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Speaker 1: Podcast play goun. Welcome to Taking a Walk, an excursion

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Speaker 1: to converse, connect and catch up at a cool location

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Speaker 1: with some of the most interesting people you can find.

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Speaker 1: Here's Buzznight today. On this episode of Taking a Walk,

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Speaker 1: I'm excited to be in historic Portsmouth, New Hampshire to

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Speaker 1: meet up with a man who fits into many categories

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Speaker 1: of description attorney, politician, ambassador, basketball coach, musician among them.

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Speaker 1: He's also the author of his incredible life story Against

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Speaker 1: all odds. I'm pleased to be here in Portsmouth, New

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Speaker 1: Hampshire taking a walk with Scott Brown. Well. Scott, thank

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Speaker 1: you so much for taking a walk with me. It's

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Speaker 1: so nice to meet you. Hello, thanks to great time

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Speaker 1: to be here and welcome to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Beautiful village.

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Speaker 1: I think you have a little history here, probably walking, running,

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Speaker 1: cycling here in these parts. Yeah, yeah, I was born.

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Speaker 1: Actually we're going to walk down to the river and

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Speaker 1: across the river is the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and that's

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Speaker 1: where the birthing hospital was for PE's Air Force Base

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Speaker 1: with My dad was in the Air Force and my

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Speaker 1: mom was a waitress at Hampton Beach and they met

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Speaker 1: and fell in love had me and here we are, here,

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Speaker 1: we are oh god, Well, this is an honor to

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Speaker 1: be here. And so first of all, taking a walk

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Speaker 1: probably for you, it's really more taking a run over

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Speaker 1: your life as I see how your childhood and your

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Speaker 1: life evolved, right, I mean more so running and cycling. Yeah, listen,

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Speaker 1: I think I was probably one of the original kids

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Speaker 1: who had I don't want to be disrespectful, but probably

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Speaker 1: like some form of add you know where I was

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Speaker 1: like go go, go, go go. I'll never forget. When

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Speaker 1: I was younger, I live with my you know, because

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Speaker 1: my family was a little dysfunctional. I lived with my

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Speaker 1: grandmother and she would I would obviously I was a terror,

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Speaker 1: and she would actually wouldn't hit me, wouldn't yell at me.

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Speaker 1: She would make me sit in the middle of the

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Speaker 1: kitchen for fifteen minutes in a chair looking at the clock.

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Speaker 1: And it was like crazy, crazy torture, and that it

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Speaker 1: just made me like stop and slow down. And that

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Speaker 1: was the worst thing you could do for me. But yeah,

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Speaker 1: I've always been And then obviously as I was growing up,

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Speaker 1: still very energetic, and my mom gave me a basketball.

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Speaker 1: Sit here, just dribble it, just go and that's what

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Speaker 1: I did. I took it everywhere, you know, on dates,

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Speaker 1: used to sleep with it, used to talk to it.

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Speaker 1: So it seems kind of funny right now, but you

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Speaker 1: know it's what got me kind of through some of

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Speaker 1: the tough times. Well, I was gonna say it saved

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Speaker 1: you in so many regard. I mean at various points,

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Speaker 1: either to keep you occupied or get you away from

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Speaker 1: some of the problems that were going on in your

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Speaker 1: family life. Right, Yeah, yeah, I listen to sports. If

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Speaker 1: it wasn't for sports, a good coach or good teacher

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Speaker 1: and a judge that gave me a second chance, I'd

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Speaker 1: either be dead or in jail. There's no doubt in

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Speaker 1: my mind. I was going down just such a bad path.

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Speaker 1: And I wasn't a bad kid in a reflection. I

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Speaker 1: was just angry, you know, Angry that my mom and

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Speaker 1: dad were battling and i'd were angry that they were

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Speaker 1: married and divorced four times each and angry we kept

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Speaker 1: having having to move, Angry I couldn't get enough food.

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Speaker 1: It's just angry, angry, angry. So where is anger now

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Speaker 1: in your life? If we all have anger, and for

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Speaker 1: someone who's been through what you were through, in your life.

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Speaker 1: Is it ever possible to erase that anger? Yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: of course it is. Yeah. I'm actually I feel pretty

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Speaker 1: balanced now. It takes a lot to get me angry. Like,

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Speaker 1: you know, someone will say, don't you hate that person?

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Speaker 1: I'm like, no, I just crossed over here. I'm like, no,

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Speaker 1: I really don't. You know. It takes a lot to

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Speaker 1: get me angry. Uh, And I don't think I hate anybody,

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Speaker 1: but we actually, uh you know, just find a way

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Speaker 1: to prioritize things and recognize that, you know, I personally

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Speaker 1: don't sweat the small stuff. I don't, you know, focus

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Speaker 1: on the negative. I try to find solutions and ways

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Speaker 1: to uh you know, just kind of move forward. So

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Speaker 1: Judge Zaul, that was That's how samsh so he taught

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Speaker 1: you an incredible lesson. So yeah, I listen. I was

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Speaker 1: hanging around with some older kids. I was stealing records.

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Speaker 1: I would hit farmer pants and a jacket I would

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Speaker 1: take and slip them in the farmer pants and button

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Speaker 1: up the jacket and walk out like, you know, waving

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Speaker 1: and everybody. So uh it was, uh, I got caught,

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Speaker 1: and thank god I got caught, because you know, I

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Speaker 1: went into the judges chambers, which you couldn't do today.

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Speaker 1: And I remember my mom was kind of yelling out

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Speaker 1: in the out in the empty way and in the chambers.

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Speaker 1: And the judge says, hey, I see you. You like

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Speaker 1: music And I said, yeah, yeah, I love music. He goes, oh,

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Speaker 1: we started talking about music. I said, wow, this guy's

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Speaker 1: pretty cool. He says, well, you know what, like, what

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Speaker 1: do you do? Like? What do you like sports? I go, oh,

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Speaker 1: my god, I love sports. So what's your favorite sport?

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Speaker 1: And I'm para, I'm kind of, you know, shortening a

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Speaker 1: little bit, but I said, well, basketball is my favorite sport.

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Speaker 1: You know. He says why. I said, well, because you

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Speaker 1: can be an individual, but you can also like it's

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Speaker 1: there's structure, there's a team, there's a there's a way

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Speaker 1: to kind of work together to have a good result hopefully.

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Speaker 1: He goes, wow, that's amazing. He said, you in your gun.

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Speaker 1: I said yeah, I average like, I don't know, thirty

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Speaker 1: thirty nine points of games. Wow, that's amazing. He says,

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Speaker 1: you have any brothers and sisters? I go, yeah, I

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Speaker 1: have a half brother, two half sisters. That's fantastic. Did

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Speaker 1: they look up to you? I go, yes, I'm the

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Speaker 1: rock of the family. Now here I am at that

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Speaker 1: age drinking, driving and stealing my mom's car, and I'm

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Speaker 1: the rock of the family. And he says, wow, that's great.

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Speaker 1: How do you think they'd like you to like to

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Speaker 1: see you play basketball in jail because that's where you're going.

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Speaker 1: And I'm like, whoa, And he said, I want you

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Speaker 1: to write me a fifteen hundred word essay and how

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Speaker 1: you let your your brother and sisters down, and how

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Speaker 1: they would not like to see you play basketball in jail.

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Speaker 1: And there's not a day that goes by that I

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Speaker 1: don't remember that. And it's interesting. I just used that.

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Speaker 1: I coached boys junior high basketball and they were at

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Speaker 1: a game and like three or four of them did

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Speaker 1: some just stupid stuff, you know, skateboarding in the hallways,

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Speaker 1: trying to climb over fences that were locked, you know,

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Speaker 1: and they got in trouble, and then my star players

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Speaker 1: and I asked the principal and the athletic director to

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Speaker 1: let me me handle it. And the principal listened to

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Speaker 1: what I said because she didn't know about my background.

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Speaker 1: And then I said, I want you guys to write

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Speaker 1: me a five hundred word essay. And how you let

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Speaker 1: your teammates, your school, and your principal and athletic director down,

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Speaker 1: and she said that, you know, it was really great

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Speaker 1: because they really took it to heart. It was powerful,

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Speaker 1: it was meaningful, and I think it served the purpose.

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Speaker 1: So it served quite a purpose for you, didn't it. Yeah, yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: it did. It gave me. It made me realize like,

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Speaker 1: oh my goodness, I'm really really screwing up here. And

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Speaker 1: like I said, I didn't think I was a bad kid.

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Speaker 1: I was just like lost. But it was obvious that

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Speaker 1: so many people that were sort of outside of your

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Speaker 1: family life, the judge as an example, coaches that you

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Speaker 1: dealt with were tremendously influential and turning points for your life.

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Speaker 1: I'm not surprised to hear you say that you're coaching

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Speaker 1: basketball at all based on obviously the impact that coaches

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Speaker 1: made to you. Yeah. Yeah, listen, I coached before I

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Speaker 1: went to New Zealand as the ambassador. I played ball

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Speaker 1: since I was nine years old. You know, high school,

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Speaker 1: college had, you know, wonderful opportunities. But yeah, I enjoy it.

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Speaker 1: To coach Dala, who went to Boston College and full

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Speaker 1: scholarship in Ariana and yeah, I just enjoy the passing

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Speaker 1: on the things that I was taught. I mean because

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Speaker 1: I used to go to God, I went to Nelson Sanders, Collins,

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Speaker 1: killo A, you know, Sad Sanders, Pete Maravich, you know

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Speaker 1: all these amazing camps where I learned so much about everything,

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Speaker 1: and I just, you know, feel it's important to pass

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Speaker 1: it on. And you know, we're four and oh the

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Speaker 1: kids are really great and we're really learning. Yesterday it

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Speaker 1: was a fantastic practice where they finally got it. You know.

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Speaker 1: Are there any particular things about that generation, uh that

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Speaker 1: concern you around social media device addiction just as example,

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Speaker 1: Well that's you just now that. Yeah, listen to the kids. Uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, they're wonderful kids, but they're locked in on

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Speaker 1: their on their phones and iPhones. I mean you look

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Speaker 1: at TikTok. I mean today there's a there's a threat,

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Speaker 1: you know, a national threat to go and shoot somebody

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Speaker 1: at school. I mean that's what you know, TikTok. So

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Speaker 1: now here we are listening to these stupid people who

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Speaker 1: are doing stupid things and you know, affecting our daily lives,

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Speaker 1: and they have to pay attention based on what you

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Speaker 1: see recently, So yeah, I would. I would. I remember

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Speaker 1: when our kids were growing up, Mom, dad, you know,

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Speaker 1: everyone has no Nintendo and I would say, you mean

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Speaker 1: no friendo, yeah, because that's what they don't have any friends.

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Speaker 1: They're in their rooms. Let's go out and play some ball,

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Speaker 1: and let's go out and go to the movies. And

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Speaker 1: so yeah, we never had any of that stuff growing up.

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Speaker 1: And it wasn't until they were in what high school

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Speaker 1: or late late junior high just to have a phone

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Speaker 1: for safety purposes, you know. You see in Virginia and others,

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Speaker 1: you know, they're not participating in their schools, in kids'

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Speaker 1: lives and activities in the schools, so they don't really

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Speaker 1: see what's going on. They've trusted, you know, educators to

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Speaker 1: do the right thing, and you know many of them are,

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Speaker 1: but others are you know, are doing something that they

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Speaker 1: know others may not agree on. So there's a wonderful

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Speaker 1: generation of young at least the kids that I've been

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Speaker 1: dealing with. And I've only been back for ten or

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Speaker 1: eleven months now from New Zealand, but you know, I'm

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Speaker 1: still hopeful. So when you think of nonprofits that are

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Speaker 1: going through challenges in these days, what are some nonprofits

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Speaker 1: that are important to you that you might want to

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Speaker 1: call attention to. Well, you know, we've always supported a

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Speaker 1: lot of the food banks, you know in the area.

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Speaker 1: You know, people are hurting, so we've had you know,

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Speaker 1: food bank drives, you know coat drives, you know, the

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Speaker 1: basic necessities that people need. Those are important to us.

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Speaker 1: We've also done Gale and I have done a lot

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Speaker 1: of work in the past and we've been away from it.

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Speaker 1: People with disabilities, you know, taking care of those more vulnerable,

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Speaker 1: the Rentham Developmental Center, the Friends of Rentham, you know,

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Speaker 1: sponsored by the Patriots. We were so active in that.

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Speaker 1: You know, hiring people with disabilities to get out in

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Speaker 1: the workforce and be and live independently is really important.

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Speaker 1: You know. The cancer cancers seems to be everywhere. When

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Speaker 1: Gail was in New Zealand, she raised two hundred and

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Speaker 1: fifty thousand for the New Zealand Cancer Society. And you know,

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Speaker 1: so her sister had a stroke, so the Stroke Association.

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Speaker 1: So I think everybody who who is affected or knows

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Speaker 1: somebody who's affected by something, that they tend to go

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Speaker 1: to that direction and you know, try to support those

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Speaker 1: amazing causes. Well, I know music's important to you as well.

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Speaker 1: Music was a sort of a saving grace for you,

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Speaker 1: whether it be your your kiss posters and your kiss

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Speaker 1: music that you just went the nuts over or now

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Speaker 1: even as you were telling me in the some times

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Speaker 1: playing guitar with the Rick Nielsen from Cheap Trick talk

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Speaker 1: about how music is such a unifying force to people

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Speaker 1: and to you as well. Well, what do we all

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Speaker 1: agree on? Music? Food, family, and sports? We made you know, Yankees,

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Speaker 1: Red Sox, Patriots and really nobody quite frankly but kiddy

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Speaker 1: and kidding, but you know, really, but you're throwing politics

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Speaker 1: and it gets a little weird that being said. For me,

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Speaker 1: I mean, I never played guitar until I lost the

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Speaker 1: election for the US Senate and the girls got me

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Speaker 1: a guitar. And you know, you always have these bucket

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Speaker 1: list things. I'm fifty eight years old at that point,

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Speaker 1: I'm like, you know, what do I want to do? Well,

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Speaker 1: I've always wanted to learn how to play guitar. Bang.

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Speaker 1: I always want to learn how to put together and

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Speaker 1: take apart bikes. Bang. I want to learn how to

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Speaker 1: make sushi, you know, make pizza like flip it up

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Speaker 1: in the air. And twirl it around, you know, these

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Speaker 1: silly things, but things that I've always in the back

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Speaker 1: of my mind wanted to do. So I volunteered at

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Speaker 1: a bike store put together and you know, I've worked

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Speaker 1: on probably two hundred bikes, sold for them, probably fifty

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Speaker 1: and then when I left, they gave me a bike,

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Speaker 1: you know, a real bike. And then obviously the guitar.

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Speaker 1: I'm self taught and I've played six times or cheap trick.

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Speaker 1: I played with Warrant Firehouse, A Leb Brown, James Montgomery,

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Speaker 1: and you know, I have my own band in New

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Speaker 1: Zealand and here, and it's something that I find exceedingly invigorating.

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Speaker 1: And I could have the worst day in the world

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Speaker 1: and have everything falling apart and then go into my

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Speaker 1: little man cave, turn on the volume really really louder

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Speaker 1: than it should be, and sing and play and it's like, oh,

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Speaker 1: what a great day. So yeah, music, I think in

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Speaker 1: Ernie Bach, who's a dear friends, the music drives us

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Speaker 1: a charity that he has. I mean, he gets it

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Speaker 1: to you know, kids need an outlet and to do

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Speaker 1: something that's not technical or I should say multimedia in

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Speaker 1: terms of the Facebook, Twitter TikTok whatever, and actually pick

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Speaker 1: up an instrument and learn it and express yourselves that way.

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Speaker 1: That's pretty cool. So your family is doing well during

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Speaker 1: all of this, talk about what's going on with the

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Speaker 1: family got a lot of exciting. Yeah. Yeah, listen, we

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Speaker 1: were away for four years. It was difficult, but you

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Speaker 1: know the kids. Arianna was in Syracuse, Ala was in Nashville,

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Speaker 1: and we're like, oh, well, might as well go. So

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Speaker 1: I went to New Zealand. I chose to go there.

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Speaker 1: The president appointed me and we had a great experience.

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Speaker 1: And then all of a sudden, Arianna moves back to

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Speaker 1: New Hampshire, Aleen moves to Massachusetts and they're like, where

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Speaker 1: are you? And well, so we're here, new grandparents, little

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Speaker 1: baby girl, she's nine months. And then ALA's married, and

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Speaker 1: you know, they're all doing you know, knock on wood,

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Speaker 1: all doing well, you know, challenges like every other family.

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Speaker 1: You know, we have our own personalities. We're all Ala

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Speaker 1: is like a carbon copy of me, so we're always

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Speaker 1: kind of banging heads. You know, we both had bands,

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Speaker 1: we're both and I give her, I give her a

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Speaker 1: lot of grief just because I'm a dad, you know.

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Speaker 1: And then it was a Dad knows that, and then

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Speaker 1: Arianna is just like mom, but yeah, you know, I

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Speaker 1: got two good son in laws and you know, working hard,

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Speaker 1: we're healthy obviously, which is good. And you know we're

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Speaker 1: just trying to kind of muddle along and make a difference.

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Speaker 1: And your wife's running for office. Yeah she's after Afghanistan. Listen,

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Speaker 1: she is the most a political person. But after Afghanistan,

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Speaker 1: when after we've served for four years, you know that

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Speaker 1: if there was trouble, I would have been brought back

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Speaker 1: and I never would have been left in a foreign

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Speaker 1: country dead or alive. And you know, to have this

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Speaker 1: administration leave hundreds and potentially tens of thousands of helpers, interpreters,

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Speaker 1: people who Green card holders there and not even talk

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Speaker 1: about it for almost a half a year. Now, it's

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Speaker 1: just it's important to us, and triggered her to say,

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Speaker 1: you know what I'm done. I'm going to get involved.

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Speaker 1: And I commend her. You know, she's really really working hard,

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Speaker 1: committed to making a difference and it's really her time,

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Speaker 1: so I'm good with it. So lastly, so much of

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Speaker 1: your life has been around leadership, resilience, dealing in crisis situations.

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Speaker 1: What insight could you provide to someone on a personal

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Speaker 1: basis on how to be resilient in difficult times and

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Speaker 1: even on a business sense with advice, could you give Well,

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Speaker 1: I'm the type of guy where the more stress the better.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I love multitasking. I love like juggling everything

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Speaker 1: and finding solutions almost like a you know, like a puzzle.

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Speaker 1: You know, how fast can you put the puzzle together?

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Speaker 1: And how is it right? So I even when I'm

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Speaker 1: walking like down here, I'm thinking about, Okay, these are

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Speaker 1: all the things I need to do today, how can

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Speaker 1: I do them more most efficiently? In how can I

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Speaker 1: you know, make sure that I don't have to repeat them?

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Speaker 1: And you know, what's that movie with Russell Crowe. I'm

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Speaker 1: not a genius, but I'm definitely one who's always thinking

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Speaker 1: about problem solving, like in my brain. Would I would

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Speaker 1: encourage people to not get overly dressed out when you're

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Speaker 1: having difficult times, you know, be patient and trust your

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Speaker 1: instincts and don't be afraid to ask for help. You know,

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Speaker 1: I'm finding many, many, many people in New Zealand. Believe

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Speaker 1: it or not, it's the highest suicide rate for teenagers

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Speaker 1: in the world. You think New Zealand what are you kidding?

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Speaker 1: They only have five million people. Yes, the highest rate

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Speaker 1: of suicide for kids. And the common theme is that

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Speaker 1: people just felt checked out and they didn't feel like

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Speaker 1: people cared, and they didn't ask for help. In our military,

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Speaker 1: you have over what twenty two to twenty three people

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Speaker 1: killing themselves a day. Many of them hadn't even served

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Speaker 1: an active duty. So the common theme is, you know, what,

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Speaker 1: if you're having trouble, especially now with the pandemic, everybody

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Speaker 1: you know, being yelled at, screamed at, wear a mask,

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Speaker 1: don't wear a mask, get a vaccine. Don't get a vaccine.

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Speaker 1: You know, go out, stay in. You know, you can't

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Speaker 1: see your grandparents, if you have a funeral, you can't

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Speaker 1: go to it. You can't visit your loved one in

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Speaker 1: the hospital as they're dying. You kidding me. Find a

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Speaker 1: way to figure it out, folks, and let people live

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Speaker 1: their lives. So, but that stress has led to a

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Speaker 1: lot of mental health. Ish. I believe mental health right

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Speaker 1: now is probably the biggest thing that we're facing as

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Speaker 1: a society, and I feel that the biggest key to

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Speaker 1: that is just asking for help and just kind of

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Speaker 1: you know, stepping outside your comfort zone and just letting

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Speaker 1: your hair down a little bit and trust your friends

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Speaker 1: and your family. And I have friends since fourth grade.

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Speaker 1: We just want ten of us went away for a

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Speaker 1: weekend and it's like it's like we saw each other

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Speaker 1: yesterday and we haven't seen each other in four years,

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Speaker 1: at least I haven't. And those are the people you

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Speaker 1: can tell pretty much anything. And so if you have

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Speaker 1: somebody like that, you really got to if you're feeling desperate,

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Speaker 1: you really have to reach out because I can I can.

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Speaker 1: I can tell you only from learning and listening and

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Speaker 1: observing that when and if you make that terrible decision

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Speaker 1: and you're gone, people will miss you. So that's kind

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Speaker 1: of it. Well, Scott, I was born right there by

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Speaker 1: the way. That's yes, Look does it look any different? Yeah,

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Speaker 1: well I was literally my first breath was there, and

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Speaker 1: then my first house was over on Islington Street and

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Speaker 1: one of my grandparents. I'm actually a ninth generation New

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Speaker 1: Hampshire I believe it or not, son of the American

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Speaker 1: Revolution out of Newington, and my daughter's are ten and

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Speaker 1: my granddaughters now the eleventh. But you know, apparently I'm

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Speaker 1: a carpetbacker here. Well, Scott, thank you so much for

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Speaker 1: your generosity and your time, and for taking a walk

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Speaker 1: here in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Taking a Walk with Buzznight

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Speaker 1: is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get

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Speaker 1: your podcasts.