Stair Pits
What happens when a kid who lost the parent lottery grows up to find success — and then decides to write the whole thing down? Stair Pits is the podcast where author R.A. Thompson and co-host Max unpack the stories behind the memoir Stair Pits: a darkly comic look at a childhood gone spectacularly wrong. Expect real talk, sharp humor, hard-won wisdom, and the kind of honest conversation you only get between two people who trust each other. New episodes regularly — grab the book at unbreakableorigins.com.
Stair Pits
Welcome To The Stair Pits Zone
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What happens when a retired investor in a suit walks onto a college football practice field?
In this first episode, author R.A. Thompson and co-host Max pull back the curtain on an unlikely friendship, an even unlikelier mentorship, and the book that came out of a life spent doing the next useful thing.
Robert shares how five weeks at Utah Tech turned into years of steady presence on the sideline — not because he knew football, but because he showed up when no one else did. Together, he and Max dig into the contrarian mindset that guides everything: when everyone's selling these kids short, buy their future.
They also open up about Stair Pits — a lean, darkly funny memoir about a childhood gone spectacularly wrong in the 50s, 60s, and 70s, written for modern attention spans. Short chapters, no filler, and a simple truth at its core: you only ever live one of two arcs. You fail and keep going — or you fail and stop.
In this episode:
How humor delivers hard truths without drawing blood
Why identity has to outlast the athlete label
The contrarian logic of betting on people everyone else gave up on
Writing a book designed for people who don't read
Creation over consumption — and why it matters
📖 Grab the book: unbreakableorigins.com
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[00:00:00] Humor's Lens: Long Shot Vs Close-Up
[00:06:03] Showing Up Becomes A Mission
[00:11:39] Connecting Through Humor And Truth
[00:17:11] Why Write Stair Pits
[00:24:00] The Two Life Stories We Choose
[00:28:20] Closing Gratitude And Book Tease