Dance Lessons, High School Nostalgia and a Fantasy Draft

[00:00:00] Listen, Watch, Connect. This is The MESH. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to episode 12, volume 14 of a special Football's Back Again edition of Big Fan. [00:00:20] My name is Chad Easton. I'm a big fan of back-to-back-to-back fantasy football drafts which take place three consecutive weekends in a row. Wow. I'm also a big fan of the Taco Bell Happy Hour from 2 to 5 p.m. every weekday, Hank. All drinks and freezies are $1. Freezies? Freezies are $1. Throw in a bean burrito for $1.29. [00:00:48] Okay. You just struck gold, sir. Okay. So you go get this about $2 to $2.30. Baja Blast Freezy Bean Burrito. You're in for $2.29. You don't even have to eat dinner. What? You don't. You go right through the night, wake up to breakfast time. And last but not least, I am a big fan of going to your old high school for your daughter's beginning of school meet the teacher event, which was last night. I didn't see you there. I was not there. You were not there. We were there. [00:01:18] And walking through the hallway and stumbling into your old locker. Oh, wow. I ended up being in the hall. And I was like, gosh, this looks so familiar. And then I kept walking down the hall and I was like, there's my locker, B-52, right there. Look at you. How crazy. That's crazy. You know? And it still smells the exact same in that high school. That smell never changes. It'll never change. Yes. All right. My name is Hank Imer and I'm a big fan of watching the U.S. make a big run in the open. [00:01:46] The presence of the ever so slight chill in the morning air. It's coming. It's coming. And watching my son's entrepreneurial spirit come through. What is he doing now? Is he lawn care? Is he car washing? What is he doing? Okay. So we've got a little bit of a debate here going on in my family because he does cut grass, right? He does for my in-laws and everything else. Well, he decides that he just wants a little bit of cash, a little bit more to do some things with. Sure. Right? So he decided that he's going to start selling some stuff. [00:02:16] Okay? Okay. Shoes. First of all, he wears about the same size as I do. So I was like, I get first dibs, but he had a dollar amount hooked to him. I was like, I bought these things. Right? You need to get it cut. Yeah. But there were 12s. I wear a 13. So I couldn't really realistically have them. So he sold some shoes. And then he went, he took some cards, football, basketball, baseball cards to the mall. His little son of a gun got like 400 bucks. And then I was like, wait a minute. Half those cards are mine. [00:02:44] What are you pulling apart out there? So... Take your closet too. I might be selling your shoes as well. For sure. You know what I mean? For sure. So by entrepreneurial spirit, I mean he's grabbing my stuff and selling it online. Brilliant. What a good businessman. He will amount to something in this world, Hank. Oh. So when I was in high school, I don't know why I'm on the high school thing. Well, I know why because I went through the high school yesterday for the walkthrough. You really used your locker? You put stuff in your locker? I think I was the last generation that actually used it. [00:03:13] I didn't put a lot of stuff, but I was a little fella. And you're carrying all those. That's when you had a lot of books. Tons. I mean, the book bag would weigh more than me. So I'd have to put some of the books in my locker and I'd switch out. But anyway, back in the day, we were kind of little entrepreneurs as well. So my buddy Roger and Hunter, they had their own lawn care business. They had it all the way up to high school and we would all fill in. I would love to know their name of the company. I wish I could remember. I don't even know if they had one. I'm sure they had one. I just didn't know what it was. [00:03:41] But we'll get that information out. So we would do that for extra money. Hunter always got us some really good gigs, bagging ice at Texaco or whatever. We always had a good gig. I taught a little tennis with Kathy Kim. But my favorite gig of all time, I was known as a pretty good dancer growing up. You know, I could dance. I wouldn't be scared to get on the dance floor. [00:04:03] And so my friends who are very white and zero rhythm were like, Chad, we'll give you $25 an hour if you teach me a couple dance moves. Your boys did this? My boys. So two of them in particular. Two of them. $25 an hour? What are you, a plumber? I mean, that's real money. I was like, this is unbelievable. I have just struck gold here. So anyway, this is back in the day. We had at Hickory High, this place called The Jungle. So we had yesterdays. Yeah, yeah, yeah. [00:04:32] You know, where you would dance during the summer. But during the school year, yesterdays, we couldn't go for teens. But we had The Jungle, and it lasted maybe one year, two years, where everybody would go at country ventures. Do you know what I'm talking about? The Crawdad Stadium? Yep. And you'd just go and dance. Well, this is when the Cabbage Patch was part of it. Big part of it. Yes. And then the kid in play and all this stuff. And so I knew the moves. And so for $25 measly they would give me, and I would give them an hour lesson. [00:05:00] And we would show off at The Jungle. We'd show it at The Jungle. You're like Hickory's Paula Abdul. You know what I mean? Yes. So I would say, I would sit on the bench, and I'd say, all right, so-and-so, go out there. Let's see it. Let's see it in action. Let's get out there on the floor. The pressure. Let's see it in action. And they would always stumble and really mess up. So I only got $25 out of two of them one time, and they just quit dancing. Well, they probably thought they weren't getting good direction. That's probably so. [00:05:30] Because instead of everybody like rooting, they thought they'd get in the middle and everybody rally around them, but everybody would just laugh at them instead. And that's when they were wearing, like, skids. Oh, yes. The big baggy pants. Exactly. You know? Exactly. Oh, man. I cannot wait to find out who these two gentlemen were. You know them very well. Oh, I know I know them. I could guess. It wouldn't take me long. Yes. These days, these two gentlemen are not scared to get out on the dance floor for sure, because they're just, they have the confidence. Back then, they didn't have the confidence. [00:05:59] That's what you gave them. That's exactly what I gave them. Well, Hank, it's good to be back in the studio. It is good. It's been one month since we were here last. A couple little changes. I want to give a big shout out to our producer, our old producer, Moose, who was with us for many, many moons. And he's gone on another adventure, and he's doing great. So now we have the main most man-head honcho of The Mesh. As high as you get. Doesn't get any higher. As high as you get. To our new producer, Mr. Alan Jackson. [00:06:28] Alan, thank you for being a part of this and making the big fan, the number 18 podcast in Western North Carolina. Yeah. Do you know what, though? I have, we are getting some traction because I, we're getting this few weeks up until today. Yes. I've had quite a number of conversations about topics that we've been, we've been like exploring. Sure. And I think people are tuning in. Yeah. I think you're right. There's some electricity. Yes. A lot of energy in the air. [00:06:57] Well, Hank, so over the last year, I'm sorry, month, we have dove into fantasy football season. We've done a lot. We've done a lot. And so you and I had the privilege three weeks ago of having our first live fantasy football draft. And to you and me, and to many of our members of our league, it's like Christmas day when it's fantasy football. You know, we know the anticipation of it. You know, you're there. You finally, it's time to draft and time for the corn hole and time to make the jokes and [00:07:26] drink the beers and all that stuff, you know? See people you haven't seen all year because there's some people you don't see for a long time. Exactly right. Let's breeze through kind of how that 24 hours went. I'll start with me and then you kind of give me what you remember of the event. Because actually you, you had a big day. Anyway, we'll talk about it. So I have to go to a birthday party at 11. It's on the lake. Boom. Go to the birthday party. Our draft doesn't officially start until four-ish. Right. But everybody gets there at three. So I do the party, party, party on the lake. Jump on a boat. The boat brings me. [00:07:56] That's one great thing about Hickory. You jump on a boat at one friend's house and then you're at your other friend's house. You don't even have to get in a car. You just go via boat. We end up at our friend Stevens who built Deck 2. Yeah. Deck 2. Specifically maybe for the fantasy football draft. I'm not sure. But it's really nice. It's so nice. It's a deck behind the main deck that is under shade. And the last few weeks have been hellacious temperature-wise. So without that shade, it would have been a killer out there. Yeah. So just a blast. [00:08:24] Start the day, cornhole-ish, about 4 o'clock. Get through the cornhole tournament. Talk amongst ourselves. Drink a little moonshine. Listen to the music. And then the draft starts about 6.30 or 7. Right. You were a little bit late. You had a really big event in your life. I did. My niece is getting married. Yes. And so she had an engagement party in Shelby. So we were there and we rushed back. I got back just in time for the cornhole. [00:08:51] But I wasn't able to get out there just that early, which is probably a good thing. I had my backpack, my Chad bag, my Hank bag by the door when I got home. And I just grabbed the Chad bag. Yes. And Harris ushered me out there. And I was able to enjoy the festivities and see everybody. You know, the funny thing is, is we have this timeline. We do the cornhole. We do the high fives and everything we do. But we've started taking a picture. Love it. Right? Yes. [00:09:22] And I love to watch the results of this because for everybody out there listening, we do it in front of our, the name of our league is Davey Drives a Hummer because when Davey got that Hummer, we thought it was a ridiculous and amazing thing. Exactly. Because he was one of the first people I knew to ever have a Hummer. For sure. Right? Okay. For sure. Fair. So he came to the draft the day he got it or whatever, soon after. [00:09:48] And we took a picture where we're on top of it and beside it. And it looked like a rap video poster. We look bad. Right. We look bad. We're getting bad at doing it because this last picture we took, we looked like a bunch of old geriatric men and it was bad. Yeah. Very wrinkly. A lot of wrinkles. Well, I think the best one was somebody tried to fix some of the stuff with AI and your face. You look like Pavia. [00:10:18] And then Will's face. I don't know what he looked like. He looked like he had a stroke. Yes. Oh, gosh. Delete, delete, delete. But anyway, it was a great, great draft. I'm going to go through. Oh, let's tell the audience real quick of your creativity. What you did for the draft when each, for each team. Okay. Yes. So I've won this league twice. Yes. Okay. I've won it four times. Go ahead. Go ahead. Nobody cares. Go ahead. So I've won this league twice. And both times I've been the same name and the name is Fantasy Nostradamus. [00:10:48] Yes. Okay. And so every year that I've done it, and some years are more creative than others. I've created t-shirts. I've done it. But what I end up doing is I take my first pick and with my first pick, I choose who's coming in 12th place. Which is last. Which is last. And with every pick, we keep moving towards who's going to finish. And I'm pretty rock solid on who my guys are, right? Sure, sure. Throughout the whole time. Yes. [00:11:16] So let's hope, you know, the one person that came out front to Fantasy Nostradamus was a man that has been humiliated in this league. Potentially the worst fantasy drafter of all time. Of all time. Of all time. Of all time. But this year, the Nostradamus said that he's going to finish first. And if he does. It will be unbelievable. Unprecedented, I would say. Well, let's go through our teams real quick. First, Hank, I'll hit mine. My team name is Chad O'Ghost Estates. [00:11:46] LT does not. And we'll talk about that here in a little bit for the reason for the team name. I had Joe Burrow as quarterback. Basil Tootin. He's the running back from Jacksonville. Jordan Mason. Drake London, wide receiver. Puka Nakua, wide receiver. Dalton Kincaid is my tight end. Malik Neighbors is going to be my flex. Our IDP defensive player is Miles Garrett. And my defense is the Vikings D with a bench. That's not too bad. Let's hear your starting lineup. Okay. [00:12:13] So my starting lineup is I left with such a good feeling about this team. Yeah. And now I don't know how I feel. Okay. My quarterback, Jared Goff. Yes. Okay. I feel like he's going to be serviceable. Jonathan Taylor is my running, my first running back. Love it. Jeremiah Love. Could be really good. Could be bad. Still like it. Yeah. Right. Okay. Anyway, he's my two, RB2. Zay Flowers and Lad McConkie are my wide receivers. [00:12:39] I've got Mark Andrews as my tight end. Right. I've got a couple options. I've Carnell Tate or J.K. Dobbins or Kenneth Gamewell as my flex. And Baltimore as my D. My, I got R. Smith from Baltimore, linebacker. Yeah. Raekwon. Yeah. Raekwon, who's going to be my defensive player. But, you know, I felt so good leaving that draft. Yeah. I don't know. [00:13:08] Now you don't feel quite as, quite as good. Not as good. Yeah. So that draft, we started a little bit late. It continued into the night. I think we ended around 1130. Harris came to pick you up. I still, I think it was about 1130 or 12. Yep. We stuck around. I felt like the energy level for the draft was higher than it's been in a long time. People just seem to be excited to be out there. A handful of us stay out at the lake and spend the night. So we probably lay down about 3, 330. Can we, can I, can I ask a question? Please. [00:13:37] The last hour of the draft, 1030 to 1130. Yes. Probably, pound for pound, the weirdest fantasy hour we've ever had. I mean, there was, there was a lot going on. Yeah. On all parts of Deck 2. Yes. There was a lot going on. [00:14:09] Deck 2, yes. I put the mic down and I was just wandering around and so randomly would grab the mic and it just got us all kind of off path. You know what I mean? So it was your fault. I'll, I'll take responsibility because I, you know, I don't want to. I mean, I saw people fall in. We got people writing on people. We had, we had some bad stuff going on. Some people were nose to nose arguing about whether their individual defensive player would be eligible for touchdowns. So anyway, just some dumb stuff. But anyway, we got through it. [00:14:37] So 3.30, we all kind of lay down, go to bed at the cabin. And then we hear bring, bring, bring at eight o'clock in the morning. Kind of forgot. How many CPAP machines you got in that little room? There were three CPAPs going on at the same time and the room is not as big as like our kitchen. I saw, I know. I saw a picture and it looked like Lord Vader was laying beside you. I'm going to call him Lord Vader now. That's a great nickname. We'll talk about nicknames in a little bit. But anyway, we hear bring, bring, bring. So at eight o'clock, we get the phone call. [00:15:07] Hey guys, just reminding you, I'll be there in 30 minutes to pick you up. We're going to float down the river today at 1030 in the morning. So I was like, holy cow. Which was going to be fun because it was for a fun, it was for a birthday. It was for two people. Two fun people. Two fun people turning 50. But you know, after a night like that, and then to think about getting up at 830 to drive up the mountain to float down, it just didn't sound very appealing. However, it was wonderful. Okay. It was wonderful. [00:15:35] So pour mimosas in the car as we go up the mountain, get in the tube. The water was cold, but refreshing because it was like 90 some degrees. It was awesome. We brought our speakers. We all tie up 60 like hickory folk and you know, other six zero, six zero. It's looked like a little hickory up there. All getting into the water at the same time, just kind of float down at our own pace, listen to tunes, talking stories with people like some people hadn't seen in forever. Got to see them floating down the river. Nice. [00:16:02] So anyway, just a wonderful kickoff to fantasy football season. That was the Saturday Sunday. Nice. Yes. Which takes us in to the next fantasy football weekend. That's the draft I do with my college buddies. Yeah. You know, normal people, not normal, have one league. Yeah, I have more than one. Go ahead. More than one. So anyway. It sounded awesome. Yeah, it was an incredible time. So we were able, in this league, the last place team has to plan whatever the first place team wants to do. [00:16:31] And it could be anywhere in the Southeast. We've been to like Charleston and Kiowa, Hilton Head, Georgia. We've been in the mountains of Asheville, Blowing Rock, Boone. We've been everywhere. You know, Lake Norman. We've been to Folly Beach, anywhere. You know what I'm talking about. So the winner wanted to choose somewhere that would be a little bit cooler. So they chose Banner Out North Carolina at this new development called Eagle's Nest. Eagle's Nest. Yes. [00:16:58] So people in this league travel from Denver and a lot of people from Raleigh and Charlotte and all over the place. So they come, pass through Hickory. We stop at our little golf course, Catawba Springs. Play 18 holes at 8 o'clock in the morning. Finish, then cruise up the mountain into the Eagle's Nest. Have you ever been to the Eagle's Nest? I've never been, but I've seen pictures and seen the amenities and it looks great. It's beautiful. So the one thing I'll talk about this and then we'll move on. [00:17:25] But when you go up and you're climbing up the mountain and it's beautiful, these homes, I mean, they have to be two point some million dollars each or more. It's just incredible. The first thing you see is this little, it's like a little convenience store, but it's kind of shaped like a little cabin. And I was like, man, that's pretty cool. It's the first thing that you see when you're going up and you look a little closer and you see the words Dollar Tree. You know, it's there just on a little plaque. And so I was like, Brian, I wrote up with a guy named Brian Pollard from Raleigh, a good friend of mine. [00:17:54] And I said, let's go check this thing out. So we go up to it and it said, please, there's signs that said, please don't be alarmed. There is no one in there to service you. However, we're watching you swipe your debit card, come in and take whatever you want. Enjoy or something like that. So we're like, let's see how this works. So Brian takes his debit card, swipe, click, click. The door opens. We push it open and I start looking around. I was like, this might be the nicest convenience store I've ever seen in my life. It's impeccably clean. [00:18:23] Everything lines up. All the products are lined up in a row. And it's not just like Slim Jim's and potato chips and Gatorades. There's like fine wines in this thing. There's like charcuterie boards. You know, I'm talking about some nice stuff in this little thing. And I was like, well, I mean, how is this going to work? There's nobody here. How are they going to know what we get? It says grab what you want and leave. And then Brian was like, look up. So I look up and there are 1000 cameras at all these angles focusing in on you. Right. [00:18:52] So I grabbed a Slim Jim, a Gatorade, maybe a nice bottle of Chianti. And then Brian grabbed what he did and we roll out. And as soon as we roll out, he got a little ding on his phone. They had charged his debit card for everything that we had just picked up. My question to you, young man, what if Jane Doe is in the store at the same time? How does it know that Jane Doe got an ice cream cake and I got a Slim Jim? How does it know who is who? Because we don't show an ID. It's just a debit card. [00:19:22] Debit cards don't have your... I'm sure it has a picture of the guy at the door presenting his debit card. And then when he walks in... That would make sense. Maybe you even face recognition, like it stays on you or whatever. But this technology seems like it's very easy to... Yes. It doesn't surprise me that you're amazed. I mean, how do it know, Hank? How do it know? Even with the lifestyle of the rich and famous, I mean, you guys are going to real... [00:19:49] I love it how, you know, you're going to this swanky place and the first story is about the convenience store. You're so cosmopolitan. You can't take the country out of the country, boys, boy. So, yeah, that's the first thing we wanted to do is go into the convenience store. You're such a redneck. Oh, my God. And I come out with a Slim Jim and a Gatorade. Come on, Shadow. So, anyway, we go to our house. It's beautiful. I mean, four stories overlooking this valley. I mean, unfathomable. [00:20:16] Hot tub over here, you know, great fire pit downstairs. You got ping pong tables, two video games, pool table, you name it, everything is in this house. And we're actually a two-minute walk from this place called Epic Chop House, which have you heard of this place before? Yep. It's a phenomenal, phenomenal place, dirty martinis flying around, you know, just really. Chef's kiss. Manifica. And so we ate there twice. [00:20:41] And then the other great part, and then we'll get off this, but on the opposite side of the property, which is huge, there's a sports bar on the top of this mountain, right? So we go up there. We heard about the sports bar. I think Carolina was playing. TCU. TCU. And we go up there to watch the game. They had a fire burning in this awesome fireplace. Inside, you've got a bar. You can get your own beer, or they'll come take care of you, blah, blah, blah. That's the inside. TV's everywhere. [00:21:07] Outside, they have a little amphitheater where live musicians perform, probably to about 75 to 100 people can sit around there, listen to the music. And there was an acoustic guitar player playing when we were up there, which was awesome. And then if you just pass the auditorium, on the side of the mountain, there are these random fire pits with chairs all around them on the whole side of the mountain. [00:21:27] So you could take your girl, your kids, your homeboys, set up shop, and just sit at that little fire pit for as long as you want to and be kind of all by yourself. That's how most they're spread out all over the mountain. So just amazing. So we do that. And when I'm coming up, we're getting ready to leave. One of my buddies said, Chad, go grab that mic and sing a song. And I was like, no, dude, I'm tired. We need to get out of here. And the lady was like, who's playing guitar? She said, come on up. All you have to do is ask me once. You know? [00:21:57] We all know that. And I said, yes, ma'am. I said, do you know Otis Redding sitting by the dock of the bay? And she said, I think I can play that one. And I said, hit it. So boom. She starts playing. I start singing. People start coming out probably to say, God, this voice is terrible. Are you doing this right now? Are you talking about this right now? Yes. I start coming out of the sports ball. I got a video of it. Rob took. And then other people were like looking around, very confused. [00:22:26] Very, very confused. But I got through the song. Not my finest. I will admit it. That sounded like I stayed up till 4 o'clock. No, man. No, man. But anyway, we got through it. Got a small round of applause. You know? Very small. Very small. A couple golf claps. But anyway, and then we went back down the mountain, did our draft and all that stuff. Played some golf up there. Just a fantastic, fantastic weekend. Nice. Yeah, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. Come on, Sunday. Yeah, made it through. Made it through. [00:22:55] Yeah, yeah, yeah. So what's been going on with your life? Holy cow. I mean, it hadn't been that. I mean, and you had another draft after that. We don't need to talk about that one. Let's move off the drafts now. Yeah, we don't have to do that. We're through draft season. We're in the midst of school. Let's talk about school. Yes. Like, school just got in, right? So it's getting adjusted to school. Yes. Lucy Rose, I mean, obviously, Olivia's down at Columbia, finishing up her last year there. That's right. [00:23:22] Lucy Rose started her senior year, which I saw some pictures from the senior sunrise thing. Yes. Saw Lucy and all the seniors. And what a kind of a cool, you know, cool thing that they do that first day of school where they bring them all out and have breakfast and get them there early in the morning. And then Harris started his junior year, which, you know, I was thinking about this. So, you know, the first, you know, your freshman year, like we had wedgies, like there was some real fear going into the school. [00:23:52] You know, I mean, there's real fear. Real fear. Real fear. And we've talked about this. Yes. But, you know, your sophomore year, you're like, I'm getting the hang of it and I'm getting my license this year. And, you know, I'm not the freshman, but I'm certainly not the big guy. And then, you know, your junior year, you start to feel good a little bit. Like this is my school. I will say it till I die. My junior year of high school. And it might have been one of the best years of my entire life. Junior year of high school. And you had births of your children. You got married. This is ridiculous. [00:24:23] Jennifer, do you hear what he's doing here? Of course. Jennifer, I'm defending you. Of course, those events definitely take precedent over junior year of high school. But I just remember junior year in high school vividly. Okay. Fair enough. But that's what I'm saying. And it's like, you know, when you walked into your junior year, you were, you know, I feel like seniors kind of check out a little bit. You know, their senior year. They're not committed to the high school. They're trying to figure out their, you know, they're working on their apps and they're doing everything else. So they may not be as connected. [00:24:50] The juniors, those are the guys that are, hey, I want to flex the muscles a little bit. I want to get engaged. Big re-high. Yeah. Big re-high. Yes. Student sections, wild, everything else. Absolutely. It was kind of like I put a smile on my face when he was leaving for school. Sure. And I was like, yeah, this is going to be, you know, a good year. Yes. It's so true. So we went to the walkthrough yesterday, which we talked about. You did not participate. Do you not care about your son's education? I care deeply about it. I care deeply about it. Well, you need to be there. Were you one of three parents there? [00:25:19] There were maybe six people there, yes. It was an all right turnout. I mean, I saw a couple, like Andy Banks was there. I saw Roger Megan, Sarah White, Ashley Berry. Anyway, there's some people that we, and they're the same ones that have been every year. Right. And I got to see some people that had graduated. Their kids were going through it. Gave them a hug. Oh, Inga Durr. I saw her. I haven't seen her forever. Gave her a big hug. Well, anyway, so we're going through and meet the teachers. And it's so awesome. [00:25:47] I'm sure when I was, if my, they didn't do this when we were in school, I don't think. Right. You know? No. And my dad would not have gone. My dad would have never gone either. My mom probably would have. Yeah. I would just be so interested to see. Cause hello, I'm Lucy, Lucy Rose's dad. I'm Chad. Nice to meet you. Lucy Rose. She's just wonderful. She listens, pays attention to class. She brings a lot of energy. And then Sam Bridger's mom came in and hi, I'm Sam's mom. Oh, Sam is just so intelligent. He's all, you know, saying all these positive things. Sure. I mean, if I would have, my mom would have gone through to the teachers back. [00:26:17] 30 years ago. Hi, I'm Chad's mom. Oh, sorry. Sorry. We're all hoping. Yeah, exactly. We'll keep praying for them. But anyway, it's just, you feel proud as a parent. Yeah. When the teachers, they speak highly of your kids and say that they're engaged. Yeah. And they're a pleasure to be around. That's a really good feeling. Sure. So anyway, we got through that, but I have to stress this. And I know we've talked about it a million times on this podcast, Hank. [00:26:47] The smell of that school has not changed in 40, 50 years. I asked one of the teachers, I said, you know, do y'all just get used to the smell? And she was like, yes. But after the summer and you come back from summer vacation, it gets back in your olfactory regions, right? Regions. Yes. Yeah. And she said, what it is, is they have not, she said they put a fresh coat of paint on it every year or every other year. But the floors themselves have not been touched in 40 years. Like no cleaning, like deep cleaning. [00:27:16] Maybe just take the broom and scrub, scrub, scrub. I don't know. That's what she said. She was like, that's the smell that you're smelling. It's the floors. They stay the same smell. Sneakers. Yes. So anyway, it was awesome. And I'm telling you, going in that hall and seeing that locker, the dude I was with, he was like, how many times you get stuffed in there? I was like, they tried to, they tried to get me in that locker, but. Too quick. Exactly. I wasn't going to let that happen, but yeah, just to see it. It's still there. Isn't that weird? It is weird. Have you ever gone back to where your locker was? [00:27:45] I didn't even use my locker, so I couldn't even tell you. I knew I had one up in the language hall one day, but I'd never used it. I just carried it on my books because I was just a little bit stronger than you. But I do think it's funny going into the gym because the gym's the same. And then like I'm part of the boosters, you know, the boosters club. Yeah. And so like we'll look at locker rooms that are getting redone or something. And you'll go down into like the belly down underneath the gym. And those are where you got dressed for PE. Sure. [00:28:13] And, you know, they're all still the same, same floor, same. And the boys' locker room and now the girls' locker room both got kind of refilled. Refitted, yep. So it was kind of nice. But, you know, you get in some corners of that school and it is not changed from when we were there. Sure. And, you know, you see Coach Kraft and, you know, he's been a staple there forever. Right. And some of the people that you're, you know, you see there often like Officer Grace who I, you know, it's Bobby Grace. Sure. [00:28:43] You know, he's a science teacher there. And, you know, to see him in there interacting with Harris is kind of just crazy. It's awesome. Yeah. It's crazy. He's a great, great dude. So it's cool to see. You know, the funny thing is, and people from Hickory are just going to be the only ones that think about this. Where did we park? I remember where we parked. In the junior parking lot. Is the junior parking lot near the field? Near the football field. That's where we parked. That's where everybody parked. Everybody. That's fair. [00:29:11] Because the teachers parked at the other, what they call it, the senior parking lot. No, they have the teacher parking lot right by the basketball arena. Like that parking lot. That little parking lot. That's the teacher parking lot. Okay, gotcha. Right? So we all parked in the junior parking lot. Yes. Everybody now parks in the senior parking lot and comes through the front door. Now that could be because they're going through metal detectors and stuff like that because they have two double doors there. But I drive by there and there's not a car there. And I thought, man, that's foreign to me. Right. You know? Right. [00:29:42] Yes. I got a car wreck there. So the second day I had my license, I'm pulling in to the junior parking lot to park. And there's always traffic. It used to be called little market basket or little cupboard or something. What was it? You remember? It was a market basket. Market basket. Well, one of my dear friends, Keisha Eckert, she just got her license a couple of days before I did. And she was driving a convertible with the license plate tops off. Right? It was a white convertible. It was a beautiful car. But that license plate, you never forget. What were you driving? [00:30:12] It was a blue Ford Tempo. Okay. It was my dad's company car that he just passed me down. Because I got a Datsun 280ZX. But I'm a terrible driver. And he said, son, if you drive this car, you'll be dead in three days. So he sold it. Thank God. I'm out. There's no way I would be here today. Terrible driver. I've driven off 127 Bridge 18 times. Guaranteed. So anyway, I'm getting ready to pull into school. Second day of my license. I'm proud but nervous. And so Keisha's like waving me through. Come in. [00:30:41] Come on in. And so sure enough, I make the turn. Bang! Head on into another car. Think about this. Second day of my license. Everybody at school is out there. And then when I'm watching. And I turn right into a car. And I remember seeing Keisha's eyes like, oh my. Because she's the one I'm supposed to look. Yeah. But she waved me. So I just pulled right on through. Bang! Just got nailed. Radiator dripping. Exactly. You know. Second day of my license, brother. Oh. Terrible. So the next day. [00:31:11] I bet you Tom was super cool about it. Very cool. So Keisha has a joke. The next day, she's so sweet. She bought a bunch of Band-Aids. So it bashed up. I could drive the car. But it bashed up the front quarter panel or whatever you call it. So she pulled like 100 Band-Aids and stuck them all on where the car got hit. Like, thanks, Keisha. But how about, you know, pay for all of them? The corrections that they need in the car. But anyway, it's a fond memory. Of that exact parking lot. Yeah. A lot of memories. There were several accidents. [00:31:41] I remember witnessing several that would happen. You know, you'd be sitting there, you know, talking to your buddies or talking to your girl or whatever. And you hear, And then you'd be like, oh, oh, who got it? Who got it? No doubt. Yeah. Fond, fond memories of Hickory High School. So this past weekend was Labor Day. I don't know if you got to do anything cool. Would you stick around town? No. Well, we, what did we do? We had to be at High Point University on Saturday. [00:32:11] Harris played at High Point. And then Sunday, we really just kind of like hung around the house. Then Monday, we play, I play golf. Yeah. And a good friend of our son turned 18 and he got a shotgun. Okay. And so we have, you know, our place out in Vail. And so we went out there and shot skeet, which was a lot of fun to see these boys kind of, you know, try that for the first time. And, you know, a lot of these boys are good, like athletically, a lot of different things. And it's kind of nice to watch them fail. Yeah. [00:32:41] You know? Do they fail miserably? And then the old guys grab guns and bang, bang, bang, bang. Yeah. That's great. How about you? So very similar. Asheville. Yes. So we started here in Hickory. And I wanted before I go to the Asheville thing on Saturday. Our friend Steven, Sparks, kids, they all go to Clemson. Well, they invited a ton of their friends to come to Hickory to go on the lake for Labor Day. And it was awesome, first of all. Sure. That we set up on deck one, then eventually migrated back to deck two in the shade. [00:33:09] And so there were probably six girls and six dudes ranging from some are out of school, some are seniors, some are juniors. And so they've got their whole future in front of them. Sure. You know what I mean? The sky is the limit. They're brilliant. One of them wants to be a doctor. One of them wants to be a dentist. One of them wants to be a lawyer, blah, blah, blah. So just to see how they, you know, they're on Labor Day weekend. Yeah. No school. So they're going to ball. They're 21. They're going to ball out. And so I just sat back. Lucy Rose was with me. [00:33:36] And, you know, she's absorbing all this, too, watching them. And some of the dudes and girls really chill. But there are a couple of the girls and a couple of the dudes that are at 11. You know what I'm saying? Oh, I know. Like they are going full tilt at all times. So Lucy was like, is this really how college is? And I was like, yeah, this is how it is. You'll meet all kinds of different flavors of folks. Some that are calm and cool. Some of that are wide open. Some that are normally calm and cool can get wide open every now and then. But it's just an exciting chemistry of people. [00:34:06] And so those girls talked to Lucy Rose for hours upon hours of what college was like, telling them that they enjoyed Clemson and the other schools they visited. It was just a really good day. So thanks for Spooks for inviting me, including our family in it. They had a great, great time. And we wake up early the next day and we said, Lucy Rose, now that you've talked to all these girls about college, you haven't told us one thing about what you want to do with your future. Let's go up the mountain. It's hot as heck in Hickory. Let's go to Asheville. Jennifer got us a room. Let's go eat a really nice dinner. [00:34:35] And let's sit down and talk about your future. Because if we don't get her to go up there, you know, if we stay in Hickory, she gone. Yeah. She'll be with her friends or whatever. She was like, that's a great idea. So we go up, eat at lunch at this Indian place. It's world famous called Chaipani or something. It's awesome. Is that in Biltmore Village? They have one there. This is the one that's downtown. It's gorgeous. It looks like you're in Nepal or something. It's beautiful. Okay. So ate lunch there. It was awesome. [00:35:04] Walked around, shopped, all that stuff. Then got ready for dinner at Zambra's. Ever been there? Never been there. Tapas place. Awesome. Wonderful food. I recommend that you go. Very dark, very quaint, very cozy. Great food. So we just got in a little corner and we sat there for about three hours. And I said, just tell us what you want to do. Whatever you want to do, we'll make it work. So she did and gave us her dreams and told us her dreams and what she was aspiring for. And just a really awesome weekend. Yeah. Just a really great weekend. [00:35:33] So now we just got to figure out how to make it all happen. Right. Write the essays. She's in charge of that. Common app. Common app. She's working on all that. We've got to get our applications in and just a lot of stuff that goes into it. But it's exciting. Yeah, it is exciting. Exciting, especially because they're at a point now where they're trying to figure out what they're going to do. And people have degrees from college that they're not even coming close to using. [00:35:58] And so it's important to try to boil this down a little bit. But in reality, your life can zig and zag and it's all going to change. And so I think just having some sort of idea, like this is something that I want to kind of look at or strive for, is important. Just like what your son did, he set his goals for what he wanted to achieve many moons ago. Yeah. And it's good to set a goal. You got something to try to grab hold to him and achieve. And so that's what he's done. And he's doing a heck of a job. [00:36:27] So keep it up, Harris. Proud of you, buddy. Hank, so we're going to transition a little bit. You know, everybody's favorite segment over the last six months has been the segment called Judge Hank. Come, come. Right? Come, come. Yes. So we've got a couple more. Okay. Judge Hanks, if you're ready. I'm ready. All right. This is Jim from Jacksonville. Jim writes, Dear Hank, I have a buddy who gave himself his own nickname without really earning it. [00:36:55] Should I let him know nicknames are supposed to be given to you? You can't make your own up, i.e. Mr. Hickory. Hmm. So what do you think about the nickname deal? I have a buddy, and actually you're really good with nicknames too. You gave one of our friends a nickname, Longtown. Longtown. I heard Longtown a lot. That one's really stuck. But what do you think about giving your own self a nickname? You're supposed to kind of earn it from your friends. They give it to you. [00:37:24] You don't say, hey, start calling me Mr. Goodbar. Mr. Goodbar. You don't do that. You let them call you, hey, we will start calling you Mr. Goodbar, right? So tell me, what's your thoughts? Well, I mean, I do think that nicknames are funny. I think that they're appreciated, right? And everybody loves a good nickname. Yes. I do think that it's important to have substance behind it. Sure. Right? Yes. [00:37:48] And so, you know, listen, I find it wildly funny how Longtown is getting talked about all the time, right after we started talking about it, right? Right. And I know that's, I know that the thing that you're goading me to do right now is have a conversation. But I do think that a nickname should be something that when the masses hear it, they should think of you. Bingo. [00:38:17] I've got my favorite nickname of all time. And y'all won't think it's funny because you have to know this person, but we went to school with this guy named Matthew Faraby. Do you remember him? For sure. Great dude. Great family. Well, he, you know, you wouldn't really think of him as a big athlete. You look at him and you're like, that dude's probably really smart. Probably writes poetry. You know what I'm saying? Really good in English. Sure. You know, short stories. Yeah, calculus. Yeah, something. And so we were playing ball one day and Hootie, talk about giving people good nicknames. [00:38:46] Hootie was like a mastermind of giving people nicknames. He always would come up with a perfect nickname for everybody. So we're playing basketball pickup. We're in actually a league at the Y and I think Matt Faraby had dribbled off his knee for like the eighth time. I don't know, just not very athletic. And so after his fourth turnover traveling, Hootie was like, nice walk, Shakespeare. And so he called him Shakespeare, right? And so that name immediately just stuck. It was, can't you see that from Matthew Faraby, the nickname Shakespeare? [00:39:16] Just wonderful. What is your perfect nickname that one of your buddies you've heard or that they've given? The nickname thing is so funny because my wife does not call anybody by their first name. That's right. Does not. Yes, you're exactly right. What does she call you? She calls me Moto. Moto. Yes. Right? Yes. She calls every single buddy of mine, CJ Sehota. Michael Banks is Mikey. His wife is Titus. [00:39:41] You know, I mean, it's so funny because like whenever we see, she calls Davey Lil Boo, right? And so like whenever we see somebody we know, she's going to hit him with that nickname. And like, I think it's so funny and it's so kind of like small town because it doesn't matter. We could be at Cotillion in tuxedos and you'll hear like my wife is loud in a good way. I love, she's loud, but you can hear. And then you'll hear her in a corner go, Lil Boo. [00:40:09] And I'm like, well, I know who's here. So, I mean, I think, you know, there's some tough nicknames out there for some of our buddies and I don't want to necessarily give it to them, but the nickname game is strong with my wife. Okay, good. Very good. Well, thank you, Jim from Jacksonville. I hope Judge Hank helped you there. Gomp, gomp. Gomp, gomp. We've got one more. George from Georgia. Okay. [00:40:38] Jim from Jacksonville and George from Georgia. Here we go. Dear Mr. Hank, my neighbor walks his dog constantly and will stop by and engage in 20-minute conversations with me every time I'm outside and he passes by. I don't want to be rude, but I don't have the time to listen to his stories about that one time or my grandkids just hiked Everest. [00:41:03] What can I do to not come off rude to this gentleman? Well, I think being a good neighbor is important. Yes. Okay? And there's going to be times that you should engage this individual for his 20-minute conversation because obviously this is what he wants to do. My question is, is what are you doing outside? Oh, typically. So I have a whole... You know our neighborhood. Yeah. Everybody walks their dog. And it always seems we all walk our dogs about the same time. Yeah. [00:41:27] The one gentleman, and I don't know if George is in the same situation, but I would guess like... You know, I'm not even going to go there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll just leave it with George from Georgia. But like in his neighborhood, he's probably walking a dog and another person is walking a dog and you guys cross paths. Yes. And the next thing you know, you're in a 20-minute conversation. Yes. I got it. Okay. It's okay to, hey, how you doing? And put your head down and keep going. Yeah. Okay. Or pretend like you're on the phone. No. I'm on the phone. No. No. It's okay. [00:41:56] It's okay to be like, Jim, how's it going? Good to see you, man. And continue to walk. Don't like... The problem is, is people open their shoulders up to the guy. Engage. And they're like, hey, what's going on? You can say... I mean, like my favorite would be, oh, you know, like I got to use the restroom. Oh, I got to go. But I mean, like, you know, the... It's okay. But sometimes you just got to be a good neighbor. Of course. I mean, you know, what is this world if we are not going to be good to one another? Absolutely. [00:42:25] I completely agree. I think maybe in George from George's case, every... It's a daily kind of thing, which in the stories are probably very boring. But maybe the guy's very lonely. And you know the other thing you can do? George, let's vary up our route. Great. Let's vary up our route. If you know that this guy's going to be on a certain route... And you don't have time to conversate. Let's go east instead of west. Fair enough. Right? Fair enough. [00:42:54] Like, because I've been in your neighborhood, my neighborhood. George has probably got a similar neighborhood. Very similar neighborhood, yes. It's beautiful on the east side as well as on the west side. Absolutely. So let's vary that up. Then you don't have to go, you know, go around them. Because I bet you George's neighbor, like, you don't live beside George's neighbor. Right. But I bet some of George's friends live right beside George's neighbor. I would guess so. And that becomes a problem. Yes. Because when you walk out your door... Yes. [00:43:21] ...like carrying cupcakes out or, you know, something like that... Where are you going, neighbor? You might bump into that guy. Yeah. So I'm just saying, let's vary the routes. Let's keep the head down. Yes. Shoulders turned, not engaged. That's the southern, polite way to attack it. Great answer, Hank. Great advice. George, thank you for the text and email. Y'all keep them coming. Cung cung. Hank has solved another mystery. Cung cung. Okay. Good job. Cung cung. [00:43:51] Good, good. Good, good. So, Hank, my team, we're in the middle of some tennis leagues right now. We won't bore everybody with it, but you had a big win last night. Congratulations. I did. We're on the same team now because we're a combo. We are a combo. We played two weeks. We lost one week. We won one week. The loss we had, you lost horribly. It wasn't horrible. You brought us down. You were the reason we lost. Okay. It's fine. It's fine. We were the... I was the reason we won last night. So, you know. Yes. I mean, maybe... Just maybe. What if we did this? What if we... You went to 3-5 and I went to 4-0 at the same time? 3-5-4-0. [00:44:21] Then this world would come to an end immediately. I mean, it's the end of days. Okay. Well, our tri-level team, we're going to States next weekend. So, we leave on Wednesday. Our first match is Thursday at 8 a.m. in Raleigh, right? So, I haven't been to a States in a while, but I'm looking forward to this one. Instead of getting a big house, though, we're doing it very maturely. Everybody's got their own hotel room. We're going there on a mission, and that's to win. Wow. We're going on a mission. Everybody's got their own hotel rooms. That wasn't the last time we went to States. That wasn't our mission. [00:44:50] No. We were there to have a time. Yeah, we were to have a time. And that's what it's about, too. We're going to have fun, don't get me wrong. But, you know, we're driving down there. Everybody's got their own hotel. Everybody has to play every match. There's only six of us going. Oh, wow. So, we have to play two matches every day. But, anyway, it'll be a blast. So, please wish us luck at the representing Hickory, North Carolina. Don't come back a loser. We'll come back with a trophy in hand, Hank. Looking at my list of anything else going on, we got NFL football. It kicked off last night. That game stunk. [00:45:20] Tonight's game should be much better. San Fran versus L.A. Rams. And then the big day, Sunday, NFL really kicks into gear. College football kicking into gear. Texas, Ohio State this weekend. U.S. Open. U.S. Open. We got Shelton versus Tiafoe. Yes, tonight. Is that tonight? I thought it was tomorrow. Coco plays tonight. So, anyway, all kinds of great sports stuff going on. Good luck to Hickory High. They are playing tomorrow against Newton Conover at home. Off to a two-in-one start. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. [00:45:50] Really, one of the biggest things for Hickory High is volleyball's kick and tail. Yes, as always. Women's tennis is kick and tail. Boys soccer plays tonight against Newton Conover. Oh, wow. Big rival. Newton is number one or two in 4A. Yeah. We're one or two in 5A. Dang. And all these boys play together. So, like, a lot of the guys on Newton's team and a lot of boys here. And there was a kid on Hickory High's team, really good player. Yeah. Left this year and went to Newton. And they're all tight. [00:46:20] And so, like, Harris is, like, jacked for the game because he knows the kid, knows him well. Sure. Like, you know, nothing aggressive towards him. But he was like, me and my boys are all going tonight. Nice. Because we want to see this go down. So, I can only remember, like, when I was playing soccer for Hickory High, like, we'd get some pretty good crowds. Not amazing, but pretty good. How do the crowds for the good turnouts for soccer? Yeah, because they're good. They're good. Yeah, I mean, because they're good. And so, like, their crowds are pretty good. Yeah. [00:46:45] But, like, you know, the problem is, is, like, the soccer crowds when you were playing, you guys played in the big stadium. Yeah. There's a lot of bleachers. That's true. Right? And so, like, the bleachers are much smaller now. And so, people are standing up against the fence. Yes. And it's all the way around. And it's a good environment for sure. Cool. Well, good luck to them. And all the Hickory High School athletics going on right now is an exciting time. Before we leave, too, my little nephew, Owen, and my niece, Addie. Their birthdays are Saturdays. Are they your sisters? My sister's kids. [00:47:15] They were born around the same time? Yeah. Born literally within a day of each other. Yeah. So, happy birthday to them. We're going to try to get to the birthday party this weekend. But if not, we'll be there in spirit. So, happy birthday, Owen. Happy birthday, Addie. Anything you want to say, Hank, before we bust out of here today? This weekend, we are in the middle. We have eight weeks in a row where we're on the road. And this weekend, we are at Appalachian State. Okay. So, we get to play close to home. You know, everywhere else is, like, we're going to Georgia and Fort Myers, Florida. [00:47:45] Elon, Liberty, Charlotte. So, it's going to be nice to sleep in our own bed. Sure. Go up, come back down. Good luck to Harris and the team. Yep. Yep. All right. And, Alan, thank you for producing our first show together as a big fan. And we'll look forward to many more to come. Yes. Until then, enjoy your weekend. Enjoy your football. Peace. [00:48:13] You've been listening to The Mesh, an online media network of shows and programs ranging from business to arts, sports to entertainment, music to community. All programs are available on the website as well as through iTunes and YouTube. Check us out online at themesh.tv. Discover other network shows and give us feedback on what you just heard.