WEBVTT - On The Air 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 --> 0:00:11.480 Steve Smith Senior and I'm ger a little John and 0:00:11.520 --> 0:00:15.920 this is cut to It. Good do It, Good do It. 0:00:16.079 --> 0:00:19.520 They's getting down to do it. Good do It. We 0:00:19.560 --> 0:00:22.880 asked the questions you always want to know, but no 0:00:22.920 --> 0:00:29.040 one ever asked, let's cut to it. You ain't heard 0:00:29.080 --> 0:00:34.680 about it, then we're about to let you know. It's 0:00:34.800 --> 0:00:41.960 all coming up. On the cut to It podcast. We've 0:00:41.960 --> 0:00:46.000 got Colleen Wolf, a host for NFL Network who works 0:00:46.280 --> 0:00:49.600 Thursday Night Football, a number of NFL Network shows, A 0:00:49.760 --> 0:00:52.920 native of Philly, and just all around friend of the podcast. 0:00:53.000 --> 0:00:57.880 Colleen Wolf, wonna cut to the podcast. What did you 0:00:58.040 --> 0:01:01.240 daydream about when you're in high schoo Well, when I 0:01:01.240 --> 0:01:04.880 was in high school, I was a figure skater, so 0:01:05.280 --> 0:01:07.520 I got it out of I knew I could get it. 0:01:08.360 --> 0:01:15.039 That was it like to talk about? I was more 0:01:15.080 --> 0:01:27.640 of No. Yeah, I started skating when I was like 0:01:27.800 --> 0:01:31.800 six years old, and I loved it and I got 0:01:31.840 --> 0:01:34.280 really good at it, and so I was I skated 0:01:34.480 --> 0:01:36.839 before school. Like I would get up at four am 0:01:36.920 --> 0:01:38.840 and go to the rink and turn the lights on. 0:01:39.080 --> 0:01:41.440 And like it was great because if you were the 0:01:41.480 --> 0:01:43.959 first one at the rink, then you could choose the music. 0:01:44.160 --> 0:01:48.360 And that meant like TLC was on, can you imagine 0:01:49.440 --> 0:01:55.520 this little skinny little girl. I skate into T Speial 0:01:56.280 --> 0:02:04.760 Special and four Mr Philly and like, mind you, I 0:02:04.800 --> 0:02:07.920 like cut all my hair off too, so it's like 0:02:08.480 --> 0:02:14.359 short pixie cut. And my coaches were like, you are 0:02:14.480 --> 0:02:16.960 way too much of a tomboy. So they sent me 0:02:17.000 --> 0:02:19.360 to ballet classes because they were like, you need to 0:02:19.400 --> 0:02:22.200 learn how to be graceful. But they were like, you 0:02:22.320 --> 0:02:25.760 have the athleticism, you can lend these jumps like you 0:02:25.880 --> 0:02:28.960 have all like the power, because I was like all 0:02:29.240 --> 0:02:31.720 I was all legs when I was skating, like I 0:02:31.960 --> 0:02:34.400 was all I want to do was skate faster than everybody, 0:02:34.480 --> 0:02:37.000 jump high or spin better, just like I mean, I 0:02:37.200 --> 0:02:40.120 was fueled by anybody else that was on the ice. 0:02:40.680 --> 0:02:44.839 I was gonna outscape them. And then my coaches were like, yeah, 0:02:44.919 --> 0:02:49.720 all that's great, but you're like presentation sucks. So they 0:02:49.720 --> 0:02:52.480 were like, here's a bunch of dresses, and of course, 0:02:52.560 --> 0:02:54.520 like that triggered me because I was like, why don't 0:02:54.560 --> 0:02:57.560 have to wear dresses? And they sent me to a 0:02:57.600 --> 0:03:00.560 ballet teacher. Um, and I had to take about all 0:03:00.680 --> 0:03:04.640 these like serious ballet classes for years, and you know 0:03:04.720 --> 0:03:08.560 it ended up. I guess I got more graceful, who knows. 0:03:09.080 --> 0:03:11.919 But when I was in high school, that's all, that's 0:03:11.919 --> 0:03:14.440 all I thought about. Like I would skate before school, 0:03:14.639 --> 0:03:18.120 after school competitions, Like I didn't take gym class because 0:03:18.120 --> 0:03:21.920 I got credits for going ice skating. Yeah, it was 0:03:22.400 --> 0:03:27.480 I was really in it. Did you enjoy any other sports? 0:03:28.960 --> 0:03:32.560 I ran track for a little bit, um my freshman 0:03:32.639 --> 0:03:36.920 year of high school, but then it was it was 0:03:37.000 --> 0:03:39.960 kind of in conflict with skating, and my parents were 0:03:40.000 --> 0:03:42.680 spending a lot of money. I had a choreographer at 0:03:42.760 --> 0:03:45.560 one point. Like it was so I mean, it's ridiculous 0:03:45.600 --> 0:03:47.440 when you look back on it. But like the price 0:03:47.480 --> 0:03:49.320 of skates, you have to get them custom made, you 0:03:49.360 --> 0:03:52.040 have to buy the boot and the blades separately. You 0:03:52.040 --> 0:03:54.760 have to take them to special places to get sharpened. 0:03:54.800 --> 0:03:58.000 I mean, it is a lot. And my parents would 0:03:58.040 --> 0:04:00.720 take me at four o'clock in the morning and sit 0:04:00.880 --> 0:04:03.600 at the rink in the freezing cold and just watch 0:04:03.640 --> 0:04:07.560 me skate around. So all right, let's let's get over 0:04:07.600 --> 0:04:11.640 that part. Less week. That's too much. I know, I know, 0:04:11.840 --> 0:04:14.000 I was very intense. Anything that I do, I just 0:04:14.120 --> 0:04:19.719 lock in. Let's let's talk about your TV career because 0:04:20.120 --> 0:04:23.760 a lot of people like I get the opportunity to work. 0:04:23.920 --> 0:04:25.919 I wouna say. I don't know if everyone knows that 0:04:25.960 --> 0:04:28.920 you guys are co workers on any Yeah. Yeah, so 0:04:29.000 --> 0:04:35.159 we're This is Colleen Wolf. She's the host NFL Networks 0:04:36.160 --> 0:04:41.279 Rising Star. She can host anything she and she loves sports. 0:04:41.360 --> 0:04:44.839 She knows about sports. But you didn't always have the 0:04:45.000 --> 0:04:48.720 confidence that you appear that you have the confidence now 0:04:49.000 --> 0:04:52.000 and see I use that keyword appear. She does a 0:04:52.080 --> 0:04:54.800 lot of eternal dialogue that we're gonna get into later. 0:04:56.080 --> 0:05:01.119 But um, how did you get your shot? Didn't broadcasting? 0:05:01.720 --> 0:05:04.560 And when I say broadcasting, I'm not talking about TV, 0:05:04.680 --> 0:05:08.000 I'm just talking about in the business and the business 0:05:08.120 --> 0:05:12.640 of broadcasting. Well, this was like something that I had 0:05:12.680 --> 0:05:14.840 no idea I even wanted to do. This was not like, 0:05:14.880 --> 0:05:16.159 oh my god, I want to grow up and be 0:05:16.279 --> 0:05:20.280 on TV like that was not really uh the thing 0:05:20.360 --> 0:05:23.080 like I was going to go to art school. You're 0:05:23.080 --> 0:05:24.640 gonna go to art I was gonna say, what what 0:05:24.680 --> 0:05:29.760 was it? Then? Yeah, I was like, so I was 0:05:29.839 --> 0:05:35.400 into figure skating and art. I was really cool, and 0:05:35.480 --> 0:05:39.360 she wears contacts, so I'm pretty sure she had no 0:05:40.040 --> 0:05:42.839 I'm just I'm just saying she She says she was 0:05:42.880 --> 0:05:46.600 really cool art and ice skating, so I'm like, you know, 0:05:46.680 --> 0:05:49.800 she and she's super smart, so I'm just going out there. 0:05:49.880 --> 0:05:56.320 She made she makes being intelligent cool. Well, thank you, 0:05:56.520 --> 0:06:00.240 like listen nerds around the world. So I loved art 0:06:00.400 --> 0:06:03.240 and I was like, okay, I applied to all art schools. 0:06:03.320 --> 0:06:06.160 I was going to go to school for either illustration, 0:06:06.279 --> 0:06:10.840 graphic design or art education, and then, like last minute, 0:06:11.000 --> 0:06:13.680 I decided to go to Drexel in Philly, and I 0:06:13.720 --> 0:06:17.640 hadn't applied to their art school directly, so they were like, okay, 0:06:17.680 --> 0:06:20.200 you can't. You can't take any art classes this year. 0:06:20.320 --> 0:06:23.000 Just do something, you know as, take all of your 0:06:23.000 --> 0:06:25.680 electives this year, reapply, and then you can start your 0:06:25.760 --> 0:06:27.240 art program next year. So they were like, just take 0:06:27.320 --> 0:06:30.960 something like communications. So I was like okay, great, and 0:06:31.160 --> 0:06:34.080 I was like this is really easy and kind of fun. 0:06:34.800 --> 0:06:37.279 At Drexel, you have to you go to school for 0:06:37.360 --> 0:06:40.039 six months and then you work for six months, and 0:06:40.120 --> 0:06:42.680 you do that three times. So you get to have 0:06:42.960 --> 0:06:46.240 three internships, like three co ops. And so when it 0:06:46.240 --> 0:06:48.960 came time for me to do my first one, because 0:06:49.000 --> 0:06:51.840 I stuck with communications, I was like, this is pretty great. 0:06:51.880 --> 0:06:54.240 I'll just do some art stuff on the side. So 0:06:54.279 --> 0:06:57.000 it came time to do my first uh co op 0:06:57.240 --> 0:07:01.240 and through Drexel, all they really offered were really lame 0:07:01.279 --> 0:07:07.400 ones like you know, working in pharmaceutical eight like marketing 0:07:07.720 --> 0:07:10.240 spots and maybe you can get a job at like 0:07:10.360 --> 0:07:13.240 QBC or you know, home shopping network. And I was like, 0:07:13.280 --> 0:07:15.600 all right, I don't really want to do that. But 0:07:16.280 --> 0:07:20.840 my dad, um it doesn't really follow sports, has never 0:07:20.840 --> 0:07:23.280 really been a big sports fan, but he was friends 0:07:23.360 --> 0:07:27.360 with one of the women that was on a sports 0:07:27.400 --> 0:07:30.920 talk radio show and Philly radio on the in the morning, 0:07:31.040 --> 0:07:34.720 and so I got an internship. They're just randomly and 0:07:34.760 --> 0:07:36.160 it was like, I don't that sounds like a fun 0:07:36.240 --> 0:07:37.960 thing to do when you're in college, work at a 0:07:38.080 --> 0:07:42.560 radio station. So I went and I walked in and 0:07:42.640 --> 0:07:46.680 my first day I saw these four people that were 0:07:46.680 --> 0:07:49.960 on the morning show and their chemistry that they had together. 0:07:50.120 --> 0:07:53.600 They were having so much fun. They were talking about sports. 0:07:53.920 --> 0:07:58.240 They were like ripping on each other and it was 0:07:58.320 --> 0:08:00.760 such a great atmosphere here, and I was like, this 0:08:00.800 --> 0:08:02.240 is exactly what I want to do. How do I 0:08:02.280 --> 0:08:04.120 do this? What? What do I what? Is of course 0:08:06.480 --> 0:08:10.920 exactly we're getting. Yeah, how it started, How it's going 0:08:11.040 --> 0:08:15.320 exactly Like you had a meme and you didn't even 0:08:15.320 --> 0:08:18.680 know it. So it sounds like you fell in love 0:08:18.760 --> 0:08:21.960 with maybe the atmosphere, but you you largely it sounds 0:08:21.960 --> 0:08:25.640 like you didn't have the most interest in team sports. 0:08:25.680 --> 0:08:27.960 It was you fell in love with that atmosphere being 0:08:28.280 --> 0:08:32.640 at that sports station. I loved the atmosphere and I 0:08:32.679 --> 0:08:36.240 was competitive, but I hadn't like unlocked that yet in 0:08:36.320 --> 0:08:39.439 terms of like other team sports, Like I played softball 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:42.280 growing up, and like I said, I tried to run 0:08:42.320 --> 0:08:43.600 track for a little bit, but that's not like a 0:08:43.640 --> 0:08:47.160 team sport. And it wasn't until when I was in 0:08:47.240 --> 0:08:50.200 high school and the Sixers were in the playoffs with 0:08:50.280 --> 0:08:54.240 Iverson and like Kim Bay Matombo and Eric Snow and 0:08:55.000 --> 0:08:59.839 randomly I I stumbled upon one of the games and 0:09:00.440 --> 0:09:03.120 I was like I started watching the game and I 0:09:03.160 --> 0:09:09.880 was like, oh my god, this is say oh what 0:09:10.080 --> 0:09:15.360 is that big No no exactly, and I was like, 0:09:15.400 --> 0:09:17.480 oh my god, wait a second, and I started listening 0:09:17.480 --> 0:09:19.760 to the announcers and it was like in the middle 0:09:19.760 --> 0:09:22.120 of the series and I'm watching and I had no 0:09:22.160 --> 0:09:24.480 idea what was going on, but I I was so 0:09:24.600 --> 0:09:28.240 intrigued by it. And in a bubble in Philly. My 0:09:28.280 --> 0:09:31.480 family was not into sports like we did that. It 0:09:31.600 --> 0:09:33.880 was not a house where there was football on on 0:09:33.920 --> 0:09:37.920 Sundays like it just that wasn't how I grew up, 0:09:37.960 --> 0:09:40.319 which is wild now that I think about it. I 0:09:40.920 --> 0:09:43.240 every time I got like, you know, on Thanksgiving or 0:09:43.360 --> 0:09:46.640 like yeah, on Thanksgiving, I'll go home and I feel like, 0:09:46.679 --> 0:09:49.040 you know where, why is it the TV on? There 0:09:49.080 --> 0:09:52.200 are games happening. What are we doing here? Like everybody 0:09:52.200 --> 0:09:56.760 get it together? So so when I started watching, you know, 0:09:56.840 --> 0:10:00.040 more games and getting into more sports and what's I 0:10:00.080 --> 0:10:02.280 started working at the radio station, I was like, oh 0:10:02.320 --> 0:10:05.080 my god, I gotta I gotta really like figure this out. 0:10:05.200 --> 0:10:09.280 So I this is like super embarrassing. UM. I went 0:10:09.320 --> 0:10:13.800 out and I got Basketball for Dummies, Football for Dummies, 0:10:14.559 --> 0:10:18.040 for Hockey three Dummies, and I read all four books 0:10:18.520 --> 0:10:22.319 and it took notes, and I every single day would 0:10:22.360 --> 0:10:25.360 read the sports section on like Philly dot Com, which 0:10:25.400 --> 0:10:28.920 was like the Philadelphia Daily News and Philadelphia inquir and 0:10:29.080 --> 0:10:31.880 I just like, little by little, I started I would 0:10:31.880 --> 0:10:34.680 watch the games, and I started and listen to sports 0:10:34.679 --> 0:10:37.520 talk radio station all the time. Once again, I just 0:10:37.559 --> 0:10:41.320 like locked in and became obsessed with trying to figure 0:10:41.360 --> 0:10:45.000 it out and obsessed with kind of like winning almost 0:10:45.040 --> 0:10:47.120 at it. And it's like, how do I become the 0:10:47.160 --> 0:10:51.160 best at this? And and I just it was it 0:10:51.280 --> 0:10:53.560 was ridiculous. Like then I was in college and I 0:10:53.600 --> 0:10:56.480 was doing this uh internship where I was waking up 0:10:56.520 --> 0:10:58.400 at four o'clock in the morning to go and do 0:10:58.440 --> 0:11:01.680 the morning show. And you know, thinking back on it now, 0:11:01.760 --> 0:11:04.680 it's like it was almost like it replaced figure skating 0:11:04.720 --> 0:11:08.040 for me. It was something I needed and I latched 0:11:08.040 --> 0:11:11.720 onto it just like I did skating, and I just 0:11:12.040 --> 0:11:15.160 I made it every part of my life. And then 0:11:15.200 --> 0:11:18.280 I just from there as I as I started to 0:11:18.360 --> 0:11:20.800 understand it more and more and talk to more people 0:11:20.840 --> 0:11:24.360 about it and ask questions and learn and listen, I 0:11:25.160 --> 0:11:28.280 started to finally kind of break in and I got 0:11:28.320 --> 0:11:30.520 a lot of jobs behind the scenes, and then that 0:11:30.640 --> 0:11:34.200 sort of led to the stuff on camera. What were 0:11:34.240 --> 0:11:36.960 some of your duties in the beginning that you had 0:11:37.040 --> 0:11:39.959 to do. Oh my god, like you know you're you're 0:11:39.960 --> 0:11:44.440 getting coffee for people. I remember so Hugh Douglas was 0:11:44.720 --> 0:11:47.960 on the show a couple of days a week, and 0:11:48.000 --> 0:11:50.800 he was like in the building where the studio was. 0:11:51.640 --> 0:11:54.559 There was in the garage like a car wash on 0:11:54.559 --> 0:11:57.839 one of the levels, and he was like, hey can 0:11:57.840 --> 0:11:59.480 you take these, like during one of the breaks, Hey 0:11:59.480 --> 0:12:03.360 can you take the down to the guys for my car? 0:12:03.600 --> 0:12:06.480 And I was like, sure, no problem, and like I thought, 0:12:06.480 --> 0:12:08.800 he met like driving his car down and it was 0:12:08.840 --> 0:12:12.200 a Bentley and I don't even know if he knows 0:12:12.240 --> 0:12:15.320 the story. And I got in it and I was 0:12:15.960 --> 0:12:18.679 freaking out, like it didn't occur to me that I 0:12:18.720 --> 0:12:21.320 could just like drop the keys off to the guys 0:12:21.400 --> 0:12:24.360 down there and they would like drive it down. And 0:12:24.400 --> 0:12:26.800 I get in and I was like, oh my god, 0:12:26.960 --> 0:12:30.320 how do I work this machine? What is this? And 0:12:30.360 --> 0:12:34.560 it was so and I remember it turns in the 0:12:34.800 --> 0:12:36.920 in the parking garage to like get down to the 0:12:36.920 --> 0:12:41.000 next level, and I was sweating so much. And then 0:12:41.080 --> 0:12:43.800 and I remember the steering wheel just being so heavy, 0:12:44.120 --> 0:12:47.000 like it was so hard to turn because like I 0:12:47.040 --> 0:12:50.320 just I always had total piece of crap cars growing up. 0:12:52.720 --> 0:12:55.679 I got back like five minutes later, and everybody was like, 0:12:55.840 --> 0:12:59.520 where the hell have you been. In the beginning, when 0:12:59.520 --> 0:13:01.440 I first watched on in that morning show, they would 0:13:01.480 --> 0:13:05.000 have me go out and do ridiculous bits and then 0:13:05.360 --> 0:13:08.240 call into the station with it. So one of the 0:13:08.280 --> 0:13:11.760 ones I remember the most is uh, when Teo was 0:13:11.840 --> 0:13:15.320 having his contract dispute when he was in Philadelphia, they 0:13:15.400 --> 0:13:19.599 had me go to this city corner um. It was 0:13:19.600 --> 0:13:22.040 a fifth and Market, so it's like a busy intersection 0:13:22.080 --> 0:13:24.920 in Philly. And this was when Teo was like, I 0:13:24.960 --> 0:13:26.959 don't know, I don't have enough money to feed my family, 0:13:27.200 --> 0:13:31.040 and so they had me set up this giant They 0:13:31.200 --> 0:13:36.080 brought down this big, giant plastic kind of container, and 0:13:36.120 --> 0:13:38.679 I set up a collection for Teo. And I had 0:13:38.720 --> 0:13:42.120 a like salvation army bell. I wore sandwich board, I 0:13:42.200 --> 0:13:46.920 had like a megaphone, and I basically people were coming 0:13:46.960 --> 0:13:49.640 by all morning long. They were throwing their lunches in, 0:13:50.200 --> 0:13:52.360 they were throwing like pens in for him to sign 0:13:52.400 --> 0:13:55.560 a new contract. Somebody threw some type of like lubricant 0:13:55.679 --> 0:13:57.880 in there for him. There was a lot of really 0:13:57.920 --> 0:14:00.640 interesting things that ended up popping up in the collection 0:14:00.720 --> 0:14:04.120 for t O. I've been an intern before, but I 0:14:04.320 --> 0:14:07.320 never ever had to do know something like that. That is, 0:14:08.040 --> 0:14:10.720 I think that's worse than the UM. I always using 0:14:10.720 --> 0:14:13.160 this as an example. It's probably bad, but that's my 0:14:13.200 --> 0:14:18.840 podcast with care Um so around UM tax season. Liberty 0:14:19.040 --> 0:14:22.560 liberty people. Yeah, when they got the stature liberty guy 0:14:22.880 --> 0:14:26.440 who generally looks the same complexion as me. Sometimes right, 0:14:27.320 --> 0:14:31.040 this varies on where the liberty tax places. It varies varies, 0:14:31.760 --> 0:14:33.600 and always when we drive by, look at my kids, 0:14:33.640 --> 0:14:35.800 I say, you don't pay attention to school. That's what 0:14:35.920 --> 0:14:38.200 your ass is gonna be doing. Ride there? Now when 0:14:38.240 --> 0:14:41.640 you getting paid? Was this for college credits? So for 0:14:41.680 --> 0:14:44.240 me it was no, my god, none of these stuff. 0:14:44.240 --> 0:14:48.280 I had none of the inter That's that's all unpaid, 0:14:48.840 --> 0:14:52.080 all unpaid work picker is the liberty task guy gets 0:14:52.080 --> 0:14:56.240 paid like when you are unpaid. Because I worked for 0:14:56.280 --> 0:14:58.720 the Charlotte Hornets, I was an unpaid intern. So they 0:14:58.720 --> 0:15:00.320 have you do all that crap. You got go get 0:15:00.320 --> 0:15:03.200 coffee for somebody, you gotta contact, you gotta go run 0:15:03.240 --> 0:15:05.760 stats to the coach of staff. But what she's having 0:15:05.800 --> 0:15:08.880 to do like having to get embarrassed. Listen, I mean, 0:15:09.720 --> 0:15:11.720 but it's worth telling. You didn't even know that he 0:15:11.960 --> 0:15:14.520 used to work for the Hornets and his job for 0:15:14.520 --> 0:15:18.280 a little bit. He would give at halftime the status 0:15:18.880 --> 0:15:23.120 not to Bernie Bickerstaff, not to Bickerstaff's son j B. 0:15:24.040 --> 0:15:30.240 Not to j B's Bickerstaff Brown. He got to give 0:15:30.680 --> 0:15:35.800 Michael Jordan's the statue sheet. So his life wasn't that. 0:15:36.080 --> 0:15:39.280 I don't say I had nothing like you did, right, 0:15:39.440 --> 0:15:43.280 but she was. She was basically dressed up like a 0:15:43.320 --> 0:15:51.840 Salvation Army kid. Yeah. If they had me do the 0:15:51.960 --> 0:15:54.520 most ridiculous stuff, and I was like whatever, I don't care, Like, 0:15:54.600 --> 0:15:56.400 if it's gonna if we're gonna get a laugh out 0:15:56.480 --> 0:15:59.119 of it, let's go. Let's do it. But it obviously 0:15:59.520 --> 0:16:01.680 in it puts something in you and the grains something 0:16:01.680 --> 0:16:03.640 need to where you're like, you know what, I want 0:16:03.720 --> 0:16:08.320 more of this? Yeah? It it became addictive, and I 0:16:08.440 --> 0:16:13.040 think it's because that adrenaline that you get when you're 0:16:13.400 --> 0:16:15.520 on the air, when you're doing a show, Like for 0:16:15.640 --> 0:16:18.120 me at that point was a you know, college kid. 0:16:18.240 --> 0:16:20.360 I was calling into the radio station but they were 0:16:20.520 --> 0:16:22.920 on you know, I was on the station that you know, 0:16:23.040 --> 0:16:27.840 my friends were listening to and just being in that moment, 0:16:28.120 --> 0:16:32.080 the rush that you get. It's such a high, and 0:16:32.640 --> 0:16:35.000 I think that's what I loved so much about it 0:16:35.280 --> 0:16:38.280 was the high from it, and it was like it 0:16:38.440 --> 0:16:40.880 was something that you know once you're once you're done 0:16:40.920 --> 0:16:43.360 the show, it kind of sticks around too. So it's 0:16:43.400 --> 0:16:46.760 just like a really euphoric feeling. And I love it. 0:16:47.800 --> 0:16:51.000 We have to take a break in the morning thing. 0:16:51.080 --> 0:16:58.280 We gotta pay some bills. You get, chicks. I love 0:16:58.520 --> 0:17:00.880 cut to It and I I love it even more 0:17:01.000 --> 0:17:05.400 when you download us and subscribe and you can follow 0:17:05.440 --> 0:17:08.200 us on social media too, Smithie where where at? That's 0:17:08.320 --> 0:17:12.520 at cut to It on Instagram? What about Twitter? At 0:17:12.600 --> 0:17:16.680 cut to It Facebook, cut to It featuring Steve Smith singr? 0:17:17.200 --> 0:17:20.160 What about online? And you can follow us at cut 0:17:20.240 --> 0:17:23.400 to It podcast dot com where you can buy merch 0:17:23.800 --> 0:17:26.640 and you can subscribe to us wherever you listen to podcasts. 0:17:27.480 --> 0:17:30.800 I got all my answers questions. Um, yeah, I got 0:17:30.920 --> 0:17:34.200 all my questions answered. That's what I'm here for, a brother, 0:17:34.680 --> 0:17:42.000 cut to It Podcast dot Com. Coming up on the 0:17:42.040 --> 0:17:44.520 cut to It Podcast, We've got ja. Billis an n 0:17:44.560 --> 0:17:48.520 C double a analyst for ESPN, former player and assistant 0:17:48.560 --> 0:17:51.920 coach for Duke University and the author of the book Toughness. 0:17:52.359 --> 0:17:56.199 J Billis on the Cut to It podcasts grawing up 0:17:56.920 --> 0:18:00.080 in Rolling Hills near Sat Pedro. What how did it 0:18:00.520 --> 0:18:06.680 is shape your perspective on how you see the world today? Well, 0:18:07.119 --> 0:18:09.960 I mean I think I grew up in a little 0:18:10.000 --> 0:18:12.920 bit of a bubble honestly, where you know I went to. 0:18:13.400 --> 0:18:16.360 If it weren't for basketball, I think my my view 0:18:16.440 --> 0:18:20.879 of things would be would be colored differently. Um. Basketball 0:18:20.960 --> 0:18:23.480 took me into so many areas of southern California. I 0:18:23.560 --> 0:18:25.679 used to play I used to go play pick up 0:18:25.720 --> 0:18:30.200 at Carson High School and Narbonne and all these different places. Um, 0:18:30.520 --> 0:18:33.080 And you know, so I got to know a lot 0:18:33.160 --> 0:18:35.600 of people that I wouldn't have gotten to know otherwise. 0:18:36.000 --> 0:18:38.000 And and so it was it was great for me. 0:18:38.680 --> 0:18:41.560 And it was a sort of a world, you know, 0:18:41.720 --> 0:18:45.840 world worldly experience, I thought. And then and then it 0:18:46.040 --> 0:18:48.840 it obviously took me all over the world. But um, 0:18:49.880 --> 0:18:52.760 I think when you when you grow up like the 0:18:53.160 --> 0:18:57.520 place I grew up, as as the peninsula jets out 0:18:57.720 --> 0:19:01.240 from from the coast a little bit. So the truth was, 0:19:01.359 --> 0:19:04.640 nobody went to my area unless they had a reason 0:19:04.720 --> 0:19:06.520 to be there. It wasn't like a pass through area, 0:19:07.320 --> 0:19:10.919 so you could get a little bit sheltered. And basketball 0:19:11.040 --> 0:19:13.760 took that took me out of there because I played 0:19:13.800 --> 0:19:16.800 every weekend from fourth grade through high school. Every weekend 0:19:16.880 --> 0:19:19.680 I played out of town somewhere and during the week 0:19:19.760 --> 0:19:22.680 at night, you want to go get a game, and 0:19:22.840 --> 0:19:24.680 so you'd go play pick up wherever there was a 0:19:24.720 --> 0:19:27.280 good pickup game. I mean I was at Venice Beach 0:19:27.320 --> 0:19:30.240 playing outside or um. You know I mentioned, we'd go 0:19:30.280 --> 0:19:32.760 to Carson High School all these different places and play 0:19:33.640 --> 0:19:35.840 and uh and so I made a lot of friends 0:19:35.880 --> 0:19:38.840 doing that that have been friends to this day. Uh. 0:19:39.119 --> 0:19:42.480 So that that was what sort of opened my eyes 0:19:42.640 --> 0:19:45.480 to the way the world was, more so than anything 0:19:45.560 --> 0:19:48.360 else about the area I grew up in. So who 0:19:48.480 --> 0:19:51.720 introduced you to basketball before you became this top fifty 0:19:51.800 --> 0:19:56.639 recruit averaging twenty four and fourteen? My mother wanted me 0:19:56.720 --> 0:19:59.159 out of the house, so she had when I was 0:19:59.200 --> 0:20:01.399 in third grade. She had read something in the local 0:20:01.480 --> 0:20:04.960 paper about basketball tryouts for the local, you know, little 0:20:05.000 --> 0:20:07.560 bitty league, and so she took me up there and 0:20:07.680 --> 0:20:09.720 kind of pushed me out of the car and I 0:20:09.880 --> 0:20:12.080 tried out for the league, and I thought, okay, well, 0:20:12.359 --> 0:20:14.919 the way it works is, you know, get to fourth grade, 0:20:15.800 --> 0:20:17.720 you get picked on a team, and you play for 0:20:17.800 --> 0:20:20.480 the Little Lakers or whatever, the Little Celtics, and you 0:20:20.520 --> 0:20:22.480 play your high school or you play at the local 0:20:22.560 --> 0:20:25.840 high school every Saturday. And I wound up making something 0:20:25.880 --> 0:20:29.560 called the Conference team, which was basically a travel team. 0:20:29.800 --> 0:20:34.119 So we played uh forty fifty games a year, and 0:20:34.280 --> 0:20:36.240 we traveled for all of them. So we would play 0:20:36.280 --> 0:20:40.040 all over southern California, and we'd pile into the coach's 0:20:40.119 --> 0:20:42.280 car and and one of the parents they drive us 0:20:42.320 --> 0:20:45.919 to games, and we played sometimes on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday. 0:20:45.960 --> 0:20:48.200 We play in three different tournaments. And it got to 0:20:48.280 --> 0:20:49.959 the point where we would start a game with our 0:20:50.040 --> 0:20:53.320 full team, and in the second half, like at the 0:20:53.400 --> 0:20:56.800 end of the third quarter, um, half the team would 0:20:56.880 --> 0:20:59.080 go with one of the dads and go start the 0:20:59.160 --> 0:21:02.120 next game. And then when the guys finished, they hop 0:21:02.160 --> 0:21:05.040 in the next car and go meet them and finish 0:21:05.080 --> 0:21:08.560 the game. But we played sometimes, I'd play nine games 0:21:08.600 --> 0:21:12.320 in a weekend, and um I played. You know, we 0:21:12.520 --> 0:21:14.280 we all were teams, you know, all our teammates, we 0:21:14.280 --> 0:21:16.520 wound up playing in high school together. So we played 0:21:17.200 --> 0:21:19.920 hundreds of you know, a couple of hundred games together 0:21:20.040 --> 0:21:22.480 before we ever got to high school. And so we 0:21:22.600 --> 0:21:26.120 knew each other really well and hung out and every weekend, 0:21:26.520 --> 0:21:28.960 and and that was really fun. I learned a lot 0:21:29.119 --> 0:21:31.560 about about things just from doing that. And it was 0:21:31.640 --> 0:21:35.000 all just because you know, I I my mom wanted 0:21:35.040 --> 0:21:37.480 me out and uh and I from the first time 0:21:37.480 --> 0:21:39.119 I dribbled a ball, I fell in love with it. 0:21:39.840 --> 0:21:42.320 And I played baseball too, but I didn't love baseball 0:21:42.359 --> 0:21:45.080 like I love basketball. And that's sort of where it 0:21:45.160 --> 0:21:47.440 came from. And and and that was like that was 0:21:47.520 --> 0:21:50.320 all my parents needed to keep me in line. Was 0:21:50.560 --> 0:21:52.760 if I ever did anything that got out of line, 0:21:52.840 --> 0:21:55.119 they were like, all right, you're not playing, and I was. 0:21:55.520 --> 0:21:59.000 I would do anything to two keep playing. So I 0:21:59.280 --> 0:22:01.320 actually did what I was supposed to do, just because 0:22:01.359 --> 0:22:04.840 I wanted to keep playing ball. Well, you said you 0:22:04.960 --> 0:22:08.760 lived in a bubble, so is it safe to say 0:22:10.400 --> 0:22:14.639 your perspective on all the different cultures that you experienced 0:22:14.640 --> 0:22:18.600 it going into the different areas of southern California really 0:22:18.720 --> 0:22:22.760 helped you um to where you know, I mean, I 0:22:22.840 --> 0:22:25.760 find it interesting and I know you, but yet find 0:22:25.800 --> 0:22:32.280 it interesting knowing your playlist of rap music. Did that 0:22:32.440 --> 0:22:36.480 have to that? Did that start with the integrating of 0:22:36.600 --> 0:22:41.720 cultures and just hanging around, yeah, to just hanging around 0:22:41.880 --> 0:22:46.479 different different kinds of people. Yeah, I guess. I mean, 0:22:46.560 --> 0:22:48.520 I think it was more. I think that sort of 0:22:48.560 --> 0:22:52.720 the rap music thing was more, um, you know, things 0:22:52.800 --> 0:22:55.400 that were popular at the time that that caught our 0:22:55.560 --> 0:22:57.920 fancy more than more than anything. I mean, there's a 0:22:58.040 --> 0:23:02.960 there's a big difference in appreciating black culture and understanding 0:23:03.400 --> 0:23:07.480 Black America and what you know, what Black Americans have 0:23:07.640 --> 0:23:10.440