Adam LaRoche on Baseball Memories, Celebrity Hunts, and Making a Difference w/Jason Aldean :: Ep 27 Try That in a Small Town Podcast
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When you're out in a deer stand and you're sitting in a tree when it's dark and you watch the sun come up and you watch the world come alive, you have to believe. You have to believe when you're sitting in a lock on a tree stand that's no bigger than this chair I'm sitting in. And you watch the sun come up and you hear the birds start singing and you see the world come alive. It's like this happens every day. If you don't believe, if you don't believe that there is, you know, intelligent design behind that,

I got nothing for you. - You guys, just 'cause I've known you three the longest, you know what's really, really cool and I appreciate is you are all the same dudes that I met back in 2006. - And the reason he says that you're weak

It's because of the liberal thing. Like, you don't want to talk to a liberal. You don't want to have anybody on the show. There's just not a lot of fun. So he's just saying that Neil is weak. It's not that we don't want to talk to him. There's just not a lot of fun most of the time. And they don't like us really that much either, clearly. The Try That in a Small Town podcast begins now. Try That!

Try that in the small town

And then, I don't even want to say this as a guest, because it's like another co-host at this point. We got Jason Aldean in the house. Let's go. Yes, yes. However, we got a special guest. We got a special guest. He's a friend of ours. He's been a, I think he was in the big leagues for 12 years. He was with the Atlanta Braves, Washington Nationals, and the Red Sox, by the way. The Red Sox for like a week. Yeah. Our friend of ours, Adam LaRoche is here. Adam LaRoche. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, thank you for coming. How much does a professional baseball player make in your life?

Way more than we should. Way more than we should. In 10 days, I'm talking about. That's a great first question, though. Let's break the ice. He had a 10-day stop in Boston and then went back to the Braves, which was nice to end the season there. Was it really 10 days? I remember Francona calling. Yeah, because I got traded over. The trade deadline was 10 days later, and I'm about to go out for a game, and Francona calls me in and says, hey, I don't know what's going on for you, but I'm pulling you out of the lineup. You might be getting traded again.

Wow. I thought you pulled a diva move like, I can't play here. No, dude, that place was awesome. Now, am I wrong, Adam, or you hit a home run at Fenway not long after you went up there, didn't you? I could have swore that you hit a home run or you were hitting well in the first couple games of the Red Sox. I mean, I thought it was going well. We were. Man, what do you got to do around here? Not willing. Yeah.

Me and Kurt were very excited when you went to the Red Sox. Now, we met you. We're trying to figure this out. What year was it? 06, 07? So I met Adam in 06. I had gone to sing the national anthem at a Braves game. We were just getting started on the road. Oh, wow. And did the national anthem, come back up. I'm sitting down, and the little clubhouse kid comes up to my seat and

and tells me that, you know, Adam wants my phone number or whatever. That's not the way I remember it. That's weird. That's exactly what happened. His wife loved the song, Wow, that we had out at the time. Oh, okay. And so we just kind of swapped numbers, I feel like. And then after that, just kind of kept in touch, and he invited me on a buck commander hunt, like, to his house.

And maybe that's a good place to go. So tell us about Buck Bander. Was that you and Willie that started that? And then if so, give us how that thing formed and how you got Jason involved in that. So it might have been the year before. I actually met Jace Robertson first, obviously Willie's brother. He introduced me to Willie because Jace done deer hunt. And Willie and I hit it off, I think, the year before Jay and I and all of us met.

uh, and I was a big duck commander fan. Yeah. And like a few months before that, he had this idea of buck commander. There was a couple other ballplayers involved at the time. Uh, I held on, wasn't helping involved in it. Yeah. Dave DeLucci, two or three Rockies players. Yeah. And Willie. And then, uh, I came on board. I can't remember who was next. And we had some shuffling around over that first year. Uh,

And then you came on board shortly after. Yeah, we were just a couple of years, I guess. Yeah. We were just kind of hanging out and, and Luke and I, you know, hadn't even really met either. So I kind of met Luke through the buck commander stuff more than the music stuff. I forgot about that. Yeah. And so we, we came to Roche's house and that fall to hunt a little bit. And while we were there, Chipper was there, Chipper Jones. And he goes, Oh, they're coming to my ranch next month to hunt, come down and hunt again. So I was like, all right. So me and Luke just kind of started tagging along wherever the hunts were. And,

Eventually they knew that we were really important and they needed us.

What was funny, though, was them having to learn how to, because you didn't bow hunt. No, I'd never bow hunt. Luke didn't really bow hunt, so they're having to learn on camera, which is not the easiest. So we got to see all their mistakes all the time. We have all that footage, unfortunately. Those are some of my best memories. Shooting 17 feet over a deer's back. Yeah.

I would like to say that's not true, but it is. That's good. Man, yeah, that was fun. I can't believe it's almost 20 years. Yeah, it started... I think I met you in 06, so yeah. Yeah. Almost 18 years. Well, I totally was saying that. Yeah, you were talking about the gig, right? We were playing...

Kansas? What bar was that? Wichita Ballroom. Keynes Ballroom. Oh, okay. There you go. Thank you. I remember that. That was when we first met you. You know what? You come up in conversation a lot on the road. A lot of good memories. For those of you who don't know Adam, great guy. He

I have a great memory of when you were playing baseball. Was it in, he was playing for Pittsburgh or New York when we were in New York? Pittsburgh. Okay. We're going right there. I got to go there because it's one of my favorite memories. But so we, we were in New York doing something and,

You're like, let's go have a couple drinks. I'm like, okay. So we go out and we have a couple drinks. We end up having breakfast at five in the morning after like a full. There was a lot of. We'll pass by a lot of that. There's a lot of blurry moments from the evening. This is what this podcast is for. We got to fill in the blanks. Neil, there are stories that we can't tell. We can't tell you.

It's just us guys here. It's one of my favorite memories, though, and I want to make sure we got to it because we go out a long night. I remember vaguely eating breakfast somewhere. I do remember this. They said we were going to scores. I thought we were going to a...

Like a sports bar. Apparently that's not what that is. Is that when we get breakfast? No. When we get breakfast. Anyway, next day. So 5 a.m. breakfast. Yeah. And you've got a game the next day. That day. Wow. That day. Literally that day. That day. So you get us in the dugout. We're in the dugout hanging out for watching batting practice. Yeah. Yeah.

Let me guess. I was not out there. We were in the dugout, and I remember very clearly not being able to even look. So hurting. Head pounding, feeling sick. The game comes, and you were playing first base. And I look up, and you had your hands on your knees. Head down. Head down.

Deep breaths. Wow. What I remember is at some point during the game, we already knew you felt like shit before the game started. But then when the game started, at some point, there was a meeting on the mound. All the infielders came into the mound. And you just stayed over there with your hands on your knees, head down. I'm good, guys. I'm good. Adam's going, why did I come on here? I think you went over four with like three punches that day, too. No.

Nothing new there. Was that the time that you were only on the team for 11 days? No. Actually, I stuck around on the Pirates for a minute. Yeah. But I do remember that game. And it's got to be bad if the whole team goes in for a team meeting and I can't make it. 40 feet to the mound. I don't know how you got dressed because I remember sitting there saying, I don't know how he's out there.

We were doing good just to make it to the game ourselves. I can't even believe we made it, actually. My guess is, have you guys ever seen me get a hit or have a good game? I'm going to blame y'all for all those games because of the night before. By the way, we do have a curse that follows us. I don't know if you know this, but anybody we attach ourselves to, I'm just saying anybody...

But anybody that we tend to attach ourselves to goes through the worst season of their lives. Really? Yeah. It's happened. The Red Sox, when they were 13 games in front one summer.

after the team that saw us. Remember when they were beer and chicken in the clubhouse? That was our year. They were running with us back then. Beckett and Lester and all those boys. Beckett and Lester and all those guys. We love those guys. They came out to a show we did in Boston. It was great. They came out and they were handing Jason guitars and having a great time. They were 12 games up.

Yeah, yeah. They were way off. From that night. It didn't last long. That was bad. That was it. And they wrote an article about it. June Buds, it was called. June Buds. The Boston Globe. It was the demise of the Red Sox. I know we need to move on, but that 10 days was a blast. And it started when I drove in. I knew it was going to be good when I drove into Boston. Because I drove from Pittsburgh over to Boston. And as soon as I broke the city limits, go into a liquor store. Yeah.

And it's not like I was a huge name or like this big blockbuster. Dude won't let me pay for a thing. And he's like, no, welcome to Boston. Oh, yeah. Come here anytime it's on us. Go into Frank Kona's office. I had kind of known him just playing against him. And he's like, well, here's the deal. He said, we don't have any signs.

So 3-0 in baseball, like when it's 3-0, he's like, swing if you feel like swinging. Bunt if you feel like, steal if you feel like stealing. He's like, we don't have any signs, but all I know is we win a hell of a lot of ballgames. Go have fun. And that's how we managed. And it was just a blast. It's the freedom for athletes to be able to. It was the ultimate freedom of just go play.

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Join the movement at drinkoriginalbrands.com. Like, I always thought he was a great manager. I loved him in Boston. I just thought it was so good. You play for a lot of teams. You play for the Braves. You play for the Nationals, Red Sox, Pirates. You got drafted by the Braves, right? Who's your favorite coach to play for?

Or am I putting you on the spot? No. Because that's what we do. I got different ones for different reasons. I'm going to say, I'm going to start with Bobby because he was my first big league manager. Not for his personality or being like a player's manager per se, like with conversation. So he wasn't one to come in the clubhouse and like chum it up with the guys. Matter of fact, you never saw him in the clubhouse.

The one thing that Bobby did, one of the many things he did, but the biggest thing from a player's perspective is you could be totally wrong on the field. Like the whole world knows you're wrong. And if you're arguing, he's coming out to defend you. You know what I mean? He's coming out to publicly like be on your side. He's getting thrown out so that his players don't. And doesn't matter if you're a rookie or if you've been there 15 years. And so that instantly just gave him ultimate credibility and respect. Yeah.

You know, baseball coaches are weird. Sorry to interrupt, but it's not like football coaches where it's X's and O's or basketball like that. It seems like a baseball coach is a little different in that respect, right? It is. And I was never any good at basketball or football, so I don't know that side of it. But I do know some of the best coaches I had were the ones that would say the least and just kind of know how to stay out of the way, but lead by doing that.

And kind of orchestrate their team and line up and navigate all the personalities, but really let guys go play. Speaking of the Braves, I know it's everything E3. I mean, pretty much everything. And I was told by a little bird to ask you about the Chipper Jones story and the E3 logo.

And you're wondering right now where I got that from. I'm wondering where you got that from. There's a couple of stories I'm thinking about. Was it me stealing his logo? I don't know. Hey, this is your show. Maybe we need to talk offline about this. All I got was Shipper Jones and the E3 logo. That's all I got from somebody you know very well.

Dang. Me? That's not me. I'm confused. Maybe lead the witness. No, it's fantastic. It's probably that I stole. Oh, was it? Oh, I got it. It's probably stealing his logo, which I did. He had a badass logo. And it looks exactly like our logo.

And it was just, he had the D, he just said DD, right? No, he had two tens. Oh, that's right. He had the ten and then the double dime. Yeah, double dime. That's right. So did he say anything? I'm just here to get the shit started. He didn't say, a couple years later, when he thought it was making a lot of money, is when he chose to say something. He's like, hey, you need a cut of that. Yeah. Hey, so it's a good time. Let's go to that, the E3 ranch and stuff. Yeah.

So I read that's actually been in the family for a while, right? It has. The E3, the ranch has been there from my wife's side. I think we are, our kids are sixth generation on that ranch. And a big part of me being out there, and I say this only half joking, is they had the best deer hunting area in our county when I was in high school.

But I knew you had to be in the family to be able to hunt out there. They wouldn't let anybody hunt this property, but I knew they had this good-looking high school girl that was a couple years older than me. I'm like, man, if I can get in with her, then I get access to these deer. And so I asked her out.

Brilliant. This is your wife, now wife. And he was so good, he married her and had two kids. And now he owns the ranch. It's great. It worked. Shoot, she's sitting right there. That was a great plan. We all actually like her more, so it's fine. I know you do. Hey, but can you speak a little bit on that? Because I know that you have that foundation and it supports combat veterans and even fights human trafficking issues.

I think that's something our listeners would be super interested in knowing, the foundation that you have. Man, I'll try to give you this really short version. So when I was playing, I got to spend, when we'd go play the Padres, that's where Coronado is. So our West Coast SEAL teams are out of Coronado.

And so early on, actually, when I was playing with the Braves, I met a captain with those guys with the seals. And so I would grab a couple of players and in the morning we would go out and either go shoot or go out on the boats or just go hang out with the Navy guys. So got to know them over the years. And every time into San Diego, we'd go hang with those guys and then we'd return the favor and they'd come out to the game, come take batting practice or, you know, come out.

And then on the other coast in D.C. is Walter Reed, which is our military hospital. And especially during the height of the war, it was full with like young, young soldiers all the time. So when I would go into play in D.C., I'd grab some of our guys and we'd go into Walter Reed and just go, just go love on those guys, shake some hands, you know, try to cheer them up. Fast forward, then I was playing in D.C. for four years and I got to spend more time at Walter Reed.

And that's when a lot of those guys that were just getting out of Walter Reed and able to kind of get out on their own. And they hadn't hunted in a long time, um, that I had befriended over the years. We, we, I mean, and Jen and I would just fly them out in the off seat. This is before the foundation was a thing, um, and bring them out to the ranch and just go guide them, hang with them, you know, give them a little breath of fresh air and change the scenery from Walter Reed. And then the foundation started kind of based off of that. Um,

And then the human trafficking thing was a whole other world. Geez. Wow. I can't even imagine some of that stuff. Go ahead. No, go ahead. If you had a follow-up, go ahead. Sure. I was going to ask Jason about you and Brittany's golf tournament you just had and fundraiser and everything. How'd that go? Did it go good? It was great, man. Great turnout this year. It's only the second year we had done it. So the first year – last year was the first year, and kind of it was –

I don't want to say it was thrown together. It was just kind of an idea we had last minute to do something for the Sentinel Foundation, which Adam also works with through the E3 Foundation. We partner with them often on projects because we do a lot of the same stuff. A lot of the child trafficking, they're actually on the ground in North Carolina right now, which is not really what they do, but they're up there helping out.

You know, all the hurricane victims and try to get them what they need food. What just the basic stuff, you know? And so it's just a really good organization. We got involved. We've been involved a couple of years, but last year was the first year for the golf tournament. Yeah.

And, uh, it was kind of a last minute thing we threw together, ended up being really good. But this year we had a whole year to plan it. And, uh, the turnout this year was amazing and raised, you know, I think it was 860 grand. It was double what we did last year. Yeah. 860,000. That's amazing. Awesome. And last year we did like a little over 400,000. So just one of those things you want to build it, grow it. The Sentinel foundation is amazing what they do. I mean, when it comes to child trafficking and just, uh,

You know, they were telling a story the other day about how they went into Haiti and rescued a bunch of, you know, a bunch of kids like that had special needs kids that had to get out of there when all the craziness broke out in Haiti. These guys go in, you know, overnight on a boat, get all these kids out, send them over to Jamaica, get them set up where they can actually live, not have to worry about anything.

you know, all the crazy stuff going on in Haiti. They got food and water and medicine and all the things. And so what they do is pretty amazing, man. And it's, I'm glad that Roche is involved with them too. They work with them. And so it's a really, really cool organization and something that, you know, we're going to try to make it bigger and better every year. So that's really great. I'm going to, man, I got to brag about Sentinel real quick, just because we have worked with them for a few years. And what's really unique about

Really, both of our organizations is that we have a kind of our mission statement and our main lines of effort that we focus on. Disaster relief and hurricanes is not one of them, if you were just to read it as it is. But the beauty of being organizations that can be really fluid and flexible is that when that comes up and if there's a need there that we can do something about.

Usually with Sentinel and E3 Ranch Foundation, it's a quick phone call and okay, let's deploy and let's get some guys there. So if they're short on guys, they can call us and vice versa. Because we both have our missions of kind of human trafficking and just global needs where people are in bad situations that need recovered.

But also have awesome boards and leadership that is like, hey, there's a need there. We can do something about it. Let's roll. Which is exactly what they did in North Carolina. And these guys too, just to kind of let you know, these are a lot of ex-Special Forces guys. Some of them are former FBI or CIA. I mean, it's kind of all over the place. But a lot of them are ex-Special Forces guys that have now retired and got out. And those guys...

They get so much training and so much knowledge, and then they retire, and it's like they kind of don't sometimes feel like they have a purpose anymore because they're not in the military or whatever. And I think this kind of gives them a new sense of purpose to go, hey, we still get to go out and do some things to help everybody. And it's just a – I think what it does for a lot of those guys just –

They're mentally just, I think, is great. Kind of repurposes them for another great thing that they're doing. And it's kind of a waste when those guys go through all the training and everything they do to now be out of it and go, all right, well, what are those guys going to do? Go be a Walmart breeder? At a young age, too. I mean, these guys are in their early 40s. Better shape than I was ever or will ever be in. And then they're sitting at home like, okay, I lost the uniform. Yeah.

I'm no longer part of that team and that unit and that brotherhood I just had for 20 years. Unfortunately, that's why we're losing so many every day that just can't handle that. So it's cool. So Sentinel, and then we've got to do it. Guys that we've had through the ranch, through the veteran side of the program that we've hired full-time to be able to do this type of work. That's really cool. That's great. That's fantastic. Like you said, the guys can use your skill set that they've changed all those years for.

By the way, millions of dollars spent on these guys' skills and their training and the schooling they've had. So they can pick this up in a week. They're like, yep, got it. Want to give them their mission, which is what they're used to and they miss. The North Carolina thing is going to be an ongoing thing. The recovery effort out there is going to be going...

It's indefinite. Well, it's like we said. The damage was so bad. We hear about it in the news for a couple days because it's the newest thing, and then the news cycle goes to something different, and they forget about these people. Man, that isn't going away for them in two days or a week or a month. Our listeners need to know that. They need to know this is an ongoing thing. What's the avenue that they can— I just came from there.

Yeah. Before the event. Yeah. I flew in and we were based out of Banner Elk with Sentinel. We were based out of Banner Elk, North Carolina, which is up by Boone. We actually did some work in Tennessee. So we would cross. Fortunately, we had some rotary wing. We had some aircraft up there that could get our guys around. And a lot of that led in North Carolina. But I think I showed you some video. I mean, it is it is it's not only houses gone. I had to have locals tell me that there was a house there.

Because the foundations are gone. And in some places, it's the whole little towns, like little mountain towns that used to sit up beside the river. Same in houses. It's whole towns gone now. It is gone. And our guys, we had a, I think it's called cadaver, the cadaver dogs there. So teams that have these unreal dogs and they're finding bodies that were...

10, 12 miles from where they should be because of the water being up and washing their vehicles. And then the vehicles, as you're flying over the rivers, you look at these wads of like aluminum and you wouldn't know it's a vehicle unless somebody told you, oh yeah, that was a vehicle that just got wadded up with the flooding. I think there'll still be, it'll be a year of trying to figure out the missing people, just the unreported people that you probably

Probably we'll never find. Those are the ones that need the financial help. The highway system and all that will take care of itself. That's right. One of those towns too, like Jason said, they're little mountain towns and secluded and now completely shut off. It would be hard to get help. Just getting food and water and anything. It's just a basic thing.

human needs to survive. So it's amazing, you know, any help that's going on. I'll tell you what else was cool though, the National Guard, and I guess it's credit to the North Carolina governor and Tennessee governor coming together, allowing the National Guard to go in there and us use their aircraft and their assets. So they were doing huge food and aid drops on behalf of the Sentinels or E3s or Samaritan's Purse or groups that were up there. So it was neat to watch the churches, the National Guard,

local sheriffs, fire, all these groups come together and, you know, pull in the same direction. It's really cool. Yeah, it's great. And you're involved in a lot of stuff like that and a lot of, you know, the foundation work you do and then this, you're talking about this. What,

A lot of people talk about it. Sometimes I feel like this is with me. I talk about it, but I'm not actively doing something. What inspires you to do that, be active, and get out there and do the work? I think with the veterans, it was maybe a little bit of guilt after 9-11 of going and being way overpaid to play a game and not going and joining and doing something about it. Just the ability there that, well, I have this ranch.

uh, we're, we're able with our resources to fly these guys out and like, at least give back in some way. And then on the trafficking side, uh, you know, you guys probably all know Blaine Boyer. Um, anyway, I still get to work with him now and longtime ballplayer Blaine and I in 2014, I think when we were both still playing, we went in the off season, went to Thailand was, that was our first kind of introduction into the counter human trafficking work.

And it just crushed us. Like we saw some, just some awful evil there. And I came, I came home and just was kind of figuring out what the next season was going to look like. And I knew I was getting ready to go continue to play baseball with all this going on that I knew we could somehow learn, figure out and do something about. But I remember, and Jen probably remembers this. I remember sitting at the kitchen, at our kitchen counter. And I was just praying like, God, why don't you do something about this?

Like, I was pretty pissed. Like, why do you allow this stuff to go on and not just come in with, like, some Tomahawk missiles and kill these assholes that are doing this? It was not an audible voice or anything, but I remember just hearing kind of the Holy Spirit going...

why don't you do something about it? Okay. That wasn't my question. That's a lot harder. And I just couldn't get that off my mind. I was like, damn, maybe I do need to do something about it. Not just bitch about it, but like go do something about it. So, and then after that, God's just opened doors with,

meeting a lot of the guys that Jason's talking about in the special operations community, law enforcement community. Now our contacts in other countries that are just so helpful and

One thing led to another. You're a good human being, man. I love it. Man, it's incredibly frustrating work, but way more rewarding than baseball ever was. We're lucky. We're all lucky to be able to do what we do. And it's nice to see that you have kind of used some of that to be able to do some good for people. It's really awesome. Yeah, when you...

It's easy to say you want to do something, but doing it, it's a whole other thing, especially what you're doing. So thank you.

Thank you. Yeah, absolutely. Jason, I was curious, this time at your benefit in the auction, did you auction off your house or anything like that just last year? Well, I actually won some of that. A couple of times. So I was curious. Brenner usually takes care of that. We've got that on tape. He usually does, yeah. She usually gets excited. She's like, they can rent our house for the weekend. I'm like, what are you doing? Yeah.

Seven nights with the other beans. I did put a couple people on the spot, so I called to see if Thomas Rhett could come out and, you know, if he had anything, he could donate to auction off or whatever. And he goes, man, I don't, but, you know, you could auction off a hunt with me and you. We could take somebody hunting. And so the day of the thing, I called him up. I said, hey, you still cool for this duck hunt auction we're going to do? I said, because I don't have a duck lease. So if you do, I'll auction it. He goes...

why don't we do a house party at somebody's house? He's like, that way it's just one night to try to get our schedules together. You should have called Luke for the day, Con. Yeah, I can't get Luke on the phone for anything anymore. But so, you know, Thomas Rhett, we did an auction for me and him to do like a house party at somebody's house, just show up and

do a little party for like 100 people at their house and me and him play so just you and him yes we got auctioned off I would never do this I love that about you I think Kurt did tell me he goes well we just got auctioned off give it back

Make sure they take their tech guys because they complained at the right moment all night about it. But no, shout out, man. Really shout out to all the other artists and people that donated their time or things they had, money, whatever it was. It was really cool. And guys like Thomas Rhett and

Kid Rock was there. Kid Rock was there. I mean, it was awesome. They did an auction for like, you know, hey, you can go be a roadie for Jason Aldean, which, by the way, doesn't sound that awesome. But they were like, you know, you get to go and help set up the stuff, be at sound check. So they list what it's going to be, first person to bid, Kid Rock. They start the bidding off, and he's raising his hand. I'm like, who is bidding on this? I look over there, and it's him. I'm like, what are you doing? Yeah.

But no, it's cool that you got people that are supporting them. It is. No, it was great, man. Just a big shout out to all those guys. Everybody that came out. Neil came out and played in the tournament as well. These guys came out and played. How'd you guys shoot? Who won that? I think y'all won. I think we won. I think y'all won. We had John Daly as our... I think you had a gun on your team. How is John Daly to play with? Can you give us an answer on that? He's awesome. Awesome. He's awesome. It is a different round of golf than you've ever played in your life. But it is so fun.

Was he barefooted? No, he actually had on shoes. I was shocked. No, Adam had on flip-flops. Yeah, Rich did have on flip-flops. I don't think I've ever seen you with shoes on. But John... I got flip-flops on now. It's not cold enough yet. Hey, Daly would have a cigarette and a drink.

In a golf club in one hand, what, 40-yard? Yeah, just a 40-yard tip. And he would just, one hand, 10 feet. Seriously. That's crazy. Unbelievable. Boom, stick it. I think Tiger said one time, I think Tiger said one time he had the best hands he'd ever seen in golf. It was so funny, like on a par five, you know, hit a drive, and then it's like, all right, to eagle. And he kept saying, we're going to get an eagle. Yeah.

And so hit the drive, and we're still like, I don't know, 240 or something. And when he says we're going to get an eagle, does he mean him? He means the team pretty much. So he knows that he's got to square one up and get it up there to get it on the green for us to have a shot. He did. That's when he puts a cigarette in the drink down.

And he gets the range finder and actually pays attention. Oh, really? Oh, yeah. When he wants to square it up and still do his thing, I mean, it's pretty unbelievable to watch, actually. So it was a lot of fun. And he got an eagle. We got an eagle. Well, he got an eagle. We got to watch. Yeah, that's true. That's very true. So when he...

and when he actually says, okay, I got to do this, he'll put it down and then just nut it. When he wants to play, like when he wants to get serious, I mean, he's out there having fun, kind of whacking it around a little bit. And it's still, I mean, he's still, I was making fun of him, or didn't make fun of him, but Roachie hit a drive that he was like, had to go over some trees. And he kind of did, he made it over the trees, but he stopped like in the rough, just short of the fairway. And I was like, man,

Roshi don't think you can get it over them trees and get in the fairway on the other side. He put his glove up. Yeah. Put the ball up about this high. And just smashed it. Flew my ball. A long way. I'm barking you head off. That's awesome. A long way. Really? A long way. I watched him. I stood behind him. We were the group behind them. He can hit? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

He can. In flip-flops, he can do it. Sometimes. Oh, my God. Hey, guys, this is an amazing conversation we're having with Jason Aldean, Adam LaRoche. Stick with us. I know it's easy to fast-forward through the breaks, but please don't do this. Listen to a word from our sponsor. We'll be right back. We are so thankful for our sponsor. Original Brands is starting a new era in American domestic premium beer. American-made, American-owned, Original Glory.

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All right, y'all. Welcome back. This is the Try That in a Small Town podcast. We got Jason Aldean here. We got Adam LaRoche here. And, you know, one of the fun things about having guests on, you know, you do a little quick research, a little Google. I did find out something about you that I didn't know. Maybe you don't know. Did you know that you were the first person in Major League Baseball history to

to have a home run overturned by instant replay. Oh, I did know that. You did? I did. So obviously that worked. Because I remember in real time when it happened after the game, the reporters talking about that, that this was the first. Because I don't know if replay was just put in. It obviously must have been. But yeah. So who were you playing with out there? I think it was in Philly. It says 2009. So was that back to the Braves? Probably. Probably.

Or Pirates or D-backs. Or Boston. I was with all three. So I started out in Pittsburgh, which I was playing with my brother, which was awesome. So I was playing first, my little brother playing third. Traded to Boston, 10 days back to Atlanta. They've been in Boston. That's why they got rid of you. They need somebody a little more pop. That's amazing. And I also learned a fact. Okay, what is it about my friend? I think the number is 255 home runs.

Which is should have been 256. But that's amazing. That's actually impressive. That's impressive. Man, that's, that's a lot of home runs. You know what the number I bet he knows by heart is.

Strikeouts? I bet so. That's the kind of friend he is. Do you know? Should we look at it? I don't know. Hey, Jim. Jim, while we're talking, look up how many career strikeouts. Negativity is a lot.

I know we had a couple after we hung out that night. I used to always love to mess with Roachie about it. And the thing is, he's been one of my best friends forever. And so when he was playing ball, I loved watching him play. And, you know, especially with the Braves when he was in Boston for a week. But I used to love to watch him play. But then I would, you know, meet up with him. We'd start talking baseball. And I'd always mess with him about his batting average. Yeah.

All this stuff. So it was kind of a running joke for a while. But he was, you were Gold Glover too, man. Yeah. Defensive player. Yeah, I was just kind of wondering from your perspective, like first base to me would have to be the most challenging position

to play in the infield. Is it not? That's bullshit. I mean, well, I'm just saying. No wonder nobody likes you. I mean, we're going to get to that. Once the rigs are sealed, another ship. That hated Neal. Terrible Neal. Yeah, we're going to have to work on that. I know, right? Sorry. But no, I mean, they're firing it at you. And just to dig those out of the dirt, you can hardly see them. I mean, to me, I would miss the majority of those. Third hot corner? Yeah. Because it's...

You're really the same distance. Third baseman's got to make a play and make the throw. Yeah. You know? See, that's like you to always say somebody else has got to throw. Well, and you can have non-athletes at third and first where up the middle –

And I say non-athletes, meaning like you don't have to be. He already said he was overpaid. Have speed and that kind of thing. A lot of things I didn't have, basically. Where are you going? Head for average. Stolen bases. Basically, no redeeming qualities. Oh, I'd love to know how many stolen bases you have. We should look that up, too. You can probably count them on one hand. Well, 12? 12. 12? 12. Probably. 13. 13.

Oh, Jim says 13. Jim, how many strikeouts? I don't see where it's listed. We don't see strikeouts. We've taken it off. Adam paid somebody off. Go left or right. It's all at the end. So when you were playing, what pitcher was the nastiest? Man, the no-names.

Really? Because you didn't have tape on them? I mean, the no-names, like the call-ups that had a cup of coffee in the big leagues and maybe face-to-face. Was it because you didn't study them or watch them? No, no, no. I think it was... You were hungover? It was... 15% of the time. Yeah.

I don't know why that was. Huh. But it would literally be guys that, you know, and I say cup of coffee. They may have like a year or two, but they would just be the specialists. And a lot of times it was a little lefty, like slinger, poo baller. Oh, God. Yeah.

I just sucked against him. We went and took BP one day, if you remember this. We were playing in Washington outside of it, and you let us come out and take batting practice. God, I'd love to see that. I had never swung a wooden bat. I played in high school, played with aluminum bat. So we go take BP, and I'm out there.

Did you get rattled? Oh, so I'm swinging this bat, which I could barely get around. I think I had to use one of the relievers' bats. That's what it was. Yeah. Do you have a 28? Is anything a little bit lighter? So I kept cracking these balls, you know, and I'm like hitting, you know, just lofties right over second base, you know, and just kind of bragging. My hands are like, oh, my God, I've got to keep swinging. I've got to keep swinging. So I get to the show that night.

I'll never forget it. Between that time and Showtime, my hands had swollen up. I remember trying to play their show. Hands were working, man. It's like I had gloves on. First time they've ever held a piece of wood. Oh, yeah.

Is that a callous? But I remember each time I... That's awesome. I remember I think you were standing behind me and then somebody else and they're like, swing the hips more, swing the hips. I was like, swing it. I'm trying. I'm trying to... I'm giving all I have to Roach. And I got to that show...

In my hands, I could feel him shaking. I didn't know that. Yeah, I mean. That is funny. Yeah, that's us. I take it you don't do yard work or anything, right? Yeah. Probably not. He's got a guy for that. He's got a guy for that. There's a guy for that. Hey, so Jim tells us it is 1,407 strikeouts. That's not bad. Totally.

12 seasons? 100 a year? That's not bad. Yeah, there's a lot of games. There's a lot of games. So at least Dutter. But how many of those are like watching the ball and swinging at the ball? That's a whole. I don't. Or how many are getting punched out on like a bad call? There's that too. Some. Most of the time. Most of the time Roachie just swinging. I was kind of the swing hard in case you hit it. I love it. And sometimes it worked out.

But seriously, how many years total did you play in the majors? 12 years. Here's a fun fact, too, that not a lot of people know. You got drafted by the Marlins first as a pitcher. Is that right? Yeah. And you turned it down because you wanted to be an everyday player? Oh, really? Yeah, I didn't want to do the every fifth day. Yeah, I wanted to play every day. So he originally got drafted by the Marlins. Out of four?

High school? And college, yeah. High school and one year of junior college. Because they had the option. Yeah. And then went back into the Braves. You know what I found out? You know Dayton more? Did you get to know Dayton at all with the Braves? I don't think so. Okay. He was the minor league coordinator and then went on to be a GM. Great dude. Dayton was responsible for me getting drafted by the Braves that year that I signed as a first baseman. What I didn't know until I became for this was a decade later.

is that he actually drafted, they wanted me to pitch. The Braves did? Yeah, but they knew I didn't want to pitch, so they were going to, they did the old okie-doke, signed me as a first baseman thinking, okay, he's got like the aluminum bat swing, skinny, didn't play first base. So like thinking, okay, we'll give him a season in the minor leagues, he's not going to be able to, and then we'll turn him into a pitcher.

And I just never, fortunately. However, you did pitch in the big leagues a little bit though with the White Sox. Robin Ventura was my manager. Oh my God. And I bugged every manager I ever had to let me pitch. Nobody would let me pitch. And then old skipper Ventura let me pitch against the Yankees. You got a strikeout, right? Or two? I did. I got one.

Make out a 1-2-3 inning, which was perfect because I always told all our pitchers how easy pitching was. Anybody can go throw a ball one day and then go golf for four days and then throw a ball one day. And so...

As much as I think our pitching staff loved me, like great dudes, nobody was rooting against me harder than our own pitching staff with the whites because I'm always bashing them about how easy pitching was. So it was perfect that I got a lucky one, two, three inning. And a strikeout. With a strikeout to go back in the dugout and like – Would you get him on a strikeout? Anybody can do this. I couldn't tell if it was his changeup or his fastball. It was a fastball. Yeah.

I got to bring up the hunting thing again. Let's get back into hunting. That's true. Whatever you want, Terrible Neil. Thanks. Because it'll be terrible, I promise you. No. Don't be scared. Don't be afraid of nasty. Don't be afraid. It's a golf tournament. I was talking to Ron Busby. Busbus. He said, yeah, he said, he said, one time you put alarms in a deer blind one time. I couldn't get a lot out of the guy.

Because he didn't want to talk bad about you. He didn't want to talk a lot of dirt about you. But he said you put... I did. Alarms in a ground blind. For Tombo? Yeah. And ruined his whole hunt? Yeah. Was that when you drove up in the car? I did two on Tombo. So one was in Texas where I did...

Man, they make these tripwires for bear. You put a blank shotgun shell. You put it like around camp for bears. And you put a tripwire. When it goes off, I mean, it sounds like a 12-gauge going off. So a little tripwire on the blind, which not only is it loud, but also it kind of ruins your hunt. Yeah, that's what I was saying. And then, yeah, in—

In Kansas. Well, he stayed an extra five days. Like, the hunt's over. All these guys leave, and Tombo's still there a week later. Finally, he was in the stand one night, and I went and drove a police car just around his blind quite a few times with the lights and sirens going. And then I went back to the house. So not right. It's time to go. Yeah, it's time. Has he done anything to you?

Have you guys been tough on rental cars ever?

I mean, that's a great question and a great lead, Tully. I don't know. I've just heard. That's for both of us, too. It's a great lead. I've seen evidence of perhaps some. We do some pretty good teamwork on rental cars. I mean, our listeners would be curious. If you know any of the LaRoches, the brothers, they're pranksters. Dude, I've got a list of questions his brother sent me. Oh, boy. The rental car thing. Yeah, go to that. There's been a few incidences with that.

Yeah. There's one, the first one happened, you did, I think it was like, Roach used to do like a, I don't know, charity thing, like a concert that raised money for- And you and Luke would come play in Fort Scott. Yeah, me and Luke would go play it. And so one night we go, it's me and Luke doing a little acoustic thing. We play-

And of course, all the guys were there drinking and having fun. It's a little show, raising money. Get back to the ranch. Well, by the time we get back to the ranch, everybody's really having a good time. And you were in the middle of building your house, I think, at the time. Yeah. And we had the D8 dozer. Yeah, there was a D8 bulldozer sitting out there just where they had been clearing land. And then at some point, Adam's brother, Jeff, had a rental car.

I walk outside and somebody's got it hooked up to a truck. Hunter Jobes has it hooked up to a truck and he's just driving it, slinging it around. Like a bumper smith or something. He's

He's got the rental car hooked up. And Matt Light, who used to play for the Patriots. Yeah, we had Matt on. So Matt's in the driver's seat. This thing is getting slung around like a toy. And it basically is already messed up by the time I get to it. And so I go ask Roachie, I'm like, should we just finish this thing off? And he's like, well, yeah, I think you got to now. And so I go get in the bulldozer and just flatten this thing. I mean, it's...

That big when I get done with it. And so the other one was when Matt... It's Jeff's rental car. Yeah, it was his brother's rental car. He has to take back. Yeah, he has to take it back. And what did he tell him when he took it back? That he hit a deer? He said he hit a deer. How did he get it back? I mean, he had to tow it there, right? He had a trailer. He put it on a trailer. And then hook it up to a chain and pull it off the trailer. And it was... Jason's not kidding. I mean, it was...

14 inches. What did they say? I mean, you hit a deer. Well, Jeff didn't rent a car from them for ever. He's blacklisted. Yeah, I don't think he's. Well, that wasn't the first time either. Do you have a picture of that? Do you have a picture of that? You'll have to send it to us. You can go on YouTube. Oh, we've got to find that. The Buck Commander episode is on YouTube. Just look at Buck Commander. Bulldozer, you'll find it. I'm hanging out in the window with a bulldozer driving that thing. Jeff said to ask you about water skiing in the pool.

Oh, when we were kids. Jeez. How big was your damn pool? About the size of this room. I wasn't a forward thinker back then. What the heck is that? What's he talking about? Well, we wanted to water ski. My parents didn't have a boat. We didn't have a lake. I don't know. But we had a four-wheeler and rope and two two-by-fours. So I got on one end.

With the life jacket, you know, so I could get my, and he duct taped these two by fours to my feet. And then he got in the four wheeler in the grass on the other side of the pool. God, I love y'all. It sounds like Bama to me. I freaking love it. Didn't go well. I wouldn't think so. Yeah, with that length, I mean, how would you even get, had the time to get up? Well, I didn't think about that at the time. He face planted in the concrete. That's what happened right there. How old did you say you were with that?

Tony's 20? A few years ago, yeah. In his 20s? No, we were- He was bringing up all kinds of stuff. He said ping pong battles with the whole- I mean, that may be another episode with Jeff's questions. Yeah. I'm telling you, man. It's like- I got a question. What's the Oreo company thing? What's the Oreo company thing? Oh, the Oreos. Were you there? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I don't know. Start with that one. Do tell. Do tell.

I did something. What did I do? It was, what was his name? Fullback for the Chiefs. Sherm. Sherm. Didn't you like? That's right. That's what led to the Orioles. I stole our fullback at the time with the Chiefs, Anthony Sherman. I stole his truck. Sold it. Matt Light was a part of this. Matt Light helped me with this. And I went through some of the other Chiefs players and I got access to Sherm's Twitter account.

He was out on the field. One of his coaches, when he was on the field, we launched this Twitter campaign that looked like it came from Sherm, that he was raffling his truck off for the E3 Foundation.

Oh, wow. And then Matt Light has all these interviews, like sports interviews around the country, teed up for him and I to go on these sports shows and talk about how awesome Sherman is while Sherman's in practice and has no idea this is going on. By the time he gets back to his locker and sits down, there's already a million people, however many people already knew about it and were like thanking him that he sat down and read. So he was in a, and then I left him a video just saying, hey, you got two options here.

I left Sherm a video for when he sat in his locker. One of his teammates came up, handed him the phone, and it was me saying, you got two options. You can look like the world's biggest asshole. You don't care about veterans or these kids that are being sold into slavery. Or you can be like the hero that everybody thinks you are.

and just go with it and give your truck away. And so the recourse to that was when I was out hunting, he pulled my truck in to the barn at our ranch.

and opened the sunroof and had, I don't know, he had like two pallets of Oreos that they opened each individual pack and filled my truck up with Oreos. Put them all in the sunroof? Are you serious? I'm like, yeah, fill the inside of my truck with Oreos. It was pretty good. Wow. He stole Luke's truck and did the same thing, Luke Bryan's truck, from his house. Just went in one night and stole it from his house. I did. I did.

What are you driving these days? Yeah, you don't want to know. Hey, we're in the fall, man. You better watch your back. He got dropped off. He got dropped off over here. Hey, I do want to ask you about you're a deputy, right? In Kansas, like with the sheriff's department and stuff. How did you get into that? I mean, that's a pretty cool thing to be doing. Part of when we started working, most of our work in the first school

probably two or three years was overseas stuff for the counter human trafficking work and when we started trying to work it in the u.s we realized this can be really difficult uh not being commissioned law enforcement um so so it's frustrating but it's also what makes this country awesome is that we do have the constitution and the judicial system and the laws that we do but it makes it really difficult as a civilian to work with law enforcement in in this fight um

So I went through a police academy in Kansas and got deputized probably in pretty shortly after I retired. So I've been 17, maybe 17 or 18. Wow. Roach, you refuse to drive a patrol car. He like sticks the, he's the one that sticks the thing. He's a different kind of, different kind of deputy. Have you seen a lot of, a lot of dark stuff out there? Like anything that's kind of freaked you out a little bit? Like, like,

I shouldn't be here. Yeah. I mean, I've seen some. Yes, I have. I've seen kind of the underworld of a lot of these cities that it's hard. You just never, you don't know it exists unless you're hunting, unless you're looking for it. Right. Yeah. And honestly, Nashville is no exception. I mean, it's really spreading that fast. It's just so lucrative. I think people don't want to.

believe it's there yeah I know and that's until it happens until it happens when you see it that's why what you're doing is so crucial and why one of the reasons why we couldn't wait to have you on was to make people aware that this this is happening

And just because you don't want to believe it's happening or think it's happening doesn't mean that it's not. Like you said, in your hometown where you don't think it is, but it is. Yeah. Here's the good news and one of the misconceptions is that there's a bunch of snatch and grab, white van kidnappings. Extremely rare in the U.S. I mean extremely rare to have a kidnapping for the purpose of being sold or trafficked.

Um, not uncommon at all in some of the other countries that we've worked in, but here it's just not the way it happens here. It is. It's, it's actually scarier if you kind of understand the methodology of it is it's the recruitment office, social media, and it's usually the kids that are the most vulnerable, which is the foster care kids, the dropouts, the kids that typically have one parent. Usually it's not the dad dad's in prison or no longer in their life. Um,

So I don't want to say that anybody's immune to it, but if I could give one piece of advice, it would be just not necessarily don't let your kids have social media because then they could go behind your back and have it. You don't know anything. You know, they hide it and all that. I would just say make them aware that a lot of times who they're chatting with on social is not who that person is purporting to be. And it'll come across as this good looking college age kid.

And it sometimes it can be and he can be a kind of middleman or facilitator for the trafficker and his job is to recruit these girls. Most of the time it's a 40, 50, 60 year old dude that is ripping those pictures off of somebody else's stuff, you know, and acting like he's this kid. Right.

And then, and they spend the time. I mean, they're really good at what they do. And they will take sometimes months of just chatting with girls, getting to know them. Then the girl thinks that they're the boyfriend. And then one thing leads to another. And I'll give you, maybe the best example would be, this happened in San Diego. We got a call, this was a few years ago, from a mom there whose 16-year-old daughter was missing. And so-

Long story short, we meet with the mom, find out the story. She had been recruited off social media. When we got into her social media account, saw that she had been recruited from this guy that was a 22-year-old, good-looking college-age kid. She was 16. Fast forward, we found her two weeks later way down in Mexico by the Guatemala border in a really bad situation. And fortunately, had a friend of ours that had a jet

And we needed a plane that could get us down to this small airport in not a good area of South Mexico, leave the plane running, not have to refuel, and let us meet up with our team there, recover her, and get back on. It all worked out. We ended up flying into San Diego. But it was one where HSI, Homeland Security, couldn't do anything about it. FBI couldn't do anything about it for whatever reason. I can't remember the situation back then. But there was literally nobody to go after this girl there.

And then in getting to know her and kind of the story afterwards, it was this guy that spent months and actually a guy that had met the parents or the mom. The mom had met and said he was actually a decent guy. He talks her into going to Tijuana as soon as they cross the border. All her documents are taken. She's handed off and she's off to South Mexico. So she's doing awesome, by the way. We get updates on her frequently. She's doing phenomenal. That's amazing work. It's amazing.

It's amazing what you're doing. It is. And like you said, you want to almost not believe that it goes on. So sometimes I'm guilty of this. You kind of put it away from your mind. Well, it seems far away. Yeah. It seems like, oh, you hear about it, and that's terrible. And that's what I always thought. I always thought this was like a third-world country thing until we...

I can tell you this, and I'm not going to name names, but, you know, there's somebody, you know, here in Nashville that, you know, we all kind of know that, you know, you, Roach, you called me about, if you remember this a while back. And, you know, something going on with a family member that had kind of come up missing and needed to track him down. Roach, he called me and kind of,

asked me what I kind of knew about them and the situation or whatever, and that was somebody they were able to go find, get them out of that, and get them back. So it is, I mean, even though you think it's kind of out of sight, out of mind, it's happening everywhere here in Nashville. It's no different. I think that was actually out of Georgia instead of Nashville. It was. And that was a really, for as bad as it was, it was a cool case because she was one of the rare ones that we were able to recover before she had been...

really exploited like she was still kind of in what they call kind of the break-in process of anyway we got to her just in time and she was really young and that's that's awesome i was going to ask too um have you noticed an uptick in cases uh in the last say three or four years uh we have with covid and is it even getting to kansas or people

Coming there. We have some partners that work down there and keep kind of the pulse on that pretty closely. And they're, they're really busy. Um, 99% of the girls that we encounter are American citizens. I mean, they're, they're Americans. It's not a bunch of girls from Southeast Asia or from the border. Now, if you zero in on that, there's plenty of that now because of the border issue. Um,

But yeah, I mean, these are American girls that were in a bad spot and kind of got caught up with the life. Absolutely heartbreaking. I want to switch gears and as impossible as that is, we need to discuss this before we leave. So I want to make sure we get to it.

Hopefully, you guys will take the ride with us on the journey on this. A few weeks ago, there was a comment on our YouTube page. We like to look at the comments. Please, by the way, if you're watching, listening, leave us a comment. We do love reading them. We did encounter a couple weeks ago. We do. A couple weeks ago, I think the handle is TheAmazingDV.com.

He was talking about how Neil is always afraid and scared. It was false and fake and never happened. But I don't know if you guys saw this. Amazing DV left a new comment, and he wanted to explain his position on Neil being scared and terrible. I'd love to get your guys' opinion on this, by the way. You all know us.

First of all, what do you think about Neil? Is he afraid and scared and terrible? What do you think about Neil? Yeah. But I got to say this about the amazing DVD. I didn't read the rebuttal. It was a huge comment. He was like, hey, I love the show. I love everything you talk about. I love the guys. He loves me. I know Jason. He doesn't like you. Go ahead. It's fine. I don't get it. I like you, but...

Go ahead, Neil. No. Fuller's first. I feel like you need to respond to this painful comment. What did he say? Somebody fill me in on what he said. Well, it's too long. It's like a novel. It's very, very long. He had me at terrible. Dude, the guy had... But listen, he is actually a fan of the show.

that's what's important yeah which is he likes some of us is he subscribed yes well that's a good question he'd buy our merch but i gotta i appreciate the guy actually trying to explain himself it was a

a very well thought out response. What were you going to say with it? Well, we did say, you know, he did say that, you know, Neil is the weakest link. Did he say that? His words early in the comments. No, I... Go ahead. How are you the weakest link in a show that just talks? Like, that's... I don't... It's a fair question. I just feel like no matter what, somebody...

Because I don't talk. He must hate my talking voice. No, no. What he doesn't like, and the reason he says that you're weak is because... That's a strong word. Well, it's because of the liberal thing. Like, you don't want to talk to a liberal. You don't want to have anybody on the show. There's just not a lot of fun. So he's just saying that Neil's weak because... It's not that we don't want to talk to him. There's just not a lot of fun most of the time.

And they don't like us really that much either, clearly. Well, that is definitely true. But, Kalo, I think you're right. He was like, well, why wouldn't he want to have somebody that has a differing opinion on? And I don't think that's it, right? You're not afraid, are you? You're scared to have somebody on that has a difference of opinion. They're afraid of what I'll say if we have a liberal on. I feel like liberals want to come on the show anyway.

I don't know why we've invited a few. I just don't think the invites are out there. I don't know that they want that. You know what? Our song was about the truth and they don't want to hear the truth. And that's all that would be spewed here. That doesn't sound afraid. That is the truth. And yeah,

I'm just saying, I mean, if y'all want to have a liberal on, fine. Get one. Book one. I don't give a shit. Let me say very clearly. I want to dip and talk about deer hunting and killing shit, and they're not going to like it. But let me say very clearly, and hear me now. It's also y'all show, and you can have whoever the hell you want to on there. And if you guys like it and want to listen, listen. And if you don't, go watch...

Theo Vaughn or something. He's awesome, by the way. He's great. The liberal podcast. I don't know. I don't watch any of them, so I don't know what their names are. Theo's not liberal, is he? Who? No, Theo's awesome. Yeah, he's about it. No,

Not Theo. But, I mean, I don't know what pot. I'm saying those are the ones I know because those are the ones I listen to. I don't know the liberal ones. No, but that's the point is, right. Listen, we're just... And I've read some other comments and they're really nice, by the way, talking about us. Because they're talking about us. But they were saying they just like how it's a normal banner. You guys are just talking with your hearts and really...

I appreciate that because I think that's true. We're not trying to be bashers or hardcore or whatever side. We're just saying what we believe. That's a thrasher. Oh, wow. Thrasher. Well, he is a thrasher basher. He is a thrasher basher. Maybe that's new merch. There you go. Oh, come on. Thrasher basher? Neil, you are a vital...

vital part to this operation. There will be a separate entity, by the way. The terrible Neal show. Y'all want me to participate in the thrasher basher hat. We do have a mutual friend, Kevin Rahm, who's a very successful actor and buddy of ours. He said that he would come on

and have a differing opinion. He writes a fan. Which I think would kind of be cool because we are friends. I'm going to be sick that day. It's not going to be an argument. I think it'd be fun. I think it's cool when you have somebody that... I would actually sometimes love to sit there and have a conversation with somebody that doesn't think like I do because honestly, I would love to understand...

Why you feel the way you feel. Like, why are you so packed? Like, make me understand it because I don't. Right. I love Kevin Rahm. I love him. We've done a lot of work for him, for St. Jude. Is that John's brother? No. No. No.

Kevin's a backer. He's a great guy. He is really a really, really good dude. But he would be fun. I think we should have him on. Can we have him on? Let's do it. He said he would do it. The only thing that's prevented it is Neil. And you probably just made a new fan by saying, yeah, you want to come on. DV Magician. What's his name? That's amazing. But guys like Kevin is like, but...

He does amazing work for St. Jude, and we all see eye to eye on that. It's not political. It doesn't have anything to do with politics. And we've said that a lot. Well, anybody that doesn't see eye to eye about St. Jude...

I've got a problem with that. Just because you politically think that way and we think this way, it's not saying that we think you're bad people. You know what I mean? I don't think that's ever been the case. Some of them are really bad people. True. But for the most part, it's like you can still be a good person and whatever. It's just I would personally like to understand what makes it make sense to me. Because to me, it doesn't. So I would love to hear somebody sit down and...

School me, by all means. Please tell me something that's going to enlighten me because at this point, I don't get it yet. Jeffrey Steele, I'm so sorry. Jeffrey Steele was on the podcast. You guys know Jeffrey. He was awesome, but he was having this point exactly about that. He was like...

I want to have conversations with people like that because all I hear out of your mouth is Trump bad, orange man bad, Trump bad, orange man bad, as opposed to just saying, hey, this is what I think. This is how I feel. This is what's dear to me. And I think that's all you can ever ask for. Yeah, I just want to take them hunting.

That's all I want to do. Yeah. I'm going to show them what God created out there. I thought you just wanted to take them way out in the woods. No, no, no. Show them how to survive. But that can be extremely effective, especially if you've hunted enough to see animals die of natural causes, which is an awful death. I mean, it's a long... That's right. That's absolutely natural. It's not like they just go to sleep and they're fine and then they don't wake up. Like a lot of times it is...

You show them that, get them introduced to firearms and just planking around and like, whether it's a 22 or a, you know, I've had a few that have taken the time to, you know what, I'll come out and check out what you do and what you're, and a lot of times they leave there going, okay,

They may not be a huge fan. They may not be lifelong hunters after that, but they just have a different view. At least have the respect for the side. That's right, yeah. You're right. We could do a better job of doing the same thing for them. For sure. With their interests and whatever that is of maybe engaging a little more to say, okay, let me get a show me. Let me get a feel for it. Go to some rallies. Yeah.

What does that entail though? What are we doing? Because I don't like to do any of the stuff they like to do. I don't know what we like to do. We'll have to investigate. That's all the stuff we do. Stay tuned for part two when we find out what liberals do. What do they do?

I don't know what they do. Besides, well, they're people. I mean, they're going to do stuff. Yeah. It's all about getting in touch with God. When you're out in a deer stand and you're sitting in a tree when it's dark and you watch the sun come up and you watch the world come alive,

You have to believe. You have to believe when you're sitting in a lock on, in a tree stand that's no bigger than this chair I'm sitting in. And you watch the sun come up and you hear the birds start singing and you see the world come alive. It's like, and this happens every day. If you don't believe, if you don't believe that there is, you know, intelligent design behind that, I don't, I got nothing for you. I know plenty of liberals that, you know, believe in God. I think, I think there's,

They have their reasons. I don't know what they do. Go back to that. I'd like to know an activity. I don't know what that would be. I'm still trying to figure that out. I'm terrible. Badminton. I don't care, though. I know what I know, and I know what I believe. Tennis. I like tennis, though. Pickleball. That's another thing I don't have a comment on. Yeah.

We'll figure it out, though. Yeah, we'll figure it out. Yeah, we'll do some more research. Well, when we have a liberal on, which we will. Well, you know what? We should wrap. We said this on another episode where, you know, it's real safe to talk about God. But as soon as you bring Jesus into the conversation. Mm-hmm.

It's over. He's bad for business. I think all this started when we took prayer out of school, stopped saying the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag every day like we all did in school growing up. It's like all of a sudden, you can't do that because there's a kid in the class that has a different religion. It's like, well, make them stand in the hall. This is our country, and this is what our country was founded on. If you don't like it, I don't know what to tell you. You're in our country. Adapt.

You know, and we shouldn't have to, as a country, adapt to other people coming in and their way of thinking. It's like, this is what we were founded on. And so a lot of my problems stem from that stuff. I feel like, to me, that's kind of where the downfall started to happen. And we just, a lot of times, we just...

Not we. I feel like liberals cater to that kind of thing instead of standing their ground and going, no. And that to me is a big reason that I lean the way I do. Well, I think you're onto it too because we, I think for a long time, have had God's protective hand over this nation. Doesn't mean we're all believers. Doesn't mean we're all

going to be missionary, but I just think there has been a overall Christian belief in our country. And I think when we do start to pull him out of all these things, that it may make it easier for him to start to pull himself out of all these things and say, okay, it might be time for a wake-up call, which we may be seeing right now. With all the division and evil and like...

It's no surprise that he might be going, okay, you guys might need a few years or centuries to see what it's like.

Without me covering you in protection. So I hope not, but I hope not as well. It's a lonely place. Yeah. I completely agree with that. Trump 24. But it's been like, you know, speaking for myself, conservatives and Christians, I think,

We don't do a good job. We're pretty passive. Contrary to what the left would think, we're not narrow-minded. We don't judge people for lifestyles that we don't believe in. We don't say anything about it. We don't say anything about much until the last, you know, until actually Jason put out that wonderful song, Try That Small Time. LAUGHTER

Until it starts getting, you know, to me, it's still, it starts, you start trying to normalize it to me. Like all the, you know, you can think whatever and live whatever. It's like, once you start trying to make me go, no, this is the way it is. This is normal now. It's like, not to me, it's not, you know? So I just, I refuse to, to cave to that kind of thing. And I have my, my views and, you know,

I feel like I'm right. Other than that, I don't know what to say. It's just what you believe. That's what I was saying earlier. You get somebody on, make it make sense to me. Give me something to go home and think about and maybe look at it a little different. I'm more than willing to do that. I just haven't heard the argument yet. It has to be true. You can't be a bunch of regurgitated bullshit that you've heard all your friends talk about who also don't know what they're talking about. Make it make sense. Be factual and

I'll listen. I'm not saying I'm going to agree, but I'll listen. Well, the core of it, that's what we used to have. We should be able to have that back and forth. My problem sometimes is trying to communicate with someone who's on the opposite side is that they won't listen. There isn't any of that back and forth. It's just their way or no way. But we've lost that, though, which I think is important, just the common ground to agree that everybody should listen to each other.

And it's okay to have differing opinions. That's really what the country is built on. It's almost like anymore, if you're a liberal and conservative, it's like you can't be friends anymore. That's true. I think a lot of times it's like you just end up running in different circles and it is what it is. On the road, we have a lot of people that work for us, hell, even in

management and upper people that work for us. It's like a lot of those people do not lean the way we lean. And it's fun. Agree to disagree. We work together. And we have a goal, which is our career and whatever. And we all are after the same goal. We do that. And when it's time to go vote,

We go do our own thing and we get back together and do our thing. And that's, it's okay to do that. You know, it's when you start cramming it down people's throats that it's, people just kind of peel off and go, man, I don't want to,

I don't want to listen to that, you know, or deal with that, or I just don't agree with that. And it's like, it's still okay to different opinions and be cool to each other. It doesn't always have to be political about everything. So. Man, we're like in Joe Rogan territory. This episode, this is a long one. And Neil, you're, you're not terrible. No, no, no, you're not. Well, I'm, I'm just glad that I can tell your feelings. I'm glad you wore your Neil Thrasher rocks hat. I wore mine tonight.

Of course. I like that. Is that what that is? No. It's Night Train Ranch. But I don't ride Night Train. To me, it's Neil Thrasher Rock's hat. I like that. Hey, it might even be a new merch item. You never know. Let's go. Thrasher. Thrasher Basher. Thrasher Basher. We can't thank you guys enough. Jason, as always. Adam. Oh.

So thankful for you being here, man. Seriously, you've been an amazing ball player, obviously, friend. You're an amazing human being. Everybody, please check out, like they were saying, the Buck Commander episodes. That's awesome. You guys own a restaurant together. We didn't even get to that. Go eat at E3. I've eaten there. I paid for my meal, too. I called Jason. I still had to pay for my meal.

They got to run a business. I'll get my money back. Hey, don't tell anybody, but he has a tab there that all you got to do is just say his name. Hey, what's the member number? Oh, wow. Really? Fantastic. When the cameras go off, we'll get that number. Thank you. Don't give that out to everybody.

Luke Bryan's our other partner and he has a tab too I always tell people to just I'll put on Luke's yeah he doesn't care he'll never know he'll never know sounds good anything that we can do our podcast can do $85,000 worth of shrimp it's like anything our podcast can do anything we can do performance wise

For your organization, anything, anything, we are there. Thank you. And I know you are, and I appreciate that. Yes, sir. A thousand percent. Hey, if you're watching on YouTube, go ahead. What'd you got? Well, I was just going to say with you guys, just because I've known you three the longest, you know what's really, really cool and I appreciate is you are all the same dudes that I met back in 2006 or whatever it is.

And I hate saying that around you, giving you a compliment like that. But for real. Even Tully? You think he's the same? Hey, Tully is actually soft on death. Tully's better. Really? Yeah. Really soft on death. It's not the norm.

And I know our industries are different, but also similar in a lot of ways. And I've seen guys that just great dudes and then they get some success and they start building up this empire and this thing and they're just different. And that's just never stopped you guys from being awesome. That goes for you too. Yeah, absolutely. If I'm ever in the same deer camp with you,

I will know to watch my step before I step in the blind. That's a damn fact. Or your rental car. Hide your keys. Oh, don't. If there's a moral to this podcast, don't bring your rental car. We parked one on a ski slope behind the house one time. That was mine. I know. You tried to get mine, and we flipped it on you and put yours out there. That's right. My 40th birthday. You guys were there. Oh, yeah. That was fun. We undid the lug nuts on Matt Lyons' rental car.

where he backed up and the wheel fell off so just watch your step for sure more than your step I wish I'd have known Matt was coming on ahead of time to give you guys some good so next time we'll get him back he was great we gotta get him in person yeah he's another solid human being awesome the best

So as I was going to say, if you're watching on YouTube, leave us a comment. That's really something we'd love to see. Subscribe. That helps us out. If you're listening, download, do all that stuff.

Follow us on the socials at Try That Podcast, right? Anybody have parting words? We got them? No. Neil is wonderful. Wonderful Neil. Neil's a great guy. When you're leaving those comments, take it easy on him. That's right. He's tenderhearted. Thanks for listening, guys. Later. So good. Make sure to follow along, subscribe, share, rate the show, and check out our merch at trythatinasmalltown.com.