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148. Lessons from the Locker Room with Brandon Doman
92 Plays1 month ago
Every athlete has felt it—the quiet voice that says “I don’t belong here.” In this episode of the Especially for Athletes podcast, we tackle imposter syndrome head-on and explore the power of self-talk in building unshakable confidence.
Shad shares personal stories, insights from athletes like Tanner Allen and Michael Jordan, and compelling neuroscience that proves what you say to yourself matters. Whether you’re stepping into a bigger role, moving to a new level, or simply trying to believe you’re good enough—this episode is for you.
💬 Highlight Moments:
- A college coach’s tough-love advice that shattered imposter syndrome.
- Neuroscience behind why self-talk rewires your brain and boosts performance.
- Quotes from Venus Williams, Nick Saban, and others on belief, confidence, and mindset.
If you’ve ever questioned whether you’re good enough to compete—this episode will remind you: You were invited for a reason. Now it’s your turn to believe it.
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Join the conversation using #TheSportlightPodcast
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Credits:
Hosted by Shad Martin & Dustin Smith
Produced by Shad Martin and IMAGINATE STUDIO
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Guest Overview
00:00:01
Speaker
Welcome to the Especially for Athletes podcast, where we explore essential principles that empower athletes to learn life's most valuable lessons through sports.
00:00:16
Speaker
Hi, everybody. Welcome to the Especially for Athletes podcast. I'm Dustin Smith. I'm here with Shad Martin and our guest, Brandon Doman. Brandon's a close friend of both Shad and me. He's been a friend of mine for over 35 years.
00:00:29
Speaker
um Both Shad and Brandon, I would consider two of my very, very best friends and two of the very best men I've ever met. So having both of them on at the same time here is great. for me personally, is a real honor. um Two men I really look up to and and and two men that have a lot to share and a lot of advice and things that I think can help athletes, coaches, and parents. Brandon i was a successful quarterback at BYU in the early two thousand um Was then drafted by the San Francisco 49ers. Played with the 49ers a little bit in Buffalo.
00:01:02
Speaker
And then after he ah stepped down from the NFL, went right into coaching at BYU, where he coached at BYU for, was it 10 years, Brandon? Eight years, eight seasons. years Eight seasons, two of those as the offensive coordinator. He was the quarterback coach, coached ah a couple of the very best quarterbacks to ever come through BYU at that time. um I think three of the guys that he had experience coaching while at BYU took snaps in the NFL.
00:01:31
Speaker
And so anyway, it's it's we're excited to have Brandon on. So, Brandon, I want to ah first jump into a question that is kind of unrelated ah to
Societal Issues and Inclusivity in Sports
00:01:41
Speaker
coaching. And honestly, when we first asked you to come on was not something that we intended to talk about. But due to recent events in our country, you know,
00:01:52
Speaker
not just the shooting of of Charlie Kirk recently that was within five minutes or so of all of our offices and homes, um but some other things that have happened around the country.
00:02:03
Speaker
I've been telling kids recently that as bad as it it it sounds and as bad as it looks sometimes on on the media, social media and things, the world really isn't as bad as we're telling them it is. There are bad things, but there are a lot of really good things and they need to be optimistic that They have bright futures ahead of them and they can really have happy, good lives. But there are some things happening that we're getting are getting more attention and they need to be addressed. So the most recent one that happened here in Utah was the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
00:02:34
Speaker
We did a post. ah Just recently discussing that. and And the point that was made in the post is that in in a locker room of a team, on the bus of a team, out on the field or the court with your teammates, nobody cares what religion you are, what political affiliation you you know you you yeah you belong to, what views you have on social issues.
00:02:58
Speaker
what color skin you are, if you were brought up rich or poor, ah nobody cares. And you get you get people from the East Coast, teammates with people from the South, and you get Christians who are teammates with Muslims and poor, they're teammates with rich, and nobody cares. And the point that I made on the post was that everybody's sweat smells the same.
00:03:16
Speaker
So everybody's blood is red at the end of the game when you're scraped and bruised. And so, and that's all that matters. So with that being said, Brandon, um you've been a part of really good high school teams, really good college teams, and you played and coached it at the highest levels of the game.
00:03:33
Speaker
What could we learn from the locker room, a a team setting that would help us in business and in communities and really just in getting along as a society?
00:03:46
Speaker
but Oh, man. Great question. And it has been an unbelievable time the last seven days here in state of Utah. And I love ah love the analogy of um a locker room. I love what a locker room creates. So let me just dive right in.
00:04:03
Speaker
When there's a common goal, when there's a clear vision, ah set of expectations, And a group joined together with that that mindset to accomplish this common goal.
00:04:17
Speaker
And then that team has to grind through a gritty, preparatory period of time. And whatever that is, in this case, it's a locker room.
00:04:28
Speaker
You're now going out going out and doing the work and you're watching your fellow brothers and your teammates actually now do, you know, have blood, sweat and tears and all the effort for months in preparation to put you in a locker room together. And not everybody makes it into the locker room.
00:04:48
Speaker
um The guys that ultimately make it in the locker room that are walking now out onto the football field with you um have earned the right to be in that locker room and you develop a camaraderie and a love, a brotherhood for one another.
00:05:02
Speaker
you know, And it's earned. And I think one thing I heard that Charlie Kirk said that that I liked is that um the rights are earned.
00:05:14
Speaker
you don't just get to have the rights. You have to earn the rights in order for it to truly be quality. And i think a football locker room, you earn the right to be in there with your with your teammates. And because of that, you just have an absolute love and brotherhood for one another. And and the locker rooms that fail, the locker rooms that silo, the locker rooms that become clicky and the locker rooms that don't trust one another. And and once that happens, you have um You know, locker rooms that fall apart and teams that are unsuccessful. So I've been in both locker rooms, but the locker rooms that are most successful um create an unbelievable vision and unity that that has been so fun to be a part of. So great question.
Understanding and Unity in Discourse
00:06:02
Speaker
I feel like we're living in a time where it's super easy to villainize those who have different points of view than us. And when we set ourselves up, to be just critical, that we've already decided because of someone's label that we're going to be critical of them, that there's nothing we have in common, then everything they say is going to be villainized, right?
00:06:28
Speaker
And I was doing this this course on growth mindset. And one of the things that really stuck out to me was it said that great leaders will be compassionately curious before they are critical.
00:06:46
Speaker
And i I think we live in a society right now where there's zero curiosity about other people and why they think and feel the way that they do. And if we had listened to each other and understand that we probably have some real, some goals that are very aligned with one another,
00:07:05
Speaker
We could get so much further. And I think that's the magic, like Brandon said, of the locker room. And like you said in your post, there is an obvious common goal to come together as a team to use your strengths and your talents.
00:07:19
Speaker
And to win and to be successful. And so that allows us to be curious about other people and understand where people are coming from and, and no matter their background, I just feel like we're missing any curiosity.
00:07:36
Speaker
We've labeled ourselves. We find out, we think we're the right ones. They're the enemy. If they would just not be so stupid and understand why we're so brilliant, then everything would be solved.
00:07:50
Speaker
And i I just love the idea of being compassionately curious toward people and not being so critical of people seeking to understand people instead of win arguments.
00:08:04
Speaker
Ironically, you know I know he had a faults that some found and things, but it's just ironic as we're talking here that you know Charlie Kirk was willing to have those conversations. He was willing to hear people out. He wanted to understand people.
00:08:20
Speaker
And I've seen many interactions where he expressed a lot of compassion and where, hey, we aren't going to agree with one another, but thank you for helping me understand your view and things like that. Of course, that's not how every interaction ended, but the good ones, the ones that are now getting a lot of traction where people are saying, look how good of a person he was.
00:08:40
Speaker
He was curious. He asked questions. He shared his own point of view. And I just feel like we're missing it. And I think it's important we would both we would we would all agree with this that, you know, that both sides, ah whether you're, you know, you're a conservative Republican or a liberal Democrat or whatever, that both sides respect the fact that the other side are going to have people that say things that we can strongly disagree with. But and as soon as we stop talking and stop sharing our ideas and our opinions on things, then our country is is done because the only thing left is to just start
00:09:16
Speaker
violence um you know if if we can't have discourse and discussion and i i think that's the beauty of sports is that you get to go out every every game and and go up against that opposing person or that opposing team but at the end of that game everybody and in most cases meets at midfield you see it in the nfl all the time or the nba they'll they'll get together with the other team and they'll pray together You'll see guys sharing jerseys with each other, switching jerseys. and In high school and youth, you know you make a line and you're taught when you're young to that no matter what the score is, you have to get together afterwards and go shake their hand.
00:09:51
Speaker
And you have to thank them and say, good game, right? or Or thank you for the chance to have that opportunity that battle in this case, a discussion of disagreements. If you want to talk about political, at least we get to have that discussion and thank you for allowing me to have it in the football world or basketball. It would be the chance to compete and show my skills against you. And thank you for that opportunity. Cause otherwise I wouldn't, you know, I wouldn't have it. i I remember back in 2020, I got in some trouble for this. Um,
00:10:21
Speaker
from some people very close to the program, but I felt very strongly about it. i I'm sure as I share it here that there'll be people that will adamantly disagree with my my my view and what I did on this. so And I maybe have talked about it before on this podcast, but we talk about the sport light. It's the whole reason why this is called Especially for Athletes.
00:10:42
Speaker
The second principle of our program is compete without contempt. And in sports, but also in life. And, and you know, some of the political issues we've had is the competing with contempt, right? Competing for views of who's right and who's wrong, but then letting contempt, hatred overtake that and and bad things happen.
00:11:02
Speaker
But back in 2020, athletes were taken a knee during the national anthem. I did not. And I want to be on the record. I didn't agree with taking a knee. I'll never agree with taking a knee during our national anthem um because the words that are being said during that song are honoring veterans. And I don't think we should take a knee during that time. I think that's disrespectful to the veterans. However,
00:11:26
Speaker
We got so caught up in that, that we didn't really give attention to the reason that these athletes were taking a knee. Again, Were there better ways to maybe ah address their concerns?
00:11:39
Speaker
Sure. But this is what they chose to do and it to draw attention to some things at the time, some racial injustice that was happening. Like you can't deny that there's racial issues in our country.
00:11:51
Speaker
And they felt adamant enough or con or or or passionate enough to do something that was going to bring criticism on them, but they were passionate enough to do it. to use their sport light to draw attention to something that was important to them. That's the whole point of our program.
00:12:06
Speaker
Use your position. Now, we can disagree with each other on how you use your sport light, but I want athletes to use their sport light. And I can disagree with the way you're using it, but thank you for using it and drawing
Parenting: Teaching Values through Sports
00:12:20
Speaker
attention to something. Then we can at least discuss the issue. And we can disagree with how you're using it to draw attention to that. But if it brings a discussion and your position as an athlete is the reason that it brought discussion, then let's celebrate the fact that we're using that position to draw attention to a social issue rather than what kind of shoes and athletes are wearing or what kind of sports drink he drinks or what kind of tattoo he has or haircut he has, all the other crap that
00:12:48
Speaker
you know, we give athletes attention for. So in the case of these social issues right now, Brandon, I know you have like, like Shad and I, several um kids, they're all involved in sports. All of our kids are.
00:13:01
Speaker
How do we teach our children right now to be a resilient in the face of a lot of difficulties that are going on in their lives right now that we didn't face when we were their age, not at the level they're, they're dealing with it, but also like, like Shad talked about compassionate and what are the roles and parents in that?
00:13:22
Speaker
Because I would preface that with saying we put too much of the, of the, uh, too much of the responsibility, I believe, on educators and coaches to teach our sons and daughters things that parents should be teaching them.
00:13:37
Speaker
that's That's my opinion. But ah what do you think, Brandon? how can we How do we do that with our kids? think that's a great question. You you said several things that made made me think of several different experiences that I've had, both in high school and college and in the NFL, where I dealt with circumstances that could have gone one way or the one the other. So um I'm first going to just reference having children and being a father of of six six children, four sons that that play sports.
00:14:09
Speaker
I want my children to learn how to compete like crazy. I want them to be fierce, fierce competitors. I want them to do all that they can to learn how to to put forth every effort they possibly can to learn to compete and to win. This this world we live in um demands our best.
00:14:33
Speaker
And it's going to give you back what you put into it, period. There is no free ride. No one's going to hand you anything um that's going to ultimately get give you give you access to to the successes that you really want. You have to earn it.
00:14:49
Speaker
And so how do you compete with just ferociousness um and at the same time not have contempt? Or how do you do that not hate?
00:15:00
Speaker
And I think as a 16-year-old kid, it's really hard. um competing and competing and then showing up at the Arby's Taco Bell down the street and you see your your opponents across the field that are now at Taco Bell and trying to decide, do I hate that guy or do I like that guy?
00:15:17
Speaker
and I think there's a lot of immature moments where you you you thought, maybe I hate that person. you know Maybe I really don't like that person. And um there are a few moments where um I learned that you can love that person.
00:15:33
Speaker
You can compete like crazy, be fierce in what you do. um And somehow, some way down the road, maybe those people might become some of your greatest allies, your greatest friends.
00:15:44
Speaker
I remember going to BYU I was looking for some roommates. And I reached out to three of those guys that were at Olympus High School, Highland High School.
00:15:56
Speaker
And I thought, I wonder how they're going to respond to this. But I reached out and I asked, hey, I know that we really probably haven't liked each other very much. Will you be my college roommate?
00:16:07
Speaker
And they were like, what? and And then the answer the answer was yes, I'll be your college roommate. And those guys are some of the most successful, talented people I know today and are some of my very closest friends.
00:16:21
Speaker
and And I'm forever grateful for that. I want to surround myself with fierce competitors, people that are are demanding excellence out of themselves. And I do believe that we can compete and still be friends. We can find common ground.
00:16:35
Speaker
We're taught as young men that building relationships of trust, is the way to the heart. It is the way to true conversion of faith. It's the way to true conversion and friendship.
00:16:47
Speaker
and And without the relationship of trust, it doesn't matter. So another experience. I tried like mad to be the quarterback at BYU for two and a half years. And I just stood on the sideline. I was a third string quarterback.
00:17:00
Speaker
But there's no doubt that my teammates knew how bad I wanted it. They knew that I was the first guy in the weight room. They knew I was busting my tail to try and be the guy. And so there was a level of trust and confidence that I was at least there and I was doing the work. And so I remember finally Lavelle Edwards saying, OK, Brandon, you get to play. It's your turn.
00:17:23
Speaker
And we were out on a Wednesday practice. We had lost six games. We were four wins and six losses. The team was beat up, worn out. And here's the center, Jason Sukannik, who was worn out.
00:17:35
Speaker
And here comes the third-string quarterback. No bruises, no bangs, not full of energy, right? I'm like running around like a cheerleader on the practice field. And he's about ready to stick his cleat through my chin, you know? I mean, he's like, this dude's driving me crazy.
00:17:51
Speaker
And we get into an inside run drill. And which means it was best on best. O-line versus D-line, ones on ones. We had some flipping warriors yeah on that team.
00:18:04
Speaker
And the defense was getting the best of our offense. So I thought, I'm going to change the count. I'm going to go on two instead of on one. See if I can give the offensive line a little bit of it some advantage here.
00:18:17
Speaker
And i i I get through the canes, down, set, hut, I say hut. The center snaps the ball. He's not thinking. He just snaps the ball. The ball hits the ground.
00:18:28
Speaker
The defense comes across. The coach blows the whistle. And he was so frustrated by this point. ah He turned around and he just lit me up. I mean, boom!
00:18:40
Speaker
He just punched me right across the helmet. Well, you know, if you got it if you're wearing a football helmet, you're going to be youd have to do more than just a punch to the helmet. And next thing you know, center and I,
00:18:54
Speaker
are like a cat and dog just fighting. We were throwing punches. I'm kicking. I'm doing everything I can do to fight this guy.
00:19:05
Speaker
And the team's surrounding us. The coaches come in. they pull They pull the center, and they kick the center off the field. Lavelle was walking to him. He's like, Lavelle said to Jason, Jason, you're out here.
00:19:17
Speaker
Kicked him out of practice. And I'm like, oh, shoot. I'm supposed to be the quarterback in three days in the stadium. This guy's my center. He's the first line of defense for me. And I'll never forget getting out on that field.
00:19:34
Speaker
see And I remember we went all the way to the game day thinking, what's this guy going to do? How's he going to respond? And we went out and we mounted a drive.
00:19:45
Speaker
And i get the chills thinking about i don't know why It's amazing. My whole leg just got chilled up. And mike my offensive coordinator told me this story after. He says the center walked over and he picked the phone up.
00:19:58
Speaker
And he called up to the press box to talk to the offensive coordinator. He said, hey, coach, we got our guy. And he hangs the phone up. And that center in that moment decided that I was going to be the quarterback.
00:20:12
Speaker
I was his guy. And I've never had anybody be more relentlessly protective of me in my life. It didn't matter where I was. That dude had my back. He watched my every step.
00:20:27
Speaker
He probably was standing around some tree on campus somewhere, making sure nobody got near me. And um here we had just had this relentless brawl. And this guy's, this guy's now my greatest protector.
00:20:40
Speaker
And I think, yeah, that it's okay to battle. I think it's okay to debate. I think it's okay to disagree. I think it's okay to fight. in in so In the sense of the word where you're you're trying to win, you're trying to do the right thing, and you're battling for the same cause. And sometimes that cause, we splinter into two factions and next thing you know, we're debating and arguing back and forth. And we seem to be, we seem to not like each other all of a sudden, but we can't hate each other.
Sports as a Unifying Force Globally
00:21:14
Speaker
And somehow, some way, we come back and next thing you know, even though we've had some disagreements, we're on the same dang team. we find a way to be teammates.
00:21:26
Speaker
And over time, we learn how to love each other and not be enemies. And I think the greatest teams, the greatest families, the greatest organizations, the greatest countries, figure that out.
00:21:39
Speaker
Figure that out. And now I'm going to be behind a tree looking out for you and you're goingnna be on a tree looking out for me. Even though we've had our disagreements, we may not be the same person. We might not be the same race, the same religion, like you said,
00:21:53
Speaker
Doggone, we're on the same team. And um I want that so bad for my children. I want it so bad for the country we live in. um i want it for athletes and teams because it's it's ah it's there and it's available. We can have it.
00:22:07
Speaker
um we got We got to build relationship with trust.
00:22:11
Speaker
Yeah.
00:22:14
Speaker
I agree 100%. we're We're all on the same team. We're all Americans. And in the case of sports, whatever that sport is, that person across from you, Shad and I say this all the time, if they happen to live on the other side of that make-believe line that says they're, you know, they're on the the, they go to this school and you go to that school, whatever that boundary is, if they were on the other side of it, they'd probably be your best friend.
00:22:43
Speaker
And, you know, and and it just so happens that they're not for a couple years until you meet them off the field or something and you realize, oh my gosh, this, This dude's awesome, right? like and And never once did I ever think about asking any of my teammates and in high school or college or that all the kids I've coached the last, whatever, 25 years.
00:23:06
Speaker
Never once have I thought or cared about if they were white, black, Muslim, Christian, Polynesian, Hispanic, and I've been around all of them.
00:23:16
Speaker
And it it doesn't even, it's not even a thought. Like we're just, we're playing a game that we love or we're on the same team or we're competing against each other. ok Right. Like, I mean, I wish we could do that as a country.
00:23:29
Speaker
There's so much we could learn from just sports. You know, the only two events that bring the whole world together peacefully and no one gives a rats about any of this stuff like we're talking about or two sporting events, the World Cup and the Olympics.
00:23:45
Speaker
Everybody comes together and you see people from opposing countries share jerseys at the end of a soccer match. And because they're united by they all speak one language, it's soccer that day or it's, you know, it's hockey or or whatever it is and nobody cares.
00:24:02
Speaker
That's the beauty of sports, right, Chad? Absolutely. I love, that's what I love so much about sports is the things that Brandon just shared. You know, there's something, if I had a message to the young athletes who are listening to this, it would be this.
00:24:18
Speaker
Don't let anybody control your behavior, even with their behavior. And what I mean by that, if, you know, Dustin, you could say right now, we could have some falling out, you know, don't anticipate it's been 30 years, you know, so ah I'm not looking for that. But you could be like, Chad, I hate you. I hate you. You know, I still have my choice.
00:24:44
Speaker
I'd be like, all right, man, I love you. You can't make me hate you. And there's something liberating and almost tough about that position that I'm going to love everybody God places in my path. And you can't do anything to me to make hate hey you And I'm i'm going to—that's fine. We could disagree. You could tell me I'm stupid. You could tell me all these things.
00:25:13
Speaker
I just have a higher standard. I remember when I went and served a mission for my church, which both of you did too, my mission president— who was over all the missionaries, he told me the story of this guy that he was friends with as a lawyer, and they would walk and they would buy a newspaper every morning. And this guy that hed draw he bought a newspaper from was just a mean dude. Like, he would be mean to him. He would say things. And finally, my mission president, his name was James Brown.
00:25:46
Speaker
He was smooth. Yeah, yeah is it but... But he he turned to the guy and said, why there's like dispensers that you could put coins in and and buy a newspaper out of.
00:25:58
Speaker
Why in the world do you keep buying from this guy who's so cranky with you, treats you so bad? Why do you continue to be his customer? And his answer was, because i will never let that person determine my standard of behavior.
00:26:15
Speaker
I'm not going to let him impact my behavior. And it was almost this form of rebellion for this guy to say, no, I'm going to keep buying my newspaper from you because I have a hand ah higher standard of my behavior. And I think that's one way we could disagree better, right? Is we don't have to, this isn't saying that we don't see things that concern us in our country, in our community, or even on our team or whatever. And that we just agree with everybody.
00:26:46
Speaker
that I mean, Charlie Kirk, if there's a legacy he's leaving, it's like he was fiercely loyal to the principles that he thought were true and would help people.
00:26:56
Speaker
Right. We could do that and still love people. And if they disagree with us, I just, I think there's something tough about that. I don't know if I'm articulating myself in a way. It's just, I feel that's a tough way to live that you can't control the way I act.
00:27:14
Speaker
yeah no Go ahead, Brandon. I was just going to, I know, i know that we're probably getting to the end of this and i I want to make sure I say this. Dustin, is a phenomenal example this to me. And that's why he's one of my best friends to this day. And I'm forever grateful to him.
00:27:29
Speaker
um he came to our high school. He was the outsider. He came into and was expecting ah to quickly make his way into being insider. And we played the same position.
00:27:44
Speaker
He was coming in as a stud athlete. And we had every reason to not like each other. And we're two very close friends to this day.
00:27:58
Speaker
And I can't, I'm going to go into all the detail of how that all came about. But I think we learned to trust to respect each other um regardless of what our goals were and what we wanted to accomplish personally.
00:28:12
Speaker
we We learned ah to love and respect each other and trust each other, and we knew we had each other's back. And if that can't happen for young athletes that are attempting to accomplish great things, if they can't foster some lifelong friendships out of indifferences um and things maybe just don't go the way that you want them to go, Dustin had some dang hard things happen to him, and they didn't go the way they wanted them to go And um we had to rally to him. we've had We had to be there for him. And at the same time, that guy's returned the favor tenfold.
00:28:52
Speaker
And now we're almost 50 flipping years old. and And it's the same. It's actually better. We're better at it today than we ever were when we were 18. So, um you know, kudos to Dustin because he lived it.
00:29:05
Speaker
I experienced it as a friend and as a teammate. is And it's it is a true principle that if we can learn it, it will will change our lives forever. Amen.
00:29:17
Speaker
Well, thank you, Brandon. And we could go into it. It's actually is a really cool story. um When we first. and I'm not going to spend a lot of time on it, but I do remember the only time I remember running sprints was against when Brandon and I were running it. And I specifically remember running sprints when we were, it was in the summer.
00:29:37
Speaker
And I was new to this school. We were both sophomores. And as soon as we both crossed the line, we both looked down and made eye contact. And I wanted to know where he was. That's all I wanted to do was beat him. And I think he was focusing on beating me. And we made eye contact with each other. And when Brandon ended up being obviously the guy and at at quarterback and doing all these these awesome, awesome things at quarterback,
00:30:01
Speaker
I was his number one fan. I mean, that game he just talked about that he ended up getting the first start on. I remember where he was at, who he was playing. He was on the road and and how the game went. And he was a subway player of the game. i just remember everything about it. And and and then I think he's been, you know, my biggest fan in everything that I've been doing. hes He helped me with the quarterback stuff. And Chad, it's been the same.
00:30:26
Speaker
Both of you guys, i i I've never told both of you do this. Really where I earned my... where you earned my respect. Brandon, we went at it in football. I remember American Fork talking to you at halftime once.
00:30:38
Speaker
um We were in a battle against, their they were a really good team. and But I vaguely remember a conversation we had there. And we were friends, but we didn't really get to be good, good friends until we played at Brighton High School in basketball.
00:30:52
Speaker
And I remember I got into a little dust up with a kid and kind of pushed a kid and I was pretty fired up. And I remember you sliding right in and pushing the kid again. And it was at that moment that I was like, I like this guy.
00:31:06
Speaker
Like I like him like him. Like he he's my dude now, like he's competitive. He's willing to get thrown out like I was willing to get thrown out. And I was going at this kid because he went at one of our teammates. Brandon Tuft was his name.
00:31:17
Speaker
That's when I went at him. And from that day on, I'm like, hey, this guy is my, like, I can ride or die with this guy. It was the same thing with Shad. Shad played shortstop. He was this kid from California that had all this attention on him. He was he was our best overall baseball player and in college on our team.
00:31:33
Speaker
And i remember ah playing in a scrimmage against him and seeing how much he cared and yeah how passionate he was and when he when he made a play and just that he cared. And the fact that he cared about winning and losing is what drew me to him.
00:31:47
Speaker
I wanted to be around a guy that gave a damn of about whether or not we won or not, right? And if we played well or not, like if you didn't, then I can't associate with you. And that's now led to these... you know, but I had to pitch against him in the scrimmage, you know, and and he had to go, ah he had to hit against me and we're, we're fighting for, but yet it was the, and we became best friends because of it with both you guys. And so that's the beauty of sports. um If we let it be.
00:32:12
Speaker
And I, you know, I think we'd all, share probably a similar message to any kids that are listening to this, that there's a lot of crummy things going on in the world. But if you just study history, you'll find out that the same kind of things have been going on for a long, long time. It's just now we hear about every one of them.
00:32:30
Speaker
because of the internet and social media. Go go study the 60s for a day or two. Things were nuts. I mean, there was crazy things happening every day. The 40s was World War II.
00:32:41
Speaker
ah The 30s was the Great Depression. There was all sorts of stuff happening. You know, the 1918, 1919, World War I. I mean, there's just, there's been all sorts of stuff going on and how we treated slaves and how we treated women and how, like there have been evil things that have gone on for a long, long time. This isn't new to 2025.
00:33:02
Speaker
Even political disagreements and violence in politics isn't new to 2025. It's just more in our face now. But, ah you know, you kids live in a really good time.
00:33:13
Speaker
There's a lot of good going on in the world. There are diseases that don't exist anymore in certain countries that did 20 years ago. They've been eradicated because of science. there's there's There's water that now are accessible to countries that used to not be. The Internet, phones, these things that we oftentimes talk about being dangerous, about of saved countries and saved civilizations that were that now have access to things they never had access to. We don't hear about the good.
00:33:38
Speaker
We only hear about the negative and the bad. And there are politicians who get along and who come together on things. They don't all hate each other, but we're going to sure show you on the news the ones that do and the ones that have bad things to say about each other. And so um anyway, i would leave it with that. um just be good to each other. Keep your eyes up. Do the work. Be kind, but be competitive. There's nothing wrong with that, but respect people that are competitive as well and understand that everybody deserves respect.
00:34:08
Speaker
Keep your eyes up. Do the work.
00:34:11
Speaker
Thank you for joining the Especially for Athletes podcast. To learn more about Especially for Athletes organization, get a copy of our book, The Sport Light, or to bring our program to your team, school, business, or organization, visit us at especiallyforathletes.org.