revived, and everything that you do in the gym and eating healthy is gonna pay off in the summer. You're gonna look in the mirror, man, I look good. And then by the time fall comes, you're gonna be like, man, I can't stop. Remember, how long does it take to build a habit? Is it 30 days? Just go to the gym 30 days in a row. And then after that, you'll be addicted and you'll just keep on going. So get through January. Once you get past January, you're good. That's it.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:38

I got something for him. What? January. It's forearm January. You can't leave the gym without blowing up your forearms. Alright. January forearm blow up. Okay. Alright. You like with an air pump? However, you gotta blow them up. Blow them up. January forearm blow up. Get after it. Thanks for listening. Good to be back. We'll be talking after a Bears win. We'll be talking after a Bears win. Lord Puck, great to see you. Bruce Sauce Lord Puck out. Good night.