Bussin' With The Bears w/ Will Compton | 2 Bears, 1 Cave
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100% All right, we are so happy there's only one of them here. It's the one we prefer. Joining us from Bussin' with the Boys, it is Will Compton, everybody. Let him hear it. Bring it in loud and clear. Why didn't your co-hosts join you? Kindergarten graduation. Kindergarten graduation. He's going back to school? It popped up on the schedule. Wow. No one got that joke?

Sorry. He's going back to school, getting his education. Yeah, Billy Madison. He's making a run. Yeah, kindergarten graduation. That's a big one. One of the things I remember the most looking back on my life was the impact of graduating kindergarten. And the fact that my parents were there and that we celebrated. There were gifts. There were pancakes after. It's a big deal. I could see why. I'm so sick of you fucking rich dads showing up and killing it as dads.

It sucks so bad. You're sick of dads trying to be good dads. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You guys are like...

You guys are like General MacArthur sitting in the boardroom going, that's right, send him to the shore. Like, I was the foot soldier as a dad, broke as fuck, and I'm watching all these dads kill it, and I did not kill it. Do you know what? If I had kindergarten graduation and you offered me to be on Boston with the Boys, you know how quick I would have been on that? I would have been like, fuck her. I know. I would have said, fuck her. You wouldn't have said, fuck her. I would have said, fuck her. I would have said, fuck them. He would have said, sweetheart, I don't know if I can...

What do you think I should do? He would have just said, I got to go do this thing. Yeah. Yeah. You guys kill it and it fucking frustrates me. Now. Oh, thanks. Sounds like a compliment, but you're right. It is. Tom is always like, I got to get home and see my kids. It's true. He's always like, they're going to fucking be there forever. Yeah. Family's a higher priority for Tom. You know what I mean? Is it though? Yeah.

Only Tom can answer that, but some people prioritize family. Let's prioritize it. Okay. Would you enjoy playing one more season in the NFL?

Would you enjoy that? Yeah. Okay. You get the call tomorrow from Robert Kraft. Here's the deal. We got a hole in the Patriots organization. We have a hole. It's $20 million. Big gap we got to fill. I don't know what they get paid in the NFL. $20 million. I got paid minimum, so it'd be... $150,000. Probably 1.2. 1.2? Wow. Just to put pads on and sit? Well...

You just said there's a big hole in the team. I'm assuming I'm playing. Okay, that's what I said. Okay. $7 million. $7 million. $7 million. Okay, $7 million. But we need you stat, and we're going to need you. Do you leave the family and just focus on sports one more time? Not now, no. No. No.

It's over now. But wait, at this point, let's say you're... Let's say I could play. Let's say, yeah, you're physically... But would you have the conversation with your wife of like, should we move to, let's say in this scenario, New England for a season to do this? Yeah. You would have that conversation. Yeah, yeah. Like, let's say I was in the middle of my career and this situation popped up. Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, you would... Yeah, you'd move the family to wherever it was for whatever you're doing. Yeah.

Especially if it was like a great opportunity. Absolutely. Now that we have little old Rue, two years old, she just turned two in April. Now that, because I had, I see it as like-

I'm grateful that I had kids after my career because now that I have her and I know how invested and like obsessed I am with her, I don't see how guys do it. Yeah. And they're gone so much and have to commit so much to something elsewhere. Yeah. Especially these like, well, to, in your scenario, I know a couple of guys who it's like,

They have their home base. They have their schools they like. They have their community. And then, you know, they get whatever. The fucking Rams call them and they have to go to L.A., but they like having their family in Nashville or whatever. And it's like...

It really disrupts the whole family dynamic. Yeah, vets who have families that would be in OTAs, like OTAs is Monday through Thursday. Every Thursday they'd be on the earliest flight out that they could after practice to go spend the weekend at home. Yeah. And then they fly back from Monday to Thursday. That's a lot taxing on you too, for sure. Yeah, yeah. It's a lot. Now don't you, like right now we're in OTAs right now. Do you feel like...

- Man, it's so nice to not be doing them. - Yes. - Of course, right? - Yes. - What's OTAs? - OTAs, off-season, wait, optional, organized team activities. Organized team activities. - So paintball stuff? - Yeah, position groups will go do fun stuff. - Voluntary. - Yeah, yeah, it's voluntary. And basically it's like Monday through Thursday, there's different phases. So you have phase one where you're just training and then doing like install, like meetings.

And then you get to the next couple of weeks is where you're out on the field with your coaches, no pads, no physical activity, even though they find edges around it. And then the last few weeks will be like, you'll have a, you know, you'll have actual practices with helmets on and then you'll get to do like a three day mini camp. But it's kind of nice. I think with the way, cause there's pluses and minuses to the way things have evolved. I think it's kind of nice for you guys, for players active right now that it's evolved to kind of reduce the

the amount of impact that you guys take, right? That's kind of nice. Yeah, you'll go, it'll be like eight in the morning until noon. You only get four hours. It's in the later part of the weeks or OTAs where I think it ramps up to like six hours. Okay. But you'll go, once you're done at noon, you're like, you know, you'll be on the golf course at like,

1:30 2 o'clock with the boys kind of nice Thursday some guys were like host and we have like backyard games Corey Lichtensteiger shout out the boy he would always host people Thursdays over at his house backyard he'd have a volleyball court set up spike ball ping-pong Pizza coming in so everybody be hanging out. Do you miss it the way I like I miss my fraternity How do you miss your fraternity? Like I just missed the I missed the like I

bunch of people that knew me the camaraderie had a camaraderie you'd show up and you bust balls that like on Friday at noon and on Thursday someone be like, you know, let's go let's go get mushrooms and you'd be like fuck Yeah, like or like or like you someone be like hey skip cast. Let's go drink and you'd be like that energy I'll never get it back. I'll never live in another world like that. I

I don't know if I want it in my life again per se, but I do look back and I go, I think that's what the NFL would have been like. Same, same. I mean, it is. Everybody says that they miss the locker room, they miss the camaraderie, and you just miss like, I don't know how to explain it. Like you miss embracing that suck with the boys. Yeah.

Now we all have families and everything else. Stuff comes into more perspective the older we get. So it's like that part of like you miss it, but also you don't know if you could go through it again. But these kids, these athletes have no clue, like this small window to take advantage of and like fully go all in and commit yourself to something for, in our game, in our sport, that's for the betterment of the team and everything else. For like, you know, I fortunately got to play for nine, you know, practice squad year. That counts. Yeah, it counts. That counts, dude. I got to play for nine, but even in college, man, like...

You do, you embrace, you know, we reflect on stories. We reminisce, tell, you know, sit by the fireside and tell stories and you miss that shit. I think the only thing I said before, I think the only thing an amateur athlete has really in common with a professional athlete is the, like the camaraderie aspect. In other words, like if you only played high school sports, you still get to go like, Hey, the best part was the same thing. Like,

practice, hanging out, riding the bus. The smell of the locker room. That's what you reflect on, right? And then you talk to pros...

and theirs is just, it's the same thing just at a higher level. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just money gets involved, but it's literally all the same stuff. Like once you like step on a turf field and it's sunny out and it's mid-90s and you smell that turf the minute you step on it, like, oh man, all the memories of like, oh, we had some good times out here, but I'm thankful I'm not doing that shit anymore. But you also, it's like, man, these kids have no clue, you know, what they get to do right now. Like all the shit that goes on, you could be working construction, you could be working all these jobs

miserable jobs, but you get an opportunity to come out here and like play football, play a game. I still can't believe when I go, when I'm in Florida and it's August as a grown man and you're walking around, it's like a hundred percent humidity. You're like, how did we used to put on helmets and pads and run around in this? This is fucking brutal. I was at a Nebraska's practice a few weeks ago and just hearing the pads pop and everything else. I'm thinking, how in the hell was I out there doing that? Like, cause that kind of hurts seeing these dudes hit each other.

now just like jesus christ what percentage of the time did you get on the field and feel 100 at practice or because i remember baseball practice and i was in the best shape i'd ever been in my life always being like oh i don't want to run now i go i wish i could run like that yeah yeah sure yeah like are you saying like how often did i step on the field and feel fully healthy like did you i did you show up to practice the way everyone shows up to the gym like

Oh yeah, bro. Really? Putting the helmet on, especially you don't have a sweat going on yet. You just got to like muscle it on your head. You got the pads on. You're just thinking your ankles are banged up, your knees. You feel something in your upper hamstring. It's like, let's go, go. You're thinking to yourself, oh, you got one-on-ones today. I'm going to have to cover a running back out of the backfield. Like good. I mean, it's,

Did you almost say out of the black field? I get it. They are usually. They're definitely all black guys, usually, unless you got Rex Burkhead or a couple of the great white hopes that are out there. There's a couple. Christian McCaffrey, best in the league. Unbelievable. We just had somebody drafted at cornerback. How many white guys, like I know a white corner, first in a generation. Yes, he almost slipped in the first round too. When there's like,

When there's great white athletes, do you still think there's old? I always think there's older guys, especially who watch like Luca play ball and they're like, we still got it. Like they get like teared up. Like there's no doubt that when you have the huddle around you and you're giving the call and you are the only white guy in the huddle. It's an amazing feeling. And one of your boys, like one of the D-line was like, hey, comp.

you know you're the only white guy out here. Like, that is respect. Oh, it's the ultimate. Okay, here's how I was just having this. The tears, there's tears of black compliments, right? And they all feel great. There's nothing like a black compliment. So the first thing. He's right. Wait, wait, wait. What year?

Because I'm listening to a documentary on Martin Luther King right now. What year do you think black compliments became a thing? Oh, well, that's interesting. Like in the 60s, you couldn't like, as a black guy, you couldn't like dap up a dude in a hardware store. Well, actually. Like where the white guys in the home would be like, hey, you're the only black guy out here. That's pretty. That's pretty cool. What year did a black guy say to a white guy, I like those shoes. And the white guy was like, oh, yeah. That definitely was probably.

Not the 60s. Not the 60s. But okay, I think shoes are like, if you go right now, shoes are always, if a black guy is like, this is some fresh kicks, you're like. It's the only compliment you need. You're like, this is going to be a great day, right? Damn, white guys can shit on you and you won't give a fuck. You don't care. Your fit, that's another one. If black guys compliment your fit, that's definitely one. When black guys tell you you're funny, like when black people after a show, it's unbelievable. It's not funny, it's.

Tom, you're stupid. Yeah, you're stupid. Tom, you're stupid, bro. Are you a funny motherfucker? And the food falling out of his mouth. You're like, all right, cool. He's like eating like crazy. You know what I get from black comics? You a rock star. Oh, that's good. I like that a lot. That's nice. That's a good compliment. I got that from Cat Williams. Yeah. That's a good compliment. That's a bad one. I was like, fuck.

Oh, shirt's coming off in five. In him after the Shannon Sharp episode, that's the compliment from the certain guy you need. Oh, dude, the fact that, yeah, like, that is right, man. Like, compliments from black comics. Mike Epps. I ran into Mike Epps and he was like, I was like, I remember going like, and I partied with Mike. I knew Mike, but I was like,

you know who I am? Yeah. Like that was like a big thing. It's a big deal. Yeah. But the, okay. Then your music choices. That's another incredible compliment. Yeah. You're very vulnerable if you grab the ox. Yeah. And you're showing up that first song. It's like, yeah. Fuck, am I about that? But the ultimate, I've always thought the ultimate black eye compliment, if you're a white guy, is athletic prowess. So if somebody, that's like,

The top tier, I think. Oh, yeah. So if you're playing and you're in a huddle and they're like, you're the only white guy here. Soul Patrol. Yeah. Yeah, that's the greatest. I mean, it's peak. It's peak. I remember my high school head coach for a couple of years played linebacker at East Carolina. And we saw his team photo. He was the only white guy on the defense linebacker.

And he had a shaved head and a Fu Manchu and he looked like a fucking lunatic. And we were like, dude. You almost embrace your white side even more around the brothers when they're like hyping you up. Yeah. Being like a crazy white dude. You're the crazy white guy. You say, oh, I'm going to shave my head now. Yeah. This one's going to sound weird, but another compliment I got, and this is just for the audience out there, this one's going to sound weird, but I weirdly enjoyed the compliment.

walking around the locker room, towel on after shower. No, not nice. That's a nice piece. But yeah, yo comp, you got ass. Oh, I kind of like that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There was always a part of me that's like,

Nice. Yeah, for sure. Your boy's got ass. Because usually white guys, it's like, you know. Flat ass. I'm sure you guys are kind of flat asses. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And actually, you know, you guys. I'm just a crack in a hole. Pro athletes are very comfortable talking about physiques. Because your physique is your tool. It's your instrument. Yeah. And so I've had other guys.

look at me and be like, you got no ass, man. Like other football players have said to me. And I'm like, what? Because no one ever really says that to you. But you guys observe that shit. We observe it every day. Bro, shout out to the Bucs. This is what I'm willing to do. Okay. Oh, sorry. I guess the best compliment is you got a great dick from a black guy. No doubt. As I started telling the story, I was like, it'd be much better just to be like, yo, Com, you got a fucking tool on you. But no, it was like, hey, Com, you got some ass on you. I want to do a video.

Where it's almost like the Soul Train line, but in the Bucks locker room, all the brothers, and I walk down buck naked, and they just fucking roast me. And just the cameras from behind, and all you see is their faces, and me walking down naked. It's like, what the fuck is that?

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And that's the best type of vibe, too, when all the brothers are going. Yeah. And you're getting roasted. It's like, you can say something as small as like, yo, you're built like that trash can in the locker room. And everybody's just losing their mind, even if it makes sense. You're just like, I'm getting destroyed right now. But it's still a- Those are the most fun times. Yeah, those are fun times. Was there a feeling? I can only really relate to being in the NFL through hard knocks. Yeah.

But was there a feeling when you saw the dude come in with the big contract and you knew he wasn't getting cut? And there were guys that were like, fuck, am I going to make the squad this year? Was there an uneasiness in that? And like, did you look at like other players like, God damn it, he doesn't have to worry about anything this training camp. Yeah, 100%. I mean, being undrafted, you're wanting to make the team. So it's all, you're just, you're always, we're all comparing ourselves.

It's like when I'm trying to make the team, I just want to make the team. So when I'm at the bottom of every depth chart for a team on fucking punt, that's when you know you're in a bad spot. My number, I wore practice jersey number 46. That was the same number as Alfred Morris, the running back for Washington, who just had a Pro Bowl season. So the writing almost feels like it's on the wall that you're not going to be around because you're wearing the same number as the superstar on the team.

And so when you're trying to make the team, like you just want to make practice squad. I'm thinking, man, $100,000 a year, that would change my life. Like when you're in college here and, you know, pros either bitch about being on practice or whatever, you're thinking with your $800 scholarship check, you're like, bro, give me $100,000. I'll go practice. Like, why is this guy bitching? Then when you're on the practice squad, you're comparing yourself to guys who are on the roster. It's like, yo, why is...

I feel like I have more to offer than this dude. Like, why is he on the roster? Like, man, it must be nice being on the roster because they have access to the 401k, the benefits, all the retirement programs and stuff. It's like, man, that shit would be awesome. Then when you're on the, when you're on the team, you're trying, you're on the fringe. You're just trying to crack the starting lineup. So then it's like, man, it must be nice being a starter. Then when you're a starter, you want the second contract.

So when you're starting and playing a lot and you're up for a deal, you're hoping you can negotiate something awesome with the team, thinking that they're going to appreciate the grind that's been put in and like the growth and everything else. Like it's going to be honored. And then you realize like the teeth of the business then to where it's like, man, I might not, I don't think I'm going to get to be one of those second contract guys. So when the boy Taylor, first year we met, he signed Taylor.

He signed the biggest deal in NFL history for offensive linemen. It was like five years for like $85 million. He came in with like, who was that dude off Dukes of Hazzard with the white suit? Oh, Boss Hogg. Boss Hogg. He came in with a whole Boss Hogg fit, cigar in his mouth, signed big, went to the presser.

Just fucking, you know, being the man. And it's one of those things, you're sitting there in the locker room, like in my selfish world of just being like, man, I bet that is so fucking cool. This dude doesn't have to worry about shit. Like I'm trying to grind and, you know, make the team hopefully become a starter on this team. But yeah, there's always, you're always comparing yourself. Then I'm assuming...

If you're the highest paid guy in the NFL or the highest paid at your position, you're probably looking at Forbes magazines on seeing which athletes stack up business-wise on the outside. And then when you're on the Forbes, it's like, okay, I don't want to just be on the sports Forbes. I want to be on the actual Forbes. Then those guys compare to a million. So it's endless. It's an endless chase. It's endless. It shows you too that the chase really isn't where it's at though. Because you wanting to be on...

the next list isn't gonna, it's never gonna be fulfilling is my point. You're just gonna look at the next list. - What is it, man? I read it in "Psychology of Money" and it's like your ego sits

your ego sits right below like, you know, the next dollar or, you know, the dollar above whatever salary you want. Your ego sits right below that. I butchered that quote, but yeah, man, it's, it's never ending. If you're in the rat race, it's like this past year for myself and you, you'd appreciate this. I saw you sitting with Ryan Holiday on his podcast. He's a big stoic. I love stoicism. Yeah, he's fantastic. Yeah. I don't get it.

Dude, it sounds like you need to get some in your life. I don't get it. I don't get it. But it's like just the power of no. All the opportunities we have all around us to amass and do as much as possible, make as much money as possible. Like, okay, we do one show a week. What if we went to two? What if we build this asset? What if we go out this tour, that tour, do all these things and build up for our next contract, all the stuff.

And then having Rue and realizing like, oh man, I'm kind of moving around a lot. Like the power of no, like saying no to things because you're saying yes to the weekend with the family. That's a great one. Yeah, like you're saying no to stuff means you're saying yes to the priorities you have that you have structured out. Yeah, that's a, I mean, here's my problem with stoicism and that whole thing is like- Okay, Bert, here we go. Buckle up in there, boys. Bert's philosophy's coming. Well, look, I could be a stoic too. I could read the books and tell you what they say.

It's putting it into practice. Whatever. Well, that is. So putting it into practice is something to roll your eyes at? Yeah. Why? I don't know. Whatever. Whatever? I don't get it. Let's talk about it. I don't get it. I don't get it. What do you not get? Truly, I love these conversations, by the way. Not that I'm saying there's a right, wrong, or different. I feel like no matter what. What do you not get? Yeah, what do you not understand about it? I don't know. The whole Marcus Aurelius said, it's like, okay, cool.

That's your take on it? That's stoicism. It's like, there's like five books, I read them all, and then you need to just...

Because this emperor back in the fucking 1300s said it, then I'm going to live like that. The power of no sounds really sexy, but everyone listening to this doesn't live in a world where they get to say no. For sure. And so like, it sounds like a luxury to me. Like when it goes back to the being a great dad, I didn't have the luxury of being a great dad. Like I had to, I had to like, I never, I've never said no in my fucking life because I always had to say yes. I had to say yes. And then they would tell me no at times.

And so like, I don't get, I like, I just feel like the average person is like, yeah, I'd love to tell my boss to go fuck himself, but I should have to show up. Like he shit cash checks was my whole mentality in life. And I feel like you would get that in the NFL where like, you're like, yeah, it would be cool to like sit out training camp and negotiate a higher salary. Goddamn right, bro. It would be cool.

But I'm not that guy. But you got to know, you got to know. Yeah. But for me, it's like just knowing where I'm at. Like if I don't, if I don't check my ego and some of this stuff, like ultimately I'm just going to be chasing my ambitions all the time and sacrificing whatever it is that might be, Hey, I might be hurting this area of my life. I might be hurting that one. Cause you're right. It's like, what was it? Cash checks, eat shit, cash checks, cash checks. Yeah. Not everybody's in the, in the luxury of it, but it's like, I,

being in the spot that I'm in now and you get to kind of look at the scope of it all like hey who do I want to be how do I want to move what actually what amount of money can I define it so that way I'm not saying yes to everything everything has to be yes yeah kind of why because I'm very lucky so like if I if I like you're taking advantage if you're not yeah like and I also feel like I'm losing opportunities I'll tell you the first time I watch people say no I'm gonna use real names and I'm gonna apologize to those people uh

ICM showcase 18 20 years ago ICM showcase earthquake goes second earthquakes fucking monster and Everyone walks away from that showcase Nick Swartzen walked out I think Reno Collier walked out Dane Cook walked out like all these guys just like I'm not following earthquake No one must follow him

I was not in a position where I got to pick where I wanted to be in a lineup, but I saw that as an opportunity and I said, fuck it, I'll do it. And I went after Earthquake and I fucking killed and I got a development deal. I think people that go...

I'm going to pick my shots. They miss all those shots. Like, I feel like putting yourself in the arena to do things gives yourself an opportunity. You know, that there's a lot of people that said no to the Tom Brady roast that at that, when they got done, we're like, fuck, I should have done that. Whereas I, you know, when we got off, I was like, fuck, yeah, I'm in. I'm in. I didn't even ask for money. I didn't ask. I didn't even ask what we were doing. I,

I said, I'm in Tom's into, and then Tom's like, hold on. And Tom was like a hard note. We had a long phone call with them and Tom spoke the whole time. And he was like, no. Yeah. Cause they wanted us to do something different. Tom's like, you know, it's a roast. And they were like, well, this is what we're looking for. And we're like, I'm the whole time. I'm like, we can do that. We can definitely do that. But like, I look at everything as an opportunity. Give me a stoic idea and I'll, and I'll pick it apart.

Tom, help me out. Well, call up Ryan. He's got a bookstore here, right? Yeah. He's a cool dude. He's a cool dude. And I think it's awesome that he's into stoicism, but stoicism is like cold plunging. It's like something that everyone's into right now.

And it's like, I'm just not going to, I already do my gratitude. Yeah, but to say that you'll tear it apart, it's almost like stoicism is ultimately that shit is going to happen to you and it's all about how you deal with it. It's not like just the power of saying no. Like you seeing things as an opportunity and blocking out any noise that goes involved, like that's part of... The no thing isn't like, it actually has...

real value if you look at it this way. What it's saying is, if somebody, if he goes... Hang on, here's a great power of no.

You say you're a hard in on something. I'm not even going to do this. Hang on, hang on. Let me teach you. Here's the power of saying no. Here we go, Tom. Tom, I have a great example. Power of saying no, because I'm learning it too. Look, we're not all the best schedules in the world. We all struggle as grown men with calendars and everything else. And my wife, like, hey, if we just put in the calendar, sweetheart, I don't care if you go and do these things. It's just finding out a day or two in advance is kind of the problem. If it's planned out, then good to go. I just need to know what I'm getting myself into. Very fair.

So power of saying no, you commit to something. And not only that, but you're on camera saying I'm a hard in and recruit other people to be a hard in with. And that date happens to be, let's just say hypothetically in this situation, it's June 25th and it's the beer games championships of the world. So you're committed to that. The power of saying no. Now, any opportunity that comes your way, I'm sorry, I can't do it because my priority to the boys, to the bears, to the cave is,

is invested in this yes that I made. That's the power of saying no example. Not, no, I'm not going to chase an opportunity. You're confusing the power of saying no with the regret of saying no.

I had no power in that no. There's some stoicism in that. Because I am devastated that I will not be there. And you know that it's killing me that I'm not there. But that is it. Because I have my specials the next week. And Leanne's like, you're going to go. You're going to get drunk as fuck. You're going to be yelling all day. You're going to lose your fucking voice. And you'll have no voice for your special.

And I have a show that night in Ohio and I tried everything. I tried everything. Anyone on my team knows I was like, I am in the beer Olympics. I am. I've committed to them, but I, what I should have done at the very beginning. And this is who you're talking about. If it was Ryan holiday, he would have said, he would have said, he would have said no.

No, I'm stoic. You know what they say? Like when you project anger, it's ultimately something that you hate about yourself. I'm not projecting anger on Ryan Holiday. It seems like you roll the eyes like, oh, stoicism. Ryan Holiday. There's got to be. You worked hard for your life. You should be proud of it. Yeah, I am.

- Wait, is that a stoic thought? - No, no. - No, I just, you know that there's gotta be a theory of thought that picks apart stoicism. If there was one genius that Marcus Aurelius was a genius, there had to be another dude on the other side that also wanted to fuck Cleopatra who was like, yo, this guy's full of shit. - Yeah, no question. - And so I'm on that guy's team.

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But why the, why you so mad at, why you so mad at Ryan Holiday? Not Ryan Holiday, stoicism. He comes up in my feed and I want to fucking buy it. I want to buy it, but I just don't. I just can't. I can't buy it, buy into it. Stoicism. Give me a stoic thought. Let's just pull, let's pull up the biggest ones. Okay. You were, you were practicing stoicism when you went on your, how many days sober and working out? Three months. Three months. Wasn't enjoyable.

You didn't enjoy it, Adam. I got drunk yesterday morning, and I loved it. I loved it. I'm that guy. I'm the fucking roll the dice. Let him fucking roll. Seven different kinds of smoke. Yeah. You need those guys. Yeah. Give me a stoic thought, Tom. I'm pulling it up. You are a complete stoic. No, I'm not a complete stoic. You are 100%. Okay. Tom's wise. You bought books at his bookstore. I know. Okay. And you read them. There's nothing. Okay. Okay.

You're so lame. Here's one. Happiness isn't found in things, but in virtue alone. It's all about what we value and the choices we make. So let's see. I'm trying to find that apart. No, no. Just let's sit with that one. Say it again. It's going to take a second. I got to put my brain to work. Happiness isn't found in things, but in virtue alone. Bullshit. I just bought my wife a new car. She loves it.

She loves it. It makes her feel young. That new car smell is going to wear off. It's a convertible. It's going to wear off. She's going to want that new one in a few years. No, no, no, no. Cause she grew up poor, a stoic, I think. Okay. Hold on. Keep going. Tom, let me take away all your cars and let's see how happy you are.

I got something better for us. Okay. Oh, we getting them on? Yeah. Hey, Ryan. Oh, come on. Hey, what up? Hey, I'm here with Will Compton and Bert Kreischer. And Bert is shitting all over stoicism and says that it's stupid and it's a dumb way to live. And he thinks it's just, you know...

They're paraphrasing, Ryan, but they're real close. But we're close. So I was like, oh, then he's like, yeah, I see this stuff come up on my feed. It's like fucking whatever. It's just whatever. Marcus Aurelius, whatever. He said how the power of saying no is so stupid. You've got to say yes to everything. I just say yes to everything. He just answered the phone with a hard yes, right? He should have said, send a voicemail. He's a stoner. Ha, ha, ha, ha.

Ryan, can you just like, do you mind just giving like maybe a basic principle of stoicism that we can, you know, like hopefully show Bert why this is a value? That he's angry at the wrong thing. Yeah. I'm here. I'm like a Scientologist. I'm ready to be converted. All right. Sorry, my headphones keep dropping out. Okay, so the basic idea of stoicism is that we don't control what happens in

in the world or around us, but we control how we respond to the world around us. It's pretty basic. I think it's pretty difficult to argue with. The idea is that instead of spending time stressing

about what other people do. You focus on what you do instead of focusing on the mistakes you've made. You focus on how you're going to do better next time. And it's this idea that you try to go through the world around these sort of four main attributes, the sort of virtues of stoicism. Again, I think are pretty hard to argue with. It's courage, self-discipline, justice, and wisdom. So that's the philosophy that has existed for, you know, generations.

2000 plus years, some of the greatest, most powerful people in history have ascribed to it. And then all sorts of people who went through, you know, horrendous ordeals, whether they were prisoners of war thrown in prison for, you know, crimes they didn't commit or dealt with exile and death and, you know, all the shit that life can throw at a person.

They sort of turn to this philosophy. So it's not these abstract ideas that you would study in this boring college class. It's a it's supposed to be a framework for dealing with the difficulty of life. OK, OK. But what is your what's the opposite? I'm the opposite of that. What is your main issue against why? Why are you rolling your eyes at Marcus Aurelius? Like, what is that supposed to be like? OK, so like.

Just the names. Is your familiarity with Marcus Aurelius, Bert, that he's the old guy that dies at the beginning of Gladiator? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. He thinks there's just another guy somewhere in that world that thought he was full of shit. Wasn't Marcus Aurelius like Caesar's kid or something? No, he was the emperor of Rome. Yeah, yeah, same, same.

same same nepo baby okay okay uh so on the opposite just the name stoic is not how i live my life like i'm not stoic i'm the guy that if you put a sour patch candy in front of i go oh i haven't had sour in forever i feel like a stoic goes no um okay so the word stoic uh lowercase stoic has a somewhat different meaning than uppercase stoic

The philosophy that is Stoicism. Stoa means porch in ancient Greek. There's just a philosophy that originated on this porch in the Athenian Agora. It comes to mean in English, the word Stoic lowercase means sort of emotionless, joyless, etc. In the same way that Epicurean means like a lover of pleasure or hedonism.

Get me that book. These are sort of shortcut that that the that the actual philosophy is not about. Can I ask you one thing? Because of the Marcus Aurelius mentioned, what is something that Marcus Aurelius said that maybe Bert could wrap his head around and go, oh, that does make sense. Yeah. Give me something where I connect with Marcus Aurelius.

Well, let's see. What are you dealing with these days? Yeah, that's a good question. Here, let me talk to him. Okay.

Is how much of my life is performative? That is my biggest thing I'm dealing with. I had a girl fall during the 5k. I'm telling you a secret. I know everyone's going to light me up for this. A girl fell, blew out her knee, hit her head. And I was, she was right in front of me and I stopped down and I comfort her first, honestly comforted her for about 13 seconds. And then this voice in my head said, is there a camera catching this? And it bothered me. It bothered me that that was a thought that went through my head in a moment where I was like,

I'm doing the right thing. Does anyone notice? Help me. Okay, so first off, I think Mark's release would very much relate to this idea of sort of your public self and your private self because he's the most powerful.

man in the world. There's statues of him everywhere. He's cheered and clapped for everywhere he goes. But he's really worried about the sort of toxic effect that this would have as a person. He writes in meditations about not wanting to be Caesarified or he says stained purple because the emperor wears this purple cloak. And so he's talking about how, you know, and actually Jerry Seinfeld just talked about this on some podcast because he's been reading meditations. But he was talking about how

One of the things that Marcus talks about in meditations is that like how worthless to be clapped for actually is. He says, you know, this is just the clacking of tongues and the smashing of hands. He's trying to remind himself that this thing that you can become very addicted to or that you can have inflate your sense of worth is not to be proud of.

I mean, there is in Rome to this day a 150-foot column that is carved in marble of Marcus Aurelius' accomplishments. So he's not just famous, but like truly a great man. Okay, okay, okay. He would have known how amazing he was. Okay, hold on. He's trying not to do that. I know, I know, but I'm trying to get in. Because I know what you're saying. I had this conversation with Will's wife the other day.

They asked, we were bringing them on stage and, uh, Talon and Will's wife said, uh, what, how are you supposed to react when Talon and Charo, Charo. Yeah. I, they said, how are you supposed to react when they applaud for you? And now I'm the opposite of Mark Ceruleus and that I say, uh,

Allow it. Allow it. Feel it. Let it vibrate inside you. It's joy. They're giving you joy. Appreciate that. Not everyone gets that. And when you get it, let yourself feel it. But also, isn't there a tad bit of something performative in the fact that you are a guy who strives to become the emperor, but you're kind of pretending? Like, I don't want to be like...

I want to be the, you know, I got to be humble. Like that part, like that's where I, that's where I, cause I have dealt with a lot of these things you're talking about, but I go, is it performative? If I'm like, hold on, I'm just a, you know, Hey, you know, like, or I go, it's happening. I asked for this. I wanted this. I strove for this. Now it's happening.

What part of that is, am I being disingenuous being going like, don't put up huge statues of me. Well, if I didn't want huge statues, why did I do it in the first place? Do you know what I mean? I totally do. I think about that in my own life. Like, obviously, you know that like what actually matters is the work.

But then you still want it to do well. You still want the tickets to sell. You still want people to clap at the end. So it's a tension, but you have to ultimately, I think, value your own opinion of what's good. And you have to value the work that you put in more than the external stuff, because more often than not, or throughout history, lots of great work and great artists who were ahead of their time, for instance, did not get appreciated. So if they let the thumbs up or the thumbs down of the crowd,

out determine their self-worth uh they're going to be devastated right so you i think it's it's a it's it's a balance what's interesting about marcus is he doesn't want to be emperor he's just chosen for this his his father was not emperor he's chosen as a young man as this guy with potential that they think could do the job so he has this kind of

from it that I think he struggles with. But it's better to be thinking about these things than not thinking about these things and just being like, I'm the fucking best. Everyone loves me. Because that rots your soul and your mind. Okay, I'm going to give it a shot. I'm going to give the stoicism a shot. What's the audiobook I can get for the flight today? Because I bet if I'm drinking, I'd connect with it. I think audiobooks on the Stoics are hard because obviously they didn't record any

Oh, wait. Marcus Aurelius doesn't have an off. Hello. Are you recording, asshole?

all right ryan i'm giving it a shot i'll tell you i'll tell you my other thing my other thing that drives me nuts is uh as i hate when like stupid people tell me stuff so like i know tom's not that smart and then when he goes here's the thing with stoicism i go stop that's not your idea you just heard ryan holiday say it that's an unnecessary shot that's an unnecessary i'm talking to to a dick joke comic and a pro athlete about stoicism but you you make some solid points ryan holiday

All right, I'll take it. All right. Ryan, thank you for answering the phone and dealing with my special friend. Anytime. Big fan. It's just like talking to one of the kids. All right. Talk to you later, man. Bye. Thanks so many. Can I say something? Yeah, please. I love that. What? I love just Ryan being on the phone talking through that. What's it? My issue a little bit is like.

Go back to the NFL, okay? Okay. The Stoic is the guy, amazingly talented, big deal, holds out, and that's Marcus Aurelius. He didn't want to be emperor. Some of these kids are so talented, they're like, man, they forget the gift they're given. You are the opposite. You are the guy sitting next to Marcus Aurelius going, dude, I'm busting my ass just to be on the council.

Like he, like, that's how I feel. I've always been the guy busting his ass, just get on the council. And so when I look at a stoic who goes, I'm emperor, but I need to like keep my ego in check. And I'm sitting there going like, dude, whatever the fuck, dude, let's just get me on the council. You know what I mean? Yeah.

Yeah, I think to that, it's almost like just using it from my football experience, getting caught up in comments. It's like after a game, I would search my name on Twitter only to end up disappointed. Even when I was like, oh, boy, played pretty well today. Like, let's go see what people notice. And then it's like the whole what he was saying. It's like live for the cheers, die by the boos. It's like if I'm going to fill myself with like other people being like, oh, Will's a great player and everything else. Yes, I do love that.

But then when I get let down and I'm putting all my value into someone else's opinion. Yeah, someone else's opinion. When really it's just, let's watch film. Let's see what my coach says. Like he's not reading all the comments. But now I'm sitting here thinking like, oh, I wonder if everybody knows. Like I did miss that tackle right there and everything else. It's like Thanksgiving game happened. We were playing the Cowboys. I missed two tackles in a row on Ezekiel Elliott. And I found myself sitting on the bench after the first drive.

wondering what was being said about me on the internet. And it's like that right there, like as far as like practicing stoicism, because another thing you said, like I'm talking to Ryan about stoicism, but these two dumbasses trying to tell me about it. It's not a thing of like, you know what the answers are, but you just know these things that really can grab ahold of your mind if there aren't some practical fundamental things that

I can like lean on to be like, okay, why do I care so fucking much to where now I'm at a point I'm blocking out what coach is telling me on those tackles. And I'm thinking what, you know, username 457 said on Twitter. And that's when I know I had allowed the audience to consume my mind too much. Yeah. I went through that. You almost have to like, you have to practice, like intentionally practice, like not doing that, which is extremely fucking hard.

And that's like trying to lean into those virtues or values or those core things of like, why am I playing the game? It's because I was a little kid in the front yard with my old man pretending to be the 90s Cowboys with Emmitt Smith, Michael Irvin, Troy Aikman throwing the ball around. And I absolutely love this fucking game. And my dad would tell me,

He would show me Walter Payton stuff on, he would run hills until he puked. And even his old man, like if he came home at night and the dishes weren't done, he'd get woken up out of bed to do the dishes. And just like the discipline and the things that like you grow up loving about the sport finds itself trickling away because now I'm starting to think about

your next contract, what people are saying. Do I think I'm as good as I think I am based on what Bert and Tom think when they're watching these games? Yeah. You know what I mean? You kind of like, you kind of like lose that foundation of why you're doing it in the first place. With comedy, it's even worse because... I think with every profession, it's like, it's, I mean, even with fucking podcasting, you try to, you get caught up or you can worry about certain things. I would not have had...

If this was two years ago, whenever we moved into our new house, I went through what you're talking about. And it was, I was actually reading comments then. And I'd read, I never read Reddit, but I'd read negative things about myself. And then I started to believe them. And I started to lose, started to second guess myself on things I would say. Cause I was like,

And I was like, well, that's not who I am. I'm like, even having a conversation negating stoicism. I realized now that we say this, I'm going to get destroyed in the comments. This is why I fucking hate Bert, but I'm not going to change who I am and start pretending because I watch you. We know people on podcasts who just, uh, just speak to the worst people so that they don't get lit up. Yeah.

They just talk to the... They appease the trolls. And it's very methodical. It's very methodical. It's calculated. Yes. And it is the opposite of art. The opposite of art is when you allow...

Those negative comments to dictate who you are and so I had to I had to at that point I was I was pretty bad as when I was in pretty aggressive therapy And I was like, you know, what is like and you can't do that You got to be that pure thing to be the thing I I can only imagine in sports where it's a physical thing when it comes comedy It's all like oh, I'll just change my act. I'll just become a different person

so I don't have to deal with negative comments. I'll say certain things, certain buzzwords that I know that trolls are like, yeah. People will celebrate, yeah. Yeah, like leaking onto the practice field, you approach a tackle and whether you tag off or not, in your mind you're thinking, would I have made that tackle? And the way I kind of got outside of my body are now the coaches thinking like, oh man, I don't know if he can make that play. And that's just my own insecurity coming alive

based on what I'm filling my mind with in those moments. And then you're approaching practice like you got to find those places where maybe you can go pick the ball off or make a play in the backfield. And you're not thinking about the fundamental things of lining up correctly, seeing the formation, just being immersed in the craft and the process of it all because you start getting caught up in all these things. Because at the end of the day, Bird, it's like,

only you lay your head on the pillow at night with whatever stresses are in your mind. Your wife doesn't share it. The person laying next to you doesn't share those things with you. They try to support, they try to talk to you. They are your rock. They help give you perspective. But even when they give you great perspective, well, you're still laying on a pillow. Whatever's keeping you up is what's keeping you up. And to me, I've always like loved writing stuff down. I like, I try to like gravitate towards things. And stoicism was one Ryan holiday in particular to where it's like, man, these are things that I can like,

I can practically get behind because I know when I show up for practice tomorrow or I show up for the pod the next week or the boys the next day or whatever it is, like I have to have not my wits about me, but just my sense of like self and authenticity versus trying to do something that's outside of me. If that makes sense. No, that makes, that makes more sense. You think I like, I connect with that a hundred percent and I, and the, I connect with that a ton. I mean, it means everything.

If that's what's, you know, the other thing I have is like, it's watching, you know, there's a thing that happened in this world where it's like, I think with podcast, and I'm really guilty of it. I just told you guys Martin Luther King was 5'7", right? Yeah. I didn't. That's a big, that was a big revelation today. I didn't know. I thought he was like 6'2". He does. Yeah. He didn't seem like he was a big cat. Yeah. He's dressed slick as fuck. His legacy is big. They used to call him Tweed. Yeah. Fucking slick dresser.

And, uh, but like, even I am at a place where I regurgitating information I've learned seems inauthentic, meaning so many people, like, I remember when we early back when we used to do Rogan, I remember there, we'd go in, we still go in with zero, uh,

Fucking information to talk about but there would be people that would have like notes and they'd repeat things They heard somewhere else and I was like yo, I remember we got into that I remember it was just the base of two bears early on as I'm done with Tired thoughts. I want original thoughts. I want someone to bring me original fucking thoughts. I remember the guy from epic mealtime You remember that guy Harley? Yeah, I remember he he was like two toothbrushes

do the top and the bottom at the same time. And I was like, God, that's a fucking way more original thought than talking about AIDS research on Rogan. You know what I mean? Like I was like, but there's this thing where people regurgitate things they've heard. And then all of a sudden they're no longer their authentic self. They're just being a, a, a vessel of regurgitation. You don't think that some of that's just to prompt conversation though? Like it's just like, Hey, I heard this thing. I read this thing. I share it. See if it like generates, um,

Like, hey, Martin Luther King was 5'7". Like, you know what I mean? Like, oh, really? How tall was Malcolm X? You know? Gobby was like 5'4". Okay. It's like, what are you supposed to do? Like, not continue? I think I'm growing. I got to tell you that.

I think I'm growing in height. Yeah. No. Yeah. For real. He believes it. Yeah. Why do you think so? Cause I just, I feel, I think I'm getting taller. I keep meeting taller people and I'm like, you're not that tall. So I think I'm, I'm, I think I'm growing in height. I think gravity ends up winning against us. Like your vertebraes might be deteriorating. I'm getting up there, dude. I have, I think I've grown at least an inch and a half in the last year. Are you sleeping longer?

Are you like... Doing pull-ups. Are you hanging upside down? Sometimes. Decompressing your spine? Yeah. I think I'll be 6'4 by the end of the year. I'm serious. What are you now? 6'2 and a half. I don't know. No, no. Easily. You're not taller than me, are you? I don't know, man. Maybe by the end of the podcast, I will be. You might have grown. Yeah. TI is 6'1, 6'2. TI is big. How tall are you? 6'1 and a half. Is that like...

Official measurement? Official measurement, feet, standing in a V against the wall, I'm just 6'1". Okay. But, you know, shoes, everything else, 6'2". Right, with shoes on. Yeah. I mean, let's stand next to each other real quick. All right. Back to back? Let's just say, like, you're probably going to be like, oh, you've been growing. Can somebody tell us? I can't see. Oh, you're much taller than him. Much taller than him. Yeah, still.

By the way, I can feel your ass is nice. You got ass on you. I know, bro. It's weird to say, and I don't think I've said this before, but you got a beautiful ass, man. I appreciate that. I appreciate that. So wait, how much taller? He's a solid inch, maybe an inch and a half taller. You might be six foot. He's 5'10". Oh, he's 5'10"? Yeah. You might be growing. Hey. I'm not 5'10". I'm probably like 6'1".

You had been shrinking, I think. Me? A little bit. No, I'm taller now. No. Yeah, but I'm always barefoot. That's why you think. I'm always in flip-flops. No, no, no. You guys want to go back to back? I'll measure it. I'll be the judge. No. Why not? Because I'm not going to do it. I already know. I think Marcus Aurelius would probably say, no, you're taller. Be comfortable with the power of saying no. Yeah. Dude, I forget. I was thinking about something when you were in the middle of talking about

feeling like inauthentic or when people regurgitate information. Then Benny, you started talking about the power of no. I'm just thinking like, I mean, fuck. I kind of felt like that imposter of like, I am just like trying to like practice something or regurgitate something. And it's like, why do I end up getting there? Because we were kind of talking about fatherhood and everything else.

And I feel like I get to these points. You know, Ryan, he's got, and I know this is just a podcast sharing about Ryan Holiday, but he's got like the Daily Dad. And this morning, the one was like, how do you want your kids to talk about you when you're older or long and gone, right? And it's like, if you sit with that, what words would they say right now? And what words would you want them to say? You know what I mean? What do you think they would say? Not good. No. Yeah. Yeah. I'm...

Mean I think they I don't think they'd be like he was fun as fuck. That's it. I

That's it. Yeah. I loved him. He was fun as fuck. Yeah. And here's the thing. I'm not a dad like during the Black Lives Matter things. Okay. Hang on. Let's talk. Okay. I just want to make sure that. I said absolutely not. You're not getting into those. I'm not getting you into those protest things. Crazy shit happens. You're my daughter. She was like dad I want to protest. I want to be out there in the streets. I was like baby you don't know. But that was also who my dad was. Don't get out there. Crazy shit happens. Yeah. Yeah.

You know, you're gonna get arrested, get a felony, you'll never travel out of the country. - But you were also like, "Blue Lives Matter, you should go do that one." - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - He posted the blue square on Instagram. - Yeah, he did, I remember that. - But like, I think there's a cowardice to me of like, I don't talk about politics.

I never talk about politics. I don't do it just because, like, I go, I don't want to alienate anyone. But, like, a brave Marcus Aurelius would be like, talk about your fucking politics. Maybe, but that's all right that you don't want to get mixed up. So I don't think my daughters would be a little more proud of me if maybe I stood my ground and stood. I don't know. I don't know. Guess what? Stoicism, sometimes not having an opinion at all, is the right opinion to have. That is true. I have very few opinions. Yeah. That's...

I don't know that you have very few opinions. I think you have very loud opinions. You think you're so fucking exhausting? I am? Because you know me so well that I can't just casually lie to someone.

It's like being with Leanne. We're like, that never happened. Yeah. I also don't think you're giving yourself enough credit with your kids, too. But also, there's a lot of... You work extremely hard. It's like... There's a lot of dads who a lot of dads would do, don't get out there. It's dangerous. That's not... You're not an unusual guy for that one. But, like, there's a thing... Maybe I'm not articulating this correctly, but, like...

Maybe I connect more with the dad, the poor dad than the rich dad. You know what I mean? And I'm not saying you guys are rich, but I'm saying like, but you guys are, there's a benefit. When I talked to a dad one time and I was like, yeah, Leanne's out of town. And he was like, whoa, what are you doing? You shouldn't be working, man. You need to be home with the kids. And I was like,

That's not real like I have to work. I have to work just like other dads have no no no no no my wife's done when she's out I am a hunter I cancel everything and I remember casually saying like wow no nannies He's like no we have the nannies and you're like well, then that's not real Yeah, and but I think it's cool. I I am be I said it's John Mulaney the other day I saw him I am be

Because he was like, yeah, I got to get on a flight and go see Malcolm or whatever. And I was like, I mean, I envy that. I envy the opportunity to be able to be a present dad. I couldn't be present. I couldn't. As a dad, I would go to read a book and think I'm failing them as a father.

because I'm not working like I would be like god damn it man I gotta hustle I gotta figure out a way to make money and even when I started making money I was like and I pretty much regret it because I mean I don't totally regret it but like it was the last few years with them in college or in high school and I was like I have an opportunity to make money I'm on the road every fucking week I'm gonna do it I'm gonna burn so I can make money for them and I wish maybe I'd been like you know what

I don't know, I didn't have the self-awareness maybe. - I don't think, I think everybody, every parent tries, every parent wants to make money for their kids and work hard and then go through the suck so that way their kids don't have to go through the suck. But then even then you're thinking, well how do I make sure they kind of have the same kind of makeup the right way if they're not going through hard times? Like I think it's a constant battle.

at all times. And that's also why I don't think you see it now and maybe your kids don't see it now. Like you're not giving yourself enough credit because everybody thinks that way. Everybody wants to bust their ass for their kids. And in due time and one day when they have kids of their own and everything else, they're going to understand the protective side of everything. They're going to understand...

why dad worked a lot and tried to put food on the table. And maybe there are things that if they resented with you or that they don't want to do or don't want to see, they'll add that in. But it's not that it's like, oh, I hated that about my dad. Like me, I love my old man. My dad, he's probably watching this. I love my dad, but he was hard on us younger. He worked a lot, commuted. He still commutes an hour to work every day, commutes an hour home. Like just a middle-class working guy, wouldn't be at dinner, like all this stuff, wouldn't be in our...

wouldn't be at our games on weekends. He would watch his favorite sports. He'd go to my football games. He'd watch Cody wrestle because he loved wrestling. But when it comes to baseball and anything else, he wouldn't be at those games. Because those games are not interesting to him? Yeah, it's not like, yeah, he'd just be safe. I like your dad a lot. That's awesome. I like your dad a lot. He'd come home and he'd go change and you'd find him out in the garage just drinking beer, just listening to classic rock.

Like wouldn't be in the house all the time. And look, I love my dad. Like we would, we, I know how much he loves me and is proud of me. And I know how much I love him and how much he means to me.

But also like you see examples of like, okay, I want to be this way with my kid growing up because I knew I didn't necessarily have that from my dad. Like I think of all this stuff, like stoicism, everything else, like my mother, and if I get emotional, it'll be normal. But my mother passed away two years ago, suddenly. She got a knee replacement and blood clot right away. And it was sudden, it was brutal. I was on the road. We were about to play the Cleveland Browns and I was on Vegas. This was my last year.

Versace sends me home and stuff. But when I was thinking about that question with Ryan Holiday and I'm thinking about, all right, the best way to do this versus like, what do I want my kids to say about me? It's how would I speak? What does parenthood look like to me? And to me, I think of the example of my mother. I think of like, uh,

like a resilient, fierce, protective, like very much had an opinion but had the humility enough to have an open mind. And somebody who was strong, somebody who worked hard, somebody who was the homemaker, career woman, worked multiple jobs, like did things to where we could go to our camps. Like I was the kid on my traveling baseball team to where I probably stayed with each of my teammates' family in a hotel on the road because our family wouldn't be able to afford to do it. But I know my mom is doing these things and my dad too, right?

are doing these things so that way I could go and chase my sport ambitions. And I wouldn't be able to articulate that back when I'm growing up because I'm just a young kid. I'm chasing my own ambitions. I'm wondering when I'm going to get my next nut. I'm wondering which house, which buddy's house we can stay up all night at. Like, I'm doing my own thing. Yeah.

And she'll let us know, like, once we get out of line and bitch about why can't we do this and all the juggling that goes on. But it's like my mom was an accountant who went back to school to get her degree in teaching because she realized she wanted to be a teacher and work with kids. And then when she becomes a teacher, she's getting her master's degree at nighttime, taking night classes with jobs, picking up summer jobs.

to help put food on the table with my old man. My mom was the one who would change a belt in a car. There wasn't a job around the house that she couldn't do. She looked after my finances and everything when I first entered the NFL up until she passed.

And she did all of these things. I wouldn't be able to actually sit with myself and articulate that going through it at the time. But now that she's passed right before Rue was born, and now that I'm a, now that I'm a, this word will get a little emotional, but now that I'm a father, I'm able to think about those things on how she impacted me that goes beyond her that I didn't necessarily know at the time, but I understand now. And so it helps my intention with

Being a father and really all of it, right? Like being a leader for busing, being a good teammate, being a great friend, being a husband, being a dad, like all that stuff matters because I'm able to now articulate from the framework of like, you know, my mom did this. And again, dad, you know, I love you. And he knows I feel all this same stuff.

But those are the things I pull from when I'm finding frameworks or I'm finding things that like, okay, I don't want to be on the rat race or chasing ambitions all the time. It's very much a part of me. I'm a success driven cat, but I know I have to keep myself in check with, you know, it's like when I learned about the power of no, it's like, oh, wow, this is a framework that's sitting with me, resonating with me well, right?

How do I put that into practice? Not to ultimately say, hey, work on the power of no, whatever you're doing is not it. You should be doing the power of no, no, not at all. It's just like, those are the things that kind of shape, have shaped. And what I sit with and think about when I'm laying my head on the pillow and being like, why am I bothered by traveling so much? Or why am I bothered by being home for multiple weeks in a row? Like, what do I need to do to scratch the itch here, here, and here? How do I prioritize? So that's where all that stuff comes from. Wow. Yeah.

And that must make you also think about like,

how much of a disappointment it is that Bert's not going to be at the beer. All the way call back around. Yeah. You letting us down. It's a, it's a huge thing. It hurts. Yeah. Once again, you've let them down. And honestly, I think why I get so frustrated about it is not because of you, because I know I've done that before. I know I've done things that like, I'm like, yeah, I can see why that person was frustrated that I didn't RSVP to the wedding until I told him right before, Hey, I'm not going to make it.

Then you go through a wedding yourself and realize like, it ain't even about you saying no, we don't give a shit. We just wanted to know. We ordered food, a plate, a set and everything for you. And you're just now telling us. Let me ask you this one, because you said this when you were speaking, because I think everybody's, and this very much resonates with comedians, which is like when you're home for two weeks in a row and you're like frustrated and you examine what is it?

What have, have you discovered anything that have you come to any realization about what is it about sitting around that makes you feel I need to be doing something? I don't know. I think it's like, it might be expectations of the team. Like Taylor, he has his own ambitions as well. Like doing more, should we do this? Should we do that? And if it just, I like,

If I can't define it and I'm in the conversation, I feel more reactive and I'm not actually having a productive conversation about it. Like I almost need to figure out what it... I need to actually sit down and try and articulate like, what is it that I'm feeling? Why am I feeling that? Okay, if I'm feeling that, okay, why am I feeling that feeling? And just continue to ask myself why so that way I can get to the root and then ultimately express that.

And then sometimes it'll be like, if I get mad at myself, I realize I'll be on my phone too much. Like I'll be sitting there on my phone and I'll be like, what am I fucking doing? Like I...

I don't want to do this. I hate that I'm sitting here doing this. Why am I continuing to sit here to do it? Why am I trying to find these little edges in the house when I can go to the bathroom a little bit longer so I can scroll and do all these different things where I'm consuming shit and I'm like, okay, I got to remind myself of my priorities in my life. Like, hey, I'm bummed I can't do this, but also congratulate and be hype for your boy who might be doing X, Y, and Z, even though I can't be a part of it and I have massive FOMO.

You know what I mean? It's like, it's like shit like that, bro. I said it. You don't have to like, you're the worst at this. FOMO. Yeah. FOMO is a real thing, bro. Yeah. He's the ultimate FOMO. It's killing me. Cause I, I remember texting him one morning too. And it was before his wife's show. I texted him that morning and was like, uh,

I texted him that morning. I was like, hey, truly all good if you can't make it. We're just, you know, Barstool's putting money into this. Like, they're trying to get this thing right, plan it all out, everything else. I just need to know if you think you'll actually be able to move it or if you're not going to go. And truth be told, he could come and then just fly to Ohio later. Yeah, well, he doesn't –

Not that he intentionally didn't respond. I don't know if he did, but he didn't respond until then I see him in the hallway at Zany's before the wife show. I'm just thinking, I know we're both thinking the same thing. Like, oh yeah, where'd you, you were saying, why are you telling me the whole way? You're thinking, oh shit, I didn't respond to his text. The first thing I said is Taylor here. I can't deal with two of them. Yeah, no doubt. Oh man. Well, hang on. I have one question.

Have you noticed a difference in Taylor now that he's attractive? Oh, for sure. He knows it. We all know it. He was like a six his whole life. Yeah. He was a six. Yeah. All of a sudden, he showed up with an alternative 10.

Like he's got all of a sudden the tattoos fit on his body and his fucking mustache and fucking clothes. His shoes look normal. Like when he had, when he wore those shoes as a big guy, they didn't fit his body. Yeah. He needed like skis. And like, what is the biggest, I wanted to ask his wife that. Cause she like when I've heard her talk about their relationship, I think with Leanne maybe. And like,

She got like six Taylor and now she's married to 10 Taylor. He's a sex pistol now. Yeah. Fucking hot. Yeah. Here's what'll piss you off about it is this man has the audacity to worry about his, his, his hair like going bald and his hairline is so crazy fucking good that it's like, I had to tell him, I'm like, Hey Taylor, when you say those things, you're not, you're not relating to anybody. Right.

You're not being funny. You're not relating to anybody. Those are things that you say because you are so good looking to where it's just like, yo, fuck you, bro. He's got the best hair. Right. It's incredible. And his old man, like his old man, they're kind of built the same. He has a great hairline too. Silver Fox. I mean, look at that picture of the guy up to the right. Oh my God. Look at the one with the mustache, with the, with the, the, the hat where he looks like a hat right there. Yeah. Smales fat son. Yeah. I mean, any of them. And then you go to go to his Instagram. Yeah.

Look at him drinking that beer with abs. He's going to love this part of the episode. Right there, that head shot in the middle. I mean, look at the smile, the tear. His body now. Yeah. Yeah, no, he looks great. It is upsetting. When you have that face.

Face shape and your hair can kind of... So he's talking about his hair right now? To the corners. His hair is an issue for him right now? No, it's not an issue. He just... When I say I get worried about my corners and everything thinning, he's like, oh man, I worry about the same stuff. And I'm like, no, no, no, no. We are not the same, bro. I would love to hear him talk about how much better his dick looks. Because when you lose weight, I remember the first time... That's a lot of weight to lose. He tried to say...

the wider mouth body armor bottles. He tried to say on a road trip one time, he's like, he had to go to the bathroom, so we're like peeing the slobber bottle. He tried saying, I don't know if my piece could fit inside of it. And we had to stop and just be like, bro,

That is fucking, that is a lie. Like, what are you talking about right now? Lean over and be into this bottle. You can fit it in there. You can fit the hole in there. Yeah, you can fit the whole thing in there. Come on. He tried to say he couldn't like force it up in the- Real quick, biggest dick you ever saw in the locker room? Amir Abdullah. Yeah? Yeah. Yeah. It's a real- It's a real, it's a real hose. Yeah. And he's going to hate, I'm sure I'm going to be checked in the group chat. That's okay. But-

I mean, it's impressive. Yeah. Shout out to Amir Abdullah and your huge black dick. And...

Dude, this was a fucking joy having you here. Thank you for coming today. Thank you guys, man. This was awesome. Yeah, say hi to your friend Taylor for us, too. I will. Hopefully, you know, we can reschedule something for the boy. We can have us both on after the summer whenever the chaos slows down. That'd be awesome, man. You'll see him June 25th, and we'll see you guys soon. Thank you for watching. Thank you for listening. God bless Marcus Aurelius. Subscribe to Buzzing with the Boys. Buzzing with the Boys, baby. Bert and Tom. Tom and Bert.

One goes to the top of the swamp, the other wears a shirt. Tom tells stories and Bert's the machine. There's not a chance in hell that they'll keep it clean. Here's what we call Two Bears, One Cave.