February 12, 2025 • 36 mins
What if the true value of a Super Bowl ring extends beyond the scoreboard? Join us for a lively discussion as we dissect Philadelphia's defensive triumph and Kansas City's offensive woes in the recent Super Bowl. While the halftime show dazzled with a Buick GNX and its special significance, we also weave in listener feedback on the contentious topic of participation trophies. Do they offer encouragement or undermine true achievements? Our recording might be in Luke's cozy garage, but the conversation is as expansive as ever.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back to Half Century Hangout.
How are things going?
Today I heard that we did havea Super Bowl.
I'm not sure how super it was.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
The big, easy beatdown.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
Yeah, that's all I got to say.
What a surprise that was.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
That's what tells you .
When you have a crappyoffensive line, that's what
happens.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Yeah, or you have an exceptional defensive line.
I think that could be both.
Philly was on top of it.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
They were, but I think that Casey's O-line shit
the bed, sorry yeah maybe theydid.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
It was a bit of both.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
It was a bit of both.
Yeah, I was super surprised atthat, though.
I mean 27-0 at the half, 24.
24-0 at the half, I thought itwas 27.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
No, because 25 was the record, and they were at 24.
Gotcha.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Yeah, definitely a beat down, beat down.
Kansas City was never really inthe game.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
No they didn't have a shot.
They did score at the end, butyou know, that was about it, I
mean there was a few dimes hethrew at the end.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
You know like tosses them out there.
It's good.
Yeah, helped out a few parlaysalong the way you know, yeah,
sure.
Otherwise it was garbage,Garbage time.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
All right.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Was there a halftime show Sorry?
Speaker 3 (01:08):
You know there was something about that.
The best part about thehalftime show was the Buick oh.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
I got a little trivia on that.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
So that Buick that was up there, that is not just a
Grand National, it's a GNX,which was the up of the Grand
National 1987.
And that's the name of hisalbum.
Okay, but the reason that henamed it and where it comes from
is that is the car that his dadhad that he brought him home
(01:37):
from the hospital in.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
You know, I'd heard that that's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Yeah, so that was.
I mean, that part was cool, butyou did realize that they had
it staged on there.
It was a fake car, yeah, andpeople came from under the stage
because like 100 people cameout of the car.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
They weren't all just packed in there in the backseat
.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I don't know why?
Speaker 2 (01:52):
but I don't think the backseat of a Buick Regal was
that big.
No, oh, I don't even really.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Sometimes it gets bigger, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
I don't know.
I remember when those carsfirst came out I wasn't a big
fan of them back in the late 80s.
Yeah, I didn't really valuethem for what they were because
I was used to the bling, youknow, the chrome bumpers, all
that kind of stuff, and theydidn't have any of that.
Deuce and a quarter, yes, butanyway, anyway, anyway, enough
about the big time to move onhuh feedback.
(02:24):
We got feedback, yes, we gotsome great feedback.
First of all, I want to give ashout out to adam in lincoln.
Uh was talking to him over theweekend and he said that he
really enjoyed the podcast, thatit was very informative, uh,
fun, um, and so that was.
That was kind of cool.
Um, again, you know my uh beckyfrom day Ohio.
She chimed in and she actuallyleft a message on the Facebook
(02:47):
page.
So I'm grateful for her input.
And again, if you guys arelistening and want some input,
definitely go to our Facebookpage, half Century Hangout and
leave us a message.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Yeah, give us some feedback.
We'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Shout out to Bonita Springs, florida, that's Beth
and Logan checking in, and inChicago, trevor's been listening
, appreciate it.
They haven't put anything downin print yet.
They're pretty personal,they're kind of to themselves,
but I've heard it on the phoneand it's been good, so I'm real
happy that people are listening.
We just keep spreading the word.
(03:24):
People tell us good things andpeople tell us some other things
and you know it's all good.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Kenan from Council Bluffs.
He loves the show Faithfullistener Subscribed, actually so
he follows us on Apple podcast.
Awesome, that's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
So you know, that was the other thing, I was laughing
.
We don't record that opening.
You know, every time I meanit's prerecorded, we put it in.
You know, john says in theopening grab a seat.
Well, today we grabbed a drink.
We're back in Luke's garage.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Yes, I love Luke's garage.
I love hanging out in Luke'sgarage.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
It's fun and we get a little bit of a respite
tomorrow because we're supposedto hit some bad weather.
So our boss said you know?
Speaker 1 (04:04):
remote learning day Remote learning, remote learning
we're all in education and youknow, because a lot of learning
happens remotely, absolutely.
Maybe Maybe it does, it can, itdefinitely can.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
And you know, one of the things I mean you can talk
about that feedback, chuck,because I know you had some
pretty specific stuff, but we'rekind of tagging along with it
today.
So OK, let's rip it.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Yeah, so kind of a follow up from last week's
episode regarding participationtrophies.
Becky writes in.
She says hey, on one hand,receiving a participation trophy
could give that person falsehope of maybe thinking that they
are good at whatever the eventis, and also does it diminish
(04:49):
the value of the person who hasa real achievement.
That's a good question.
What are your guys' thoughts?
Speaker 2 (04:58):
I think we touched on it last week a little bit, I
mean a tad, and that's greatfeedback and that's real
specific and that's the way welike it.
You know that it really hits tothe note and I think that's why
we wanted to continue with ittoday, to not only address the
feedback but take it a littlefurther and I think that she
hits the point right there whereit says if you have, whatever
(05:18):
the team is, whatever the groupis, whatever that is, if
somebody is a stellarparticipant, whatever that means
, in whatever activity it is,whatever that is, if somebody is
a stellar participant, whateverthat means, in whatever
activity is, and everybody onthat group gets this I'm just
calling air quotes here,participation trophy.
Whatever that comes by, does itdiminish or does it build up
the people that think theyreally did something special?
(05:40):
Does it take away from theperson that really, really did
something special and they lookand say, hey, that guy got the
same thing that I did yeah, youknow what I mean.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
Yeah, I do, but I and I think it's, I think there's
an age appropriation with thisfor sure, because I mean if, if
we're talking into high schooland we're still looking for
participation, trophies orrecognition for just being a
part of something, rather thanjust being thankful that you are
(06:13):
a part of something, I thinkthere's a difference there.
But I still think if, like 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, maybe 11 years old,
I think there's benefit, 10,maybe 11 years old, I think
there's benefit, and I don'tthink you're necessarily hurting
that competitive kid who is,you know, excelling.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
I think you just said it excel.
I think it has to do withexcellence.
Are you striving for thatexcellence?
Striving to get better everyday, not necessarily winning,
but getting better and becomingthe best at your craft, whatever
(06:56):
that craft is?
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Sure, but I mean.
The question is does itdiminish the value of the person
who has the real achievement?
Is?
Does it diminish the value ofthe person who has the real
achievement?
If I'm 11, I don't think itdiminishes my value, but a
participation trophy couldencourage an 8, 9, 10,
11-year-old in ways that we maynot even realize.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
It could.
I don't disagree with thatnecessarily, but we keep coming
back to this thing about the ageappropriateness of it.
What about what just happened?
And we talked about thebeginning super bowl who gets?
The ring, who gets rings inthat winning organization?
Who gets a super bowl ring?
Every single person, everysingle person, even and even
(07:39):
even.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
So, the players, the front office, hey, the people
who were there say you hadsomebody that was a
groundskeeper at kansas city.
Somebody said they had afraternity brother that was a
groundskeeper at kansas city.
That wouldn't be that had aring.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
But that's my point here's my here's, here's where I
was going with that and I and Iknow I don't know exactly how
far down the line those rings goI know a lot of people get them
right.
Something like that is a hugeaccomplishment, right?
No matter where you are in thething.
Why do they ever come up forsale?
When you see Super Bowl ringsup for sale, somebody there
(08:22):
doesn't really have, yeah, it'scool.
But you know what?
They don't have this sense ofaccomplishment like oh my gosh,
I could never get rid of thisbecause I was the G.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
I don't know that, you know that, oh, I know that I
don't know that you honestlycan say, hey, the janitor at the
Kansas City Chiefs stadiumdoesn't really value and know
his contribution to the, to theorganization.
I think that's a like a strawman.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
I don't know that.
I don't know that he doesn'tnecessarily know what his
contribution was, but it doesn'thold the same salt, it's not
the same thing, like he's.
Like I'm never giving this ringup because, man, I'm gonna, my
grandkids are gonna see it, mygreat-grandkids and people down
the line, yeah, I so what isyour argument on that?
Speaker 3 (09:05):
why?
Why should he not get one?
Speaker 2 (09:07):
I don't think he not, he shouldn't get one.
I just think that I don't wantto pigeonhole the conversation
into saying that everybody whogets this participation trophy
doesn't think of it the same way, because that's really.
What it comes down to me isthat if I'm on a team who didn't
do crap, we didn't win anything, we didn't do whatever and we
(09:29):
all got this trophy, what am Igoing to do with that thing?
We have a coworker who told usthe other day and her kids are
younger they don't give a crapabout them.
Sure, those things wind up inthe garbage.
You know it's.
It's not like it's it's.
It's not like it's this thingthat I think that there might be
and, chuck, you've said it afew times and I'm not
necessarily disagreeing with youthat there might be that kid
(09:50):
once in a while.
It's like oh.
I got this thing, I'm going todo it again next year, or I'm
going to try it again next year,or whatever it is.
I don't disagree with that.
But I think when we look at itas far as excellence or
excelling at something orworking hard enough, I think I
think that it does moreentitlement, that it does
(10:11):
pushing that work ethic furtherfor a kid that's what I think,
all right that's just my thingso talk about the philadelphia
eagles, let's say the winners ofthe super bowl, right, um I?
Speaker 3 (10:21):
and if you want to take it down to a custodian
level, I don't even know if theyget it, but let's say they do.
I don't think a custodian isgoing to think that they had the
same contribution to theorganization that Hertz had or
that Saquon Barkley had.
Well, I would hope not.
I don't think they're going tothink that.
(10:42):
Well, I would hope not.
I don't think they're going tothink that.
But I do think that whetherthey value it enough to hold on
to it maybe they fall under somefinancial hardship and they
have to sell it it doesn't meanthey value or undervalue that
experience of being a part ofthat organization for that
period of time.
It just means I mean we don'tknow what it means because we
don't really know that.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
But doesn't that also come about because of how
whatever that organization is isbuilt?
Because there's someorganizations where you know
what that custodian is.
Oh my gosh, they celebrate themand they do their thing and
they figure it out.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
So what you might be talking about is a little bit of
culture.
There's a story from NASA.
From NASA, when they were goingto the moon, they would tell
everybody, even the janitor,you're a part of putting a man
on the moon, which is you're apart of being a Super Bowl
(11:39):
winning team, and that's aculture that you it is Really
that's a culture that you.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
it is really that's a culture, I agree, and so that
that goes beyond the, theparticipation trophy that you
get.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
You know um part of it is how do you help people be
excellent, how do you helppeople be excellent and move
beyond just winning games orwhatever it is, but is that
participation trophy helpingpeople be excellent?
Speaker 2 (12:15):
so you know, I was I was laughing because, um, I like
the research and I like to lookat things and see.
And when we were talking aboutthis and Chuck, you know,
anytime I get a chance to bashon the state of Ohio, I take it.
And it was interesting becauseI know last segment we talked
about when we thought thesebecame kind of like the thing
(12:37):
and we said it was kind of rightafter the time that we were
kids.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
You know it was in that you know, 80s, early 80s,
maybe not, maybe into the 90swhatever it was 90s yeah 1922 22
.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
The ohio state invitational high school
basketball tournament gaveparticipation trophies to every
athlete who played in the invite.
Okay, in the invite it was aninvite, yeah it wasn't.
That was the first time thatthey've ever in history seen
that everybody involved insomething got this award.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
And I don't know the circumstances around that
basketball invitation.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
I don't think any one of these people ever played
sports again.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
Yeah, but it could be that maybe that was a special
invite.
It could have been you know towhere the best get to go, but we
kind of you know to where thebest the best get to go.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
But we kind of you know, I was looking at it as as
we, and we keep talking aboutsports and that's important to
us because we all follow sportsand you know I'm part of it,
we're all part of it, right, butI also.
We're in education and we'vetalked about this a little bit
and one of the things that Ifound that was really
interesting was this it's notnecessarily the participation
(13:44):
trophy, but it's the sameconcept and you can call it
grade inflation, you can call itthese different things, and
it's about assessing performance, whether that's in the
classroom, whether that's anemployee, whether that's an
executive, whoever it is.
And one of the things that Ifound that was really
interesting about it was thatwhen the Vietnam War was going
(14:06):
on, they had started to decidethat people who were mainly men
at the time but it was stillwomen as well, but mainly men at
the time if they were incollege they were deferred on
being selected to be in theservice in the draft, but then
(14:27):
they started to change and saidthat those who were
intellectually higher the lineand moved it up a little bit,
which turned into gradeinflation, where they were
getting professors or they weregetting people to, hey, give me
a better grade so I don't getdrafted and go to Vietnam.
So it kind of turns into thisthing where are we inflating
(14:49):
things based on like John wastalking about excellence, or is
it for real that we are givingsomething an award, a promotion,
a grade, anything based on whathave you done for me?
What have you done based onwhat is expected?
Speaker 1 (15:11):
And what have you learned?
What have you?
Speaker 3 (15:14):
learned.
I mean what you actuallyexplained there was fraud.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Well, yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
Right, but think about it.
We've seen that and that's thething.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
is that there's, I mean, how many guys?
Let's be honest here, like yousaid, fraud and that's 100%.
We talk about busts in the NFL,right?
You see guys that are on teamsthat are there and it's like, oh
my gosh, that guy really is hitway out of the park Like he had
a great tryout, but he's reallynot, you know.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
Tony.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Mandritz is just one comes to my head.
Right, yeah, do those guysreally deserve a Super Bowl ring
?
If they were on the team?
I don't know If you never sawthe field, if you were never
there, I mean, yeah, but that'sthe thing is it's fraud.
Some of it you can see.
There's false inflation ofthings, of people's, either a
(16:02):
performance or theirparticipation, or it could go
the other way to where it'sdeflation, where somebody is
there and trying but theyactually get bumped further down
.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Absolutely so.
Luke, I'm going to take us in adifferent direction.
What do you think of?
You know, we're in high school,we, we work with high school
kids.
I'm not in high school yeah,we're not in high school, we're
50, we're a long way from highschool right but anyway, uh, we
work with high school kids andand what do you think?
(16:33):
Think about the sports andmaybe some of the clubs.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
I knew you were going there yeah, that's what I
wanted to ask you, and this isthe thing this is this is what I
feel, and I'm just gonna throwjohn's john's kicking back
because he's gonna put his feetup and taking that while I talk
well, you know it, it's allabout luke.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Yeah, you know, that's the way it is.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
I think that there's been a very, very strong, a very
, very definite product that hashappened with youth, with high
school sports, with kidsparticipating based on what some
(17:20):
of us call club sports, some ofus call it select, all these
things.
When I was growing up and youguys were all about the same
time, pretty close If somebodywould have said select sports
back then I don't know that Ireally knew that word.
Some people called it travelball or some people called it
some other things Right, whereyou had a tryout.
Like you went, you had a tryoutand you had to make this team
(17:43):
Right, which just a tryout inand of itself tells you the
people on this team.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
Are exclusive.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Are exclusive on some level.
Sure, according to someone.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
Right.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
So, as that occurred which I'm not saying was good or
bad, but there were those kidsand then the rest of us played
in either just our high schoolteams or in recreational leagues
or whatever it was, which isfine.
There's nothing wrong with thatparticipation, right that
(18:14):
select slash club sport haswatered down the system to the
point where if a parent, ifthey're able to and more power
to them if they're able to writea check for the registration
for that league, they're in.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
There's no tryout, they're just, they're in it.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
They can write a check.
They're good.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
They're good, they're in.
There's, generally speakingspeaking.
There's parent coaches.
There's some coaches that arethere.
They're not getting paid forwhat they're doing I mean
they're volunteer coaches right.
There's probably some that areright based on the idea that
it's their league or whatever itis and they're they're getting
some sort of compensation forthat.
But I think the overall thinghas been by a lot of parents is
(18:58):
that if my kid plays in this doggone it.
They're going to rule your highschool team.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Which I think is wrong, because just because you
were on or in a club sport andor a select team or whatever
that is, it really doesn't meananything as far as how you
compare to where these otherkids are.
I don't think it really makesmuch of anything, because if I
(19:26):
say that now this is the otherthing I need to qualify, here, I
need to do a what do you callthose things?
A disclaimer A lot of times Ispeak in words where I'll I'll
give a strong opinion aboutsomething.
It is not, in and of itself,exclusive.
I'm not always saying everyoneor every person or every kid or
(19:47):
every club.
I'm not saying that.
I'm saying that I think as awhole there's there's a bit of
problem, especially in certainsports, which we could go there
at some point, but the idea isthat it rules it to the point
that kids not as muchparticipate across sports, that
(20:09):
they're multi-sport athletesbecause the coaches in club
sports are asking them, slash,telling them and their parents
are because they're paying forit.
You're a one-sport kid, sure,which we all know is not that's
like that's not good.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
That's like taking math class all year long, right
you can't do that.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
We need to be multi-faceted across the world.
That's what's going to happenwhen you're an adult.
You can't do that as a kid.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
So I think in a nutshell, john, you asked the
question and that was a greatquestion, but I could go on for
hours about it and I don't wantto do that no, I think what I
think what can happen on bothsides of this argument is you
have the, you know thepolarization right, so you can
say everybody gets aparticipation trophy and you
(20:54):
know it's, it's all good inevery circumstance, circumstance
for however long you want to doit, or you could say it's never
any good and so let's justabandon the whole entire idea.
But what I do and even withclub sports, I think you can do
that same thing with club sportsthe value to me in club sports,
if it's handled properly, isdevelopment.
(21:14):
Yeah, 100%.
So you know you have yourselect league league right, the,
the primo league that they'regoing to be the ones that's
travel.
But a lot of those, um, uh, clubteams also have, you know,
developmental like abcd types oflevels to where they use that
as a as development.
It still costs an awful lot ofmoney.
Yeah, and I think if they aretaking away and and like
(21:39):
cornholing an athlete into asingle sport would be it
basketball or, you know,football or soccer, whatever it
is if they're cornholing thatkid at a super young age, I
think that's not good for thatathlete let me, let me, let me
be clear about something what I?
Speaker 2 (21:56):
what I want to say is that I agree with everything
you just said.
What I think the problem is,the problem with it is not it
winds up being on the kid'splate.
What I think the problem is isthat, like you said, if a kid is
in the select and he's thehighest level, he or she is up
here at the highest level, butthe other ones are in a club
(22:19):
sport and they're there andthere's supposed to be
development going on, and maybethey're not the greatest player,
but their parents have put downsome money and they're doing it
.
Like you said, it's stillexpensive.
Sure, I think it falls more inthe parent, because the parent
then thinks oh well, my kid wasin this and so now, as a coach
at a high school sport, you haveparents coming to you saying my
(22:42):
kid should be starting becausethey've been in this club,
whatever it is, and that's theproblem.
I mean, the kid is a kid.
You know what I mean.
And the development, like yousaid, is absolutely 100%.
I agree with.
I don't know that it.
There's always intention, right, there's good intentions of
doing it.
Nobody has bad intentions forkids to do that.
It's the idea that if there'sgoing to be development, let's
(23:05):
develop them and let's make surethat parents understand when
they come to the high schoollevel.
It's like guess what?
We're all going into the samepot, we're all here and if
you're scaling, we all know.
Now, with nil and all the kidschanging schools and doing
things, it's a different world.
Yeah, and you know what?
If you're going to be committedto it and you're going to be
(23:26):
there and you like the coach andyou like the program and you
love the school, and you'rethere and you're committed,
you're going to work harder,you're going to do it.
And if you feel entitled to thepiece that I should be a
starter on this team, even ifI'm not good enough, yeah here's
what I think.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
I think that goes back to culture, because what
you're doing is developing aculture where people get better,
or you're developing a culturewhere you're saying you are
already there and you deserve tostart wherever you are Right,
(24:08):
and, and so I think that goesback to a culture of building up
excellence and getting betterevery day and working hard every
day.
You talked about that workinghard and developing those skills
, whatever it is and some peopledevelop skills at different
(24:30):
times and it could be in anyorganization.
We're talking about not justsports, but it could be any
organization.
So that goes back to theculture of building that culture
of excellence, not winningevery time, but getting better
incrementally along the way, sothat we are the best we can be
(24:55):
when we get there.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
And it's great that you brought up the culture piece
again, because we all know ofthe culture piece that we work
within the P for pride, as wecall it.
Pride is for participation,right?
Yep, so that's the very firstthing, because you're not gonna
do anything without that, right?
Yeah, you've got respect withthe R, right, you've got
integrity with the I.
You got dedication and justbeing there and dedicating
(25:21):
yourself, and that E is foreffort.
So all those things that we'vetalked about are the culture
piece that John's talking about,and I think that it's so
important to do that and tocontinue to build it in this
world where a kid can say I'mleaving here because the grass
is greener over there, and I'mleaving right now and I'm going,
(25:41):
and that's tough, yeah, becauseold school guys like us to see
that it's like I would havenever, even if I wanted to back
in the day, if I would havewanted to go to another school,
that ain't going to happen.
It's not going to happen and mydad would have.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
So you, you know, let's talk outside.
Let's talk outside athleticsand talk outside education.
Maybe we're talking to somebody, or somebody's listening
corporate level right corporate.
Maybe they work for the phonecompany, or they're a plumber or
whatever right.
What is the equivalent of aparticipation trophy and how
could it help or hurt theirorganization?
Speaker 1 (26:17):
I think that an equivalent of that is showing up
coming to work and just gettingby, Right, Just getting by.
And you're collecting apaycheck.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
Sometimes we see that right, I think that's the thing
.
Like John just said, it, Ithink the participation trophy
for and I don't want to say itthis way because it sounds
really negative, but if you wantto say the expected level or
the lowest expectation, whatever, it's the paycheck.
(26:54):
Absolutely Right, you bet betlike you guys said, you've been
in places before where you wererewarded for for something above
and beyond like monetarily, yougot something forgiving more.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
You got more than what your paycheck got right and
and, like my son, does the samething.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
He has this and we talk about it a lot and he's,
he's.
He's really taught me a lotmore about it, because obviously
in education we don't have thatright.
But it's like I think that thatis the participation trophy,
and when we talk with kids aboutworking in the future and we
talk about being in class or wetalk about doing something
(27:34):
they're like, well, you know mydad, I'll just go work at
whatever donald's and, and ifI'll show up a paycheck and you
know what, that's okay.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
but here's, here's the thing.
What you have to build is thatopportunity, first of all, and
the willingness to be excellentin what you are giving to the
organization so that you getbetter every day through the
(28:09):
determination and the effortthat you're giving to that
organization and that helps youalong the way and it helps your
organization.
So you've got to build thatculture where people want to be
there and they want to do theirbest.
Speaker 3 (28:29):
Well, if I'm a small business owner, there really is
no participation trophy, becauseI'm competing every single day
to get some business there couldbe a participation trophy.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
It depends, like you said, small business.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
I'll think of it this way To me participation trophy.
If you're doing it, I've got aguy who is an HVAC guy, right?
Speaker 1 (28:53):
An HVAC.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
If he's there and he does a dang good job and I feel
like he did a good job.
He was fair, he was honest, hewas not ringing me through the
ringer you know, whatever it is,I referred my neighbor to him.
I referred a person who was onmy coaching staff.
I got a guy who was my boss,who I referred to him because I
will, because I trust him, andthat for him as a small him,
(29:19):
because I will, because I trusthim, and that for him as a small
, he's a small business right,that to him means more than what
a participation trophy would be, not just going and getting
paid.
It's that somebody believes inhim, somebody trusts him enough
to say, hey, you're my friend,use this guy because he's really
, really dang good so I guess atthe end of the day, for me I
seem to maybe fall on both sidesof this argument.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
and um, because again that age appropriation comes
into play, I don't know that aparticipation trophy mentality
can translate into the adultlife, because any job I've ever
(30:03):
been at, you're always going tohave people who are going to do
the good job right.
They come to work, they grindevery day, they make it happen
and they're your dependables.
You're always going to haveyour high performers and you're
always going to have those guyswho you're just grateful they
get there that day, you know.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
And I think, or ungrateful.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
Yeah, I mean you're always going to have those types
of people, but think about whatyou just said I'm sorry, no, go
Go with it.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
Think about what you just said is'm sorry, no, go go
with it.
Think about what you just saidis that you're always going to
have those people that are upthere, right they're?
Busting every day.
They're grinding, they're doingtheir thing.
So if you're in a company, I'mstepping outside the other world
.
Right, you're in a company.
You got these people that arethere banging.
Right, they're going at it,they are keeping you there.
You got the other ones that yousaid you're grateful they show
(30:57):
up.
Why are we grateful if theyshow up?
Speaker 1 (31:01):
I say nah to that, because I don't want.
Speaker 3 (31:06):
You just said nah, nah, I don't even know, what
that means.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
I don't want people that just show up.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
I want people that show up and go above and beyond
every day, because I've createdthe culture.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
What we want is the people that show up every day
but then say God, you know what,this place is a great place to
work.
I'm going to amp it, I'm goingto jump it up.
Speaker 3 (31:29):
So for me, I guess, the participation trophy is
going to be for that person.
That I mean they may be anunderperformer, I don't know
until they're there, right,Right, I mean they may be an
underperformer, I don't knowuntil they're there, right,
Right.
I mean you only get so much atan interview, and so it could be
that that person'sparticipation trophy is the fact
that they're on my staff.
So what you have to do as aculture of a company, or as you
(31:50):
manage a business, as you leadthat particular business unit or
whatever, as you lead thatparticular business unit or
whatever, is you have to have aplan for those lower you know,
it's usually a 5% to 7% in yourstaff that's going to be the low
performers a plan to developthem and make them into at least
the mediocre, if you can.
(32:11):
Then they got to go right.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
Some leaders decide they got to go.
Some leaders decide right awayIs that person?
Can we develop them?
Or are they done right?
Some leaders go a little fasterthan others to do it.
It's just the way it is.
But I think that hits the nailon the head and I think, with
your age thing, I think that's abig part of it that's a great
way to wrap things up, I think,and and um got any statistics
(32:35):
for us, for any other thingsthat went on for the podcast.
Speaker 3 (32:40):
Yeah, I mean the podcast is doing really good.
Our last episode did reallywell.
We have, I think, about 178 or179 downloads.
Our next level, according toBuzzsprout, to get like the
reward is like 250.
So I think we're doing reallywell.
I think our goal and our mainobjective is to develop really
(33:02):
good content so that the peoplethat are listening to this
podcast will say, hey, you needto listen to these guys because
it's interesting, it'sinformative, it's entertaining
to some perspective on somelevel.
But I'm super stoked withwhat's going on.
What other things should I besharing about this guys?
Speaker 2 (33:21):
I think you got it all there I think we're there, I
think it's good, and we can'tstress enough that we are.
It's not even that we just wantit.
We like need it.
I want to talk about thingsthat people want to hear about.
I mean I could talk all day,but if nobody wants to listen to
me, it doesn't make anydifference.
We want to talk about thingsthat people want to hear about.
I mean, I could talk all day,but if nobody wants to listen to
me it doesn't make anydifference.
We want to hear about things youknow that people want to hear
(33:42):
about, if they want our opinionon something.
I don't think anybody here isafraid to give their opinion.
Speaker 3 (33:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
So I'd like to do that again because, even like in
our intro right, it's aboutchanging minds, it's about
looking at things, it's aboutlearning, it's about hearing
other people's things and saying, hey, I never really thought of
it that way.
You know what?
Maybe I'll change my mind.
You never know.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
And you know, here's the thing.
We're in the Omaha metro area,omaha Council Bluffs, and if you
are a local business or youhave a place where we could come
and hang out and you want tohost, us for this podcast give
us a ring.
We would love to sit down atyour place of business, whether
(34:23):
it's a bar or a restaurant or acoffee house or whatever.
We'd love to sit down and haveyou host us and we'd include you
in our show.
So with that, I'd like to letyou know.
Maybe we might have.
So we definitely have arefurbished logo coming.
So if you go to our Facebookpage, you'll see our logo.
(34:44):
It's kind of crappy because I'mthe one who made it.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
I don't really think it's crappy.
Speaker 3 (34:48):
Yeah, you know we got a guy.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
It looks like it's from the 60s, on a street
somewhere with a bar.
I like it.
Speaker 3 (34:55):
We got a guy from Creative Club Designs who's
tweaking it a little bit andhe's going to give us some love
on it, so we're looking forwardto that.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
I will tell you that we're going to wrap up here.
But the next time that we putan episode out, chuck might be a
little not quite himself,because he's going to lose in a
chili cook-off that we're inthis weekend.
Chuck, because he's going tolose in a chili cook-off that
we're in this weekend andChuck's going to be a little
hurt about it, and that's okaybecause you know what it's all
about excellence and what areyou going to find that the
(35:24):
people love and we love you guysand we just want to keep going.
So keep listening, keep going.
We love you, give us feedback.
We're good to go.
Speaker 3 (35:32):
Merch is coming, so love you guys, we'll see you.
Peace out.
Welcome back to Half Century Hangout.
How are things going?
Today I heard that we did havea Super Bowl.
I'm not sure how super it was.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
The big, easy beatdown.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
Yeah, that's all I got to say.
What a surprise that was.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
That's what tells you .
When you have a crappyoffensive line, that's what
happens.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Yeah, or you have an exceptional defensive line.
I think that could be both.
Philly was on top of it.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
They were, but I think that Casey's O-line shit
the bed, sorry yeah maybe theydid.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
It was a bit of both.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
It was a bit of both.
Yeah, I was super surprised atthat, though.
I mean 27-0 at the half, 24.
24-0 at the half, I thought itwas 27.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
No, because 25 was the record, and they were at 24.
Gotcha.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Yeah, definitely a beat down, beat down.
Kansas City was never really inthe game.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
No they didn't have a shot.
They did score at the end, butyou know, that was about it, I
mean there was a few dimes hethrew at the end.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
You know like tosses them out there.
It's good.
Yeah, helped out a few parlaysalong the way you know, yeah,
sure.
Otherwise it was garbage,Garbage time.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
All right.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Was there a halftime show Sorry?
Speaker 3 (01:08):
You know there was something about that.
The best part about thehalftime show was the Buick oh.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
I got a little trivia on that.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
So that Buick that was up there, that is not just a
Grand National, it's a GNX,which was the up of the Grand
National 1987.
And that's the name of hisalbum.
Okay, but the reason that henamed it and where it comes from
is that is the car that his dadhad that he brought him home
(01:37):
from the hospital in.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
You know, I'd heard that that's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Yeah, so that was.
I mean, that part was cool, butyou did realize that they had
it staged on there.
It was a fake car, yeah, andpeople came from under the stage
because like 100 people cameout of the car.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
They weren't all just packed in there in the backseat
.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I don't know why?
Speaker 2 (01:52):
but I don't think the backseat of a Buick Regal was
that big.
No, oh, I don't even really.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Sometimes it gets bigger, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
I don't know.
I remember when those carsfirst came out I wasn't a big
fan of them back in the late 80s.
Yeah, I didn't really valuethem for what they were because
I was used to the bling, youknow, the chrome bumpers, all
that kind of stuff, and theydidn't have any of that.
Deuce and a quarter, yes, butanyway, anyway, anyway, enough
about the big time to move onhuh feedback.
(02:24):
We got feedback, yes, we gotsome great feedback.
First of all, I want to give ashout out to adam in lincoln.
Uh was talking to him over theweekend and he said that he
really enjoyed the podcast, thatit was very informative, uh,
fun, um, and so that was.
That was kind of cool.
Um, again, you know my uh beckyfrom day Ohio.
She chimed in and she actuallyleft a message on the Facebook
(02:47):
page.
So I'm grateful for her input.
And again, if you guys arelistening and want some input,
definitely go to our Facebookpage, half Century Hangout and
leave us a message.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Yeah, give us some feedback.
We'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Shout out to Bonita Springs, florida, that's Beth
and Logan checking in, and inChicago, trevor's been listening
, appreciate it.
They haven't put anything downin print yet.
They're pretty personal,they're kind of to themselves,
but I've heard it on the phoneand it's been good, so I'm real
happy that people are listening.
We just keep spreading the word.
(03:24):
People tell us good things andpeople tell us some other things
and you know it's all good.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Kenan from Council Bluffs.
He loves the show Faithfullistener Subscribed, actually so
he follows us on Apple podcast.
Awesome, that's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
So you know, that was the other thing, I was laughing
.
We don't record that opening.
You know, every time I meanit's prerecorded, we put it in.
You know, john says in theopening grab a seat.
Well, today we grabbed a drink.
We're back in Luke's garage.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Yes, I love Luke's garage.
I love hanging out in Luke'sgarage.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
It's fun and we get a little bit of a respite
tomorrow because we're supposedto hit some bad weather.
So our boss said you know?
Speaker 1 (04:04):
remote learning day Remote learning, remote learning
we're all in education and youknow, because a lot of learning
happens remotely, absolutely.
Maybe Maybe it does, it can, itdefinitely can.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
And you know, one of the things I mean you can talk
about that feedback, chuck,because I know you had some
pretty specific stuff, but we'rekind of tagging along with it
today.
So OK, let's rip it.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Yeah, so kind of a follow up from last week's
episode regarding participationtrophies.
Becky writes in.
She says hey, on one hand,receiving a participation trophy
could give that person falsehope of maybe thinking that they
are good at whatever the eventis, and also does it diminish
(04:49):
the value of the person who hasa real achievement.
That's a good question.
What are your guys' thoughts?
Speaker 2 (04:58):
I think we touched on it last week a little bit, I
mean a tad, and that's greatfeedback and that's real
specific and that's the way welike it.
You know that it really hits tothe note and I think that's why
we wanted to continue with ittoday, to not only address the
feedback but take it a littlefurther and I think that she
hits the point right there whereit says if you have, whatever
(05:18):
the team is, whatever the groupis, whatever that is, if
somebody is a stellarparticipant, whatever that means
, in whatever activity it is,whatever that is, if somebody is
a stellar participant, whateverthat means, in whatever
activity is, and everybody onthat group gets this I'm just
calling air quotes here,participation trophy.
Whatever that comes by, does itdiminish or does it build up
the people that think theyreally did something special?
(05:40):
Does it take away from theperson that really, really did
something special and they lookand say, hey, that guy got the
same thing that I did yeah, youknow what I mean.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
Yeah, I do, but I and I think it's, I think there's
an age appropriation with thisfor sure, because I mean if, if
we're talking into high schooland we're still looking for
participation, trophies orrecognition for just being a
part of something, rather thanjust being thankful that you are
(06:13):
a part of something, I thinkthere's a difference there.
But I still think if, like 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, maybe 11 years old,
I think there's benefit, 10,maybe 11 years old, I think
there's benefit, and I don'tthink you're necessarily hurting
that competitive kid who is,you know, excelling.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
I think you just said it excel.
I think it has to do withexcellence.
Are you striving for thatexcellence?
Striving to get better everyday, not necessarily winning,
but getting better and becomingthe best at your craft, whatever
(06:56):
that craft is?
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Sure, but I mean.
The question is does itdiminish the value of the person
who has the real achievement?
Is?
Does it diminish the value ofthe person who has the real
achievement?
If I'm 11, I don't think itdiminishes my value, but a
participation trophy couldencourage an 8, 9, 10,
11-year-old in ways that we maynot even realize.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
It could.
I don't disagree with thatnecessarily, but we keep coming
back to this thing about the ageappropriateness of it.
What about what just happened?
And we talked about thebeginning super bowl who gets?
The ring, who gets rings inthat winning organization?
Who gets a super bowl ring?
Every single person, everysingle person, even and even
(07:39):
even.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
So, the players, the front office, hey, the people
who were there say you hadsomebody that was a
groundskeeper at kansas city.
Somebody said they had afraternity brother that was a
groundskeeper at kansas city.
That wouldn't be that had aring.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
But that's my point here's my here's, here's where I
was going with that and I and Iknow I don't know exactly how
far down the line those rings goI know a lot of people get them
right.
Something like that is a hugeaccomplishment, right?
No matter where you are in thething.
Why do they ever come up forsale?
When you see Super Bowl ringsup for sale, somebody there
(08:22):
doesn't really have, yeah, it'scool.
But you know what?
They don't have this sense ofaccomplishment like oh my gosh,
I could never get rid of thisbecause I was the G.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
I don't know that, you know that, oh, I know that I
don't know that you honestlycan say, hey, the janitor at the
Kansas City Chiefs stadiumdoesn't really value and know
his contribution to the, to theorganization.
I think that's a like a strawman.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
I don't know that.
I don't know that he doesn'tnecessarily know what his
contribution was, but it doesn'thold the same salt, it's not
the same thing, like he's.
Like I'm never giving this ringup because, man, I'm gonna, my
grandkids are gonna see it, mygreat-grandkids and people down
the line, yeah, I so what isyour argument on that?
Speaker 3 (09:05):
why?
Why should he not get one?
Speaker 2 (09:07):
I don't think he not, he shouldn't get one.
I just think that I don't wantto pigeonhole the conversation
into saying that everybody whogets this participation trophy
doesn't think of it the same way, because that's really.
What it comes down to me isthat if I'm on a team who didn't
do crap, we didn't win anything, we didn't do whatever and we
(09:29):
all got this trophy, what am Igoing to do with that thing?
We have a coworker who told usthe other day and her kids are
younger they don't give a crapabout them.
Sure, those things wind up inthe garbage.
You know it's.
It's not like it's it's.
It's not like it's this thingthat I think that there might be
and, chuck, you've said it afew times and I'm not
necessarily disagreeing with youthat there might be that kid
(09:50):
once in a while.
It's like oh.
I got this thing, I'm going todo it again next year, or I'm
going to try it again next year,or whatever it is.
I don't disagree with that.
But I think when we look at itas far as excellence or
excelling at something orworking hard enough, I think I
think that it does moreentitlement, that it does
(10:11):
pushing that work ethic furtherfor a kid that's what I think,
all right that's just my thingso talk about the philadelphia
eagles, let's say the winners ofthe super bowl, right, um I?
Speaker 3 (10:21):
and if you want to take it down to a custodian
level, I don't even know if theyget it, but let's say they do.
I don't think a custodian isgoing to think that they had the
same contribution to theorganization that Hertz had or
that Saquon Barkley had.
Well, I would hope not.
I don't think they're going tothink that.
(10:42):
Well, I would hope not.
I don't think they're going tothink that.
But I do think that whetherthey value it enough to hold on
to it maybe they fall under somefinancial hardship and they
have to sell it it doesn't meanthey value or undervalue that
experience of being a part ofthat organization for that
period of time.
It just means I mean we don'tknow what it means because we
don't really know that.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
But doesn't that also come about because of how
whatever that organization is isbuilt?
Because there's someorganizations where you know
what that custodian is.
Oh my gosh, they celebrate themand they do their thing and
they figure it out.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
So what you might be talking about is a little bit of
culture.
There's a story from NASA.
From NASA, when they were goingto the moon, they would tell
everybody, even the janitor,you're a part of putting a man
on the moon, which is you're apart of being a Super Bowl
(11:39):
winning team, and that's aculture that you it is Really
that's a culture that you.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
it is really that's a culture, I agree, and so that
that goes beyond the, theparticipation trophy that you
get.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
You know um part of it is how do you help people be
excellent, how do you helppeople be excellent and move
beyond just winning games orwhatever it is, but is that
participation trophy helpingpeople be excellent?
Speaker 2 (12:15):
so you know, I was I was laughing because, um, I like
the research and I like to lookat things and see.
And when we were talking aboutthis and Chuck, you know,
anytime I get a chance to bashon the state of Ohio, I take it.
And it was interesting becauseI know last segment we talked
about when we thought thesebecame kind of like the thing
(12:37):
and we said it was kind of rightafter the time that we were
kids.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
You know it was in that you know, 80s, early 80s,
maybe not, maybe into the 90swhatever it was 90s yeah 1922 22
.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
The ohio state invitational high school
basketball tournament gaveparticipation trophies to every
athlete who played in the invite.
Okay, in the invite it was aninvite, yeah it wasn't.
That was the first time thatthey've ever in history seen
that everybody involved insomething got this award.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
And I don't know the circumstances around that
basketball invitation.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
I don't think any one of these people ever played
sports again.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
Yeah, but it could be that maybe that was a special
invite.
It could have been you know towhere the best get to go, but we
kind of you know to where thebest the best get to go.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
But we kind of you know, I was looking at it as as
we, and we keep talking aboutsports and that's important to
us because we all follow sportsand you know I'm part of it,
we're all part of it, right, butI also.
We're in education and we'vetalked about this a little bit
and one of the things that Ifound that was really
interesting was this it's notnecessarily the participation
(13:44):
trophy, but it's the sameconcept and you can call it
grade inflation, you can call itthese different things, and
it's about assessing performance, whether that's in the
classroom, whether that's anemployee, whether that's an
executive, whoever it is.
And one of the things that Ifound that was really
interesting about it was thatwhen the Vietnam War was going
(14:06):
on, they had started to decidethat people who were mainly men
at the time but it was stillwomen as well, but mainly men at
the time if they were incollege they were deferred on
being selected to be in theservice in the draft, but then
(14:27):
they started to change and saidthat those who were
intellectually higher the lineand moved it up a little bit,
which turned into gradeinflation, where they were
getting professors or they weregetting people to, hey, give me
a better grade so I don't getdrafted and go to Vietnam.
So it kind of turns into thisthing where are we inflating
(14:49):
things based on like John wastalking about excellence, or is
it for real that we are givingsomething an award, a promotion,
a grade, anything based on whathave you done for me?
What have you done based onwhat is expected?
Speaker 1 (15:11):
And what have you learned?
What have you?
Speaker 3 (15:14):
learned.
I mean what you actuallyexplained there was fraud.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Well, yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
Right, but think about it.
We've seen that and that's thething.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
is that there's, I mean, how many guys?
Let's be honest here, like yousaid, fraud and that's 100%.
We talk about busts in the NFL,right?
You see guys that are on teamsthat are there and it's like, oh
my gosh, that guy really is hitway out of the park Like he had
a great tryout, but he's reallynot, you know.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
Tony.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Mandritz is just one comes to my head.
Right, yeah, do those guysreally deserve a Super Bowl ring
?
If they were on the team?
I don't know If you never sawthe field, if you were never
there, I mean, yeah, but that'sthe thing is it's fraud.
Some of it you can see.
There's false inflation ofthings, of people's, either a
(16:02):
performance or theirparticipation, or it could go
the other way to where it'sdeflation, where somebody is
there and trying but theyactually get bumped further down
.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Absolutely so.
Luke, I'm going to take us in adifferent direction.
What do you think of?
You know, we're in high school,we, we work with high school
kids.
I'm not in high school yeah,we're not in high school, we're
50, we're a long way from highschool right but anyway, uh, we
work with high school kids andand what do you think?
(16:33):
Think about the sports andmaybe some of the clubs.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
I knew you were going there yeah, that's what I
wanted to ask you, and this isthe thing this is this is what I
feel, and I'm just gonna throwjohn's john's kicking back
because he's gonna put his feetup and taking that while I talk
well, you know it, it's allabout luke.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Yeah, you know, that's the way it is.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
I think that there's been a very, very strong, a very
, very definite product that hashappened with youth, with high
school sports, with kidsparticipating based on what some
(17:20):
of us call club sports, some ofus call it select, all these
things.
When I was growing up and youguys were all about the same
time, pretty close If somebodywould have said select sports
back then I don't know that Ireally knew that word.
Some people called it travelball or some people called it
some other things Right, whereyou had a tryout.
Like you went, you had a tryoutand you had to make this team
(17:43):
Right, which just a tryout inand of itself tells you the
people on this team.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
Are exclusive.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Are exclusive on some level.
Sure, according to someone.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
Right.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
So, as that occurred which I'm not saying was good or
bad, but there were those kidsand then the rest of us played
in either just our high schoolteams or in recreational leagues
or whatever it was, which isfine.
There's nothing wrong with thatparticipation, right that
(18:14):
select slash club sport haswatered down the system to the
point where if a parent, ifthey're able to and more power
to them if they're able to writea check for the registration
for that league, they're in.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
There's no tryout, they're just, they're in it.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
They can write a check.
They're good.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
They're good, they're in.
There's, generally speakingspeaking.
There's parent coaches.
There's some coaches that arethere.
They're not getting paid forwhat they're doing I mean
they're volunteer coaches right.
There's probably some that areright based on the idea that
it's their league or whatever itis and they're they're getting
some sort of compensation forthat.
But I think the overall thinghas been by a lot of parents is
(18:58):
that if my kid plays in this doggone it.
They're going to rule your highschool team.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Which I think is wrong, because just because you
were on or in a club sport andor a select team or whatever
that is, it really doesn't meananything as far as how you
compare to where these otherkids are.
I don't think it really makesmuch of anything, because if I
(19:26):
say that now this is the otherthing I need to qualify, here, I
need to do a what do you callthose things?
A disclaimer A lot of times Ispeak in words where I'll I'll
give a strong opinion aboutsomething.
It is not, in and of itself,exclusive.
I'm not always saying everyoneor every person or every kid or
(19:47):
every club.
I'm not saying that.
I'm saying that I think as awhole there's there's a bit of
problem, especially in certainsports, which we could go there
at some point, but the idea isthat it rules it to the point
that kids not as muchparticipate across sports, that
(20:09):
they're multi-sport athletesbecause the coaches in club
sports are asking them, slash,telling them and their parents
are because they're paying forit.
You're a one-sport kid, sure,which we all know is not that's
like that's not good.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
That's like taking math class all year long, right
you can't do that.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
We need to be multi-faceted across the world.
That's what's going to happenwhen you're an adult.
You can't do that as a kid.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
So I think in a nutshell, john, you asked the
question and that was a greatquestion, but I could go on for
hours about it and I don't wantto do that no, I think what I
think what can happen on bothsides of this argument is you
have the, you know thepolarization right, so you can
say everybody gets aparticipation trophy and you
(20:54):
know it's, it's all good inevery circumstance, circumstance
for however long you want to doit, or you could say it's never
any good and so let's justabandon the whole entire idea.
But what I do and even withclub sports, I think you can do
that same thing with club sportsthe value to me in club sports,
if it's handled properly, isdevelopment.
(21:14):
Yeah, 100%.
So you know you have yourselect league league right, the,
the primo league that they'regoing to be the ones that's
travel.
But a lot of those, um, uh, clubteams also have, you know,
developmental like abcd types oflevels to where they use that
as a as development.
It still costs an awful lot ofmoney.
Yeah, and I think if they aretaking away and and like
(21:39):
cornholing an athlete into asingle sport would be it
basketball or, you know,football or soccer, whatever it
is if they're cornholing thatkid at a super young age, I
think that's not good for thatathlete let me, let me, let me
be clear about something what I?
Speaker 2 (21:56):
what I want to say is that I agree with everything
you just said.
What I think the problem is,the problem with it is not it
winds up being on the kid'splate.
What I think the problem is isthat, like you said, if a kid is
in the select and he's thehighest level, he or she is up
here at the highest level, butthe other ones are in a club
(22:19):
sport and they're there andthere's supposed to be
development going on, and maybethey're not the greatest player,
but their parents have put downsome money and they're doing it
.
Like you said, it's stillexpensive.
Sure, I think it falls more inthe parent, because the parent
then thinks oh well, my kid wasin this and so now, as a coach
at a high school sport, you haveparents coming to you saying my
(22:42):
kid should be starting becausethey've been in this club,
whatever it is, and that's theproblem.
I mean, the kid is a kid.
You know what I mean.
And the development, like yousaid, is absolutely 100%.
I agree with.
I don't know that it.
There's always intention, right, there's good intentions of
doing it.
Nobody has bad intentions forkids to do that.
It's the idea that if there'sgoing to be development, let's
(23:05):
develop them and let's make surethat parents understand when
they come to the high schoollevel.
It's like guess what?
We're all going into the samepot, we're all here and if
you're scaling, we all know.
Now, with nil and all the kidschanging schools and doing
things, it's a different world.
Yeah, and you know what?
If you're going to be committedto it and you're going to be
(23:26):
there and you like the coach andyou like the program and you
love the school, and you'rethere and you're committed,
you're going to work harder,you're going to do it.
And if you feel entitled to thepiece that I should be a
starter on this team, even ifI'm not good enough, yeah here's
what I think.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
I think that goes back to culture, because what
you're doing is developing aculture where people get better,
or you're developing a culturewhere you're saying you are
already there and you deserve tostart wherever you are Right,
(24:08):
and, and so I think that goesback to a culture of building up
excellence and getting betterevery day and working hard every
day.
You talked about that workinghard and developing those skills
, whatever it is and some peopledevelop skills at different
(24:30):
times and it could be in anyorganization.
We're talking about not justsports, but it could be any
organization.
So that goes back to theculture of building that culture
of excellence, not winningevery time, but getting better
incrementally along the way, sothat we are the best we can be
(24:55):
when we get there.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
And it's great that you brought up the culture piece
again, because we all know ofthe culture piece that we work
within the P for pride, as wecall it.
Pride is for participation,right?
Yep, so that's the very firstthing, because you're not gonna
do anything without that, right?
Yeah, you've got respect withthe R, right, you've got
integrity with the I.
You got dedication and justbeing there and dedicating
(25:21):
yourself, and that E is foreffort.
So all those things that we'vetalked about are the culture
piece that John's talking about,and I think that it's so
important to do that and tocontinue to build it in this
world where a kid can say I'mleaving here because the grass
is greener over there, and I'mleaving right now and I'm going,
(25:41):
and that's tough, yeah, becauseold school guys like us to see
that it's like I would havenever, even if I wanted to back
in the day, if I would havewanted to go to another school,
that ain't going to happen.
It's not going to happen and mydad would have.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
So you, you know, let's talk outside.
Let's talk outside athleticsand talk outside education.
Maybe we're talking to somebody, or somebody's listening
corporate level right corporate.
Maybe they work for the phonecompany, or they're a plumber or
whatever right.
What is the equivalent of aparticipation trophy and how
could it help or hurt theirorganization?
Speaker 1 (26:17):
I think that an equivalent of that is showing up
coming to work and just gettingby, Right, Just getting by.
And you're collecting apaycheck.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
Sometimes we see that right, I think that's the thing
.
Like John just said, it, Ithink the participation trophy
for and I don't want to say itthis way because it sounds
really negative, but if you wantto say the expected level or
the lowest expectation, whatever, it's the paycheck.
(26:54):
Absolutely Right, you bet betlike you guys said, you've been
in places before where you wererewarded for for something above
and beyond like monetarily, yougot something forgiving more.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
You got more than what your paycheck got right and
and, like my son, does the samething.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
He has this and we talk about it a lot and he's,
he's.
He's really taught me a lotmore about it, because obviously
in education we don't have thatright.
But it's like I think that thatis the participation trophy,
and when we talk with kids aboutworking in the future and we
talk about being in class or wetalk about doing something
(27:34):
they're like, well, you know mydad, I'll just go work at
whatever donald's and, and ifI'll show up a paycheck and you
know what, that's okay.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
but here's, here's the thing.
What you have to build is thatopportunity, first of all, and
the willingness to be excellentin what you are giving to the
organization so that you getbetter every day through the
(28:09):
determination and the effortthat you're giving to that
organization and that helps youalong the way and it helps your
organization.
So you've got to build thatculture where people want to be
there and they want to do theirbest.
Speaker 3 (28:29):
Well, if I'm a small business owner, there really is
no participation trophy, becauseI'm competing every single day
to get some business there couldbe a participation trophy.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
It depends, like you said, small business.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
I'll think of it this way To me participation trophy.
If you're doing it, I've got aguy who is an HVAC guy, right?
Speaker 1 (28:53):
An HVAC.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
If he's there and he does a dang good job and I feel
like he did a good job.
He was fair, he was honest, hewas not ringing me through the
ringer you know, whatever it is,I referred my neighbor to him.
I referred a person who was onmy coaching staff.
I got a guy who was my boss,who I referred to him because I
will, because I trust him, andthat for him as a small him,
(29:19):
because I will, because I trusthim, and that for him as a small
, he's a small business right,that to him means more than what
a participation trophy would be, not just going and getting
paid.
It's that somebody believes inhim, somebody trusts him enough
to say, hey, you're my friend,use this guy because he's really
, really dang good so I guess atthe end of the day, for me I
seem to maybe fall on both sidesof this argument.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
and um, because again that age appropriation comes
into play, I don't know that aparticipation trophy mentality
can translate into the adultlife, because any job I've ever
(30:03):
been at, you're always going tohave people who are going to do
the good job right.
They come to work, they grindevery day, they make it happen
and they're your dependables.
You're always going to haveyour high performers and you're
always going to have those guyswho you're just grateful they
get there that day, you know.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
And I think, or ungrateful.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
Yeah, I mean you're always going to have those types
of people, but think about whatyou just said I'm sorry, no, go
Go with it.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
Think about what you just said is'm sorry, no, go go
with it.
Think about what you just saidis that you're always going to
have those people that are upthere, right they're?
Busting every day.
They're grinding, they're doingtheir thing.
So if you're in a company, I'mstepping outside the other world
.
Right, you're in a company.
You got these people that arethere banging.
Right, they're going at it,they are keeping you there.
You got the other ones that yousaid you're grateful they show
(30:57):
up.
Why are we grateful if theyshow up?
Speaker 1 (31:01):
I say nah to that, because I don't want.
Speaker 3 (31:06):
You just said nah, nah, I don't even know, what
that means.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
I don't want people that just show up.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
I want people that show up and go above and beyond
every day, because I've createdthe culture.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
What we want is the people that show up every day
but then say God, you know what,this place is a great place to
work.
I'm going to amp it, I'm goingto jump it up.
Speaker 3 (31:29):
So for me, I guess, the participation trophy is
going to be for that person.
That I mean they may be anunderperformer, I don't know
until they're there, right,Right, I mean they may be an
underperformer, I don't knowuntil they're there, right,
Right.
I mean you only get so much atan interview, and so it could be
that that person'sparticipation trophy is the fact
that they're on my staff.
So what you have to do as aculture of a company, or as you
(31:50):
manage a business, as you leadthat particular business unit or
whatever, as you lead thatparticular business unit or
whatever, is you have to have aplan for those lower you know,
it's usually a 5% to 7% in yourstaff that's going to be the low
performers a plan to developthem and make them into at least
the mediocre, if you can.
(32:11):
Then they got to go right.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
Some leaders decide they got to go.
Some leaders decide right awayIs that person?
Can we develop them?
Or are they done right?
Some leaders go a little fasterthan others to do it.
It's just the way it is.
But I think that hits the nailon the head and I think, with
your age thing, I think that's abig part of it that's a great
way to wrap things up, I think,and and um got any statistics
(32:35):
for us, for any other thingsthat went on for the podcast.
Speaker 3 (32:40):
Yeah, I mean the podcast is doing really good.
Our last episode did reallywell.
We have, I think, about 178 or179 downloads.
Our next level, according toBuzzsprout, to get like the
reward is like 250.
So I think we're doing reallywell.
I think our goal and our mainobjective is to develop really
(33:02):
good content so that the peoplethat are listening to this
podcast will say, hey, you needto listen to these guys because
it's interesting, it'sinformative, it's entertaining
to some perspective on somelevel.
But I'm super stoked withwhat's going on.
What other things should I besharing about this guys?
Speaker 2 (33:21):
I think you got it all there I think we're there, I
think it's good, and we can'tstress enough that we are.
It's not even that we just wantit.
We like need it.
I want to talk about thingsthat people want to hear about.
I mean I could talk all day,but if nobody wants to listen to
me, it doesn't make anydifference.
We want to talk about thingsthat people want to hear about.
I mean, I could talk all day,but if nobody wants to listen to
me it doesn't make anydifference.
We want to hear about things youknow that people want to hear
(33:42):
about, if they want our opinionon something.
I don't think anybody here isafraid to give their opinion.
Speaker 3 (33:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
So I'd like to do that again because, even like in
our intro right, it's aboutchanging minds, it's about
looking at things, it's aboutlearning, it's about hearing
other people's things and saying, hey, I never really thought of
it that way.
You know what?
Maybe I'll change my mind.
You never know.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
And you know, here's the thing.
We're in the Omaha metro area,omaha Council Bluffs, and if you
are a local business or youhave a place where we could come
and hang out and you want tohost, us for this podcast give
us a ring.
We would love to sit down atyour place of business, whether
(34:23):
it's a bar or a restaurant or acoffee house or whatever.
We'd love to sit down and haveyou host us and we'd include you
in our show.
So with that, I'd like to letyou know.
Maybe we might have.
So we definitely have arefurbished logo coming.
So if you go to our Facebookpage, you'll see our logo.
(34:44):
It's kind of crappy because I'mthe one who made it.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
I don't really think it's crappy.
Speaker 3 (34:48):
Yeah, you know we got a guy.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
It looks like it's from the 60s, on a street
somewhere with a bar.
I like it.
Speaker 3 (34:55):
We got a guy from Creative Club Designs who's
tweaking it a little bit andhe's going to give us some love
on it, so we're looking forwardto that.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
I will tell you that we're going to wrap up here.
But the next time that we putan episode out, chuck might be a
little not quite himself,because he's going to lose in a
chili cook-off that we're inthis weekend.
Chuck, because he's going tolose in a chili cook-off that
we're in this weekend andChuck's going to be a little
hurt about it, and that's okaybecause you know what it's all
about excellence and what areyou going to find that the
(35:24):
people love and we love you guysand we just want to keep going.
So keep listening, keep going.
We love you, give us feedback.
We're good to go.
Speaker 3 (35:32):
Merch is coming, so love you guys, we'll see you.
Peace out.
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