Happy Galentine’s Day from BIG FAN!

[00:00:02] What you want, when you want it, where you want it. This is The MESH. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to episode 106, volume 7 of a special Valentine's Day edition of BIG FAN.

[00:00:32] Ooh wee wee, I will speak in my language of love voice for the rest of this podcast, Hank. Okay? That's creepy. My name is Chad East, a lover of fine wine, walks on the beach in pickled okra. When I'm in the mood for love, I put on key sweat, light a pumpkin spice scented candle, and lay down on my faux bare skin rug. Hank, are you excited yet? I'm ready to leave the room. I'm ready to leave this place, man.

[00:01:01] Oh, he got really hot in here, guys. I'm going to have to cool him down. He got really excited about that sexy voice I just threw on him. But anyway, Hank, what's up? Valentine's Day edition, a BIG FAN. Hey, it's great to be here. You know, I mean, the funny thing is, is when you started that, I felt like I was, like, you were a predator. Right there. You know, the only thing that I'm glad that you did not do is get eye contact with me. I made sure to look down at all times. I didn't want to freak you out any more than you were already freaked out.

[00:01:31] No, I appreciate that. Yeah. Well, anyway, but hey, another Valentine's Day right in front of us, and I know how you love Valentine's Day. Love it. Love it. It's probably my favorite holiday. Didn't you have the conspiracy theory, not a conspiracy theory, but it was created just for us to stimulate the candy and card economy. Absolutely. Absolutely. And flour. Sure. Sure. And I don't believe, now let me preface that with saying, I don't believe that it shouldn't be celebrated. I don't feel like, you know, you shouldn't shower somebody with love on those days.

[00:01:59] I just think that it's funny that you have to shower them with love and shower them with gifts and shower them with flour. And you know the other thing, the reason that you know this holiday is made up? How much do we think roses are on August 2nd? Right. Right? Right. February 13th, 14th? Times 20. Exactly. Mark them up. Exactly. So I was going through my memory banks the other day and I was just thinking, because we have kids in high school, right?

[00:02:28] And I was thinking, this is so gross. But I bought a Valentine's present when I was a senior for my girlfriend at the time. This lingerie set. I'm 17 years old. What? And I'm dropping a lingerie set? Like, what was I thinking? What if mom and dad, they're her mom and dad, like, what'd Chad get you for Valentine's Day? Oh, this really sexy lingerie set. Are you kidding me? That's gross. I know it's sick. It's gross.

[00:02:56] And so I was just thinking, Chad, you got kids, same age. They should not be exchanging lingerie sets, right? Okay, great. Thank you. All right. Holy cow. Let's stick with the candy. Yes. And the flowers, right? Yes, please. Or the chocolates or whatever. Okay. Maybe a nice starter's jacket or jersey, you know, something. That takes a lot out of me right there. I thought I knew you in high school. What did you get your girlfriends in high school? Flowers. Flowers.

[00:03:24] I remember a day specifically I was sick, okay? It was Valentine's Day. And I'm sitting on the couch and I probably had the flu or something. I was like, Mom, I've got to buy flowers for such and such and have them delivered to the high school. And there was like 50 deliveries to the high school. Like, you know, all the guys were doing that. I remember doing that and it being a big deal because the girlfriend would like get the flowers at school. And, you know, she's parading around her friends that didn't get flowers.

[00:03:53] And throwing them in her face. Put it right in her face. Ah! Yeah. But I remember doing that. But, and then, you know, like dinner, you know, stuff like going out to dinner and stuff like that. But nothing as festive as you, my friend. Another really good memory. Your mom used to sell me bracelets. What was the name of her store? Panache. Panache. And they were always silver is what I would buy. I bet I went to your mom's store on Valentine's Day. I don't even know how many Valentine's Days in a row. But anyway, she was my like go-to jewelry.

[00:04:23] If I wasn't going lingerie, if I wasn't going candy, I would go with jewelry up at Panache. She saved a lot of butts for boys that were trying to buy gifts for girls. Because, I mean, I always got, come on. Of course. I always had jewelry going. Yeah. But you would see guys coming in there like- Last minute. And like frantic. Right. Calling our house. Saying, Miss Imer, do you have something at the house that you can maybe, and my mom always would. Because we had a safe. Oh, yeah. And so she'd have jewelry in there. She'd be like, yeah, come on by.

[00:04:52] And you'd come by and she'd put out three things. Exactly. Save your butt. Save your butt. Absolutely. Always priced very reasonable. Always very, very nice. And the girl always seemed to appreciate it. Yeah. Yeah. Girls like jewelry. They like jewelry. They like jewelry. Yeah. So staying on the Valentine's Day theme, my daughter, Lucy Rose, is having to spend the night party at night. They don't have school tomorrow or Monday, right? Is this at your house? No, at her friend's house. Okay. And Jennifer and I was like, oh, that's cool.

[00:05:20] Spend the night party, blah, blah, blah. And Jennifer was like, well, of course, it's Galentine's Day. Yeah. And I said, Galentine's Day? What is Galentine's Day? And she kind of, I'm not going to say flipped out, but she was amazed. I had never heard of Galentine's Day. Now, Hank, I talked to you a little bit about this before we walked in here today. I can assume what Galentine's Day is.

[00:05:44] It's a night, a day or night that the girls get together without any dudes because some of them have Valentine's. Some of them don't. And spend some time together. Yeah. You know, just talking. Shower each other with love. With love and affection. Right. But did I know it was an official day that happened the day or night before Valentine's Day? No. No way had I any thought. Jennifer said, you go ask 10 of your friends and I guarantee you they'll know exactly about Galentine's Day. I've asked seven.

[00:06:14] No dude knows what Galentine's Day is. I mean, again, the official Galentine's Day. Right? Sure. Okay. I knew exactly what date it was and what it was. Of course you did. So you can tell Jennifer. Yeah, sure you did. Sure you did. Look, here's what our producer Moose put up here. Galentine's Day is a global holiday that celebrates women's friendship. Typically marked as February 13th, but could be observed any day. Yeah. Yeah. Any day. Any day. Isn't Galentine's Day basically every day for these women then?

[00:06:43] I'm not getting on that one, dude. You're going to lose me on that one. I'm just kidding. Forget it. Scratch that. Delete that, Moose. Delete that from the podcast. No way. I'm not going in there. But anyway, well, good. I'm glad there is a Galentine's Day. And so Olivia will be celebrating with her girlfriends tonight. Is Reagan doing any Galentine's Day events? No. I am doing something with Reagan this evening. Okay. We're going to do something. I don't know what we're doing, but we are going to be – Valentine's is every day for the Imers. Of course. What a lover.

[00:07:11] So sticking to the Valentine's Day, this is the last thing we'll talk about Valentine's Day and we'll move right along. Right along. But my wife loves Valentine's Day and me so much that – I can't wait to hear what you're doing together tomorrow. Yeah, exactly. We're going to have this wonderful weekend together where she drives to Raleigh to meet 12 of her best college friend and spends the weekend in Raleigh watching basketball games

[00:07:35] and drinking at fine restaurants and eating, whatever, blah, blah, blah, while Daddy-O just has to stay home and mind the fort. I'm sure you're not staying home and minding the fort. No, I'm sure that's not what it was. Yes. But I got to tell you, I don't blame her. For what? Going. Sounds like fun. It does. I wish I would be doing that, actually. Yeah, it sounds like fun. Anyway, Jennifer, even though we won't be together, our love will cover many, many miles. You know? Yeah.

[00:08:05] Is that pretty nice? It's great. That's great. That would creep me out enough to leave and go to Raleigh. So now that she is not choosing to spend Valentine's Day with you, it leaves your calendar open. Right. Okay? So what does a single man on Valentine's weekend do? Like, what are we doing? I know... Gaia Tines Day, I think is what we'll call it. Okay. Is this Saturday? Gaia Tines Day? Gaia Tines Day, Saturday, Gaia Tines. Yeah. So I think we might just pack up in the old family roadster.

[00:08:35] I think we're going to head down to Blacksburg, Virginia, or head up to Blacksburg, Virginia. Lovely drive. Lovely drive. Two and a half hours, we're there. Watch a little college basketball. Virginia Wahoos versus Virginia Tech Hokies. My brother's a big Wahoo fan. The guy we're going with, Phil Payne, legendary Virginia Tech athlete, played D1 tennis. Yep. Spectacular. Yep. And so because he's a D1 athlete and legendary at Virginia Tech, he's got the finest of the seats. Mm-hmm.

[00:09:03] And so we get to sit right behind, I think it's the opposition's bench. Actually, it might be the home bench, and just have a good basketball day. So because you're going there, and you're going with Phil, are you going to wear Virginia Tech colors? Like, what is that? Because I know Jeremy. Right. He's got the gall to wear Virginia stuff, even with this guy. If he wears Virginia, I would punch him in the face. And I am rooting for Virginia to lose now. We all will. We're all rooting against Virginia.

[00:09:30] I normally just wear the standard black, with like a black shirt. I'm like in the middle, right? I don't wear the colors. Well, black is Virginia Tech. I know it is, so I'd be leaning toward Virginia Tech colors, but I would wear a black shirt anyway. Okay. That's normally what I rock, Hank. Okay. Yeah. You're all black all the time. All black all the time. Johnny Cash over there. Exactly. That's what we're doing for Gaia Tines. Okay. Back Sunday? We'll be back. Actually, we're not spending the night. Coming home Saturday. We're leaving early in the morning. Coming back after the ball game.

[00:09:58] And then Sunday, just waiting for my lovely wife to get back home so I can just shower her with gifts and flowers and lingerie. Sounds lovely. Sounds pretty wonderful. We'll do our Valentine's Day on Sunday. Okay. Okay. Good. So for your weekend, you told me it's going to be pretty special. Well, so kids are out of school tomorrow and Monday, so it leads to a pretty long weekend. And we've talked about my brother-in-law and sister-in-law and their kids and how we do a lot of stuff with them, Carson and Brennan and those guys. So we are going to the mountains and meeting them there.

[00:10:29] And, you know, it's always fun to get out of Hickory and hang out with that group because we've done it for so long. You know, just like any other family trip. Sure. But Carson's an idiot. And we always have a good time. So we're going to go up there. Probably it's supposed to rain. I heard. So, you know, what do you do in Boone when it's raining? And then you come on now. We know that. But, you know, we'll find something to do. Have fun. And then come back.

[00:10:55] We'll probably come back Sunday because spring sports have started and they're practicing tomorrow on that day off, practicing Monday on the day off. So you've got to be back for those. So we'll probably be back Monday early. Awesome. Sounds like a fun weekend. So that leads me to our next segment here. I'm going to tell you a little bit about my weekend that I was supposed to spend with my brother-in-law, Todd, and his wife, Julie, and a lot of Jennifer's family members in this

[00:11:21] little old place called the Princess Anne Inn in Asheville, North Carolina. Right? Okay. Haven't been to Asheville since the hurricane. Haven't. I mean, I've donated a bunch of stuff, but I haven't driven up there. But so they're still. How'd it look? Devastat. I mean, it looked better. Like businesses are open. But on the sides of the roads, you can just see massive like destruction and trees. They're making tons of mulch by, you know, just cutting up all these trees that were debris. Yeah.

[00:11:49] And it's all the way up the hill, up the mountain that you can see it on either side. There's some areas that have not reopened. I mean, they were underwater. I don't know if they'll ever reopen. Yeah. But it was business as usual uptown. So we went up there, ate at this cool little Mexican joint, then right up to our hotel where the murder mystery is what we were going there for. And so everybody plays a role. We were the Vanderbilt family who owned the Biltmore House.

[00:12:17] And there were other prestigious families, if you will, that were joining us at this wonderful gala. And so. How many people? We probably had probably 50 people were there. Okay. So we had the whole hotel. It was awesome. And people were rolling out and like, so I had this tuxedo on white jacket. There were other people that were dressed up like they were in the show Bridgerton. I don't know if you know that show with kind of look, the dudes kind of look like they were green or red or yellow, like leprechaun outfit. I don't know how to explain.

[00:12:47] They had tights on and stuff. Okay. So a lot of that, a lot of masks with real like hook noses, you know, they're kind of scary to me. Yeah. But anyway, and the girls were dressed up in brilliant ball gowns and all this wonderful stuff. So anyway, the thing is we're supposed to get together, you know, drink fine wine and blah, blah, blah, and have these rolls. Well, by the time kind of the party kind of kicked off, everybody sipping on them, the host of the party was like, you know what? Screw the rolls. Let's just have a party.

[00:13:15] So the next thing you know, a harpist came out, played, a ballet dancer did a little. How do you dance to a harpist? Great question. This ballet dancer was awesome. I thought you were going to say you dance. Oh, no. Are you kidding me? No, this was a lovely ballet dancer. Stole the show, the harpist and the violinist, and it was lovely. But then when they stopped, it was like 930, you know, what are we going to do with ourselves? Well, I always have a speaker. So I grabbed the speaker, bring it down to the lobby of the hotel.

[00:13:44] And then my brother-in-law, Josh, he's a yacht rock maestro. He just put on, I think it was Christopher Cross. The next thing you know, everybody comes in the lobby, we're singing. I don't even know these people. Singing songs, dancing, loving, just having a ball. 130 in the morning rolls around. Wow. Jennifer's still up with me, too. And basically the whole party is still up.

[00:14:07] My favorite part of the entire night, the gentleman who was dressed up as the green leprechaun, about six foot four, hair in a bun, was in character the whole night. Like, hello, my friend. I can't even do an 18-whatever voice, but that's his character. Well, he happened to probably have a little too much, and so he lost his keys and lost his pride and lost his mind basically all at the same time. Because he drove up in his Tesla, and he will not get out of character.

[00:14:36] Gentlemen, I have lost my keys. Please, someone help me. And I'm like, dude, it's 1.30 in the morning. You could kill the role play. We're not doing it anymore. And suddenly a few tears streamed down his face. I can't make this up. And the big six, three-foot dude with a bun in his hair and the green leprechaun outfit says, I shall walk back to my humble abode three miles down Tunnel Road. And this is the best part of the night.

[00:15:03] The host, Jennifer's cousin, grabbed him and said, look in the mirror. And he's got his green leprechaun outfit. She said, you're walking down Tunnel Road straight to the crack houses. I refuse to let Bridgerton Jr. walk to Tunnel Road and get killed. So you just stay here with us. And he said, I shall. So anyway, he hung around in the lobby still crying a little bit.

[00:15:29] And she got him an Uber, and his car was still there the next day. He left his trunk open. I mean, he was just a mess. But it was a fun, fun party. This is the second time you guys have done this, right? Yeah, yes. Would you rather have done the party, or would you rather have done the murder mystery? It's a little nerve-wracking, because you have to play a role. You have to know your lines and all this stuff. This was just, we just threw the script out the window and said, let's just have a party. And that's what we did. Pretty fantastic.

[00:15:58] So were you up there two nights? We went Saturday morning. Yeah, Saturday morning and stayed. And then the crazy thing is, so Sunday comes around. I haven't missed a Super Bowl my whole life, except one Super Bowl. I had the flu, and I could not get off the couch. It was feeling terrible. So there were a couple parties we were supposed to attend. I knew Jennifer wasn't going from the get-go. I mean, after 12.30, the next day, she ate with nothing, which I can't blame her. But normally, I can rally. So we got home, very decent hour, enough for me to take a nap. We got home at 11.30 in the morning. Right.

[00:16:27] So took nap time, wake up. Here we go. Feel like a main box. Let's go, let's go. And everybody's party started around 4.30 or 5.00. Game starts at 6.30. I'm like, it's 3 o'clock. Let's shower up. Next thing I know, I am still on the couch, and it's halftime. I fell asleep after Ken. Anyway, I just couldn't get any motivation to go do it. But anyway, which leads us to the Super Bowl and to Kendrick Lamar, the halftime show. Tell me first impressions.

[00:16:56] I've read all the stuff that other people have said. Tell me what Hank Eimer thought. I like Kendrick Lamar. I know you do. I like Kendrick Lamar. I like the... So, and I got to... I'm a little bit biased because I know a lot of the backstory. Exactly. Right? So I like the diss of the entire thing. I was watching it as it was happening. I was like, oh my God, this is directly at him. He was wearing the A minor on it, you know, all that stuff. So, and I like his music. So, I loved it.

[00:17:26] Okay? I felt like it was generic presentation because of the street and everything else. I loved it. Everybody I talked to hated it. Right? And I think it's funny because I got to my office the Monday and they're like, oh, that was terrible. Blah, blah, blah. And I was like, yeah, I kind of liked it. But I mean, I think it's just, you know, part of it probably is because I've always like rap R&B. I also have Harris in my life who listens to a lot of that and we listened to it a ton.

[00:17:56] But I think it was good. I think that he is a very heady guy and the disses on the halftime were pretty amazing. Yes. So, I'm a Kendrick Lamar fan as well, Hank. Not as big as you. You're the one that actually introduced me to him. So, thank you for that. And this is what I feel about him. I'm just like you said, he's very, his rhymes are heady. They have a meaning, most of them. You know, it's just not like it's got some type of meaning, you know.

[00:18:25] So, I almost thought if you don't know him or didn't know his music, it would be very boring because a lot of people don't know that dude, right? Right. And the stage show or the production of it was very generic. And I would probably say boring to somebody who did not know him. And that's probably half of the country at least, you know. Yeah. So, I could understand how everybody was saying this is the worst. I mean, adamant about it. This is the worst Super Bowl party ever.

[00:18:55] My friend Ryan Greer, our friend Ryan Greer did say this though. Kendrick Lamar, his talent, unparalleled. You know, in the rap game, unparalleled. That might just not have been his best place to show off his talent. That might have been, you know, the Super Bowl might not have been the spot. Right. Have you ever seen, have you seen the videos out there that are out right now and they show like panning into a party and they show like one party and everybody's sitting on the couch like, what is this?

[00:19:22] Like, can you know, and then it goes through the wall and the first time right beside him are raging and going crazy. So, I mean, you're exactly right. 50% of the population did not get it. But, you know, I mean, I think that that's the difference is, you know, sometimes you hit, sometimes you don't. I mean, you know, you can't always have a Justin Timberlake or an Usher or a Beyonce or whoever that everybody's going to like. But I kind of liked it. But outside of that, what about the game? I know you slept through half of it. Yeah. I mean, what were your thoughts on the game?

[00:19:51] I mean, you know, it really wasn't a game. It was over in the first half. Yeah. I mean, it was basically over. I thought Philadelphia's defensive line just confused the heck out of my homes. The offensive line for Kansas City had nothing for them. They couldn't give them two seconds. And so, Philadelphia was the better team. They deserved to win. Yeah, they did. I would never have thought it'd be like that, though. Well. That whooping. That was a whooping. Yeah. They did not have time to. But, yeah, I mean, I think that the experience was good outside of the game. Because I like Kendrick.

[00:20:20] The commercials were funny. You know, I thought we were going to have a party at my house. Nobody showed up. I'm kidding. Remember, you were acknowledging everybody. You know, on Sunday evenings, we usually have my family over. So, my entire family came over. Of course. And so, we had a good time. But it was – I mean, I enjoyed the evening. Although the game kind of stung, I enjoyed it. So, let's stay on this just for one quick second.

[00:20:45] If I were to tell you and rank these, we'll have a quick Hanks hierarchy here for Super Bowl X that could happen in the future. If I gave you four names, rank these. So, Foo Fighters. Metallica. Chris Stapleton. And let's give me another one. Green Day, let's say. All right? So, if those were your four – Pearl Jam's never done it either. Put Pearl Jam in there.

[00:21:12] So, for a good Super Bowl halftime performance, let's rank those. How would you rank them? Start from five to one. Well, I mean, man, you're probably one – I would say – I would think the best performance that would – like, you're very specific in your genre right there. Very specific. Yes. I think the people that would, like, reach out to the most would be the Foo Fighters. Okay. That's fair.

[00:21:41] But I like the Foo Fighters. I do too. A lot. Okay? I think Green Day would probably be on the bottom of my list. That's my number five. Okay. They'd probably be on the bottom of my list. I would think that Metallica would give nostalgia to just about anybody. So, they're probably my number two. Huge success. It would be a big – it would be a successful Super Bowl. Right. Yes. And then the next two, I think I'd put Stapleton and then Pearl Jam. Bingo. Me too. That would be my exact five too. What Stapleton could do, you know, it could be him up there.

[00:22:10] He's fantastic anyway, but he could bring some other artists. He's done something with JT. Yeah. You know, he's done something with – shoot, you name it. Bruno Mars? Yeah. Bruno Mars. He's done something with – so anyway, he could have a bunch of other stars come up. Yeah. It would be a great show. Metallica would stand on their own. They could do what they want, but they'd stand on their own. They're just classic like that. And yeah, Pearl Jam, it probably would be fun. Nostalgic. You think about the 90s. They have some new hits too, but I don't know. I mean, everybody knows them, but they wouldn't be my top. I think you nailed it with – Green Day being last.

[00:22:40] Yes. Green Day being last. Yeah, yeah. Because there's so many – like Gaga at the beginning of the – did you see Lady Gaga at the beginning? Yes. It was great. I mean, shutting down Bourbon Street and doing that. Wonderful. So, I mean – but I think there is so – this one especially, there's so much peripheral stuff. Like, I think the coverage started at like three. Yeah. Maybe even before that, to be honest. Yeah, which I feel like is stupid. Yeah. Like, I don't need to see that, all that stuff. But, I mean, it was good. I don't know how much I would have loved to have gone down to New Orleans to watch that game.

[00:23:09] I've been in – you know, I've been in New Orleans a couple of times. That is a big arena. And for football, that's fine. But, you know, I watched the Final Four there, and it was like watching on a wristwatch. Right. You know? Yeah. So, I don't know. It was – but, I mean, all in all, I thought it was pretty good. Any good food? I know we like to talk about the Super Bowl food. So, tell me what we had. Yes. Yes. We all did appetizers, right? And what I did is – have you ever had the French chicken wing? Fabulous. Yes. So, up at the – From Dockside. Dockside. Yes.

[00:23:38] So, I had five pounds of those. Whoa. And cooked them and then finished them on the grill. And they're like lollipops. Perfect. Meat lollipops. They really are. And so, you know, I had probably, you know, my weight in those. Yes. But, yeah, it was – we did that, and it was fun. How about you? Eat broccoli? Well, I mean, I basically was in and out of a sleeping coma. So, Jennifer made those little ham biscuits in the pepper ridge, whatever. You know what I'm talking about? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:24:06] So, those were so awesome. So, I ate a couple of those, and I didn't even drink a beer. I was drinking Gatorade. Wow. What's happening here? What's happening to you? Falling apart over here. Which leads me to my next thing. Now I've got tennis elbow, Hank. Oh, man. Tennis elbow. You know what? You looked very – you looked shook the other day we were on the court together. You looked like you couldn't perform. I couldn't even hold a racket. Yeah, you look like you're in bad shape. So, tell us about your – Yeah, so – Your failed tendon.

[00:24:37] So, supposedly, I have a strained tendon where my elbow is, and you can see how it's protruding there a little bit. So, I called into a favor to a doctor because one of my buddies had the same thing, and he said, I call this gentleman. He can check you out real quick, check you out over the phone, blah, blah, blah. So, they prescribed me a steroid. I've been taking it for the last three days. Swelling has gone down. I can now grip, which is good. So, he said, take the medicine for five days. So, I've got two more days left.

[00:25:06] Take another week off from tennis, and let's see how it does. So, you didn't have an appointment with this doctor. So, we're talking back alley doctor. You called a back alley doctor who didn't see you. You explained what was wrong with you. I explained my ailments. Right. Yes, yes. And then he prescribed you medication. This seems all up and up. It is on the up and up. I'm feeling better, Hank. So, the medicine's working. Okay. I hope I told him the right.

[00:25:35] What if I, you know, I said it's sticking out from over here, but what if it's like on the bottom side of my elbow and I'm taking medicine that it calls me pain and discomfort instead of helping, right? I'm looking forward to seeing the wing on the back of you, on your back as it grows out from this radiation you're taking. Well, I'm hoping that everything will work. He said the next step, and I wouldn't want to do this, would get a shot in your elbow. People do that. I'm looking for cortisone. Cortisone for the tendinitis or whatever. I have three in my knee. Are you serious? Uh-huh. Yeah.

[00:26:03] Three is the most they say you can take or something, right? Yeah. Wow. Yeah. For a lifetime. Sure. Whoa. Yeah, you don't want more than that. Your knees, how's your knee doing? It's okay. It's better than your elbow. Okay. I can tell you that. Fair enough. But I mean, yeah, I mean, I just, it gets to a point where you're doing it, and then so you take it in your elbow, you're right, you take the shot in your elbow, it feels better, so you start playing. It's still going on in there, and you're just hurting it even more. So it's just masking the pain is kind of what it does. Yeah. But I did it right before I was running a race, and I did it three times.

[00:26:32] Like, I did it before a marathon, and then I did it before the Ironman, and then I did it before the other thing. And so, you know, those races were not good to you because they're long. Sounds like it. Well, the positive thing that you can take out of this, so I'm on the shelf for at least another week to two weeks, so go ahead and get as many wins on that court as you can. Because once I get back, son, it goes back to how it always is. Daddy, bring home the winnies, okay? Just remember that. Go ahead and get your dubs now. Okay. Because in two weeks, it's over. Okay. It's over.

[00:26:59] I might not play until we, I just wanted equal playing field. I don't want you to say that you're rusty, or you've got to knock the dust off, or whatever. Love it. Moose, we're going to move on to the next segment. If you don't mind, put that up on the board. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominations came out, Hank, and so we were just talking about some music for Super Bowl the other day, and so now we've got the 2025 nominees. And I'm going to start from the top, Moose, so just bear with me. We're going to pick seven, Hank, okay? So it's a big list.

[00:27:27] And a couple of these bands, I cannot believe they're not already in, but you know, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominating committee, they're pretty odd folks. Anyway, so let's start. We've got Bad Company, The Black Crows, Mariah Carey, Chubby Checker, that's Let's Twist Again Like We Did Last Summer, Joe Cocker, Billy Idol, Cindy Lauper,

[00:27:51] Joy Division, New Order, Mana, I don't know who that is, Oasis, Outkast, Fish, Soundgarden, and The White Stripes. Okay, is there one that's a defining one that you're saying, bingo, I've got to have them in there this year? Mariah Carey. Wow. Are you serious? Mariah Carey? Tell me, why would you put Mariah Carey as the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominating number one? Not number one, I just like, no, no.

[00:28:19] Give me one, the one that's just the defined victor here to this group. Oh, okay. So if I were to pick one, Cindy Lauper was pretty impactful in music in her time. Very impactful. This is the way I think about it. The MTV days at that time, she was on all the time. She has four huge hits that are still with us.

[00:28:50] She's not going to be my defined one, but I'm putting her in the seven. I'm putting her in the seven. Oh, yeah. She's definitely in the seven. I mean, you know, and different things are different. I don't think Soundgarden makes it this year. I think Fish is a pretty incredible band that I don't listen to. Let me ask you a question. Is the Grateful Dead in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? Oh, they've got to be. Right. So Fish does not need to be in the track and follow. Because they're mini Fish. One jam band allowed, and that is it.

[00:29:19] I knew that would upset our production manager, but I just thought that's so funny. If Grateful Dead's in, why do we need Fish, right? Why do we need Fish? I think Outkast has meant a ton to the rap industry. But then, I mean, like Joe Cocker? I thought he was already in. Here's what I would do. Here's who I – of course, he's putting Fish band stats up on the board. Yeah, he wants to make sure we know. So Fish has sold more than 8 million albums and DVDs in the United States. It's great.

[00:29:48] Some of their songs include Farmhouse, four hours long. What other? Sampling the Jar, two and a half hours long. Bouncing Around the Room, eight hours long. I just can't get down, Hank. So who's your seven? Here's my seven. I'm putting Bad Company in one. Black Crows is my defined winner for the 2025, obviously, because you know I love the Black Crows. Bad Company, Black Crows. I'm putting Joe Cocker. I got Sidney Lauper. I'm going to put Oasis in. I'm putting Oasis in. Scroll down a little bit more for me, Moose.

[00:30:19] I'm going out – pop up Outcast. And then my final one, I think I might put Billy Idol in there. It's a bad day for a white wedding. Is he on there? Yeah, he's on there. He's right above Sidney. Sidney Lauper. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So that's probably who I would take. So go ahead and put your Mariah in there. Mariah Black Crows. I think the Crows, too. Okay. I think Billy Idol probably would slide in there. Cyndi Lauper. So that's four, right?

[00:30:49] Outcast would be five. Okay. I'd probably put Fish in there. Okay? Oh, God. And – I had a hard time maybe keep putting Chubby Checker out. The only reason I'm saying – Because it's one song? It's that one song. And, dude, it was huge. It was huge. It was a massive song. It was huge. I don't know if I can put them in there for the last song. I love Soundgarden. But I don't know if they would hold it opposed to some of these others. So Bad Company has got to be in there, too.

[00:31:19] Yeah, Bad Company has got to make it. It's got to be in there. So, I mean, that's a pretty good list. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, but, you know, it's kind of like the – how many times can you be up for it? Because, you know, like Baseball Hall of Fame, you can only be up for it like three times or whatever. Dad, I do not know. I don't know that answer. But anyway, as long as Fish doesn't get in, we're going to be all right. Yeah, we're going to be all right. All right. So thank you for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame conversation.

[00:31:43] Oh, I did want to tell you about – you know, I kind of give you – I told you about some weird things that have happened in our neighborhood about the glowing orbs and then the disappearing girl in the hoodie. All kinds of weird stuff. And, you know, we've had complaints on the podcast about how weird you're getting with this. I've heard. Okay. That's why they tune in, Hank. They want to see how weird we can go. We're listening to you, Daniel. Well, listen to this. This is very odd. This happened last Tuesday. What are you doing out on a Tuesday night?

[00:32:13] Someone had a – What are you doing out, Chad? Someone had a 50th birthday drop-in, so I went to see them. And then after that, I was in the neighborhood, and I was walking into my house, and someone said, Hey, Chad, come over for a bit. So I said, okay. So we went over to the neighbor's house, and we're sitting there just – it was the night. The lining of the planets was a Saturday. So we went outside to see if there were any still kind of lined up, and I was like – we're looking at the stars. I was like, oh, man, what a lovely night.

[00:32:40] And the gentleman that I was with was like, yeah, I love nights like this, and sometimes it makes me think of my animal spirit. Okay? So we're in that type of mood. This is what they're talking about. This is what they don't want to hear, Chad. Why do we keep bringing this up? But this is interesting. And I was like, so what is your animal spirit? Mine is a tiger. He said, mine is a hawk. Within the second that the word hawk came out of his mouth – and this is at nighttime, granted. This is 9 o'clock.

[00:33:05] A huge hawk flies down between me and my buddy, flies right in between us, right after he said the word hawk. How did you know it wasn't a falcon or a condor? It could have been a pterodactyl. I was assuming it was a hawk because it went so close right between us that you could feel when it flapped its wings the air on us. And it went into a tree, and it was dark, so I couldn't really see it. And I was like, Andy, did that really happen?

[00:33:35] And he said, yes, it did. So we talked about that for a little bit, but I was like, you know what? Weird stuff like that happens. The next day at school, Hickory High, my daughter Lucy Rose is taking his daughter Mallory to school. Parked the car, getting ready to walk into school. They're on the sidewalk. A hawk – this is the middle of the day, Hank – swoops down and flies in between them and puts himself on a power line.

[00:34:00] I was telling Jennifer my hawk story from the night before, and Lucy Rose overheard us, and she was like, Dad, you're not going to believe what happened to us today. A hawk flew in between. And, you know, that's an east and a roni, and a hawk flew in between us within the same 24-hour period. It's crazy. Is that not wild? What kind of cologne are you guys wearing now? Is it like meat cologne? I mean, do we need to figure out why we drew that? Tricar. Tricar. Tricar. So that leads me to the next part of the story.

[00:34:27] When we go up to the hotel thing that I was telling you, the murder mystery. Murder mystery. They had a tarot card reader, which I've never had my cards read before. Have you ever palm read or done anything? No. I've never really messed around with that. But I was like, oh, this is cool. We'll go sit down and talk with her. So we sat down, and she pulled three cards. It was the card they call it the number eight. The middle card, which was the master or something in the last card, was the star. So Jennifer pulled the eight. I pulled the star.

[00:34:56] Then together, we pulled the one in the middle called the mastro. And so she was describing what all these things meant. And then when they create a story, these tarot cards, supposed to tell you what has happened to you, what it means, what's going to happen in the future. How you have to pay her rent. The tarot reader card rent. Yes. She didn't give me her card. She said, QR codes on the back if you want to shoot me any money. Go ahead. So anyway, she starts telling the story of the cards. And I told you I started swimming.

[00:35:25] So the card I pulled, which is called the star, bathes in water. And she said, have you been doing some stuff in water recently? Have you been taking showers? I was like, well, it's funny that you say I just started my swimming regime again, regimen, in January. She was like, okay. And then she said, it's also a card about healing. And that didn't really apply. I talked to a doctor in the back alley about my elbow. And he prescribed me some black market drugs.

[00:35:53] So then Jennifer's part about the eight, it was pretty cool. It had eight spears that looked like they were launched and they were getting ready to land. And it was talking about there's something unfinished. Like a decision has been made, but the final result of the decision has not yet hit us. Divorce papers. Possibly. Possibly. Possibly. So that was cool. But the one in the middle where she was like, this is an odd combo. What this means, it was master or maestro. I can't remember. It meant the creator of all.

[00:36:22] And it's like being the king. And so the king can either be a very kind, a benevolent king, or can be a very, very angry king making decisions in their household or at work. And that will determine for the rest of the year the decisions that you make as being kind or being mean. You know, ruling with an iron fist or ruling with kindness is going to have an outcome on the rest of the year. And I started applying. We had some ground rules that we made for Lucy Rose I told you about.

[00:36:52] And that was kind of like applying the king. And we presented them in a very kindly fashion. Instead of saying, this is what you're going to do, we did it. And it has just worked out perfectly. So tarot reading. I might start adding that to my hobby list. Is that what we're going to go with? Go with once a week to a new tarot reader. Yeah. Okay. Speaking of animal spirits, let's talk about one of our friends that had an animal spirit visit him the other day. Wonderful. Okay. Take it from here. Did you like that little transition? That's fantastic.

[00:37:21] So we have a good friend who lives on 10 acres. And, you know, with that, you get snakes and mice and... Critters. Deer and raccoons and stuff like that. Well, the other day... Now, you may have to fill in the blanks here because I know you've talked to him more than I have. The other day, his wife was bringing a dog in, right? Like the dog was coming in. Because they heard something going out in the backyard. Ruff, ruff, ruff. Yeah. Yes. So they go out and get the dog and they get it in there.

[00:37:48] And as the dog's coming back to the door, it's being followed by a distinct animal that everybody knows. Black with two white stripes down the back. And it's coming out. Now, for these animals to be like out like that, it's probably rabid. You know, it's probably... But it's chasing the dog. And as the dog is getting back to the house, they close the door. But this superhero turns around and sprays into the house. Okay?

[00:38:19] He said it smelled horrible. Right. Right. He said that his son wasn't even in the kitchen. Right. They take his son to school. His son was asked to come home. Yes. Because he smelled like a skunk. The funny thing is, the story exactly as you tell it, but they had been around the smell that it didn't smell to them anymore. Yeah. So they could not smell it on him. They couldn't smell it in their house. But can you imagine like to a person who had not smelled that yet walk upon them? It's got to be very pungent smell.

[00:38:49] So they sent his son back to the house. They said he was in an assembly, like in an auditorium. And people are like, ooh! Oh, my. That could shatter him for life. For life. Oh, my. But they said right after it happened, and this is why you might think that the animal is rabid, is they look outside and the skunk is gnawing at the door and like clawing at the door to get in, which is very unskunk-like. Right. You know skunk behavior. Absolutely.

[00:39:14] And so, but it also showed this yellow like splatter on the doorframe, which was the- His steak thing. The steak stuff. And so apparently they had to bring in a cleaning company to take care of the smell. And we got an email or a text. You and I got a text yesterday, and we thought the saga was over, but his dog was sprayed a second time. The skunks are on a mission at Mr. Hyatt's house. They are on a mission.

[00:39:44] It's either us or you. We're going- It's on, right? The thing that I love that Tucker said is, they win. They win. So Tucker will be moving soon. The skunks will take over his- Oh, can you just imagine the skunk sitting on the couch watching TV, smoking a cigarette? Gotcha. Gotcha. I will tell you, that skunk, I would have raised a window and put something in that thing. That thing's not going to run around my house making it happen like that. Their clothes have got to, like-

[00:40:14] How are you going to get that out of your clothes? I don't know. You know? I don't know. Or the couch and whatever. The sofa. Yeah. The upholstery. You buy all new stuff, Tuck. Yeah. Got to get all new stuff. Got a good deal for you, Tuck. Call me up. But anyway, that's a hilarious story about just these critters. I'm a big skunk fan. You're a big skunk guy? I like the smell of a skunk. I know that's so weird. You mean like the distant smell. Oh, yeah. I don't want it spraying me. Yeah.

[00:40:40] But if I'm driving down the road and I smell the skunk smell, it doesn't bother me. Some people will be like, oh, it's a skunk. I'm like, give me some more. Do you like campfire? I love campfire smell. Wet campfire. No, not wet campfire. Going in a country road cow manure. No. I do not like that smell. No? We have a friend that he wants to make a candle. Of cow manure? Oh, yeah. He loves the smell. It's gross. He loves the smell.

[00:41:08] I'll stick with pumpkin spice and skunk if that's all right with you. And campfire. And campfire, of course. Okay. One more thing I wanted to talk about. I think this is interesting because it's about siblings. And my sister, who is easily the funniest and most witty person in our family. Not a big stretch, but go ahead. I read this thing on Instagram and it said, if you have brothers, and we're talking about communicating on the phone or text.

[00:41:33] So brothers and sisters, brothers will create a text chain if it's just something that is needed. Like Christmas is coming up. What is our plan? Or what's our plan for dad's birthday? Blah, blah. What time are we going to dinner? Exactly. It's no small talk. How was your day? It's none of that stuff ever. Sisters, however, they will share like, how was your day? You know, how's the week going? Blah, blah, blah. Brothers, never. Like I was thinking when she told me what experiment she tested on us this week.

[00:42:02] Jeremy and I have never one time in our life, maybe you and Jake different, I'm not sure, but said, hey, man, how was your Thursday? I don't think we've ever done anything like that. Well, you work together. Yeah. Okay. That's fair. I mean, I talk to my brother every day. Do you really? Yeah. Wow. So you would not. I asked him. How was your day? Yeah. You know what? I shouldn't even be in this room with you. You're dang right. You're dang right, bud.

[00:42:29] I feel like an angel has come down from heaven and sat himself right across from me in front of this microphone. I don't deserve to be here, Hank. Hey, I wasn't making a judgment call on you. You sit beside your brother every day, right? Yes. You probably still don't talk to him. Not much. Probably still don't talk to him. But my brother and I had a gap in our friendship when he moved away and everything. And it wasn't that we didn't love each other. Of course. We weren't near each other. And he was into different things. I was into different things. Sure.

[00:42:56] And now that he's back, we make up for lost time because he's living two doors down from me. It's kind of funny because on a Saturday he'll come down and we'll be laughing in the driveway. It's kind of funny. But yeah, we do talk every day because he's living with my folks and he's really good with my parents. But he tells me stuff that's going on that just makes you laugh. Well, you're in the minority. Congratulations. You are an angel sent down from heaven. So most brothers are like my brother and I.

[00:43:26] And that's how we react to our sister. We only talk if we have to talk about plans. So the test my sister wanted to do is just randomly send us texts that said, Hey, went to the gym. It's 4.30 a.m. I'm going to be tired today. And we'd just leave it. And she would send it to us. And I was like, that's pretty weird. So I wrote back, I bet you are tired. Way to get up in the morning and go get it. Good job. Then a little bit later, it was like, just drop the kids off at school. Wonder what this day will bring us.

[00:43:55] And I was like, did she have me on a different text chain? Does she think I'm somebody else? But I didn't say anything on the second one. The third one was thinking about chicken tonight. What do you think the kids will think about that? And I was like, she's definitely got me on the wrong text chain. Maybe she thinks I'm the husband. Maybe it's Brad instead of Chad. So I wrote her a text that said, hey, sis, just want to let you know this is your brother, Chad-o. So in case you got me on the wrong text chain, just wanted to let you know. 20 minutes later, it was like, what do y'all want to watch for TV tonight? So she keeps this thing going.

[00:44:25] So eventually I was like, I called her. I was like, Meredith. Do you have a stroke? Yeah. What's going on with you? Is there a reason you're sending me these texts? You think I'm Brad or maybe your friends that she started dying? And she said, no, there's this experiment that everybody's testing with their siblings on Instagram that brothers will not know how to react if I just tell you what I'm doing for the day. If it was a sister, she would comment on every single one of those. Yes, that's good. Or yes, we're having steak tonight.

[00:44:52] Responding where we were like, when the hell is she reaching out? You know, because normally you reach out if you want something or to set something up, not just to see how you are. So she said that Jeremy reacted the exact, the same ignored one, answered one, called on the fourth one. Like, what's happening? What's going on? So anyway, I thought that was a really cool experiment. We fell right into the trap where you would have answered every question very politely and being so kind.

[00:45:22] I would have. You wouldn't think anything was strange. No, probably not. Guys, this guy is truly special. Probably not. This guy is pretty wonderful. I'm not worried about that. Don't worry about that. You don't know me. Very proud of you, Hank. So anyway, some fun stuff going on tonight. So the movie The Last Waltz is going to be played at the Drendal Auditorium. That's the movie with the band. Martin Scorsese directed it. It's a way pretty awesome. I've seen it a million times, but never on a big screen with great, great quality of sound. So we'll be checking that out this evening.

[00:45:51] And again, tomorrow, Valentine's Day, don't forget to get your sweetheart something, flowers, candy, chocolate, lingerie, whatever it might be. Hank? Sports kicking off. Hickory High. Let's just give everybody an update. What's happening at Hickory High? Basketball. They have a big game on Friday. They're playing Statesville, which they lost to Statesville last time. Statesville's an extremely athletic team.

[00:46:18] And there's really four teams at the top, Hickory, North Lincoln, East Lincoln, and Statesville. But I believe if North and East are playing, I believe this Friday. And Hickory has a chance, I believe, to be the one. But also, I mean, the thing is, is if they end up being the two, I think that they would get one home game in the playoffs. And then they'd be away for maybe the next few. So, I mean, they're still competing. It's just, you know, it's a different team than it was last year.

[00:46:46] It's kind of interesting to watch Daniel, the head coach, because, you know, it's a different playing style, which he's done coaching different teams in college and everything else. So, it's kind of cool to watch. So, they've got the tail end of their season coming up. But the cool thing is the spring sports are starting. You've got baseball and tennis and golf. I guess girls soccer. Girls lacrosse. Boys lacrosse. And so, it's going to be kind of like, that's what I like about fall and spring sports, is

[00:47:16] you see energy around the school, like practicing and everything else. So, when school's out, you can kind of like feel that energy around the school. So, it's going to be cool. And I think, you know, they're going to have different teams are going to be, I mean, all the teams should be pretty good. But like, I think the girls soccer team is going to be really good. Graham Powers, who is the number one on the tennis team, is solid as they come. And he's going to probably have a good year, especially, I also heard that there were some young guys that are going to be like freshmen that are going to have to contribute. Oh, good. Which is good to the tennis team.

[00:47:46] And baseball team's pretty young, but we'll see how well they are. So, it's going to be exciting. Wonderful. We look forward to all the wonderful athletic and academic things happening at Hickory High and the other Hickory City schools. And with that, Hank, we're going to call this special Valentine's Day edition of Big Fan a wrap. I've enjoyed speaking with you today. I noticed that we had some people on the waiting list really wanting to get in this studio. I met one gentleman today for the first time.

[00:48:14] Nate seemed very anxious. He's anxious. How much money does Nate have? I mean, we can move him right up the waiting list. After this show, Nate might not want to be in the queue. He may not want to be in the queue. Fair enough. You know what? That's going to be our test right here. If Nate talks about this to me in the next two weeks, he's in. All right? He's got to listen. He's got to listen. Of course. Of course he does. I want him to be able to recite the nominees of the Hall of Fame that we chose. And then we know that he's a true fan. Let's see what happens. All right.

[00:48:44] And to all Big Fan listeners, thank you for tuning in. We'll check you out in two weeks. Until then, peace.

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