Right About Now with Ryan Alford - Marty Smith - ESPN Sports Journalist Reporter

Episode Date: July 20, 2021

Welcome to this week’s episode on The Radcast! Get ready for Marty Smith, Writer, Producer, Author of New York Times Best Seller 'Never Settle', Sports Journalist Reporter of ESPN..In this episode on The Radcast, host Ryan Alford talks with guest Marty Smith about his journey, what moulded him as a person, and how he landed the job at ESPN. Marty also talked about the three key things you can control on a daily basis,  Ryan and Marty also dissect Cancel Culture, Outsider.com, and more... Marty also has a quick take on RAD or FAD trending topics;NILTikTokDJ Uiagalelei12 Team Play-OffTo learn more about Marty Smith, follow him on Instagram (@martysmithespn) and Twitter (@MartySmithESPN).If you enjoyed this episode of The Radcast, let us know by visiting our website www.theradcast.com or leave us a review on Apple Podcast. Be sure to keep up with all that’s radical from @ryanalford @radical_results @the.rad.cast If you enjoyed this episode and want to learn more, join Ryan’s newsletter https://ryanalford.com/newsletter/ to get Ferrari level advice daily for FREE.  Learn how to build a 7 figure business from your personal brand by signing up for a FREE introduction to personal branding https://ryanalford.com/personalbranding.  Learn more by visiting our website at www.ryanisright.comSubscribe to our YouTube channel  www.youtube.com/@RightAboutNowwithRyanAlford. 

There's a substantial contingent of folks out there who watch and listen to what I do on ESPN and they think I'm faking the accent. As if a southern accent is some sort of substantial benefit in the world of professional broadcasting. Ryan, I've said countless times, I don't care what level you achieve, when it's over, you lose a piece of your soul. I was charged with interviewing Dale Earnhardt Jr., who's like a brother to me. I mean, there's 30 people waiting to talk to him, and he like kind of gives me one of these head nods, like, get your ass over here. Puts his finger in my chest, and he goes, you need to shut up. And man, I was so mad at him, but I knew he was right. You're listening to the Radcast. If it's radical, we cover it. Here's your host, Ryan Alford.

Hey guys, what's up? Welcome to the latest edition of the Radcast. I am excited today, my friends. You know, I don't get to talk to everyone that's necessarily a passion, but growing up here in South Kakalaki, going to Clemson University, following college football and NASCAR, I got someone who I truly admire, Marty Smith. What's up, brother? Ryan, hey, man, I appreciate you having me. And full disclosure to all you guys listening i'm late and i'm very sorry i've put ryan in a heck of a predicament here is a very popular man his schedule is packed and i have completely foobarred the whole thing um but man it's i appreciate your interest in hearing a little

bit of my path and story and uh i appreciate you and what you do there with your podcast. And I know it inspires a ton of people. So thank you. Thank you, Marty. I really appreciate that. If you don't know, and Marty's going to tell you shortly, Marty's a journalist, a writer, an ESPN top shelf talent, if I may say, and a father who I admire a lot of the way he goes about things and, you know, watching him balance life and family, at least from afar. And, you know, hopefully this is the start of a relationship with Marty, which I'm looking forward to. We got a lot in common.

I got four boys, Marty, under the age of 12. Man, y'all got your hands full brother oh yeah every sport known to man i'm coaching practice i have a joke with my wife we had six out of seven days uh in the spring where it was practice or games so uh we're right in the thick of it i'm gonna say a prayer for you and mama because uh that's just so much to manage. But the memories made and the experiences and seeing your kids achieve and seeing your kids learn how to win with grace and absolutely hate losing, but learn how to lose. Because in this life, we lose a hell of a lot more than we win. And all of that is so important.

And sports are, I don't know if there's a better platform to learn those things than that age group in those sports. So prayers are up for you two. I know, man. Well, I want to talk about Marty. Let's start, I mean, you know, as we talked pre-episode, I'm sure a lot of our audience has heard of you, seen you on TV, seen the stories that you bring to life. But for anyone that has it, and for those that have that don't know some,

I wouldn't mind just talking a little bit about your journey, you know, growing up and, you know, what's kind of molded you into who you are, which is always, I've always said you're like one of the most earnest people on TV. And I want to, and I just, it's all, you know, it's funny, you know, watching Clemson and Dabo and people going, is that real? And then I've always watched you and sometimes people are like, is Marty Smith? Dude, that is growing up in the South. That is real. And real knows real. And I've always admired it. But I'd love for our audience to hear a little bit about that journey. Well, thank you. First of all, I appreciate your kind words. It always makes me laugh.

There's a substantial contingent of folks out there who watch and listen to what I do on ESPN, and they think I'm faking the accent, as if a southern accent is some sort of substantial benefit in the world of professional broadcasting. So I'll try to give a truncated version of the path. I grew up about 20 miles or 25 miles west of Virginia Tech's campus in a little town called Parisburg. And it's a kind of a farming community, super blue collar, God and country kind of vibe. And I would not trade my upbringing there for anything. my upbringing there for anything. My best friends then are my best friends now. And we just had an amazing, amazing upbringing. It's one of those towns where the high school football Friday Night Lights vibe is 100% accurate. It is the marquee social event of the week.

It is the identity of the town. And I was on some teams that were very good. And it's one of those things where if you're kind of a starting player on a team that's that good, you don't pay for your blizzards, you don't pay for your hairizzards. You don't pay for your haircuts and the whole thing. I mean, it's remarkable for me to chase that nostalgia. And so I went from growing up there in Parisburg to Radford University. I had a brief stop at a school in East Tennessee called Carson Newman College. It's now Carson Newman University. Played middle infield there. That wasn't right for me, so I transferred over to Radford, and it was one of the greatest blessings ever for me because I had to figure out who and

what I wanted to be when I wasn't an athlete anymore. Ryan, I've said countless times, I don't care what level you achieve, whether you are the kid who his last athletic event ever is his final high school football game or you're Peyton Manning or Tom Brady who plays until you're 107. When it's over, you lose a piece of your soul. And you have to rewrite part of that. And you have to find things that fill up that portion of your competitive nature, that portion of your identity and your purpose. And I really struggled with that when I lost ball. Well, one day someone coaxed me into walking into the sports information department at Radford University, my alma mater. And I really found that purpose. I loved it. And while working in that sports

information department, I was rekindled a relationship with a writer for the Roanoke Times, which would be like the Greenville News down there where you guys are. It's kind of the major regional newspaper in that area. And they hired me to cover high school sports. And they also hired me to cover the local short track, then called New River Valley Speedway. It's now called Motor Mile. And I didn't want anything to do with it, man. I had completely fallen out of love with auto racing when Davey Allison,

one of my childhood heroes, died in a helicopter crash in 1993 at Talladega Super Speedway. And so I tell you all of that to tell you that the first couple laps of the first race I covered, I fell back in love with it. And I went, this is where I need to be. I got to chase this, man. I loved the smell. I mean, the stands were packed on a Saturday night with New River Valley people from all over the region that I grew up in.

And it just really captivated me. And from there, as a senior in college at Radford, I was hired by the Washington Post to cover Virginia Tech football as their reporter nationally covered Virginia Tech. So it was this massive responsibility for which I was not ready. And graduated from Radford and took a job in Lynchburg, Virginia, covering NASCAR racing and Liberty University athletics. I was there for a while. Then I got hired by NASCAR.

I worked for NAS there for a while. Then I got hired by NASCAR. I worked for NASCAR for 18 months. The website got bought by Turner Sports in Atlanta. I worked for Turner Sports as a writer in auto racing until 2006 when ESPN called out of nowhere and said, hey, keep this under your hat. A guy named Jack Obringer, who's still one of my best friends and great mentors at ESPN, he said, look, dude, keep this under your hat. We're going to start broadcasting NASCAR races again in 2007, and we're putting together our ancillary programming group for our coverage team. And I don't – I mean, I was like a deer in the headlights.

I'm like, what? You got the wrong guy. I actually said to Jack, there's a guy named Marty Snyder, who's a tremendous broadcaster and a great man. I have his number. That's who you meant to call. And Jack started laughing. He's like, no, dude, everybody we talked to says, you know, the driver's really well. You got a great pulse of what's going on in the garage. I said, is this a job offer? He goes, no, it's not. It's something to consider. So what do I do? Get home, park the truck, walk in, talk to Laney, my wife, and say, hey, I think I just got an offer to job from ESPN. And we both decided we're going to jump into this thing because I would rather crash and burn and fail knowing I can't because I'm incapable

than wonder when I'm 75 on a back porch with a cold one if I could have. And from there, it's just been a heck of a, I mean, the journey's unbelievable. I don't know how to define it, describe it, but it's a blessing of indescribable proportions. And I covered auto racing until 2014 exclusively. We lost the broadcast rights to NBC at that time, and ESPN promptly dropped me into college football like an alien from Mars. And from that point, I mean, I can't, I still don't know how to even begin to quantify how all this has unfolded other than a greater purpose, which is to be kind and have great effort and great passion in everything that I get to cover and hopefully inspire somebody along the way. I love it.

And I've heard you mention those three words, the kindness, effort, and passion. And it's everything. When I've read it, when I read it, when I was studying up for, for us to talk and,

you know, getting to know you better behind the scenes, I read those words and I'm like, that defines who I see on television. You know, like sometimes, sometimes you have people that you admire, you whatever, and you see them in their persona on television. Sometimes you have people that you admire or you whatever, and you see them in their persona on television. And then you see them maybe an article or something that writes

about it. And you're like, they write these words, they do this. And you're like, that's not really who I see. But when I think of Marty Smith, I do think there's this earnest, earnesty, this kindness that comes through in your reporting and your storytelling that truly is the Marty Smith brand. Well, that's amazing. I appreciate you saying that. Here's kind of the way I look at it. And look, here's the facts, Ryan.

It was an evolution over time. When I first started in this, like a lot of dudes, a lot of dudes are insecure. We pretend like we're not, but we are. And so my greatest insecurity is I like to be liked. And in our business, man, that ain't a good one to have because not, I mean, not, there's a lot of people who don't like your style or don't like your haircut or don't like how you carry yourself. And that's okay. That's their prerogative to feel

however they want to. and you can't force them any other way other than to live your life in a manner that gives you purpose and fulfillment and i as i grew through this and going back to my wife just a minute i mean her influence on my evolution, it's amazing because she was willing to grow and evolve with me. This is not a path that we expected. We did not. I mean, when she said yes to marry me, I was working in Lynchburg, Virginia, making no money at all, expecting to, man, this is going to be awesome to get to cover sports in the written word for the next 45 years. But she knew we weren't going to have any stuff.

And the rest of this stuff was never even a part of our thought process. We just celebrated our 21st anniversary, May 20th. We got married as kids. And so that's been so important, her willingness to be malleable and patient with my ego-driven insecurity to the point where I got to a guy who understood a broader plane. And here's where that kindness, effort, passion thing comes in. We don't control much on a daily basis. Most of what we face every single day is beyond our sphere of control.

But when I wake up every single morning and I'm brushing my teeth and I'm looking in the mirror, I know that I control those three things. I control how nice I am to other people. I control how hard I'm willing to work and give every last ounce of everything I am to whatever that challenge is before me and that I do that with an undeniable positive energy. That's on me every day. And as we've gone through this very unique time in our country over the past 18 months, I've started to add sort of this fourth pillar of respect, which falls in line with all that anyway. But that is the truth. And my son's sitting over here 10 foot away from me, probably rolling his eyes because my kids, my three children hear those words every single day. Every day,

I tell them that. You control that. And you think about this, Ryan, like if you dig a little bit deeper into hypotheticals, imagine we as human beings can change the world if we want to every day. We don't have to donate Bill Gates money. We don't have to. All we have to do is be nice. If I go into the Starbucks and I ask that barista how their day is going, they might be having a crappy day. And if I say, man, how's your day going? He's

like, ah, man, I don't know. I'm working on like what's going on, dude. You by acknowledging them as a human being can completely change their day. And that dude behind you in line might be having the crappy day. And now that you've changed the barista's day, the barista might change that guy's day. And then he lets somebody into traffic because he's in a better mood and that person in traffic has a better day. People might consider that to be so cheesy, but it's factual. And if we just do a little bit, man, it could change so much. man, it could be, it could change so much. That's right.

We like to overcomplicate things, you know. It's like, we like to blame, we like to, you know, it's easy to play the blame game. And, but you got to control what you control. I love that. And I love the addition of respect, you know, because that's, it's a lost art today, brother. I don't know what it is, but, you know. And, you know, it kind of leads me out. I want to talk a little bit more about some of the foundations, what you're doing with ESP within the college football and all those kinds of things. But while we're on this path, you know, how do you feel about cancel culture? Does that, does that way, I would, I wonder when

I talk to journalists and media and other outlets, if that obviously if you're living and breathing that truth that you just talked about, those things you probably don't have a lot to worry about compared to some people. But does it live in the back of your brain now? Is it hard to to to kind of navigate? Is that is that front and center and talked about, you know, more than even we realize? I don't know, man. Again, I just try really hard to keep the main thing the main thing all the time. And for me, it's those three kind of pillars that I just mentioned. And it's being true to stories. And if I'm interviewing someone,

it's asking them open-ended questions that let them tell me their story rather than trying to drive them towards a story. Right. I mean, if anybody who's read my book knows this one story about Dale Earnhardt Jr. that really altered my entire approach to the way that I interview people. And I had done, this was 2012, I think, I had done an interview with Jeff Gordon, the NASCAR icon. And in that, my career was sort of blossoming a little bit in that moment. And I was feeling myself a little bit. And I started asking Jeff questions that he would start to answer. And if he started to meander off from where I wanted it to go, I would cut him off right there. And then I would try to drive it right back where I wanted it to go.

Well, the interview didn't air for a couple of weeks. And when it did finally air on one of the pre-race shows, I got a lot of positive feedback. And I was really proud of the work we'd done. Well, after that race, it was in New Hampshire. I was charged with interviewing dylan hart jr who's like a brother to me and you talk about honesty i mean there's 30 people waiting to talk to him and he like kind of kind of gives me one of these head nods like get your

ass over here and i go over there and he turns his back to the crowd and puts his finger in my chest and he goes you need to shut up and i said finger in my chest and he goes, you need to shut up. And I said, excuse me again, we're like brothers. So I was, I was about to, we're about to have a real one here. He goes, you need to shut up, man. He said, you need to stop interrupting people. He said, I watched, I was watching that interview you did with Jeff. And there were some things that he was saying that I wanted to hear him finish and you cut him off and it was rude.

And I, you need to stop interrupting people. And, man, I was so mad at him, but I knew he was right. And because I knew he was right in my heart, it completely altered the way I do this and what happened. I got so much better as an interviewer. And so to go all the way back to what, you know, the, the, the, the original question, uh, I mean, it's, it's, I mean, honestly, it's just not something I personally have in my daily walk.

So I'm, I don't know if I'm a great guy to answer that question. Honestly, I just didn't know if there's this mounting pressure if with anyone that's telling stories and doing things that for me the answer is no i mean that's just that's just for me but might be just be back to how you know like you're let you're you're not trying to frame stories or push people to an opinion you're trying to share whatever they have to share i think the problem maybe we're running into people but and that i just think just think we've gotten to the place where you can't criticize anyone. I know it's not your job as a reporter telling stories to be critical, but it just seems like we've ventured into this place where it's hard to show opinion.

Yeah, I mean, again, as a reporter and as a host as well, I do a lot more hosting now. Yeah, especially, well, Marty and McGee. I mean, you guys, you are sharing thoughts there. And that's an opinionated platform. Yeah. And I'm going to tell you straight up, brother, when it comes to something that we are passionate about,

you're going to get every ounce of our real. And that's what's expected of us from our employer. And that's a standard that we hold ourselves to as journalists and men. But so much of what we get to do on that platform is fun. Yep. And I hate the word brand, but I'm sure it's a word that gets used often on your platform and in your ad agency there. The brand that we've built is one that is fun, but it's very honest, and people enjoy spending time with us in an open interview

platform, not because our questions are easy, but because our questions are fair and open-ended. Yeah. I had, there was a funny moment where a guy kind of came at me recently. We were interviewing Greg Sankey, the Southeastern Conference Commissioner, and a guy came at me recently. We were interviewing Greg Sankey, the Southeastern Conference Commissioner. And a guy came at, this was last Saturday. A guy felt like we were too easy on the commissioner. Well, if you go back and listen to the questions posed of him about name image likeness, I mean, we can't be, we asked the questions.

So a lot of times people hear what they want to hear. They might hear it, but they might not be listening. And with social media, we have impulsive platforms to go right now. And that's also part of all this stuff. I could go on and on for days about this, but I don't enjoy it because I know social media is a part of our business, but I will not let it. That's not true.

I don't read a lot of mentions because I don't want, like going back to that insecurity, I don't want to let someone else's feedback drive my definition of the success or the impact, good or bad. Make sense? Total sense. And we're going to earmark that for a...

That's going to make the highlight clips. We do highlight clips in this, Marty. You just hit the highlight clip right there. I try to pound that into people of letting their self worth and their direction be determined by the trolls and the people. The only success they get is

taking a bite of yours. Not just the trolls. Yeah. Like we have to, we as public speakers have a daily platform where that feedback is going to be really good and it's going to be really not good. That's society right now. So it is imperative that our self-worth has to come from a different place.

It cannot be defined by what someone says on a social media platform, good or bad. what someone says on a social media platform, good or bad. You can't, if I let myself get into that game, then that is a very toxic formula. For me, for me as a man and as a husband and as a father, I can't bring that home, good or bad. Totally agree. Let's talk about Outsider.

What you guys are up to there. I know you've got the podcast. You've got a lot of different. What was the passion point behind that project and what you guys are doing with everything with it? It's a really amazing. It's amazing, man. So outsider.com is a new platform that I'm involved with. I'm a partner in that business with a couple of guys in Nashville who are extremely successful business people. They know what they're doing in that space. And there is a group of people who love God and country

and all those things that we were discussing before and who love the outdoors and who love country music and not just country music, but they love music and they love all of that. There's a culture that comes with that outdoors kind of vibe. And some guys came to me and they wanted me to be involved from a content side and a partnership side in this business,

in this media company. And it is extremely fulfilling uh i've to your point i have a podcast that we've actually just rebranded it's now called the marty smith podcast from outsider studios we have built a i see your studio is amazing right there we've built a state-of-the-art studio in Brentwood in Nashville, Tennessee, and I'll be heading over to Nashville monthly to line up a bunch of interviews. I'm actually, as you and I tape this here, I'll be heading there next week, and I'm going to interview a guy named Casey Bethard, who's one of the best writers in town. He's written so many monster hits for Chesney and McGraw, and he's written a lot of Eric Church's catalog with Eric. And just a brilliant man.

And his father is Bobby Bethard, the architect of the Washington football team dynasty back in the 80s. Put Super Bowl teams together in Miami and San Diego and just had an amazing career. And so I can't wait to sit down with Casey. I'm also interviewing Tracy Lawrence. Any of you guys who are country music people, that guy is a god. I'm interviewing Red Akins.

She ain't my truck, who is now one of the premier songwriters in town. His son is Thomas Rhett. And I'm interviewing Trace Adkins all in the same day. And I'm badgering my buddy Cole Swindell to see if he'll join me after I arrive in town the night before that. So it's an amazing property. night before that. So it's an amazing property. Uh, I, the, the feet and we're also right. Like, you know, it's barbecuing and it's hunting and fishing and it's all that stuff that is part of that culture. And that is a sector of people that from a media perspective are underserved. And they're yearning for that kind of content. Like one of the pieces that I've also written several pieces for Outsider

just about growing up in the country and nostalgic memories of being in the hayfield with my daddy and my high school buddies and then hopping in the truck when we were done and my daddy burning like that smell of a fresh-lit Marlboro light when it mixes with fresh-cut hay on the ground with the windows down and my daddy's blue Ford Ranger short bed. All of those things that are so authentic to those folks is what we're serving with outsider media. And there are people involved in that who are like-minded,

and there's people involved in it that I can't mention who would knock your socks off. can't mention who would knock your socks off. And we have massive, massive intentions. We're very intentional with this brand, and I'm so grateful to be a part of it. All of you guys that are listening, please check it out. It's outsider.com. And we got a lot of really cool stuff coming. Yeah, the content is really good. So I've already interviewed on that podcast.

I've interviewed heroes of mine like Mark Miller, the lead singer of Sawyer Brown, fascinating human being. I went to Travis Tritt's ranch down outside of Atlanta, spent an entire day with Travis. You talk about pinch me stuff now. Amazing time. Who is your favorite country singer like i know that's like who's your favorite little who's your favorite child but you gotta who's your favorite well i

mean ever maybe like let's do an old school and a new school okay well that's easy so old school waylon jennings uh waylon uh itlon, I just watched this documentary that was produced and directed by Don Waz. I'm not sure if you're familiar with that name, Ryan, but legendary record producer. And you know who the Highwaymen are. So for those of you listening who may not, that's Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, Chris Christopherson, and Willie Nelson.

The goats upon the goats upon the goats upon the goats. And they did a collaborative project together called the Highwaymen. And the marquee centerpiece of that is the Highwayman,

which is, I mean, it's a top five song of all time in my personal catalog. And so Waylon is my guy. And if you haven't seen that Don was documentary, it actually was like a 30 minute program that ran on CMT way back in the day, like early nineties. It's on YouTube. I just found it like a week ago. I sent it to my best friend, Eric Church, who is my modern-day favorite singer. And I can tell you why in a minute. But it blew all of us away.

It knocked our socks off. Watching the dynamic of those guys actually interacting with one another was so psychologically. My youngest just got home. If you guys heard that, our beach house ain't massive. So y'all just going to have to deal with the life part. My sweet thing. We want it as real as possible.

Yeah, my nine-year-old Vivi. She's a sweetheart. She just got home from dance. I don't even know what a girl is like, Marty. My wife and I joke, what's it like to have a girl is like, Marty. I mean, you know, my wife and I joke is like, what's it like to have a girl? I don't know. It's a handful.

So, um, let me, so I'll tell you, I'll tell you about, about Eric and why he's so important to me. And this could be redundant for the, any of you guys who know anything about my story,

but Eric is integral to my story because I lost, then this is going to be a little bit, I'm just going to give you the whole thing. Do it. Um, since we're in podcast form. So yeah, in 2008,

in April of 2008, my father died and that was 10 years, almost to the month that my mama died. We lost my mom, Joy Smith, in 1998 to breast cancer. She was only 47 years old. Damn. And then after that, we lost my dad spiritually and emotionally, but we still had him physically for another 10 years. He suffered from terrible depression during that 10 years

and really let my childhood home go. I mean, what I should have probably done was just bring a wrecking ball in and knock the joint down, but I was too proud to do that. And so in the months that followed my father dying in 2008, I would go up sometimes, Laney would go up sometimes, and we made it our mission to kind of clean the place up and get it back in working order, and that was very hard for me emotionally. We couldn't bring, my son Cameron was three years old, not even three years old at the time. He was two and a half, and so we. And so we didn't feel comfortable bringing him up there, man.

It was just not a good place for that, not a good environment for a little one like that to be in. So when I was there by myself, I'm not proud to admit it, but I would drink Jack Daniels out of the bottle, and I would turn Eric's record called Sinners Like Me, his first album, up as loud as it would go, and I would sing at the top of my lungs, off-key. Singing's not my forte, but it was this beautiful vehicle, perfect vehicle to carry my hurt and my emotion in that moment.

and my emotion in that moment. So fast forward to the end of that year, a buddy of mine got tickets to see Eric play at a little honky-tonk in Greensboro, North Carolina called Arizona Peets. So my buddy and I go up there, and Eric had not really made it yet at that time, made it. He'd had a record out. He was working on his second record called Carolina at the time, but his meet and greet was on his bus, which he shared with his band at the time.

And there wasn't but like 50 of us or so. So everybody got to meet him. So I'm deep in this line and I'm having this mental back and forth with myself. Do I tell this guy what his work means to me or do I not? Because he's going to think I'm a stalker. Well, I decided not to. Well, the further up in that line and the more Jack I drank, I got, I was like, I'm going to tell him I'm never going to see this guy again. Who cares? So I get up on that bus and I stick out my hand. I don't have the guts to look him in the eye. So

I'm sort of looking down towards his chest, chin, chest area. And I'm like, look, dude, this is going to be weird. I lost my daddy this year, and that record saved my life. You saved my life with that album. And I needed desperately something to help me cope, and your words did it. And I know you're playing these places like this place you're playing tonight, and you know it, and I know it, and you're better than that, and you're bigger than that.

And every single night there is somebody in that crowd that desperately needs what you have to say, and tonight it's me. Thank you for what you do. And I was so mortified. I ran. I was gone. And he came's me. Thank you for what you do. And I was so mortified. I ran. I was gone. And he came after me. He's like, come back here.

Come back here. I need to hear more. So I told him a little bit more, no big deal. And the show was amazing, and that was that. Fast forward six months. I'm standing in the garage area at the pocono raceway on a friday afternoon waiting to interview kevin harvick the nascar driver phone rings i'm super shady about answering numbers i don't know but i felt led to answer it and i did and it was a 615 number this is marty

hi marty my name is judy mcdonough yes ma'am what can i do for you i didn't know what i'd gotten myself into and she said i'm eric church's publicist and i said i love that guy she goes we know we trust we know because i had written about eric a lot in my espn column and she basically told me we are begging him to do some goodwill because he'd been fired from the rascal flats tour for playing too long it was the biggest tour in the world that year called the me and my gang tour and so they wanted him to do some goodwill in nashville and he's hard-headed as a devil he wouldn't do it so eventually he pounds his fist on the table and says you get that marty smith guy that nascar guy from espn to fly to nashville tennessee and spend a day with me fishing i'll do

it otherwise get out of here and she said marty we'll pay you to come whatever i was like you ain't gotta pay like if you're serious about this so i hang up the phone i call laney i said hey i ain't coming home tomorrow i ain't coming home Monday morning. I'm going to fly to Nashville. She was like, what? I said, Eric Church wants to go fishing with me. She was like, BS. I said, I swear, unless it's a prank call.

So I got on an airplane. I flew to Nashville. I slept on my buddy's floor and got up the next morning and went to the marina, and I waited, and i waited and i waited and i'm sitting on this boat by myself and they it's a shotgun start at 8 a.m and all the other boats are gone 30 minutes late that's eric time we call it ec time he comes sliding in sideways in the silverado pulls a case of beer out of the back hops hops on the boat. What's up, fellas? He and I go win the fishing tournament,

talk trash to like Bill Dance and Jimmy Houston, and we've been very, very good friends ever since. I talk to him. We text weekly. I mean, we talk all the time, and the vast majority of the major life decisions or conflicts we've had over the last 10, 12 years, that's our advisement group. He's in it. He's in mine, and I'm in his.

I love it. How about that for a story? Dude, I got cold chills listening to you talk about it. Come fish with Eric Church. Very few people have impacted my life more deeply than he has. And certainly my career, he taught me to be completely fearless in doing it my way, in doing it my way, whatever my way was. And be fearless in passion. If your way is to beat the hell out of yourself while you're playing a show, do it.

And so I started to be fearless in doing that as a broadcaster. And, man, it's been beneficial to me because what do we want as human beings? We want authenticity. And so he's a great human being, man. And I'm grateful for his influence in my life. I'm grateful for that story. I couldn't have asked for a better one. That is awesome, Marty. I even hate to transition a minute, but I do want to get some of your opinions on some college football coming up. You got time for that? What's your thoughts on the whole name and image likeness thing? I mean, that's not like, I'm sure it's hitting your radar. You got to talk about it.

But do you have concerns or you agree with? I mean, like any, what's your thoughts for how it's going to impact the game? I'm still processing it all. I think a lot of people are because with the way it's unfolding right now with all the different state laws and how the universities are really currently defining what their own rules are for their athletes and how athletes like D. Eric King and Mackenzie Milton are really taking advantage of this. And those twins, I think they are at Fresno State who signed with Boost

Mobile and Master P's son just signed a $2 million deal. So, you know, there's all these haves and have nots and it's kind of the Wild West right now. It's going to change the paradigm of collegiate athletics in a very big way. And I don't even know what that looks like yet. I think that it's awesome, awesome, awesome for college athletes that they have the opportunity to do this. I mean, if you're a Clemson guy, imagine if this was available to Trevor Lawrence. Imagine if this was available to Deshaun Watson.

Like, even as simple as, think about this, something as simple as Booster comes in, hey, man, like I think about, okay, let's go back to my country music buddies. My country music buddies, all of them, get these insane offers to come play wedding receptions for 30 minutes. Hey, there are people with money. We will pay you this inordinate, obscene amount of money to come play four or five of your songs acoustic at this wedding reception. Imagine if you're Trevor Lawrence and Booster X with all this paper can say, hey, Trevor, man, my daughter and her little 12-year-old buddies

are the hugest fans of yours. Would you stop by their birthday party and say hello? And we'll pay you all this money. That is not out of the realm of possibility. In fact, it's probably already happening now right so like where i i don't know there's so many tentacles to this ryan like think about the transfer portal think about if you are like let's back up to when the transfer portal had Jalen Hurts in it and Justin Fields in it. I mean, what's to say, Kyler Murray, what's to say that Booster X,

now agents and boosters have direct lines to play. They can go right to them or their parents or whatever. Hey, you hop in the portal and you commit to our school. We'll have Billy Bob Jackson Toyota waiting on you when you land. All that is in play now. So I'm still processing what I think about it. That's why going back to interviewing Commissioner Sankey, interviewing people who know way, way, way more about it than I do is imperative because that's who shapes our opinions on it. And I do think it's awesome that these young people have the opportunity in a free enterprise society to benefit off of what they're doing collegiately. But I don't know where it

stops. I don't know. I don't know any of that yet. Yeah. That's the big gift for me is like, I don't know that anybody does. I don't think anybody does either, but you're going to see where there's opportunity, there's good and bad. Right. And you're going to see both sides of it, you know, the recruiting war, how to see both sides of it you know the recruiting war how it impacts recruiting and you know you got to think that most of the big schools have the big donors and have all that so it may all shake out to be exactly where it is because of the balance of where a lot of the dollars are until but then i'll tell you go ahead so i'm sorry to interrupt but there's an interesting point to be made.

There's a young man that plays safety at Appalachian State named Caden Smith. I met him. He did this article for Sportico before the, I don't know, it was last football season, as all this was really starting to get a lot of momentum. I don't know, it was last football season, as all this was really starting to get a lot of momentum.

I implore is too strong a word. I suggest and encourage you guys to go read this article. I'm kind of looking it up as we're speaking here. It's in Sportico, and it really really laid out to me like the media opportunities. For example, they have a podcast. Caden and some of his teammates have a podcast that they can now go benefit from financially, which I never considered those things. I was always thinking like, Ooh, big boosters, cars, whatever. It can be something like that where, oh, wait,

I can advance my career aspiration at this level. He plays for Appalachian State. Great program, great success, but it ain't Bama. And so it opens a lot of doors that I had not considered. Yeah, totally. Yes, Aiden Smith App State Sportico is what I just searched it. He wrote it last December, and it's such a great article, and he's a phenomenal young man.

I have since, he actually requested that if we could maybe do a FaceTime together. Yeah. And I did do that because he impresses me so much, and he has a very bright future in sports media, and it's called NIL Eligibility Rules. NIL poses question for NCAA athletes. Should I stay or should I go is the title of the piece. It's so good.

Go find it. Sportico. Yeah, it's going to be interesting how it plays out. And we do a lot of personal branding for like executives of companies and different things. So we play in that space. And we're even thinking about venturing into wading into these waters of helping the student-athletes with their brand and their personal brand and all of those things. And so it's going to be interesting. I love the opportunity for them.

My only pause is probably like yours. It's just, you know, how the money impacts the game specifically and, you know. You know, life is context and repetition. Yeah. I say it all the time. Life is context and repetition. And we don't have either of those yet in this arena. We don't know.

You can't know what it is until it happens. So we don't know those answers yet. That's true. What do you think is going to play out this season? I know any uh i know you've been doing your research you've got sec media days coming you got all the the big talks and everything else uh any uh any uh teasers for us well you're a clemson guy you guys are gonna be really good um i can tell you that DJ Uyunglele, I just wanted to say that because I had a couple games last year where he appeared. I did the – what games did I do with Clemson?

I did Georgia Tech. I did Notre Dame maybe. But Uyunglele, I got that one down. Total stud. He's going to plug right in there and do really well. You guys have so much talent on the perimeter offensively. It's an embarrassment of riches. And I expect a lot.

I expect a lot from Clemson. I do think Mack Brown is building something really, really, really, really special in Chapel Hill. I love Mack Brown like a dad, and I'm so impressed with what he's done there. Now, SEC-wise, I have very lofty expectations for the Georgia Bulldogs, whom you opened the season against. What a tremendous matchup, man. The Dukes kick off.

Who's going to win that game, Marty? In Charlotte, North Carolina. I mean, flip a coin? Is that close? I can tell you. I don't know. Yeah. I don't know.

You know, it's funny, Ryan. I say all the time when fans, when I'm at these games or, shoot, if I'm up here on the boardwalk getting pizza, people always asking me who's going to win what. You know what my standard answer is? They pay Herb Street and Desmond all them millions of dollars to pick them games. They pay me to make people talk. But, man, I don't – it's impossible to pick that one

because Georgia has pro dudes everywhere. to pick that one because Georgia has pro dudes everywhere. And what they have missed, like JT Daniels is going to be a baller. He is a baller. He is. That's the difference. And he looks like the Doc Holliday. Isn't that the difference? Georgia just hadn't had that dude at quarterback.

They finally got that dude. Yeah. I love Jake Fromm. He's a phenomenal human being. JT's ability to push the ball vertically down the field, which as anybody who pays, you've got to do it today with the offenses that are being run and the talent on the perimeter for these schools. I expect a lot of what

JT's going to do this year. Of course, Bama's going to be really good. I expect a lot out of Ole Miss, man. I love Matt Corral at quarterback. Now, DJ Durkin, they're defensively. Those guys struggled last season. I had a couple of their games, too, and as good as Lane Kiffin is offensively and as potent as they are, they had a lot of ground to make up on the defensive side of the ball. Florida is going to be good. Dan Mullen always puts together great teams. I'm trying to think of – I think Oregon is going to be good out west.

There's a couple big 12 schools. A lot of my colleagues are picking Oklahoma to win it. So it's going to be – I see your facial expression. You know what that facial expression was? That's an I'll believe it when I see it facial expression about the Oklahoma Sooners. Oh, yeah. I have high expectations for Notre Dame.

You know, Ian Book is now gone. He started 700 games for the Irish. But, you know, it's going to be fascinating kind of to see what unfolds here. I'm just glad to have some fans in the stadium. You and me both. Look, I worked all fall last year during COVID. I can't imagine. And being in the swamp and hearing every single word that was said on the field

and on the sidelines was the weirdest thing I've probably ever covered, even though that may not be true. Another one of the oddest things that I've ever covered was the Masters with no fans, no patrons whatsoever was very different. And all the autumnal hues, the bronzes and the yellows and the auburns and the reds, just very, very different experience. That's crazy, man. Well, I really appreciate you coming on.

I got one more segment for you if you're game. We do a segment called Rad or fad some of these probably right down your alley some of them might be a little off off the off the normal radar but uh one word answer or and you can expound if you if you want to you game all right we're gonna start with something we already talked about the n NIL, rad or fad? I think it's rad because I don't think it's going anywhere. TikTok. Okay. I'm a 45-year-old man. I'm saying fad because I'm a 45-year-old man and all that. I loathe it, but I know that it is.

I know people are monetizing TikTok in a very dynamic way. So I am wrong, but I'm saying fad. All right. DJ U, you already talked about him. Clemson quarterback. Right, he can hoop. Oh, yeah. Finally, 12-team playoff.

Expansion, rad. 12 teams, fad. I don't get 12. Yeah, I don't either. Too many. Too many games. Too many games. We have to pay them more. Whatever that is I'm looking like.

Marty, man, I can't appreciate you more. Some of the stories you told has been the best we've had on the podcast. We've done 150 episodes and I was sitting here. I can't remember the time I got cold chills thinking about Eric Church inviting you fishing and you actually winning the fishing tournament, dude. I mean, you are real, and I hope that we can stay connected and we can do this again. Look, I appreciate you having me again. I'm sorry that I was late, and I appreciate you giving me a platform for the message. I think it's really important today and been given the platforms

that I have to try to share these stories and hopefully maybe touch a life or two or shape a thought or two. And so I appreciate you giving me the opportunity to do that. I love what y'all are doing, man. Thank you. Thank you so much. Finally, Marty, what's the best place? I know we talked about outsider.com. We talked about a lot of platforms. What is the best place for everyone to keep up with all things, Marty, or even multiple places to keep up with Marty Smith? Your television.

So from a social media perspective, I'm active on Twitter and Instagram. Uh, I, I know I should do TikTok like we just talked about. Uh, I haven't waded into those waters yet. Everybody in my family uses Snapchat. I don't want to touch it with a thousand foot pole. I think that's a disaster waiting to happen. So Twitter and Instagram are martysmithespn, so please do check that out. I'm constantly at the behest of my lovely bride trying to do Instagram stories, and it's funny why I even started doing Instagram stories.

It's so that she could see my life when I'm at games. So, yeah, those two platforms I'm active on and I would appreciate if you check them out. So thank you for teeing me up there. My pleasure. Hey guys, we really appreciate Marty Smith coming on. You know where to find us. We're at theradcast.com.

I'm at Ryan Alford on all the platforms, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook. You know where to find me, ryanalford.com as well. We'll see you next time on the Radcast.