DDR 048 - Joe Ernst - Don't Die Rusty Podcast

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
So did we, it doesn't, we'll get her work in here then.
So, all right.
Well, hello, Don't Die Rusty Nation.
This is Rick Hansen again for another exciting episode of the Don't Die Rusty podcast.
And this week I have Joe Ernst and it's interesting.

(00:22):
I'll let Joe introduce himself just a little bit here in the beginning, but.
It's interesting because I met you last year and we never really met, but, Lacey Singletonof sober cowboy put out a video and Joe and I helped her.
said a few things on it and kind of got together and then you were in Cheyenne and wedidn't get to see each other there.

(00:45):
And we've been trying to get a podcast going and finally we're here together.
Yep.
Well, thank you for having me.
I appreciate it.
Well, you know, if you're with Lacey, I mean, if we did this video with Lacey, I figuredthis would be a good conversation to have because I think we all have stories that people
need to hear or at least have a good conversation where it's interesting for people tolisten to.

(01:12):
Yep, I totally agree.
The more people that we can get the word out to and spread on so many different topics,the better off we're going to be.
Well, let's start out.
Can you kind of introduce yourself a little bit and what you've done and this and that?
Sure.
In terms of professional, I'm the director of rider development for the PBR.

(01:33):
So my job is, I guess, watering it down is basically to recruit and improve some of theriders.
So one of the big things with PBR at this point is that the bulls keep getting bigger andfaster and stronger, and they're producing more of them.
And we just don't have the riders to keep up with the bulls.

(01:54):
So not only am I going out to find new riders in all sorts of different areas, and we getinto that once we really kind of dive into it, but also to help the, let's just say the
lower level velocity tour guys and the touring pro division and the challenger tour,helping those guys to get up to the level where they could be riding, you know, in the top

(02:17):
50 in the unleash the beast and then eventually hopefully become drafted into the teams.
No, that well that, cause we will certainly get into that because I, it's interesting tosee, excuse me, how the Bulls have become bigger athletes.
It's kind of like the national football league.

(02:38):
It's, they've getting faster and stronger and they can do so much more than 50 years ago.
I'm just saying like in the football league and now some of these Buckham Bulls arejumping as high as a
Saddle brawn course or anything like that, you know, they're very athletic
Yep.
I mean, geez, I, I don't remember which city it was in, but manhater got the highest bullscore ever.

(03:06):
And I swear to God that bull's hooves were six feet off the ground or pretty darn close.
mean, at 2000 pounds, know, I mean, that's a strong, that's a strong ass animal rightthere.
That is a strong ass animal.
So, so let's start out and then we'll get to the back to the PBR for sure.

(03:26):
So when you and I did Lacey's video for Sober Cowboy, can you tell me where, cause I saidto Lacey, know, re I really, I mean, I partied in college.
I did this and that, but I never, my mom never drank and my dad wasn't really, he drank alittle bit when I was

(03:47):
but not when I was growing up as much.
But so I really, I admit that I partied a little in high school and college and, but morecollege, but I'll do a video for you because I think every, I think in this day and age,
people need to know that you can change your life and you can make your life, better.

(04:09):
Yeah.
Um, I don't remember exactly how I got hooked up with Lacey originally.
Um, I might've seen something on an Instagram or a Facebook page and reached out.
Um, so I'm pushing 10 years sober.
Um, and unlike you, I partied like a wild man in high school and college.
Uh, I grew up in Buffalo, New York and it's cold there almost all year round.

(04:33):
So there's only a couple of fun things to do.
And one of them is drink.
Um,
It's just in my family.
mean, I mean, go over and hang out at my paternal grandmother's house, my Nana.
And there was always in the basement, there's a big rec room and that's where everybodyhung out.
The uncles would come over and you know, all the guys.
And I mean, there was always a fully stocked fridge of Canadian beer.

(04:58):
Always 24 seven.
If she started to run low, she'd go to Canada and get the beer.
She, I think she did that because she liked us being around all the time.
But I mean, I don't know exactly what age I started drinking, but it was probably 11, 12,13, somewhere in there like right before high school started.

(05:19):
and then kind of a funny story is, the, local public high school I would have gone towhere I lived, you know, with my mom.
it was notorious in Buffalo for marijuana and back in the, you know, the, the earlyeighties marijuana was taboo.
and Nana was like, I'm not having any of that whatsoever.
So she sent me to a private boys school where they could afford cocaine and we drank a lotof booze.

(05:45):
good call Nana.
but I played lacrosse and then, you know, I went and played division one lacrosse andobviously the cross guys are pretty big party guys.
And I, you know, I got asked to live in the lacrosse house and just my second semester ofmy freshman year, which is kind of unusual.
And we stored the spare keg in the oven rather than use the oven to cook meals in.

(06:09):
So I mean, it was a big part of my life.
then as I got older, I discovered bourbon and that was the end of everything.
And it took me a while, but I eventually decided that, you never really gotten anytrouble.
mean, nothing major, nothing more than most normal boys get into in their late teens,early twenties.

(06:30):
No domestic violence, none of that stuff, no DUIs.
But at one point, almost 10 years ago, I was like...
This is crazy.
mean, I'll sit down and, you know, I'll be after work and think about having, you know,have a bourbon or two and, you know, chill out from the day.
And I'd wake up in the morning and the bottle had nothing left in it sitting on the endtable next to the couch.

(06:55):
and I did that probably four or five, six nights a week.
so it got to the point where it was just like a no real trouble, but just.
It wasn't what I wanted in my life anymore.
I wanted to be fully participatory in my life and gave it up.
They had a couple of friends that had gone through AA and they took me to a meeting and itjust kind of clicked.

(07:19):
I could still remember my first meeting.
It's like we're talking about prayers and they're talking about stories and it's like,Jesus, these people, I mean, you think of the, you think of alcoholics as the guy on the
street corner with a cup in his hand begging for a quarter and
The first meeting I went to was this very pretty, you know, middle-aged blonde woman whohad been the CEO of her corporation.

(07:42):
and she was driving home one night after a few pops and killed somebody and went toprison.
and it's like, wow, these are all these people are just, they're normal people.
It's just.
And I've come to really realize that booze is bad.
I mean, it's really bad, not just bad for me, it's bad for everybody.
I mean, in all the research since I've gotten sober, I've done in the health effects ofalcohol.

(08:05):
It's just, it's something, it's just not a part of my life anymore.
And I'm much happier and my bank account's significantly bigger for it.
I mean, I literally, I don't know, a couple of years into sobriety, did a, I just kind ofdid an exercise for myself on how much I drank and the type of bourbon and I drank really
good bourbon.
And I was spending somewhere around $1,200 a month on just bourbon.

(08:29):
I mean, that's a really fancy truck right there.
Yes, you know, and that's interesting because like I said, it's funny because in, old areyou?
Cause I'm, I'm going to be 57 here in March, but so we're roughly the same age is whereI'm going with this.
And when I was in high school, they still called the, like we had curfews, not just withour parents, but in athletics yet.

(08:58):
And then I lived out of town and so you,
You know, and I'm not saying I didn't go to the parties.
I just didn't drink because I wanted to go to play football in college, which I did.
But once I got to college is like when, you know, the movie John and be good came out andother stuff like that.
I thought you went and chase girls, partied and they gave you grades.

(09:22):
And I chased girls, didn't catch them.
But I have and I didn't get the grades, but I did party like you.
Went and believe.
So yeah.
So, and then, but then I learned, I, mean, I got older and I, like you said, it was like,I'm peeing out this stuff and I could be using this money for other things.

(09:46):
And so I hunt a lot.
I hunt a lot actually.
And I was thinking, these are the tags.
I can pay for tags.
I can pay for clothes.
can pay for whatever else, you know, understand what I'm saying.
And so that's what kind of,
I could see.
anyway, but the interesting thing about life is that we learn when we get older to change.

(10:11):
You know, I went through a divorce, 20 and 15 years ago, actually about now.
And people were saying, I can't believe you're not out the bars or not getting high ordoing this and that, but I just stayed home, didn't do anything like that.
And, and, I feel better for it.
You know what I mean?
I wasn't trying to drown the memories.

(10:33):
I was just trying to cope and figure out my life.
Yep, I ended up the same way and it's funny we're same age roughly and I got divorcedabout the same time you did and I don't even know the right way to put it but I mean it
just got to the point where
something just clicked in my brain and it's like, I don't want to this anymore.

(10:55):
I mean, and again, I'll go back to that Buffalo thing and the cold weather there's how isthis like PG 13 rated?
Where are we at with this?
Can I mean, no, I mean, can I say things that are off color?
All right.
so, mean, I always go back to the movie mystery Alaska and one of the guys in there saysthere's two fun things to do in the cold weather and that's drink and fornicate.

(11:20):
And that was pretty much it.
And it's like, want my life to have some stuff substance.
the funny thing about it is that it kind of went in an ebb and flow.
Earlier in my life, I ton of success financially and then made a career change and thenreally started drinking.
And it just went downhill from there.
And then when I stopped drinking, boom, it went back up.

(11:43):
So there definitely is a correlation for the most part to success in life and booze.
sure.
And that's, and it's funny that you're saying that.
It's not really funny that you're saying it because I believe this.
is funny, because I, I always had this thought in the process of doing this podcastbecause I thought I wanted to get stories out.

(12:09):
And I think there comes to that point where, you know, you can look at your life going inlike,
maybe plateauing or going down, or you can look at it going up.
I, in the don't die rusty ethos, we talk about chasing your dreams and living your bestlife and being the best you.

(12:34):
And, and it's, love talking to people that there happened to be that switch that turned onand now I'm, I am happy.
I am living life.
I'm doing the best I can.
And
Here's the another thing, folks.
I mean, I know this because I follow him on social media and you just got engaged.

(12:56):
I did indeed to a beautiful younger lady.
still don't know what the hell she's doing with me, Katie, she is a former barrel racerand South grew up on a ranch in South Dakota.
Spent a lot of time on your family's ranch in South Dakota.
and she's just, she's the most amazing woman.

(13:17):
I mean, and then.
We've been together six years and she went through some stuff younger in her firstmarriage.
And so it kind of took us a little while to both be comfortable making that leap again.
And we're packing up and moving to Fort Worth in eight days, nine days.
And so just seemed like the right time.

(13:37):
So Christmas Eve, I did it.
And she said, yes.
Can't imagine why, but I'm happy that she did.
Well, that's crazy because sometimes I still ask my wife what she saw in me too, you know,because, you know, but I also think that going through hardships and then finding the

(13:58):
right person, that relationship is just amazing now because you're watching out for eachother, you're supporting each other, and it's just a different, it's a different feeling
and it's different way of life that, I mean, I know I enjoy it myself, but.
To find somebody that is there for you is amazing.

(14:19):
Yep.
I mean, I've done both.
I've done the serious relationship and even a little bit later in life, I've done the playin the field thing.
And it's just, it was weird.
I met her and we were friends for, I don't know, a year or two.
And then we kind of branched off into the other side of things.

(14:40):
And just right.
mean, I've known her for six years.
I can honestly say that we have never had a fight in six years, not one.
I mean, do we disagree on stuff?
Sure.
But we talk it out.
We move through it and we get to it.
I have never raised my voice in this relationship, which is weird.
My first marriage was to a Sicilian woman from New Jersey.

(15:00):
And you can imagine how that goes.
An alcoholic and a Sicilian woman from New Jersey.
There's a lot of raised voices in that household.
Hahaha.
But it's just it's funny you just know when you know you know and she's just she's myperfect better half and it's it's I can't wait to see what the next 10 years brings.

(15:24):
Well, I wish you the best for sure, because I know that for me, myself, my wife is herhusband died of a brain tumor.
And then it took us a long time to get to, you know, get to that point.

(15:44):
I'm you're saying the six years and Cindy and I were roughly in that same space.
And, know,
in what you're saying about not raising your voice and not have, we have not had thoseknockdown drag out fights like I did in the previous relationship.
And it's interesting and it feels so good.
you know, I mean, if people are all listening out there, there is hope if you're, causethere are good people for both, you know, males and females.

(16:12):
Yep.
So if your relationship sucks, don't fret.
You'll find somebody eventually.
I mean, if jemokes like us can find the perfect woman, anybody can.
And that's actually, it's funny because our fifth anniversary was on Saturday, the 11th.

(16:35):
And, you know, I posted, I can't believe that she stuck with me for this for the last fiveyears because I have all these goals and dreams and, you know, and it's good because she
understands what I want to do.
we have all the best thing about it.
And I don't know if you can

(16:56):
I know you could probably, but the trust that we have within each other, when you're notlooking over your shoulder or looking over their shoulder to see if somebody's out there
waiting in the wings or chasing somebody, you don't have to worry about coming home andgetting into that knockdown, drag out fight, or whatever else.

(17:16):
That is the best feeling in the world.
Yep.
I think one of the, one of the times that it really kind of just kind of smacked me in themouth.
And I realized that is that for the first time since the modern, I guess, smartphone cameevolved and everybody's on their phone 24 seven.
mean, it doesn't matter.
And you are, I am everybody's sitting on their phone on their couch and they're halfwatching the TV and they're half screwing around on Instagram or whatever.

(17:44):
me.
First time in my life.
I don't even think twice about it.
Like in past relationships, it's like, who the hell are you texting?
Why are you on your phone all the time?
What's going on?
And I think part of that is the sobriety is without that brain constantly thinking.
But the other part is just we're comfortable together.
We trust each other.

(18:05):
I mean, I can't imagine ever stepping out on her, even emotionally, let alone physically.
And I agree with you there because like we can be driving down the road.
of course you being in the PBR and business, I bet you get texts and some of them you needto answer.
I, I, I get texts too.
And I toss my wife, my phone and she knows my passcode.

(18:26):
And I said, or text them back and tell them what's going on.
We're driving down the road.
I'll call them or you know what I mean?
And, and that is the best feeling in the world because you know, my passcode.
You can go scroll through my text while we're driving.
There's nothing, you know, and there's nothing to hide.
And she, the problem with me is, you might laugh, but the problem with me is she's told meher passcode, I don't know how many times and I do not remember it.

(18:59):
She says, you know what?
I said, I just don't remember it.
I don't care.
Well, you know, honestly, and I think it's once they tell us that we don't need toremember it anymore because they've told us they've given us that trust that we're not
going to go look.
And when I was younger, I probably would have.
But now I realize what that means.

(19:20):
And it means a lot.
it does.
so maybe she gets a little aggravated with me because I don't remember these numbers, butit's funny also being our age.
Do you remember how many phone numbers we remembered when we were in high school, justright off the top of our head?
And now I don't even remember a passcode that's four numbers or five numbers to get into.

(19:42):
So that's interesting.
Exactly.
I know my spelling has significantly gotten worse, and spell check has been a normalthing.
That's very, very true there.
so yeah, but I would like to know a little bit too, but you were talking about being thedirector writer of development for the PBR and how athletic these bulls are.

(20:12):
So how do you find these cowboys that are in bull riders?
Okay, so we're gonna we're gonna kind of jump in a little bit.
One of the things just for you and all your listeners to kind of understand is we are inthe infancy stage of this.
They have been thinking about PBR has been thinking about this for probably four or fiveyears.

(20:33):
They've been looking for someone for close to two years.
And thank God they didn't find anybody because this quite literally is my dream job.
I'll talk about that in a minute.
But
We're doing a few things.
So Sean Gleason, the CEO, one of the big things that the big directives he has given me ishe wants me to create a standardized repeatable curriculum for learning how to be a bull

(20:59):
rider.
So everything from the 12 year old that's never been on a bull or anybody that's neverbeen on a bull that wants to start to learn.
all the way up through the guys that are on Unleash the Beast.
Once they get into teams, they actually have a dedicated coach.
They're not going to listen to me or anybody else.
They're going to listen to their coach.
mean, seriously, mean, if you got Cody Lambert or Justin McBride telling you how toimprove your riding, are you really going to listen to pretty much anybody else?

(21:26):
Probably not.
So it's going to span the gamut.
It's things like I mean I'm looking at my big giant whiteboard because I'm old and I stilllike to actually write things down and not just put them in the computer I mean from
posture to how they sit on the bull to where your feet and your knees should be placed asyou're riding and where you should keep them You know how to use your free hand to

(21:50):
counterbalance grip on the bull rope where your eyes should be focused all of those thingsand starting off to
at a real rudimentary level where you could literally be sitting on the arm of your couchto pretend you're on a bull and work on these things in terms of muscle memory.
I mean, then once you get the motion of the bull, it's a whole different story, but atleast to get the proper...

(22:15):
muscle memory, because that's 90 % of it.
I think what a lot of people don't realize is that bull riding is nothing but physics,period.
I mean, it's one force against a counter force.
So you got the force of this 2,000 pound wild bull that wants to stomp the shit out ofyou, and then you have to counter every move that that bull does.
And your body has to learn.

(22:38):
You know, when it takes a turn to the right, what do you do?
How do you correct that?
When it then changes direction and comes back to left, what do you do?
As the ass end comes up on a kick, what do you do?
When it starts a jump with the front end up, what do you do?
It goes by so fast.
I mean, it's literally, mean, I know it seems like an eternity, but it's only eightseconds, man.

(23:00):
mean, eight seconds goes by in a heartbeat when you're not on the back of a 2,000 poundanimal that's pure muscle.
say it feels like minutes.
I mean, it feels like they're on this thing forever.
And it's good.
Most of these guys still have a healthy fear of the bulls.
But what we're doing, so we're developing the standardized, repeatable curriculum, which Ihave, as soon as I started talking to them about this job and the hiring process, it took

(23:29):
four or five months, which is good because they wanted to make sure I was a good fit.
Yeah.
And I talked to everybody from the lowly level all the way up through sitting down withSean Gleason for an hour and a half about, you know, about things that are going on.
but, the, the thing about it is that once I finally, you know, really got into theinterview process and I started doing the research, there's absolutely nothing out there

(23:57):
on bull riding.
I mean, there's some guys that have written some books and mindset and here's the basickind of thing, but there's no training manual to teach someone how to write a book.
Just didn't.
There's just not.
I mean, there's a couple of guys out there like Joe Frost and Lyle Sankey and stuff thatrun schools that have developed some stuff and it's amazing stuff.
They've done an amazing job.

(24:19):
You can't go into the store and pick up a bull riding for dummies that teaches you, right?
This is the way your free hand should be.
And it should be in front of your face as much as humanly possible.
And you know, your feet should be in such a place by the bull rope.
Um, there's nothing with, with diagrams and videos and charts and you know, how do you doit?
I mean, if you go, let's just take, I don't know, football.

(24:41):
I mean, most of our, most of your listeners are probably football fans to one extent oranother.
Um, I mean, you can go into any store, any place and find a hundred different
on the basics of, an offensive lineman, how do you block?
And where your hands should be placed, where you should go, how your feet should move, anddrills to get better at all of those individual components of being an offensive lineman.

(25:04):
There's nothing like that in bull riding.
So you either have to go to one of the schools like Frost's or Sankey's or whoever's, oryou know, you hopefully are lucky enough that you got a grandpa or a dad that was a bull
rider and they can teach you.
But our job is going to be, and my job is going to be, is creating one of those books.

(25:25):
So we're gonna have a paper version, you know, like a three ring binder type of thing withdifferent, you know, here's the chapter on posture and here's the chapter on, you know,
how you should sit and don't get back on your pockets and all that good stuff.
We're also gonna have video and online course that they can watch videos of a good rideand a bad ride and see the difference kind of like on our screen right here where you have

(25:48):
both of us on the screen, the good ride and the bad ride.
And then we're also going to, I'm in the process of putting together camps and clinics andacademies, and we're to be doing some combines.
I'm super stoked.
Well, I get to, I get to go to Brazil next month and do three combines in Brazil to findnew riders.

(26:08):
That is going to be super cool.
I've never been down that far down in South America, so it'll be kind of fun.
but the curriculum, the academies,
I am going to start delving a lot more into statistics.
I mean, you have that website Pro Bowl stats.
Then you have the stuff that we have on our website.

(26:30):
And it's got to move more towards numbers are going to drive us to figure out who's a goodbull rider and who's not.
I mean, obviously, you can do the what kind of body style, smaller, thinner guys arebetter bull riders.
Big old fat me, he's not going to sit on a bowl and probably do very well.
Plus my core is not very strong.

(26:51):
Well, I'm looking at myself too and I know that I wouldn't either.
Right.
Um, but I mean, you obviously you have, okay, this guy's got the right body type.
And then we have a program that a company we work with, it does all sorts of fitnesstesting relating to that.
You know, the squeeze of your thighs together.
How strong is that?
Obviously grip strength.
How strong is that?

(27:11):
And we start creating some baselines, kind of like football used to have the four, four40, although it's probably more like a four, one 40 nowadays.
But you know, they had this standard.
If you can't run a four, four 40, you were probably not going to be a good receiver orrunning back.
So we're going to start developing that so that we can start getting a scouting program inplace that you know when we go to

(27:37):
the high school national finals and we'll test kids that want to potentially become PBRbull riders and we'll see where they're at and we'll have a good baseline for what is a
16, 17 year old supposed to be at?
What's an 18 year old supposed to be at?
And we'll be able to determine who we think in the future or currently if they're olderguys, but I mean, we'll have good baselines to figure out who's going to be or can be a

(28:03):
good bull rider.
And it's going to go through those with it.
The other really neat thing, and if you can tell, I'm super stoked about this, we aregoing to develop a certified coaches program.
just like USA Hockey or USA Lacrosse has a program where you go in and you take thisonline class with the different modules and tests and all of that stuff.

(28:25):
And if you pass the tests, you become a USA Hockey certified coach level one.
we are going to develop the same thing for coaches and my honest to goodness dream forthis is that in about five years, we are kind of national governing body is the wrong
phrase, but we are the gold standard in, in learning how to become a good bull rider.

(28:49):
And every college coach and every high school age coach will be a PBR certified coach.
For example, if you get a guy that's going down to the University of Wyoming, he's goingto be the assistant coach that coaches the Bull Riders.
If you don't have our certification, you're probably going to the bottom of the line interms of the resumes.
So that's kind of my hope.

(29:12):
And at some point, I think that we're also going to do the same thing for judging in termsof training up judges.
The basic is we want the best of the best.
We want to teach them how to be the best of the best within the PBR world.
And we're going to take the next several years to develop all of these that the athletes,the coaches and the judges, all of them, we're going to kind of standardized training

(29:39):
going across the board for all three of those aspects.
And with that, I have the question because like when we talk about football, we talk aboutany sport that doesn't have an animal in it, we'll just say.
Cause you're also, how do you judge?
I mean, we can have the standard, but these bowls that are linebackers now, you know, withthe athletics and that stuff, it's just, it's one of those things to me, like,

(30:12):
How do we judge the, best of the best against some of the best of the best bowls?
mean, because is it going to be like a minor?
I mean, it's like a minor league system coming up to the ranks to get to the top of thetop.
do you, so do you have different bowls for the different leagues?

(30:35):
We'll just say.
like different difficulty for let's say challenger versus velocity versus UTB versusteams.
Is that kind of what you're asking?
So yes.
the best of the best bulls, they go into teams or UTB.
cause they're, they're pretty synonymous.

(30:55):
UTB is kind of the, the, the, rides that half the year and they, the best of those guysride teams for the other half.
So UTB bowls are pretty much the same as teams bowls and then they get a little biteasier.
I mean, it's more the up and comer bowls.
I mean, they're getting their training right, you know, performing, I guess, in thevelocity and the challenger tours.

(31:19):
And as those bowls mature in those two tours, then they move, they have the possibility tomove into UTB and the teams area.
Yep.
So, and then what about the stock contractors bringing in these bulls?
Do you have different stock contractors or are you going to, does the PBR have their,like, like, their way of getting the bulls in or create, or raising their own bulls

(31:47):
anymore?
Or how is that going?
To the best of my knowledge, we don't raise any of our own bulls.
We contract with the stock contractors for all of them.
And obviously, you know, the bulls have to be at a certain...
meet certain criteria and be of a certain performing ability, athletically, to be able toeven get past us.

(32:07):
You're getting into a region where our director of livestock is the main guy.
I mean, those are questions that I'm just not prepared to answer at this point.
They're big, they're fast, they're muscley, and they're angry.
Well, I hear you there.
So, well, then we'll get back into your line here.
So it's interesting to me.
Like, do you see a difference in the athletes from America compared to South America,Brazil, since you're going there?

(32:40):
Cause I can't think of, I watched a documentary on, can't remember who it was.
I don't know off the top of my head, but it's like,
You're, when they come to America as a PBR bull rider, I mean, they start riding well andmaking money.
That's getting them and their family out of the, some of the dredges of Brazil.

(33:03):
Yep.
I think that kind of hits right on point.
I have to watch my wording very carefully on this in case anybody listens to it.
But I think the biggest difference, well, a lot of ranch kids, I mean, they don't grow upwith a lot of money.
I think the difference is that in a South American country or I guess other countries too,but primarily Brazilian guys, they grew up...

(33:33):
Scraping and scrounging.
I mean, their parents are scraping and scrounging to feed them and house them and all thatstuff.
I mean, when they make $40,000 to a kid that grew up on a ranch, well, that's a lot ofmoney to a guy from Brazil.
That changes their life.
And I mean, if they're lucky enough to grab that gold buckle at the end of the year andwin that million dollar check, mean, that's generational money.

(33:58):
And I think that creates a different...
drive for those guys.
I mean, they are hungry.
And not saying that the American writers are not, because they certainly are, but I mean,and you talk about socioeconomic demographics, it's a whole different ballgame in South
America than it is in rural America.
I mean...

(34:18):
And it's just amazing to me to see the number of athletes that come out of South Americaand come to America and, and, and do well.
And, with, cause I just look, you know, I mean, we got on calves and we did this and thatas I was grew up.

(34:39):
Like I think I told you earlier, I grew up on a ranch in central South Dakota, but it wasjust, I wouldn't could never, I would, I'm too big.
I'm six one at that time.
I'm right now.
I'm probably two 30.
That's not a bull rider.
I might be a bulldog or, but not a bull rider.
If I was going to do it, you know what I mean?
So do we, do we, so here's another question about not being in a, do we have, are yougoing to test or look at people in other countries such as Australia or is it what in.

(35:14):
look at Brady Fielder.
I mean, he just won.
He just won an event with Chicago.
For sure.
And we do have PBR Australia and PBR Canada and PBR Brazil.
Canada and Australia are pretty well developed.
Brazil is probably a close second.
And we also have PBR Mexico, which is a little less developed, but we're going to work onthat.

(35:34):
So once I get my piece of the puzzle put together in the next 18 months to two years, thenwe will roll this out to Canada and Australia and Brazil and Mexico so that they can start
using some of the techniques that we're going to use in terms of finding athletes anddeveloping athletes to do the same thing in their areas.

(35:56):
Well, then that's, is there any other countries that we would, mean, I don't, I'm tryingto think off the top of my head that would have the Western lifestyle of living and maybe
have a PBR.
Cause those are the four countries that I can only think of.
don't think there'd be any expansion anywhere else.

(36:18):
I can't speak to it.
mean, obviously there's cattle ranching and things like that in Europe and even Asia, butI can't speak to that.
That's way above my pay grade, whether we're going to expand into those areas.
I'm just worried about America right now.
Once we get done with America, we'll kind of do America and Brazil at the same time, sortof, and then we'll worry about the rest of it after that.

(36:41):
No, and that, and and then I just, cause I was just trying to think, I lived in Australiafor, and worked on a cattle ranch over there and then hung out with some Cowboys in
Western Australia.
And I was just, it was a, I can, so I can see those parts, but I was just thinking, I,like I said, I go off into different areas here in my mind and I'm thinking those are the

(37:04):
four and, and, and I think you're Europeans that enjoy.
watching Bull Riding and love to come to America anyway and watch it.
So yeah.
I'm sure there are.
I mean, look at Spain.
They do the running of the bulls.
So bulls is a big part of the Spanish culture.
Are we ever going to look to find guys in Spain or France or Germany or wherever?

(37:29):
Maybe.
I don't know the answer to that, quite honestly.
I I would suspect at some point that that'll happen.
But I don't know if that's a two-year, five-year, ten-year.
Well, I mean, this is interesting to think about setting up a gold standard of findingthese athletes and being a coach and being a part of this system.

(37:56):
I don't know if I can say system, but it's more like, know, how just you're building andto see how this goes.
I'm happy that you are getting to be able to chase your dream here.
It's crazy.
So I mean you got a guy from Buffalo, New York that's finding in tree Well, I'm not gonnado the training but setting up the training standards for bull riders.

(38:22):
That's crazy talk
I mean, the guy from New York that's a lifelong lacrosse player and coach lacrosse at thecollege level for 10 years is doing this for bull riding.
And I've been, I've been a PBR fan probably, I don't know about since inception, but for along, long time and every chance I get, go to an event, went to an event and now I get to
go to them for work and they pay for it.

(38:46):
How did you
it's weird, like last night we're in Denver, cause the stock shows here and they had threenights of velocity stuff here.
and I actually do find myself kind of like watching as opposed to being the, you know,okay.
I have my little notebook and have my day sheet and I'm scribbling notes like crazy on theguys.
And, and then, then sometimes I'll find myself on a look down and I'm like three ridersgone and I didn't take any notes on those three riders.

(39:14):
It's like, damn it.
Stop watching Joe.
You actually do, you have to do work.
But it's really kind of a cool thing.
Katie, my fiance, who grew up in this stuff, sort of, you know, to an extent being a,being a barrel racer and a ranch girl and stuff.
I said to her the other day, said, Hey, you know, I, one of the things I'm working onright now is the mindset of a bull rider or mental toughness and stuff like that.

(39:42):
And I reached out to Justin McBride and he said, no, no, you gotta, you gotta talk to TyMurray about that.
He's the gold standard about, you know, mental toughness and the mental game.
And I sent a text to Katie and I just said, yeah,
He's reached out to McBride and he said, you know, call Ty Murray and she goes Well, okay.
Hopefully this is our radio.
She's like, are you fucking kidding me?
I'm like, no what she goes You just had one legend in the sport tell you to go talk toanother legend in the sport about part of the sport

(40:10):
That is, that's very, very, very cool.
You know, and it.
it's still three months into this, it's still surreal.
I'm literally still almost every day pinching myself, but I mean, I know I have the skillsto do what they need in terms of the recruiting and the building the camps and the clinics
and the curriculums and all of that good stuff, but it's still, I pinch myself every daythat I get to work with these guys and, you know, help guide is maybe not the right word,

(40:37):
but.
I mean, one of the things that I've found super interesting being a lifelong coach, Imean, I've been coaching lacrosse for 25 plus years, spent 10 at the NCAA level and
volunteer or taught coach high school, other than that, is to really watch the evolutionof the coaching in the teams.

(41:00):
mean, year one,
You watched them and it was pretty much a UTB event, but it was five on five.
They'd put five guys out there and five bulls and they go.
And whoever got the highest aggregate score at the end of the game wins the game.
But then you watch them as we go through and in year two, they start adjusting theirlineups and figuring out who's good in the lead off role and who's going to be our closer

(41:22):
and you know, all these different aspects to coaching and they start adjusting.
mean, these guys are learning to be coaches as they go through this.
Were they bull teachers?
Yes, they were bull riding teachers.
They know how to teach that, but to coach a team and almost to a man, they've all saidthat one of the hardest things that they've done is

(41:43):
to be a coach.
Because now they have personnel management and it's personalities and it's teaching theseguys, you know, aspects other than just bull riding.
And then in the third year of it, you watched him and I swear to God, these coaches havelearned that they're going to throw that red flag and challenge the other team score or,

(42:03):
know, whether he, you know, made the full whistle or not.
They do it just to piss off and get in the heads of the other coaches and the other teams.
I mean, they've really gone full blown from managing five riders and five
bowls to becoming tactical, forward thinking coaches in terms of game management.
And it's so cool to see the aspect of how they've done that.

(42:28):
I haven't watched the teams as much, do they get to, how long before they ride, do theyknow what bulls are gonna be with their riders?
Because here's where I'm going with this.
I'm just taking a best guess here.

(42:48):
I know I've read it somewhere, but I think the bull lineups come on Tuesday and I think bymidnight on Thursday, they have to say what their lineups are and pick their bulls.
Like who's going to ride which bull.
And that's the other neat aspect is now they get to pick and choose.
I they get a pool of certain number of bulls and they got five riders and they pick thebulls that are going to match up with those riders the best as they can possibly match

(43:14):
them up in order to get the best scores.
Cause that's where I was going with this because I was thinking like, you look at the UFC,this guy's a wrestler.
This guy's a, a puncher.
This guy has more technique in this area.
So you're, you're looking at this bull.
This rider is better for this bull.

(43:36):
And that rider is better than what I'm saying is the coaching is really can come intoeffect.
Cause it's not like you drew this bull and you got to try to ride it.
And where this bull.
will fit this bull rider and we might get a better score on him.
And this one's, you know what I mean?
And that's, that's where I was going with the riding part.
Cause that gives, that gives you a little time to figure out what your athletes, whatathletes are better for that bull.

(44:03):
Yeah, 100%.
And that sort of game management has really come into play whereas in in U2B or anywherebelow, mean, get, get a sign, Ryder gets assigned his bowl and he's got to work that bowl.
That's it, period.
I mean, you don't get to choose unless you make the short go.
In the short go, you have the draft and then, you know, you can pick.

(44:23):
It ain't like that in teams and it's really cool.
I mean, it's, I'm stoked and I mean...
We went from six to 10 teams and the plan is, that in the next, uh, nobody knows exactly,but I would say within five years, we will be at 16 teams and have two different
divisions.
Um, I mean, it's going the way of, you know, becoming a full on blown sports league, um,which is super cool.

(44:48):
And it's interesting and it's cool to see it on TV in the aspect when I get or go, youmean, it you see all this is a pack stadium and.
Madison.
So it's funny.
I was watching PBR now right before I got on here.
I don't know if you watch that show, but it's a great, they do it every Thursday.

(45:12):
and they kind of analyze what's happened the previous week.
And they were saying that, that were what 15, what's today?
16th or 16 days into the year.
And we've already had eight sellout events.
We sold out three nights, all three nights at Madison square garden in the heart of NewYork city.
That is just amazing.

(45:33):
And then we sold out, we sold out Chicago, we sold out in Denver last night, and thenobviously there's a couple more because they said it was eight eight nights they've sold
out.
I mean we're talking Chicago which I kind of understand a little bit Midwestern, you know,it's kind of bordering on getting towards the West and that sort of culture.
But sell out Madison Square Garden for three straight nights?

(45:55):
What?
That, you know, and truly that is from being from central, being from South Dakota, I justwould never have thought that in New York City because just from my perspective of they're
all city folks and they, they really don't care about us, but that's, that's amazing.

(46:16):
You know what I think part of it is, and I certainly don't want to get into politics here,but I think part of it is this monumental culture shift in America that, you know, we've
we've gotten way off track in the last, let's say, 10 years.
I mean, so divisive, so argumentative, so non tolerant of other people's opinions.

(46:41):
You got the point where, I I've heard that these young kids that are going in for jobinterviews, if they got to come into the office more than two or three days a week, they
don't want the job.
So I think we are making this shift and I don't really don't care.
I don't give a poop one way or the other who sits in POTUS' desk.

(47:01):
But I think we are making this monumental shift in...
from where we went from 40s, 50s, 60s, even into the 70s of we're a hardworking bluecollar country.
And if you're lucky enough to wear a button down shirt to work and you get to make a bunchof money, well, kudos to you.

(47:21):
But the rest of us all have calluses on our hands and we got to wash our hands before wehave dinner.
To where everything is, is I want to work at home.
I want to be in my pajamas.
I want to hang out on Instagram while I'm working to, I think we're going back 180degrees, maybe not, maybe 160, maybe not all the way back there.

(47:43):
cause there's a lot of bad shit in the forties and fifties and sixties that we probablydon't want to deal with, to where Americans want to be hardworking.
Yes, ma'am.
No sirs.
just good people.
mean, that can tolerate, I mean, if you and I have a disagreement, we can have a heatedexchange and we're still going to go out and buy each other a fizzy water at the end of

(48:05):
the argument.
Whereas, you know, you got all these people where I'm going to delete you and I'm going toblock you.
I mean, it's not the way America was made, nor should it be the way America is.
No, and I'm happy you said that because I have friends and we don't see eye to eye oncertain things, but we're still friends.

(48:27):
we can have a, and it's funny how we were talking about our wives earlier and not raisingour voices or getting irritated, but I've had some heated discussions with some of my
friends about politics, about other things too.
And at the end of the night, we're.
or end of the day, wherever we're doing it, we're still friends.

(48:48):
You know what?
I'll call you up tomorrow and we'll go out and go do something.
You know what I mean?
If that's the case.
and, and to that exact point, Katie is way blue.
I mean, my fiance, I mean, we are a house divided, but we don't make it.
First of all, we don't make it a conversation topic at all the time.
I mean, do we ever talk about it?
Sure.
do.

(49:08):
And she has some different views than I have.
And, you know, obviously I have some different views cause I'm more red and, it.
The point is to respect the other's opinion, even if you don't like that opinion, and youshould work to find a middle ground.
It's not deep blue or deep red, it should be purple.

(49:29):
Everybody should be purple.
We take some bits and pieces from one side, and we take some bits and pieces from anotherside, and we find a middle ground, and we work to make the country better.
The thing that I said, the...
The main paradigm shift I saw, and again, not getting into politics, I'm not touting oneperson over another, but what I saw when Trump got elected and the falling apart of people

(49:54):
over it and the doing almost absolutely nothing to improve our country for four years, andthen it just went the other way.
When Biden got elected, none of the Republicans wanted to do shit about fixing ourcountry.
They just wanted to bicker and argue and try and block the other side.
but it, it, it's, I think we're making that paradigm shift back to good old red bloodedAmerican.

(50:20):
And I didn't mean red to be red.
I just meant red blooded.
Well, I hear you there because, you know, we don't have blue blood in us.
know, purple or green.
I did all the fighting I wanted to do in my 20s and early 30s.
I don't want any more blood.
But I like what you said about that is if we take the best pieces from wherever we need totake the best pieces, that makes us the best us.

(50:46):
And when we become the best us, that makes it good for everybody.
And it doesn't matter where or what we do to become the best us is the-
makes everything around us better.
And I know I've repeated this before, but it's interesting to me that I like hearing thatbecause I am more of a, you know, I just want to take the best pieces here and there.

(51:17):
I know you grew up in, I mean, you've told me, you've told the listeners and us that yougrew up in Buffalo, Wyoming, but how does it feel to have a Wyoming cowboy as a
quarterback in Buffalo, Wyoming, Buffalo?
for the Buffalo Bills.
Oh, I'm a total, I'm a total Josh fan.
I mean, if I could, if I could put my arms around him and give him a big old sloppy kiss,I would.

(51:40):
I'm cheering for him this, that made me a closet Buffalo Bill fan.
I'm a Dallas Cowboy fan, you.
But Roger Stahl back, at least I got to watch those guys play, you But I do cheer for Joshbecause him coming from Wyoming, being a Wyoming Cowboy, that's pretty cool.

(52:05):
But what.
a good, he's apparently he's a really good human being too, so.
That's very, very cool.
But what brought you from Buffalo and you ended up in Colorado and now you're going toDallas?
I mean, going to Fort Worth.
God.
So obviously when I was coaching college, I was kind of transient.
mean, you don't stay in one place that often when you're coaching.

(52:28):
and I was kind of known as a program builder.
And I think that's kind of why the PBR wanted to look at me really hard and eventuallyhired me.
I mean, I would take a program, a school that says, all right, we're going to start alacrosse program.
And I would go in and I would build the program and get the, get the athletes in and getthe culture built.
then, you know, by the time we started winning, I'd probably be onto the next school to,

(52:50):
start doing the same thing.
So I did that at two schools at Mercyhurst in Erie, Pennsylvania.
And then I started the first NCAA lacrosse program in all of Texas right outside ofAustin, Texas.
Little D3 school called Southwestern University.
And that took me from where I was to Texas.

(53:11):
And I spent, I don't know, 10, 12 years down there.
And then moved up here.
Long story short, it was a girl and that didn't work out and I ended up here for eightyears, which is great because I love Denver.
I mean, I truly do.
But if I could pick an adoptive state, it would be Texas.

(53:31):
I mean, I'm much more aligned with the people of Texas than I am the people of Denver,Colorado or.
Northern Virginia where I was or Pennsylvania where I was.
I'm that guy that grew up in New York and always thought he should have been a cowboy andnow I get to try and be a little bit cowboy.
Well, that's very cool because you aren't going to believe this, but last year was thefirst time I was a two years ago now, Jiminy, correct?

(53:59):
I'm getting old, but my stepdaughter lived.
She did an internship for Cargill in New Orleans.
And then she had to get up to Cheyenne, Wyoming, because she was in the, she was a Navy,she's guards.

(54:20):
more or less person.
So we had to drive her from New Orleans to Cheyenne, Wyoming.
And that's the first time I drove across Texas and holy moly.
So there's that good.
It is a hall and there's no culture shock.
That's cool.
Cause you won't have culture shock then go into Fort Worth.
No, mean, like I said, I spent 10, 11, 12 years somewhere in that ballpark.

(54:47):
And I adored living in Texas.
I mean, I got my first pair of boots when I lived in Texas and now I own several.
It's, they're just, I guess the best way to put it is it's for the most part, other thansome of the deep red beliefs.
mean, it's, they're my kind of people.

(55:08):
And I'm really stoked that we get the chance and we just got a great little house about 35minutes Southwest of Fort Worth in a little teeny town called Granbury.
And it's, I'm stoked other than I haven't packed a damn thing yet.
Well, that's me and moving and then myself.

(55:29):
I hate that is a worst part about moving is packing.
Yep, well luckily enough PBR gave me a relocation stipend which was pretty decent.
So this will be my first move ever where I'm not moving it.
I I gotta pack the boxes but once the boxes are packed they come into the house and theycarry all that shit for me.

(55:53):
Well, Dad.
It's the first time, the last time I got halfway there, did the pods thing, but I stillhad to pack the pod.
Now I don't, I just put it all in boxes and all right boys, take this shit.
Well, that is awesome.
So, and then I know you're probably strapped for time here, but I do have a...

(56:17):
Okay, well good.
Because when you get...
What are you looking forward to most about being in Texas then?
Besides your job?
Well...
I think no very little cold, although we did go down last weekend to get the house andsettle all that stuff.

(56:41):
And it was cold as shit.
And there was actually more snow in Dallas than there was in Denver.
Um, it was like, but I mean, I grew up, mean, I had my birthdays in February.
So I learned how to drive in the middle of a Buffalo winter.
So the snow does not bother me in this latest, but, um, the older I get, the more I wantit to be warm.
Although the flip side is, is I don't want it to be July and August in Texas, becausethat's crazy.

(57:04):
I still remember the first time I put up my Christmas lights when I moved to Austin, doingit in shorts and a t-shirt, sweating my rear end off as I'm putting up my Christmas lights
outside the house.
So, but it...
It's everything.
I mean, I'm literally going to be half an hour up the road from JB Mooney and Ty Murray'sranches.
And, anytime I want, I could just drive down there and watch them, you know, practicework, practice bowls.

(57:31):
I said to Mooney, when I was on the phone with him a couple of days ago, said, you know,one of the things I'm going to have to do is I'm going to have to learn how to ride a
bull.
I said, you ain't put me on any of big bad boys, but we'll start with steers and we'llmove up a little bit from that, just a little bit.
And he's like, come on, son, I'll get you on a bull tomorrow.
I'm like, we'll pump the brakes, big fella.

(57:52):
You just put that cigarette out and you take it slow with me.
I'm old and I don't want to break a hip.
But it's honestly, it's the people that really drives me.
And man, I love Tex-Mex and I love barbecue, but it's just the people.
They're just, they're most of the time, I mean, obviously not all, but I mean, for themost part, they're genuine.

(58:16):
And that's one of the reasons we picked a town like Granbury, which is more rural, isthat, I mean, that's the kind of place that Katie and I both feel comfortable.
And we were walking around the Grand Berries, one of these old Texas towns with the bigsteeple courthouse in the middle of a town square.
And everything is still, you know, the way it was.
and we walked into, you know, store after stores were just to tooling around the townsquare.

(58:41):
Everybody's just sweet as pie.
And I mean, I'm obviously not from there.
I mean, I still have the Buffalo accent.
I mean, they could still tell you damn Yankees coming down here.
But I mean, I'm really, I'm just, living out, as weird as this sounds, I'm living out mydream.
I get to work for the PBR.

(59:01):
I get to do some things that I'm really good at for them.
And hopefully, you know, as we go through this, make the PBR a better place and a strongerplace and more viable for longer.
I get to work my ass off and I mean, it's every day.
mean, what's that old saying?
You do what you love and you don't work a day in your life.
That's the way I feel right now.

(59:23):
And I don't know that I've ever felt that about a career before, but, but in terms of nonjob related, it's, it's the people in Texas, man.
I mean, where else are you going to get, you ain't going to get a yes sir or no sir in themiddle of New York city.
You're probably more likely to get an F you than you are a no sir or yes sir.
And it's just, it's nice.
And people say hello to you when you're walking down the street.

(59:45):
And I agree with you there.
mean, I, like I said, I grew up in a little town of 56 was the closest town to me.
And then I go up to a town in Northwestern South Dakota and I love the little towns inMontana.
you can walk into any place and somebody's going to have a conversation with you becausefirst of all, they don't know who you are if you're not from around there.

(01:00:08):
then nobody, they don't have a problem.
of having this conversation with you, think one of them is because you're different.
So we've always, when you live in these little towns, you have the same conversationexcept in a different way every day.
Like my dad, they have coffee at 8 a.m.

(01:00:29):
and then they have coffee at 3 p.m.
And so the same thing's hashed every day, you know, more or less, but, or somebody sellingthis tractor over here, did you see those cows over there or whatever?
But I do like that it's, everybody is willing to talk to you, most everybody, and it'sjust a down, relaxed way of life.

(01:00:54):
know, it's just, those are what I like about here.
But I have to say, I agree with you on that summer in Texas, I don't think I could handlethat.
I told you.
conditioning is a thing these days.
If it wouldn't...
Cause when we drove through, was August and it was hot and I was going, geez.

(01:01:19):
The one good thing about driving across Texas is we stopped in Amarillo for the night.
So I was in Amarillo by morning and there's no George straight there, but at least I wasin Amarillo in the morning.
Good deal.
Yeah, that's funny.
Can you, could you give anybody advice about chasing their dreams then?

(01:01:42):
You know, you've chased your dreams and you're attaining it and you're living.
54.
I mean, it took me till I was 54 to truly find the job that I felt I wasn't working at.
The best thing is, mean, honestly, it's one is in the sound, stupid and cliche, but workhard, know, do your thing, do your job.

(01:02:08):
And the biggest thing for me once I got sober was, you know, commitment in terms of.
Just because you don't feel good doesn't mean you shouldn't go to work and get your jobdone, or shouldn't go to the gym, or whatever it is.
I mean, I'm not talking about if you got the flu.
I mean, consistency in working hard, they produce results.

(01:02:31):
And it may take you 54 years, or you may find it when you're 22.
I don't know.
And the other side is just be a good person.
Work hard, be a good person.
If you can do those two things, pretty much everything else will take care of itself.
Yeah, cause it's, I, just, I've worked for a lumber yard for 20 years and then I moved, I,I, they sold that lumber yard.

(01:02:58):
It was a smaller yellow yard and I moved to another one and I'm the yard foreman there,but, I'm trying to do, of course, the don't die rusty podcast and keep this thing.
I want to grow this, but I had my third anniversary.
It's funny last week too, and I've not been sick one day for those three years.

(01:03:20):
And I'm not saying that I wasn't feeling good at times, but I do believe that when youshow the commitment and that you're going to be showing up for work every day and you're
not, I might complain a couple of days about something, but if you keep on showing up anddoing your job, people notice that stuff.
then, and you can kind of manifest.

(01:03:42):
what you want to do in life then, because things start coming at you.
Yeah, I mean, I think the other thing that I learned and I didn't really get into thisuntil I sobered up is, you you have to be a lifelong learner.
If you're not reading books, and I'm not talking about fiction and fantasy, I'm talkingabout read books on being a better person, read books on work ethic, know, read books on

(01:04:05):
whatever industry you're working in.
You know, if you're not a lifelong learner, you're going backwards.
So if you can't read, learn to read.
If you can read, do it.
Every night I try to read something to make myself better of whatever I can.
And you're right, right now I read a lot of stoic literature too and I think it's rightnow, do the right thing right now or whatever.

(01:04:32):
I'm reading the Ryan Holiday's newest book and it's affected me in a few things, you know,and I have some more questions to ask myself in those aspects because
You look, but the one thing I did like and it was, I think it was, he said, you can foolpeople with a reputation, but your character will always come through.

(01:05:02):
And it's good character that makes a difference.
And I've always prided myself like I'm.
I'm not a rich guy, I do.
hope I have the character that people see that they you're honest and trustworthy.
Yeah, I think one of the things that really made the happiest, so I spent the first 10years of my career working as an investment consultant.

(01:05:22):
And back then, they called them stockbrokers.
And it was basically just smiling and dialing.
And I spent the first 10 years of my career chasing the almighty dollar.
And I did really well.
But I wasn't happy.
And at one point, about 10 or 11 years into my career,
I had did some soul searching and I figured, I said, you know, where am I really happy?

(01:05:43):
And at the time, uh, obviously, you know, selling investments and doing investmentconsultation, was always volunteer coaching for either youth program or a high school
program as a coach, you know, coaching lacrosse.
And the place I was the happiest was on the lacrosse field.
Um, so I gave up.
They could several hundred thousand dollars a year to go deliver dominoes and substituteteach.

(01:06:04):
And that's how I became a lacrosse coach for the next decade of my life.
then the kids got soft and I didn't want to do that anymore.
And that's one of the neat things is I kind of not really being a coach but developingsome of the coaching stuff in terms of curriculums and camps and clinics and things like
that.
So I still get to be in that world but I get to be in that world where the guys areharder.

(01:06:25):
They're not like the kids today.
mean, they're the same age, but you take a college kid at 19 years old and you take arodeo guy at 19 years old and they are just night and day difference.
I mean, 100 % night and day.
One wants to play video games, drink beer and whine about his life.
And the other one's out there busting his ass.
Even if he's got a broken foot, he's still getting on that bull.

(01:06:49):
They told a funny story last night and I can't remember which rider it was about.
but one of the riders had at one point broken his foot so badly, they had to cut his bootoff of them.
and then they, they taped it up and he rode the next night with a broken foot.
They literally taped, he put his boot back on the next night and duct taped the boot onand went out and rode a bull.

(01:07:09):
I mean, in the night before his foot was broke so bad, they had to cut his boot offbecause they couldn't get the boot off without it.
And you show me a 19 year old college kid that's gonna do something like that, half ofthem are like, I have a headache, I can't go to school today.
Come on, man.
Nope.
that's, and I, I, I really, sometimes I wonder where those kids are.

(01:07:34):
Cause I look at those kids and it's like, I, how can you be sick?
I mean, I'm talking about those other college kids.
Like you don't even, if you have a headache, that doesn't mean you don't have to come towork or there's, there's things that go on.
some of that stuff bothers me.
I just,

(01:07:55):
I've kind of voiced that opinion every once in a while, you know, and that's where thecharacter comes into.
It's like, so when you have to tell somebody that for me personally, working the jobs Iworked, I would go to work sick and you'd have to send me home because I want you to know
I'm sick.

(01:08:16):
I'm not calling in and saying, you know what?
I partied a little too much last night and I'm hung over and don't feel good.
I want you to see that I am truly sick and
You tell me to get the hell out of there because I don't want to get you.
don't want it exactly.
So I, I, I, I respect those kids these days that, I honestly think.

(01:08:38):
I'm then like you said, I'm seeing more and more of that type of kid coming around again.
And it's, it's just one of those interesting things I've seen.
And it makes me happy to see that conviction, that character that.
instead of the easy stuff that you get that you're out there doing, busting your ass andgetting things done and realize the hard work is going to get you somewhere.

(01:09:04):
Yep.
It's really interesting.
And we were talking about that paradigm shift and, know, let's get back to beinghardworking, good people.
And that trickles down to the kids as well.
And it was neat.
did, there was a study that was done by Stanford in my last coaching stint.
And this person came in and talked to the entire athletic department.
And they basically said they did this study and

(01:09:26):
all these kids that were raised by these helicopter parents with everybody gets a trophyand if you scrape your knee you got to stay in bed for three days till it heals up and you
know that sort of stuff they said that they had done a survey and those kids were nowparents and they said that they they they hated that they were raised that way and they
were going to make a change now this was 12 years ago so and they said it's probably goingto change you know in the next few years okay so they were a decade late but

(01:09:55):
It's changing back to that.
mean, Jesus, remember, we used to make our own ramps to jump our bikes.
you, I mean, you would, you would fall off and scrape your face on this cement and youjust get back up and jump again.
I mean, I am guilty as anybody of scrolling through Instagram.
And I saw a thing with the old bike pedals with all the little spikes around the edges.

(01:10:19):
they said, kids today would not be able to handle this coming into contact with theirshins.
Jesus, we had that happen on a daily basis and we just kept riding.
There's bleeding.
I don't care.
I don't care if I'm bleeding.
And no helmets and no pads.
You just jumped and you, know, and I don't know about you, but I had a banana seat too andyou're still jumping.

(01:10:42):
was bending rims on my bike and doing this and that.
Crunching your balls on the banana seat.
I like good stuff.
And you'd lay there, that hurt a little bit and you'd get back up and go do it again.
And I just appreciate the, I'm happy to be a Gen Xer in that aspect because I see thosewere the times that were fun and enjoyable and I just.

(01:11:15):
think they toughened me up, you know, it's, it's just a few of those things, you know, I,I had, I'd ride to the field on a, had a little Honda 80 motorcycle and, and I came in a
little hot one time cause I'd jump up and get on our approach and, and I came in a littlehot and jumped the whole approach and wrecked my motorcycle and was laying there and got

(01:11:42):
up and you know what?
I'd never.
You just don't say anything.
got my dad in trouble one time too, because he, he was, can't remember what we were doing,but we were out by these railroad tracks.
And of course you're stupid and out playing on the old railroad ties over there.
And I jumped off one and caught a, a railroad tied nail and that was in it and cut my leg.

(01:12:06):
And I just walked back to the pickup, didn't say a thing and got home and my mom said,
what in the hell happened to your leg?
There's blood all over my, you know what I mean?
My dad didn't see it.
But you just kept quiet about it.
But nowadays it's like, this is terrible.
In some situations like, your baby didn't, that wasn't, I didn't, I wanted to hide that,tough, you know what I mean?

(01:12:34):
Kind of thing.
No.
So.
It's like in the dating world, all these girls used to want the sensitive guy, and nowthey all want the cowboy.
Yep, exactly.
And I'm glad that's coming back.
And in the aspect of the honor and a cowboy and the true gentlemanly qualities that seemto have been lost because you want the women, and I'm not trying to be sexist here, but

(01:13:02):
there's a lot of women out there that wanted that sensitive new age guy.
And I just...
I could never be that.
So you'd have to put up with me, you know what I mean?
But anyway.
Yeah, I know.
one, but it's fine.

(01:13:24):
I still remember, I don't know, this was, I don't know, five, six, eight years ago,walking into a restaurant and there was a lady behind me and I stepped aside, opened the
door and she stopped and looked at me.
says, I don't need you to hold the door.
So I walked in behind the door, grabbed the handle and pulled it closed behind me so thatshe had to open it herself.
I was like, all right, you want to be a jerk?
I could be a jerk too.

(01:13:45):
Yep.
You know, and it's, it's fun because opening up the doors and that's where we grew up.
That's, that was just being nice and being a good person.
And, uh, yeah, cause I've done that for a few older ladies or people, people actually, youknow, cause you do it for the older people.

(01:14:07):
they said, well, thank you.
I said, well, you know, if I
didn't graduate from college, I figured I could be a door opener for somebody, know, kindof thing, kind of make it fun, you know, so, but I have, when we get to the end of an
episode, I have a question, I always ask this question and then we probably talk another20 minutes after this question because it goes on, but I ask, what's the good life to Joe

(01:14:35):
Ernst?
That's a really good question.
That's kind like, what's the meaning of life?
Although it's hard to put, it's hard to tell.
I like making a decent living, but I'm not so much worried about money anymore.
I mean, as long as I can pay my bills and put some away for retirement.
And you know, every once in a while, Katie and I go to a beach somewhere and hang out fora week.

(01:15:00):
That's important.
Happiness to me, I think is...
the ultimate and good life.
I just want to be happy and I want no drama and I want to have a life where I smile a lotmore than I frown.
And I want to be loved and I want to love.

(01:15:20):
And I think if you can get those three things, you you got enough to pay your bills andput a little bit away.
You don't have to be crazy.
I don't have to be crazy rich.
You know, you're happy and you have a partner that
You know, is we're on an even playing level and you both care about each other and, and,and supportive.

(01:15:43):
I can't ask for much more.
Who wouldn't mind a horse?
We'll get there.
I have to agree with you.
I love when we ask these questions because happiness is for me, more or less what you saidis like being at peace, finding that peace.

(01:16:04):
And it's amazing how we have similar ways from our age of divorce to finding that peaceand
When you in the no drama part is amazing because when you don't have drama, I think yougrow older and we went through that drama and we find the right person.

(01:16:27):
Then you have the happiness and it starts gaining.
And then you have the joy because you have, you have found that right person and you'reliving that good life.
I don't need a lot of money either.
I, like you said, I want to go on adventures with my wife and
and be supportive, but I really love what you had to say there.

(01:16:50):
There's nothing like having peace and happiness in your life.
Concur.
100 % agree.
So I truly am happy that we got to finally get together here.
I hope to meet you in person someday.
I hope you bring your wife back to South Dakota and maybe we could meet, you know, I mean.

(01:17:15):
I don't know what part you're in, but I know at some point we got to go back up.
She's from Rapid, and her sister and brother-in-law and niece live in Rapid.
And she just adores her niece.
So definitely be up in Rapid at some point.
I don't know where you are based on that.
I am 48 miles away in the Northern Black Hills and Spearfish, South Dakota, just 13 milesfrom Deadwood.

(01:17:35):
So we need to get together sometime and yeah, it would be enjoyable.
would, I think it'd be a fun, just enjoyable conversation to have.
mean, I had, this is our first cool conversation, but I'd like to have many more.
can tell you that.
I agree.
mean, then the other thing is, I don't know how far you are from Deadwood, but I know I'mpretty sure I'll be up there because that's one hell of a rodeo arena.

(01:17:59):
Yes it is, I'm 13 miles away.
I went to the rodeo last year.
Well, let me know when you're around.
So I just want to say thank you so much again.
So, any...
letting me have a voice on this.
The more people that know about what we're doing at PBR, the better off we are.

(01:18:21):
And anybody, any, I don't know if kids ever listen to this, but if any dads listen to thisor kids are listening to it and they want to feel free to reach out.
If you go to our website, PBR EVO, PBR Evo.com, it's kind of a Facebook slash recruitingfor bull riders.
can post videos, you can put up a profile, you can reach out to coaches, you can reach outto us.

(01:18:45):
Get after it, get on there and feel free to reach out.
And if they want to, I'll put it in the show notes too.
And they can look that up too.
whatever else you need, whenever we can have another conversation, that would be great.
And hopefully things will be going good.

(01:19:05):
Let's think about checking in on another podcast maybe in six months or a year when we gotsome of this stuff actually hashed out and we're actually recruiting kids and we'll be
able to tell it hopefully at that point be able to tell you some really good successstories.
Maybe I'll find the next John Kremberg.
That would be amazing too.
it'd be, and maybe when you come up here into the Black Hills, we can have a conversationand see where you are.

(01:19:30):
Yep, that would be great.
All right, well, Don't Die Rusty Nation, this has been an amazing conversation.
And I just want to say, as always, keep chasing your dreams, being the best you and ofcourse, Don't Die Rusty.
Well, thank you.
That was just an awesome.

(01:19:51):
That

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DDR 048 - Joe Ernst

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}DDR 048 - Joe Ernst