Let's be honest, most men drift. We wake up, we scroll, we work, and then we just rinse and repeat. And we know we're softer than we should be. That's why I built the 31-day resilience reset. This is not a devotional, it is a field manual for men ready to stop drifting and start fighting back. So, for 31 days, you'll train your spirit, mind, and body with scripture, prayer, and daily challenges that forge real resilience. Go to www.undaunted.life/31days to download this resource for free. That's undaunted.life/31days. Start your reset today. >> [music] >> This is Undaunted Life, a man's podcast. I'm your host, Kyle Thompson. Let's get into it. All right, guys, we got a special guest on the podcast today. His name is David [ __ ] He's a three-time All-American football player from the University of Georgia. He also won the Chuck Bednarik Award in 2004, which is given to the top defensive player in the country, a two-time SEC Defensive Player of the Year, and a first-round pick in the 2005 NFL Draft by the Cincinnati Bengals. And you might recognize his face cuz it's kind of hard to see through the face mask all the time, but he was on College GameDay for several years, the the show that goes around the country during the college football season, and he is the author of this new book, Everyday Counts, Start Where You Are, Use What You Have, Do What You Can. I just got to tell you from the beginning here, I knew from the moment he got on that this was going to be a lot of fun because very few people on this planet can match this level of energy, right? I just got this energy, it's always been there, it's just this crazy mixture of like recessive genes, red hair, internal angst and anger, and a Celtic background, and then you just kind of get this frantic nonsense. But he's kind of the same way, he's got so much energy, and he talks about that a lot in the book, and so I knew we were going to have a great time. Well, and really from the beginning, we went completely off-script. I thought we were just going to kind of follow the book and follow, you know, how'd you get into football? And then, okay, what was high school football like? And why'd you choose University of Georgia to go play football? And you know, the the the path towards the NFL. But we talked about a lot of subject matters that were way more interesting than that. So, if you want to hear more about that, you can get the new book and check it out, it's there in the show notes. But ultimately, we spent a lot of time talking about, "Hey, man, where did your your heart for helping men come from? You know, why write a book like this?" Well, he and I kind of both realized we're kind of weirdos, and we do things that we think are normal that aren't normal to everybody else. So, it's helpful whenever we tell people like, "Hey, here's the not normal things that we do that help us level up spiritually, mentally, or physically." So, we spent a lot of time on that, but we do talk about we talk about football, we talk about his identity crisis because his NFL career ended after being a first-round pick on the second snap of the second game of his career, he broke his neck. And that ended his career, and so there's this identity crisis, and how does that go with his faith journey because he's a Christian, but he grew up in a non-Christian household? So, kind of where did all that take place? How are you able to be resilient in the face of some different things? We talked about gambling, we talked about how that's been a huge thing in sports, how they wanted to sponsor his podcast, and he just couldn't really go that direction and kind of the nefarious nature of what's happening there. We talk about college sports, things that could be changed within, you know, NIL and the transfer portal and different things like that. But man, we just weaved in and out of a lot of different subjects, and I think we might even uh do some stuff in the future, so we'll see what happens behind the scenes. But guys, without further ado, let's get into it. David [ __ ] welcome to Undaunted Life, a man's podcast. My man, thank you for having me, Kyle. I appreciate it, brother. >> going to tell you I told you this off air, I think we're going to have an energy crisis here because normally I'm the one that's got the [ __ ] insane energy, but you seem to have a lot of it, but I do have a bone to pick with you right from the beginning. I'm not very happy with you, David. You want to know why? Okay, why? Because you went the on this bum podcast with some joke of a pastor named Joby Martin and some guy named the Quarterback Guru. Oh, I'm Dinny, I'm the Quarterback Guru, whatever. How in the world did you end up on Built for More before you in ended up on this podcast? How did that happen? Well, well, no, no, no, that was to get on Undaunted. I was trying to get to Undaunted, but that that wrapped me around like it got me to here. So, Kyle, there's nothing to worry about. Like that was the appetizer for the main course. You know what? I like that because all roads end up leading here. No one actually wants to talk to Joby Martin with that that dumb beard and that stupid accent. Nobody He never says anything important, he's just like it's all circular reasoning with that guy. Obviously, guys, all kidding aside, don't clip this and send this to the Joby. He knows I like to give him a hard time, but we love the guys over there at the Built for More podcast. But today, you and I are going to talk about a lot of different subjects, but this week, if guys are paying attention, you heard me talk about it in the show notes or in the intro to this show, in the show notes is a link to your book. All right, so not only are you a football guru, you're apparently a published author now. So, we got Everyday Counts, this is your book. Obviously, there's there's a lot of messages in this book, and we're going to get to a lot of them, okay? You know, there's messages about resilience and overcoming, and you know, how to structure your day, how to not just be the motivation guy, but to be the discipline guy. But I guess just generically, and then we'll get into the book itself, why this book, why now, why you? Well, why now is because it took like 4 years to write it because I'm a defensive lineman, so [laughter] that's why now. Like it was the hardest thing, Kyle, probably I've ever done because I'm ADD energy, and I have energy, but when I sit down, I have to get still, and I have to, you know, so what I've learned was what was good for me is write a little bit, leave, come back, write a little bit, leave, come back. And so, a lot of that as as a coping mechanism, you know, man, I see so many people in my life, Kyle, that like I love I love them to death. And and and I sit down with them, and I've had so many sessions with my buddies, with a bunch of dudes, and I'm like helping them write out goals for their families, and I'm like, "All right, dude, I need to I need to make this a book cuz cuz you know, you can't get you can't get to everybody. But when you when you write a book, you know, your message can get to anybody anywhere, anytime. And so, it's like a little disciple book, you know, discipleship book that you can hand. And so, I think that's kind of the the premise for, but Everyday Counts is something, Kyle, that I didn't know I did until I got older. And I didn't know it was something. Because of my disposition and who I am and the way God wired me, I couldn't look at the big picture. I'm not a big picture guy. Like I have big goals, but I can only function within my means and within and I say that I go to a church service. If I go to a church service, you know, and and Joby Martin's dealing, like that's awesome, and that's great. But if I don't have tangible takeaways, your boy doesn't succeed as well. And so, like how do we develop tangible takeaways and things that I can arm that I can put in my tool belt, man, that I can go out and I can use. And so, I think that's where the Everyday Counts comes from. First of all, I stole it from the BCS when it used to be Every Game Counts. That's where I took it, and Everyday Counts, and it kind of became a mantra in my life about 15, 16 years ago, and started to use it and just to to realize, man, like and I'm going to use the car analogy real quick. I'm in a car, and I'm driving. And if I get caught in my car of life, this is my life, I'm in my life right now. If I'm always looking out of the windshield, and I'm always looking to the future, I'm not enjoying today. Right? I I could have big goals, big dreams, big aspirations. I ain't going to catch them unless I'm successful today. And guess what? You know, you know these people, too, Kyle, there's a lot of people that are looking in that rearview mirror. I I I've failed. I've done this. I've done that. I'm not worthy. I'm not good enough. No, no, no, no, no, no. Like yesterday is gone. Tomorrow hasn't come yet. So, that analogy of every making every single day count by starting where you are, using what you have, and doing what you can. Well, so David, you're bringing up something that I realized a few years ago is you're kind of a weirdo, and so am I. But we don't know that we're weirdos. We just know that we're wired differently than the people around us, and so we know there's some gifting in there, but we just kind of take for granted some of the disciplines and some of the daily activities that we do. But then when you see other people cuz you have a heart for helping men, obviously, so do I. I I was put on this planet to equip men to push back darkness. But there's just things that I do that are so foreign to other people that when the light bulb went off in my brain, like, "Oh, I should give other guys some advice because they don't One, they don't know that they can do the stuff that maybe I'm doing. Another thing is maybe they don't haven't given themselves permission to get better." That's kind of a weird thing, but a lot of guys feel like they need permission from somebody be like, "Yeah, you can achieve better. You can live a more disciplined life. You can be more resilient." And I'm just I'm wondering where that comes from, but it seems like you and I had a very similar revelation when it comes to, "Hey, we're we're kind of weird, we're kind of built different, we're kind of wired funny, but we can use that gifting and that wiring that God gave to us as a gift to help a lot of other men. 100%. And I think that you know, I I don't know when I realized that, but I definitely realized that. I remember, you know, and and this is my friend just said this to me the other day, like two of my roommates in college that played football with me, like I had a key to the weight room at night. And and I would literally be like, "Hey, man, let's go to the weight room, you know, let's go let's go get an edge on everybody." And they're like, "Dude, we already worked out today." I'm like, "Yeah, but nobody else is going to go work out again." And so, I kind of knew I was a little bit weird and a little bit different, like you said. But but here's the here's what I've learned, man. We're all wired differently. We're all made for for different gifts. But that doesn't mean we can't all be successful, and we can't all learn discipline. And I'll be honest, I've learned discipline throughout my journey. Like I was a disciplined person, but I needed structure. I needed systems. For example, I had to learn, and a lot of people need to learn this right now. Like I got to be selfish in the morning if I'm going to be selfless the rest of the day. I have to be. If if if I say I am a man that stands on principle, and so if like I'm a man that stands on my faith, if I'm not getting up in the morning, and I'm not praying, and I'm not reading my Bible, like I'm not setting my day in a position to be successful. Now, here's the thing, I used to do that, Kyle, and I used to check a box. I used to be like, "Reading plan, check." Now, the older I've gotten, man, I've realized that once I start putting that here, man, it comes out of here. Like the rest of the day, dude. Like it's coming out of my mouth. It's in my thought process. I've invited God into my day. Like I I have now the power, like the the the same power that lives in Jesus, right? That lived in Jesus, I have inside of me and it gives me a real chance to walk in the spirit throughout the day. So, I think, you know, you learn these systems and you just got to learn what makes you tick and you got to learn what you have time for and what your capacity is. Like praise and worship in our house is a non-negotiable. Like that is a non-negotiable. We all get excited about it. Like it makes everybody happy. It's something that we love to do. Like, you know, the reading, obviously, you know, family devotionals, the different stuff. Like what works for you? What works for your family? Um but there are some non-negotiables. And those non-negotiables, man, they need to happen early, right? Like they need to happen in the first part of my day if I want to be successful. No different than diet. No different than exercise, man. Like if you want to be in shape, like you know as well as I do, as the day goes along, the the the want to kind of wanders and then I'm not going to get it done. But if I get up early and I get it done, man, I checked it off. I got something done to start and and boom, I can go throughout my day with a with a start that's a good one. Well, I actually love that because I I've heard from a lot of guys, David, "Hey, you know what? I I would exercise and be in shape, but my family, you see. But you know, I got this wife and you know, we decide to have these kids and you know, I want to be around for them, blah blah." I'm like, "Well, bro, do you realize that you're going to be with them now, but you're not going to be able to be with them later because all things being equal, you are deleting years off the end of your life by not taking care of your body right now? But there's this concept that I I try to give to guys is the bill comes due every morning. So, these guys that try to operate based on motivation and not discipline, you know, they'll try to wake up in the morning and they're at that moment trying to decide, "Am I going to work out?" It's like, "Bro, you've already lost even if you do work out." Cuz you have to pre-decide yesterday before you go to bed assuming that, you know, the house doesn't burn down in the middle of night, the baby doesn't throw up on me, and my leg's still attached to my body, I'm going to get out in the garage and I'm going to go lift or I'm going to go get my gym bag and I'm going to go drive to the Globo Gym and get after it. But most guys wait until the moment where they are least capable to fight temptation, which is when they are warm in their bed, fast asleep, REM sleeping like crazy, and then, you know, the alarm starts going off. Then they start the negotiation. I'm like, "I don't negotiate with terrorists." And my brain is a terrorist that doesn't want me to do anything, you know what I mean? But like I That's what I try to tell guys is the bill comes due every morning. Yeah, so so here's here's what's amazing about that because you just put that in a in a in a worldly in a worldly picture for everybody, right? Like that's about exercise. But but but to here's to me and that that and that is absolutely 100% fact. But here's the thing, there's decisions and there's choices in life, okay? Decisions I've already made. I already made a decision with my bride when we were when we were started dating at 14 years old, I was going to be a virgin. So, here's the thing, we were going to be virgins till our wedding night. So, guess what? That decision's already been made. When the choice comes up, I've already made the decision. I've already made Do you know how easy it is in your life when you understand exactly what you are, who you want to be, what you stand for? And yes, there will be negotiations. There will be that voice in your head that's going to tell you you're not good enough. You shouldn't do it, right? But if I've made the decision and that's who I am, if I'm not going to be a gambling person, if I'm not going to drink alcohol, which I chose not to do, when I get in the moment, there's no choice to be made. >> Right? Like so so how much can you make How many of those decisions can you make but like on who you are, what you are, so when those choices come up, man, it's just not difficult. You know exactly where to stay where you stand and the temptation of it becomes way less of a struggle for you. And so that that is something that you can predetermine, so it doesn't have to be as hard when you're in that moment. >> Well, I I know a lot of guys, basically every guy with a functioning prefrontal cortex has an aspirational identity, right? The easiest one is guys typically they're like, "Well, my body looks like this, I want my body to look like that." Or hey, I have this type of a job, I want that type of a job. I drive this type of vehicle, I want that type of vehicle. So, we're covering all the different categories. Or even guys, I have this level of biblical understanding, I want that level of biblical understanding. I want Bible events to just come out in my normal everyday vernacular. I want to be able to quote scripture and do it accurately, right? But for a lot of guys, they are just getting ready to get ready. So again, everybody understands kind of the the exercise example. So, let's say you've been letting yourself go, haven't really exercised in a couple of years, you're overweight, you've, you know, succumbed to the dad bod, and then something happens, you walk to the top of a flight of stairs, you're out of breath, and you're like, "This sucks. I don't want to do this anymore." What I feel like a lot of guys do, David, is they will start their research process. So, they are going to research the best workout modality programs there are. And here they are, they're they're looking at, you know, HIIT training and they're looking at zone two cardio and they're looking at, "Well, if if I exercise during this time period, it's actually going to release this endorphin in my body, blah blah blah." And what they've done is they will spend days, weeks, or even months thinking about thinking about getting ready and doing stuff. And it's like, I would much rather you do something poorly than to do do nothing at all. And I feel like a lot of guys, again, it's that internal negotiation. Like, "Do I need permission to do this? Or what are people going to say about me? Oh, if I actually start getting on a better path, I I'm actually inherently admitting that I've been on a bad path and that makes me feel funny." And it's just guys don't understand how how deleterious that is. There there's so much in there that's really really good. Um one, I think so many of us arm it. We we arm the we arm the gun. We we arm the weapon. We got the bullets. We're checked it. We're It's all in there. And we're just waiting for the right opportunity to pull the trigger. >> Yeah. There's never a right opportunity. There's never going to be a perfect time to go, "I'm going to go kill this career. I'm going to go kill this job." Like it all requires action and going and doing. Now, you have to pull the trigger. If you wait till it's perfect, you'll never do it. So, for a job. Like John Maxwell told me he a couple years ago, I'm talking to him. I'm like, "Hey, John, I want to start doing the speaking stuff. I love it. Like I love speaking. I love sharing." He was like, "Well, who do you want to speak to?" And I was like, you know, churches and FCAs is a lot of He goes, "So, you want to speak to the church?" And I was like, that's not what I said. He goes, "I I thought that's what I heard. Well, who who do you want to speak to?" And I was like, "FCAs, churches." He's like, "So, the church?" Yeah. And I was like, "That's not what I said, you jerk." He was like, "Here's the thing, man." He goes, "You have to go speak to understand what you need to do." Yeah. Like so, go do it. And then you'll figure out what your sweet spot is, where you want to be, who you want to be. Now, here's one thing that's amazing about that what you said, though. I love that. So, we got to pull the trigger. We got to let it rip. We got to go. We got to be willing to fail along the way. That's okay. Like fail forward. Continue, you know, lessons not losses, right? Continue to move forward as we fail and God will crystallize it for you, which is amazing. But here's what you have to do and this is one of the main topics of the book. Start where you are. Yeah. Use what you have. Do what you can. It doesn't say what everyone else does. It doesn't say what somebody who has two hours a day. Start where you are. So, an example for me, I'll never forget, man, I'm in college football. I I I signed as a fullback to go to the University of Georgia, they moved me to defensive tackle. And I'll never forget, "Hey, man, you got to get off the ball quick. Short first step. Low pad level. Good hands inside." I'm like, "Whoa. Like you just gave me 17 things to do, bro. Like I can't do that. Like So, I'll never forget, I looked at my GA. I was like, "Coach, I'm going to get off the ball with a short first step as fast as I possibly can. I'm going to worry about that other stuff another time. Like I got to get the most important part to have a good base. That That's where I'll say we got to do in life, man. What's the first step we can take? What what's the first thing we can knock out, man? Like and start that process. And here's another thing that slows people down is when you tell people what you're doing. Don't Don't tell people what you're doing. >> Yeah. Like you don't need to tell people what you're doing, man. Just keep doing it. Keep building that habit. They'll see it. Like when you There there's some studies that have been done when you tell people that you've what you're doing and what you've done, you feel like you've accomplished it. You haven't accomplished it yet, right? Like continue to put your head down. And in our family, I say all the time, "Hey, work in the dark. Work in the dark. Work in the dark." Cuz it comes to light. Like all of your work will come to light at some point. But those Those are two things that are big time in this world, man. You've got to go. You've got to do. Don't wait till it's perfect. And then start by using what you have, like right where you are right now, to take those first steps. Hey guys, real quick. I know a lot of you train for very specific things. So, maybe you've got a mud race coming up, a mountain hunt, a 5K, or maybe you just want to keep up with your kids, or you just don't want to let the old man in. But for a lot of you guys, whether you're working out at the Globo Gym or even in your garage gym, you get there and you just don't know exactly what to do. And so you just kind of settle for the same old workout routine, maybe some bench press, bicep curls, a walk on the treadmill, and you know you're not really getting the most out of your workout plan. And I want you guys to stop wasting time at the gym. No more settling. It's time for you guys to get a guide to help you reach your fitness goals. And that's why I want to remind you about my good friends at Mountain Tough. Mountain Tough is a fitness and mental toughness app developed by military special operators and mountain hunters that's becoming a global movement for building mentally tough athletes on and off the mountain. Mountain Tough is a native app ready to be downloaded on all platforms, so that includes iPhone, Android, Apple TV, Roku, and there's more. Once you sign up and download the app or access the website, you immediately have access to hundreds of exercise programs and literally thousands of workout videos, thousands. So, that includes structured hybrid strength and endurance programs, daily workouts, the full exercise library, mental toughness training, the Mountain Tough community, and accountability. And you can use it all on the go, online or offline, no matter where you decide to train. So, if you're just getting started, that's great. They have programs for beginners. If you have minimal or no gear where you train, that's not a factor. They have minimal gear and body weight programs. And guys, if you're wanting to get into or maintain elite level fitness, they've got you covered with programs for top-tier athletes, too. And for a limited time, Mountain Tough is extending Undaunted Lifers like you an incredible offer. Go to mountaintough.com. That's mtn tough.com and enter the code Kyle when you sign up for a monthly plan to receive your first month free after your 14-day trial. So, that's 6 weeks free to make sure this is for you. I'm sure it will be. That is 6 weeks free on the best-in-class physical and mental training app in the world. So, stop wasting time. It's time to get real fitness results. Let my friends at Mountain Tough guide the way. Again, go to mtn tough. That's mountaintough.com. Promo code Kyle. Well, the follow-on to that really is what is the next right step. So, I remember being asked this years ago, David. People were like, "Hey, what's like the 3-to-5-year plan for Undaunted Life? Like, what are your big goals? What are the things you want to do?" And I just looked at this person kind of laughed and smiled and I said, "Man, I'm just trying to make the next right step." Because almost everything, cuz I I talk about this a lot. We Every Sunday we have a round table Bible discussion podcast that comes out. Four years ago, that didn't exist. Three years ago, Joby Martin and I had never met. Well, he and I have done a lot of ministry together. We launched an entire second podcast called The Daily Blade, which is a 5-minute daily devotional just for real men, right? And it fast, you know, became one of the the biggest podcast in the Christian space. That wouldn't have existed cuz 3 years ago, that wasn't a thing. Two years ago, I had this idea for a coaching program that I hadn't executed on. Now, that has completely changed our business, completely changed our ministry. Like, just over a year ago, that Daily Blade podcast that I mentioned didn't even exist. And so, think about if I was sitting here like really working. I've got my spreadsheet and I've got all my my whiteboard and I'm doing all this 3-to-5-year planning and all that. I think God would look to me and be like, "That is so cute." I mean, look at your life. You got a 3-to-5-year plan when you go to the Bengals, right? And didn't that change pretty quick? You had a probably had a 3-to-5-year plan with your family and God's like, "My son, you don't know that your wife's going to be sick." You know what I mean? And so, it's like for a lot of guys, it's like, "Can we just focus on the next right step?" Here you are in your brain imagining that day whenever you can just flow on stage during a sermon or or you know, pull out a Bible event and and speak about it clearly, but you haven't read your Bible today. So, why in the world are you dreaming about a future version of you when the version of you TODAY STILL SUCKS? >> [laughter] >> NOT TO BE FRANK. BUT YEAH, THAT'S But that's that's such that's such great advice, man. And it's just it's it's all the mindset, right? Like, it's all the mindset of like I have I have great I have First of all, what does God say? I have plans for you to be prosperous and successful. Like, he wants us to prosper. He's a God that's for us. That doesn't mean we're not going to go through some hills and some or some valleys, right? Like, we're not going to go through some stuff and some failures. But those failures aren't wasted. And And if we don't ever go, we'll never know what we're capable of. And then here's the thing, if you don't go and you don't do, you also don't know what you don't like. And you know, you don't know what you do like. Like, all those programs, man, some of those things back in the it wouldn't have been a dream because you didn't realize you were gifted in that area unless you walked in it. Unless you had some conversations. Then you have some conversations. And guess what else happens? Oh, now I see the need. Like, I've had some conversation with some men, there's some need. Like, that's another thing. God's going to reveal things across your journey about as you develop, as you grow, as you pursue, as you chase, right? Now, that starts with you. That starts with you being intentional. That's Like, before I broke my neck with the Bengals. So, that's how my NFL career ended. Like, I literally, since I was 4 years old, I told anybody who would listen, I'm going to play in the NFL. I'm going to play in the NFL. Made my dream come true. Get to the NFL. Broke my neck and bam. One play. One play, my lifelong dream and my NFL career is over. Second game, right? Second game? Second game, second play. Like, it's gone. It's no longer. And so, like this is what I tell people all the time. Like, God makes or sport makes a horrible God. An occupation makes a horrible God. But But here's what happened. The Bible says, "Be still and know that I am God." And the reason I went here with this is because I had a transactional relationship with God. I'd wake up in the morning, I'd holler at my boy. I'd Before a meal, I'd pray. Yep. Like, transactional. Like, those things have happened in my life now, some of these hard things, and they've slowed me down, and I've developed some processes for the For example, for the morning, Kyle, every single morning, every day of my life, I'm getting up, I go to my sauna for 20 minutes of dead silence, dead quiet, and I talk to God. Like, that is my first step. I talk to God and I listen. You know what's amazing? It's amazing when you talk to God, and it's amazing when you spend time with him, how he'll actually answer you. My life was very transactional, though, and I I don't hear from God very much. Well, how much was I communicating with him? How much was I getting still for him to listen? How much did I invite him into my endeavors, into my day on a consistent basis? So, you know, those are things that that we have the opportunity to do. We just got to get some for us and some ways that we can accomplish that in our lives so we don't we don't miss out on those great moments that God has for us. So, I wanted to ask you about this, and then you used my one of my favorite words, standards. Because a lot of people do goal setting, and like, look, I'm not anti-goal setting. I think goal setting works. I just think standards are better. Because if you have a goal, like, imagine rolling over to your wife in the morning and be like, "Hey sweetie I have a goal today. I'm going to try to love you like Christ loved the church." Like, she would be doing well to look back at you like, "You're a psychopath. Why Why in the world would you say something like that?" That should just be the standard of how what you hold yourself to is loving her as Christ loved the church. You should have a standard spiritually with how you approach the Bible and prayer time. You should have a standard physically. Like, there are things that you should just be able to do at the drop of a hat. I always talk about the Murph workout that everyone does on Memorial Day. So, it's a mile run, 100 pull-ups, 200 200 push-ups, 300 squats, another mile run, all with the weighted vest on. So, I train 364 days a year so that Memorial Day, the Murph isn't as horrible as it could be, but I'm also trained in a way that if you just showed up at my house tomorrow morning and said, "Kyle, we're Murphing," I just go, "All right, bet. I'm going to just let me throw my shoes on, right?" It's a standard. It's a standard way of approach. So, talk a little bit more about how we can hold to particular standards because again, a lot of guys don't even do the goal setting part, so standards is kind of fuzzy. And standards is almost like a cuss word to some people because it seems like there's like a really mean, you know, first-hour teacher in 11th grade that's like, "This is what you're going to do." Or that one coach that no one liked to play for because he ran you too hard, right? So, we kind of avoid even making standards. Well, I think it's And And the way the way I put it is it's standards over feelings. And And so, the standard is who I am, what I am, what I stand for, what I'm doing. Kind of talking about decisions earlier. Like, I'm going to be a person that does X, Y, and Z. Here's the problem. Feelings come in, and feelings make you go, "Oh, I don't feel like that. That's right. And they're a liar. Feelings are a liar. A liar. Like, so so here is my standard. This is what I I wake up every day My I am commanded from my God to put my woman first. My kids come after that. Like, that is a standard. Like, it is a standard to spend time with God Like, I I'm tired. I went to bed too late. That's my fault. That is my fault. This is the standard. This is what we do. This is who we are. This is what we eat. Like, and again, I'm talking to you know, in my life, it's just the feelings are not something that changes my standards of who I am. Does that mean I'm perfect? Absolutely not. But like, I'm going to pursue things with a a specific standard. I'm going to like, business ventures. Anybody who has business ventures out there, like there's a standard in which I'm going to do business. I like making money. Everyone likes making money. But it's not going to be at the standard it's not going to be below the standard of does this honor God? Does this glorify God? Is this something that God would be proud of? Like, for example, I got offered to on my podcast the biggest sponsorship we could have we've had, and it would have been amazing, would have made a lot of money. And I'm like, "Yes, amazing. We finally got a banner sponsor." And then I found out it was gambling. And I was like, Crap. >> have guessed. >> And immediately, Kyle, immediately my my mind went to I can justify this. Like, I'm not going to do the reads. It's not about me. I took four of my buddies, man. We went to Jittery Joe's coffee. We sat down, and I'm like, "Hey, man, I want to hear y'all's These are godly men. Like, I want to hear I said, "I want to hear your advice when it comes or what your thoughts are when it comes to gambling." And we talked for over an hour, hour and a half, almost 2 hours. And we still we went back and forth. And I was like, I just And my the majority of them were like, "You know, I don't really have a strong stance. I'm okay with it. Like, I'm okay with going to a casino. I'm okay with doing this." And And And literally, having that conversation and talking about it, I I I said we we got to the point where it was like, "Okay, in order for me to win, someone else has to lose. Is that the God that I serve? Is that the Jesus that I follow? Like, oh, it's good for me. If If as long as it's good for me, it And if it's not good for you, it doesn't really matter. Like, if I'm doing something that directly hurts someone else. In order for the Cowboys to cover, the Packers have to lose. So, someone else has to lose for me to win. And so, you know, but but those like like those are the standards, man. Like, how do we How do we put those standards in place where I'm just going to be a person that shows up. and I'm going to always be a person that gives you everything I have. How do we How do we move the phone out of the way? How do we How do we live to those standards that we really are called to live to and [clears throat] those things that are important to us and keep the feelings out of it. Keep the feelings over here. The feelings don't matter. That small voice that wants to tell you to stop or do something different, the enemy voices you're like, "No, no, no, no, get out of here. This is the standard in which I live my life." Well, how many guys are standing ready to compromise? They they are they stand they don't stand ready to stand firm. They stand ready to compromise, right? Because they're presented with that moment, right? Of of And I could have guessed it was a betting sponsor. The moment he started down that road, I was like, "Oh, it's probably gambling site, right?" And you know, Yes. But but they I wish it wasn't. >> Yeah, but they get a Yeah, no kidding. Maybe maybe another one will come along. I don't want to divert too too far away cuz I want to get back to to talking about your experience with the Bengals and all that type of thing. But just to take a little bit of a a detour before we get back on the highway, there are a lot of nefarious things that I think are surrounding specifically college athletics, and I do want to actually get back to college athletics toward the end. But the the betting thing is one of the more nefarious things that I think has happened because culturally colloquially gambling was always something that was seen as almost like, "Okay, that's something that happens over there. That's something that good reputable upstanding people in the community, they don't really make a lifestyle of that." But we live in an age now where it's gamified, where you're a 15-year-old kid, you're sneaking in and getting your dad's credit card or debit card because you can't watch a game without putting something down on it, right? And I don't have the emotional maturity to watch a game where I care about the outcome anyway. And now you want me to put money on it? You you want me to put money on like how far the kickoff's going to go or how long the national anthem's going to last or the the guy the player that's going to get the first rebound? And David, how many stories have we seen already in semi-pro, which I guess technically is college athletics and professional athletics, where guys are getting wrapped up in this, right? They they knew the over/under for their points in this NBA game was 13 and 1/2. So they played the first quarter, scored six points, took themselves out, "Oh, I got a little bit of a cramp. Oh, my back hurts." And now these guys' careers are over. You're going to have I guarantee you, and I hate that I have to say this, I guarantee you we are going to see collegiate athletes that are going to be murdered by incredibly dangerous people that are mob-based or mafia-based or gang-based or cartel-based because they're not going to play the game, right? The way that the the bettors and people want. Then all of a sudden we're going to have to have this cultural discussion about, "Well, is gambling bad and does this is a bad thing to to be advertising in the stadium where there's a bunch of kids available?" I just want to get your read cuz you are you are as far into the college football and sports commentary game as as it possibly go. What's your read about where this goes from where we are now into the future? It's the I think it's the number one problem moving forward for for the smallest for the Gen Z or whatever it is. Like it's literally the number one problem that they're going to face because now they have access in their pockets. They have access at a young age and and how do they hook you? They hook you because my 17-year-old son came to me and was like, "Hey Dad, my buddies are on DraftKings. They want me to do this like they want me to play." And I was like, he goes, "Uh if Lamar Jackson throws for 30 yards, he throws for 200 yards a game. Like 200 something yards a game. That's a win." Yeah. >> And he's like, "I win 50 bucks." And I was like, "Hey buddy, why do you think they built massive cities in the desert? Massive cities in the desert. Why do you think they're doing that? They're doing that because nothing good is going to happen from this. You know what can happen that's good, buddy? You win. You know why that's You know why that's good? It's good for them because you're going to bet again. Right. And if you do too well, they kick you off the And then when you bet again, And if you do too well, they kick you off the platform. So if you're too good at what you do, they're like, "We got to get this guy out of here." You're guaranteed to lose, man. There's a reason those chandeliers are so nice. And it's just So so you got a group of 16, 17, 18-year-old kids that have access to it is an easier way than possible. All they got to do is check the box that says they're 18, which they're not, right? Like they just check the box, they have the app, and they get they have it in their pocket. So it's just it's not a good thing, man. It's never going to be a good thing. Like I I I the gambling, I get it because we have some of these areas in our lives where it's not black and white, you know? It's not specifically talked about in the Bible. Mhm. But dig into that thing a little bit more, and a lot of time you'll find all the conviction you need. And you'll find all the the the verses to support where you stand on it, but it's um it's a it's a thing that's going to be continued to talk about because guess what? All these companies, they're continuing to take all the money that they're giving them. All the podcasts are taking all the money. The lines are all over the television. You're going to see it. There's shows that are developed around it because they know they're going to hook you. And when they hook you, they're going to make tons of money off of it, and that's all they care about. Well, here's the best hermeneutic that I've heard on gambling cuz I've heard both sides of the biblical argument, and nothing has really like stuck in my brain as being absolutely clear. They're like, if you treat gambling as you would entertainment. So for instance, uh the I guess at the by the time this is out, the new Mario movie will have come out, right? Well, guess what? I'm going to take the risk as the leader of my family of taking my wife and my two sons to go see the Mario Mario movie. And you know what? We might all think it stinks. And so that's the risk we're willing to take. We're taking a gamble on this entertainment thing working out for us. But the only time I've ever been in a casino was when I was in Detroit for the World Series back in, you know, 2012, and we could go across the border to Canada and go to this casino. You know what my wife and I took in there? A $20 bill. We put it on a card. We went to those slot machines and we're like, "We're going to get $20 worth of enjoyment out of this." And you know what we walked out with? Zero. But let's say we hit all sevens and we walked out with 500 bucks. Okay, that just enhanced the experience from a financial perspective. But some people can't even go that far, David. Like there are there are things that people can do that are sins for them that wouldn't be sins for others, right? So I can sit and have a single malt scotch on my back porch and not be tempted to have 10 more. But I got two buddies that came to mind immediately that that's exactly what would happen. So if they put that first sip to their lips, they're done for, and so they probably shouldn't even mess with it. But let's yank the wheel, get back on the highway. I want to talk about something that you were talking about when you were talking about the Bengals, right? So since you were a little kid, football was like everything for you. And I literally laughed out loud in the book when you talked about I think what was it in ninth grade when you ran a six flat 40? Absolutely blazing. I thought that was hilarious. I thought you were a much better athlete than that. What's wrong with you? But like, okay, you spend all this time in high school, right? You have all these great moments in high school. Again, guys, you got to get Every Day Counts so you can read about it. You go to UGA. You go from full back to defensive tackle. Who does that? Absolutely no one. But then you end up being one of the the better, if not arguably the best defensive player in the history of Georgia, which I've heard is a decent football school. And then you get drafted in the first round to go to the Cincinnati Bengals. This is everything you've worked for. This is everything you told people straight to their face, "This is what I'm going to do." This is you getting to dunk to mix, you know, sports analogies. You get to dunk on all the people that doubted you and all the people that didn't think you were going to start in high school, much less get drafted in the first round to go to the NFL. And almost immediately it's taken from you on a freak play on a tackle that you've made a hundred times before then. It's just wrong place, wrong time, wrong body part, crack. And even after rehab and even after second and third opinions, it just became apparent that your your football career is over. But wrapped up in all of that, David, is one gigantic word, identity. The majority in in the the gravitational pull of your entire world was football and performing well on the gridiron, right? And then that's just taken away from you. And as with a lot of professional athletes, whether they choose to retire or the game retires them, they run into this identity crisis. So let's just talk about the lead-up and then kind of the work you had to do after. It's it's it's hard, man, because that is, you know, whether you like it or not, you start to adapt that adopt that identity, right? Like I was I was a big dude that big dudes are football players, you know? And it's just like it's okay to be a little fluffy when you're a football player, right? Like, "Oh, you're a football player. You're supposed to be a little bit chubby, right?" Like So I think that's part of it, but you know, if I had an extra five minutes, I was running. If I had an extra 10 minutes, like I was going to do everything I could, and that's who I thought I was. Like that's that's who I thought God made me to be was a football player. And I think what's what's best about it is, man, like here's what I learned at the age of 22 that I'm so grateful that I learned that I would not go back and change. When you have something that you're chasing and something you want to go do and you want to go be, and it's taken away, like the awesome part about that is you have two choices. You have two. Like you can run to God or you can run away from God. And what I found, man, is when I ran to God, I had every single thing I needed. Was it Did it Did it make it not not painful? No. No, it didn't make it not painful. It still stung. It's still something I wanted to do. But you know what? By walking through that, I became a better son to Norman Kelly [ __ ] I became a better spouse to Lindsey [ __ ] I became a better dad in the future. Because guess what? I learned what it was like to hit some hard stuff. And it's not if, it's when. It's when we're going to hit those storms in lives. And so God humbled He allowed me to be humbled. And he allowed me to go through some stuff that was really, really difficult. And because of those things, it sharpened my faith. It got me ready for the next step of my life. It You know what else it taught me? It taught me that there's a lot of people going through a lot of things that are really, really hard, man. Like I broke my neck. There's people that buried their children today. And And when you have things like that that remind you that life is short, man, do you take advantage of it. Man, do you see that life is short and life is precious and every day is a gift. And when you go Kyle, when you bench 455, that sounds really heavy. It's not in a in a college football locker room. Like it was not in the top 20, I promise. To benching 135 twice like this, literally shaking so hard, like you learn, man, like holy cow. And guess what? I don't deserve this. Let me say that again. I don't deserve to be in the NFL. I got to I had I got the privilege to play. I didn't deserve it. It wasn't something I had earned more than other people. I'd been given a gift and I had stewarded that gift. But now, like where do you want me to go? Like it's those moments in life, man, where we have those adversity where now it's like, okay, what's the art of the possible? Like God and here I I I remember saying to my baby doll, I'm like, baby doll, like if if God's taken football and this is a path that he want me to go, man, I can't wait for what's next. Like I can't wait for what's next because football was amazing and I thought I was created for it. Guess what? The next thing I get into is television. Never thought I'd get into television and got to do College Game Day. Like So, you know, it's it's amazing, man. Like if we can take those moments for what they are. They're they're momentary setbacks, right? They're momentary it's momentary affliction. But we're going to have that all throughout our lives. We're going to continue to have moments where it's like man, this stinks. But I But I think it's like driving in the car analogy again. Like there's some potholes that God's going to take us around and then there's some potholes that we're going to have to go through and we're just going to have to learn how to deal with it and be okay with it. But what I found out is those potholes, man, and those moments like that really help you understand there's a great big world of people going through a bunch of moments. And if you pay attention you can plug in and you can be a part of God's plan, God's restoration for other moments. God can use you now in a way that he could never use you before. Your authority to speak into that one part and that one person that's going through something really, really difficult. Like now you have a God-given authority and a conversations you can have that can change their lives, change their perspective and help them. Well, I just got to tell you as you were saying that I was kind of reminded that I realized not that long ago that I've been reading Psalm 23 incorrectly for most of my life. And so I thought what the Psalm said David was is that when we're in the valley of the shadow of death like God is going to get us out of the valley. He's going to deliver us out of that valley. He's going to snap his cosmic genie fingers and he's just going to get us out of that that tough spot. It's not what it says. It says that when we're in the valley which directly implies we're either we're we're either in the valley coming out of it or about to go into it, baby. But when we're in the valley, he is there with us. And when he's there with us, there's another huge biblical implication. It's that he's in there with us because he needs us to go through this so that he can do something with it later. And so that that thing that you're going through, which might be an injury or a sickness or relationship falling part or a business exploding in the wrong direction, all that kind of stuff he's equipping you for future ministry cuz guess what? You can do ministry-wise better than I can. You can talk someone through a debilitating life-altering injury. I can't. If you are someone who has lost a child, that has had to bury a child, that that just the most awful of potential circumstances, guess what you are now equipped to do? Minister to people who are going through the same thing, they're just earlier in the process than you are. But then for you I mean, obviously you didn't come out of the womb like this having this perspective. This is part of your sanctification process. And you you do talk about in the book, you know, not really growing up in a Christian household, kind of being invited to some stuff in high school, but you thought it was just going to be lame cuz it was what? 90s Christian stuff. So all of it was super lame. And so like but but eventually you realize like, hey, this is true. And and the Holy Spirit God got in there and you accepted the free gift of grace through faith. And then there you are, you're on your sanctification journey. But just talk to me a little bit more specifically about your faith journey because to get to your understanding and mindset now, man, guys that's just not something that happens overnight. Yeah, my my faith journey started right before my senior year of high school and I had a neighbor across the street that asked me to go to a lock-in and I was like, what's that? And like you come to the church and they lock you in all night. I was like, no, absolutely not. I've never been to a church. Why would I want you to lock me in? I've heard about you people, too. Um but he said the magic words. He said we get to stay up all night and play sports. I'm like, I'm in. Um I'm in. So and then So that was step one. That's the first time that I'd heard the gospel. And then the second step was I had a teacher named Mark Watson in a public school that listened to praise and worship music in between class and had a Jesus sticker on his computer and I I called him a Jesus freak. And um So I was like, man I I I I have a spiritual gift of annoyance and and and getting [laughter] on people's nerves. And so but I man, Kyle, I could I couldn't rattle this dude. Like he was so unflappable. And so it was amazing to watch and I was like, there's something different about this dude. And so for outside reading for English, I had to pick a book to read. And and I'm not convinced that I didn't pick the the Bible because I wanted to annoy Mr. Watson, but I picked the Bible to read 200 pages and my English teacher was like, no, no, no, no. Like I can't read this with you. And I was like, well, Mr. Watson will. And she was like, did you talk to him? I was like, no, but he will. And she was like okay, if he'll do it and confirm you read it, then we can do it. And and that's how my faith journey started, Kyle and and that I I just I love to tell people that for a couple reasons. One, anyone can invite people. You don't have to be a a scholar. You don't have to be know the Bible inside and out. You can invite someone to a men's conference. You can invite someone to listen to Undaunted. You can invite someone to go to church, right? Like you All you got to do is send a link. All you got to do is ask somebody and send an invitation. And then two, the most important thing, man when you live a life worth emulating when you live a life worth emulating, everybody sees it and sees something different. Jesus was a day worker from Nazareth. Jesus did not come to this earth as a king. Like he had something about him that when he walked and when he talked and he performed miracles that people wanted to come up and just touch the hem of his garment, right? Like something was different. And here's what I encourage everyone to do that that's on their faith journey that that was really, really good for me is, okay, how do I sit down and I start to learn this big, complicated book that has a lot of big words and a lot of so-and-so begat so-and-so that can be really confusing, right? Like and can go on for pages. Like I started with the Gospels. And I started to read about Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And I started to read about Jesus. And that's where like people I when I speak I'm always want to tell people peo- some people believe that Jesus was a historical figure. I'm like, that's cool. How do you How do you How do you Why do you not believe what he says he what he says he was? And people like, well, I think people just wanted to write that down because they wanted it to be true and people wanted to have people wanted to believe that. I go, well, how do you know Thomas Jefferson was a president? And they're like, cuz the history books. I was like, that's what the Bible is. It's a history book. Like it's a history book, literally, that has been scrutinized, transcribed more than any book in the history of mankind. And no one wanted this to be true. So I'm starting to read about this character named Jesus that that was so different and so unique and no one wanted to be true and it just started to absolutely unravel what I thought about life and unravel what I thought about compassion and the the the the ones who aren't rich, uh the ones who do have like the ones that are made different, right? Like you you look at sometimes you look at people and you're like, man, that's you know, like with different illnesses and sickness and you're like, something's wrong like something's wrong with them and like, yeah, but they they were created by God on purpose for a purpose. And so so to to read to listen to read it like if you think about hospitals and you think about nonprofits and schools, like this is Jesus. Jesus changed the the way women are treated. Like so to learn about it and to study it, man really important to get the perspective of Jesus and then to go to Acts and I'll shut up, I promise, Kyle. Like to get to Acts where now you think about Jesus is died. He's been crucified and now you got all these people that are carrying out the mission of Christ. And they're literally putting their lives on the line. Like they're putting their lives on the line on the daily going through all this hard stuff. Would you do that for a lie? No. No. Not Not that you knew it was a lie. No. No, I would if you Listen, even if you knew it was true, a lot of people would still be like, never mind, I don't want to die. Like I don't want to die. I'm definitely not dying for a lie. And sometimes I don't die for the truth, right? So to read the scriptures and to read how they saw the resurrected Jesus and how much it meant to them to to write down the history. So like literally I go from nothing I knew nothing about the who Jesus was to reading about him and his characteristics and how the world changed and how the world is different. And then to have the personal story, Kyle, of him changing me and to watch God and the Holy Spirit come into my life and to start to work on me from the inside out from a guy that's walking up and down the halls bullying people to walking up the halls like inviting people to church and realizing like that person's been made different for a reason, right? Like there there's a there's a purpose. And so like it just grabbed a hold of me, man, and it was like nothing I'd ever experienced and I wasn't perfect by any stretch. And I was still learning and growing. Um but it was something, man, that I felt it so much in here that I couldn't deny it. Well, I appreciate you describing the fullness of your journey because here's the thing, when you spend more time in the scripture, you start to take evangelism seriously because at some point the light bulb's going to go off that the first time Jesus came here, he came here to save everyone from hell. But when he comes back, he's sending people to hell, right? Because he's going to come back on a white horse, eyes like fire, a head with many crowns on it, a sword in his mouth, a tattoo on his leg, and a robe dipped in blood. Is it the blood of his enemies? We don't know. Is it the blood from the cross? We don't know. But the guy as Joby said, you don't wear white to a fight and expect to lose, right? You you you're you're that's not something that you would ever would ever do, [laughter] you know what I mean? But uh I want to talk about something else that you brought up uh later in your book that I think is really really important for this audience. Because you're talking to a 95% male audience and the five percenters, shout out to the five percenters or the lady lionesses in the audience. But a lot of these families that are listening, they've got kids that are in youth sports. So I have a four-year-old and a five-year-old. So you could call what they're doing sports, but it's more like breakdancing with small breaks where sports happens. And so yeah, you got basketball, tee ball, you got all that. But then I've got other friends, David. They've got 10, 11, 12-year-olds that every night of the week it's a specific sport. And they are traveling for it. They're missing church almost every single Sunday for this year-round sport. And even if these, you know, you know, kids [clears throat] end up going to college and playing that sport or doing it professionally or something like that, there's always going to be that question of was it worth it? Right? The same question you were asking yourself when your NFL career ended so so quickly. It's like was this worth it? Could I have been doing something else this entire time? But in the book you you talk about, you know, basically controlling the controllables. Like with your kids it's like, "Hey, did you have fun? Did you have a good attitude? Was your effort high?" Like which is with my kids, I don't care about outcomes. It's like, "Did you have a good attitude and did you give full effort?" Because I can live with the rest. I can live with over four or three strikeouts and two errors in the field. But I want to make sure you ran to and from your position and you gave your best today. But then also you talk a lot about Sunday morning sports and how people are basically acquiescing to the to the culture because guess what? These sports leagues around the country, you know what they wouldn't do if church people stood up and said we're not going to play on Sundays? They wouldn't schedule games on Sundays. Right? They just wouldn't do it because it wouldn't be worth it. Right? They would find it on other days. Right? They're going to find it other ways. But man, I I invited a guy to church. He said yes, he was excited. Like he was he was ready to get going. Then he goes, "Oh crap, man. Sorry, I can't. My seven-year-old's got a three on three basketball tournament across town at 10:00 a.m. on a Sunday." And I was just like, "Oh man." It just crushed me. But obviously you've seen this. You've got kids kind of in that youth sports world. So talk a little bit about that and kind of give some best practices and some ideas for some some guys in our audience that are thinking, "Oh crap, what do I do here?" Well, to be honest, I I I'm talking to this from a position of someone who's screwed this up. Like, you know, this this is someone who had to learn as we went along because you look around and you're like, "Man, I got to do this for my son. I got to do this for my daughter. Like everyone's doing this. And so this is the only way you can be successful." And then you start to realize, man, like, "Wait a minute. No, it's not." Like this is what everybody else is doing, but this has nothing to do with their future. And so, you know, we did a lot of pursuing youth league sports when they are my kids were six, seven, eight. And then at some point like a little bit after that we we started looking around. We're like, "What are we doing, babe?" And and and I'll be honest, Kyle, almost lost my marriage because sports was a priority. Church wasn't. And it was a struggling point and it was a There was a clear moment in our lives where like, "Okay, what are we about? What is the most important thing for our family? And church and God is the most important thing. A lot of people say that and they tell their kids that. But I got news for you, man. If I'm going to a game every Sunday and missing church with different stuff, I'm showing them that sport is more important than God. I know what you're saying. No, no, no, that's not what I tell them. I'm telling you what you show them. What you More is caught than taught. Like they're not listening to your words. They're seeing your actions consistently. And you know, so it's something that we had to learn it like, "Listen, our family sets our rules. Our family lives by our standard." Wednesdays, Nicholas's AAU team when he was like 10 years old, they'd practice in our gym. We went to church every Wednesday night. They used our gym, but we went to church because church is more important than God. And we had to show our kids that. Last Sunday, my daughter on Saturday, we're playing the games. She was like, "Hey, we got two games. You know, if we lose one of these games, we play at 11:00 next week." I said, "Baby, I said we play at 11:00 on Sunday." I said, "Baby, if you lose, we're going to church. Yeah. We'll be at church." And she was like, "Well, I missed the game." I was like, "Don't lose then." Like if you >> [laughter] >> don't lose. If it's going to bother you that much. >> If you don't want to miss the game, don't lose. Here's Here's I I I want to touch on one thing you said, though. You said the same thing I I I agree with. They control their effort. But here's one thing that I really want to challenge men and the five percenters that are amazing out there. Your idea of effort is not the same as a six-year-old, as an eight-year-old, as a 10-year-old, as a 12-year-old. Your idea of effort doesn't look like theirs. So you can't demand something of them that they don't know. You can't hold them to a standard that they don't know. It's like holding a non-believer to a standard of a believer. You can't do that. Right? Like that doesn't work. And so you have you have to understand We We have to I think we have to just understand that. Like we don't know what their effort's supposed to look like. So did you have fun? Are you a great teammate? And here's another thing, too. And and this took learning. 10 years old, driving home from Nicholas's basket or football game. We had stomped everybody in our county. We went to another county to go play. We got worked, Kyle. We got the crap kicked out of us. Your boy's [inaudible] cuz I'm the head coach. I I put up a good plan. I thought it was going to be good. Our drive home, I didn't say a word. I didn't want to be that dad that talked in the car. Don't talk in the car rides home. Like that's We're not talking about football. Well, I get home and my wife is like, "You made that car ride miserable." I was like, "I DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING. I DIDN'T SAY A WORD." SHE GOES, "EXACTLY." And guess what Nicholas in the backseat wanted? He wanted ice cream. Yeah. He wanted ice cream, man. Like "Why do you care so much about this sports stuff?" Like here's what I I can I can solve the riddle for you, Kyle. I can tell you right now. Every kid that's Every parent that's listening right now, I can tell you if your kid's going to play college sports, okay? Here Let me start with this. First of all, here's what wins when you're younger. Aggressiveness. That's right. >> Doesn't matter about size. Doesn't matter about parents. Aggressiveness wins. Middle school, guess what wins? Puberty. Who has hair under their arms first? They win. Guess what wins in high school? Genetics. Genetics wins. Like that is the stages of how this goes. So I just I encourage people to understand you're that man out there, man, and you are so into your kids' sports and that's awesome. I love that you support your kids. And you're going to make sure they know how to throw. And you're going to make sure they know how to catch. But are you really going to make sure they don't know the word of God? Like that's more important than them knowing the word of God? That's more important than them getting in church? Like your actions and we have this finite opportunity to show them what's important, man. If they miss a game, it's not going to change their career. Like but if they miss a game on Sunday cuz they know it's God's day, like that is the most powerful thing I think we can give them. So [clears throat] every single one of our kids and us are going to stand before Jesus. Like they're all going to hang their cleats hang their cleats up. Like let's make sure we're preparing them for the most important thing. If you're that parent, "And my kid loves it. My kid wants it. They They want all they can get." It's fine. I'm not saying that you don't work that they don't work and that's fine. But here's the thing, you know what else you can do? Play up. If it's that important to you, my daughter was in eighth grade. She played varsity basketball in eighth grade in in AAU tournaments because they were in Suwanee, which is less than 45 minutes from my house. So I could be the coach. I could control it. I could do the times. Like so she got a little bit more level of competition. It was harder. But here's the thing But it didn't matter. And my daughter hasn't done all this AAU stuff, she's still pretty good. My son went to one camp in his life. He went to Ole Miss in June. Guess what Kyle, my son's 6'3" 225 and he's got good measurables. He's got all kinds of college scholarships coming in. It had nothing to do with where he played. It had nothing to do with anything besides like they grew into the body of what they became. So just man, just try to I know it's hard and I know everybody else is doing one thing. But you can make the biggest impact on your kids if you stand for something bigger. [clears throat] And you show them what that looks like, man. That That will leave such an impression on them the rest of their lives. Well, I'm sure guys have said it, but it bears repeating and you said it just there. Every one of us are going to stand before God someday. Very few of us are going to stand at the plate at a major league baseball during a major league baseball game or standing on the sideline about to run out onto the field for a professional football game. And like for me, I just kind of got there early. Like as an 11th grader, I'm like, "Man, I'm 5'10" about 170. I don't think I'm going to make it to the major leagues. So it's like college is right around the corner. I got to figure something out as to what I'm going to do." Didn't make my coaches happy when I stopped playing, but it's like, "Look, like I this this just ain't going to be my future and going and playing in NAIA or D3 uh baseball somewhere just so I could keep the dream alive just wasn't going to do it for me." Now, we're running out time. So uh in a very short period of time, I need you to fix college athletics, okay? Cuz I got to tell you from the outside looking in, the combo of the transfer portal and NIL has been atrocious. It's made the game, frankly, kind of hard to watch. When you have, you know, a team that goes to the final four and the coach sits there and then, you know, in the locker room after the season's over and realizes that eight of his 11 guys on the roster are have already got commitments to other schools. And every year you're having to rebuild a team. So how can you create uh really a system when you constantly have important players going into the portal, taking money? You've seen players say they were taking the money, took the money, and then said, "Ah, actually I'm going to go to this school now." And there's no regulations. There's no retribution for these schools. And look, I get it. College players have been play paid forever under the table. There's been a lot of $100 handshakes. Like I I get it. There's been stuff that's been happening. But for just in my mind I'm like, "Just call it semi-pro. Don't make these kids go to class." Like you know, cuz it's preposterous. What was the you know, the kid that was a quarterback for Miami? That dude hadn't been to class in years. You're telling me that he wasn't already a semi-pro athlete. So in in those moments it's like, "Let's just take the veil off. Well, let's remove the facade. Just call them semi-pro, not student athletes unless they want to also get a degree. But to be honest, I don't know that there's really an appetite or a way for NCAA to fix it. And I'm telling you, you don't want Congress to get involved. You want the one with the White House to get involved or something like that. So, how in the world do we fix this thing? >> you did that, if you did that though, Kyle, you'd bankrupt every university cuz the sports team, the football team is how they make their money. >> Football makes basketball. That's it. >> 100%. So, so here's the thing. Here's the good news. The good news is the sport's still being watched at a high level, which is awesome. Indiana just won a national championship. So, that's freaking awesome. One of the worst programs in history just won. So, we have more parity than ever. That's winning, right? Like that that is a that is a good thing. Now, the one-time transfer portal year, that's awesome. That is great cuz now you're guaranteed to have guys that will stay for a whole year. They're not leaving right before spring ball, which is amazing. It helps coaches. So, now right now they're trying to pass the 5 years to play four. If you play four years, you get a fifth year. So, now we're limiting this because we have a guy from Montana State this year that's in his ninth season. He's in his ninth season. Like, you used to call them doctors, now you call them linebackers. But like so so like literally we're we're we're changing We have to How do you eat an elephant? How do you climb a mountain? One step at a time, right? Like one step at a time, slowly start to nick away, but the money there has to be contracts, Kyle. Like in any business in life, in anything we do and we pursue, there's contracts that are binding on both sides. Right now, the universities are held accountable and they have to fulfill their contract, but the player can just leave. And so, once we get to the point where we get multi-year contracts, I think the fans win more because you get your guy for a couple years at least, you know? And so, that would be good. But the game's not completely awful. It's different, but it's just like free agency in the NBA and the NFL. When it happened, everybody was screaming and yelling and so mad. Like, no, no, no, my guy can't leave. Like, he has to stay on my team. It's like, that's the way this works. And he's like, no, no, no, no. Their contract's up. They can go where they want to go. And that didn't used to be the case. So, we're we're going to get to that point. It's got to be slowly nicking away some of these, you know, things that have been Cuz when you put the transfer portal with NIL, it was like putting lighter fluid on a flyer on a fire, right? Cuz movement plus money equals not a lot of good things. And so, they were going to try to grab it. So, the system's it it's starting to get slowly worked out. It's still going to take a little bit more time. It's such a great game. It's so much fun. Um and we'll continue to watch it, but I I I do think we'll continue [clears throat] to make tweaks to to fix it and and get Kyle happy. Well, I said that's all we're here for. And so, as we end today, as we end today, the number one goal is to make me happy cuz I need your I need your help with something. I need a favor, okay? Okay, got you. >> I was, minding my own business back in 2012. I'm working for Major League Baseball and I'm, you know, I'm having to interact on Twitter and do all those different things. And so, I'm a St. Louis Cardinals fan. I don't like Brandon Phillips. He's a second baseman for the Cincinnati Reds. Your boy Kirk Herbstreit made some comment about Brandon Phillips online. So, I respond to him and we have a little back and forth, but it was it was fine. There were no expletives. There were no I'm going to tell your mama. There was nothing like that. And then your boy Kirk Herbstreit blocked me on Twitter. And so, for the last 14 years, I've been blocked on Twitter because I think the Cincinnati Reds and Brandon Phillips sucks. And I got to meet Brandon Phillips and I can tell you I confirmed my prior suspicions about the guy. But the thing is is would you mind maybe maybe shooting a text to your boy Herbie and letting telling him to let @KyleOKC out of jail cuz I think he should come on the show, too. Maybe a a college football preview with the two of you. But could you help a brother out a little bit? It's kind of been a thorn in my side. >> not alone, bro. You're not alone, TRUST ME. THE LIST IS lengthy of people that Kirk Herbstreit has blocked. So, I I don't think that we're going to go through that list and and be able to get you out of jail, man. I think you're just I think you're going to have to live with it, man. Well, maybe I can ask him to myself. Maybe you can just tell him like, hey, there's this great podcast, one of the smartest redheads I've ever met in my entire life. And then I can, you know, end at the end after I've really kind of ingratiated him into my presence, get him to unlock the door cuz I just want to know what he thinks is going to happen in the next game. And I can't do that anymore. But hey, man, I've really enjoyed this conversation. And if you could see my notes and then see what we talked about, it's hilarious cuz basically there's no crossover. Those are my favorite interviews cuz we can just flow in and out of a bunch of different subjects. But that's all for me. Is there anything else you want to get off your chest? No, man, I appreciate your time. I appreciate you having me on and you know, listen, I think we all have we all have different gifts. We all have different places that we can go, things that we can do. But like when we when we truly try to develop some systems and live intentionally, like alignment affects assignment. Right? Like which way you're going or which way you're pointing towards is going to directly reflect which way you go, right? So, like Steph Curry might be the greatest three-point shooter of all time. When he's looking at the goal, if he's looking over here, shooting over here, it's not he's not going to be the greatest three-point shooter of all time. So, like take those steps, man, where you can align your life in a direction every day. And then that way you win that day. And when you win that day, then you can win the next day, right? You can't win tomorrow until you've won today. Amen. All right, man. Thanks for coming on. You the man, dog. Appreciate you. There you go, guys. Hope you enjoyed today's interview. But before I let you go, we are going to do a quick resilience boost. Undaunted.Life our mission is equipping men to push back darkness with content that forges spiritual, mental, and physical resilience. The link I've got for you today, I got a link where you can buy this book. It's the it's the new book he did. I read it through. And really, I mean, with Everyday Counts, you're going to get a lot of the similar stuff that you got from this interview, but it's a little bit more truncated and and more digestible. Very easy, very quick read. And I just really want you guys to check that out. It's right there in the show notes. Thank you for listening to this podcast. Wherever you're listening to this, please subscribe, rate, and leave us a positive five-star review. If you want me to come and speak live at your event or on your podcast, just shoot me an email to info@undaunted.life. That's info@undaunted.life. [clears throat] Follow us on Instagram and like us on Facebook. And check out our website for everything else, including how to donate to keep our content like this coming your way. Just go to www.undaunted.life. And as always, we want to thank the band Holy Name for allowing us to use their music for our content. The music on this podcast is their song Perpetua, which is off their self-titled debut album on Facedown Records. The links are in the description. I'm your host, Kyle Thompson. Remember, keep pushing back darkness, keep forging spiritual, mental, and physical resilience, keep seeking the lion of Judah. >> [music]