The Pat McAfee Show - PMS 2.0 1152 - Kenny Chesney In Studio, Jack Carr In Studio, & AJ Hawk

Episode Date: June 20, 2024

On today’s show, Pat, AJ Hawk, and the boys chat about the US Olympic Swimming trials and how electric of an environment it was, and how once again we have another incredible team, and they touch on all the different news floating around in the NFL. Joining the progrum LIVE in studio is one of the biggest country musicians of all-time, 6x Grammy nominee, 12x CMA winner, owner of 32 singles, and currently on the Sun Goes Down Tour, the legend, Kenny Chesney to chat about his career, what this tour has looked like thus far, how he’s changed his process when it comes to performing, Tennessee football and baseball, and much more. Later, former Navy Seal, New York Times best-selling author, creator of the Terminal List, Jack Carr joins the show to chat about his new book Red Sky Mourning, the next season of the Terminal List and the prequel series associated with it, what he’s working on right now, how the military has changed over the last several years, and much much more. Make sure you subscribe to YouTube.com/thepatmcafeeshow to watch the show. Or watch on ESPN (12-2 EDT), ESPN’s Youtube (12-3 EDT), or ESPN+. We appreciate the hell out of all of you. We’ll see you tomorrow. Cheers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

And welcome to our humble abode, the Thunderdome, on this, the Summer Times, finally here Thursday, June 20th, 2024. This program starts now. Summer is here. It is about to be hot as balls throughout the entire country for the next few months because today is the summer solstice. It is the longest day of the year here in Indianapolis. The sun will literally be out until 10.15, 10.30 p.m. You could start around a golf at 9, or if you're an Indy,

you could head to a concert that's happening in lovely Noblesville, Indiana. Now, today's a massive day. We've got a lot of sports to talk about, obviously. I took a trip to a swimming pool in a football stadium last night, and I can't wait to talk about it. There's stuff going on around the NFL. Tom Brady's talking to Colin Cowherd. They need to do a weekly

thing during the season. Hopefully on Wednesdays. That would help us all out. Every time they talk, something magical comes. There's storylines brewing all over the place. There's contract disputes. There's obviously the NHL playoffs that are still taking place. Today's a big day because it's not just the talks at table here at Boston Corner

and at Ty Schmidt. Hell yeah, USA. Amen. America Day. Feels like it. Summertime's here. Yeah, summertime is here. It's not just because one half the talks table here at boston connor and that ty schmidt hell yeah usa amen america day feels like it's summer time's here yeah summertime is is here and it's not just because one half of the hammer cowboys tone digs is here uh ladies and gentlemen we have a special treat oh yeah i don't know if there's one human more synonymous with the season that is literally kicking off today than this guy synonymous with the season that is literally kicking off today than this guy. Ladies and gentlemen, guest hosting in the first hour today, six-time Grammy nominee, country music icon. Ladies and gentlemen, Kenny Chesney.

Come on! Yeah, Kenny! Come on! Yeah! Yeah! Woo! me And I see the light Coming out of the tunnel, ladies and gentlemen. Nice girls out in the middle of the land Woo! Hey. Oh, that thing. Yeah. Wow. Look at that. How we doing, Kenny?

Good dap. Nice clean dap. Nice clean dap. Everybody in the back. Nice clean dap. Kenny, you're a legend. You know, I was going to bring this helmet, and then I walked in here, and all I see is helmets yeah and Kenny like I told you people just send

shit man you got a lot of stuff in here yeah a lot of stuff that's a good way to depict there's a lot of sand there's a lot of stuff in there oh yeah hey there's I think a good way to describe our particular businesses one that receives a lot of shit on a regular basis. Kenny, thank you for joining us. Thank you for having me. Okay, so obviously we got a chance to talk to you at the Super Bowl

right in a row. Now you're in the middle of another summer tour that is like, takes over every city you go to. Now this Thursday show, you're doing this at an amphitheater, not at a stadium.

Weekend show is always at stadiums. You're alongside Zach Brown, Megan Maroney, Uncle Cracker, I do believe. This Thursday show here you're doing in Indianapolis. Was this like an added-on show? How did Indianapolis get gifted with this Thursday night? No, I mean, it's by design.

We play a Saturday show is a stadium show. So, like, a Thursday night is like an outdoor amphitheater. And then we have, like, tonight after the show show, like we will fly out and we'll go. I play the Brewers Baseball Stadium Saturday night. So we'll go up there, have a day off and do soundcheck on a Friday. And then we play Saturday night. So it's basically every week of my summer is just like that. Okay. And you earn that, you know, like obviously a lot of travel, a lot of work, a lot of juice, a just like that. Okay, and you earn that.

Obviously, it's a lot of travel, a lot of work, a lot of juice, a lot of energy. You've got to stay in shape, jocked. Yeah, absolutely. Get each other's knee absolutely jacked. But you are like the voice of the summer. Obviously, Jimmy Buffett in the past has gone and been in the same bucket. Okay, so I assume you guys got along very well

because you two were kind of synonymous with the shows in the summertime. Yeah, we got along. Jimmy and I were really good friends. And he was, you know, like we all have our heroes, you know, that we look up to. And Jimmy was one of the first guys that taught me it was possible to paint pictures with words, if you will. I mean, he was a great songwriter. And when I was a kid, I mean, i would listen to that music and it would just take

my brain to different places you know and he was one of the first guys that told me that that taught me that was possible your vibes are very you know but there's some deep shit in some of your songs though yeah like get along we're listening to get along and obviously you're telling multiple stories there but there's like a deep life meaning in that entire thing yeah how do you balance mixing the i don't want to say shallow but but you know, flip flop, yoo-hoo on the floor. And then like, hey, here's a life message. Yeah, I can tell you that it's, I edit myself to a fault sometimes though.

Because sometimes I do want to sing and say certain things that you might not say in a football stadium for people. You know what so I edit myself, especially in my live show. Like, OK, I'm like next next week or wherever it is, like on July, we're talking about it. We play the Chiefs Stadium Arrowhead on July 6th after the 4th. And I'll do certain songs in there that I won't do tonight in Indie because it's just a different audience it's a different thing yeah but you have such a discography

I believe it's the thing you have you learn what works and you gotta learn to read the room you never got booed off stage not booed we made this graphic here of Kenny Chesney football this is Kenny Chesney football.

It's Kenny Chesney football here. The number ones on the side are like four albums worth, you know, or three albums. Depending upon the modern album, people are putting out five song albums right now. Six song albums, which I assume you hate and all the old school music people hate. But like the amount of things that you've accomplished, the amount of songs that you have, you could technically, and it's just like Taylor Swift, which I know obviously a massive piece of, like each show can almost be its own album at this point, and you could just put out number ones live. Oh, wow.

Yeah, like there is something. Yeah, yeah. Way to go. You did good. But how do you go about piecing together what the set list looks like, and how come nobody plays the banger at the front and at the back? Please. Right?

I mean, it doesn't make any sense. If someone listens to one song a billion times, he can play it twice. You know, that is something that never gets you. Well, I used to do that before I had all those songs. You know what I mean? We did that out of necessity. But putting together today's show, you know you we try really hard to give it's going to be hot as shit Kenny

they're saying like 92 at 9, 10 o'clock at night you're allowed to bring two bottles of water will you fluctuate the songs due to the heat like I have this it's just like that so I can hit my foot on that button

and I can talk to just the band and just the crew. The audience doesn't hear. I can say, okay, we're going to skip this song or we're going to add this song or look at the hot girl in the third row. You know what I mean? That's the way it is. Yeah, we have that as well.

Yeah, we have that as well. So it's just like that. So we will audible, if you will, like in real time. And if it's really hot, like the other night in St. Louis, it was really hot. And it was lightning. We had to pause the show for an hour. And then we had to go back out and play. It was really hard.

But tonight, it'll be awesome. Indie crowds are always good, too. You tell us. But Indiana always shows up. I've played this place so many times. And then I played the football stadium a couple times. And then every year is different. Let's talk about the football stadium.

Okay. The person that built that alongside a group of great Colts introduced Indianapolis to football. And the one with the biggest forehead now has a statue up front, and Peyton Manning. I know, obviously, you and Peyton Manning have ties, and you have ties to Tennessee. Tennessee's in the college world series. That's right, they are.

Let's go. Are we paying attention? How do we feel about this? I feel great about it. Back in the championship conversation? Yeah, and I don't know that Tennessee's won a championship in any sport in a while. It's been a while.

I know in football they haven't in a long time. SEC's tough right now. Tough. How do you feel about the state of college sports? Do you pay attention enough to know? Because there's a lot of Southerns, I will say, that are very pissed. And for good reason, because what college football and college sports is in the South,

not just used to be, but in the South, it's like their blood. Way of life. I don't want to say like a religion, because obviously God and and everything like that but it is like very different than how it's viewed in a lot of other parts of the country and i think right south is the most pissed potentially about the future of college football more specifically yeah um i i'm still gonna watch it bingo right exactly i i uh i don't care if they're getting paid. I'm glad they're getting paid. Conference realignment, Texas-Oklahoma. Yeah, it seems weird.

I don't know. I mean, like, it's just, I don't know. Is it all just going to be the SEC one day? I don't know. So, allegedly, it's going to be now North. Yeah. And then South SEC. And I think that is, I think everybody kind of sees it

possibly happening but like the Big 12 obviously fighting like hell for that not to take place and that's West Virginia's obviously conference now running wild through that entire

I guess I'm still going to watch I mean like I still love the sport I mean I grew up watching college football with my father and I grew up in Knoxville

so we didn't have a pro allegiance to anything I mean if we wanted to watch baseball, we had to go to Atlanta or Cincinnati. You know, and we didn't have a pro football allegiance. You know, it was all Tennessee football.

So I'm still going to watch Tennessee play football. I don't care how much it all changes. Well, you guys down in Tennessee are the most dedicated fans in the entire college football world. Highest price per beer. Yeah. $13 a beer? Daddy, what the hell is going on?

Talk to someone, Kenny. What the hell is going on with the business people? East Tennessee folks will drink beer. They'll pay for it. Supply and demand right there, my friend. That's a fun place to go watch a football game. Did you ever play there? Yes. Neyland Stadium in Knoxville was the

first stadium show I ever did. It was 2003. How many people? Close to 50-something thousand people there. Did you see what George obviously just saw with George Strayed? It's insane. 101,950, I think? He played in the middle.

It's unbelievable, really. I saw pictures of that and I was stunned. So it's unbelievable, really. I saw pictures of that, and I was, like, stunned. So many people. Yeah, and it's like what George has been able to do to sustain. It's really hard. It's really hard, but it just goes to show you how powerful, I mean, music is. Do you get worried about that?

Do I worry about sustaining it? Because you're selling out a stadium every week. If you want to, like, he was talking about you were in Boston for the Tom Brady situation, and I guess the last show is normally in Gillette or whatever. Yeah, it will be this year, too. We always end in Gillette.

Boom. He actually said that. No, it's News Nation, baby. I understand that you didn't want to, like, kind of ruin that or whatever, but he was talking as if you would have just said, hey, we're going to have a show in Gillette two weeks out. You would have filled it up. You're like that everywhere. That has to be an incredible relief or a great feeling.

Like, what is that for you as somebody who – look at this, dude. Everywhere you go. Everywhere you go. That was Soldier Field last week. Yeah, but that's a big deal for your business. Of course. Look... People aren't moving tickets in stadiums.

Not a lot of people are moving. I can tell you that was built. Guys, I didn't wake up one day and go, okay, I want to go play Gillette. It was built. It was like... I went on the play Gillette. Amen. It was built. I mean, it was like I've been doing this. I went on the road in 93.

How old were you? 56. You were 56 in 93? Holy shit. No, I'm 56 now. You're doing pretty good, aren't you? Yeah, yeah. You were like 20, early 20s whenever you started hitting the road?

Were you playing like dive bars, tiny things? Oh, yeah. I was playing anywhere they let me play. And I opened for Alabama the first year, the group Alabama. Oh, yeah. And I was like, whoa. This is like, I was a kid, and I went with my mom and stepfather to a field in East Tennessee to watch Alabama play.

It was like a big festival. And I was like, God, I thought they were the Rolling Stones. It was just like the best thing ever. And then literally 10 years later, I was on the road with those guys, and it was like a strange existence. You know what I mean? Yeah, you should see how we feel right now. You're basically all of our first concerts.

Yep. That's how we feel. He was with Rascal Flatts. That was my first concert. Where? In Pittsburgh. Are you from Boston? Yeah, yeah, yeah, Gillette.

First one with Eric Church. You were at the Gillette with, that was my first concert. Where? In Pittsburgh. Are you from Boston? Yeah, yeah, yeah, Gillette. First one with Eric Church. You were at the Gillette show with Eric Church. Yeah, well, my body was there. My brain was asleep. There's another question. So we're from Pittsburgh, obviously. So whenever you go to Pittsburgh, it is an event. They try to kick you out of the city.

It's a holiday. A couple years ago they did. 16 or 17, something like that? I mean, they were just having a good time. They should be happy we didn't do two nights. Yeah, there you go. Which is something you could do anywhere. And, you know, you go from dive bars in 93 to selling out stadiums.

Man, we were playing everywhere. We would play anywhere they would let us play. And what are you doing? Are you doing covers then or are you doing your own songs? And I would like, like you said, like I had a one hit record and we sometimes we would like we play like a state fair or a bar or whatever you know and i was i would play my one hit record and then i would what's the first one that got you the first one was a song called she's got it all that was like the first of us my first number one oh. I'm a lot of player music.

That's it. That's an old one. It's an oldie but goodie. We ought to throw that out tonight. Oh, yeah. Oh, my God. I hear my voice when I... Oh, I do the same thing. I hate me too.

You're great, Danny. So you can't listen to your own music I can't even listen So when you walked in and it was playing Benny listen to this Benny banger dude Sounds good Like when I hear that person

I hadn't figured out yet where my sweet spot was In the studio as far as singing. So a lot of times I would cut songs up here and I didn't really know that I shouldn't. But I hear that era of me, recording music, when I hear those songs on the radio, I go, ah. Hold on, though. Listen, without those songs, you obviously don't get to the air. No, it's true. Every decision is a stone on the pathway to selling out every stadium.

Okay, I agree. Which is probably from one of your songs that you sang. I can probably check that. But Morgan Wallen had a situation. And I assume you all are close. I've met Morgan several times. I'm very proud of him. Stadiums as well.

He is rocking, rocking, rocking. Sick collection of J's as well. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. But I think a couple, maybe months ago, he signed a deal with some record label in Florida whenever he was young. And they recorded some songs. They never got released or whatever.

They didn't agree to have them released. And then he leaves, I think, and then he goes on to be who he is. And then that record label, allegedly, I mean, this is just from reading an Instagram post from Morgan Wall wallen was then going to try to re-release those songs that he recorded and he basically alluded to like i hadn't found my sound or who i wanted to be at this point and he didn't like there's a reason they were released like he was not proud of them and then they were trying to take advantage of them like that type of thing is seemingly how i read the entire process does it happen often whenever people make it and like how important is yeah you're with warner and shout out to yeah

honor yeah literally uh four minutes before the show starts i can bombard her i can play music on here yeah okay sweet because there's probably and i told you this before we went on air there has been a southern white that has sued me before and And there was a chance a couple of times. He's really good. You want to elaborate? Kenny, he's very good. He can spin. He can spin.

1993 when that song came out. An older Packer quarterback. Yeah, he could really spin it, Kenny. But we thought, you know, there's a chance you could sue us. But then everybody on your team is so incredibly cool. But in the music world, I guess that's potentially possible at all times. Do you leave shit in the – Like, you go in the studio, record something, and not release it?

Oh, yeah. All the time. And then who controls that forever? Well, I do now, but there was a moment where... Congratulations. That was huge. Yeah, because I own everything now. But back before, when I was a kid... You own everything right now? Everything. Wait till you're going to sell that. Oh, weapon. Yeah.

But... Hey, that's Yeah. So, but. Hey, that's genius. Yeah. That's business genius. That's called control. Yeah, it's also called like profit. Dog. Yeah, there's that. Yeah, there's a lot of that.

Congratulations. That's a big deal in the music world, I think. Well, you got to get there. You got to build that too. You can say like, but before I, when I first got started, you know, like anybody, you're not in a position to do that. You're just happy to get the opportunity and to move forward and build your audience. So I have so many songs that I've recorded that didn't make the record for whatever reason.

You just didn't like them? Yeah, I didn't like them. I didn't like the way I sounded or it didn't fit or I had too many ballads or this sounded too much like this song for whatever reason and so they just didn't make the record and um if you don't like it let's just say that you're on a one record label and you don't they they own the masters and then you move and to a different label they have the opportunity to really release that stuff all they want. It's crazy. It's crazy content. Do everything possible not to let them do that. I guess the music world is also changing

because of the payment for songwriters due to digital streaming and everything like that. Luke Combs came on and he talked about he's doing arenas as well. He's doing everything. I love Luke. He's great. He puts the shit out of those cups he's got a rugby player oh yeah guy's got a real real touch but he talked about how the streaming

era of music is obviously different than the album selling era of music which you're obviously a part of in that entire thing and then napster comes in and yeah what a time that was justin timberlake was doing that guy he's i know. Guy. Come on, Justin. Yeah, just get out of driver, dude. Get boozed up, Justin. Stay. Come on. Whatever the case.

Anyway. Anyway, the streaming thing, Luke Combs basically said, like, they're getting it figured out for the artists. Like, the artists are getting it figured out, and it'll end up being fair. That's right. But the songwriter, somehow, it's not really getting figured out for. No, let's just say those three guys wrote i heard you playing american kids or something or get along whatever it was when i came in summertime let's just say that they they wrote it okay congrats boys you go but you sang you're so you sang the song and so you're going to get paid they figured

out how to how to pay the artists but they just haven't figured out how there's because it's well it's called greed how they're going to share it with the songwriters yet which is really sucks which a lot of musicians were songwriters right so it's like yeah and obviously i was originally a songwriter i mean like i still am but i got started as a songwriter. But there used to be people in the album-selling era of our society that made a very good living off just getting their songs recorded and not necessarily having them on the radio. There's a performance royalty and a mechanical royalty. Performance royalty is paid on what you hear.

Like if your song gets played on the radio over and over again, you get paid a performance royalty for that. Radio matters for a country very much so yeah terrestrial radio still matters in my opinion but mechanical royalties are album sales like if you wrote a song and it was not on the radio but it was just on somebody it was on george straight's record george straight sold five million of those records you're going to get paid a lot of money just from having that song on there. That model is gone.

Now it's only performance. For a song writer, it's really changed. Let's figure it out, Kenny. I would love to figure it out. Tony has a question for you, Kenny. Kenny, I mentioned how I saw you with Rascal Flats, and it was right before they took off. Right now, you're touring with Zach Brown. What year do you think that was? That was 2004. I looked it out. Tony has a question for you, Kenny. Yeah, Kenny, I mentioned how I saw you with Rascal Flatts and it was right before they took off,

but right now you're touring with Zach Brown. What year do you think that was? That was 2004. I looked it up. Wow. Still doing it. That's 20 years ago,

two decades. You look younger somehow. But now you're touring with Zach Brown who is another headliner and you talked about how Jimmy was your mentor and I think the same for Zach.

How is it touring with another headliner because my friends who were there in Pittsburgh said it was like six hours of just incredible music. How does that work out? It works out great.

You know, Zach toured with us in 2011 also. And then it's crazy to think that here we are 13 years later and still at a place where we, you know, still get to have music in our lives and give music to the world, you know. But Zach, he should get, I mean, he doesn't have to be here, you know? But he agreed to do it, to go out with us. And for the fans, I mean, if you just wrap your brain around all the music that you hear, you know, and Megan's brand new and doing really well. And if it was 2004, we might have had Uncle Cracker out there with us, too.

Yeah, I was going to say, he's still. So he was, like, that's right when the sun goes down came out. So he's back out there with us. So it's crazy. Like, the amount of music that people get to hear is a good, it is. It's about a six-hour nonstop of. Who's the incredibly Jack, Tim? McGraw.

Oh, yeah. Oh, McGraw is very Jack. So Jack. Jack's Jack now. He might have, yeah, and Zach is obviously. Zach's all. Oh, yeah. Oh, McGraw is very Jack. So Jack. Jack's Jack now. Yeah, and Zach is obviously beast. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, sweet tats, too. I mean, he's got great acting, too.

I mean, he is. Beard. Tim McGraw, we've seen what his day looks like. He'll run the hill at the amphitheater, and then he's flipping tires. I think he's swinging things. Do you have a daily routine? Obviously, you just stop by our show, they think. Yeah.

How do you not get boozed up every day? Yes. Good question. Because you're bringing a party to everybody's life. Yeah, see, but I can't do that boozed up. Zach told us that, too. Zach Brown gave us a big nobody. I used to. I used to

try to live with the fans. I don't know. Our life is much different I used to try to live with the fans and act. I don't know. Our life is much different out here now than it was in 2004. In 2004, I mean, it was a barrel of fun, right? It was. But there became this moment where I had to make a decision.

Okay, am I going to do this or am I going i gonna do this and i got to a point in my life where i i couldn't do both like this year we're gonna do gillette we're gonna play three nights at gillette to end the year so there won't be any partying for kenny to get through three nights yeah you see what i mean so i have i have like if you guys ever come to the show, I got a two-person sauna and an ice tub outside my bus. So it's changed a lot since 2004. Well, human knowledge of all that stuff has changed a lot. Right, exactly. But I haven't had alcohol since January 1st.

Congratulations. Wow. On purpose, obviously. Well, when I start to train to go on the road, I'm sitting there, okay, the first week of January, and I'm trying to emotionally and mentally think about what it takes of me to be up there. And I said, okay, I'm not going to drink for a while. I'm going to get really lean, and I measure my food and just get ready cardio.

Yeah, you look jacked. Yeah, I'm working on it. But then it just happened. All of a sudden, you look jacked. Yeah, I'm working on it. But then it just happened. I just, all of a sudden, it's almost July. So, I don't know. It's not that I'm quitting. It's just that I realized

for me to go up there on stage and do what I do now at this point in my life, I just don't want them to get all of me. I want them to get the best of me. Okay. Right? Yes. And I can't do that hungover.

How about, do you smoke any marijuana? Never. Never in your life? Never. Well, college. Okay. But it's not a part of my life. Yeah, but that weed back then. I had fun in East Tennessee State. I did. I had a lot. I had a good time. Yeah, you guys are cutting bushes down outside,

smoking it up, rolling it up. That's great to hear about how, like, because you're treating it like a good time. Yeah, you guys are cutting bushes down outside, smoking it up, rolling it up. That's great to hear about how, like, because you're treating it like a profession now. You know, like that seems to be the difference. I had to do the same thing. I got arrested for public intoxication. Alleged story, definitely drunk in public. And then it kind of just changed my entire viewpoint. Like, hey, you can throw this all away right now, or you can, like, lock in.

A lot of people can't make that decision. Yeah. So you do not know. I'm not saying I'm going to, you know, look, I right now, or you can lock in. A lot of people can't make that decision. Yeah. So you do not know. I'm not saying I'm going to, you know, look, I love getting on a boat in the islands too much to not have a cold beer. No, no, absolutely. Hey, me too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Me too.

But I've decided that when I'm working that it just doesn't serve me like it. Yeah. Ty has a question for you, Kenny. Yeah, Kenny, I assume it's easier because your catalog is so long and so deep, but when you've been doing this for as long as you have, how do you maintain the competitive stamina of like, hey, I'm going to have to, like, I'm, obviously the set list changes a little bit, but I'm playing a lot of the same songs over and over and over again.

Like, how do you still find joy in that when you're doing it so often? And are there certain songs where you're like, hey, never again? Like, I'm never singing this goddamn song again. Oh, I've gotten there with several songs. Like, we don't do She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy this year. Oh, Kenny! It's so good, though.

We'll sing it. She thinks my tractor's sexy. So I did. You know what it does, Ken? It turns her on. She's always staring at me. Maybe we'll do it tonight. I did,

I'm not sure if it was Anderson Cooper's first segment of 60 Minutes ever, but I was one of his, I did a segment on 60 Minutes on CBS. Journalist. So,

so he asked me, he goes, well, you know, here's Anderson from New York, you know, and he goes, so he goes, tell me about She Thinks My Tractor is Sexy, right? I'm thinking he does not relate at all. You know, like, so, but I said I was smart enough to record that song, and I said I was smart enough to never record another one. Because you can get away with it. You can get away with it once, but then you can't have everything be that way. But the answer to your question is...

But it is true, though. If it runs like a deer, you know what I mean? Eyes light up. I got so sick of singing it. We may throw it out every now and then. Hey, listen. Don't let Anderson Cooper or these journalists decide

what you're singing out. That was a long time ago. I didn't stop singing it because of him. This was 20 years ago. You can just tell that Anderson didn't really understand it. You should hear what they say about us. Connor's got a question for you.

Yeah, Kenny, it feels like right now there is this kind of boom in country music from other artists and genres. Beyonce came out with an album, and right now Post Malone is doing songs with Morgan. Who I think is great. Doing one with Blake. Why don't you get on? You need to go on Post and you do it. Maybe.

Actually, though, have other artists reached out from different genres? Like, hey, how do I get into country music? I mean, I did a song with Dave Matthews several years ago. And I did. You, too, with the amount of money you've made off of tickets. Holy shit. Like, that's one of the best. Like, I don't go see live acts very much because that environment is my life so

when i'm away from that environment i don't want to go back into that environment to see someone else but i would go see like that band i would see dave matthews and i would go see you know i don't know whoever boss yeah oh yeah yeah so i would go see bruce springsteen every day of the week you know there you go but you guys that like bruce springsteen every day of the week. There you go. You guys that like Bruce Springsteen are really into Bruce Springsteen. What? He's the boss. What do you mean?

Michael Cole has been to 170 shows maybe. I think 170 shows. Michael Lombardi, I believe, has been to 100. Yeah, and I love the boss. Hey, listen. I'll listen to a boss tune. Well, that was one of the first guys. Like we were talking about Jimmy earlier. Like when I saw Bruce the first time, because he was growing up in East Tennessee,

I didn't understand the genius of Bruce Springsteen because we didn't hear a lot of it, honestly. So I was in college, and I was starting to play bars for tips. And then I realized how genius he was. And then I went and saw it live. And then I went, oh, my God, this is a person that just doesn't give a little bit of himself. He gives everything.

I was stunned. If I ever get to do that, I didn't even know then that my life was going to turn out this way, that I was going to be doing this for a living. Do you judge your performances? If you ever do, you've got to give all you can. Do you judge your performances whenever you're done? If you ever do, you've got to give all you can.

Do you judge yourself afterwards? Like, yeah. Oh, God, yeah. You're so mean to yourself, I bet. Well, the last two weeks, we did the Philadelphia Eagles football stadium two weeks ago, and I was so sick that I had no business being up there that sick. But I didn't want to cancel either because it was day of, you know, and people have come to travel to come see you. Oh, yeah.

And it was hard, man. And after that show, I was really, really hard on myself. And then, you know, the next week we played in St. Louis. I was still sick. I was really, you know, but Soldier Field Saturday night, I finally felt better. But, yeah, I'm hard. I'm hard on myself. You know, because if you think But yeah, I'm hard. I'm hard on myself.

Because if you think about it, people go through a lot to go to your show. It's just the parking and the walking in. $13 bill, $13 beers. That's a lot of money. So when you show up sick, it doesn't... I don't know. It's just hard. Well, if you mailed it in, people would be pissed off. Showing up sick is not.

True. I mean, you could be completely healthy and not care. Sure. That's worse. Yes, much worse. People respect you for showing up sick and then realizing like, oh, wow, I had no idea. That was an amazing conference. Well, it was really hard, but I'm really hard on myself.

Yeah. Most greats are. Tom Brady actually just gave an answer to Colin Cowherd about like calling people and being like, how do I know if I did good? Because I'll watch film of myself when I played football and I'll think, that's the worst football player on earth. Why is that guy have kind of have to have that filter on yourself back to connor's question though has there been any current reach out from any other because you you make hits i mean we just saw the if we put that graphic back up you make bangers which i think is at what everybody is trying to do from all these different genres that are getting that many number ones you would assume that somebody would be like and how would that work they'd reach reach out to Warner and they'd say, hey, I want to work with Kenny.

Maybe, or just me personally or whatever. So let's say I want to put out a banger this fall. Let's say I have a couple songs out. I have a couple songs. Oh, sure. Yeah, I have... R.I.P.I.P. To see it's bad.

I mean, that is a whole... We should not get into that right now. But it was a banger. Just one of the songs. It was an absolute banger. But let's say somebody who was an actual musician. Yeah. They just reached, like Post Malone right now, he's friends with Blake Shelton.

He reaches out to Blake Shelton. I want to do a country song. And then they just get together and they start working on it. And then they can just do that. I assume with the business of it all, there's so much more shit to it. There is. It can be that simple sometimes. Like if it's the label,

if it's two different record labels trying to manipulate something to happen, that's always harder. So for me, I'm not against singing with anybody if the song is there. I don't necessarily do duets or collaborations for the sake of doing them.

Some people do just so they can get more award nominations and stuff. Yeah, you got it. You know what I mean? But if the song is really great, then that always helps, you know? You and Tequila. Yeah. The thing about you and Tequila was I already had that song recorded,

but I didn't know the voice that I wanted to be on it. Because I didn't want it to be just um not that there's anything wrong with it but I didn't want it to be just a country artist that would be expected right so I found I was listening I was at my house in the Virgin Islands and I heard this girl named Grace Potter sing I was going wow she was from New England oh yeah of course and from Burlington Vermont and I heard her sing and I was like that's it that's the's the voice. So I reached out, and three days later, Grace was in Nashville singing on you and Tequila. That's amazing.

We got a banger. When it happens that way, it's really authentic and really great. But when it's put together, it can sometimes be different. To pivot away from that to a different conversation, there's a Super Bowl champion music artist sensation now. Her name's Taylor Swift. She won a Super Bowl with Kansas City Chiefs.

That's right, she did. She was at the party, the ring ceremony, but she had another job, obviously, selling out stadiums in Liverpool and everything like that so she couldn't be there. But obviously, you were a big part of the entire process. And obviously, you've seen her since she was a teenager Into what she has become now, which is the most famous human on earth and a able to sell out a stadium Easy anywhere. She wants to she's ending this tour, I guess in December But if she wanted to she could run it for the next 40 years selling out stadiums everywhere other musicians How do they view Taylor Swift? What is the conversation about her

business and everything like that? Is everybody trying to emulate that? Does everybody know that's an anomaly? What is the kind of thought process? I don't know. I think that it's, for those that know her, like I do, you know that the work that went into it, you know, it's easy to look at it all and go, oh, wow, this is unbelievable. We're going to emulate this. We're going to – because we are in an industry of followers. I mean, it's just the way it is. Copycat league.

That's right. Yeah, and same, I guess, I'd imagine in sports, you know. Yes. Like they saw Belichick and Brady. They saw how it worked. Oh, we're going to figure out how to try to make that work for us. Hire people from the organization. That's right. Anybody that gets cut from the Patriots

gets signed to another team within four minutes. That's literally how it works. So I think that it's hard to emulate it, though, when you're like, when I was at the thing the other night in Foxborough

at the Tom Brady Hall of Fame event, it was really interesting because Belichick was there and he came out and he talked. You know, and I was going, oh, well, this could be interesting to see what happens. But they were talking about the amount of work. Like Tom was talking about it was so hard during the week that Sunday was – they looked forward to Sunday. Because Bill put them through so much during the week.

They look forward to Sunday because Bill put them through so much during the week. Yeah. So it's kind of like the same with Taylor and the people that get to a point in their life where it looks easy, but it's not. Oh, yeah. And getting the work ethic. Yes. And that's the only thing. The one thing I can say about Taylor is she really has, I mean, first of all, she's a brilliant writer and a great artist but she worked really hard yeah and I think that is the interesting thing and that's why I

think I was so fascinated by football people being so mad that she was being shown during these games because that was the beginning I'm not saying that's us at all yeah check our record that we are big fans of it because I watch a documentary because my wife is a massive fan of hers. So I watch a documentary and what you just said was very evident. Like, oh, Taylor's a fucking dog. Like she is in the studio working. What's the release? What's this? What's the marketing?

Where are we headed? She's a part of all of it. She's an absolute beast. So I thought like football people would be like, hey, this is a badass if I've ever seen it. And now she's with Travis Kelsey, who's one of our, like, greatest players of all time. Like, it's a perfect situation. But I think more people are learning that about Taylor through this entire process.

And obviously the NFL got a massive Swift bump. Which is good for the game. Which is good for the sport. Know that about it. Yeah. And she's changed, like, her music. How hard is it to go from, like, what she started as with, like, her Fearless album and, like and very much country to now where

she's gone out like a pop? It's obviously not hard for her. It would be hard for me. If I decided, I can't make any other music than the music I make. I can't decide, I'm going to make a pop record. You could.

You could do it, Ken. I don't know. I'm actually pitching you to be in a pop-up. In about a month or so. I sing the way I sing. I just don't think it would be authentic, and it would be very disingenuous for me to do that. But those that can are very diverse.

Of course, Taylor is just, I mean, she's one of the most amazing artists of our time. Yeah. And very, obviously, very diverse. Yes. A lot of different types of songs. His last album, you know, So High School was good.

Yeah, obviously. You know, talk about Travis Rupp there. It's like, when you're that personal with your music that you write, like, you have to revisit things. Like, that can't be fun. Yeah, that can't be fun. But as a songwriter and as a someone that that creates

and you you write your life um you find yourself doing that well because when you're singing songs they talk about songs you won't sing and you said tractor sexy it's like i wonder if there's any songs that take you back to like a period of your life that was like maybe a relationship or a situation that happened and then every time you sing that's because there's people that listen to your songs yeah and associate them with an era of their life. Or a moment. Yeah, or a moment. And there's some people that can't listen to songs anymore because it's associated with a relationship or something that happened.

And when that song comes on, they actually, ah, I can't hear this song. I couldn't even imagine for the people that wrote it and then have to sing it as well. And that just kind of power on to the next song. That has to be an interesting thing. No, I have a couple of those. hour on to the next song. That has to be an interesting thing. No, I have a couple of those, but your life does change and evolves. And what used to be really hard 10, 15 years ago is nothing now. You know what I mean? Like, okay, I was there, it happened, but I'm still going to sing it. Right? Yeah. And so luckily I don't have too many of those. I mean, there's a couple of

songs that I've had out on the radio. When I hear them, it reminds me of a certain girl or a certain breakup or me getting, I don't know, said no to by a certain girl that I wasn't really happy about. There's no way that would happen.

No way. Back in the day. Back in the day. There was a time. But it's true. Music does take us there. It takes you back. That's one of the most powerful things that we have is music and sports. Those two things bring people together more than anything in the world. I truly believe that. Tony's heading to the concert tonight.

Yeah, I am. Do you make a concerted effort to athletes of that town to bring him up on the stage? Because I know Russell Wilson was on stage with Zach. I'm not sure if he was up on stage with you. Don't you think you should have welcomed Russell Wilson to Pittsburgh? Well, I don't know that I should have. Yeah, because you've caused more destruction in that stadium. Yeah.

And does it have more impact in that city? No, but he's friends with Zach, you know, so it didn't bother me. Yeah, well, you know, for me, I thought he was the welcoming committee. I thought that was awesome. I'm like, Russell Wilson has already, you know. Oh, I see what you're saying. But I just, nah, it didn't bother me. You are more synonymous with Pittsburgh at this point than Russell Wilson.

Do you try to bring them up every concert, though, or just if they're there? Not every time. It just depends on, I mean, the funniest thing that has ever happened is when – it was years ago in New England, and when Wes Welker was still playing for the Patriots. I don't know if you all met Wes or know him at all, but he's like a little bit of a wild card when he's had a few. Can imagine. So it's great.

It's great. And I could tell that Wes was over there on the side of the stage and he was, you know, moving his body weight one side or the other. I could just tell he wanted to come out.

Right? And so I said, okay, ladies and gentlemen, please make welcome Wes Walker. And they are going crazy. And he doesn't get up. He doesn't say anything.

He gets up there on the edge of the stage to say this is the edge of the stage. He gets up there on the edge of the stage and looks at all of Gillette Stadium and goes. So you never know what you're going to get. Yeah. Right.

And so, but yeah, we've had a lot. You guys come to shows. I mean, there's going to be, it just happened. After Boys of Fall came out. Yeah. Oh, yeah. We didn't have that many musicians hanging around the bus at shows. It was all coaches and athletes.

Yeah. And it's still that way. Hey, we love what you do, man. Yeah. Genuinely. And it's not just athletes, obviously. It's a bunch of astooges that just like to get away, man. Your music just takes you to a good time.

And then you get on a couple milligrams, which I know you haven't done since high school or whatever. You get a couple milligrams, you start listening to lyrics. You're like, there's a real deep-ass message in this thing. I didn't write all those songs, although some of them. Well, hey, you, your writers, the songs you picked, the brand that is Kenny Chesney Music makes bangers. We can't thank you enough for stopping by.

Thanks for having me. Appreciate it. What are you going to do the rest of the day? Vocal? I'm going to go up to the bus, and I may go for a run. I may go for a jog. I'm going to do about four rounds of heat and ice. Okay, how long are we in each one?

I'll do about 15 minutes in the heat, maybe two minutes in the ice. And then back into the heat? Back into the heat for 15 minutes, two minutes in the ice. I do three or four rounds. Ending on what? Heat or ice? Ending on ice. Okay.

There is a conflict, a conversation between. Yeah. But I like the end on the ice. Yeah, me too, because it makes you feel fresh. Yeah. I've got to have my legs tonight. Oh, we're doing a lot of running tonight. I think I saw you switched out maybe 14 guitars one night whenever I saw you.

Now I have like three different ones that I play. It's really no rhyme or reason. We just got into the habit of me playing a certain guitar on certain songs. Not superstitious. Well, that's the reason we always close in Gillette. We always open. It's a capital of no shoes nation, right?

Yeah, that's right, baby. We always open in Tampa and we always close in Gillette. And it's been that way since 2005. And it's because of the sports in my life. Like, I am very superstitious. And when it worked, I went, okay, we're not changing nothing. Yeah. And then we'll just run it back

for another 30 years. That's why we always end in Gillette. Well, we're lucky you came through here in Indianapolis. We hope you come back. Thank you, brother. Thanks for having me.

Ladies and gentlemen, the man who is about to sell out a stadium near you. How many more shows do we have left? A lot. We're in the middle.

We go all the way to the end of August. So we got another two months left. Easy. More than. You're going to crush it. Go see him. Ladies and gentlemen, Kenny Chesney.

Yay! Appreciate you, man. Appreciate you. Appreciate you guys. Sometimes fun. Hell yeah. Go Pats. You make a putt. Oh, oh, oh You make a putt?

Oh, can you putt? Let's see. Hold on, hold on, hold on. Hell yeah, can he give a putt? Can you putt or no? Are you... I'm terrible. We'll see.

But let's just say, like, if you were to putt... Okay, so if I was to putt... There's seven balls right there. You think you'd make two of them? Oh, we're not going to have any good time. Well, that's what I'm saying. How good are you? I don't know. You tell... I'm not that good if I was to putt. There's seven balls right there. You think you'd make two of them? Well, that's what I'm saying. How good are you? I don't know. I'm not that good. I haven't putted in forever. Haven't putted in forever.

Two. No, one and a half. Where are you putting from? Rory McIlroy? Oh, he's going back. Oh, you're going this way. No, no, no. Whatever you want to do. Whatever you want to do. This is your world. No shoes. No shoes world.

Good read. Do the one that's closest to you. That one over there. Hold on. Jesus Christ. Yeah, summertime, baby. Yeah, it is. It's finally here. One and a half. Yeah, summertime, baby Yeah, it is It's finally here

One and a half Yeah, just need two Just need two Hold on, Kenny Hold on, Kenny You hear that old ballpark man? He's back in gear Okay, if Kenny Chesney here

The absolute legend Can make two of these seven putts 25 people will win 500. Okay, now he's got to get to a six. Oh, no. After the first putt, though. Yeah, you got a good read. Got the read.

Good, yeah. Yeah, exactly. Got the read. Good speed. Ladies and gentlemen, Kenny Chesney, obviously country music icon, man who sells out stadiums. If he can go two of six here. 25 people will win. 500. Boom.

Come on, Kenny. All we need is one more punt to fall. Kenny Chesney's in Noblesville tonight. He's coming to a city near you. Yeah. King. I'll get legs. Kenny.

Get legs. Oh. No. I think Kenny's a sandbag. Yeah. Oh, two of seven, he says. Oh, okay. Of course, he's Kenny Chesney. I've got's a sandbag at us. Oh, two of seven, he says. Oh, okay. Of course, he's Kenny Chesney.

What are you, a scratch? I got a house in the Virgin Islands. You think he's golfing? Yeah, he's golfing. Of course. We just got a house. We got bamboozled by Kenny Chesney. If Kenny Chesney makes this putt, 25 people will win five.

Hunt. Oh, shit. Rory McIlroy there. All right. Whoa, whoa, whoa. He's already going through enough. He's listening to your music to get through it. If Kenny Chesney can bury this putt, 25 people will win $500.

No pressure at all. 25 people are living a better life because of your putt, Kenny. Can he bury it? Nope. Bulled it. Jesus. Oh. Bank count.

Bank would count. It is open. Kenny Chesney has already made one putt. All, man. The bank, Sean. Bank count. Bank would count. It is open. Kenny Chesney has already made one putt. All he has to do is make another. If this one falls, 25 people win $500. Oh, no. Here we go. Don't move.

That might bake in. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. All right. Hold on one second. Yep. Hold on one second, Kenny. Hold on one second, Kenny. Hold on one second, Kenny. Kenny Chesney's currently on the Sun Goes Down Tour.

If he makes his putt, 25 people win $500. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. That looked so good I thought it was it Yeah Could have broke it

Could have broke it Would have been alright Appreciate you Thank you so much Thank you Kenny Golly I know He was all around it

Hey it was all two putts Thanks Kenny Thanks Kenny Hey you'll make it next time We'll see you next year When you come back Alright ladies and gentlemen Kenny Chessy

What a man Awesome Alright so we just had A music program Yep absolutely Energy, vibes, high Summer, high We'll see you next year when you come back. All right, ladies and gentlemen, Kenny Chessie. What a man. Awesome. All right, so we just had a music program. Yep, absolute energy, vibes, high. Too high. Oh, no, thank you, Dave. Thank you.

You guys crushed it. Thank you, guys. Tell you what, they said 2024 was going to be for the vibes, but I didn't know it was going to be like this. Who's they? A lot of people. I think you said 2024. The vibes.

A cowboy. Everyone adopted that. How about Kenny Chesney here, obviously, to talk about Tennessee being in the college World Series finals. That's why you have Kenny Chesney on the sports program. He was jacked up. You say, yeah, maybe they'll win. Yeah, exactly. Think they will. Against George Strait's A&M.

How about how long he has been at it? Now, Tennessee, obviously, the favorite here in the World Series happening in Omaha. I believe we'll be talking to Ryan McGee tomorrow. Okay. About everything popping off on Saturday, Game 1. That is obviously a best of three series, which we all knew, obviously. And we cannot wait to watch college baseball entertaining. Very much so.

The bats ping. We got a real crowd. Omaha is obviously bananas. And the mayor of Omaha, Ryan McGee, will. Very much so. The bats, ping. We got a real crowd. Omaha is obviously bananas. And the mayor of Omaha, Ryan McGee, will be joining us tomorrow. A lot of news happening around the sports world, including the NFL. Tom Brady joined Colin Cowherd yesterday to break down his mindset going in to call a game. Colin Cowherd said what he's doing is one of the most difficult things to do in sports media, which is be great 200 times straight for 8 seconds at a game. Colin Cowherd said what he's doing is one of the most difficult things to do in sports media, which is be great 200 times straight for 8 seconds

at a time. And if you have one flub, you are going to get ridiculed. He said, I have flubs all the time, but it's just kind of who I am. And then Tom Brady says, you're doing okay. Colin Cowherd says, I'm fine. Yeah. But he did ask about his broadcasting and how he's going to view it. Here's Tom Brady's answer. So I want you to take me

from the first time you put on a headset upstairs until the UFL game and your last, you may have practiced today. When you watch the tapes, do you notice a difference with you? Yeah, I would say yes, and I also think there's still so much more room for improvement. And I just, almost like when I was a player, I never felt like I did things the right way. There were games where I'd go in afterward and think, God, I'm the worst quarterback in the NFL.

Like, why would they even want me to play quarterback for this team? And I'm sure I'm going to feel that way here at Fox, where I finish a game and I go, God, I didn't even give them what they wanted. And it's a very challenging thing in your own mind. I've asked a few people, like, how do you know that you did a good job? And I think for me, so much of this is going to come down to the preparation. And did I feel like I was prepared? Did I feel like our crew was prepared? Did I give them the best over the course of the week so that we could give ourselves the best opportunity to be successful for the fans? Because really, the game is to show. We're there to add our take on it and in our analysis but it's also did we feel like we added to the

broadcast and from my standpoint I'm going to work as hard as I can the process of it as you talked about earlier to make sure that I do deliver because I don't want to let anyone down I don't want to let the people at Fox here down I certainly don't want to watch let let the great NFL fans down either shout out to Colin Cowherd yesterday, obviously on Fox Sports, and he has been a guy who's been doing it for 30 years at a high level. Him and Tom have had a better conversation whenever they're together than any of those Let's Go podcasts with Jim. Jim Gray is phenomenal, obviously, but what Tom Brady opens up to Colin Cowherd about is actual good shit. Him talking about letting everybody down is like the Tom Brady difference, right?

His big team, work hard. He wants to have the production crew ready. I remember when they talked about Monday Night Football, whenever John Gruden was on the call. I don't know if he knew how to operate emails at that time, but I do know that he knew how to call a game. Basically, that entire week was like John Gruden prepping the production company and

prepping the Monday Night Football crew on how he's going to cover certain things in a game. So it was like John Gruden directing that and whoever's commentating, like, hey, just kind of, you need to keep this show on. I think it's going to be similar for Tom. I think it's going to be very similar for Tom. And I think this is good news. And we are all Greg Olson fans.

Yeah. We all love Greg Olson. This show loves Greg Olson. Oh, yeah. Everybody loves Greg Olson. And I think Greg Olson is a top man. Okay. I think he's a lead man.

I think he's a front man for whoever, wherever, whenever he gets whatever gig it is. But having the greatest of all time be this plugged in and dialed in into how to broadcast a game and to hear his brain spill. And not only his brain, by the way. Bill Belichick's brain spill that has been osmosis through his is good for sports. I appreciate those convos between colin and tom but i also appreciate the fact that we're about to have an entire season learning from the goat while he's calling primetime games yeah i think it's going to be unbelievable just the amount of stories of course yeah but just like the amount of stories like you think about you know when

tony romo first came on everyone loved him because he was going to tell you what was going to happen in the play before and then he was right all the time before the jam, jam. But that's the thing with Tom. Tom's going to be able to do that. He's going to be able to tell you all the stories. I just worry about the guy who has to control his audio or his mic because if that's wrong, like you mentioned, kind of his whole thing, you don't want to let anyone down, the whole do your job type of thing. If someone screws up one of his things,

I assume that person's probably the last time they're doing it. Well, there is going to be an expectation of excellence. You know, just like what happens when Tom Brady goes into the Tampa building. Everybody there ups their game because they know that they can't be the reason why this doesn't go well. But Fox understands what's happening here. I think everybody on that crew knows. And Burkhart, absolute dog. I mean, they are going to be phenomenal.

I'm very very excited for the Tom Brady debut yeah I mean and all those guys can only benefit from if they put on an excellent product but I think the thing I'm most excited about is we always hear about the quarterback meetings between whoever's doing the game and you know certain guys will always say like oh I always loved meeting with Joe Buck and Troy or whatever you know whoever it may be I think very few people have been able to get out of those guys what Brady potentially will and, like, do it in a manner where, like, it's actually digestible. Like, it seems like sometimes they might get something,

and then it ends up being just, like, super quarterback jargony where it's like, that's cool, but, like, it's tough to understand what you're really saying. And I feel like Brady will be able to simplify what these guys are saying to him and then what they're trying to do within the game more so than a lot of guys have been able to do. No offense to Collinsworth. No offense to even Troy Aikman. We're all fans of Herbie.

We're all fans. Olsen, we're all fans. Everybody in the league is a fan of Tom Brady. Yeah, grew up wanting to be him. Yeah, this is just like the Aaron Rodgers thing. You hear any player talk about Aaron Rodgers, it's like, dog. Any athlete, you hear him talk like Aaron Rodgers is a dog.

But you hear media and other people, fan bases, talk about it differently. Tom Brady, everybody that's in the NFL right now is like, grew up. Whenever he's asking them a question like, what are you looking at here? They're trying probably to get information from Tom in For sure. In that same conversation as well and what he should be looking for.

It should be a thing of beauty for us. Speaking of a thing of beauty, I got a chance to witness Olympic trials last night for the swimming at Lucas Oil Stadium. It's a nine-day thing that's taking place. I believe that is replicating how long the swimming duration of the Olympics is in Paris at the end of July here, whatever it is. I couldn't recommend this event more. It was electric. They turned Lucas Oil Stadium, Cali and a half, two massive Olympic-sized pools, one for warm-up, one for the show.

They had this light show that a local Indianapolis company put together with DOT, and the production was phenomenal. USA Swimming had so many talented swimmers in there where the races were electrifying. Then some of our goats showed up and performed exactly how we would hope that our goats would perform. 22,209 people came and watched last night. It's a world record for the most amount of people

at a swim meet or a swim event. The previous record before this week was in Rio for the Olympics. It was like 16,000 or something. Then on Sunday, they had 20,000. Last night, they had 22,209. World record for an indoor swim meet. And it was like, it was awesome. The show was awesome. The fans were awesome. The USA Swimming folks I was hanging out with were so incredibly hospitable. Kyle Sockwell, who's a content creator, former Arizona State swimmer for USA Swimming, was the one that sent me the formal invite. Said he'd get a tattoo on his ass if I came. It's like, it's in Indy.

It looks sweet. I'm going to come. You don't have to get a tattoo. But they're a great host. And we got absolute dogs swimming in our pool. And I know the Australians have been getting back into this. And they've been running their mouth and talking their shit about the USA Swimming and

being sick of hearing the Star Spangled Banner. That's for shoot, brother. Swimmers are saying that. 254 gold medals for the USA Swim team and there's more on the way. Katie Ledecky has the 19 top times in

the world's history of the mile swim for women. 19 top times is by one person. Now, Canada swimmers, I guess there's a Canadian lady who has been able to keep up with the decking like the 800 or the 400 or whatever. Nobody has touched the American in the 1500. And last night, there's people swimming the opposite direction as she was swimming. We got a 17-year-old who is built like an absolute 45-year-old grown-ass

man. And Thomas, he'll be represented in the 200. Yeah, he is a beast. That's what 17-year-olds look like. Great job. Where? Kate Douglas. I mean, there is just so many studs last night. It was an honor to be there. And Lilly King, representing Indiana, does it again. That's right. It was fun.

Congrats to USA Swimming. Congrats to the world because you're about to see a show when the United States hit the pool in Paris at the Olympics. It's finally here. It is summer solstice. This is the longest day of the year. It is hot as hell in Indianapolis. We assume it is hot wherever the hell you are as well.

Let's go ahead and stay cool. Let's remember, you know, the sun is a pretty important thing. For those of us that have four seasons in our lives, whenever it gets just overbundantly thick and hot, and we all think to ourselves, this is the worst feeling imaginable. When you walk outside and it feels like you walked into a sauna, but you didn't walk into the sauna.

No, you just walked outside and you get hit with a little moisture and you can't breathe. And it's just relentlessly hot and bugs are now somehow more prevalent than ever. And they're just sweating. And then if you're my, uh, Caucasian build, you're cooking not only from the outside, but also the inside.

You're getting broiled and baked at the same time. Let's remember that there was a negative 10 day where we were yearning for this. For sure. Okay? It is just the first day of summer. We are nowhere near the time where we should be bitching about the heat. Okay? That comes two weeks from now. Right now.

Okay? Let's remember that there was cold-ass times just a few months ago. A few months ago, there was a time where we didn't have any sun for like four or five months. The cloud was the only thing that we saw. What's above the cloud?

Well, certainly sunlight, but we're not seeing any of it because it's gloom and doom. It is winter in Indianapolis. Now, it's 94, 150 percent humidity. It's impossible to go outside with pets and even babies, but let's remember, this is a good thing.

Summer's finally here. Happy summer. Happy summer, Soph. Way better than the winter. That's one half of the hammer. Cowboys, Tundigs, amen. Way better than the ice all over everything when you can't go outside. You're kind of forced to stay inside. And then the sun's not there. And there's a little seasonal depression setting in

because you haven't actually had fresh air in about three to four days because it's impossible to go outside. Remember those days whenever it gets excruciatingly hot over the next week or so. But we do need those days. We need all four seasons to enjoy

what we have right now. That's right. People that didn't grow up before seasons have no idea. Well, we get to enjoy the sun every day. We more active we're more fit we're more happy yeah we get it okay so what but have you ever had a moment where you look outside like it's the beginning of civilization you go the sun holy have you ever had that where it disappeared for maybe three to four months and then it popped out of nowhere think about the early days of humans when

that sun just disappeared in the midwest oh boy they had to think that this is gone forever it's never forgotten so we're dead so what do we do now and then it came back think about the celebrate that's what we have right now yeah that same celebration about hey summertime's finally here ballpark man is back in gear that's the talks at table at boston corner and at ty schmidt what a conversation that first hour kenny chess. I mean, I was kind of celebrating your guy's face. I mean, you know, New England, of course, we got the Super Bowls. Of course, we just won the NBA championship. But son of a bitch, Kenny Chesney is a son of Massachusetts. His home is New England.

And clearly, what's the word for it? His paradise, his White House, his Taj Mahal is Gillette Stadium. No, it's an island. No, he said it. He said the capital of No Shoes Nation is, in fact, Gillette Stadium. And he agreed. Yeah, but he was in the middle of a take. He did that a couple times where he said, yeah.

No, no, no. Johnny, ladies and gentlemen, is a man who's in an attic in Ohio. We got Kenny. He did say it always ends in gillette or whatever which is certainly i guess another tip of the cap to the people of boston who don't have enough sure amen he didn't say why it ended well yeah he said because they had one successful run in 2005 or whatever and then we're doing this again he did say that but he what he meant to say was like i'm was so sick of crowds after being in Gillette that I just had to end the tour there.

Okay, so that's why it ends. No. You're supposed to continue. No. Never doing that again. Joining us now is a man who's in an attic in Ohio. I assume he's been to plenty of Kenny Chesney concerts. Probably very sober at all those.

Ladies and gentlemen, college football national champion, Super Bowl champion, all-time leading tackler for the Green Bay Packers, A.J. Hawker. A.J. Hawker. Hawker, how about Kenny Chesney, man? He's jock dude jacked oh he is jacked yeah kenny's awesome i've actually never uh been able to attend one of kenny's concerts now general bobby carpenter's been to lots and lots of kenny shows but yeah i don't know why it's never timed up you have to do it the dude's awesome same no he's not michaels

yeah brett michaels concerts no problem i can put on my 15 years ago yeah i agree what i need to do i can get in the tour bus i can take my photos and i get having four kids is a little bit of a problematic whenever it comes to scheduling stuff but a kenny chesney concert's worth it because everybody has the same mindset it's like uh you know people talk about new orleans being awesome and it certainly is but another reason why it's awesome is because everybody's there with the same exact mindset. You know, so like, anytime you have everybody rowing in the same direction anywhere,

it's going to be good. And that's like a Kenny Chesney concert. Just like a Jimmy Buffett concert. Bingo. Same exact thing. Everybody's kind of going in the same exact direction, thinking the same thing.

Before we have another super surprise guest join us up here on stage, we've got to cover some of the stuff that's happening around the NFL. More specifically in Pittsburgh. So Mark Caboli wrote an article in front of the program. Mark Caboli wrote an article on The Athletic about Justin Fields. That article

was then taken in a couple different ways, put out by aggregators, and then basically said that Mark Caboli said that he was disinterested. This guy hates being a Pittsburgh Steeler. Mark Caboli never said that in his article, but certainly JPA football, NFL rumors dove all the standard aggregators who read something take it how they feel it is no matter how wrong they are unproven they are and then put that out

as fact you know this is now the world that we live in and that can get people people read that and they think it's true because maybe that is something that could happen to Justin Fields. So much so that Omar Khan was actually asked about this particular thought on 93.7 The Fan, which actually used to be B94. It did. Adam Baum used to run shit on B94 back in the day. Now it's 93.7 The Fan, Sports Talk, incredible cast of characters. But they asked Omar Khan about Justin Fields being disinterested and everything like that. Justin's exciting to have. You know, if you would have told me that we'd be sitting here with Russell Wilson, Justin Fields, and Kyle Allen, even five months

ago, I wouldn't have believed you. We really liked Justin coming out of college. Obviously, he had a up and down situation in Chicago, and I'm excited. He's really looked awesome. He's the great individual, too. You know, I's really looked awesome. He's a great individual, too. You know, I didn't really know him personally until he got here, and just, man, what a special person he is. I used to listen to B94 all the time, and now people obviously listen for the sports talk and sports conversation. What a glowing response about Justin Fields from the general manager of the Pittsburgh Steelers, who just did a trade, and then you think about him talking about if we, if I would have known we had all these guys

I'd be pumped. How about a new linebacker that they signed from the Baltimore Ravens? Here's a little story coming out of the entire thing. Mr. Humphrey says, at some point, you've got to realize that the grass is always greener. You know, leaving Baltimore, going to Pittsburgh. In response, Patrick Queen put out a video of him drinking wine and watering the grass.

You know, because the comment is that the grass isn't always greener. Marlon Humphrey said about Patrick Queen leaving Baltimore and going to Pittsburgh. You know, because the comment is that the grass isn't always greener. Marlon Humphrey said about Patrick Queen leaving Baltimore and going to Pittsburgh. And then he said, no, it's greener where you water it. And his dude watered his grass out there in Pittsburgh. Patrick Queen's loving being a Steeler. And that's another guy that I think most Steelers fans couldn't have dreamt of being a Pittsburgh Steeler just like six, five, six months ago. Now everybody's optimistic as hell.

Is that a good taste or a good read on how Pittsburgh is? It absolutely is because there's been one weakness in the defense the last, I don't know, since Ryan Shazier's injury. It's been the linebacker position. They have tried. They have not been able to replace him. And Patrick Queen, who was a first-round pick, a top pick, has been incredible in Baltimore.

Omar going to get him, you put the stamp on it. Okay, Omar's doing things a little-round pick. A top pick. It's been incredible in Baltimore. Was, like, Omar going to get him, that was, you put the stamp on it. Okay, Omar's doing things a little different around here and bringing in guys that are going to help immediately. And bringing in him, too, now that we have TJ and Cam, you've got Minka in the back, and now you have Patrick Queen in the middle. Is Cam there? Is that everything good there? Yeah, yeah, everything's good now.

Okay. Now, or? Is it? Well, he missed, like, a day or two. Okay, everything's good. Because he said, my plan is still to be a Steeler. Yeah. Listen, he was born in Pittsburgh.

I mean, son of Ironhead Hayward. He's going to be in Pittsburgh his entire career. But now we've got guys that I love. Well, I hope somebody tells Omar that. Omar gets it, okay? Okay, yeah. Everybody gets it. Well, I'm just saying, I think because there is a situation.

A little bit. There's no situation. Because Cam could come over here to the Indianapolis Colts and we'd be there. You've got to pay him. You've got to pay him, right? I think that's all. That's how it works. I mean, he wants to be a stealer.

He has a contract, okay? AJ. Does he like me? Anyways, go through that. Contracts don't mean much. Yeah, go through that defense. Go ahead. And let's make sure we're telling the truth.

We've got guys at all levels now. And we've got Joey Porter Jr. last year on the outside who looks like he's going to be great. So it doesn't look like there's any holes on that defense. And the offense has got weapons galore. And Justin Fields doesn't have to be great in training camp, okay? Russell Wilson's not even training camp yet either. He's already great. You're right.

It's all for game. Yeah, believe me, we've got a lot of Fugage stories we're going to have to talk about like they're actually real. Oh, yeah. But, like, Pittsburgh Steelers fans excited potentially thinking though from aggregators that are taking you know quotes out of context and things like that and I'm not even gonna get into that for our life but it is a real problem yeah and there's fake quotes out there from not just ball sack sports anymore no no no now there's like fake quotes from like other people that are getting

clipped and taken for real by these aggregators because the aggregators do get things right. So every time they get something right, it almost builds up the credibility which then makes whenever something is just completely wrong or false or taken out of context and put out there more legit. And then you could potentially ruin somebody's entire everything.

And if Steelers fans see that Justin Fields isn't happy being a Pittsburgh, the first response from all the Pittsburghers, we don't care. Get him out of here. And it's like, that doesn't need to happen. We want volunteers, not hostages. That's what I'm saying.

So that's where some of that, and I'm happy Omar came out and went to bat for him. But with the addition of Patrick Queen and what the Steelers have going on, are they okay to be as optimistic as they are, AJ? Obviously, the AFC North is a kitchen. It's hot in the kitchen. But do you think Pittsburgh Steelers have a chance here? I actually do. Call me

crazy. I do. You mentioned their defense. Like you said, all three levels. And Patrick Queen, if Steelers fans, which they should be very aware of him from his play in Baltimore, the dude is an absolute monster. Can fly. He's physical. Can do everything. He'll be on the field the whole game. But for Diggs, like, are Pittsburgh fans, are they commonly

very positive and optimistic, or are they usually the other way? They are. The last few years, there's certainly been some. They're not the most optimistic bunch. But you're the most diehard. They're the most diehard bunch, but also I think when they congregate with each other, it's fun to talk about how bad they're going to be or how bad they have been.

Yeah, they're a miserable, shit-talking bunch for sure. I mean, Misery loves company, and shit-talking people love companies. It's a family thing, though. Like, hey, I can say something bad about the Steelers. You can't because you're not a diehard Pittsburgh person. Bingo. That is absolutely how it would go, especially around a couple R.C. Mongos. Anything else?

I'd say we're optimistic until you give us a reason not to, and that reason doesn't have to be very big. So, on that note, remember, they were going to Super Bowl last year because Kenny Pickett in the preseason. Yeah, you're right. I remember some of those clips. I remember some of those clips would pop up, yeah. Hang the banner.

It wasn't just because how Kenny Pickett was doing it. It was because Matt Canada figured out how to call an offense. That is what the celebration was in preseason last year. Matt Canada, this offense coordinator who has been inept and has been a rather poor offense coordinator, whether it's players, him, whatever the hell the reasoning is, preseason comes around and Kenny Pickett's throwing it all over the yard. George Pickens is wide open.

Matt Cannon is using space, using things other than just jet sweeps. It's like, holy hell, the Pittsburgh Steelers have it figured out. And then regular season comes when teams are actually game planning and actually using stuff, and all of a sudden it goes right back down to the crowd. And it was then whenever they all lost hope. And then Matt Cannon gets fired. All of a sudden, hold on, we might make a run at this thing. And then the end of the year is, oh, we're above 500 again.

Great. Okay, we need to change everything. And Omar Khan has. He has done things vastly different than former Colbert-run Pittsburgh Steelers team. I think they have a right to be optimistic. And I like Patrick Queen. Oh, yeah. He's great on Twitter.

I didn't follow him as a Raven. Follow him now, obviously. He's great on Twitter. I didn't follow him as a Raven. Follow him now, obviously. He's a great Twitter follower. He's active. He's very funny. Charming. If Russ is Russ, man, they could be as good as they want to be. Think about it. If Russ plays... He found some really green grass.

Is that his actual yard, you think? I don't know. You would think a sprinkler system, potentially, with how large the yard is. He's going to be out there a while if he wants to water that whole thing by hand. Yeah, you think? I don't know. You would think a sprinkler system potentially with how large the yard is. He's going to be out there a while if he wants to water that whole thing by hand. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. And maybe he decided not to use the sprinkler system that he installed himself. Could have. Because he wanted to get the point across that, you know, I'm watering the grass.

I tend to this. Do you remember back in the day where there was a drought and you weren't allowed to water your grass? Oh, yeah. What? We're about a week away from that. When? That was all it like there was actual news breaking news and like alerts like you're not allowed to water your grass get in trouble for running your spring course yeah california does that a lot i think in

ohio i've gotten emails saying like hey this is how you need to limit your water use and all that stuff the hell legit yeah so everybody's yard just looks like crop except for frank's down the road and frank's obviously bringing it along right yeah frank's using my kids water for the water the grass and that's good looking yard yeah you couldn't even like flush it was like hey you're only flushing if you take a shit like if you're pissing you gotta leave that in there all day we're not just burning gallons by flushing the toilet with how hot it is and once again we're thankful it's hot remember yeah this early remember aj we're thankful we are very thankful for? Yeah. This early. Remember, AJ? We're thankful. We are very thankful for the humidity, especially.

That's what I'm thankful for. You're right. It is nice to go outside and not be freezing, though. It's cool. I like it. Sounds like AJ's on the other side. AJ, listen. We're buying in.

Remember? It's all about the mindset here. It used to be so cold. Now it's great. And when those days were cold, we're yearning for this. But you walk outside and you get wet. Oh, yeah. Immediately.

That's not cool. Why is it doing that? Can we not stop that? How come the smart people haven't figured that one out? Can we have like 70 to 72 every single day? It was great for that week. I don't even know if we had a week straight of spring. I think we had like maybe two days and then a break and then a couple days. They really, you know, and that's what the NFLPA is wanting to do.

They're wanting to kind of, you know, slowly roll into this thing and then heighten it up. So we had two days of spring and winter was back. And then two days of spring and winter was back. And then boom, we had summer. No, we don't. We have winter. And then all of a sudden this week, it's like you have a sauna now. Yeah, summer's here.

Everybody gets a sauna. That's really cool. That's really nice. It's great. It's nice waking up in the morning and having all your windows completely fogged up already because the AC inside is so cold. And then you know outside. It's like, oh, okay, it's 95 and humid outside already.

And how come all of our air conditionings always have some sort of hiccup? You know, when you need... You're telling me. Why is that? This is a lifetime warranty. You're going to love what this thing's blowing forever. And then as soon as it gets hot, it's like, yep, going to have to get a checkup on it. Yeah, we just had to tune up a little bit, do a little bit

of this. It's like, well, is this a... Isn't this what I did last year? Well, those guys always talk to you like you work on air conditioners for all day, every day. It's just all mumbo. Well, your damper, you see, it's at about a three-fourths way right now. So what I'm going to do

is I'm going to get in there. I'm going to move a couple things around your panels. I noticed a couple scorch burns on there, so we're going to have to remove that as well. It's going to be, I don't know, I could probably get in and out for, I don't know, $5,500.

Yeah, and then filter. Have you checked your filter? Normally, a filter is an issue. You see this red light right here. It's like, yeah, I changed the filter a month ago or whatever. Good, I've changed a new one now because obviously Okay. Probably get you a new one for, I don't know, $779.99. No big deal. We can be there in four days.

Well, that's good. It's really hot right now. It's wild. Being an adult is crazy. Light never stops. There's no adults. There's no adults. You know that. I mean, these dudes live in apartments downtown. It's wild. Being an adult is crazy. Life never stops. There's no adults. There's no adults. You know that. There's no adults. I mean, these dudes live in apartments downtown. It's like...

Living the dream. I mean, I can't even imagine that situation. That's never happened. Do you have somebody coming in doing your laundry? Used to, actually. Kind of a situation. Kind of a situation. You just turned your apartment into a hotel.

With my recent laundry person. Had to kind of kick him to the curb. Sticky fingers. No, not even that. Just, you know, maybe fraudulent hours spent, you could say. No, it's not talk. No, I would never trust talk. What do you mean by fraudulent?

Okay. Yeah, what do you mean? It took eight hours, they said, but really. Bingo. There you go. Yeah. It was a good minute. You probably had streaks in your little whitey tighties.

Yeah, they hand clean tighty tighties. Yeah, they hand clean tighty-whities. So funny enough that you guys say this, I ran a test myself. Hey, I'm going to do most of my laundry and then see what these people come back to me with. This should be the cheapest that it's ever been this week. Of course, it was the most expensive.

So I said, you know what? Get the hell out of here. Yeah, exactly. They were trying to get me, and I got them. Let's talk. Yeah, you did. Hey, way to go. Yes, I did. And guess what I did yesterday?

My laundry. Wow. How about it? And I folded it, too. Whoa. I did that in the basket. Usually I do that for four, five, six weeks. Wow.

Yeah, not bad at all. We're growing up step by step. I never deal with that air conditioning shit, so there's a chance I do stay in an apartment first. This is what happens when the NBA championship season is over and all you have left is. Yeah, that's a good point. Actually, out of range.

Holy shit, what a television program. You know what else is an incredible television program? I think I know where you're going. Terminalist. Oh, yeah. Boy, is it. Yeah. You know the person that has wrote the books of the Terminalist series?

There's seven of them now? Do I. With the most recent one being, boom! Red Sky Morning. And it's morning not like the time of day. No. Morning like rest in peace. Yeah, exactly.

Yeah. This guy's former Navy SEAL. This guy right here. Saved the world. Seventh book, right? Seventh book, I think. Seventh in. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. This guy's former Navy SEAL. This guy right here. Saved the world. The seventh book, right? Seventh book, I think. Seventh in this series, yeah. Seventh one in this series.

Former Navy SEAL, obviously one of the greatest authors on earth, one of the greatest storytellers on earth, and a man that saved the world when he shot Arthur I. Fishel right in the head, right here in the Thunderdome, just about a year ago. One shot. Doesn't get talked. Right in the head. Right here in the Thunderdome. Just about a year ago. Doesn't get talked about enough. Nearly enough. Ladies and gentlemen, New York Times bestseller,

Navy SEAL hero, Jack Carr. Yeah! Come on now, Jack. Let's drink, Leakey! Chug it. Drink's drink. Chug it. Drink it all.

Back there. I shouldn't have as much hand. Jack, you're the best. You can get a coaster. Look at that. Wow. Look at that. Right down there. Come on now, Jack.

Good to see you. Great to see you guys. Woo. Smart. Oh, got to do some ears. All right. Let's do it. Yeah, thanks a lot, AJ.

Great. It is. Woo! Jack! Great to see you guys. Great to see you, Jack. This is a tradition unlike any other. Amen.

Legitimate, yeah. Greatest author on earth stopping through the Thunderdome. It's our masters. We are incredibly lucky that you've come by here. And, you know, thanks for the whiskey. Wow. This is Hooten Young Jack Hart Warrior Proof American Whiskey. Yes. 16 year, 16 year reserve. you know thanks for the whiskey this is uh hooten young jackar warrior proof american whiskey 16 year 16 years holy it looks so good this thing's been baking for a long ass time i assume

it's gonna be delightful we'll take a shot at the end of this thing let's do it okay yeah i absolutely love that and the way you market your books you know know, as if. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They are. So sick. Look at this. Thank you for this. We love this. We have three of these in here now that we literally keep around the office to remind us that there are heroes that walk amongst us who have massive brains, who go up into the mountains and just start writing books and knock them out and the world loves them. Congrats on another release. Thank you.

Congrats on another release. Thanks. Appreciate that. Thank you, guys. Okay, so the right-air stoppage that happened. I think that was one of the last times you were here with us. It was taking place. So the Terminalist TV show kind of slowed down,

but now there's a prequel coming out. You got another book coming out. Are we all systems back going to this thing? All systems are going. Put us behind by about a year, even though the strike wasn't a year long. It's just the compounding effects made it push things about a year. So we have the prequel, Origin Story, coming out probably next year.

We're about to finish up filming that in Budapest, which is a crazy city out there, and then roll right into True Believer, which is the second book starring Chris Pratt. Okay, so the prequel that you created, you just wrote that for the TV, and then the Terminalist with chris pratt is still going to go for season two so this is uh beginning of a brand new series pretty much beginning of a brand new series but it's an origin story of one of the characters to show how he gets to a place where he can do the things that he does in the terminal list so he's kind of a he is eventually becoming becomes a bad guy i'm trying to not do any spoilers yeah it shows the uh the journey to

get there so it's an action thriller and an espionage thriller. Turns out that in moving up into Europe and kind of goes that espionage vibe. Yeah, that's what we've heard. And everybody has talked glowingly of the entire thing. So are you just thinking of ideas like songwriters? They'll say they'll be in a car or on the back of the porch in the Virgin Islands. And an idea will come and they'll hit their notes section,

or they'll write things down. For you, for like an angle for a character, when you're just driving around, are you like thinking of things, and then how do you remember them? Or when you get writing, they all come? What is the whole process? Because you've got like 100 characters.

You've got a prequel, you've got seven books here, you've got two seasons here. I mean, there's a lot going on. How do you continue? Is it all day? It's all day, every day. It's a profession, not a career is how I looked at it, which is how I looked at the military also.

It's called the profession of arms, not the career of arms. And I think there's a difference in the mindset there. So I'm always thinking about it. I love every part of the process. Ideas tend to pop up at the most inopportune times. I think that's probably across the board for everyone. So I scramble and I send myself an email to an address that only I have. So those are only in there.

Okay. I haven't quite figured out the notes, even though I'm told it's the easiest thing in the world to use but for some reason I just send myself this email to an email that only I have access to and that's how I pull it so the email app that you open I mean so many more steps than the notes I know I just don't know why I have a hard time with that

hey whatever your process is you do what you do it's obviously working AJ Hawk has a question for you I know. I just don't know why I have a hard time with that. Hey, whatever your process is, you do what you do. It's obviously working. AJ Hawk has a question for you. Jack, I heard you buy a new computer for each book you write. What exactly is the reason behind that? What do you do with the old ones? Do you smash them so no one gets the servers? Or what do we do with the old ones, too?

Do you sell them? What do we do? I stack those up. You sell those things. There's still stuff on those hard drives. They can get stuff no no no those hard drives no i heard that's not real if you smash it you hold those that's a good point that's when i saw that in the news a couple years back somebody i think uh they're doing that but uh yeah no i do a new one just so it's a new kind of like opening a new notebook if it was a notebook back in the day this is a new computer like a new school year you'd have your new tra. If it was a notebook back in the day, this is a new computer, like a new school year. You'd have your new Trapper Keeper or something like that back in the day. So now it's a MacBook Pro and get a new one. It's probably not the

most economically feasible way to go about it. Hey, your process is your process. You send emails instead of writing a note section, which is the same amount of typing, more actions. I might make some changes after this show. No, no, no. Don't let us. Please. We need people like you not being affected by people like us. This one, when did this come out for sale? Came out on Tuesday. Out there now.

Okay, so right now you're doing the book tour. Doing the book tour, yeah. Okay, so we go to bookstores. Yep, bookstores, online, audio. People love the audio. Ray Porter narrates these things and audio crushes. People love him. So, yeah, it's out there everywhere books are sold.

Boots the pavement, though. This is the normal process for authors. This is it. You go on tour, you get to look people in the eye, shake their hand and thank them in person. I try to do that online on the socials as much as I can, but doing it in person, there's just something different about that. I love it. Tonight you'll be in Carmel, Indiana. Carmel Clay

Public Library. Carmel, by the way, I think he's been voted one of the best towns in America a few different times. It is a beautiful area. I assume there's going to be a lot of Red Scott Morning fans. And I like the old schoolness of the author world. You go out, go to a bookstore, go to a library, meet the people that are there, you're signing it, and kind of build up your base. I assume you feel like you have to do these types of things. But now you're at a stage where if you put crop out, which you'll never do, people would buy it.

I don't want to test that theory, but I love going out there and saying hi to people and talking to them. A lot of military, law enforcement, firefighters come through and exchange coins and all that, so it's really nice to thank those guys, too. Jack, have you noticed,

especially with the prequel series now, are you getting more involved with the TV production aspect of really getting your hands on crafting and creating that and maybe getting i don't want to say more interested in that than writing novels because obviously that's always going to be your bread and butter but through this process have you kind of realized like oh i i wouldn't mind actually like maybe splitting this 50 50 with writing and and kind of producing television. Yeah, it's kind of turned into a 50-50 thing because there's so much going on on the TV side of the house. Prequel, this next thing.

I have two other projects out there that haven't been announced yet, but they're outside the James Reese Terminalist universe. Any sports talk stuff? There's probably some football on in the background of some scenes here every now and then. In a bar where someone gets thrown through a window. I can see that happening. Okay, sweet. And if you need anybody to die. Yeah, put you guys out there.

Yeah, we will die. Shoot me in the head. Obviously, we're writing our stuff into somebody successful's thing so we can ride your coattails. But getting to learn about the entire world that you are in has been awesome. Because I watch the Chris Pratt Terminal List List and I don't watch a lot of shit. Like I am ADD. I am move. I mean, I've never finished a book in my entire life.

I might be the only human that is semi successful as an adult that has never been able to finish a book because it's not my bag. The audio book, though, obviously a weapon. Then the series. How close are the series to the books? And how hard is that to kind of balance? Because I see a lot of the book fans, readers out there, very loyal and passionate. Whenever something comes out, the book is so much better. They always say.

But I watch that Terminal series, I'm like, I don't see how the fucking book can be better. That's awesome. How do you balance that, though? Yeah, well, I knew going into it there was going to be changes. I know the book First Blood, written in 1972 by David Morrell, very different than the Sylvester Stallone movie in the early 80s, both awesome.

And so I knew there was going to be changes going in, so I didn't let that be a surprise to me. So it's more about staying true to the foundational elements of the story, keeping that authenticity piece, staying true to the mindset of a modern-day warrior, and then building from there. Do your fans get pissed about some of the things?

Some people do, but everybody pictures a character a little bit differently. So it's almost impossible to have all the characters be exactly what's in your head when you either hear it or read it. So you just got to accept that and just be thankful that you have a, have a show. I assume your fans worry that the TV thing is going to dilute your talent from the book.

That seemingly is the overall narrative online. Whenever I watch like game of Thrones or any of these other movies or shows that come from a book. Harry Potter. Yeah, it feels like the book people were always like, this is not what this was supposed to be. I assume you have to hear that? Yeah, you'll hear that regardless. But that means they love you. It's like a compliment,

but it's also like... I do look at it that way. If they're so passionate about these characters and this storyline and it's a little bit off or a little bit off of what they had in their head, and they're upset about it, that just goes along with the whole deal. Connor has a question for you. Let's do the best we can. Yeah, Jack.

Yeah, you're crushing it, Jack. Yeah, dominating. And last time you were here, you mentioned how you have to send your books to get approval just because of how similar they are to what can happen in real life and what information could be real. Is that something you had to do with this story as well, or is this kind of a different process than the other ones? Yep. I did it for the first three, and I appealed the second one and the third one,

and then essentially the government told me that they didn't want to take my appeal of some of the things that they took out of the third one. So I took that as them saying, hey, kid, we have some other stuff to deal with here on the nonfiction side. It's actually serious, so kind of be gone. So I didn't do this one. And everything i learned for this book about artificial intelligence quantum computing passive targeting hypersonic weapons that all came from after the my time in the military because i had no touch points with that stuff in the military so for the past few books it's been things that i've researched already i had a thought of the military so um yeah they shouldn't you do a bunch of research for all these books that are i do a lot of research yeah and you reach out to people that have like real knowledge on the situation i do and that is

i think a massive piece of the success of your shit right because everything i know it's fiction right this is not real people with real scenarios but i think anytime we hear or see something from you because how plugged in you are we're like oh that's certainly feasible or possible in somebody who knows eyes is that an accurate way to kind of look at it well i hope so i hope it's uh i talk about it as true in terms of fiction with whispers of truth uh and i hope nothing here comes to fruition though in uh my second book it was about a russian invasion of ukraine then that actually happened a couple years later uh that's job hold on thanks jay uh The devil's hand had a bioweapon piece to it

that was eerily similar to COVID, and it was outlined before COVID hit. So I hope nothing in this book. What do we need to look out for? Jack, what the fuck? This one's a rough one. This one's a rough one. So I really hope, yeah, this end.

Yeah, they all were rough. Yeah, bio, yeah. They're all pretty rough. How rude are we, Jack? Yeah, this one's rougher. This one has submarines, autonomous control of certain military platforms that have access to nuclear weapons. And this artificial intelligence being this character that I created a few years ago, she's modeled her behavior off my main character, James Reese, who has kind of a penchant for revenge. So things get a little dicey. No, but we control

the AI, right? That's the thing. Not the new ones. I mean, my phone updated the other night, and all of a sudden it starts finishing my sentences. So, I don't know. That's that Apple thing that makes it very hard to op out of. I don't know. Tone has a question for you, Jack. He looks freaked out.

Is this about China? China, Taiwan, U.S. It's really a book about loyalty and questions of loyalty, but it's through the dynamic of U.S., China, Taiwan conflict. Are we more or less screwed today versus, let's say, five years ago? With your research. Yeah. With your research.

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. More? More. Okay. No doubt. Especially after the agreements that are being made. Okay.

So, military folks, I bet love your books. Yeah. Military, no doubt. Especially after the agreements that are being made. Okay, so military folks, I bet, love your books. Military, law enforcement. It's interesting how many women are coming to the book signings. I thought usually they're picking them up for somebody else. But no, they're reading these things. Hey, that happens with our show. People don't expect it. Well, I can see why.

They would gravitate. No, they hate this show. People hate this show. People hate the super handsome A.J. Hawk. I think that is probably potentially what it is. No, but I think a lot of people, like, with your show, The Terminalist, I heard about it, I saw it, I looked at it, and I'm like, holy shit, this is phenomenal.

Like, it doesn't matter where you're from, what you do. If something's good, you're going to be attracted to it. I think the last time we talked to you, you were on a big drive and mission for reading to become bigger and still remain because of how it affected your life growing up, I think. You're still on the campaign for literacy and everything like that, right? I love that. People come to these events and they tell me they haven't read a book since high school or haven't read a book since junior high or they're a brand new reader.

They never read anything. they weren't assigned in school and now they love reading so i'm definitely on a mission to create more readers i think it was general mattis he said something around the lines of there's functionally there's no difference between someone who can't read and someone who doesn't read but that was pretty interesting oh so i read on you listen that's the same that Yeah, I listen. I read on Twitter. They're just 140 characters. You're not anymore. Those long ones, I'm not opening. Okay. So I'm just going to be pretty transparent that I am.

I'm not reading the long ones, but it is like, reading is so pivotal. We had a book club with Aaron Rodgers. Now some of these books. What was the one he picked? The Eyes of the Gods, the Egyptian one. It was 4,000 pages. This was a weekly book club. He put a

Bible out, Footprints of the Gods or something like that. It seems like he wants to get you guys to quit. That's a big book to start with. It was in the middle, actually. It wasn't even to start with. It was like the third one. Doubles as a blunt impact weapon or a doorstop. There you go. Okay, so when you're writing, you know that there's going to be people

that are new to reading in this well like what level would you say that your books are because it can't be too shallow obviously you have to have sophistication to it but you're also bringing in a lot of new uh humans to the genre so how do you balance that and how would you dictate the reading level of book if you had to yeah for me it's all about the story but and everybody's going to have a different reading level let's say uh sixth grade is where i started reading these kind of books so the same kind of books my parents were reading was sixth grade for sure um but everybody else is everybody's going to be at a different level some people might start in fifth grade some people seventh eighth maybe high school but uh certainly by high school what i'm saying is doofuses can

read this that's right or listen or listen it's a listen what about like how obviously it's in the series but do you intentionally make it accessible so if someone has never read any of the other books prior to it that they could still read this one and they're not going to be completely lost and not know who any of the characters are exactly you got to do that in a way that's uh that's interesting for readers that are have read all the other books but then also give some background for people that are new to it. And I try to think of creative ways to do that. In The Devil's Hand, I had my character James Reese hooked up to a lie detector, a polygraph at CIA headquarters.

They're asking him questions and that kind of brings everybody up to speed. In the last one, I had him locked in solitary confinement. So he's having essentially a conversation with himself to stay sane. And so I try to get creative about how I catch people up. What do we do in this one? That one right there is a conversation. Conversation between one of the more popular characters Jonathan Hastings who has a background in Rhodesia in Africa and a conversation between him and my main character which is probably one of my favorite chapters I have yet written

and no one's getting their head chopped off, no one's blowing up, no cars are going off bridges or anything like that. It's just a conversation, but it's probably my favorite chapter to date. And you have a little whiskey when you're writing this? I do have a little whiskey late at night. Maybe a little wine depending on how things are going. Are you putting yourself into the character's body? Like, what would this character say?

And then, well, how would this character answer when you're writing? Is that what you're doing? I don't know if I'm doing it in that conscious, but I'm definitely trying to see the world through the character's eyes. So I put myself in the enemy's shoes, give a little background from his perspective or her perspective, in this case. And so I definitely do that. That would be

the same as putting myself in their shoes like that. Tom Brady asked Colin Cowherd, told Colin Cowherd that he asked some friends of his that do TV, and he was like, how do I know if I did a good job? You know, because like football, if you win, you did a good job. Good job. You throw a couple touches, you did a good job. Like when it's commentating, it's like, how do I know if I did a good job? Because football, if you win, you did a good job. You throw a couple touches, you did a good job. When it's commentating, it's like, you don't know.

For an author, you've got to be on the lines of being one of the greatest of all time at this stage, and is that something you think about? What is the goal to get to in the authoring world? New York Times bestseller, every time you release a book, it's made into a series. It's one of the most popular series on earth. It's like, I don't know what other things authors are trying to do,

but I think that is probably the goal. Where do you stand goal-wise, and do you view it that way? Yeah, I don't really think of it that way, but certainly number one New York Times bestselling author and having a show, that's all wonderful. But for me, it's, is this book better than the last one? And if I can honestly say yes, then it's success to me. So I want the next book after this to be better than this one.

And I think every book that I've finished has been my favorite. So up to this point, that's worked out. So for me, that's success. Unreal. That's going to get tough, bro. Yeah. I'm happy you're a mentally tough guy, like a Navy SEAL. Because you're bouncing back and through. Is this one better than the... Nope. Spit it out.

Do it again. Let me go ahead and rewrite this. How many times have you got to rewrite shit? You get through it once, and then I go back a little bit and edit as I go. They tell you not to do that. They say just finish it and get it done, but I go back as I think of something new and I read the last stuff that I've read and I kind of edit along the way, because I'm researching

along the way. I'm trying to refine along the way and then once it's all done, then I go back to the beginning and I try to read it like a reader or a listener for the first time and put myself in that first time reader position and go through it with my red pen make edits that way how you judging yourself pretty hard well what a stupid line every now and again but not not not often that's a navy seal yeah exactly that's that navy seal difference aj has a question for you jack yeah jack earlier you mentioned passive targeting can you explain exactly what that may be and also

what about aliens any aliens in your books and what do you think about the whole situation aliens had a run for what six eight months ago now it seems like they've died down now it's multi-dimensional and we're distracted by other things you know they're like squirrels so no aliens anymore and no aliens yet but uh this this character this this, this Alice that I call her, this quantum computer, I mean, she's close to being a sentient being. But what was the first part of that one? Oh, yeah, it was target tracking. So remember in Top Gun, remember they're flying and you hear the looking for missile lock?

And it's like ding, ding, so they've got the missile lock and you go, so you know that you've been targeted by something. So there's new technologies out there that allow for those missiles to lock and fire without that ping knowing that you've been targeted. So that's passive targeting. Oh, so you do research into that and you ask somebody who's

like a fighter pilot. And you go, hey, what's the newest thing that kind of creeps you out? Oh, yeah, I could have a missile on my ass and I don't even know now. And that's what they tell you. And you're like, well, that seems like something we should. Exactly. so passive targeting combined with hypersonic missiles which are the ones that are just fly essentially going to get here before we before our generals are even out of bed so you combine those two things and then the decision making process with ai and quantum computing so the decision making process is very rapid on the

enemy side which means that we have to in turn be even faster so what does that mean it means probably we're moving towards autonomous control of many different weapons platforms, and all of these new next-generation platforms are being built so that they can be. They have that capability. So if they're not now, they'll at least have that capability to be autonomously controlled.

How do we protect them, though? How do we protect from not shooting everybody out of the sky or shooting everything? What if they're autonomous and they just decide to fire away? Well, that's the question right there. Yeah, it is. So basically what you just said is it has to be autonomous so it can be fast enough

because humans aren't going to be able to fast enough to react or whatever. So we have to give the computer independence to basically react itself. But what if the computer's wrong? There's that as well. There's all these things that I explore in the pages of these novels. So it ended up being essentially a warning about this autonomous control of these platforms.

Because like I said, they're not probably there yet, but they have the capability to be autonomously controlled in the future for these platforms that are coming out in 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 years. A freaked out town has a question for you. We were talking about recently, I think it was yesterday or two days ago, Olympic swimming. How long did you have to hold your breath when you were active Navy SEAL? As long as it took. How long could you hold your breath? We practiced these exercises and I described them

in one or two books back. You breathe all the way out, hold your breath, hold it for five seconds. Take a breath in, hold it for five. Out, hold it for ten. In, hold it for ten.

And you just keep going every day with those exercises until you can get up to a minute, a minute and a half, two minutes, somewhere around there. Some guys can hold their breath for a long, long time, but probably about a minute, minute and a half. As long as it takes to untie these knots that they make you tie and untie at the bottom of the pool, and then the instructor is looking at it, and he's looking at you, and he has to give you an okay and a thumbs up to let you know you did it right,

and sometimes they just mess with you. They're just looking at you, kind of like that. You were a swimmer in high school? No. I could swim, but I wouldn't call myself a swimmer. You do a weird stroke in BUDS also. You do this thing called a combat recovery stroke. You're underwater for most of it. You just come up and grab a breath and then go back.

Oh, you're like an orca. So there's not any splash. An orca without the splash, maybe. Is this you, actually? Where's the strongest guy? Maybe in the back. It was a couple moons ago. Yeah, good casting.

A couple moons back. Yeah, but we just assume that Navy SEALs are actual SEALs because isn't a part of BUDS you guys just get thrown out in the middle of the ocean and they're like, you guys got to swim back pretty much? I heard that, but now you, they may have done it in the past, but you're going along the coast, so you have to do a five nautical mile ocean swim, but you can see the coast because you have to guide yourself down

in order to get out of the water at a certain point. Then you do time swims, two nautical mile ocean swims every week. You have to get better every week, and there's a time for each phase of training. Same thing with the runs and the obstacle courses, so it's a good time. How old were you when you went to Bud's? I was 22. You were already in the military, and then you chose to go to Bud's? I was in the military for like six months before BUDS.

So it was boot camp, intelligence school, into BUDS, all the way through BUDS, to the first SEAL team, to your SEAL qualification training or SEAL tactical training, they called it at the time, and then into a first platoon. First platoon, September 11th hadn't happened yet. And second platoon, two weeks into it of deployment, September 11th happens. And then we're just kind of going to the races. That's what we wanted. And we thought when we got to the teams that we would be doing all the super secret stuff, because we all watched the movies in the 80s

and 90s, and we all believed that stuff. But really, there was not much going on up until September 11th. And then we got to do all the stuff that we thought we were going to do when we came in, and all the stuff that we wanted to do for the country. You're a part of some insane shit. It was very Western. You pull from it

though? You pull from it in the books? Yeah, but I take mostly the feelings and emotions behind certain things. So if my character gets ambushed, let's say in Los Angeles, California, I go back and remember what it was like to be ambushed in Baghdad 2006 at the height of the war and I take those feelings and emotions and apply them to a completely fictional narrative

here. Or Sniper in Ramadi at the height of the war. I don't have to go find a sniper and ask him what that was like, describe those missions, and then have that get filtered through any other books that I've read, interviews that I've watched, movies that I've seen, any preconceived notions. No, it all comes right from my heart and soul directly onto the page. So it's a very personal writing experience. Okay. So you're a sniper, obviously. Oh yeah, we proved it. Yeah. You saved the world. Yeah.

You saved the world. The world's still up there. Yeah. Did you see that? Oh, yeah. Yeah. If we can get a video on that, if we can get the camera on that, we actually framed the... There it is.

There it is. Oh, wow. Look at that. Oh, man. Yeah, yeah. Oh, that fires me up. Hey. Fire.

That's a big goal. You saved the world. Every time we see it. You saved the world. That was a close one. It was. That was a close one It was That was You would know

You would know That was the beginning of AI It was We talked about it here last time And yeah Being up there Imagine if I'd missed that shot Well you'd be dead

You wouldn't have to imagine anything I don't know Yeah Wouldn't be able to Yeah Wouldn't have this book A lot of people asked me Or a lot of people wondered

How I'd react if I didn't win this book. A lot of people asked me, or a lot of people wondered how I would react if I didn't win this championship. I guess whatever. Shout out to Jason Tatum and Kanye West. So, I don't know if you saw the finalized video of that. I did. The voiceover at the end is that was actually his first shot.

We just wanted to make sure people knew. This dude had a bent, like a state fair rifle that you're trying to do. And hits a guy right in the head and that entire thing. But, okay, so let's get a little deeper into this. I have a friend who was a Marine sniper. And the sniper is a little bit different than other positions in the military. Because you actually have to see and watch, like follow through. Like you get to see it almost all happen.

And with the way like PTSD is and everything that happens, snipers, I assume, suffer from that in a massive way. And how about the overall military as a whole? Because I know there was, what, 22 suicides a day from military vets? Have we gotten any better with that? Do you know? Do you keep track of all that? And how do you feel about the state of veterans in the United States of America? Yeah, it's tough. And I wove it into the

last show, Terminal List, near the end. It talks about some of those things. We've been into the books. There's just so many people out there struggling with it. But for me, I can always talk about my own experience, but I want to make sure that I wasn't leaving anything on the field. So when I was home, even when I wasn't training, I was still training. I was reading about warfare insurgencies, counterinsurgencies, about Iraq, about Afghanistan. I was training on my own time, both physically and going to the range on my own, seeking out people that were better shots than I was with rifle,

physically and going to the range on my own, seeking out people that were better shots than I was with rifle, pistol, shotgun to make myself the best leader and the best operator I could possibly be because I didn't want to... This is also the power of popular culture because all those movies growing up had the PTSD element, a lot of them did. And I didn't want to be sitting on my couch years from now thinking, oh, if I had only gone to that one more training session, if I'd only read that one more book on terrorism or about Iraq or Afghanistan, I could have made a better choice downrange, a better decision under fire. So there's family in the team and my wife knew that that pendulum was going to be on the side of the team while we were in because that's what you owe the guys that you're taking downrange, their families,

the country, by default the mission. So that was the focus and I didn't want to leave anything on the field. So I felt good about that going downrange. I felt I was always the best leader and the best operator I could possibly have been. Continued to read, continued to study downrange. I'm a student of warfare my entire life, continue to be a student of warfare today. So I think that knowing that, that helps a lot on the backside. Know what you're signing up for, know what you're getting into, know that you did everything with a purpose and a reason, and there isn't a lot of regret or anything like that taking place out there. And the enemy gets a vote. And even if you do do everything, quote unquote, right, enemy gets a purpose and a reason and there isn't a lot of regret or anything like that taking place out there and the enemy gets a vote and even if you do do everything quote unquote right uh enemy gets a vote and things can still go south so that's uh that's where it's tough to deal with it

man jeez what a wet jack are you are a white unbelievable you are an absolute weapon good comment so like to what you kind of just said when you think about the stuff that you're writing or you just wrote and finished now like on the scale of fear where does ai rank like in your research is ai one of those things where is that what we're all shaking our pants yeah like as a soldier too especially like is that something that you are like actually concerned with the people who are in the military now and going forward and how ai will affect warfare just in general over the next 100 years? Oh, yeah, and how rapidly technology has evolved over the last 10 years. Imagine the next 10 and the 10 after that.

But mostly I think about the next generation. My generation has done their time, essentially. All our generals have already lost all the wars, unfortunately. So we need this next generation to be smarter, to learn from those lessons, and apply those lessons going forward as wisdom. We don't do that very well as a country as a whole. When you have a gigantic bureaucracy that just rewards people for maintaining the status quo, then there are issues, and we saw that play out in Afghanistan.

Brother, that's every business, isn't it? That's kind of scary, isn't it? I think so. It can't be happening in the military. That's kind of the big conversation, I guess, in the entire thing is like, can't have bureaucracy getting in the way of us having our best military because there's real life results in real life things that happen on the other side. This isn't like somebody missing a bonus check or hitting some money mark. It's like an entire platoon of people dying. Like there, it is such a interesting, interesting world,

that military as a whole. I assume they're very appreciative of you becoming the person you're becoming with the voice that you're becoming. What you just spoke right there sounded like a president. You sound like a president of the United States. Are you ever going to get into public service? Politics sounds like the absolute worst. The worst thing you could possibly do. Especially now.

When you don't even know what to trust. We have AI and deep fakes and all these things. You're being manipulated by something you're carrying around in your pocket every day, not just by a magazine you're going to open in the 80s or 90s or a TV show you're going to turn on. It's with you 24-7, and it's not just feeding you the next laundry detergent they want you to buy. It's manipulating thoughts and behavior. So I really think about that in terms of the next generation that's growing up with these things. It sounds great.

It sounds absolutely fantastic. Good times. Yeah, it sounds like a blast. It sounds like a. Good times. Yeah, it sounds like a blast. It sounds like a really good time. I was at the USA Olympic trials last night watching these swimmers do their thing. And, you know, it is nice. And the Olympics are a great time to show. And I think the Euros are experiencing this right now.

Like country pride. There's a lot of country pride. And the Olympics, there's like a lot of country pride and cheering for it. We got dogs that are taking the pool and there's a general i think a lot of us and by us i mean 37 year olds that don't really keep up with enough buckets i just assumed that we were going to be a soft generation i think that's coming back around i think there's like dogs i think we're starting to get like is that how it is in the military as well do you think that as well or no i don't know i'm a little i'm a little

removed from it right now but i'll tell you i, I just got back from Normandy, France, for the 80th anniversary commemoration events of D-Day. And we took 48 veterans over there, World War II veterans, with the Best Defense Foundation, flew them in with Delta right into Normandy, took them to two weeks of events back there. And I have never seen so many American flags anywhere, even in Fourth of July in the United States, than there are in Normandy, France, during the month of June. American flags everywhere, 82nd Airborne flags everywhere,

101st Airborne flags everywhere. People dressed up in period costumes, old World War II Jeeps, World War II Harleys, and Indian motorcycles. And they have this look on their face from the oldest person to the youngest. They are so grateful for what America did for them. And they want to get these guys autographs. We make baseball cards of them with their stats, what they did in World War II and their photo on there. And all these kids, all these people want them to sign these things and hand them out autographs in these parades. And you feel there's such a pride. And that's because, well, France was occupied and then it was liberated.

And we haven't had that here. So we are getting a little, we're a little stopped. I think people forget about a lot of that stuff. I think people forget about, you know, America has done good. There has been good that has been done in the past. I think it gets forgotten with all the bullshit that takes place and all the negative decisions and bad ideas that take place. Is the military at a state where they're happy with America? That's a good question. I don't know. I think a lot of guys got out. I can't speak for everybody, but I know a lot of good guys were getting out during the COVID years.

And a lot of people were aware of just what this bureaucracy, the ineptitude of this bureaucracy, because they could watch what happened in August of 2021. And that was 20 years of planning. And that was the best that our senior level military leaders could do. That was their best. So if you're looking at that, you're going to have to want to go in for other reasons. Probably test yourself. That's a very natural thing, especially for young men to want to do. They want to join the Marine Corps, Marine Corps boot camp typically, but SEAL training is buds and Army Special Forces, Q Corps, Army Ranger Corps, those things that are

crucibles. And you used to have to do that. You used to have to do that to prove value to the tribe, to the community before they'd let you into it. And I think that's still there in our DNA. So we'll still get some good people in there. Hell yeah, America. Come on. Let's do it. I'll tell you what, our swimmers. Nice.

They can swim. Get them. They're the size of a barn, Jack. Nice. Massive. Yeah. These men and women, there was a 46-year-old woman swimming last night in qualifiers. 46 years old, somehow still getting a speed that was quick enough to qualify for the u.s olympic

trials but then there was like ryan murphy is his dude he's a his back is the size of a barn he is an absolute beast and he you know like 4 a.m these swimmers are waking up and going it's like dogs like we got dogs all over and they are excited to represent the united states it's like a it's like a cool it was a really cool thing last night. The amount of USA chants that were taking place, it was like a beautiful thing. And now we got, that's a 17 year old right there, Jack. That dude's 17. That's an American

17 year old swimmer out of Virginia. He's going to go to the Olympics, beat everybody on planet Earth, and then he's going to go to his senior year of high school. Like a couple weeks later. And then Buds. And then probably Buds. Well, that's the age of the guys that stormed the beaches at normandy jumped out of those planes landed those gliders in normandy june 6 1944 we think we get a misconception of how old those guys were because we see tom hanks and saving private ryan who maybe

was like let's say 45 when he did that film or john wayne in the longest day back in the day older but really they're guys lying about their age to get into that so you had 15 year olds 16 year olds 17 year old 18 year old 19 year old 20 year olds storming those beaches having those landing craft doors open running across that open terrain right into hail machine gun fire from elevated positions and then they worked their way all the way through france all the way to berlin and uh and liberated essentially europe as a military strategist and uh expert and warfare expert and everything like that that's the worst case imaginable. It's pretty bad.

Yeah. They have the high ground. They have the high ground. And all the power. And you're in water. Yeah. Coming in the bottom. We figured it out.

Grace generation. That's right, baby. We're ending the program here on ESPN on this, you know, sports are sweet, but icons are cool Thursday. Kenny Chesney in the first hour. Jack Carr in the second one. We'll be back tomorrow with a feel-good Friday. We can't thank you enough for joining us.

Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change their life. And buy Red Sky Morning. Cheers. All right, we just wrapped up on ESPN. We're still live on ESPN Plus, YouTube, and TikTok. So people are still watching.

TikTok, huh? How do you feel about TikTok? I haven't dove in quite yet to TikTok. Why don't you buy it, Jack? Why don't you sell some more books and buy it up? Working on it. I'm looking at the font size. Not intimidating. There's actually a large print

edition. Is that for the olds or for the people that are scared? Let's say it could be for both. Usually it'd be for the older people, but for anybody. Or if you want that sense of let's say it could be for both. Usually it'd be for the older people, but for anybody. Anybody has a hard time. Or if you want that sense of accomplishment, you know, you read 50 pages and that's really like 20 pages

in the regular version, but it's like, god damn, I took a good chunk out of this tonight. Burning. 561 pages here, I'm seeing. That was a long one. That was the longest one yet. 150,000 words. Best one yet, too. It's true. 150,000 words. Best one yet, too. It's true. 150,000 words?

150,000 words. Usually these books come in at about 105, 110, maybe 115,000 words. This one, the story dictates. So I'm not going to ever wrap it up because I get to my word count that I'm contractually obligated to. I'm always going to be about the story because people are trusting me with their time. They're never getting that time back. So that's something that I think about. So I used to say that in like high school

whenever they told me how many words it was but i finished up 50 words less i said it's all in there you know that's 750 words but it's all there if i was to do more it would just be filler would ruin the entire thing yeah it didn't work i mean i had to i had to go put the and a couple more yeah i thought i had it right i thought i had to go put the and an and a couple more. I thought I had it right. I thought I had it figured out. You know, not a lot of plum English teachers were big fans of mine. Well, that's why it's interesting on Instagram in particular because you have that with 2,200 characters. So you have to tell a story if you're telling a story about a photograph.

Like I do history posts about different terrorist events that happened. Awesome. You have a sweet Instagram. Yeah, it's incredible. I'm learning through your – you're like a history class. Oh, I appreciate that. Twitter too. I appreciate that. Thank too. Appreciate that.

Thank you. Thank you. Now that Twitter has more characters, yeah, I can do those same kind of posts on Twitter X. And my first nonfiction

comes out in the fall in the 1983 Beirut Barracks bombing. So that's Marines Lost More Guys. Where do you have the time? 150,000 words? I'm exhausted.

I'm exhausted. I really am. But that's why I fuel up on that whiskey. That gets me through. You know, you got to fuel the machine. We should get a, hey, can we get some plastic cups out here? Well, I got some cups for everybody.

I got some glasses for everybody. Oh, wow. Is that Dave? That's Dave right there. Dave, my man, can you bring those cups up here? One, two, three, four more. Yeah, hell yeah, Dave. Do you worry about that with like a different type of book, like you said, nonfiction story?

Do you worry that after, even though you put all that work into it, that people will be like, sure, but can you write another fucking Terminalist book? Is that ever a thought? Those are going to come out at the same time every year, but my idea was to do a nonfiction every year also. And then when I jumped into it, I realized it was going to take, it's going to take two years at least to do the right kind of research and honor those stories. So this one, the Marines lost more guys in a single day than they'd lost

in Iwo Jima in World War II in October of 1983. So 241 Marines, 58 French paratroopers. And that story really hadn't been told yet. There's all these declassified documents from the Reagan administration that recently were declassified that kind of show what was going on in the executive branch

at that time, so you can really piece together the story. So, that's out in September. Research notwithstanding, do you think it's easier writing a non-fiction than it is a fiction because you don't have to create the entire story? Obviously, you want to do everyone who was involved justice, but is it easier writing something non-fiction

than it is fiction? I didn't find it to be easier, and that's because I think i was worried like if i make a mistake in here on something thank you so much if i make a mistake in this one i can just say oh it's fiction yeah um but if you can't make a mistake like that in the non-fiction especially when you're writing a book that you want to stand the test of time and you have people who are still so uh attached to that event and so affected by it uh the families of those who lost loved ones ones and people who were digging their buddies out of the rubble back then, still alive, so I'm interviewing them. I spoke at the 40th anniversary commemoration events last year.

So, yeah, it's tough to get that. You want to make sure you get that stuff right. Yeah, the factual – that's where I struggle at. It's like I'll do WWE. It's like, this is the greatest of all time right here.'s like, like I'll do WWE. Yeah. It's like, this is the greatest of all time right here, you know,

and then we're going to do college game day. And he's like, this is the greatest of all time. No, actually, it's fucking not. Okay.

It's like, okay. Sorry, sorry. I always, you know, I was just talking about like in general,

but that's the difference between creating your own characters and then actual real life ones. It's like, yeah, this is the toughest guy we're seeing fastest Bud's times in history. And it history and it's like no actually that was with this fucking

guy you got to make sure you get it right pay tribute to it but anytime you're sharing stories or i think a positive message about the united states military i assume everybody is very very grateful i assume everybody's very grateful and for that let's go and have a little show of whiskey it's pretty powerful this stuff that's Okay, I know you guys are pros. 125 proof. Holy shit. That's what I'm talking about. What the fuck is wrong with you, Jeff?

That's what I'm talking about. This is how you're writing these books? I know. Well, that was a pretty powerful. I wanted to come out strong with the first one. 99% corn, 1% barley. Love it. It's healthy.

A couple barley sandwiches for the boys. I've read that. I've read that somewhere. Rain makes corn, and corn makes whiskey. Love it. It's healthy. A couple barley sandwiches for the boys. I've read that. I've read that somewhere. Rain makes corn, and corn makes whiskey. And whiskey makes thermals. And whiskey makes Jack write beautiful books. There it is. Authors, yeah.

Whiskey creates authors. This is a quality glass bottle. It is. Thank you. Yeah, yeah. Those are for you guys. Well, the Winkler actions, I mean, you can't leave those off. There you go. Yep, yep. Those are for you guys. Well, the Winkler actions, I mean, you can't leave those off. There you go.

Yep, yep. These are solid right there. Do you, the farther you get away from being in the military. Be careful. The first time I did it was on a live podcast, and I did it when I was like. Hold fire. Hold it in. Hold it in.

Hold it in. Hold it in. Hold it in. Hold it in. Hold it in. Hold it in. Hold it in. Hold it in.

Hold it in. Hold it in. Hold it in. Hold it in. Hold it in. Hold it in. Hold it in. Hold it in.

Hold it in. Hold it in. Hold it in. Hold it in. Hold it in. Hold it in. Hold it in. Hold it in.

I should have prepped earlier. I should have prepped before. The farther you get away from your military experience, you talked about using that emotion and that experience writing in your books. Do you find it harder the farther you get out to dial into that? Not really. Not on the feelings and emotions part. It's more like, oh, what are the guys using now?

What pistol have they transitioned to now? What rifle are they using now? What optics on there? That sort of a thing. What sling? So I just try to make sure, hey, CIA paramilitary guys, what are they using now? What optics on there? That sort of a thing. What sling? So I just try to make sure, hey, CIA paramilitary guys, what are they using? In this book, how do you jump out of essentially a civilian aircraft without leaving a signature or showing jumpers or anything or without deviating from a civilian flight plan?

When you hear about those weapons, like the weapons that they're using today, is that something you think about? Hold on, Jack. Uh-oh. Fuck this talk. Have you heard them? As I'm coming over to pour this? I did not hear.

Ty just said, I have to make up my daughter. What? He's like, you son of a bitch. Easy, easy, easy. That's a big cup. That's a big cup. It doesn't have to be too much. No, yeah.

So we've heard. It's probably better if it's not. I got a ton. Can you set us a list of what the guys are currently using today so we can get that stuff like are you like son of a bitch i want to shoot that fucking sniper so bad with all the new shit that they have on it yeah well i mean it's it's technology as far as that stuff goes really hasn't evolved that much unless you're talking about night vision and thermals in particular so those two things have uh have have gotten a little more technologically advanced but everything else is

still pressing that trigger, you know, bang, bullets leaving the barrel, and essentially what it was doing 30, 40 years ago. Top glass is the pour-out. Just trying to pour something back in there. I'm glad I got a fucking triple. That's just one shot, boys. You guys are just drinking one shot.

I'm going to be nuked. AJ, what is that? AJ, what is that? I don't know. I got a cigar, I guess. I'll do that. Oh, okay. You son of a bitch.

You don't support the troops, asshole, do you? I'm just laying around up here, fellas. Motherfucker. Hi, this is Hoot & Young Jack Car Warrior Proof American Whiskey. There it is. It's warrior proof. 16-year reserve. Got to do it.

125 proof. And so, just a little more context. So, Hoot & Young, remember when Blackhawk Down, there was the character Hoot played by Eric Banna? Oh, it. 125 proof. And so, just a little more context. So, Hooten Young, remember when Blackhawk Down, there was the character Hoot played by Eric Banna? Oh, yeah. Great character. That's Norm Hooten. So, that's him right there. So, that's Delta Force. That's Norm Hooten and the guy played by, that Eric

Banna played in Blackhawk Down. He was a badass. He was. Absolutely. Bottled straight from the barrel, this American whiskey is worthy of an occasion. Savor it for its notes of clove and baked apple. Got apple and corn in here? That's what I smell. That's what I smell.

That's what I smell. Is there a hint of apple in it? Hold on. AJ, wait till you hear this. Bottled by Hooten Young, Silverton, Ohio. It's Ohio whiskey. It must be good. And you're not drinking it, you disrespectful son of a bitch.

I guess so. You're right. Why don't you just hang your Chinese flag behind you? That's what it feels like, doesn't it? The red wave addict. Yeah, it is. I should have sent you a bottle ahead of time. Oh, man.

This is your fault. This is your fault. My kids like the case. No, I got the case. My kids are so juiced. The book showed up. Yeah, thank you very much. Absolutely.

We love that case. Pull out that Mao Zedong biography book behind you. Right up there. We'll see it. That out that Mao Zedong biography book behind you. Right up there. We see it. History of the Forbidden City. Ladies and gentlemen, here's a man that served the United States of America honorably, obviously, and then decided to make the world a better place by giving them informational entertainment in the form of book series.

And I can't wait to see what movies you write at some point. You're one of the greatest Americans that ever exist, Jack Carr. Thank you for the 125 proof here in the middle of the afternoon on Thursday. Cheers to Red Sky Morning, the seventh in the Terminalist series available now.

Cheers to you, Jack Carr. Cheers. Hey, AJ, cheers to you. Oh, shit. Will you run mine over? cheers to you jack or cheers cheers cheers hey aj cheers to you oh cheers cheers cheers jack will you run mine over you run mine over here yeah yeah thank you good teammate cheers boys cheers boys to jack car jack car To Jack Carr. To Jack Carr.

Got a little heat. Good. How'd it go? A little hot fire. Look at it. That's a little hot fire. I think it's a sipping. It's a sipping whiskey.

Yeah, I think so. I didn't put ice there, man. Oh, yeah. I thought it was sipping. I thought it was doing the whole thing. It goes good with diet doom. It does that much. It certainly does. Yeah, it's definitely a sipping whiskey.

That'll put some fucking hair on your chest, Jack. It gets you downright for sure. Pretty smooth, though. That wasn't good. Yeah, not bad. It came out pretty good. That did absolutely taste pretty delightful here. Jack, did you guys study Carlos Hathcock?

Is he the sniper that everyone makes him out to be? He seems like he was the dude, especially back in the day. Yeah, there was a book called Marine Sniper by Charles Henderson that I read back in, I think, junior high. So that was the guy you looked up to because there wasn't that much written about Marine Corps snipers or special operations snipers or snipers in general back then. And then my junior high school days when I still had my eyes focused on

joining the military and being a SEAL in particular. So, yeah, that guy was up there. And Chuck Milwani, I pronounced his name wrong, he had actually more confirmed kills that came out later. But he never talked about it. He just passed away a little bit ago. But he lived up in Oregon. And I think he joined the Forest Service when he got back. But apparently he was an amazing guy.

And I wish I could have met him. Well, I'm sure there's going to be a lot of people that say that about you as they get into this profession because of something that you did and following your steps. How many are we going to make? Do you have an end? In this seven books in the Terminalist series, is there an end to this thing? Well, people are going to have to find out after they read this book. Oh, wait. Oh, wait.

Let me go to page 561. Oh, shit. I don't want to give anything away yeah yeah actually if you read that it probably wouldn't give it away um so we'll see we'll see what happens oh yeah yeah okay he knows the exact page yeah yeah i mean the end epilogue so i think we got some acknowledgements back there we got some glossary back there a little some gems in there as well they're not just an actual glossary there's some fun stuff in there they're excited i was just trying to think about that.

We got a shout-out to a bunch of people in here. I try to thank... Did you win the Olympics rifle competition? No. Did I win it? Could you? I think that's pretty specialized. I'm more familiar with the biathlon.

I love watching biathlons. There's so many different courses and distances and all that stuff and watching them just get in there and just try to steady that rifle and press that trigger. Things can change so fast with a guy in the lead and all of a sudden just loses it because it's

such a mental game. He's way in the lead and all of a sudden miss, miss, miss. That guy that was way back there, he's coming and he's got a shot now. All of a sudden. We're talking about the skiing? Yep, skiing. And he got to do the laps? Exactly. You would do that? I would love to do that. If I had grown up in an area where that was something that one could do,

I would have loved that. And I'm going to probably put a character that has that background into one of my future movies. Oh, yeah. Because the stamina. Those legs are going to be gigantic. Those guys are crazy. You know, they say basketball shooters always have the shot. They might not be able to move, might not be able to read it, but they'll always have the shot. Do you think you'll always be able to?

It's a pretty solid foundation. So I feel pretty confident. I mean, Tony's got a great point. Actually, we did it last time. I think that was my test. I've been out for a little while last time we did that, and we took that shot to save the world. So I haven't been training enough for it.

So you're saying you don't go to the backyard and just like, let's see if we still got here. Let's put a Zinc case a little Zintin 500 yards away and then just put a hole in the Y in the middle of that thing? CBS came out and they did a little video thing

two years ago and came out and I got the bow out. I have a course where I have 22 different targets, 3D targets set up all around. So I have elk and moose and mountain lion and bear all around the property. You can do a course like golf, but it's with a bow. And so I was taking the guy who came out, Jeff Glore took him out and was just teaching him how to shoot, showing him, you know, can do that background type stuff. And they put a GoPro on the target. And so I shot the target a couple of times and he said, hey, can you shoot that GoPro and I thank goodness? I didn't think about it too long. I was just like

Yeah, you're right No worries, I'm glad I didn't think about it too much. No, absolutely not it. Yeah, right. Oh my goodness What's going on over there? What the? Fuck is that like security like around here?