From Athlete to Entrepreneur: Charles Bell on Family Business, Coaching, and Life's Unexpected Turns

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome everybody to another episode of the Ride Home
Rants podcast.
This is, as always, your host,Mike Bono.
I have a great guest for ustoday.
He actually comes to us all theway from Lisbon, Ohio.
He is an acquaintance andfriend of two former guests of
the show in Jeremy McElroy, DrewMcLaughlin, and, of course,

(00:22):
everybody knows the wonderfulmanager of the podcast, Johnny
Fittifau Coney.
We're going to talk all thingsabout him and his coaching path
and everything like that, butCharles Bell joins the show.
Charles, thanks for joining.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
Yeah, hey, thanks for having me.
I am real excited for this.

Speaker 1 (00:37):
Yeah, we're excited to have you on.
So for the listeners out therethat don't know who you are,
where did you grow up and go tohigh school?
And that, did you play anysports growing up?
Take?

Speaker 2 (00:48):
us through a little bit of that.
Sure, absolutely.
I grew up in New Comerstown,ohio, which is south of New
Philadelphia, south of Canton,hometown of Woody Hayes and Cy
Young, pretty famous little area, little small town.
I grew up there, uh, graduatedfrom high school, uh, played

(01:11):
football and baseball, played alittle bit of basketball but uh,
you know, as I, as I got olderin the junior high and then in
the high school, um, didn'tquite have the heights.
That continued down that path.
So, stuck with football, stuckwith baseball, ended up going to
Malone then Malone Collegebefore it was Malone University
and went to play baseball.

(01:32):
That didn't work out after myfreshman year and then
transferred in Youngstown State,finished up my engineering
degree there and you know that'skind of where my athletic
career stopped.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
Yeah, I definitely understand that.
So, yeah, I played football inhigh school at Brook High School
in West Virginia and a littletown called Farnsby, west
Virginia yeah, been there Famousfor Lou Holtz.

(02:06):
So you know it's weird to seethese little towns that you know
, that these you know big namepeople now in the coaching world
and the sports world that youknow you wouldn't expect to come
from these towns.
That's always something that'sinterested me.
But, you know, played football,swam, had a scholarship to swim
at Bethany College and had anunfortunate injury that kind of

(02:29):
ended my sporting career, if youwill too, as well.
So I definitely understand howthat can take a toll and things
change and the path changes.
I thought swimming was going tobe it for me, I thought that
was going to be the career pathand it was going to be an
athlete.
And it's a freak accident orfreak injury that you know ends

(02:52):
it all, but you know it's itwouldn't change it for the world
.
I'm down this path now and I'mloving every minute of it.

Speaker 2 (03:00):
Yeah, you know I don't know exactly how you feel
and what you mean.
I look at it.
When I got to Malone, my bigfocus was to play baseball for
four years and then be aphysical therapist.
And I got through fall ball andby the end of fall ball it was
pretty apparent that I wasn'twhere I needed to be on that

(03:20):
team.
Naia back then was kind of thewild wild west as far as
scholarships and so you knowthey could bring in quite a few
guys and then on top of that,you know, maluna just started
their football program.
So you know they had incurred alot of additional costs and so
they were raising tuition thenext year and I just didn't fit

(03:40):
into my budget.
And I started out with a biologyclass my freshman year and,
honestly, at the end of thefirst lab I knew immediately
that it wasn't for me, becausedoing the dissection of a cat
and I'm like nah, I'm not ablood guy, I'm not good with

(04:01):
that.
So there was no way I was goingto get through biology or
physiology or any of that stuff.
All the nursing students wereall excited for it and it just
wasn't me.
So I was quick to jump out ofthat and ended up actually
meeting my wife through baseballmy freshman year, through a guy

(04:21):
that I was a teammate with, andmet my wife two weeks in school
and we've been together eversince.
So you know, you talk aboutthings working out like that was
the path.
There was a reason.

Speaker 1 (04:35):
Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 2 (04:36):
I was fine with it.
So we've been together now I'vebeen married almost 30 years.
So you know there's definitelya reason.

Speaker 1 (04:43):
That's definitely awesome to hear that.
Oddly enough, you know, I meanmet my wife at work after
college, working at, you know,at&t.
You know it's weird where youmeet people and you don't think
anything's going to come of that, and then, lo and behold, here

(05:06):
we are Been married for threeyears but been together for
almost a decade now.
So it's one of those thingsthat you don't realize.
Yeah same deal.
But yeah, I'm always amazedwhen you see couples nowadays
that are, you know, 30 plusyears into marriage.

(05:26):
It's awesome to see that youknow that's still just
especially, you know, meetingwhere you guys did back in back
in college and being able to gothat long.

Speaker 2 (05:37):
Yeah, we, you know we joke about how different it was
back then.
Then you know, it's like theyhad a, um, they had a book that
you had in your dorm room and ithad every student in that book
with their, their phone number,their four digit number or
whatever it was, and uh, thefizz, and you would just that's
how you, you know, kind ofrandomly call people, you know,

(05:58):
and uh, but that's that was kindof how it was.
And you know, like I said,we've been together 30 years.
We were babies and we gotmarried.
We were 20.
I wasn't even legally able todrink at the point.
I'm not sure what our parentswere thinking.
You know, like I look at, youknow, my 20 year old kids and I
definitely my son at 20, I waslike, ah, he wouldn't have been,
he wouldn't have been matureenough to get married and have

(06:20):
his own house and and, uh, run ahousehold per se, and like
there's no way.
So like it's different times,right, you know absolutely.

Speaker 1 (06:29):
I mean heck, I'm, I'm 35 and I still don't even think
I'm, you know, ready for thatstuff.
You know what?

Speaker 2 (06:37):
I'm 49, I'm not grown up yet.
I'm not trying, I'm not tryingto grow up.

Speaker 1 (06:42):
I'm not either, like it's.
It's funny, my, my wife looksat me all the time.
Just some of the immaturity andthe joking around that I still
do now, but I am a stand-upcomedian too as well, so that
definitely doesn't help things.
That plays into it.
Yeah, that plays into it.
She just in all, she's likeit's just like.

(07:05):
No maturity in men is there.
I was like I mean, some of themdo.
And then she met my family, my87-year-old grandfather, who's
still cracking jokes and stillacting.
He just doesn't want to grow up.
We're all just big kids andyeah, it's just.
It's funny to me that you knowthe different world but how they
all melt together and it works,and it's funny to me.

Speaker 2 (07:28):
Yep, straight up now.
I mean children, that's whatthey call.
Call me a lot of time.
You're a child.
Yeah, probably, some daysProbably.

Speaker 1 (07:37):
Absolutely so.
You live in Lisbon Ohio.

Speaker 2 (07:46):
You know how long have you lived there?
You lived there and how did youwind up?
In Lisbon?
Yeah, so after my freshman yearof college I knew that I needed
to find a different path and atthe time my father-in-law-to-be
had started a new company andthere was an opportunity for me
to come and work for him and goto youngstown state and get my

(08:08):
engineering degree and uh, itworked out really good.
So I was able to actually movedin with my brother-in-law to be
.
At that time I was living withhim, working for my
father-in-law to be, and uh thenstarted going to, uh,
youngstown state and and me andAllison got engaged three or
four months after that and gotmarried 10 months after that,

(08:32):
and so it was a pretty quick,you know, change of events for
me.
But so we basically moved herein 94.
I moved back here in 94.
My wife grew up in Lisbon andour family's fourth, fourth,
four generations graduated fromlisbon high school, um, from her
side of the family, hergrandfather, um, her mom, then

(08:56):
her and then our children and uh, and now actually my daughter's
actually teaching at lisbon now.
So it's it's been kind of acontinuation, so kind of came up
here.
This is their home base as afamily, and so been in Lisbon
since 1994, the year before theywon the state championship here

(09:17):
.

Speaker 1 (09:18):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (09:19):
Yeah.
You know, became real addictivereal quick.
You know, you move into town,they have a you know a nice
successful six and four season.
They roll back the next yearand they're one of the first 14
and 0 teams in the state of Ohioand won a state championship in
1995.
So that was pretty cool.

Speaker 1 (09:35):
That's awesome.
Yeah, I always love hearing thesuccess stories like that.

Speaker 2 (09:42):
And it was.
It was quick.
You know, it was one of thethings where you're like, you
see, they got town and then thishappens, and then they had a
nice little run and so you know,it's definitely an area.
I was happy to stay in Lisbonat that point and you know we've
had some good teams since then,but that was definitely one of
the more special ones, that'sfor sure?

Speaker 1 (09:57):
Oh, absolutely.
So.
I mean you mentioned it alittle bit there you know you
work for your family's business.
You know can you tell us moreabout that?
And you know what is, you knowyour role and you know what you
do with the business.

Speaker 2 (10:12):
Sure, absolutely.
So.
It's a family-owned businessand my father-in-law started it
and he brought my brother-in-law, jason, and myself, into it and
he's kind of brought us alongand then now Jason and I
actually run the company and myfather-in-law's, you know,
basically retired and and sowe're a manufacturing company.
We manufacture equipment forthe labeling, inkjet laser

(10:35):
coating industry.
So you know, everything youpurchase has a barcode.
You go to the grocery store,you go to the hardware store, it
has a barcode on it.
You know, if you buy achapstick or Burt's bees,
there's a label on it and weactually, for those two items,
we actually built the machinesthat apply the labels
automatically.
That's what we do.

(10:58):
So we, you know it doesn'tmatter what you buy.
If you buy a ketchup or mustard, or you know, you get a bottle
of beer and there's a born ondate, there's a laser that puts
that born-on date on anAnheuser-Busch bottle and we
installed those lasers.
So it's pretty cool.
It's a niche industry and Istarted from the ground up.
I was cutting material, rawstock back in the day all the

(11:22):
way up through the machine shopand then ended up on the
engineering side and I'm anelectrical engineer and I.
So I, you know, did all thatand I've worked my way up
through from engineering to, youknow, even doing the assembly,
um programming, testinginstallations.
So I've pretty much done it allhere and now, even doing the

(11:44):
assembly, programming, testinginstallations.
So I've pretty much done it allhere and now I pretty much
oversee everybody that does thatstuff.
So I have engineers underneathme, I have assembly guys
underneath me, I have marketing,I have sales, shipping.
All that stuff works underneathme.
Now my brother-in-law runs theproduction side, the

(12:08):
manufacturing.
He handles the machine shop andthe weld shop and our powder
coating line.
He handles all that.
Then I work on the other sideof the building with the
assembly and everything fromquoting to assembly to getting
it out the door.
So it's pretty cool, it's, it'sfun.

(12:30):
You know we have a lot ofpeople that work here that, um,
I mean I have guys that playfootball, football for me, that
that work here.
I have guys that uh, um, you'vegrown up with I, a nephew, my
son-in-law works for me now, um,and there's actually a
gentleman that works for usthat's actually went to high

(12:52):
school with my mother-in-law, sohe works part-time for us
because he he would be boredotherwise.
So I'm truly a familyenvironment.
I mean there's very few peoplehere that that I don't know.
Yeah, I have a through thefamily somehow.

Speaker 1 (13:12):
Right, yeah, it's great to see A somebody worked
their way up to where you're atnow in a company.
I think that's a lost art withmost people.
They get to a certain point andthen they just kind of move on
to the next thing.
You know, staying with onecompany, moving your way up and
you know it's family owned.
I love that and it's like yousaid, it's niche based.

(13:36):
It's not something people thinkabout.
You know there's barcodes oneverything.
You know how that happens.
You know nobody really really.
I guess you would know, but Imean, nobody really knows you
know how that happens or evenreally pays attention to it.
So it is cool to see the kindof behind the scenes of you know
that kind of here and how thatworks.

(13:57):
Um, because I have, like I said, I got a buddy of mine.
His dad has has owned uh, youmay know it.
Um, it's Borden office suppliesand um, yeah, no Borden Yep.
Yeah, uh, jerry Simpson.
Yeah, I grew up four housesdown from him and you know his
son is now starting to learn thereins and and being being able

(14:20):
to take over the business.
He worked for him like everysummer in high school and you
know he kind of like you, youknow, worked his way up and you
know, soon his dad's partiallyretired right now.
A couple more years he'll befully retired and it'll be his.
And you know it's nice to seethat there are still some I

(14:41):
don't even want to say reallymom and pop, but you know mom
and pop, family owned businessesthat are still around and still
thriving.
That's, that's the big thingfor me.
I, you know.

Speaker 2 (14:56):
I will happily go spend my money on mom and pop.
Oh for sure, for sure.
You know, and I think that's Imean, we still kind of view
ourselves that way.
Right, we still kind of viewourselves as a mom and pop type
of operation, cause we, you know, we don't have a corporate
entity above us.
Right, it is us, it's our rearends on the line at the end of
the day.
But you know, when you havegood people working for you that

(15:18):
carry the load, I mean it makesa big difference and we're all
fortunate that way.
And you're right, a lot ofpeople don't.
It's not that they don't wantto work their way through.
I think they just get impatienttoo quickly.
You know, I started at 20 yearsold and before I had a single

(15:39):
person working underneath me, Iwas like 35.
So I did a lot of differentthings for a long period of time
, but that's what it took tobuild our business up like we.
It didn't build up overnight,it wasn't like we.
We showed up and in year onewe're like all right, we're a 10
million dollar a year company.
Like right doesn't happen.
You know you don't build up.

(16:00):
You know we started there waslegitimately four employees at
one point and we talk about how,back in the day, there were
weeks where we didn't haveenough money to cover payroll
because we just didn't get themoney in from our customers.
So maybe my wife and I, and myfather-in-law and his wife, we

(16:22):
would hold our paychecks forthree or four or five days.
We wouldn't cash them becausewe didn't have the money in the
checking account to do it.
So you make those sacrifices.
You worked more hours than yougot paid for, but it pays off in
the long run and I think somepeople don't see that.

(16:43):
It's easy to see it when you'resuccessful.
It's hard to see when you'renot.
And but you know, in the longrun I knew I grew a lot from it.
You know you learn more fromyour failures than your
successes, absolutely, and I hada ton of failures for a long

(17:04):
period of time that I learned alot from.

Speaker 1 (17:06):
So yeah, I, I, I, I love that that quote.
You learn more from yourfailures and you do your
victories.
Um, cause, then you know,basically you know my line of
work, my career path being acomedian.
You know it's.
You know there's a lot offailures.
There's a lot of not every jokeworks.

(17:27):
You know what I mean.
And I I tell new comics all thetime, because I've been doing
stand-up comedy for 12 years.
Um, and you know, I tell people, and especially new comics,
it's, it's not if you're goingto bomb on stage, it's when
you're going to bomb on stage,it's going to happen.

(17:47):
Like you're not gonna pleaseevery crowd that you're in front
of, you're not everybody's cupof tea, it's gonna happen.
And how you respond, causethat's what you know, a lot of
these up and coming comics, see,is okay, well, I'm not funny.

(18:08):
So this one show didn't go thatwell, so I'm done with it, and
they just kind of give up on thecareer path and it's a grind.
I've been doing it 12 years.
I still haven't quote unquotemade it.
I'm still considered an up andcomer.
Like that's been working atsomething for almost a decade
and you know it's still.
It's still not my full-timeprofession and you know it's.

(18:33):
I think we live in such a youknow, I don't want to say short
attention span, but they wantthat instant gratification.
Like if I don't get sure if it,if I don't go on stage one time
and I'm not filming a netflixspecial the next day, like this
is just a waste of my time.
Like that I don't like it's.

(18:53):
I blame.
I blame social media.
I love social media.
I'm on it on every single one,mainly for you know this show
and you career.
But TikTok anywhere from 15seconds to a minute, and if you
can't keep somebody's attentionspan for that long, you've lost
them.
They're not going to payattention to anything longer

(19:17):
than that.
I think it's groomed people towant that instant gratification
than wanting to work atsomething and actually, you know
, try to build a career at it.

Speaker 2 (19:31):
Oh, I think absolutely.
I mean you know patience to getwhat you want is.
You know it's a little bitdifferent now.
Everything comes to you easierand quicker than it was.
You know 20 years ago and 20years before that I hate to be
that guy sitting there, you knowthat.
You know, get off my lawn guy,but you know it is.

(19:52):
It's just different.
You know it legitimately isdifferent, and that's not a
negative, it's just a fact.
A fact is you know, you knowyou.
You look at kids as a as a highschool football coach.
You know all these years.
You know you look at kids as ahigh school football coach.
You know all these years.
You know I look back to, likewhen I coached my first year
back in 2010,.
How much different it was thenthan it is, say, now.

(20:14):
And part of it's technology,part of it's.
You know the way society is andit's not again, it's not a
knock on it, it's just it isdifferent and if you don't adapt
with it, then you are going toview it as negative very quickly
.
Yeah, it is what the currentenvironment is.
And if you know, not the kidshave changed, it's not the

(20:37):
parents have changed, it's justsociety has changed and you
adapt with it.

Speaker 1 (20:42):
Yeah, absolutely.
You know I had a brief one-yearstint in swim coaching.
I coached a summer swim programdown here and you know it was
kids from anywhere from 8 yearsold all the way up to 18 years
old, through high school, youknow.
So we had a very large team.
We had a lot of like myself, anassistant coach and you know to

(21:04):
handle we had 96 kids on on theteam and you know it was, yeah,
they stuck me with the highschoolers because I was the only
one that was coaching thereother than the head coach that
had swam at college and actually, you know, told a story on here
a million times but, you know,had a chance at the 2012 Olympic

(21:25):
trials If it wasn't for theinjury.
That was the path.
So they stuck me with the olderkid and one of them she fought
me every day on.
Why am I doing this workout?
I don't do this stroke.
Why do I have to do this strokein practice?
Why do I have to?

(21:45):
I stroke in practice like, whydo I have to?
I didn't make districts lastyear, so you know it was kind of
like, oh well, why am I evenswimming if I'm not even going
to be making districts, and ittook me, at 34 years of age,
with still a bum shoulder fromswimming, being like all right,
you, you want, you want me toget in and do the workout with

(22:06):
you, cause I'll gladly get inthe water and do this workout
with you and show you that.
you know I was a backstroker.
That was the only stroke otherthan freestyle that I did in
events.
But I still practicebreaststroke.
I still practice the butterflyevery day and you think I went
into college.
It was my first year everswimming and I had a chance at

(22:29):
the Olympics.
Do you think that was a thing Iwas like?
No, I started when I was oldenough to join a team, at eight
years old, and been working atit and had this injury not been
able to keep me out of the poolI'd still be working at it and I
got in and I did the workoutwith them.
I hated it the next day at 34years old doing that workout,

(22:55):
but it was it's.
They want that instantgratification.
They want that.
Oh well, I need to be the bestand that's not a bad like.
It's not a bad attitude to haveto need to be the best and
that's not a bad attitude tohave to want to be the best at
something and master your craft.
But it's the mastering partthat they don't want to really
work at.

(23:15):
I think and you know youmentioned it there you've
coached with former guests ofthe show, jeremy McElroy.
So what was it like coachingwith Jeremy?
He's a former guest of the showJeremy McElroy.
What was it like coaching withJeremy?
He's a former guest of the show.
Big supporter of the show,we're big fans of him.
I always love to hear whenguests know each other and how
that dynamic happens.

Speaker 2 (23:37):
Coaching for Mac.
That was pretty cool for me Atthe time I wasn't in coaching, I
was trying to get into it and agentleman that I knew that I'd
coached some some little leaguewith actually just kind of
helped out.
Joe Wilson had been coachingfor coach Mack.
And I'm like, hey, I'd like toreally get into it.

(23:59):
And he's like, all right, well,he wants to sit down and talk
with you.
So I'll never forget this forthe rest of my life because at
the time Big Cavs fan had seasontickets and it was the night of
the decision and Mac comes overto my house and that's the
night me and Jeremy sat down andjust kind of chopped it up and

(24:21):
for him to decide whether he wasgonna let me come in and
actually coach junior high atthe time with Jim Salimos.
So we sat down, so I actuallywatched the decision with Jeremy
and that's our first time thatwe'd ever spent together and
actually met and stuff in myliving room.
And then so I started coachingjunior high and a high school

(24:47):
opening actually popped up andat the time it was more of just
like, hey, we need a body.
And I knew nothing, I was asgreen as it could be.
I was 30 in my early thirtiesand and so I was very green from
a coaching standpoint.
But you know, jeremy showed aton of patience with me and was

(25:08):
just a very good mentor and, youknow, kind of brought me along.
You know, jeremy was at thetime younger than me, so it was
obviously he was younger than me.
You know, he was a head coach.
It was the first time he was ahead coach.
He was at Lisbon and it was histhird year, third and final
year there, but he had a ton ofpatience with me.

(25:29):
Um, you know, we didn't have a,we didn't have very much
success that year, but he, youknow, allowed me to grow, gave
me a lot of responsibilities.
So I was actually coachingjunior high at the time, full
time, and then, after juniorhigh practice was done, I would
go right to the high schoolpractice and so I would help
them and then work with them,work with the defensive staff on
Saturday and Sunday.
Um, you know, as a support guy,you know, breaking down film.

(25:51):
You know this is before we hadhuddle, this is before we had
all these great tools that wehave now.
So, you know, we're we'rewatching film on a VHS or a CD
and um, you know we'rehandwriting down, you know
charting the stats ourselves tocreate our own tendencies.
And, as painful as it was, theawesome part about it was it was

(26:16):
so much work, intense from astandpoint of like you you were
almost overwhelmed by it that itreally ingrained it into you.
Like I learned so much thatfirst year about, you know,
breaking down film and creatingthe scout plays that you want to

(26:37):
run against your defense thatweek, you know, and and trying
to look for tendencies andtrying to um utilize those
tendencies to create your gameplan or to create, um, you know,
some, some options for yourselfin the middle of the game.
So you know mac was awesome anduh, after that that third year

(27:00):
they um you, he left and endedup at Beaver Local and then
Geneva as well, but I've stayedin touch with him.
It's been pretty cool.
We have a lot of common friendsand been into Jeremy a lot and
definitely still one of thefirst guys that really gave me a

(27:22):
shot and I learned so much fromhim.

Speaker 1 (27:25):
Yeah, yeah, he was just a wealth of knowledge when
we talked to him on here.
Um, and you know it's, it'samazing, you know, and I I love
the success stories like thatand you know the old school
nature of that, I definitely.
I I think coaches are spoilednowadays, uh, with the huddle

(27:45):
and everything that they haveand not having to to hand write
everything down.
I still remember my coacheshanding me literally a stack of
paper on your stats and how thegame went on friday night and,
yeah, even you know my swimcoach handed me a stack of paper
.
Here's your times.
You know like they werehandwriting, like my times down

(28:07):
and old school stopwatch typedeals it no, in in the pool,
it's it.
It's a lost art, I think it,but it's, it's great that this,
um, uh, the huddle andeverything like that that you
know it's helping coaches, youknow, be better and be better
prepared.

(28:28):
As somebody in high school, Iwas basically a habitual scout
team on offense, so it'srefreshing to hear that there
was a lot of work that went intothat game plan.
I guess I don't want to saythat coaches aren't working, but
back then graduating highschool in the early 2000s, it's,

(28:51):
yeah, it's nice to see that.
You know, there was a lot ofwork with the, the volunteers
that came in it's kind of likesound like it like yourself
there.
They came in to help the teamout that were breaking down film
and you know if they werechewing you out, they were
chewing you out for a reason,you know.
I mean it wasn't just that youwere doing something, it was hey
, I spent hours watching yourfilm.

(29:13):
I need you to do this, right?

Speaker 2 (29:16):
Yeah, yeah, and you know it's funny and I look at it
from a lot of differentstandpoints.
Because, like I am a, I'm aproduct of technology today.
Like I have so much technologyat my fingertips fingertips as a
work from work standpoint,right like I can do stuff today
as an engineer that theycouldn't have thought of 35
years ago.
And the same thing withcoaching.
Like we had, we had to createthe data, basically, but process

(29:41):
the data where nowadays, youknow, these coaches are super
intelligent I mean I, you knowsome of these young guys that I
work with on staff now.
They are unbelievablyintelligent and they take the
information and they process itso rapidly.
It all comes to them likedrinking from a fire hose.

(30:03):
They get so much information,you get so much data it actually
could be overwhelming.
You could actually have toomuch information in front of you
to create a game plan.
You have to kind of, you haveto like, narrow your focus a
little bit when you're lookingat all the data that you can get
from huddle, because you coulddo too much.
You just turn, look at it like,oh, the tendencies when the
running back is to the right andhe's he's half a yard back from

(30:26):
the quarterback like or he's.
You know he's wider, he's, he's.
He's lined up over the tackleinstead of over the guard.
You know there's so many thingsyou could look at and so much
information you put in.
So what you put into it, youcan get out of it, but you can
also kind of get lost in theweeds.
Right, you could be putting somuch information in that you can
spend all your time looking atdata and not looking at

(30:48):
personnel and not being creativeas as a coach.
Um, so you know that's that'sactually a challenge for today's
, you know, new age of coachesto to use the data in a way that
it's not overwhelming.
They're not overusing it, butthey're using it enough that

(31:08):
they're generating the type ofgame plans they really want yeah
, and it's, yeah, it'sdefinitely an information
overload, uh, for sure.

Speaker 1 (31:20):
Uh, because you know it's like you said.
You, I mean you even hear itand I understand it.
You know it's at the pro leveland you hear the announcers even
talking now.
Oh well, travis kelvin kelsey'slined up outside.
It's going to be a slant acrossthe middle to him and it is
like you know, and they knowexactly what's coming and it's
just from where he's lining up.
And you know, I even got to seea little bit of it.

(31:45):
You know, when I was coachingum, helped out at the YMCA.
They were trying to build aprogram there.
I was actually the head coach.
Briefly, budgeting didn't workout so they did have to shut the
program down.
But at the time we inherited alot of equipment.

(32:06):
You wouldn't think there's alot of technology that goes into
swimming.
It's like, oh, hand them awhistle and a stopwatch and
that's really all you need Acouple of bathing suits and some
goggles.
But there's now earpieces thatare waterproof, that these
swimmers can wear underneaththeir caps.
That will allow the coach totalk to them while they're

(32:29):
swimming.

Speaker 2 (32:31):
That's wild, that's absolutely wild, like it's.

Speaker 1 (32:34):
It's involved that much that you know I want to
work with so-and-so today.
So they're, they're reallystruggling with their, their
breaststroke kick or whatever itis.
You know you could talk to themthrough a headset while they're
in the pool, like I had.

(32:54):
I had one swimmer like, forwhatever reason.
You know it sounds like themost basic of things, but that
flip turn that you have to dowhen you're getting into your
turn, there's a science behindit.
You have to know your strokesto the wall from a certain point
in the pool and they just couldnot get it down.
That okay, it takes me threestrokes and then I need to start

(33:18):
my turn and you know you'reable to see that now as a coach
and now they could wear thatearpiece and I can go one, two,
three turn and it helped themfigure out.
Oh, okay, this is what I needto do and it makes that athlete
better.
You know being able to do that.

(33:40):
But yeah, it's crazy wheretechnology is going.
I'm almost scared to see whereit's going.

Speaker 2 (33:46):
Yeah, I mean, you know, you figure, you know we've
seen the transition of.
You know you look at thecollege football game, right,
look at the game.
And even even college baseball.
You know they're able tocommunicate with the quarterback
or the defensive single caller,right.
And same thing in baseball.
Now they can communicateelectronically with all the

(34:06):
position players, with a pitcher, with a catcher, so you're not
sending in signals, Like youknow, at point, very, very soon
you're going to see that becomevery prevalent in the high
school game.
You're going to start seeinghigh schools with kids with the
green dot on their helmetbecause they're getting the
communication.
There might be schools, theremight be states that it's legal

(34:28):
now and there might be highschools that can afford that
technology and you're going tostart seeing that.
I think I don't disagree withthat at all which is wild, which
is wild to think.

Speaker 1 (34:40):
I mean yeah absolutely.
You know, I know there'sprobably people out there that
have seen it and I mean I hopethere's truth to this because
there's commercials on about theit's the all deaf.
I think it's a high schoolwhere now the all the players
have a little eyepiece thathangs down from their helmet and
it literally tells them to playbecause they can't.

(35:01):
Yeah, you can't make a playcall.
If you're dealing with, youknow, deaf players in an all
deaf school, like they can't,this is going to sound bad.
I mean, this is in the nicestway possible.
They can't communicate, youknow, out on the field, correct,
and they have to.
They have to have a way to doit.
And now there is, with thespecial helmet that these kids
are wearing, and you know it, it, you know it's, it's, it's

(35:23):
crazy.

Speaker 2 (35:24):
You mentioned something there when we were in
the but no go ahead, no go aheadI was going to say you see,
I've seen it in the collegebaseball game, my son, my son
plays college baseball atBowling Green and I've seen the
communication kind of come inLike you know, this is your six
for him.
He was a COVID guy and then redshirt.
So this is.
This is last year, but you knowhis first two years there was

(35:46):
zero electronic communicationand then we started seeing that
come in like year three, yearfour, more Last year it was a
ton of you know just about everyschool and then, like this year
, like even Bowling Green willhave it.
So it's wild.

Speaker 1 (36:03):
Yeah, that's wild and you know, basically, you know
where I was going with this.
You know saying that.
You know this technology cancause you to information
overload and be doing too muchand speaking of doing too much
and having too much energy.
You also know the Johnny PittiFalcone wonderful manager of the
show and you coached with himin his first ever year of

(36:25):
coaching.
So with someone who has thatamount of energy, what was that
like?

Speaker 2 (36:33):
My man, johnny, that was something else we know.
So, yeah, so, first year, meand Johnny and you know, we've
struck up a tremendousfriendship and even up through
his family, like his dad and hisuncle at one point ended up
doing all the painting at ouroffice because that's their

(36:53):
family business.
But, johnny, his first year, hecomes in a little bit late,
gets started, and so, like Isaid before, I'm in my early 30s
, a couple of young kids, earlythirties, a couple of young kids
and uh, week one, uh, john'slike hey, he's like man, he's

(37:14):
like, oh man, I drive all theway back home and then come back
tomorrow morning.
I'm like, dude, if you want tojust sleep on my couch, and uh,
so.
So my man slept on my couch for10 weeks, um, every Friday
night so that he didn't have todrive, you know, an extra
whatever three hours, yeah, andbe back in the in the coaching

(37:36):
office at 6 AM.
So you know, that was prettyquick.
Me and Johnny became friends and, yeah, my man had energy, he
would, he'd beat me up everymorning, every Saturday morning.
He was up well before I was andhe was ready to go and he was
the night owl, you know, but he,he a tremendous coach.
It was fun to coach with himand to watch him grow.
And even, you know, I coachedwith him that first year and uh,

(37:59):
yeah, he was on the offensiveside, I was on the defensive
side, we, you know everybody hadto kind of do a little bit of
both, but he was predominantlyon the offensive side, so I
didn't spend a lot of time withhim, you know, like on Saturdays
and game planning, andtypically we're on the opposite
side of the field, even during,you know, team drills and stuff
like that.
And then, um, you kind of workwith johnny a little bit, when

(38:20):
he was at lowville too, and okay, because we would scrimmage, we
would scrimmage them, you knowwe would, um, you know, change
film with them if we had some,you know, common opponents and
stuff like that, or we couldhelp each other out, you know.
So those are always.
He's just always one of the goodguys, right, and uh, I always
count on him to give me honest,honest information, honest

(38:41):
feedback.
You know, if I called him andsaid, hey, we're playing so, and
so you know, what do you think?
You know, how do you think wematch up?
And you know he'd be honest andbe like dude, you're gonna get
cracked.
You know he would do.
You think you know how do youthink we match up?
And you know he'd be honest andbe like dude, you're gonna get
cracked.
You know he would be honestwith me.
Or you know, like, hey, you gota shot, this is what you gotta
do.
You gotta, you guys do this.
Well, you gotta, you gotta, yougotta stop the run, or you know
they're going to try to get youon the outside.

(39:05):
You guys, weak on the outside,you know so, um, he was always a
good, a good resource, but nowit's uh, yeah, I mean it was, it
was cool, like because he, hewas just out of college, like,
he's legitimately just out ofcollege, just done with his
athletic career.
You know he's just hanging upthe cleats for the first time,

(39:28):
um, which, like, like you know,that's tough on people, it's
tough.
I mean the first time, which,like, like you know, that's
tough on people, it's tough.
I mean the first time thatyou're you're an ex athlete.
I mean, I think that that hitsa lot of people a lot
differently.

Speaker 1 (39:42):
Oh, absolutely that.
That that still hits me to thisday.
You know it's been.
Yeah, I'm 35.
I stopped swimming when I was 20because I had to.
I mean, it wasn't a want to.
You know, I think that it's alittle bit worse for those,
those athletes, where it's not aI know it's time to hang up the
cleats, it's no, I have to.

(40:03):
It's.
You know, my, my body is notallowing this to happen anymore.
My body's not allowing this tohappen anymore.
And you know it's sad to say,with my sport and swimming, in
that, you know it's a verylimited window.
You don't see a lot of swimmerspushing 30 years old and

(40:26):
competing in the Olympics.
I mean, there's the select fewfreak athletes that are still
doing it, uh, today, that are intheir thirties, but it's, it's
a young man's game and it's when, when you're in that window and
it gets taken away, you knowthat that definitely is the

(40:46):
hardest, Like my wife even saidit.
You know, this year Olympicsyear, and you know summer
Olympics, I'm sitting there andI'm watching the swimming and
I'm cheering for it, like I'm atthe pool, like on my couch.

Speaker 2 (41:06):
And she was like it gets right back to you, right
Like it just takes you backright to that moment.

Speaker 1 (41:13):
And she was just like you miss it, don't show, I miss
it every day, being in the pooland being able to do that
Essentially, and you know it'sjust, but yeah, it's, it's, yeah
, it's tough and I know pityCause he was.
He was talking to me when hewas thinking about leaving
coaching and everything likethat.
He was just like man, I thinkit's time to retire as a coach.

(41:37):
I was like man, it's your call.
I'm not going to tell you whatto do, but I can definitely tell
this is not an easy decisionfor you.
And yeah, I think even that, ascoaches, you know handing the
whistle over, if you will.
Instead that, as coaches, youknow you know handing the
whistle over, if you will,instead of hanging the cleats up
.
You know what I mean, likedoing that part of it, you know.
You know you could tell it wastough for him and you know.

(42:00):
And he still has that sameenergy.
I mean he, he, he helps me runthis show and I talked to him, I
think, more than I talked to mywife sometimes, because he's
always got ideas and he's alwaysgoing and he is, I think he
wakes up at like 150 miles anhour, going 100%.

Speaker 2 (42:22):
I think without coffee.

Speaker 1 (42:24):
He's ready to go because there's times.

Speaker 2 (42:27):
I think you hit on something there too.
I mean, you talk about how hardit is to hang it up as an
athlete.
Right, it's, it's the same as acoach.
You know, four years ago Idecided to step back as a, as a
full-time high school, as acoordinator.
I was I was at the time I wascoordinating, I was a defensive

(42:49):
coordinator.
I'd been doing that for um for anumber of years and I, just
between my job and my son's uh,spring and summer baseball
schedule, I'm like I'm kind ofcheating the game, I can't do it
, right, yeah.
And so I stepped back and atfirst I was gonna like, just not
coach, like cold turkey, notcoach.
Well, you know then it.
You know they come like, ah,can you just help with the

(43:12):
junior high, and they're likeyou don't have to go every day,
Just go, you know, a couple ofdays a week.
I'm like, all right, I'll dothat, I'll just go one day a
week.
Well, the next thing I know I'mlike you know every day of the
week, the junior high, and thenyou know, helping out and

(43:33):
watching film during the week.
So like, like I still couldn'tdo it, like I'm still in a
similar role now like I'm stilljust kind of a defensive uh
consultant with the uh, withthat staff, because that's that,
those are my guys still.
You know, like the guys thedefensive coordinator played for
me, coached with me, coachedunderneath me, and then now I'm
coaching for him a little bitand so like I couldn't step back

(43:53):
, like I want to take a break,but at the same time you know
what I actually I feel like in acouple of years like I want to
get back into it time again,like I I miss it, I miss the
locker room, I miss the coach'soffice.
I'm, you know everything fromthe shenanigans to the stress,

(44:13):
to the drama, to the you knowjust the camaraderie you know
there's.
There's probably way too manystories I have from the coaching
office that I can never tell inpublic because they incriminate
way too many people, right, andso you know it's just like
those are the guys that thatlocker mentality is going
through the stuff.
Like you know, you talk withMac.

(44:34):
I mean some of the nights Ispent with Mac, I mean I laugh
at one of them that first year.
Like we're like week two orthree and we had a tough game,
we lost and they had one of ourgames while he was there.

(44:54):
And we're in the coach's officeuntil I don't, maybe midnight,
one o'clock, somewhere in thatrange, right watching film, just
like what are we gonna do?
What are we gonna do?
What are we gonna do?
And next thing we know we seelike a flashlight shining in
from the window and then aflashlight coming into the
locker room, into the coach'soffice.
It was the police.
They saw the you know light onin the locker room.
They thought maybe someonebroke in or something.
So we got the police checkingon us.
We're like man, that's not agood sign for you, jeremy, I
don't know what to tell you, butright now, having the police

(45:16):
walk in at 12, 31 o'clock in themorning, that's a good omen for
the season.

Speaker 1 (45:22):
at this point, buddy, if we're struggling this much
that the cops are getting called, we might need a new game plan.

Speaker 2 (45:32):
Yeah, we got to do some quick thinking here.

Speaker 1 (45:36):
Oh, that's funny.
That's something that you wouldonly see either in the movies
or in a TV show.
You don't think of that assomething that actually happens.
I'm sure it happens a lot morethan what people think.

Speaker 2 (45:49):
That's hysterical, that's just that's hysterical,
that's so funny I could just seethe guy coming.
You know the cop coming aroundthe in the small town right.
So, but he's got his hand likekind of he's kind of had his
hand kind of hovering over hisgun, so like you're not like
like, like dude, I'm good, I'mgood Like nothing.
No mosh to mosh.
Yeah, Like dude, I'm good, I'mgood Like nothing, I'm off, I'm

(46:09):
off.

Speaker 1 (46:10):
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
You mentioned it a little bitthere, Something I love talking
about with people that have busyroles.
So you know you're a proud dadand husband.
You know how do you balancebeing both of those roles and
you know working and then even,like you said said, you know
dabbling in coaching andeverything like that, because I

(46:31):
know what it's like for me.
You know as a uh, as a comedianand still having a day job, and
you know working.
You know the shows and the openmics and you know son's got a
football game.
He, you know he's got this todo and you know the wife's got
this to do and you know thewife's got this to do.
We got that to do, and thenit's holiday season and you know

(46:54):
, and then you know it's just,you got to find a nice balance.
How do you find that balancefor you?

Speaker 2 (47:00):
Yeah, so it was.
It was tough, you know,thankfully for me at the time,
when I was really in the grindas a coach and the kids were
coming up through, I didn't haveas much responsibility at work.
I still was working a full-timejob, working 50 to 60 hours a
week plus coaching.
But you know my wife anabsolute angel, a rock you know

(47:25):
she held the house in orderwhile I was coaching and you
know she really did.
She did everything.
I mean that was back when sheused to mow the yard.
She did everything.
I legitimately just worked andcoached and she was huge with
that.
But to find the balance, youknow, the biggest thing was for

(47:47):
me was learning how to bepresent.
So if I was coaching, if I wason the practice field, I was in
the coach's office, I was in myoffice breaking down film, like
that's what I was doing, Iwasn't focusing on anything else
.
So I was coaching, that's whatI focus on.
But when I was at home, I waspresent with them.

(48:08):
So that was the biggest thing.
That took a couple of years forme to kind of find that balance
and it's it's definitelychallenging because you can get
kind of drawn in.
But what I learned was when Iwas with my family, I was with
my family, like you know, itdidn't matter.
You know, bad day at thepractice field, good day at the,
you know, on a Friday night,good Friday night, bad Friday

(48:29):
night, didn't matter.
You know, my kids were young.
My son grew up in the lockerroom.
You know, he was one of thosefortunate ones that you know, at
six, seven years old man, he'sin a high school locker room
hanging out with kids that youknow he idolized, right, and so
he got a chance to be with mequite a bit.
So that helped a lot.
Having him with me, so like hewas side-by-side, he was at all

(48:50):
the games, he was at thepractices and um, and then ended
up playing for me um in highschool.
So you know, spending that timewith him was really fun.
But again, when I got home andI just had to be with them, and
you know, in the off season, manI was, I was, I was super, dad,
right, like I made up for it.
You know, in the off season, Imean, I was, I was, I was super

(49:11):
dad right.
Like I made up for it.
You know I was.
You know, the weekend after theseason was over, you know the
last Friday night the next dayis kind of a dark day, like as a
coach and your season's over.
You're lost, like after going.
You know 10 weeks plus two daysplus a summer, like you're.
You're lost Like after going.
You know 10 weeks plus two daysplus a summer, like you're.

(49:32):
You're lost when you come intothat first Saturday and you have
nothing to do.
Maybe some guys are different,but man, I was, I would.
I would always be like likejust sitting there, just like
staring in a space that's lost.
But then the next weekend, um,I always made it every year I
did this.
I always made it like my wife'sweekend.
So, whatever she wanted to do,like legitimately, if she wanted

(49:55):
to go to uh, you know, goshopping, like all right, I'll
go to the mall, like I don'twant to, but you know.

Speaker 1 (49:59):
I'm gonna do it.

Speaker 2 (50:00):
I'll go carry bags all day, yeah, but like,
whatever she wanted to do, itdidn't matter.
She wanted to sit at home allday, she wanted me to cook or
she wanted me to clean, likewhatever she wanted me to do,
man, man I was, I was going todo it.
So, you know, I made it kind oflike her weekend, just kind of
like hey, listen, I, I know Ihaven't been around for a while,
so you know, if you got me,it's all, it's all you.

(50:23):
And then you know the offseason.
You know my kids were veryactive.
My daughter played basketball,you know, very active.
My daughter played basketball,high school basketball, junior
high, aau, all that stuff.
And my son played a ton ofbaseball, played football,
played basketball, and so theoff-season for us was so focused
on the kids and their sportsthat really I didn't have a

(50:46):
choice but to be engaged, and soit was like I wouldn't change
it.
It was awesome.
I, I, I miss, uh, I miss thatgrind.
I miss the kids being in, youknow, junior high together and
us trying to figure out howwe're going to get from, you
know, this basketball game tothis basketball game, to

(51:07):
pitching lessons, to hittinglessons to, you know, to this
basketball game, to pitchinglessons, to hitting lessons, to
you know this practice andsomehow for me to still work and
and get to lifting and do youknow that kind of stuff.
Um, so it was.
It was some crazy days, but Imiss it.
I miss it.
It was so much fun.
It really, looking back on, itwas so much fun yeah, you, you

(51:29):
mentioned it there.

Speaker 1 (51:30):
You know, when you're home, as somebody who's busy,
has a career and a job thatkeeps them busy, like your home,
you know, and it's I have, youknow, my little.
I don't have an exact officeper se at my house, though, but
I have my little desk set up solike when I'm there, like I'm

(51:51):
working on, you know, comedy,editing videos, editing podcasts
, you know writing jokes anddoing that stuff, but like when
I'm away from it, like I'm awayfrom it, that's that's time.
And even like my wife and Ilike, even though, you know, I

(52:11):
know we talked about a littlebit before the show.
You know, she kind of got alittle bump on the head today at
work, and it was, she was.
We were both home by three,four o'clock in the afternoon,
and I couldn't tell you, thelast time I was home during the
week at three, four o'clock inthe afternoon, and she couldn't

(52:32):
either, and it's just like.
So what do we do?
It's still late.
I, I was home during the week atthree, four o'clock in the
afternoon, and she couldn'teither, and it's just like.
So what do we do?
It's still light out.
I was like well, you need torest.
What?
Because you just you had a badday at work and you need to rest
.
But yeah, it's weird, but youknow, even we were just sitting
there and we were both justwatching TV.
Weird, but you know, even wewere just sitting there and we

(52:53):
were both just watching tv andthat was kind of like our time.
You know, son was off doingwhatever 15 year olds do
nowadays, and you know it wasyeah and and it was like okay,
well, we have that, we have thehouse to ourselves.
It's kind of our time and wejust kind of want to sit in
silence and c be in that.
That that's what we, that'swhat we do now, and it's just
being there and being, like yousaid, being present in the

(53:17):
moment and and and just there,and it's it's.
It's a fine line sometimes thatyou have to, you have to tow a
little bit, and you knowschedules get tied up,
especially this time of the yearwith her job.
It's the busiest time of theyear as it is for everybody the

(53:38):
holiday season, it's, and it'snice to be like.
When I'm home, my phone goesdown.
It might as well be turned offbecause I don't even pay
attention to it.
It's down.
If I'm not at my desk and doingany work, I don't care who's
texting me.
It can wait till it's work time, not family time, and make sure

(54:04):
to be with the son.
Ask him how was school and 15same thing different day?

Speaker 2 (54:12):
yeah, you know so yeah man cool exactly well you
know, say I think nick sabansaid it, the best one of the
things that always stuck with me, um, that he had said it and I
I think I heard it maybe, maybeeight, 10 years ago be where
your feet are.
And so that kind of goes intothe same mantra of being present

(54:33):
wherever you're at man, just bewhere your feet are.

Speaker 1 (54:36):
Absolutely Don't let your mind.

Speaker 2 (54:37):
Don't let your mind leave your feet.

Speaker 1 (54:39):
I've never.
I've never heard that quote,but I love it.
I did just hear it for thefirst time.
It makes so much sense.
You know, I did just hear itfor the first time.
It makes so much sense.
You know ton speak straight off.
Yeah, speaking of, you knowSaban.
You know your big football fan.
You know, are you excited aboutthe college bowl season
starting here soon and the new12 team playoff?
And you know the quick diveinto the X we are running down

(55:02):
near the end of the show here.

Speaker 2 (55:04):
Yeah, so, so, absolutely love this time of
year.
I was obviously I was a lotmore excited than a high state
fan.
I'm a lot more excited aboutthe 12 team playoff about three
weeks ago, um, but after the uh,the debacle against michigan,
you know, I feel a little bitdifferent.
But everybody, you know whatthere's outside of oregon every
team stubbed their toe somewhere, right.
You know, high state lost tooregon by one, but then they

(55:25):
really stubbed their toessomewhere, right.
You know, ohio State lost toOregon by one, but then they
really stubbed their toe againstMichigan and everybody else
kind of did the same thing.
Everybody else has a has kindof an ugly loss and so, yeah, I
mean I think it's really cool.
I think the fact that we, we gotall these great games coming on
the weekend of the 20th and the21st, I mean like I

(55:46):
legitimately could coming on theweekend of the 20th and the
21st, I mean like I legitimatelycould, could sit down and watch
football for you know, about 10hours, 12 hours, and it's going
to be great games, three greatgames back to back to back, and
so really excited about that.
I wish they would have, I wishthey would have done the seating
a little bit differently.
I think there's still somethings you can tweak, you know,

(56:06):
because you know some of the,you can look at some of the
paths and you're like, oh,that's a little bit easier path,
or this or that, um, you know,the boise state really deserve a
bye, I don't know.
Um, it's hard but, yeah,unbelievable.
I think we got a ton of greatfootball and then on top of that
, then you, you, you, you, youback that up with New Year's day

(56:27):
and those bowl games are goingto mean so much more, and, and
so I think it's going to beawesome.
I think it's exciting for thegame, I think it's exciting for
the kids, the fans.
You know, man, it just it.
It definitely brought a lotmore excitement to the bowl

(56:48):
season by adding the 12-teamplayoff.
Oh yeah, and we'll see if theytweak it a little bit, maybe
they start reseeding stuff aftereach week.
That would be kind of cool.
Like, talk about not knowingwho your opponent is.
That would be kind of cool.
Like, you know, you play thosegames and then you're like, all
right, we're going to repeat it,because the one seed still get

(57:09):
the lower seed, even though itwould have been maybe these guys
?
Well, now he deserves the.
Maybe the maybe the 12th seedone?
Well, maybe the one seeddeserves to play him.
So I'd like to see some, maybesome tweaks on that part, but

(57:32):
you know it's going to be cool.

Speaker 1 (57:33):
I mean, you know, oregon's been a juggernaut all
year.

Speaker 2 (57:34):
They've been watching there's a arizona state is
playing at a high level rightnow.
You know they're running backum, I can't.
Oh, he's a beast, he's anabsolute beast.
Yes, he uh, I mean he's justrunning through people um kind
of remember, remind you of likea like a mike allstott type of
dude, right, oh you're speakingmy language, mike, all Allstott,
that was my dude.

Speaker 1 (57:48):
I'm a Buccaneers fan, so I love watching Mike
Allstott.

Speaker 2 (57:53):
Yeah, give me a fullback, we're good to go right
.
Yeah, so there could be somereally cool games coming up.
You know, I think, as a Buckeyefan, it's an interesting
matchup with Tennessee.
You know everybody's been, youknow, saying oh, the SEC doesn't

(58:13):
want to come North and play.
Well, you know what actuallyTennessee, they might be built
to play in this weather.
I mean they're they're a runfirst offense.
They got a fairly aggressivedefense.
I mean I say it's going to havetheir hands full.
And you know, I think a lot ofOhio State fans have a lack of
confidence after the high levelof confidence we had going into

(58:36):
the Michigan game.
So no, and Penn State?
I mean you know they battledback against Oregon and, you
know, looked better than Iexpected.
There's a lot of good teams andNotre Dame just seems to find
ways to win.

Speaker 1 (58:55):
They really do?
I don't know they really do.
I mean Oregon's obviously thefavorite.
I mean how?

Speaker 2 (59:00):
do you not put Oregon as a favorite?
But there's half a dozen teamsI mean Georgia, and now they
don't have a quarterback.
But the other guys Dudetheir're back.

Speaker 1 (59:08):
I can't think of his name, but their backup that came
in and the sec championshipgame.
I kind of thought he waslooking a little bit better than
um, I think it was.

Speaker 2 (59:20):
But yeah, yeah, he looked better than back, I mean,
and anybody got his headknocked off too and held on to
the ball and still came back andfinished the game, you know.
So he, hey, who knows?
And Texas, I mean Texas is likeone of those teams, is they're
just they're sneaky good man butthere's Jekyll and Hyde.

(59:40):
Like they come out one week andthey just look like world
beaters, and then the next weekthey they look like they didn't
practice, like I'm not sayingthey look that bad, but like
just yeah they didn't planenough.

Speaker 1 (59:55):
They're looking over this team to the neck.

Speaker 2 (59:56):
Yeah, I get that Something's off and yeah, and I
can't put my finger on, but justthey're not executing at the
level they did you know, per.
They're not executing at thelevel they did you know per se
the week before and, uh, youknow, it was a great quarterback
and with Arch Manning behindhim, I mean you know, and

(01:00:17):
Sarkeesian is a heck of a coach.
So I mean it's just I'm excitedman, I'm like let's go, let's,
let's.
It sucks and we had to wait two.
We had to wait two weeks toplay.
I'm ready for I mean, I'm goingto be, I mean, even though this
weekend's pretty cool, you know, you get the Army, navy game.
Yeah.
I'm excited about that oneAlways excited to watch that one
.
Yes, absolutely.
Fear the bones, baby.
Fear the bones.

Speaker 1 (01:00:38):
Absolutely yeah.
And you know I'm super excited.
I've been saying since thecollege football playoffs
started that it needed to bemore than four teams.
I didn't, I didn't think quiteto the level of 12.
They kind of went above andbeyond.
What I've been shouting at therooftops for years now is you

(01:00:59):
know they needed to make it an18 playoff and kind of like a
similar concept.
You have the Power Fiveconferences.
You know all the conferencechampions make the playoff.
That's you know why you playchampionship games, you know.
And then you have these schools, like an army and or people in

(01:01:22):
the MAC and the WAC.
You go undefeated.
We're going to give you a shotat it.
You know you're going to go inand you're going to play a
Georgia, You're going to play aTennessee, You're going to play
an Ohio State.
It gives these schools more TVtime.
It gives them more recruitingopportunities because now people
are seeing them.
Ultimately, it all comes downto money.

(01:01:45):
They're getting money to playthese games and it's I.
I.
I didn't think they'd go to 12.
I thought they'd start at eight, which I thought was a good
number, but we'll see how wellworks out.
I I'm kind of digging itWatching the selection show.
Saturday, Like all, right,let's see.
Or Sunday yeah, Sunday,Watching the selection show,

(01:02:07):
Like all right, let's see.

Speaker 2 (01:02:08):
Or Sunday, yeah, Sunday watching the selection
show.

Speaker 1 (01:02:08):
All right, let's, let's, let's see who gets in.
And I was screaming for SMU tomake it over Alabama.
I just, I don't think thattheir losses.
They looked way too bad.
And you know SMU, the sub 500teams, Right, that's like you
know I, I'm a West Virginia fan.

(01:02:28):
It's born and raised in WestVirginia.
I'm a Mountaineer fan throughand through.
I'm so happy Neil Brown is gone.
He's so happy he's gone.
It's unreal.

Speaker 2 (01:02:39):
Bringing Rich Rod back baby.

Speaker 1 (01:02:42):
I'm so upset about that, but I just, I just, yeah,
there's a lot of mixed feelingswith Rich Rod coming back, but
yeah, you know, you have thesethree lost teams.
It used to be oh, we lost thegame, the playoff's out of the

(01:03:03):
mindset.
Now we can't make the playoffat a 14 playoff.
Now you've got two and I thinkthere's a three-loss team in
there now, If I'm not mistaken.

Speaker 2 (01:03:15):
If there is a three-loss, I'm losing track of
that, but I know there'stwo-loss teams.

Speaker 1 (01:03:19):
Yeah, I think there's one I don't know who it is, I'm
almost positive it's athree-loss team, because I was
kind of upset, like I'm almostpositive it's a three loss team,
cause I was kind of upset Like,okay, you got a three loss team
in here, but, um, nevertheless,you know it's still, it's an
interesting concept.
I'm excited for it, um, and Ican't wait to see how it all
shakes out.
I think, like you said, there'sthere's some tweaks that

(01:03:39):
they're going to make.
But, yeah, I can't wait to seehow it all unfolds.
But, like I said, charles, weare running down near the end of
the episode here.
I do have to get this segmentin.
We've been bringing it backmore and more.
I love this segment and it isthe Fast 55.
Five random questions from thewonderful manager of the podcast

(01:04:00):
, johnny Fitty Falcone.
These are kind of rapid firefor the newer listeners out
there, but you can elaborate ifyou need to.
He sent these to me today,charles, so we're going to read
these together and kind of jumpoff this cliff and build our
wings on the way down.
And I know you know, Johnny.
So if you're ready for thesequestions, we'll get rolling.

Speaker 2 (01:04:21):
Let's give it a shot.
I'm ready.

Speaker 1 (01:04:23):
All right.
Question number one what areyour thoughts?

Speaker 2 (01:04:29):
about Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch.

Speaker 1 (01:04:30):
Love it, love him yeah, I don't know how you go
anywhere other than that he'slegendary.

Speaker 2 (01:04:38):
So did I.

Speaker 1 (01:04:40):
I still listen to 90s on 9 in my car on Sirius XM.
Marky Mark and the Funky Bunchcomes on and I'm singing right
along with it.
It's the bottom of the Question.
Number two Best place to getbreakfast food is.

Speaker 2 (01:05:01):
I'm going to say Kermit's in Bowling Green, ohio.
Oh okay.

Speaker 1 (01:05:06):
Never been there, but all right, take your word for
it.
Legit Question number three howmany cups of coffee is too many
in a day?

Speaker 2 (01:05:18):
There is no too many.
I'm definitely like an eight toten cup guy.

Speaker 1 (01:05:23):
I'm not that much.
I'm a solid two to four a day.
Right now it's getting more.
I'm leaning more towards thefour than I am the two anymore,
but so it's increasing you man,I do way too much caffeine so do
I it.
You know I I always make thejoke.
You know, this old boy hereruns on caffeine and nicotine.
That's the only thing thatkeeps me going at this point in

(01:05:44):
time, right now, straight uphere.
I got him right with you, man,right with you all.
Right, question number four theonly thing that keeps me going
at this point in time, right now.
So it's the only thing straightup here.

Speaker 2 (01:05:48):
I got him right with you, man, right with you all
right.

Speaker 1 (01:05:51):
Question number four would you rather be an alligator
or a giraffe?
Definitely an alligator,predatory baby yeah, I someone
who grew up, you know I'm sixfive.
I always get called the giraffe.

Speaker 2 (01:06:07):
I gotta go alligator for me myself on this one, you
know I'm like five, I'm, I'mfive, nine, but I'm still
sticking with it, man no, I'mwith it, I'm all for the
alligator, and trust me.

Speaker 1 (01:06:19):
The last question here happy gilmore or the
goonies, which sequel are youmore excited about?

Speaker 2 (01:06:28):
Happy Gilmore by far.
How many times have you notreferenced something from Happy
Gilmore?

Speaker 1 (01:06:35):
Every day of my life, I'm forever referencing Happy
Gilmore.

Speaker 2 (01:06:43):
I grew up a Goonies guy, right, I grew up being a
little bit older than youGoonies.
That was big.
But man, Happy Gilmore isprobably one of my top 10.
Easily a top 10 movie.
Easily a top 10 movie Easily.

Speaker 1 (01:06:59):
Easily.
Oh, that was the.

Speaker 2 (01:07:02):
Fast 85.

Speaker 1 (01:07:05):
That was the Fast 85.
A little tougher questions andhe's been going with some of the
guests now so he's getting backinto his old form.
We kind of got away from thissegment a little bit and started
doing more roundtables andstuff like that, so it was good
to bring.

Speaker 2 (01:07:20):
I'm so happy this segment is back love this
segment and just the way thismind works it's, it's phenomenal
.

Speaker 1 (01:07:31):
I appreciate.
I appreciate.
It got me on my toes real quick, absolutely.
Uh.
Well, charles, like I said,we're running down to the end of
the episode.
I give every guest thisopportunity at the end of the
show.
If there's anything you want toget out there, anything you
want to promote anything, or ifit's just a good message that
you have, I'm going to give youabout a minute and the floor is
yours.

Speaker 2 (01:07:49):
Yeah, hey, I appreciate it.
I appreciate the opportunity tocome on and talk.
I enjoyed it.
First time I've really had achance to do something like this
.
You know I really don't haveanything I need to promote.
I do want to just say that youknow, if you need to get unload
some money at the end of theyear, bowling Green is trying to

(01:08:09):
turf their baseball field.
You can donate money there.
There's my shameless plugDonate money, turf the spell.
Stellar Field, bowling GreenUniversity.
We'd love that.

Speaker 1 (01:08:23):
Absolutely.
I'm all for helping out in anyway that we can.
So if there's a link oranything like that where people
can donate, that send that to me.
We'll put that in thedescription of this, of this
episode, so that people can goand donate right from the show
here.

Speaker 2 (01:08:40):
So yep, any millionaires and billionaires,
just send that money right now.
We're good, we're ready to go.
I hope I have at least onemillionaire billionaire
listening to the show man.

Speaker 1 (01:08:48):
you millionaires and billionaires just send that
money right now.
We're good, we're ready to go.
I hope I have at least onemillionaire or billionaire
listening to the show man.
I really do and if you'relistening and you're a
millionaire or billionaire, weare always looking for new
sponsors for the show.

Speaker 2 (01:09:01):
Absolutely, absolutely Partnership.
It's a great partnership.
Let's do it.

Speaker 1 (01:09:06):
Absolutely Well.
That is actually going to do itfor this week's episode of the
Ride Home Rants podcast.
I want to thank my guest,charles Bell, for coming on.
This was a lot of fun gettingto talk to you, glad we got to
do this and get to sit down anddo this.
But, as always, if you enjoyedthe show, be a friend, tell a
friend.
No-transcript.

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