Speaker 1: Hey, what's up, everybody. I'm Jamel Hill and welcome to politics.
Speaker 1: And I heard podcasts and unbothered production time to get spolitical.
Speaker 1: At the time of this recording, we're just a few
Speaker 1: days away from the Super Bowl between Kansas City and Philadelphia.
Speaker 1: And for what it's worth, I've got Kansas City clinching
Speaker 1: the first three peat in NFL history.
Speaker 2: But besides the game, what.
Speaker 1: Millions of people are looking forward to is the Super
Speaker 1: Bowl halftime show, which this year features Kendrick Lamar, who
Speaker 1: is fresh off winning fifty eleven Grammys. Now, last year,
Speaker 1: Usher's Super Bowl halftime performance drew over one hundred and
Speaker 1: thirty million viewers. But believe it or not, there was
Speaker 1: a time where halftime shows, super Bowls or otherwise, weren't
Speaker 1: a thing at all, and certainly not any kind of
Speaker 1: pop culture mega event. When halftime came, players just went
Speaker 1: to the locker room and that was kind of it.
Speaker 1: But that all changed in nineteen twenty two when the
Speaker 1: very first halftime show for a professional football game took place,
Speaker 1: and it wasn't some grand entertainer who performed for the fans.
Speaker 2: It was dogs who were the main attraction. A man
Speaker 2: named Lawalter.
Speaker 1: Lingo was one of the top breeders of Airdale Terriers,
Speaker 1: which were the most popular dogs in America at the time.
Speaker 1: Now Lingo became good friends with Jim Thorpe, the indigenous
Speaker 1: football icon who had been playing professional football for years.
Speaker 1: Lingo's big idea was to create a pro football team
Speaker 1: whose main function would be as an advertisement vehicle to
Speaker 1: sell his dogs, which were going for about one hundred
Speaker 1: dollars a pop, big money in those days. The deal
Speaker 1: was Lingo Paithorp five hundred dollars a week to be
Speaker 1: a player, coach and to put together an all Native
Speaker 1: American team. But the players Thorpe recruited we didn't just
Speaker 1: played football. They would also work in Lingo's kennels. Lingo
Speaker 1: wanted the Oorang Indians, the name of the team, to
Speaker 1: pattern their games after the popular Wild Wild West shows
Speaker 1: of the era. Lingo also noticed there was a lot
Speaker 1: of empty time before and during the game, so Lingo
Speaker 1: would have the players performed traditional Native American dances before
Speaker 1: the games and at various intervals during the game, but
Speaker 1: most importantly, when it was halftime, the players would perform
Speaker 1: tricks with the dogs, and Thorpe would also do dropkicking exhibitions,
Speaker 1: and those.
Speaker 2: Were your early football halftime shows.
Speaker 1: It wasn't until some forty years later that the first
Speaker 1: Super Bowl was played, a nineteen sixty seven matchup between
Speaker 1: the Green Bay Packers and the Kansas City Chiefs. Now,
Speaker 1: this was before the AFC and the NFC merged to
Speaker 1: become the NFL as we know it today, and that
Speaker 1: first Super Bowl halftime show also didn't feature some big
Speaker 1: time celebrity. The halftime performers for the first Super Bowl
Speaker 1: were as follows, the University of Arizona, a symphonic marching
Speaker 1: band featuring renowned trumpeter Alhert whose nickname was the Round
Speaker 1: Mound of Sound, the Anaheim High School Drill Team, and
Speaker 1: the Grambling State Marching Band. Now, back then, the Super
Speaker 1: Bowl halftime show just wasn't a big deal. For years,
Speaker 1: it was dominated largely by college marching bands, with the
Speaker 1: occasional celebrity popping up here and there. When you look
Speaker 1: at some of those halftime shows in the nineteen seventies
Speaker 1: and eighties, a lot of them come off like very
Speaker 1: cheesy game shows. Here's the nineteen seventy eight Super Bowl
Speaker 1: halftime show.
Speaker 3: On Earth Earth one point on earth Point earth.
Speaker 1: Point o Mine. I think you got to be kind
Speaker 1: of high to understand what that was. Then there was
Speaker 1: the nineteen eighty two Super Bowl halftime show, which featured
Speaker 1: cast members from Up with People.
Speaker 2: The theme was an ode to the nineteen sixties.
Speaker 3: Today, we're going to bring back some of those unforgettable
Speaker 3: songs and sounds of the nineteen sixties.
Speaker 2: It was a time of.
Speaker 3: Momentous change, and the musical was changing too, for so
Speaker 3: many exciting innovations and insta hudgens, from the Beach Boys
Speaker 3: to the Beatles, Circling to Soul, we Nanny to Motown
Speaker 3: and here are just a few of the highlights.
Speaker 2: Well, isn't that swell?
Speaker 1: But in nineteen ninety two, the NFL finally realized it
Speaker 1: had to stop trotting out these terrible, extremely forgettable halftime shows.
Speaker 1: A fire got lit under them, and it was all
Speaker 1: the black people's fault. In nineteen ninety two, the halftime
Speaker 1: performers for the Super Bowl were Gloria Estefan and Olympic
Speaker 1: skaters Brian Boitano and Dorothy Hamill.
Speaker 2: The theme of the show was Winter Magic, How.
Speaker 4: Everybody is come on a field, the hole, come a
Speaker 4: minute Winter's ahead of the time of the year Winter byd.
Speaker 5: Now.
Speaker 1: God blessed Gloria Estefan, who was a pop icon, but
Speaker 1: nobody he was watching her Brian Bortano or Dorothy Hammel
Speaker 1: on CBS.
Speaker 2: Instead, everybody turned to Fox.
Speaker 1: Because In Living Color decided to put on their own
Speaker 1: halftime show opposite of the Super Bowl.
Speaker 6: Hey, I know you guys are thinking, you were thinking her.
Speaker 3: These bozo's gonna make us miss any part of the
Speaker 3: second half.
Speaker 5: That's where this comes in our super Bowl countdown clock.
Speaker 5: It'll be coming on later in the show to let
Speaker 5: you know when to switch back to the second half.
Speaker 5: You won't miss any of the senseless brutality.
Speaker 2: But check this out. The Bad Boys and Comedy got
Speaker 2: a lot of action for you.
Speaker 5: Right here find Marshall, Bill men On and calling me
Speaker 5: bad performing here live, and about two thousand censors ready
Speaker 5: to pull a plug at any moments.
Speaker 2: So if you're ready, Hey, we're ready. So let's hang
Speaker 2: out with the home boys right now? What's up?
Speaker 1: That In Living Color halftime show drew over twenty million viewers,
Speaker 1: and the NFL decided I'm not on our watch. So
Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety three, for super Bowl twenty seven, after
Speaker 1: eleven months of negotiation with the King of Pop, the
Speaker 1: NFL changed the course of Super Bowl halftime shows forever
Speaker 1: when they brought out Michael Jackson, who apparently was finally
Speaker 1: convinced to do the show after the NFL mentioned to
Speaker 1: him that the super Bowl would air in one hundred
Speaker 1: and twenty countries so his performance could be seen in
Speaker 1: places he might not ever be able to perform in
Speaker 1: concert and true deform, Michael Jackson, as he so often did,
Speaker 1: gave us a performance we would never forget. Michael Jackson
Speaker 1: stood on a stage for two full minutes, didn't move,
Speaker 1: didn't say nothing, and he damn near had everybody passing out.
Speaker 1: One hundred and thirty three million people watched that halftime show,
Speaker 1: a record at the time, but after that the NFL
Speaker 1: wasn't going back to their great value version of ice
Speaker 1: capades again blamed the black people. The super Bowl halftime
Speaker 1: show grew to be such an iconic stage that the
Speaker 1: NFL was able to convince the biggest stars in the
Speaker 1: world to perform for free. The NFL pays the cost
Speaker 1: of the production and the artist travel fees, but that's it.
Speaker 1: For example, the NFL paid thirteen million to cover the
Speaker 1: costs of ciated with Usher's performance in twenty twenty four,
Speaker 1: and in some cases the NFL also has donated to
Speaker 1: the charity of the artist's choice, as was the case
Speaker 1: with Michael Jackson. On top of paying his production costs,
Speaker 1: the NFL donated one hundred thousand dollars to Heal the
Speaker 1: World Foundation. In fact, super Bowl performers are only paid
Speaker 1: union wages, which might amount to a little over one
Speaker 1: thousand dollars per day, but they cash in on the exposure.
Speaker 2: But even with the Super.
Speaker 1: Bowl halftime show being as big as it is, that
Speaker 1: doesn't mean it has been impervious to criticism. In twenty nineteen,
Speaker 1: the NFL was having a difficult time finding a performer
Speaker 1: for the Super Bowl halftime show because of the widespread
Speaker 1: support for Colin Kaepernick, who when twenty sixteen, began protesting
Speaker 1: racial injustice and police brutality by taking a knee during.
Speaker 2: The national anthem.
Speaker 1: In twenty nineteen, the NFL reportedly wanted Rihanna, but she
Speaker 1: declined in support of Kaepernick's protests. Variety also reported the
Speaker 1: NFL reached out to Pink Andre three thousand, Mary J. Blige,
Speaker 1: Cardi b Usher. All of them said no.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: Eventually, the NFL that year was able to convince Maroon Five,
Speaker 1: Travis Scott, and Big Boy to be performers, but that
Speaker 1: was met with severe backlash. People wondered if the NFL's
Speaker 1: biggest stage.
Speaker 2: Was now tainted.
Speaker 1: And then came along Jay Z, the NFL partner with
Speaker 1: Jay Z and Rod Nation, who took over the halftime
Speaker 1: show after twenty nineteen, and since then, the performers that
Speaker 1: we've seen have been The Weekend, Rihanna, Usher, Snoop, Mary J. Blige, Eminem,
Speaker 1: Doctor Dre fifty Cent, j Low Shakir, and now Kendrick
Speaker 1: Lamar is the headliner for this year's Super Bowl. In
Speaker 1: the end, I guess what Jay Z said during the
Speaker 1: announcement of this partnership with the NFL turned out to
Speaker 1: be true.
Speaker 2: Okay, I think we've passed kneeling. I'm Jamel Hill and
Speaker 2: I approve this message.
Speaker 1: Coming up next on politics, my favorite reality show on
Speaker 1: television right now is.
Speaker 2: Special Forces World's Toughest Test.
Speaker 1: It airs on Fox, and the gist of it is
Speaker 1: you have sixteen celebrities from sports, social media, and entertainment
Speaker 1: who try to prove that they have what it takes
Speaker 1: to be a part of America's elite special forces unit.
Speaker 1: Now they're jumping off bridges, doing hand to hand combat
Speaker 1: like some really wild shit, and enduring some truly crazy things. Well,
Speaker 1: my guest today is a contestant this season, and that
Speaker 1: couldn't be more fitting, because not only is she an
Speaker 1: elite athlete, but she knows what it's like to endure.
Speaker 1: She was once considered the world's fastest woman, but her
Speaker 1: Olympic career was destroyed after she was convicted for lying
Speaker 1: the federal investigators about her use of performance enhancing drugs.
Speaker 1: She served six months in prison and basically disappeared from
Speaker 1: the Spotlight. But this show and a new podcast she's
Speaker 1: launching soon our Avenue, she's using to show people your
Speaker 1: worst moment doesn't have to be your defining one. This
Speaker 1: woman has a testimony one that she's eager to share.
Speaker 1: Coming up next on Politics, Marion Jones. So, Mary and
Speaker 1: I am going to start this podcast the way I
Speaker 1: start every podcast. I ask every guest that appears on
Speaker 1: Spolitics this question, Name a athlete or a sports moment
Speaker 1: that made you love sports.
Speaker 6: I'm gonna give you two if that's okay. Sis. So,
Speaker 6: I'm originally from California, Los Angeles to be specific, And
Speaker 6: in nineteen eighty four, I was nine years old and
Speaker 6: this was way back in the day, and people listening
Speaker 6: to this watching this will remember that back in the day,
Speaker 6: the US used to parade their athletes in the Olympic
Speaker 6: city prior to the games, even starting right, so you
Speaker 6: had an opportunity to see the greats of sport, like
Speaker 6: literally in a ticker tape parade in your city. And
Speaker 6: I knew, my mom knew, like we didn't have the
Speaker 6: resources to actually go to the events, but my mom
Speaker 6: was like the next best thing besides watching it on
Speaker 6: television is to go to the parade. And so I
Speaker 6: remember standing on the streets in Los Angeles and watching
Speaker 6: the Carl Lewis's, watching the Jackie Joyner Cursey's like parade
Speaker 6: in front of me, and then that summer at the
Speaker 6: age of nine, watching the Games for the first time,
Speaker 6: and that being everything for me. I didn't specifically know
Speaker 6: at what sport I did, it didn't matter. I wanted
Speaker 6: to feel whatever they were exuding when they crossed that
Speaker 6: finish line first, like, tell me what I need to do,
Speaker 6: tell me where I need to go, how I need
Speaker 6: to train, how I need to be. That's what I want.
Speaker 6: So that's the first thing. The second moments, I suppose
Speaker 6: is being a part of a team. So I've had
Speaker 6: the pleasure of not only being a part of an
Speaker 6: individual sport in the sport of track and field, where
Speaker 6: by you think it's individual, but it really does take
Speaker 6: a team to get these athletes ready and all that,
Speaker 6: but to actually be a part really of a team
Speaker 6: sport that has surpassed so many doubters and gain the
Speaker 6: respect like so so being a part of the ninety
Speaker 6: three national championship team at the University of North Carolina
Speaker 6: and creating a bond with these women whom I consider
Speaker 6: my sisters, who like we are still like this to
Speaker 6: this day also ranks probably for me, one of one
Speaker 6: of the greatest sports stories in all of sports. Besides
Speaker 6: just us winning the national championship at the point zero
Speaker 6: point seven seconds to go, like that of itself is
Speaker 6: an incredible story, but the bond that was created from
Speaker 6: at the beginning of the season, like nobody had us
Speaker 6: on any radar, like no radar, we were barely we
Speaker 6: might barely win a few games in the ACC, right
Speaker 6: when it was like the ACC is not like the
Speaker 6: ACC now, whereby you got teams from California coming to
Speaker 6: North Carolina to play, which is again a whole other
Speaker 6: story that we can sit and talk about, which I
Speaker 6: don't understand. But those are probably the two greatest moments
Speaker 6: for me, right, They're very personal, and that that was
Speaker 6: my first summer introduction to the to the world of sport,
Speaker 6: and there was something about it that I knew.
Speaker 2: I needed to Hatchell.
Speaker 1: Coach, Sylvia Hatchell, you guys were thirty three and two. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Charlotte Smith.
Speaker 2: Was the one who hit the buzzer beater, I believe,
Speaker 2: and you were a freshman.
Speaker 6: I was a freshman, but I helped to get the
Speaker 6: jump ball that allowed us to get the pass into Charlotte. So,
Speaker 6: I mean I was the frozen freshman on the top
Speaker 6: of the key, right, Like they knew that I wouldn't.
Speaker 6: I wasn't hitting any three pointer, okay, So I was
Speaker 6: kind of a decoy at the top of the sheet.
Speaker 6: They knew that I wasn't getting the ball, but hey,
Speaker 6: it was It was an incredible moment, and you know
Speaker 6: the fact that we just celebrated a few years back,
Speaker 6: like our thirtieth year anniversary, Like what, like, there's no
Speaker 6: way that it's been thirty years. Hey, it's amazing, So marry.
Speaker 1: The first time I ever met you, it was I
Speaker 1: was living in North Carolina.
Speaker 2: I was a reporter for the News and Observer And
Speaker 2: do you Oh.
Speaker 6: I hope I was kind you were.
Speaker 1: This was nineteen ninety seven or nineteen ninety eight. You
Speaker 1: were training at NC State, Okay, and I believe your
Speaker 1: coach was Trevor Graham yep. And they had dispatched me
Speaker 1: out to do a story on you because you were
Speaker 1: in prep moo for the two thousand Games. And you know,
Speaker 1: I have to be honest, like at that point, this
Speaker 1: was my first professional job out of college.
Speaker 2: As a sports reporter.
Speaker 1: I had not I was not familiar with you at
Speaker 1: all because I didn't follow track and field that closely.
Speaker 2: But everybody around there.
Speaker 1: Was like, no, no, no, this is going to be
Speaker 1: the next great track Olympian.
Speaker 2: Be a How did I not know this?
Speaker 1: If you went into the archives of the News and Observer,
Speaker 1: you will find that I wrote a story about you
Speaker 1: and your preparation for this because you probably remember this
Speaker 1: reporter because he was the Olympic track guy, Jean Cheerry.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yes, yes, Jean was the guy. But for
Speaker 1: some reason he couldn't do the story on you. I
Speaker 1: don't know what it was, but they asked me to
Speaker 1: step in and go to n C State and talk
Speaker 1: to Trevor and talk to you and you were working out,
Speaker 1: and I was like, man, I don't know much about track,
Speaker 1: but she seems really good people, and they, you know,
Speaker 1: looking doing my research before I headed into the interview
Speaker 1: to ask you about your prep and everything. You know,
Speaker 1: you brought up with that moment in to you in
Speaker 1: eighty four in high school. You were running Olympic level
Speaker 1: times in high school, which was crazy to me. And
Speaker 1: at the time in North Carolina, there was all this
Speaker 1: talk because you had decided not to continue your basketball career,
Speaker 1: and everybody was just like, did she make the right decision?
Speaker 1: I don't think she did. Like it was just so much,
Speaker 1: you know, dare I say controversy. I don't know if
Speaker 1: I'm being hyperbole, but like, you were probably one of
Speaker 1: my earliest moment in my career.
Speaker 2: Where I was like I knew her win, that's dope.
Speaker 6: I'm so glad that you shared that and I always like,
Speaker 6: I know, like character wise who I am and who
Speaker 6: I am to people, And regardless of if this was
Speaker 6: your like you know, first major, I always like was
Speaker 6: I was I cool? Because that was really actually looking
Speaker 6: back in ninety seven when I had made the decision
Speaker 6: to step away from basketball because I missed the sport
Speaker 6: of track and field, I loved it. People in that
Speaker 6: area though in North Carolina like knew me as a
Speaker 6: basketball player. The rest of the world knew me and
Speaker 6: was surprised that I had gone to North Carolina to
Speaker 6: play basketball. But I just I just felt like it
Speaker 6: was time and yeah, that's that's just a cool story.
Speaker 1: Things come full circle, it sure, yes, yeah, So it
Speaker 1: was just sort of amazing, like, oh my goodness. And
Speaker 1: when you went on and obviously all the things you
Speaker 1: did Sydney, it was just like even more remarkable, Like
Speaker 1: I sare like I remember, you know, I could always
Speaker 1: have that as a feather in the cap. But nevertheless,
Speaker 1: what I definitely want to get to because I know
Speaker 1: I don't have a ton of time with you, is
Speaker 1: we got to get to Special Forces World. Stuff is
Speaker 1: tests its season three. It's on Fox at premiere January eighth,
Speaker 1: I am a stand.
Speaker 2: Of this show. I've been watching since season one.
Speaker 1: So what you when you announced on your Instagram that
Speaker 1: you were going to be a part of this, I
Speaker 1: was like, oh shit, like it's going down now for
Speaker 1: those who are not familiar, and you better get familiar.
Speaker 2: You should watch the show.
Speaker 1: And I agree with you. You got to watch it
Speaker 1: from season one, like you have to understand the story.
Speaker 2: You know you can pilot in.
Speaker 1: You can watch this season like that's fine, but like
Speaker 1: I think you really need to watch and see and
Speaker 1: really get a feel for it by watching it from
Speaker 1: season one. And it's it's an easy bitch, so folks
Speaker 1: don't worry about it. Yeah, But essentially what happens is
Speaker 1: they take sixteen celebrities, you go through I guess, uh
Speaker 1: special Forces type training.
Speaker 6: That's yeah, which is which is for folks that don't know,
Speaker 6: it's like an elite military style of training, right, Like
Speaker 6: they only take for in the real world of this,
Speaker 6: They only take the best of the best to potentially
Speaker 6: be part of Special Forces. Right. So this is not
Speaker 6: Johnny who doesn't know what he wants to do with
Speaker 6: his life after high school and he signs up like that.
Speaker 6: That's not what we're talking about.
Speaker 2: So this is more elevated than that, I should say, yeah.
Speaker 6: And it's it's important to know that these are people
Speaker 6: whom attempt this type of training, who have been in
Speaker 6: the military for a number of years, right, and who
Speaker 6: have shown certain character traits physical, mental, emotional, and they
Speaker 6: are ready for this type of training. So so for
Speaker 6: people who are like, oh, no, you know this is
Speaker 6: just a show, I am here right to tell you that, yes,
Speaker 6: you know. It's a show on Fox. Is also being
Speaker 6: streamed on Hulu by the way, for those that want
Speaker 6: to binge watch Heason one in season two and season three.
Speaker 6: But they put together sixteen of us from all walks
Speaker 6: of life, entertainment, social media, and of course sports to
Speaker 6: see who, in essence could last. It took tens supposed
Speaker 6: to take ten days, and they take us through. They
Speaker 6: take us through it. When I say that it's nothing
Speaker 6: just for TV, it is not the challenges they have
Speaker 6: us going through. The things they have us doing, and
Speaker 6: not just have us doing, but things that for people
Speaker 6: who have no military background besides back in the day.
Speaker 6: And I'm telling all my age who binge watch.
Speaker 7: Mash Okay, you're going to tell you in age, by
Speaker 7: the way, So like, okay, I did it, although you
Speaker 7: know I in another world in another time.
Speaker 6: I one of the reasons, and there's a number of
Speaker 6: them that I'll get to in a moment, but one
Speaker 6: of the reasons I agreed to do it is because
Speaker 6: in another world, since I really think that like Navy Seals,
Speaker 6: like that world would have been for me, Like I
Speaker 6: have that type of mental toughness, like physically I'm elite.
Speaker 6: I mean, I'm not tiptoeing around that, right, and like
Speaker 6: I want to do good and I want to do
Speaker 6: right by my people, right, like that type of stuff.
Speaker 6: So I could totally have seen in another world I'm
Speaker 6: a dick anything Navy Seals type training, like that's what
Speaker 6: I'm binge watching. So to be a part of this,
Speaker 6: like again, I want to try it, right, And you know,
Speaker 6: it checked a lot of boxes for me. I checked
Speaker 6: the need for a physical challenge because I'm at a
Speaker 6: point now I had taken a ten year hiatus from
Speaker 6: like the Spotlight, and I found that because of that.
Speaker 6: I mean, do I train, do I work out? Yes? Yes, yes,
Speaker 6: But it's different, right, It's different to train like that
Speaker 6: compared to what I put my body through to get
Speaker 6: ready for the show. So I needed a physical challenge.
Speaker 6: I needed a mental toughness type of challenge because we
Speaker 6: also find that as we get older, we start fitting
Speaker 6: into this world of comfort, right, Like, hey, it's part
Speaker 6: of it, right, But the moment that we do that,
Speaker 6: I'm learning, I'm tapping on the door of fifty years
Speaker 6: all this year that the more we get comfortable, the
Speaker 6: quicker it is to age, if that makes sense, right,
Speaker 6: Like I'm at a point where every year until the
Speaker 6: Good Lord calls me home, I am going to put
Speaker 6: on my calendar something so far outside of my comfort zone,
Speaker 6: which will include in twenty twenty five a triathlon which
Speaker 6: we can touch on here in a little bit, right
Speaker 6: like swim bike right what? But I found I don't
Speaker 6: like like the comfort space. No, people misunder don't misunderstand it.
Speaker 6: Like like I like a good, warm, home cooked meal, right,
Speaker 6: and I like the warmth of my house and all
Speaker 6: those types of things. But you gotta do something that's
Speaker 6: gonna challenge you or you're just gonna get stuck. So
Speaker 6: special forces check that boxes and then lastly, know I
Speaker 6: want I just want to continue for my kids to
Speaker 6: see that you get stuck. You have challenges, you have setbacks.
Speaker 6: You don't have to stay there, right, And me putting
Speaker 6: myself out there, stepping into this unknown world, and you
Speaker 6: know where I'm gonna be asked questions. I'm gonna be
Speaker 6: in the mirror room. It's the interrogation room. I'm gonna
Speaker 6: have to do things that are gonna like a challenge
Speaker 6: me to no end. I needed them to see that.
Speaker 6: So that checked that box too. That's why I decided
Speaker 6: to do it.
Speaker 1: And I want people out there who are listening to
Speaker 1: understand that the challenges that they put you all through,
Speaker 1: these are not just oh, you know, run one hundred
Speaker 1: yards no, no, no, no, no, no no no. This
Speaker 1: is some ship that like there is I don't know
Speaker 1: how you all would do it. And I'm like, how
Speaker 1: do you convince yourself to jump off this helicopter?
Speaker 2: And then or even the episode where.
Speaker 1: You you had to get the box, you had to
Speaker 1: untangle the box that from the sinking ship, right, and
Speaker 1: so let's.
Speaker 6: Talk about it by the way you are.
Speaker 2: So there are a few I was like, oh my god,
Speaker 2: right there, like you got it, but school the last
Speaker 2: group I think it was. There are a.
Speaker 6: Few of the physical challenges like jumping on the helicopter,
Speaker 6: like like, really, that's just physical to me, right, Like,
Speaker 6: there are some people who were really thrown off by that.
Speaker 6: That's nothing you just the minute I saw them demo it,
Speaker 6: the the DS demo it, and I realized people, some
Speaker 6: of my my my cast meets, my team were say
Speaker 6: I'm gonna jump and hold on to it like this,
Speaker 6: and I'm thinking, okay, there are very few of these
Speaker 6: people here that can withstand their body weight naturally on
Speaker 6: a pull up.
Speaker 2: Let alone.
Speaker 6: You have a moving helicopter, let alone, it's cold, let alone,
Speaker 6: you got to Oh no, so I'm going to jump
Speaker 6: on and grab it by here because I can hold
Speaker 6: myself immediately I had made that. So the physical challenge
Speaker 6: is jumping off the bridge, all right, I mean, yeah,
Speaker 6: some people have a fear of heights oobia. Not me,
Speaker 6: so it wasn't an issue. The challenge that you're referring to,
Speaker 6: I us call it the black box challenge, whereby you
Speaker 6: have to be in the water in the ocean and
Speaker 6: this boat is being submerged waters lifting the boats going
Speaker 6: down and you get the thumbs up from the DS
Speaker 6: to swim down unhook the black box, grab it, swim
Speaker 6: out of the boat, and it's a pass. Right. And
Speaker 6: when they're explaining this to us, this right like, they
Speaker 6: do it purposefully, very quickly, right. They don't say, they
Speaker 6: don't take their time and you have to screw and
Speaker 6: you have to do this. They say, the mission is
Speaker 6: to get the black box out of the water.
Speaker 2: Cool.
Speaker 6: I can do that. So I find myself water going
Speaker 6: down is cold. I'm not a fan of the cold.
Speaker 6: I'm not a fan of the water, right, But again,
Speaker 6: I know how to get myself there and deal with it.
Speaker 6: So I swim down. I decided to interlock my fingers
Speaker 6: in the bottom of the boat right with my right hand,
Speaker 6: which is my first mistake. I'll tell you why. Because
Speaker 6: I am right handed, so I should have interlocked my
Speaker 6: hand with my left hand so I can use my
Speaker 6: right to manipulate, because naturally this is my my left
Speaker 6: hand is my weekend. Anyways, I unscrew it and it
Speaker 6: seems to be moving cool. I just grabbed the thing.
Speaker 2: I didn't know it was hooked up in the back
Speaker 2: and all that.
Speaker 6: So you'll see me when I swim to the surface
Speaker 6: with the box. I am very confident that I did
Speaker 6: what I was supposed to do. I swim to the side,
Speaker 6: swim over to the DS and you'll see me. He'll say,
Speaker 6: you know number six, because they don't call you by
Speaker 6: your name, number six. How do you think you did well?
Speaker 6: I mean, I'm not feeling I'm a little cocky, but
Speaker 6: I don't want it to come across like that. And
Speaker 6: I say, hey, you know, I think I did well,
Speaker 6: and he goes, you fail the mission, right, You're not
Speaker 6: supposed to grab the black box. And then and so
Speaker 6: I'm disappointed in that moment because I want to succeed.
Speaker 6: And then I think to myself, ah, it makes sense
Speaker 6: in this real environment because every moment you have to
Speaker 6: go back and say, this is a real thing. If
Speaker 6: I don't do this how it's supposed to be done, uh,
Speaker 6: the enemy can get information like you have to put
Speaker 6: yourself in how it really is. The enemy can get
Speaker 6: the information if you don't have the box right, all.
Speaker 2: Kinds of things.
Speaker 6: And realizing that, hmm, if I had maybe done some
Speaker 6: different things that you know, we would have failed, we
Speaker 6: would have I would have passed the mission. So frustration
Speaker 6: when it comes to that, but oh.
Speaker 1: I was just like, she's right, there she a'll see
Speaker 1: us to do is unhooked as part of it.
Speaker 2: And it was.
Speaker 6: My friends and family they were joking, They're like, that
Speaker 6: is so you Marian, Like you will go. You're gonna
Speaker 6: do it fast, and you can do it strong, and
Speaker 6: you just gonna You're just gonna grab it and go.
Speaker 6: That's how I am in my house too, rite like
Speaker 6: I am when it comes to stuff like I want
Speaker 6: to get it done quick. You tell me how to
Speaker 6: get it done, I'm gonna do it. And sometimes you
Speaker 6: need a little more time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, as they say, the devil is in the details.
Speaker 1: But nevertheless, now that you've had a chance to watch
Speaker 1: it back with the rest of America, what takeaways do
Speaker 1: you have? What strikes you as you watch? How you
Speaker 1: handle these different, very very stressful environments on this show.
Speaker 6: Well, those were all expected, right, like not the particular
Speaker 6: like which challenges, but I knew going into the situation
Speaker 6: all of those would be some type of a challenge,
Speaker 6: and I was confident that I would be, you know,
Speaker 6: do well in most of them. I think the part
Speaker 6: for me that was important was because now that I'm older, interviews, podcasts,
Speaker 6: different shows, I am so experienced in this what I do,
Speaker 6: knowing that most likely notin at least out of ten times,
Speaker 6: whomever I'm talking to is going to have an agenda, right,
Speaker 6: I mean, it's just natural, right, you have an agenda.
Speaker 6: I have an agenda. Who Right, it's just natural. But
Speaker 6: going into it saying the show has an agenda, right,
Speaker 6: then me in the mirror room knowing that they already
Speaker 6: had an idea of how they thought they were going
Speaker 6: to portray me. And maybe thirty years ago, twenty years ago,
Speaker 6: I would have stepped in there very naives, thinking I'm
Speaker 6: just going to answer whatever question you want, Da da Dad.
Speaker 6: But now at this age knowing, okay, I have made
Speaker 6: the decision to be on this show show because I
Speaker 6: also am creating my own narrative. So yes, I get it,
Speaker 6: you have an agenda, but I have one too, right,
Speaker 6: And it's like, let's see who's gonna win. Right. Am
Speaker 6: I gonna walk out of that mirror room feeling successful
Speaker 6: knowing that I said what I want the world to know,
Speaker 6: or am I gonna leave it saying, man, they dominated
Speaker 6: the conversation and I didn't really get across what I want.
Speaker 6: I mean, that's to me that was would have been
Speaker 6: the biggest failed mission in all of this, and looking
Speaker 6: back now you also there's also a fierceis of how
Speaker 6: they edit things right, because after you sign the dotted
Speaker 6: line that you're gonna participate in it, you kind of
Speaker 6: like kind of just pray right, like the they do right,
Speaker 6: they do right by a sister, right. But I feel
Speaker 6: that I was portrayed fairly on the show. I feel
Speaker 6: that it's my narrative and what I wanted to share
Speaker 6: and how was well represented, and so I'm proud of
Speaker 6: I'm proud of it all.
Speaker 2: There.
Speaker 6: I had an opportunity to chat with a good friend
Speaker 6: of mine, Cam Cam Newton, who was also on the
Speaker 6: show with me, and there are some particular like other
Speaker 6: opinions on how he was portrayed right and this narrative right,
Speaker 6: like the aggressive you know black athletes, right, And I mean,
Speaker 6: if you've ever I don't know, if you have the
Speaker 6: opportunity to chat with Cam, he is the nicest, like
Speaker 6: he wouldn't like me to say this, but really like
Speaker 6: he is just a wonderful, thoughtful individual businessman dad And
Speaker 6: the idea that oh, they have an agenda, so anyways,
Speaker 6: to just kind of recap it all, I am proud
Speaker 6: of how I handled the situation. We only see small
Speaker 6: moments right of the show. I mean literally the mirror
Speaker 6: room for me was over an hour and we got
Speaker 6: to two and a half minutes. So I mean those
Speaker 6: are those are good numbers and that I feel that
Speaker 6: I was treated fairly in it all.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I thought that you came off very very well.
Speaker 1: And this next part is going to be a bit
Speaker 1: of a spoiler alert. So if you have not watched
Speaker 1: the show, just hit you right now, and.
Speaker 6: So no pun intended. Are you going there? Hit you
Speaker 6: right now? Are you talking about?
Speaker 1: Yes, the way you left the show is what we
Speaker 1: will now discuss. First of all, are your ribs okay?
Speaker 1: So to set up real quick? To set up real
Speaker 1: quick as part of one of the challenges is hand
Speaker 1: to hand combat with another cast made and so they essentially,
Speaker 1: you know, they they say.
Speaker 2: Okay you and you they go fight.
Speaker 1: Of course you have on some kind of gear, but
Speaker 1: the whole point is that like you are fighting somebody
Speaker 1: else that you are on this show with and you
Speaker 1: took a rib shot and that too.
Speaker 2: Ye oh I didn't see O.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're right because they only showed us one at
Speaker 1: home and so you took you took a rib shot
Speaker 1: and thus you had to medically exit from the show.
Speaker 2: So what happened?
Speaker 6: Yeah, so the challenge is called it is, you know,
Speaker 6: a hand to hand comment, but it's called in this world,
Speaker 6: it's called milling right, whereby what happens in real combat
Speaker 6: is if your bride, your brigade is captured right by
Speaker 6: the enemy. There have been instances where they would make
Speaker 6: them fight each other, and if you coast it right,
Speaker 6: if you're like bing bing bing, potentially everybody in your
Speaker 6: unit could be killed, right, So like you have to
Speaker 6: go after it, right, And so that's what the DS's
Speaker 6: were asking us to do. And they usually will pair
Speaker 6: you up with somebody of similar heights, similar size, et cetera.
Speaker 6: And on the show, right, like there was some itty
Speaker 6: bitty women there right where they didn't even like pair
Speaker 6: me up, and Kayln Nicole, who is a rock star sister,
Speaker 6: social media influencer, it was about my size, my height,
Speaker 6: and so they pair us up. Now, let's talk about
Speaker 6: the equipment really really quick, right, So you would think
Speaker 6: that they're the facial equipment was going to protect everything,
Speaker 6: Like no, No, I looked at it and I said wait, okay,
Speaker 6: so it's protecting my temples in my ears. But all
Speaker 6: of this is exposed what I made them like. I
Speaker 6: made a quick decisions, and this is what I said.
Speaker 6: I said, you know what, it's not like beauty paget ish,
Speaker 6: but I like it. I like it.
Speaker 1: You got a face guard, married you've got a face
Speaker 1: guard about it.
Speaker 6: Black, don't crack, And I'm gonna try to keep it
Speaker 6: like that. So in my head, I'm thinking, all right,
Speaker 6: I'm kind of light on my feet, I can move,
Speaker 6: but I got to protect this because the equipment that
Speaker 6: they provided is not protecting this. So if I was
Speaker 6: to get hit like Cam hit Nathan and blew up
Speaker 6: his nose, I didn't want that. So we started. I
Speaker 6: get a few jabs protecting this. But if there was
Speaker 6: one thing, maybe a few things. But if there's one
Speaker 6: thing in particular that I wish I would have prepared
Speaker 6: for better, I would have taken some kickboxing type classes
Speaker 6: because in the previous seasons the milling was on there
Speaker 6: as well, right if you remember, I don't know if
Speaker 6: it was both seasons, but at least one of.
Speaker 2: These was on there before. Well, if there's anything.
Speaker 6: I could have done better, in terms of I don't
Speaker 6: have a background in boxing. Kayla Nicole. I mean, she's
Speaker 6: a fitness guru. She likes that world. She's taken boxing classes,
Speaker 6: and I haven't done a chance to actually like talk
Speaker 6: to her. I planned to about the details of it,
Speaker 6: but as I'm protecting my face, Kayln Nicole is got
Speaker 6: my rib right, and she got it one time really good.
Speaker 6: I went down, right, I've never had any type of
Speaker 6: rib injuries. I'm a sprinter, y'all, like I and I
Speaker 6: played basketball and there is some physical contact, but an't
Speaker 6: nobody's hitting me like that? And I went down and
Speaker 6: the DS who's the drill sergeant came over again. You
Speaker 6: all don't see this part, but he had number six.
Speaker 6: Are you giving up? Right?
Speaker 7: Like?
Speaker 6: Those are fighting words to an athlete, right, Like for
Speaker 6: for decades a coach would say, are you Are you done?
Speaker 6: They're trying to like push and prode right, Are you done?
Speaker 6: Are you giving up? Are you weak? Of course not right.
Speaker 6: So I feel something's going on with here. I don't
Speaker 6: know what it is, specifically, but I'm like no, So
Speaker 6: I pulled myself up and again, for whatever reason, I'm
Speaker 6: protecting this face and what is came with the gold.
Speaker 6: She went for the same side, the same rib, and
Speaker 6: when she connected there was I couldn't catch my breath.
Speaker 6: I went down and it felt like and I broke
Speaker 6: two broke two ribs, and that I didn't. I was
Speaker 6: a little bit in shock in that. I'm like, it's
Speaker 6: affecting everything, Like it's affecting how I catch my breath.
Speaker 6: It's affecting when I turned left, turn right, stand, oh,
Speaker 6: walk what? And so as I'm walking to the ambulance
Speaker 6: right like I think they showed this part. I told
Speaker 6: the doctor I think these are broken, and she said,
Speaker 6: I think you're right. So we get to the emergency room.
Speaker 6: It was confirmed, took an MRI. I got two ribs broken.
Speaker 6: But you got to understand the show was filmed mid
Speaker 6: last year and it took me about six to eight
Speaker 6: weeks for them to recover, which which sucks. Like if
Speaker 6: you've ever had any have you ever any had any
Speaker 6: rib injuries?
Speaker 1: I haven't, but I had an oblique injury, and trust me,
Speaker 1: I thought I was I moved.
Speaker 2: I can only imagine it affects everything that.
Speaker 6: Everything you sneeze, you cough, you gick up, you laugh,
Speaker 6: anything you pick up a fork. So the hardest part was,
Speaker 6: you know, you know, you can't wear a cast or
Speaker 6: anything like, you just have to deal with it for
Speaker 6: six to eight weeks. So I'm fine now, thankfully. But
Speaker 6: who what.
Speaker 1: Caylen mccoone coming with the uh, the the rib shots
Speaker 1: and then though I hate to identify her as this,
Speaker 1: but this is, you know, obviously who was in a
Speaker 1: long term relationship with Travis Kelce. They broke up, and
Speaker 1: that's a part of the drama of the show, is
Speaker 1: just how she's recovering from the way she's been attacked online.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I saw somebody, let me tell you.
Speaker 4: It made me laugh when I defended Kayla Nicole on
Speaker 4: my Instagram one day, because I know her as whom
Speaker 4: she presented herself to me.
Speaker 6: Rich is everything to me, right, like we all got
Speaker 6: stuff right, But who you are to me in that moment,
Speaker 6: and who Kaylen Nicole was for me for that amount
Speaker 6: of time and has been has been like an incredible
Speaker 6: little sister, right. She's focused. If anybody does any research
Speaker 6: on her, they know that she's a well seasoned journalist.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 6: She went to a school down the street from where
Speaker 6: I grew up in Pepperdine University. So of course people
Speaker 6: only know one thing about cayleb. But anyways, I was
Speaker 6: looking at some of the comments. You talk about social
Speaker 6: media humbling, you really right, and I and I have
Speaker 6: I have been able to uh create a certain type
Speaker 6: of armor over the past few decades, right, like you've
Speaker 6: had to right, especially to be somebody who's spotlighted. And
Speaker 6: then in the in the news and I posted about
Speaker 6: Kayla and somebody somebody says something like Kayla, you you
Speaker 6: shouldn't beat up on that old lady.
Speaker 2: No, old lady.
Speaker 6: Well, I mean, you know, I have like twenty years
Speaker 6: plus first senior. I was like, dang, I didn't even
Speaker 6: look at it like that. Dang.
Speaker 2: They made the same my elder abuse, Like that's how cool.
Speaker 6: So well, if I get another triple A advertisement in
Speaker 6: my mail, like y'all, I am not there yet, not
Speaker 6: making me get there, but non incredible experience, And people
Speaker 6: ask would I potentially do it again? And I want
Speaker 6: to say no, But girl, let me tell you, if
Speaker 6: I get that invitation and you I don't even got
Speaker 6: to blink, I will be there and try it again.
Speaker 6: Because I did walk away with the sense, with a
Speaker 6: sense of disappointment. I want to I want to just
Speaker 6: crush everything I do. I think that after the milling
Speaker 6: and so many of us got kicked out, there was
Speaker 6: a slight pivot in what the show meant to do.
Speaker 6: Because you'll notice that a number of the challenges are
Speaker 6: a little less physical, like a little less physical from
Speaker 6: those first three or four days when I was on.
Speaker 6: And it has a lot to do with like leadership,
Speaker 6: right and mental toughness and right and like, yes, there
Speaker 6: are you know, certain things. But I think that there
Speaker 6: was a slight pivot. I think the first part of
Speaker 6: the show, and we will see that, you know, the
Speaker 6: next episodes or whatever, but I want to say that
Speaker 6: first part was the physical. Man, if I would have
Speaker 6: gotten through that milling, I really really think that there
Speaker 6: would have been more success. So that I hold on
Speaker 6: to that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, you know, I think that would be a
Speaker 1: potential thing for the show, is bringing back people who
Speaker 1: want to give it another.
Speaker 2: Go to see if they can they can do it again.
Speaker 1: My husband and I because again we watched this disappointment
Speaker 1: view where we love this show is you know, he's like, hey,
Speaker 1: if they ever asked you, would you do it?
Speaker 2: And I was like, hell, no, I wouldn't do this show.
Speaker 2: But I don't know. I think maybe so.
Speaker 6: But I feel like, y'all, for somebody who's watched all
Speaker 6: three seasons, what was the hardest season that's so far?
Speaker 1: You can be honest with me, you know, I mean,
Speaker 1: the first one was the kind of no joke I
Speaker 1: would have. I got to see how the season plays out,
Speaker 1: but I would definitely say the second one, like the
Speaker 1: second one seemed to be very, very challenging.
Speaker 6: We are all sixteen of us would disagree with you, sis,
Speaker 6: I'm gonna take well.
Speaker 1: Like I said, I mean, but the early part, I
Speaker 1: do feel like you guys got stuck in the crazy
Speaker 1: shit earlier, like like they there was no warm up.
Speaker 2: It was just like boom, here we go.
Speaker 6: I mean from that when they pushed us off the
Speaker 6: boat into.
Speaker 2: That role.
Speaker 6: And for so many water challenges, which was probably my
Speaker 6: if there was any fear and all of this, that
Speaker 6: was my biggest fear because cold and water don't mix
Speaker 6: well with me. And so after we got pushed in
Speaker 6: the water, we were all amongst amongst ourselves were like,
Speaker 6: they can't really have too many more water challenges, right,
Speaker 6: And we were convinced that we were going to mainly
Speaker 6: be on Land.
Speaker 1: So yeah, well before just to put a bowl on
Speaker 1: this because I definitely want to ask you about your
Speaker 1: new podcast.
Speaker 7: Now.
Speaker 6: We could go on and on.
Speaker 2: Listen.
Speaker 1: I told you I could do an hour alone just
Speaker 1: on this show because that's how much I love it.
Speaker 2: And I'm just gonna volunteer. I know you guys did.
Speaker 1: A reunion listen, fox y'all ever need somebody to host
Speaker 1: a reunion, I'm.
Speaker 2: Your girl, trust me. I know you had any I'm
Speaker 2: your girl.
Speaker 1: But I do want to ask you about this particular
Speaker 1: moment that happened on the show that was not to
Speaker 1: do with any of the challenges.
Speaker 2: As you mentioned, the mirror room.
Speaker 1: They take you all into what is a confessional type
Speaker 1: of session, but you're in there with staff, you know,
Speaker 1: and these are the guys who are running the program,
Speaker 1: and they're trying to psychologically understand who you are.
Speaker 2: And one of the.
Speaker 1: Things that you said, and it was a very touching moment,
Speaker 1: was that, you know, you said, when I was sentenced,
Speaker 1: I had two young children. And this is going back
Speaker 1: to you know, obviously your you know, conviction for lyning
Speaker 1: the federal investigators you serve some time you're incarcerated.
Speaker 2: I think for six months.
Speaker 1: You said when I was sentenced, I had two young children,
Speaker 1: too young for them to understand knowing what I that
Speaker 1: I had done wrong to me, the hardest part was
Speaker 1: just knowing at some point they were going to have
Speaker 1: to deal with the reality of mom's choices.
Speaker 2: Mary, that was such a moment.
Speaker 1: And I think you know, through all the headlines and
Speaker 1: all the things that you've been through, that's a component
Speaker 1: of this that a lot of people don't even think about.
Speaker 2: So you know, you have three wonderful children.
Speaker 1: They're older now from when you went through your issues,
Speaker 1: and I'm wondering, like, for you, how did you approach
Speaker 1: that challenges of knowing like one day they gonna hit
Speaker 1: Google and one day this is going to happen. So
Speaker 1: how did you process how to explain what happened to
Speaker 1: your children?
Speaker 6: Yeah, so it would be it would have been nice
Speaker 6: to have to have something to reference it all too, right,
Speaker 6: But because as the judge like to make sure that
Speaker 6: I knew when I was in the sentencing, I'm going
Speaker 6: to use you as an example Mary and Jones, there's
Speaker 6: nothing to compare it too, And so I made the
Speaker 6: decision after I served the six months and the forty
Speaker 6: nine days in solitary confinement. How am I going to
Speaker 6: go about preparing my kids for not only life? And
Speaker 6: as parents we all do that, but there's always a
Speaker 6: little extra with me. The best way to do that
Speaker 6: is to be about it, to live about it, to
Speaker 6: be that person whom I'm telling them they should be honest, good, respectful,
Speaker 6: all those boxes that we want to check. And with
Speaker 6: the understanding that everybody, at some point in your life,
Speaker 6: you're gonna make poor choices. Right, It's just gonna happen,
Speaker 6: even with the even with the best parents, the best mentors, teachers, pastors, whomever.
Speaker 6: At some point you're gonna try and do your own things,
Speaker 6: or you're gonna go along with the crowd, or you're
Speaker 6: gonna have to make a split decision and it turns
Speaker 6: out to be wrong, it happens that how are you
Speaker 6: gonna How are you going to handle it when it happens?
Speaker 6: Are you? And I remember? Of course, And of course
Speaker 6: I don't. I don't communicate it in a way when
Speaker 6: they were young like this, But in essence, when you
Speaker 6: make a poor choice, whatever it is, you stole the candy,
Speaker 6: you lied about this, you did this, You come and
Speaker 6: you tell me right like you fess up, or you hey,
Speaker 6: I did it right now, you don't know what the
Speaker 6: consequence is gonna be. It depends on what you did.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 6: The consequences could be kind of severe, right, you get
Speaker 6: your phone taken away, or you know you'll get spanked.
Speaker 6: I'll say it right because hey, but you you get
Speaker 6: the consequences kind of over with and you move on right,
Speaker 6: And by doing that, you gain the respect of the
Speaker 6: people around you, because generally, if they're adults, say no,
Speaker 6: everybody's going to make a poor choice, or you can
Speaker 6: decide to try and cover it up or however long
Speaker 6: and it gets bigger and bigger and eventually worse, and
Speaker 6: then you lose the trust, which is the hardest thing
Speaker 6: to deal with. You lose the trust of your people.
Speaker 6: And so that's how I tried to teach them right
Speaker 6: and then along the way, at different points, because every
Speaker 6: kid is different in how they approach life and obstacles,
Speaker 6: you say, all right, well, you know here's an example, right,
Speaker 6: and I when I'm when I'm looking at sports with
Speaker 6: I got three incredible athletes as kids, all in different
Speaker 6: levels and mindset like, this is where I was and
Speaker 6: this is what I did. I made a poor choice.
Speaker 6: I was away remember that time where mommy had and
Speaker 6: so that's how you put it together to this point.
Speaker 6: Now you know they followly, know the story, and in
Speaker 6: their own way, they have created a community, a world,
Speaker 6: a village. I have helped with that, create a village
Speaker 6: of support. Also, I have been very, very cautious to
Speaker 6: not force certain things on them. My people ask like,
Speaker 6: did you make them run track? I did not. Right
Speaker 6: when they decide, if they decide, awesome. My oldest ran track.
Speaker 6: He ran in school. He decided it wasn't for him
Speaker 6: anymore cool, right. My middle played basketballs up until his
Speaker 6: senior year in high school and then decided that he
Speaker 6: wanted to run track and it was great at it.
Speaker 6: Now it is at the University of Texas at Austin
Speaker 6: in as a freshman running track on a full scholarship. Right.
Speaker 6: My daughter is just a rock star. Everything she does, volleyball, soccer, track,
Speaker 6: whatever it is. We'll see where she winds up. She's
Speaker 6: interested in IVY League, right, Like, she's an incredible student.
Speaker 6: So again, you just have to know your kid, right,
Speaker 6: and you have to know when the right time is
Speaker 6: to share certain things, and when they have questions. If
Speaker 6: they have questions, you address it. You're up front, You're like,
Speaker 6: this is mom, right, that's this was my season of
Speaker 6: poor choices, and again there were consequences, and because of
Speaker 6: certain choices that I made in terms of trying to
Speaker 6: cover things up, my consequences are still like a part
Speaker 6: of my world now, meaning people don't necessarily believe what
Speaker 6: I say all the time, or or they constantly circle
Speaker 6: back to that one right, bad decision, like don't allow
Speaker 6: that to happen to you. Thankfully now, right, Like, I've
Speaker 6: realized that you don't have to stay there, and I'm
Speaker 6: creating my narrative and I'm changing up the story and eventually,
Speaker 6: hopefully my legacy will not just be that poor decision,
Speaker 6: but it'll be you know, wow, Okay, she made a
Speaker 6: poor decision, but these are all the lives that she
Speaker 6: has affected positively since then, and teaching people like, hey,
Speaker 6: I'm the living example, right that once you make a
Speaker 6: poor choice, it doesn't have to totally define you. Right, you
Speaker 6: can step in the room proud knowing that I'm doing
Speaker 6: what I'm supposed to right now, to help people live
Speaker 6: a better life, because everybody, not everybody says can understand
Speaker 6: being the fastest woman in the world, and they can't
Speaker 6: understand a lot of things, but everybody understands heartache, everybody
Speaker 6: understands poor decision, every youngbody understands a lie or just
Speaker 6: a dark space. How do you deal with it? Do
Speaker 6: you know the tools on how to deal with it? Hey?
Speaker 5: I do.
Speaker 6: I'm here, I'm a shining example that you don't have
Speaker 6: to stay there even if the world at a certain
Speaker 6: time has knocked you down, continue to knock you down. No,
Speaker 6: it doesn't have to be the case.
Speaker 1: So anybody who's followed you, you know, post all of
Speaker 1: that happening, like you are extremely accountable, You're very bored
Speaker 1: about the choices that you made, and you have not
Speaker 1: ducked the smoke, as the kids like to say. But
Speaker 1: at the same time, how was it, How were you
Speaker 1: able to not put yourself in a place of feeling
Speaker 1: a little bit bitter?
Speaker 2: And maybe you went through that place and maybe that
Speaker 2: was part of it.
Speaker 1: And the only reason why I say that it is
Speaker 1: like you said something earlier and it's true, is that
Speaker 1: the judge purposely wanted to make an example for you
Speaker 1: or you it was people involved that were the architects of.
Speaker 2: What they were really after that did less time than
Speaker 2: you did.
Speaker 1: And so how do you keep yourself or what did
Speaker 1: you have to do so that you wouldn't fall into
Speaker 1: a state of bitterness over what happened to you.
Speaker 6: No, there's no way I'm sitting here and going to
Speaker 6: say I haven't experienced any dark space or any type
Speaker 6: of depression or any type of bitterness in all of it,
Speaker 6: because I had my moments, and to be honest, every
Speaker 6: so often, right, I'll sit in it, but I find
Speaker 6: that if I don't create small moments and things to
Speaker 6: pull me out of it, it can be I can
Speaker 6: easily stay there for longer than I need to. And
Speaker 6: I also then know I go back to a story
Speaker 6: that I've shared a few times in that my family
Speaker 6: on my mother's side is from a small, beautiful country
Speaker 6: in Central America by the name of Billie Right, and
Speaker 6: my mom's father would travel to Guatemala when she was
Speaker 6: growing up in Belize. We traveled to Guatemala to work
Speaker 6: right to send money back to the family, and one
Speaker 6: day he came across a what we would call a
Speaker 6: psychic right, and he sat down, he paid his little
Speaker 6: paysos right just to see what this lady would say.
Speaker 6: And my mom shares a story that the woman told her,
Speaker 6: mister Hall's somebody in your family is destined for greatness, right,
Speaker 6: someone right. She couldn't point pinpoint who which generation, but
Speaker 6: some right, like keep that close to you. He shared
Speaker 6: that with my mother my mom and mother shares that
Speaker 6: with me. And the reason I tell you that story
Speaker 6: is because I have has been I truly feel that
Speaker 6: I've been brought into this world to be dare I
Speaker 6: say great, but a big thinker, right, meaning that I
Speaker 6: Am not going to settle for what somebody says that
Speaker 6: I am because I know right that like like my
Speaker 6: God has bigger plans for me than one judge or
Speaker 6: one individual can ever create for me. Right. And so
Speaker 6: how I've been able to turn that around when I
Speaker 6: have these moments like you shared of bitterness, I say,
Speaker 6: you know what what I've been through for most people
Speaker 6: would have flatlined them, would have drove them in the ground,
Speaker 6: would have you know, you would have never ever heard
Speaker 6: from them. And so I like to go back and
Speaker 6: say wow, like like like my God must think I
Speaker 6: am one bad system because he already knew my story
Speaker 6: right before I even walk through it, and he knew
Speaker 6: how strong he created me to be. And he knew
Speaker 6: that I was not going to fail, right. He knew
Speaker 6: there was going to be moments of failure, but he
Speaker 6: knew that my big picture was not going to have
Speaker 6: a big old f on it, right, And that's what
Speaker 6: I hold on too. I Mean, you talk about you know,
Speaker 6: people work hard because they're living up to their parents' ideas. No, Right, Like,
Speaker 6: I know that I was built for greatness, right, and
Speaker 6: so if I allow myself to stay in that dark space,
Speaker 6: like what like what a waste of time that would be?
Speaker 6: Because I know he has a bigger, bigger, grander story
Speaker 6: than anybody can point and say, any judge, any coach,
Speaker 6: any of that. Right, So that puls me out of
Speaker 6: my dark space.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 6: But again, I know everybody doesn't have that view. So
Speaker 6: how do they deal with their dark space? Right? Some
Speaker 6: of the tools that I teach now is create your plan,
Speaker 6: create your life for yourself. You're in your dark space.
Speaker 6: It could be a divorce, it could be a death.
Speaker 6: There could be a bankruptcy, it could be a loss,
Speaker 6: a career you thought you had, which you have no more. Right,
Speaker 6: what's your plan, what's your plan for tomorrow, what's your
Speaker 6: plan for next week, next year, five, ten years from now?
Speaker 6: And you start doing what you need to behind the scenes.
Speaker 6: You don't have to tell anybody, right, right, you start
Speaker 6: taking those classes, right, you start researching different schools for
Speaker 6: your kids out of the ghetto, right where you know
Speaker 6: opportunities are less. Right. And I have a living example
Speaker 6: of a rock star mama who did that for me, right.
Speaker 6: We I was not affluent, but my mom made sure
Speaker 6: that I was in schools in elementary, in middle school,
Speaker 6: in high school, right that were in communities where she
Speaker 6: knew they had resources. We lived, I mean, we were
Speaker 6: a destitute. Like, let's not take this where it doesn't
Speaker 6: need to go. But yeah, I was a in a
Speaker 6: small apartment. We had one bedroom. I was sleeping on
Speaker 6: a couch sometimes because it was in a neighborhood right
Speaker 6: at a high school or at a middle school or
Speaker 6: a junior high that had resources. So my mom was
Speaker 6: thinking beyond her circumstances. There's always a way, right, And
Speaker 6: I'm so fortunate to have a parent like as an
Speaker 6: example like that that you don't have to stay there. Right,
Speaker 6: the world might say you have to stay there, and
Speaker 6: especially in this political climate.
Speaker 2: Right, there's a whole nother podcast. We won't get to
Speaker 2: that one.
Speaker 6: It's a whole oh goodness, but we can't. But even
Speaker 6: in all of that says, let me wrap it up
Speaker 6: with a nice vow, we do not have to stay stuff. Right.
Speaker 6: We can create our own narrative no matter what anybody says.
Speaker 1: All right, And just want to mention real You also
Speaker 1: have a partnership with soul Cap where you're the official
Speaker 1: brand ambassador for people are like, what a so cap?
Speaker 2: It is related to swimming, correct?
Speaker 7: Right?
Speaker 6: You know? So briefly I talked about every year you
Speaker 6: need to create a challenge, something out of your comfort zone,
Speaker 6: and I was like, what can that be. I've always
Speaker 6: greatly admired the work ethic of triathletes. Again, it was
Speaker 6: on my bucket list, but most things that I do,
Speaker 6: if I can't commit fully to doing it at this
Speaker 6: point in my life, I'm not going to do it
Speaker 6: because I'm not going to have ass anything. And last
Speaker 6: year I watched my business partner in Susanna Evans, compete
Speaker 6: in her first triathlon after losing one hundred plus pounds
Speaker 6: right and did it. And I went and watched and
Speaker 6: I said to myself, you know what, this is my
Speaker 6: challenge for twenty twenty five. And so right after my
Speaker 6: birthday in October of last year, I hired a coach
Speaker 6: and I started the process. So in May of this year,
Speaker 6: I'm traveling to Honolulu, Hawaii, and I'm going to compete
Speaker 6: in my first triathlon, and in that journey, so many
Speaker 6: little things that I would have never guessed would be
Speaker 6: a challenge. You don't see a lot of us, a
Speaker 6: lot of people of color in the sport of triathlon.
Speaker 6: I'm one of the reasons that I am so interested
Speaker 6: in if it's just to slowly introduce the sport to
Speaker 6: our community and the little things like putting a swim
Speaker 6: cap on our hair right in the pool. And you
Speaker 6: think generally athletes make it look so easy, right, because
Speaker 6: you don't see a lot of us. So when I
Speaker 6: started this, when I'm starting to put these and they're
Speaker 6: popping and they're not big enough, and I'm trying to
Speaker 6: get all these locks up there, and it is a mess.
Speaker 6: I'm looking like a fool out there at the pool
Speaker 6: and I'm trying to keep it cool, right and kind
Speaker 6: of blending. And I posted on my social media like, hey,
Speaker 6: y'all have any recommendations, and a lot of my followers
Speaker 6: like yet, like have you ever heard of this brand?
Speaker 6: Soul Cap with There are a UK based company that
Speaker 6: makes swim caps for people with a lot of hair,
Speaker 6: not just people of color, but people with a lot
Speaker 6: of hair. But one of the reasons why I partnered
Speaker 6: with them also is because they are interested in bringing
Speaker 6: the sport of swimming to everybody, right and not just
Speaker 6: one genre of people. And so I'm excited to be
Speaker 6: doing a number of things with them in that world.
Speaker 6: But the idea of I know how I knew how
Speaker 6: to swim sif and I knew how to ride a bike,
Speaker 6: and I knew how to run, But it's different. Yeah,
Speaker 6: one thing to jump in the pool right in your
Speaker 6: community pool and like do a dive bomb and swim
Speaker 6: with kids, But it's a whole other thing to have
Speaker 6: to swim twenty five meters twenty five meters like NonStop,
Speaker 6: Like that's a whole other world. So to learn technique
Speaker 6: at this age in your life, learn how to breathe
Speaker 6: learn how to not drown, has been a challenge, which
Speaker 6: is again what I was looking for. Then you talk
Speaker 6: about the biking aspect, because triathlon has three disciplines, run,
Speaker 6: the bike and swim. Do I know how to ride
Speaker 6: a bike?
Speaker 4: Sure?
Speaker 6: I know how to ride my BMX around the bike,
Speaker 6: around the block a lot of times and beat you
Speaker 6: from here to there. But in terms of on the
Speaker 6: bike for however many kilometers locked in on that bike
Speaker 6: with all of you know, fatigue, that's a whole other ballgame.
Speaker 6: And then you might say, persis you got the running
Speaker 6: part down? You know how I like to run or.
Speaker 2: How I Yes, that's a big difference bigs.
Speaker 6: From here today, all right, I am not circling in
Speaker 6: this block several several times for miles and miles. And
Speaker 6: there's a whole other ball game to understand this idea
Speaker 6: of endurance, But man, it short does relate. Thank you
Speaker 6: Lord for bringing opportunities my way because it's how I
Speaker 6: have to go about my life. Like with this endurance
Speaker 6: type paints we can't go part and fast with everything.
Speaker 6: You have to learn how to be consistent, how to
Speaker 6: withstand the time, how to do it for long term
Speaker 6: so you can last. And so it's been not only
Speaker 6: applying to the physical challenges that I needed, but man,
Speaker 6: it's been like a such an eye open when it
Speaker 6: comes to applying it to my life. Thank you for
Speaker 6: bringing this opportunity to me, to opportunity to me. So
Speaker 6: that's what soul Cap is. I've partnered with them, and
Speaker 6: I'm excited that. You know, however many decades the world
Speaker 6: said she's done, she's disappeared, Like I posted last week,
Speaker 6: like yo, this is a personal partnership, like this is
Speaker 6: a pantal. Now you'll want to watch out.
Speaker 2: This is exactly intrinsically to who you are.
Speaker 1: And for those who are interested in soul Cap, if
Speaker 1: you use the code marry in fifteen, you will get
Speaker 1: fifteen percent off your purchase.
Speaker 6: And let me tell you, like I know a lot
Speaker 6: of your listeners, like you have such a diverse group
Speaker 6: of listeners, but like people with full hair, and you
Speaker 6: want to get in that pool, you don't want that
Speaker 6: chlorine all over it. These caps are amazing. They also
Speaker 6: have lots of weather products and goggles and swimsuits. Check
Speaker 6: them out. It's an incredible brand.
Speaker 2: Let's do it good.
Speaker 6: That's doing right.
Speaker 2: That's doing good and doing right.
Speaker 1: My mother is a lifeguard, so trust me, she she
Speaker 1: all about it. Mary, and I want to thank you
Speaker 1: for spending this time with me before I let you
Speaker 1: go go for real. I always ask every guest a
Speaker 1: messy question to end the podcast, and so my messy
Speaker 1: question for you Mary and Jones is, or should say
Speaker 1: Mary Jones Thompson correct?
Speaker 6: That is your Jones? Because the show got it wrong
Speaker 6: Mary Jones.
Speaker 2: Oh okay, all right, sure, yeah, all right, they did?
Speaker 5: All right.
Speaker 2: I was like, wait, are you hyping that?
Speaker 6: Okay? I thought so.
Speaker 2: I was like, did you drop it? Or I thought
Speaker 2: you did? But I was like, what sure?
Speaker 1: Because listen, as somebody who got married five years ago,
Speaker 1: I fully understand now why people when they get divorced
Speaker 1: while women keep the name because it is a bitch
Speaker 1: to change it and coming out of it sucks.
Speaker 6: Yeah. So a lot of reasons, a lot of reasons,
Speaker 6: a lot of reas.
Speaker 2: So I get it.
Speaker 1: If you have a rematch with Kayla Nicole and those
Speaker 1: in the gear, are you too peace in her this time?
Speaker 5: Mary?
Speaker 2: And I know you got some hands in there somewhere, yo.
Speaker 6: Kayla and I and we joked about it like we're
Speaker 6: going at.
Speaker 2: It there it is and she she would.
Speaker 6: She would not, she would expect this answer from me, right,
Speaker 6: like we are not we are strong women of color, right,
Speaker 6: And I don't care. She's a friend, she's a sister,
Speaker 6: like I consider her sister. She knows that there's only
Speaker 6: one way that I go about it. I'll learn like like, Okay,
Speaker 6: make mistakes, but I learned from them. I ain't going
Speaker 6: in come on, Kaylen, protect the right. I might be
Speaker 6: the old lady, but this old lady she's gonna handle
Speaker 6: her business. It's gonna it would be very, very fun
Speaker 6: to watch, all right.
Speaker 1: I think we found the undercar for the next flat
Speaker 1: Netflix fight.
Speaker 2: It is Mary and versus Kalin the go.
Speaker 1: So anyway, Mary and good luck with a second win
Speaker 1: and most importantly the triathlone. I hope you continue to
Speaker 1: document your progress and your training on social media. I
Speaker 1: follow you on there. You're super inspirational. You always have
Speaker 1: a great positive word for everybody. So for those not
Speaker 1: following you on Instagram, y'all need to follow her to
Speaker 1: keep this daily positivity and motivation in your life.
Speaker 6: So no, it's so good, and I mean, I know,
Speaker 6: let to get you at the final word, but it's
Speaker 6: such an honor to be able to chat with you
Speaker 6: like on this level. I'm a fan of yours as well,
Speaker 6: mainly because you just keep it real, right. I have
Speaker 6: the opportunity to talk with a lot of people, and
Speaker 6: you know, you got to do certain things and talk
Speaker 6: to certain people. But when you get a chance to
Speaker 6: connect with the real, real system, like somebody just puts
Speaker 6: it out there, that's true inspiration. So thank you, Sis
Speaker 6: for just you being you.
Speaker 2: All Right, we'll do take care. One more segment to go,
Speaker 2: and you guys know what that means.
Speaker 1: I got questions to answer up next, your viewer slash
Speaker 1: listener questions, and I have plenty of answers coming up
Speaker 1: next on the final segment of Spolatives. Before I close
Speaker 1: out this week's episode, time for a question from the audience.
Speaker 1: This week's question comes from Anastasia via email. Anastasia writes,
Speaker 1: not familiar with the start of this conflict, but Hubby
Speaker 1: was explicit.
Speaker 2: A little bit and I'm still lost.
Speaker 1: Could you explain how and or why a franchise won't
Speaker 1: pay Jimmy because they believe that's his worth, but also
Speaker 1: won't trade him unless they get what he's worth. I'm
Speaker 1: so sorry if that doesn't make sense. I reworded it
Speaker 1: so many times, and fair warning, I am not well.
Speaker 2: Versed in the world of sports analyzations.
Speaker 1: So yeah, do me like the doctor had to do
Speaker 1: Detective Spooner and I Robot and thanks, no worries, Anastasia.
Speaker 1: I don't know much about this I Robot business, but
Speaker 1: I can tell you about Jimmy Butler in this situation
Speaker 1: with the Heat. Now, to understand how the situation got
Speaker 1: so on, you need to understand a little bit about
Speaker 1: the culture around the Miami Heat franchise. The NBA is
Speaker 1: a player's league, and on most teams, superstar players tend
Speaker 1: to get what they want.
Speaker 2: But Miami is.
Speaker 1: Different because it is run by pat Riley, who is
Speaker 1: known for being tough and hard knows and also a champion. Now,
Speaker 1: he doesn't cave with superstars, but according to reports, when
Speaker 1: it came to Jimmy Butler, he supposedly gave far more
Speaker 1: leeway than he ever did with stars Dwayne Wade and
Speaker 1: Lebron James, who also played for the Heat. Now, Jimmy
Speaker 1: Butler was allowed to fly private to stay in hotels
Speaker 1: separate from the team when they were on the road.
Speaker 2: The Heat even hired a trainer.
Speaker 1: Now, what's the number one reason most marriages end in
Speaker 1: divorce finances?
Speaker 2: And this situation is no different.
Speaker 1: Last summer, that Heat had an opportunity to give Butler
Speaker 1: a two year, one hundred and thirteen million dollar extension
Speaker 1: and they decided.
Speaker 2: Not to do that.
Speaker 1: Now, keep in mind that the Heat lost in the
Speaker 1: first round of the playoffs last year. Bear not pat
Speaker 1: Riley blamed Butler's lack of availability for why the Heat
Speaker 1: didn't make it further in the playoffs. According to the stats,
Speaker 1: Butler had only been available in sixty four percent of
Speaker 1: the team's regular season games. So now you have two
Speaker 1: levels of disrespect. The Heat didn't pay Jimmy Butler and
Speaker 1: Riley publicly threw a shot at his superstar. Now, some
Speaker 1: would say, and this ain't wrong. Is this any way
Speaker 1: to treat a player that has taken you to two
Speaker 1: NBA finals.
Speaker 2: I think both of these parties.
Speaker 1: Though, have managed to look they're worst at different points
Speaker 1: during this drama. Jimmy Butler is pouting his way out
Speaker 1: of Miami, and the Heat are trying to teach him
Speaker 1: a lesson with these pointless suspensions when we all know
Speaker 1: the end result will be Jimmy Butler getting out of Miami.
Speaker 2: Now, professionalism isn't too much to ask.
Speaker 1: When you're getting paid fifty million dollars as Jimmy Butler
Speaker 1: is this season, And professionalism isn't too much to ask
Speaker 1: when this was once a player you felt like was
Speaker 1: the cornerstone of your franchise. Thank you, Anastasia, and I
Speaker 1: hope that clears some things up now. If you would
Speaker 1: like to ask me a question, I'm at Jamail Hill
Speaker 1: across all social media platforms Twitter, Instagram, Blue Sky, and threads,
Speaker 1: please use the hashtags politics. You also have the option
Speaker 1: of emailing me at Politics twenty twenty four at gmail
Speaker 1: dot com. You can also send me a video of
Speaker 1: your question, but please make sure it's thirty seconds or less.
Speaker 1: Don't forget to follow and subscribe to Spolitics on iHeart
Speaker 1: and follows Politics pod on Instagram and TikTok.
Speaker 2: Politics is spelled s p O l I t I
Speaker 2: c S.
Speaker 1: A new episode of Politics drops every Thursday on iHeart
Speaker 1: Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. This is politics
Speaker 1: where sports and politics don't just mix, they matter. Spolitics
Speaker 1: is the production of iHeart Podcasts and The Unbothered network,
Speaker 1: I'm Your Host Jamel Hill. Executive producer is Taylor Schakoigne.
Speaker 1: Lucas Hymen is head of Audio and executive producer. Megan
Speaker 1: Armstrong is associate producer. Original music for Spolitics provided by
Speaker 1: Kyle Visk from wiz FX