The Chris Voss Show - The Chris Voss Show Podcast – My Dad My Dying Sun: A True Story of Love and Legends by David Sahadi, Lou Sahadi

Episode Date: June 9, 2024

My Dad My Dying Sun: A True Story of Love and Legends by David Sahadi, Lou Sahadi https://amzn.to/3xkKubA Lou Sahadi was born into a life of adversity, but he overcame it. For nearly three decades, Lou was a successful magazine publisher and also authored thirty-one acclaimed sports books, many of which became best sellers. From the 60s through the 90s he was the most prolific sports author of his time. Lou loved sports. Lou also absolutely adored his son. David Sahadi landed his first job at NBC Sports when he was just twenty-three. His love and passion for the sports industry combined with Lou’s connections opened doors. With his guidance, David became an Emmy-Award winning television producer and director. He has been honored to receive 27 PROMAX Gold Medallion Awards. And though many believe the son became more famous than his father, there was never an ounce of envy. Lou was simply so proud and in awe of the son he loved and guided. At eight, David met Cassius Clay at the Fountainbleu Hotel. Lou was interviewing him. As David boarded a plane the following day, there he was. With immediate recognition, Clay vaulted him up onto his lap, telling the flight attendant, “He’s sitting with me.” At thirteen, Lou ushered his scrawny kid David into the locker room at Shea Stadium. The New Orleans St. beat the Jets. Payton and Eli Manning’s dad Archie who was the NFL’s best quarterback at the time. Archie at over 220 lbs handed David his sweaty t-shirt from the game. It must have weighed ten lbs. David would wear that over-sized shirt for ten years. When Lou was sixty-eight, the tables turned. David was working for the WWE and Lou showed up at one of his son’s shoots in South Beach. Lou met The Rock. The connection was instantaneous. David made Lou an extra in the commercial, with his new found friend, The Rock. Adversity found Lou on August 30th, 2020, after suffering a horrific fall. Cracking his skull and causing severe brain trauma, with the doctors saying he had only an 8 percent chance of survival. Miraculously, through boundless love and Lou’s unrelenting determination to stay alive for his five children, Lou made a full recovery. Lou lived another two-and-a-half years before succumbing. David knew that Lou hung on because of his five children. David was with him that day. David kissed Lou’s lifeless forehead after his last breath was released into the ethers, torrents of tears rolling down his swollen cheeks, and said, “I love you so much Poppa. And don’t worry about your children. They are my children now, and I will take care of them.” This book is Lou’s story. David’s story. The emotional story of Love, Connection and the Blessed lives they lived together in the shadows of Legends.

You wanted the best. You've got the best podcast. The hottest podcast in the world. The Chris Voss Show. The preeminent podcast with guests so smart you may experience serious brain bleed. The CEOs, authors, thought leaders, visionaries, and motivators. Get ready. Strap yourself in. Keep your hands, arms, and legs inside the vehicle at all times, because you're about to go on a monster education rollercoaster with your brain. Now, here's your host, Chris Voss. I'm host Voss here from thechrisvossshow.com. There you go, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the big show. We certainly appreciate you guys coming by. As always, the Chris Foss Show.

As many loves you but doesn't judge you. At least not as harshly as your brother does because he's always been jealous of you being the older, smarter, and better looking one. Wait, am I talking about my life? I am. It sucks to be my younger brother. But that's his problem, not mine. Anyway, he's a wonderful gentleman as well. No, I'm not. I no i'm not i'm maybe i am i don't know i don't even where i'm going this sounded funny in my head at first but now it's going nowhere and it's gonna

becoming sad and pathetic like my brother anyway guys go to goodreads.com for says christmas linkedin.com for says christmas christmas one of the tiktok you know those crazy places in the internet there's a lot of family abuse going on here on the show, David. Did you know this was the sort of show you were attending? I had no idea. I worked in television production, and that opening in that intro was hysterical. It cracked me up. I was laughing until we came into this dual screen.

That was incredible. Great production value. There you go. There you go. It goes downhill from here. That was the high point. I'm glad you enjoyed it. It's just all downhill from here.

It'll go downhill. You can hear we have an amazing young gentleman on the show. David Sahadi is on the show with us today. He's going to be talking about his new book that came out October 31st 2023 called My Dad, My Dying Son, A True Story of Love and Legends.

And we're going to get into his journey, his father's journey, and everything else. Did you have something to say there, David? Nothing. There you go. I just heard a little bit of sound that came through, and I'm like, I hope I got the right guy. How many David Sahadis are there running around the place? I do.

I think eight. Oh, there you go god i'm jealous man it's so hard to have a name that everyone else is copying so david is an award-winning creative director producer and writer who's who's directed nearly 1 000 television shows for impact wrestling tna entertainment and mlw wrestling he is best known for his work as a creative executive at WWE, where he conceived, wrote and produced ambitious creative campaigns like the attitude era of professional wrestling that helped the WWE,

a global entertainment phenomenon become. He has directed over 300 national commercials as which well of three have aired in the Super Bowl. He's been awarded with 27 Pro Max Gold Medallion Awards, and he's also achieved creative experience in television that he's been awarded for, as well as a National Sports Emmy. Welcome to the show. How are you, David? I'm doing well, Chris, and obviously you did some background check on me, so I think I'm in trouble right now, right off the bat. There you go.

You do owe some money from somebody from 1979, and it's 50 bucks, and we're here to collect it. And we want to talk to you about your car's warranty as well. Oh, jeez. Welcome to the show. He's like, what the hell? I just wrote a book. Give me a break.

It's entertainment. That's what everything should be, entertainment. He's like, what the hell? I just wrote a book. Give me a break. It's entertainment. That's what everything should be, entertainment. That's true. And if it's not, then it's the Chris Foss show. So, David, give us your dot coms. Where can you find people on the interwebs? I find people in life. What do you mean by dot coms?

Do you have a website that you support the book with or people can find out more about you? It's not finished. It's called My Dad, My Son. The word dying is taken out of there. I have somebody who's running that for me, but she has some medical issues and she's not able to do any work right now. Okay.

I'll get it back to you eventually. There you go. Any social media you want people to follow you on? Instagram 3. David 3 on Instagram. There you go. David 3. There you go.

Welcome to the show. Give us a 30,000 overview of your book, My Dad, My Dying Son. It is a combination of a love story between a father and a son and great sports history. And it's a unique format in the sense that it's alternating chapters. So the chapters that I write, 1, 3, 5, 7, the odd number of chapters are all about the time I brought him home from the hospital in 2020 after he suffered a severe brain trauma. He gave me a percent chance of living and a 50% chance of getting his memory back. He was in the ICU and the other hospital for seven weeks. Oh, wow.

And it's linear and it's emotional. He makes a great comeback, then a sudden demise in in the end so there's some great stories in there then the even number chapters my father authored 31 books yeah so even of chapters are his books condensed to eight to ten pages of chapter which was the hardest thing to do so it's a combination great sports moments a love between a father and a son. And there's a thread throughout each chapter. For instance, chapter one, I bring him home.

He had woman of clarity where he knew her, where it was. And he, you know, David, thank you for bringing me home. We end that chapter with together. We were praying for a miracle.

Chapter number two, his words, or what he wrote the miracle Miami. We have to give you one more example. Chapter three is after five days home, I started playing Frank Sinatra songs and he knew the lyrics I knew there was a whole yes hope spots what we say in wrestling for making a comeback or is was Frank Sinatra Bruno Sammartino's real-life manager so Frank Sinatra is one of many people that my dad met I mean just a

plethora of celebrities. Willie Mays, Marvin Hagler, Joe Namath, Len Dawson, Al Davis of the Raiders, Steve Kaufman, Jock. He lived a wonderful life, but he didn't brag about it, which I love most about him. Yeah, one thing I'll say about this book is that it's about my relationship with my father and myself. But it could be about any two people that love each other deeply, deeper than anything else. My dad meant everything to me. That's why the word son is spelled S-U-N because he was my light, my guide, and my mentor. But as we became older, he became my son, and I started taking care of him.

Wow. He's felt love on a deep level, whether it's a male and a female in a and marriage or a boyfriend, girlfriend, whatever can relate to the story that I'm telling. Wow. You know, this is, this is, I'm looking over your father's books in his history and what books he wrote. He wrote,

I'm a, I've been a lifelong Raiders fan. And the first book I ever got was Ken Stabler and the Oakland Raiders from January 1st, 1978. Your father wrote that book and I still have that book. That's awesome. He also wrote a book called Domination. He wrote something like, here's a funny story I like.

Al Davis used my father's sports writer to do alternative facts. They didn't call it that back then, but that's a political hot word today. And Al Davis said to me, I need a favor. And he called my father a double-sit. I need to spread some news in the LA newspapers that I'm thinking moving back to Oakland See if I get a few years So my dad would spread these things that was just Al Davis trying to mess with the media to get better deals for his team And that happened in multiple times my dad

He's deceased now so I can say it what of the end zone was watered down in Oakland? It wasn't, so the Raiders knew where to run the ball without slipping, and the opponents did not. Anything was game back then. Yeah, that sounds like Al Davis football, Raider football. I kind of miss that football. Just win, baby. Just win, baby.

Yeah, it's crazy. In fact, I don't know have you seen that al davis's son he's he's dating that 26 year old evidently she's gonna have his baby and i think he's 70 or something good for him about 60 i could probably date a 23 year old too if i was moving there yeah i mean why not everyone's doing it al pacino and robert De Niro, go for it. So your dad lived this wonderful life. Tell us about what it was like to grow up with him. Did you guys always have a great relationship? Father and sons' relationships can be sometimes challenging or conflicted. What was it like growing up with him? There was one year where it was tough because my brothers and sisters all knew that I was his favorite,

and so did my mother, and they made me feel bad about that. But hey, you know, it's like we all have our favorites. And that was one tough time, but it was great growing up with him. He would take me to football games, many jet games. He took me to the game where O.J. Simpson broke the 2,000-yard barrier rushing. Oh, wow. Yeah, and here's a funny story. I'm in the press box with him.

I'm this little kid. And he goes on a pitch to the right. He goes, he's got blockers and OJ busted one for 40 yards down the field. And I'm like, wow, my dad's like a seer. He knows this stuff. He's incredible. Then he goes, son, stay here. I'm going to get you some beef.

I know you're cold. So on the very next play, my dad's gone. Pitch to the same side. I say, he's got blockers. He's tackled for a three-yard loss. I look at me like, kid. gone pitch the same side i say he's got blockers he's tackle for three yard loss so she's simpson look at me like kid shut the f up please you're trying to do what dad does yeah yeah there you go but i mean what a way to grow up though right in the press box you're meeting you the players. I mean, that must just seem like normal to you.

It did at first, since I got older. And I'm like, wow. Because I went to 26 different Super Bowls with him. And everywhere he went, it's, come over here, I want to talk to you. Just players, writers, owners, especially GMs. And I'm like, wow.

I didn't realize my dad's a rock star. But he never acted like he was one great smile he was always charming he loved him for his personality not who he was and that's how I learned how to be humble but also how a smile and kind words like energized my dad energized the room for no other reason than he wanted to make people happy so he never lived like he was this charmed star but but he was in so many ways. You would ask him, what is his role? Author, celebrity, father.

He would say, father, number one, not even close. Wow. That is awesome. He wrote four monthly, published four monthly sports periodicals and wrote about six columns in each one of those. He wrote 24 columns a month, which is incredible. That's a lot of work. It is, but he wanted his family. He had a bad start to his life.

Poor, oppressed, going days without eating. So he didn't want his kids to have that same life. Oh, really? He told me that story once. It's kind of a heartbreaking story, what he's been doing since growing up. So it really shaped him and had an effect on what he wanted for himself and his kids. Was that kind of that sort of,

you see a lot of that in the Depression era sort of folks that came out of that era where they're really hardworking, they saw hard times, and they're like, I'm not going to have experienced that again. I saw it with my dad because he passed last year at almost the age of 93.

I just know that he only told me that story once because he didn't want to brag like i overcame stuff it was a lesson that you can overcome anything that you want your life as long as you have mindset to it and have a positive attitude about that but first image of his father said i'll tell you that it was tough was when my dad was about three or four and the police busted down the door of their house and beat him with batons because he was making bathtub gin during Prohibition. Oh, wow. And then my grandmother would have to go out

and, you know, after one week's worth of food dissipated, beg the neighbors for food. So my dad would go days without eating. Again, he only told me that story once. Only he used to tell me that, son, you can overcome anything. Wow. And here's one great piece of advice he always told us, Chris.

Whenever one of his kids called and had a problem or was disturbed about something, he would listen. He was a great listener. And when we were done, he would say, is it a matter of life or death? No. And he goes, let it go. Son, let it go. It's that simple. Where did he get this from?

Where did he develop this character from? Was there any sort of influences that helped shape that? Because, you know, sometimes when you grow up in a rough household, you kind of become rough yourself. And it sounds like, I don't know, maybe was there anybody who influenced them or gave him that viewpoint, a blueprint off of? Yes, himself. He, like like myself we're just genuine people it's father does that really have genuine hearts and really care and don't just say things that

people want to hear my dad like i generally cares about people so it came from within so you have to get to the besides so that's the best answer there you go you know there was a lot of stuff my relationship with my father was pretty contentious and I learned a lot from him by what I call antithesis lessons by antithesis

yes so some of the ways he did things I made rules to do things the opposite way he was a good man he was trying to do his best as most parents are trying to do, you know I've forgiven him, but you know we

struggled through our life of how it was. I mean at 55 he was working for me, for my companies, and it was weird when people come in and be like your dad works for you? Wait this is kind of weird. So there you go. But you heard this, so he raised you guys. It sounds like he set a good standard for himself. He built his character. What made him want to get into sports and writing about sports? First of all, he raised his kids right.

But my older brother and my sister have some disdain for him. So that's just how it is with any family. Yeah, yeah. Some of you have the same issues I do. How about you and your father? That's me with any family. Yeah, yeah. Some of you have the same issues I do. How about you and your father? That's me and my mother. Yeah, yeah. Oh, there you go.

Okay. Yeah, so what was your question? I'm sorry. My question was, what got your father into sports writing and into sports? What tuned him into that? Marshall University. I'm not sure how, but there was a journalism. And then he started writing

for the Huntington Dispatch locally in West Virginia. And then he became national writing articles. He wrote that first book long past about Joe Namath and the Jets. I got to tell you about that too, if you want to hear it. Yes, please. Okay. So Joe Namath was friends with my dad during that season. And a lot of the nightlife stuff wasn't those, obviously, because Joe was kind of like a professional wrestler in football before he had professional wrestlers that were characters.

And my dad was the only sports writer that was allowed on the field because he was friends with Joe. One time in the third quarter, Namath hurts his hand by hitting the helmet of Mike Curtis. It was second down, now it's third down. He comes out, theyath hurts his hand by hitting the helmet of Mike Curtis. It was second down. Now it's third down. He comes out. They send him to the back of the court.

The entire team of coaches are on the sidelines if they can hurt that third down. Namath goes, Lou, I've got to work this out. Go down the 15 yards. And he fires a ball. My dad catches it. And that knocked the wind out of him. And he was able to loft it back. And he fired five more.

And my dad caught each one because he knew it was the Super Bowl. The press box, two famous writers, one was called Paul Zimmerman. He had binoculars. The other one was Dick Young. Dick Young, that's Paul. How odd his name is to look. And he says he can't be doing too well because the high hasn't dropped one yet. Little did he know the pain he was in catching those.

Wow. And over the back of Bobby Seaver. Harvey Nahum, I think his name was, to replace my dad. First pass, he dropped and the crowd booed. Moment of fame, as he said. Wow. How long did his career last?

Believe it or not, Chris, he had this horrific brain trauma in fall. It took him eight months to recover before he was functional. He wrote another book, a non-sports book, Murder in the Midlands. Before cancer took him down. It was more of the treatment of cancer than it was the cancer itself.

It was slow-growing, but my dad likes to take everything head-on. He likes challenges and I think treatment is what killed him at age 92 and a half. He was 92 and a half, did you say? Yes. That's a great did you say yes that's a great you know that's that's pretty good run for for a life yes i came on that chris uh i'll cut you off but on a month and a half ago on the anniversary of death the first one my sisters and i were both

we were crying and my younger brother called and said david instead of crying i was gone i want to just be happy that we had him for 92 and a half years we're luckier than most we were crying. And my younger brother called and said, David, instead of crying like he's gone, why don't you just be happy that we had him for 92 and a half years? And we're luckier than those. And I said, John, you completely changed my entire perspective. Thank you for that. So now I'm blessed that I had him for so long.

I've been back and I still play his voice messages every now and then. And it's no longer sad. It makes me happy. There you go. Yes. Yeah. Don't be sad that it ended. Be. There you go. Yes. Yeah. Don't be sad that it ended.

Be happy that it happened. Yes. Perfect. Yeah. Someone said that to me recently. I'm a big fan of Rush and Neil Peart, and I'm still trying to get over the fact they don't tour anymore. And so somebody said that to me just a couple days ago,

and I was like, you know, you got a point, but maybe I'll be happy while I cry. So there you go. So the book is basically a homage to your father. Now there's a little bit of you in here. I mean, you've had a successful career and stuff. Tell us about your career that you had that kind of, I think, followed a similar sort of reporting or producing sort of thing, just like your father. It did.

And let me start by saying this is something I ask anybody that's 22, 23, 24, who does not know what they want to do in life. I say, I know what you should do. And they said, how do you know? I said, find a passion in life, whether it's writing, whether it's outdoors, whether it's traveling, an entry-level job in that world, and you'll ascend really fast because you love what you're doing. So my dad, after I graduated college for a year with a math major, I don't know why, Chris, maybe you can figure that out for me,

but I had a math major and nothing at all I liked about math, and I was good at it. I went to houses for a year. My dad got me a job at NBC Sports. Oh, wow. Two things I love, sports and television. I'm like, wow, what a dream job. And since I liked what I was doing, I excelled real fast.

In two years, I became the head of on-air promotions for NBC Sports. And then two years later, I became the creative director for the WWF, now the WWE. Because I loved what I was doing. I had passion. I was telling stories. And it never felt like work. It was just fun and going to work and do that stuff because it wasn't work. I was telling stories and it never felt like work. It was just fun and going to work

and do that stuff because it wasn't work, it was play. My dad influenced me there but he never pushed me and that's one thing I liked about him. He wasn't saying,

son, you have to do this or you have to do that. He gently guided me and where I needed to go and he was right. There you go. You're right. If you love something

and it sounds like your dad set a good blueprint for you. I mean, that's what fathers do is they set a good blueprint to the kids of being a good man, of being someone who's a leader, and being, you know, have that healthy balance of character and stuff. My dad probably could have used to be raised by your dad, but he was trying the best he could. I don't know your dad, so it might not have worked. Might not have worked. My dad was pretty stubborn in narcissistics, but he was a good man. He was just trying.

I want to say on that note, there comes a time when the son becomes greater than the father. One's starting to ascend, the other one's starting to ascend. It happened with Willie Mays and his dad and willie mays knew that moment and when my dad's career was starting to go you know not as common anymore he was getting older he was just in the late 90s and early 2000s my job was sending and he told me that was more famous than him like that were famous in different ways but he was never jealous never anyways he was so proud he bragged me. He never bragged about himself to the people. He bragged about me.

My son's worked for WBE. He's done this. He's done that. I mean, what a gift. What a wonderful trait for a father to have is not to be jealous but be happy. My son at that time was more popular and in the news than he was. There you go. You know, it's interesting

the father and son relationships we have and how how the whole arc of it balances out i mean i've i've thought of my father since his passing over the years and and i think at this point i wish i would i could go back and say hey i'm sorry dad i should have given you more credit for all the shit you did because you were you're trying your best and you're probably a much stronger man than I was in the whole of it. But it's interesting the impact that they have on us. Yes, it is. Yeah, and how they shape us.

And then, like you said, there's that competitive nature. I mean, I wanted to be more successful than my father, not to beat him at anything, but just to show him that I became something of myself. I did something, and I wanted him to be proud of me. Sometimes, some dads, it's tougher to get that out of them than others. Did he give you that voice that you have? What's that? Did he give you the voice that you have?

If I had that voice, I could do announcer work or have my own. Yeah, maybe it was my father who gave me that. He definitely gave me my body parts, yeah maybe it was my father who gave me that he definitely gave me my my body parts which probably contribute to my voice i have his huge hands and and he used to have custom feet custom shoes he needed to have for 13 to 14 inch feet maybe the voice is yeah i think he did have a powerful voice yeah maybe'm going to have to think about that. I'm glad to review that it wasn't your father. Yeah. Because I deal with announcers all the time.

He was better looking than I was. I think my mom gave me my radio face. Wait, that didn't work out. I don't know what that, my mom's lovely. She's already cut me out of the world. The,

but yeah, what this whole show is about my family. What the fuck happened? It's a family show. We're talking about family, folks. That's what's important. I had a drink here today, and you're making me laugh hysterically. That's what we try and do here.

Because if you see my family, you'll laugh. No, I'm just kidding. Wow. Now, there's one great story you have about meeting Cassius Clay. Oh, gosh. Tell us a little bit about that that because you're eight years old. Holy crap. When he beat Sonny Liston on that photo.

Wow. I got to my dad's house. I met Cassius Clay through my dad. He was interviewing him for a fight, and it was at the Fountain Blue Hotel in Miami. Mm-hmm. And I was like six or seven. I was very young. And he came in the room.

He was all dressed up nice. And he was very humble in real life. When the cameras went on, he became this character, this larger-than-life superstar. You know, jumped like a butterfly, sang like me. I know I messed up that line. You know what I'm talking about. But in real life, he was so calm, so soft, so gentle, so soft-spoken. He impressed me.

He wanted me to sit down beside him on the couch for two hours. My dad didn't interview him. And then on the airplane ride the next day, he was in first class and he grabbed me and put me on his lap. One of the flight attendants said it's time to go back to his seat. He says, no, he's going to fly back to the camp right now.

And it's just like, wow. I mean, my dad knows this guy and I guess he's kind of famous because he's got this kind of develop, but I really don't know knows this guy. And I guess he's kind of famous because he's got this kind of develop. But I really don't know who he is. He's kind of famous. And some of the guys back there are coaching. I'm flying back home because it was a lot more lax back in those days. And first class with Cassius Clay.

Wow. I mean, these are stories that very few people get to experience and do. And then in such a humble way as well. I mean, just a crazy way to grow up where you're growing in such a humble way as well. I mean, just a crazy way to grow up where you're growing up where this is kind of normal and you almost have to pinch yourself all the time. There you go. Are you still? We may have broken up there a little bit.

Yeah. So, I mean, you're growing up in a way where you kind of have to pitch yourself and this feels very normal but during the time are you do you realize how kind of unique it is at the moment no when i was in my teens and early 20s yes whatever the super bowls and my people would call him everywhere and talk i saw how beloved he was and i'm like wow my dad's kind of like a rock star i never realized that yeah and it really made me appreciate him because he was humble as well that small like in life room and i would just watch in awe and see like all the love that people had for him that he had for other famous people so it didn't hit me until i was in my teens my 20s how how

you know famous he was in his own world but But he never bragged about that. There you go. Beautiful. And I imagine when you were doing the book and writing it, you were going through his stuff, the journey of his life, some of his possessions, belongings, writings, things like that. What was it like to try to unpack his life and pack it back up, I guess? The chapters I wrote, the odd number chapters were easy because that was my real life experiences with him in 2020 on. And I have some flashbacks in there as well.

What was hard was, Papa, cover your ears, please. Listen to this. I didn't read many of his books. I read a couple. So when I was writing this book, I had to read his books, find out how I condense a book down to eight to 10 pages per chapter. Wow. That's hard.

That was the hardest thing, just finding out what I want to say and obviously there his words So just highlight them so when it came time to describe them that was easy But long thing I had to do was read each book before I can write in a 10 Just a beautiful homage to your father. Well, what do you hope people come away with when they read the book? Hopefully they had a parent figure, could be father or mother, that had this bond like I did with my father. I really marveled at the bond that we had. It was awesome. Any other greater than any other father and son, people say.

But it's also a story about love between two people. So what I'd like people to come away with is it could be a husband and and a wife whatever i said before you know children or lovers whatever but just respect people while they're still here pay how much of them you will like funerals mean nothing that's bad but the soul spirit is gone so while you still have them ones that you love the most spend as much time as you can cherish them being and i made it a point for the last 10 years of my life and my dad's health issues didn't surface until the last three years that every vacation I took,

I went down to Brooklyn Town, Florida to see my dad. We'd go out to dinner, we'd have drinks, we'd go to the beach and it was wonderful. But I knew that at that point he was 83 and I didn't have much time with him even though he looked great. I said, I want to spend every minute I can with my father. I never have time off.

So just anybody you love in your life right now, just, again, enjoy them while you have them. Share with them, honor them, love them fully, because one day they won't be around. That's very true. And that's very, that's important. That's important stuff. When my father started having heart attacks and strokes, and it was starting to really get to the point where he was in and out of hospitals. And I went up and I spent time with him, and I basically used the let's settle all business sort of aspect.

And so I started talking to him about clearing the decks of any issues that I'd had with him or misunderstandings or disagreements and making sure that we were all, you know, I talked to him about what I wanted to talk to him about. And, and I asked him, I said, is there anything, you know, we need to clear decks with, with you. And we settled on our business. We settled on our problems and kind of apologized to each other. And by the time he was, by the time he went, I felt that we had cleared all the decks. In fact, I called my brother and I said, you really should settle up with dad and get clearance,

because once he's gone, you're not going to be able to have those conversations. And maybe someday you'll mature. Clearly, he hasn't. The closure's important. I'm glad someday you'll mature. Clearly he hasn't. The closure is important. I'm glad that you got that. I had closure with my dad a long, long time ago. I was blessed that my company let me spend the last few months of his life

with him every single day because we didn't think he was dying at first. We thought it was just the effects of the radiation. And I was blessed to be lying in his bed with him holding him on the night before he died in the morning and yeah it was emotional I don't want to bring that up or it might start tearing up on you and we're trying to have fun here it's okay yeah but I mean it's important to have closure with anybody that you you know have a disagreement with in the past it's so true no matter you your father yeah and I highly recommend people do that. You know, there's some people that believe in an afterlife and they're like, well, square things then.

And I'm like, no, you should probably do it before just in case you're wrong. And it does help. Because nobody knows, Chris. You might be wrong. Nobody knows. Nobody knows. But it's, you know, the rest of your life will be a lot cleaner if you clear it up. That's my policy.

I'm sticking to it. It's been wonderful, Davion. Give us the final pitch out to people to order up the book, David, and find out more. Sure. It's a great journey. There's some great history in there with sports and celebrities that my dad met, and with myself as well, pro wrestling.

But again, it's also a love story between two people that really cared about each other, and it was genuine. And I guess, Chris, man, I'm going to repeat myself, but again, it's also a love story between two people that really cared about each other. And it was genuine. And I guess, Chris, man, I'm going to repeat myself. But again, just if there's somebody in your life that you love dearly, don't make excuses not to go see them. Be with them as much as you can. It's important. You'll have regrets.

I'm sad my dad is gone. Very sad. But I have no regrets. I never spent enough time with him. and that we didn't have the greatest you know life especially the last 10 years together it's important so i guess that's i want people to learn this book um and again it's not just about my father and me you can identify anybody in the story i'm telling about myself and my father just you know live life every day the fullest and love don fullest. Don't hold back.

Don't say things when you're at a funeral that you want to tell people when, you know, you didn't tell them in real life. Tell them in real life. That's why I've made peace and I've given my homage in real life. I don't do it when somebody's at a castle. That's true. You got to do it when they're alive and capture those moments and appreciate people i mean absolutely it's one of those things where you don't you don't know what you have until you

until you don't have it and it can make all the difference so thank you very much for coming to the show we really appreciate it david and sharing this wonderful story of your father thank you so much this was a pleasure i really mean that there you go i can get so much for having me. It's a pleasure. I really mean that. There you go. Thank you for that. I needed that. That's what we do on the show. We have some laughs, and if we're not stupid, we're funny, and if we're not funny, we're stupid. Or vice versa.

Or sometimes we just suck. So there's that sometimes, too. I don't know. I'll watch it back later on on YouTube. I'll find it somewhere. Defended half my family. It'll probably be funnier after when I get to Hayville. I don't know if my name is books either.

It might have hurt somehow. There you go. Such an amazing story and amazing life, my friend. Thank you for sharing it. Give us any dot coms or social media you want people to go to to find out more about you. Sure. I'm on Facebook. David Saadi. I'm on Instagram. I use that the most.

It's Saadi. You can just Google my name, David Saadi, and find my social media accounts right there. There you go. Yeah. Thank you, David, for coming on the show. Amazon.com. Everyone's personal.

Amazon.com. Put in my name on search or the title of the book, and you'll find it right there. There you go. There'll be a link for it on the Chris Voss show as well. Oh, awesome. Thank you, Chris. There you go. And there'll be a link for it on the Chris Voss show as well. Oh, awesome. Thank you, Chris. There you go. I'll write up the book, folks, wherever

fine books are sold, called My Dad, My Dying Son. A true story of love and legends. Definitely inspiring. And maybe it'll help you appreciate your dad some more or the relationship you had with him. Thanks to my audience for tuning in. Go to goodreads.com, 4chesschrisvoss, linkedin.com,

4chesschrisvoss. Chris Voss 4chesschrisfoss chrisfoss1 the tiktok and all those crazy places on the internet be good to each other stay safe we'll see you next time and that should have us out