WEBVTT - Frank Kaminsky 0:00:00.360 --> 0:00:02.600 This is cut to it with Steve Smith Senior at 0:00:02.640 --> 0:00:08.879 production of The Black Effect and I Heart Radio. I'm 0:00:08.920 --> 0:00:12.200 Steve Smith Senior and I'm John and this is cut 0:00:12.240 --> 0:00:16.600 to it. Good do it, Good do it. That's getting 0:00:16.640 --> 0:00:19.919 down to do it. Good do it. We asked the 0:00:20.040 --> 0:00:23.880 questions you always want to know, but no one ever asked, 0:00:24.000 --> 0:00:29.600 let's cut to it. You ain't heard him about it, 0:00:29.640 --> 0:00:39.360 then we're about to let you know. It's all you 0:00:40.479 --> 0:00:44.760 grabbing food today. Yes, that's what you're doing. See she 0:00:44.960 --> 0:00:49.280 is working well, Steve. I don't know where that came from. 0:00:49.320 --> 0:00:52.960 I like the Yeah, how are you doing? I'm doing great? Man, 0:00:53.000 --> 0:00:56.880 And I'm sitting here thinking there was an incident. Man, 0:00:56.920 --> 0:01:01.200 this was a few years ago. Yeah, with your football camp. 0:01:01.200 --> 0:01:02.760 What about your last football camp that you did here 0:01:02.760 --> 0:01:05.080 in Charlotte, Right, it wasn't my last second of last 0:01:05.080 --> 0:01:09.720 one one up. I know it was a few years ago. Um, 0:01:09.760 --> 0:01:11.959 you gotta tell it though, but just in terms of 0:01:12.760 --> 0:01:15.720 starting beverage and happened with some of the kids. It's 0:01:15.760 --> 0:01:18.160 just a funny story, man. So so I used to 0:01:18.200 --> 0:01:21.520 do football camp here in Charlotte, and then also, uh, 0:01:21.560 --> 0:01:24.399 you're here too. As we go down, Um, I've done 0:01:24.440 --> 0:01:28.080 football camps UM on military basis as well. I've done it, 0:01:28.400 --> 0:01:34.120 and UM Cam Humphreys, which is overseas. Cam Humphreys is 0:01:34.200 --> 0:01:41.759 actually uh several miles away from the d militarized Zone 0:01:42.120 --> 0:01:48.880 near South Korea, right, So I've been in Hawaii, Frankfurt, Germany, 0:01:48.920 --> 0:01:51.120 so I've I've I've had the honor to serve the 0:01:51.200 --> 0:01:55.240 military's kids all over. But so I do. I But 0:01:55.320 --> 0:01:58.520 I always had a camp for about nine almost ten 0:01:58.600 --> 0:02:01.520 years here in Charlott that that I was doing, and 0:02:01.560 --> 0:02:04.040 so we had a lot of different sponsors that would 0:02:04.040 --> 0:02:07.640 come on board. And so one of our sponsors, UH 0:02:07.680 --> 0:02:11.600 for the for our camp was Sunny Delight. Now, if 0:02:11.600 --> 0:02:14.840 anybody has ever been in the South beverage sponsors, So 0:02:14.880 --> 0:02:17.520 if anybody has been in the South of North Carolina 0:02:17.960 --> 0:02:21.960 in July, is hot as fish grease. And when I 0:02:22.000 --> 0:02:26.320 say fish grease, you can put them until I drop 0:02:26.400 --> 0:02:31.600 that toy in there, and that grease is gonna be 0:02:31.600 --> 0:02:34.760 all over. So anyway, so we're out there and it's 0:02:34.800 --> 0:02:41.680 probably ninety five degrees with UH humidity, so it's equivalent 0:02:41.760 --> 0:02:47.639 to about a hundred into degrees hot. You're so hot 0:02:47.760 --> 0:02:50.000 on the pavement you can see the heat, the heat 0:02:50.120 --> 0:02:54.120 rising on the just going on the top of the asphalt. 0:02:54.280 --> 0:02:57.160 So we're out here about two d plus kids. And 0:02:57.200 --> 0:02:59.960 so we have a water break, not a regular water break. 0:03:00.520 --> 0:03:05.239 We have a sunny D. We're providing sunny D light 0:03:05.440 --> 0:03:07.840 to the children. And let me tell you what happened. 0:03:07.880 --> 0:03:11.640 Was sunny D man. Sunny D was sniper and these 0:03:11.720 --> 0:03:18.560 kids left and right. Why because sunny D is not 0:03:18.600 --> 0:03:22.800 real orange juice. So it's not sunny D has less. 0:03:23.360 --> 0:03:26.400 I think it has tim percent orange juice, the orange 0:03:26.720 --> 0:03:30.960 k the ninety percent of the other juice. It's stuff. 0:03:32.040 --> 0:03:36.080 And it's not a drink or juice. It's it's a drink. 0:03:36.680 --> 0:03:38.640 And we all know what happens when you drink too 0:03:38.760 --> 0:03:46.560 much drink. That he got to bubbling these kids. What 0:03:46.960 --> 0:03:51.880 they weren't passing out? You know how they were losing 0:03:52.200 --> 0:03:56.320 in the football camp. We were losing the kids by vomit. 0:03:57.240 --> 0:04:02.200 These kids, these kids were running routes, curling and just 0:04:02.720 --> 0:04:07.160 falling out. We had about twenty kids stopped. Now you 0:04:07.200 --> 0:04:10.360 gotta imagine when the kids stopped because you got bubble guts. 0:04:11.400 --> 0:04:15.120 I think I got it. I don't feel well, I 0:04:15.120 --> 0:04:21.120 don't feel so good. I made an executive decision no 0:04:21.160 --> 0:04:27.839 more Sunday Kids. And I love the financial commitment. I 0:04:27.920 --> 0:04:32.120 love the product. Kids out here hurting, but we got 0:04:32.120 --> 0:04:36.200 to get this Sunday out of here just for everybody. 0:04:36.279 --> 0:04:40.240 They weren't padded, It's just some shorts, two of shorts, right, 0:04:40.279 --> 0:04:44.960 It's just it's not full contact. That I don't believe 0:04:45.000 --> 0:04:47.440 having full contact. The way you introduced kids on plane 0:04:48.360 --> 0:04:54.599 is you don't. You let them gradually acclimate to getting hit, 0:04:55.160 --> 0:04:57.520 But you don't. You don't teach a little kid how 0:04:57.600 --> 0:05:00.360 to catch a football when he knows that the next 0:05:00.480 --> 0:05:03.360 lout kickly is playing middle linebacker on the field. It's 0:05:03.400 --> 0:05:06.040 really hard to keep up focus on the ball when 0:05:06.080 --> 0:05:10.840 you're about to get your ribs broken. Right, And Bro, 0:05:11.160 --> 0:05:14.320 we were losing kids. I'm talking about so that literally 0:05:14.360 --> 0:05:17.160 the next day, two day, two day came, three day. 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:19.120 Cam we literally the next day, I said, Bro, we 0:05:19.120 --> 0:05:21.480 took all they d because it was not it was 0:05:21.520 --> 0:05:25.599 not providing the hydration. Dog Day was dying. We was 0:05:25.640 --> 0:05:27.599 losing kids left and around. I mean we had we 0:05:27.720 --> 0:05:30.760 lost twenty, like twenty kids just did not show up 0:05:30.760 --> 0:05:33.960 the next day like Sunny d took out You know 0:05:33.960 --> 0:05:39.600 what they talked about all the turf monster real it 0:05:39.680 --> 0:05:43.000 was awful. Over The sad part is you know, I 0:05:43.080 --> 0:05:45.599 gott drink the product. I don't drinking that product. I 0:05:45.600 --> 0:05:48.720 start and you know started, you toube and I don't start. 0:05:48.920 --> 0:05:56.920 You can get this. That's the lily stomach. It was hurt. 0:05:57.279 --> 0:06:02.360 Sunny D athletics and running around not not the best combo. 0:06:02.920 --> 0:06:07.320 Listen sunny D not ever ever, ever, ever ever show 0:06:07.600 --> 0:06:11.160 athletic sport and drinking after quenchy your thirsty was a 0:06:11.200 --> 0:06:16.080 sunny D would be your last sport. So that that's 0:06:16.160 --> 0:06:18.800 the sunny D story. But man tell her his day. Bro, 0:06:19.200 --> 0:06:23.720 it was my son. He was like, yeah, dadda. When 0:06:23.760 --> 0:06:26.360 I saw Kevin, I was like, yeah, I gotta stop 0:06:26.440 --> 0:06:29.040 drinking the sunny because it was free. So they gave 0:06:29.120 --> 0:06:31.719 us case case like we were giving it was like 0:06:31.720 --> 0:06:34.719 two D fifty kids. Each kid got two Sunnyds to 0:06:34.720 --> 0:06:38.480 take on. We had like four hundred sunny D's, but 0:06:38.680 --> 0:06:42.400 we dumped them. We had to dump the product because 0:06:42.400 --> 0:06:46.040 it was killing the kids. It was killing That'd be 0:06:46.080 --> 0:06:48.359 like I hate to say, that'd be like giving kids 0:06:48.600 --> 0:06:53.680 Mexican food to go play sports, like Bro can you 0:06:53.720 --> 0:06:57.040 imagine you drop this, bro? Can you imagine running a 0:06:57.120 --> 0:07:00.320 post route after eating a baby? Though I don't really 0:07:00.320 --> 0:07:04.080 want to? Probably you made that It's gonna be the last. 0:07:05.040 --> 0:07:09.280 Don't let that quarterback lead you into a messy situation. 0:07:13.160 --> 0:07:14.760 Oh man, we might have cut through it with our 0:07:14.760 --> 0:07:18.200 next guest man. Yes, sir, who do we have? Frank Kamensky, 0:07:18.560 --> 0:07:21.920 first round pick from Charlotte Hornet's currently playing with the 0:07:21.960 --> 0:07:26.600 Phoenix Suns, graduate of Wisconsin University, back to back final fours. 0:07:27.240 --> 0:07:30.600 He won the Nate Smith Award, the Wooden Award. Frank Kamenski, 0:07:37.760 --> 0:07:40.440 You're gonna take part and get iced up. It is 0:07:40.640 --> 0:07:44.640 our own version of our Icebreaker. There random questions that 0:07:44.680 --> 0:07:48.200 we've selected. Smitty may or may not have a follow up. 0:07:48.240 --> 0:07:50.440 He may have a follow up. Have no idea that 0:07:50.560 --> 0:07:53.960 you have not to receive these questions prior not ann 0:07:54.080 --> 0:07:59.200 clue prior to this podcast. Have you no okay? I 0:07:59.240 --> 0:08:02.400 heard they were good? Oh, I heard they were all right? 0:08:02.480 --> 0:08:09.480 First one, your first concert? Um it was a Drake concert, 0:08:09.880 --> 0:08:15.600 oh telling of his age. So you have an opportunity 0:08:15.680 --> 0:08:22.320 to fight a bear or seventy five ducks. I think 0:08:22.320 --> 0:08:25.880 I'd rather go with fighting the bear, fighting fighting seventy 0:08:26.160 --> 0:08:29.880 of anything is just difficult. Okay. Plus I just got 0:08:29.880 --> 0:08:32.360 this image of seven ft tall find commins keep trying 0:08:32.360 --> 0:08:36.240 to fight ducks. How do you take your coffee black 0:08:36.320 --> 0:08:41.199 with a little bit of sugar? Favorite breakfast food, favorite 0:08:41.200 --> 0:08:44.880 breakfast food, pancakes? All right? And then Marvel the DC 0:08:46.080 --> 0:08:50.080 Marvel without question, although I think DC has DC has 0:08:50.160 --> 0:08:52.880 some good stuff, but Marvel's just topped the bottom is 0:08:52.880 --> 0:08:57.400 a way better. M Okay, no no argument on that one. 0:08:57.640 --> 0:09:00.920 Last few movies with trash, just it was absolute trash. 0:09:01.400 --> 0:09:09.160 So Kaminski, what nationality is Kaminski? It's Polish. Kaminski is Polish. 0:09:09.240 --> 0:09:15.040 But I've got everything. I'm like Irish, German, Polish, Serbian, Russian, 0:09:15.960 --> 0:09:18.360 I don't know we we come when we live in Chicago. 0:09:18.679 --> 0:09:21.120 All families are kind of like that. A lot of 0:09:21.160 --> 0:09:26.320 European stuff down down with the squirrel Franks. So where 0:09:26.320 --> 0:09:32.840 did your family? How does your family get to Chicago? Then? So, 0:09:33.200 --> 0:09:38.040 my dad's all four of his grandparents came from somewhere 0:09:38.040 --> 0:09:46.360 in Europe. Um his dad's parents came from Poland, and 0:09:46.760 --> 0:09:51.960 his mom's parents, his mom's dad came from Serbia and 0:09:52.120 --> 0:09:56.800 his mom's mom, I believe, I'm not quite positive where 0:09:56.840 --> 0:09:58.520 she came from. And then my mom's side of the 0:09:58.600 --> 0:10:03.200 family is all Ireland pretty much. Why have you been 0:10:03.280 --> 0:10:08.040 considering playing for the Serbian national team? You know, obviously 0:10:08.040 --> 0:10:10.400 the opportunity is it presented itself. I went and did 0:10:10.400 --> 0:10:14.080 the Basketball Without Borders trip for the NBA, which is, UM, 0:10:14.120 --> 0:10:18.119 you know, you go overseas and UM, you know, basically 0:10:18.280 --> 0:10:20.960 run a camp for the top European players. UM. You 0:10:20.960 --> 0:10:22.560 know a lot of the guys who are in the 0:10:22.640 --> 0:10:26.320 NBA have gone through that pipeline. UM. And it was 0:10:26.400 --> 0:10:29.760 in Serbia. And obviously I've been I played in a 0:10:29.800 --> 0:10:31.920 Serbian basketball league growing up. A lot of people know 0:10:31.960 --> 0:10:35.560 I have Serbian roots. So UM kind of felt the 0:10:35.600 --> 0:10:38.360 pressure while I was over there, UM, you know, considering 0:10:38.360 --> 0:10:40.560 I haven't played for Team USA or anything like that, 0:10:40.840 --> 0:10:44.200 UM to potentially play for Serbia. So you said you 0:10:44.240 --> 0:10:46.439 pay for a Serbian team when you were when you 0:10:46.480 --> 0:10:49.560 were younger. UM. So there's a league in Chicago. It's 0:10:49.559 --> 0:10:54.400 called the Serbian National Federation. UM. It's in Chicago and 0:10:54.480 --> 0:11:00.480 Northwest Indiana primarily, but the tournaments are pretty much nationwide. UM. 0:11:00.559 --> 0:11:03.600 They're held in different places. Um, you know, every single 0:11:03.720 --> 0:11:05.600 year they pick a different place. It's it's been in 0:11:05.640 --> 0:11:07.640 so many different places. It's even been in Canada a 0:11:07.640 --> 0:11:12.360 couple of times. Um, it's just one big weekend. Um. 0:11:12.400 --> 0:11:17.439 Everybody plays for their uh pretty much their church. Um. 0:11:17.440 --> 0:11:20.199 So my dad, you know, he's been playing it, played 0:11:20.200 --> 0:11:22.600 in it for a really long time. It was a 0:11:22.679 --> 0:11:28.920 Serbian church league. Yeah, essentially, um, you know, and there's 0:11:28.920 --> 0:11:30.560 been a lot of good players that have played in it, 0:11:30.640 --> 0:11:34.000 a lot of guys that have played Division one basketball. So, um, 0:11:34.040 --> 0:11:36.160 it was really good competition growing up. It's always fun. 0:11:36.160 --> 0:11:38.600 It's like a big weekend of like basically celebrating and 0:11:38.600 --> 0:11:42.720 playing basketball. So it is. It is essentially a giant 0:11:42.800 --> 0:11:45.400 church league because, um, the churches do a lot of 0:11:45.400 --> 0:11:49.040 sponsoring for this stuff. But I'll tell you right now, 0:11:49.320 --> 0:11:53.240 it's mainly about eating, drinking and then playing basketball. I 0:11:53.280 --> 0:11:56.199 was just doing the eating and playing basketball at that point. 0:11:56.240 --> 0:11:59.600 I wasn't doing the the drinking so much. I played 0:11:59.600 --> 0:12:02.280 in it for when I was in fourth grade all 0:12:02.280 --> 0:12:05.880 the way through my senior year in high school. So okay, 0:12:05.920 --> 0:12:08.760 fourth grade through senior of high school. None of just 0:12:08.840 --> 0:12:12.480 because you were extremely tall. None of those are legally 0:12:12.559 --> 0:12:18.319 drinking ages for this church weekend that you participated in. 0:12:18.720 --> 0:12:20.520 I'm sure if it was back in Serbia would have 0:12:20.559 --> 0:12:23.640 been a lot cooler than it would have been. Let's 0:12:23.640 --> 0:12:26.640 cut two. And what was it like going up in Chicago? 0:12:26.800 --> 0:12:30.640 And what part of Chicago? So we're from the South Side. 0:12:31.400 --> 0:12:34.440 We're White Sox fans, like right where the whites, the 0:12:34.520 --> 0:12:37.280 Chicago White Sox play. The stadium is where my family 0:12:37.280 --> 0:12:40.320 grew up, a couple of blocks away. Um, when my 0:12:40.360 --> 0:12:42.600 parents started having kids and moved out into the suburbs, 0:12:42.600 --> 0:12:45.720 which is what a lot of Chicago people do. So 0:12:45.760 --> 0:12:50.600 I grew up in the suburbs. Um, Chicago is awesome, 0:12:50.640 --> 0:12:54.800 It's amazing. You know that. That's where I spend my summers. Um, 0:12:54.920 --> 0:12:57.480 I spent it in downtown Chicago. Um. You know, it's 0:12:57.520 --> 0:12:59.199 just a really fast paced city and it's what I'm 0:12:59.280 --> 0:13:02.600 used to. It definitely toughens you up though, being a 0:13:02.640 --> 0:13:05.800 Midwest kid, you know, having those seasonal changes. You know, 0:13:05.880 --> 0:13:08.640 Chicago is cold. You know, I'm out in Phoenix right now, 0:13:08.640 --> 0:13:10.920 and I feel like I'm spoiled because it's perfect weather. 0:13:11.720 --> 0:13:13.240 Minus it gets a little bit too hot here, but 0:13:13.280 --> 0:13:17.040 it's perfect weather. Y're around, so you know, Chicago will 0:13:17.040 --> 0:13:19.080 always have such a special place in my heart. What 0:13:19.120 --> 0:13:21.400 do you mean by a tough and jo up, It's 0:13:21.440 --> 0:13:24.160 kind of hard to describe just the way Chicago people are, 0:13:24.520 --> 0:13:26.280 you know, just like what you deal with, what you 0:13:26.360 --> 0:13:29.040 deal with with the weather, how cold it is, you know, 0:13:29.120 --> 0:13:32.480 just people's personalities, like they're they're tough people. I'm a 0:13:32.520 --> 0:13:35.280 West Coast guy, so it grew up in Los Angeles, 0:13:36.480 --> 0:13:39.040 so you're always in a hurry, you know, and and 0:13:39.240 --> 0:13:42.840 living here in Charlotte, and then you know, traveling to 0:13:42.920 --> 0:13:46.240 the East coast New York. You know, I'm always interested 0:13:46.320 --> 0:13:50.160 to hear how you know, different people, what do they 0:13:50.200 --> 0:13:53.520 mean by, you know, tough as far as in Chicago, 0:13:53.600 --> 0:13:56.280 because you know, you know, if you go to New York, 0:13:56.320 --> 0:13:58.320 you know there's some people in New York that can 0:13:58.360 --> 0:14:02.040 be pretty rude. But living here in the South, when 0:14:02.040 --> 0:14:04.480 you open a door for a lady or or a 0:14:04.559 --> 0:14:07.320 woman in New York, they think you're trying to rob 0:14:07.360 --> 0:14:10.520 the right. So that's what I'm trying to I'm trying 0:14:10.559 --> 0:14:13.640 to picture how how when you say it's tough, but 0:14:13.840 --> 0:14:17.360 it's what's tough Chicago style, the way everyone kind of 0:14:17.360 --> 0:14:19.960 fights for everything. You know what I mean, Um, everything 0:14:20.040 --> 0:14:24.320 is in Chicago. Everything is a competition. Everything no questions 0:14:24.360 --> 0:14:28.720 asked about it. Whether it's conversations, sports, you know, whatever, 0:14:28.800 --> 0:14:32.640 you whatever you have, everything is essentially like it's like 0:14:32.680 --> 0:14:35.680 a race to the finish line. You know. That's great 0:14:35.720 --> 0:14:37.960 when you're when you when you grow up playing basketball 0:14:38.040 --> 0:14:41.000 and playing sports, you know, having that competition you know 0:14:41.000 --> 0:14:43.160 pretty much everywhere you turn. You know, you can go 0:14:43.200 --> 0:14:45.640 play in a tournament, in a league and anything anywhere, 0:14:45.640 --> 0:14:48.240 and it's really good competition. You know. And then on 0:14:48.280 --> 0:14:50.360 the outside, like personality wise, you know, it kind of 0:14:50.400 --> 0:14:53.400 really prepares you to go out into the world and 0:14:53.520 --> 0:14:55.560 you know, you kind of for lack of a better word, 0:14:55.600 --> 0:14:57.960 you don't take ship from anybody just talking about you 0:14:58.080 --> 0:15:00.480 mean from Chicago. You can tell the pride and you know, 0:15:00.480 --> 0:15:04.320 you're a basketball player and there's a ton of successful 0:15:04.360 --> 0:15:09.160 basketball players, Dwyane Wade, Mark Aguar, you know, Derek Rose. 0:15:09.160 --> 0:15:12.120 There's there's a lot of these guys. And Steve talked about, 0:15:12.160 --> 0:15:17.120 you know, making you tough how and Frank comm I'm 0:15:17.120 --> 0:15:19.400 playing towards that, like you got a guy like you? 0:15:19.480 --> 0:15:22.840 How does Chicago even translating that? When you talk about 0:15:22.960 --> 0:15:25.560 how Chicago toughens it up. How did that help you 0:15:25.600 --> 0:15:28.480 tough enough when it came to playing basketball and playing 0:15:28.560 --> 0:15:36.040 this a au random robbin weekend drinking serbian fest. Um, 0:15:36.160 --> 0:15:37.880 I always I'll go back a little bit further. I 0:15:37.880 --> 0:15:40.040 always wanted to play basketball. You know, my dad played 0:15:40.040 --> 0:15:43.960 basketball overseas for a really long time. Um. You know, 0:15:44.000 --> 0:15:48.720 so basketball was kind of in my blood. Um, It's 0:15:48.760 --> 0:15:51.960 what I grew up doing, you know, watching my dad play. Uh, 0:15:52.160 --> 0:15:54.080 you know, it was the first sport I ever started playing. 0:15:54.120 --> 0:15:55.360 You know, it was the first sport I fell in 0:15:55.400 --> 0:15:58.480 love with. Um. But when you're in Chicago and you 0:15:58.560 --> 0:16:01.280 hear all these names, like you know, I can just 0:16:01.320 --> 0:16:03.920 remember I watched Derrick Rose played pretty much all the 0:16:03.920 --> 0:16:06.360 way through high school, in college and then get drafted 0:16:06.360 --> 0:16:09.200 by the Bulls. Um, you know, he was like an 0:16:09.200 --> 0:16:11.880 idol of mine. You know. You see all these great 0:16:11.960 --> 0:16:14.440 names that come out of Chicago and have played the sports. 0:16:14.480 --> 0:16:17.520 You know, I grew up. I was born in so 0:16:17.560 --> 0:16:19.600 I got to in my aunt work for the Bulls. 0:16:20.040 --> 0:16:22.240 So I got to see a lot of like Michael 0:16:22.320 --> 0:16:25.560 Jordan's was like my first memories were you geeking out 0:16:25.640 --> 0:16:29.120 over the last dance. Then my uncle is in the documentary, 0:16:29.240 --> 0:16:32.440 so he's the My uncle was a guy that told 0:16:32.520 --> 0:16:37.760 Jerry Krause the trade for Dennis Robman. Oh so yeah, 0:16:37.920 --> 0:16:40.160 my my uncle is kind of responsible for some of 0:16:40.200 --> 0:16:43.640 that stuff. That's what I'm talking about. Uncle. You don't 0:16:43.640 --> 0:16:47.480 get that kind of behind the scenes access. Now I 0:16:47.600 --> 0:16:53.040 love it. You said that your dad played overseas. What 0:16:53.120 --> 0:16:56.040 did your mom do? My mom played volleyball and now 0:16:56.080 --> 0:16:59.000 she's a teacher. She played volleyball at Northwestern. I think 0:16:59.000 --> 0:17:00.920 they when the big champ can tip twice while she 0:17:01.000 --> 0:17:03.520 was there, So she had a really successful career there too. 0:17:04.000 --> 0:17:08.120 So athletics is basically my family. So how how are 0:17:08.119 --> 0:17:12.000 the family gatherings is corn hoole? Starting with the family 0:17:12.040 --> 0:17:14.440 fist fight. Everyone in my family is, like I said, 0:17:14.440 --> 0:17:17.520 extremely competitive. It's just like a Chicago thing. Like my 0:17:17.600 --> 0:17:19.760 dad still thinks he can My dad sixty five now 0:17:19.800 --> 0:17:21.520 he thinks he can still beat me in one on one. 0:17:22.040 --> 0:17:23.680 And I think even if he was in a well, 0:17:23.800 --> 0:17:25.520 even if he was in a wheelchair, he'd be saying 0:17:25.560 --> 0:17:30.240 the same exact thing. Won't smoke. So you guys playing 0:17:30.280 --> 0:17:32.520 each other as as you tried that out yet I 0:17:32.560 --> 0:17:35.119 won't do it. The last time I played him was 0:17:35.480 --> 0:17:38.159 in high school and I beat him badly and I 0:17:38.200 --> 0:17:40.320 told him I'm done. I'm done playing him. I don't 0:17:40.320 --> 0:17:42.600 want to play him anymore. I let him have it. 0:17:42.880 --> 0:17:46.679 He can have it. That didn't go well, he didn't. No, 0:17:47.720 --> 0:17:49.800 I'm just like, it's a competitive thing. It's it's just 0:17:49.840 --> 0:17:53.600 a competitive thing. Like my dad will always go around 0:17:53.640 --> 0:17:55.840 telling everyone he can still beat me in basketball, and 0:17:55.880 --> 0:17:58.840 I'll always be resentful. I'll always resent him for doing that, 0:18:00.520 --> 0:18:02.199 you know what I mean. I don't know. I don't know. 0:18:02.240 --> 0:18:05.320 I gotta I got an awesome relationship with my dad. So, yeah, 0:18:05.640 --> 0:18:08.359 you're trying to keep it positive. Yes, I'm trying to 0:18:08.440 --> 0:18:11.360 keep it positive. I don't want to call him delusional 0:18:11.440 --> 0:18:14.320 or anything. But maybe I might be calling him delusional. 0:18:14.359 --> 0:18:19.359 I don't know. You have an awesome podcast, Pros and Joe's, 0:18:20.160 --> 0:18:22.119 and it was something on there that you said that 0:18:22.160 --> 0:18:26.840 I want to ask you about because it really gave 0:18:26.960 --> 0:18:31.600 transparency of who you are. And you talked about how 0:18:32.480 --> 0:18:36.439 why you try not to interact with people on social 0:18:36.440 --> 0:18:38.800 media a lot. But you said something that was a 0:18:38.880 --> 0:18:41.680 little bit of nugget for me, which is you talked 0:18:41.680 --> 0:18:45.320 about how some of these these grown men go on 0:18:45.359 --> 0:18:48.080 social media and talk about how a professional athlete is 0:18:48.119 --> 0:18:51.680 trash or and you'll see that this guy is he's 0:18:51.680 --> 0:18:54.080 twenty six years old or whatever however old he is, 0:18:54.119 --> 0:18:56.879 and he has three kids and he's talking about Frank 0:18:57.080 --> 0:19:00.919 or whoever it is, you know, any any basketball player, 0:19:01.440 --> 0:19:03.360 and he's and your and you said, you know, hey, 0:19:03.359 --> 0:19:04.960 how about you going to be a dad? And then 0:19:05.000 --> 0:19:10.000 you said something, your folks are um divorced, but they 0:19:10.280 --> 0:19:14.040 did the best they could and they instilled things into 0:19:14.080 --> 0:19:17.000 you that were really good. You know, my parents got 0:19:17.000 --> 0:19:20.280 divorced when I was really young. Um, I think I 0:19:20.320 --> 0:19:23.399 was in like third grade, and I got me my 0:19:23.480 --> 0:19:27.200 older sister and my younger sister. And at the time, 0:19:27.320 --> 0:19:29.960 you know, it was it was like so confusing because 0:19:29.960 --> 0:19:32.119 I was so young and like at that age, like 0:19:32.280 --> 0:19:35.240 especially in school, like people's parents aren't getting divorced where 0:19:35.280 --> 0:19:37.600 I'm from, Like the schools we went to, you know, 0:19:37.600 --> 0:19:40.720 I grew up going to private schools, and you know, 0:19:40.760 --> 0:19:43.160 it felt like everyone had like kind of this perfect 0:19:43.840 --> 0:19:47.240 family life, you know, with their parents and everything. When 0:19:47.240 --> 0:19:49.919 I was really young, this is how I felt. And 0:19:49.960 --> 0:19:52.639 you know, my home was kind of we were like 0:19:52.680 --> 0:19:54.800 the family that everyone was kind of talking about, like 0:19:54.880 --> 0:19:59.320 parents getting divorced, like tough situation, like how's it handling 0:19:59.359 --> 0:20:04.560 on the kids and everything, and um, you know, it 0:20:04.640 --> 0:20:07.439 kind of be it becomes part of your identity growing up, 0:20:07.480 --> 0:20:09.840 you know, living in a home where you know both 0:20:09.880 --> 0:20:12.320 of your parents. You know, I'm living in my mom's house, 0:20:12.560 --> 0:20:14.359 you know, not seeing my dad as often as I 0:20:14.359 --> 0:20:19.560 wanted to, you know, it's just really difficult. Um. But 0:20:21.320 --> 0:20:26.200 sports kind of became the thing that where, no matter 0:20:26.280 --> 0:20:28.680 what was happening, you know, with our family and everything, 0:20:29.320 --> 0:20:32.400 everything kind of felt normal. Like both of our parents 0:20:32.440 --> 0:20:34.960 were there cheering it's on. There was no fighting and 0:20:35.119 --> 0:20:37.639 arguing and sporting events. You know, my mom was coaching 0:20:37.640 --> 0:20:42.119 me in volleyball, my dad was coaching me in basketball. Um, 0:20:42.160 --> 0:20:44.760 and that's where everything just like felt comfortable and made 0:20:44.800 --> 0:20:47.439 sense and you didn't have to deal with all the 0:20:47.480 --> 0:20:52.400 external problems and fights and arguing and everything that goes 0:20:52.440 --> 0:20:55.320 into that. So you know, that's why I've kind of 0:20:55.320 --> 0:20:58.640 thrust myself so far into into basketball, or at least 0:20:58.640 --> 0:21:02.200 I did when I was younger, because it was really 0:21:02.200 --> 0:21:07.760 the place where I felt like the most normal because 0:21:07.840 --> 0:21:09.480 when you grow up in a house like that where 0:21:09.480 --> 0:21:14.000 your parents can't stand each other, um, makes things a 0:21:14.080 --> 0:21:16.720 lot easier for you. Takes a lot of the stress away. 0:21:16.840 --> 0:21:20.080 So you know, obviously things are way better now we're 0:21:20.119 --> 0:21:23.280 all grown up. They'll have our own lives, Me and 0:21:23.320 --> 0:21:26.440 my sisters, um, and my parents got their own thing. 0:21:27.520 --> 0:21:32.400 But um, you know, it's definitely definitely something that's been, 0:21:32.440 --> 0:21:34.200 you know, an identity of our family for a very 0:21:34.240 --> 0:21:38.960 long time. Well, I appreciate you sharing that, and I 0:21:39.040 --> 0:21:41.119 also think one of the cool things as you said 0:21:41.160 --> 0:21:44.439 something too, it sounds like you use your dad was 0:21:44.480 --> 0:21:47.560 your coach, so it was another way to steal some 0:21:47.640 --> 0:21:52.800 time with your dad always. Yeah, absolutely, So how much 0:21:52.920 --> 0:22:00.359 did your dad contribute to your basketball? I Q? I 0:22:00.359 --> 0:22:04.840 mean pretty much everything. Um, you know, he was always 0:22:05.240 --> 0:22:08.320 you know, my dad was always my coach. But he 0:22:08.359 --> 0:22:10.480 wasn't always like the head coach, you know what I mean. 0:22:11.480 --> 0:22:14.359 He wasn't like the He always let other people coach 0:22:14.440 --> 0:22:18.000 me because you know, he always felt that it was 0:22:18.119 --> 0:22:20.399 best that I deal with other people as opposed to 0:22:20.440 --> 0:22:22.760 just dealing with him all the time. And you know, 0:22:22.960 --> 0:22:24.639 you know now that I think about it, like I 0:22:24.680 --> 0:22:27.959 see a lot of people like their parents are always 0:22:28.000 --> 0:22:31.639 like defending them, and like parents are always going to 0:22:31.720 --> 0:22:33.919 like coaches and saying like why aren't you playing my 0:22:34.000 --> 0:22:36.919 kid more or anything. But that wasn't that wasn't the 0:22:36.920 --> 0:22:38.439 way my dad did. And my dad was like, you 0:22:38.480 --> 0:22:40.320 gotta figure it out, like if you want to if 0:22:40.359 --> 0:22:41.919 you want to play, you gotta play better. If you 0:22:41.920 --> 0:22:44.480 want to do this, you gotta do this better. So, 0:22:45.520 --> 0:22:48.000 you know, my dad pretty much taught me everything you 0:22:48.040 --> 0:22:50.760 know in the sport and pretty much how to deal 0:22:50.840 --> 0:22:53.639 with all the problems that come with it, because you know, 0:22:53.680 --> 0:22:56.399 he had played basketball for so long, played overseas, played 0:22:56.400 --> 0:22:58.920 for in so many different situations, you know, whether good 0:22:59.040 --> 0:23:02.119 or bad, so he knew what it was like. And 0:23:02.200 --> 0:23:05.080 you know, I'm really lucky I had that growing up 0:23:05.680 --> 0:23:09.760 because you know, it wasn't always all rainbows and sunshine 0:23:09.800 --> 0:23:11.639 from me. You know, I had a lot of growing problems. 0:23:12.200 --> 0:23:14.520 I had a lot of maturity problems when I was 0:23:14.560 --> 0:23:16.800 a kid. Obviously, Like I said, you know, when you 0:23:16.840 --> 0:23:18.199 grew up in a house like that, you kind of 0:23:18.240 --> 0:23:22.480 sometimes deal with maturity problems. Um, So it was just 0:23:22.560 --> 0:23:25.720 good to have him use sports as a way to 0:23:26.240 --> 0:23:30.200 teach me pretty much everything about life. I mean, we 0:23:30.280 --> 0:23:34.359 all we often look about sports being an outlet, right, 0:23:34.480 --> 0:23:37.119 and it didn't matter outside of Chicago. You grew up 0:23:37.160 --> 0:23:40.680 on South side suburban, so it did it didn't matter. 0:23:40.880 --> 0:23:43.000 Sports was literally an outlet for you. Why was that 0:23:43.040 --> 0:23:48.160 so important? Like I said, sports was my escape from everything. Um, 0:23:48.160 --> 0:23:50.320 you know, no matter what was going on, you know, 0:23:50.560 --> 0:23:55.359