Determined Society with Shawn French | Adversity & Mindset - Glow in the Dark Success: Cory Cubano's Unseen Struggles and Triumphs

Episode Date: February 17, 2025

Join us for an in-depth conversation on The Determined Society as host Shawn French chats with former college athlete turned professional baseball player and viral sensation, Cory Cubano. Discover how Cory overcame career setbacks, an autoimmune disease, and personal challenges to forge his path to success. From his journey through Division One baseball to his creative endeavors with the Savannah Bananas and new adventures in Cosmic Baseball, Cory shares his inspiring story of determination and resilience. Don't miss this engaging episode filled with life lessons for athletes and creators alike. Remember to like, share, and subscribe for more motivating content! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Audience, I want you to understand something. This man played Division I baseball at a very high level and then was exited from the game. During that time, he found ways to still put his brand out. He was being innovative and it led finally not after one year or one video, sorry, literally two years of doing that. He got a try out. Didn't make it, waited for the expansion, but he just didn't wait. He continued to make videos honing his crap. My point to you guys is you don't have to get ready if you stay ready.

That's determination. That's what the show's about. So what are you going to do? Fold your tin up and go home and cry? Dude, this is amazing. Literally being myself is what I got here. I tell people all the time. Push through it, push through it.

And on this whole journey, I was like, dude, this is me. Like, I'm not going to quit. Then I'm going to leave. I was never like that. I'm French, what else? Everything I'm doing up until it's done. I meet for the entirety. I put it in overtime.

I'll be working. Just know I'm a go for mine. Because I earned it. They watch and I know it's time. I confirmed it. A whole society, determined, determine. What's up, everybody? Welcome back to another episode of The Determined Society.

I'm your host, Sean French, and just like always, an amazing guest. But before I introduce him, I need you to go, follow the YouTube, the Spotify, the Apple Podcast, and share this episode with someone that you know, love, and trust that would get a lot of value out of this. And I want to hear you and understand what you love about the show. So on Spotify, you can leave me a comment, and it's me commenting back. So there's a little hack for you. Let's chat. Today I have an amazing professional athlete with us.

His name is Corey Kubano. Real name, Corey G. I can't pronounce his last name because it's super. And it's okay because we comment. We talked about it before the show. All right. Don't give me shit about it. But, you know, he was a college baseball player at Marshall University, then transferred

to JU. And now he's a professional baseball player. He was with the banana, Savannah bananas up until recently. Now he's contracted to go play and a glow in the dark league. So without further ado, Corey Cabano, Welcome the fucking show, dude. Finally, baby. You're here, dude, how long, bro?

I've been dying. I've been dying for this. And we're so close, too. Like, you're in Miami. You're here in Naples. Yeah. But, dude, your schedule, man. It's crazy.

My schedule's crazy. Yeah. I'm just grateful you're sitting right here now. I am so grateful to be here, man. I love what you do. I love this podcast. So definitely honor to be here for sure. Well, dude, it's just, dude, it's on brand, man.

I was a ball player myself, you know? Absolutely. Didn't get to quite take it to where you have. But for the audience that doesn't, know Corey G. Why don't you give him a little peek behind the curtain, man? For sure. First of all, you're not the first one to ever struggle with the last name. Don't worry about it.

I know, you told me. I would have never said that on air if I didn't know. It was okay. Yeah, no, I have stories of that. But yeah, I started out playing baseball in Miami where it's very competitive. And at a young age, I knew I wanted to play for a long time. I really fell in love with the game around high school. And that's when I started getting attention of schools.

and somehow I ended up in the freaking North Pole at Marshall University. The North Pole, exactly. Yeah, big culture shock. Yeah, I bet, dude. Big culture shock. I bet. But I loved it. I took it on.

I was like, I loved it. Yeah. Okay. But yeah, I went up there. That's where I started my baseball career. I skipped, but before that I had like some injuries. That's what led me to go like way out of Florida. I was a pitcher, tore my labrum.

Oh, wow. So that was a little adversity there. But I knew that, you know, I was athletic enough basically to still go. like to a division with school and play outfield. At Marshall, I was there for, I want to say, four years. When it comes to what your family eats and drinks, you know your choices matter. You're the expert because you know what fits your life.

And getting it right starts with good information. That's why America's beverage companies are sharing more information about our ingredients at good to know facts.org. No spin, no judgments, just the facts, straight from the experts for more than 140 beverage ingredients. Visit good to know facts.org. I played only in two because I, freshman year, snapped my wrist. I was tearing it up, snapped my wrist, more adversity.

I basically ended up having three surgeries on one arm. But in that whole time, I was, you know, making videos in a time where there wasn't no TikTok. There was like Vine, and I think I had to delete Vine, my first day on Can you. Oh, really? Yeah, I was getting roped for videos. Okay. But yeah, it was always me. I had that, like, in the back of my mind.

Like, baseball on this is what I love to do. Yeah. I have ideas. Anyways, I'll circle back to that later. But from there, after those red shirts and injuries, I transferred to J.U. To go play with my younger brother, which was pretty sick. There's a cool story about that that I want to tell the audience. Oh, yeah.

But keep going. That was amazing. My family was in heaven. My dad, like, I'll never forget those times. J.U was awesome. Way better baseball program, I can tell you that. That's great, man. I don't know about now, times of the change,

but baseball there was awesome. I still have friends to this day. I'm literally going this weekend to a JU alumni game. But yeah, finished my career out there. And then when I was hurt, dude, I was like starting to think, like backup plan, like any, what anybody would think. At that point, I was like, you know,

maybe the major leagues, which is what we all dream of. Sure. Maybe that's not set in stone with all these injuries and stuff. I got my master's while I was playing. Amazing. Finish school there. Finish on like a higher note because as I was, I was falling out of love with baseball at like Marshall going through all this social media stuff and I was getting, you know, in trouble with all that. But like I told you, I went to J.U and like it sparked a light in me, dude. That locker room, I was happier. I was able to make videos even though TikTok

wasn't a thing. They were like, all right. Yeah, that's this crazy. Instagram was there, right? Yeah, Instagram was there. And yeah, it was the way I always expressed my emotions and told my family like, yo, I'm doing good even though I was away for college. Yeah. But anyways, yeah, I finished there and I finished on like a higher note, like I was like, man, I loved the game again. But, you know, let's see what the real world has for me. Started in the restaurant business, believe it or not. That was my first job. I was a manager at first watch. So you went from playing ball at J.U. Yeah. transitioned out identity shift into a manager at first job my first entering to the real world was literally a manager of first watch i had

to learn how to cook in the kitchen no way i was just like kind of like yo i just want to make money i'm tired of asking my parents for money to go eat taco bell and yeah you know like i was just ready to to make some money and um that happened to be the first thing that aligned and i was really thinking like i want to open a Cuban restaurant one day maybe i should learn how to cook okay learn how to manage a business, a restaurant. So I went under my dad's buddy, Bob Frame. He was like the guy, the owner at the time. And I learned all this stuff, hospitality.

I quickly learned that I was like, dude, this ain't me. Yeah. So after a year, I promise, I was like, I'm going to make it through the year. Then the whole pandemic thing happened. And I was like, I'm really not going to be in the restaurant business. Yeah. Not for me. But I did find out that I'm like a good, I was a good host.

the front of the the I would kill the front is what they call it not the back the back to the kitchen where I would burn my finger the front dude greeting people talking to people everybody wanted to come back the next thing you know I'm making videos I never stopped making videos that's one thing about me love it um kept making content even if it was in the kitchen whatever I was doing and then you know the rise of the bananas this whole time happening the whole TikTok era was blowing up and the whole time I'm like dude this is so me I'm like two three years out of the game, but this is me right here. Maybe I could circle back to this, but anyways, let me finish out this year. Kept making content. Then I got an invite to go play banana ball or to go try out,

which was the most unique trial I've ever experienced in my life. People were wearing costumes, a bunch of guys that are crazy like me that are very athletic doing backflips. You got a guy on stilts, pitching the ball, hitting the ball. And then quickly, I was like, yo, this is sick. This is like,

Like, I could definitely do this. I feel like I belong here. How do they hear about you? Like to... So, yeah, since that whole time, I kept posting videos. Okay. I kept posting videos, like I said, even in the... When I was in cooking or I was a manager at first watch,

I would literally still go to the park and make videos. Like, if I was still playing, I would go and relatable baseball stuff. Like stuff about a 3-1 count, whatever. I would go to the park, find someone to... film me or I'll literally do a tripod and just film myself thinking that this could blow up. I'm like, all right, I'm going to do this. And then I started getting followers on TikTok. I got to like 40,000 followers, I think, pretty fast.

And still, no, I don't have a jersey to be doing these dances that everybody else has a platform. I'm trying to get to like the bananas. I'm trying to get their attention. Sure enough, after like a year of doing that, two years, then they sent me an invite. It was an email. And I was like, right away, I called off work. I was like, dude, I have to do this. I don't care what you say.

I got to go. And then I ended up killing it. I ended up killing it at the trial, even though it was post, it was, I want to say, three years, four years after not playing baseball. And, but I did get in shape for it. How much time did you have to train?

Dude, like six, seven months, I want to say. And still work, yeah. Light work. Yes. I was able to get in shape. Now, baseball shape is a whole different thing. It is. A fastball.

Yeah, that's different. I will say like that part when I faced the batter or face, the pitcher there, it was a whole different ball game. I was, it was super fast. Like, as soon as I swung, the ball was coming again. I was like, this is a whole new world to me, let alone live pitching is you can't practice that. I got in shape and all that, but live pitching. But what they loved about me was the fact that I was not scared to try any trick play. When you get there, they tell you, yo, we know you can catch the ball. Everyone here played at a high level. We want to see who's not afraid to try a backflip, try to catch a ball behind your back, all that stuff. So I had bruises.

everywhere. I think I caught a ball in my pants that almost hit my nuts. Oh, really? Oh, dude, I had a bruise like that big, but it was so worth it. As soon as I caught it, everybody went crazy. But yeah, I had, like, I just, you know, I was, I was very personable there, and I think that's what they liked. And they kept me under the radar, but they only had two spots. They kept one dude that signed over me, and he got on the bananas and another guy got on the party animals, so there was no room. I kept literally getting in shape, kept posting videos, like never before because now I'm like, all right, this is what I really want to do. So I went all in.

When I went all in, the next year is when they opened the teams up and added new teams. And then I played on one of the new teams. They added the firefighters and they added the visitors. And then I was fortunate enough to play with the visitors. And it was nuts. I mean, it was the best experience ever on a baseball field that I've ever had because I was having so much fun. So much fun. I didn't have to worry about posting a video and someone freaking, you know, telling me like,

like, yo, you know, you're a problem or you're this, you're that. And I was just happy. And again, I was in love with the game the most I had ever been, literally. I think I played in front of 50,000 people in three games, I'm sorry, six games, like crazy. Let me, let me, I want to pause for a second because I want the audience to key in on something. Yeah. So it would be poor of me not to circle back to this. Yeah.

Right now while it's, well, it's prudent. audience, I want you to understand something. This man played Division I baseball at a very high level and then was exited from the game and wasn't too proud to go manage a first watch restaurant. During that time, he found ways to still put his brand out. He found ways that he can showcase himself. And what I heard from you, Corey, was like, it didn't matter.

You're asking somebody at the park to film you. You put it on a tripod. He was being innovative, and it led, Finally, not after one year or one video, sorry, or one month. Literally two years of doing that. He got a try out. Didn't make it. Waited for the expansion, but he just didn't wait.

He worked in the background. See, he continued to make videos honing his craft, getting in better shape, and he was ready. So, like, my point to you guys is, like, you don't have to get ready if you stay ready. And he's the epitome of that. And now you're still in it, man. Absolutely. Because that's determination. That's what the show's about.

So what are you going to do? Fold your chin up and go home and cry? Absolutely. No. Like, dude, this is amazing. Literally being myself is what I got here. I tell people all the time. I love that.

Because they're like, you know, what about when this guy? Dude, imagine you're a freshman in college and your leader, the guy that you go to war for is telling you, you know, you need to delete social media and you need to do this. And I'm like, dude, I'm not doing nothing wrong. I'm not posting like some people that are, you know, going to the bars with a red solo coming in their hand. I was never doing none, like never posting none of that. that. I literally was like, bro, one day I'm going to be right. Like, whatever. I will call my dad and he'll be like, you know, you need to get out of there or whatever. But I was a guy that was like, I was like, I'm not going to quit. You know, then I'm going to leave. I was never like

that. So I try to push through it, push through it. And on this whole journey, I was like, dude, this is me. Like, I know I'm doing, this is what I'm good at. I love creating. I love making videos, whatever it's dancing or whether it's baseball, whether it's Spanish, whatever the heck it is, I like, I love this. I love your, dude, you know what I, the one thing that comes to mind when I'm listening to the story and getting to know you better is like, dude, you're a fucking visionary.

Yeah. And a lot of visionaries, like, I consider myself a visionary, right? And a lot of visionaries are often misunderstood and underappreciated. Right. And I think it's because, you know, coming from the outside perspective is like, it's a threat. Like, you're a

threat at that point. Yes. Like, you were a threat to wags at Marshall. Oh, yeah. I want to talk about that because, you know, nowadays, you know, there's, there's a lot of tension around social media. I mean, hell, Carson Beck's going to Miami for $10 million. Yeah. And until 2016, you were getting chastised for making a fucking fun video. Literally. Walk me through that, dude. Dude, I will literally talk about this forever. Well, now is when I'm really talking about it. Yeah, of course. I posted a video the other day and a bunch of people were like this is so relatable because again

pre-tick-tok era and all this dude it was not the same um you made that point like this guy just got an NIL deal to literally transfer schools to go play with his other TikTok famous girlfriend they're making bank no hate at all I'm like I'm literally

happy I'm like this is how it should be that's that's great for your likeness and all that you should be getting something I remember applying for a job Sean at Marshall and to be a bartender because I'm like I want to make money. And the next day, the NCAA, or my coach was like, you can't do that. Yeah. You can't do that. I'm like, what, what if it literally doesn't affect any hours of, you can't make money? You can't do it. I got suspended for working a camp for coach Burtman, Skip Burtman, Skip. Unreal. I did, I made $50 at a camp or

at his batting cage. I mean, Skip Burtman's legendary. I wasn't going to say no to skip. Yeah. I went and I got, I got in trouble. It's ridiculous. It's been it for a week. Dude, so I, I, I, I was at Marshall. It wasn't the best baseball program at the time. Right. No field. No field. How do you not have a field in your Division I program? Insane. And they always promised for a while, like, hey, it's common.

And a bunch of people could attest to this, especially everyone from West Virginia or that played college ball against Marshall. Dude, we would travel an hour to play a home game. What would you play at? Power Park. It was like a minor league field in Charleston, West Virginia, neutral site. It's neat. But, come on. We were practiced.

We were practiced at the local high school. Really? And after a while, they opened up something at the YMCA. So I'm driving 20 minutes every day to practice, barely getting anything to eat right after class, trying to haul ass in these West Virginia roads in my convertible Mustang. But yeah, dude, it's crazy. I go back to that story and like I remember at the time again thinking, man, am I really doing something wrong? Right. I remember this thing called the Running Man Challenge came out when it was really, really popular.

Yeah. This is 2016. This is when like people are kind of scared to be in front of the camera. And I'm like the opposite. I'm like, dude, oh my God, I have an idea. Let's do it. So I remember after a game once, again, no one's ever in the locker room. Like, if anything, I'm helping this team out, making it look like we are this amazing bonding team and everybody.

And it wasn't really like that behind the scene. No, no. It was not like that. Literally, again, it's hard, though, because of the facilities. The locker was under classrooms. It's not like your typical division one. atmosphere but you would think still people get together in the locker room or like team bonding stuff like that that wasn't really happening so imagine i make this video it goes absolutely nuts we we play

uh w v u our rival i want to say a week later we go to morgan town and after i made this video that that was blowing up on twitter and instagram under my fake name because if not wags would have killed me if you saw that out on instagram dude and we're playing and i see like like chicks in the stands and like kids and they're like doing the and they're like yo they're like I'm like I feel it I feel that they're talking about it bro I'm me too yeah I feel it and I'm like dude that's impact I'm like look I'm like you see that some people are like yeah bro that's crazy we ended up losing six four uh huh I swear I remember the score and everything and we get on the bus and WVU's our rival and this fucker starts going crazy you wags lost it yeah yeah he's like you don't

lose the WVU, da, whatever. All right, you're right. You're right. And then he's like, and some people

want to make a video and think it's more important than this and this. And I'm like, bro, there's no way that this guy's literally blaming this loss

or whatever. On that video. On my viral video of something so positive that I didn't curse. All I did was dance. Like, it was so uplifting the video.

It was awesome. You got people knowing about martial baseball that didn't know about martial baseball a week ago. Yeah. And I'm here, like, in the back of the bus, like, this is my sign.

Like, I need to get out of here. I'm like, I need to do something. I need to literally, like, transfer. I don't know what it is, but I can't be myself around here. Like, it's crazy. And then after that, dude, I was like, that's when I told you, I was falling out of love of the game and it wasn't the same. I got right, got healthy.

And then, yeah, I transferred to JU and right away, they welcomed my crazy ass with open arms. It didn't matter who you were in that locker room, dude. Right away, everyone was in there. Let alone, I was already like, first of all, I'm in a dorm where I walked to the field to practice. Yeah, it's pretty close. I'm like, oh, my God, you guys don't understand. They're like, what do you mean? They're like, what do you mean?

I go, you don't understand how amazing this is. Like, I literally didn't have a field. Whatever. Then in the locker room, seeing my brother there won, unbelievable. Yeah, that. Yeah. Okay, all right. That was the best thing ever.

So you're playing. Florida. Oh, yeah. And it was at Florida, right? At a regional game. At a regional. Okay, that's even... Yeah.

Yeah. Three, four games away from Omaha. Four games away from the promised land. Yes. Yes. And you hit a home run and who's there to greet you? My brother, dude. I'll never forget that, dude.

I get... You could bring that up forever and I'll still feel the same way. What about it, right? I mean, obviously, your parents were there. Your brother was there. Yeah. So the fact that everything I went through, like, dude, you got me freaking, you got me. Yeah.

Everything I went through, dude. And when I was like, oh, my God, like, this is it. Like, I don't know if I love the game anymore. To then have this hope of transferring to JU to in a short time being able to earn a spot where there was already, you know, you go through fall. Because I transferred after fall. Yeah. Then you get there and it's like you would think like, who's this guy coming? He didn't come to the fall workout.

Yeah. And I'm there just happy to be there, like, whatever. And, dude, to be able to be on the field and, like, playing in a regional, like, I earned my spot to be playing. Then my brother pitching on the same field. Like, dude, that dude is pitching, and I'm in right field. And normally, I would run through a wall. I love the wall. I love crashing to the wall.

Yeah. But with this kid on the mound, it's like, bro, I will die. I will die for this ball, bro. Yeah. And, dude, from playing wulfo ball in the backyard to, like, literally playing division one baseball together in a huge atmosphere huge game when i was rounding those bases i was thinking about all that shit yeah literally all of it i was looking at my dad my mom i was like finding them in this crowd because they're the only little green jerseys

it's all blue and orange and i'm like where is and then at the bottom i see my i guess they all went like i guess the whole team was like bro go out there yeah yeah like they knew this was on tv or something they're like pushed him out and he was the first one to greet me right there And I have the clip for you. I literally grab him and freaking give him a little kiss in the cheek and squeeze his ass. I love baseball, man. I love baseball. I was like, this is like, I tried it in slow, bro.

I was like, all right, I need to enjoy this one. At that moment, though, did you realize the emotion of like the real emotion? Like, right now you're emotional. Did you have that, that tear in your eye when it actually happened? Or is it kind of looking back perspective, like, look at now? No, like, I look at. back at it because I was so and dude we were down we were at 3-1 I made it 3-2 I just robbed the bomb I was on cloud 9 yeah but then to have all that there and then see him I was like I did

soak it in a little bit but not like right now I reflect back on it yeah like damn dude like can I just enjoy that a little bit that feeling dude is what is probably the best I talk about in the video like I love that video by the way yeah it's probably the best it's pinned your profile I love that oh yeah there's there's there has been people reaching out about like they're like yo i have a brother and i miss him i'm gonna text them and i'm like damn there's some people that are like i lost my brother in a car crash and this like this really got to me and it and reminded me of when i played my brother when i was little dude that one video that's the feeling i love i love like impacting yeah that's the thing that you don't realize right away

like you know when we create and we're authentic and we're ourselves yeah we're doing it because it helps us heal. Oh yeah. I mean, that's, I mean, that's how I am, right? I shouldn't say we, me, when I put something out, when I have conversations like this, I'm drawing from my own experience and kind of like everything that's happened with me. And it helps me heal. But in doing that in an authentic way, the ripple effect is so much greater than we can even imagine. It's like you make a video. Or you talk about your brother. It was your experience. But just reminded somebody else in the Midwest that lost a brother, how important he was to him. So like, when we serve or when we do things

just out of the kindness of our hearts and it creates such a massive impact, I truly feel that's what we're here to do as human. Absolutely, man. I always tell like my dad, my brother, sometimes when I'm doing these videos and they're like, dude, what are you doing? I'm like, I'm different, man.

I know I'm different though. I know I'm different. Like I tell people at a time, I love that I'm different. Yeah. I'm literally different. Why would you want to be anybody else? You know, I think too many people

don't embrace the limited edition. the one of one. There's nobody else like you. Like there may be a lot of other people that play baseball, but not anybody else has the exact skills that you do. Nothing's identical. Like I'm one of one.

Everybody listening right now, you're one of one. You're a limited addition. And if you think you're not good enough, that's only because you're judging yourself based on somebody to the right or to the left of you. You need to look inward and understand the gifts that you have to bring to the world. And that's where the power comes from.

And once you know that, not just know it conceptually, but actually live and breathe and embody it. Yeah. The world and the doors open wide. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Absolutely.

I completely agree to that. Unbelievable. Like I said, dude, like I know, like I remember I was like, this is what I do. Like, I don't care what any,

I don't care what Wag says. I don't care what anyone says. This is what I'm good at. This is what I love to do. And then, dude, it just speaks for itself. Like I said, being myself is what got me here.

I wouldn't be with a banana's organization if I didn't think that, way. Yeah. If I let what other people think literally is, oh, dude, you're still 20, you're 29 making videos, bro. You know, yeah. You know how much of that goes on in the world because that person that's saying that is scared to be in front of the camera. Well, they also don't understand it too. Yeah. You don't understand it. Like, look at the polls. Yeah. I talk about that all the time, dude. Look at them. I literally tell my brother and my dad that all the time. Do they just announce that they're fighting each other.

Yeah. Okay, just... Insane. Let's just talk about the marketing skills of these individuals. I told my brother, I go, this is genius. They're the best promoters ever, dude.

The moment you've all been waiting for them, just when you thought the Jake and Tyson was the thing? Yeah. Now the brothers are going to trade, trade shots? How crazy is that? Come on, dude. How crazy. Like, people just don't understand the value behind them.

I'll probably text my brother right now, and he'll be like, hey, for this amount of money, when we go out of it, I'll probably be like, heck yeah. He's like, I will kill you for that. I'll be like, I will kill you, Corey. I'll be like, just knock me out on the side. Just the other side.

This is my good side. Yeah, dude. Are you guys roughly the same height, same size, or is he a little bit? He's his little. Yeah, he's six, two, six one. I'm six five. You're six five? Yeah.

A lot of people don't realize. You're six five. Like, yeah, that's crazy. I knew you're tall. Yeah. That may six three, but I fuck at math. I suck at math. Yeah.

Yeah, don't worry about that. A lot of people think I'm, they look at me, they're like, oh, pitcher. I'm like, no. No, you look like a lefty hitter, dude. You think so? Oh, yeah, dude. Well, I'm a baseball guy, right? It's like, I see these things.

Yeah. I can look at you, be like, no, I'm a pitcher. Because you're built like a hitter. There's a different build, man. Yeah, yeah, yeah, different swag. Different swag. Exactly. So, like, and this is what people don't even understand,

but if you're a baseball person, like, lefty hitters move differently. Yeah. You know, you can even have a, I mean, you have the best pitcher in the major legs, Paul Skaines. Yeah. I mean, he's, I mean, dude, he's going to get so much better, too. Yeah. His swag is different than what a lefty here would be.

People don't realize that. Yeah. Reasons to a good point. I want to ask you about this because it drives me fucking crazy of what's going on to Major League Baseball. I don't like it. I don't like it. I feel like when they change rules, they are bending to the people that don't have a fucking

attention span that don't understand the game. It's like, I'm a purist. Yeah. I'm a purist, dude. Do not widen the bases for me. I don't care how long the game takes. I get that people like, I don't want to watch a game. The hitters grabbing his nuts, fits in his batting gloves.

Remember, no Mar Garcia-Para. Yeah. But yeah, dude, I like that because, like, anytime I can be watching a game or playing a game, like, that is an escape for me. Yeah. And so I just don't, I don't like any of it, dude. Yeah, yeah, I could agree. I mean, honestly, after playing freaking banana ball and watching baseball and stuff like that, I can't even watch baseball right now until it's like playoffs.

Yeah. I'm probably different. Like I... No, I won't watch it into the World Series, dude. Yeah, yeah. I don't like it. Seriously. I think it's changed.

I don't know. And especially after... I'm like a big freaking, the crowd, the this. That's why banana ball was perfect for me. Yeah, it's pretty cool. But yeah, I agree. Like, the authenticity of baseball, it's being taken away. Yeah.

Yeah. It's just not, it's not the same game. And it's like, I did a reel. what I did have show with a piece of grit podcast, which is my production team's podcast. Way back in the day. Maybe about a year, maybe that a year ago,

something that long ago, before they were even producing my show. And we get into all that stuff. And the real went viral. And I had so many people attacking me. Like, oh, this guy is clearly doesn't know what the fuck he's talking about. Baseball's boring.

They needed to shorten the game. That's why banana ball is so popular. Hold on. Stop. Hold on. Stop. Whole different thing. Thank you. Hold different thing. If you need banana ball,

right to go watch i mean i'm taking my son february 14th we're going i admit it's gonna be fun but it's different yeah yeah like if it's a whole different in yeah you can't even compare it no as someone who played in is completely it's not the same no you're you're you're playing on the show thank you put we we are a show yeah at the end uh we're both celebrating yeah the win or lose yeah that's not i mean baseball is the competitive nature the history you can't change you can't compare that no To banana ball. This is what people say.

They're trying to keep up with banana ball. And I think that's the problem. And they're not. That's a dumb comment. At first they can't. Yeah. Because it's completely different. It's again, apples and freaking oranges here.

Yeah. But for someone who needs banana ball to enjoy baseball, they're missing. Completely different crowd. They're missing. So a complete different crowd. You cannot compare it. Yeah. You cannot compare it.

Complete different crowd. You talk to people that are competitors and love baseball and stuff. They go, it's different, dude. I don't want to get into it. But you go sit in a baseball game, you go sit in a banana ball game. You're there for two different things. Yeah.

You're literally there to, like I said, on stilts, a show. And it's great and it's new and it's dope and it's fast. I think that's what the tension span of everyone, like scroll, scroll, scroll, right? Dude. It's what Jesse's doing. Yeah.

Amazing. Like, they're going to be selling out football stadiums this year. Yeah. Professional baseball, major league stadiums this year. But that's a whole. whole different show. Like I said, you're literally there to entertain. You can't compare a major league baseball player to, like, what's going on over here.

Yeah, and I think a part of the thing that drives me crazy is I cannot stand what people say baseball is boring. Yeah. Because they can go to a regular baseball game or watch it on TV. Like, this is moving. This is so fucking slow. What they can't conceptualize is when I come back and say, on the field, oh, it's moving fast. Yeah.

It's a fast moving game. Ever. Ever. Ever. or there's nothing like and to people that say like i mean i i understand where you're coming from where you go to a ufc fire in the feld yeah there's action and then baseball just chilling right or you talk about like you said that you take your time getting in the box and ball but playing that sport when you're going up to bat and all eyes are on you and you're or pitching and everything's on you

there's nothing like playing that sport no but the game's not slow that's the thing yeah it's not it's not slow it's so fast yeah especially i mean i mean i'm I was a catcher. So it was like, that's wild. You cannot take a pitch off, dude. Yeah. Like, you need to be locked in. But like, but dude, so what else is going on with you, man? Like, dude, it's been a lot. You're not with bananas anymore. No. So I am transitioning to cosmic baseball, which is similar field, entertainment baseball, completely different. Completely different. It's going to be more competitive. It's literally in the dark. So we wear these like fluorescent Jersey's fluorescent ball

fluorescent bases bats fluorescent bats yeah everything everything batting gloves tape eye black my mustache is going to be fluorescent that's that's hot and um it's it's dope i'm excited but it's so it's you would think like this this new thing it's not necessarily brand new um it was on the pat maccavis show

yeah they they went on not a tour but like an inner city tour last year now they're going all over the u.s so now we're playing in Nashville Ohio North Carolina, Texas, Pennsylvania, all over the place. You come into Florida? No, but they're planning on

expanding the year the following year. Cool. But dude, it happened really fast. They sold out like fast. That's fake, dude. So I'm pumped up about it. They have, you know, big league stadiums in the future too that they're trying to do. But it's, dude, honestly, it's more me. There's some banana ball guys coming over

with me that they've already announced. There's some still that haven't announced. But similar aspect, dude, just entertainment. Yeah. Who knows one day those worlds might collide. But the whole entertainment

baseball world is like on fire right now. Yeah, no, it's great. And dude, and it brings the families together. They have fun. They include the kids. Yeah.

That kind of situation. I will say it's more competitive. From everything that I've seen, the competitive part is definitely the part that I miss. Yeah, I was about to say, do you miss that?

I miss that. In banana ball, we get competitive. Like, we're playing against each other. But like, I don't know, it's different.

Like you, um, The show is big in banana ball. This is going to be all about, like, putting on a show, but you're still playing normal baseball in the beginning. And then the light shut off. And then the whole stadium is glowing to dark, but you're still playing for something. You're still. Yeah, yeah.

He's got a lot of stuff up his sleeve. Jason, Jason, he's the man. Dude, so, like, I'm asking you a question. Because I'm a baseball guy. I'm, like, logistically thinking, like, how the head you're going to? Well, how can you read the ball of the hand? Yeah. Like how is this safe?

Yeah. We have our spring training coming up and that's where it's going to be interesting. I could tell you that. But I've seen some videos and it looks like from the guys that I've done it that I've talked to me, they're like, dude, once those lights come on, then those jerseys come on, it's so fluorescent to like everything's glowing. Like a ball into the outfield, you'll see it all the way until it goes over the fence. Stop. I swear.

That's so dope, dude. That's exciting. I know. I'm pumped up. It's different and I'm all about it. Like I said, I'm a yes person, dude. I know, man. And whether, you know, I would have liked to play banana ball another year.

But the opportunity, they felt like I wasn't able to be full time this year. And then to me, dude, I'm like, I'm an entertainer. I know whatever's next, let's go. And then this thing was like more appealing to me for some reason. Just everything. Like the vibe about it is different. Yeah. So, yeah.

I was like, I'm shocked up to see it. Yeah, yeah. You got to go out to the game for sure. Well, fly out to see it. somewhere. For sure. Durham probably is the closest one to here, North Carolina. It's like a two-hour flight. Nashville is going to be a great one. Nashville will be

lit. Yeah. Nashville's sounds, I think, is the stadium, the one with the guitar. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm pumped up for that, dude. What's your team? What's your... The chili peppers. The chili peppers. The Chilli Peppers. Out of where? Out of Virginia. Virginia. Yeah.

What the fuck's going on with Virginia? I know, dude. I don't know. This is where it was created. Yeah. That's true. That's true. You're with the original team. Yeah, yeah. Wow, okay. The cosmic chili peppers and then we'll be playing, I think the team that we're playing against is called the glow mojis,

which I haven't really talked about that yet. So you're hearing it first here. But it's like another glow in the dark team. We're kind of like, I would compare it to, you know how like the bananas started with bananas and party animals? Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're starting with this. But it's the plans are insane.

Again, more competitive. Yeah. Is that the differential? The difference maker is like the competitive aspect. Yeah. And the fact that it's in the freaking dark crazy. That's his death. Yeah.

But also the rules are different. The rules aren't like all these crazy insane rules, which was cool about banana ball. But don't get me wrong. That was awesome. But like trick plays and stuff like that, those are all different. I think like if we do trick plays, it'll mean something. Where in banana ball it doesn't really mean anything. There's like we're thinking about doing stuff where like if a better gets hit,

then there's a penalty, a player's removed from the field, crazy stuff. Like, we're just, I don't know what the official rules are. Yeah. All I know is that it's in the dark and it's going to be fast-paced, similar pace. But it's going to be wild, dude. When do you leave? It's pretty soon, right? I leave in April, and our first game is April 29th in Durham, North Carolina.

So quick. Very quick. Yeah. Very quick. Turn around. Yeah. Not a lot of spring training. I'm guessing you're going to be practicing in the dark.

Yeah, definitely. You get all day to chill, man. Oh, yeah. It's great. Just work out all day and chill. What do you like to do in your stuff? spare time. Dude, I love working out. I love hanging out with my dad and my brother. I'm a big family guy. My mom is awesome too. I try to like, I'm this guy that will still go out and literally

implement my dad. I'll go out with my mom while her friends. I'm like close to my dad's friends more than like I don't talk to anyone from high school. My core friend group is literally my best friends from like baseball. That's when I was eight years old. And a bunch of these guys, some in the big leagues. Wherever we're at, one is a realtor now that you stop playing professional baseball. Wherever we're at in the world, we've always been like super close. That's incredible. That's like my core group.

And we're all like the same dude. We're all like not normal. I swear. Well, I mean, not normal is good. Yeah, yeah. Not normal is good. You know, like here's the thing, dude. And I don't want to all these amazing things that you're talking about the success and

being yourself and you have these opportunities, you know, with the banana ball organization and now the cosmic chili peppers. Yeah. It's just amazing shit. but it didn't it doesn't come without adversity there was something that i think you maybe have told me but there was a moment where you were injured to a point where you didn't know if you're going to walk yeah dude yeah that was crazy but like you said all of this stuff led me to where i'm at today like there is no banana ball causing me chelle pepper without social media part of adversity the red shirts

the tearing my wrist when i'm like in a time where i'm like why me why my labrum this is another thing where I was like, dude, you know, what the heck is going on? So at first watch when I started my big boy job. Yeah. Like no baseball. I was completely healthy. I was 25 years old. And I don't know where, dude, I started getting pain on like my lower, like my tailbone kind of, but crazy pain.

And I'm like, what did I do? You know, is it something at work that I lifted? I don't recall anything. I never injured anything in my back in baseball workouts. Nothing ever. then it started getting worse I started spending dude

thousands of dollars on MRIs on back doctors them telling me oh no it's just you got sciatica you got this steroid shots dude everything I did

this thing did not go away and it got so bad that I would wake up and like six days out of the week I would wake up and like I can't even like move and I'm like what is going on the pain was just

insane bro like screaming pain wow To the point to where I'm like, dude, I start Googling stuff. I'm like, every pill I would get from a doctor, I would throw it out of the freaking window because I'm like, this ain't doing nothing. This ain't it. I go, something is really wrong with me, like deep down that none of these doctors are talking about. And then finally I would keep Googling like my exact symptoms, like six months.

My right side was like freaking half paralyzed. And I'm like barely, I'm like getting the gym pushing. I'm like, dude, I can't even work out. I like gain a little bit of weight in my face. And I'm like really in a depressed mode where I am not a depressed guy, dude. To get me sad or mad, it takes a lot. Okay. And I'm like worried about my health now.

I'm like, I got to find out what is it? What is it? What the heck is going on? Yeah, dude. Whatever it is, just give me a sign. Sure. And then, dude, sure enough, I finally looked up ankylosing spondylitis was one of the things. I was like, what the heck is this?

It sounds like a dinosaur. I don't know what the heck this is. And it says to look at your, to go visit a rheumatologist, which is something I haven't seen before. Okay. The rheumatologist, even the rheumatologist at first was like, does anyone in your family has this? Because this is very, this is like a trick question on our medical exam and stuff. Like, this is not normal. And I was like, again, I'm not normal.

Yeah, exactly. But I was like. You do it. You do it big, baby. Yeah, exactly. And I was like, yeah, dude, like, it's the pain is crazy and it's really specific. I really want to see if I have this. Well, there's a lot of tests we've got to run through, but we'll see.

First, you have to have this gene. And I'm like, okay, it's called HBLA-27 gene. And for anyone with angloosing spondylitis, you know what I'm talking about. They test for that gene. They're like, if you don't have this gene, then you don't have it. If you do, it's a good chance you have it. I'm like, all right, sure enough, I have that gene when I do the blood tests. And I'm like, all right, does this mean I have this?

Is this what I need to solve? They're like, we still need to do a couple tests. they do a dude colonoscopy they do all this stuff to rule out everything finally there's like

one more thing and it's to Humera it's an injection it's like a medicine he's like I'm pretty sure now that you have this

and this will tell if you have it I took my first dose of it it's like a you literally pinch yourself and you it's like an epipen yeah

so I take it and the next morning after a year of not being able to move I could, I felt completely normal. And I said, yo, like, whatever this is, I'm sure it's not gonna last long, but I feel amazing.

I literally, I felt like a newborn giraffe. My legs were like, I'm like, oh my God. Like what I do with these things? Dude, I ran outside, smelled the freaking dirt. I'm like, oh, my God, please. All right. So anyways, I'm thinking still, after a year of all this, I'm like, this is probably not.

Like, maybe I have a week of this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let me leave it all out all out and go play men softball go crazy. then he's like all right so you got to do this every other week for the rest of your life I go fine yeah is this going to be he goes you might have some you'll have flare-ups here and there but this is like the answer that's amazing I go okay dude it's been four years I've had maybe three flare-ups and I'm talking about flare-ups to where you get a sign of what you had before but it goes away a lot of it is also your attitude towards like stress

Yeah. Again, I'm not stressed out. So that helps being on top of it. Even when I feel perfect still still doing it. To this day, every other Tuesday, I got to inject myself every other thigh. But dude, the fact that I was able to be completely normal again, that's when I really like attacked getting in shape and banana ball and all that. That came after that. Because you were able to be you. Yeah. Before that, I was like, am I even going to be able to walk again? Like this fraction 25 years old. Like, dang, dude. Dude, am I going to be in a wheelchair? And then you know Google's the worst. Yeah, don't go to Dr. Google. I started Googling what happens when you have ankylosing spondylase. You're dying.

You're dying in three days. You need to go say goodbye to your family. Yeah, yeah. I'm like, yeah, I know. I remember my mom bringing me like pamphlets of like brochures, how to deal with. I'm like, mom, this is not what I'm like, no. I love you. I'm not dying.

I'm going to get through this. Yeah, we're good. And I actually found ways to like, dude, I started doing research like crazy. So with ancalosing spondylitis, would you? probably like, what the fuck is that? Yeah. It literally, so your spine locks, like, turns into, they call it bamboo spine. Okay.

And that's why, like, older people, there's something to have it's so bad that they're like, Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So there's ways now, like, that they didn't know back then, but there's ways to reverse that stuff. And they said what saved my life was that I was active with baseball. If I was just a normal dude that sits on a chair all day or wasn't athletic, I literally probably would have already had, like, curve. Wow.

They started showing my x-rays that there was a little bit there. So then I'm like, what else do I do besides this medicine? There's got to be more. And then there's a guy on YouTube that I found that was able that his dad had it, his grandpa had it, and he was able to reverse the curve. So every day he does like these cobra stretches. Right. Which makes sense, right?

Yeah. Over time, you're doing this. Imagine every day you do this. You're cranking it back. You're not going to get as bad when I'm 80 years old. Yeah. So I'm like, all right, dude, every day. At the end of my workout, I just do these stretches that are for that.

Wow. That's great. A lot of people don't know about that, by the way. If you have this condition, definitely do like cobra stretches, everything to reverse the curve of the spine, basically. But it's insane, dude. I came up across that video, and I don't know if it's that combined with the medicine, but I have been perfect ever since. Amazing. Amazing.

One last question for you, man. Yeah. everything you've been through, the thing at Marshall, you know, the injury with, I can't even pronounce it. Ankylosing spondylitis. How about bamboo spine? There you go there. With everything that you've had, like, you've had to have an extreme amount of desire and determination. Yeah.

How did determination dictate how you operated every day to get to where you're at right now? Dude, it's the biggest, it's the biggest reason why I'm, where I'm at today. It's the biggest reason where I'm at. Determination, like I said, when someone doubts you or your leader at the time says this is wrong or this. In my heart, I knew it was right and I knew this is what I was put on this earth to do. Beautiful. When, I don't know, and it's the way you look about things, right? Like, I could have easily been like, oh, I'm hurt.

I'm not going to go play. Shut it down. Oh, I'm this. Oh, I have freaking ankylosing spondylitis. Oh, instead of that, that, like, attitude. I guess sports gave me that. Yeah. But also as a young age, like since I was young,

I've always been like determined to make it. Yeah, and you're not going to be eviction. I'm not going to be poor. I'm going to freaking make it. My, my pops came from Cuba. My mom, born in Miami, but her parents, Cuban, they had to grind, dude. And they put me in a position to not just be where they're at.

They put me in a position to freaking kill it. So whenever, every day, dude, even like when I was playing baseball, when I was not knowing what the heck my future is going to be like. Yeah. I was just like, dude, there's no other option. Like, I am determined to freaking make it and whatever I do and do it as best as I can. Fucking incredible. So that's, I mean, bro, my inspiration is my parents big time.

Like, I talk about my parents a lot. They put me in the position to succeed. Have a good friend group too, man. My best friends, we're all like, we wake up and we get after it. It's amazing, dude. Call it sports, call it whatever you want. but that attitude towards life, whatever you do in life, if it's not baseball or whatever it is.

Like for me, when I got news that I had this crazy random one in a million autoimmune disease, you could literally, I literally took it as like, I'm different. This is how different I am. Like I tell people all the time, like, bro, I'm like, bro, I told you I'm different. Here we go. Like, literally, that's how I go about life, dude. I'm just like, this is just what happened. What if I didn't get those red shirts?

What if I didn't have to transfer? What if, like, I got along with the coach over there and it was great, and I never got the transfer and played with my brother? What if I didn't get those extra years? You would be sitting in this chair right? Exactly. What if I, when I got injured, I didn't get those two extra years, then now I could play with my brother.

Dude, when I, when those things happen, that's what I think of. I don't think of why the heck is this happening to me and this didn't happen to Johnny. Like, no. I'm like, all right. How's it serving? For a reason. Like, how is it going to serve me, right? Yeah.

So I think that's a great, dude, those are great points. And that's where I want the audience to kind of just pause. Like, dude, this has been an amazing conversation. For sure. And I want everybody to understand that everybody's going through shit in their life. You know, no one can really honestly adhere or own the fact that it must be nice. We're all going through our shit. We're all on the grind.

We're all determined. And we're really pushing towards things that we want. But the one thing that I would say, guys, is when things happen to you, instead of taking the victim mentality of, oh, poor me or why is this happening to me again? Think about how is this serving me and how can I serve others in the midst of this and how much better am I going to be coming out of it

so I can go make an impact in this world. That's where I want you guys really taken out of today. This man, he's going to continue to do great things. There's some big things coming from him that we can't talk about. Just keep watching. Go follow this man at Corey Kubano. his Instagram will be in the link.

Go watch him play and really connect with him because he's an amazing dude. And guys, until next time, stay determined. Shout French, what else? Done, I meet for the entirety. I'm putting an over time. I'll be working. Just know I'm a go for mine

because I earned it. They watch and I know it's time. I confirmed it. A whole society determined.