Speaker 1: This podcast is part of the seventy Sixers podcast network
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Speaker 1: this week's edition of Tom's Talks, we figured with the
Speaker 1: seventy Sixers and the Miami Heat in a two games set,
Speaker 1: we'd get the perspective of a man from Miami. We
Speaker 1: touch base with a TV analyst for Fox Sports son
Speaker 1: the home of the Miami Heat, John Crotty, a Jersey
Speaker 1: guy who starred in high school in the Garden State
Speaker 1: before moving on to the University of Virginia. Krowdy eventually
Speaker 1: had an eleven year NBA career. He played with NBA
Speaker 1: Legends and for league coaching Royalty and Krowny has also
Speaker 1: long established a career in commercial real estate in South Florida.
Speaker 1: Here's another edition of Tom's Talks with John Crotty. Welcome
Speaker 1: to another edition of Tom's Talked, and we're joined by
Speaker 1: John Crotty at the Miami Heat television broadcast and a
Speaker 1: former Heat player in a long time NBA player, and John,
Speaker 1: thank you so much. We appreciate this. As we speak,
Speaker 1: we're between games between the Sixers and the Heat during
Speaker 1: this mid January two games set and even though both
Speaker 1: teams didn't have you know, a lot of its players.
Speaker 1: Quite a game in an entertaining overtime game in the
Speaker 1: first matchup last night as we speak, Yeah, it really was.
Speaker 1: Hey Tom, good to see you. Very exciting game and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, really different obviously the Heat only having eight
Speaker 1: available players and you know, having their two all stars
Speaker 1: out and the Sixers mixing missing you know, some of
Speaker 1: their quality players and starters as well. Just different lineups,
Speaker 1: different matchups, rotations all over the board. A very exciting
Speaker 1: game could have gone either way. And uh, obviously with
Speaker 1: the Sixers pulling it out in overtime. So one are
Speaker 1: the players from Miami that has excelled. He had a
Speaker 1: career hid in the regular season last night with thirty four.
Speaker 1: Certainly shine the bubble was Tyler Hero And you know,
Speaker 1: you came into this league as young player, but have
Speaker 1: you ever seen a guy with swagger and the way
Speaker 1: he he's played in his first season's special? He's special.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's really interesting. He only played one
Speaker 1: year at college at Kentucky, came in had great confidence.
Speaker 1: Has it really interesting, you know, mix because he's got
Speaker 1: great confidence when he steps in between the lines, but
Speaker 1: he's very humble off it. I think it's really endeared
Speaker 1: him to some of the veteran guys on the team,
Speaker 1: and guys like Jimmy Butler in particular, and Bam and
Speaker 1: Dragget you've taken him in and um, you know, instead
Speaker 1: of being sort of the brash guy and then turning
Speaker 1: guys off, I think he's really done a nice job
Speaker 1: of playing with a great swagger on the court but
Speaker 1: being also you know, humble and wanting to learn and
Speaker 1: and really putting the work in as a young player,
Speaker 1: and the older veteran guys you know, want to see
Speaker 1: him be successful. So I don't know if you from
Speaker 1: your seat would call it an improbable run. But the
Speaker 1: Miami Heat made the NBA Finals and a most unusual
Speaker 1: circumstance last year in the bubble, and that had to
Speaker 1: be quite a bit of fun for all of you
Speaker 1: guys down there in South Florida. It really was. I mean,
Speaker 1: it was a phenomenal run, being a fifth seed in
Speaker 1: the East to make it to the finals, and you know,
Speaker 1: have significant injuries early in that series against the Lakers
Speaker 1: and still take the Lakers to six games. Um, and
Speaker 1: the way the team did it I mean, this is
Speaker 1: a team that played with incredible unselfishness. Um shared the ball,
Speaker 1: move the ball, Um you know, really got hot. And
Speaker 1: you mentioned Tyler Hero. I think he made maybe one
Speaker 1: of the great improvements from the end of the regular
Speaker 1: season to the restart to the bubble where he played
Speaker 1: it at such a high level. Um, you know, got
Speaker 1: better really during the three to four month break that
Speaker 1: everyone experienced due to COVID and then the team just
Speaker 1: came together and played to win and everyone, um, you know,
Speaker 1: really rose their game up and it was it was
Speaker 1: really a fun group to see, uh, you know, play
Speaker 1: and get hot and beat teams that you know, everyone thought,
Speaker 1: we're going to take care of them. Last thought on
Speaker 1: the here and now and then we're going to delve
Speaker 1: a little bit into your career. But you know, we've
Speaker 1: all been saying this is going to be an unusual season,
Speaker 1: and now you have to amend that and say no,
Speaker 1: it is an individual scene with game postponed and the
Speaker 1: specter of all that is out there with the health
Speaker 1: and safety, the calls and whatnot. So what do you
Speaker 1: think so far in terms of the East, Like you're
Speaker 1: seeing some teams like Milwaukee, you expect team Brooklyn to
Speaker 1: rise up. Philadelphia had a great start obviously with the
Speaker 1: sexually starting seven in one, But Indiana and your club
Speaker 1: and Atlanta, what do you think right now in the eat? Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's really interesting because there's so many other factors that
Speaker 1: are kind of you know, weighing in other than just
Speaker 1: you know, the typical um, you know situation where you
Speaker 1: see teams, you know, trying to pull together and get
Speaker 1: the chemistry. You got so many distractions it seems going on,
Speaker 1: you know, with COVID and player in and out. You know,
Speaker 1: just our game last night was a great example. I mean, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, every team really seems to be using their
Speaker 1: two way players and going with the full seventeen man
Speaker 1: rotation because they have to. They need the depth. I mean, guys,
Speaker 1: you know, are are being counted on. We had we
Speaker 1: had Gabe Vincent as an example as a two way
Speaker 1: player play significant minutes and had a career high last
Speaker 1: night and really help Miami. I think teams are doing
Speaker 1: that as a result. It's still it's been shoppy. You know,
Speaker 1: it's hard to tell. There's some teams that are underperforming.
Speaker 1: You know. I always feel like it's a good rule
Speaker 1: of thumb Tom that you know, you have to kind
Speaker 1: of give a team twenty games before you really can
Speaker 1: evaluate who they are and where they are. And but
Speaker 1: with early on, with a lot of players in and
Speaker 1: out due to COVID and due to injury, and just
Speaker 1: um the way the schedules flowed. Um, it's it's kind
Speaker 1: of hard to tell right now because there's some teams
Speaker 1: that I think that are better than their record implies.
Speaker 1: And yet you know, the East overall is no question
Speaker 1: tougher because there's been more talent acquired and on teams,
Speaker 1: you know, like you mentioned, So I'm still kind of
Speaker 1: scratching my head. Every game is is you know, a
Speaker 1: different challenge, and it's like it's hard to look ahead.
Speaker 1: You gotta you gotta just put keep your nose down
Speaker 1: and keep grinding, I think, day in and day out,
Speaker 1: and just stay competitive. After your playing career, you got
Speaker 1: into broadcast in Miami and you have a parallel career
Speaker 1: that will touch on in commercial real estate. But you've
Speaker 1: done it shows. You were with Mike English for a
Speaker 1: number of years on the radio and now you're on
Speaker 1: TV with Eric Reid. How has that been in terms
Speaker 1: of adapting the Tellable. Yeah, well, it's it's it's interesting.
Speaker 1: You know, I think you learn something from every aspect,
Speaker 1: from the media perspective. Coming in on radio with Mike
Speaker 1: and English reference was a phenomenal experience for me. I
Speaker 1: did that for like eleven twelve years. And what you learn,
Speaker 1: I think radio and you know, as you've got to
Speaker 1: be succinct, and particularly as an analyst. You know, the
Speaker 1: play by play guy is the one describing the action.
Speaker 1: Obviously the fans can't see the action, so um, you know,
Speaker 1: my time to jump in as the analyst is basically
Speaker 1: when the ball goes in the basket and is being
Speaker 1: inbounded and walked up the floor to the half court line,
Speaker 1: and then I got to get out. So it's a
Speaker 1: it's a really quick, uh situation where you've got to
Speaker 1: make sure you make your points and get in and
Speaker 1: get out. And I think it's great training for television,
Speaker 1: um where now people can see. UM. I had some
Speaker 1: studio experience which gave me comfort, you know, more comfort
Speaker 1: getting on camera and you know where to look and
Speaker 1: have someone in your ear, you know, with an earpiece
Speaker 1: telling you when you're coming on, when you're going off.
Speaker 1: And that's another skill set to learn to be able
Speaker 1: to think, well, you know, someone's yelling in your ear. Um.
Speaker 1: But the the chemistry with Eric's been amazing. UM. You know,
Speaker 1: Eric Reed's been our broadcaster with the Miami Heat from
Speaker 1: the very beginning in his thirty third year and you know,
Speaker 1: just won an award as the best sports broadcaster in
Speaker 1: the State of Florida again. Um. And you know, he
Speaker 1: does a great job. His preparation is amazing and he
Speaker 1: teased me up well, and you know, I get to
Speaker 1: do what I love to do, which is described the
Speaker 1: how and the why. Um, you know, why something's happening.
Speaker 1: I think a lot of people love to see the
Speaker 1: dunk or the jump shot, UM, but I like to
Speaker 1: see what transpired an order for that person to get
Speaker 1: open to do that, you know, and um, be able
Speaker 1: to articulate that for the fan, and then you know,
Speaker 1: try to try to teach people the game when I can, UM.
Speaker 1: And that's that's been the real joy for me with
Speaker 1: the TV medium. So let's go way back and get
Speaker 1: into the late eighties and then your college career at
Speaker 1: UVA into the nineties. But you're from like mid to
Speaker 1: North Jersey and you go to Brothers Academy and you
Speaker 1: get recruited by Kerrie hire Harland at UVA just in
Speaker 1: the e back when the ACC was you know, probably
Speaker 1: the pre empty basketball in the country, and you have
Speaker 1: a lot of success at Virginia. Tell us about that
Speaker 1: whole experience. Yeah, well, look, I'm I'm blessed. I still
Speaker 1: have you know, look, my parents still live in New Jersey,
Speaker 1: my sister does. I'm from Monmouth County, so the central
Speaker 1: part of the state, and as you referenced, you know,
Speaker 1: went to Christian Brothers Academy, which was a great basketball
Speaker 1: powerhouse at the time. We were you know, consistently ranked
Speaker 1: in the state and when I was there, we were
Speaker 1: fortunately we were ranked in the country, so we played
Speaker 1: the best competition. It was a real um you know,
Speaker 1: learning ground and testing ground for me and had the
Speaker 1: opportunity to be in McDonald's All American and then be
Speaker 1: highly recruited. And I always envisioned playing in the ACC.
Speaker 1: My father played at North Carolina and that was impactful
Speaker 1: to me. I grew up going to that basketball camp
Speaker 1: and they recruited me. But Virginia was the best fit
Speaker 1: for me from an academic and athletic and social standpoint,
Speaker 1: it was phenomenal. I I you know, love it to
Speaker 1: this day. My children went there, my wife. There are
Speaker 1: just a lot of positive, um, you know, vibes. And
Speaker 1: it's great to see what coach Tony Bennett's done with
Speaker 1: the program, you know, in the last seven years. Um,
Speaker 1: and you know that I thought, you know, Virginia and
Speaker 1: coach Holland really prepared me for having a chance to
Speaker 1: play in the NBA. And the competition, the acc was
Speaker 1: second to none. Every night you went out and you
Speaker 1: had to you had to put it out there because
Speaker 1: there were no easy nights, and you know, you learn
Speaker 1: to compete and develop and um, you know, to me,
Speaker 1: those are those are some great memories for me from
Speaker 1: eighty seven nineteen ninety one. So then when you get
Speaker 1: into the NBA, I mean, what a challenge right for
Speaker 1: you and you straight togethered his career and you played
Speaker 1: for Jerry Sloan and down there in Miami with pat Riley.
Speaker 1: What was your NBA experience all about? Yeah, it was.
Speaker 1: It was tough for me to get in there. I
Speaker 1: never anticipated and really thought about playing in the NBA
Speaker 1: until I was about a junior in college, and and
Speaker 1: then I saw I had an opportunity I wanted to
Speaker 1: having to play in a minor league. I came in
Speaker 1: as a free agent. I had to play in a
Speaker 1: minor league for a year and then made the Utah
Speaker 1: Jazz and started my career there for three years. And
Speaker 1: that was a you know, it was it was tough,
Speaker 1: but it was a great place to break in because
Speaker 1: they had, you know, excellent role models with John Stockton
Speaker 1: and Karl Malone and ultimately Jeff Hornesseek as well. You
Speaker 1: had um Jerry Sloan coaching, who you know, was a
Speaker 1: Hall of Famer and just phenomenal um, you know, a teacher,
Speaker 1: but also just a just a you know, an example
Speaker 1: of toughness and fairness and um. But those guys taught
Speaker 1: you how to be a professional and had to bring
Speaker 1: it every night, the consistency, and I think that helped
Speaker 1: set me up. I played for eleven years, seven different teams.
Speaker 1: Really enjoyed playing for Miami in the middle of my career.
Speaker 1: We were I was on a great team with Tim
Speaker 1: Hardaway and Alonzo Morning and Dan Morley, a team that
Speaker 1: made it to the Eastern Conference Final. Again. We lost
Speaker 1: to the Bulls, who ultimately won the championship. But um,
Speaker 1: I was able, you know, to maintain that connectivity so
Speaker 1: that when I retired and ultimately moved back here to Miami,
Speaker 1: I was able to you know, get an opportunity to
Speaker 1: broadcast when when the opportunity arose. At ninety seventeen, folk up.
Speaker 1: Also with PJ. Brown, you played fifteen playoff games, so
Speaker 1: you got a lot of experience. You had a role. Yeah,
Speaker 1: back hard way, it'd be pretty cool. Yeah, my role
Speaker 1: was kind of interesting in the NBA, and you know,
Speaker 1: we all come in being a star from college. But
Speaker 1: you know, my role was really as a backup point guard.
Speaker 1: But I had the opportunity which was again probably not
Speaker 1: great the greatest for my opportunity career wise in a
Speaker 1: play I was always backing up all star point guards.
Speaker 1: You know, pretty much every team I was on up
Speaker 1: the seven, it was an all star ahead of me,
Speaker 1: and so it limits your playing time. But what I
Speaker 1: did a lot was I would play with that guy
Speaker 1: and push him to the two. Um. I did it
Speaker 1: in Seattle, Gary Payton, I did it in Utah with
Speaker 1: John Stockton, or I'd play the two and he'd played
Speaker 1: the one. And then UM in Miami with Tim harrowing
Speaker 1: a lot. UM. So those were examples where you know,
Speaker 1: you're playing with another ball handler, another attack or another shooter, um,
Speaker 1: and you have an opportunity to go small and handle
Speaker 1: the ball a lot like we're seeing actually today and
Speaker 1: today's NBA with you know, maybe a smaller active quicker players,
Speaker 1: particularly in the front court. You guys in the you
Speaker 1: know in Philly have a rare exception, um with Joel Embiid,
Speaker 1: who's incredibly skilled, who can play inside and out, you know,
Speaker 1: with like a for a guy his size, the way
Speaker 1: he's able to impact the game. Um. But it was,
Speaker 1: it was, it was a great time to play in
Speaker 1: the NBA. And um, you know, I had an I
Speaker 1: had an awesome run over the course of my eleven years.
Speaker 1: Just for a second, we'll talk about in bad because
Speaker 1: we speak again between these two games between the six
Speaker 1: Ers in the heat and it beat ended up with
Speaker 1: forty five, forty six points. But he at twenty third
Speaker 1: quarter he was eight for eight. And all over these years,
Speaker 1: these guys, you know, with the big size and whatnot,
Speaker 1: but the touch, I mean, the guy he was making threes,
Speaker 1: falling down three point plays. That was a pretty incredible display.
Speaker 1: Of finest and footwork and strength all in one package.
Speaker 1: It really was. I mean, look, he's he's an incredible player.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, there are times I scratched my
Speaker 1: head with him. In the first half, he was just
Speaker 1: looked completely disengaged. At ten points, I think he was
Speaker 1: three or seven shooting something like that, and then he
Speaker 1: he flips the switch and you see what he can do.
Speaker 1: He's he's so gifted, um, and he just asserted himself.
Speaker 1: He demanded the ball and he scored I want to say,
Speaker 1: five or six straight buckets, and you know, that's that's
Speaker 1: a guy to me who Um. You know, if he
Speaker 1: if he ever figures out how to play that way,
Speaker 1: you know, at a higher level throughout the course of
Speaker 1: the game and with the conditioning, um, being in top
Speaker 1: top shape, he's unstoppable, Absolutely unstoppable. Um. There's nobody who
Speaker 1: can guard someone that big and strong with that type
Speaker 1: of touch. You can step outside or then bully you inside,
Speaker 1: and then he can pass. I mean he was passing
Speaker 1: out of double teams. Miami had to double him to
Speaker 1: try to slow him down. And he's able to find
Speaker 1: shooters like Danny Green out there, you know, on the perimeter.
Speaker 1: So man, he's a load. He's a tough guy to
Speaker 1: prepare and match up for him when he's playing at
Speaker 1: that level. And now back to your gage, John, you
Speaker 1: had a fun thing after making a basket, You did
Speaker 1: the karate chop. Tell us about that. I don't know,
Speaker 1: I just I mean the fans wouldn't you know, would
Speaker 1: engage you and try to get me to do some
Speaker 1: fun things. But look, I always tried to play hard
Speaker 1: and and uh, you know, always love the fact that
Speaker 1: you know, people appreciated that in my game. Just someone
Speaker 1: who was competitive and tried to bring it for their team.
Speaker 1: And um, you know you try to do what you
Speaker 1: can to maintain and have fun with the fans and
Speaker 1: yet still still always stay competitive. Right. Yeah, No, you
Speaker 1: didn't strike me as a guy with too much player.
Speaker 1: I was gonna say, you could get some indide heat,
Speaker 1: high tight fastball if we're careful doing the karate job.
Speaker 1: But that's right, that's right, baseball you get knocked out.
Speaker 1: Let's talk a little bit about going to Florida and
Speaker 1: being as you say, you maintained that tie and coach
Speaker 1: Riley took the fold. That happens when you go down
Speaker 1: there to work and you get into that Heat culture
Speaker 1: and you're in a situation now where you forged this
Speaker 1: whole second career in broadcasting because of that early stint
Speaker 1: as a pro with the Eat. Yeah, I mean in
Speaker 1: the NBA as a whole. It does a tremendous job
Speaker 1: if you take advantage as a player. They have multiple
Speaker 1: programs where you can do internships and try different things,
Speaker 1: and they put you in touch with some incredible people.
Speaker 1: This is in the off season. I used to try
Speaker 1: to spend two weeks every summer, you know, thinking about
Speaker 1: what I would potentially do when I retired, And you know,
Speaker 1: one of them that was always of interest was broadcast thing.
Speaker 1: And I was able to be connected with Ted Ballard,
Speaker 1: who's actually still the senior you know, producer executive producer
Speaker 1: for the Miami Heat, and Ted set up a internship
Speaker 1: for me while I was still playing. Came in the summertime,
Speaker 1: and Eric Reid came in on two days in the
Speaker 1: summer on his own time, and we actually broadcasted two
Speaker 1: games together that had previously occurred where they shut the
Speaker 1: sound off and Eric and I broadcast the games together.
Speaker 1: So I'm always I'm always in debt to both Ted
Speaker 1: and now my partner Eric at such a small world.
Speaker 1: How it's come, you know, all the way around. He
Speaker 1: came in on an off day in the summer to
Speaker 1: do that, to try to, you know, help me and ultimately,
Speaker 1: you know, it was the avenue for me to take,
Speaker 1: which which I really enjoyed it. Now, as I mentioned earlier,
Speaker 1: you're on this this other track professionally where you've been
Speaker 1: in commercial real estate for a number of years. In
Speaker 1: my I remember Septembers ago or whatever when we were
Speaker 1: all together broadcast in New York and we were out.
Speaker 1: It was a beautiful night Harvard Cruise where around the
Speaker 1: lower part of Manhattan and everybody. But meanwhile you're closing
Speaker 1: a different like a ball in Orlando. You're making money.
Speaker 1: More about that that track has You've really done a
Speaker 1: great job. You're getting into that and it's spent a
Speaker 1: lot of time in that in that area. Yeah. Well
Speaker 1: look when I when I first retired, I did not
Speaker 1: have the broadcasting you know, um opportunity set up. So
Speaker 1: for the first basically three years I was retired, I
Speaker 1: was um, you know, making a living. Um. I pursued
Speaker 1: a career in real estate looking to basically syndicate deals
Speaker 1: that I could find and bringing investors, and um, you
Speaker 1: know what really flowed into was a position as a
Speaker 1: broker where I was putting sellers together with buyers and um,
Speaker 1: you know, getting paid commissions when deals sold, and UM
Speaker 1: it's it's been a great run. I've been doing that
Speaker 1: now for a long time and I'm a partner in
Speaker 1: a firm. UM we do a billion dollars worth of
Speaker 1: sales a year. We do it throughout the state of Florida.
Speaker 1: We sell large development deals, office industrial, retail type deals.
Speaker 1: And you know, you learn a lot obviously through doing
Speaker 1: these types of transactions and made some great friends and
Speaker 1: some great connectivity, um you know, with with um owners
Speaker 1: of properties and buyers who become your clients and so
Speaker 1: UM you know, that's been a lot of fun, very
Speaker 1: rewarding for me. Has allowed me to remain in one
Speaker 1: place as well, in Miami, and then the broadcasting gig
Speaker 1: came thereafter. So it's it's been phenomenal to be able
Speaker 1: to have, you know, that real estate type type job
Speaker 1: along with you know, continuing to pursue my love and
Speaker 1: my passion for basketball, being a broadcaster and being able
Speaker 1: to um, you know, describe things from a player perspective.
Speaker 1: For fans, well, I know maybe a handful of moguls,
Speaker 1: but you're my favorite mobile. I love that title. I
Speaker 1: don't get called a mogul too oftent Tom, thank you brother.
Speaker 1: Let's marry the two things, though, because you so often
Speaker 1: here about the discipline and all of the things that
Speaker 1: made just specual, accessful college and educate at UVA, and
Speaker 1: then you know the thrill of the deal competing to
Speaker 1: that deal and how all of those things like the
Speaker 1: order and the structure and the things you learned as
Speaker 1: an athlete and how that plays into a business. So
Speaker 1: it's a great point. It's I go on different panels,
Speaker 1: particularly for the Players Association a lot in a summer
Speaker 1: where players come in. They're trying to be educated. They
Speaker 1: love the idea of investing their money. They want to
Speaker 1: learn more about real estate, and what I tell them is,
Speaker 1: first of all, you know, you come into that as
Speaker 1: a player and you don't have any experience, and it's
Speaker 1: very intimidating, and but there are qualities and traits that
Speaker 1: you do have as a player that you've developed because
Speaker 1: to get to that level, you have to and that's
Speaker 1: typically a hard work ethic. It's typically a discipline of
Speaker 1: you know, getting up and being a statu you know,
Speaker 1: getting having a routine and structure in your life and
Speaker 1: being able to follow through, um on a plan of
Speaker 1: attack in order to be able to develop your skills. UM.
Speaker 1: And then I think also, you know, being able to
Speaker 1: get kicked in the teeth and be able to get
Speaker 1: back up right, be able to be competitive and and
Speaker 1: take a hit and come back up. A lot of
Speaker 1: people don't have the stomach or the toughness to do that.
Speaker 1: I think that's part of the life of being an athlete. UM.
Speaker 1: Those are those are traits and qualities that you can
Speaker 1: apply to a lot of different things, but particularly a
Speaker 1: sales gig and um, you know, particularly in real estate
Speaker 1: that's that can be um you know, challenging. And look
Speaker 1: when you're when you're living where UM you know you're
Speaker 1: only eating when you kill you know what you kill?
Speaker 1: UM you know you have to have a very tough
Speaker 1: mindset and and be very disciplined and work hard at it.
Speaker 1: And um you know, I've been blessed that I have
Speaker 1: taken a lot of those traits and being able to
Speaker 1: do it. I think the one thing that's maybe be
Speaker 1: the most challenging when you come from being a professional
Speaker 1: athlete where everyone you know wants to get to know
Speaker 1: him be part of that scene. Is that you have
Speaker 1: to have when you when you transition out as humility.
Speaker 1: I think that's maybe the hardest thing for a lot
Speaker 1: of guys to have an embrace because you're basically starting,
Speaker 1: you know, I was thirty two, basically starting a job
Speaker 1: that a lot of other people typically would start at
Speaker 1: twenty one twenty two, and you're behind the curve and
Speaker 1: you got to be humble and be willing to learn
Speaker 1: and start at the bottom and work your way up.
Speaker 1: And I think that's, you know, something that I was
Speaker 1: able to do, which was, you know, at times very difficult,
Speaker 1: but you know, absolutely made the difference. And we'll close
Speaker 1: with this, and it's kind of a piggybacking, if you will,
Speaker 1: on that same thought. But even in today's NBA with
Speaker 1: all of the money and that's changed over the last
Speaker 1: twenty five or thirty years since since you played, But
Speaker 1: these guys, you have to have a schedule, you have
Speaker 1: to sate that competitive book. Even if you're you know,
Speaker 1: you're set for life, for your family's life, and beyond.
Speaker 1: You still have to have something that you do and
Speaker 1: you were able to find that that's important, isn't it perfect?
Speaker 1: I think so? I think so too. I mean it's
Speaker 1: a great point. Look, you could you could be worth
Speaker 1: you know, just one hundred million dollars. But what are
Speaker 1: you gonna do. You're gonna you're gonna sit around and
Speaker 1: play video games every day from age thirty on, you know,
Speaker 1: I mean, you want to do something that's worthwhile, that
Speaker 1: that's rewarding, that you know, you feel good about that
Speaker 1: you're achieving, and you know possibly can help others at
Speaker 1: the same time. And you know, if that's where you
Speaker 1: want to lean to and you know, to me, we
Speaker 1: all should never stop educating ourselves and putting ourselves out
Speaker 1: there in different situations that aren't always comfortable. Um. That's
Speaker 1: how we grow, that's how we improve. Um. I think.
Speaker 1: You know, today's player has as an amazing opportunity because
Speaker 1: of the money they're making to really set themselves up
Speaker 1: and to maybe branch out even more U versus maybe
Speaker 1: the guys even you know, my age group, which the
Speaker 1: money wasn't as good. You know, a lot of those
Speaker 1: guys had to transition into the workforce. But I think
Speaker 1: today you know, you have the opportunity to make an
Speaker 1: impact because we're seeing the platform these these guys have
Speaker 1: through social media and stuff to make all types of changes. Um,
Speaker 1: whether it's social you know, justice, or you know some
Speaker 1: something you know through charitable situations, or practical in your neighborhood, whatever.
Speaker 1: I mean, there's just the options are limitless. Tom, I mean,
Speaker 1: that's that's the beauty. Well, we thank you so much. John.
Speaker 1: You've done an incredible rear with your business, with your
Speaker 1: family on TV and that we appreciate your time. Thanks
Speaker 1: Tom for having me. We'll talk to you soon. Thanks
Speaker 1: for listening to this edition of Tom's Talks. If you
Speaker 1: like what you're hearing, consider subscribing to this seventy six
Speaker 1: ers podcast network Feed or giving us a follow wherever
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Speaker 1: on Apple Podcasts, we'd love for you to give us
Speaker 1: a rating. I'm Tom McGinnis. Talk to you down the road, hm, hm,