June 22, 2026 • 22 mins
A Father's Day for the books!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, brothers and sisters, Welcome to the After Show podcast.
That's you, The After Show Army. It's a Monday. Today
is June twenty second. Nice three day weekend. Felt so good,
finally get some rest. And it was very busy weekend,
very very busy. Not only was it Father's Day, it
was my daughter's birthday yesterday. We had her recital on Saturday.
(00:22):
There was just so much going on. I'll touch on
each of those as well, but a reminder, I'd love
to hear from you. I'd love to come in to
hear some talkbacks. People that are, you know, joining the
after Show leaving questions comments. I love that so much,
so I just want to remind you that if you
listen to this podcast and you got something to say,
something to ask, send a talk back in makes me
(00:44):
happy and we'll get a ton of them obviously for
the regular show. And I know a lot of people
listen to this after Show and I would love to
hear from all of you. So I hope you had
a great Father's Day. If you're a dad listening to this,
or your dad, or even if your dad has passed on,
you know, in the memory, like my wife's dad, passed on.
She put up a beautiful picture of her and her dad,
who I never met. That was before I was with her.
(01:06):
He died in two thousand and five. And it's wild too,
because she looks just like him. She doesn't look anything
like her mom. You know, when I talk about nanny,
you know Nanny. You know she's very outgoing, very loud Italian.
My wife's nothing like that. She looks just like her dad.
Definitely got all of his genes. But he passed in
(01:28):
two thousand and I believe it's two thousand and five
of brain cancer. So I never got to honor to
meet him. I had to ask her mom for her
hand in marriage. I would have loved to meet him.
She says that we would have got along. Got sorry,
got along great, So it's too bad. So anyway, it
was a great Father's Day. Let's go back to Saturday. Though,
(01:48):
my daughter had her first recital. She's been doing hip
hop dancing in Salem, New Hampshire, and so there was
a lot of build up to this recital.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
It was.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Very It was kind of expense, it's been, to be
honest with you, not a ton of money. But you know,
we had six people go and I think it was
like thirty or forty dollars a ticket, and I really
didn't know what to expect, but we got the itinerary.
You know, this show schedule, it was like almost three
hours long, and you know, by chance, my daughter was
(02:19):
the second and last to go, so we had to
sit there and watch the whole show.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
And it wasn't terrible.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
You know, there were a ton of acts, all different
dancers of all ages, and.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
It was super cute.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
But I had my son there and you know, he's
not into this, and that's a long time to sit.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
There and watch.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
So you know, I enjoyed the shows, and then obviously
when my daughter came out, it was just the cutest
thing ever.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
She did really great.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
We were nervous that, you know, she would get up
on stage and not really move, that she would freeze up.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
But I did post a.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Show a little clip on my Instagram and she was dancing. Man,
you know, she really likes it. She was doing gymnastics
and dancing, but she she seems to like the dancing more.
So I think we're going to keep her in hip hop,
maybe try different type of dancing, tap dancing or something.
I think she showed an interest in that. But it
was cool, man, it was great. My dad came obviously,
(03:12):
Nannie and Nana, her gran my wife's grandmother all went
and I did post a picture of that as well.
So that was my first like daddy recital, you know,
recital for my daughter. You know, I'm used to the
boy life of baseball.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Games and all that. So that was on Saturday.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
And then I went to a birthday party for my
son's friend and my friend's son, Aaron, which.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Was really cool. They had a video gaming truck.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Come. I had never seen one of those before I
heard about them. You know, the truck comes in the
front of the house and you can go in. It
has air conditioner, air conditioning or heating. It's in the winter,
but they have like, you know, all the video game
screens and you can go in and out of there
and play. So that was cool too. And then Sunday,
Father's Day was fantastic. It was great spending time with
my family. But it was also my daughter's birthday. Now
(03:59):
here's where it gets weird, Okay, because the recital was
the weekend of her actual birthday, we had to move
her party to next Saturday. So in my head. This
is the same for my wife. In our heads, I
should say, we kept forgetting that it was her birthday.
Like we knew it was her birthday yesterday, but we
couldn't wrap our heads around it because we keep thinking
(04:21):
of her birthday is next weekend because that's when the
party is. So we woke up Sunday, Father's Day, her
birthday obviously.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
But my son had.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Tryouts for Travel Baseball. Now here's where the story gets good.
So my son plays rec baseball and this again, this
is all new to me. You know, he started in
the Salem youth system T ball up to farm. Now
he's in minors, okay, and then he'll play another year
of miners. Then he'll move up to majors. And that's
(04:52):
like Salem wreck. But then they have Travel Baseball. And
there's a ton of different programs all around the area,
but the one out of Salem is called Travel New England.
And you know, I had thought about I have a
really good friend of mine whose son plays travel And
you know, my son's pretty good. You know, he's got
a really good arm. He kicking definitely ball, you know,
(05:13):
but last year he was he's nine years old. Now
he was eight years old last year, he could have
tried it, but I was like hesitant because it's a
lot of money.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
First of on, it's a lot of time. It's not
so much the money, it's the commitment.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
To it, and I wasn't sure that he was going
to be fully committed to it. But then my wife
reminded me that he's never not wanted to go to baseball.
It's like the only thing that he's never put up
a stink about, literally his entire short baseball career, going
back to t ball, every game, every practice, he is ready.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
And willing to go.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
He absolutely loves baseball. And when she said that to me,
I thought, you're right, You're one hundred percent right, and
I'm gonna try him out this year. Now, all I've
been hearing about travel is it's very competitive. You know,
it's not like wreck where everybody makes it. They give
every player a turn. You know, you need to try
out for these teams. They're gonna pick the best players,
and even if you get picked to be on a team,
(06:07):
you might not play, you know, but it's year round baseball,
and even in the winter it's you know, you're constantly playing,
and it's not just the playing, it's the coaching as well.
You have some of the best coaches. It's a nonprofit,
the coaches are not being paid to be there. And
I've just heard nothing about, nothing but good things about it. Okay,
So I signed him up for the tryouts for Travel
(06:29):
New England, and then I also have him trying out
on Wednesday for a different program out of Windham. Now
that program is also a fantastic one, but that one
pretty much every kid makes because they'll just make enough teams,
so every kid makes it. I believe it's a for profit.
It's a little bit more money too, but that's at
They have a great facility, great program as well, but
(06:52):
you're pretty much guaranteed to make it. I believe that's
what I'm being told. But you know, the Salem one
is really tough, right, So I got up Saturday, I
explained it to him. I've explained to him what I
just explained to all of you, right is like we're
gonna try out. You're gonna do your best. If you
make the team, great. If you don't make the team,
that's okay. You can do this program and then try
(07:14):
try out again next year for this one. Like it's
all good. You're gonna play either way, I hope. Right,
that's just one I'm being told as far as the
other program. So woke up Sunday morning, I worked out
in the morning, I came home, we hit the backyard.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
I warmed him up.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
We did, you know, pitching, hitting, fielding pop ups, warmed
his shoulder up, and again I just gave him the
pep talk, like, you know, buddy, we're just gonna go
out there and give our best, you know, like, I'm
proud of you either way. I do believe that you
have what it takes to make it. I really really do.
But there's the thing with kids. If you have small
kids that have played sports, you probably can identify with this.
(07:52):
You know how he plays in the backyard with his
friends when he's comfortable, right, he plays hard and he
looks good. But then he gets on the field and
you know, he's more reserved, he's more shy, he's not
as aggressive, if you will, And I try to tell him, buddy,
if you just bring the backyard energy to the games,
(08:13):
to the practices, to the tryouts, you have a really,
really good shot. So we get to the to the tryout,
and sure enough, only a cup. Only three kids showed
up for his age group, so he's going for ten you,
so it's ten year olds and under because of his birthday,
he's going to turn ten in January, so he falls
(08:35):
into that category, right. So we get there and the
coach to coach explains, like, listen, we only had like
four or five kids show up to the first tryout,
which he missed, and now this one there was only three.
You need at least twelve kids to make a team. Okay.
So I'm like shoot, and like, we're still going to
have the tryouts, but you know, it is what it is.
(08:56):
So at the same time that the ten, they had
twelve you tryouts as well for the twelve year olds.
There are two fields, one on each, so they decided
to combine them so just the three kids for the
ten just try them out with the twelve year olds,
not for the twelve U team, but just to make
it easier because it's all the same coaches that run
the program.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
So I thought that was cool.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
I was like, yeah, that would actually be good for
him to kind of play with the older kids. So
I'm seated behind home plate. Okay, Now I don't know
any of these coaches. I don't really know anybody there.
This is a different program. It's all brand new. So
I get there. You know, he Able gets out there
(09:36):
with the other kids. It's him and two other ten
year olds or he's nine years old, and they start
doing you know, different drills. So they started with fielding.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
So they had three or four kids at each position.
At shortstop, Abel was there. It was two twelve year
olds Inabel.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
So the guy who runs the whole program was the
one hitting the balls to the kids. So he hits
him at third base, you know, each kid, and then
they moved to shortstop. They hit you know, first twelve
year old you know, kind of gets it a little fumbled,
throws the to first, you know, makes it not the
best throw. Second kids a little bit better, but you
know these are they're twelve year olds. You know, they
(10:15):
can throw hard. So then Able goes he's the last
one at shortstop. The guy hits the ball to Abel.
When I tell you, he like everything that I had
taught him and been telling him over and over, it
like it all clicked. And in this moment, I never
I did not think it would right because think about it,
(10:37):
these are brand new coaches, brand new, you know, kind
of style of playing. And not only that he's with
the older kids. He's not even with kids at his age.
These are twelve year olds. They're considerably bigger and better
than him. But he showed up. So he hits the
ball to him. He charges it just like he's told
scoops it right up, throws it to first so hard,
(10:59):
right to the Yes. Now I'm seated behind home plate.
The guy doesn't know that I'm his dad, right, he
doesn't even know I'm that really, but I'm just saying.
And the guy says to the other coach, who the
fuck is that kid? And the guy goes, I don't know.
I haven't seen him before. I think he's a ten
I think he's a ten you kid. And the guy goes,
he's ten you and he's like yeah, and he's like huh.
(11:22):
So then he moves to third base, same exact thing,
hits the first couple of twelve year olds they make
the play. Hits it to able line drive able, fucking
like nothing gets it, throws it all the way to
first base again, perfect throw to third base, and the
guy goes, I like this kid, now he's talking to
the other coach. He goes, I like this kid. I
like this kid a lot, and like I lost it.
(11:45):
I don't know, is it my age? Is it just
I could not control myself and I had sunglasses on,
and I started to cry because, you know, you have
my son who who's had a lot of ups and
downs in his life, right, like behavior issues that we've
(12:06):
tried so hard to manage, you know, and just watching
him grow and you know, having a lot of problems
early on in school, to really like doing great and
kind of just maturing and just all the ups and
downs of parenting and fatherhood and to just see your
son show up like that, it was so overwhelming. It
was so so I'm on this. I'm sitting there at
(12:28):
a tryout, at a fucking tryout, I'm weeping.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Like a baby. And it's on Father's Day too.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
I think that played into it as well, And it
just felt so good that, you know, I don't I
didn't know he was gonna make the team, you know,
like I'm going in with with hope, but who knows.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
And he nailed everything. So then they moved to pop ups.
Same thing. Hits.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
The hit, you know, caught every single ball. He didn't
drop one ball. He made every throw. I mean he
was throwing and catching and hitting better than some of
the twelve year olds. I can honestly say that. And
the coach was like blown away by him and another
one of the ten year ten kids. There was another
ten year old who the coach liked as well. So
(13:11):
then one of the other coaches came up to me
when they realized that was his dad, because I kind
of was yelling for him like yeah, yeah, yeah, hey
boll he came up to me and he goes, so
here's the deal. He said, Uh, we think we're gonna
have enough kids to possibly make two eleven you teams.
He's like, if we make the second team and it's
competitive enough, and we think that they're going to be competitive,
(13:35):
we're going to ask that you play him up. We
would like you to play him up, and we recommend
that you do that that he just skips ten you
and just goes right to eleven you because you can
play you can play up, but you can't play down.
Like if you're ten, you can't play in nine, but
you can play up. And I was like, oh my god,
I'm like, well, do you think they will, and he's like, we're.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Going to look at it.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
We'll let you know in a couple of days, by Tuesday,
but we really like, we really like your.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Son, and we want to be a part of the program.
Oh ah.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
So again he crushed everything. At the very end, he
was pitching, which is what he that's his favorite thing
to do. He's best at pitching. And you know, one
of the time the kids went up, all the twelve
year olds enable and he was throwing harder than some
of the kids. And it was like, when I talk
about the emotion, you got to picture this, you know,
(14:27):
while he's out there fielding, and when he's pitching and
when he's hitting, especially when he's throwing the ball. Like
all the parents they don't know who I am. They're
like their heads are like on a swivel because they
see him and they see that he's smaller, but he's
throwing harder and they were just like whoa, whoa. And
then when he was pitching, there was a guy that
came up to me and he said, you know, he
(14:47):
was a parent, and he said, listen, if they ask
you to play him up, he goes, I would recommend
that you do that. You know it could be tough
his first year playing with the older kids. He might
not get as much playing time at the coaching and
it will improve him as a player. And I said, well, yeah,
they did actually say to me just now that they
may make a second team to play me.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
He goes, do it, do it.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
And then as he's talking to me, Abel's pitching, and
then Abel throws the ball and the guy goes if
he's throwing like that at nine years old, like that's
he has something this kid.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
He's like, play him up. I was like, okay.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
So he wrapped up tryouts and we're leaving and you know,
like I want to be the strong dad, right, which
I which I am, right, I want to be the
you know, the guy.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
But we're walking off the you know, to the.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Car, and I just started to tell him like how
proud I was of him, and and I lost it
again and he just looked at me and he's like,
are you crying? And I have my sunglasses on, and
I just like lost it to him and then he's like,
I love your dad. We had this really really really
really cool moment and uh, yeah, I love fatherhood, I
(15:57):
really really do. But it wasn't like this great thing,
like he didn't even make a team yet. It wasn't
And it's not so much the fact that he may
make this team, they may play him up because he
is good and he has something. It's more of that
like he listened and he showed up and he showed
what he could do, you know, And my son's he's
(16:21):
hard headed, man, he's just like me. He's that kid, right,
you tell him over and over again the same thing.
He doesn't listen, you know. And then to yesterday when
it counted, he did, and he looks so good out there,
and he was so reserved and so.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Mature.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
I guess, not that I wanted to grow up fast,
but he was in there with the twelve year olds
and he just was like dialed into it, man. And
just to hear the coach say that thing, like it
was like, that's my boy, that's my boy. You know,
who is Who the fuck is this kid? Why don't
I know who this kid is? Because they don't know?
They why is he already in the program. They were
(17:00):
probably thinking like if this kid has this skill, where
did he come from? And why isn't he playing? So
he has another tryout for a different organization on Wednesday,
and if he makes the eleven year, I'm going to
play him up, so I told, I said to him
at the end. They came up at the end and
I said, listen, I go, I'm going to try him
off for this other organization. They go, no problem, you
(17:20):
can do whatever you want. I was like, but if
he's offered, I will play him up. And they said,
we'll let you know before Wednesday. So if he makes it,
then he won't try out for the other organization. If
they don't, then he'll try out for the other one,
and he's still going to play baseball and he'll be fine.
And I made sure to like tell him, you know,
in teaching him about humility, right, I say, cause I
(17:41):
didn't tell him like all the details of what the
coach said and all that. I just told him that
they really liked him a lot, like a lot, and
if nothing else, it was memorable and they know who
you are now. So if he doesn't make it, let's
not get upset. You can do that. He's still going
to play baseball. But then next year they're going to
remember you, because guaranteed he would have if they had
(18:02):
a ten you team, he would have made it, but
they don't have enough kids, you know, so if they
make the second eleven you team, then they'll they'll play
him up.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
So that was an amazing moment.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
We got home and uh, we're you know, we had
family coming over.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
My dad came over, my brother came over. Father's Day.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
We grilled, and when we got home, before any of
them came, my wife was in the garage and my
son could not wait to tell her that his dad
was crying, and so he's telling her, I'm over by
the pool, and then I kind of walk into the garage.
Then she's like, great job, Able, I'm so proud of you.
(18:38):
And then she looks at me and she goes, you
were crying and I was like yeah, and then I
started to explain why, like like I just did to you,
and I started crying again.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Yeah, and then she was like, you're gonna make me cry.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Oh man, It's just I don't know, you know, my
clean Day's coming up on Wednesday.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
What's today? Yeah, clean, It's coming off on Wednesday.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
And again, I'm just grateful for my life, grateful for
everything that I have in my life, especially my family
and my children. And it's another reminder man to keep
going and to not fuck around, not pick up anything,
you know, not to mess around with what I have,
because it can all be taken away, and I don't
(19:24):
want it to be.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
That's that's what it is.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
I want to keep what I have, And like the
moment that I had with my son yesterday is something
that like I never want to lose, you know, And
so as my clean date approaches, it's even more like
evident to me and even more motivation like to keep going,
you know, like if you watch that Channel five special
(19:49):
thing they did onlike my story in my life, you know,
I talk about when my brother used to find my syringes,
and I didn't find out those things until I got clean,
and it was like heartbreak to hear, like when my
mother told me that my brother, you know, at nine
years old, would come into my room and he would
he would look for like drug paraphernalia, and he would
(20:09):
find syringes, use syringes, and as a nine year old,
would put them into his backpack and he would take
them home to my mother and just and say I
don't want my brother to die, you know, And to
hear those things was so painful, but it was motivation,
and that's like what this is too. These are things
in life that motivate me to keep going. And if
(20:32):
you're listening to this and you're not in recovery and
you're not into addiction, you can still apply these to
your life. You know, when good things happen when you
do the right thing, you know, that's motivation to keep going.
Because life is hard, man. I have friends of mine
that are struggling so so bad right now, and you know,
(20:53):
I try to be there for them and talk to them.
But it's hard, man, And life is hard. Why do
you think people do drip? Why do you think they
drink because they don't want to deal with it? And
then you have mental illness too. Like life is hard,
but you got to show up. You got to show up.
And it's really just about putting the work and doing
the things, positive things that will have a positive impact
(21:17):
on your life. Oh man, what a weekend. So yeah,
that wrapped that up. So we are here, we're back
this week. We have next week up until the fourth
and then we're off on vacation, which you know, I
am looking forward to, looking forward to spending some time
at Old Orchard.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Beach and with my family and friends.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
So that should be good. But we have a little bit,
a little while to get there. We have this week
and next week, so again, talkbacks. I love, please send
them Tomorrow. Maddie and Damon are coming back. Are we
going to get a part two of Maddie's story.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
I left my first setup. I think I'm not sure
if it went through that.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
I am voting for part two of Maddie's story.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Yeah, Maddie told half of the story and then Damon
and I interrupted very rudely, and he did not finish.
So they're coming in tomorrow, and I'm actually I actually
want to hear the second half of his story more
than the first, because the first is active addiction, right,
and I've heard a million I live my own right.
The second half is how he built, what power of
(22:16):
recovery is, and how he built this huge thing that
helps so many people. So they're coming in tomorrow. If
you have any questions or comments anything about addiction, if
you're struggling, if a family member is struggling, these are
the guys. These are the professionals that can help. They
can offer with advice, they can get you placed or
a family member or a friend placed into treatment, so
(22:38):
leave a talk back. They'll be here tomorrow. Have a
great day, everybody,
Hello, brothers and sisters, Welcome to the After Show podcast.
That's you, The After Show Army. It's a Monday. Today
is June twenty second. Nice three day weekend. Felt so good,
finally get some rest. And it was very busy weekend,
very very busy. Not only was it Father's Day, it
was my daughter's birthday yesterday. We had her recital on Saturday.
(00:22):
There was just so much going on. I'll touch on
each of those as well, but a reminder, I'd love
to hear from you. I'd love to come in to
hear some talkbacks. People that are, you know, joining the
after Show leaving questions comments. I love that so much,
so I just want to remind you that if you
listen to this podcast and you got something to say,
something to ask, send a talk back in makes me
(00:44):
happy and we'll get a ton of them obviously for
the regular show. And I know a lot of people
listen to this after Show and I would love to
hear from all of you. So I hope you had
a great Father's Day. If you're a dad listening to this,
or your dad, or even if your dad has passed on,
you know, in the memory, like my wife's dad, passed on.
She put up a beautiful picture of her and her dad,
who I never met. That was before I was with her.
(01:06):
He died in two thousand and five. And it's wild too,
because she looks just like him. She doesn't look anything
like her mom. You know, when I talk about nanny,
you know Nanny. You know she's very outgoing, very loud Italian.
My wife's nothing like that. She looks just like her dad.
Definitely got all of his genes. But he passed in
(01:28):
two thousand and I believe it's two thousand and five
of brain cancer. So I never got to honor to
meet him. I had to ask her mom for her
hand in marriage. I would have loved to meet him.
She says that we would have got along. Got sorry,
got along great, So it's too bad. So anyway, it
was a great Father's Day. Let's go back to Saturday. Though,
(01:48):
my daughter had her first recital. She's been doing hip
hop dancing in Salem, New Hampshire, and so there was
a lot of build up to this recital.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
It was.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Very It was kind of expense, it's been, to be
honest with you, not a ton of money. But you know,
we had six people go and I think it was
like thirty or forty dollars a ticket, and I really
didn't know what to expect, but we got the itinerary.
You know, this show schedule, it was like almost three
hours long, and you know, by chance, my daughter was
(02:19):
the second and last to go, so we had to
sit there and watch the whole show.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
And it wasn't terrible.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
You know, there were a ton of acts, all different
dancers of all ages, and.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
It was super cute.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
But I had my son there and you know, he's
not into this, and that's a long time to sit.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
There and watch.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
So you know, I enjoyed the shows, and then obviously
when my daughter came out, it was just the cutest
thing ever.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
She did really great.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
We were nervous that, you know, she would get up
on stage and not really move, that she would freeze up.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
But I did post a.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Show a little clip on my Instagram and she was dancing. Man,
you know, she really likes it. She was doing gymnastics
and dancing, but she she seems to like the dancing more.
So I think we're going to keep her in hip hop,
maybe try different type of dancing, tap dancing or something.
I think she showed an interest in that. But it
was cool, man, it was great. My dad came obviously,
(03:12):
Nannie and Nana, her gran my wife's grandmother all went
and I did post a picture of that as well.
So that was my first like daddy recital, you know,
recital for my daughter. You know, I'm used to the
boy life of baseball.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Games and all that. So that was on Saturday.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
And then I went to a birthday party for my
son's friend and my friend's son, Aaron, which.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Was really cool. They had a video gaming truck.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Come. I had never seen one of those before I
heard about them. You know, the truck comes in the
front of the house and you can go in. It
has air conditioner, air conditioning or heating. It's in the winter,
but they have like, you know, all the video game
screens and you can go in and out of there
and play. So that was cool too. And then Sunday,
Father's Day was fantastic. It was great spending time with
my family. But it was also my daughter's birthday. Now
(03:59):
here's where it gets weird, Okay, because the recital was
the weekend of her actual birthday, we had to move
her party to next Saturday. So in my head. This
is the same for my wife. In our heads, I
should say, we kept forgetting that it was her birthday.
Like we knew it was her birthday yesterday, but we
couldn't wrap our heads around it because we keep thinking
(04:21):
of her birthday is next weekend because that's when the
party is. So we woke up Sunday, Father's Day, her
birthday obviously.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
But my son had.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Tryouts for Travel Baseball. Now here's where the story gets good.
So my son plays rec baseball and this again, this
is all new to me. You know, he started in
the Salem youth system T ball up to farm. Now
he's in minors, okay, and then he'll play another year
of miners. Then he'll move up to majors. And that's
(04:52):
like Salem wreck. But then they have Travel Baseball. And
there's a ton of different programs all around the area,
but the one out of Salem is called Travel New England.
And you know, I had thought about I have a
really good friend of mine whose son plays travel And
you know, my son's pretty good. You know, he's got
a really good arm. He kicking definitely ball, you know,
(05:13):
but last year he was he's nine years old. Now
he was eight years old last year, he could have
tried it, but I was like hesitant because it's a
lot of money.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
First of on, it's a lot of time. It's not
so much the money, it's the commitment.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
To it, and I wasn't sure that he was going
to be fully committed to it. But then my wife
reminded me that he's never not wanted to go to baseball.
It's like the only thing that he's never put up
a stink about, literally his entire short baseball career, going
back to t ball, every game, every practice, he is ready.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
And willing to go.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
He absolutely loves baseball. And when she said that to me,
I thought, you're right, You're one hundred percent right, and
I'm gonna try him out this year. Now, all I've
been hearing about travel is it's very competitive. You know,
it's not like wreck where everybody makes it. They give
every player a turn. You know, you need to try
out for these teams. They're gonna pick the best players,
and even if you get picked to be on a team,
(06:07):
you might not play, you know, but it's year round baseball,
and even in the winter it's you know, you're constantly playing,
and it's not just the playing, it's the coaching as well.
You have some of the best coaches. It's a nonprofit,
the coaches are not being paid to be there. And
I've just heard nothing about, nothing but good things about it. Okay,
So I signed him up for the tryouts for Travel
(06:29):
New England, and then I also have him trying out
on Wednesday for a different program out of Windham. Now
that program is also a fantastic one, but that one
pretty much every kid makes because they'll just make enough teams,
so every kid makes it. I believe it's a for profit.
It's a little bit more money too, but that's at
They have a great facility, great program as well, but
(06:52):
you're pretty much guaranteed to make it. I believe that's
what I'm being told. But you know, the Salem one
is really tough, right, So I got up Saturday, I
explained it to him. I've explained to him what I
just explained to all of you, right is like we're
gonna try out. You're gonna do your best. If you
make the team, great. If you don't make the team,
that's okay. You can do this program and then try
(07:14):
try out again next year for this one. Like it's
all good. You're gonna play either way, I hope. Right,
that's just one I'm being told as far as the
other program. So woke up Sunday morning, I worked out
in the morning, I came home, we hit the backyard.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
I warmed him up.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
We did, you know, pitching, hitting, fielding pop ups, warmed
his shoulder up, and again I just gave him the
pep talk, like, you know, buddy, we're just gonna go
out there and give our best, you know, like, I'm
proud of you either way. I do believe that you
have what it takes to make it. I really really do.
But there's the thing with kids. If you have small
kids that have played sports, you probably can identify with this.
(07:52):
You know how he plays in the backyard with his
friends when he's comfortable, right, he plays hard and he
looks good. But then he gets on the field and
you know, he's more reserved, he's more shy, he's not
as aggressive, if you will, And I try to tell him, buddy,
if you just bring the backyard energy to the games,
(08:13):
to the practices, to the tryouts, you have a really,
really good shot. So we get to the to the tryout,
and sure enough, only a cup. Only three kids showed
up for his age group, so he's going for ten you,
so it's ten year olds and under because of his birthday,
he's going to turn ten in January, so he falls
(08:35):
into that category, right. So we get there and the
coach to coach explains, like, listen, we only had like
four or five kids show up to the first tryout,
which he missed, and now this one there was only three.
You need at least twelve kids to make a team. Okay.
So I'm like shoot, and like, we're still going to
have the tryouts, but you know, it is what it is.
(08:56):
So at the same time that the ten, they had
twelve you tryouts as well for the twelve year olds.
There are two fields, one on each, so they decided
to combine them so just the three kids for the
ten just try them out with the twelve year olds,
not for the twelve U team, but just to make
it easier because it's all the same coaches that run
the program.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
So I thought that was cool.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
I was like, yeah, that would actually be good for
him to kind of play with the older kids. So
I'm seated behind home plate. Okay, Now I don't know
any of these coaches. I don't really know anybody there.
This is a different program. It's all brand new. So
I get there. You know, he Able gets out there
(09:36):
with the other kids. It's him and two other ten
year olds or he's nine years old, and they start
doing you know, different drills. So they started with fielding.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
So they had three or four kids at each position.
At shortstop, Abel was there. It was two twelve year
olds Inabel.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
So the guy who runs the whole program was the
one hitting the balls to the kids. So he hits
him at third base, you know, each kid, and then
they moved to shortstop. They hit you know, first twelve
year old you know, kind of gets it a little fumbled,
throws the to first, you know, makes it not the
best throw. Second kids a little bit better, but you
know these are they're twelve year olds. You know, they
(10:15):
can throw hard. So then Able goes he's the last
one at shortstop. The guy hits the ball to Abel.
When I tell you, he like everything that I had
taught him and been telling him over and over, it
like it all clicked. And in this moment, I never
I did not think it would right because think about it,
(10:37):
these are brand new coaches, brand new, you know, kind
of style of playing. And not only that he's with
the older kids. He's not even with kids at his age.
These are twelve year olds. They're considerably bigger and better
than him. But he showed up. So he hits the
ball to him. He charges it just like he's told
scoops it right up, throws it to first so hard,
(10:59):
right to the Yes. Now I'm seated behind home plate.
The guy doesn't know that I'm his dad, right, he
doesn't even know I'm that really, but I'm just saying.
And the guy says to the other coach, who the
fuck is that kid? And the guy goes, I don't know.
I haven't seen him before. I think he's a ten
I think he's a ten you kid. And the guy goes,
he's ten you and he's like yeah, and he's like huh.
(11:22):
So then he moves to third base, same exact thing,
hits the first couple of twelve year olds they make
the play. Hits it to able line drive able, fucking
like nothing gets it, throws it all the way to
first base again, perfect throw to third base, and the
guy goes, I like this kid, now he's talking to
the other coach. He goes, I like this kid. I
like this kid a lot, and like I lost it.
(11:45):
I don't know, is it my age? Is it just
I could not control myself and I had sunglasses on,
and I started to cry because, you know, you have
my son who who's had a lot of ups and
downs in his life, right, like behavior issues that we've
(12:06):
tried so hard to manage, you know, and just watching
him grow and you know, having a lot of problems
early on in school, to really like doing great and
kind of just maturing and just all the ups and
downs of parenting and fatherhood and to just see your
son show up like that, it was so overwhelming. It
was so so I'm on this. I'm sitting there at
(12:28):
a tryout, at a fucking tryout, I'm weeping.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Like a baby. And it's on Father's Day too.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
I think that played into it as well, And it
just felt so good that, you know, I don't I
didn't know he was gonna make the team, you know,
like I'm going in with with hope, but who knows.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
And he nailed everything. So then they moved to pop ups.
Same thing. Hits.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
The hit, you know, caught every single ball. He didn't
drop one ball. He made every throw. I mean he
was throwing and catching and hitting better than some of
the twelve year olds. I can honestly say that. And
the coach was like blown away by him and another
one of the ten year ten kids. There was another
ten year old who the coach liked as well. So
(13:11):
then one of the other coaches came up to me
when they realized that was his dad, because I kind
of was yelling for him like yeah, yeah, yeah, hey
boll he came up to me and he goes, so
here's the deal. He said, Uh, we think we're gonna
have enough kids to possibly make two eleven you teams.
He's like, if we make the second team and it's
competitive enough, and we think that they're going to be competitive,
(13:35):
we're going to ask that you play him up. We
would like you to play him up, and we recommend
that you do that that he just skips ten you
and just goes right to eleven you because you can
play you can play up, but you can't play down.
Like if you're ten, you can't play in nine, but
you can play up. And I was like, oh my god,
I'm like, well, do you think they will, and he's like, we're.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Going to look at it.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
We'll let you know in a couple of days, by Tuesday,
but we really like, we really like your.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Son, and we want to be a part of the program.
Oh ah.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
So again he crushed everything. At the very end, he
was pitching, which is what he that's his favorite thing
to do. He's best at pitching. And you know, one
of the time the kids went up, all the twelve
year olds enable and he was throwing harder than some
of the kids. And it was like, when I talk
about the emotion, you got to picture this, you know,
(14:27):
while he's out there fielding, and when he's pitching and
when he's hitting, especially when he's throwing the ball. Like
all the parents they don't know who I am. They're
like their heads are like on a swivel because they
see him and they see that he's smaller, but he's
throwing harder and they were just like whoa, whoa. And
then when he was pitching, there was a guy that
came up to me and he said, you know, he
(14:47):
was a parent, and he said, listen, if they ask
you to play him up, he goes, I would recommend
that you do that. You know it could be tough
his first year playing with the older kids. He might
not get as much playing time at the coaching and
it will improve him as a player. And I said, well, yeah,
they did actually say to me just now that they
may make a second team to play me.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
He goes, do it, do it.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
And then as he's talking to me, Abel's pitching, and
then Abel throws the ball and the guy goes if
he's throwing like that at nine years old, like that's
he has something this kid.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
He's like, play him up. I was like, okay.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
So he wrapped up tryouts and we're leaving and you know,
like I want to be the strong dad, right, which
I which I am, right, I want to be the
you know, the guy.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
But we're walking off the you know, to the.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Car, and I just started to tell him like how
proud I was of him, and and I lost it
again and he just looked at me and he's like,
are you crying? And I have my sunglasses on, and
I just like lost it to him and then he's like,
I love your dad. We had this really really really
really cool moment and uh, yeah, I love fatherhood, I
(15:57):
really really do. But it wasn't like this great thing,
like he didn't even make a team yet. It wasn't
And it's not so much the fact that he may
make this team, they may play him up because he
is good and he has something. It's more of that
like he listened and he showed up and he showed
what he could do, you know, And my son's he's
(16:21):
hard headed, man, he's just like me. He's that kid, right,
you tell him over and over again the same thing.
He doesn't listen, you know. And then to yesterday when
it counted, he did, and he looks so good out there,
and he was so reserved and so.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Mature.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
I guess, not that I wanted to grow up fast,
but he was in there with the twelve year olds
and he just was like dialed into it, man. And
just to hear the coach say that thing, like it
was like, that's my boy, that's my boy. You know,
who is Who the fuck is this kid? Why don't
I know who this kid is? Because they don't know?
They why is he already in the program. They were
(17:00):
probably thinking like if this kid has this skill, where
did he come from? And why isn't he playing? So
he has another tryout for a different organization on Wednesday,
and if he makes the eleven year, I'm going to
play him up, so I told, I said to him
at the end. They came up at the end and
I said, listen, I go, I'm going to try him
off for this other organization. They go, no problem, you
(17:20):
can do whatever you want. I was like, but if
he's offered, I will play him up. And they said,
we'll let you know before Wednesday. So if he makes it,
then he won't try out for the other organization. If
they don't, then he'll try out for the other one,
and he's still going to play baseball and he'll be fine.
And I made sure to like tell him, you know,
in teaching him about humility, right, I say, cause I
(17:41):
didn't tell him like all the details of what the
coach said and all that. I just told him that
they really liked him a lot, like a lot, and
if nothing else, it was memorable and they know who
you are now. So if he doesn't make it, let's
not get upset. You can do that. He's still going
to play baseball. But then next year they're going to
remember you, because guaranteed he would have if they had
(18:02):
a ten you team, he would have made it, but
they don't have enough kids, you know, so if they
make the second eleven you team, then they'll they'll play
him up.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
So that was an amazing moment.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
We got home and uh, we're you know, we had
family coming over.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
My dad came over, my brother came over. Father's Day.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
We grilled, and when we got home, before any of
them came, my wife was in the garage and my
son could not wait to tell her that his dad
was crying, and so he's telling her, I'm over by
the pool, and then I kind of walk into the garage.
Then she's like, great job, Able, I'm so proud of you.
(18:38):
And then she looks at me and she goes, you
were crying and I was like yeah, and then I
started to explain why, like like I just did to you,
and I started crying again.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Yeah, and then she was like, you're gonna make me cry.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Oh man, It's just I don't know, you know, my
clean Day's coming up on Wednesday.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
What's today? Yeah, clean, It's coming off on Wednesday.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
And again, I'm just grateful for my life, grateful for
everything that I have in my life, especially my family
and my children. And it's another reminder man to keep
going and to not fuck around, not pick up anything,
you know, not to mess around with what I have,
because it can all be taken away, and I don't
(19:24):
want it to be.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
That's that's what it is.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
I want to keep what I have, And like the
moment that I had with my son yesterday is something
that like I never want to lose, you know, And
so as my clean date approaches, it's even more like
evident to me and even more motivation like to keep going,
you know, like if you watch that Channel five special
(19:49):
thing they did onlike my story in my life, you know,
I talk about when my brother used to find my syringes,
and I didn't find out those things until I got clean,
and it was like heartbreak to hear, like when my
mother told me that my brother, you know, at nine
years old, would come into my room and he would
he would look for like drug paraphernalia, and he would
(20:09):
find syringes, use syringes, and as a nine year old,
would put them into his backpack and he would take
them home to my mother and just and say I
don't want my brother to die, you know, And to
hear those things was so painful, but it was motivation,
and that's like what this is too. These are things
in life that motivate me to keep going. And if
(20:32):
you're listening to this and you're not in recovery and
you're not into addiction, you can still apply these to
your life. You know, when good things happen when you
do the right thing, you know, that's motivation to keep going.
Because life is hard, man. I have friends of mine
that are struggling so so bad right now, and you know,
(20:53):
I try to be there for them and talk to them.
But it's hard, man, And life is hard. Why do
you think people do drip? Why do you think they
drink because they don't want to deal with it? And
then you have mental illness too. Like life is hard,
but you got to show up. You got to show up.
And it's really just about putting the work and doing
the things, positive things that will have a positive impact
(21:17):
on your life. Oh man, what a weekend. So yeah,
that wrapped that up. So we are here, we're back
this week. We have next week up until the fourth
and then we're off on vacation, which you know, I
am looking forward to, looking forward to spending some time
at Old Orchard.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Beach and with my family and friends.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
So that should be good. But we have a little bit,
a little while to get there. We have this week
and next week, so again, talkbacks. I love, please send
them Tomorrow. Maddie and Damon are coming back. Are we
going to get a part two of Maddie's story.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
I left my first setup. I think I'm not sure
if it went through that.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
I am voting for part two of Maddie's story.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Yeah, Maddie told half of the story and then Damon
and I interrupted very rudely, and he did not finish.
So they're coming in tomorrow, and I'm actually I actually
want to hear the second half of his story more
than the first, because the first is active addiction, right,
and I've heard a million I live my own right.
The second half is how he built, what power of
(22:16):
recovery is, and how he built this huge thing that
helps so many people. So they're coming in tomorrow. If
you have any questions or comments anything about addiction, if
you're struggling, if a family member is struggling, these are
the guys. These are the professionals that can help. They
can offer with advice, they can get you placed or
a family member or a friend placed into treatment, so
(22:38):
leave a talk back. They'll be here tomorrow. Have a
great day, everybody,
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