The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Hour 1: Peter King's Pop-Tart Expertise

Episode Date: February 27, 2024

Peter King, the last great sports journalist, joins us while eating an unfrosted strawberry Pop-Tart to discuss his legacy post-retirement. He shares his feelings on the gratitude he has for his career, the moment he knew it was time to go, court storming, and the difficulties of leaving the job you love. Then, who has the best calves amongst Book Sciambi, Stugotz, Pablo Torre, and Alonzo Mourning? Also, Jimmy Graham is here to prove why he might be the best human being to ever join us on this show. He discusses the Arctic Challenge 2025 as he's set to row across the Arctic Ocean for a good cause, raising money for cancer research, going to the bathroom in a carbon fiber bucket, why learning is an addiction, and how his early life has shaped him. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Strawberry unfrosted. And are you seem like a room temp guy? You know what let's start him right there. This is the no, let's do this right now. Let's do it right now Listen to me. Yes. Listen Peter King. This is not like the frosted pop tart Listen Peter King is going out on top his way. He always did it his way and at the end with His way, he always did it his way and at the end with punctuation as a journalist He's going out eating pop tarts and he's gonna be our pop tart expert right now and tell us why he's the best of all the Known pop tart eaters, but in the moment where this is what we're gonna do Peter King The last great journalist, the last great football man. From a different time when Lambeau Field mattered,

frozen tundra eats pop tarts where real men reside in yesterday's America. Peter King has outlived every football culture and goes out at the very top. What an ending, Peter. I don't know how hard it was to hit send on that column but i will tell you uh... you carried yourself with grace throughout and it has been overwhelming to watch an outpouring for a media member from other media members saluting

you for your kindness and for being a good person and trying to help others uh... for protecting the craft and doing your job honorably i don't know what the best complements you've gotten over the last few days but thank you for doing your job as professionally well as it can be done in uh... the previous age or in the modern age thank you for your work sir well thanks a million dan and uh... i'm just fortunate that i'm the son of kenneth and phyllis king event field can etiquette who raised me to be

uh... you know a giving person whenever i could and who raised me to be, you know, a giving person whenever I could, and I'm grateful to be the husband of Ann King, who always put everybody in the family before her. So I had some great examples to follow, and it has been humbling the last 24 or so hours to hear from everybody.

It's just nice. And look, Dan never had a bad day in this job. It's the greatest job a sports writer could ever want to have. I mean, you know, what could be better than sitting in Andy Reed's office for 10 minutes alone with me and my videographer Andy Koblet, Andy Koblet's just recording everything about Tom and Jerry, the winning play in the Super Bowl. And then five hours later, telling America about it in this column. That's, I mean, how could you want anything more in your life if you're a sports writer that likes to get things first? So anyway, I've had a fun run.

Oh no, but Peter, okay, you're being, I don't know if you're being modest or you don't want to be the story, but I just want to salute this part of you because to keep these relationships with the Andy Reads, to keep the curiosity, to keep progressing the game, to keep loving the game and to have gratitude about your profession as it crumbles around you

and you climb at every level to greater heights as your magazine love falls apart. The Sports Illustrated brand becomes something that you can no longer take pride in and you climb to the top of your career retire on top and then also get to say and no one has an unkind word to say about this man's climb. Like that's the rarest of things, Peter. Nobody gets what you got yesterday, which is the eulogy while you're still living. Yeah, I know. I did. I felt like I was at my own funeral, honestly.

I couldn't believe some of these things. And Dan, I've done it for so long that a lot of the things I had forgotten, you know, a lot of the stories that were told, I said, wow, I hadn't remembered that. And I just think also, honestly, I was really fortunate in 1989, Dan, you remember this in 1989, sports illustrated was bigger than ESPN. My second year there, I went in to cover the Dallas Cowboys as they were

starting to climb the ladder and Michael Irvin said to me, my God, Peter King's here. Man, and he yelled in the locker room, we're in a sports illustrated game. And that is something that I was fortunate to be able to be in on the ground floor with so many players who became great players. You know, writing the first long piece about Brett Favre, doing a lot of things like that. I met Andy Reed when he was a tight ends coach in 1995 in Green Bay and he came up to me and he said, when I went to college, I wanted the job that you have now. I wanted to cover football for Sports Illustrated. So, I mean, I understand it's getting all this, but getting all this praise, it's wonderful. I never would have been in a position to get

that praise if I hadn't come along at the absolute perfect time in this business for somebody like me. Peter, why now? I just really, I've done it for so long. I've covered the NFL for 40 years. And you know, I have started to feel, you know, this fall, I started to feel, I don't care anything about these coaching searches.

I just, I don't care. And I thought of, I just, I don't care. And I thought of, I had been thinking about doing this actually since last off season. And I knew it was time when I thought to myself, oh God, no, I do not want to go to the scouting combine. And it isn't that I don't like the scouting combine, okay, because you get FaceTime

with the most important people in the game, but I loved it five years ago. But I have gotten to the point in life where you know what true enjoyment is? Being asleep at 9.15 at night. Because I'm tired. And when you're at the scouting combine, you're at a bar at one o'clock in the morning every night.

You just are. And I just, I said, oh my God, I just, I don't want to do that. So that's when I kind of knew it was time to go. Peter, I noticed you're wearing a wake forest sweater there. Do you agree? Do you agree with Jay Billis that all those kids should be in prison?

Silent protest. No, in prison. I mean, I just think the ultimate, the ultimate example of what a gelding organization, the NCAA is, is that everybody in college basketball says, oh, geez, there's nothing we can do about court storming. It's like in America now after there's a mass shooting. Oh, what can we do about mass shootings? This is the United States of America people. You can do something about bad things. Do something about court storming.

Don't allow it. And the students who do it either get expelled or what something happens to it. Right now it's everybody looks the other way. It's a dumb practice and it's terrible that it takes somebody to get hurt for people to really think about doing something. Peter King standing for something! Peter King wants him said! I feel like Clint Eastwood and Gran Torino.

Come on! You look like them too. I know. I mean, I'm an old man. Old men yell about things that they're mad about. So that's what I just did. Speaking of old men, Peter, I have a question. As somebody who's of a retirement age himself, I want to ask you very honestly, how difficult and how emotional was it for you

to finally say I'm done with the career that has defined me for 40 years? I think it will definitely be difficult because when July 30th comes around and I'm not going to training camps, which is really, that month is like my favorite time of the year, going to training camps, which is really that month is like my favorite time of the year. Going to training camps, traveling across the country, that'll be the hard time. But listen,

I look at it this way. I haven't had any new, real new adventure in my life. And I have no idea what it's going to be. Maybe I'll drive a school bus. I have absolutely no idea. Maybe we'll move. My wife and I live in Brooklyn. We haven't really had time to process it and think about it. But I don't fear this at all. It's just the next chapter and I have had a lot of fun doing this job and we'll see what happens. But now I don't have any real fear. I'm not crying about it anything. It's just it's life. Dan, you should invite Peter to Africa. I mean, on your safari. You should be nice.

Yeah, he has nothing to do. I mean, you might not. Yeah, yeah. Stay in the tent. I want. You asked my two daughters who I haven't seen my grandkids enough. One is in Seattle two are in Berkeley I I don't know that a trip to Africa would be pleasing to them when I've been ignoring my grandchildren too much. Okay but hold on

I'd like to go back a second please at Levitard show do you believe that Peter King is full of shit when he says he might drive a school bus in the future at Levitard? Of course I just mean I just truly don't know what I'll do. You're not gonna be driving the school bus in the future at Leatherton. Of course, I just mean, I just truly don't know what I'll do. You're not gonna be driving a school bus. Listen, you're a legend and you're grateful and you say all the right things and you are so humble about your greatness and how grateful you are.

But Lord, football made you a king, sir, king of content, king of money, yes, king of empire building and you are retiring at the top of your game. Stop with the humble nonsense. You built a brand that outlasted sports illustrated. Yeah. Well, you know, Dan, that was another thing.

1997, when everybody at sports illustrated still feels like, oh, we are the great and powerful Oz here, still thinking they're more important than ESPN. And maybe at the time they were, but it was getting close. But I'll tell you, I got asked, would you do this column on this new website we have? I didn't even have an email address when I started this column, Monday morning quarterback. I had to get one in order to deal with the internet. But anyway, the one thing I would say is I said yes. And it's one of the things I try to tell young journalists now. If somebody asks you to do something, you should say yes

unless you absolutely cannot do it. And the reason is you have no idea in five years, seven years, nine years how stories will be told in journalism. Is there going to be some new way? Will everyone out there, every media person have a streaming channel? I don't know. But you better be open to wanting to do different things. And I was about the only person at Sports Illustrated

who said yes when they said, would you do a column for this new website, thing called a website that we're gonna have. And I got lucky, it hit a jackpot. Peter, I'm assuming that you're retiring, but not necessarily from the business, you will do what you want, you will not be driving a school bus,

but I'm guessing you might do some creative things because you have access to these football artifacts and you have an uncommon trust with the information that's been bestowed upon you because of the relationships over forty four years of doing this but you've getting all of this praise from all over the journalism uh... landscape and chris cody child uh... never to nepotism child of greg cody i want to ask you a tough question because we're tired of the softballs and Chris Cody, child, nepotism child of Greg Cody, wants to ask you a tough question

because we're tired of the softballs and everybody loving you up and we want an answer on this question. Is everyone's throwing you flowers today? Yeah, all the kind things you heard from everyone that came out of the woodworks yesterday and you heard from, who didn't you hear from? Who were you sitting around and you're like,

where's this person should have reached out? Or more, this person needed to say more. Or more, this person needed to say more. Name names. This person needed to say more. Did they not know that I just got tired? Honestly, honestly, I have, as of right now, I have 1400 emails at about 400 sections. I have not looked at all of them.

I've been busy, you know. That's disrespectful. Hold on, I'm sorry, Peter. We're here honoring you and Chris Cody feels the need to hit you with a look at me, Louis. Why? Because you told us how many email you got in an interview about when I'm talking to him

the whole time about like how moving all this shit is. I don't know, but honestly, Dan, I can't answer the question. I don't know the answer to the question because I don't really know everyone who has contacted me. So I don't know who hasn't contacted me. Who didn't say enough? Who didn't say enough? Did Schefter say enough?

Did Rappaport say enough? Were you walking around your living room saying I birthed all of you? You too, Floreo. Oh, no one came before me. I'm the first. I'm the original. All the rest of you are imitators, poor copycats. No, I'll tell you one thing. Those guys have advanced the ball. I mean, Will McDonough started it. You know, me and a few others, Len Pascarelli and Fred Edelstein and a bunch of people. Peter, you're the, Peter, come on, Peter, you are the best of them.

Peter, can you say it at the end? Are you gonna be, Peter, this doesn't diminish anyone else. You were the best and the original gangster of all the football writers. Like that was McDonough. McDonough was the OG. He was the OG. So you always voted.

And then there was a thing about him. Good, good timing. Good timing. What happened, Greg? The damn. What do you mean what happened? It's just the genuine contributions of one Greg Cody. Damn.

It'll time. Who said too much, Peter? Who said too much was just the genuine contributions of one Greg Cody. He'll time. Who said too much, Peter? Who said too much? Was over the top with their praise for you. Too much. Just trying to get in the glory of, hey, this is King's last day. Let me get some of that.

I don't know. Come on, somebody did that. It was Simmons, right? Whoa, whoa. You said too much. Hey, listen, you can't say too much about me. That's how great I am. What?

Wow. You can't say too much about me. That's how great I am. What? Wow. You can't say too much about me. Dan, you've said it. I'm so incredibly wonderful. So these things should continue for the next six months. All the praise, obviously. Congratulations. 30 seconds or less. I'm glad you made time for us today. I mean, sports writer for 44 years for Sports Illustrated. I don't believe there will be another of these I think he carved a very unique path. So thank you Peter and it's always good talking to you All the best in and all the best guys great being on with you. Take care. Thank you Peter. Happy trails Peter Legend

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That's Better Help. H-E-L-P dot com slash D-L-B. Don Lebatard. It's been a lovely cruise. Oh man, that's my outro. That's, you know, as my casket is being lowered. Jesus. You know, I'll have been cremated a week before, but we'll do the casket thing just for show. And as my casket is being lowered. Empty casket? Yeah, it'll be empty. Closed. Just for show, we're going to do that. Well, what's the redundancy there? You know, I mean, we're going to put on a public display. Yeah, naturally.

Stugats. What do you do with the ashes? You're going on lovely cruise. Exactly. Maybe we'll throw them over. My wife will throw them overboard. I would assume. And she's necking with her new husband.

This is the Don Lebatar show with the Stugats. Music Stugats, I am genuinely excited about a guest we're gonna have here in a little bit. It's not just because Jimmy Graham is University of Miami royalty really led a revolution at the position of okay the tight ends are now gonna be basketball power forwards and Drew Brees is gonna be so accurate that you're gonna be able to send these power forwards across the middle. They're not basketball players, but they can play football

and it makes you wonder what LeBron and Shaq would have been as a tight end. Would they have been Kelsey squared? Because that's what Gronk became with Brady. You need one at this position. Look, this is an oversimplification, obviously, but the tight ends became, they morphed into these wide receiver bodies where all of them are like,

okay, is this Julio Jones or is this something bigger? Tight ends aren't supposed to be, they're not guardable at this size. Jimmy Graham led that revolution. He was one of those guys, yes, who led that revolution at that position. He absolutely was. Someone's taking the Tony O Gates.

Yes, no, yes, fair enough. Right before. Well gates. Yes. No, yes fair enough Before I'm not no and they're plenty before him I you know we can go back to both Kellan Winslow's I'm just saying that is as part of what became a revolution at the tight end position this guy is doing that but then I Learned the other day that the five-time Pro bowler is also and I didn't understand why he was doing this He's going a million plus rowing yards, nonstop across the Arctic Ocean. It takes 15 days. He's already done it.

So he's returned from it. We were trying to get him to come on the show. And I think he was gonna come on from the rowing. So I'd like to hear some of the details of what he's doing and why. Second biggest calves I've ever seen in person. Boots first though? No, Boogshomby.

Who? What? No, Alonzo Morning. No. No, Boog, I'm with Mike on that. Yeah, I agree. Yeah, no, you can't agree with Boogshomby. If you try to take a biopsy of that calf, it will break the instrument. When Jamal Mashburn fell on the side of the court in a heat game where Alonzo morning was on Jeff Van Gundy's ankle, he thought when he saw Alonzo Morning from that angle that a police officer on a horse had been on the court. Have you seen Boogshomby leaning over a bar? You're not gonna be Boogshomby's calves are not gonna be bigger than Alonzo Morning. No, we respectfully disagree.

Come on. Agreed to disagree. I'm amazed you've noticed Boogshomby's. You haven't?ambies you haven't Front I think Pablo Torrey raves about his own calves. Don't you have you not heard Pablo Torrey? There's no way Pablo is good. Yeah, see yourself out of this conversation You don't belong Pablo Dan's right though Pablo does claim to have good really yeah, yeah They're good calves and then they're massive calves, right?

He's not in the the company of good calves and then they're massive calves. He's not in the company of Jimmy Graham and Boon Shambi. I have nice calves, right? You do, surprisingly so. I mean, I'm not gonna say it's among the biggest I've ever seen, but you're in that Pablo class where it's just like, whoa, I didn't know this guy was cooking quite like this.

They're chiseled, yes. Definition. No, you got, you know, kind of like meat bone calves. Cut, yeah. Chiseled, just got chiseled. There was a picture of him. There was a picture of him. You took a picture of him. He's not too long ago.

Chisel, like the rock? He's built them up, wandering grassy fields following the dead and flip flops. Yup. Everybody's got good calves. I have bad calves. Everybody walks. I'm fine with my bad calves. I don't care.

I have chicken legs. Let me see your calves. No, I don't want to. Hereditary. I got good calves. You do. You do. I have chicken legs. Let me see your calves. No, I don't want to. It's hereditary. I got good calves. You do. You do, you have solid calves. Ooh, how's the knee?

That's not bad. Careful. He told me during the break. Is that bursar sack? He told me during the break, he thinks he's gonna give it a go though. Ooh. Okay, but this leg's in bad shape.

I'm seeing that there are bruises there. This leg doesn't look like it's functional. He had genuine difficulty even throwing it up on there. I got an injured knee. No, but you're in genuine pain You got in pain because you were getting out of the car or getting off the sofa. I was sitting down Okay, you weren't even getting No, that's what you do for relief. I said awkwardly when he got up. He said ouch Yeah, I did you said where did you sit? Where did you sit on my couch?

The couch has been there without repair for how long? Well jumping Charlie ate it so they did get a new one. They got a new couch. Right. This is a new couch. I'm asking how did you injure yourself? Was it the fault of the couch or was your fault you're just old and broken? It was my fault I sat awkwardly. Yeah. I winced in pain and then didn't think anything of it. And then I woke up and said ouch and it's worsened a little bit now. Hopefully we're at the nadir of pain, and that by tomorrow night at bowling, five dollars, I'll be capable.

You're all about 20. He doesn't have a cough button. No, he doesn't. He could have leaned away. I know you did have a cough button. It wasn't even a cough. Thank you. He thinks that's his intellectual property.

I don't know what I'm gonna do about that. Samson's in rage. Greg thinks he owns that. We already have our shoe t-shirts at the Greg Cody show podcast you own the sneeze His body falling apart one sound at a time. He wants the intellectual property This is him throwing out his back and this morning It's out when he gets up. Sorry his ankle and his calf hurts ouch And his knee what what hurts? The back, I'd like somebody, a medical doctor, in the audience to explain to me.

The pain is right in the back of my knee. It's on the back of my leg right beneath the kneecap. And I don't know what muscle that would be. MCL. Is that right? Yeah. And underneath your kneecap? Oh, look at these two experts.

Look at these two experts. The MC5 rock group. Look at the two of them. I mean, look it look it up. Okay, great. I think that sounds right One of you saying look it up the other one right a doctor in the audience the thing on my knee. Can you give me a prognosis? I'm the laziest possible entertainer. Hey doc. I don't want to call your office and check this out Can one of our listeners just make me a quick diagnosis? Maybe send me some pills and Stu Godson's over here. MCL, damn. Dr. Godson.

Yeah, whatever it's called, dot com. Looks like pain in the back of the knee can be caused by arthritis or cysts known as baker's cysts. Wow. Oh, that happened to my mother. You should get that checked out, that you're an old person. Baker's cyst? Did that happen to her sitting down on the couch?

No, she was a strong old woman. Did she say ouch or that's a key component Little ironic the couch caused the ouch, you know, yeah, you know, I never thought of that Mm-hmm. Yeah, sometimes the cow the house is the owl Sometimes the calf turns into a cow. Mm-hmm almost always. Yeah, not ironic in any any way who don't you think it could be arthritis You guys remember when temba Walker was the last piece for the Celtics He scored 92 points in a game somewhere overseas. What? It is big East tournament time Sorry

Do you remember when he was gonna be the last piece for the Celtics to guys because there's a funny argument going on right now where people are Saying why doesn't Jason Tatum get to be an MVP candidate? Jermon Green is saying you didn't do this to Yannis. You didn't do it to Embiid, Jokic. You make them win a championship. You move the goalposts. You may get harder and harder. Jason Tatum is the best player on what is clearly the best team.

What's the argument against him being the MVP of the league when he says, when he tells Malik Andrews, I'm the best in the sport. I'm the best player in the sport. And then people point out the metrics of, well, no, you've got the least efficiencies among all your starters, your jump shots not going great this season. He's a Kobe guy, that's mama mentality. Yeah.

Not be super efficient and have that mentality. Just keep shooting. But the team's plus minus is better when you're off the court than when you're on the Celtics. You think the Celtics are better without Jason Tatum? No, no, no, no, no. I mean, Tatum does have- I just said plus minus.

I just gave you numbers. Back off. Tatum to the defender. I do think that Tatum does have some proving of himself to do. And we've seen, like, I think Steph Curry, to a degree, had some proving to do. And then he did it in the finals, I guess, against Jason Tatum.

There are just, he doesn't really have these big postseason moments. And there are weird stretches where he kinda, you wonder aloud, hey, where's Jason Tatum here? So I do think that he has some narrative building in the postseason. He's the next guy that needs to win a title, right? He's the best, but what I can't wait for, right?

The heat when Jimmy Butler saying it's time and Celtics fans are running for the mountains because they know they have the best team. There's only one they fear. It cometh this way. They only fear Jimmy Butler. He's the only one. Folks, whether you're hosting a game day, a movie night, Dijorno knows that planning

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If you lob a 30 mile an hour fastball to a major leaguer, of course they're gonna hit a homerun. The worst major leaguer in baseball is gonna hit 10 or 12 homeruns under that format. Being pitched that way. So they should be throwing curveballs? No! Like what's your solution here? It's a fake event. It's like not even real.

Stugatz! Dad, you had a chuneral. event it's like not even real. Stugatz. Dad you had a shooter roll. Those were my deck shoes of long standing. Real event though. Real shoes. Right exactly. No no no. I am with you Greg. What's wrong with that? He got me on that one. This is the Don Lebatar show with the Stugads. position so we'll talk to you about that in a second because you must marvel at Kelsey and Gronk the same way that we do but you're joining us right now from what looks like a boat and you've been on a boat for about 15 straight days right so can you tell me what it is that you guys I think Billy Gillbeck there tends to question these things what is a difficult rugged ride yeah well I do

have this in your house. I need my own beeswax. Billy, historically you say these feats of crossing the ocean aren't that rugged because the boats are, you know, they're J.J. Watts cabin. Like it's a luxury liner and that Jimmy Graham's not actually doing something that's hard. You think that's unreasonable skepticism? I said no such thing about Jimmy. All right, well anyway.

He wastes all Jimmy's off the air. Exactly right. I mean, Jimmy, honestly, if we're going to cross the ocean, just hop on a plane. All right, so Jimmy, tell us, why did you decide to cross the Arctic Ocean? Thank you for joining us. And how did you...

That's not the boat you crossed on, right, Jimmy, though, because that's, like, come on, I could do that. It's a yacht. No, one, thank you for having me. And two, you know, this is my sailboat. So eventually, this is the practice boat. I eventually later in life plan to sail around the world, but that'll be more of a carbon fiber boat

with a lot more speed. What we're doing is going to be in a 30-foot boat. That's an open ocean raster, so it has these two small cabins and it's incredibly exposed when you're out there rowing, which is going to be obviously very different because the average temperatures, even in the summer there will be in the 30s, the water will be basically right above freezing, so you know, it definitely has difficulties. Well, but explain this part to me because why seek this misery, right? You have a very comfortable life. This is no matter how much we can question what you're doing, you're choosing 15 grueling

days. Why? Well, it first started at a pub in Cambridge. One of my really close friends, Andrew Trope, you know, he's been in Navy sail for 23 years. I believe he's been deployed 17 times. And it's always been a life goal of his to cross an ocean. So, we were thrown back a few and that's when it all kind of started. And then we were approached by Hannah and her husband about this opportunity.

And for me, everybody has their own reasons to do this. I'm the type of person, I love to push myself. I love new experiences, I love to learn. But for me, the biggest part about this, besides doing it with one of my best friends, is the charities that are gonna be involved, that we're gonna be donating to as we grow and raise money. One of them is called The Covenant House to New Orleans and it I think it houses annually

and feeds 650 kids. And for me, you know, I spent some time in some government facilities and I had a very interesting childhood and I always look back and wished somebody was rolling for me, you know? And so really for me, that's what's important about this is the cause. And really to show these kids that anything is possible, I myself was right there where they were.

And if you believe it and dream it and work as hard as you can, and you can achieve it. So that's one of the biggest things. And one of the reasons why I'm doing it. Okay, and because this is so personal to you, you're choosing to go well outside the comforts of your life, you've arrived at great success. So you're doing this because this caused mean something

to you and I'll ask you in a moment about raised by government, what does that mean? What are you rowing for here? But can you tell me the parts of this that you most fear that people don't understand how grueling it is to actually Cross an ocean for 15 days in a rowboat even if it's the smallest of the oceans the Arctic Ocean what you're choosing to do is dangerous and Also, there are parts of this that would scare me and I would not do no no matter what the science is and no matter What storm tracking is.

Are you saying do it in a real ocean? You sound like you're ocean shaming him, to be honest. No, I'm saying it's the only one that can be crossed this way in a boat of this size, I think. I think any other way would make it very hard, even harder, correct? Well, it brings its own challenges. You know, they do race across the Atlantic,

they do race across the Pacific, depending on how this goes. And if we end up securing a couple of world records, then we might end up doing a campaign to do an open ocean race in the Pacific, which the reason why that's very difficult is that's between 40 to 50 days it takes to do that. So there is no, I mean, you can track weather, but inevitably you're gonna be hit

by some type of front. For us, this brings its own issues because of how treacherous that ocean is. We're going to be leaving through the fjords at the top of Norway, and they're going to basically be heading to a glacier island. And for us, obviously weather, cold, and really just the toll that it takes from your body. You know, myself, I'll burn between 8 to 10,000 calories a day. And so, you know, feeding the beast is definitely going to be number one, but also the sleep deprivation. We only get two hours off from rowing, so you get about 90 minutes

of sleep at a time and then you're back growing again for two hours. So it's very difficult in many ways and obviously very scary. We will train in the Gulf around some of the oil rigs out of New Orleans and then we're going to bring the boat down here to Miami and then we're going to go to the Bahamas and train as well in a couple of days. So we have to get a lot of certifications and do a lot of race and money for sponsors as it is to accomplish this because it is very expensive to do this as far as permitting and the boat itself and everything that goes into attempting something like this.

But yeah, it's definitely going to be brutal, especially for someone like myself. I'm the only one on the team that's never rode before. So I have a lot to learn in a very short time. Jimmy, what is the diet, the 8,000 calorie a day diet? on the team that's never rode before. So I have a lot to learn in a very short time. Jimmy, what is the diet, the 8,000 calorie a day diet? I suspect it's pretty specific. Yeah, well, it's dehydrated food. So we'll be warming food up.

You know, it's almost like astronaut food. So we'll be warming food up and we have a water, basically a water maker on board so we can turn salt into fresh water. That'll be one of my jobs is being able to fix that if there's any issues, obviously, if we can't produce water, then we will have to get picked up and rescued.

So, and obviously I'm lead navigator and comms. So, you know, keeping a clear line of communication with our weather team and with our land team to make sure that we stay away from something really, really big, but in case we do get hit by a storm, we will put out a drone shoot, a drogue shoot, which basically is a parachute under the water. Just basically slow you down and also keep you

in the right direction so that the boat won't constantly flip over. Jimmy, this doesn't seem fun. It seems like torture. It seems like a lot of work. How about just a little walkathon, maybe a 5K, something like that, you know? Well, well, I mean, I just I just did 100 miles for cancer on Saturday on my bike. So, you know, for me, it's it's a.

I did that too. No. No. He deserved it. He deserved no, no, we don't deserve that. He did. He did a nice thing. Yeah. Well, it was for cancer for the DCC. So we raised a lot of money. I believe we raised in the fifties or $60 million for the University of Miami health. Jimmy, that's ridiculous.

You are, you are an American hero choosing unpleasantness because it's the right thing to do. I need people to understand just how difficult this is that you're choosing to do this ridiculous thing. What is sleep going to be like in stormy seas? How bad is it gonna be that the boat's always gonna feel like it's capsizing? How bad's it gonna be that the boats always gonna feel like it's capsizing? How bad is it gonna be that you're gonna sleep 90 minutes a day?

If maybe and food's gonna be hard to eat because the seas aren't gonna ever be calm Yeah, well, I mean we plan to do a lot of obviously testing on sleep most likely also blood work before and after we might pair with the The Navy Seal Foundation and try to track all of these things, there are some other companies that have been reaching out to try and track our overall health through all this. Obviously, we'll be sleep deprived. With that comes hallucinations. Also, we're going to be working extremely hard, growing 12 hours a day, each one of us and in the

cold. So we're going to burn even more calories. So, you know, figuring out who we are and what we need and how hard we can push ourselves individually is going to be a thing. And then it's obviously an amazing opportunity for teamwork. And we're going to be very close because there's no bathroom. It's a carbon fiber bucket. So we're going to get to know each other pretty well. Oh no. Oh no. So yeah, I mean, this is about as extreme as it gets.

But I definitely believe that once I do this and once we accomplish this great goal for a great cause, I think sailing around the world for me, it'll make it a lot easier and it'll actually yacht with bathrooms and with a cabin and with cover. So And where we sleep, there's there's two individual pods one at the bow one at the stern and They're not very big. So I got to figure out a way to get comfortable in that I'll be where the national be so I think that one's a little bigger But it's got all the calm so it gets a little hot in there

But you know heat was it's probably gonna help since it'll be so cold Jimmy Obviously, we all hope it doesn't come to this, but have you guys given any thought to let's say something goes wrong You're out there you get marooned none of these you know things that you send out there to get rest you'd come This is dark. I'm just well. I'm just asking. Lots of pictures he has a plan. Who wants some rest? Yeah, do you look around at your crew with you and say that's the one that, that's the one we can do? Larry Zonka, he got lost at the Bering Sea.

You football players, you don't have to do these things. You're choosing something that is life risking. And Billy's asking, why are you doing this? No, he's asking who? He's asking who he eats. I'm asking who's life means the least. Yeah, like based on, you know on you know respond you're a navigator that seems important. There's a bunch of rowers Maybe you lose a third row or and like who do you base who you eat based on responsibility based on body composition? Like how do you chew?

No, I mean we'll we will definitely be in contact with the Norwegian government for for any type of emergency situation. And they understand those waters, obviously, very treacherous, and they have the ability to come in with helicopters. But this is unassisted. So because of a world record, we can't have a boat follow us. We will be by ourselves and obviously communicating with our comms

our our weather and our trend navigator is is gonna be very important But no one's gonna be eating ever Correct me, please I feel like this is a bit flippant about life Isn't it this is you're doing this for a cause because you are doing something that you know is very risky It's hard to do it. The one of the reasons you're doing it is because it's hard to do But it's not because you don't understand the risk help Jimmy. I'm listening to you and I'm like I wouldn't want to be that cold and wet for 15 days. Never mind everything else. I'm cold in here. I don't... He did play at Soldier Field. And Green Bay.

For us in Tudor. It's one of the things where, yeah. It's one of the things where I obviously live in Miami, I can't stand the cold. So that's probably gonna be the most brutal part for me. But, you know, the reason why I'm doing this personally and the reason why this means so much to me is, you know, 18 years of my life I went through many many things and when I turned 18 I said I'm going to do whatever it takes to make every dream become a reality and since I turned 18

and became a man and had full control of my life I've pushed myself a neighbor way possible to maximize the life that I do have. I think life is beautiful. I think living in America is beautiful. I think being on this earth is beautiful. So I try to maximize every day. And my life isn't on autopilot. I live on a sailboat. I've got 10 licenses. I run a foundation with a helicopter. I just want to show that same kid that at 12 years old was in this 11 and 12 years old that was dropped off at this facility, that anything's possible.

And where I've gone from that point till today, it's almost surreal. And I'm constantly doing more, I'm constantly learning. It's an addiction, learning things and pushing yourself to the absolute limit for me because for the first 18, I had no control. Things were just happening to me very tragically being dropped off by everybody who was supposed to take care of me. So now I have this ability to show all those kids that are in that same situation what's possible between playing multiple sports through college and

pros and now on this new venture of pushing myself in a sport that I've never been a part of. I've never learned how to row. I hate the cold. You know, I mean, for me, it's more about challenging myself and just living every bit of life that I have left to the fullest. I would like to have a longer conversation with you about the amazing success story that is your life. We will do it the next time because I know you're short on time.

I want to talk about his skin. What's your routine? Skin care. You want to talk tight ends with him as well. But shoulders all from rowing? You're going to have a bit of a caloric deficit. How are you going to build your body back up? Free weights? We have a lot of questions, but the last one is a lot the last the last of them for me though This time is just can you explain to us because it obviously means a great deal to you Can you explain to us your formative years?

That made you value life this way and want to live it to the fullest and be the toughest How how the government failed you how the government helped you where are the fullest and be the toughest. How the government failed you? How the government helped you? Where are the scars and where is the strength? Yeah, I wouldn't say that the government failed me. You know, I mean, I was lucky enough at times to be a military kid. So I lived on a lot of bases.

I lived on Fort Bragg. I lived in Germany. And I had the ability to, even though we didn't have money, there'd be subsidized programs for military kids to have. But in the end, my father left me at a very young age. My stepfather dropped me off on the side of the road and so did my mother. So through all those people who gave up on me,

and through all the people who didn't believe in me, and all the people who gave up on me and through all the people who didn't believe in me and all the people who said that, you know, I remember one of my relatives told me when I believe I was seven that one day you're going to need to learn how to beg for quarters. And you know, so at the age of 37, you know, I'm always sitting here to prove them wrong and really just just to prove to myself, you know, what I can do, what I can learn, how far I can push my body. You know, I think I've been given, you know,

this talent to be pretty athletic at my size. And so I know that I only have but so much of that true athleticism left. And I'm gonna take every ounce of it to try to do something special for others. And then from there, I move on to more of kind of mental things to learn and do and push myself. Good talking to you, Jimmy. We'll catch up again, sir. Thank you. I'll come to the studio next time. I appreciate you guys having me and thank

you so much for shining a light on this Arctic Challenge 2025. I really appreciate it. And hopefully you guys can come down to the hangar and fly with my foundation. I'll take you guys up in the Huey. We would love to help you with your story. Whatever your skincare routine is, bring that in. Yes, bring that in.

Yes, we'll. He'll be the new Jason Taylor. You know he smells good on top of everything. Well, not after shooting in a bucket for two months. Yeah, well, that's the thing put that on the pole, please Have you ever been friends enough with anybody to share a kyber carbon fiber bucket to shit in with that's deeply unpleasant? Thank you Jimmy. Thank you so much. I think I did that at dope after like seven Miller likes I've done it at dead show. Yeah