The Ryen Russillo Podcast - DeMarcus Ware on Life As a Cowboy and Playing With Peyton. Plus: Is Zero Risk Realistic in Sports?

Episode Date: December 11, 2020

Russillo shares his thoughts on the Big Ten circumventing a (new) rule to let Ohio State play in the Big Ten Championship Game, as well as sports as a whole striving to adapt to a pandemic (2:00), before talking with Super Bowl champion DeMarcus Ware about playing nine seasons for the Dallas Cowboys, earning the respect of Bill Parcels, starting anew in Denver with Peyton Manning, how learning to recover from surgery inspired his new D2W fitness app, and more (12:00). Finally, Ryen answers some listener-submitted Life Advice questions (41:30). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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DeMarcus Ware. I was looking up the resume here, Kyle. Impressive. 12 years, nine-time Pro Bowler, four first-team All-Pro. So that's the All-Pro stuff. Quarterbacks, we know the rule, right? We've educated the world on that one. He's a Pro Bowl quarterback.

How many guys canceled? So we'll do that. We'll do life advice at the very end. Life advice has gotten a little looser in the last couple weeks. Still some serious ones. We're not trying to be serious here all the time, but ever since the Oasis thing, we have an Air Force guy now checking in,

so I don't know. The whole pod could be in trouble. This week's open, I want to talk about the Big Ten's decision with Ohio State and then examine it further on a bigger scale that doesn't have to just do with college football. But as we know, the Big Ten announced this week that they were going to change a rule that they made a couple months ago. It was a new rule. I don't know why they made they made a couple months ago. It was a new rule.

I don't know why they made that rule a couple months ago. Honestly, I think everybody's freaked out trying to figure out all this stuff, and it constantly changes, and it doesn't seem to get any better.

So, you know, we understand how frustrated everybody is. But when we had an episode where it looked like there was going to be no college football, and then the SEC,

the Big 12, and the ACC were like, nah, we're still playing. Then the Big 10 who announced that they weren't going to play football because of a scare, because of a heart condition. And then the Pac-12's doctors backed that up. And then a bunch of other conferences said, we can't do it. I remember reading about the Mac saying, yeah, testing alone will be too expensive. I'm like, all right, look, I get it.

That makes sense. But once the other conferences wanted to play, then the big boys were like, wait, we don't want to lose out on this TV money. We don't want to lose out on the revenue or the chance to even compete. And then magically the big 10 was back in the pack. 12 was back in a lot later than everybody else. But the big 10 put in this rule about playing in six games to be eligible for the conference championship game. So Ohio state sitting there five and one, we thought there was a chance Michigan state could get canceled. Michigan does get canceled. And I don't blame the big 10 for doing this at all. I think it's the right decision. And the Big Ten will have Ohio State in their conference championship game which gives them a chance for

the conference championship and also a chance to be alive for the college football playoff now I saw some of the reaction to this that I don't think was actually as bad as I expected to be I I thought there'd be a lot of moralist people saying well you know here we go but they're definitely some of it hey we now know what their priorities are yeah their priorities are money I'm okay with it I've understood understood it. I've accepted it. Maybe it's not even right, but I'm over it. So that to me is not even remotely insightful. Well, here we go again with college football. Oh yeah. Okay, cool. Like, why do you still watch it then? Do you think it was going to change? I wish the players could make some money. I've been over this. I don't know

how many times I've brought that up, but specifically to this, was the Big Ten supposed to eliminate Ohio State because of this rule? That's not even really a rule. What is this rule? And I understand Indiana fans being upset, but let's face it. You don't have much of an argument here. You lost the head-to-head. And if Ohio State doesn't have the Michigan game canceled, they go to 6-0, they win the division and are playing for the conference championship game anyway. So there's a small part of me that understands Indiana's annoyance with this, but that's all it really should be because you don't have much of an argument. You lost a head-to-head next. The other thing you have to remember here too is that with the cancellations of some of these games, specifically the millions lost for

Fox not being able to air Ohio State and Michigan, the conference wants to be a good TV partner. And this stuff has happened many times over the years. The first time I ever really understood it was Cam Newton being declared eligible again after he was suspended at Auburn when none of us knew he was suspended. And then he was reinstated for the South Carolina SEC title game.

You're like, wait, what happened? And he's like, look, CBS wanted Cam Newton in the game. And it wasn't a major violation. It had more to do with his dad and a lot of hearsay. Somebody really was sure what was going on. So guess what? He's playing in the game and the ratings will be better for it. So we can pretend that this stuff doesn't happen or that people should make decisions that have nothing to do with this and are not influenced by money. But I don't know why. I don't know why you like sports anymore if that's still a hang up for you. So whenever I see that, I just don't know why you like sports anymore if that's still a hang-up for you. So whenever I see that, I just don't think it's all that insightful. Now, whenever I hear about the priority part of this,

it segues perfectly into the NBA trying to get their season restarted again. We know this week it was over 50 positive tests out of 500-plus tests. That's kind of a scary number, not a total shock when you have guys that are away from a controlled environment, which I also think is kind of silly when people think about college football and college basketball and say, oh, you're forcing these kids to play. I would argue they're probably safer being around something that's controlled and the constant testing. I don't even know how that's really debatable, but even NBA guys, adults, supposed grownups away from it. And now

in a controlled environment, you knew some guys are going to come back and test positive. And I've seen some of the same things. I mean, Henry Abbott's a guy I've known a really long time. He's been a writer on basketball for years and years. I get along with him. I disagree with him a lot. I disagree on rest. I disagree on plenty of topics, but I respect him. But he had a very predictable comment about once the NBA was examining returning, he goes, well, you know, it's certainly not about player safety. Oh, it is to a degree, but it's also about keeping business open. And that's the bigger picture part of everything that we're dealing with right now. This sucks. I'm not going to complain about it. I have nothing to complain about. I don't have a

kid I have to homeschool. I don't have to worry about putting food on the table. I don't have a small business that I'm worried about going out of business. I do not have someone living here who is high risk, but I'm taking it seriously. So I can question some things, but I'm not, it's not like I'm in line at Walmart screaming at somebody for asking me to put a mask on. I'm doing whatever it is that I think I need to do. And I think a lot of us are, and a lot of us are really frustrated, but I have nothing to complain about. So I'm not going to keep complaining. I don't think I have, actually. But if any league is trying to keep their doors open and make the most out of this from a business standpoint, I'm not going to blame them. I'm not going to criticize them, and I'm not going to send out the layup opinion of, well, it looks like money's the priority. No shit.

It is. What have you been watching for years? And I'm talking about anybody that has that opinion. So if the argument is that it really, we're in a position as a country, we should be at zero risk. I don't think that's realistic at all. It'd be nice, but I don't think it's realistic. I guess zero risk, the only way we're going to do this, is it the only way we're going to get out of this? It would certainly be better, but I just don't know that zero risk is the kind of thing that's even obtainable. I remember reading about the Penn State scandal with Coach Sandusky, and we talked about it on the air a lot. And it's one of those things where you know you want to be delicate the entire time because you're talking about the abuse of children.

And there's a reason I'm bringing up this analogy. And I brought this up before because it is a perfect example of a topic that comes up, at least for people in sports where you go, well, I know what side I'm on here, but when the NCAA hands out a four year postseason ban and a $60 million fine and a loss of scholarships, nobody wants to be on the other side of that.

Nobody wants to go, yeah, you know what? Four years seems kind of excessive because if you're actually in a debate, and again, I wouldn't even want to be in a debate. I'm not even comfortable talking about it. I wouldn't want to be on the other side going, yes, this was terrible,

but it should only be a three-year ban. And who wants to do that on a show? I don't want to do that. But of course, there is this, I don't know if it's an imagined line or not, where the NCAA, when they handed out the punishment, they came up with a number. They came up with a post-season ban and they came up with a fine, which sounds insensitive to the entire thing. Because if two people were talking about it and

one said, man, four years is kind of a lot. And then the other person says, we're talking about the abuse of children. You've won. I don't want to win the argument. I don't want to tell you that that's not important. I don't want to say that that isn't significant. I don't want to tell you that that's not important. I don't want to say that that isn't significant. I don't want to minimize any of that. So it fits in perfectly, I think, at least from the topic of what is the right thing to do for the NBA, for the NFL, Major League Baseball, college basketball, college football, the NHL. What is the right thing to do? Because if you're asking for it to be zero risk, then you're basically saying you don't want any of these teams to even bother. And maybe you're right, by the way.

I don't think it's realistic, but maybe you're right. I remember another Henry Abbott tweet when they were talking about the bubble. It was before the bubble, and he had said they should play the games outdoors. The science says it's not as transmitted a virus. And if you say wind because of playing outdoors, I'll say, what about

deaths? Well, then you win. You win. I don't want to debate that. I don't want to minimize the loss of life. Anyone listening to this that's lost somebody close to them. I don't want to sound insensitive and say, well, you know, they really got to figure out a way to play basketball, but that is, and it's not even an argument. It's a conversation ender. There's nothing I can do with that the same way. There's nothing I can do with that the same way. There's nothing I can do with not wanting to be on the other side of the Penn State discussion, but just discussing it in general. So as the league starts up, meaning the NBA, there are going to be some real challenges

because it's not the same as the bubble. The bubble was a massive success. The NFL is going to figure this out. There were plenty of people saying the UFC as they were leading the charge and a lot of it's because you don't like Dana White going what are they doing why is Dana White doing he likes Trump you know what the UFC thing has worked they figured it out

and just like every small business in your community that's trying to find a way to survive it doesn't mean that the guy that's trying to open his doors whether it's a deli or the NBA, is minimizing the safety of players or employees or the community. It's that their only answer for survival is to try to keep going through this.

Hey, 12 Years in the League, nine-time Pro Bowler with Dallas and the Denver Broncos. We got DeMarcus Ware here and the Driven to Win Fitness app. That's D2W. He's live from a gym right now. And when I went and checked out all your social media, I was like, this guy's serious about this app. Normally, I would just start with the football questions and we get to plug it at the end. I'm really interested in this because you've done this as first class as as

anyone like sometimes guys be like i want to do this i'll post some stuff on ig i'll throw a video up you are serious and um how did this whole thing get started because i know it's taken a while dude i remember once i retired from playing with denver um once i won the super bowl there i had three surgery i had three back surgeries my last year. I had one neck surgery and I was like, you know what, dude, you've accomplished anything at your position. You've won a championship. And like, how do you actually are going to get yourself at least halfway back into shape to where you were? So you can at least play with the kids and have your dad time. And, you know, I had this small little brownstone here in Southlake.

And, you know, I had a two-car garage. So I put a little small, actually, this right here, if you just this part behind me, this was in my garage. That's it. Just the one squat rack. Just the one little squat rack. And I started going through all the methodology like how i do activations recovery um warm-ups lifts like why i did it and so then i start you know you know

roscoff that's down there in colorado that does muscle activation therapy learning learning from him how the muscles work then doing functional movement screening tests and getting certified in that like how your joints work how your joints and muscles work now i'm like what about you know certified personal training so i got certified in there from nasa so i went and did like every single thing to learn how i actually you know recovered while i planned while i was playing sports, while talking to Denver coaches and strength coaches on how to build the perfect program. And, you know, I'm here now and said, I motivated people for 12 years, players for 12 years. So now I can now motivate people in the weight room. My new locker room is a weight room. And I'm like a workout buff. I work out every single day, 45 to an hour and 30.

But I wanted to give back, have something I can give back. So I got back here to Dallas and started talking to Bottle Rocket here. It was a guy, Calvin Carter, Bottle Rocket. He helped support me in creating this app. And then another company was East Edge. They do augmented reality. So I went and got that company. And then Colossal. Colossal does like all the user interfaces and stuff. So we started coming together, thinking about how we can now create a different user experience, not just from content. Anybody can just film content and say, hey, this or here's what you need to do, but how can you actually put a real trainer in your pocket? So that's what took the three years, going through all of the research and development from creating a 3D model. We use like a 300 DSLR trailer that you go into,

and there's 300 cameras around you. So you do certain exercises and it takes pictures of you to where you say let's say if it's a million polys that's better than a mad figure right and so it looks just like you tattoos muscles veins it shows everything close your eyes hopefully yeah yeah no no it shows everything i promise you when you see it you're gonna be like holy shit it's like right it looks just like them but um and i said i if you got a 3d model if you when you see it, you're going to be like, holy shit. It's like, right. It looks just like them. But, and I said, if you've got a 3D model, if you're looking at video, you only can see it from like one side. But as a trainer, you can see all the way around how to do the exercises, the right tempo, the right reps. And then I took it a step further. I said, well, why don't you use it?

Can you actually stick it in a space like augmented reality? So prop your phone up and stick it in your home or in a gym. But I said, it has to look real. It had to like do exactly what I'm doing. So we figured out how to do that. And so now there's an augmented reality figure that you can stick in whatever gym shows you different pieces of equipment if you're doing body weight exercises but i kept the warm-ups and activations in the recovery so i can talk on it so i actually bring everything to life so it's still like hey i'm here with you right and and then i that was with ar kit with apple. And then it uses the ARKit that Apple had, and so it creates that feature. And I said, what about voice inflection? So when the trainer asks you, hey, how tired are you?

And you would say, I'm on a scale from one to three. How tired are you? They say, you might say two, you might say three. So now when you're talking to the phone, the phone actually knows from the heart rate on the Apple Watch and your voice inflection, what level you're training at. It is so cool. It uses artificial intelligence. So it grows with you along the way. So if you're talking to the phone, you're supposed to be at level two when you're running and you're showing up at level three from your heart rate and your voice inflection, it'll give you 45 seconds. It'll give you a minute and say, hey, you need to take a rest. So the more you use it, the smarter it gets. And because I went to high schools actually to the football teams and tested the football team

before, tested the football team during, and then tested the football team after to get the measures of how the computer needs to learn how to work it so all this work has been done hands-on it's not like something just slapped your name on were you when you came to the league we're like who's this dude this guy is a freak were you always this way physically uh you know what high school, I was about 185, 6'2". I played wide receiver. I got one scholarship. Yeah. Is that why you only got one offer to Troy? You were in Auburn. I was small. I wasn't fast. I ran a 4'7". I went to the Tennessee Vols football camps. I remember when he told me, he said, listen, DeMarcus, I know that you're here and, you know, you're playing football, but you're probably not going to make the college team.

And this is in debt, like, fucking, like, struck me when he told me that. I was like, all right, well, I just need a scholarship. I just want to get my school paid for. And I'm sitting in detention. I remember Tracy Rocker comes in there and he's like, hey, if you get your ass out of detention, I'll give you a scholarship. And this OCU manure for the Giants, he helped me. We were actually neighbors. So he was there before me.

So he helped me get the scholarship. All right. So I get Detroit play linebacker, got bigger, stronger, faster. And all of a sudden I'm like, what? Got the six, five, 260 pounds. I had like 60 pounds of weight in four years, just pure muscle. Right. And the sky was the limit from there. That's when the freak came out, right? But before that, dude, I was a little puny, a little morsel. I mean, you ought to see the jersey. I can show you some of the pictures that I had.

I was so little, man. Like, I mean, stick figure. When you're walking around Auburn, Alabama, how mad were Auburn Tigers fans being like, because they didn't see you at 170 pounds. They didn't see you running a 4'7 as a wide receiver. How mad were they that you didn't end up just down the street? You know, there's sometimes that, you know,

I think there's one thing that people don't see is, you know, the diamond in the rough. A guy that's, you know, a late bloomer, it takes a longer time to blossom. And if you, you know, me working hard, I got to where I was. I just went under the radar. But now it's crazy when I go back home,

there's actually a day named after me in Alabama on April the 19th, it's the Marcus Ware Day in the state of Alabama. Or, you know, making the Football Sports Hall of Fame in Alabama. That's May the 7th of this year. But it's so cool now to get your name in stone when no schools but Troy said, hey, we're going to put you down here in linebacker, man, and hopefully you'll do something.

What's the cowboy i'm trying to figure out the best way to ask this but what's it like you know you're a cowboy you know your thought even though you won your ring with the broncos but you're drafted by him the dallas connection the passionate fan base but just the bullshit of being a cowboy. It just seems so different than any other NFL experience. I tell you what it really is. It was one of those things where when they say that it's America's team, it is America's team, no matter if they're losing or not. Everybody loves the Dallas Cowboys.

And, you know, I was able to be one of the top defensive guys that ever played there. And I remember when I first got there with the Dallas Cowboys, they were like, hey, you know why you're wearing number 94, right? And I said, well, I wore number 94 in college. They said, no, you're wearing this because of Charles Haley. You remind us of what Charles Haley was and you're going to be that player I'm like all right I said do you know who Charles Haley is and you know me being a pretty honest guy I was like no I was like I don't because I I didn't watch football it's one thing that people don't understand like I didn't watch football. That's one thing that people don't understand. Like, I don't watch football.

I am a student of the game. If you tell me how to break the game down, I can break it down to you. I can tell you tendencies. I can tell you strategies. I can do that because it's like that computer mind. But if you're sitting there and saying, hey, do you know all these players? I'm probably going to mess up on somebody's name. I'm probably going to mess up on something else name. I'm probably going to mess up on something else.

It's just the way that I am. But then I found out when Charles Haley walked into the locker room, he walked in with five rings. And I'm like, holy cow, like, who is that? It was like, that's Charles Haley. I was like, oh. If I didn't know who that was, you know, it's like just being so into just where you need to be at the time, in the moment.

It was just, it was just cool. And like you said, just that mantra of playing for Jerry, for being part of the organization. It was like one of them things. It was a dream playing for that type of organization. What's your favorite part of it? The locker room. You know, the team camaraderie. I was a captain for 12 years.

So being able to, amongst the Jason Wittens, the Tony Romos, just to name a few guys, you was a captain of that team every single year. And the same thing with Denver. Peyton Manning, me, Aqib Tlaib, TJ Ward, Vaughn Miller. I was a captain of that team. You wanted me to lead you. So just being in a leadership role was probably that fun thing because it's almost like, you know, fist bumping, pounding, being a gladiator out there in the stadium and crushing people. That's one thing that I love to do. If I'm going to prepare for you for six days on that seventh day,

Sunday or Monday, I'm going to give you hell because I had to watch you for six days. So now it's time for me to unleash on you. So that was one of those things that I love to compete. And whatever I do, I'm probably the biggest competitor you've ever seen. If it's golfing, if it's playing cards, if it's checkers, I don't care. I want to win.

If it's against my kids, it doesn't matter. So I think competing and in the locker room. Did Parcells love you? At first, he didn't. Why? Because you seem to be the epitome of the guy Parcells would love like everything you've

said to this point and knowing how you okay but go ahead no listen um so bill parcells and jerry jones made a bet there was a dollar bet so jerry jones was the one that drafted me bill parcells did not draft me okay he said he wanted Merriman. They had a dollar bet. They said in the first three years, if DeMarcus does not average eight sacks, he's a bust because Sean Merriman's going to average

eight sacks. That's what I averaged, probably about 12 sacks for a 12-year period. Obviously, Jerry Jones won that bet. But I remember when I first got there, I had to get Gatorade for Bill Parcells. He loved Blue Gatorade.

And every single day at practice, I had every single break, I had to run over to the trainers and get Blue Gatorade for Bill Parcells. And I remember he told me, he said, listen, I never want you or I don't want rec league players. That's exactly what he said. I don't want a rec league player. And I thought to myself, what the hell do you mean? He said, you're going to listen to what I tell you.

Oh, you know, you're going to be out of here. He like he just how he played. He plays my games like that. oh, you know, you're going to be out of here. He like, that's how he plays. He plays mind games like that. Right? And one time, you know, let's say Sean Merriman had like three sacks one game.

I had zero on this whole thing. He's going to make rookie of the year. I said, yeah, he plays nine technique. That's, you know, outside of the tight end, being able to rush. He must have hated that. Yeah. I said, guess what? You put me in a six technique right in front of this tight end,

and I can't run through the tight end. And he said, well, you can't play the run from a nine technique. I said, all right, I'll tell you what. You put me in a nine technique, which is outside of the tight end. I will play my gap on the other side of that tight end, and then I'll rush the pass at the same time. He said, I'm going to give you one time. And he looks at me with these big, piercing blue eyes. I'm going to give you one time. And he looks at me with these big

piercing blue eyes. I'm going to give you one time. I said, all right. The first time, ran around the corner, went and got a sack. And I looked at him like this. He was like, and from that point on, I was his guy. I was his guy from that point on. So was this guy, you know, I was, I was, I was this guy from that point on. So why'd you go to Denver? Um, look, and obviously for people that listen, I just want, I want people that are listening that Bill had been gone after your first two years, Wade comes in. So everybody moves on. Everybody moves on. It was Rob Marinelli at the time. And with me getting a huge contract down in denver you know every year i started pushing back a lot of my salary so we can get more players so by the time

that last year hit it owed me like 16 million dollars and it was like demarcus it's going to be a huge salary cap hit and we can't pay you and that's what happens to a lot of players when you get to that last year of your contract. So I said, well, I was still very productive, so I was still worth that. But what they can pay, they just couldn't do it because it was a business deal. And so I remember sitting down in the office with Jerry Jones, and he said, you know, we can keep you here,

but we're going to let you go out and test the market. You've done some amazing things here. You're part of the family. We want to test the market so we can know exactly what your value is. And that's when I got that call from Elway. Elway was like, Hey, so here's the deal. What do you want? What do you want? I need you here here i need you on one side i need peyton on the other side and i thought to myself i'm like well i'm gonna go play in denver and i and it was hard for me because you're leaving from a team you played for nine years i said i think the quarterbacks

are going to see me with that orange jersey on it was like stupid stuff i was thinking you thought like wait it was like bad camo on the field like it was like stupid stuff i was thinking you thought like wait it was like bad camo on the field like it was like oh yeah the white jersey they're not gonna see me the orange jersey they're gonna be able to see me i'm not gonna get in sacks it was stupid right but ended up getting to denver and i and i said you know what but i got von miller on the other side so now i get a lot of one-on-ones, and I can go crushing tackles now because in Dallas, you was a pass rusher, and you're getting double-teamed every single play.

And that's how that really transpired. I remember seeing Aqib Tlaib on the plane. I didn't even know who Aqib Tlaib was. On the plane, sitting behind me, because I'm not going to make eye contact with no dude. You know, on the plane, he's right behind you. You're not going to turn around. What's up, man because I'm not going to make eye contact with no dude. You know, on the plane, he's right behind you. You're not going to turn around. What's up, man?

I'm not going to do that. I'm just going to, you know, stay straight forward. And then he passed by, and I'm like, oh, that's Akeem. And where is he going? So I went to the bathroom, so I put my clothes on. And Akeem's, you know, putting clothes on, too, because we're about to go do interviews for the team. And so we walk out. He's like, hey, man, you going to sign?

I said, yeah, man, I'm going to sign. Are you going to sign? He was like, yeah, man. I think TJ is going to come up here too. I was like, dude, we're going to crush some people. I said, dude, we got Von Miller. This is the conversation that we're having as we're walking down that tarmac, down to that train in you know, in Denver,

and walking out and getting in the limo. And that was just one of those cool moments where I was like, man, we're going to win the Super Bowl. We're going to win the Super Bowl in Denver with what Elway just did. And that was T.J. Ward, Oregon defensive back. So I remember he used to lay dudes out. Yeah, T.J., yeah. Yeah. All right.

So you get there there payton's there this is one of those outside questions i don't know how it works teams are different do you and payton have like hey i'm a big deal you're a big deal so let's talk or are you actually legitimately friends or do you not ever really interact with them all that much because i mean he's the quarterback and he's done his thing you're 32 you got you know what i mean you've got your stuff i just wondering how it's unique to any situation but what was that relationship like for you guys you know what the thing is when i first got there it's almost like when you have new players coming to the locker room like all the players have been playing together like, okay, when this is our locker room, this is who is here.

But when you have players that you've been playing against and you're like, man, I hate that dude. And now you walk in and they look at you and like, like offensive lineman, this fucking D, where, man? I hate him. I had to block him. There's Peyton, like, man, I remember when he hit me, when he was sacking me when I was in Indy. I remember last he hit me, when he had second me where I was in Indy.

I remember last year playing against him when he sacked me when I was in Dallas. Right. And I remember, you know, Peyton's a funny guy. He came up to me and we just sitting there in the locker room. He said, Hey, he just sitting there smiling. And I said, listen, don't be talking to me about that play in Dallas where I went down and you ran that bootleg. And he just bust out laughing because he already knew exactly what he was going to talk about. And from that point on, it was like a brotherhood. Every single day we went through, OK, this is what the defense is looking for.

This is how we're going to attack you this week, right, from a preparation standpoint. He's like, hey, you guys shouldn't do this out of cover too because now I'll make sure I hit this guy in the flat here. And so it's like now when I'm teaching the guys on the defensive standpoint and he's teaching the guys on the offensive standpoint of what the defense is looking for, we were like this. And even when we were out there practicing,

sometimes we would piss each other off just to piss everybody else off. I'm like, listen, Peyton, in practice today, I'm going to knock the ball out your hand. And I already know it's in your contract. The coach is going to get mad that you don't want nobody to hit you. But listen, I'm going to knock the ball out. And what I need for you to do is turn up. And Peyton's like, all right.

And I go up underneath, knock the ball out. He's like, DeMarcus, what, man? I mean, you already know, you know, knocking the ball. I said, Peyton, if you hold the ball like that, it's going to be a fumble every single play. And he's like, all right. I guess we throw about six touchdowns, but the defense got pissed off too.

So now it was like that, that back and forth deal to where me and him after practice, we look at each other and smiling like, hey, it worked. It worked. That's cool

because you've been around that long. Both you guys just kind of understand some of it can sound so silly to us, but you're like, no, no, like new guys, let's all get on the same page yeah yeah we get up we get on the same page because sometimes in practice what we do is what everybody else is going to do the mentality we come with is the same mentality that they're going to come with when you have that c on your chest they're going to follow you right When you have that seal on your chest, they're going to follow you, right? So if you play balls out in practice,

everybody else is going to be like, man, I got to pick it up. And if we're doing it, everybody else is going to do it as well. I got a couple more things before we finish up. Who did you hate playing against the most? Who did I hate playing against the most? I would probably say the Washington Redskins.

Just the team. Oh, I meant like players. The whole team. The whole thing. The whole player I hated playing against, which is probably like a nasty player. I'm trying to just think. You know, it was probably Fisher.

Fisher from the Kansas City Chiefs. I remember when he... Eric Fisher? Yeah, Eric Fisher. That's like at the end of your career, right? Because he hadn't been in the league that long. Yeah, in my career. Everybody else, they were hard.

Everybody else was... You know, they really didn't talk a lot of trash. We just knew that it was going to be a long day. Like, we're going to play hard. But when you get a young guy coming in, like, let's say he was a first round, first pick in the draft, talking a lot of trash.

And he was just like, I mean, it was one play the way it was. It was a screen play. And I ran into him and I spun and he caught me in the spin. And he like clubbed me. Boom. And I just like fell back.

And he was like, you better get your mind right. You want to see this every day. And I said, you know, this is exactly what I want. I want somebody to talk to me bad. I want somebody to make me just wake up the incredible Hulk. That's why I did the Hulk smash every single time I hit a quarterback. And dude, from that point on, I'm not even kidding you. I ran him over about three times. I'm talking about not just running him over,

running over and trying to smash my helmet to his face and then doing front flips, right? I mean, just being a very, very nasty player because that's what I really want somebody to do. I want a tackle or somebody to hit me. So now I'm like, oh, you inflicted pain on me. You inflicted pain on me. Now I'm going to do it to you. But I'm like, Oh, you inflicted pain on me. You inflicted pain on me. Now I'm gonna do it to you,

but I'm gonna do it in a good fashion to where in between the lines, you're going to have a long day at the end of the day. Uh, once we walk off the field, Hey, how are your families doing? Everybody's good. But while we're playing, I'm not going to say one word to you. I'm just going to make you pay for what you just did. That's good, man. You are a terrific storyteller.

I'd say not everybody's able to pull it off. I feel like we just keep going forever here. But I want to finish with this because I know how excited you are about this. And I, again, emphasize to everybody to check it out, the Driven to Win Fitness app, D2W. Check out DeMarcus's Instagram page because there's a lot more information there and just for the lighting and photog investment alone it's worth checking out because these are serious these are like instagram models except our man is is enormous i shot all the videos 8k too by the way they're unbelievable like it's really i was really impressed i was prepping for

this but do you think this is something because we'll have like this little life advice thing at the end of every podcast where people ask about like working out and all this, and it's just different. It's, it's so different for everyone. So what would you say? Cause I'm just a guy, you know, whatever, but I know that because I was so skinny when I was younger, I still take it this seriously as I'm older. And I wonder like, what is the best advice? And I'm talking about just anybody listening to this right now for somebody that's saying, you know what, I need to, I need to change my pattern. I need to get back to what I was, or, you know, I need to figure out my thing.

Cause I think people are so intimidated by it because everybody thinks they have the answers and really you don't figure it out until you put some time in on your own to see how your body reacts is what I think is the most important thing to remember. Yeah. I think one thing that you just hit on is the time in on your own. The work that it requires to put time in on your own, there's three things. What you mentally fill your brain with and the imagery that you see is what you become. What you listen to is also subliminally, you know,

putting in information that's driving you, right? But also what you put into your spirit. There's three things. So one falters, the other two are always going to pick up, the one that's faltering. So if you put good images in your mind, you're always going to gravitate to that. And you're going to be like, let me try that.

If you start listening to that of what you need to be doing, there's another thing. And then feeding the spirit. So I would just always just tell people, like, if you really want to accomplish something, especially in the gym, it does not require you to be like somebody else. It requires for you to be the best you. Because if you can be the best you, you're always going to see incremental growth. Because if you're looking at somebody else that you want to be like, they're being the best them. You see what I'm saying? So I tell people all the time, especially here at Three Volt Fitness, the gym that I own here, when they come in, what do we need to do

to improve the best you? If it's spiritually, what you're listening to, or mentally, how are we going to get that part cleaned up first? And then I'm going to show you how to work. I'm going to show you how to get in here and work. If it's body weight exercises, if it's the beginner, if it's the advanced stuff, if you want to do big lifts, we can do all that. But you got to get the structure right if you want it to be sustainable. D2W, check it out. Fitness app, driven to win. You can see it where all the apps are.

You can get it right on your phone. And that's DeMarcus Ware. Congrats on all this, man. I really appreciate the time. All right. Thank you guys so much, man. Thank you. You want details?

Bye. I drive a Ferrari 355 Cabriolet what's up i have a ridiculous house in the south fork i have every toy you can possibly imagine and best of all kids i am liquid so now you know what's possible let me tell you what's required all right let's do a bunch here let's let's try to bang out a few quick ones um we'll check a female you what's required. All right, let's do a bunch here. Let's try to bang out a few quick ones. We'll check a female listener. What's up? All right.

Ryan, female listener writing in. I started listening to you and Canel a couple years ago with an ex of mine and haven't ever since. I felt like writing into the show because I have an issue that I've discussed with all my female friends already. And they pretty much all agree with me. My brother, however, disagrees. And since I don't really have too many good male friends i'm turning to you for perspective so about a year ago i started seeing this guy we met at a mutual friends party and chatted and i gave my number for context i'm 35 and jason's a little bit younger than me 31 32 whoa kidding um so no big deal of course it's not a big deal a couple years ago so we started seeing each other

and things were going really well we followed the regular timeline of seeing each other after a couple of times on official dates and gradually shifting to more of a casual relationship type of hang. This guy was really nice and cute and I felt comfortable around him. He didn't do any, he didn't ever do anything personality wise to change that, but I eventually ended up having to end things with him for a very silly reason. On about our ninth or 10th time hanging out, he shows up to our dinner date in a trench coat and i'm not talking like a stylish expensive shorter cut trench coat here the guy showed up in a massive old oversized brown trench coat like what a flasher would wear on the subway

uh do you ever hey kyle do you guys know about flashers i feel like that's an older thing yeah you know movies and stuff tv right but i like when i was a kid we actually would like man it's like i'm gonna be a i feel like flashers in general the numbers like it was a real it was a real risk yeah yeah i mean you see a duster on the train you're like oh yeah i'm pretty sure opening the trench coat like i don't feel like i know they did a bit on at the office once but i just whatever that again i'm not complaining that the number of flashers have dwindled i just don't feel like in the day-to-day consciousness of society flashers or whatever their pie chart was, it's shrinking. All right.

So she doesn't like the guy's trench coat. So I didn't really say anything bad the first time. I just asked him about his new coat. And he said it was his grandfather's favorite coat and that he'd left it for him. His mom had just shipped it to him after finding it while cleaning out some old stuff. Anyway, the next time, did I just say his name? Because she keeps putting his name in this and I'm trying to avoid that. All right. So she's like, the next time I saw him, he was wearing the trench coat again. And the time after that. So the third time, that's when she finally said

something. I told him I did not like the coat and thought it looked quite silly and even a little creepy. He then got offended and said it was his favorite coat and that he was going to keep wearing it. He didn't care what I thought. To make a long story short, I eventually ended up breaking things off with him because he refused to stop wearing the trench coat. And I felt uncomfortable being seen with him in public with his trench coat on. My girlfriends all agree with me. My brother says I was being way too superficial. So I'm basically just wondering where you as a man stand in the matter. So you liked everything about this guy. He was cute. He was attractive.

You were into him. He didn't do anything personality-wise. Like, have you been listening to some of these relationship things? We got a guy whose basement repair dude is sleeping with his wife. We got a guy with a GPS tracker on a girl. That guy checked in, by the way. He said he is going to start talking to somebody.

I think he already did. So there's some people that were very worried about GPS tracker guy. He has since responded and followed up and said he, listening to the email made him think, you know what, maybe I should talk and remove the tracker. Yeah, he removed the tracker. The problem is he put it on there in the first place which you know we're just gonna move on um who else did we have we had

we had the long island crew just wanted to move in and wreck the family so um i you know look if i were dating a girl and she were wearing i'm trying to think like a muumuu yeah i mean who am i kidding it depends on how hot she was but and I'm trying to think like a Moo Moo. Yeah. I mean, who am I kidding? It depends on how hot she was, but I'd be like, why does your girlfriend wear butterfly wings all the time?

Like, I don't know. It's pretty hot though. I've accepted it. Um, I, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know if people like when I share a little, but anyway, I look, I get, I get your concern about the trench coat thing, but if you liked every other part of him, except for the trench coat.

Yeah. I think that's a little harsh. I think it's a little harsh i think it's a little harsh you know there you go is that's the only thing so often too you know yeah right what climate are you in you can't handle a few fall months of our man in a trench coat okay our man checks in here he calls kyle the vape god is that true that guy doesn't know what he's talking about there was a time but and i'm back on the uh back on the squares back on the darts um my favorite kyle moment ever in the history it might be my favorite moment in just

audio history was when it's one of the first pods we were ever going to tape with bill and i and you're like can i smoke in here and bill's like no and i was like can i vote can i can i we lost the Jackson yeah that's right that was the night of the draft it was the Lamar Jackson draft yeah it was like hey bill can i hey bill can i smoke in here no the no it was the fastest no yeah in the history of no's it was the first time i ever asked him that i think too so i mean he just had it teed up yeah he was ready he was absolutely ready to tell you no okay some contextual information i'm 27 and a former member of the church of jesus christ latter-day saints lds or as they more affectionately are called, Mormons. I went on a two-year mission, as did a few guys in my current friend group.

I don't know much about the religion. Wait a minute. If you don't know much about the religion, there are a bunch of very nice. By the way, I do. Trevor Madditch is a BYU player, LDS, traveled with him for years, so we would talk about it. So I'm not completely foreign to it. I've been to BYU. And I have friends that are Mormon. If you don't know that much about the religion,

there are a bunch of very nice good. Did I just do the Mormon friend card? That's what it sounded like. All right. Anyway, good intentioned people who are members. However, it's a religion with a lot of rules and most active members believe there's no way to salvation other than following all these guidelines. Exactly. This leads to a lot of rules and most active members believe there's no way to salvation other than following all these guidelines exactly. This leads to a lot of people growing up, moving out of their parents' home and realizing they don't want to continue religion. The case for me and all of my current friends. So this is, he's saying this is the case for me. And by the way, I do not want religion email follow-ups. If you're going to argue about some points that this guy's making, we're not going to be reading this. All right. So there was one guy in our group who started law school a year ago since drastically changed his personality. Anytime he's there,

we end up having these deep conversations about politics, society, religion. He can't ever just sit back, have a beer and watch a game. I don't normally mind having important conversations, but they become the only type this one friend wants to have. And it's got to the point where he will stand in pace while going on a diatribe about whatever he has recently read, almost as though the rest of us are a jury and he's presenting a case to. I have mentioned my frustration about this to another guy in the group, and he reciprocated the same feelings. All right, so all the guys in the group and the friend group are like the one guy here, doing a little Kanye West on us. All right, last month, we got a text from the lawyer friend inviting us over to his house for dinner. I didn't think much of it.

We agreed to go however after eating our meal he had us listen to a j cole song and asked us each to speak about the impacts we believe its words have i like j cole i definitely wouldn't want to do that but the guys that like him are ruining it for for everyone who likes j cole i don't like him that much i wouldn't want to do that all right so i thought it was a bit weird but played along presented a few more thoughts. He repaired, then told us his intention was to start a monthly group where we can all come together to speak about these issues. He says his goal is to grow the group and use it as a tool for good in the world.

But I think he might actually just be looking to build an audience for himself. He's mentioned a few times that he feels a bit of a hole in his life where the church used to be. And I feel like this new group is his aim at filling in. I don't think he's an aspiring Jim Jones or anything, but I'm also super uninterested in becoming a part of his monthly sermons. He's obviously put a lot of thought and effort into this, and I still value his friendship. So how do I distance himself from his group while also maintaining the relationship, or is the relationship not worth maintaining? Look, I don't have a problem really with, well, I don't know if I should put it that way I don't really have any problem

with religions except for the fact that religions have been historically one of the worst things ever so you know that's kind of saying two different things I would say in present day if you are somebody that

likes religion likes going to church on Sundays, whatever your routine is, and it makes you feel better, that's awesome. That's kind of how I've always felt about it. I've never been very religious. My parents were very religious growing up and then they wanted nothing to do with it as they got older. And that's basically what we inherited as kids. So I don't like when people do kind of the slow play to you, like the timeshare move, but this is about religion. So this guy clearly had this planned out, as you mentioned, and put a lot of thought

into this, and he's inviting you over. And then, okay, hey, everybody, now it's time for this. And maybe with your background, the LDS, he thought you'd be more receptive to it, which obviously makes sense. But it also could mean that you're even less receptive to it. Now that I say that out loud, cause you're like, you know, I grew up with this and I've decided to kind of change my mind. Uh, there, there are really two things here and this isn't super deep or anything like that, but, uh, there's a chance that he's going to be so into this that

the relationship is never going to be the same anyway. So it might not be worth maintaining. going to be so into this that the relationship is never going to be the same anyway. So it might not be worth maintaining. I know people aren't confrontational. I like confrontation. I don't know why you can't just say to them, Hey man, here's the deal. We're friends. I care about our friendship. I want you to be in my life. I hope you feel the same way. But you know, growing up with LDS and all this stuff, I see the world differently currently right now. This is not something I want. I'm, it's not an insult to you. It's just, I'm not interested. And I hope you can respect that. And if we can still be friends, we can still be friends. The reality is, is he's probably going to be offended. Um, and you're, the relationship is going to be strained at some point. And then

maybe he cycles out of it. Who knows? Because this means so much to him, but the solution here is you don't want to end up at J. Cole dinners anymore because you didn't have a good time. Most people in that setting, look, I'll tell you straight up right now. I'll share a story with you. I have a family member who's very, very religious. This family member means a lot to me, taught me how to drive a car, taught me how to water ski, taught me how to golf. It was somebody, when family vacations, this person was like my guy. This is somebody that was just, and I still care about this person a ton today. A few years ago, I was, it was up in Vermont. I was up in Vermont and went to visit another relative. I guess I'm being vague, but

it doesn't really matter. And it was a nice visit. It's just something I felt like I needed to do, you know, family member, Hey, in the area, make the time, get in the car. Uh, no, don't stay out with your buddies all night. And they'd be like, I don't feel like driving up there now. Um, so I was, I asked this other guy, I was like, Hey, do you want to go with me on the, to the, to make this visit? So he was like, yeah, absolutely. So we drove in separate cars, had a great visit. The whole thing was terrific. And then as I'm walking back to my car, because we were going our separate ways and I had

like a long drive, he had a long drive. I got in my car and he got out of his car and walked up in my window. And I thought, oh, he's like, I could see the look on his face. He's going to say something kind of deep here. Maybe he's going to tell me how proud of me he is. I don't know. And I was like, Hey man, what's up? And I really care about this person. All right. This is somebody who's very close to me and somebody, you know, my first memories of being a person,

this guy's involved in them. And he looked at me and he said, I don't remember a word for word, but it was, it was, it was like almost scripture. It was, it was something like, it was, it was like almost scripture. It was, it was something like, you know, in a man, I see that he is flawed. And before me, I see a flawed man. And I was like, oh, wow. So you're like kind of shitting on me right now. Huh? I didn't say that. I just was like, oh, all right. Hmm. Okay. Noted. Thank you. I was like, yeah oh, all right. Hmm. Okay. Noted. Thank you. I was like, yeah, okay, man. Yeah. Awesome.

Thank you. And then I called somebody religious. I was like, hey, does this mean anything? And they're like, no, I don't know what that means. So as anybody that's like, hey, I know I'm not perfect. Okay. Oh, oh, you're not. Let me cross you off my perfect list.

I had you. I had you down, needed to check in. I know I'm a good guy. So I was kind of like, all right. Thank you. So I'll put it this way. There's some of you listening. I think probably most of you listening are like, yeah.

Most of us just don't want want like we have a hard enough time getting along with people in our relationships um if you are not receptive to this this is not something that you want to do then you're just not going to want to do it so you know kyle what's the closest you were to ever maybe hooking up with a cult a cult uh yeah i'd say i'd say zero zero chance i rushed a couple fraternities and backed out just so i could get the free alcohol for a week but uh i don't think that's cultish but i did want to say my my grandmother my mother's side every time i visit her she tells me she's worried that i'm gonna burn in hell so she doesn't even do the uh the little limerick that you got

from your your family members she just straight up it's like oh i love you it sucks that you're gonna burn in hell but yeah right and look i'll just be because some people might be wondering like why would somebody this was not a day-to-day guy anymore this is maybe a once a year guy and if i were a disaster of a human being i probably would even share that with you but i know like i know the things i could be better at, but I also know that, you know, at this stage of my life, like I'm just, I'm not an asshole to people. You know,

I, I will be if you started, but I, for the most part, yeah, I wasn't, I wasn't driving away going, Oh man,

he's right. I'm terrible. I just was like, all right. Yep. We got it. Cool was like, all right. Yep. We got it. Cool. Thank,

thank you. It was like in plane trains, automobiles when, uh, they're going the wrong way on the highway and the people are screaming. They're like, you're going the wrong way. You're like,

thank you. Thanks a lot. Like, how would he know where we're going? I've always loved that. All right. I think we have time for a couple more okay here's one hey guys fan of the show here's the deal i'm fat been fat all my

life but not morbidly obese uh i'm 25 just started working out for health reasons my oncologist two years ago i was diagnosed with a really weird cancer called liposarcoma. Thankfully, I'm clean now. All right. Strongly recommend it because my family has heart disease. And she flat out told me if I didn't exercise that my heart was going to kill faster than any cancer. When she told me this, I laughed and tried to joke around like every other time. She told me to lose weight. This time she didn't crack or even a small smile.

So I started going to this outdoor gym. And this guy's a personal trainer and everything. So my question is this, is it normal that your body hurts so much after a week? All right, man. So you started working out. So you started working out. Yeah, this part sucks, but it's also the best because it's when you put on the most amount of muscle in the beginning because you've never done it before. So don't try to lift a lot, even though if you're, you said you were fat. So, you know, there's probably, you probably kill it on the leg press. Don't overdo it. Don't get hurt. Build up some of the strength and the mobility of these things

you probably haven't done maybe ever, you know? So even if you can pull down, like there's going to be parts of your body that are like, wait, what the hell are we doing right now? So that's the thing. It should be, you know, you don't go to me, talk to somebody, talk to one of the trainers that really knows what they're doing and tell them your whole deal and let them know. But hurting the beginning is absolutely true. You know, some of us have been doing it a while. We miss that hurt. beginning is absolutely true you know some of us have been doing it a while we miss that hurt we seek it out and every now and then when i have like a big sore day i'm like good yeah i know the first time somebody watches sopranos you're like i'm so jealous of you right now you're gonna get this for the first time you can't believe you're watching this i just

re-watched it recently it's crazy um oh wait wait a minute. He said another thing. What's the gym way to politely tell someone to back the fuck off while I'm finishing with the machine? This guy at the gym just stares and starts asking, you done, bro, every single time. Okay, maybe that guy totally sucks. We're going to take your side. You're emailing the show here, but let's also look at the other side of it. Are you taking too long? All right. Are you taking too long? Do you sit at the machine the whole time? I'm not asking that because you admitted that you were overweight, but I can't deny that I did think it perhaps. So, you know, minute and a half, especially lighter weight, trying to lose some weight. Don't take more than 90 seconds in between exercises. It's not like you're setting a personal record here for, for deadlifts every day. So congrats though. Congrats to you being out there. Never be ashamed. Um, younger.

I was, I wouldn't make fun of anybody that's out of shape, but I'd probably my twenties look at somebody like I rolled in my other buddies. I don't do that stuff anymore. It's not cool. Wasn't cool. Then I regret ever having a mind that would think that way. Um,

never give anyone a hard time. That's deciding to go out there and trying to make it happen. All right. I'm feeling in a giving mood here, Kyle. This one's pretty heavy and it isn't, it isn't because it's Saturday like that, but, but this is a very common thing. It happens to me all the time still. Um, and I'm, I'm actually going through a weird phase with it now where, uh, where I

used to live. I don't, I don't know why that is. All right. So let's just pick this one up. All right. Ryan, love the show. 32, married, three kids, doing pretty well. It's not a major pressing issue, but something that does occur from time to time.

And I listen to your show regularly. So I figure I write in. How do you deal with regret? By the way, the people that are like, oh, I have no regrets. They're so full of shit. So don't ever listen to them. All right. I usually, by the way, if you have no regrets about anything you've ever done, then what,

like, what are you, the Terminator? Like, seriously. So anyway. All right. I usually, by the way, if you have no regrets about anything you've ever done, then what, like, what are you, the Terminator? Like, seriously. So anyway, all right. I usually never have any issues with regret. However, from time to time, once every six months, maybe I have almost nightmare dreams of high school baseball and me essentially not living up to expectations. It's strange because I tried hard at baseball, but I knew deep down I probably would not go pro. It had other interests. I did play college baseball for a year and decided to call it quits after that. It seems to me I must have some regret over that. I don't realize it fully. Have you ever experienced anything similar to this? How would you handle this? Love the show. There we go. All right. Okay. Dude, the athlete screw up dream is like one of the most, that's going to be a tier one

standard dream that everybody possibly has. I have a basketball one all the most, that's going to be a tier one standard dream that everybody possibly has. I have a basketball one all the time. You know, my dad was six, five. He played, he didn't play in the pros, but I always thought I was gonna play in college. It didn't. And my whole high school think I best not, but then, you know, I would make excuses. And then when I look back and be like, dude, you were so scrawny and you weren't good enough. You're playing in these small towns. Like what were you really going to do? And then I bulked up and be like, dude, you were so scrawny and you weren't good enough. You're playing in these small towns. Like, what were you really going to do? And then I bulked up and took it out on people in my 20s and early 30s. And then I didn't play basketball for like five years because I had a crack in my leg.

And I'll have these regrets. But like, what did you think you were going to do, dude? Like, you're a pretty good pickup player in your 20s. That's about it. That's it. Like, what did you think you were going to do? Like, for you to write in this email, I probably would not go pro. You probably weren't going pro, man. So accept that. But there's a bigger thing about the regret thing that happens. And I've noticed this.

Right now, now it's starting to feel weird, but I'm having this thing where I'm missing Burlington, Vermont, not even college, but I'm missing these post-college years where I had these incredibly close friends, this dumpy apartment that was right in town. Again, I was bartending. I know I was actually miserable and I didn't have any money. I had no plan. I was definitely headed down the loser track. And I've talked about this at some point because the irony is that in my 20-year reunion for college, I did my show, my radio show for alumni weekend that Friday in the alley next to my friend's bar that I used to live above. And I was like, this is pretty surreal. But for whatever reason, I'm missing that stretch. And there's nothing on

paper that tells me I should miss that. And I kind of can't figure it out. And it also coincided weirdly with Kid A coming out, Radiohead, and then I read the Kid A book. And so I started thinking about it. And that's probably what kind of was the catalyst to all this stuff. But that will happen. So it's not even right now with me or specific to that timeline or me trying to unlock what the hell is going on and why I'm missing this stretch for like really missing it so much lately. I think it comes down to when you're younger, these memories are more impactful because you don't have as many. So you'll think back on like, I'm not saying that we do this and we only think back and have positive thoughts because we definitely don't do that either. But you can romanticize the past when the reality is like, that's why are you pretending that was awesome? Cause it wasn't.

And that's what will usually get me through it. You know, I'll just go. And again, this isn't like I'm walking around moping around all day for days and days, but like, what's up with Rosillo? Oh, he really misses 2001 Burlington, Vermont a lot. Oh yeah. No, that makes sense. He does look bummed out. No, that's, that's not it.

It's just, I will go back and think of only like, oh man, remember that. And then you did this and there was a boat and that, you know, all these different things. And this music was coming out and I know exactly what movie. And then I used to go up to borders and buy a DVD. And then, you know, I see dead people remember the first time. And I'm, I keep, I'm not even doing the typical, oh my God, college is the best. This is post-college. I was done, but I didn't have, I had nothing going on, nothing going on. But for some reason, maybe it's less stress. Maybe things are more real now. Maybe it's, you see that 401k ad on television and you start thinking, oh shit, you know, and I don't even have any kids where I'm thinking about that.

So that's a whole different thing. But I do think we all have a tendency to start to romanticize past scenarios and then miss them. But when you really sit down and talk to yourself about what it was that you're missing, you're like, wait, why would I miss that? The ultimate for me was one time I actually missed Trenton, New Jersey, the 2002 year, which is the worst year of my life. And I had a moment where I was like, oh, I remember that. I'm like, whoa, don't even allow yourself to pretend that you miss anything during that seven-month stretch in New Jersey. Because it was the worst. And you know it. And I was like, yeah, definitely.

All right. Thank you for subscribing. Rate and review the Ryan Russillo podcast, Spotify network. Big things. We have big, big announcements coming, not just for this podcast, but for Spotify in general. And this has been a lot of fun, man.

A lot of fun. So thanks a lot. I'll talk to you next week. Outro Music