WEBVTT - Ep 15: The Politics of A Second Wind 0:00:00.560 --> 0:00:04.040 Hey, what's up, everybody. I'm Jamel Hill and welcome to politics. 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:09.440 And I heard podcasts and unbothered production time to get spolitical. 0:00:17.800 --> 0:00:19.480 At the time of this recording, we're just a few 0:00:19.560 --> 0:00:23.000 days away from the Super Bowl between Kansas City and Philadelphia. 0:00:23.040 --> 0:00:25.400 And for what it's worth, I've got Kansas City clinching 0:00:25.480 --> 0:00:27.480 the first three peat in NFL history. 0:00:27.800 --> 0:00:29.160 But besides the game, what. 0:00:29.240 --> 0:00:31.320 Millions of people are looking forward to is the Super 0:00:31.320 --> 0:00:34.960 Bowl halftime show, which this year features Kendrick Lamar, who 0:00:35.000 --> 0:00:38.120 is fresh off winning fifty eleven Grammys. Now, last year, 0:00:38.200 --> 0:00:41.000 Usher's Super Bowl halftime performance drew over one hundred and 0:00:41.080 --> 0:00:44.000 thirty million viewers. But believe it or not, there was 0:00:44.000 --> 0:00:47.520 a time where halftime shows, super Bowls or otherwise, weren't 0:00:47.520 --> 0:00:50.120 a thing at all, and certainly not any kind of 0:00:50.159 --> 0:00:53.360 pop culture mega event. When halftime came, players just went 0:00:53.400 --> 0:00:55.360 to the locker room and that was kind of it. 0:00:55.760 --> 0:00:57.880 But that all changed in nineteen twenty two when the 0:00:58.000 --> 0:01:01.280 very first halftime show for a professional football game took place, 0:01:01.600 --> 0:01:04.480 and it wasn't some grand entertainer who performed for the fans. 0:01:04.920 --> 0:01:07.600 It was dogs who were the main attraction. A man 0:01:07.680 --> 0:01:08.320 named Lawalter. 0:01:08.440 --> 0:01:11.120 Lingo was one of the top breeders of Airdale Terriers, 0:01:11.319 --> 0:01:13.840 which were the most popular dogs in America at the time. 0:01:14.120 --> 0:01:17.200 Now Lingo became good friends with Jim Thorpe, the indigenous 0:01:17.200 --> 0:01:20.200 football icon who had been playing professional football for years. 0:01:20.720 --> 0:01:23.679 Lingo's big idea was to create a pro football team 0:01:23.720 --> 0:01:27.160 whose main function would be as an advertisement vehicle to 0:01:27.240 --> 0:01:30.120 sell his dogs, which were going for about one hundred 0:01:30.160 --> 0:01:33.240 dollars a pop, big money in those days. The deal 0:01:33.440 --> 0:01:36.200 was Lingo Paithorp five hundred dollars a week to be 0:01:36.280 --> 0:01:39.000 a player, coach and to put together an all Native 0:01:39.000 --> 0:01:42.319 American team. But the players Thorpe recruited we didn't just 0:01:42.319 --> 0:01:46.039 played football. They would also work in Lingo's kennels. Lingo 0:01:46.120 --> 0:01:48.600 wanted the Oorang Indians, the name of the team, to 0:01:48.680 --> 0:01:51.720 pattern their games after the popular Wild Wild West shows 0:01:51.760 --> 0:01:54.800 of the era. Lingo also noticed there was a lot 0:01:54.800 --> 0:01:58.080 of empty time before and during the game, so Lingo 0:01:58.120 --> 0:02:01.800 would have the players performed traditional Native American dances before 0:02:01.840 --> 0:02:05.040 the games and at various intervals during the game, but 0:02:05.080 --> 0:02:08.000 most importantly, when it was halftime, the players would perform 0:02:08.080 --> 0:02:12.400 tricks with the dogs, and Thorpe would also do dropkicking exhibitions, 0:02:12.880 --> 0:02:13.519 and those. 0:02:13.360 --> 0:02:15.640 Were your early football halftime shows. 0:02:15.960 --> 0:02:18.520 It wasn't until some forty years later that the first 0:02:18.560 --> 0:02:21.520 Super Bowl was played, a nineteen sixty seven matchup between 0:02:21.520 --> 0:02:24.079 the Green Bay Packers and the Kansas City Chiefs. Now, 0:02:24.080 --> 0:02:26.400 this was before the AFC and the NFC merged to 0:02:26.440 --> 0:02:28.960 become the NFL as we know it today, and that 0:02:29.040 --> 0:02:32.000 first Super Bowl halftime show also didn't feature some big 0:02:32.000 --> 0:02:35.640 time celebrity. The halftime performers for the first Super Bowl 0:02:35.680 --> 0:02:39.320 were as follows, the University of Arizona, a symphonic marching 0:02:39.360 --> 0:02:43.079 band featuring renowned trumpeter Alhert whose nickname was the Round 0:02:43.120 --> 0:02:46.880 Mound of Sound, the Anaheim High School Drill Team, and 0:02:46.919 --> 0:02:50.360 the Grambling State Marching Band. Now, back then, the Super 0:02:50.400 --> 0:02:53.320 Bowl halftime show just wasn't a big deal. For years, 0:02:53.360 --> 0:02:56.600 it was dominated largely by college marching bands, with the 0:02:56.639 --> 0:02:59.840 occasional celebrity popping up here and there. When you look 0:02:59.840 --> 0:03:02.000 at some of those halftime shows in the nineteen seventies 0:03:02.040 --> 0:03:04.519 and eighties, a lot of them come off like very 0:03:04.639 --> 0:03:08.160 cheesy game shows. Here's the nineteen seventy eight Super Bowl 0:03:08.200 --> 0:03:09.160 halftime show. 0:03:09.280 --> 0:03:13.800 On Earth Earth one point on earth Point earth. 0:03:13.360 --> 0:03:23.760 Point o Mine. I think you got to be kind 0:03:23.760 --> 0:03:27.239 of high to understand what that was. Then there was 0:03:27.280 --> 0:03:30.040 the nineteen eighty two Super Bowl halftime show, which featured 0:03:30.080 --> 0:03:31.920 cast members from Up with People. 0:03:32.360 --> 0:03:35.200 The theme was an ode to the nineteen sixties. 0:03:35.480 --> 0:03:38.360 Today, we're going to bring back some of those unforgettable 0:03:38.440 --> 0:03:41.120 songs and sounds of the nineteen sixties. 0:03:41.440 --> 0:03:42.320 It was a time of. 0:03:42.320 --> 0:03:45.760 Momentous change, and the musical was changing too, for so 0:03:45.880 --> 0:03:49.560 many exciting innovations and insta hudgens, from the Beach Boys 0:03:49.600 --> 0:03:53.520 to the Beatles, Circling to Soul, we Nanny to Motown 0:03:53.800 --> 0:03:56.480 and here are just a few of the highlights. 0:04:06.400 --> 0:04:07.800 Well, isn't that swell? 0:04:08.360 --> 0:04:11.040 But in nineteen ninety two, the NFL finally realized it 0:04:11.080 --> 0:04:14.960 had to stop trotting out these terrible, extremely forgettable halftime shows. 0:04:15.080 --> 0:04:18.159 A fire got lit under them, and it was all 0:04:18.400 --> 0:04:21.520 the black people's fault. In nineteen ninety two, the halftime 0:04:21.520 --> 0:04:24.400 performers for the Super Bowl were Gloria Estefan and Olympic 0:04:24.440 --> 0:04:26.560 skaters Brian Boitano and Dorothy Hamill. 0:04:26.880 --> 0:04:30.719 The theme of the show was Winter Magic, How. 0:04:30.600 --> 0:04:33.160 Everybody is come on a field, the hole, come a 0:04:33.160 --> 0:04:37.680 minute Winter's ahead of the time of the year Winter byd. 0:04:55.960 --> 0:04:56.080 Now. 0:04:56.120 --> 0:04:59.560 God blessed Gloria Estefan, who was a pop icon, but 0:04:59.600 --> 0:05:02.960 nobody he was watching her Brian Bortano or Dorothy Hammel 0:05:03.080 --> 0:05:03.760 on CBS. 0:05:04.200 --> 0:05:06.760 Instead, everybody turned to Fox. 0:05:06.520 --> 0:05:09.240 Because In Living Color decided to put on their own 0:05:09.320 --> 0:05:11.640 halftime show opposite of the Super Bowl. 0:05:11.839 --> 0:05:14.040 Hey, I know you guys are thinking, you were thinking her. 0:05:14.160 --> 0:05:16.240 These bozo's gonna make us miss any part of the 0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:17.560 second half. 0:05:18.240 --> 0:05:22.160 That's where this comes in our super Bowl countdown clock. 0:05:22.200 --> 0:05:23.599 It'll be coming on later in the show to let 0:05:23.640 --> 0:05:25.440 you know when to switch back to the second half. 0:05:25.560 --> 0:05:27.800 You won't miss any of the senseless brutality. 0:05:28.880 --> 0:05:30.760 But check this out. The Bad Boys and Comedy got 0:05:30.760 --> 0:05:31.599 a lot of action for you. 0:05:31.720 --> 0:05:34.760 Right here find Marshall, Bill men On and calling me 0:05:34.839 --> 0:05:41.400 bad performing here live, and about two thousand censors ready 0:05:41.400 --> 0:05:42.839 to pull a plug at any moments. 0:05:42.880 --> 0:05:44.840 So if you're ready, Hey, we're ready. So let's hang 0:05:44.839 --> 0:05:46.520 out with the home boys right now? What's up? 0:05:46.800 --> 0:05:50.279 That In Living Color halftime show drew over twenty million viewers, 0:05:50.279 --> 0:05:53.520 and the NFL decided I'm not on our watch. So 0:05:53.560 --> 0:05:55.920 in nineteen ninety three, for super Bowl twenty seven, after 0:05:55.960 --> 0:05:58.440 eleven months of negotiation with the King of Pop, the 0:05:58.560 --> 0:06:02.440 NFL changed the course of Super Bowl halftime shows forever 0:06:02.760 --> 0:06:06.719 when they brought out Michael Jackson, who apparently was finally 0:06:06.760 --> 0:06:09.039 convinced to do the show after the NFL mentioned to 0:06:09.080 --> 0:06:11.080 him that the super Bowl would air in one hundred 0:06:11.120 --> 0:06:13.719 and twenty countries so his performance could be seen in 0:06:13.760 --> 0:06:16.680 places he might not ever be able to perform in 0:06:16.800 --> 0:06:20.960 concert and true deform, Michael Jackson, as he so often did, 0:06:21.360 --> 0:07:25.720 gave us a performance we would never forget. Michael Jackson 0:07:25.760 --> 0:07:29.240 stood on a stage for two full minutes, didn't move, 0:07:29.440 --> 0:07:32.520 didn't say nothing, and he damn near had everybody passing out. 0:07:32.760 --> 0:07:35.440 One hundred and thirty three million people watched that halftime show, 0:07:35.480 --> 0:07:38.160 a record at the time, but after that the NFL 0:07:38.480 --> 0:07:40.640 wasn't going back to their great value version of ice 0:07:40.680 --> 0:07:44.880 capades again blamed the black people. The super Bowl halftime 0:07:44.920 --> 0:07:46.960 show grew to be such an iconic stage that the 0:07:47.080 --> 0:07:49.880 NFL was able to convince the biggest stars in the 0:07:49.920 --> 0:07:53.640 world to perform for free. The NFL pays the cost 0:07:53.720 --> 0:07:56.480 of the production and the artist travel fees, but that's it. 0:07:56.840 --> 0:07:59.320 For example, the NFL paid thirteen million to cover the 0:07:59.360 --> 0:08:02.360 costs of ciated with Usher's performance in twenty twenty four, 0:08:02.760 --> 0:08:05.680 and in some cases the NFL also has donated to 0:08:05.720 --> 0:08:08.240 the charity of the artist's choice, as was the case 0:08:08.240 --> 0:08:11.239 with Michael Jackson. On top of paying his production costs, 0:08:11.320 --> 0:08:14.640 the NFL donated one hundred thousand dollars to Heal the 0:08:14.680 --> 0:08:18.200 World Foundation. In fact, super Bowl performers are only paid 0:08:18.320 --> 0:08:21.160 union wages, which might amount to a little over one 0:08:21.160 --> 0:08:24.680 thousand dollars per day, but they cash in on the exposure. 0:08:25.000 --> 0:08:26.600 But even with the Super. 0:08:26.320 --> 0:08:29.040 Bowl halftime show being as big as it is, that 0:08:29.200 --> 0:08:33.520 doesn't mean it has been impervious to criticism. In twenty nineteen, 0:08:33.559 --> 0:08:36.120 the NFL was having a difficult time finding a performer 0:08:36.120 --> 0:08:39.000 for the Super Bowl halftime show because of the widespread 0:08:39.040 --> 0:08:42.840 support for Colin Kaepernick, who when twenty sixteen, began protesting 0:08:42.920 --> 0:08:45.959 racial injustice and police brutality by taking a knee during. 0:08:45.760 --> 0:08:46.640 The national anthem. 0:08:47.040 --> 0:08:50.280 In twenty nineteen, the NFL reportedly wanted Rihanna, but she 0:08:50.360 --> 0:08:54.320 declined in support of Kaepernick's protests. Variety also reported the 0:08:54.440 --> 0:08:57.960 NFL reached out to Pink Andre three thousand, Mary J. Blige, 0:08:58.000 --> 0:09:01.160 Cardi b Usher. All of them said no. 0:09:01.160 --> 0:09:01.360 Now. 0:09:01.400 --> 0:09:04.680 Eventually, the NFL that year was able to convince Maroon Five, 0:09:04.880 --> 0:09:07.880 Travis Scott, and Big Boy to be performers, but that 0:09:08.040 --> 0:09:11.800 was met with severe backlash. People wondered if the NFL's 0:09:11.840 --> 0:09:13.240 biggest stage. 0:09:12.880 --> 0:09:13.720 Was now tainted. 0:09:14.480 --> 0:09:17.320 And then came along Jay Z, the NFL partner with 0:09:17.400 --> 0:09:19.520 Jay Z and Rod Nation, who took over the halftime 0:09:19.559 --> 0:09:23.280 show after twenty nineteen, and since then, the performers that 0:09:23.360 --> 0:09:28.160 we've seen have been The Weekend, Rihanna, Usher, Snoop, Mary J. Blige, Eminem, 0:09:28.320 --> 0:09:31.680 Doctor Dre fifty Cent, j Low Shakir, and now Kendrick 0:09:31.720 --> 0:09:34.760 Lamar is the headliner for this year's Super Bowl. In 0:09:34.800 --> 0:09:36.839 the end, I guess what Jay Z said during the 0:09:36.880 --> 0:09:39.760 announcement of this partnership with the NFL turned out to 0:09:39.760 --> 0:09:40.199 be true. 0:09:40.320 --> 0:09:44.200 Okay, I think we've passed kneeling. I'm Jamel Hill and 0:09:44.240 --> 0:09:45.920 I approve this message. 0:09:46.600 --> 0:09:49.520 Coming up next on politics, my favorite reality show on 0:09:49.520 --> 0:09:50.800 television right now is. 0:09:50.800 --> 0:09:52.959 Special Forces World's Toughest Test. 0:09:53.400 --> 0:09:55.280 It airs on Fox, and the gist of it is 0:09:55.280 --> 0:09:58.559 you have sixteen celebrities from sports, social media, and entertainment 0:09:58.760 --> 0:10:00.800 who try to prove that they have what it takes 0:10:00.960 --> 0:10:03.880 to be a part of America's elite special forces unit. 0:10:04.280 --> 0:10:07.000 Now they're jumping off bridges, doing hand to hand combat 0:10:07.160 --> 0:10:11.640 like some really wild shit, and enduring some truly crazy things. Well, 0:10:11.679 --> 0:10:14.240 my guest today is a contestant this season, and that 0:10:14.240 --> 0:10:16.640 couldn't be more fitting, because not only is she an 0:10:16.720 --> 0:10:19.640 elite athlete, but she knows what it's like to endure. 0:10:20.040 --> 0:10:22.839 She was once considered the world's fastest woman, but her 0:10:22.840 --> 0:10:25.840 Olympic career was destroyed after she was convicted for lying 0:10:25.880 --> 0:10:29.640 the federal investigators about her use of performance enhancing drugs. 0:10:29.840 --> 0:10:32.800 She served six months in prison and basically disappeared from 0:10:32.800 --> 0:10:35.679 the Spotlight. But this show and a new podcast she's 0:10:35.720 --> 0:10:39.040 launching soon our Avenue, she's using to show people your 0:10:39.080 --> 0:10:42.280 worst moment doesn't have to be your defining one. This 0:10:42.320 --> 0:10:45.640 woman has a testimony one that she's eager to share. 0:10:46.000 --> 0:10:56.960 Coming up next on Politics, Marion Jones. So, Mary and 0:10:57.000 --> 0:10:58.640 I am going to start this podcast the way I 0:10:58.679 --> 0:11:01.520 start every podcast. I ask every guest that appears on 0:11:01.520 --> 0:11:06.200 Spolitics this question, Name a athlete or a sports moment 0:11:06.240 --> 0:11:07.400 that made you love sports. 0:11:08.000 --> 0:11:11.400 I'm gonna give you two if that's okay. Sis. So, 0:11:11.640 --> 0:11:16.400 I'm originally from California, Los Angeles to be specific, And 0:11:16.440 --> 0:11:22.280 in nineteen eighty four, I was nine years old and 0:11:21.760 --> 0:11:24.360 this was way back in the day, and people listening 0:11:24.400 --> 0:11:28.800 to this watching this will remember that back in the day, 0:11:29.040 --> 0:11:34.400 the US used to parade their athletes in the Olympic 0:11:34.480 --> 0:11:37.640 city prior to the games, even starting right, so you 0:11:37.720 --> 0:11:40.760 had an opportunity to see the greats of sport, like 0:11:40.920 --> 0:11:45.679 literally in a ticker tape parade in your city. And 0:11:45.960 --> 0:11:47.960 I knew, my mom knew, like we didn't have the 0:11:48.000 --> 0:11:51.400 resources to actually go to the events, but my mom 0:11:51.520 --> 0:11:54.080 was like the next best thing besides watching it on 0:11:54.120 --> 0:11:57.040 television is to go to the parade. And so I 0:11:57.120 --> 0:12:00.480 remember standing on the streets in Los Angeles and watching 0:12:00.960 --> 0:12:04.440 the Carl Lewis's, watching the Jackie Joyner Cursey's like parade 0:12:04.440 --> 0:12:06.360 in front of me, and then that summer at the 0:12:06.400 --> 0:12:09.520 age of nine, watching the Games for the first time, 0:12:09.720 --> 0:12:14.920 and that being everything for me. I didn't specifically know 0:12:15.720 --> 0:12:20.040 at what sport I did, it didn't matter. I wanted 0:12:20.080 --> 0:12:25.000 to feel whatever they were exuding when they crossed that 0:12:25.120 --> 0:12:28.120 finish line first, like, tell me what I need to do, 0:12:28.320 --> 0:12:30.040 tell me where I need to go, how I need 0:12:30.080 --> 0:12:32.840 to train, how I need to be. That's what I want. 0:12:32.880 --> 0:12:37.600 So that's the first thing. The second moments, I suppose 0:12:38.360 --> 0:12:42.640 is being a part of a team. So I've had 0:12:42.640 --> 0:12:46.240 the pleasure of not only being a part of an 0:12:46.240 --> 0:12:50.280 individual sport in the sport of track and field, where 0:12:50.440 --> 0:12:52.959 by you think it's individual, but it really does take 0:12:52.960 --> 0:12:55.520 a team to get these athletes ready and all that, 0:12:55.720 --> 0:12:58.160 but to actually be a part really of a team 0:12:58.200 --> 0:13:04.360 sport that has surpassed so many doubters and gain the 0:13:04.440 --> 0:13:07.000 respect like so so being a part of the ninety 0:13:07.000 --> 0:13:09.720 three national championship team at the University of North Carolina 0:13:10.160 --> 0:13:13.079 and creating a bond with these women whom I consider 0:13:13.120 --> 0:13:15.880 my sisters, who like we are still like this to 0:13:15.960 --> 0:13:21.000 this day also ranks probably for me, one of one 0:13:21.040 --> 0:13:26.160 of the greatest sports stories in all of sports. Besides 0:13:26.360 --> 0:13:31.280 just us winning the national championship at the point zero 0:13:31.400 --> 0:13:34.319 point seven seconds to go, like that of itself is 0:13:34.360 --> 0:13:38.880 an incredible story, but the bond that was created from 0:13:38.920 --> 0:13:42.240 at the beginning of the season, like nobody had us 0:13:42.280 --> 0:13:45.800 on any radar, like no radar, we were barely we 0:13:45.920 --> 0:13:48.839 might barely win a few games in the ACC, right 0:13:48.880 --> 0:13:51.240 when it was like the ACC is not like the 0:13:51.280 --> 0:13:55.040 ACC now, whereby you got teams from California coming to 0:13:55.120 --> 0:13:58.000 North Carolina to play, which is again a whole other 0:13:58.080 --> 0:13:59.760 story that we can sit and talk about, which I 0:13:59.760 --> 0:14:03.400 don't understand. But those are probably the two greatest moments 0:14:03.400 --> 0:14:05.880 for me, right, They're very personal, and that that was 0:14:05.920 --> 0:14:09.439 my first summer introduction to the to the world of sport, 0:14:09.679 --> 0:14:12.480 and there was something about it that I knew. 0:14:12.280 --> 0:14:13.600 I needed to Hatchell. 0:14:13.800 --> 0:14:16.720 Coach, Sylvia Hatchell, you guys were thirty three and two. Yeah, 0:14:16.880 --> 0:14:17.839 Charlotte Smith. 0:14:17.640 --> 0:14:19.240 Was the one who hit the buzzer beater, I believe, 0:14:19.800 --> 0:14:21.440 and you were a freshman. 0:14:21.760 --> 0:14:25.880 I was a freshman, but I helped to get the 0:14:26.000 --> 0:14:31.560 jump ball that allowed us to get the pass into Charlotte. So, 0:14:31.640 --> 0:14:34.080 I mean I was the frozen freshman on the top 0:14:34.120 --> 0:14:36.160 of the key, right, Like they knew that I wouldn't. 0:14:36.200 --> 0:14:39.200 I wasn't hitting any three pointer, okay, So I was 0:14:39.280 --> 0:14:42.360 kind of a decoy at the top of the sheet. 0:14:43.280 --> 0:14:45.360 They knew that I wasn't getting the ball, but hey, 0:14:45.400 --> 0:14:47.800 it was It was an incredible moment, and you know 0:14:48.040 --> 0:14:50.920 the fact that we just celebrated a few years back, 0:14:51.000 --> 0:14:56.320 like our thirtieth year anniversary, Like what, like, there's no 0:14:56.400 --> 0:15:02.600 way that it's been thirty years. Hey, it's amazing, So marry. 0:15:02.720 --> 0:15:06.080 The first time I ever met you, it was I 0:15:06.160 --> 0:15:07.200 was living in North Carolina. 0:15:07.280 --> 0:15:09.400 I was a reporter for the News and Observer And 0:15:10.680 --> 0:15:11.440 do you Oh. 0:15:11.320 --> 0:15:13.440 I hope I was kind you were. 0:15:14.160 --> 0:15:17.240 This was nineteen ninety seven or nineteen ninety eight. You 0:15:17.240 --> 0:15:20.160 were training at NC State, Okay, and I believe your 0:15:20.160 --> 0:15:24.120 coach was Trevor Graham yep. And they had dispatched me 0:15:24.160 --> 0:15:25.920 out to do a story on you because you were 0:15:25.960 --> 0:15:31.400 in prep moo for the two thousand Games. And you know, 0:15:31.520 --> 0:15:33.080 I have to be honest, like at that point, this 0:15:33.160 --> 0:15:35.320 was my first professional job out of college. 0:15:35.520 --> 0:15:36.440 As a sports reporter. 0:15:36.680 --> 0:15:38.920 I had not I was not familiar with you at 0:15:38.960 --> 0:15:41.000 all because I didn't follow track and field that closely. 0:15:41.080 --> 0:15:42.680 But everybody around there. 0:15:42.640 --> 0:15:44.600 Was like, no, no, no, this is going to be 0:15:45.320 --> 0:15:47.320 the next great track Olympian. 0:15:47.480 --> 0:15:49.920 Be a How did I not know this? 0:15:53.840 --> 0:15:56.120 If you went into the archives of the News and Observer, 0:15:56.200 --> 0:15:58.080 you will find that I wrote a story about you 0:15:58.280 --> 0:16:00.920 and your preparation for this because you probably remember this 0:16:00.960 --> 0:16:03.560 reporter because he was the Olympic track guy, Jean Cheerry. 0:16:03.720 --> 0:16:06.680 Oh yeah, yes, yes, Jean was the guy. But for 0:16:06.720 --> 0:16:08.920 some reason he couldn't do the story on you. I 0:16:08.920 --> 0:16:11.560 don't know what it was, but they asked me to 0:16:11.680 --> 0:16:13.720 step in and go to n C State and talk 0:16:13.760 --> 0:16:16.560 to Trevor and talk to you and you were working out, 0:16:16.640 --> 0:16:19.120 and I was like, man, I don't know much about track, 0:16:19.200 --> 0:16:24.280 but she seems really good people, and they, you know, 0:16:24.440 --> 0:16:26.960 looking doing my research before I headed into the interview 0:16:26.960 --> 0:16:29.080 to ask you about your prep and everything. You know, 0:16:29.160 --> 0:16:30.600 you brought up with that moment in to you in 0:16:30.640 --> 0:16:33.680 eighty four in high school. You were running Olympic level 0:16:33.720 --> 0:16:38.600 times in high school, which was crazy to me. And 0:16:38.880 --> 0:16:41.360 at the time in North Carolina, there was all this 0:16:41.640 --> 0:16:46.280 talk because you had decided not to continue your basketball career, 0:16:46.880 --> 0:16:50.160 and everybody was just like, did she make the right decision? 0:16:50.200 --> 0:16:52.160 I don't think she did. Like it was just so much, 0:16:52.680 --> 0:16:54.680 you know, dare I say controversy. I don't know if 0:16:54.680 --> 0:16:58.800 I'm being hyperbole, but like, you were probably one of 0:16:58.800 --> 0:17:01.240 my earliest moment in my career. 0:17:00.960 --> 0:17:04.640 Where I was like I knew her win, that's dope. 0:17:04.680 --> 0:17:07.960 I'm so glad that you shared that and I always like, 0:17:08.040 --> 0:17:11.000 I know, like character wise who I am and who 0:17:11.000 --> 0:17:14.280 I am to people, And regardless of if this was 0:17:14.320 --> 0:17:17.399 your like you know, first major, I always like was 0:17:17.440 --> 0:17:21.119 I was I cool? Because that was really actually looking 0:17:21.200 --> 0:17:24.920 back in ninety seven when I had made the decision 0:17:26.200 --> 0:17:29.119 to step away from basketball because I missed the sport 0:17:29.119 --> 0:17:32.000 of track and field, I loved it. People in that 0:17:32.240 --> 0:17:35.159 area though in North Carolina like knew me as a 0:17:35.240 --> 0:17:38.720 basketball player. The rest of the world knew me and 0:17:38.880 --> 0:17:41.040 was surprised that I had gone to North Carolina to 0:17:41.080 --> 0:17:44.919 play basketball. But I just I just felt like it 0:17:44.960 --> 0:17:49.480 was time and yeah, that's that's just a cool story. 0:17:49.840 --> 0:17:55.000 Things come full circle, it sure, yes, yeah, So it 0:17:55.080 --> 0:17:57.119 was just sort of amazing, like, oh my goodness. And 0:17:57.160 --> 0:17:59.760 when you went on and obviously all the things you 0:17:59.800 --> 0:18:01.960 did Sydney, it was just like even more remarkable, Like 0:18:02.000 --> 0:18:05.439 I sare like I remember, you know, I could always 0:18:05.440 --> 0:18:07.399 have that as a feather in the cap. But nevertheless, 0:18:07.440 --> 0:18:10.240 what I definitely want to get to because I know 0:18:10.280 --> 0:18:12.080 I don't have a ton of time with you, is 0:18:12.119 --> 0:18:14.240 we got to get to Special Forces World. Stuff is 0:18:14.240 --> 0:18:17.879 tests its season three. It's on Fox at premiere January eighth, 0:18:18.320 --> 0:18:19.480 I am a stand. 0:18:19.240 --> 0:18:21.080 Of this show. I've been watching since season one. 0:18:21.119 --> 0:18:24.119 So what you when you announced on your Instagram that 0:18:24.160 --> 0:18:25.399 you were going to be a part of this, I 0:18:25.480 --> 0:18:29.040 was like, oh shit, like it's going down now for 0:18:29.119 --> 0:18:31.480 those who are not familiar, and you better get familiar. 0:18:31.920 --> 0:18:32.920 You should watch the show. 0:18:32.960 --> 0:18:34.960 And I agree with you. You got to watch it 0:18:35.000 --> 0:18:37.600 from season one, like you have to understand the story. 0:18:37.640 --> 0:18:38.919 You know you can pilot in. 0:18:39.000 --> 0:18:41.120 You can watch this season like that's fine, but like 0:18:41.480 --> 0:18:43.679 I think you really need to watch and see and 0:18:43.720 --> 0:18:45.360 really get a feel for it by watching it from 0:18:45.359 --> 0:18:48.000 season one. And it's it's an easy bitch, so folks 0:18:48.040 --> 0:18:50.800 don't worry about it. Yeah, But essentially what happens is 0:18:50.920 --> 0:18:54.399 they take sixteen celebrities, you go through I guess, uh 0:18:54.520 --> 0:18:56.119 special Forces type training. 0:18:57.160 --> 0:19:00.439 That's yeah, which is which is for folks that don't know, 0:19:00.520 --> 0:19:03.600 it's like an elite military style of training, right, Like 0:19:03.880 --> 0:19:07.120 they only take for in the real world of this, 0:19:07.480 --> 0:19:11.080 They only take the best of the best to potentially 0:19:11.880 --> 0:19:14.080 be part of Special Forces. Right. So this is not 0:19:14.720 --> 0:19:17.240 Johnny who doesn't know what he wants to do with 0:19:17.280 --> 0:19:19.680 his life after high school and he signs up like that. 0:19:19.800 --> 0:19:21.320 That's not what we're talking about. 0:19:22.000 --> 0:19:24.360 So this is more elevated than that, I should say, yeah. 0:19:24.920 --> 0:19:30.480 And it's it's important to know that these are people 0:19:30.600 --> 0:19:33.679 whom attempt this type of training, who have been in 0:19:33.720 --> 0:19:37.000 the military for a number of years, right, and who 0:19:37.040 --> 0:19:44.520 have shown certain character traits physical, mental, emotional, and they 0:19:44.560 --> 0:19:47.560 are ready for this type of training. So so for 0:19:47.680 --> 0:19:50.679 people who are like, oh, no, you know this is 0:19:50.840 --> 0:19:56.600 just a show, I am here right to tell you that, yes, 0:19:56.920 --> 0:19:58.960 you know. It's a show on Fox. Is also being 0:19:59.000 --> 0:20:02.600 streamed on Hulu by the way, for those that want 0:20:02.600 --> 0:20:05.320 to binge watch Heason one in season two and season three. 0:20:06.040 --> 0:20:08.879 But they put together sixteen of us from all walks 0:20:08.920 --> 0:20:14.639 of life, entertainment, social media, and of course sports to 0:20:14.760 --> 0:20:18.639 see who, in essence could last. It took tens supposed 0:20:18.640 --> 0:20:21.920 to take ten days, and they take us through. They 0:20:22.040 --> 0:20:27.200 take us through it. When I say that it's nothing 0:20:27.560 --> 0:20:32.320 just for TV, it is not the challenges they have 0:20:32.440 --> 0:20:35.280 us going through. The things they have us doing, and 0:20:35.320 --> 0:20:38.560 not just have us doing, but things that for people 0:20:38.560 --> 0:20:44.320 who have no military background besides back in the day. 0:20:44.400 --> 0:20:47.480 And I'm telling all my age who binge watch. 0:20:47.800 --> 0:20:54.040 Mash Okay, you're going to tell you in age, by 0:20:54.040 --> 0:20:58.199 the way, So like, okay, I did it, although you 0:20:58.200 --> 0:21:02.040 know I in another world in another time. 0:21:02.840 --> 0:21:05.679 I one of the reasons, and there's a number of 0:21:05.680 --> 0:21:07.360 them that I'll get to in a moment, but one 0:21:07.359 --> 0:21:09.280 of the reasons I agreed to do it is because 0:21:09.320 --> 0:21:13.640 in another world, since I really think that like Navy Seals, 0:21:13.680 --> 0:21:16.320 like that world would have been for me, Like I 0:21:16.359 --> 0:21:20.520 have that type of mental toughness, like physically I'm elite. 0:21:20.680 --> 0:21:23.679 I mean, I'm not tiptoeing around that, right, and like 0:21:23.760 --> 0:21:25.439 I want to do good and I want to do 0:21:25.600 --> 0:21:27.800 right by my people, right, like that type of stuff. 0:21:27.840 --> 0:21:31.400 So I could totally have seen in another world I'm 0:21:31.960 --> 0:21:35.560 a dick anything Navy Seals type training, like that's what 0:21:35.640 --> 0:21:38.919 I'm binge watching. So to be a part of this, 0:21:39.160 --> 0:21:41.560 like again, I want to try it, right, And you know, 0:21:41.720 --> 0:21:45.560 it checked a lot of boxes for me. I checked 0:21:45.600 --> 0:21:49.800 the need for a physical challenge because I'm at a 0:21:49.800 --> 0:21:52.920 point now I had taken a ten year hiatus from 0:21:53.040 --> 0:21:56.960 like the Spotlight, and I found that because of that. 0:21:57.119 --> 0:22:00.280 I mean, do I train, do I work out? Yes? Yes, yes, 0:22:00.800 --> 0:22:06.359 But it's different, right, It's different to train like that 0:22:06.920 --> 0:22:09.800 compared to what I put my body through to get 0:22:09.840 --> 0:22:14.400 ready for the show. So I needed a physical challenge. 0:22:14.440 --> 0:22:18.159 I needed a mental toughness type of challenge because we 0:22:18.200 --> 0:22:21.879 also find that as we get older, we start fitting 0:22:21.880 --> 0:22:25.440 into this world of comfort, right, Like, hey, it's part 0:22:25.440 --> 0:22:28.359 of it, right, But the moment that we do that, 0:22:28.440 --> 0:22:30.920 I'm learning, I'm tapping on the door of fifty years 0:22:31.000 --> 0:22:40.399 all this year that the more we get comfortable, the 0:22:40.520 --> 0:22:43.800 quicker it is to age, if that makes sense, right, 0:22:44.040 --> 0:22:47.119