An Army of Normal Folks - What Playing Softball With Murderers Taught Him About Fatherhood | Rob Maaddi

Episode Date: September 29, 2026

In this episode, Bill sits down with Rob Maaddi, senior NFL writer for the Associated Press and host of Faith on the Field, who partied with the athletes he covered and was divorced by 30, empty, broke and broken. After 36 straight days of drinking, a woman who told him she wasn't meant for him walked him to the front of Times Square Church. Today he plays softball in prison yards with the Deacons Prison Ministry, where an inmate who threatened to shank him came back to thank him. That opens a bigger conversation about where purpose comes from: why Super Bowl champions ask "now what" two days after the parade, why a pastor told him to take Jesus to his marketplace instead of quitting the AP, and what John Harbaugh's 95-5 rule teaches anyone raising kids. Plus Tony Dungy, the Hall of Fame coach who ushers at his church. — ARMY ACTIONS Sign up for the newsletter: https://normalfolks.org/#newsletter-cta Join or start a service club: https://normalfolks.org/service-clubs/ Take the 10 Level Challenge, "the hero's journey for service": https://normalfolks.org/10-level-challenge/ Listen to Rob's show, Faith on the Field: https://faithonthefieldshow.com/ Have an idea for a Shop Talk or a guest for the show? Write Bill anytime at [e-mail] — Follow us on all socials: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/armyofnormalfolks/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@armyofnormalfolks Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ArmyofNormalFolks X: https://x.com/armynormalfolks LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/an-army-of-normal-folks/ Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/#joinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This record is on. Miley is having a moment, new name, new album, and two exclusive shows. So IHart Radio is sending you to experience it all. Life at the Hollywood Pole. My 19. Lights, hotel, tickets, and $1,000 cash. Listen to IHart new music for 10 minutes a day on the IHart Radio app.

And click enter. Every day you listen is another chance to win. Let's go. Here's no one to get. Stream Miley's new album, Base Persuades, today. My name is Josie Duffy Rice. I'm a journalist who covers the criminal legal system. And over my career, I've heard account after account of prosecutorial misconduct,

story after story of injustice. But I've never heard a story quite like this. The more I kept reading that stuff, I thought, man, there's more red flags that just kept coming up over and over. We'll hypnotize him to strengthen that memory. So he went into a good france. I really didn't believe any of it was real. And I was like, well, they're going to figure out this is not me.

They're going to do their police job. Listen to Examine the Backfire Effect on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You broke me. You do not desert happiness. I'm Andre Gunning. This season of betrayal, we meet Carl Bryant. Carl thought he was living a normal, drama-free life until the messages started. You will have hell to pay.

For nine months, someone infiltrated every aspect of Carl's life, threatening to ruin him. Cyberstalking, swatting, extortion, impersonation. And then the text threats escalated. Someone's not going to make it out of this alive. This apartment. It's playing out in real life, not just on the phone. Every piece of evidence pointed to one man. But every piece of evidence was a lie.

He was not going to stop unless we stopped him. Listen to Betrayal Season 6 on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On Big Lives, we take a single cultural icon. People like Jayhart. Fonda, George Michael, Richard Pryor. And we pull apart the story behind the image. And we do this by digging through the BBC's vast archive. We're talking iconic moments in broadcast history.

I'm not just a boxer. I'm educating. I can talk all week on millions of subjects. And forgotten interviews that change how we see these giants of our culture. Well, if changing the system from the ground up is revolutionary, then I'm revolutionary. We're here for the messy, the brilliant, the human, version of our heroes. When I go on stage, I like to dress

as slutty as possible because it makes me dance better for some reason. I'm Emmanuel Joachie. I'm Kai Wright. And this is Big Lives. Listen to Big Lives on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get podcasts. Hi, it's Alec Baldwin. This season on my podcast,

here's the thing I'm speaking with more artists, policymakers, and performers like actor Stephen Root. I think for me to be any good or for any character actor be any good, You've got to put enough of yourself and your empathy for people in it. I'm a people watcher. You see that guy going down the dream and go, yeah, I can use that.

Open Igloo co-founder, Alia Mohamed. I love staying on top of what is going on in our city, what is going on in city politics, what is on renter's minds, and taking all of that knowledge to build a platform that hopefully is going to make New York City better in the long run. And actress and singer Melissa Eriko. Partnership took on a whole other meaning when I started making my own work. It's like you with a great actress or actor. It was best to come out of your trailer, full of life, and just face another person who's full of life and don't talk.

Listen to Here's the Thing on the IHeart Radio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Bob Pittman, chairman and CEO of IHeart Media and host of the podcast, Math and Magic, stories from the Frontiers of Marple. I have some new exciting interviews coming to the math and magic feed this fall. IHeart's own Hoda Kotbe is joining me to talk about her new business venture and podcast, Joy 101. Your timeline is not anybody else's. Stay in the game and let them find you. I'm also talking to Capital One's Mark Mentry. Be there in the key moments to build relationships.

Because then when things go well, you can say, congratulations, guys. We do it at the end of IHeart Festival and Jingleball. and marketing executive Diego Scotti. The fourth stakeholder that to me is critical is society as a whole. That purpose-driven marketing should be part of your mainstream marketing, not just something that you do on the side. Listen to math and magic, stories from the frontiers of marketing on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

What up, y'all. This your main man, Memphis Bleak right here, host of that rock-solid podcast. And each week, we bring in you exclusive looks inside music, Everything happening inside the culture. Some of the best conversations were the biggest names in the game. You had a little bit more pressure to be good. And they didn't care if you was a girl. Like, you wasn't getting no points because you were the girl.

If you're not trash, you better be not just good. You better be great. On rock silent, we're talking to rap legends, hit-making producers, rising stars from the golden era to the future of this hip-hop game, where we keep it 100% unfiltered and keep it nothing but rock-solid. The thing about Jay, my opinion, is he's been so great at being seen but mysterious. You know what I'm saying? He don't got to come talk about anything.

You figure it out. So it's always a mystique and mysteriousness behind them, but it ain't like you don't see him. Listen to Rock Solid on Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you streamed podcast. Rob is a senior NFL writer, the Associated Press. He's a host of the syndicated radio show, Faith on the Field. I think folks are going to learn a lot of things from you, Rob. But if you had to pick one thing that listeners will leave this episode with that might improve their lives as it pertains to service

and getting involved in the community and that journey for them, as it pertains to your perspective, what would that lesson be? I think when you think about service and serving others, you can't serve others unless you're honest with yourself. When you look within yourself, what are the strengths, what are the weaknesses, what are your vulnerabilities, what have you done, where have you failed? And if you're willing to be honest and open about that and be transparent with other people, that's where lives can be changed, where you're You can take that and share, hey, I did this wrong, but I don't want you to mess up that way. Hey, I failed in this aspect, or I sought this, or I pursued that, and I know that didn't leave me happy. Because we're all searching for true peace and happiness, right?

How did you find it? And if you can tell folks how you went about it and where you came up short, maybe that'll help them kind of come to a better place and come to a better understanding and reach it without navigating those pitfalls that you may have gone through. You do a lot of things, and we're going to get into all of them. One of the ones I found most interesting when I was first talking to you that I want to start with is you've spent a lot of time walking into prisons. And, you know, a dude in the NFL, sports writing world and everything else, but you spent a lot of time walking into prisons to play softball. Yeah. sometimes playing murderers. What happens on those fields?

And what has that ministry done, obviously, for the people you're playing ball with, but more specifically for you? It's transformed my life. Has it really? Yeah. And it kind of helped me, coach, it kind of helped me find my purpose because I started out doing this as a way of trying to give back. right? When did you start? How long ago? So I joined the Deacons Prison Ministry in 2014, and at the time, I just, I didn't know what this was going to be all about. One of the guys who knew me, I like to say there was an old rob and there's a new rob. So there was a guy on that team who knew the old Rob,

the guy who partied like a rock star who was like going out with athletes and lived a whole different life hanging out. I used to party with athletes, now I pray with athletes. And I'm talking about the profession out. We're going to definitely get into that. So he knew the old Rob, but he saw his name's Billy McGrath, and he saw something in me, right? We played softball together, just a little slow pitch soft. I played baseball all the way through high school, through college, and beyond that, I played baseball. And at some point you obviously realized, like, I'm not going to be able to do this anymore.

So you turn a slow pitch softball. And he invited me to join his team because he knew there was something more that I had to give, right? He knew that there was that within me. So 2014, I joined this team, and we go into prisons. And, man, I'm looking at these guys, and I don't know what they did to get there. Some of the most hardened criminals that, you know, tough and the environment can be overwhelming because there are guys who resent you, who resent you being there. And then there are guys who are so excited that you're there because nobody comes to same.

nobody they don't have family they don't have anybody but it's a way for us to get in the door and it's a way for us to sit down and and yeah we play softball that's what that's the vehicle to get in there but we play softball and then we talk to these men and we and we share testimony we share gospel presentation and we try and help them change their life and start anew because it's never too late and you know this it's never too late no matter what you've done in life I think this is it's so important for people who are hurting, who are suffering, who've gone through some of the worst-case scenarios. No matter where you are in life, it's never too late to turn that switch and start anew. When I've read a little bit about this, the things called the Deacons Prison Ministry, I think. Yeah. Yeah. You were shocked

when you first got there. Some of the bats are tethered to a fence for security. It's the real deal. Right? And you're playing softball with these guys. Yeah. I'm curious, does the atmosphere change from first pitch to last pitch? In most cases, it certainly, it can be like a complete, dramatic turn. So there was one particular instance where we were at a prison in, I believe it was Chester, PA. We've been all around the country, right? And we do these crusades.

Crusade is like we call it a five-day trip, and we'll go into 10, 20, prisons and speak to a thousand. We were in this particular... You'll go 10, 20 prisons in five days and play softball and play about 30 games. At the time, I was doing, I started doing this in my early 40s. I'm beat up. I'm banged up. I've got so many injuries. I'm dragging by the end. I've got rotator this and that. But this one particular incident that stands out to me, we're in this prison. And I'm playing center field at the time. And at this yard, there are inmates, behind a chain-linked fence, right? And it's beyond the outfield.

And I'm chasing a ball over my head. And I get to go pick up the ball on a warning track. And I hear one of the inmates say, I should shank him right through this. And I was like, dang, I don't know what they have or what's happening. I picked up the ball. I threw it in the infield. And then I ran back to my position in the center field.

I was hoping nobody hits the ball over my head again because I didn't want to come any closer to him. So it happened to be a day that I got to share and I got to speak. So after the first, we'll play a doubleheader, sometimes three games, whatever it is. Are you serious? Yeah. And it's about as much time as they allow us, right? As much time as they allow us to be there.

And sometimes you'll see guys who are way out in the outfield or way out in the prison yard. And they're not paying attention, but you know that they're listening, but they're trying to do something else. And this is one of those guys, and he's, he's threatened me, to threaten to shank me. I get to speak that day. And I shared and I shared everything that I had gone through in my life, where I was, the highs, the lows, and how I turned my life around, and how I came out of that. And when I went back out there for the next game, that dude thanked me for being there. So he goes from... Same dude who wanted to shank me is now thanking me for being open and honest and sharing.

And he was very appreciative of the message. And he was appreciative of our taking the time out to be there. So you can meet men. And we've met guys who we've met a guy in there who was, who hired someone to kill his wife because he was sleeping around on her. And this man completely transformed his life. And I know there's a price to pay, right? And there's consequences for your action. He's going to be, he's never going to see the light of day.

He's only going to be in prison. There's a difference in forgiveness and a pardon. Right. We can forgive, but society says you don't necessarily always get a pardon. And they've changed. They've changed their lives dramatically from within because there are some of those guys in there who are going to come out, right? And they're going to be back in society.

And we don't want them to go back in society and come back to prison. We want them to go and be members of society who can contribute, who can serve, who can be guys who are leaders, who can, if they have children, be good fathers and good husbands. And it's all about that. And it's about trying to see the good in people, right? Did your perspective of that community of folks that are incarcerated change for, from before playing softball to once you started getting to know them play softball. Tremendously because what I didn't realize is,

and I never want to give anyone an excuse because all of us, all of us are, once you become an adult, you're responsible for your own actions. But what I saw in prisons is a majority, I mean a high, overwhelming majority of these men behind bars, they didn't have a father figure.

they were from a single parent, a mom raising them, or didn't have any parents at all. But the consequences of not having a dad in your life, a good father, a father who is going to be a role model for you, has helped lead them down that road where they end up behind bars at some point because they had nobody speaking life into them. They had nobody speaking truth into them. They had nobody telling them, teaching them right from wrong. They're out there on their own in the streets and living their lives that way. And we wonder, how did somebody end up incarcerated? Well, there was no one shaping them or molding their lives.

So it's not that I give them an excuse, but it gives me a better understanding of what needs to be done. I try and be the best dad possible for my kids. And I know I fail at times. I fail every day, right? But I want to be the best possible dad that I can be for my kids so they can grow up and be better leaders for them. And these men, it's a struggle. It's a struggle when you come from that kind of environment.

And now a few messages from our generous sponsors. But first, thanks for tuning into an army of normal folks, where our mission is to make service easier for all of us and together can change the country. Today, I want to share with you an email received from an army member named Hunter, Cowan. Hunter wrote, Good morning, Bill. I've listened to all of your episodes since the very beginning.

They are our light and all of the bad news that comes our way every day. By listening to your shows, y'all have inspired me to try to take part to make a difference in my community. I have started a Sleep and Heavenly Peace chapter. Y'all have inspired me, and I know y'all have inspired many others. at some point that inspiration becomes exponential. And when we're emailing with Hunter, he told us his Sleep and Heavenly Peace chapter already has 60 beds built for kids without them

in the Richmond area of Virginia. I am inspired myself that episodes that we share can inspire someone like Hunter to engage and do good work. I'm inspired that they're seeing. 60 kids today that are sleeping in beds rather than piles on clothes because Hunter listened to an episode of an Army of Normal Folks and decided to act. We always say, together, we can change this country. And Hunter is metaphorically what one member of a massive Army of normal folks can do

to make better lives for other people. We'll be right back. The music you love. Your favorite radio stations. Everywhere you go. the podcasts everyone's talking about, all in one place, and it's free. I heart radio. Whatever you want to hear.

Listen anytime, anywhere. Music, radio, podcasts, unlimited audio. It's on the free IHurt Radio app. Let's go! One app, no subscription. Always free. Grab the free app. IHart Radio.

Everywhere you go. Always free. Download the free IHard Radio app today. My name is Josie Duffy Rice. I'm a journalist who covers the criminal legal system. And over my career, I've heard a count after account of prosecutorial misconduct, story after story of injustice. But I've never heard a story quite like this. The more I kept reading this stuff, I thought, man, there's more red flags that just kept coming up over and over.

We'll hypnotize him to strengthen that memory. So he went into a good france. I really didn't believe any of it was real. And I was like, well, they're going to figure out this is not me. They're going to do their police job. Listen to Examine the Backfire Effect on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You broke me. You do not desert of happiness.

I'm Andrea Gunning. On this season of betrayal, we meet Carl Bryant. Carl thought he was living a normal, drama-free life until the messages started. You will have hell to pay. For nine months, someone infiltrated every aspect of Carl's life, threatening to ruin him. Cyberstalking, swatting, extortion, impersonation. And then the text threats escalated. Someone's not going to make it out of this alive.

It's playing out in real life, not just on the phone. Every piece of evidence pointed to wonder. man. But every piece of evidence was a lie. He was not going to stop unless we stopped him. Listen to Betrayal Season 6 on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On Big Lives, we take a single cultural icon. People like Jane Fonda, George Michael, Richard Pryor.

And we pull apart the story behind the image. And we do this by digging through the BBC's VIII. We're talking iconic moments in broadcast history. I'm not just a boxer. I'm educating. I can talk all week on millions of subjects. And forgotten interviews that change how we see these giants of our culture. Well, if changing the system from the ground up is revolutionary, then I'm revolutionary. We're here for the messy, the brilliant, the human version of our heroes. I mean, when I go on stage, I like to dress the slutty as possible because it makes me dance better for some reason.

I'm Immanuel Jochi. Manuel Jochi. I'm Kai Wright. And this is Big Lives. Listen to Big Lives on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get podcasts. Hi, it's Alec Baldwin. This season on my podcast, here's the thing I'm speaking with more artists, policymakers, and performers like actor Stephen Root. I think for me to be any good or for any character actor to be any good, you've got to put enough of yourself and your empathy for people in it. I'm a people watcher. You see that guy going down to doing Yeah, I can use that.

Open Igloo co-founder, Alia Mohamed. I love staying on top of what is going on in our city, what is going on in city politics, what is on renter's minds, and taking all of that knowledge to build a platform that hopefully is going to make New York City better in the long run. And actress and singer Melissa Eriko. Partnership took on a whole other meaning when I started making my own work. It's like you with a great actress or actor. It was best to come out of your trailer, full of life, and just face another person who's full of life and don't talk. Listen to Here's the Thing on the IHeart Radio app Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. What up, y'all, this your main man, Memphis Bleak right here, host of that rock solid podcast. And each week, we bring in you exclusive looks inside music, everything happening inside the culture. Some of the best conversations were the biggest names in the game. You had a little bit more pressure to be good. And they didn't care if you was a girl.

Like, you wasn't getting no points because you were the girl. If you're not trash, you better be not just good. You better be great. On rock solid, we're talking to rap legends, hit-making producers, rising stars from the golden era to the future of this hip-hop game, where we keep it 100% unfiltered and keep it nothing but rock-solid. The thing about Jay, my opinion, is he's been so great. at being seen but mysterious.

You know what I'm saying? He don't got to come talk about anything. You figure it out. So it's always a mystique and mysteriousness behind them, but it ain't like you don't see him. Listen to Rock Solid on Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you streamed podcast. Hi, I'm Bob Pipman, Chairman and CEO of IHeart Media,

and host of the podcast, Math and Magic, stories from the Frontiers of Marketing. new exciting interviews coming to the math and magic feed this fall. IHeart's own Hoda Kotbe is joining me to talk about her new business venture and podcast, Joy 101. Your timeline is not anybody else's. Stay in the game and let them find you. I'm also talking to Capital One's Mark Mentry. Be there in the key moments to build relationships. Because then when things go well, you can say, congratulations, guys. We do it at the end of IHeart Festival and Jingleball.

and marketing executive Diego Scottie. The fourth stakeholder that to me is critical is society as a whole. That purpose-driven marketing should be part of your mainstream marketing, not just something that you do on the side. Listen to math and magic, stories from the frontiers of marketing on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Your perspective changed. But you've also said, and this is a quote from you,

that you went from being a follower to being a disciple because of this world. Yeah. Explain that. Throughout my life, I grew up in a Catholic church. I grew up in Catholic school, so I had a great relationship. I mean, look at you from the door. You've got to be Catholic, right? That's how I grew up in South Philly, which is a very provincial part of Philadelphia, right?

So that's where I, I don't know if the accent gave it away, but that's where I grew up. And that gave me, my background in Catholic school gave me an understanding of the Lord. And I like to tell people it made me a fan of Christ. I was a fan of Jesus because I learned all about him. And I put him on a pedestal and I worshipped on Sunday. and then I went and did whatever I wanted to do six days a week because I also learned, and I took it the wrong way, but I learned in Catholic Church that you get to go to confession and start all over again.

So I had this understanding of the Lord. I was a fan of Christ, but I didn't become a follower of Christ until many years and many mistakes and many broken relationships later to where. where I was at the absolute rock bottom of my life. I was empty. I was unfulfilled. I was broke and broken. And I was standing in a church in Times Square, New York on August 29, 2010.

And I surrendered my life to the Lord. And I was full of pride. I was full of ego. I was full of telling myself, well, you know, you're not a drug dealer. you're not an alcoholic, you didn't do this, you're not really that bad. All you are is a womanizer. And that's what led me through all of this brokenness and emptiness and unfulfillment. And I finally reached that point on that day in that church that I said, I can't do this on my own. This journey, I'm never going to change. I need to invite Christ into my heart to change me and make me the man that he created me to be.

So that went from fan to follower, right? So that day I became a follower, but then going into prisons, going in there and having the opportunity to speak to inmates, to share testimony with these men, to transform their lives, to see there's something powerful about sharing your story and seeing someone in prison and inmate come to tears. And because they can relate. They identify. They identified. They lived it. They went through it. And then there's something really strong and powerful about seeing that.

And seeing that these men can understand what you went through, identify with it, relate to it, and see that there may be light at the end of their tunnel too. Man, we were baptizing guys with bottles of water on home plate. And the first time I shared, the first time I saw that, the impact from those guys, who are hugging me. These are guys that I had just met, and you go in there, and I'll tell you, I made sure I had my batting gloves on because when I wanted to shake hands, like, I was, I'm just, that's just, I was, really, it felt off and odd and weird to me. And now I go in there, and I don't want to touch anybody. I got my batting gloves on when I'm shaking hands. Within an hour and a half, I'm out there hugging these guys, right? We're hugging, we're, and

they're crying on my shoulder. And to me, that showed me that I was called. My purpose was called to be more than just a follower. It's great to be a follower of the Lord. I got to be a disciple. And being a disciple means you take all of what you've learned, and you take all of what you've done, and you take it and you try and make someone else's life better.

But what makes it even more profound is we've got to go back to explain how profound that is even in your own life before you started doing the work. You were an AP sports writer living a professional athlete's lifestyle. You had access, parties, money. I think people have an idea of what an NBA, a major league baseball star, a guy in the NFL, what at least there's been enough social media and stories out there that you get an idea of what that world can be. Yeah.

And how it can take your life off rails. And certainly, you know, there's far too many stories of a 22, 23-year-old kid that gets some multimillion-dollar contract and by 35 is broke. But a lot of what leads to that is that professional athlete's lifestyle. What was interesting to me is that the people in the circle surrounding them, like you, a sports writer, you have some of the same access to all of that world. And going back to first talk about, you know, your story, what was that life really like? Give us a true glimpse into that world. And then candidly, what it broke in you.

Yeah, that's going back to what we had said earlier about old Rob and new Rob. The old Rob was, this is Old Rob, I guess. This is, this is, old Rob's got some stories. I grew up in, as I had said earlier, I grew up in South Philly, very provincial, but never felt like I fit in. Never felt like I fit in with, with the people and the kids in the school. And my parents are immigrants from the Middle East. And my name's a little funny. And I was called different things here and there.

and where's your camel and all that. No kidding. Yeah. Where are your parents from? My mom was born in Jordan. But Catholic. Yeah. My dad actually was in a monastery and be a priest.

Your kid. Well, so his funny story, my grandmother had, I think it would, both parents come from like families of between 9, 10, 11, 12. And my grandmother on my dad's side, she wanted, she had all these kids and she's like, I want when she, all, my only memory of her is praying the rosary. I met her for three months, and she, every day, she's sitting there praying the rosary, praying the rosary. So she wanted a son to be a priest, so she sent my dad off to a monastery.

Spent a couple of years. And then you end up in South Philly, which is kind of, it's Italian. Yeah. It's heavy. Very Italian. I got a vow at the end of my name. So they, it worked. But I want, but I'm not.

So, although there may be some, a quarter and eight. eighth, a nine, whatever it may be. And my dad eventually left a monastery, of course, married my mom, and only for weddings and funerals that he ever go back to church. I was the one going to church. So, but I was called in grade school, one of the things that stuck out to me was a kid, and I'll never forget, called me a sand N-I-G-G-E-R. Wow.

And that's come up again later on. Somebody said that to me at the gym one year. And I decided that I'm not going to fit in with these kids. I'm going to try and rise above them. And I, to me, as a 12, 13, 14 year old, what to me look like rising above being better than, be better than I'm in sports, be better as a student, be better looking and get all the girls. That, to me, those were the priorities in life. So now I have 14, 15, 16.

Like, my priorities in life are be great at sports. I played baseball, went through college and played very well, couldn't make it to the majors, obviously. Was top of my class in grade school, finished top five in high school. Spent a lot of time working on my body, try and look good. And I realized to me it was like, all right, baseball's not there. Smart has got so far. Like, what can I do now?

I'm going to get all the least. I'm going to get all the ladies. That was my mentality, right? And that mentality took me into a place where once I grew into, I'm hired by the AP, I'm covering sports, I'm young at the – I'm in my early 20s. I'm in these locker room settings. I'm meeting these guys. Now I'm going out to clubs.

I'm partying with them. Are you making friends with them? Yeah. So you're hanging with, like, names of people we know. Right. Oh, yeah. And this is going back in early 2000. So players who are now since retired in the Hall of Fame.

Yeah, so like if Kobe says you want to go have a drink, oh, yeah. There was, so I, to digress, when Kobe tragically was killed in that plane crash, I was on the air hosting a radio show. It was an hour and a half before. I was due for my shift at 975, the fanatic at the time, Sunday afternoon. four-hour shift. Packing my bags to go to Miami for the Super Bowl the next day, my daughters are

like three or four and they're like they hate when I leave and they're crying to me. Daddy, don't go, don't pack. Now I hear about Kobe dying and I'm like, wow, this is, this is, and at the time, you know how you're pulled in so many different directions. I don't know if I need to be doing radio. I'm spending time here. I've got this job at the AP. I'm going to cover the Super Bowl, all of this stuff. I'm thinking, like, am I, what am I doing, wasting eight hours, because I do eight hours or 12 hours a week on radio? Why am I doing that right now? It doesn't fit in. Kobe dies. I drive to the station and I go on the air and I spend four hours with a grieving city of Philly and surrounding areas talking about Kobe. And the messages I received from listeners

after that saying there could have been no one better to listen to on a day like this than Rob, that he was the perfect person to talk to, to just, and I cried on the air, I was emotional on the air, and we just brought it back to, we secular radio and talked about faith, right? I said, hey, this is what it's all about, right? And that show kind of gave me a, Kobe's death and me doing that four hours kind of helped me realize, that I needed to continue being a voice in that platform because there are people out there who hear me and hear the honesty, sincerity, the passion.

I'm not just going on air talking about trying to get clickbait reaction. I'm not trying to give the most outrageous hot takes. I'm trying to be relatable with everybody. And it was that Kobe episode that really brought it to life. But I did have an interaction. I just dropped Kobe. I had no idea. It's crazy. And I had a Kobe interaction one time in a locker room where he had seen me the night before at a club. And he gave me one of these like, you know.

Heads up like like. Yeah. Yeah. And and to me that that was almost like Kobe giving me a fist bump, giving me a hug. Like he saw. He acknowledged maybe even, you know, that was like. A little respect to the game. Yeah. Yeah. That kind of thing. I couldn't. sustain that lifestyle. Can anybody? Nobody can. But from a financial standpoint, let's start there. I'm not making what these guys are making, right? I'm a sports writer.

I'm not signing a seven-figure deal coming. So I can't do bottle service like they do. Yet I'm trying, right? I can't do all these things, but I'm fitting in. I'm mixing in. I'm hanging out. And what I tried to tell myself, coach, is I tried to tell my, I tried to justify it like this.

I tried to say, well, like, I'm building relationships with these guys because it'll help me and my job I'll break news, right? Yeah. But never one time, while we're out at the bar or at the club or hanging out with the ladies,

never one time that we talk about anything sports-related. It was never about the game. It was never about the interception or the route or the past or the pitch. It was never about that. It was about, oh, you see that blonde over there? Or you see that brunette over there? So that was the lifestyle that I lived in.

Was that lifestyle? intoxicating and addicting. It was exhilarating, yeah. It was certainly addicting. It was very much so because... You get wounded over. And I always took care of my body, so I don't really like alcohol, so I didn't drink. I would be the guy in that group drinking bottles of Evian.

Right? That was me. I mean, the players, the athletes, they're drinking. So I'm not, I never smoked. I never did anything, never did any drugs, none of that stuff. for me, that addiction was the thrill of the chase. Yeah. It was the thrill of the chase.

It was, I can't compete with this guy on the baseball field. I can't throw a football like that one or catch a football or run a route or do any of that. But if we don't tell these ladies we're athletes, right, because that was part of the game, that was part of the, you got to be a normal. Now, of course, some of these guys are very recognizable, but sometimes they're not. They blend in or you never know. Let's compete and see who ends up with more action tonight. So that's what the lifestyle was like.

And it just led me into a dark, dark place. Did it give you street cred with that plates? Yeah. Which is also addicting. I mean, the very guys you're covering and are, quote, sports heroes. Heroes is an interesting word there, but that's what we call them. I mean, all of a sudden you're getting credibility with them with being a dude. I got to believe that's addicting and intoxicating too.

I think everybody wants to be liked, appreciated, looked up to. And when you're walking in the locker room and guys are, you know, hey, where are you headed to tonight or that girl that you were with, does she have a sister? or does she have like that kind of those questions were were very much you could say that's addicting that one in a weird way affirming but a very non-positive information and it takes me back to the priorities that I set for myself at a young age from some words that a stupid kid said to me that we should never let we should never allow someone's words to have that much power over us I took comments that kids made, whether it was about a camel or a sand or whatever it was,

and formulated this identity, this persona, this person that I wanted to be, and carried that out throughout into my 20s and into my early 30s. And I had relationships. I was married and divorced in three years because I was absolutely a jack-assad of a husband. I was a heart. I met a, it was like a childhood high school sweetheart, met at seven. She was 17. I was 19.

And we dated for seven years, got married at 27. She was 24. And I was divorced by 30 because, and I was obviously didn't live like a great husband. And at first, we were going out together. And athletes are seeing me with her beautiful woman and her friends. are like, hey, let's all get together pretty soon. She's going out with her friends. I'm going out with my friends.

I'm doing that. And that ended up leading to divorce. And then what I did was tell myself, I'll never do that again. I'll never do that again. Next relationship, cycle repeated itself. Next relationship, cycle repeated itself. All the way up until that moment in that church at Times Square on August 29, 2010. Before we get to that and the story about how you got to.

to that church is hilarious. I love it. And I'm interested about that story and one thing I'm going to ask you, but first, something you said that I think's really cool is you said, nobody pulled you aside and confronted you about what you were becoming. That's interesting because you're surrounded by all this fun and people and everything else. But what that comment says to me is you had no front. It was enablers. You're surrounded by people who guys, friends want to be my wingman, right? And they want to go out and, and just hang out like that. And there was, there was really no one who was saying, hey, you know what? I think the lifestyle you're living here is going to lead to disastrous results. The, the lifestyle you're living here is going to leave you empty and broken.

There was nobody at that point in my life. Now, looking back, all these years later, I wonder if there were voices that I ignored. Could have been. Right? I think there may have been voices that I ignored or people who my close family didn't know the extent. I didn't confide in anyone. I really lived two separate lives. Family man, Rob, at home.

Good Rob, bad, right? Yeah. Still going to church. on Sunday. Going to church on Sunday, lighten the candles. We have to. It depends the six days previous, right? I've never forget sitting with a priest, and I'm telling them. Are you straight up with a priest? Oh, I told him how to do a thousand Hail Mary's and a thousand hour follow. I'm praying all day long. And so it's like, I'm like, that's it. This is all I got to do. So even in that moment, I wish a priest would,

would say to me, rather than send me off with a thousand our fathers and a thousand Hail Mary's to atone for the mistakes, hey, why don't you sit down with somebody and get some real, real help or figure out what you're doing here? Because the life you're living isn't going to be solved by a thousand Hail Marys and a thousand Our Fathers. We'll be right back. This record is on. Miley is having a moment. New next. Closive show. So IHart Radio is sending you to experience it all. Life at the Hollywell, tickets, and $1,000 cash. Listen to IHard new music for 10 minutes a day on the IHart Radio app,

and click enter. Every day you listen is another chance to win. Stream Miley's new album, Bass Persuades, today. My name is Josie Duffy Rice. I'm a journalist who covers the criminal legal system. And over my career, I've heard account after account of prosecutorial misconduct, story after story of injustice. But I've never heard a story quite like this.

The more I kept reading that stuff, I thought, man, there's more red flags that just kept coming up over and over. We'll hypnotize him to strengthen that memory. So he went into a good france. I really didn't believe any of it was real. And I was like, well, they're going to figure out this is not me. They're going to do their police job. Listen to Examine the Backfire Effect on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

You broke me. You do not deserve happiness. I'm Andrea Gunning. On this season of betrayal, we meet Carl Bryant. Carl thought he was living a normal, drama-free life until the messages started. You will have hell to pay. For nine months, someone infiltrated every. aspect of Carl's life threatening to ruin him.

Cyberstalking, swatting, extortion, impersonation. And then the text threats escalated. Someone's not going to make it out of this alive. It's playing out in real life, not just on the phone. Every piece of evidence pointed to one man. But every piece of evidence was a lie. He was not going to stop unless. we stopped him.

Listen to Betrayal Season 6 on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On Big Lives, we take a single cultural icon. People like Jane Fonda, George Michael, Richard Pryor. And we pull apart the story behind the image. And we do this by digging through the BBC's vast archive.

We're talking iconic moments in broadcast history. I'm not just a boxer. I'm educated. I can talk all week on millions of subjects. And forgotten interviews that change how we see these giants of our culture. Well, if changing the system from the ground up is revolutionary, then I'm revolutionary. We're here for the messy, the brilliant, the human version of our heroes. I mean, when I go on stage, I like to dress the slutty as possible

because it makes me dance better for some reason. I'm Emmanuel Jocci. I'm Kai Wright. And this is Big Lives. Listen to Big Lives on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get podcasts. Hi, it's Alec Baldwin. This season on my podcast,

here's the thing I'm speaking with more artists, policymakers, and performers like actor Stephen Root. I think for me to be any good or for any character actor to be any good, you've got to put enough of yourself and your empathy for people in it.

I'm a people watcher. You see that guy going down the dream? Yeah, I can use that. Open Igloo co-founder, Alia Muhammad. I love staying on top of what is going on. in our city, what is going on in city politics, what is on renter's minds, and taking all of that knowledge to build a platform that hopefully is going to make New York City better in the long run.

And actress and singer Melissa Eriko. Partnership took on a whole other meaning when I started making my own work. It's like you with a great actress or actor. It was best to come out of your trailer, full of life, and just face another person who's full of life and don't talk. Listen to Here's the Thing on the IHeart Radio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Bob Pipman, chairman and CEO of IHeartMedia,

and host of the podcast, Math and Magic, stories from the Frontiers of Marketing. I have some new exciting interviews coming to the Math and Magic feed this fall. IHeart's own Hoda Kotbe is joining me to talk about her new business venture and podcast, Joy 101. Your timeline is not anybody else's. Stay in the game. and let them find you.

I'm also talking to Capital One's Mark Mentry. Be there in the key moments to build relationships. Because then when things go well, you can say, congratulations, guys. We do it at the end of IHeart Festival and Jingleball. And marketing executive Diego Scotti. The fourth stakeholder that to me is critical is society as a whole. That purpose-driven marketing should be part of your mainstream marketing, not just something that you do on the side.

Listen to Math and Magic Stories from the Frontiers of Marketing on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. What up, y'all. This your main man, Memphis Bleak right here. Host of that rock solid podcast. And each week, we bring in you exclusive looks inside music.

Everything happening inside the culture. Some of the best conversations were the biggest names in the game. You had a little bit more pressure to be good. And they didn't care if you was a girl. Like, you wasn't getting no points because you were a girl. If you're not trash, you better be not just good. You better be great.

On rock solid, we're talking to rap legends, hitmaking producers, rising stars from the golden era to the future of this hip-hop game, where we keep it 100% unfiltered and keep it nothing but rock solid. The thing about Jay, my opinion, is he's been so great at being seen, but mysterious. You know what I'm saying? He don't got to come talk about anything. You figure it out. So it's always a mystique and mysteriousness behind them,

but it ain't like you don't see him. Listen to Rock Solid on Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you streamed podcast. Through the lens of your story, though, you can understand how someone can have millions of dollars, the biggest house, all the fame, all the glory in the world, and be utterly broken. And I think of boxing.

I think of the NFL. I think of all of the... I think of forget sports. I think of, you know, how to 35-year-old people who've got 10 gold records commit suicide. And ultimately, your story is a really good example for us to all remember that being average and being normal and being healthy mentally, spiritually, and relationally, is being wealthy. That's the truth because the real peace and the real joy doesn't come from that material stuff.

And I've seen these athletes tell me they win a Super Bowl and they've spent their whole life. That's the pinnacle. They've spent their whole life for that moment to get on that stage, to hoist that Vince Lombardi trophy, to get that ring, to be able to have that parade. to be adored, to be loved, to go through all of that. And then two days later, now what? Because they reached it.

They achieved it. They're there. It's arrived for them. And what they thought that moment would bring them to, 48 hours, 72 hours a week. Now what? What's next? And that's where they go back to looking for the next thing

to find their fulfillment. Do you remember the name Rocky Felker? He was the AD at Mississippi State. He played football at Alabama for Bear. His father was Babe Felker, who coached high school football for many, many years in Brownsville, Tennessee, not far from here.

Venerable old guy, exactly what you would think when you think of Babe Felker, high school football coach. You remember those old two-snap, like almost polyester, but skin-tight polyester, or coaching pants.

Oh, yeah. We're those every day of his life. White hair. I don't think I've ever seen the man without a whistle run. He once said to me and a couple other guys that your foundation and what defines you has to be your character, your commitment, your integrity, and all that. And if you build your foundation on those things, you can hold up all the trophies and all the accolades that come your way because your proper.

based. However, if what defines you is the success and is the wins and is the trophies, he said, you try to stand on a football, you try to stand on a stack of money, you try to hand on a trophy, it will literally break under you. And he said metaphorically, if what defines you are those accolades rather than a proper foundation, you will ultimately collapse. And that story is ultimately what you're talking about, an ultimate collapse, a brokenness that without the right foundation, regardless of all the money and fame, you collapse. And I see it time and time again. And that's why I believe in mental health has become something, and that's what led us to

meeting together at the Stand Together event was a mental health panel that I hosted. it's such an integral part of what men and all people, men, women, athletes, young students, is that they should focus on because we don't take that time as men to say, hey, you know, we spend the time physically. Some of us spend time spiritually building ourselves, but how are we building our mind? How are we making sure that we're in the right headspace? how are we making sure that if we've got some issues going on, who are we talking to,

or are we lashing it, or are we turning to drugs, alcohol, womenizing, chasing this, chasing that? And I think that's led so many. I've had so many of these conversations with young athletes now is that they're struggling because they don't have the avenues and they don't have the right set up and they don't know who to reach out to. and in some cases they're scared. You tell me a guy on a team struggling to make a roster is going to feel comfortable opening up

about some mental health issues. He's not. He's not going to do that. He's going to feel like he's going to get cut because maybe somebody else is, you know, in a better situation. So all of this ties in together, all of this.

But it's only now that we're realizing, like, hey, to me, what I went through, there was all mental health issues. I didn't acknowledge. I never would have said, I would have put a label on it and said, what, mental help, no, that's not me. Now, as I look back at it, I go, 100%. I needed to get my head right.

I needed to speak to somebody, and I didn't. I didn't reach out to anybody. That's old, Rob. Let's go to the precipice of what created new Rob. Ironically, a woman that you met. I love what she said to you. Tell us that story about what, y'all did together what she said to you and and how it ultimately led to you having an awakening

that led to the work you're doing now so this is 2010 and um may of 2010 one of my my third long my third big relationship ends and i'm now finally because of you yeah because because of everything because of old rob because of old rob so i'm finally for the first time in 19 years coach i'm finally single and able to do everything that I had been doing without the guilt of doing it. Yeah. You're sick. So guess what I did for 36 straight days? I went out and I partied like a rock star.

I had, and I told you earlier, I don't like alcohol, I don't drink. I had at least one drink for 36 straight days from May into June of 2010. I tried to break Joe DiMaggio's hitting streak by drinking instead of getting a hit every day. I feel like that's beginning of an end. unraveling. It's, it's, I was on a path of self-destruction. Yeah. I was on a path and I met this, I met a woman ironically who is from Egypt. She's Egyptian and the irony comes into play later. And she, you know, we, we started talking. I shared with her my whole story. And she entered the conversation and the relationship thinking perhaps we can have a relationship. And then she tells me

after a few dates and hanging out and going out and doing this and that. She's like, God put me here to prepare you for your next relationship. I'm not meant to be with you. So I left that night. Wow. Yeah. So I left that night thinking, all right, let me go hook up with somebody. And I did. I did. That night, I went somewhere and I hooked up with somebody else. And because I'm like, okay, this is going nowhere. But she insisted on taking me to church. And she took me to that. Times Square Church a couple times. And the first two times, you know, I heard things, I saw things, and it was different for me. It was different from anything I saw in Catholic Church. It was completely, I was like, what is this? I at the time, I was like, I tell people I was a Catholic

snob. To me, I knew nothing else. All I knew was the Catholic Church. And I go into Times Square Church, and it's different and it's moving. And I'm feeling now, as I look back, I'm like, that was the Holy Spirit working. That was the Holy Spirit working within me. And that led me to the third visit there on August 29, 2010, where I heard the testimony of a drug dealer and that drug dealer talked about having a stash of cocaine and there was a big bust and a cop took it and threw it down the sewer and told him, I'm going to give you a second chance at life. I'm not going to arrest you right now. And he said he took off, that drug dealer took off, never sold drugs, never did drugs again. And to him, that cop was Jesus in disguise. And he turned his life around. He

changed his life around. He was up there preaching and sharing that day. And that was when the pastor did the invitation. I walked down from, I was sitting in the nosebleed section at Times Square Church and I still got the time. I'm like, yeah, I'm not, I know, why? But she held my hand and she walked me down. And that's where I surrendered everything to the Lord. And people are cheering for me. I'm like, what is this? Turn around. People are cheering for me. people I never met in my life are hugging me because I guess I don't know if anyone else walked down to the front of and went for that altar call. I don't know if anyone else was there or if I was the one most dramatically crying and doing whatever I was doing in that moment.

But people were cheering me on. People were hugging me. They were encouraging me. And I felt like the weight of the world was lifted off my shoulders in that moment because I felt like I'm no longer in this fight in this battle. by myself. I am no longer going through life alone because what I finally did was I invited the Lord into my heart. And rather than praying one day a week and then doing my thing for six days, I'm going to carry him in here and have him guide me and lead me and help me. So I walked out of there that day completely changed. It's not a dramatic turn where like, okay, the next day, I'm a new man and a new person, but I had to ease into it. And I had to continue.

grow and I had to surround myself now with different influences. And that's where I started meeting and reaching. Now I start gravitating in the locker room towards, you know, all those players who are saying, I give all the glory and praise to Jesus Christ, or posting about a Bible verse on their Instagram or their Twitter or wherever. Now I'm gravitating towards them in a locker because I want to listen to them speak. And then they found an appreciation for me wanting to be there because most microphones and cameras walk away, right? And now I'm the one guy standing there and I'm listening.

And now I'm talking to them, hey, about that Bible verse. What did that mean to you? And what did this mean to you? And in life, outside the locker room, off the field, a couple different people who saw a little bit of a change in me started inviting me, Billy. to the Deacon's Prison Ministry. Another guy, Timmy DeMoss, invited me to play on his Christian softball team

and surrounded myself with better influences. And that relationship with that woman who held my hand and walked me down to the front of that church quickly ended, as she predicted. God put her there to prepare me for the next one. Three months later, I met Remy, who also, what I said, ironically, is from Egypt.

And we ended up getting engaged 10, 11 months later, married, six months after that, and then a year after that, God bless us with twin daughters. So it's a magical, incredible transformation, and I feel like everybody along the way played a role. What a story. So now you're how old with Remy? At that time? At that time, yeah. So I met her, I met Remy the day after I turned 37. Okay.

And we are now married. Which is the birth of New Rob. Right. And you're now married. I'm sorry. We're now married. Put me on a spot, 13 years. Now is where we come full circle to the prison ministry and all of us stuff.

And you came home from a five-day prison crusade, ready to quit sports journalism and going to ministry full-time. Then a pastor told you, nah, dude, almost like the, all. Almost like the Egyptian girl that said, I'm here to prepare you for someone else. You and I are not meant to be together. Then a pastor almost said to you, nah, that's not get carried away. Yeah. So you told me this at the table when we first met. I thought this is a great story.

This was 2016. So now it's two years in the Deacon's prison ministry. And I'm two years into it, a couple of crusades. This time we go, that year we went to Ohio. And we went to Ohio. and I was I was on fire, man. We played some great teams and we got our butts whipped by some. You can ask you something.

Because these prison guys actually play ball. Yeah. There's some good ballplay or something. Oh, my goodness. So you can tell when you walk into prison, some of them, we'll walk into some prisons and they're wearing prison garb and they got to borrow our gloves. Then we'll walk into some prisons where they've got a league set up. They're in full uniform.

They, I mean, they look better. You know you're about to play. They look better than us, right? We walk in there. They've got equipment. They've got, you know, they've got their swag, their wristbands, and they've got every, they've got some of them. Some might have some sunglasses or whatever.

We're about to face some teams where guys are hitting bombs off of us, right? And we went to Ohio. I can't remember the name of this prison, but I saw some home runs hit further than I've ever seen a ball hit in my life. But it was such a great impactful trip that time because I had an opportunity. It was like we all rotated and took turns. But I think after the first or second time that I spoke, our leaders kind of felt like this might be Rob's week. Let's just like let's ride him a little bit.

So I'm preaching in maybe six or seven of those. And I saw thousands of guys except in Christ. That was the trip where I saw we're baptizing guy here. B bottles of water, home plate, and we're baptizing these guys. And I came home from that trip.

I'm like, I am meant to do this. Like, this is what I have to do. I come home. My wife and I had just bought a new house in New Jersey where taxes are ridiculous. And I would, if you live in Jersey, don't.

It's just, I mean, taxes it. For what? And our daughters are two and a half. at the time. And I sit down there and I tell Remy, babe, this trip was like, it's just eye-opening. I got to go in a full-time ministry. And Remy being a great wife that she is,

like, you know, honey, I love, I appreciate your heart, right? I appreciate your heart. I want you to pray on it. And I think you and I probably both know, pray on it from a wife means, I hope God tells you don't do this because I don't want to be the reason you didn't do it. So I didn't want to tell you not to do it. I want God to tell you.

So, honey, take your time and go pray on it. So, rather than pray on it, this is me. I reach out to a pastor who had mentored several of the Eagles players, Pastor Ka Horner. And he played, he was a quarterback at Tennessee before Peyton Manning. Yeah, he was a high school legend in South Jersey, great quarterback, and went out to Tennessee, played there before Peyton. It ended up transferring to Richmond. Never got that story if it was because of Peyton or not.

But anyway. Probably. Yeah, I would too. So we meet at a Starbucks, and we're sitting there, and I tell them this grand plan I have of leaving this job that it's hard to come by, right? It's a good gig. Right? I'm the lead sports writer for the AP covering all the Philly teams, Phillies, Flyers, Eagles. I've got all this.

We talked about all the access and all the stuff and everything that led to where I am. And at the time, I'm also doing radio, and I'm doing different things. and he says to me, that's great, right? But I think, Rob, you're thinking of it the wrong way. Rather than league, God gave you skill, talent, and ability for a reason, rather than quit and go in a full-time ministry where we have enough people doing full-time ministry, we need more people doing marketplace ministry. And he said, take Jesus to your marketplace.

And that clicked for me. I was like, wow. Take Jesus to your market. To your marketplace, which is each one of us, wherever we all. are, if we're a man of faith, right? Wherever we are, whatever we're doing, we can take the Lord into our marketplace and impact. We all have a circle of influence. It could be as small as our house. It could be a school. It could be a coaching position. Wherever it is, and you don't have to do. So I took those words. I went back. I told Remy, and she said, I wasn't going to let you quit

anyway. And at the time, I had written two books, two devotionals, baseball faith with baseball players, football faith with NFL players. So I was taking Jesus to my marketplace and didn't even understand it. They didn't even realize like, hey, I can do this. I can stay here, continue what I'm doing, use these relationships and this platform and turn it into something good. And that's how Faith on the Field came about. Within six, seven months, we launched Faith on the Field Show as a radio show initially on ESPN Philly in April 2017. and we are now going into our 10th season. We're nine years running.

We at one point, we're on 17 different radio stations across the country. You're syndicated, right? Yeah. And now we've launched a ministry, a nonprofit, and we're all about connecting people to Christ, helping people through mental health and prioritizing that and mental wellness. And now as a flag football coach

and seeing the needs that I'm seeing in that community for leaders, for giving kids, kids more opportunities. One thing I hate to see is tournaments cost money. And I had a player recently just couldn't afford her family couldn't afford to play. And we gave her a scholarship. Like we want to give scholarships. I don't want a kid not to play because they can't do the $270 registry or whatever it may be. So we want to do a little bit of some scholarships and giving back to kids in the flag. And then develop leaders because you know this. Coaching sucks at that level.

That's horrible. I mean, coaches make it about them. Like, you're trying to win the Lombardi through middle school girls flag football. It even goes deeper into third grade soccer and stuff. Man. Let's get to that. But first, there's something that I'm really interested in. Pretty crazy story about how you got to the show and the prison ministry and everything else.

And that's a lot. And something you alluded to earlier that I wanted to talk to you. Now you're coaching girls flag football. Why are you doing that? So, yeah, this started from, I saw a need, right? My daughters, who just turned 13 last week, began playing flag football at the age of nine. Never once through, people just assumed, because in my job, my profession, I pushed them into it. They just came to me and wanted to play.

we moved to Tampa in 2021. Tom Brady's there, and one of my girls is like, I want to be the next Tom Brady. And she's just through 34 touchdowns, three interceptions in the 19 game spring season. We went 16-1 and 2. So she's well on her way to being the flag football version. I actually, this is what's so cool.

I shared that story with Tom. I emailed them, and he emailed me right back. Oh, that's really nice. I told, she was more excited about Tom Brady. emailing her dad about her success, then she was about her success. Because it was, she's like, oh, wow, she's like, Tom Brady. So it's cool in that aspect. But I just saw a need for coaching, right? And I said, let me coach. And I started coaching these kids, and I liked it. I enjoyed it. There's a lot of challenges with coaching young ladies and coaching little girls. And there's a lot of drama. And there's a lot of things that

a dad or a man can't understand and things like that. So my wife has come alongside as like team mom, team manager. That's very cool. Yeah. So y'all kind of approach us together. Oh yeah. Yeah. And if you know Remy and if you saw Remy, some people out there, some listeners, some viewers may have seen my wife on reality television on marriage boot camp where we had our, we had a, uh, on the first season and we had opportunity to do our own show. That's a whole other story that we can't get into right now. We don't have the time for. But she hated sports.

Really? Hated sports. Married an AB sports writer and hated. Hated sports didn't care a thing about sports, but to see her now on the sideline takes every video of every play, every play. We've got video of Molina throwing this touchdown, Alexia catching this pass, whatever.

And then she's cheating. Not only that, She's going above. She's watching videos. She's sending my daughter videos of Aaron Rogers and his mechanics. Tom Brady. I'm like, who are you at this point? She's like, watch how Tom was throwing this and you should learn from that.

And then Justin Jefferson running routes here. And she's sending it to Alexia, the wide receiver. I'm like, wow, this is impressive. But it's been really fulfilling to be able to live that journey with the girls. And through that, I became, I coached a private middle school girls flag team. in this spring. This fall, I'm coaching a private high school launching the program. We just built their program coaching a high school team, which my daughters are going to, even though they're in eighth grade, they're going to play up. They're going to play with these high school kids.

And it's fun. But what I continue to see is that need. I'll tell you this. When we want to champion, we live in a very nice neighborhood, a very nice area. And yet I had to hire a personal security. security guard for the championship game in the spring because there were a husband-wife coach duo on another team that made me feel uncomfortable after a confrontation that I had with them about yelling at, they were yelling about my, a coach cursed out middle school girls. Like, I have no tolerance for that. I didn't, I didn't want to fight him because I got too much to lose. I just told him he's a disgrace and an embarrassment in a very loud voice.

to which everybody heard. And I felt uncomfortable seeing them again, had to hire a security guard for the next week for the championship. For girls, middle school flag football. Yeah. And I'm telling you, like, in a very, it doesn't matter where you come from, your background, whether you're in a great, affluent neighborhood, or you're in an inner city.

Like, people get that heated over sport. Like, it's sad. So there's a, and girls on his team are crying. They don't want to play for that coach. And to me, that's the worst part. Like, we should be in this, it's not a business. We should be in this sport to try and teach these kids the love of the game. We'll be right back.

This record is on. Miley is having a moment. New name, new album, and two exclusive shows. So IHart Radio is sending you to experience it all. Life, hotel, tickets, and $1,000 cash. Listen to IHard new music for 10 minutes a day on the IHart Radio app. And click enter. Every day you listen is another chance to win. Stream Miley's new album, Bass Persuades, today.

My name is Josie Duffy Rice. I'm a journalist who covers the criminal legal system. And over my career, I've heard account after account of prosecutorial misconduct, story after story of injustice. But I've never heard a story quite like this. The more I kept reading that stuff, I thought, man, there's more red flags that just kept coming up over and over. We'll hypnotize him to strengthen that memory.

So he went into a good france. I really didn't believe any of it was real. And I was like, well, they're going to figure out this is not me. They're going to do their police job. Listen to Examine the Backfire Effect on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You broke me. You do not desert happiness.

I'm Andrea Gunning. On this season of betrayal, we meet Carl Bryant. Carl thought he was living a normal drama-free life until the messages started. You will have hell to pay. For nine months, someone infiltrated every aspect of Carl's life, threatening to ruin him. Cyberstalking, swatting, extortion, impersonation. And then the text threats escalated. Someone's not going to make it out of this alive.

It's playing out in real life, not just on the phone. Every piece of evidence pointed to one man. But every piece of evidence was a lie. He was not going to stop unless we stopped him. Listen to Betrayal Season 6 on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On big lives, we take a single cultural icon. People like Jane Fonda, George Michael, Richard Pryor. And we pull apart the story behind the image.

And we do this by digging through the BBC's vast archive. We're talking iconic moments in broadcast history. I'm not just a boxer. I'm educating. I can talk all week on millions of subjects. And forgotten interviews that change how we see these giants of our culture. Well, if changing the system from the ground up is relevant, revolutionary, then I'm revolutionary. We're here for the messy, the brilliant, the human version of our heroes.

I mean, when I go on stage, I like to dress as slutty as possible because it makes me dance better for some reason. I'm Immanuel Jocci. I'm Kai Wright. And this is Big Lives. Listen to Big Lives on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get podcasts. Hi, it's Alec Baldwin this season on my podcast. Here's the thing I'm speaking with more artists, policymakers, and performers.

Actor Stephen Root. I think for me to be any good or for any character actor to be any good, you've got to put enough of yourself and your empathy for people in it. I'm a people watcher. You see that guy going down the dream and go, yeah, I can use that. Open Igloo co-founder, Alia Mohamed. I love staying on top of what is going on in our city, what is going on in city politics, what is on renter's minds,

and taking all of that knowledge to build a platform that hopefully is going to make New York City better in the long run. And actress and singer Melissa Eriko. Partnership took on a whole other meaning when I started making my own work. It's like you with a great actress or actor. It was best to come out of your trailer, full of life, and just face another person

who's full of life and don't talk. Listen to Here's the Thing on the IHeart Radio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Bob Pittman, chairman and CEO of IHeartMedia, and host of the podcast, Math and Magic, stories from the Frontiers of Marketing.

I have some new exciting interviews coming to the Math and Magic feed this fall. IHeart's own Hoda Kotbe is joining me to talk about her new business venture and podcast, Joy 101. Your timeline is not anybody else's. Stay in the game and let them find you. I'm also talking to Capital One's Mark Mentry.

Be there in the key moments to build relationships. Because then when things go well, you can say, congratulations. guys. We do it at the end of IHeart Festival and Jingleball. And marketing executive Diego Scottie. The fourth stakeholder that to me is critical is society as a whole. That purpose-driven marketing should be part of your mainstream marketing, not just something that you do on the side. Listen to math and magic, stories from the frontiers of marketing on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

What up, y'all? This is your main man, Memphis Bleak right here. Host of that rock solid podcast. And each week, we bring in you exclusive looks inside music. Everything happening inside the culture. Some of the best conversations were the biggest names in the game. You had a little bit more pressure to be good. And they didn't care if you was a girl. Like, you wasn't getting no points because you was a girl. If you're not trash, you better be not just good.

You better be great. On rock silent, we talk in the rap legends, hit-making producers, rising stars from the golden era to the future of this hip-hop game, where we keep it 100% unfiltered and keep it nothing but rock solid. Yeah. The thing about Jay, my opinion, is he's been so great at being seen

but mysterious. You know what I'm saying? He don't got to come talk about anything. Nothing. You figure it out. So it's always a mystique and mysteriousness behind them, but it ain't like you don't see him.

Listen to Rock Solid on Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you should, string podcast. You're doing it for the right reasons. Of course, you enjoy the football aspect in the competition, but you're trying to instill stuff into these girls well beyond how to throw football. And the acronym for team, I think, is really interesting.

Tell us what you came up with and what that means to your girls. So we've got two. We're going with team together. Everyone achieves more. I'm trying to build togetherness, right? We want everybody together achieving more. Everyone achieves more. I have them say that every game before every practice because it's all about

uplifting and encouraging each other. Hey, if she throws an interception, the last thing, and I tried, we had a tournament recently and we brought in some kids that didn't play with us because we were able to add to the roster, and there was a pass thrown behind a girl, and she does this. And I pulled her aside, I said, we don't do that here. Yeah, don't show up your quarterback. Because when she threw a ball that you dropped, she didn't say a word to you, and she threw right to you the next one. So we're trying to encourage them, uplift them. And the other for team is,

I want you to be tough. You want to be a tough team. I want you to go out there, be tough, play tough, but playing tough means being able to deal with any challenges that come a long way. Not necessarily tough in a physical sense where you're kicking and screaming and punching. No, just be tough, be tough-minded. And for E, be encouraging, uplift each other, as we just said. For A, be adaptable, different circumstances. You're going to have bad calls. You're going to have good calls. You're going to have a referee that wants your flagged this way and tells you this. You have to be able to adapt to the circumstances, to the situations.

Because all of that translates into life. You want to be tough in life. You want to be an encouraging person. You want to be adaptable in life. And M, what's your motivation? Why are you here? Are you here to stand on a sideline and look at boys or are you here to win games? And that's kind of what we instill in them.

I love that. It's interesting. I mean, you've interviewed and you've observed great coaches, great players for decades. Who, as a flag football coach, donating your time, giving to girls in your community, who do you, or what of some of coaches that you've covered? do you bring into that work? That's a great question.

I'll start with Tony Dungey. Oh, gosh, uncommon man. Bro, Tony Dungey is the man. One of the best humans I've ever met. Not just in sports. And Tony and I now are, we live in Tampa together. We did an event. You know him well?

Yeah, we did an event. I have so much respect for him. Tony, I can tell you off-air some of the things that Tony's done that he doesn't want anybody to notice. You know, he's like, just Tony, it serves in his church. Okay, here's a Hall of Fame head coach opening doors for people in his church. That's not sure. Just the most humble, down-to-earth man I've ever met.

We went into a high school outside of Philadelphia in 2024, November 2024. I share testimony he preached the gospel. 52 men accepted Christ, coaches, players, kids that day. The next day, Tony was sitting at the airport flight delayed like six hours. And I text them, you know, thank you for last night. It was awesome. Really great. He's like, oh, no, no problem.

My flight's delayed. I'm like, oh, I'm really sorry about that. He's like, I'm still on a high from last night's 52. I don't care. I'm just getting some work done right now. But Tony, for me, because of his, he's so genuine, right? So sincere. and the one thing about Tony that I incorporate as a head coach,

I want to be as genuine as possible with these ladies. I want to be as as as sincere as possible with them. I want to help them be the best person they can be on and off the field. But when Tony was passed over for head coaching positions early, when he was a successful defensive coordinator, right, he was passed over. There was multiple times before Tampa Bay finally gave him an opportunity. Then he ends up going to Indianapolis,

wins the Super Bowl Manning, he's in a Hall of Fame. The head coach actually won a Super Bowl as a player when he was on Pittsburgh Steelers. You know all that. I don't know if too many people know that sometimes in some of the conversations that he was having with owners

and GMs in the hiring, that they thought he couldn't become a good leader because he doesn't curse. Are you kidding? How are you going to lead? He was told by the Jackson, and this is known, so I'm not breaking news here.

Jacksonville Jaguars, and I forget who ownership was at that time, interviewed him, how are you going to lead men when you're so soft-spoken and you don't curse, you don't use foul language? And he proved you can be a Hall of Fame head coach without using foul language. So that's- How did Jesus do it though. Right? So, hey, listen, I'm not perfect. I am not perfect, and I slip up and I mess up, but not on that field and not in front of those ladies. And that's the one thing I take the most from Tony Dungey. And the other is John Harbaugh.

Really? Yeah. John Harbaugh, to me, he's another one of those guys who's authentic. Right. And John, he had one daughter. He's got one daughter who's played sports. And we had this conversation last year about that. And his experiences with her coaches and how he tries to take that experience with coaches

who were maybe a little. too much or too over the top. And he told me what you say to a young lady now at 11, 12, 13, may impact the rest of her life. So you've got to be very intentional about complimenting. And you've got to be very careful about the way you criticize to where it's done in a way that it can help them. But you've got to be equally, he's got this 95-5 rule. He said, if, if, if, If you're always harping on a guy on a field, if you're always harping on a player, he's always going to think that you look at him in a negative sense. He said, but if you're complimentary 95% of the time, 95% of the time,

you're complimenting this guy. But that 5% you're fixing, you're correcting, you're adjusting, they are more susceptible to listen to you and to take, because it's rare now when you come to them 5% of the time, interacting, you're talking to them about how to become better. And in other 95, you're praising them. Hey, great job, great effort, great this, great that. I mean, obviously you can't do that with every single person. But if that's kind of the overwhelming rule, so I'm very complimentary of, hey, most basic catch. Nice job. Nice job. Great job. Love that. Because I want these kids to

walk away with a good positive feeling and a good positive feeling. So when I come to them and I want to correct them and say, hey, I want them to be listening. I want them to be attentive. So I think to me, John and Tony, and then Nick Siriani said something that stands out that I always use. And that's good teams have good players. Great teams have great teammates. And the Eagles went on and won a Super Bowl that season. And I tell my teams all the time, hey, good teams, you're going to see good teams, and we're going to face them, they all have good players. But the great teams, they got great teammates who are playing for each other, who are doing those things that I talked about, uplifting each other, encouraging each other. There's a story about one girl who couldn't

catch the final deep ball at your first trial, and eventually the whole team was cheering for. I think this speaks to some of that. But why does that moment mean so much to you? it's it's seeing everything that I'm preaching and teaching these kids put into action right when when you spend when you spend so much time teaching them and encouraging them and wanting them to to kind of live out this model and then to see it in action when that girl's struggling she's not catching they're all cheering her on and they're all cheering her on right man that makes you feel good because they're not walking away looking at that girl she can't this, she's not going to plague, why she, they want her to get. They're living for, they're living

each pass through her, wanting her to succeed. Now you're being a great teammate. Now you're living, my favorite thing, like they're cheering when she catches the ball. I go back, Remy takes all these videos, right, and she's catching all these plays. I'm not looking at the touchdown. I'm looking at the girls on the sideline. Who was the first one out there to congratulate the player who scored the touchdown? And I'm going to shout out. Like you say, great teams have made a great teammate. My one daughter, Alexia, is the best at this. She is out there first one always, and then other kids are following, right?

Who can you? And this applies to life. If you can celebrate other people's success and root for other people and encourage other people and want to see them succeed, it's not a competition. It's not, you're doing a podcast, I'm doing a podcast, I'm doing a show. I don't want to succeed and not see you have tremendous success. There's listeners for everybody, right? And unfortunately, I've seen that in ministry.

I've seen ministry where it's a competition where people keep their ministry to themselves or they don't want to highlight your ministry because they don't want. No, no, I think it should all be about celebrating each other's success. And I love seeing that. And I love that story with that young girl on that field and she's better for it. Your motto is make a difference, be a blessing. Where does that come from? That's my sign off too.

It's my motto. That's your sign off. I didn't realize it. Yeah, it's become my sign off. Even on when I was doing secular radio in Philadelphia, I will finish every show. It's Rob Mottie reminding you, make a difference, be a blessing. Because what are we here for? Are we here in life to accumulate stuff?

And then what? or are we here to make an impact, make a difference on someone else's life, and be a blessing to somebody else? For me, it's not about who Rob Madi is and what he's done in my accolades, in all of my accomplishments, in my bio. I hate when people ask me for my bio, because my bio is a list of all the things that I've done and I've accumulated. How about, to me, my bio internally is who are the people that I've impacted in a positive way? Who have I made a difference in their lives? The guy in the hotel room in North Carolina in a hotel who I said two words to

and he reached out to me six months later and said, I was going to commit suicide. And I asked for a sign. And that sign was you telling me that Jesus loves you. That to me is more impactful and more rewarding than anything that I've been able to do. So it's all about making a difference, being a blessing, blessing other people. Because if we bless others, those blessings will come upon ourselves. You wrote a story about the 2017 Eagle team?

Yeah, the 2017 Eagle Super Bowl champion. Like a 5 or 530 a.m. worship service the day before the Super Bowl, yeah. Or the day of the Super Bowl. Is that right? Yeah. How did you get that close? And what was the overwhelming response to that story? because that is absolutely mixing all of it together.

Yeah, so that was, it's crazy how we launched Faith on the Field in April 2017. That Eagles team in 2017, we host an event at a Christian university in Philadelphia, four days before the season opener. And the pastor who told me, Pastor Kyle, told me, take Jesus to your marketplace. like he's not become part of the show, right? He's a co-host at that time. And we invited Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz to come on stage with us and share.

Four days before NFL season opener, Carson Wentz, Trey Burton, tight end, who ended up throwing a touchdown past the quarterback Nick Foles in the Super Bowl, and guard Steph Wisniewski take time probably about four hours out of their life on a Wednesday night and they come out to Eastern University, and they sit there.

Six thousand people sat through on a soccer field in rain. We were under a shelter, and they shared about their faith. They go out there, that team, they win that first game. Carson's got like a Houdini play. He has an MVP caliber season, tears his ACL, but I'm building relationships with these guys. I'm seeing who they are. I noticed and knew that that season, but the year prior, Carson's rookie. year, 2016, a bunch of players were baptized in the cold tub at the team facility with the team

chaplain, with Trey Burton in that tub being the one helping baptize the guys. So when they go on and I'm in the locker room day in and day out, I'm also doing the show. We're in Minneapolis. I could not believe, like you talk about a childhood. I grew up a diehard Eagles fan, sat in a 700-level at the old vet. Buddy Ryan was my favorite coach. Randall Cunningham was my favorite player, right? Buddy and all his bravado and his like, yeah, all that bluster and nonsense and everything else. And when I got hired by the AP, when I sat down and in the year 2000 did the interview, I was told clearly, you can't be a fan. And I was like, that's it. I'm done. I'm not rooting for anybody. I don't care who wins or loses. But to see the confetti fall in that press box in

Minneapolis, I was like, young Rob would be like freaking out right now. And I'm just writing away, I'm just taking my time, doing what I got to do. But I go in the locker room and I'm seeing these guys and I knew I had to write a book about them. It was, it was, it wasn't just a story. I had to write a book about them about this team and that brotherhood and that camaraderie. And I reached out to my literary agent and said, hey, I got this idea. I want to do this. this book. We're going to call it Birds of Prey, P-R-A-Y, Eagles, right, play off of the prey, and a bunch of publishers turned it down. And then Harper Collins, 30 days after he had started reaching out to different, so it took about 30 days. Harper Collins said, yeah, we want it. And they gave me like

six weeks to write that book. And in six, because we wanted it out before the next season. And in six weeks, you know, I'm now going back and talking to these guys and getting those stories of meeting together for 530 worship, the day of the Super Bowl, and then finding out, like, you know, Carson Wentz is doing some fellowship time with players here at his house, or they're doing with the head coach Doug Peterson. I was in the locker room after they won the Super Bowl when they all took a knee and Doug Peterson led them in our father. after winning the Super Bowl in the Lord's Prayer. I took video of that because for me that was a surreal moment, right? And it comes full circle. Here I am at the Super Bowl. Eagles just won. Players are taken in my childhood team,

and they're praying the Lord's Prayer, which the priest used to tell me to recite a thousand times for all the trash go. Just think about that. That actually is. There's hilarious. Back to talking about going from fan to follower to disciple, many people stop at follower.

What do you think pushes someone to the last step? And along the terms of that last step, the army of normal folks, I mean, ultimately that's why I'm talking to you, because of all these things in your life, you're just a normal dude from Philly. You were actually a normal dude from Philly who was kind of an outcast. You haven't started some massive 501c3.

You haven't done anything. You've done prison ministry. You found yourself. You coached girls' flag football. You're making a difference where you can, everywhere you can, the way you can. You epitomize what the army of normal folks supposed to be. So I guess what I want you to send us off. with is what is your encouragement to the people listening to us right now about redemption,

about old Rob, new Rob, good rap, bodroop, and in what you want to say to the people listening to us now, how they join the ranks of the Army and normal folks and have impact in our society? Well, first, it's an honor to be considered. a member of the army of normal folks. I love to be considered somebody who's looked upon as one of the army of normal folks. It starts with this. Whatever we've done in our past, any issues that we're dealing with now, all of that

can't take control of us. It can't overtake us. Everything that has troubled us, any issues, all of it, we can always start fresh. we can always start new. So we are redeemed. We are forgiven. If we seek it, if we forgive ourselves, we are forgiven. And sometimes the hardest part is forgiving yourself and moving on. And then taking the lessons you've learned to make someone else's life better. Because if you have all the answers to the test and you keep them to yourself, life is just one big major challenge. And I'm going to keep everything to myself. Why wouldn't I share to help make your life better or to help make your life

better? Why would I exist to keep everything to myself? As you said earlier, why would I stop it being follower? Okay, I'm a follow. So many people stop at that because they're afraid to take that next step. You're a follower. You know what to do. You're living, but I'm going to keep it to myself. I'm intimidated. I don't want to stand in front of crowds. I don't want to speak. It's not about that. It's not about the microphone. It's about how can you impact people by the way you live your life. And you don't need a major platform. You don't have to have a radio show or anything syndicated or a TV show or any of that stuff. You impact people by the way you treat them. If you're loving on people. If you're treating people with respect and you have character and you have integrity,

other people will notice that how you deal with adversity, how you handle a tough situation. If you're dealing with that and flipping out and freaking out, or are you calm and knowing, people will notice and ask you, where do you get that from? How can I be like that? How can I help that?

So I want people to know it's never too late. You're always, there's an opportunity for you to be forgiven. No matter what you've done in life, I taught prison ministry, I've gone into prison and seen some what people would consider the worst members of society right who've committed heinous acts it's never too late for them why can't it not be too late for you to change your life to find your joy to find your peace to find your purpose and what is your purpose to be an accumulator

of things or is your purpose to be a changer of the world to make a difference and be a blessing in people's lives. That's well said, Rob. How do people find faith on the field? Just anywhere you get your podcast, faith onafield show.com, too, as well. We launched on FaithPoint's TV, so now people get to see my mug as long,

not just listen to me, but we... Yeah, we went on YouTube, and our viewership has dropped precipitously when they saw what I looked like. So I hope it works out better for you. Yeah, it's everywhere. That's it. Everybody from an interesting happenstance meeting at a table,

it's stand together to my show here in Memphis, Rob, thanks so much for coming and join us. Thanks for being so transparent about your story. And thanks for all that you do in our society to try to make it the best place it can be. I appreciate you, brother. Thank you so much for having me. Thank you for the hospitality.

And it's an absolute honor and a pleasure to be here. And thank you for joining us this week. If Rob Motie has inspired you in general, or better yet to take action by being transparent about your own life to help others transform theirs, becoming a coach, or something else entirely, let me know about it. I really do want to hear about it. You can write me anytime at bill at normalfolks.org.

And I promise you, I'll respond. If you enjoyed this episode, share our friends on our friends on social, subscribe to the podcast, wherever you're watching or listening to it. Rate it, review it. Join the army at normalfolks.org. Join or start one of our local service clubs. Take the 10-level challenge. Buy our merch, any and all of these things that will help us grow, an army of normal folks. I'm Bill Courtney. Until next time, do it you can. In 1986, a man named Scott Macklem was killed in broad daylight. Police quickly found their suspect.

Prosecutors convicted him. But now, almost 40 years later, I'm re-examining this case. I really didn't believe any of it was real. And I was like, well, they're going to figure out this is not me. They're going to do their police job. Has the wrong man been in prison this whole time? Listen to examined the backfire effect on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I believe that whoever was in that.

room and did that was a murderer. A new podcast series, Faultline Haditha, tells the story of a shocking crime and a cover-up at the highest levels of the United States Marine Corps. If you've got five players and you offer immunity to four, you better be right about the fifth, because if you're not, then you've just given immunity to your killer. Listen to Faultline Haditha on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I had just seen Ice Tea guest at the Apollo at the Snoop Dog.

And I told him that. And he sort of looked me up and down and went, huh. Hi, I'm Lisa Trager. And I'm Kara Klank. And together, we host That's Messed Up, a podcast where we recap Law and Order SVU, dig into the actual crimes and interview actors from the episode. Like former SVU guest star Bradley Whitford. Often I would meet people who would assume that there was something sort of Ted Bundy about

me because of these sort of characters that I play. And we're celebrating our 300. episode in style with the one, the only, John Stamos. There's nobody better to play this character. I'm like, what is this? He's a reproductive abuser and he tries to impregnate as many women. I'm like, really? I'm the guy like that?

Okay, fine. Get the story behind the rip from the headline story on That's Messed Up. New episodes drop every Tuesday. Listen to That's Messed Up on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Dun-Dun! In February of 2024, celebrated illustrator and children's book author, Tramathers and her husband Michael mailed letters to dozens of friends and family members to let them know they had died by suicide. Dear honies, this is goodbye. By the time you get this letter, both Petra and I will be dead. Next stop, Wonderland.

Why did they do it? And what did it do to the people they left behind? Listen to Death of an Artist on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You broke me. You do not deserve happiness. I'm Andrea Gunning. On this season of betrayal, Carl thought he was living a normal drama-free life until the messages started. Someone's not going to make it out of this alive. Every piece of evidence pointed to the wrong guy. He was not going to stop unless we stopped him.

Listen to Betrayal Season 6 on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, everybody, it's me, Debbie Kama Bell. This season on my podcast who's with me, I speak with Bruce Lee's daughter, Brandon Lee's sister, and my friend, Shannon Lee. Back to your initial point of stewarding my father's legacy and giving my energy to that. You're lending your life to stewarding somebody else's life. Listen to Who's With Me with Debbie Cromwell on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Michael Imperioly. I want to tell you about my new podcast.

Underground Zero. We're looking at the opportunity of a lifetime for us and the other families. It's about the aftermath of the 9-11 attacks. What's in the tunnels? Gold bars, Silver Ingech. It could be worth half a billion. Starring Steve Sharipa, Ray Abruzzo, and me, Michael Imperioli. How far are you prepared to go?

Depends how far you are. Listen to Underground Zero on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.