WEBVTT - BOMANI JONES 0:00:00.400 --> 0:00:02.640 This is cut to it with Steve Smith Senior at 0:00:02.640 --> 0:00:08.920 production of The Black Effect and I Heart Radio. I'm 0:00:08.920 --> 0:00:13.000 Steve Smith Senior, and and this is cut to it. 0:00:13.320 --> 0:00:16.960 Good do it, Good do it. Let's get down to 0:00:16.960 --> 0:00:20.759 do it. Good do it. We asked the questions you 0:00:20.800 --> 0:00:24.239 always want to know, but no one ever asked, let's 0:00:24.239 --> 0:00:30.040 cut to it. You ain't heard about it, then we're 0:00:30.080 --> 0:00:40.760 about to let you. Now it's all. We got a 0:00:40.760 --> 0:00:44.040 good one of day. Yes we do. The host of 0:00:44.560 --> 0:00:49.320 Game theory entrepreneur. He's a host not of game shows, 0:00:50.600 --> 0:00:55.960 but he's also a journalist and super uper uh uper 0:00:56.160 --> 0:01:00.280 super super uper. He got so many degrees and yet 0:01:01.600 --> 0:01:05.680 he's doing sports. But we'll get into that. Bomani Joe. 0:01:06.000 --> 0:01:09.280 No matter thing's happening. I appreciate it. Were about welcome bro, 0:01:09.360 --> 0:01:12.000 you about that something fun, kick back, Take shoes off, 0:01:13.160 --> 0:01:21.639 close curtain, everything's good, better curtain. Sorry, that's bad, bad bath. 0:01:23.400 --> 0:01:27.480 Just that ain't west That ain't right there, that's not 0:01:27.560 --> 0:01:30.080 west side. I think you're ignoring the fact that I'm 0:01:30.080 --> 0:01:34.120 a single man. Like like like, if you would have 0:01:34.160 --> 0:01:37.280 asked me to go get a good curtain, I could 0:01:37.319 --> 0:01:40.280 get you. I could go get an expensive curtain, but 0:01:40.360 --> 0:01:42.280 I can't tell you that I would know a good 0:01:42.319 --> 0:01:45.400 one if I saw it. Hints kind of why you're 0:01:45.480 --> 0:01:54.200 still single. That goes the other one. Gonna convince me 0:01:54.240 --> 0:01:56.160 that before you got married, all of a sudden you're 0:01:56.160 --> 0:01:59.000 furticure game, but you're the floor was just super duper 0:01:59.040 --> 0:02:01.320 all point. At least it's up that you did for yourself, 0:02:01.520 --> 0:02:05.240 not wonder one, wonder one. I'm light skinned, so I 0:02:05.280 --> 0:02:10.640 can say possibly, let's just say we all learned the game. 0:02:11.800 --> 0:02:14.800 I was gonna say game recognized games. Did you see 0:02:14.800 --> 0:02:22.400 my face? I said possibly? Yeah? Alright, so man, um, 0:02:22.760 --> 0:02:25.240 I love this. Well, this is this is really it's 0:02:25.360 --> 0:02:28.120 right up Lley. It has nothing to do with the podcast, 0:02:28.200 --> 0:02:31.799 just random, just super duper random questions. So iceb it's 0:02:31.800 --> 0:02:34.040 called get ice stuff. Yeah. So it's just like you know, 0:02:34.120 --> 0:02:36.480 I'm like, why is he asking me that? It's just 0:02:36.480 --> 0:02:39.840 just get your relaxing in. Sometimes I'm a dad, so 0:02:40.040 --> 0:02:45.240 there's times where I just have I just got terrible 0:02:45.360 --> 0:02:49.840 dad jokes, right, so I'm going to your repertoire. Well 0:02:49.880 --> 0:02:55.800 they actually there's an app called dad Jokes. You're supposed 0:02:55.800 --> 0:02:57.639 to finesse out of it. Yeah, no, no, sometimes you 0:02:57.720 --> 0:03:00.160 just gotta on it. Got on it, all right. So 0:03:00.320 --> 0:03:04.919 here's a pretty bad one. It's an icebreaker. Why are 0:03:05.120 --> 0:03:14.760 rivers so rich? Ohm hm hm m hmm. Good question. 0:03:17.080 --> 0:03:20.240 Why are we so rich? Because they have two banks? 0:03:21.720 --> 0:03:33.000 But I'm sorry, man, hey, that was the best I 0:03:33.080 --> 0:03:35.880 got right there. I gotta say. I was really trying 0:03:35.920 --> 0:03:38.600 to like think I could like get it. I'm going 0:03:38.680 --> 0:03:41.760 to figure out the answer myself. And Nope, didn't get 0:03:41.760 --> 0:03:43.600 to the bank. I was. I was like he said 0:03:43.640 --> 0:03:46.400 about currency perhaps, No, Nope, I was when you go 0:03:46.440 --> 0:03:48.440 through that performance, I was just gonna wait on the answer. Yeah, 0:03:48.560 --> 0:03:53.120 it's really it. Literally. I said this the other day. 0:03:53.160 --> 0:03:56.160 We were at dinner. Um, we're at lunch, and my 0:03:56.240 --> 0:03:59.840 kids looked at me. I was like, yeah, so whatever, 0:04:00.600 --> 0:04:03.880 it doesn't it doesn't matter. It was I was feeling it, 0:04:04.000 --> 0:04:06.320 so that's all it counts. Drake talked about that fake love. 0:04:06.400 --> 0:04:08.839 That's that's it right there. Yeah, you know that fake love. 0:04:08.880 --> 0:04:11.280 I can have it right in the line before we 0:04:11.360 --> 0:04:17.240 check on that flight. All right, um man, who is 0:04:17.279 --> 0:04:22.000 someone important in your life? Somebody important in my life? 0:04:22.640 --> 0:04:24.800 For this one, I'll say my brother. Like I moved 0:04:24.800 --> 0:04:26.440 to New York five years ago. And one of the 0:04:26.480 --> 0:04:28.280 cool things is that my brother is thirteen years old 0:04:28.320 --> 0:04:30.840 than me, so like we're closer in age now than 0:04:30.880 --> 0:04:33.160 we've ever been before, if that makes sense. Like when 0:04:33.200 --> 0:04:36.560 you're eighteen and you know he's eighteen and you're five, 0:04:38.080 --> 0:04:43.320 you know, then what uh and so and so like 0:04:43.400 --> 0:04:45.800 I moved here five years ago. He lives like literally 0:04:45.800 --> 0:04:49.640 a block away from me now, and so we get 0:04:49.640 --> 0:04:51.960 to you know, kick it as adults, like both of 0:04:52.040 --> 0:04:54.440 us being adults, which is like a real cool thing, 0:04:55.279 --> 0:05:01.320 not like he being an adult and you uh, you know, 0:05:01.720 --> 0:05:04.039 like not everything I do now was the reason to 0:05:04.080 --> 0:05:07.280 give me advice because you know, otherwise it is it's 0:05:07.320 --> 0:05:09.760 like it's your story. Yeah, put you all into something 0:05:09.839 --> 0:05:16.719 right fast called the party? Are you? Um man? Where 0:05:16.720 --> 0:05:18.680 are you from? In a place you call your hometown? 0:05:19.880 --> 0:05:22.640 I was born in Atlanta, but we moved to Houston 0:05:22.760 --> 0:05:25.000 when I was six and we stayed there to a 0:05:25.040 --> 0:05:27.840 lot of sixteens, so I'd say I grew up in Houston. Now, 0:05:27.839 --> 0:05:30.360 how was growing up in Houston for you? Well, it's 0:05:30.400 --> 0:05:34.320 interesting because I grew up in like the northwest suburbs 0:05:34.320 --> 0:05:37.240 of Houston, but my parents taught at a prairie view 0:05:37.520 --> 0:05:40.040 and the university, and my parents thought that where we 0:05:40.080 --> 0:05:42.760 lived just had too many white people for them to 0:05:42.800 --> 0:05:45.920 feel comfortable put me in the schools um and so 0:05:45.960 --> 0:05:48.359 I went to school in this town called Wall of Texas, 0:05:48.680 --> 0:05:52.960 population fourteen hundred nine when I graduated. So it's like 0:05:53.000 --> 0:05:55.640 I grew up in one place but went to school 0:05:56.080 --> 0:06:00.440 in another place. Hold on, how many fourteen? So less 0:06:00.680 --> 0:06:06.720 you know how many people are your graduating class? No, 0:06:06.800 --> 0:06:09.640 if my graduating class had two hundred people, goes well, 0:06:09.680 --> 0:06:11.800 see how it goes in the country is one town 0:06:12.480 --> 0:06:16.159 has the school for a bunch of towns, right right, 0:06:16.279 --> 0:06:18.680 Like you just got the one that's the location, and 0:06:18.720 --> 0:06:21.280 then you know, because the geography, and then they bring 0:06:21.360 --> 0:06:24.640 everybody in. So we had like people um in my 0:06:24.720 --> 0:06:28.480 graduating class. But yeah, so it's kind of interesting to 0:06:29.440 --> 0:06:32.039 like live in one place but you're like day to 0:06:32.120 --> 0:06:35.320 day life is in another. And it's also kind of 0:06:35.360 --> 0:06:39.640 interesting when you do that. And most people are trying 0:06:39.680 --> 0:06:43.200 to go from like lower income areas to find ways 0:06:43.279 --> 0:06:46.000 to sneak into the schools of the higher income areas, 0:06:46.040 --> 0:06:51.560 and you gotta higher income sneaking. Yeah, the other ways involved, 0:06:51.600 --> 0:06:55.040 we call that ask backwards. Yeah, but you know what. 0:06:55.400 --> 0:06:57.760 That's the thing about being black though, right, is that 0:06:58.000 --> 0:07:01.880 the social the social stuff, it's so important. And so 0:07:02.240 --> 0:07:06.280 rather than winding up like isolated as like the one 0:07:06.360 --> 0:07:09.040 black dude in some of these other spaces, and I've 0:07:09.040 --> 0:07:10.720 seen it happen to other people and I seen him 0:07:10.720 --> 0:07:13.960 get destroyed by it. Instead, like I went to school 0:07:14.200 --> 0:07:16.560 at what people would kind of think of as like 0:07:17.280 --> 0:07:20.120 the middle of nowhere type stuff, and it was the 0:07:20.160 --> 0:07:21.920 best thing that could have happened for me because what 0:07:22.000 --> 0:07:24.440 I had to learn was how to actually talk to people, 0:07:25.160 --> 0:07:26.800 you know, Like you could be the smart kid in 0:07:26.840 --> 0:07:28.880 these other places and just only be around the smart 0:07:28.960 --> 0:07:30.240 kids and you come out of there and don't know 0:07:30.240 --> 0:07:32.360 how to interact with people, right, Like that's how you 0:07:32.360 --> 0:07:34.000 you know, And there was a learning process for me. 0:07:34.480 --> 0:07:37.240 But I got an awareness of life where if I 0:07:37.240 --> 0:07:38.880 had just gone to school with a bunch of people 0:07:39.240 --> 0:07:41.320 who grew up in the same neighborhood as I did, 0:07:41.960 --> 0:07:43.440 I would have had a much different view of the 0:07:43.480 --> 0:07:47.400 world than I did from going somewhere where like classes 0:07:47.440 --> 0:07:49.320 and was determined who goes to school here. It's just 0:07:49.360 --> 0:07:51.320 pure geography. So you meet a little bit of this, 0:07:51.360 --> 0:07:52.560 a little bit of that a little bit. You know, 0:07:52.560 --> 0:07:55.160 all these people all over place, so you know that's 0:07:55.240 --> 0:07:56.920 that's the thing that's a little different for me about 0:07:56.960 --> 0:07:59.600 it is I learned very quickly that Okay, my parents 0:07:59.640 --> 0:08:02.840 are us is that's cool. But you better learn how 0:08:02.880 --> 0:08:05.480 to talk to like secretaries too, you know what I mean? 0:08:05.480 --> 0:08:06.880 You better learn how to talk to the people that 0:08:06.960 --> 0:08:09.520 work in the building, and you know and recognize that 0:08:09.760 --> 0:08:11.760 they are you, you are them, Like, ain't a whole 0:08:11.760 --> 0:08:15.600 lot of difference betweens. So so with parents who were professors, 0:08:15.600 --> 0:08:20.160 what were those kitchen table conversations like for you early on? Well, 0:08:20.360 --> 0:08:24.480 the thing with them is, at least for me, it 0:08:24.560 --> 0:08:27.400 was less about like what they were saying to me 0:08:27.480 --> 0:08:29.200 as much as what they were saying to each other. 0:08:29.360 --> 0:08:33.160 And I just happened to be there, you know. You're like, yeah, yeah, 0:08:33.360 --> 0:08:35.320 you know, so like them talking about what they see 0:08:35.320 --> 0:08:37.600 on the news, it lands a little different when it's 0:08:37.600 --> 0:08:41.719 an economist and the political scientists talking about it, you 0:08:41.760 --> 0:08:45.160 know what I mean. Little yeah, and it's but it's 0:08:45.160 --> 0:08:47.400 not like they're talking about it in like high falut 0:08:47.679 --> 0:08:49.600 terms or anything like that. Like it's not you know, 0:08:49.600 --> 0:08:52.439 it's not that sort of vibe but what what made 0:08:52.440 --> 0:08:55.240 that interesting for me? The is so since my siblings 0:08:55.240 --> 0:08:57.160 are old, right, like my brother's thirteen years old to me, 0:08:57.240 --> 0:08:59.200 my sisters ten years older to be the people I 0:08:59.240 --> 0:09:02.320 went to school with twenty something miles away. So like 0:09:02.400 --> 0:09:06.080 my handout partners by the house are these professors and 0:09:06.120 --> 0:09:09.760 their friends who are also professors. So I'm at home 0:09:10.200 --> 0:09:13.080 and there's like that level of conversation that I'm accustomed to. 0:09:13.840 --> 0:09:15.600 It took a long time to figure out how to 0:09:15.640 --> 0:09:19.079 adapt that to like dealing with everybody else. You know, 0:09:21.480 --> 0:09:26.400 It's funny, is mhmm? You sound like my I'm not comparing, 0:09:26.480 --> 0:09:31.000 but you sound like my son Deuce, who's seven. My 0:09:31.120 --> 0:09:35.520 oldest is four, second should be twenty one in September. 0:09:35.920 --> 0:09:38.600 Then I gotta soon to be seventeen year old. Then 0:09:38.600 --> 0:09:42.600 who got a seven year old? Right? And when my 0:09:43.080 --> 0:09:46.280 seventh year oldest he's at basketball practice, are not at 0:09:46.280 --> 0:09:49.600 the house. There are things that me and my wife 0:09:49.600 --> 0:09:53.640 are talking about that deuces ear hustling on and then 0:09:53.679 --> 0:09:58.760 he's starting to interrupt and ask follow up questions right 0:09:59.520 --> 0:10:06.680 like a lab right on that excuse me? Right? And 0:10:06.679 --> 0:10:10.360 and so it's you're connecting, Yes, you're connecting. Those dots 0:10:10.400 --> 0:10:15.600 like you're talking, I'm going wow, like just just thinking 0:10:15.640 --> 0:10:18.520 about it, so you know, and and I interrupted to 0:10:18.520 --> 0:10:21.720 to connect the dots. So what are some of those 0:10:21.760 --> 0:10:27.000 conversations that that that g s like that you and 0:10:27.000 --> 0:10:29.200 maybe that you're even having applied until now that you 0:10:29.480 --> 0:10:32.160 like you're just you're just connect your dots like oh like, 0:10:32.200 --> 0:10:36.720 because I know they're not sitting there having hyper uh 0:10:36.840 --> 0:10:39.720 you know, intellectual conversations. They're like they're at the house 0:10:39.800 --> 0:10:45.040 between their walls, right intimate you know, mom and dad, 0:10:45.160 --> 0:10:48.920 you got their stuff, and then they're just loose, right, 0:10:48.960 --> 0:10:50.920 a little bit loose where they don't have to work 0:10:51.040 --> 0:10:54.440 concern themselves with you know, how they said they could 0:10:54.559 --> 0:10:57.400 sometimes said in the way that they how they truly 0:10:57.480 --> 0:11:03.559 feel uh economically, ethnically, um ship by the end of 0:11:03.600 --> 0:11:06.040 the day just kind of like hey, I'm I'm just 0:11:06.080 --> 0:11:08.760 tired today and this is and just just saying that 0:11:08.880 --> 0:11:11.560 the real way they want to say, Yeah, like I 0:11:11.600 --> 0:11:13.640 think the big thing and I picked it up. I 0:11:13.720 --> 0:11:16.280 know exactly when I fully put the dots together, like, oh, right, 0:11:16.440 --> 0:11:20.160 is like my father's skepticism about racing America. I did 0:11:20.200 --> 0:11:22.880 not necessarily share the whole way because then I grew 0:11:22.920 --> 0:11:24.520 up in the nineties. The nineties, to me, we're like 0:11:24.520 --> 0:11:27.760 the most optimistic time on races. They like like we 0:11:27.840 --> 0:11:31.600 actually had an era where high fashion was closed telling 0:11:31.600 --> 0:11:33.560 people not to be racist no more, you know, like 0:11:33.600 --> 0:11:35.320 it was kind of a dawn of the time that 0:11:35.400 --> 0:11:37.480 felt like we might have been doing something. And then 0:11:37.559 --> 0:11:39.840 Hurricane can Train a hit and I was like, oh 0:11:40.040 --> 0:11:44.000 I was wrong about everything, right, Like wow, No, they 0:11:44.080 --> 0:11:46.480 really will just ignore us just because we're black. Oh 0:11:46.520 --> 0:11:49.079 they really will stop us from coming over a bridge 0:11:49.120 --> 0:11:51.400 just because we're black. Like I just that was like 0:11:51.440 --> 0:11:54.200 a wild thought to me up until that point, like 0:11:54.240 --> 0:11:56.800 it could be like almost governmental, not just like a 0:11:56.840 --> 0:11:59.240 couple of people around and so like here and my 0:11:59.360 --> 0:12:02.360 dad and parents are both like sitting, you know, supposed 0:12:02.360 --> 0:12:06.040 who did involved in significant like historically significant citty in 0:12:06.080 --> 0:12:09.120 and stuff when they were younger. That it's that discussion. 0:12:09.160 --> 0:12:11.120 But I think the other part that where I got 0:12:11.200 --> 0:12:13.920 really lucky was I spent Since I didn't live where 0:12:13.920 --> 0:12:16.120 I went to school, I would go to my mom's 0:12:16.160 --> 0:12:19.240 office after school and she was the dean of business 0:12:19.280 --> 0:12:22.720 at her view for most of my childhood, and so 0:12:22.800 --> 0:12:27.000 I had like exposure to how an office ran, and 0:12:27.679 --> 0:12:32.480 importantly it was being exposed to an office where a 0:12:32.640 --> 0:12:35.560 woman is at the top of the chain, Like a 0:12:35.600 --> 0:12:38.520 woman is the one not just that people have to respect, 0:12:38.640 --> 0:12:43.200 but also it's the person who establishes the culture um 0:12:43.240 --> 0:12:45.959 of the office. And that as I really look back 0:12:46.000 --> 0:12:47.640 at it, like I think about now doing this TV 0:12:47.720 --> 0:12:50.120 show and not like being the boss boss, but being 0:12:50.120 --> 0:12:53.120 on top of it that learning how to like I 0:12:53.200 --> 0:12:55.400 learned how to relate to people in offices and kind 0:12:55.440 --> 0:12:58.440 of see the importance of how everybody feels about different 0:12:58.440 --> 0:13:01.200 things and stuff like that, people having some good fortune 0:13:01.200 --> 0:13:05.120 of being around that managing people, Yes, managing people and 0:13:05.200 --> 0:13:09.000 recognizing that like flexi power where people's face ain't gonna work, 0:13:09.360 --> 0:13:11.960 like respect is earned. You're gonna have to like if 0:13:12.000 --> 0:13:15.160 they don't respect you, you you ain't gonna make them respect you. Right, 0:13:15.240 --> 0:13:16.800 you can make them fear you, but you can't make 0:13:16.840 --> 0:13:19.199 them respect you. And I think that's something that women 0:13:19.240 --> 0:13:21.560 are far more likely to understand than men because in 0:13:21.600 --> 0:13:23.719 the end, then you know, as there the parking lot 0:13:23.800 --> 0:13:25.520 to really come down to it, you know, like there's 0:13:25.559 --> 0:13:28.000 a chain of there's a chain of events to earn 0:13:28.200 --> 0:13:31.640 that respect With women now you just gotta hurt it. Yeah, 0:13:34.840 --> 0:13:38.720 I like it. I'm it's it's a lot there to unpack, 0:13:38.840 --> 0:13:42.280 because there is there are some things that you know, 0:13:42.320 --> 0:13:47.040 as men, m it just doesn't add up for us. 0:13:48.080 --> 0:13:50.280 We just don't get it. But then you also add 0:13:50.320 --> 0:13:54.480 the business aspect of it, where you know, I use 0:13:54.520 --> 0:13:58.440 a phrase bulling the china closet, right, and then listening 0:13:58.520 --> 0:14:02.920 to everyone in and taking the temperature of the room 0:14:03.040 --> 0:14:07.880 and figuring out who you know, for myself is figuring 0:14:07.880 --> 0:14:13.000 out what is what is Sally? What is Jenny? What 0:14:13.200 --> 0:14:16.080 is James? What are they going through at home? To 0:14:16.320 --> 0:14:19.680 know what can I get out of them today and 0:14:19.800 --> 0:14:25.400 figuring that out, and then also going, yeah, Alison just 0:14:25.600 --> 0:14:29.040 is having a tough day today. So there's no sense 0:14:29.120 --> 0:14:32.840 trying to pull that extra out of it, because all 0:14:32.840 --> 0:14:35.440 you're gonna do is actually reset the whole office. You're 0:14:35.480 --> 0:14:37.280 gonna mess up the whole office, and then that whole 0:14:37.280 --> 0:14:40.080 office is gonna be mad at you and you're the boss. 0:14:41.520 --> 0:14:44.400 Things you got to navigate through, uh, going going back 0:14:44.520 --> 0:14:47.800 through to your your upbringing. You graduated from Wala High 0:14:47.840 --> 0:14:51.560 School in Houston when you were sixteen. Now I don't 0:14:51.680 --> 0:14:56.040 that's not something that happens every day. Walk us through that. No, 0:14:56.320 --> 0:15:02.800 it's just when we moved to Texas, Um I was 0:15:02.840 --> 0:15:05.760 a little ahead of the curriculum that they would teaching 0:15:06.040 --> 0:15:09.920 slightly time. Yeah, well yeah, well the thing was like 0:15:10.200 --> 0:15:12.160 prior to that, the way I described it is, I 0:15:12.240 --> 0:15:15.240 did like a home school at somebody else's house, but 0:15:15.320 --> 0:15:18.080 it was real like red, black, green, power to the 0:15:18.120 --> 0:15:20.400 people type situation, you know what I mean. And so 0:15:21.240 --> 0:15:23.840 in a situation like that, you're not going to what 0:15:24.000 --> 0:15:25.920 is your quote unquote grade level. You go on as 0:15:25.960 --> 0:15:29.080 far as you go. And so when we moved to Texas, 0:15:29.120 --> 0:15:31.560 that was just jumping back for me to like things 0:15:31.600 --> 0:15:34.240 I had long done before. And it just didn't make 0:15:34.280 --> 0:15:35.880 no sense for me to be in the grade that 0:15:35.920 --> 0:15:38.640 they had me in, and so they put me up one. 0:15:39.200 --> 0:15:41.280 And then on top of that, my birthday is late 0:15:41.280 --> 0:15:44.240 as in eight August, and like September is the roll 0:15:44.320 --> 0:15:47.400 over for schools there. So for me it became interesting 0:15:47.520 --> 0:15:50.320 because I was already one of the youngest people in 0:15:50.360 --> 0:15:54.000 the grade I was supposed to be in, and then 0:15:54.080 --> 0:15:56.680 you get skipped a grade, so I'm like two years 0:15:56.720 --> 0:16:00.360 younger than people in my actual grade. But it's what 0:16:00.440 --> 0:16:02.760 it always was, so I never really gave it any thought. 0:16:03.040 --> 0:16:05.880 It's stunk in like middle school when everybody's growing and 0:16:05.920 --> 0:16:09.720 still you're still waiting for the party. Um. But by 0:16:09.960 --> 0:16:12.240 you know, by twelfth grade, I got up six feet, 0:16:12.320 --> 0:16:14.000 so you know, I made it back to the point. 0:16:14.000 --> 0:16:16.280 Know I I got back. I got back around where 0:16:16.280 --> 0:16:18.720 the crew was eventually, you know, but in the and 0:16:18.800 --> 0:16:20.920 it it being a time. Yeah, you know, like sports 0:16:20.960 --> 0:16:25.280 win't gonna happen for me, like the calendar dictated. That's true. 0:16:25.560 --> 0:16:28.280 Did you ever feel out of place because because of that? 0:16:28.360 --> 0:16:31.240 And if you did, did you ever feel that being 0:16:31.240 --> 0:16:34.720 out of place? Did you ever view that as an opportunity? Now? 0:16:34.800 --> 0:16:37.160 I didn't feel out of place because of age stuff, 0:16:37.200 --> 0:16:39.800 because I was like I was in school with all 0:16:39.840 --> 0:16:43.000 those people from third grade up like whatever it was. 0:16:43.040 --> 0:16:45.560 It always was like they might not necessarily know how 0:16:45.560 --> 0:16:47.440 old I was. It wasn't. But I didn't get that 0:16:47.520 --> 0:16:52.360 part um really too much thought, um, because it wasn't 0:16:52.400 --> 0:16:54.280 like I couldn't hang into space as I was in. 0:16:54.400 --> 0:16:56.760 So like if I was in like if I if 0:16:56.760 --> 0:16:59.720 you skip me a grade and I'm way less mature 0:16:59.800 --> 0:17:01.840 than the kids in the grade because I'm too young, 0:17:01.960 --> 0:17:04.160 then that's gonna be one thing. But whenever they put 0:17:04.200 --> 0:17:06.040 me up in something like that, like I was, I 0:17:06.119 --> 0:17:09.199 was cool with being in that space because I like 0:17:09.760 --> 0:17:11.200 I knew why I was there. I knew I could 0:17:11.240 --> 0:17:13.640 hang Like. It wasn't that I'm spending all this time 0:17:13.680 --> 0:17:17.160 hanging out with actually grown ups. You know, these kids 0:17:17.160 --> 0:17:19.000 who were just a year older than me. That ain't 0:17:19.800 --> 0:17:22.919 You had your folks, right, you had your brother and 0:17:22.960 --> 0:17:26.479 then you were you know, age wise, you were you 0:17:26.480 --> 0:17:28.960 were younger, So it was it was the status quote 0:17:28.960 --> 0:17:31.120 for you. That was that was that was every day 0:17:31.200 --> 0:17:34.800 you're flourishing and standing out, you know even you know 0:17:35.160 --> 0:17:37.480 what it was. Yeah, you don't even know you're flourishing. 0:17:37.520 --> 0:17:40.760 That's just your every day right, Yeah, it's Well. The 0:17:40.800 --> 0:17:44.800 other thing was, for whatever reason, I've been somebody that 0:17:44.880 --> 0:17:48.320 people could identify as smart, like really early and without 0:17:48.840 --> 0:17:50.800 much background. It's not like they're just waiting around to 0:17:50.840 --> 0:17:52.800 being like, oh, this guy's really smart. Like for whatever reason, 0:17:52.800 --> 0:17:55.840 people catch it pretty quick. And so especially when you 0:17:55.880 --> 0:17:58.040 going to school with the same people for all these years, 0:17:58.119 --> 0:18:01.280 like they knew I was the smart dude from nineteen 0:18:01.359 --> 0:18:04.600 eighties seven, all like that's that's who and what I was, 0:18:04.800 --> 0:18:08.560 And so I always had a place because I always 0:18:08.600 --> 0:18:11.359 had that, which is actually cool because I learned something 0:18:11.400 --> 0:18:13.880 that I think a lot of like smart kids don't 0:18:13.960 --> 0:18:18.160 quite get, which is the other kids do. They don't 0:18:18.520 --> 0:18:20.560 mind you being smart. They just don't want you to 0:18:20.600 --> 0:18:22.280 be a jerk about it, you know what I mean, 0:18:22.560 --> 0:18:24.440 Like they might pick on you for being a nerve, 0:18:24.520 --> 0:18:26.800 but everybody wants to be smart, and a single person 0:18:26.800 --> 0:18:29.800 out here, like man, I wish I was who wants 0:18:29.800 --> 0:18:33.359 to Yeah, they just don't want you to be a 0:18:33.440 --> 0:18:36.480 jerk about being smart. But it was always my bag, 0:18:36.560 --> 0:18:38.320 Like it was when I went to college, it was 0:18:38.359 --> 0:18:40.240 a problem because I realized, oh, you gotta have a 0:18:40.240 --> 0:18:43.120 different hustle than this, Like that's like I'm the smartest 0:18:43.119 --> 0:18:45.119 person in the room. Does not worked as an adult, 0:18:45.280 --> 0:18:48.000 but as a child people think that stuff is kind 0:18:48.000 --> 0:18:50.760 of cool. What what was some of your dreams growing 0:18:50.840 --> 0:18:53.719 up as as a as a child? Man? So it's 0:18:53.720 --> 0:18:56.720 actually funny because it's like bo Jackson was my like 0:18:56.840 --> 0:19:01.320 number one athlete. He wrote, like and ship still is 0:19:01.320 --> 0:19:03.520 what I'm talking about. Used to be um And I 0:19:03.520 --> 0:19:05.119 remember I had the boat was closed. I don't know 0:19:05.160 --> 0:19:07.560 if you remember, it's one that went long ways across 0:19:07.640 --> 0:19:10.280 with the with the bat. This is the one where 0:19:10.280 --> 0:19:12.320 he was doing everything like it said when he was 0:19:12.359 --> 0:19:17.000 both Yeah, so he's like in a hockey years too poor. 0:19:17.160 --> 0:19:19.199 We just had the bat to show the path. I 0:19:19.240 --> 0:19:22.479 didn't know there was another Yeah that was I had bikes. 0:19:22.640 --> 0:19:27.200 I didn't have nikes. I had bikes. So only only 0:19:27.400 --> 0:19:29.400 one I know was to show the pads in the bat. 0:19:30.119 --> 0:19:33.760 What you're talking about. I'm not on that side of 0:19:34.840 --> 0:19:37.879 the county. I'm on the other yonder. It did not 0:19:38.040 --> 0:19:40.679 I did not realize until right now that bikes shoes 0:19:40.720 --> 0:19:43.440 were actually blue leg night. I never put the two 0:19:43.440 --> 0:19:46.480 with two together. Serious, you can get it from Sears. Yeah, 0:19:46.520 --> 0:19:48.679 I just until right like I remember him and I 0:19:48.680 --> 0:19:52.960 was like, how what an interesting name for shoes. Consider 0:19:53.200 --> 0:19:55.240 that that was it? But now but it was the 0:19:55.280 --> 0:19:57.439 closed with him doing all the stuff. And when I 0:19:57.480 --> 0:20:00.080 was growing up, I wanted to do everything, like I 0:20:00.160 --> 0:20:02.440 believe that I could be good at doing a ziity 0:20:02.440 --> 0:20:04.040 and different things like jack ball trades like that was 0:20:04.119 --> 0:20:06.479 the idea of what I wanted to do. And it's 0:20:06.480 --> 0:20:09.400 actually kind of wild because I did the thirty thirty 0:20:09.400 --> 0:20:11.840 on bo Jackson. I sat for that, and I don't 0:20:11.920 --> 0:20:13.480 on me while I was in it. Like when you 0:20:13.520 --> 0:20:15.399 look at what like, especially with media is in this 0:20:15.480 --> 0:20:19.359 day and time. But I am doing like class these 0:20:19.400 --> 0:20:22.680 different things at efferent point, you know, like it kind 0:20:22.720 --> 0:20:29.719 of worked out there. I love cut to It, and 0:20:29.800 --> 0:20:33.000 I love it even more when you download us and 0:20:33.160 --> 0:20:37.040 subscribe and you can follow us on social media too, Smithie, 0:20:37.040 --> 0:20:40.080 where where at? That's at? Cut to It on Instagram? 0:20:40.240 --> 0:20:45.280 What about Twitter? At? Cut to It? Facebook? Cut to 0:20:45.400 --> 0:20:49.320 It featuring Steve Smith singr? What about online? And you 0:20:49.320 --> 0:20:51.760 can follow us at cut to It podcast dot com 0:20:51.880 --> 0:20:55.119 where you can buy merch and you can subscribe to 0:20:55.160 --> 0:21:00.640 us wherever you listen to podcasts. I got all my answers, questions. Um, 0:21:00.680 --> 0:21:04.040 I got all my questions answered. That's what I'm here for, 0:21:04.040 --> 0:21:08.679 a brother cut to a podcast dot com. Bro. You 0:21:08.760 --> 0:21:11.840 got all these degrees and went to college, but you're 0:21:11.880 --> 0:21:17.760 doing sports? Yeah? How and why? Um? It's a couple 0:21:17.760 --> 0:21:19.920 of things. So when I was in college, I started 0:21:20.000 --> 0:21:24.240 like freelance writing about music and culture and stuff like that, 0:21:24.680 --> 0:21:26.960 and I really enjoyed it. And when I got out 0:21:26.960 --> 0:21:28.919 of college, the one thing I knew was that I 0:21:28.960 --> 0:21:31.240 did not want to go to graduate school, and I 0:21:31.320 --> 0:21:34.600 definitely did not want to study economics again. But I 0:21:34.680 --> 0:21:39.320 remember study all of that. Yeah, it was it was 0:21:39.359 --> 0:21:44.560 here's I go. So so, while I'm finishing my senior 0:21:44.640 --> 0:21:47.600 year and I'm writing, I'm talking to this guy's a freelancer, 0:21:47.640 --> 0:21:48.920 and I, you know, looked up to him. He was 0:21:49.000 --> 0:21:52.119 far more experience than me. And he sent me an 0:21:52.160 --> 0:21:55.680 email saying how excited he was because he had made 0:21:55.720 --> 0:21:58.800 ten thousand dollars freelancing in the previous years doing his 0:21:58.920 --> 0:22:00.639 taxes and he made ten I was in dollars, and 0:22:00.720 --> 0:22:02.480 he was really excited about the fact that he made 0:22:02.480 --> 0:22:04.600 ten thousand dollars doing it. And I said, wait a minute. 0:22:05.640 --> 0:22:09.600