An Army of Normal Folks - Is It Well With Your Soul?

Episode Date: September 12, 2025

For Shop Talk, Coach Bill is joined by his son Max to talk about the day that he flatlined, their full-circle moment that's about to take place, and their friend who asked Max, "Is it well with your soul?"Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/premiumSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Everybody. It's Bill Courtney with an army of normal folks, and it's shop talk number 69. Welcome into the shop. How you doing, Alex? I am doing great. You brought somebody with you to the shop today. It's bring your kid to work day. It's you bring my kid to work. Oh, yeah. Usually it's my kids here.

That's right. Yeah. Who is? You got a grown man in the room right now. I can't see him. He's over there behind some books. What's his name? I think it's Max. Is it Maxwell? or does you have a full name? My name is Max. I go by Max, but it's Maxwell, Courtney. It's Max.

My mother gifted me that. We didn't call on here yet. You got to wait until you called upon, son. It's my fourth child, my second son, Max Courtney. Hey, Max, what's up? What's up, Dad? What's up, Alex? Your best work to date.

Yeah, that's it. I'd have to agree with that. I'd have to agree. Lisa did most of heavy lifting. Actually, I heard a Jim Gaffigan clip on that this week. What is it? About, like, men's controversy. to having kids.

Yes. It's like, yeah, the girls look out in morning sickness and they're carrying it and then they breastfeed and it's like we contribute for all the five seconds and it's something that we think about 100% of the day. I think it's thoughtful. I mean, we're very thoughtful people. Okay. Shop Talks number 60-down y'all is kind of a weird one, but I think you will all find a

great deal of interest in it. This Friday, in four hours or so from now, Matt, will be on the sideline of the evangelical Christian school Eagles football team because he coaches with them. And I will be on the other sideline of the middle college bulldogs because we actually play against one another. And if that isn't enough, one of the last times Max and I were on this very field, one of the more traumatic things to ever happen in both of our lives happened on that day. So it's kind of a full circle moment, which I think has some lessons to it. So shop talk number 69 is me and Max coaching against each other coming full circle in

our lives right after these brief messages from our generous sponsors. overwhelming sensation that I had to call it right then. And I just hit call. I said, you know, hey, I'm Jacob Schick. I'm the CEO of One Tribe Foundation. And I just wanted to call on and let her know there's a lot of people battling some of the very same things you're battling. And there is help out there. The Good Stuff podcast, Season 2, takes a deep look into One Tribe Foundation, a non-profit fighting suicide in the veteran community.

September is National Suicide Prevention Month. So join host Jacob and Ashley Schick as they bring you to the front lines of One Tribe's mission. I was married to a combat army veteran, and he actually took his own life to suicide. One tribe saved my life twice. There's a lot of love that flows through this place, and it's sincere. Now it's a personal mission. I don't have to go to any more funerals, you know. I got blown up on a React mission.

I ended up having an amputation below the knee of my right leg and a traumatic brain injury because I landed on my head. Welcome to Season 2 of the Good Stuff. Listen to the Good Stuff podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. I'm Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman, host of the psychology podcast. Here's a clip from an upcoming conversation about exploring human potential. I was going to schools to try to teach kids these skills, and I get eye rolling from teachers or I get students who would be like, it's easier to punch someone in the face.

When you think about emotion regulation, like you're not going to choose an adapted strategy which is more effortful to use unless you think there's a good outcome as a result of it, if it's going to be beneficial to you. Because it's easy to say, like, go blank yourself, right? It's easy. It's easy to just drink the extra beer. It's easy to ignore, to suppress, seeing a colleague who's bothering you and just, like, walk the other way. Avoidance is easier.

Ignoring is easier. Denials is easier. Drinking is easier. Yelling, screaming is easy. Complex problem solving. Meditating. You know, takes effort. Listen to the psychology podcast on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

December 29th, 1975, LaGuardia Airport. The holiday rush, parents hauling luggage, kids gripping their new Christmas toys. Then, at 6.33 p.m., everything changed. There's been a bombing at the TWA terminal. Apparently, the explosion actually impelled metal, glass. The injured were being. loaded into ambulances, just a chaotic, chaotic scene. In its wake, a new kind of enemy emerged, and it was here to stay.

Terrorism. Law and Order Criminal Justice System is back. In Season 2, we're turning our focus to a threat that hides in plain sight. That's harder to predict and even harder to stop. Listen to the new season of Law and Order Criminal Justice System on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. In the chaos of World War II, a king dies under mysterious circumstances and his children never stop searching for the truth.

There's no nice way to put this. Time's running out for Simeon and Maria Louisa to find answers to the question that haunts them. The Butterfly King is a historical true crime podcast from exactly right and Blanchard House. I'm investigative journalist Becky Milligan and I'm following the trail of King Boris III of Bulgaria, a ruler caught between Hitler and Stalin

and the shocking secrets behind his sudden death. If it's 1943 and you want to kill a head of state and you have access to a whole stock of sophisticated synthetic weapons, why wouldn't you use them? A royal mystery unlike anything you've heard before, the entire series is available now. Listen to the Butterfly King on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I always had to be so good, no one could ignore me.

Carve my path with data and drive. But some people only see who I am on paper. The paper ceiling. The limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars. Workers skilled through alternative routes rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to. speak for themselves find resources for breaking through barriers at tetherpaperceiling.org brought to you by opportunity at work and the ad council all right welcome back here by shop

talk number 69 me and max what's up dude what's up dad um y'all are going to beat us you know that right uh jeez sir your players your players know you're saying this well i mean you know they're All right, let's be honest. We're a very small, single-A public school with not even a tenth of the resources that a very dice, middle-sized private school that Max coaches at has tons of resources, beautiful fields, facilities, lots of coaches. And Max Courtney. Well, and how many of y'all suit up? What, 70? 60.

We're 60 strong. But, I mean, you know. We're 38. Last year, somebody posted this on Facebook. I was curious that the number was right. Like, middle college only had. Like, I think they said like four or six players or four or six something. I don't even know what you talked about.

That 26 last year, we got 38 this year. Okay. Dad also likes to slow the game down and run a lot of 11 and 12. So if he slows the game down and he can figure out how to take a lead in the halftime, there might be a game. But if he can't get out of the first quarter, then yeah, we'll probably run away. if there were odds makers, ECS would probably be about a 20-point favorite. Wouldn't you agree?

Seriously. Yeah, 17. I'd play 16 and a half. Yeah. So, anyway, here it is. I coached my kid this whole life, brought him up, taught him how to be a good young man and a good football coach, and now he's going to use all that to beat his dad's brains in tonight.

Have you guys ever coached together? Yeah, actually, I've helped him out when he was a defense coordinator at St. Benedict. I just helped him a little. And then when I coached down at Ole Miss and the Charity Bowl, he coached with me and helped me down there. So we've coached together kind of, but never really for a full official year. But hopefully one day that will happen. That'd be fun. But today we're coaching against each other.

That's interesting. That's great. And I hope they take it easy on dad and his small group of kids just trying to play a little football. But here's the real. twist of events on this very field that we'll be playing on tonight which is the c s home field the first game i ever coached on that field because i once coached for ecs the very team that max coaches for now and we're about to play against i once coached for e c s when max played for them And we were playing Briar Crest, our very first game.

And Max running around doing what he does, and he got hurt. And Max is one that has never really stayed down long, even when he's hurt. He'll whine a lot on the sideline, but he never likes to do it on the field. And he got hurt, and I could tell he was hurt because of how slow he got up. and he never gets up slow when he played. And he trotted off the sideline, and you could see in his face he was hurting. And like a play later, he grabs his helmet,

and he starts to run back on the field. And the team Doc said, no, he's out. I need to look at him longer. And probably six or seven plays later, they came and said, listen, Max's ribs are bruised. He's in a lot of playing. He can't really put much weight on that side of his body. we're taking his helmet he's done which is frustrating one as a dad you don't want your kid

hurt but two as a coach max started on both sides of the ball and he was free safety and briar crests through a lot we really needed him in the game and he was out and i kind of looked at him over my shoulder when they told me that and he was in pain you could tell but he was also pissed because he wanted to go play. He didn't want to sit on the sideline. He was both hurting and frustrated, and I thought, well, that's okay. Then a few plays later, maybe five minutes, not much longer.

The guy came back, the team doc came back, and he said, Bill, listen, he said, they're bruised, but just out of an abundance of caution, I really think instead of waiting after the game to get him X-rayed, we had to take them now, and I'm like, why? They said, it's just a lot. of pain and a lot of swelling pretty quickly and i don't think anything's wrong but i'm i'm

telling you i want him to go into the hospital now just in case and so i'm coaching a football game and lisa is where she's always seated with molly and will um max's older brother and sister and uh they tell lisa max got to go the hospital and so they load max up and leave um and halftime happens. We come back out for the third quarter. Max has gone, and to be honest with you, my brain's on football. I think my kids got bruised, maybe a broken rib, which is really suck. And obviously, I'm thinking about it.

But third quarter, it just started, and the team doc comes to me with the trainer and with the assistant principal of the school, which is weird. They say, Bill, you got to go. And I'm like, what do you mean? I got to go. There's a football game going on out here. And I said, you've got to go because Max is on a helicopter. And I said, why is Max on a helicopter? He said, they're flying them to the Region 1 medical center, the only trauma unit in the South.

And that's all I heard. And I said, what does that mean? And they said, he's in trouble. And for the first time in 33 years, I left the sideline during a football game. I ran to the locker room, got my keys, and hauled ass. And literally, it was 30-minute drive. It's a long way of the trauma center, and I was driving a million miles an hour. Couldn't get anybody on the cell phone, had no idea what was going on.

And I just pulled up to the curb outside the hospital with my flashers on, and literally Lisa was arriving. Or actually, Lisa and the kids had just gotten there right in front. front of me and they're walking down the sidewalk actually kind of running down the sidewalk and I got out and she just hugged me and she started bawling and I'm still not sure what's going on and as that's happening a helicopter was landing on the top of the hospital and mollie is bawling and says that's max there he is there he is um and it took still some time before I was finally taken into the hospital and sat down and told what was really going on. And then, of course, the kids, Will and Lisa was inconsolable, but Molly and Will told me

what happened in the first hospital they took Max too, which is Baptist Hospital and what happened on the way. And I think I'll let Max tell that part of the story because I wasn't there and obviously you were once I left the field mom mom was waiting in the the parking lot of the school by the football field and I got in and we were going down down the road and mom unfortunately missed a left hand turn otherwise I would have been to the first no no this is all true it gets worse and had that not happened I would have been in the hospital in about 10 minutes and all of that probably would not have happened but But mom was nervous, so she kept driving straight, and we took a big, big loop, and part of that loop was on the highway. And in Tennessee, on the weekends, they do a lot of road work because there's not supposed to be as many drivers. But we hit a huge traffic jam, and mom kept on trying to weave in and out of traffic to get there. But we set on the highway for probably 20 minutes. And as this is going, you're starting to know something's wrong, right?

Gotcha. And then while we were weaving in and out and trying to get to the hospital is when I kind of started, you know, losing consciousness. And, you know, I just turned to my mom. I said, mom, you know, we got to, we got to hurry. Something's not right. And by this point, the football game, all of that, you know, my friends, the girlfriends and all that, none of that mattered. I had, you know, I knew I knew it was very, very serious. And we eventually, got out of the traffic jam and we pulled into Baptist East and I walked in to the straight up to the desk and I said hey I'm Max I'm from ECS I think the school called and the lady was pretty nonchalant she was like yeah yeah it's okay just go sit down and by that time mom and Molly and Will and Maggie had had come in and then taking a seat so I went over to sit next to them and it went in five seconds later where I felt you know hey you know something something's bad about about to happen. So I got up out of my chair and I walked over to the lady and I said, man, you know, I'm really in a lot of pain and something's not right. And it was very shortly

after that when I classed. So they put them in a wheelchair outside in the waiting room said, we're busy just sit there. And Will looks over and Will describes Max's as gray and he collapses and they they scream at the lady behind the desk who brings a nurse in a nurse comes out and says oh my gosh and they roll them in to a room and they put him on the table and they put vitals on them the machine and he was flatlined he was gone um to Will describes it as the nurse literally said, oh shit, hits a button, and blue lights start flashing everywhere. And in a matter of moments, there's 10 people in the room and they're resuscitating Max. They're filling them full of blood.

They're filling them full of plasma. Lisa passes out. Will starts getting shaky. Max does come conscious briefly, and I think you asked Molly to pray with you, didn't you? Yeah, they got me stabilized, so to say, at Baptist East. And once I woke up at Baptist East, I never lost consciousness again until I went into surgery. But yeah, I woke up. And the weird caveat of the story is everyone always asked me, what did you see, what did you see, what did you see?

And it's like, man, nothing. There is nothing. We'll be right back. I had this overwhelming sensation that I had to call it right then. And I just hit call. I said, you know, hey, I'm Jacob Schick. I'm the CEO of One Tribe Foundation. And I just want to call on and let her know there's a lot of people battling some of the very same things you're battling.

And there is help out there. The Good Stuff Podcast Season 2 takes a deep look into One Tribe. Foundation, a non-profit fighting suicide in the veteran community. September is National Suicide Prevention Month, so join host Jacob and Ashley Schick as they bring you to the front lines of One Tribe's mission. I was married to a combat army veteran, and he actually took his own life to suicide. One Tribe saved my life twice. There's a lot of love that flows through this place, and it's sincere.

Now it's a personal mission. Don't want to have to go to any more funerals, you know. I got blown up on a React mission. I ended up having amputation below the knee of my right leg and the traumatic. brain injury because I landed on my head. Welcome to Season 2 of the Good Stuff. Listen to the Good Stuff podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

I'm Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman, host of the Psychology Podcast. Here's a clip from an upcoming conversation about exploring human potential. I was going to schools to try to teach kids these skills and I get eye rolling from teachers or I get students who would be like, it's easier to punch someone in the face. When you think about emotion regulation, Like, you're not going to choose an adaptive strategy, which is more effortful to use unless you think there's a good outcome as a result of it, if it's going to be beneficial to you. Because it's easy to say, like, go you go blank yourself, right? It's easy.

It's easy to just drink the extra beer. It's easy to ignore, to suppress, seeing a colleague who's bothering you and just, like, walk the other way. Avoidance is easier. Ignoring is easier. Denials is easier. Drinking is easier. Yelling, screaming is easy. Complex problem solving.

meditating, you know, takes effort. Listen to the psychology podcast on the IHartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. December 29th, 1975, LaGuardia Airport. The holiday rush, parents hauling luggage, kids gripping their new Christmas toys. Then, at 6.33 p.m., everything changed. There's been a bombing at the TWA terminal. Apparently, the explosion actually impelled metal glass. The injured were being loaded into ambulances, just a chaotic, chaotic scene.

In its wake, a new kind of enemy emerged, and it was here to stay. Terrorism. Law and order, criminal justice system is back. In season two, we're turning our focus to a threat that hides in plain sight. that's harder to predict and even harder to stop. Listen to the new season of Law and Order Criminal Justice System on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In the chaos of World War II, a king dies under mysterious circumstances

and his children never stop searching for the truth. There's no nice way to put this. Time's running out for Simeon and Maria. Louisa to find answers to the question that haunts them. The Butterfly King is a historical true crime podcast from Exactly Right and Blanchard House. I'm investigative journalist Becky Milligan and I'm following the trail of King Boris III of Bulgaria, a ruler caught between Hitler and Stalin and the shocking secrets behind his sudden death.

If it's 1943 and you want to kill a head of state and you have access to a whole stock of sophisticated synthetic weapons, why wouldn't you use them? A royal mystery unlike anything you've heard before. The entire series is available now. Listen to The Butterfly King on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I always had to be so good, no one could ignore me. Carve my path with data and drive. But some people only see who I am on paper.

The paper ceiling. The limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars. Workers skilled through alternative routes rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers at tailorpapersilling.org. Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. And I've told you, Dad. but you know it was very weird it was very calm it was very peaceful and the easiest way to describe

it was that i was that i knew i knew i was gone um i didn't you know know what that looked like i didn't know what that was i just knew that you know i don't want to say i knew that i had died because that's so dramatic but i knew i was not not there anymore and yes when i woke up i looked at molly and i said molly what the world just happened and she said you just died and I said, will you please pray? And that's when Molly and I started praying. And then like two minutes after that, the operations person from the hospital came in and Will had to sign off on me getting on a helicopter.

Because Lisa was still in the- Yeah, because mom was passed out in the hallway. Yeah. When you told the story before, I didn't, you didn't mention that Lisa part of it. Yeah, she passed out when I fainted. She was out cold. And then-old was Will at the time. I was 17, so Will was 18.

That's why he can sign him. And then, yeah, and then we, or I woke up, Molly and I were praying, and the hospital guy came in and said, you know, we can't handle this. We're going to airlift you. And then mom, Maggie, Will, and Molly all piled up, and they left. And then the nurses and everything got me, you know, squared away to go on the helicopter. And I'll never forget the lady, the flight nurse. She just, you know, it was very, very professional, very calming. And she strapped me up and got me loaded on to the helicopter.

And she just asked me, she said, baby, you know, is there anything I can do for you? Is there anything wrong? I just said, you know, I'm still in a whole bunch of pains, still I haven't gotten any medicine. So she hooked me up on IV, got me squared away. And, you know, I'll never forget that three-minute helicopter ride. It was, it was unbelievable. It was pretty cool. Pretty cool.

It was. Pretty cool. yeah yeah the dad's insurance cover this free helicopter so um max lands on the helicopter we still haven't seen them lisa and i are pulled into this kind of weird room and um in the trauma center and they tell us a surgeon's going to be in to explain briefly and evidently they'd done it seems like it was five seconds but it must have been 30 minutes but they'd evidently done a lot of x-rays and imaging on them at some place and the surgeon comes in well i got to so when they when we landed i went into shock trauma and the what do you

call it when a woman's pregnant and ultrasound this ultrasound lady came and she put the gel you know on my on my chest inside and uh she was going to do an ultrasound and she she took the ultrasound scanning machine or whatever and poked me in the side and the second she poked me i grabbed her and like pushed her off of me and uh because it hurts so bad it hurt so bad and then she she kind of looked across the room at a doctor and like nodded her head and then it was a minute later i went to get a cat scan and then after the cat scan is when they wheeled me into that triage room which is where you and mom were waiting and then that's when five minutes later dr mag shut up okay so while all that's going on lisa and i are just

sitting around and in comes the surgeon and this guy's gray-headed bearded got kind of spiky hair he's got on rex packs he's sleeved in tattoos from his wrist up to his shoulders he's probably 55 years old he's got a watch tied to his drawstring a Rolex tied to his drawstring and he's wearing as many girl change as Mr. T does and I'm like okay well Max is going to die they've run out of a surgeon and they just got some guy of the motor pool to fix them. I mean, it was like, what is this guy? Ends up, this guy's name is Dr. Magnati

from Manhattan. Total beast. He moved to Memphis to be a level one trauma surgeon. And he says, your son's spleen has exploded. He's got at least two broken ribs. One of his lungs is collapsed. And he is in very serious condition.

but I'm going to save his life and he turns and walks out and as he's walking out lisa says can we see him and he said sure come on and that's what max talking about when he was rolled in we were there we got to touch him love him hug him kiss him tell him we loved him for about 30 seconds and he was gone and um max's body at that time at his age and size had the equivalent of whatever however much blood is in a unit he had six units his body volume was six units of blood and they transfused over 15 units into him he had enough blood to bleed out four lifetimes um because his spleen exploded and all of the blood in his body was pooling in his gut um and dr magnate took out 95% of his spleen and pumped up his lungs and couldn't do much for

his ribs and uh max lived and then stayed a week in intensive care and then spent five days in intensive care and then literally uh a week after that walked out of the hospital very gingerly with bags full of pain meds and everything else. And my son's life was saved. Yep. And I showed up to the next game that Friday, a week later. He did. He showed up on the sideline to the next game with an umbrella.

That's right. It was a cane. With an umbrella. So the point to all of that story is three things. It's a worn-out old adage. but guys everybody listen to me take it from a dad you never know tell them you love them and kiss them and hold them every single night no matter how frustrated you are no matter how long your day's been no matter what you're up against you know my son was running up and down the sidelines

one of the most healthy kids you've ever seen playing football and literally 24 hours later he had tubes in his nose and in his gut and all over him and couldn't even lift his head up in a hospital bed and flatlined um so the truth is life is short you never know and you never know when your time's coming and when it's not so those that are closest to you and you love, you need to always remember that it really could be the last time you ever see them. Don't take the time you have with those you love for granted. Second thing is, I believe in the power of prayer, and there was a lot of prayer around Max that day and that night and from himself. And I am

unbelievably thankful to my Lord that my son is still with us. And then the third thing is tonight will be a weird night for me. I'm going to take a football team that I've worked with since March and try to take them out there and beat a team that my kid once went to school for.

My kid is coaching against me on the sideline and many of the coaches on the ECS sideline. I've coached with both at ECS and at St. George's, and it will be weird coaching against my friends, although I'm going to coach as hard as I can to beat their ass because that's what I want to do, although we are a 17 to 20-point underdog, we're going to do as best we can.

But the weirdest thing is, the first time I ever coached on that very field was the very night we're talking. about and now we come full circle these years later and my son and i are going to be on that same field again tonight coaching against each other so the third thing is you never know how life will come full circle and what it'll bring you but um tonight will be full of gut-riching memories but really happy celebrations that it started the way it did and will end tonight the way it is.

So full of gratitude for the game of football, full of thanks for my son's life, and full of excitement for tonight, because for me, it is a full-circle moment with my son, who I once lost almost on that very field. so it's a lot to reflect on what about you did uh yeah i mean i think i think you know from your perspective that's that was probably a scary night um there's probably a lot that you know you learn from uh you know one thing that you know we've talked about in private and i'll share

it today is i think you know the irony in it and for everyone else who's listening to understand the true full circle. I was very difficult when I, you know, came up. Didn't listen well. Did pretty much whatever the hell I felt like. Made a lot of poor decisions, but I was not easy by any means. And dad and I were, you know, although I was playing at ECS and he was coaching at ECS, in a lot of ways we are on very different sidelines that night.

And, you know, as, you know, time wears on and, you know, people grow mature, we have ended up spiritually and morally on the same sideline, even though he is at middle college and I'm at ECS. In my mind, it's more like a 270 degree turn because once the full circle happens, Dad and I will be on the same sideline physically, emotionally, and spiritually and spirit. virtually. We'll be right back. I had this overwhelming sensation that I had to call it right then. And I just hit call. I said, you know, hey, I'm Jacob Schick. I'm the CEO of One Tribe Foundation. And I just wanted to call on and let her know there's a lot of people battling some of the very same things you're battling. And there is help out there. The Good Stuff podcast, season two, takes a deep look into One Tribe Foundation, a non-profit

fighting suicide in the veteran community. September is National Suicide Prevention Month, so join host Jacob and Ashley Schick as they bring you to the front lines of One Tribe's mission. I was married to a combat army veteran, and he actually took his own life to suicide. One Tribe saved my life twice. There's a lot of love that flows through this place,

and it's sincere. Now it's a personal mission. I don't have to go to any more funerals, you know. I got blown up on a React mission. I ended up having amputation below the knee of my right leg and a traumatic brain injury because I landed on my head. head. Welcome to season two of the Good Stuff. Listen to the Good Stuff podcast on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. I'm Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman, host of

the psychology podcast. Here's a clip from an upcoming conversation about exploring human potential. I was going to schools to try to teach kids these skills and I get eye rolling from teachers or I get students who would be like, it's easier to punch someone in the face. When you think about emotion regulation, like you're not going to choose. an adapted strategy which is more effortful to use unless you think there's a good outcome as a result of it if it's going to be beneficial to you because it's easy to say like like go you go blank yourself right it's easy it's easy to just drink the extra beer it's easy to ignore to suppress seeing a colleague who's bothering you and just like walk the other way avoidance

is easier ignoring is easier denial is easier drinking is easier yelling screaming is easy complex problem solving, meditating, you know, takes effort. Listen to the psychology podcast on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. December 29th, 1975, LaGuardia Airport. The holiday rush, parents hauling luggage, kids gripping their new Christmas toys. Then, at 6.33 p.m. Everything changed. There's been a bombing at the TWA terminal.

Apparently, the explosion actually impelled metal, glass. The injured were being loaded into ambulances. Just a chaotic, chaotic scene. In its wake, a new kind of enemy emerged, and it was here to stay. Terrorism. Law and order, criminal justice system is back. In season two, we're turning our focus to a third. threat that hides in plain sight. That's harder to predict and even harder to stop.

Listen to the new season of Law and Order Criminal Justice System on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In the chaos of World War II, a king dies under mysterious circumstances and his children never stop searching for the truth. There's no nice way to put this. Times running out. for Simeon and Maria Louisa to find answers to the question that haunts them. The Butterfly King is a historical true crime podcast from Exactly Right and Blanchard House. I'm investigative journalist Becky Milligan and I'm following the trail of King Boris III of Bulgaria, a ruler caught between Hitler and Stalin and the shocking secrets behind

his sudden death. If it's 1943 and you want to kill a head of state and you have access to a whole stock of sophisticated synthetic weapons, why wouldn't you use them? A royal mystery, unlike anything you've heard before, the entire series is available now. Listen to The Butterfly King on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I always had to be so good, no one could ignore me. Carve my path with data and drive. But some people only see who I am on paper. The Paper Sealing, the limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars.

Workers skilled through alternative routes rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers at tetherpapersealing.org, brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. It's kind of cool, huh? That's beautiful, Max. It was more beautiful than anything you said. Yeah, I mean, you always want your kids to be better than you, so there you have it.

Well, I'm sure you were partially inspired to coach because you're dad. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you know, if you don't play football, you can't possibly understand, but a common struggle bonds people. And football is a very tough sport, it's a hard sport, it hurts. There's a lot of mental game in there that people just don't realize. And I had the opportunity to learn from dad, from men like David Carter and Ben Todd. Guys who currently coached at ECS that I coached with at St. George's, ironically enough. Unbelievable amount of football wealth that I picked up and that I know.

And I was a defensive coordinator for a small private school here in Memphis in 2022. We weren't any good, didn't do anything worth talking about. but the fact that I was 22 years old and was able to coordinate a 4-3 with multiple fronts is straight up a reflection of how good of a coach those guys at St. George's were.

They've bestowed them upon me the game. What I've had to learn over the last couple years and in my absence from 2022 to 20, you know, what is it, 2025 now, is one, how much I missed the game and how much I needed the game in my life. You know, there's an old adage around the game that if you let it, you know, football can save your life.

And it's, you know, dad and I will make jokes all the time, you know, whether it's in business or something. Let's say someone makes a good play, you know, I'll look at him and say that, you know, that guy did a really good job set in the edge there or something like that. There's just so much in football that can be translated to life. And, you know, dad said it before. I think he said it in his book. But if you can run and operate a football team, you can run and operate a business. you can run and operate a family, you can, you know, run and operate a community, a church. Anything that's fruitful really is rooted in football.

Yep. I'd add a fourth and a fifth thing. Give blood. Go. That's where Max's story came up before when we were talking about blood. That's true. And you went to do a little bit. We did a longer version now.

Hey, Max, maybe you've listened to this, but do you know there's almost, it's almost an impossibility that a human being on the face of the, the planet will not need blood at some point or another in their life. If you have cancer, you've got to have blood. Once you're older and need little surgeries, you've got to have blood. God forbid something like, what happened to you? You need blood. So 100% of the people on the face of planet, by the time they die, will have needed blood. And certainly, everyone close to them will have needed blood. Do you know what percent of the public gives blood? I'd say 7%.

That's double. It's three. Wow. 100% of the people on the face of planet are going to need blood, yet only 3% give it, which means that 97% of the people, as it pertains to their need for blood, are moochers. Though about only 40% are eligible. The eligible numbers are below 50%. I was going to say, what percent of the population?

The 97% that don't even get checked to see if they're eligible or not. But the point is... Still 3% out of 40 is still not good. We talk about an army of normal folks, doing what you can do, giving blood or plateless is something the vast majority of us can do and most of us don't even try. Although we or someone we dearly love that is very close to us is absolutely with 100% certainty and probability going to need blood. so we take but we don't give that selfish so point four give blood because if somebody had not

given blood my son wouldn't be here talking to me today because he would have bled out guess who gave blood last week you did you did this guy good for you shout out john norman there you go i was always afraid of needles but john john norman max is is one of our listeners who is now been a guest because he's given plasma over 160 times wow yeah and it's so cool because like you sit in a chair for 90 minutes and you can save three people's lives and like he can be on his phone doing other things too like it's not that hard 90 minutes of plasma saves three people's lives within a week when i was uh when i was 19 and super poor and in school uh my roommate and buddy gray clark and i know where this is gone yeah we damn near we damn near did it for beer money

I don't know why we didn't We probably figured out Number five, Alex Number five, actually I just saw this on social media this week Have you guys heard of the Halo effect? No So it's like two people who are dressed differently

Like they have the same credentials Like if somebody's dressed better They're trusted more Despite having the same credentials Cody Sanchez actually was talking about this recently too That like women People must really not trust me at all I was gonna say

You're trying to get dad to wear a collar shirt. Well, I'm going to talk about your Magnati guy. So actually, Cody Sanchez said the other day, something like women who wear makeup make like 20 to 30 percent more or two. But this guy was making the point that, look, if you have two qualified surgeons, the exact same credentials, you actually want the guy who looks like your Magnati guy because he's got through more shit to get there. Ironically enough, that is true. His father hung sheetrock and wallpaper in Manhattan. and then they grew up very blue-collar New Jersey folks, and he worked his ass off to get where he was

and is now one of the most respected, foremost thought about trauma surgeons on the face of the planet, and we got lucky to have them. He's since moved to Phoenix. But to wrap this story up, that all happened, Max's junior year. And he rehabbed and ended up playing baseball later that spring, although he wasn't full speed, he played.

And then by a senior year, he was ready. to go again, and Max's got a scar from his navel up to his chest. I mean, they cut him wide open. And, of course, Max said, I don't want the last time I ever stepped on a football field to be that night. I want to play again, much to Lisa's chagrin, who wasn't having it. Anyway, Max stayed very close to Dr. Magnotti, as did our entire family, because we see him as the man that gave us our son back. And Max played football again. And the very first game that Max played while I coached on the sideline,

coaching my kid his senior year and Lisa in the stands about to throw up all over herself. The person that joined her to calm her was the same guy that convinced her it was okay. And Dr. Magnati took the day off that Friday night and sat with Lisa in the stands. as Max played his first football game and celebrated my son playing football and kept my wife from losing her mind. And we have since become very close friends with the whole Magnati family because he is not only a surgeon and not only a doctor, but he's a good man to do something like that. Just another member of an army of normal folks. Just a number of Army of Normal Folks. Before we wrap up, I have one more and it goes along

with the, what was your first lesson? the first thing I got from this was never always hug them and tell him thank you and I love you before because you never know so the night that I was hurt and this was surgery night and this is also a pretty good one Alex you may not even know this but

my defensive coordinator's name was Brandon Tucker he's one of the most knowledgeable and godly men I've ever met in my entire life he showed up in one of our episodes did he really you must not listen of the podcast. I don't, no,

I don't. We showed up in the Briar Crest episode. Yeah, we did a episode of Briar Crest and actually in the class of people

were in viewing was his son who was a heck of a quarterback who I think just thumped you all a few weeks ago. I'll get there. Yeah.

And then Coach Tucker showed up. I actually talked to him yesterday. So Coach Tucker he at that time was coaching Max at ECS

and he and I we're coaching defense together. Yes, so he was the defensive balls. He was my defensive coach. He was actually the last person to come in my room the night that I was hurt. And most people were, you know, hey, Max, you know, you're going to get better. You're going to get back out there. You know, things are going to be good, you know, trying to encourage me, blah, blah, blah.

And Coach Tucker, he came in and, you know, he wasn't reserved, but he was very cautious, I would say. And he just looked at me and he said, Max, he said, I've known you for. you know a couple months but you know this is a terrible thing but I just have to ask you someone I said yes sir what is it and he said is it well with your soul and that question has

has stuck with me for I mean every single day since I think about that question and my soul at the time was not well and I credit him in that question for changing the course of my life because that thought that question had never entered my mind. And to this day, I keep up with Coach Tucker. Like I said, he's the most

knowledgeable and godly man that I've ever met. And it was, like Dad just said, three weeks ago, the last time ECS had played Briar Crest was when I got hurt. And we resumed the series this year. And Coach Tucker was the defensive coordinator at Briar Crest this year. So that also came full circle. No, he's O'Line Coach. Oh, he's the O'Line Coach. So he left ECS and now he's at briar crest he's at briar crest um so the moral of that whole full circle moment is if you know if it's not you know you have to ask yourself is it well with your soul because you never know because you never know man you're well spoken max i'm glad we did this i appreciate that i don't let them have a podcast i can go give me a podcast i made a podcast with your kids would be a lot of fun yes that's what

i said we need to get the six together and we need to get the six together and duke it out all right guys so that's it Shop talk number 69, make sure you hug them at night, make sure it's well with your soul because you really never know, and life will throw you twist and turns and always, also sometimes come back full circle. And for me and my kid and my family, in about four nights, we will complete one of life's full circles. If you like this episode, please rate and view it. subscribe to the podcast. You can email me anytime at Bill at normalfolks. If you have any ideas for guests,

for an army of normal folks or ideas for shop talk, please email me. I will respond. We'll take them up. Sign up to join the army at normalfocus. That's right. And until next time, do what you can.

Do what you can. That's shop talk number 69. We'll see you next. week. I'm Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman, host of the psychology podcast. Here's a clip from an upcoming conversation about how to be a better you. When you think about emotion regulation, you're not going to choose an adaptive strategy, which is more effortful to use.

you think there's a good outcome. Avoidance is easier. Ignoring is easier. Denials is easier. Complex problem solving. It takes effort. Listen to the psychology podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I always had to be so good, no one could ignore me. Carve my path with data and drive. But some people only see who I am on paper. The paper ceiling. The limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars. Workers skilled through alternative routes, rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for

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From exactly right and Blanchard House, The Butterfly King is a gripping historical true crime series that dives deep into royal secrets, wartime cover-ups, and a mystery that refuses to die. All episodes are available now. Listen to The Butterfly King on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an I-Heart podcast.