WEBVTT - Ep 91: Adam Gold 0:00:03.880 --> 0:00:06.720 The only real important thing in the world is that 0:00:06.760 --> 0:00:10.560 we developed these young men and women in such a 0:00:10.600 --> 0:00:14.120 way that they understand how to compete, and they understand 0:00:14.160 --> 0:00:17.440 how to play fair, and they understand that they are 0:00:17.480 --> 0:00:20.279 not going to be defined by the outcome of this game. 0:00:22.800 --> 0:00:25.840 This is the Reform Sports Project, a podcast about restoring 0:00:25.880 --> 0:00:29.040 healthy balance and perspective in all areas of sports through 0:00:29.200 --> 0:00:30.640 education and advocacy. 0:00:31.400 --> 0:00:34.640 Hi, this is Nick Bonacor from the Reform Sports Podcast. Today, 0:00:34.640 --> 0:00:38.480 I'm speaking with Adam Gold, longtime North Carolina sportscaster who 0:00:38.560 --> 0:00:41.160 just celebrated twenty five years on the radio. The host 0:00:41.240 --> 0:00:44.320 of The Adam Gold Show, Adam covers North Carolina's collegiate 0:00:44.320 --> 0:00:47.680 and professional teams, talking sports year round, a staple of 0:00:47.720 --> 0:00:50.479 sports radio for over two decades. Adam was named the 0:00:50.479 --> 0:00:53.680 twenty twenty two North Carolina Sportscaster of the Year and 0:00:53.800 --> 0:00:56.640 is an Emmy winner for a multi platform documentary on 0:00:56.720 --> 0:00:59.400 the influence of money and college sports. Adam and I 0:00:59.440 --> 0:01:02.200 discuss why it's important to remember that players mimic both 0:01:02.240 --> 0:01:05.440 the good and bad behavior of their coaches, the media's 0:01:05.520 --> 0:01:08.840 role in professionalizing youth sports, and why as a coach 0:01:08.959 --> 0:01:12.959 he prioritizes players mental and emotional wellbeing over the technical 0:01:13.040 --> 0:01:14.000 aspects of the game. 0:01:14.920 --> 0:01:17.640 I am really really excited. I have someone who I 0:01:17.800 --> 0:01:22.600 listened to daily. He's a long time sportscaster. He's a 0:01:22.680 --> 0:01:25.919 damn stud. He was named the twenty twenty two right, Adam, 0:01:25.959 --> 0:01:28.520 I gotta blow you out man, twenty twenty two North 0:01:28.560 --> 0:01:31.320 Carolina sportscaster of the Year. And you just celebrated twenty 0:01:31.400 --> 0:01:34.839 five years on the radio. So Adam gold Man, thanks 0:01:34.840 --> 0:01:35.360 for hopping on. 0:01:35.400 --> 0:01:38.640 Adam gold The pleasure is mine. Nick. The word stud 0:01:38.800 --> 0:01:42.720 got me. It has been a long time since I 0:01:42.720 --> 0:01:45.679 have thought of myself in that manner, but thank you. 0:01:46.000 --> 0:01:48.440 Listen. My job is to have We're gonna have a 0:01:48.440 --> 0:01:50.320 great interview. We're going to talk about some important things, 0:01:50.360 --> 0:01:51.880 and I got to stroke your ego a little bit. 0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:55.000 Maybe you'll come on. That's fun. But what made me 0:01:55.080 --> 0:01:57.280 want to and for those listening, wanted to reach out 0:01:57.280 --> 0:01:59.400 to Adam having come on. Obviously I listened to him 0:01:59.440 --> 0:02:02.720 all the time. Covers you know, majority in the Triangle 0:02:02.800 --> 0:02:06.000 area in North Carolina and also nationally professional sports and 0:02:06.040 --> 0:02:08.960 collegiate sports, particularly here in North Carolina, and Adam, like 0:02:09.000 --> 0:02:11.000 I've heard you talk about youth sports. I know you're 0:02:11.000 --> 0:02:14.200 a sports parent, and we recently just had like a 0:02:14.200 --> 0:02:17.040 piece of legislation in the state of North Carolina that's 0:02:17.080 --> 0:02:19.240 like up for review, and I want to start here 0:02:19.240 --> 0:02:21.320 with you because it's something that's near and dear right 0:02:21.440 --> 0:02:23.840 here in our state talking about, you know, making a 0:02:23.960 --> 0:02:27.520 law outlawing participation trophies in youth sports. What the hell's 0:02:27.560 --> 0:02:28.160 going on there? 0:02:28.440 --> 0:02:31.000 I you know, for the life of me, somebody brought 0:02:31.040 --> 0:02:33.840 it to my attention and just said, have you seen this? 0:02:34.200 --> 0:02:37.840 And I went and read it and it's only like 0:02:37.880 --> 0:02:42.360 a two sentence bill, and all I could think of was, 0:02:43.240 --> 0:02:47.959 who hurt you that you would actually take the time? 0:02:48.040 --> 0:02:49.480 You know, it didn't take a lot of time to 0:02:49.520 --> 0:02:51.920 write it, because again it's a two sentence bill, But 0:02:52.160 --> 0:02:55.519 who hurt you that you would go and actually think 0:02:55.560 --> 0:03:00.360 that this is something necessary as the participation true the 0:03:00.440 --> 0:03:04.760 anti participation trophy. People feel like this is a scourge 0:03:05.000 --> 0:03:12.040 upon our society from their perspective, at worst, it's a 0:03:12.080 --> 0:03:16.640 net zero. At the absolute most evil, it's a net zero. 0:03:17.240 --> 0:03:20.680 It's neither good nor bad. It is not a sign 0:03:20.800 --> 0:03:24.880 that our society is becoming somehow soft. I'll kid, you not. 0:03:25.080 --> 0:03:28.480 We talked about it on the radio for about thirty 0:03:28.600 --> 0:03:32.239 minutes one day. It was actually because we were and 0:03:32.240 --> 0:03:37.360 had finally given up waiting for the state senator who 0:03:37.560 --> 0:03:42.240 wrote it to respond to our calls and texts to 0:03:42.280 --> 0:03:44.480 come on. I mean he gave us, he gave us 0:03:44.560 --> 0:03:47.560 his phone number and then ghosted us, which is fine. 0:03:47.600 --> 0:03:49.520 I don't I mean, that's fine, I don't care. But 0:03:49.600 --> 0:03:51.560 I hadn't talked about it because I wanted to talk 0:03:51.560 --> 0:03:54.600 about it with him first. But it had been like 0:03:54.680 --> 0:03:58.400 two days and he's not getting back to us, and 0:03:59.280 --> 0:04:02.040 they weren't even session, so I mean, he could have 0:04:02.120 --> 0:04:05.280 easily just said, hey, can't do it now, would love 0:04:05.320 --> 0:04:06.920 to do it in the future. He just was not 0:04:07.000 --> 0:04:09.839 interested in having a conversation, and that's fine. I don't 0:04:09.880 --> 0:04:12.360 blame him. I wouldn't be either. So we talked about 0:04:12.360 --> 0:04:16.240 it on the radio and actually had somebody use the 0:04:16.360 --> 0:04:23.520 term that's why we're creating sissies today, and I thought, well, 0:04:24.200 --> 0:04:28.680 that's a thing that just happened. Cool. You know, it's 0:04:28.680 --> 0:04:31.400 funny you called me a sports parent, and I am. 0:04:32.560 --> 0:04:38.960 My son plays fairly competitive youth soccer. He's fourteen. But 0:04:39.080 --> 0:04:42.760 I also coached for a long time. I coached before 0:04:42.800 --> 0:04:46.040 I had kids. I coached when I lived in Baltimore. 0:04:46.080 --> 0:04:50.880 I coached baseball twelve thirteen fourteen year old kids in 0:04:50.920 --> 0:04:54.320 a city league. I coached for three years there. I 0:04:54.440 --> 0:04:57.440 coached when I moved to Raleigh. I just loved doing 0:04:57.520 --> 0:04:59.800 it and I was I'm a baseball player first, as 0:04:59.800 --> 0:05:04.120 I know you are, so I wanted to coach little 0:05:04.200 --> 0:05:07.360 league baseball. So I had no kids. City Raleigh allowed 0:05:07.400 --> 0:05:09.960 me to coach a team, so I coached for a 0:05:10.040 --> 0:05:13.719 couple of years Citi Raleigh, and then I married a 0:05:13.760 --> 0:05:16.760 woman and she had already She already had a son, 0:05:17.120 --> 0:05:19.520 which was awesome. He was at the age where he's 0:05:19.520 --> 0:05:23.440 starting to play sports, so I coached him in basketball, 0:05:23.480 --> 0:05:26.280 and coached him in baseball, coached him in soccer at 0:05:26.320 --> 0:05:29.160 the why level, which is really what this guy is 0:05:29.200 --> 0:05:32.640 talking about. It's that level of soccer, the rec league 0:05:32.720 --> 0:05:36.880 level of sports. So I've been in both sides of it. 0:05:36.880 --> 0:05:38.560 I've been in the parent side of it, and I've 0:05:38.560 --> 0:05:40.840 been to the coach side of it, and I can 0:05:40.920 --> 0:05:44.919 actually see problems in both areas that need to be 0:05:45.120 --> 0:05:50.599 dealt with by not just smart people, but people who 0:05:50.640 --> 0:05:53.919 are aware of all of the elements in play. 0:05:54.440 --> 0:05:56.520 That's a great segue because I know you've spent, as 0:05:56.560 --> 0:05:59.479 I mentioned, the majority of your career covering high level 0:05:59.520 --> 0:06:03.200 collegiate professional sports. What changes have you witnessed over the 0:06:03.200 --> 0:06:05.560 span of the twenty five years that you've been covering 0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:08.320 at those levels and you know, good, bad, are indifferent, 0:06:08.320 --> 0:06:10.800 and what if anything have you noticed has trickle down 0:06:10.800 --> 0:06:11.599 to youth sports? 0:06:12.160 --> 0:06:15.280 Well, everything trickles down to youth sports because everything they 0:06:15.360 --> 0:06:19.800 see they do so And again, my son right now 0:06:19.839 --> 0:06:22.320 is playing at a pretty high level of classic soccer, 0:06:22.480 --> 0:06:25.640 so it's very competitive, but at the end of the day, 0:06:25.760 --> 0:06:29.880 it's still just youth sports, right And the roles for 0:06:30.080 --> 0:06:33.520 substitutions are different. It's not like you start and when 0:06:33.520 --> 0:06:37.080 you come off the field you're done. There's free substitutions, 0:06:37.080 --> 0:06:40.000 so it's still kind of a hybrid. And I'm amazed 0:06:40.160 --> 0:06:46.320 at the way everybody celebrates a goal or you know, 0:06:46.560 --> 0:06:50.560 acts on the field, and they act exactly as what 0:06:50.640 --> 0:06:53.479 they see. Yeah, no, I don't have a problem when 0:06:53.680 --> 0:06:56.520 people celebrate goals. I don't have a problem when I'm 0:06:56.520 --> 0:07:01.200 watching the Premier League. If I'm watching Liverpool and Arsenal 0:07:01.240 --> 0:07:03.919 I don't have a problem when Gabrielle Jsus scores a 0:07:03.960 --> 0:07:07.360 goal and goes to the corner and shushes the crowd. 0:07:08.120 --> 0:07:11.480 I have zero problem with that, and I really don't 0:07:11.520 --> 0:07:14.640 have a problem that much when I see players do 0:07:14.720 --> 0:07:18.040 it at my son's level. But all I'm saying is 0:07:18.080 --> 0:07:22.280 that they copy everything they see. At some point it 0:07:22.400 --> 0:07:26.200 becomes this is what is done, and again I'm generally 0:07:26.320 --> 0:07:33.200 okay with it. There are times when it seems excessive unnecessary, 0:07:33.480 --> 0:07:36.920 but that's what they see, and again I think that's 0:07:36.960 --> 0:07:41.760 basically harmless. There are certain gamesmanship that happen at the 0:07:41.760 --> 0:07:46.040 professional level that have no business at the youth level. 0:07:46.360 --> 0:07:51.200 But again, we're imitating everything that we see, and I 0:07:51.240 --> 0:07:55.280 think in some ways that has trickled down to the 0:07:55.320 --> 0:07:58.600 adults that have something to do with youth sports, and 0:07:58.800 --> 0:08:02.040 they treat it as though this is the be this 0:08:02.160 --> 0:08:06.080 is the absolute most important thing in the world, and 0:08:06.120 --> 0:08:08.920 the only real important thing in the world. Is that 0:08:08.960 --> 0:08:13.320 we develop these young men and women in such a 0:08:13.360 --> 0:08:16.840 way that they understand how to compete, and they understand 0:08:16.920 --> 0:08:20.200 how to play fair, and they understand that they are 0:08:20.200 --> 0:08:23.360 not going to be defined by the outcome of this. 0:08:23.400 --> 0:08:26.280 Game as you were talking right there. I literally as 0:08:26.320 --> 0:08:29.200 you were saying, it trickles down to the adults in 0:08:29.240 --> 0:08:33.280 youth sports. I literally visualize, you know, watching loup panella, 0:08:33.520 --> 0:08:36.280 you know, going bananas. Yeah, you know. And then you 0:08:36.360 --> 0:08:38.160 say it doesn't happen all the time, But turn on 0:08:38.200 --> 0:08:40.360 social media. You see it doesn't matter the sport. But 0:08:40.400 --> 0:08:42.400 you'll see a baseball coach at a nine YOU game 0:08:42.480 --> 0:08:45.199 or a basketball you know, they Bobby Knight, the fifteen 0:08:45.280 --> 0:08:48.400 year old referee, they're freaking loop Penelli in the twelve 0:08:48.480 --> 0:08:51.120 year old umpire at a seven U game. It's like, 0:08:51.640 --> 0:08:53.959 you know, that's a great point, Like it's not. And 0:08:54.040 --> 0:08:56.679 I interviewed Jim Calhoun and he talked about it. He's like, 0:08:57.120 --> 0:08:59.640 it's not the same. Like we're being coaches at the 0:08:59.679 --> 0:09:03.720 kyle and professional level are being compensated millions of dollars 0:09:03.720 --> 0:09:07.400 and high salaries. There's a lot more at stake. Volunteer 0:09:07.440 --> 0:09:10.439 coaches don't need to mimic the likes of the intensity 0:09:10.600 --> 0:09:11.720 of a final four game. 0:09:12.280 --> 0:09:17.160 Yeah, it's I think it's funny. I'll just bring up 0:09:17.320 --> 0:09:22.520 a an anecdote from a youth game that my son 0:09:22.600 --> 0:09:26.000 played in, and this is actually this is about a 0:09:26.040 --> 0:09:28.040 year and a half ago, so he wasn't even playing 0:09:28.080 --> 0:09:31.880 at this level yet. NCFC has three tiers of football. 0:09:31.920 --> 0:09:35.040 They have REC, which is really just these kids aren't 0:09:35.040 --> 0:09:37.960 all that great or for whatever reason, they didn't have 0:09:38.000 --> 0:09:41.280 the time to devote for the extra practice every other 0:09:41.320 --> 0:09:44.600 week to play at a challenge level, so they're just 0:09:44.600 --> 0:09:47.320 playing REC. They can get on the field, run around, 0:09:47.360 --> 0:09:51.760 kicking soccer ball, and that is purely just you know, fun. 0:09:51.920 --> 0:09:54.440 It wouldn't even matter if they didn't keep score. Sure, 0:09:54.679 --> 0:09:57.000 there's that, and then there's Challenge level, which is the 0:09:57.040 --> 0:10:01.080 middle point between REC and classic. The level kids they're 0:10:01.120 --> 0:10:04.280 not quite good enough to be high level competitive players. 0:10:05.240 --> 0:10:08.320 And for most of his time, jack my son Jack 0:10:08.440 --> 0:10:11.040 was playing at that level. And we were playing a 0:10:11.080 --> 0:10:15.520 match and Jackson keeper and one of his best friends 0:10:16.240 --> 0:10:20.040 was one of our forwards, and a team we were 0:10:20.040 --> 0:10:25.640 playing against the coach was screaming not only at his players, 0:10:25.640 --> 0:10:30.600 but screaming at referees throughout the game, and it took 0:10:30.679 --> 0:10:33.920 about fifteen minutes twenty minutes for this to happen for 0:10:34.000 --> 0:10:36.360 him to get going, and then by the time we 0:10:36.440 --> 0:10:40.439 got to the second half, the other team was screaming 0:10:40.520 --> 0:10:44.360 and yelling at referees. Teams will take on the personality 0:10:44.400 --> 0:10:47.880 of their coach, whoever is in charge of leading them, 0:10:48.000 --> 0:10:51.640 especially at a youth level. It is just an absolute 0:10:51.920 --> 0:10:55.599 guarantee that if the coach behaves poorly on the sideline, 0:10:55.840 --> 0:10:58.079 the players will behave poorly on the field. It is 0:10:58.160 --> 0:11:01.600 a direct I mean, it's immediate, and it is an 0:11:01.640 --> 0:11:07.800 absolute certainty. So predictably, that game got out of hand 0:11:08.360 --> 0:11:12.560 at the end and to the point where parents got involved. 0:11:13.480 --> 0:11:16.760 It was a very ugly scene and it was it 0:11:16.800 --> 0:11:19.040 was shameful to even be a part of it. I 0:11:19.080 --> 0:11:21.560 know this is going to sound like, well, my son 0:11:21.559 --> 0:11:24.440 would never do anything like that. There's no question that 0:11:24.559 --> 0:11:27.240 our team said things to the other team in the 0:11:27.240 --> 0:11:32.360 course of the game, but it definitely began when the 0:11:32.400 --> 0:11:35.720 other team just went absolutely I could not believe we 0:11:35.760 --> 0:11:39.200 went to an eleven midway through the first half. I'm like, 0:11:39.240 --> 0:11:42.559 why are we here? And then they ended up tying 0:11:42.640 --> 0:11:45.640 us in like the last sequence of the game, and 0:11:46.480 --> 0:11:50.280 so our emotions are our players emotions were pretty raw, 0:11:51.080 --> 0:11:53.040 and all of a sudden I realized that we have 0:11:53.480 --> 0:11:56.480 a bunch of kids arguing and there was nothing physical 0:11:56.520 --> 0:11:59.680 about it. And then parents got involved. And I'm like, 0:12:00.120 --> 0:12:04.960 what is going on here? But it really began because 0:12:04.960 --> 0:12:08.600 the other coaches decided that. And I think this is 0:12:08.640 --> 0:12:10.640 the way they act. This is just the way they coach. 0:12:11.760 --> 0:12:14.240 And look, it's not that important to get a call. 0:12:14.679 --> 0:12:16.679 It just isn't that at that level, It's not that 0:12:16.720 --> 0:12:19.120 important to get a call. I get you know, when 0:12:19.160 --> 0:12:22.320 we're getting up into really competitive sports, I get it, 0:12:22.920 --> 0:12:26.920 but we weren't at that in challenge. But again, this 0:12:27.080 --> 0:12:31.880 is about the adults also mimicking what they see on television, 0:12:32.000 --> 0:12:36.400 so working the refs, screaming at the refs. I mean, 0:12:36.559 --> 0:12:39.160 I'm not gonna lie and say I have questioned a 0:12:39.200 --> 0:12:41.040 call or I have asked a question, what did you 0:12:41.080 --> 0:12:44.200 see here? Why did you say that? Why did you 0:12:44.280 --> 0:12:47.640 do that? But you know at that point, these are 0:12:47.760 --> 0:12:50.120 these are not the best referees in the world. Pretty 0:12:50.120 --> 0:12:54.240 safe to say that many times these are sixteen year 0:12:54.280 --> 0:12:59.200 old boys or girls who are just you know, making 0:12:59.360 --> 0:13:03.199 an extra twenty five dollars on a Saturday, So why 0:13:03.240 --> 0:13:06.000 would we be giving them a hard time? Real quick 0:13:06.040 --> 0:13:08.120 about referees. And I actually wrote this down because I 0:13:08.120 --> 0:13:11.480 thought it was important. I think the most important and 0:13:11.600 --> 0:13:17.280 not just how coaches and players deal with referees. We've 0:13:17.360 --> 0:13:21.200 told our players don't ar don't ever argue with a 0:13:21.200 --> 0:13:23.880 referee a You're not going to change their mind and 0:13:24.000 --> 0:13:25.839 be You're only going to make them mad at you. 0:13:25.920 --> 0:13:27.800 If you want to ask them a question in a 0:13:27.840 --> 0:13:30.800 respectful way. I have no problem with that because I 0:13:30.840 --> 0:13:35.000 think that is helpful to you and them. But the 0:13:35.120 --> 0:13:39.960 referees that we deal with on a regular basis, and 0:13:40.000 --> 0:13:41.920 I'll just use the sport of soccer because that's what 0:13:42.000 --> 0:13:45.600 my son plays. Your primary job or basketball too. Actually 0:13:45.600 --> 0:13:48.880 it works out well. Your primary job as a referee 0:13:49.520 --> 0:13:52.160 is not to call the game. It's to protect the players. 0:13:52.840 --> 0:13:55.640 And we can say, well, you have to get the 0:13:55.640 --> 0:13:57.680 calls right. Sure, we'd like you to get the calls right, 0:13:58.400 --> 0:14:00.959 but again, these are not professional referees. They're going to 0:14:01.000 --> 0:14:03.040 get a lot of calls wrong, and they do, and 0:14:03.080 --> 0:14:07.480 you just deal with it. But games will get out 0:14:07.480 --> 0:14:11.800 of control physically unless the referees do a better job 0:14:12.040 --> 0:14:15.840 of policing it. And that is the only thing that 0:14:15.960 --> 0:14:20.000 I have ever argued with a referee about as when 0:14:20.040 --> 0:14:23.440 I was a coach, is can we please make sure 0:14:23.480 --> 0:14:27.320 that nobody gets hurt here? Because I have seen games 0:14:27.560 --> 0:14:30.840 physical and I'm not even arguing that a foul. It 0:14:30.840 --> 0:14:34.600 could have been just two guys fouling each other. 0:14:34.840 --> 0:14:35.480 Sure right. 0:14:35.800 --> 0:14:37.880 I'm not saying that we deserve to call or they 0:14:37.920 --> 0:14:40.520 deserve to call. I'm just saying the way we are 0:14:40.520 --> 0:14:43.520 playing this match is way too physical, and it is 0:14:43.640 --> 0:14:45.960 your job to make sure that nobody gets hurt. That 0:14:46.080 --> 0:14:48.480 is the first job of the referee. So that's the 0:14:48.480 --> 0:14:51.000 only time I have ever yelled with a referee. And 0:14:51.000 --> 0:14:54.360 I actually he was running past me and I said, 0:14:55.040 --> 0:14:56.760 are we going to protect these kids from each. 0:14:56.600 --> 0:14:57.520 Other or no? 0:14:58.920 --> 0:15:01.000 And he looked at me. Up. I'm like, you think 0:15:01.000 --> 0:15:03.200 this is okay, because I don't. I don't. I don't 0:15:03.240 --> 0:15:05.200 care who you put call a foul of, but that 0:15:05.320 --> 0:15:08.280 has to stop. Uh So that was my only concern. 0:15:08.360 --> 0:15:10.600 The only time I've ever as a youth referee, as 0:15:10.600 --> 0:15:14.680 a youth coach in soccer, it's the only time I've 0:15:14.720 --> 0:15:16.480 ever yelled at a referee. 0:15:17.840 --> 0:15:20.400 I think that's I mean, I want to say it's 0:15:20.440 --> 0:15:22.720 it's obvious, but I mean it's not. I mean, I love, 0:15:23.120 --> 0:15:26.440 you know, sports, I love the physicality. My sons are wrestlers. 0:15:26.480 --> 0:15:29.040 I mean, they played football. I love hockey. I love 0:15:29.040 --> 0:15:30.880 all you know, I love when things get a little physical, 0:15:30.880 --> 0:15:33.440 but there's a there's a right physical and there's a wrong. 0:15:33.480 --> 0:15:36.080 And I think to your point, and I mean, maybe 0:15:36.080 --> 0:15:37.720 you got to have a little bit of feel, but 0:15:38.080 --> 0:15:40.040 you can kind of sense when things are getting a 0:15:40.040 --> 0:15:42.200 little chippy, you know, when you see a little a 0:15:42.240 --> 0:15:43.840 little extra, you know, And that's kind of I think 0:15:43.840 --> 0:15:44.720 what you're talking about. 0:15:45.200 --> 0:15:50.280 I I mean, soccer is a contact sport. Basketball is 0:15:50.320 --> 0:15:53.200 a contact sport. They are they're contact sports. There's a 0:15:53.240 --> 0:15:56.240 lot of physicality. There's a lot of danger involved in 0:15:56.320 --> 0:16:01.120 playing these sports. Even at the competitive youth level, there 0:16:01.160 --> 0:16:04.280 is a ton of danger involved. I've seen kids, uh 0:16:04.800 --> 0:16:07.760 break bones. I saw a match that we played in. 0:16:08.320 --> 0:16:10.280 It was actually it was a challenging match. It wasn't 0:16:10.320 --> 0:16:13.800 even a classic match. I saw collision on the on 0:16:13.840 --> 0:16:18.080 the field actually involving my son as a goalkeeper, where 0:16:18.120 --> 0:16:20.040 he came out to play a ball and he collided 0:16:20.120 --> 0:16:23.960 with turns out a friend to his uh. And it's 0:16:24.000 --> 0:16:26.880 just an honest, innocent collision. There's gonna it's gonna happen, 0:16:27.440 --> 0:16:31.640 and that kid suffered a separated shoulder and a broken 0:16:31.680 --> 0:16:35.240 classical There are going to be injuries that happened, but 0:16:35.400 --> 0:16:38.120 that didn't happen because the game got too physical. That 0:16:38.240 --> 0:16:42.320 was just a freak. But these are contact sports and uh, 0:16:42.440 --> 0:16:44.920 they just have to be. You just have to monitor 0:16:45.000 --> 0:16:48.800 it and not let it get out of hand, because 0:16:48.840 --> 0:16:53.360 again that that's the first job of youth officials. It's 0:16:53.440 --> 0:16:56.160 to make sure the kids don't get hurt as best 0:16:56.200 --> 0:16:56.600 they can. 0:16:57.000 --> 0:16:59.040 You know, I've heard you talking about this a lot, 0:16:59.200 --> 0:17:02.840 not just you, but I mean it's a nationwide topic 0:17:02.960 --> 0:17:07.280 right now. It's completely changed the landscape of recruiting and 0:17:07.359 --> 0:17:11.320 collegiate sports, the professionalization even you call professionalization of youth 0:17:11.359 --> 0:17:13.639 sports for crying out loud, forget about collegiate I think 0:17:13.680 --> 0:17:15.320 it's been professional for you know, as long as we 0:17:15.359 --> 0:17:19.840 can bring back. But as a radio host journalist, what 0:17:19.960 --> 0:17:22.720 role does the media play in terms of exposure or 0:17:22.760 --> 0:17:27.000 more specifically, in perhaps fueling the exposure and hype around you, 0:17:27.000 --> 0:17:29.560 you know, young athletes who are still developing not just 0:17:29.600 --> 0:17:33.320 as athletes, but maturing as individual people as well, particularly 0:17:33.320 --> 0:17:37.359 when it comes to things like nil. How can the 0:17:37.480 --> 0:17:40.920 media not like, for instance, I give you an example 0:17:41.160 --> 0:17:43.080 you might see in baseball and particular now there was 0:17:43.080 --> 0:17:47.280 a big rule change here recently where collegiate baseball used. 0:17:47.280 --> 0:17:49.600 I mean, you see kids in seventh and eighth grade 0:17:49.680 --> 0:17:52.720 announcing their commitments, and you have some quessanies out there 0:17:53.280 --> 0:17:55.560 that are literally doing like live Instagram. I mean, these 0:17:55.600 --> 0:17:57.159 are I don't want to name them, but they's some 0:17:57.200 --> 0:17:59.840 of the biggest gorillas in the room in travel baseball. 0:18:00.359 --> 0:18:04.200 Having seventh and eighth graders announced on Instagram their commitment 0:18:04.240 --> 0:18:07.800 to accoueage. Well, theoretically, there's nothing binding with that commitment. 0:18:07.800 --> 0:18:09.960 You don't sign a national letter and until you're a senior. 0:18:10.560 --> 0:18:12.600 There's so many kids who commit and then that they 0:18:12.600 --> 0:18:15.720 don't develop and that scholarship goes away. But yet you 0:18:15.800 --> 0:18:19.800 have people in the media fueling the Listen, there's only 0:18:19.880 --> 0:18:21.639 going to be how many Lebron James are going to 0:18:21.720 --> 0:18:24.320 be being called the Chosen One at seventeen years old? 0:18:24.600 --> 0:18:27.679 So how does that help the overall development and their identity? 0:18:28.040 --> 0:18:29.720 And how does the media do you think play the role? 0:18:30.000 --> 0:18:31.399 And maybe the good and the bad of that. 0:18:31.920 --> 0:18:36.200 I think it all comes down to. In my profession, 0:18:36.280 --> 0:18:40.840 I think there's not a lot of honest, like thoughtful 0:18:40.960 --> 0:18:44.760 perspective on things like this. The way what you described 0:18:44.760 --> 0:18:48.280 to me is more of a parental issue than anything else. 0:18:49.359 --> 0:18:53.760 As a parent. You know, let's just pretend that my 0:18:53.880 --> 0:18:58.480 fourteen year old is good enough right now to be 0:18:59.359 --> 0:19:02.240 college is if you want to play here, you've got 0:19:02.240 --> 0:19:06.760 a spot. Well, let's just assume that that's true. Am 0:19:06.760 --> 0:19:11.200 I going to encourage him to go on his Instagram 0:19:11.280 --> 0:19:15.320 account and commit or have some sort of a show. No, man, Like, 0:19:15.440 --> 0:19:18.280 I know too much about life to know that. You know, 0:19:18.560 --> 0:19:22.200 you know what could really change between fourteen and seventeen 0:19:22.280 --> 0:19:27.160 years old. Everything your body could change. You could stop growing, 0:19:27.480 --> 0:19:30.240 you could grow too much, you could grow too much 0:19:30.240 --> 0:19:33.200 in the wrong direction. There's a thousand things that could 0:19:33.200 --> 0:19:38.760 happen to kids that I would never I would never 0:19:39.040 --> 0:19:43.639 encourage them to put themselves out there like that because 0:19:43.640 --> 0:19:45.719 it just I think it's a bad look. And I 0:19:45.760 --> 0:19:49.399 think those types of things are about parenting more than 0:19:49.400 --> 0:19:51.200 they are about anything else. And I'm not going to 0:19:51.280 --> 0:19:53.639 teach anybody how to parent. You do whatever it is 0:19:53.680 --> 0:19:56.840 you want, but I don't. I would not be interested 0:19:56.920 --> 0:20:00.520 in having my son do that. But like all this 0:20:00.680 --> 0:20:02.960 other stuff, in all I mean, it's what they see, 0:20:03.680 --> 0:20:06.359 you know, the high school seniors and with the hat show, 0:20:06.720 --> 0:20:09.520 and you know what those kids have achieved at that level, 0:20:09.600 --> 0:20:11.280 if they want to have a little fun with it, 0:20:11.359 --> 0:20:13.640 and if it's good for their high school and all 0:20:13.680 --> 0:20:19.080 of that, and in some respects it's a life changing thing. Yeah, Okay, 0:20:19.680 --> 0:20:22.399 do I like it? Not? Really? Do I hate it 0:20:22.400 --> 0:20:24.760 to the point where I'm gonna complain about it? Nah, 0:20:24.920 --> 0:20:27.320 they gonna do it. But I do think that there's 0:20:27.359 --> 0:20:28.879 a lot of people who do what I do for 0:20:28.920 --> 0:20:31.959 a living that they're looking at it from all right, 0:20:32.000 --> 0:20:34.840 we have to celebrate this because this kid is either 0:20:34.840 --> 0:20:37.440 front by area or coming to school in my area. 0:20:37.560 --> 0:20:39.200 So you're going to play it up. So we're kind 0:20:39.200 --> 0:20:42.840 of feeding the beast. If we didn't want it, we 0:20:42.840 --> 0:20:46.479 wouldn't give it the attention that they are seeking. But 0:20:46.560 --> 0:20:49.080 I do think that we look at these things. I 0:20:49.240 --> 0:20:52.440 literally could care less. I don't follow recruiting at any 0:20:52.560 --> 0:20:57.679 level in any sport. I do not know who any 0:20:57.800 --> 0:21:01.840 of let's just say, dukes in becoming basketball players are. 0:21:02.200 --> 0:21:04.119 If they were sitting in this room with me, I 0:21:04.160 --> 0:21:07.480 wouldn't know who they are. I will figure them out 0:21:07.640 --> 0:21:10.600 when they get on campus in the fall. And I 0:21:10.600 --> 0:21:15.760 will say that about any sport. I just don't know. 0:21:16.040 --> 0:21:18.879 Every time you go up a level, whether it's from 0:21:19.200 --> 0:21:22.280 youth sports to middle school, middle school to high school, 0:21:22.320 --> 0:21:26.000 high school to college, the cone is getting narrower and narrower. 0:21:26.640 --> 0:21:28.960 It's a big code at the bottom. It's an inverse code. 0:21:29.000 --> 0:21:31.320 It's not like an ice cream cone. The further you 0:21:31.359 --> 0:21:33.679 get up, the more narrow it gets. And only the 0:21:33.720 --> 0:21:36.199 best team going up. It's going to get harder and 0:21:36.280 --> 0:21:40.000 harder and harder. And enjoy your youth sports while you can. 0:21:40.480 --> 0:21:43.240 But man, the older you are as you keep playing, 0:21:43.480 --> 0:21:47.679 the more serious it becomes, the more serious the people become. 0:21:48.280 --> 0:21:50.480 I don't know. I'm not a fan of all that, 0:21:50.600 --> 0:21:51.879 but I think it's a parent Pasian. 0:21:52.160 --> 0:21:55.040 When you return, Adam and I discuss why playing sports 0:21:55.040 --> 0:21:57.920 at the youth level is an achievement that should be celebrated. 0:22:04.000 --> 0:22:05.879 Where we left off, Adam and I were about to 0:22:05.920 --> 0:22:08.560 talk about why sports can be a life changing experience 0:22:08.600 --> 0:22:12.080 for kids when coaches prioritized well being over results. 0:22:13.000 --> 0:22:14.960 Just judging by the fact that you said you wouldn't 0:22:15.000 --> 0:22:19.280