State Champs, Casino Luck & Summer Freedom

[00:00:02] What you want, when you want it, where you want it. This is The MESH.

[00:00:20] Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Episode 10, Volume 9 of Hickory's Hottest Podcast, highlighted by an unprecedented 16 new subscribers since May 1. What? What? Granted, I was six of those subscribers, Hank. Subscribe, don't subscribe. Exactly, subscribe, unsubscribe, subscribe, unsubscribe. Anyway, thanks for joining us today for Big Fan. My name is Chad East, and I'm a big fan of friends who own boats.

[00:00:51] I like those friends. Yes, the anticipation of World Cup soccer one week away here in the United States. And last but not least, bars and grocery stores. Okay. You brought it back, because I'm Hank Imer, and I'm a big fan. 72 degrees in June? Yes, sir. What are we doing? Sir. College baseball dominating ESPN right now, which I love. Killing it. Right? And watching the freedom of the high school kids once they realize summer is hit. Yeah.

[00:01:20] Because it is freedom. It is here. It is here. It is upon us. Graduation. So we're coming to you guys on a lovely Wednesday here in the studios of The MESH. Last weekend for many of our family and friends, graduation happened for the seniors. I did. Off to beach week, they go. They're back. They're back. They're back. So it was two Fridays ago at graduation. And so, as you know this Hank very well, our Lady Hickory High School Red Tornadoes were in the state championship. Right.

[00:01:49] For soccer last week. And so, unfortunately for some of the girls who are on the team, they only go to beat senior week, if you will, one day and then had to come back to practice. Right. And then play in the championship game. And some of the girls I don't even think went down there. So let's talk about it. Like, what would you do in that scenario? Let's say you're a bench warmer, but it is your senior year and your team has made it to the state championship. Would you say, eh, I don't get to play anyway. I'm out.

[00:02:18] Or would you say, I'll go to beach week for one day. Or would you say, I'm not going. I'm focused on getting this championship. Well, first of all, I didn't go to senior week because I had Legion ball. Okay. Right. Yes. So I had already signed. So I didn't need to, but you make an obligation to a team.

[00:02:34] I don't care if you're a bench warmer, if you're the leading scorer or anything else, your participation, especially if, you know, even if you're a bench warmer and you play defense and your defense is good enough to make those strikers better, you're an important part of it. Sure. So, and I don't think that it's minimized by like your involvement because you were part of the development of the team in practice. Practice.

[00:03:00] So I, I feel like I would, I would want to stay. I would hope somebody would want to stay. Like, I'm not going to tell anybody what they have to do, but I would hope that they'd want to stay. Now, by the look in your eyes, you would say, nah, I'm going down to the beach. No, I might go for a day, but I would definitely come back to be part of the team. And probably I can imagine my dad probably saying, do you really, I mean, one day, what's that going to get you at the beach? Just stay here. They've got, you got practice tomorrow. Yeah.

[00:03:30] The championship games in five days. You've worked so hard all your whole life really to get to this moment. And now you're here and you're going to sacrifice. What if something happens and you can't get back and you miss practice or you miss the game? You know, that would be a nightmare situation, but these girls, they did it, Hank. Yeah. They are state champs. Congratulations to the women's soccer team of Hickory High School. Yeah. They said, uh, you were there, so you can attest to this, but the last three games, everything hit the way it should.

[00:03:58] And, um, I was talking to a proud parent, which should have been, um, about the game. And they, he, he was saying, you know, strikers, obviously amazing and scoring and finishing the midfield played solid as it could be. Uh, defense was undeniable. And when there was a keeper and when there was a hiccup, the keeper saved him. She was so good.

[00:04:19] So it was like everybody played really well when they were asked to play, but you couldn't have, you couldn't have, uh, hit at a better time than these last three games. Yeah. It was so exciting to like, I'll tell you about our weekend, but just before I do that, we ended up being in the car literally for about eight to 10 hours that day. We were in Cherokee, then went home and then went to Durham for the game. Whole family go? Yeah. Yes. The whole crew, which was great.

[00:04:46] I mean, we ended up having the time of our life, but I was so exhausted, but we get there and you don't even have time to be tired anymore because the energy, you can just feel the energy of the crowd and the kids that you've seen. And I coached a bunch of them when they were little and just, you know, I was just excited to be there. Are you taking responsibility for the state championship? No, no, no. Absolutely not. Moose. I felt that. I just recognize a couple of those kids out there that yes, I may have coached a time or two, but, uh, anyway, it was just so awesome.

[00:05:13] First half, zero, zero trading blows. I mean, both keepers for both teams saved great shots. I mean, it was, they were kind of feeling each other out and this is how my take on it is. The second half, we were the stronger team and the cream kind of rose, you know what I'm saying? Like when it got down to it, we were just a little bit better and our players made a couple just fantastic plays and that was all she wrote. It was so exciting.

[00:05:39] And, and the funny thing is, and I'm going to single out one of the players at Piper, you know, who's amazing and getting all the accolades she should get. She may go down as the most decorated high school player ever to come out of Hickory High. Very well could. Yes. Because I mean, what she has accomplished this year in athletics is amazing. Volleyball, which state champion, which she was a part of. Yes. Um, obviously the soccer state champ, uh, track and field. Yes.

[00:06:06] She, I mean, I, I don't, I don't know if she won a state, but she was, yeah. So did very well. Swimming did extremely well. Yes. So, I mean, what she's doing in a high school career is amazing and to watch like a junior and only a junior year to go and to watch that volleyball team has a chance to do it again. This soccer time, this soccer team has a chance to do it again. Yes. So, I mean, it's going to be amazing to kind of watch.

[00:06:31] I mean, you know, there was three of those girls on the soccer team that were part of that volleyball team to come out with two state championships. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. So my daughter, Lucy Rose is in that class. So she used to play soccer and basketball with all that crew, but she decided to dance and it's been great for her. But she was saying, dad, do you realize how she wasn't bragging, but she was like, our girls that are in our class with me, they're really super smart and they're really athletic. For sure. They're going to break records of all the stuff that they achieve.

[00:07:01] For sure. So anyway, she's just proud to be a part of that class. I'm proud to say I have a kid in that class because they are awesome. Right. And there's a couple of freshmen that really contributed. There's a couple of sophomores that did. You know, there are a couple of seniors, but not enough to, you would think that it's going to hurt her. I mean, they're great players, but, you know, hopefully there's going to be some, I mean, their core is going to be there, you know, minus a couple. So it's going to be pretty amazing to watch them come back. I've got to tell you the story. So, you know, I have a neighbor who has coached with me forever.

[00:07:31] His name is Jason White. He is just one of the best humans in the entire world. You know what I mean? You can't beat this guy. So it's world famous that he is tied the record or probably holds the record for most second place finishes of all coaches in Hickory Rec department history. He has never tasted gold. And think how many girls he's got that have played up through the ranks. And very athletic and competitive. And many times he and I coached together. We finished runner up, blah, blah, blah. You name it.

[00:07:59] And then my girls got older. His new batch of girls come in and he's just runner up, runner up, runner up. So this year again, Hickory Rec finished runner up. Why would you bring that up? Because I'm going to tell you the story. So we get, I get to the Durham and Sarah, we're sitting right behind Sarah. That's Jason's wife and their kids. And my girls are with me. And, you know, we've been neighbors since the kids were little. They love each other. And so we're sitting there shooting the bull. And I said, where's Jay? And she said, she pointed like this.

[00:08:27] And up in the corner of the bleachers, as far as you can kind of get from everybody, was Jason. And he is pacing. He's walking up and down the bleachers. Doesn't want another one. Doesn't want another one. So I said, do you think it would be cool if I just go say hello? I was like, well, he'd freak out. She was like, no, go up there and calm him down. So I get up there and I look at him and he's got beads of sweat running down his face. And I said, Jay, what's up, man? How we doing? How you feeling? And I said, are you feeling lucky today? And this is what he did.

[00:08:57] He held out his hand. He had his hand to his heart. And he held out his hand. And there was a picture of his daughter, Harper, who's the senior midfielder for this team. Oh, wow. Dressed up at five years old in her Hickory Rec department gear. And he said, I'm going to start crying to think about this. He said, I don't need luck today, Chad. I was like, what? And so he took the picture, put it back on his heart. And I just kind of walked out the stairs. I said, all right, Jay. I said, I'll see you later, man. You're going to make me cry.

[00:09:25] But anyway, they pulled it out and it was just fabulous to see the happiness on Jason's face afterwards. It was amazing. You should have asked him. You should have pointed to that. I'm like, was she a runner up that year? Well, she was. I didn't even have to ask that. I know she was. But anyway, they got it done. I'm so happy for the girls. Yeah. There's some great pictures of them celebrating. What a great win. It was awesome. Yeah. So awesome. So way to go. So before that, that happened on a Saturday last weekend.

[00:09:53] Before that, let's say, no, was that a Friday? When was that? They played on Friday. They played on Friday. They played on Friday. They played on Friday. Yes. So on Thursday, I told you I was in the car for about 12 hours. My oldest daughter, Olivia, turned 21 a couple weeks ago. And I told you all she wanted to do is hit that slot machine, pull it, bang, bang. Here we go. Nobody loved that better than you. I was like, girl, you called the right fella. So we planned the trip. We go to Cherokee. We talked about this before.

[00:10:20] Cherokee on a weekday, Monday through Thursday, you get a room for 100, 150 bucks. Friday, Saturday, Sunday, 500 bones. Sure. We go on a Thursday. No. Yes. We get to the casino. Olivia is asking me questions like, all right, so how do you play blackjack? What are the rules of roulette? How do you do craps? What is the proper etiquette on the slot machine? And I'm giving her all this, the knowledge that I have. You know, I'm not a pro when it comes to casino games, but pretty close. Pretty close. There we go.

[00:10:48] I'm not a win off it. Just keep talking about the story. Nobody cares about this. Yes, they do. So we get to the casino and Cherokee, Harrah's Casino, it's no joke. I mean, it is legit. I was kind of thinking it'd be like in Vegas Vacation with the, you know, those. Green stuff, red stuff on the buffet. Guess the number between one and ten. That kind of game. Yeah, yeah, yeah. War. Yes. Exactly. But it's so legit. I felt like I was, you know, in a Vegas casino. Get to our room.

[00:11:18] The rooms are so nice. Jennifer did a great job. We stayed in the new part, which overlooks the mountains. It's gorgeous. They have Gordon Ramsay restaurants, Ruth Chris, everything you can imagine. But Lucy can't get in, right? That's the other part of the story. She cannot walk anywhere on the casino grounds. Right. She can get through the hotel. They have an arcade for kids. I mean, for people that are 21. They have bowling alleys. They have karaoke spots. Everything. So people that are 21 can still have fun.

[00:11:45] So anyway, long story short, I said the most important thing, Olivia, is you got to feel confident when you walk into the casino. Don't feel like it's going to, oh, you're timid. You go in there feeling like by the end of this night, I might own you, Cherokee. You know, that's what I said. Have that feeling. Many of us have walked in that way. Exactly. And many have left with our heads between our knees or whatever. But anyway, I said, Liv, just feel that. Feel that. Can you feel that? And she was like, yeah, I can feel it.

[00:12:15] I said, let's get dressed up in our finest wares. Let's just look good. Let's smell good. Let's feel good. Let's walk down the escalator. Get on the escalator. Let's ride down and let's let people look at us like, these are winners. These people are winners. Like Ocean Eleven. Exactly. You guys walk out, feel the music behind you, smoke behind you. Feel it. Just feel it. So we get down there and Olivia, first time she could present her ID to the guy and he was like, congratulations. Come on in.

[00:12:44] We go get our member card. And on the member card, because it was her birthday, they gave her a $5 free play. How generous. Couldn't find a $5 table. Of course not. But we said, you know, you can find a slot machine or something. So she said, boom, dad, that's the one. Wheel of Fortune machine right on the corner. She said, I feel it. That's the one. I said, okay, let's go. Let's go. So she pops her member card in there. It's $5 free play. You can play up the slot. One penny to $5 was the max. And I said, let it ride.

[00:13:14] Put that $5 in there. She was like, oh, that's too experienced, man. You can't. You just rushed her. Exactly. And she said, I'm going in for a penny on the first one. Of course. She was like, Liv, but if a penny, you can't win anything with a penny. She was like, I don't care. I'm going in with a penny. Trying to experience it. First spin. Oh, gosh. Listen to this. Pushes it. And the jackpot bonus was $37,120. Okay. That's the bonus, blah, blah, blah, the max you can win in this little set of slot machines.

[00:13:42] And all of a sudden, ding, ding, ding, ding, these treasure chests start, boom, boom, opening on her screen. And I'm like, holy cow, Liv, I think you hit something. Boom, boom, boom. And all this cash, the little treasure coins start popping up in the air into a bigger treasure chest. So her one penny bet turned into $71. If she would have had the five, she would have won $31,120. She would have hit the jackpot. You won't credit for this. No, no, no, no.

[00:14:12] But she didn't care. I didn't even want to really bring it up like, oh, if you would have hit the max, you would have won that. But she was like, $71, dad. I am a winner. High roller. Cash me out. Oh, she cashed out. Got the thing. Got the little slip. We took it right to the cashier. She got that $71 bucks, put it right in her pocket. She said, I'm good. Didn't want to gamble again? What's next? So we, she didn't gamble anymore on that little run. We went and went to Ruth Chris. We ate. We took Lucy to the bowling alley, to the arcade.

[00:14:41] Our whole family was there. Uncle Jer came. My sister came. My mom was there. We had an unbelievable time. After bowling and all that stuff, Lucy wrote, I'm sorry, Olivia, my mom and my sister hit the slots for a little bit more. And then Uncle Jer and I hit the tables. Oh. We hit the tables hard, buddy. So. What did we do? Blackjack? We started, well I started at Roulette and I got, I hit a couple numbers. Boom, boom.

[00:15:08] I hit $5 on 32 and something else on 17 and it paid 100 and whatever tool, you know, it's 150 bucks. So I was like, oh, I'm up a little bit, feeling good. Long story short, went to the craps table, lost. And then Jeremy was getting ready. I saw him trying to sneak out of the casino, like to go to bed. Yeah. And it was probably 1230 or one. I was like, Jer, what are you doing? He didn't tell me that he was going to get up early to go to work the next day or I would have left him.

[00:15:37] But cause I thought he was off and I was like, we can't go to bed at one. We got to paint this town red son. So I gave him that speech and he said by the time the speech ended, he thought he could run through a wall. He was like, we will. Oh, Cherokee. Oh, 30 minutes later. He's dead broke. He's dead broke. We've all heard this before, man. Exactly. Y'all have all heard it. But, but anyway, I ended up winning a little bit. So I stayed down there till about three and then went to the room. We got up early, went to the top 10.

[00:16:07] They say pancake joint in the entire, not state, but the nation is called Peter's pancakes. Okay. Yeah. Was it in Cherokee? It's like in Maggie Valley. Okay. It's on the way down, you know, who researched this? Bruce McNeely told me this cause they go to Cherokee quite often. That is not a name that I thought I was going to hear off of that one, but I bet you Bruce goes to Cherokee and would hit that thing. Yes. Oh yeah. They always hit it on the way back down. So it was fabulous.

[00:16:34] Lee Peters, come to the house for an hour, then jump in the car to go to Durham for the state championship. Wow. It was just quite, quite the 24 hour run. That sounds like it, man. It's so much fun. Yeah. That sounds like it's so much fun. You know, in your intro, you were talking about the world cup. Yeah. Did you see the article of the, I think it was a group from Argentina, rode electric bikes from Argentina to like, I don't know where they wrote it to, but they're in, they were doing it for the world cup games.

[00:17:01] That sounds like, it reminds me of like dumb and dumber. It was cruising to Colorado. Got nippy through the pass. I've got an extra pair of gloves. Remember that? Oh God. I would agree. But I mean, you know, and speaking of that, can you think of like the excitement, you know, throughout the world of people, you know, wanting to come here, watch these matches, just like we, you know, we would in other countries. Sure. But I mean, just the anticipation, uh, somebody told me, uh, we have a good friend that lives

[00:17:29] in Winston and the facility in Winston is being used by the German national team. And so there's this like really nice hotel right there. And like the national team has like a third of the hotel. Wow. And so they're, they're working out and doing all their stuff. So, you know, there's gotta be all these little pockets that, um, are housing these teams and letting them do all their training, which is pretty amazing. I don't think we're really ready for because when it starts, I don't think we can anticipate how big it really is. You know what I'm saying? Yeah.

[00:17:59] We'll know it in a week. I mean, it'll be what everybody in the world's talking about it and we'll feel it here in the States for sure. Um, I don't have a ticket to the game. Did you and Harris get any tickets to go? We couldn't with baseball. Yeah. But, um, it will be live and it will be full of energy. And it's June. It's a month, right? June 11th, I think is when it starts. And the 19th is when it ends July 19th. I think so. It's over a month. Yeah. And so my thought will be mark it down. Everybody's thinking USA going to make any run.

[00:18:28] They're going to suck. Blah, blah, blah. I think they get out of the first round. I think they get out of that. What's it called Moose? The next ramp, the next round, the knockout round. I think they advance out of the knockout round. And I swear, everybody's saying I'm crazy, but I'm telling you, they're going to have the country behind them. And when Americans have the country behind them, they can create miracles. Cause I watched miracle last night for like the 38th time and just got very inspired. So I feel the U S will make a run.

[00:18:57] I'm not going to say they're going to win the world cup by any means, but they're going to make a little run. Will you watch the games? I'll watch. I'll watch. I'll watch certainly watch the United States play and I'll watch a few of the others, but I don't know that much about the, the bracketing and everything moves. Do they, do they already have they already established where the final is going to be and everything? Where is that? Where's the final game? I don't know. Okay. Okay. I want to say it's LA or Miami.

[00:19:23] I can't even imagine the preparation that they're trying to make for that, for that final match. Yeah. You know, I can't even imagine cause it's going to be crazy. Yeah. What does it say here? Entertaining the world. Here comes a Moose has just sent us some info here. Let's see what he's got through FIFA. But I mean, you gotta imagine. And, and, you know, talk to me about a little bit about tickets. Have you heard anything about the tickets? And you just asked if we had tickets, but like how much are these tickets going for? Well, to be quite honest, I heard that they're not really selling very well,

[00:19:51] which is crazy to me. Okay. I thought it New York is where it is. Okay. It would be the hottest ticket to get. It turns out the hottest ticket in the world to get right now is for the NBA finals. Listen to this, not changing the subject about world cup, but this is a good transition. You know, where Timothee Chalamet and all them sit on the floor spike. They say that ticket for one game, not for the series, not for, not for all the home games.

[00:20:16] One game is $350,000 for that, for that seat to get just to get one. Just one of them. One. How many of those do you think Chalamet and Jenner is going to be in? They might give them theirs though, you know, because you know what I'm saying? But, uh, you know, if you wanted to be all at that seat and they didn't give you that cost cost $350,000 to get in the door for the nosebleeds. They said it's at least four figures anywhere in the middle row, like middle area.

[00:20:42] It's going to be $10,000 to $50,000 and anywhere lower level, not even on the floor, a hundred thousand dollars a ticket. So would you, you would never have it. Don't even have it. Ask me because I mean, I think that it's, it's crazy to think that first of all, I've been to a final four, right? And I've been in the third tier of, uh, uh, Coliseum and it's like watching a game on a wristwatch, you know?

[00:21:11] And so I would much rather if the 350, if I'm not bulking at 700, $700,000, then maybe I'd take a floor seat. But it's just when you start talking about the experience and we, you know, I went to the world series, we bought really good tickets and we were, you know, 40 rows up or whatever. And they were, they were nowhere near what we're talking about now, but I can't even imagine thinking that I was going to spend that much money.

[00:21:38] Yeah. Ridiculous. Um, so that is, oh, he's, he's here just refuting every moose pulled up ticket master. I'm at Madison square garden homeboy. I mean, we need to go to Madison square garden. Okay. So that's where those tickets are. And they're not going to probably show that on stub hub, but I'm just telling you that's what most expensive ticket on there was 60 grand. Yeah. So anyway, the New York Knicks at Madison square garden, their home series starts in two games at the Spurs. Then we go to Madison square garden game three.

[00:22:08] Game three. Who do you like in the series Spurs versus Knicks? Knicks haven't been there since I can't, I don't even know. Remember when they were in the finals last, I think it was 99, uh, the Spurs, you know, they had a little run in the two thousands with Duncan, who gets it done in this series. You know, I don't, I don't watch a lot of NBA anymore unless it's the finals. And I, I don't know why it is. I like Wimby. I mean, I like him, but I like Brunson a lot. He's a dog. He is a dog. And I want to see him win.

[00:22:38] I'm rooting for him too. I'm rooting for the Knicks. Uh, the other, you know, I've only been to one game at Madison square garden. I happen to be this year against golden state. So I got to sit in there. I could just imagine the electricity will be going on in the city. My friend Frankie was like, you can't even believe he thinks the city is more excited for the Knicks being there. Then Yankees win in a world series. Then the Rangers win in a Stanley cup that the jets or the giants win in a super bowl. This is how big it is to the city.

[00:23:04] So it was like, it's going crazy. Plus he has two bars there packed at all times. Money. Exactly. He's getting ready to bang it down. So anyway, Hey, he pulled up some tickets and if you look at the second row, so this is behind sharp, the, uh, Timothy and Jenner and everything. Those tickets are, uh, 114, 115,000, which it seems right. I mean the one, it's not the front row.

[00:23:25] So the front row, you know, three something, but can you imagine, I mean the five rows back, could you, okay. So if you're in the front row, it, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yes. So could you imagine being in the front row for three 50 and three rows behind it is $45,000. Well, God, look at the nosebleeds. That seats $20,000. That was 19. What are we doing? Oh my gosh. Oh no, this is the nosebleeds. That's 6,700. 7,000 for the nosebleeds.

[00:23:55] Yeah. Oh, that's still 65. That thing. You might be landing a helicopter up there. I mean, that is back against the wall territory. I probably would just watch it on television. I would sell my tickets and pay for the win one game, pay for my whole season's tickets the next year. For sure.

[00:24:12] Yes. Well, good luck. The series starts tonight. I think it's going to be great. I got Knicks in seven. Knicks in seven. Hank, so before, you know, we were talking, I was parked in this parking lot and just this random thing occurred to me. So this Jeep pulled up. It was like a neon green ish Jeep. First of all, we buying neon cars? Probably not. If it's a Lambo, maybe. Maybe, yes. But I'm not really into the neon colors. I'm not either.

[00:24:40] I like the way a Jeep looks, but I would probably get just black. I'm a black Jeep kind of dude, right? Sure. Well, this guy gets out and he's a relatively buff looking human, you know, younger, probably in his 20s. Right. It looked like he had just come from the gym. And I noticed when I looked into his, on his dashboard, he had like 58 ducks sitting on the dashboard of his Jeep. Yep. Now, it occurs to me that I have seen these Jeeps driving down the road and ducks all over the place. Galore.

[00:25:08] Galore. Yes. Ducks galore. First of all, have you seen the same thing that I've seen? Oh yeah, I've seen this. Second, if you had a Jeep, would you collect these ducks? And third, how does one get these ducks? Do they buy these ducks? Do people give them these ducks? How does this work? Well, I actually know this, what this is. And the Jeep community is kind of a funny community. Okay. I drove a Jeep in high school. Okay. And so like, if you're passing, it's kind of like a Harley. If you're passing somebody in a Jeep, they'll wave. Okay. Right. Gotcha.

[00:25:38] And so there is this kind of like draw towards one another when you see somebody, but the ducks in the Jeep is just kind of like a positive energy thing that people do, I think. Like, and so they'll put these little ducks on your Jeep and they'll be like, Hey, like, you know, it's like, it's pretty much saying, Hey, I like your Jeep or Hey, Jeep guy to Jeep guy or whatever. A random act of kindness to make a fellow Jeep driver smile is what it says. Okay. Okay. That makes sense.

[00:26:06] Yeah. So that's where you see these ducks. And so I imagine Jeep people buy ducks. So they have them to give. Yes. Right. And then they are receiving different ones and then they want to showcase these ducks on their dashboard. Yeah. And it's not limited to just girls or kids. I mean, this dude was a normal kind of dude with a hundred ducks on his dad. Oh yeah. Yeah. Just odd to me. Well, yeah, that's, you know, they don't, I guess they're not doing it on Mazda threes or whatever.

[00:26:35] They don't have like a army guy or whatever. Transformers. Yeah. But anyway, sorry to go off of the pattern there. I just saw that Jeep and I was like, dude, this is so strange. I've never asked anybody where those ducks come from. Now we know. Now we're all better for it. Yes, sir. So you mentioned before too, that let's talk about your family. Yeah. Yep. So kind of give me what's going on with your family.

[00:27:00] Well, I told you we were kind of talking about parents and we talk about our parents all the time in this. Right. And we talk about our mom and dad and their history and kind of where that will, you know, my dad's 92. Wow. Right. I mean, he, his mind is as sharp as it ever was, but his body is failing him. And it's hard to watch. Like I tell people all the time, it's hard to watch your heroes fall. Yes.

[00:27:21] And so yesterday, you know, my dad's a big guy. He's probably 240 pounds, just a big guy. And, you know, it's hard for my mom. Thank God my brother's there and I'm two doors down. And, but it's just hard to do that.

[00:27:33] And so we had to have, we had a hard conversation with my dad about bringing hospice in, you know, and people think of hospice as bringing them like the grim reaper, you know, they're putting in morphine. You don't feel good. That organization is one of the most amazing organizations. And I say this now because all of us are getting to the point where our parents are getting older and our health is failing and whatever. And this nurse walked in and said, we, we're going to make you feel good. We're going to take care of you. We're going to bathe you. We're going to come by more times than you.

[00:28:03] And you want us to, we're going to make sure you're comfortable. We're going to make sure if you don't want to do something, you're not doing it, but we're going to make sure you're comfortable. And I feel like when you have these tough conversations, they help in that. And, you know, we have great extended families, in-laws and stuff like that. And when the lady left, it was kind of nice because she was like, I could feel the love in your house and how like you all just want to make sure everybody's good.

[00:28:29] And it's kind of interesting to see how that's a conversation. That's probably an extension. That's going to have my dad's quality of life, whether it's a month or a year or five years, it's going to be great. Yeah. How did he respond? Like when good hospice workers. Good. So like they, and they ask questions that you don't know. Like the funny thing that happened was she was like, Mr. Imard, do you want us to resuscitate you?

[00:28:50] If you were to, you know, if you were to have a heart attack or whatever. And he said, no, I don't, you know, I don't want that. And she looks over at my mom and my mom said, no. And my dad looked back at her and he's like, what the heck?

[00:29:01] And so, you know, there's some, you got to have those conversations. So everybody knows what's going on, but, um, being able to, yeah, my dad handled it great. And, you know, at 92, I've seen my dad at different points in his life and you can tell he's tired, you know, and to see that on him is, is tough to see too.

[00:29:21] So he's, I feel like he got a little bit of energy from this visit yesterday. And, uh, you know, my sister and brother and everybody's on board with it, but it's kind of funny to, to have to be put in these positions and be prepared for these because, you know, when we talk about our families, we talk about all these great things that are happening and, and it, you know, sometimes you got to talk about the not so fun stuff.

[00:29:46] And, uh, but I feel like when people talk about, I say, like I've told some of our friends that, you know, we had a conversation with the hospice. They're like, Oh man. I'm like, actually, it was a really good thing. That's good. Yeah. It was a really good thing. Cause you're right. It's normally a negative connotation. It's always simple signals in my mind, death for sure. It doesn't necessarily. No, no, no, no. About comfort. I feel like more than that. That's a good way to look at it. Yeah.

[00:30:16] My brother, my sister and my mom in at the casino, like together, it is pure. She us, I, they're the funniest combo ever together. Like in our family, probably like yours, we strive to be funny. We always are trying to make the other one laugh. And, you know, my daughter always thought that, you know, she was like, dad, you're behind uncle Jeremy as the funny was your second. Well, then after she got to hang out with auntie Meredith and my mom, she was like, you're all the way in the basement.

[00:30:46] But Meredith is definitely the funniest. And then put my mom and Meredith together. Forget about it. Forget it. They're just, they're two peas in a pod. They're so lovely together. So anyway, I got demoted on the humor stage. I see that. Yes. I can see it too. But the one thing that I hate didn't happen. I wanted my dad to come. Yeah. You know, come on dad, let's go. And he was like, I will slow y'all down. You know, he's just in a very grumpy mood. He was like, I won't be any fun. You know, I'm in pain.

[00:31:16] I can't walk. It won't be any fun. And so we got there. There are like 30 wheelchairs. Walkers. Yeah. They're lined up for people that just like my dad, that you could push them around. There's 30 of them. And so I said, dad, you should have come, man. We could have got you around anywhere you wanted to go. And so I don't know. Maybe that means we'll have to go on another trip. Oh, sure. He will have to come with us. Yeah. But that's the only drawback of that trip is he wasn't able to share it with us. But there'll be other chances.

[00:31:44] And I start to see that now because like my dad, my dad did just take, for instance, like baseball with like, he didn't get to see Harris play this year. Yeah. My mother-in-law has mobility issues. You know, she's, this summer is probably going to be a little bit tougher for her. And so they're excited for the things that keep them young. And, you know, they feel like life's pulling them away from them. But, you know, I still think that your dad and my dad find joy in your family having joy. You know what I mean? Of course.

[00:32:13] And, you know, your dad just wants to sit on that chair. I tell my mom all the time, my boy's 92. Give him a break. He just wants to sit on the couch. The running joke was we were like, anytime we get together, we always say, all right, dad, let's let the company pick up the bill for the dinner, right? And this was a doozy, Hank. And this was a doozy. And so we were texting dad like, all right, dad, we'll send you the bill. And he's like, really? The only reason I did not come is because I did not want to pick up that bill. I was like, you cheapskate.

[00:32:43] But anyway, so it was a trip. Jeremy ended up putting on the company's credit card. So we got my dad anyway. We got him. Got him. He's going to come, dad. Sorry, buddy. We'll bring you some chicken tenders. That's right. But the service level, so you've been to Ruth Chris before, right? For sure. Yeah, it's a really good steakhouse. Listen, anyway, I've heard some up and down things about the service level at that one particularly. But they, Jennifer made the reservation. They gave us this prime seat overlooking this creek that runs behind the casino. Just gorgeous.

[00:33:12] And this room basically all to ourself. And they just took really, really good care of us. I'm telling you, I can't give enough five-star ratings to this place. It was fabulous. And the fact that I won a little bit always makes it a little bit better. Like if I had a loss, I'd probably say, oh, this place sucks. This is terrible. This is terrible. This place is terrible. Just like we did at Beau Rivage. Beau Rivage. This place is terrible. This place. Remember we were saying the devil lives somewhere there? Yes, I do. I don't know if you, to our new big fan listeners, we're talking about a trip that Hank and I

[00:33:41] went on many, many moons ago to one of our friend's bachelor parties where we flew on a private jet, land there, get a limo to pick us up and go to the casino. And by the time we left, 48 hours left, we could barely make enough money to get a cab. To the airport. To the airport. That's right. Oh, God. What a trip. What a trip. What a trip. What a great time. Lots of white Russians. Lots of white Russians. That's exactly right. What else you got on your sheet over there, my friend?

[00:34:09] Well, I think one of the things that I mentioned earlier and we kind of touched base on it is the freedom that these kids have when summer comes. Last night, I've just been watching through Harris. I'm sure Lucy Rose is doing the same thing. But last night I watched Harris and four boys show up at my house. Yeah. And watching them scale or like in the pool, outside shooting basketball, hacky sack in

[00:34:36] the driveway, coming in and eating half of our pantry. And then, you know, sitting on the couch, nobody can watch anything. Like we're, you know, we're pushed out or whatever. And just like, I was like walking past them. I was like, I want to sit on the couch. I want to watch some TV. And I went back to my room and I was like, man, I love this for them. You know what I mean? It's kind of cool to watch summer hit and think about like, you know, what's out there. Like, you know, what we did when we were there. Yes, of course.

[00:35:03] So my daughters, too, doing the same exact thing they did on a different scale. They like to go to the movie theater at 11 or 12 at night to watch scary movies. I mean, not me, but they're leaving at 11 o'clock. They saw one called board rooms or back rooms or something two nights ago. And then they saw one called Obsession. Have you heard about these movies? Yes. So my niece told Harris he had to see Obsession. And I don't, they said it was scary.

[00:35:33] Very scary. Yeah. And so they are coming in from the theater at like one o'clock, two o'clock in the morning. And they're like, me and Jennifer are dead asleep. Dad, please come down here. We're very scared. We're scared to go walk up the stairs, you know? And so we've got to go down there, turn all the lights on, walk them up the stairs, you know? And I was like, why do you do this to yourself? That's why I don't watch scary movies. I don't do this. But they just, they love it. I mean, that's the thing they're doing. They're going with their friends and then they go to IHOP.

[00:36:02] You know, all these wonderful, fun things that you do when you're not in school. You have a free summer. Yeah. And I told Olivia this, too. I was like, you got one more year. That's it. But this is really your last free summer. Because think about next year, she graduates. And what you're going to do is not a free summer anymore. So you better make this one count. And she is. She's having a ball. She goes back to Columbia on Monday. And we won't see her until we go to the beach later on. Where's that Rihanna book? Like, who's guarding that thing?

[00:36:32] It's all at lockdown right now. They've got it all chained up so nobody can steal it. It's still sitting on the coffee table. You better have some gloves around that thing. That Rihanna book, boy. She loves that story, Hank. She loves that story. You were talking a little bit about college baseball. It's in full effect right now. Oh, my gosh. I love it. So one of my buddies is a big baseball fan like you, my brother-in-law. And he said, did you see West Virginia play Kentucky? And I said, I didn't see it. And he was like, I'm not even talking about the game. He said, this is what the sport would do.

[00:37:02] But after the game, all the fans from West Virginia and all the players, they pug each other and start singing, take me home country roads. And he said, there's not dry eye in the place because they love the game and they love where they're from so much. Yeah. So he was like, that's what college baseball world series is all about. It's just not about the baseball. It's about the team. Yeah. Yeah. Fans that come to support the team. Yeah. And that fight, you know, fighting for what's across your chest. Like, you know, we do. We talk about that with high school and stuff like that.

[00:37:30] And NIL and all that stuff, Transfer Portal has kind of defeated that a little bit. But when you see those guys, like the guy from West Virginia hit a huge home run, huge. Yeah. And they pan to the crowd and it absolutely erupts. Right. And it's like, it's like, uh, you know, 4,000 of your best friends and a softball is the same way, you know, softball right now they're, they're making their move towards the college world series.

[00:37:56] And I don't know if you've seen Jay Williams daughter, the basketball player, his daughter. So he played at Florida before his NBA career and, uh, his daughter was at Florida where she transferred out and she is now at Texas tech. Okay. Okay. So they had to be Florida in some, I don't know what it was like. Uh, I don't know if it was a CC championship or what it was, but they played Alabama in the regionals this past time. And they have a camera.

[00:38:25] The, uh, Williams has a camera with him because he's got documenting with his daughter and everything else. And so they were playing Alabama and they were down and the Alabama fans were waving to him. They're like, see you later. Right. Oh yeah. His daughter comes up, his bomb. Right. And he's running down, he's running down. And when they were leaving, somebody asked about his daughter and everything else from Alabama. He was like, they're asking about who they think he's going to play next. And he said, I don't know who we get to play next, but I know you guys play. And he said like Kentucky.

[00:38:54] And that's who they're playing in football in the fall. Cause they don't have another softball game. And so, you know, he's, it's funny to watch like the fans and the families and everything like that. Jason Williams, you mean white chocolate, white chocolate. Yeah. I love that dude. I love that guy. So you need to, you need to watch for him in the softball because his daughter's a real deal. They say there's big upsets in both softball and the baseball world series. UCLA number one seed in baseball and softball out. Georgia Tech I hear is out.

[00:39:23] Florida State and baseball out. Were they good? They're pretty good. Yeah. Last year they made a deep run into it. Chapel Hill still in. Yeah. Chapel Hill still in. Which is pretty awesome. ECU. Did ECU. They played Tennessee. They did advance. I believe Tennessee's out. Tennessee's out. Cause everybody hit the portal. That's right. For Tennessee. So upsets and stuff. Yeah. But it's going to be really cool to kind of watch what's going on. So at the very beginning I mentioned that we've got 16 new subscribers.

[00:39:53] You know six of them being me. Subscribing unsubscribing. Got this text yesterday. Yo. So what do you do if you're driving through Glacier National Park in Whitefish, Montana with your three sisters on the first ever Able Siblings Getaway? Well of course you listen to the Big Fan 2026 summer movie Extravaganza. So that's their cruising. You know in this area in Montana listening to Big Fan. Oh. We're reaching all parts of the country.

[00:40:22] Buffaloes and grizzly bears and all of them. Salmon. Yes. And salmon. Salmon. I'm glad Steven was able to do that. Absolutely. That's awesome. We are starting Tri-Level Summer League Tennis tonight. Are you playing? I'm not playing. I'm not playing. Just got too busy a summer schedule. Yeah. Of course. I can understand. So our first match is tonight. At home? Yes. At home. My friend. Come see us. We'll be playing line one. Thank you. Thank you very much. But don't you all.

[00:40:52] Isn't everybody line one? Tri-Level? Yes. You have one. One is to 4-5. One is 4-0. One is 3-5. I don't think so. Yeah. But still line one. That's all I'm saying. I got. I got. Still line one. So we begin our. Who's your partner? His name is Pat Smith. Oh, I love Pat Smith. That is so awesome and so cool. It's the first time we've ever got a chance to play tennis together. We have always played against each other. So it'll be fun to kind of join forces and we'll give it a whirl. So it should be a lot of fun out there. That seems like fun.

[00:41:20] I hate to miss it because I always love the Tri-Level because you get to root on guys that you don't normally play with throughout the season that are on your own level. So it's always a lot of fun. Yeah. Should be a blast. So what you got going on this weekend, my friend? This weekend, our travel kind of starts for baseball. So he's got, it's a two-day kind of event at Elon, which is kind of cool because it allows me to step back on campus and spend a little time there.

[00:41:46] But they get to go through a pro-style tryout or workout in front of about 50 college coaches on Saturday and then they play on Sunday. And so it's going to be fun to see in a good environment and just kind of start our summer off. Yeah. Did we just hear some really good news about Harris? Yes. He played well this year and he was named to the all-conference team for the, I guess it's Western Foothills 5A.

[00:42:16] And just earlier today found out he made the all-region team. That's incredible. Way to go, Harris. Very proud of you. Yeah. How about you this weekend? Same kind of deal. Lucy's recital for everything they've worked on all year before the Nationals is this weekend. So my family's coming up Friday, Thursday night solo, Friday night duets. Then the team competition starts Saturday. Then they have a party for the mamas on Sunday. All right here? Like local? It's in Lincolnton. So local. Yeah, local.

[00:42:44] And then they start going to all their competitions, Myrtle Beach, Florida, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then they go to Portugal. Are you going to Portugal? I'm not going to Portugal this time. So this, okay. So the, this is the, like the prep for the big tournament, right? Yeah. Thursday is the solo and you're going to watch that obviously. Yeah, I'll be there for sure. But we also have our summer meeting for fantasy football. Fantasy football.

[00:43:13] So I too have got an obligation Thursday night and might not make it, but we've had some interesting summer meetings where, you know, sometimes it doesn't go as planned. Yes. Right? And so I'm sure if you get out there, you could get stranded in a boat. Yeah. That's awesome. You could get hijacked by pirates on the lake. You could maybe even do the little, you light the bags on fire. Lanterns. The lanterns. You could even do that. Yeah. All three have happened in the past during this meeting.

[00:43:44] We call it the summer fantasy football meeting. Yeah. It always takes place in June and we get there so we can, you know, make the rules, decide on the date of the draft, but really just to kind of get together and hang out. Prime the pump. Prime the pump, if you will. Yes. So we've had boats break down, solenoid issues. Solenoids. One time we went on a boat and the gentleman forgot to put gas in it and got stranded in the middle of the lake. I remember. You remember this? Somebody had to swim it to the side. I was so exhausted.

[00:44:12] Oh, there's no way you were in there. And then, yes, and then the infamous lantern, Chinese lantern story where we let lanterns off into the wilderness and mine got stuck on a tree and almost burnt the whole time. Burnt Lake Higley. Yes. So anyway, I'll look forward to our meetings tomorrow and good luck to Lucy Rose and her recital. Good luck to Harris with his baseball this weekend. And thank you to all our listeners for really getting down with Big Fan.

[00:44:38] I'm telling you, we do have a little momentum and I know we always bull about, say, you know, whatever about this, but like yesterday from Cherry Grove, North Carolina. Cherry Grove, North Carolina? South. South Carolina? No. Cherry Grove is North Carolina, but this is Sunset Beach. Cherry Grove is North Carolina? Yeah. Okay. No, you're right. It's South Carolina. And where is Sunset Beach? Is that North Carolina? I thought, I think it's South, but it's okay.

[00:45:04] So we got a call that some of our friends are there and took a little video of them listening to Big Fan while they're sitting on the beach. Oh. Interesting. Then we get another call from this guy I play golf with. He's taking his family, I think, to Texas. And while on their trip to Texas, listening to Big Fan in the car. Wow. We're really moving. Did I even tell you the story about I was going to church? I don't know if I said it on here or not, but I was going to church a couple weeks ago

[00:45:31] and I get out of my car and there's a gentleman walking for exercise and he's got his AirPods in and he's like, you know, just walking down the street. And I said, hey man, what's up? And he goes, I am just now listening to the first Big Fan podcast. So we are getting some traction. Yes. We're doing some good stuff over here, Hank. Keep up the good work. Moose, thank you for all your production and help in the back. Again, thank you to our listeners of Big Fan. We'll be back with you in two weeks. Until then, peace.

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