WEBVTT - 3.5 years in prison changed everything 0:00:11.400 --> 0:00:13.600 So excited to tell you guys that this week, if 0:00:13.640 --> 0:00:16.680 you're watching this in real time, we start touring again. 0:00:16.720 --> 0:00:19.360 We got a five day run. We're going to be 0:00:19.480 --> 0:00:22.640 this week on April twenty second, Chy and Wyoming April 0:00:22.640 --> 0:00:26.160 twenty third, and inman Kansas April twenty fourth, and Manhattan, 0:00:26.200 --> 0:00:28.720 Kansas and April twenty fifth and Sioux Fall, South Dakota. 0:00:29.560 --> 0:00:31.480 I hope to see you guys at one or more 0:00:31.520 --> 0:00:34.040 of those shows, and if not, we're going to be 0:00:34.159 --> 0:00:35.839 doing more and more. We're going to be announcing these 0:00:35.880 --> 0:00:38.000 and I'll continue to kind of talk about them on 0:00:38.040 --> 0:00:41.440 this program as they come in because we're just pumped 0:00:41.520 --> 0:00:43.559 to finally get back on the road and see you 0:00:43.560 --> 0:00:45.919 guys again. We're opening up meet and greets again so 0:00:45.960 --> 0:00:48.879 you could find all of that information. Where do you 0:00:48.880 --> 0:00:50.199 get a meet and greet? How do you meet me? 0:00:50.280 --> 0:00:51.880 How do you talk to me? How can you ask 0:00:51.920 --> 0:00:54.360 me a question in person, just like you would ask 0:00:54.360 --> 0:00:57.880 me on this podcast. You go to grangersmith dot com 0:00:58.560 --> 0:01:01.160 and right there at the very front page. As soon 0:01:01.160 --> 0:01:03.720 as you get there, it's gonna say meet granger click 0:01:03.800 --> 0:01:06.160 on that or tour, which I think is on all 0:01:06.920 --> 0:01:09.880 very easy to find and more and more of these 0:01:09.959 --> 0:01:12.840 dates are gonna be start to come out and be announced. 0:01:13.240 --> 0:01:17.880 Just cannot be more excited about it. Super excited about 0:01:17.920 --> 0:01:20.840 this episode too, because I have a friend of mine. 0:01:20.920 --> 0:01:27.000 His name is Brandon Puffer. He is a former major 0:01:27.080 --> 0:01:34.880 league pitcher slash current motivational speaker, and he has just 0:01:34.880 --> 0:01:37.319 an amazing story. You're gonna see what this title is 0:01:37.360 --> 0:01:39.840 all about. As we start talking about it. You could 0:01:39.880 --> 0:01:43.240 see his journey, where he went, how he learned, how 0:01:43.280 --> 0:01:45.720 he got better, and some of his life in the 0:01:45.720 --> 0:01:48.840 major leagues. And then we're gonna answer with Brandon your 0:01:48.960 --> 0:01:51.600 questions with If you have any questions for me, ever, 0:01:52.200 --> 0:01:56.120 email Granger Smith Podcast at gmail dot com. We'll get 0:01:56.160 --> 0:01:58.600 to them with whatever guest I have today is Brandon. 0:01:58.840 --> 0:02:00.840 You're really lucky for those of you that I answered 0:02:00.920 --> 0:02:05.200 questions today, You're lucky because Brandon is he comes from 0:02:05.200 --> 0:02:11.800 a really solid foundation of self help and learning. And 0:02:12.400 --> 0:02:15.359 how often you get your answered, your questions answered by 0:02:15.440 --> 0:02:20.520 a major league picture. So I've got my brain is 0:02:20.560 --> 0:02:23.359 so excited right now that we're touring to so all 0:02:23.440 --> 0:03:00.160 that together. Welcome to the podcast. Episode eighty did in 0:03:00.320 --> 0:03:09.239 dcent months long line. I'm five four humping down the 0:03:09.680 --> 0:03:28.520 back rangey cool. Yeah you. So several years ago I 0:03:28.600 --> 0:03:33.480 was going every morning to anytime fitness the gym and 0:03:33.639 --> 0:03:37.080 there's this dude in there working out. Big dude. For 0:03:37.120 --> 0:03:39.280 those of you that don't have video, you're not watching. 0:03:39.880 --> 0:03:42.960 Brandon's a big dude. He's a big How big are you? 0:03:43.360 --> 0:03:47.960 How tall? And I am six three two seventy okay? Okay? 0:03:48.000 --> 0:03:51.280 Yeah yeah all muscle, all muscle, Yeah no for real? 0:03:51.480 --> 0:03:54.520 Yeah really. So there's this dude in there and he's 0:03:54.600 --> 0:03:57.760 like the the extrovert of the gym, talks to everybody. 0:03:58.040 --> 0:04:01.960 I kind of always have my headphones. And at one point, 0:04:02.240 --> 0:04:04.640 you know, we started talking and you thought I was 0:04:04.680 --> 0:04:06.960 a fireman. I think first that's what you asked. You said, Oh, 0:04:07.000 --> 0:04:09.280 were you a fireman? Yeah? I did. I didn't have 0:04:09.360 --> 0:04:14.000 that fireman looking at man. So every morning we became 0:04:14.080 --> 0:04:17.720 closer and closer, and then it took a step where 0:04:17.720 --> 0:04:20.840 we were friends outside of just the gym. We became 0:04:20.920 --> 0:04:23.920 text buddies. We talked a lot, and you're just one 0:04:23.960 --> 0:04:26.960 of these guys man that that, and it's the kind 0:04:27.000 --> 0:04:29.080 of guy I like to bring on this podcast because 0:04:30.640 --> 0:04:35.560 you have a well thought out, well grounded answer to 0:04:35.760 --> 0:04:41.320 life's problems. And you could if I say, man, buffer, 0:04:41.360 --> 0:04:43.440 I got man, I got something I'm kind of dealing with, 0:04:44.279 --> 0:04:48.160 you could sit down with empathy, listen and give a 0:04:49.080 --> 0:04:53.840 very good, mature manhood type answer. And I love that, 0:04:53.920 --> 0:04:55.760 and I love that we have people on this podcast 0:04:55.760 --> 0:04:59.600 that listen that that have these endless questions that they 0:04:59.640 --> 0:05:02.160 email me, and I love to be able to discuss 0:05:02.160 --> 0:05:04.880 them as if we're sitting around a campfire and just 0:05:05.400 --> 0:05:07.200 it's like it's me and you and then someone else 0:05:07.279 --> 0:05:09.359 and they go, Man, can I ask you guys a question? 0:05:09.480 --> 0:05:11.920 Something you know in this relationship I'm in, or this 0:05:12.080 --> 0:05:15.400 job I'm in right now, or something with my mom, 0:05:15.480 --> 0:05:18.720 you know, whatever it might be, and we can go, man, 0:05:18.800 --> 0:05:21.400 let me think about it, without notes, without preparation, we 0:05:21.440 --> 0:05:24.040 can dive into it. So I want to do that 0:05:24.080 --> 0:05:26.640 with you today with some questions that I found, and 0:05:26.720 --> 0:05:29.800 if anyone has a question, you could email Grangersmith Podcast 0:05:29.920 --> 0:05:32.159 at gmail dot com. Could be about anything, could be 0:05:32.240 --> 0:05:37.479 music related, could be fun, could be deep, could be dark, 0:05:37.680 --> 0:05:40.280 could whatever it might be. We're not afraid to get 0:05:40.320 --> 0:05:44.280 into it. But before we do that, something you were 0:05:44.279 --> 0:05:46.479 telling me in the gym when I first met you, 0:05:47.800 --> 0:05:50.000 some time would go by and you'd say, one of 0:05:50.000 --> 0:05:52.360 these days, I want to tell you my story. I'll 0:05:52.400 --> 0:05:57.160 tell you my story. And we never officially did that, 0:05:57.520 --> 0:06:01.680 wow in person. Did at some point I was like, 0:06:02.000 --> 0:06:03.480 you know, late at night, I was like, I don't know, 0:06:03.560 --> 0:06:07.479 like Wikipedia, yeah, right, just to find out if I 0:06:07.520 --> 0:06:11.200 could see what your story was. Not that Wikipedia is 0:06:11.200 --> 0:06:15.360 a good reference for anything, but I was blown away 0:06:18.200 --> 0:06:22.360 pitcher in the major leagues, which the way I look 0:06:22.400 --> 0:06:26.800 at it in music terms, to get a record deal, 0:06:27.440 --> 0:06:30.240 have a number one song, those are those are kind 0:06:30.240 --> 0:06:32.760 of the ways we we will raid each other in 0:06:32.800 --> 0:06:36.560 a lot of ways meaning that and it's not it's 0:06:36.600 --> 0:06:39.479 not always talent that does that. It's it's a lot 0:06:39.480 --> 0:06:44.640 of blessings that do that. But in sports. To play baseball, 0:06:44.920 --> 0:06:46.920 a lot of people play baseball to be a picture, 0:06:47.400 --> 0:06:50.560 a smaller group do that. To do it at a 0:06:50.600 --> 0:06:53.760 high level, it's smaller group. To go into the minor leagues, 0:06:53.880 --> 0:06:58.240 a tiny, tiny group. To go into the majors, tiny 0:06:58.320 --> 0:07:01.320 of the tiny, and then to actually start and have 0:07:01.360 --> 0:07:06.920 a successful career, it's it's a unicorn, right, It's almost impossible. 0:07:07.440 --> 0:07:11.320 And that's you. That's you. Sitting next to a major 0:07:11.400 --> 0:07:16.000 league successful major league pitcher. But you have a story, 0:07:16.640 --> 0:07:19.080 and there's a little bit of that on the Wikipedia page. 0:07:19.280 --> 0:07:21.720 But I wanted to before we get into anything else. 0:07:21.800 --> 0:07:26.560 I wanted you if you're comfortable just getting into that 0:07:26.640 --> 0:07:32.320 story a little bit. Yeah, yes, I'm comfortable with that. Gosh. 0:07:32.840 --> 0:07:37.320 The biggest part of my story for me shaping who 0:07:37.360 --> 0:07:40.520 I am now is the rock bottom right right. Adversity 0:07:41.360 --> 0:07:43.800 is where we all kind of find out what we're 0:07:43.800 --> 0:07:48.840 made of, find out what our foundation is. And so, man, 0:07:48.960 --> 0:07:51.440 you're super proud of, you know, making it to the 0:07:51.440 --> 0:07:53.760 big leagues and having a career. And I was just 0:07:53.800 --> 0:07:55.800 talking to Ben out there, say he's a Boston Red 0:07:55.840 --> 0:07:57.320 Sox fan, and I didn't tell him, but I have. 0:07:57.680 --> 0:07:59.240 I won a World Series one of those guys, and 0:07:59.240 --> 0:08:02.200 it's like some of the stuff that happened seems like 0:08:02.320 --> 0:08:04.240 and maybe you can relate to this Granger. It's like 0:08:04.880 --> 0:08:07.080 that's like another person out there, like it doesn't even 0:08:07.120 --> 0:08:10.280 didn't happen to me, you know, and so and I'm 0:08:10.360 --> 0:08:11.920 very proud of it, and my family's proud of it. 0:08:11.960 --> 0:08:15.520 But yeah, my story is basically that I felt like 0:08:16.480 --> 0:08:19.240 growing up, if I had one day in the big leagues. 0:08:19.520 --> 0:08:20.800 I mean, like a lot of kids, I just wanted 0:08:20.800 --> 0:08:22.440 to be a pro baseball player. Man, I did, and 0:08:22.840 --> 0:08:26.280 that my life would be complete. That's kind of the 0:08:26.320 --> 0:08:29.960 way I like to share it with people. And gosh, 0:08:30.080 --> 0:08:31.840 I now look at it as kind of like a 0:08:31.840 --> 0:08:34.240 god shaped hole within me that I was trying to 0:08:34.240 --> 0:08:37.439 fill with so much stuff. And I thought, man, one 0:08:37.480 --> 0:08:39.439 day in the big leagues, that's it, that's what I'm 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:42.040 here for. I'm complete. And I just found out that 0:08:42.080 --> 0:08:44.800 wasn't the case. And I had a lot of demons 0:08:44.840 --> 0:08:47.280 I was fighting off the field. So what point did 0:08:47.280 --> 0:08:49.920 you realize that so you made it to the bit? Yes, yes, 0:08:50.000 --> 0:08:53.240 yes it was. It was it when you got called up. 0:08:53.320 --> 0:08:54.680 Did you get called up right or did you go 0:08:54.720 --> 0:08:56.720 straight in? I did. I got drafted out of high school, 0:08:57.240 --> 0:08:59.720 went to the minor leagues, and when I got drafted, 0:08:59.720 --> 0:09:01.959 I thought, hey, kind of it's just it and I 0:09:02.040 --> 0:09:04.800 was like, no, this isn't it. Well, I'll just keep 0:09:04.840 --> 0:09:06.839 working and go to the big leagues, okay, And then 0:09:06.880 --> 0:09:11.160 I did. In April of two thousand and two, I 0:09:11.240 --> 0:09:13.000 was playing Triple A ball in New Orleans for the 0:09:13.000 --> 0:09:15.760 Astros and got called out to the big LEA was 0:09:15.800 --> 0:09:18.800 that Like, was it a phone call? No, manager called 0:09:18.800 --> 0:09:20.559 me in the office after the game. It's one of 0:09:20.640 --> 0:09:23.360 those and you managing, you see an office type deal. Yeah, 0:09:23.440 --> 0:09:26.800 and it's either we're firing you, right, or it's good. 0:09:26.880 --> 0:09:29.960 So this one was good, and uh it was. It was, Hey, 0:09:30.160 --> 0:09:34.520 you're joining the big club in Cincinnati tomorrow. It took 0:09:34.559 --> 0:09:36.840 me a while. I was I think twenty six at 0:09:36.880 --> 0:09:40.000 the time. I spent some significant time in the minor leagues, 0:09:40.240 --> 0:09:43.520 and yeah, I mean it was. It was very cool. 0:09:43.559 --> 0:09:45.920 And you go out and call your family and hey, 0:09:45.960 --> 0:09:49.120 the dream you boys, you know what. It absolutely was 0:09:49.160 --> 0:09:51.800 an awesome feeling. But then I showed up Cincinnati the 0:09:51.800 --> 0:09:54.800 next day. The next day, Oh yeah, immediately, that's how 0:09:54.840 --> 0:09:56.840 baseball works. It's where were you living? Where was the 0:09:56.840 --> 0:09:59.079 minor league team New Orleans? So you got on a 0:09:59.160 --> 0:10:02.000 plane on a plane tonati, You've packed what you had 0:10:02.480 --> 0:10:04.960 that night after the game. Yeah, yeah, it's that way. 0:10:05.080 --> 0:10:07.600 I don't think people realize that it's that way. If 0:10:07.640 --> 0:10:09.520 it's a good call, that's an easy call. Like, man, 0:10:09.559 --> 0:10:12.400 I'm walking on cloud I'm a cloud nine. I'm packing, 0:10:12.960 --> 0:10:14.720 getting what I need and going. But it's that way 0:10:14.760 --> 0:10:17.160 if you're traded, or it's that way if you're released. 0:10:17.280 --> 0:10:20.000 It's like, hey, you're gone, like right there. So at 0:10:20.040 --> 0:10:23.040 this point you probably played baseball for twenty years. Yes, 0:10:23.480 --> 0:10:26.640 I had, I had, yes, and I had actually spent 0:10:26.920 --> 0:10:29.000 I think it was seven or eight years in the 0:10:29.040 --> 0:10:32.160 minor leagues before that call up. So not that everybody 0:10:32.160 --> 0:10:36.240 doesn't appreciate their call up, but man, it was after 0:10:36.400 --> 0:10:38.720 spending a lot of time building to it and being 0:10:38.760 --> 0:10:41.080 released by a few teams and having some adversity, it 0:10:41.120 --> 0:10:43.080 was a great It was a great feeling. I mean 0:10:43.160 --> 0:10:45.280 no doubt about it. Showed up in Cincinnati and you 0:10:45.320 --> 0:10:48.960 got the Bagwells and Vigeos and Berkman's and the big dogs, 0:10:49.000 --> 0:10:52.160 you know, and my jersey's next to them. Was like wow, incredible. 0:10:52.240 --> 0:10:55.360 So a lot of great memories. But I think pretty 0:10:55.400 --> 0:10:58.079 immediately well it kind of just floated around for a 0:10:58.120 --> 0:11:02.960 couple of weeks and then started realizing, you know, just 0:11:03.440 --> 0:11:05.920 what's next. You know, oh, maybe it's got to get 0:11:05.960 --> 0:11:08.720 a big contractor I gotta And again you probably relate 0:11:08.760 --> 0:11:11.680 to this, but it wasn't instant fulfilled. It it wasn't. 0:11:11.840 --> 0:11:15.479 It wasn't well, it was immediately, and then it dissipated 0:11:15.480 --> 0:11:18.760 pretty fast. Sure, I get it. Now, I gotta stay now. 0:11:18.760 --> 0:11:20.800 I gotta stay now. I gotta perform now. You have 0:11:20.880 --> 0:11:25.640 to succeed right exactly, Yeah, exactly and so And I 0:11:25.679 --> 0:11:28.040 think part of it too is being a huge baseball 0:11:28.200 --> 0:11:30.840 fan as a kid. I mean, I'm a huge fan. 0:11:30.840 --> 0:11:33.480 There's ballplayers you go home, they don't want to watch 0:11:33.520 --> 0:11:35.480 a game. Come on, man, we're gonna watch it. We 0:11:35.559 --> 0:11:36.920 just did this all day. You know, I don't want 0:11:36.920 --> 0:11:39.960 to do this. And I'm just a big fan. So 0:11:40.040 --> 0:11:41.960 I got a little starstruckted by a lot of the 0:11:42.440 --> 0:11:44.520 guys around me, guys who are now in the batter's 0:11:44.520 --> 0:11:48.480 box type deal. What year was this? Two thousand and two? Okay, 0:11:48.640 --> 0:11:51.080 two thousand and two. So I see, I grew up 0:11:51.920 --> 0:11:53.960 for some reason. I don't know. I'm grew up in Dallas, 0:11:53.960 --> 0:11:57.719 But I had Eric Davis posters on the wall. Yeah, 0:11:58.520 --> 0:12:02.200 and the eighties but I don't remember why. Yeah, but 0:12:02.280 --> 0:12:04.160 I just love the Reds. I loved him too, man 0:12:04.240 --> 0:12:06.640 number forty four, Yeah, held his hands real low when 0:12:06.640 --> 0:12:09.720 he hit. Yeah. Eric Dave was a stud. Yeah, so 0:12:09.800 --> 0:12:11.680 that I don't think he was there, But like Barry 0:12:11.760 --> 0:12:15.600 Larkin was a big staple for Cincinnati at the time, 0:12:15.640 --> 0:12:19.240 and that kind of stuff. So it was neat, but gosh, 0:12:19.400 --> 0:12:23.360 I'll tell you it's hard bouncing around in my story. 0:12:23.400 --> 0:12:27.480 But what it was common theme beginning in high school 0:12:27.480 --> 0:12:31.319 for me was knowing what I wanted to do, but 0:12:31.360 --> 0:12:35.079 then really fighting the demons of you know, alcohol and 0:12:35.720 --> 0:12:38.760 women and being a tough guy. Whatever I thought would 0:12:38.840 --> 0:12:42.439 feel that God shaped hole. That didn't, nor did baseball, 0:12:42.559 --> 0:12:46.000 Norded World Series ring, nor did anything else. And so 0:12:46.080 --> 0:12:51.920 it took kind of like you said, that that rock bottom, 0:12:52.000 --> 0:12:54.240 that adversity, and for me that was a little more 0:12:54.240 --> 0:12:57.360 hardcore than a lot of people. You know, you read 0:12:57.400 --> 0:12:59.000 the Book of Jonah and it's like Joanah was a 0:12:59.200 --> 0:13:02.840 knucklehead and he needed three days and the belly of 0:13:02.880 --> 0:13:05.880 a whale. Not me. I needed three and a half 0:13:05.920 --> 0:13:09.360 years in prison. It was like, not three days, three 0:13:09.400 --> 0:13:11.960 and a half years. Man. I went out with the 0:13:12.000 --> 0:13:16.480 guys I had become. I was sober for five years. 0:13:16.720 --> 0:13:20.200 I went to celebrate recovery, sober for five years. Dad 0:13:20.240 --> 0:13:23.640 was an recovering alcoholic. I just knew it was pretty obvious. 0:13:23.640 --> 0:13:25.840 I'm a pretty aw in or all out guy everything 0:13:25.880 --> 0:13:28.000 I do. Yep, you saw that at the gym, right, 0:13:28.040 --> 0:13:31.280 And so it became pretty obvious. I wasn't the guy 0:13:31.360 --> 0:13:34.280 that could just have a couple of drinks and be okay, 0:13:35.520 --> 0:13:38.080 no judgment to whoever can that's awesome. But I wasn't 0:13:38.080 --> 0:13:40.800 a good social drinker. I was all out frank the 0:13:40.840 --> 0:13:44.640 tank every time. So I had learned that the hard 0:13:44.679 --> 0:13:47.400 way a few times, and so you know, I had 0:13:47.720 --> 0:13:49.880 become a Christian in my life in nineteen ninety eight. 0:13:50.360 --> 0:13:53.240 Grew up with a mom that was just an angel. 0:13:53.440 --> 0:13:57.439 I mean, she's pastoral care leader for Saddleback Church Rick 0:13:57.480 --> 0:14:00.960 Warren in California, and had just on a die. I 0:14:00.960 --> 0:14:02.920 thought about what you said about being a guy who 0:14:03.280 --> 0:14:05.840 can listen with empathy, and I was thinking in my 0:14:05.840 --> 0:14:07.800 head when you're saying, like, I don't know why that is, 0:14:07.840 --> 0:14:10.200 and people do tend to open up and listen, but 0:14:10.440 --> 0:14:12.440 I just it's pretty easy. Now I think about my mom. 0:14:12.520 --> 0:14:15.440 That's what she does and has always done, not for 0:14:15.480 --> 0:14:18.400 a living, but just in life. If people are in trouble, 0:14:18.480 --> 0:14:21.880 or if someone passes away or something happens that's really hard, 0:14:22.520 --> 0:14:24.280 they call her in, you know, And so I'm like 0:14:24.360 --> 0:14:26.640 huh okay, well maybe there's some of that there. And so, 0:14:27.360 --> 0:14:30.400 you know, faith was in my life, but my dad 0:14:31.440 --> 0:14:33.600 was not a man of faith at the time. He 0:14:33.800 --> 0:14:35.960 was a tough dude. He was a drinker and a 0:14:35.960 --> 0:14:38.800 fighter and you know everything else that comes along with 0:14:38.840 --> 0:14:41.480 that stereotypical image. And I wanted to be more like him, 0:14:41.520 --> 0:14:44.640 honestly at the time. And so, you know, went through 0:14:44.680 --> 0:14:46.360 and fought a lot of that way as a boy. 0:14:46.920 --> 0:14:49.800 It almost didn't matter what your dad did as a boy. 0:14:49.840 --> 0:14:52.000 You just want to be that because he's a man 0:14:52.800 --> 0:14:57.040 and you' and that's such an important piece of fatherhood. 0:14:57.200 --> 0:15:00.800 Yes that whatever you're gonna do, you're gonna influen. Yes, 0:15:00.880 --> 0:15:05.040 it's your choice. Yes, And to that point, my dad 0:15:05.400 --> 0:15:09.360 went to celebrate recovery, became a morning and Christian and 0:15:09.400 --> 0:15:12.880 I watched the change in his life and that was 0:15:13.440 --> 0:15:16.840 a huge thing for me because again, my mom was awesome. 0:15:16.920 --> 0:15:19.840 I mean, she was faithful all the time. We didn't 0:15:19.840 --> 0:15:23.080 know any better. I mean, that was her. But when 0:15:23.080 --> 0:15:26.440 my dad's life changed as a father, I looked at 0:15:26.440 --> 0:15:28.880 that and for the father's other it's like, oh, there's 0:15:28.880 --> 0:15:31.800 something to this. She's just always been that way and 0:15:32.640 --> 0:15:34.720 he just changed when he gave his life away. What's 0:15:34.720 --> 0:15:37.600 going on? What's different, you know? And so so that 0:15:37.680 --> 0:15:42.000 really did peak peak my interests, and so I did. 0:15:42.120 --> 0:15:45.840 I became a Christian nineteen ninety eight, but I didn't 0:15:45.840 --> 0:15:48.800 have that surrendered lifestyle. Yep, right, it was kind of 0:15:48.800 --> 0:15:51.520 a white knuckle I'm not gonna drink anymore. I'm gonna 0:15:51.520 --> 0:15:53.760 do it. Christians are supposed to dissess the faith, but 0:15:53.840 --> 0:15:57.120 you didn't possess it. That's good. Yeah, that's exactly right. 0:15:57.240 --> 0:16:01.400 That's exactly right. And so I actually ended up having 0:16:01.400 --> 0:16:03.800 a separation from my first wife. I was in spring 0:16:03.840 --> 0:16:07.320 training two thousand and four with the padres, kind of 0:16:07.360 --> 0:16:10.120 my first real adverse situation, like what is my faith 0:16:10.200 --> 0:16:13.800 made of? And it was pretty surface level because the 0:16:13.920 --> 0:16:15.960 enemy took that opportunity to go, hey, man, you're on 0:16:16.000 --> 0:16:18.400 your own. Now, you're a little more mature. Now you 0:16:18.400 --> 0:16:20.640 can handle this drinking thing. You can come on, man, 0:16:20.960 --> 0:16:23.880 And I just kind of fell back into that lifestyle 0:16:23.880 --> 0:16:27.400 and pretty fast once I opened that door right back in, 0:16:28.040 --> 0:16:30.240 and you know, the night life and the going out 0:16:30.280 --> 0:16:32.320 and all that comes with all that that junk that 0:16:32.320 --> 0:16:36.080 we won't glorify. But yeah, so I was on a 0:16:36.120 --> 0:16:39.160 slippery slope from that point. And to your question of 0:16:39.200 --> 0:16:41.280 how did that happen three and a half years in 0:16:41.360 --> 0:16:45.080 the in the belly of not the whale, but but prison, 0:16:45.120 --> 0:16:48.840 which is probably much like it, I went out with 0:16:48.880 --> 0:16:51.520 the guys one night, kind of a I'm just gonna 0:16:51.560 --> 0:16:56.000 kind of make a few justifications here, and it's just 0:16:56.040 --> 0:16:58.160 one night of my life. What's the big deal? Right? 0:17:00.040 --> 0:17:01.680 And I went out and I alreadied and hung out 0:17:01.680 --> 0:17:04.639 with the guys and and ended up just making a 0:17:04.680 --> 0:17:08.399 really bonehead decision. And it was I was in a blackout. 0:17:09.200 --> 0:17:11.440 No excuse, but I just I made a poor choice, 0:17:11.440 --> 0:17:15.520 and and that choice was based on a lot of 0:17:15.560 --> 0:17:17.640 how I was living and thought it would be okay. 0:17:18.760 --> 0:17:21.880 I don't know. Sometimes I pg it, sometimes I don't. 0:17:21.880 --> 0:17:23.160 I don't know what you want me to do in here. 0:17:23.400 --> 0:17:27.800 Everyone right now that's listening is thinking, and I don't 0:17:27.840 --> 0:17:30.560 mind that it's wide open. I go speak. But yeah, man, 0:17:30.680 --> 0:17:33.520 I'll just be honest with you. But I was back 0:17:33.520 --> 0:17:36.800 in an apartment complex in Frisco, Texas, where I was 0:17:36.840 --> 0:17:39.040 playing at the time with the Rangers. By this time 0:17:39.080 --> 0:17:41.400 I had been in the big leagues. Uh, for those 0:17:41.400 --> 0:17:43.440 who have seen Bull Durham. The Rangers called me back 0:17:43.480 --> 0:17:46.800 to be that older guy to kind of be there 0:17:46.840 --> 0:17:48.680 for their young prospects in Double A. So I was 0:17:48.720 --> 0:17:51.800 the thirty three year old Double A and man, I 0:17:51.840 --> 0:17:54.800 went and there was a lady that I had met 0:17:55.000 --> 0:17:58.119 that lived in that apartment complex, and I thought it 0:17:58.119 --> 0:18:00.080 would be okay to go knock on her door and 0:18:00.080 --> 0:18:01.480 see if she was having a They used to have 0:18:01.520 --> 0:18:03.359 a lot of parties at that apartment and my buddies 0:18:03.359 --> 0:18:05.919 is three in the morning, They're like, go to bed. No, 0:18:06.359 --> 0:18:08.040 what are you doing? Go to bed. I couldn't shut 0:18:08.040 --> 0:18:10.320 it off. It was like it again, I'm all in, 0:18:10.400 --> 0:18:13.240 I'm all in, all in, and so yeah, I'm just 0:18:13.280 --> 0:18:16.000 gonna just gonna be real straight up and say I 0:18:16.840 --> 0:18:19.400 the door was unlocked. I walked in and I tried 0:18:19.400 --> 0:18:20.840 to take off my clothes and get in bed with her. 0:18:21.000 --> 0:18:23.720 And man, most people will hear that are like, what 0:18:23.800 --> 0:18:27.000 in the world. Then I've had people hear that and go, oh, man, 0:18:27.040 --> 0:18:29.960 I've put myself in some pretty bad spots. And so yeah, 0:18:30.000 --> 0:18:32.520 I got Burly rehabitation because I walked in there without 0:18:32.560 --> 0:18:37.480 being invited and with intense commit sexual assault because well, 0:18:37.520 --> 0:18:40.359 my intentions were not good. You know. It wasn't like 0:18:40.640 --> 0:18:43.040 you go hold someone to it. It's like, we don't 0:18:43.040 --> 0:18:44.520 know what your intentions were. You weren't invited there, you 0:18:44.520 --> 0:18:47.120 weren't supposed to be there. And that was choice I made. 0:18:47.160 --> 0:18:49.440 And so that'll carry that'll walk with me the rest 0:18:49.480 --> 0:18:52.720 of my life, that one decision, and that's how I 0:18:52.760 --> 0:18:54.719 ended up doing three and a half years in prison. 0:18:54.800 --> 0:18:57.920 And where it was. I was kind of all over Texas. 0:18:58.000 --> 0:18:59.719 I was all over Texas. I was up in bottom 0:19:00.320 --> 0:19:03.919 Buster coal unit, at the Bird Unit. I finished at 0:19:03.960 --> 0:19:07.359 the Walls in Huntsville, and just you know, sharing my 0:19:07.400 --> 0:19:09.760 story now, I went and spoke to the baseball team 0:19:09.760 --> 0:19:12.359 in sam Houston a couple of years ago. Matt Degg's 0:19:12.359 --> 0:19:13.680 a good buddy of mine, and he asked me to 0:19:13.680 --> 0:19:17.040 come speak to his team, and I did. And man, 0:19:17.200 --> 0:19:19.840 that that campus where I was talking to that locker 0:19:19.920 --> 0:19:23.920 room was a stone's throw just about from where I 0:19:23.960 --> 0:19:26.040 finished my prison sentence. And just what God does and 0:19:26.040 --> 0:19:28.359 where he puts you and some of the people I 0:19:28.440 --> 0:19:33.320 was able to interact with and talk to, and some 0:19:33.359 --> 0:19:35.440 of the stories, and I'll tell you one of them 0:19:35.640 --> 0:19:38.240 being within those walls, I mean, when I surrendered, it 0:19:38.280 --> 0:19:40.720 was day one, and it wasn't I had a five 0:19:40.800 --> 0:19:42.840 year sentence. I did three and a halven. It wasn't 0:19:43.160 --> 0:19:44.840 a prayer at this point of get me out of this. 0:19:45.760 --> 0:19:47.480 That was the case leading up to the trial. It 0:19:47.520 --> 0:19:49.720 was like, just get me out of this. Yep, come on, 0:19:49.720 --> 0:19:51.040 I don't want to go to prison. Get me out 0:19:51.040 --> 0:19:54.679 of this. No. When those bars hit and they sentenced me, 0:19:54.760 --> 0:19:57.920 it was okay, I surrendered. This is where I got myself. 0:19:58.440 --> 0:20:00.159 What do you got for me? I mean, what is it? 0:20:00.160 --> 0:20:02.800 It's almost like prison ministry started day one. So it 0:20:02.840 --> 0:20:05.960 was survival, but it was open your eyes and see 0:20:06.000 --> 0:20:08.640 what's around you. And the one story is gonna share 0:20:08.640 --> 0:20:12.000 with you is there's multiples, but this one stands out 0:20:12.000 --> 0:20:14.760 to me is I had a selly you know, eight 0:20:14.760 --> 0:20:18.000 by ten cell walked in and it's pretty customary. You 0:20:18.000 --> 0:20:20.560 don't ask what people are there for, how long they're there. 0:20:20.600 --> 0:20:22.639 You just kind of mind your business, you know. And 0:20:22.680 --> 0:20:25.000 I walked in and he was on the top bunk, 0:20:25.080 --> 0:20:27.120 and it was summertime. We were talking about hot texta 0:20:27.160 --> 0:20:29.800 summer's already been right, yeap, no ac in these metal 0:20:29.840 --> 0:20:32.240 buildings in prison. I mean it is rough man. And 0:20:32.960 --> 0:20:35.800 so he's sitting up there in his boxers and said, hey, 0:20:35.800 --> 0:20:37.119 how's it going, man, what are you doing? He said, Oh, 0:20:37.160 --> 0:20:38.880 I'm just trying to give some of his time back 0:20:38.960 --> 0:20:41.600 to the state. So he mentioned it is how you 0:20:41.640 --> 0:20:44.439 got a lot of time? Yeah, three life sentences like, 0:20:45.480 --> 0:20:48.280 well you can you can pretty much guess what had happened. Yeah, 0:20:48.320 --> 0:20:49.840 someone's doing three night and now you're an eight by 0:20:49.880 --> 0:20:53.160 ten with this guy. All right, here we go, right, 0:20:53.320 --> 0:20:56.679 So helped my cards pretty close at first, but we 0:20:56.760 --> 0:20:59.640 started talking and opening up and his nickname was Bone, 0:21:00.040 --> 0:21:03.159 and I'm sitting here with Bone talking about how he 0:21:03.280 --> 0:21:09.080 viciously he did he killed three people. And as we 0:21:09.320 --> 0:21:11.200 got through something, all I have was my little pocket 0:21:11.240 --> 0:21:12.760 bible with me. I was in transit. I was that 0:21:12.800 --> 0:21:14.800 a little pocket bible, and I was just just like 0:21:14.840 --> 0:21:16.840 you said, man, I was just listening. I was just 0:21:16.960 --> 0:21:18.359 I'd read and he'd ask a couple of questions, you 0:21:18.359 --> 0:21:21.919 know whatever. And man, I spent about ten days twenty 0:21:21.920 --> 0:21:25.320 three hour lockdown in there with Bone, and he shared 0:21:25.359 --> 0:21:28.119 with me grandeur that the day before I came in 0:21:28.160 --> 0:21:30.119 that cell, he had hung his sheets up because he 0:21:30.119 --> 0:21:31.960