The Herd with Colin Cowherd - All Ball - Doug's Elite 8 --> Final 4 Breakdown; Guest: 'Free Solo' Star Alex Honnold on Fear, Preparation and Making the Film

Episode Date: April 1, 2021

In this episode, Doug breaks down the Elite 8 NCAA Tournament action and the Final Four teams. His guest this week is 'Free Solo' climbing superstar Alex Honnold who opens up about his fearlessness, his mental approach, his future, the making of the massively successful film, and what to expect from his new climbing podcast. Make sure you download, rate and subscribe here to get the latest All Ball Podcasts! Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.

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Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hard Way with your favorite therapist and host, Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor? It signals to the world that you're not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to.

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I'm Doug Gowley, and you are listening to all ball, all basketball, all the time. Although we have a special guest today, doesn't totally fit with that, but still it's a fascinating story you're going to like them to bless. Let me just kind of give you some quick thoughts on what we've seen so far in the Elite 8, now leading to the Final 4.

And the first thing is, you know, like, I don't hate saying I told you so, but I told you so. Gonzaga is that good. It just are. And what's impressive is, you know, you take what Drew Timmy did, and we're recording this on a Wednesday after Elite 8, which is on a Tuesday. I mean, he's the kind of kid, like, let's not get it twisted. Yes, because they can shoot, because they have so many implied threats, if you will,

it's really hard to zone them because you get spaced out. But that's really the way that USC had played that zone since they put it in. The difference is that Drew Timmy dominated Evan Noble. And he's the kind of kid who's like, oh, really? He's the top of he picked? I'm going to kick his ass. and that's exactly what happened. Exactly what happened.

So you have a mix of age experience, two point guards, quality coaching, just enough depth, give guys breaks. But I actually like teams that have that kind of perfect depth, right? You're just getting a better rhythm when you're only playing seven or eight. You play 10, like sometimes it can be a hard to establish rhythm and fail early in the game. Obviously, they didn't fail early yesterday. But, you know, Kisper didn't even make shots. and they missed, I think, 13 or 14 layups, and they still mollywopped USC.

Like, that's how good they are. And they're the perfect mix of age, experience, you know, youthful vigor with Jalen Suggs and quality coaching. You know, big 12 people tell me, hey, Baylor is just as good, they're better defensively. And I think it's going to be Baylor and Gonzaga. But I think, you know, when I said Gonzaga of the field going back to November 26th, I've been doing it periodically throughout the year. There's a reason. Like, they're just, they're better than everybody else.

I don't know how UCLA won that game. I really don't. And I guess the easy, easy way to say is like, hey, Mick Cronin is a tough ass dude. And he got all those kids to become tough guys. Like, those are mostly Southern California kids, too. You know, Tiger's not, but the rest of them are. And I think it's fascinating to go, you know,

the narrative has always been, you know, SoCal kids are soft or whatever. Did they look soft last night? Like that was a peer six brawl. For Michigan, you know, they never really had the type of, obviously not having livers hurts them offensively, but I would say that they managed it pretty well.

I mean, Johns was outstanding in the tournament ever since livers went down. But they did it without, the type of wings that they've had where you can a caris lavert um a tim hardaway you know a guy who who can go get you a bucket i actually think that we'll look back and go you know with two grad transfers and chuddy brown was a kind of godsend there when livers went out gives them points off the bench and mike smith was just solid all year long right but with with two grad transfers to make it work

I think that's really outstanding stuff. And, you know, it's the type of thing that they can build upon. I just think from Michigan, and they're just going to have to be careful. Now they're recruiting at a much higher level as they did with John B-Line, but will they still have the same type of character that they have with, that they've had throughout this entire time? I think the answer is yes, because Juan Howard strikes me as a no-nonsense guy, seems to totally get it.

right and i mean you look at how limited the minutes for for his own son and there's a guy who he understands how this thing all works i i think michigan can be a problem that league for a long time you know that the staff is really good the coaching's really good and joan gives them just enough pop in terms of kind of cool cred and NBA cred that it's definitely going to work um you know could you nitpick about a couple of things last night like sure of course you can't and they got beat by a team that I would say they have a little bit more talent then and the matchup should have favored them a little bit more in terms of scoring inside. But if the game is going to be officiated that way and UCLA is going to meet the challenge,

which they did, it's pretty fantastic. And look, Michigan mislayups down the stretch, I would have to think fatigue played a factor. They've been in Indies since like the end of the first week in March, right? you lose in uh lose michigan state and then they they packed their bags and heads to india they've been there ever since that that mentally and physically wears you down no question about it and then you know as far as houston's concerned we've had kelvin on the pod you should download it go check it out kelvin samson the elbow pie told the story but those of us who you know we're all going to talk about uh bailer and that rebuild job which has been remarkable but also been

chronicles and they've been good now for most of the past 15 years or 10 years or 10 years whatever. Houston just was apathetic. They didn't care. You know, they couldn't get anybody to go to Hoff Heinz. Hoffines is a dump. And, you know, now they got it,

now they got it going. They truly got it going on. I just don't think they can score with Baylor. And Baylor is an impressive, impressive squad in terms of their ability to score the basketball. And then, you know, like, look, what we missed on, I think, with the Pac-12

is how, how, how decimated those programs have been by the NBA draft consistently. And imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year.

Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th.

You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast. The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes,

creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me, or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim?

Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack.

So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Trip Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch.

Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth. Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines,

as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free, our heart radio app. Search, learn the hard way, and listen now. You know, the reason that league hasn't gotten the best seeds.

Look, Arizona was a one seed couple years ago. They just completely pooped the bed, or two seats, excuse me, pooped the bed against the Buffalo team. is probably underceded. But still, you should beat Buffalo. Some has been poor performance in the end of the day tournament. They have no one to blame us.

And some, quite frankly, has been the fact that because they're constantly having to put together their teams on the fly, you keep having to build new teams and new teams and more new teams, like, that's not going to work long term. And it hasn't worked long term for them. I think there's a reason just behind the Pac-12 struggles more so than their team. deals weren't any good. But TV deals are actually really, really good, considering how few people wanted to watch it did. Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox SportsRadio.com. And within the IHard Radio app, search FSR to listen live.

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Learn how at belonging begins with us.org. Brought to you by the ad council. Walk a mile in my shoes. We've done a ton of really, really interesting interviews. I wanted to take this one kind of sidestep for a reason, because I'm fascinated by Alex Honnold, who's a, he's a rock climbing. go climb a rock, right?

You keep your mom always, go play on the freeway, go climb a rock. Well, he is probably the best known climber in the country. He, uh, when he was climbing El Capitan,

right, which is in Yosemite, El Cap, whatever is what the kids call it. Um, he, they filmed a movie called free solo. If you haven't seen it, it's amazing.

I mean, truly amazing. A free solo climb of fame El Capiton, which is a 900 meter. vertical face rocking Yosemite National Forest. It's, I mean, pretty intense to just look at. I mean, all these, you just even look at the photos of it and he's climbing up and I don't, I mean, how they filmed it is fasting.

So I thought you'd be interested in it. He's got a new podcast out. Plus, not sure if you're aware of this, but climbing is an Olympic sport now. Olympic sport. So without further ado, let's catch up with the foremost free climber in the country. Alex Holland. Okay, so first time you ever climbed something, like not just like climb the tree, like my son's just turned 12. He likes to climb through it. First time you ever like actually put the harnesses on or freak and or just climb without anything like without a harness.

The first time ever? Yeah. Well, I mean, so I actually started climbing like your son, climbing trees, climbing structures, climbing buildings, having a good time. And then when I was 10 maybe or maybe 11, I went to a climbing gym for the first time. So, going indoor with using harnesses and climbing in a more structured rock climbing way. And then the first time climbing by myself without a rope was probably when I was 19 or 20, just at some of the clips near where I grew up in Sacramento. Did, like, you start climbing things without ropes, without protection. Do you naturally, innately not have like the normal fear, that normal human being, right?

I just, there's a lot to the sport, which amazes me. right? The dexterity of being able to contort your body and how you train for that is amazing. The strength in your wrists as well, and I'm sure your weight is really important, right? Like there's no chance that you're disproportionate in any way. And, you know, the less you weigh, obviously, the easier it is, but you have to maintain your strength. But just the lack of fear. That's where, that's where I have three children and I've actually, I didn't actually know it until I became a parent, which is all sports are kind of the same. You have to get over this level of fear. And if you can't, it's okay. That's just not,

that's not near your lane. So, did you, are you, is this just something with climbing that you don't have like a fear of falling or heights? Or is that your personality? Well, I mean, I think, I don't know. I mean, it's a tough question in a way because, you know, it's been my entire life. So it's hard to, to parse out how much is, is just practice. I mean, basically, I've been climbing full time for 25 years. So obviously it's not scary for me anymore because it's all I've done for my entire life, basically. But I think that mostly the overcoming fear has been a product of practice, you know, preparation, like just exposure, basically, exposure therapy. But I think that I was sort of innately more drawn to the positions. Like, I like the exposure. I like being up high.

Like, I really like getting on top of things. You know, like even as a kid, I like standing on top of play structures and things, standing on top of the swing set. So, you know, I think there's that innate draw. But when I was young, I mean, it was scary. You know, the idea of falling off a cliff is still scary. It's just that now I feel very comfortable that I'm not going to fall off the cliff, you know, basically through, through practice, you just realize what you can and can't do. When people hear that it's going to be in the Olympics, I think the first question is, how do you judge it? What is the, where is the, where is the, where is the, where is the, the judging and the gold medalist to never hurt you a guy? So, yeah, there's already a really

robust World Cup circuit for climbing. So there's already a whole competition framework for rock climbing. And right now, there's three different disciplines. and the Olympic format combines all three of those disciplines into one metal. But so the three disciplines, the three sort of subsets are judged in different ways. One is speed, just the fastest person of the wall. One is difficulty where whoever climbs the highest up the route wins. And then one is bouldering, which is basically the same. Whoever climbs the highest wins, but it's on boulders, which means it's smaller height.

So there's no rope involved. You know, you just climb very, very physically hard problems that are, you know, say, under 15 feet high. and when you fall you land on a gymnastic pad. So basically they take the top scores of those three formats and combine them into an overall climbing champion. Who is the who's the Jordan? And by Jordan, I mean, not currently the best, but the one who kind of laid the framework for all the stuff to have.

Oh, that's hard to say, actually. I don't know. I don't know if I know my basketball well enough to fit all the key climbing. Well, like the person guys, this is, this is the guy. like Tiger Woods. Like Tiger Woods is all, most of the golfers that play the younger guys now, they're like, man,

I got into golf because Tiger Woods made it kind of cool to play golf. Yeah, I know what you mean. I mean, you know, to be honest, like to some extent, I'm filling that role partially just because the film free solo has been such a popular vehicle

for people to get into climbing. You know, people see the movie in theaters. They're like, that's crazy. And then they go to the climbing gym, they check it out, they enjoy it and they get into the sport.

But I think in terms of, you know, dominating the sport of climbing. I mean, currently, it might be a climbing named Adam Andra, who's from the Czech Republic. He's European. He'll be going to the Olympics and has a decent shot at winning. Though the format is a little bit weird, so it's like really anybody's game at the Olympics. Which of the three disciplines is he the best in?

He's the best at lead climbing and bouldering. So basically the two forms of difficulty, but he's a pretty bad speed climber. So that's why it's a bit of a shot. you know, everyone has a good shot at it, basically. What's your strength? Well, my strength is sort of totally outside of what they're doing in the Olympics, sort of like ultra distance. Because if you think of something like, I'll cap, it's a,

I mean, it's literally hundreds of times taller than the walls in the Olympics. And so, you know, if competitive climbing is sort of like running sprints, I'm not doing like ultramarathons through the mountains, basically. It's like a whole different sport. Okay, so let's get in the movie. okay when the first idea of it's good it should be a movie came from you came from who no it came from the the filmmakers jimmy chan and chai vasarelli the co-directors um they approached me about doing a feature film and it just so what years is this what years this oh this is uh 2015 maybe like basically

a couple years before the film okay so you're how old at the time uh i guess i was 30 so how did they decide you're the guy Well, I'd already done tons of cutting edge free solas within the climbing community. And Jimmy and I had traveled on many climbing expeditions together. So we'd work together a lot. He knew how I climbed, how I liked to climb. And they felt like there was an interesting story there just about, you know, why I was driven to soling that they knew nothing about the idea of Soling El Cap.

And then, you know, they asked me about doing a film. And I was like, oh, well, good timing because there's this thing I want to do. And I think, you know, when Jimmy heard about El Cap, he found it. pretty unnerving in a way because it, I mean, El Cap is really such an iconic wall in climbing. It really holds a huge cultural, it's like at the center of climbing mythology almost. It's like, it's the mecca.

Yeah, yeah, it really is. And so there's Jimmy here that was like, oh, geez, like I don't know if I want to be involved in that. Like that almost sounds like too much. But Chai was like, that sounds like a great film, you know, and then obviously it all came together and ultimately the climb worked out. Okay, so how does it work? How do they film that?

How does that affect? It has to on some level effect. Like you have a, this is how I, like you said, they know how you climb. This is how I climb. But all of a sudden they're filming that, you know, there's equipment. There's, you know, they want to get the right shots. How did that affect your ability to climb? Yeah.

Well, so if you've seen the film, you see a fair amount of the filmmakers repelling down the wall next to me and things. And actually, that was a big part of why I was motivated to make the film was because I knew that to do the preparation that was required to do the climb, I'd have to spend a lot of time hiking to the summit, rappelling down with ropes and equipment and, like, working on various sections of the climb. And that's actually easier if you have a partner, like, basically to carry all the weight up the wall and to repel down and to do all the rope work. It's actually easier if you have somebody with you. And that person may as well have a camera.

You know, it's like one of those classic things where when you have a big goal in climbing, you can kind of ask your friends to help you to some extent. But if it's going to take you months of effort, it's kind of better if the friends are getting paid for something, you know, like if they're cameraman and they're actually like making by working on the project. Because otherwise, you know, none of my friends are that good of friends. Like, they're willing to help for a week or two, but not for months, you know. And so. So took, took months of effort to.

How do, I'm fascinated by the conditioning for it, by the, is there a certain weight that you always want to climb at? Not exactly, but I stay within a very narrow band. You know, I'm like, for me personally, I generally fluctuate between, say, 155 and 160. though when I free-sill-old cap I dropped all the way down to 152 and a half but I think that was mostly because I was hiking so much like going to the top of the wall over and over every day and so I just got skinnier basically and I was I was eating basically a vegan diet at the time and no desserts like I have a bit of a sweet tooth so without eating dessert for many months and then hiking a ton I just lost a few pounds which is how do how do you build up and maintain the wrist strength

outside of just climbing all the time like what is how do you how do you build that build that up because It's, it's, anybody who's done it, who's not a climber, I think the things you walk away thinking it's like, oh my God, my body is not really flexible. I'm not as strong in the place. And then my hands and my wrist, you get done. You're just like, wow. And I do something lame. It's all in your forearm. It's like the muscle like base of your hands. So you condition your hands mostly by climbing all the time, by just climbing a lot. But then also there are some specific forms of training, like hangboarding where you hang from a small edge.

You can add weight. It's kind of like weight lifting for your fingertips where you just hang from small edges. But actually, I mean, I'm in my bedroom. There's a hangboard above the door behind me. You know, it's like yesterday afternoon or like training on the hangboard for an honor. So how long? Well, it depends what you're trying to do. I mean, so for me, yesterday I was doing sort of max hangs, like sort of building power.

And so I was hanging with one arm from an edge for like a couple seconds. You know, and in a way, it feels really silly because you hang for a couple seconds and then you rest for a couple minutes, you know, but it's basically like doing max lips or something where it's like. Oh, I get it. But when it's a lot of effort. But when it's all said and done, you've only actually hung for, you know, two minutes during your workout. But it's like it's really, really hard.

Well, you're centralizing all that focus right on your wrist on one, you know, one hand. Yeah, on your forearms and your fingers for sure. And it's not just the, it's like the connective tissue, the tendons, you know. When you saw the film before I went to, I think, Telly, right, was when it first kind of blew up. When you saw the film, what was your reaction? Oh, I mean, I don't know if you've ever seen a film by yourself, but I was like, oh, geez. You know what I mean? that's why I'm interested.

It's a, you know, it was a complicated reaction because, you know, it's a great film. I could tell that, you know, it's beautifully shot. It did justice to the story. Al Cap looked amazing. But nobody wants to see themselves talking for 90 minutes on a big screen. You know, I was like, oh, like, that's kind of, I don't know. I mean, I never had strong opinions about what would happen with the film. You know, I was mostly just like put it out, see what people think about it.

And, you know, I was glad that it was well received. I was glad that people enjoyed it. But, you know, let's just say I haven't watched it again since I've seen it in theaters, you know? It's not like you watch a movie. But when it was so incredibly well received, did that change your ability? You haven't watched it. So, I mean, because I'm sure the first time you see it and you now hear your own voice, like, oh, my God, people are going to hate my voice, whatever.

And then all of a sudden, everybody's just going crazy over like, this is amazing. That had to change your perspective a little bit. Yeah, I know that did a little. And it's super gratifying. And, you know, obviously I was very appreciative. You know, I was glad that people enjoy it. And it's nice because it is legitimately the thing that I'm most proud of in climbing. You know, it's something that I worked very hard for and that I am proud of. And so it's nice to see that it was well received by the broader community. So I'm like, you know, I put years of effort into it. And I thought it was really hard. And I'm glad that other people appreciate it in the same way. I'm like, yeah, you know, it's like, I feel good about that. I read where your mom is the oldest woman to. Climb L cap, is this inaccurate? I'm not positive. It could be true. It could be true. Now, was she a climber or did she see what you're doing?

And then she was like, I want to try that. She, well, so she wasn't a climber until, you know, maybe 10 years ago. So basically I'd been climbing full time for 15 years. And then my mom said that she wanted to go to the climbing gym, try it out. And so she's been a very casual climber ever since then. You know, she climbs a little bit. but now it's been, I don't know, seven, eight, ten years maybe that she's been sort of casually climbing. And she often, for her birthday, I often take her up a big route in Newsemit. This is

like a fun adventure where, you know, I can like kind of guide her up a whole peak. And so over the years, she's kind of taken on bigger walls. And so her goal was to go up El Cap. So she basically learned how to ascend the ropes. And then, you know, I basically guided her up El Cap. And it was like, that's, it was a pretty proud effort for an older lady, you know. It's amazing. It's amazing. Really amazing. So the podcast, why do it? Oh, I think, yeah, I mean, that's a good question. But basically, I think that climbing is having a moment, you know, with it going into the Olympics. But it's just an interesting time for climbing because the sport's been blowing up. I mean, COVID aside, gyms have been experiencing tremendous growth. Tons of people are getting

into climbing. And it's just interesting because when I do events or when I do, you know, film events, everyone that I meet, it's like, oh, I started climbing two years ago. I started climbing three years ago and they all start climbing in the climbing gym, which is great. It's incredible access, but it's just a very different time for climbing now. And so we felt like it was a good moment to share some of the iconic stories of climbing. So it's sort of the timeless tales from the last, you know, 50 years of climbing to show a little bit where the sport has come from, but then also to show where it's going because most old school climbers don't really, they don't even understand the Olympic format. They don't understand what elite competitors are doing. And now it's

almost to the point where it's, you know, splitting into different sports. And so it's nice to find some of those stories that tie them together. Give me one. Give me one iconic story that that's your cover. You're going to cover. Well, I mean, there are a bunch. A lot of them are iconic people. But so the first episode is a fun interview with Peter Croft, who's this legendary

freesolist who actually he appears in the film Free Solo as well. He's the older guy that I chat with. And he was a huge inspiration for my climbing. You know, I saw the things that he had done. and it really showed me what was possible for humans. And then I sort of took that a step further with things like L-CAP. But we chat with Peter quite a bit about where his vision came from, like why he felt like it was possible for him to do things that nobody else thought were possible.

And then more importantly, where the limits of that vision take you. You know, like, why did he never look at L-CAP and think that might be possible? And then, you know, why is it hard for me to see past L-CAP? You know, like basically they're generational limits where it's like, each climbing generation can see certain big goals, but beyond that, it's like, who knows? It's interesting. It's like, I'll give you the basketball analogy. We watch the dunk contest now. You're like, why didn't guys go around their back and through their legs and dunk it when it was Michael Jordan? And it was like, again, there's like just a generational ceiling where Jordan took what Dr. Jay had done,

taken off from the freezer line, and he cocked it back instead of just anyway. So the interesting thing, though, with basketball is presumably, the physical limits are roughly the same. People probably jump almost as high. They run almost as fast. I mean, probably that stuff is a little faster, but like human potential is relatively similar. You know what I mean?

It's not like people nowadays are running way faster than people 25 years ago. But slightly and like you, like, you know, I don't know if people previous to you trained the way you did eat the way you did. And you have, and the technology is, even if it's just very slightly. there is slightly better, right? Yeah, yeah, no, totally. And climbing for sure, that makes a difference. Like the shoes are better or the chocolate.

Right, so it's the same thing in basketball. Like, if you ever seen, like, Chuck Taylor's, like, dudes are going to jump. It might just be slightly, but it'll be better. And what's crazy about that, though, is all those little tiny incremental shifts. Like, you wouldn't think the pair of sneakers makes that big a difference. But when you add up, like, all the little things, like you're saying diet and fitness and, you know, conditioning equipment. And then you add the cultural differences where you're like,

oh, I saw, you know, I grew up watching videos of a guy do a certain thing. You're like, I'm going to be better than that. You know, and then it's just crazy, like, what happens each generation, you know? It's like there's just such, such change. I don't know. I mean, so basically that's what we're trying to explore through the podcast is like, yeah, I mean, because we're actually kind of looking at three different generations of climbing are almost four if you count like the modern elite Olympic style is basically like a fourth generation

of climbers. And there's just been just tremendous change. And I mean, even more that like a sport like basketball, basketball, it's like, yeah, the sneakers change. But as sport like climbing, the original pioneers of climbing, their ropes would actually physically break. Like their ropes weren't guaranteed to catch falls. Like nowadays, you can trust your rope like 100% with your life. Like a rope will always catch you. But back in the day, rope snapped all the time routinely. So obviously that's a completely different, you know, it totally changes the way you climb if you can't actually

trust your safety equipment. How do you like there has to be, there has to be that in the, you, how do you How do you understand your own limits? I guess that's the thing, because if you look at what you've accomplished thus far, you push the limits of what most people think a human being is capable of doing, right? But how do you, in your own mind, go like, I can't do that? I just, it's just not. You know what I mean? Yeah, no, no, I know.

And that's an interesting question. And that's something that as a soloist, you have to wrestle with all the time. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year.

Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th.

You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment. And the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music.

The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok.

Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tapped Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it.

Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because. of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now.

Thank you for finishing that sentence. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games.

And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch.

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Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free, our heart radio app. Search learn the hard way and listen now. Because, you know, there's always the desire to do cool things, but then you have to reconcile that with whether or not it's possible. But I think for me, a lot of that just comes down to sort of, you know, subjective feeling.

Like if I look up at a wall and it fills me with dread, and I'm like, oh, that makes me feel a little sick to my stomach. Or often you're, you feel overwhelmedly need to go poo. You know, you're like, oh, my stomach just dropped. You're like, that doesn't, you know, when things like, that happened like basically if it feels really scary you're probably not ready for it is my takeaway okay um what's your what's your white whale what what's the the climb you want to do you haven't yet done you always want to do it it's like i i just yeah lifetimeing whatever hasn't happened yet

i mean l cap was my white whale for for 10 years basically beyond that i can imagine a few other big climbs but they don't mean as much to me as El Cap, partially because they aren't as local, they aren't as personal. You know, I mean, because I grew up a couple hours away from Yosemite. So, you know, I remember camping there as a kid. It's like El Cap is something that's always not just the centrality in the climbing world, but also in my personal life. You know, it's like camping below and thinking how inspiring it is and things like that.

So, you know, a lot of the other climate objectives around the world sort of lack that personal attachment. But no, I mean, there's some things I'd like to do in bigger mountains. There are a lot of historic free solas that have been done in Europe that I'd like to go repeat. Like the Alps? Yeah, yeah, exactly. The Alps and the Dolomites in northern Italy. But so, you know, I'd like to go repeat some of those kinds of things. I mean, I don't know.

I've always been a fan of climbing history too. You know, it's like if other people from my generation or previously have done hard climbs, I'd like to go repeat some of those. And so that gives me plenty of things to do. I would guess. and I've experienced this with my basketball podcast, but with your podcast that you'll go, and obviously because of free solo,

everybody's going to know you, but you'll get invited to, you know, to any and every climb and there'll be, there'll be somebody in, you know, the most remote place and they'll say like, I listen to your podcast.

The podcast thing is really remarkable on how easy it translates and people can listen to it at their own pace. And especially when it's hyper-focused in something that you're into, I think you'll find it, It's going to resonate in a level that's ridiculous. That's interesting.

Yeah, we'll see. We'll see. Since I have no experience with it, I'm like, I have no expectation. Though, honestly, that's pretty similar to the film Free Solar coming out. It's not like I can do anything about movies. I was just like, this is going to be a crazy ride. Let's just see what happens. And so the podcast feels very much the same.

We've been working on it for the last six months. So, you know, it's like we've just been working away in my closet. Actually, it's my sound studio. So I just sit in my closet and I chat with other climbers. And we have a good conversation. and I have no expectation of what will happen with it. It's going to be really interesting to see what happens when it releases. Get right to the romance and find the way to wow this valentines with 1-800flowers.com.

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Brought to you by the United States Forest Service and the Ad Council. What grows in the forest? Trees? Sure. Know what else grows in the forest? Our imagination. Our sense of wonder. And our family bonds grow too. Because when we disconnect from this and connect with this, we reconnect with each other.

The forest is closer than you think. Find a forest near you and start exploring. at Discovertheforest.org, brought to you by the United States Forest Service and the Ad Council. When you, I read when you moved into your house in 17, you didn't have any furniture, so you just lived in your van in the driveway? Yeah, for the first couple weeks, I guess. Basically, I closed on the house, and all I had was Wi-Fi. Like, I had a wireless router in the house, but no furniture.

So you just used this as a hotspot? It's the most expensive to a hotspot in the history of hot. spots. And it was perfect because the driveway, at least, I was like, well, it's my driveway, so I can park here as long as I want. No one's ever going to hassle me. You know, I can use the bathroom. So I was like, oh, this is perfect. I have Wi-Fi. I have a bathroom and then I have perfect parking where no one's going to disturb me. So I just lived on the driveway for a while. Okay. You mentioned all this camping that you've done. Like, are you, are you an expert camper? Like, you can you start your own fire without, you know, just use the wood and do that,

do that deal. No. No, I mean, I have, I have done that in a few places. And I have been with people who are quite good at that kind of thing. But no, I mean, I would consider myself an expert American West van camper. You know, so I'm very good at feeling out what's public land, what's private land, where you might get shot at, where you won't get shot at, where someone's going to break into your car, you know, whether a neighborhood's going to be quiet or not, things like that. You know, but those you always stay in your car, you don't do the tent?

No. I mean, the whole beauty of a van is that, yeah, I've lived out of a van for basically 15 years. and that allows you to travel all over the west, follow the weather, follow good conditions, climb, you know, full time. But I try to avoid a tent when possible, basically because it's just not as comfortable. You know, the van is like a tiny little mobile apartment. And so it's like my apartment just goes to wherever I need to climb.

This is the hardest one. The most, when you close your eyes and it's like, this is my spot on earth. That's the most beautiful place that I've been. Is it El Cap? Where is it? Yeah, it's maybe El Cap Meadow. it's maybe Patagonia in southern Argentina. It's like big mountain range. Okay, wait, so I've had the gear.

I've done the Patagonia gear. I know where you're talking about. Yeah. Give me a, this, give me the verbal description of when, if you, having been there, this is why Patagonia is one of the most spectacular place, Sunnard. Oh, Patagonia is just so wild. It feels like a prehistoric Yosemite because it's huge granite spires, but they're still active glaciers all over. They're huge snowfields tumbling down the sides of the granite peaks. I mean, it's like big, you know, silver granite teeth sticking out of primeval glaciers. It's totally wild with huge lakes. And it's just like a, it's like it's an epic landscape in the true sense of the word epic, you know, like beyond human scope. It's like, it's all inspiring in the conventional sense of the term where you're like,

you know, it's, it's really, really impressive. sounds amazing well look man i can't wait to hear the pod um and you know everybody knows the movie is spectacular and it's amazing to meet you and i really really appreciate your time no i appreciate you taking time away from from basketball you know i know to talk about something other than ball sports it's it's a big deal i appreciate no it's it's it's to me it's it's interesting people and interesting stories in sports and what you end up having is this unique respect. I think there's the respect for what the sport of climate because it is a true sport. And I agree it's going to have a huge summer.

It's going to be really amazing to see it when it's in the Olympics. Plus, I mean, like, look, here's the other. We talk about equipment. I mean, how much has the GoPro changed everything, right? To now you're seeing POV of what it's like. and it's incredible. And so I'll be interested to see how NBC shoots it, what it looks like, but it's going to be, it should be amazing for your sport.

Well, actually, also, I'm supposed to be doing commentary for the Olympics this summer. So I'm supposed to be there chatting about it. I don't know what that entails exactly. But so a big part of starting the podcast was so that I personally could learn how to talk about these kinds of things so that I wouldn't totally embarrass myself with the Olympics. Because I kind of thought that the podcast would be perfect practice for, you know, live commentary. So I was like, oh, no, I have no idea how to do it.

do that. Yeah, you have to tighten. You have to do what's called tighten it up. Tighten it up. Tighten up. 15 to 45. 1545. Yeah, I'll ask you for advice on the timegrounds. I'm like, so how do I do this? I would love to help. Hey, man, thanks for your time. Pod's going to be awesome. We appreciate to join us. Yeah, thank you. Appreciate it. If you haven't seen it, you should see it. The New York Times said Alex Honnold's free solo climb should be celebrated as one of the great athletic feats of any kind ever. I guess. That's crazy. Crazy, crazy, crazy.

What he was able to do. I can't imagine. Can you imagine? No, thanks. I'm not scared of heights. I'm scared of falling for heights. That's my big thing. Anyway, hope you enjoyed that conversation. I'm Doug Gottlieb, and this is all ball. As well, we're in general, we can't get rid of the time. Now, we have to ensure them more

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back another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy not quite unhumored me

with Robert Smygel and Friends, me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter.

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year.

Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to learn the hard weight with your favorite therapist and host Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences,

having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor? It signals to the world that you're not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to, listen to learn the hard way on the AHA radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. A win is a win.

A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me. Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement

to my brand new podcast, The Cliford Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to The Clivert Show on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more behind the podcast, scenes follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.