Pro Athletes: When Is Enough, Enough?

Rob And Jesse Dive Into Pro Athletes that stay far longer than their Prime and end up looking horrible or hurting themselves,

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome back to the Paradigm Shift. We are live, back with, of course, myself, Big Rob, and my partner in crime, Jesse. What's going on, buddy?

SPEAKER_01 0:10

Hey man, glad to be back for another fantastic episode. I know today's topic should be very interesting to anybody out there who's watching sports. Uh, this one is uh probably on everybody's mind, doesn't matter what sport it is, right?

SPEAKER_00 0:27

Absolutely, absolutely, and what we're talking about here is professional athletes in the entire sports spectrum that don't seem to know when to either hang it up or you know, how do we feel about them switching over to broadcasting or management or scouting or whatever the case might be, right? Um, what do we think about all that? We're gonna dive into it today, and uh we'll see what we'll see what we can kind of uncover. Uh, should we start with maybe Tiger Woods? Ooh, boy, that's that's that's a loaded one right off the top.

SPEAKER_03 1:09

Let's do it. Rip the band aid off.

SPEAKER_01 1:12

Boy, just hand grenade this episode right in the first two minutes. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:19

Mr. Controversy himself.

SPEAKER_01 1:22

Ooh, yeah, tiger, tiger. Yeah, you know, the thing with Tiger, I don't know if did you watch Tiger when he was when he was like at the top of his game. Did you see him at that point in time? Yep. Yeah, yeah. He was so good and so dominant. And, you know, I think when you compare him to like literally anyone else, the other players just, I mean, obviously, you know, there's some pretty good ones today, like Scotty Shaffler and some of the others, but it seems like just in a consistency type of way, Tiger Woods was beyond everybody else. He was just so consistent, he was consistently good. And some of the reason that he may have been consistently good was he was in such amazing shape. And by amazing shape, I mean like he was like toned in ways that the other guys were not. You know, he does not have the physique of like John Daly, you know, like he wasn't he wasn't, you know. I I mean, yes, he was going to Perkins outside of the outside of the round, but he was not going there, you know, feeding up on all the food and whatnot. And so I think what happened is that Tiger, it it appears, probably did a lot of performance enhancing type things that were were legal, right? Like I don't I don't think he ever did anything illegal, but the result of that is that his body paid the price substantially, and you know, Tiger today um is still trying to come back, but you know yeah, he's trying to golf, but but we have seen him in the news. Every time he starts to get there, he tears something, he snaps something, he pops something else. The dude something. Yeah, the dude is like the bionic man. I mean, he's been put back together so many times that he's constantly on painkillers, and with the painkillers, for whatever reason, Tiger Woods doesn't have a driver, and he wrecks his car every couple years and flips it and rolls, and and he just did it again. Yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_00 3:39

My here's my question. Now, I'm not a golfer, right? I worked for like two and a half years at a play, a company here in Canada called the Golf Dome, and it's basically just an enormous uh air bubble that you drive to driving range, indoor driving range, right? And every day, all day long on my shift, because no one was ever there, let's be real. I just practiced driving, right? Driving the ball for those who are listening.

SPEAKER_02 4:07

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 4:08

And I actually got worse as time went on, not better, right? I did not get good at it at all. It is definitely golf is definitely a skill, right? That I did not develop no matter how hard I tried. That being said, as a golfer, how the hell does your body get so destroyed, like more so than like an NFL football player for crying out loud? How does that happen?

SPEAKER_01 4:39

Well, I all the car accidents. I mean, yeah, yeah, they they play a part, uh, but uh you know, the bigger thing is just the torque, you know, the torque in every swing. That's what does it, right? And all of a sudden you you just do a little too much, uh, you know, you twinge some some way. I mean, you know how it is, you know, after 40, I could bend over to try and tie my shoes. It's impossible. Like, I have to like sit on the stairs, or they're not getting tied, ain't happening, you know. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's brutal, right? So I think it it's just that twisting motion, the torque of swinging constantly, um, that it it just adds up. And and let's be honest, I mean, parts wear out. Parts wear out, tendons go bad, and then on top of that, if if you're taking certain performance enhancers, whatever they might have been, uh, it it does seem like he's paying the price for that. And for the life of me, I can't understand why he keeps trying to come back. Why? Just stop, you know, just stop.

SPEAKER_00 5:51

How is he off financially? Is he did he lose everything? Is he still fine? Oh, he is loaded, he's like a billionaire.

SPEAKER_01 6:01

Um, so you know, so so back in time, back when he was the golfer, so obviously he had all his prize winnings, fine, but he also had all of his sponsorships, which were massive. And fast forward to today, he owns multiple other things. Like he's got a uh it's it's like a mini golf course called Pop Stroke, and you know, a few other things. So he is he's not hurting for money in the slightest. So the the it comes back to it's like, why why are you still doing this? You know?

SPEAKER_00 6:35

Maybe it's uh I mean it would have excuse me, I've got the hiccups, it would have to be either passion, like love for the sport, or ego, where you have to be in the spotlight. No one wants to be forgotten about after being so so big. I mean, the the greatest golfer in the world, the biggest, the biggest name in golf, arguably, even today, right? The most recognizable household name in golf, undeniably, would have to be Tiger Woods.

SPEAKER_02 7:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:09

So maybe maybe that's part of it. I don't know, maybe he's lonely. I don't I don't know, right? It's uh it's definitely beyond me if money's not the issue. I mean, you see, with most athletes uh that that just refuse to leave or whatever the play uh case might be, it's a lot of times it's money issues. They they blow it all, right?

SPEAKER_01 7:31

I've kind of seen it the other way, though, where I think it's it's not always money. I think a lot of times it's like like Michael Jordan, right? In his head, he's still the best. He's the best player. Yeah, he's the best player in the world, and he could still school you in his head, right? But the reality is, is the moves that he used to do to, you know, sort of juke somebody back and forth, and they go that way and he goes the other way. If he did that today, he's gonna like snap something in his knee.

SPEAKER_00 8:08

You know, yeah. Well, that's true. I mean, the the argument is constantly, you know, LeBron or Jordan. I mean, for me, it's an argument, it's obviously Jordan, but I digress. Um, I agree with you. But here's the thing about Jordan, he's not still trying to play, right?

SPEAKER_01 8:25

But he but he was at one point. I mean, you know, here's the thing is I think they they sort of like reach the top of the mountain either on their own or with a team, you know, depending on the sport, right? So Jordan is synonymous with the Chicago Bulls, period, right? Then, you know, he he retired once to go play baseball with the Chicago White Sox because again, you know, ego, he thought he could crush it there, but the reality is is he's got the body of a basketball player, not a baseball player, and so it, you know, it never really panned out. And then he comes back to basketball, kills it again, round two with the bulls, and then he, I think he retired, and then he went to play with like it was either like Washington or Charlotte.

SPEAKER_00 9:19

I think he was partial, he was like a half owner of the Washington Wizards or something like that, wasn't he? Yeah, yeah. But I don't know if he did he play for them. I don't know if he played for them.

SPEAKER_01 9:30

Yeah, he played for him, yes. And and he was like it was like he was like th three years he should have retired ago playing for them, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 9:43

It's a nostalgia act, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:46

And it, you know, like another really good example of this. Um, do you know uh Aaron Rodgers, the quarterback? So, you know, obviously longtime quarterback, Green Bay Packers, right? Franchise quarterback, just like Brett Favre, synonymous with Packers. Um, the Packers decide he's getting too old. They draft his replacement, Jordan Love, right? And I think Love maybe sat on the bench for maybe a year, something like that. And then it was like, hey, we're going to release you, right? Like, like the the canary is in the coal mine, like, hey, it's time to go, you know, and he's going, Well, I'm not done yet. And they're like, All right, well, goodbye. You know, and so where does he go? You know, it's like he goes to the Jets and completely flounders because let's be honest, it's the New York Jets. I mean, they're like the worst franchise in all of sports, right? I mean, they're god awful. So he goes to the Jets, it sucked. I want to say it was like his very first game with them that he got like three snaps, tore his ACL. So he goes down. He he then says, no, no, no, I'm still coming back, really. Okay. So then he comes back and then he goes to the Pittsburgh Steelers, where he played last season. Somehow they made the playoffs, no one really knows how. They get just trounced in round one of the playoffs. He goes down again, and this offseason, they're like, like all the all the sports reporters are asking him, hey, you know, are you gonna retire? No, I'm gonna do one more year and then I'll retire.

SPEAKER_00 11:35

Well, I think that one of the things with those kind of athletes is that it's I don't want to say they don't understand it because they they would have to, but you know, practice and warm-ups and you know all of that, right? It doesn't meet the same level of intensity of an actual game. So you can practice and play with the team and all that stuff, uh, till the cows come home, but no one's trying to take you down and really, you know, I mean, for lack of a better term, hurt you, right? No one's really trying to hurt you permanently, but hurt you to the point where you can't play in that game. Uh, and then when you get on the on the field and you're playing an actual game, it's a completely different thing. And then, like you just said, pop, there goes something, snap, twang, there goes something, and you're like, Well, I don't understand. I've been practicing and everything's everything works fine because it's a different level, yeah, that you can't simulate. And your body just says, you know what? No, like you can't time catches up with you, you know.

SPEAKER_01 12:45

It it does, and I and you know, on top of that, like, I mean, you and I are right around the same age in our 40s. Can you imagine getting tackled by a like six foot six, three hundred and forty-pound dude running at you full speed, trying to smear you on the field?

SPEAKER_00 13:03

I can't imagine getting tackled by my five-year-old. Okay, my knee goes out or my hip.

SPEAKER_01 13:10

Like I said, I bend over the wrong way, and I'll pull something in my neck and I'll be down for a week, you know.

SPEAKER_00 13:17

Yeah, what if one of those NFL guys comes at me like that? It's just not even it's just gonna be a puff of smoke when he hits me. He's done, finished, yeah. Maybe he'll come back when it rains. Rob's vaporware.

SPEAKER_01 13:33

Yeah, but uh, you know, anyway, so I just I I can't understand why they keep doing it. And and I keep thinking, you know, I I don't know if it's maybe it's identity, right? Like their whole lives, they've they've they've wanted to be a player, right? Be in the game, whatever that game was, keep it going. And they just they don't know how to transition. And I feel like most of these people, it's it's like I don't know if they just have no support system or if they have no common sense. So you know, like another example of this is Lindsay Vaughn. Speaking of Tiger Woods, Lindsay Vaughn, right? You know Lindsay Vaughn, right? Yeah, yeah. So skier. So she was she was known for being this crazy, super fast downhill skier in her 20s, right? She's in her 40s. Okay. Have you it have you ever gone skiing? Yeah, oh yeah. Okay, so you know as well as I do that that day after going skiing, it's it's like you may as well just just take me to the hospital because I can't move, nothing works. It's like the most sore I've ever been in my entire life, a day after skiing. You know, so so she she decides this last Olympics that was in uh where was that it Italy or France? That's right, you know, um, she decides she's coming back, right? And she's like, Yeah, I'm I'm gonna compete. I'm coming back. She's in her 40s, okay? This this is a sport that when you're in your 20s hurts, in your 40s, not possible. So she literally started the round, right? Goes straight down the mountain over one hill, completely wipes out. And they're like, oh God, Lindsay just wiped out. Oh no, it looks it looks bad, you know. And supposedly you could hear her like moaning uh on the on the on the the slope. She's she's down there like dying, going, oh, you know. And and when they listen to this though, when they took her to the hospital, see this this again is is why somebody needs to keep you in check if you can't keep yourself in check, is that she had a compound fracture of her leg. So a compound fracture means the bone is sticking out of the leg out into the air somewhere, right? And apparently she nearly lost her leg.

SPEAKER_00 16:20

All because of her ego. She thought she could still do something she did as good as she did in her 20s.

SPEAKER_01 16:29

Yes, yes, and on top of it, I mean, just being brutally honest, if you're just looking at statistics, she hasn't been good in 20 years. But she she just decides she's coming back now. I'm going to the Olympics. I got this.

SPEAKER_00 16:47

Hey, if the Australian breakdancer could make the Olympics, I mean pretty much anybody could, right? I'm just saying.

SPEAKER_02 16:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:57

Um, but speaking of uh winter Olympics and uh winter sports, Yarmir Yager. Yeah, Yager. He I can't remember what year it was. It was just a few years ago. It must have been well, it might have been like four or five years ago now, um, give or take, that he played his final game. I think it was with the Florida Panthers in the NHL. Okay, right. He's 50 uh 54. He just played his last game in the in the Russian league in the KHL for Clad uh Cladno in December of last year. Why? Why? Right, like that's insane, especially for a sport as physical as the NHL, right? I mean, he he I can't remember which records he broke. He broke a couple of records, and I I remember them talking about it when he was playing with Florida still a few years ago. I was like, Well, yeah, of course he broke the record. If I played till I was a hundred, I'd break all the records too eventually, right? Yeah, yeah. If you break a record that somebody set when they were in their mid-30s and you're playing at 50, you've had an extra 20 years to play. Of course, you're gonna catch up and break their record. I don't know. I mean, it it does say something about his longevity to be able to play, uh, or I mean, I shouldn't say play because obviously his skill level dropped off dramatically, and it wasn't actually a difference maker in the league. But just to be able to keep up on a set of skates, I guess, is an achievement in itself. I wouldn't be able to.

SPEAKER_01 18:40

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I mean, if you think about like NHL, right? Like the game is versus like you know, the the other kind of minor leagues of hockey, the NHL is so fast, so fast, right? I mean, the speed is at like another level, the precision is at another level, and the hitting, I mean, the the checking, you know, I is at another level. So how do you how do you still do that? I mean, I just I don't know how he doesn't just you know tear his groin, you know, snap a ligament, you know, tear an ACL. I don't I don't know how you would keep up with the speed of the game and the physicality of it. And the fighting. I mean, let's be honest, the fighting, right? I mean, if if I was a if I was a goon or if I was like a defender and Jagger was on the other side, I'd I'd be I'd be talking shit the whole time, going, I'm I'm gonna beat his ass. Just wait till he comes this way, you know. And I would intentionally try to lay him out, you know.

SPEAKER_00 19:51

Yeah, well, that's exactly it. You want to take him out of the game, right? Shorten their shorten their lineup, especially in the playoffs. Uh, I'm trying to look up what uh I can't remember. So so yeah, getting hit in the NHL, and this is the thing. I mean, everyone talks about the damage that football players take in the in the NFL getting getting hit. These are big boys hitting you, and I'm not trying to minimize that in any way, shape, or form. But in the NHL, when uh the average speed in which a player gets hit typically ranges between 80 to 100 miles an hour when you're getting hit against the boards, or or I mean mid-ice, whatever the case might be, right? It doesn't look like that on television, right? But then you wonder, people wonder when you when they see these guys getting up slow and stuff like that. It's like you just got hit at the equivalent of about a hundred miles an hour because it because it's not that the guy coming at you is going 100 miles an hour, is that most of the time you're going, he's going, you're both going in the opposite directions here, right? That that accumulative speed plus impact equals man 80 to 100 miles per hour. That's 130 to 160 kilometers an hour. That's faster than the speed limit in Canada, right? So think about that. So, and he was playing in his 40s, late 40s in the NHL, getting hit by these young guys, you know, 25, 30 years old, hitting them. Oh man, like that is impact on the body.

SPEAKER_01 21:35

Yeah, that that's like that's like being in a car crash. You know, that's being like a like a demolition derby driver your whole life, basically. You know?

SPEAKER_00 21:48

Yeah. Let me see. Uh, same question, but for the uh NFL. I want to see the difference.

SPEAKER_01 21:56

You know, every time you get hit like that, you Your brain is like floating in your skull, right? What do you think happens to your brain when you get smacked like that? You know?

SPEAKER_00 22:09

Well, that's exactly it. That's why they have so many concussions and you know these headshots. That's why they try to get these. Yeah, see, in the NFL, uh, you're looking at with 1,500 pounds of force, basically, given the speed, it says the impact is the equivalent of getting hit uh at about 30 miles per hour, which is still crazy. Yeah, yeah, still crazy, right? But NHL, 80 to 100 miles an hour, and the guys in the NHL are not small, right? These they might look average size on television, but have you ever stood, and when they're on skates, most of them are like 6'5, something like that, right? 6'4, 6'5, 220 pounds. Some of them are a little smaller, 200 pounds, but around 200 pounds is small for an NHL or yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:05

Well, think about this too. Um, you're talking about like hitting at the boards. What about getting getting hit with a puck? Oh, like Sid took a puck to the jaw.

SPEAKER_00 23:19

Yeah.

unknown 23:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:21

I saw uh I was watching a playoff series uh with the with the Leafs. They had Morgan Riley. Uh he blocked a shot. I think they were playing Boston. It was a slap shot he blocked, and in slow motion, the camera was like behind the shooter. So you you're looking at Morgan Riley straight on, and the puck comes rip and hits him right in the mouth, man. Like below the nose, right? It's just it's like it's probably around 70, 80 miles an hour. I mean, I think the hardest slap shot right now on the NHL is something like 109 miles an hour or something like that, right? So the average slapshot's gotta be let's let's say 70 to 80 miles an hour, right? That's right in the mouth.

SPEAKER_01 24:08

A hard pocket and a cold face. Well, in and think about this too. Like in the NHL in today's game, when they're playing like a power play, those guys that are in the minority, the the four foresome, I mean, they're diving left and right to block shots with their body.

SPEAKER_00 24:26

Yeah, yeah. Legs, whatever. No wonder you see them wearing ankle uh plastic now and stuff like that, right? These these shields on their ankles, and like no wonder, man. A puck going 100 miles an hour and hitting you right clean on the ankle, that's shattering your ankle.

SPEAKER_01 24:42

Yeah, absolutely. Um, there was a uh a jackass skit. I think I told you about this with uh PK Suban. And the the it's like a reel on Instagram and social media, you can find it. And in this skit, uh one of the jackass guys is there is the goalie, right? And PK is on the list. He's like, You're you're screwed, dude. Here we go. And sure enough, I mean, he has like precision laser accuracy. He fires one straight to the face, boom, you know, near nearly took his head off. He fires another one straight in the nuts, right? I think he hit him in the nuts like once or twice, and the guy was like, I'm done, I'm done, I don't anymore.

SPEAKER_00 25:30

No kidding, you don't want anyone. Yeah, PK Subad's funny dude. He's a funny dude. He played for the team I don't like, but he's a funny dude. I like him.

SPEAKER_01 25:39

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:40

But but you but you see that with a lot of NHLers too, though. I mean, there are so many that either jump over to be analysts on sports channels. I don't know if it's as prevalent in the states as it is in Canada. I would assume, yes. Uh, but you see it, and you know, sometimes you like it, sometimes you don't. Coaches are bad for it too, right? Like John Tortorella.

SPEAKER_01 26:05

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:06

Yeah, like controversial guy for sure, but I don't want to hear his idiotic take on any game I'm watching.

SPEAKER_01 26:15

I mean, that guy's an important need to hang it up, Tortorella.

SPEAKER_00 26:19

Yeah, hate that guy. He's like the interim coach of Vegas uh right now for a few weeks for the playoffs, anyways. And within like a couple of games, he ends up uh breaching uh the NHLPA like contract, players association contract with the league, right? The agreement, and just decides to skip the press conference after an NHL game. Did you hear about that?

SPEAKER_01 26:49

No, but I know he was controversial recently. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:52

He's just like, but we're just not gonna do it. We're just not gonna do it. It's in the contract of the of the players. Yeah, like you have to, it's not optional, right?

SPEAKER_01 27:02

You have to go do you remember in the NFL when uh Marshawn Lynch was playing, and they told him because he hated doing the the press conferences after the game, they're like, You gotta be there, and they're like, It's in your contract. He's like, All right, fine. And so they would ask him a question, he'd go, I'm just here because they're paying me to be here, they told me to, or whatever. And he would just repeat that over and over and over again. I'm just here because they told me to be here.

SPEAKER_00 27:31

Yeah, I think that I think that if you did that, like he probably gotten more crap for that just because it's bad faith in your contract, I would think, right?

SPEAKER_01 27:44

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:45

I mean, it's funny to us, but but it's definitely bad faith, right? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:52

I mean, for the reporters, I mean, how what are you supposed to do with that, right?

SPEAKER_00 27:56

Yeah, I mean, and like that's another thing that you know, I don't want to dive too deep into because we're talking about these retired athletes and stuff, but these athletes uh these days and their attitudes towards the media is absurd, it's absurd, spoiled, spoiled, bro. Like they like they're fine getting paid the big money, and maybe we'll talk about this in another episode, right? But they're fine with with the big contracts and holding out for big money and stuff like that. But when they go out on the on the ice or on the field and they don't produce, consistently don't produce what they're being paid to produce, all the money they fought for, and the press asks them about it, they act like, How dare you ask me about this? How dare you ask me why I'm not performing up to my contract that I held out on and forced the team's, you know, position to get this money, and now I'm playing like a bum. Yeah, dare you ask me why, right?

SPEAKER_01 29:01

Well, and and maybe that kind of taps into you know today's episode also that there's a lot of like entitlement, right? There's a lot of entitlement that just carries through the whole career that's sort of like that. That you know, I'm I'm at this place, you owe me X, I've earned it. Have you? I mean, at the end of the day, like, you know, I mean, let's be honest, you know, like you and I talked in another episode like about tennis, that it's it's literally four or five guys have won everything in the last 20 years. So if you're not in that four or five, what have you earned? I mean, yeah, you've you've earned a career, but we don't owe you anything, you know. No one no one wants to see here, you know, 10 years past when you should have retired.

SPEAKER_00 29:50

Well, that's that's the thing right there, is that you haven't really earned anything, right? I mean, let let's really be blatantly obvious here and hurt some feelings, right? If you're a professional athlete, you've spent your entire life, probably from pre-teen, right, all the way to your retirement, you've spent your entire life working hard, training hard, you know, winning championships, making money, getting sponsorships, selling jerseys, all this stuff, right? But what have you earned outside of your career? You're playing a fucking game at the end of the day. Are you working hard to be the best in the world? Yes, but that's what the selling jerseys and the championships and the millions of dollars and the sponsorships, that's what all that stuff earned. You earned all that, you didn't earn anybody kissing your ass and and you know cow tie uh cow cow tying to or however you want to, you know, acquiescing to everything that you want after you retire. You didn't earn that.

SPEAKER_01 30:56

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you gotta know when to transition, right? I mean, a great example of this in hockey is uh Iserman, right? Iserman, phenomenal player, had his run with the with the wings, killed it, retired, becomes a GM, and he's really freaking good at it, and he's like excelled at being a GM, you know, great, great spot for him to go, you know. I think that's up for debate, but he's really good at it. I don't know, man. You know, he he kind of architected the Tampa teams. I mean, obviously he left, but you know, just saying.

SPEAKER_00 31:32

Yeah, yeah, Detroit's not looking so good these days.

SPEAKER_01 31:36

Well, he he might be slipping a little bit, you know. Again, at some point in time you slip, and now we need you to retire from being a GM and go be a commentator, right?

SPEAKER_00 31:48

Yeah, but it's uh, but yeah, that's that's I don't know. There's there's very few athletes, in my opinion, who who do earn the prestige after they retire. And it's not just every average, and when I say average, I mean you know, every league, NFL, NHL, NBA, MLB, they all have average players. They're still some of the best players in the world, but in their league, they're average players. Every average player in the NHL has not earned uh ideology or or um uh you know worship worship, whatever you want to call it, after they retire. That is, you know, that that kind of prestige for me is is reserved for the really the best of the best. I mean, somebody like your Michael Jordan's, your Wayne Gretzky's, right? These are those athletes. There's they're few and far between. If we if every single athlete that ever played in the NFL or the NBA or the NHL got treated, you know, that way, well, you know what they say, if everybody's rich, no one is, right?

SPEAKER_01 32:54

True, very true.

SPEAKER_00 32:56

So whenever I hear an average player say, Well, I've earned this, it goes back to what you said.

SPEAKER_01 33:02

Have you? Have you? Have you? So speaking of that and earnings and whatnot, um, have you seen where I saw a post the other day that said uh Cristiano Ronaldo, you know, soccer star, world phenom, he has earned so much money. He is a multi, I think he's a multi-billionaire. Okay. Yeah. And as far as I'm aware, I think he's still playing.

SPEAKER_00 33:33

Is he still playing?

SPEAKER_01 33:35

Pretty sure. Let me see.

SPEAKER_00 33:37

I'll let you know right now.

SPEAKER_01 33:40

I know I saw a list of his earnings, and it is insane. Like, you know, I thought A-rod's earnings were crazy. Cristiano Ronaldo.

SPEAKER_00 33:52

He's still playing, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:54

Yeah. I mean I guess, you know, if if he's still good and they want to keep paying him, why not? Um I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 34:09

See how much uh how much he's earned in his career.

SPEAKER_01 34:13

Oh boy. Yeah, this is gonna error out your computer.

SPEAKER_00 34:21

Goosh, there it goes. Uh he has earned $1.4 billion.

SPEAKER_01 34:30

And that's just salary, right?

SPEAKER_00 34:33

That's that's his net worth right now.

SPEAKER_01 34:35

Okay, net worth, okay. 1.2 million.

SPEAKER_00 34:38

Yeah, he earns about $200 million per year. From that's just uh sorry, that's uh his his primary earnings come from uh football. Uh endorsed that's endorsements as well, and various ventures, including a lifetime deal with Nike worth over a billion dollars as well. So wow. So he makes about 200 million dollars a year. What a bum.

SPEAKER_01 35:06

You know that that just reminded me of uh did you ever see that movie Air that came out about Nike and Air Jordans?

SPEAKER_00 35:13

Oh, yeah, great movie.

SPEAKER_01 35:14

Yeah, and they talked about how uh Mike's agent was like he wants he wants a percent of all shoe sales.

SPEAKER_00 35:22

Yeah, best negotiating tactic ever.

SPEAKER_01 35:28

Still making money, like there's still still, yes, yes, still, just crazy, crazy.

SPEAKER_00 35:35

Um Air Jordans will never go out, like Nike will always have that. Like you just think about it. You know, you go into a Nike store still, and there's new sweatpants and new sweaters and shoes and everything with the Jordan's logo on it.

SPEAKER_01 35:51

You know, where he's you know hey, quick sidebar here. Um his son Marcus dating Pippin's ex-wife. Not a good look. Just quick sidebar. Speaking of when not knowing when to walk away. Uh huh.

SPEAKER_00 36:16

See, but then there's some athletes though that sit on uh you know, uh sit on panels and stuff like that, like uh some people like, like uh Charles Barkley. Yeah.

unknown 36:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:28

Or Shaquille O'Neal.

unknown 36:30

Right?

SPEAKER_00 36:31

Don't they both sit on panels still? Does Shaquille sit on a panel or does he just from time to time pop in?

SPEAKER_01 36:38

Um I'm pretty sure they're both still on uh I think it's TNT uh for the NBA. Yeah, so they're on there with uh Ernie and what the the other guy. Um but yeah, they're they're both still there, and I'm fine with that. I mean, you know, they they transitioned into something. I even like that Shaq um Shaq always seems to find a new deal or something. You know, he was with the general, the insurance, and then he teamed up with Papa John's and they made the Shacaroni. Like, like this is a good transition, you know. Like, yes, he's done playing, he's commentating, and he's like like you know, known throughout the world. I mean, you you know, he's one of those guys like Muhammad Ali that doesn't matter where he goes, they know who he is, you know.

SPEAKER_00 37:24

Yeah, apparently he walks through random Walmarts and stuff like that too and bike buys kids bikes. That's true.

SPEAKER_01 37:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:32

Which is fantastic. I mean, think about it. I mean, how much money Shaq has, probably billions as well, probably, I'm guessing. But I mean, what what is it for him to walk into a Walmart and spend a hundred bucks on a bike for a kid? It's nothing. He could buy the whole rack and it wouldn't matter. Right, right, right. Yeah, it's like a McDonald's for him or something, you know. So, like, but just the fact that he does it when so many other wealthy people could do the same thing and choose not to, right? Yeah, is says something about his his character to say the least. So but uh the thing is with NHL players though, sitting on on panels, and I the only there's there's one exception for me, and it's Jeff O'Neill, the O dog. I don't know if you know because he's on uh Canadian uh T SN, right? Um, but he played for the Leafs, he played for like I think the Rangers, like a lot of lot of NHL teams in his career, uh, back in like the 90s and stuff like that. And he's very opinionated. All of the other former NHL players I see on television, whether they're goalies or whatever, that sit on panels and stuff, I I don't want to hear the same bullshit that I hear from people sitting on the panel, right? They're so they're so politically correct in hockey that it dr that it's it's almost disrespectful to the people watching, right? Like they get asked a question about something that you know that might be a little controversial that happened in the league, and even though they're not even playing anymore, they're still like, well, you know, I can see it from both sides, and you know, they give some bullshit, half-answered, neutral. Like, give us your fucking opinion, man. Pick a sign, yeah. Is it bullshit or not? Right, like Jeff O'Neill, he'll say it's bullshit, right? Right, straight up. He doesn't care, he's not trying to, you know, get back in the league or whatever the case might be. But um another thing I disagree with that I don't like is former players running uh the uh what do you call it? Um the safety committee for the NHL. Okay, I can't remember the exact uh phrasing of it for some reason, but uh yet Shanahan was running it for a while and stuff. It's just I find it it can be very, very you want someone in there that never played because when you've got you've got another player in there right now, uh what's his name? He used to be a fighter, like a fourth liner for the Montreal Canadians. I can't remember his name, but you get these former players in there, and what ends up happening is you do end up with harsher calls against teams that that player, when he was playing, had issues with or didn't like or was a rival, and then lighter calls for teams that he played for and stuff like that, or or coaches he played for, or the team his son is on, or whatever the case might be, right? You always seem to get that perot, yeah. He's running uh this uh NHL uh Board of I don't know, safety, whatever. And you see that, and I I just don't think that it's a fit. I really don't, yeah, right? People are human and they have their biases, and whether consciously or subconsciously, it comes out.

SPEAKER_01 40:58

Okay, so he may need to hang it up, is what you're saying.

SPEAKER_00 41:03

Yeah, absolutely. I I don't think that they should have former players doing that, making you know, handing out suspensions and stuff like that. I don't think it's a good idea. Like I said before, people are biased. I mean, there's people in the league still that he played with that are still playing. Maybe he doesn't like somebody, right? It's just it's too much of a conflict for me. I think it's a bad idea. I think it's okay to have those those kind of players on as maybe um you know, um you you you they have an opinion, they have a take, um, you know, like a like a contractor, like a subcontractor, so what do they call it?

SPEAKER_01 41:45

Uh yeah, like an advisor is right.

SPEAKER_00 41:47

Advisor, yeah, yeah, tongue tied there. But you know, something like that, or uh yeah, there it starts with a C, I'm thinking of. I can't I can't think of the name for some the word for some reason. I'm having a brain fart, but anyway. Um yeah, like as an advisor or uh uh something like that where they can give it a few.

SPEAKER_03 42:06

That's what you want to say. Consulting.

SPEAKER_00 42:09

To consult, right? Yeah. And I I think that that would be uh I think that would be acceptable, but that way they kind of have an opinion, they could have that person's perspective on the situation, right? But outside of that, uh I don't think they should be making the the big calls. I don't.

SPEAKER_01 42:29

Okay. So let's let's pivot a little bit here and talk about I want to talk about boxing in particular, and I want to talk about some of the stuff that like Jake Paul is involved in, where it's basically bringing in a big name out of retirement, yeah, out of out of the dustbin of history, uh, having them train, you know, putting on this big production, and then the fight being a complete flop. What do you think about that?

SPEAKER_00 43:05

Well, for me, those aren't even fights. Like, I really legitimately, and I don't mean that in a sense that like because one guy's old or whatever, I mean like in the truest sense of the term, I don't think they're actually fights. I watched the slow motion breakdown of Mike Tyson and Jake Paul. Yeah, and Tyson could have knocked him out multiple times and didn't throw the punch. He'd like get ready and didn't throw the punch. He didn't, right? Right. Yeah. And it's like, I think that those are just novelty exhibitions to raise money, is what I think that they are. It's a nostalgia act, it's it's a sparring session, no one ever gets knocked out, right? Um, and it's just it usually goes a distance, or usually only what, three, four rounds, or something like that.

SPEAKER_01 43:54

It's not like a 12 round fight, that's true.

SPEAKER_00 43:56

Yeah, yeah. So it's it's just like a three round exhibition for me. Wouldn't even call it a real fight. They they punch each other, you know, pulling their punches, in my opinion. And you know, I think Jake Paul got a little bit uh got a little bit of an ego with that.

SPEAKER_01 44:14

That's the understatement of the year.

SPEAKER_00 44:17

Then he fought a real fighter and got his his jaw broken.

SPEAKER_01 44:20

Yes, he fought a real fighter and he got beat down bad.

SPEAKER_00 44:27

Yeah. So it looked good on him, but uh, I mean, and here's the thing if you just admit it it is what it is, I'm fine with that. I'm fine. Pull out Mike Tyson, pull out whoever you want, right? Get the nostalgia act going on, and let's have some fun. It's entertainment, and that's what we're all looking for, is entertainment. But when you try to pretend it's a real fight, that's when it's like, you know, and you know, because people start placing bets, and you know, and I think that that's where you need to hold you need to stop it. You need to not allow people to place bets and stuff like that, because because it's a fixed fight to begin with. It's it's professional wrestling, right? It's it's already predetermined, which is fine. Um, like that that Mike Tyson fight, it was already predetermined that Jake was gonna be able to do that.

SPEAKER_01 45:10

Absolutely, right.

SPEAKER_00 45:11

I mean, it would have made him look completely, he would never be able to fight again if he had lost to Mike Tyson at his at his age, right? Even though he probably would have lost to Mike Tyson at his age, right?

SPEAKER_01 45:22

If Mike Tyson actually boxed, I think he could have could have beat him, you know, because I I saw I don't know if you saw them, you know, kind of leading up to that fight, they were putting out videos and especially Tyson training, yeah. And Tyson training, like in his 50s, was still like, oh my god, like uh you don't want to be anywhere near this guy, he's gonna crush you. And then you're telling me that Jake Paul, Jake Paul beat him. Come on now, come on.

SPEAKER_00 45:53

Well, they they say for boxers the last thing to go is your power, your strength, right? Yeah, so like the the the the power, the impact of your punch. So, yeah, like I said, I've I I think we've all at this point seen Mike Tyson choose not to throw the punch when Paul's face was exposed and stuff, and had he thrown that punch, I I'm pretty sure that would have been the end of the fight, right? Like Tyson's probably thinking to himself, I can't believe this guy is just gonna leave his face open like that. Like, is he for real? I should clip him just for being an idiot, right?

SPEAKER_01 46:26

He should have. He should have, yeah. You know, speaking of that, isn't Tyson suing him now for something regarding that fight?

SPEAKER_00 46:36

I'm not too sure.

SPEAKER_01 46:37

Is he? I think he is, yeah. I think he is. I think there's some sort of lawsuit uh that Tyson has brought against Jake Paul for not fulfilling some part of that contract. I know I saw that somewhere.

SPEAKER_00 46:56

Uh Mike Tyson is facing a $1.6 million dollar lawsuit filed over promotional agreements allegedly breached due to his fight with Jake Paul. So Mike Tyson is being sued. He's being sued, great, by someone else named uh Medeir. I don't know. Huh.

SPEAKER_01 47:20

Weird. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 47:21

Yeah. So apparently over allegedly breaching uh his promotional agreement with his fight with Jake Paul, so I don't know. But yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:35

All right, let's let's uh let's talk about this one since this one just happened the other night. Um Gina Carano, Rhonda Rousey.

unknown 47:44

Oh god.

SPEAKER_01 47:47

They dusted Carano off, you know, out again, right out of the dustbin. Apparently, now to her credit, to her credit, she was like she lost a hundred pounds for that fight. And I mean, I don't know if you watched her in um The Mandalorian, but she was kind of like bigger, stockier, still, still fit, athletic. But apparently, when when she lost the Mandalorian, she put on a bunch of weight. I mean, she was not healthy, pre-diabetic, all these, all these health issues. And to her credit, I think, I think somebody must have said to her, like, hey, you know, you need a wake-up call here. Why, why don't you get your life together? And maybe she said, you know what, maybe I'll just see if I can still train. And then somehow it's like it's snowballed into hey, you know, she's training or she wants to fight Rhonda, or let's let's get somebody good. And it's like, yeah, Rhonda, let's let's have her fight Rhonda, you know. And so, you know, that fight, I mean, she looked, she looked good, she looked fit, she looked ready to go. I mean, Rhonda came in like like bobbing around like an alien from another planet, and and you know what was crazy was like my wife and I are watching it, and my wife said, Um, she's like, Oh, she's like, Rhonda's like seven, seven years younger. She's like, you know, Corano's got no chance, like immediately. And I was like, What? I'm like, really? Like, you you think she's gonna lose that badly? She's like, Yep, no, no shot. True enough, man. The fight went 17 seconds and she was done. And even when they interviewed her afterwards, she's like, she's like, you know, I I trained really hard and I I lost a hundred pounds. She's like, honestly, I I didn't get to do anything, and now I'm done.

SPEAKER_03 49:40

I didn't get to do anything I wanted to.

SPEAKER_01 49:42

Yeah, she didn't get to do a single thing, yeah. She she didn't get anything out, you know.

SPEAKER_00 49:49

Uh well, I saw I saw a meme the other day online, and you you know that old saying, This this call could have been a text. Uh huh. There's a self-park guy holding a sign and saying, This fight could have been an email. Pays all that money to go. What makes it funny is the hype that they used for that fight.

SPEAKER_02 50:13

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 50:14

Like I've watched all the commercials and stuff on Netflix for it that we're running, and it's like the interview both of them, and they're both talking about how you know. And I remember listening, shut up, right? Because they're like, This, this honestly, this is the fight of my career. I've been waiting my whole career for this fight. This is it, right? I've trained this is the fight for my life, and I'm like, shut up, like, no, it's not, right? This is a money grab because you're probably, you know, you're past your prime, and so like it's which is fine again, but shut up, right?

SPEAKER_01 50:49

Yeah, well, hey, you know what I do have to say is I am glad it was on Netflix, right? Because going back to Mike Tyson, I don't know if you remember when he went to prison, right? So he went to prison and he was in prison for four or five years, something like that. And when he got out, he got back into boxing. But at that point, his longtime trainer, Custom Auto, had died. And so, different training team. He was never the same, he never had the same accuracy. He was not Tyson the first time around, right? But his very first fight coming back was against a guy named Peter McNeely, right? Like this was like the dope that they found that oh yeah, Tyson can just go and wreck him, you know, parlay a couple of those into like a good fight, right? And and so Peter McNeely, again, like this is where you were saying earlier about you're selling it like it's a real fight, but it's not, and it's scripted, you know. And Peter McNeely was like, Oh, I'm gonna I'm gonna he, you know, he he was from like Philly or Jersey or somewhere. He's like, I'm gonna wrap him in my cocoon of horror, you know, and talking all this crap. And at the time, like the only way you could watch that was if you paid for pay-per-view. And I remember pay-per-view was like 68 bucks, and it was like nobody was paying that. And it was like somebody's random dad would get it somewhere, and everybody would have to go to their house to see it, right? Yeah, so we all go over to somebody's house to watch Tyson and Peter McNeely. It literally went six seconds. So the bell happened, they both kind of came at each other. Tyson was throwing haymakers, didn't land a single one. McNeely trips, falls backwards, and lays on the ring. Over. Fight done.

SPEAKER_00 52:36

I didn't even get that much stuff in.

SPEAKER_01 52:40

There was there like wasn't one single punch that landed, it was over. They both got paid, and everyone else was like, wait a minute.

SPEAKER_03 52:47

What scam.

SPEAKER_01 52:50

Scammer. Yeah, scammer. Come on now, you know. So I think I think with some of this this aging, there there's like a money grab aspect of it, right? But there's also just like a graceful way to do it. Like, so going back to the Olympics, um, Sean White, you know, Sean White, right? The snowboarder, half pipe snowboarder, right? He's now a commentator. And you know, he had uh, by the way, the best nickname ever, the flying tomato. That's what they called him because of his long red hair, the flying tomato. But uh anyway, he he was he was the best, right? And he was the best for years, and he decided at one point, you know what? I'm done, I'm stepping away, right? And now he's just he's just a commentator. Even you know, another great example of this is uh Michael Phelps, right? I mean, Phelps is the most decorated Olympic athlete ever. No one, no one even remotely comes close to Phelps. And he did his, I think he did four Olympics, and he fully retired, and you've never seen him since. You know, kind of wild.

SPEAKER_00 54:06

Just oh yeah. Well, there's athletes that can do it transition to, like I said before, commentating or whatever the case might be might be gracefully, but most just don't. No, they don't, and I just I don't think it translates well in in hockey, but the the problem with hockey and commentators is that in America, anyway. I'm sorry to say it, I've said this to you before, commentators in the NHL are fucking terrible in America, terrible, completely biased. Hey, stop stealing them all for Canada. Yeah, at least with players, they like players know better, and they'll because they're like trained in interviews to be as neutral as possible. So when they get out there and they start calling a game, they end up being as neutral as possible, right? They don't freak out when one score one team scores and just kind of be monotone when the other team does, you know. But outside of that, it's uh again, it's it's the neutrality of uh of it, and then you're starting to see a lot of NHL players start to try to become uh management now in the NHL. We're seeing Jason Spezza, who you know was training to be uh assistant manager in Toronto. I believe now he's over in New Jersey, still working under uh Sheldon Keefe, trying to train like learn the ropes on how to be a manager, or they coached like uh um uh Barube or you know, or St. Louis, who's host who's coaching Montreal Canadians right now in the playoffs, right? Yep. So I mean coaching, I could see why that would be a little bit more effective. They've played, they know, right? Um and uh but uh manage management though, general manager, like there's a whole bunch of other stuff that goes into something like that.

SPEAKER_01 56:05

You know, I I think some of it though is also cultural, right? And I can think of like in the NBA that you know, like when I was growing up, the guys that were like the coaches of the NBA, I don't know if they were all former players, like some of them were just like career coaches, like that was just what they did, you know. And like today's NBA, it seems like every coach is a former player, like it it really kind of shifted, you know, like maybe like 10-15 years ago, and now they're all play former players, which is kind of different, you know.

SPEAKER_00 56:39

Yeah, and I mean, I guess that might be some of the benefit when when a player has uh a lot of different coaches throughout his career, because if you do plan on building a career as a coach after you retire, you can pick up a lot of different uh coaching styles and and take what you like from each of them along the way. So I guess you know I could see why players would make good coaches, whether it's NBA, NHL, or otherwise, right? You're exposed to a lot of different styles of coaching and strategies and tricks and tweaks. So I think the transition from player to coach makes the most sense to me over trying to come back when you're in your 40s and play this, play the sport again, whether it's skiing or or basketball or whatever, um, or being a general manager or like whatever the case. I think that the the easiest translation, regardless of the sport, could be tennis, right? Would be coaching. Would that make the most sense to me?

SPEAKER_01 57:40

Hey, what do you think about this? I just thought of something. What do you think about Lebron playing on a team with his son?

SPEAKER_00 57:57

I would for me, I would feel just so old. Yes, right. What am I doing? Yeah, yeah, what am I doing? This is my son's time, right? Yeah, and I'm now casting my shadow over him in his career. Great, great tape. Now he's just LeBron's son. He's not himself playing in the NBA, right? He's being overshadowed by his father being there.

SPEAKER_01 58:36

You know what? Um, kind of unrelated, but sort of. I saw a comment from uh Paul Simon, right? Simon and Garfunkel, Paul Simon from the 80s, right? That he was still touring, right? And somebody had interviewed him, and he he had a really funny take on it. He was like, you know, he's like, honestly, he's like, most days I ask myself, what the hell am I doing? Why am I doing this? Like, why am I out here? Shouldn't I be home? Shouldn't I be retired? What the hell is wrong with me?

SPEAKER_00 59:09

Yeah, it trans, it translates to musicians exactly too. Yeah, like you see, uh, I was watching a clip, I can't remember who it was. Oh, it was a band from the 80s, and dude's on stage, his pants are are like you know, just dropping, his ass cracks hanging out, he's got no shirt on, and he's like 90, right? His skin is just hanging off his bones, and your voice is gone, and but you're still out there trying to, you know, like like literally a uh what what do they call those uh those those impersonator bands? What do they call them? A cover band. Is it like it well a cover band's more like a band? Is that a cover band? Yeah, yeah, you do covers.

SPEAKER_01 59:55

But you're saying they're like a cover band of themselves of what they used to be, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:00:00

No, I'm saying that a cover band could play their song better than they could play.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:03

That too, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:09

It's enough, right? Like, is is McJagger still doing it? Like, yeah, yeah, he is.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:14

He's still out there. I want to say they just put out another album recently, you know. It's like walk away.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:22

Nobody wants to see you with your shirt off on stage anymore, yeah. Right? Yeah, and but but they don't want to hear that, right? It's like, wait, talk about I still got it like it did when I was 60.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:34

Well, you know what it is too, and and maybe this is part of this whole discussion, is the idea of succession planning, right? Like you and I have talked about this in politics, that it kills me that there aren't age limits, that there isn't succession planning, that they're not constantly passing the torch and setting up the next generation, right? Like this is one of the fundamental flaws of of both the political parties in America, the political system, is there is not this like succession planning, building the next generation, getting them ready. You don't see that. And I think in in sports, professional sports, you don't always see it either. And and sometimes, like, like you know, again, like the Tyson Jake Paul, that was sort of like a succession planning, like, yeah, I'm handing you the torch, but Jake Paul isn't worthy, he's not worthy of that.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:30

I mean, come on, man, you know, there's no there's no torch there. No, fight the real fight and gets his ass kicked.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:39

Yeah, I mean, come come on, we we we did not need to see that. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:44

Yeah, well, I don't know. I don't know what they're thinking, my friend, but I guess there's nothing you can do about it at the end of the day. But I think we're just about out of time. Um, we will be back, of course, again on Wednesday for our Wednesday episode. Uh, got any final thoughts?

SPEAKER_01 1:02:05

Uh, the only thing I would say is um I know when to leave, and I'm ready for my graceful exit from this episode.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:15

Stage left.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:16

Yes. Time to go.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:20

Yeah, we'll be yeah, we'll be sitting here when we're 80, still doing this podcast, not knowing when to step away.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:25

When are they gonna hang it up? Those two geezers, you know, like the Muppets that are like the the guys that are at the uh symphony, you know, talking shit. Hang it up.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:37

Yeah, that's gonna be us 100%. Yeah, my final thoughts are that I think that if you are fortunate enough to have a career, whether it's in sports or entertainment of any capacity, and you make uh life-changing wealth for yourself, you should make sure you have a plan in place to transition into another career. You see uh athletes and former uh artists who own multiple businesses and stuff like that that generate revenue for themselves, um, something along those lines, or have somebody by your side in your entourage that can plan that for you, right? But always be ready for that pivot because nobody wants to see you try to do it in your old age like you did when you were young.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:26

Yeah, yeah, at the end of the day, they gotta surround themselves with good people that are actually looking out for them, and so many don't. I mean, again, going back to Tiger Woods, dude, he where he can't get a driver, a friend, anybody, anyone. I mean, it's tiger woods, uber, uber, any somebody drive him, you know. Someone drive him, please.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:56

Download the Uber app on this man's phone for him.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:59

Yeah. Come on, man.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:01

It's literally like two clicks. Come on. Anyway, yeah, I don't know. All right. Well, this concludes our broadcast day. We will see you again on Wednesday, where we will have another very juicy topic for you, and we'll see you in the next one. God bless. Till next time, shift out.