Podcasts about Thanksgiving

Today's episode of The Rizzuto Show is what happens when a funny podcast completely derails before it even starts—and honestly, we wouldn't have it any other way.We kick things off with technical difficulties because the cameras decided to clock out early (respect, honestly), sending the show into a mild existential crisis before we pivot into March Madness betting updates. Some of us are winning money… others are just emotionally invested and confused.Then things really go off the rails with a game that proves none of us should ever be trusted with geography. Colleges, states, basic knowledge—optional at best. It's a humbling moment for a funny podcast that prides itself on… well, not much.But the real centerpiece of today's chaos? The “time blindness” debate. Is it a legitimate cognitive issue or just a fancy way of saying “I didn't leave the house on time”? The crew goes back and forth with real stories, relationship struggles, and just enough yelling to make it feel like Thanksgiving dinner came early.Also in this episode:A woman shows up 90 minutes late to her own party (bold, chaotic, unforgivable?)A hospital patient refuses to leave for FIVE MONTHS because… why not?People are now staying awake during plastic surgery (absolutely not)A fermented fish experiment goes horribly wrongSnake yoga exists and we hate itAnd somehow we end with a full breakdown of fart science like the professionals we areIt's messy, it's ridiculous, and it's exactly what you expect from a funny podcast that thrives on everyday chaos, questionable decisions, and brutally honest takes.If you've ever been late, judged someone for being late, or just want to feel better about your own life choices—this episode is for you.Follow The Rizzuto Show → https://linktr.ee/rizzshow for more from your favorite daily comedy show.Connect with The Rizzuto Show Comedy Podcast online → https://1057thepoint.com/RizzShowHear The Rizz Show daily on the radio at 105.7 The Point | Hubbard Radio in St. Louis, MO.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

(Content note: child sexual abuse) In 2016, Ed G. got on stage at RISK! and told a story he'd never told anyone. Now, ten years later, Ophira Eisenberg sits down with him to go places that story couldn't: the FBI, the Pope, the survivors who found each other decades later, and the hard-won question of where shame really belongs. Ed's story begins in Cheyenne, Wyoming, where a boy abandoned by his violent father and drowning in poverty finds an unlikely lifeline in the local Catholic church. What the bishop who runs it asks for in return will take Ed the better part of a lifetime to fully reckon with.

Twelve days. That's how long David Gentile spent in federal prison for a $1.8 billion fraud that wiped out the retirement savings of 17,000 people. On Thanksgiving 2025, President Trump signed a one-page clemency grant, commuting Gentile's seven-year sentence to time served and erasing a $15 million restitution order in the process. In this episode, we talk to one of those 17,000 victims, CarolAnn Tutera, a 70-year-old still working because she can't afford not to. We also talk to securities fraud attorney Adam Gana and Ponzi Playbook co-host Neal McTighe about how the scheme worked, what the pardon means, and what it says about the current climate for white collar crime. CarolAnn Tutera GPB Capital investor and CEO of Tutera Medical tuteramedical.com Adam Gana Securities fraud attorney, Gana LLP ganalawfirm.com/adam-gana Neal McTighe Co-host, Ponzi Playbook podcast Ponzi Playbook on Spotify The Conviction and Sentencing DOJ Press Release justice.gov The Blueprint of the Fraud SEC Civil Complaint sec.gov The White House Response Forbes Breaking News — search: “Karoline Leavitt Asked About Trump's Commutation Of Private Equity CEO's Fraud Sentence” 00:00  CarolAnn's Story 04:06  David Gentile's Promise 04:38  I Beg Your Pardon 07:02  How a Ponzi Scheme Works 14:21  The Smoking Gun Emails 15:47  CarolAnn's $400K 16:42  The Takedown 18:38  The Verdict 19:22  The Pardon 20:06  The White House Response 23:12  Restitution Wiped Out 29:51  The Pay-to-Play Pattern 33:41  The Perfect Storm GuestsResourcesChapters36:44  Ponzi Playbook Returns Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

(00:00) Zolak & Bertrand start the third hour by reacting to Jaylen Brown getting MVP chants at the St. Patrick's Day parade.(6:03) The crew touches on Tim Legler feeling validated as a #1 option and what that will mean for him going forward.(17:05) We react to the NFL likely having a game on Thanksgiving eve moving forward and whether it's a smart move for the league.(30:45) The crew finishes the hour with thoughts on where the Patriots' edge rusher group currently ranks in the NFL.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Maya gets a new jacket, and it's everything. Gen X never thought we'd have to go through all this shit. Enough with the unprecedented times. We thought life was going to be war and disaster-free. Maybe because we lived through the Cold War, which desensitized the shit out of us. Also, living in Minneapolis has been a real ride. Is Maya Padma Lakshmi's biggest fan? Amy thinks so. Maya reviews Padma's new show, America's Culinary Cup. Maya's dog Buddy is still kicking at 16 years old. There is a new Italian Restaurant in Maya's neighborhood. The ladies declare hate for fettuccini alfredo, and big love for the city of Robbinsdale. RIP Brookdale Mall. Maya misses a good food court. What happened to all the food courts? In another segment of Turnt Things In My Neighborhood, Amy tries to get her ears "cluster" pierced. Tennis Report: Amy tries drills at Public Indoor Tennis, aka PIT. Amy goes to “The Price is Right” at a casino. Amy's mom, Marsh, won't take her vitamins. Don't even think of trying to get her to go to physical therapy. Maya proclaims her love for Entenmann's grocery doughnuts. Flavor Flav is a champion for women! Amy is excited about Project Hail Mary. Maya reviews Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere. Maya remembers the time her mom peeled out of Thanksgiving. 

Today on The Press Box, Bryan and Joel start the show by discussing the Pentagon barring press photographers from briefings on Iran due to “unflattering” pictures of Pete Hegseth being taken. Next, the guys give their takes on the NFL's potential plans to add a Thanksgiving eve game to the regular-season schedule (14:06) before asking whether this is a prelude to an 18-game NFL regular season (16:51). After that, Bryan and Joel look at the ESPN–NFL Network deal, what it means for NFL insiders Adam Schefter and Ian Rapoport (21:55), and where else insiders can work in sports media today (26:51). Following that, the guys talk about Tony Dungy's departure from NBC (29:43) before pivoting to the wild night of sports that happened this past Tuesday (35:51), which included Bam Adebayo's 83-point game and a failed NFL trade (48:58). Today's show wraps up with a look back at 'Spotlight' on the 10-year anniversary of its Best Picture Oscar win (52:58). All that and more, here on The Press Box. Plus, the return of J-School! Hosts: Bryan Curtis and Joel Anderson Producers: Isaiah Blakely and Bruce Baldwin Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

(00:00) Fred, Hardy & Wallach play a game of “Is It: Dr. Steve or Scottie Z?” - featuring: John C. Reilly as Dr. Steve Brule and Scott Zolak as himself.(17:00) CEDRIC MAXWELL is part of the radio broadcasts on 98.5 The Sports Hub Celtics Radio Network and joins the show to share his thoughts on the current state of the Boston Celtics.(33:36) The guys get into a discussion about corporate greed and its overreach due to the report that the NFL is pursuing a Wednesday before Thanksgiving game.Please note: Timecodes may shift by a few minutes due to inserted ads. Because of copyright restrictions, portions—or entire segments—may not be included in the podcast.CONNECT WITH TOUCHER & HARDY: linktr.ee/ToucherandHardyFor the latest updates, visit the show page on 985thesportshub.com. Follow 98.5 The Sports Hub on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Watch the show every morning on YouTube, and subscribe to stay up-to-date with all the best moments from Boston's home for sports!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In the final hour, Laurence Holmes and Carmen Vitali discussed the NFL considering an idea to hold a game on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Later, they listened and reacted to new Lions running back Isaiah Pacheco detail his first phone conversation with Detroit head coach Dan Campbell.

Laurence Holmes and Carmen Vitali discussed the NFL considering an idea to hold a game on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.

Ep. 315, Recorded 3/11/2026. Tourney Talk. Wrong show there, puddin'. All-In Again. Stop the Count! Not my humps. Horny in Detroit. Thanksgiving comes early. Try the lemon pepper wings. Penn is Gr8. Restocking stuffers. It's a jungle out there.

From Lance Woods: Undeniable https://www.comedydynamics.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Prayer can certainly seem overwhelming and overly complicated. However, prayer is simply a conversation with God and raising our minds to the things of Heaven. In this episode of On Mission, Chris Pierno, Sarah Scalfaro, and Fr. Frank Donio, S.A.C. share how simple prayer can be and how to grow more fruit from prayer.Prayer is the basis of our relationship with God and it's important to remember the basics. Remembering the basics keeps prayer as simple as a conversation between two friends, God and yourself. We can look to more formal prayers like the Our Father and Hail Mary as a basis for how our prayer can be, but there's no replacement from speaking from the heart and allowing our Lord to respond. We can use the acronym ACTS to help model our prayer: Adoration, Contrition, Thanksgiving, and Supplication. Related On Mission episodes:Maintain Prayer Routines During Summer VacationPrayerful ParenthoodYear of PrayerLectio Divina From the Ad Infinitum blog:The Fruit of PrayerMore posts about Prayer Year of Prayer ResourcesPrayer Resources Check out the main Saints and Feast Days websiteDownload the App on the App Store or Google Play Follow us:The Catholic Apostolate CenterThe Center's podcast websiteInstagramFacebookApple PodcastsSpotify On Mission is produced by the Catholic Apostolate Center. Follow the Center on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube to remain up-to-date on the latest Center resources and podcasts. Listen to Fr. Frank's weekly reflections and recent blogcasts.

Bobby Bones and Matt Cassel begin with Maxx Crosby headed back to the Raiders. Matt recalls failing a physical as a free agent due to an injured foot. Bobby looks at several possibilities of what happened and the Trey Hendrickson deal. How do Ravens' fans feel about this? What is next for the Raiders and Crosby? Matt has been shocked by the money being spent in free agency. What are the big deals and the impact on teams? Bobby offers his thoughts on Travis Kelce's decision to return or retire. How does Tua Tagovailoa fit in with the Falcons? The Titans have made several moves around the organization leaving Bobby hopeful. Cassel points out the defensive moves that should lead to more wins. More football coming around Thanksgiving? Bobby and Matt are all for it! Back to Vegas, does Crosby still get traded? Who are the top spending and bottom spending teams in Free Agency? Bobby wraps up with his favorite team for Crosby. Lots to Say with Bobby Bones and Matt Cassel is part of the NFL Podcast Network See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We all had one. She'd buy you tickets to R-rated movies or go on pre-Thanksgiving dinner walks. She adds Coke and ice to her red wine and smokes slims. She's your cool aunt and she's not judging anyone for drinking NA beers. The Malty Boyz™ also do their due diligence when they crack open Bud Light Blizzard Brew and take in the terroir of HIghmark Stadium. In the Beer News, Tilray acquires BrewDog, Michelob Ultra Zero becomes the king of NA beers, and a SoCal beer icon is blowin' in the wind. To get involved with the  "Life" International Barleywine Collab, click the link for info about the recipe, BSG discount, and links to help raise awareness of colon cancer.  For more info about colon cancer and to help support the fight against it check out the Colon Cancer Foundation.  Head to our Patreon for weekly exclusive content. Get the Malt Couture Officially Licensed T-shirt. Follow DontDrinkBeer on Instagram and Twitter

Sports with Rod 3-12-2026 …Former ODU Monarchs Baseball Player Hit 3 Dingers in a WBC game last night …Caitlyn Clark and Angel Reese are now on the same team …The NFL looking to screw fans the night before Thanksgiving

Boise State and Idaho have a chance to do something that's never been done before - qualify for the same NCAA Tournament, how do college basketball fans in Idaho process that possibility, Bob (Bronco Focus) previews first-round game between Boise State-San Jose State, B.J. (BNN Report) previews entire Mountain West Tournament (who's going to win?), former Boise State RB Alexander Mattison joins the show to share why he's headed to Boise and why he's thinking about Ashton Jeanty, NFL thinking about adding a game on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving (lost opportunity for the Pac-12?)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Here comes the snow!!! We're seeing reports of 8-12 inches on Sunday before a high of just 19° on Monday. WTF? Thankfully, it looks like 52° by next Thursday, so it should all melt quickly. We started the show with the Thursday Song and we talked to Office Cora to see what she's up to in the 715 this weekend since she's recovered from her illness last week. In sports, the Bucks are in Miami tonight to take on the Heat, results of yesterday's Big Ten basketball action and a look at today's schedule, Team USA advances to in the World Baseball Classic, and the scores from yesterday's Big Ten men's hockey tourney. We had stories about priests behaving badly, including one who was stealing baseball cards from a Walmart, and an update on the priest who was embezzling money from his own parish. Elsewhere in the news, a new game from the Wordle people to keep you occupied in the morning, and a fun website to waste some time later today. Plus, the outcome of the wife-carrying championships in the UK, and a bunch of terrible grades for Buc-ee's stations. Also in sports this morning, an update on free agency in the NFL, Alex Bowman is going to miss another NASCAR race due to vertigo, we might be seeing an NFL game on Thanksgiving eve this year, Jonathan Davis of KORN is going to be the grand marshal at this weekend's NASCAR race, and an incredible goal from Colin Dorgan. We talked about what's on TV today/tonight. Also talked about Jeff Probst "rapping" on last night's episode of Survivor, and Kelly Clarkson admitting that even though she won American Idol Season One, she never actually received the car or the cash that was promised. Crazy story about a 19 year-old pilot who had to make an emergency landing on a highway in Florida and got an assist from a guy in a pickup truck. And check out this severely neglected pooch who got some much-needed help at an animal rescue in Minnesota and is now living her best life! We asked each other Hypothetical Questions today and Brian's question for Jean was: "Would you rather be able to speak all human languages or be able to speak to animals?" Meanwhile, Jean's question for Brian was: "Would you rather go 100 years into the future or 100 years into the past?" And in today's edition of "Bad News with Happy Music", we had stories about a woman who just won a bunch of money in a lawsuit after her boss kept calling her "potato", a kickboxer in the UK who just pulled a 4,000lb car over 160 feet with his junk, a couple of women in Texas who were trying to drop some contraband into a prison using drones, and a #FloridaMan who got a bunch of lap dances & tried to skip out on the payments.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The guys share their frustrations with the NFL potentially adding a Thanksgiving Eve game.

The crew hear the breaking news that Trey Hendrickson has signed a 4 year $120 million deal with the Baltimore Ravens and ask where were the Patriots when it came to him. Hillnotes argue between which sport has more physicality, hockey or basketball. And is there going to a football game on the night before Thanksgiving next year?

You can listen wherever you get your podcasts or check out the fully edited transcript of our interview at the bottom of this post.I am so excited I was able to interview a parenting thought leader I greatly admire. Lenore did not disappoint! So much wisdom, and so much fun! I think you'll love this podcast episode.In this episode of The Peaceful Parenting Podcast, I interview Lenore Skenazy, author of “Free-Range Kids,” which grew into the Free-Range Kids movement. Now she is president of Let Grow, the national nonprofit that is making it easy, normal, and legal to give kids back independence. We talk about screens, anxiety, free play, and why childhood independence matters more than ever.

Brian Wollenberg, founder of The Byron Saunders Foundation—a 501(c)(3) nonprofit—shares how networking made it possible to grow a Thanksgiving outreach from just 50 meals to nearly 7,500 families. To learn more or get involved, visit https://www.thebyronsaundersfoundation.org/ For more great insight on professional relationships and business networking contact Frank Agin at frankagin@amspirit.com.

Alan Saunders and Zachary Smith discuss all things Pittsburgh Steelers. On today's episode, we discuss Cam Heyward's new deal and what it means in terms of his future. What is the team's plan at guard and safety after signing Darnell Savage and having interest in some interior offensive lineman but nothing coming to fruition as of yet? What do we make of the debacle between the Baltimore Ravens and Las Vegas Raiders that nixed the trade for Maxx Crosby? NFL football on Thanksgiving eve? The league is exploring it. Let's go for another Steelers Afternoon Drive and discuss all this! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On The Carton Show, Craig Carton and Chris McMonigle react to a surprising idea from the National Football League: a Wednesday night game on Thanksgiving Eve. With games already on Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Christmas, is the NFL officially taking over every holiday? The guys debate whether fans would actually watch or if the biggest party night of the year would kill ratings.

Full show broadcast includes Gene on the Maxx Crosby fallout. Paul Hamilton stops by to talk all things Sabres. PJ Glasser in Hour 2 & Gene tackles tons of sports headlines.

Gene recaps todays events. Also, Daniel Jones, Anthony Richardson & The Colts. The new NFL League. The Bills salary cap in 2026. Wednesday Night Football on Thanksgiving eve?

Gene shares his thoughts on the Ravens pulling out of the Maxx Crosby trade. The NFL wants a Thanksgiving eve game. The Syracuse Orange fire Adrian Autry. What's next for Cuse? The Bills & Josh Allen restructure. The Sabres win their 8th straight. The Amerks look to end their losing streak tonight.

Why do people get so angry about vegan food? Why do the same illogical arguments about meat keep showing up over and over again? And what happens when someone finally starts dismantling them… one by one? Today on Food Heals, Allison Melody is joined by plant-powered content creator Danny Ishay, Instagram's favorite vegan. If you've ever heard someone say: “Humans need meat for protein.” “It's the food chain.” “Plants feel pain.” …and you've wanted to stick a carrot in their face and ask who actually feels pain, Danny has probably already made a video about it. Using logic, satire, and a little sass, Danny has built a massive following by calmly dismantling the myths people cling to about meat, dairy, and vegan diets. In this episode we talk about how he got started, why humor works better than yelling, and what really happens when trolls flood his comment section. You'll hear: • Why comedy disarms people faster than confrontation • What actually happens when trolls show up in Danny's comments • The psychology behind why people defend meat so passionately • What made Allison say, “Follow the money.” • Why misinformation about nutrition spreads so easily • The surprising role community plays in sticking with a plant-based lifestyle If you've ever had one of these debates at a dinner table, in a comment section, or with that one friend who swears they “need meat for protein”… This episode might change the way you respond at next year's Thanksgiving. (You're welcome:) Follow Danny on Instagram: @dannyishay Get his book HERE. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Praying with Jesus" Series Focus Text: Luke 18:9-17

In this episode of the Voices of CFMA Podcast, sponsored by Premier Construction Software, Tobin Paxton, co-founder of Miter — CFMA's newest Elite Partner — stops by to discuss how a Thanksgiving payroll run with his bookkeeper mom, a co-founder obsessed with construction accounting, and a series of Bay Area job-site visits sparked the idea for a human capital management and workforce platform now used by 1,500+ contractors daily. The conversation covers the labor shortage reshaping construction, the "data backbone" problem costing finance teams time and visibility, and how Miter thinks about automation — not as replacing people, but as equipping them. Tobin also talks about what drew Miter to CFMA, what he hopes the Association becomes, and how he's balancing 18 weeks on the road with life as a new dad. Visit cfma.org to learn more about CFMA membership.

Introducing the All Def SquADD Cast show “Versus". It's a podcast with the OG SquADD! Each week, the SquADD will debate topics and vote at the end to see what wins. Versus airs every Monday and you can download and listen wherever podcasts are found.Special GuestJohn GrimesBrent TaylorB.T. KingsleyKanisha BussThis Week We DiscussCookout Plate vs Thanksgiving PlateDate For Marriage vs Date For VibesOwn A Small House vs Rent A High-RiseS/o To Our SponsorsMint MobileMint Mobile is here to rescue you with premium wireless plans starting at 15 bucks a monthmintmobile.com/SQUADDUpfront payment of $45 for 3-month 5 gigabyte planrequired (equivalent to $15/mo.). New customer offer for first 3 monthsonly, then full-price plan options available. Taxes & fees extra. See MINTMOBILE for details.

Aldrich Family - Thanksgiving Dance and Turkey Run

Gene and Bob are having the late night Thanksgiving dinner they truly deserve as we continue to make our way through the eleventh season of "Bob's Burgers" with the end credits sequence to: Season 11, Episode 7: "Diarrhea of a Poopy Kid" ----Hey! We're on YouTube now if you'd rather watch this there! You can also check out our new podcast video series "My Favorite Episode" and subscribe so you'll be notified when we post more!Check Out The Bob's Credits Merch Shop Right Here!----Follow And Support Us On:PatreonTikTokInstagram YouTubeThreads--Also, if you enjoyed the episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you can. And more importantly, spread the word. The more action the show gets, the better. We want to continue to make these episodes, and building an audience is the best way to make sure we'll be able to. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Send a textPart two of my interview with Barbara Adler is as juicy if not juicier than part one and I did not expect that. I start by laying out every single one of Epstein's 46 shell companies — the real estate holdings, the aviation companies, the offshore financing vehicles, the pass-through shells, and the master trust with 40 secret beneficiaries named for his birth year. I name the three people who ran his in-house accounting and compliance — Richard Kahn, Bella Klein, and Harry Beller — and ask why none of them have been brought in front of Congress when Bella literally pleaded the Fifth. I break down Liquid Funding Limited out of Bermuda that was loaded with the exact mortgage-backed securities that caused the 2008 financial crash — and then play you the clip of Epstein bragging about being on the phone with Bear Stearns and JP Morgan simultaneously during the crash FROM PRISON. Then Barbara and I go deeper than part one. She tells me about Naomi Campbell trafficking her best friend Sky to Russell Simmons — LSD, Bahamas weekends, threesomes, and how Russell would pay for their apartments and then replace them when they got boring. She brings up Vladislav Doronin and the mystery island he supposedly built for Naomi in the shape of a horus eye — there are architectural drawings in magazines BUT... I found out who Barbara's modeling agent was — Faith Cates who founded Next Model Management — and when I dug into the Epstein files what I found made my jaw drop. Faith had social emails with Epstein, invited models to his dinner parties, and he's telling her he's spending Thanksgiving with Trump and others in 2017 — years after his conviction. Epstein donated to her cancer charity and a tennis center where her son worked. And Faith is the agent who introduced Stacey Williams to Epstein — and Stacey is the woman who alleges Trump groped her at Trump Tower with Epstein watching and smiling. Jean-Luc Brunel owned 25% of Faith's company. I tell Barbara about Ruslana Korshunova — the Russian model who jumped from a ninth floor balcony in 2008 after visiting Epstein Island two years before. No drugs or alcohol in her system. Her mother believes she was murdered. I tell her about Karen Mulder — one of the biggest supermodels  I connect Paul Marciano from Guess to Mohamed Hadid and explain how the shadow mansion network worked with girls. Barbara tells me about Epstein speaking to her directly — how he was non-emotional with a creepy smile and asked very specific questions about her upbringing and background.  And what about the second Island...Full episode only available at Dishing Drama Dana Patreon, it's only $6.00 a month, join the fun! https://www.patreon.com/cw/DishingDramaWithDanaWilkeySupport the showDana is on Cameo!Follow Dana: @Wilkey_Dana$25,000 Song - Apple Music$25,000 Song - SpotifyTo support the show and listen to full episodes, become a member on PatreonTo send Dana information, show requests and sponsorships reach out to our new email: dishingdramadana@gmail.comDana's YouTube Channel

Some people lose their footing early. For Jacque Gorelick, that unmooring came at eight years old, the morning her mother died. What followed was a childhood she describes as a snow globe someone had shaken and never set down — chaotic, rootless, and full of grief she didn't yet have words for. But grief has a way of waiting for us. And Jacque's memoir, Map of a Heart: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Finding the Way Home (Vine Leaves Press, February 17), is the story of what happens when the past finally catches up — not to destroy us, but to ask us, at long last, to stop running.That reckoning arrived on an ordinary jogging trail. Jacque's husband's heart stopped mid-run while she walked nearby with their nine-week-old baby. In an instant, the fragile, beautiful life she'd worked so hard to build — the partner, the child, the sense of normalcy she'd spent decades chasing — was suspended somewhere between a hospital hallway and a prayer she didn't know she still knew how to say. What emerged in those hours of waiting wasn't just fear; it was a woman who finally let other people hold her. Friends showed up. Community formed. And Jacque — who, like so many children of disruption, had long ago decided that needing no one was the safest way to survive — began to understand that belonging is not something you're born into. It's something you build, one brave, tender act of trust at a time.In this conversation with Olivia, Jacque opens up about writing through trauma in stolen moments while her children were young, the music that carried her back into the hardest chapters, and the unexpected gift of sitting with her memories long enough to realize: they were real. She was there. And somehow, against every odd, she made it through. Map of a Heart is a book for anyone who grew up feeling like they didn't quite belong to a family, a place, or a story — and who's still quietly hoping to find one. It's for the person at the dinner table who doesn't know how to answer "what do you do for Thanksgiving?" without feeling a flash of shame. And it's proof that a life's map doesn't have to begin where your childhood ended.

When your to-do list makes you anxious, take it to God in prayer, and His peace will carry you through. -------- Thank you for listening! Your support of Joni and Friends helps make this show possible.     Joni and Friends envisions a world where every person with a disability finds hope, dignity, and their place in the body of Christ. Become part of the global movement today at www.joniandfriends.org   Find more encouragement on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube.

A sudden death in a small town has a way of touching everyone, even those who weren't especially close to the person who died. When a high school teacher was killed in a violent car accident over Thanksgiving break, the loss settled heavily over the community. Vigils were held, counselors were brought in, and life eventually moved on — at least on the surface.Days later, one student decided to visit the teacher's grave, hoping for a quiet sense of closure. The cemetery was older than expected, uneven and difficult to navigate, and they left just as daylight faded, convinced nothing unusual had happened.It wasn't until later that night, alone in her bedroom, that the atmosphere shifted. The room went strangely quiet. Her music stopped without explanation. And something moved that shouldn't have.#RealGhostStoriesOnline #ParanormalPodcast #CemeteryStories #TrueGhostStory #Unexplained #Hauntings #Ghosts #ParanormalExperience #GhostStoriesLove real ghost stories? Want even more?Become a supporter and unlock exclusive extras, ad-free episodes, and advanced access:

What is it worth raising an objection over, and how hard do you fight? We hear (and act out) Mary's roommate-searching trauma, plus Mary for President, curiosity about bellicose Twitter, respect vs. reverence, rationality and religion, dealing with QAnon believers, family Thanksgiving, giving someone else a name, vegetarianism, and the angel of philosophy. Hear more at philosophyimprov.com. Support the podcast and listen ad-free at philosophyimprov.com/support. Sponsor: Visit squarespace.com/LINSENMAYER (code LINSENMAYER) for a free trial and 10% off your first website or domain.

In those moments when we want to disagree, why do we often stay silent? At those times when we want to opt out, why do we often just go along? A key reason is that it's hard to defy. It's hard to question the way something's always been done. To challenge comments, behaviors, and systems. Yet it's in those moments of defiance that we flex our values and craft an identity. That's why I wanted to talk to Sunita Sah, organizational psychologist at Cornell University and author of the book, Defy: The Power of No in a World that Demands Yes. Her research reveals the importance of defiance and the skills we need to do it well. In her book – and in this conversation – she shares ways we can practice it and support others doing the same. Related Links Interview with Vanessa Patrick, author of The Power of Saying No Speak up at Thanksgiving. Your Health Demands It. America Thinks It's a Country of Free Thinkers. But We're Actually Compliant The Team Learn more about host, Gayle Allen, and producer, Rob Mancabelli, here. Support the Podcast If you like the show, please rate and review it on iTunes or wherever you subscribe, and tell a friend or family member about the show. Subscribe Click here and then scroll down to see a sample of sites where you can subscribe.

What if a single moment could change the direction of your entire life?In this powerful episode of Reclaim Your Life with Irina, Andrew Quebbemann shares the unexpected wake-up call that forced him to rethink everything he thought he knew about success, communication, and the life he was building.What started as a simple Thanksgiving dinner conversation turned into a moment of deep realization — one that eventually led Andrew to leave the traditional corporate path and step into a life centered around purpose, service, and freedom.Together we explore what happens when life quietly whispers that something needs to change… and what becomes possible when we actually listen.Andrew opens up about the role of vulnerability, honest communication, and surrounding yourself with the right people during moments of transition. He also shares how mentorship, community, and daily practices like meditation can help create clarity when life feels uncertain.This conversation is for anyone who has ever felt the quiet nudge that something in their life needs to shift.✨ Listen all the way through to hear how one unexpected moment can become the beginning of a completely new chapter.In this episode, we explore• The surprising wake-up call that changed Andrew's life• Why honest communication can transform relationships• The power of vulnerability in personal growth• How surrounding yourself with supportive people changes everything• Leaving the corporate path to create a life of freedom• The role of mentorship and community during big life transitions• How meditation helps maintain clarity and balance• Why trying new things is essential for growth

*This episode was originally published on November. 28, 2016. "Harvest Moon"Jason & Derek give their closing thoughts on the Mini NES debacle, review their respective Thanksgivings, and Derek reviews the SNES game Harvest Moon. --To get your very own ad free RSS feed to use in the podcatcher of your choice and early access to all extra monthly content: www.patreon.com/nerdcaveretro –Leave us a voice message at voicecast.app/ncr–Email us at nerdcaveretro@gmail.com--www.nerdcaveretro.com --Check out our merch: www.ncrmerch.com –Follow us on all social media platforms: @nerdcaveretro, @Derek_Diamond @JayFunktastic--Use our code "NCR" at checkout at www.brezcoffeeco.com for 10% off your order! -- To watch the archived videos or join in Live every Monday at 6 pm central: www.youtube.com/@jayfunktastic. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If episode seven was about converting conversations into contracts, episode eight is about increasing deal flow — and knowing how to analyze opportunity when it hits your desk.   In this episode of Storage Wins, Alex Pardo and Dan Wentzel break down what happens when consistent action finally compounds. After months of hesitation, Dan hires a virtual assistant — and within two weeks, four legitimate storage opportunities land in his pipeline.   Alex and Dan unpack why hiring a VA took eight months, what mindset blocks were holding Dan back, and how leveraging the Storage Wins community made the transition easier. From there, they dive deep into one specific 36,000 square foot facility, walking through back-of-the-napkin underwriting, cap rate analysis, seller motivation, and how to think about value-add potential the right way.   This episode isn't just about hiring help. It's about understanding leverage — leverage of time, leverage of community, leverage of terms, and leverage of upside inside the deal itself.   You'll Learn How To: Use a virtual assistant to dramatically increase deal flow Overcome hesitation around hiring and delegation Underwrite a storage deal using simple back-of-the-napkin math Analyze revenue, expenses, and NOI quickly on a seller call Identify upside through rate gaps and unsophisticated operations Use seller financing terms to increase purchasing power Control deal structure by focusing on terms, not just price Incentivize your VA to create long-term leverage   ⸻   What You'll Learn in This Episode:   [0:00] Why cash flow in storage "depends" [1:08] The Season 2 mission: closing before Thanksgiving 2025 [3:02] Hiring a VA after eight months of hesitation [6:42] The fear of training and financial commitment [7:30] Why $70 per week created massive leverage [9:01] Leveraging community to solve hiring challenges [12:42] Four new facilities added to the pipeline in two weeks [13:40] Why mom-and-pop operators create opportunity [15:36] Reducing expenses vs. increasing revenue [18:40] Explaining debt service coverage ratio to sellers [21:38] Breaking down a 36,000 sq ft deal opportunity [34:58] Back-of-the-napkin NOI calculation using a 35% expense ratio [35:54] Applying an 8 cap to determine baseline valuation [36:48] Spotting 50% rate gaps vs. competitors [39:28] Matching a $2M offer with better positioning [41:52] "Your price, my terms" explained [45:08] Why incentivizing your VA accelerates growth   Who This Episode Is For: Investors stuck trying to do everything themselves Listeners who want more deal flow but feel time-constrained Anyone unsure how to quickly analyze a storage opportunity Operators learning how to structure seller-financed deals Investors ready to move from slow progress to momentum ⸻   Why You Should Listen:   Momentum changes everything.   Dan didn't suddenly get lucky — he created leverage. By hiring a VA and leaning into community support, he multiplied his outreach and surfaced four serious opportunities in two weeks.   This episode shows you exactly how to think through a real deal: how to estimate NOI, apply cap rates, spot value-add potential, and structure terms that increase purchasing power. If you've ever wondered how experienced investors quickly evaluate deals while staying disciplined on risk, this is a real-time masterclass.   And perhaps most importantly — it proves that sometimes the biggest breakthrough isn't a signed contract. It's the decision to stop doing everything yourself. ⸻ Follow Alex Pardo here: Alex Pardo Website: https://alexpardo.com/ Alex Pardo Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alexpardo15 Alex Pardo Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexpardo25 Alex Pardo YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AlexPardo Storage Wins Website: https://storagewins.com/   ⸻   Have conversations with at least three storage owners, brokers, private lenders, or equity partners inside the Storage Wins Facebook Group. Join for free here:   https://www.facebook.com/groups/322064908446514/

Democrats once owned the script, the studio, and the critics. For decades, they treated politics like a movie where they wrote every line, cast themselves as the heroes, and handed Republicans a folded-up script and a folding chair. Journalists were the in‑house reviewers, professors were the archivists, and the public was supposed to clap on cue. The system was elegant in its simplicity: say something long enough, the media repeat it; the media repeat it long enough, professors teach it; professors teach it long enough, and it shows up at Thanksgiving in the form of a freshly indoctrinated relative interrogating you like the FBI over the mashed potatoes. It all rested on one fragile ingredient: belief. When belief collapses, repetition turns into noise.Belief started collapsing the moment ordinary people compared headlines with receipts and street corners. Inflation numbers said “it's fine,” but eggs looked like luxury items. Crime was “mostly down,” but people were stepping over zombies to get to their cars. The border was “secure,” but small towns were being turned into international transit hubs with no vote, no plan, and no end date. Inflation receipts became fact‑checkers. Border towns became investigative journalists. Parents at school board meetings turned into constitutional scholars almost overnight, because nobody else was defending their kids. The moment voters realized the approved narrative didn't match the lived story, Democrats lost their grip on the script.Then Donald Trump did the unforgivable in modern politics: he ignored the script entirely. He didn't try to rewrite it within their frame; he threw it in the recycling bin and started talking directly to the audience. Democrats thought they were directing a solemn drama; the public realized it was satire. They managed to wound him for a while with lawfare and sham investigations, and briefly regained narrative control by criminalizing dissent and outsourcing censorship to tech platforms. But they couldn't outrun reality forever. Inflation, crime, border chaos, and institutional corruption kept blowing holes in the storyline. They lost control of the narrative once, snatched it back with raw power, and now, in 2026, they've lost it again—and this time it's slipping beyond recovery.But they lost it again, and this time they can't wrestle it back. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This Thanksgiving special is full of laughs, wild stories, and pure chaos in the best way possible. Luis kicks off the episode wearing a turkey on his head, the chat is packed with OG listeners, and we dive deep into everything from Covino's lost scarf to Melody's bougie Sweet 16 and the Macy's Day Parade.We talk Halloween obsessions, old photos, childhood memories, family traditions, and why Latino quinces hit different. We also get into listener drama, online haters, Spot's convention swag bag fails, Jamie from Boston nearly throwing hands, Thanksgiving food takes, and the art of making tamales the old-school way.If you love Covino & Rich, holiday energy, nostalgia, and hilarious real-life stories, this episode is loaded.In this episode:• Luis' full Thanksgiving vibe — turkey hat included• Melody turns 16… and her party was next level bougie• Covino's mysterious missing scarf• Old listener stories, OG announcements, and C&R history• Why some listeners can't stop talking trash online• Live chat shoutouts (the Drews, Rhino, Tanya, Jamie from Boston & more)• Thanksgiving traditions, tamales, and growing up Latino• Black Friday stock tips, Amazon flips & DZF Picks• Spot's swag bag fiasco• Convention stories, pool party memories & C&R community momentsKick back, laugh, and hang out with the After Show crew on this holiday episode.Make sure to like, comment, and subscribe — and drop your Thanksgiving traditions below!ChaptersKeep Up With Us:Tuesday Live Show Direct Link ► / https://tinyurl.com/tasbl Tiktok ► / https://www.tiktok.com/@aftershowblTwitter ► / https://x.com/aftershowblInstagram ► / https://www.instagram.com/aftershowblFacebook ► / https://www.facebook.com/AfterShowBLYouTube ► / https://www.youtube.com/c/aftershowblCNR Submissions FB Group ► / https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1D4Ymc8qYn/After Show But Later Merch:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B096YRQDYR/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_GTV3XYFDB6SVNY767EMFContact Us:928-235-5285

In 1981, a Harvard graduate student vanished after stepping out of Logan Airport the night after Thanksgiving. As investigators searched for answers, they focused on a suspect connected to another murder – a woman who was killed just two years earlier. He was convicted in one case and widely believed responsible for the other. But after reviewing thousands of pages of records, we found gaps that raise difficult questions: Was the wrong man blamed? And is the real killer still out there?    Source materials for this episode cannot be listed here due to character limitations. For a full list of sources, please visit:  https://crimejunkiepodcast.com/murdered-joan-webster-and-marie-iannuzzi/ Did you know you can listen to this episode ad-free? Join the Fan Club! Visit https://crimejunkiepodcast.com/fanclub/ to view the current membership options and policies. Don't miss out on all things Crime Junkie! Instagram: @crimejunkiepodcast | @audiochuck Twitter: @CrimeJunkiePod | @audiochuck TikTok: @crimejunkiepodcast Facebook: /CrimeJunkiePodcast | /audiochuckllc Crime Junkie is hosted by Ashley Flowers and Brit Prawat.  Instagram: @ashleyflowers | @britprawat Twitter: @Ash_Flowers | @britprawat TikTok: @ashleyflowerscrimejunkie Facebook: /AshleyFlowers.AF   Text Ashley at 317-733-7485 to talk all things true crime, get behind the scenes updates, and more! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

BachelorClues and PaceCase analyze explosive clips from Reality Steve and What's the Reality as Chris's ex releases voicemail recordings, discusses a chaotic Thanksgiving phone call, and reveals eyebrow-raising claims about $380K in consumer debt. Meanwhile, Keya explains how Love Is Blind edited out major political dealbreakers — including her walking out on Trump voters in the pods. We break down producer manipulation, casting red flags, financial flex culture, and what these revelations mean for the evolving game of reality dating. The Dark Lord may loom large, but the edit may be the true villain.Subscribe to Game of Roses: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrFYM8CvKhDvV8OLfnhvP0A/?sub_confirmation=1Patreon: https://patreon.com/gameofrosesMerch: https://gameofroses.orgListen on Apple Podcasts: http://bit.ly/gameofrosesListen on Spotify: http://bit.ly/spotifygameofroses Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

1 Timothy 4:8 NIV “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.”   *Transcription Below*   Brian Smith, author of The Christian Athlete: Glorifying God in Sports, is a staff member with Athletes in Action and a cross-country coach at Lowell High School. A former collegiate runner at Wake Forest University, he earned a BA in Communications and Journalism before completing his MA in Theology and Sports Studies at Baylor University's Truett Theological Seminary. Brian lives in Lowell, MI with his wife and three children. You can find him on Twitter @BrianSmithAIA.   Ed Uszynski is an author, speaker, and sports minister with over three decades' experience discipling college and professional athletes. With a heart for reconciliation and justice, he also works as a racial literacy consultant and marriage conference speaker, blending Biblical wisdom with practical living in the midst of complex cultural realities. He has two theological degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and a PhD in American Culture Studies from Bowling Green State University. He and his wife Amy have four children and live in Xenia, Ohio.   The Christian Athlete Website   Thank You to Our Sponsor:  Sam Leman Eureka   Questions and Topics We Cover: What is one of kids' greatest game day complaints?  Is it true that young athletic success is a predictor of adult athletic success? What are a few tips for instilling a heart of gratitude in our young athlete, rather than entitlement?   Related Savvy Sauce Episode: 230 Intentional Parenting in All The Stages with Dr. Rob Rienow   Connect with The Savvy Sauce on Facebook or Instagram or Our Website   Gospel Scripture: (all NIV) Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”   Romans 3:24 “and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”   Romans 3:25 (a) “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.”    Hebrews 9:22 (b) “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”    Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”    Romans 5:11 “Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”    John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”   Romans 10:9 “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”    Luke 15:10 says “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”   Romans 8:1 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”   Ephesians 1:13–14 “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession- to the praise of his glory.”   Ephesians 1:15–23 “For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”   Ephesians 2:8–10 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God‘s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.“   Ephesians 2:13 “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.“   Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”   *Transcription*   Music: (0:00 – 0:11)   Laura Dugger: (0:12 - 1:51) Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, where we have practical chats for intentional living. I'm your host, Laura Dugger, and I'm so glad you're here.   The principles of honesty and integrity that Sam Leman founded his business on continue today, over 55 years later, at Sam Leman Chevrolet Eureka.   Owned and operated by the Bertschi family, Sam Leman and Eureka appreciates the support they've received from their customers all over Central Illinois and beyond. Visit them today at lemangm.com.   Brian Smith and Ed Uszynski are my guests for today.   They are co-authors of this recent amazing book entitled, A Way Game, A Christian Parents Guide to Navigating Youth Sports. And from the very beginning, I was captivated, even with one of the endorsements from Matt Martens, who's the president and CEO of Awana, and he summed it up this way, A Way Game provides a much needed perspective shift on one of the most sacred idols in our culture, youth sports. So, Brian and Ed are all for youth sports, and yet you're going to hear there's a different way to approach it than what we've been trained in culture.   And they're going to share some wonderful and very practical insights. I can't wait to share this with you. Here's our chat. Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, Ed and Brian.   Ed Uszynski & Brian Smith: (1:51 - 1:54) Thanks for having us, Laura. Yeah, good to be here, Laura.   Laura Dugger: (1:54 - 2:04) So, excited about this chat. And will the two of you just start us off by sharing your family's stage of life and your involvement in sports?   Brian Smith: (2:05 - 3:29) Yeah, there could be a lot on the back end of that question. I'll start with sports, then get into family. I've been involved in sports my entire life, played every sport imaginable growing up, got cut from just about every single sport my freshman year of high school, ended up running track and cross country because it was the only sports that you could not get cut from at my high school.   And I ended up being pretty good at it by the time I was a senior, won some state championships, ended up getting a scholarship to run at Wake Forest University. So, I did that for four years right out of college. I coached a little bit collegiately.   Soon after that, I joined staff with a sports ministry called Athletes in Action that Ed and I have a combined 50 years with Athletes in Action. And really, that's been my life ever since. I've been ministering to college and pro athletes, discipling them, helping them figure out what does that actually look like to integrate faith in sport.   Even today, I live in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I coach high school cross country while I'm still on staff with Athletes in Action. I have a middle school Bible study that I run on Wednesday mornings.   Been married to my wife, who I actually met in high school. She was a distance runner too, and she ran at Wisconsin. So, we've been married for 20 years.   We have three kids, a high schooler, a middle schooler, and an elementary schooler who are all involved in sport at some level, some way, shape, or form.   Laura Dugger: (3:30 - 3:34) Wow, that's incredible. Thank you, Brian. And Ed, what about you?   Ed Uszynski: (3:34 - 5:04) Well, my story is very parallel to Brian's, just different sports and some different numbers. Just tack on 15 years. Yeah, I was a basketball player.   Grew up on the west side of Cleveland with a high school football coach. My dad was, but I was a basketball player. I played at high levels all the way through my 20s, got to play overseas.   I mean, this was a long time ago, but I got everything I could out of that sport. And as soon as I graduated from college, though, I started to work with that Athletes in Action ministry that Brian mentioned. So, I've been working with college and professional athletes for 34 years now.   And same, coached at different levels, have four kids. Amy and I have been married for 26 years. We have four kids, three are in college, and one's in ninth grade, who has a game this afternoon, actually.   So, we've just been going to games and have been involved in going to sports stuff for the last 20 years with our kids. And really what happened with Brian, and I is that we looked up a decade ago and realized this youth sports thing was a fast train that was moving in directions that we weren't used to ourselves, even though we've been around sports our whole life. It's like, there's something different happening now.   And then thinking about it as Christians, like, how do we do this well as Christ followers? We don't want to separate from it. We don't want to just go for the ride. How do we do this as Christian people? And that's what got us talking about it and eventually led to this book.   Laura Dugger: (5:05 - 5:23) Well, the book was easy to read and incredible. And I'd like to start there where you begin, even where you go back before going forward. So, when you're looking back, what are the factors at play that changed youth sports over time?   Ed Uszynski: (5:26 - 6:17) Well, I'll say this and then Brian, maybe you jump in and throw a couple of them out there. I mean, youth sports is a $40 billion industry today, which is wild to think about. It's four times how much money gets spent on the NFL, which is just staggering.   I can't even hardly believe that that's true, but it is. And it's really just in the last 20 years that that's happened. I mean, 50 years ago, you couldn't have had the youth sport industrial complex, as we refer to it.   You couldn't have had it. There were a bunch of things that had to happen culturally, as is true with any new movement or any paradigm shift that happens in culture. You've got to have certain things be true all at the same time that make it possible.   So, Brian, what were a couple of those? Again, I'll throw it over to you. There's six of them that we talk about in the book. And I think it's really fascinating because I'm a history guy.   Brian Smith: (6:18 - 8:40) Yeah. And we can obviously double click on any of these, Laura, that you want to, but we talk about how the college admissions process became an avenue where youth sports parents saw, man, if we can get our kids involved in some extracurriculars and kind of tag on high level athlete to their resume, it actually helps with the college admissions process. And so even the idea of college scholarships became an opportunity for youth sports parents to get their kids involved.   And then, yeah, maybe sports can actually get them into college. We talk about the economic shifts that happen, the rise of safetyism and helicopter parenting. ESPN was a massive one in 1979.   This thing called ESPN starts, and we get 24-7 coverage of sports, which they started exploring even early on. What does it look like to give coverage to something like Little League World Series and saw that it didn't really matter how young the sport was, it's going to draw a national audience. And so, we've almost been discipled by ESPN really over the last 50 years with this consistent coverage.   We talk about the rise of the sports complex. This one to me is like the most fascinating out of all of them. In 1997, Disney decided to try to get more people to come to their parks.   They built a sports complex, just a massive sports complex. The idea was, are the older kids getting sick of the Buzz Lightyear ride and the Disney princesses? So, let's build a sports complex and maybe it'll be something else that will draw this older crowd too.   And what happened was, I mean, a lot of people started coming to it, but kind of the stake in the ground game changer was when 9-11 hit. In the months and years after that, they saw a lot less people go to their parks, but population actually doubled going to the sports complex, which is wild to think that people were afraid to go to theme parks for a vacation, but they were willing to travel across state lines to play sports at the Disney complex. So other cities and municipalities took notice of that.   Today, there's over 30,000 sports complexes like Disney's, which again, this is all adding to the system of the youth sports industrial complex. Did I miss any, Ed?   Ed Uszynski: (8:41 - 10:47) Well, no, and that's good. And the reason why we even put all that on the table, again, everybody kind of intuitively knows if you're involved, you know, something's not right. But I think it's important to say this is not normal what's happening.   It's a new normal that's been manufactured by a bunch of cultural trends, by a bunch of entrepreneurs that are doing what entrepreneurs do, and they're taking advantage of the moment, and they are generating lots of money around it. So, it should be encouraging. If it's not normal, that means actually there's a counter way of going about this.   There really can be reformation. But when all this money gets involved, the two biggest consequences that come out of that is our kids start getting treated like commodities, which they are, and we could talk the whole time even just about what that means. But maybe even more importantly, or what comes out of that is that beyond their physical development, most coaches and clubs are not paying any attention to their emotional development, their psychological development, their spiritual development, all the different aspects of what it means to be human that, frankly, used to be paid quite a bit more attention to in youth leagues when I was growing up.   I'm 58 now, so I was playing in the 70s and the 80s. And it used to be expected, at least at some level, even among non-Christian people, that you would take those aspects of a kid's life seriously. And now those just aren't prioritized.   And so, what do we do about that? Again, that's kind of our whole point is, well, as Christian people, we're really supposed to be our kid's first discipler anyways. And part of that role and part of taking on that identity is that we would be asking, what is God trying to do in the wholeness of their life, the entirety of their life, even in the context of sports?   So again, I don't want to get ahead of myself here, but that's why we're trying to poke into that to say, oh, we could actually make change. We may not change the whole system. In fact, we won't. Most of us won't be expected to do that, but we can make significant change in our corner of the bleachers and what happens with our kids.   Laura Dugger: (10:48 - 11:05) That's good. And just like you said, to double-click on a few places, first of all, real quick, the 30,000 number, I remember that shocking me in the book, but I'm forgetting now, is that worldwide, the amount of sports complexes or is that just in America?   Brian Smith: (11:05 - 11:06) That's domestically in the US.   Laura Dugger: (11:07 - 11:52) Yeah. That is staggering. And then one other piece, all of this history was new to me as you brought it all together, but it was also fascinated.   This is from page 32. I'll just read your quote. The American youth sports ball began rolling when a British movement fusing spiritual development with physical activity made its way across the Atlantic Ocean at the turn of the last century.   And Ed, that's kind of what you were touching on, that they were mixing, I'm sure, spiritual, psychological discipleship, physical. Can you elaborate more on what was happening and where it originated? Because we've come very far from our origins.   Ed Uszynski: (11:53 - 13:18) Yeah. And there's been a bunch of really great books written about this topic called muscular Christianity. This idea, like you just said, Laura, of wedding physical activity through sports with our spiritual development and expecting and anticipating that somebody that was taking care of their body and that was engaging in sport activity, that was the closest thing to godliness.   That opened up the door for you to also be developing spiritually. And there was an expectation that both of those are going on at the same time. A bunch of criticism about that movement, but it was taken seriously.   The YMCA is actually a huge byproduct of the muscular Christianity movement. The Young Men's Christian Association created space for sports and for athletic activity to take place under the banner of you're also going to grow spiritually as you're doing this. So again, that was a hundred years ago.   And that's not really what AAU stands for today. The different clubs and leagues that we get involved in just don't talk that way anymore. Of course, culture just in general has shifted away from sort of a Judeo-Christian ethic guiding a North Star for us.   Even if we're not Christian people, that used to be more of a North Star. That's gone now. And so, it really is not expected in sports anymore.   Brian Smith: (13:18 - 13:55) And what we're saying is we cannot expect organizations to own that process for our kids. We can't outsource the discipleship of our kids to the youth sports industrial complex or the YMCA or the AAU. It really does start with us as Christian parents to be the primary discipler of our kids.   And there is a way to take what's happening on the field or the court or the pool and turn it into really amazing discipleship opportunities. But it means, and Ed is starting to tease this out, it means we need to change our perspective as parents when we sit in the bleachers or on the sidelines of what we're looking for and even the conversations we have with our kids on the back end.   Laura Dugger: (13:57 - 15:29) And now a brief message from our sponsor.   Sam Leman Chevrolet Eureka has been owned and operated by the Bertschi family for over 25 years. A lot has changed in the car business since Sam and Stephen's grandfather, Sam Leman, opened his first Chevrolet dealership over 55 years ago.   If you visit their dealership today though, you'll find that not everything has changed. They still operate their dealership like their grandfather did, with honesty and integrity. Sam and Stephen understand that you have many different choices in where you buy or service your vehicle.   This is why they do everything they can to make the car buying process as easy and hassle-free as possible. They are thankful for the many lasting friendships that began with a simple welcome to Sam Leman's. Their customers keep coming back because they experience something different.   I've known Sam and Stephen and their wives my entire life and I can vouch for their character and integrity, which makes it easy to highly recommend you check them out today. Your car buying process doesn't have to be something you dread, so come see for yourself at Sam Leman Chevrolet in Eureka. Sam and Stephen would love to see you and they appreciate your business.   Learn more at their website, LemanEureka.com or visit them on Facebook by searching for Sam Leman Eureka. You can also call them on 309-467-2351. Thanks for your sponsorship.   Laura Dugger: (15:30 - 15:31) And I want to continue getting into more of those practicals. Do you want to give us just a taste or an example or story of what that might look like?   Brian Smith: (15:32 - 16:54) We keep saying, we keep talking about the importance of the car ride home that it's tempting for us and not us broadly in the U.S., tempting for us, Ed and I, as people who have done this for 50 plus years and who should know better, it's tempting for us as discipled by an ESPN over analyzing everything culture and want to talk about sports to get in the car ride home with our kids and all we want to talk about is how game went, what they did right, what they did wrong, what they could fix next time.   Maybe instead of passing to Tim, they should take the shot next time because they're wide open. They just hit three in a row. So, and what our kids need from us in those moments is less coaching, less criticizing, less critiquing, and they just need us to connect with them.   The stats on kids quitting youth sports is crazy right now. Its 70 percent are quitting before the age of 13, in large part because it's not fun, and a lot of kids are attaching this idea of it not being fun to the car ride home with their parents who, let's say this too, most of us are well-intentioned parents. We're not trying to screw our kids up.   We want what's best for our kids, but the data and the research and the lived experience continues to tell us what our kids need from us is just to take a deep breath, connect with them, less coaching. Ed keeps saying less coaching, more slurpees.   Laura Dugger: (16:55 - 17:07) I like that. And that ties in. Is it called the peak-end principle that you discovered why kids are resisting that critique on the way home?   Brian Smith: (17:07 - 18:17) Yeah, absolutely. The peak-end rule in psychology is known as this: we, just as humans in general, not just kids, we largely remember things in our lives based on the peak moment of that event, but also how the event ends. And so, the peak moment in sport can be anything from something that goes really well, like they scored a goal or made a basket or something that did not go well, just like a massive event that took place that they're going to remember.   But then it's also married to how that event ends. So, if you think for kids, how does every youth sport experience end? It ends with the car ride home.   So, if they're experiencing the car ride home as I did not live up to mom and dad's standards, or there's fear getting into the car because they don't know what their parents are going to say, how are they remembering the totality of their youth sport experience? It is, I didn't, I didn't measure up. I wasn't enough.   It felt like sports was a place that I needed to perform for my parents or my coach. And I always feel a little bit short. We want to help parents see like there's a different path forward that can be more joyful for you, but hopefully more joyful for your kid as well.   Ed Uszynski: (18:17 - 21:37) Well, and, and I'll just, let me keep going with that, Brian. I thought you really articulated all that so well. I can just imagine a parent maybe thinking, was there never a time to correct?   Is there never a time to give input? And we would say, well, of course there, there is, they need far less of it from us than we think they need when it comes to their sport. And again, we can talk about that.   They need far less of that from us. They need us to be their parents, not to be their coaches. Even if we are their coach, they need us to be more their parents.   But there is a time to do it. We're just saying the car ride home is the worst time to do it. And that's usually the time that most of us, you know, we've got two hours of stuff to download with them.   And that's just, it's not a good time. But the other thing that Brian and I keep talking about is how about, what if we had some different metrics that we were even trying to measure? So, most of the time our metrics have to do with their performance.   Like what, what are we grading them on? Again, depending on what the sport is, there's these different things that we're looking for to say, how you did today is based on whether you did this or you didn't do that and whatnot. And we're saying as parents, and again, starting with us, we needed some other metrics that were actually more concerned about what was going on in their soul.   So again, I'm sure we'll talk more about this, but the virtues, how did love show up in the way they competed today? Where that usually is tied to them noticing somebody else. Do I, am I even asking them any questions about that?   Are they experiencing peace in the midst of all this chaos and anxiety that shows up at every game? How do we teach them to experience peace? How do they become other-centered instead of just self-centered all the time in a culture, a sport culture that's teaching them to always be the center of attention and try to be?   So, we just have needed to exchange some of what we had on that performance list, like tamper that down a little bit and maybe expand the list of categories that we're looking for that actually will matter when they're 25. And we keep saying this, our goal is that they'd come home for Thanksgiving when they're 25. And so, we need to stay relationally connected to them and how we act on the car ride home day after day after day after day, year after year is doing something to our relationship.   But we also are recognizing that it's really not going to matter whether Trey finishes with his left hand at the game today when he's 25, it's not going to matter. It's not going to matter probably a year from now, but how he goes through the handshake line after the game and the way he addresses other people, and whether or not he's learning to submit to authority, whether or not he's learning to embrace other people's humanity. Yes, even in the context of sports, that's really going to matter when he's 25.   It's going to matter when he's married. Those are the things that will matter. And we say that as people who are older and have been involved in ministry and have worked with college athletes and see what happens in their lives even after they're finished, and they have no idea who they are anymore.   And this thing that's dominated their life has not actually prepared them well to do life. And that's a problem that we say, let's start changing that when they're six and not hope they're figuring it out when they're 22.   Laura Dugger: (21:38 - 22:11) I love that because that's such a theme throughout those virtues that you talked about, but discipleship and sports are a tool or a way that we can disciple our kids. I also love that you give various questions throughout the book and even quick phrases. So to close that conversation on the car ride home, if we say, okay, that's what I've been coaching the whole way home, what is a question we could ask our child afterwards and a statement we could say and leave it at that and do it a better way?   Brian Smith: (22:12 - 23:56) The question I have consistently asked my kids after learning that I've been doing this the wrong way for a long time, I tweet my question to they get in the car and I say, is there anything that happened today from the game that you want to talk about? And it's frustrating to me because 99% of the time they say, no, can we listen to the radio? And we listen to the radio, or they play a on my phone, but I'm respecting their desire that they're done with what just happened and they're ready to move on to the next thing, even though I really want to talk about what just happened.   And then the statement that I want to make sure that I'm consistently saying that they're hearing is I love you and I'm proud of you. So, game didn't go well. Yeah, you did play well today.   That's okay. Hey, I love you and I'm proud of you. Game went well today.   Awesome. Great job. Hey, I love you and I'm proud of you.   So I want that to be the consistent theme that they're hearing for me, which is hopefully going to help them better understand the gospel later in life, that as they get older and older, hopefully they'll begin to realize it seemed like the way that my mom and dad interacted with me when I was performing in sport, but their love was not attached to my performance. That seems really similar to what I'm learning more and more that Jesus does for me, that I'm trying to do all these things that are good. But from what I'm understanding about the gospel, it seems like Jesus loves me in spite of what I do.   He loves me just because He's connected to me, that God loves me because I'm a son or daughter, not because I'm performing as a son or a daughter. So, in a very real way, I really am hoping that I'm giving a good teaser for my kids now for when they fully experience the gospel as they go through the life.   Ed Uszynski: (23:56 - 24:47) Another really good connecting question. I love how you said all that, Brian, is if they don't want to talk about the game, is it okay, did you have fun today? And they can only go in one of two directions.   No. Well, tell me about that. Why not?   And it opens up the door to talk about, well, because I didn't get to play or because something bad happened. And again, tell me more about that. Tell me more about that.   Or they say, yes, great. What happened that was fun? And it creates a very different conversation in the car.   And it opens up, again, relational possibilities that go way beyond, why do you keep passing it when you should be shooting it? Wow. And just all the different ways that that comes out of us, depending on sport, depending on their age.   But those are great questions. Go ahead, Brian.   Brian Smith: (24:47 - 25:41) I just asked my son this morning. He's a freshman. His wrestling season is almost done.   And I just asked, like, what has been most fun for you in wrestling this year? And his first thing was, I feel like I'm learning a lot. And that's really fun for me, which he's on a really good team.   He's had a lot of success. He's made a lot of good friends. But even that gave me a window into his characters.   My son enjoys and I knew this is true about him. But my son enjoys learning, which means he enjoys the process of getting better and better and better, which can happen in school, it can happen doing stuff in the yard, it can it can also happen in sport. But for me to remember moving forward, yeah, he he's probably going to have a different metric for what's fun in sport than I often do for him.   Yeah, like I wanted to learn. I want him to win though, too. He's happy with learning right now.   So, I need to be happy with that for him.   Ed Uszynski: (25:41 - 26:34) If I can say this, too, again, I don't want to be vulnerable on your behalf. But then knowing this, he's lost a lot this year to really good kids. Yeah.   And so much of the learning has been in the context of losing. So, you as a dad, actually, you could be crushing him because of those losses and what he needs to do to fix that and what he needs to do so that that doesn't happen again. And it's like he's already committed to learning.   How do you just how do you celebrate the loss? Like he took the risk to try something new in this movie. He tried to survive an extra period.   That's a process when and it's we just need to get better at that. Like you genuinely can celebrate that. That's not just a that's not like a participation trophy.   It's acknowledging now, do you're taking you're taking the right steps that are actually making you a winner, even if you don't have more points at the end of the game right now.   Laura Dugger: (26:34 - 26:54) Yeah. Yeah. And that long term win that you're talking about, even with character and you've talked about fun and asking them about fun.   Is it true that that's the main reason kids are dropping out of sports at such a rapid rate before age 13 is that it's just not fun anymore?   Ed Uszynski: (26:55 - 28:58) Yeah. Yeah. And why is it not fun?   And again, this is where Brian and I are always getting in each other's business. And we know that this conversation gets in all of our business as adults. But why is it not fun?   It's not fun because of the coaches and it's not fun because of the parents. We are creating stress. We are creating again collectively because we're all in different places on the on the spectrum on this in terms of what we're actually doing when we show up at games.   But if you even just go to any soccer game and you be quiet and just listen to what's happening and everybody's shouting and screaming things and there's contradictory messages being sent and there's angst at every turn and there's an incredible celebration because this eight year old was able to get the ball to go across the line for another goal. And what that's doing inside the kids is it is creating a not fun atmosphere. Let's just say it like that.   That's a not fun atmosphere when you're eight, when you're 10, when you're trying to figure out how to make your body work. You're trying to learn the game that you're unfamiliar with and you're trying to do what this coach is telling you to do. And you're also trying to do what all the parents are telling you what to do.   And if it's a team sport, you're trying to interact and play with other kids who are all in that same state of disarray, which is very stressful and frustrating. And we're just adding to it. So instead of removing it, instead of playing a role that says, we're going to keep diffusing that stress.   And again, I'll speak for myself. Too often, I have been the one that's actually adding to it. And so, kids are just like, why would I do this?   Why would I want to get in that car again with you? It's not fun. This is a game.   And so, there's a million other things that I can do with my time where I don't have everybody yelling at me and I don't have to listen to you correct me for two hours.   Laura Dugger: (29:00 - 29:21) Well, and one other thing that surprised me, maybe why kids are dropping out, you share on page 47, a quote that research reveals a strange correlation. The more we spend, the less our kids actually enjoy their sport. So, did you have any more insight into that?   Brian Smith: (29:21 - 30:50) Yeah, this was a real study that was done at Utah State. Researchers found that the more money parents are spending, again, let's say well-intentioned parents, the more we're spending in sports, the less our kids are enjoying. And the more they have dug into it, they're finding, and intuitively it makes sense.   If you buy your kid a $600 baseball bat, what's the expectation that they're supposed to do with this really expensive bat? When they swing, they better hit the ball, and they better get on base. If we're going to buy you this expensive of a bat, you can't just have process goals with it.   You better swing and hit it. And that's causing stress for kids. If you travel across state lines and you go to Disney to play at their sports complex, you're not there for vacation.   You're there to perform. So even if parents are saying we're trying to have fun, kids know when you're traveling and you're getting all this good equipment and you're on the elite team and you're receiving the best of the best stuff, they know it comes with some sort of an expectation. College athletes can barely handle that type of pressure and expectations, but we've placed this professional on youth sports from fifth five-year-olds to 15-year-olds, and it's just crushing them.   It's crushing them. Again, college athletes and professional athletes can barely handle it. They need mental health coaches for sports, but we're expecting that our five-year-olds can handle it, and they can't.   Ed Uszynski: (30:51 - 31:19) And they may not even be able to articulate it. So that's the other thing. They may not be able to identify what's actually going on inside and put it into words.   So again, that's why we're trying to sound the alarm for ourselves and for others who are listening, because we can do it different. Again, just to even keep spinning it back in an encouraging direction, we can do this different. We can change this this week in our corner of the bleachers.   We can start over again.   Laura Dugger: (31:21 - 31:48) Absolutely and make a difference. And before we talk about even more of the pros with sports, I think it's also necessary to reflect and maybe even grieve a few things. So, what would you say are some things families are missing out on when they choose youth sports to overfill their calendar, that that's all that they make time for?   What do you think they're missing out on?   Brian Smith: (31:51 - 33:16) Yeah, I think a couple that come to mind are family dinners are a big one. That's big for us in the Smith house, is just having the ability after a long day to sit at the dinner table together, to eat food together, and to process the day and be with one another. But when my kids' practice goes late, it means we're either eating almost towards bedtime or we're eating in different shifts.   And so that's something that we grieve. I think for me, when my schedule is full, I'm tempted to adopt the mindset that what's happening on the wrestling mat or on the track matters more than it actually does. And it robs me of the ability to just take a deep breath and smile and enjoy watching my kids play sports.   That without an intervention or a pregame devotional in the car for myself, I risk sitting in the stands or being on the sidelines, being stressed out and putting pressure on myself and pressure on my kids and gossiping about why the coach didn't put this kid into the people next to me, instead of just enjoying the gift that is sports and watching my kid try and succeed and try and fail. That is a gift available to me as a dad to watch my kid do that. But the busyness often robs me of that perspective.   Ed Uszynski: (33:17 - 36:06) Well, and the busyness robs, again, if you're married, that busyness eventually wears away at your relationship. And it's not just sports. I mean, busyness, we can fill our schedule, overfill our schedules with any number of things.   We can overfill our schedules with church stuff to a point where it becomes detrimental to our relationship. If we don't set boundaries so that we're making sure we're doing what we need to do to be face-to-face and to be going to areas beneath the surface with each other in our relationship and being able to do that with our kids as well, eventually there's negative consequences to that. It may not happen right away, but I've definitely experienced that.   We've experienced that in our home where it's easy to maybe chase one kid around for a while, but what happens when you add three into the mix and you haven't really done a time budget or paid attention to the fact that when we sign up for all these things, you get a month into it and you realize, oh, we have to be in different places at the same time. So, we're not even watching stuff together anymore. We're just running.   I can endure anything for a season, but what youth sports wants now in every sport from the youngest ages is that it becomes a year-round commitment. So, you're not even signing up to play a season anymore. You're signing up for a year in most cases because after the games, then they're going to have training.   They're going to have this other thing going on. And so again, can we say, well, we'll play the actual season, but then we're not going to do the additional training over these next three months. Again, we want to give parents' permission that you can say no to that.   Well, we paid for it. Well, it's okay. If you want your kid to be on that team and you like this club or whatever, then you pay the money and you just say, we're going to sit those three months out and we're going to use those three months actually to have people over our house for dinner.   Again, whatever's on the list, Laura, that you said about being more holistic and not letting sport operate like an idol in our life where it's taken on, it's washed out everything else in our life. We can get back in control of that by just saying no a little bit. You can go to church on Sunday.   Even if there's tournament games going on on Sunday, you can go to the coach early and say, hey, we just, in our family, we just don't want to be available before 12. Are you okay with that? And most of the time coaches will be.   The kid might have to sit extra maybe for not being, whatever. Okay. That's not going to be the end of the world that they had to sit out an extra game or had to sit out a half because they weren't available on Sunday morning.   It might actually make a huge difference that they weren't at church for two and a half years in the most formative time of their life.   Laura Dugger: (36:07 - 37:36) And a lot of times the way of wisdom includes reflection, getting alone with the Lord and asking, have we overstuffed our schedule this conversation today? Let's talk specifically with youth sports. Is that trumping everything else?   Because what if we're putting it in a place it was never intended to be as an idol where we sacrifice hospitality or discipleship or community or even just a more biblical way of life? I think we have to bring wisdom into the conversation for what you've mentioned. Whether it's worth it, if they're even enjoying it, how much we're spending on it, and do we have the budget to allocate our finances that way and evaluating the time just to see and make sure that it's rightly ordered.   Did you know you could receive a free email with monthly encouragement, practical tips, and plenty of questions to ask to take your conversation a level deeper, whether that's in parenting or on date nights? Make sure you access all of this at thesavvysauce.com by clicking the button that says join our email list so that you can follow the prompts and begin receiving these emails at the beginning of each month. Enjoy!   But if we flip that to if youth sports are rightly ordered, then what are some things that we can celebrate or reasons that you would want families to give this a try?   Brian Smith: (37:37 - 40:09) The massive positive that we keep coming back to is we have a front row seat to see our kids go through every possible emotion in sport, the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. And then if we have the right perspective, we are armed with awesome opportunities and awesome information that we're seeing. We get to see what our kids are really good at.   We get to see their character gaps. And then we get to be the ones who, again, who are their primary response, primary disciplers. It really goes back to like, are we trusting youth sports for too little in our kids' lives?   Like many of us are trusting that our investment is going to get them a spot on a team, or maybe they get an opportunity in high school, maybe in college. And what we're saying is, yeah, that maybe. And that's not a bad end goal.   But if that's everything that you're investing into youth sports, it's not enough. Like what you have available to you every single day is to ask your kid if they showed somebody else's dignity on the field. You don't know if your kid's going to hit a home run today.   That may not be available to them their entire life. What's available to them every single day is to ask a question to their teammate, to see somebody and show dignity to them. And that's really, it's like, it's almost the opportunity of a lifetime for us as parents who, when our kids get home from school, we really don't know what happened most of the day.   We asked them how it went and we get the one-word answer. In sports, we don't have to guess. We get to see everything that happens.   And again, if we are actually trusting youth sports for discipleship investment, that's a good ROI. That's a good return on our investment. But we need a consistent intervention almost daily to say, no, this is why they're in sports.   Yes, I want to see them get better. I want to see them have fun, but Holy Spirit, would you help me see things today that I normally don't see? Holy Spirit, would you put them in circumstances and relationships today and in the season that's going to help them look more and more like Jesus by the time the season's done?   Holy Spirit, would you convict me in the moment when I am being a little too mouthy and saying things that I shouldn't? Would you help me to repent? And God, in those moments where I'm actually doing wrong on behalf of my kid, would you help me to humble myself and apologize to them?   And God, would you repair our relationship that way? So again, all of these options are available just because our kid's shooting a ball or they're on the field with somebody else tackling other people. We're trusting youth sports for too little.   Ed Uszynski: (40:10 - 41:10) That's all big boy and big girl stuff. It just is. I don't normally naturally do any of that.   I have to be coached into that. I have to be discipled myself. I have to work through my own issues, my own baggage, my own fears about the future, my own idolatrous holding onto this imagined future that I have for my kid, irrespective of what God may or may not want.   I've got my own resentment. I've got my own regrets from the past. I wish things had gone differently for me, so I'm going to make sure they go different for you when it comes to sports.   And it's hard to look in the mirror and admit that I have anger issues. I mean, youth sports create a great opportunity for me to get up all my pent-up frustration from the day. We've given ourselves permission to do that, in most cases, to just yell and yell at refs and gripe about coaches and yell at kids.   Brian Smith: (41:10 - 41:31) Because that's what we do at the TV, right? When our favorite team is playing, we've conditioned ourselves to say, awful call, that was terrible. Then we get on social media and we complain about it.   We are discipling ourselves to this is how it's normative to respond within the context of sports. Then we carry all that baggage to our six-year-old soccer game.   Laura Dugger: (41:33 - 42:02) Well, I love how you keep pointing it back toward character and discipleship. You clearly state throughout the book, sports don't develop character, people do. But could you maybe elaborate on that a little bit more and share more now that we've listed pros and cons, you still list a completely different way that we can meaningfully participate while also pushing back?   Brian Smith: (42:04 - 43:49) I'll start with the first part, and then you can answer the second. We use the handshake line as a great example of why character needs to be taught to our kids. If you just watch a normal handshake line left without coaching, the kids are going through it, especially the ones who lose with their head down, they have limp hands, there's no eye contact, and they're mumbling good game, good game.   Sometimes they don't even say it, they'll say GG stands for good game. They don't just learn character by going through the handshake line. If anything, that's going through it like that without any sort of intervention or coaching, that's malforming their character.   That's teaching them when things don't go well, that it's okay for them not to be a big boy or a big girl and look somebody in the eye and congratulate them. What needs to happen? An adult needs to step in and say, hey, as we go through the handshake line, whether you win or lose, here's how we do it with class.   We shake somebody's hand, we look them in the eye, and we say good game. Even if in those moments we don't actually mean it, we still show them dignity and honor. And then when we're done going through the handshake line, guess what we're going to do?   We're going to run down the refs who are trying to get in their car and get out of here, and we're going to give them a high five and say, thank you so much for reffing today. That stuff needs to be taught. Our kids don't just come out of the womb knowing how to do that.   We have to teach them how to do it. Sometimes good coaches will do that, but the more and more we get sucked up into the sports industrial complex, we're getting well-intentioned coaches, but we're getting coaches who care more about the big W, the win, than the character formation stuff that happens.   Ed Uszynski: (43:49 - 45:27) They need to keep hearing it over and over again. I have a ninth grade Bible study in my house the other day with athletes and a whole bunch of my son's basketball team. Exactly what Brian just said, I actually was like, wow, I've got them here.   There was a big blow up at a game the other day, and we wound up talking about it. I said, I'm going to take this opportunity actually to say what Brian just said. When you go through a handshake line, this is how you go through it.   I watched what happened in the game a couple days later. Basically, they did the exact opposite of what I told them to do, and they lost. It was just what Brian said.   They went through limp handed. They didn't look anybody in the face, and they weren't even saying anything. I just chuckled to myself, and you know how this is as a parent.   They may or may not do it. Of course, those aren't my kids. I have more stewardship over my child, who actually, he is doing what I've asked him to do because I've re-emphasized it across time now.   It's not a failure because they didn't do what I said. Again, the pouty side of me wants to be like, forget it. I'm just not even going to try anymore.   It's like, no, they're kids. That was the first time they've heard that. They're going to do what their patterns have, the muscle memory that's been created by their patterns, just like we do as adults.   The next time I have a chance to bring that up again, I'm not going to shame them. I'm just going to go over it again with them. Here's how we do it.   It's super hard to do this, guys, when you just want to be violent with people or you want to cry. You got to pull yourself together. That's what big men do.   That's what big women do in life. They pull themselves together in those moments and do the right thing.   Brian Smith: (45:28 - 46:01) You don't know whether the fifth time you say it is going to stick or the 50th time. Your responsibility as the Christ-following parent is to do it the sixth time and the seventh time and the seventh time and trust that God is going to take those moments and do what he does. We're ultimately not responsible for our kids' behavior.   We're responsible for pointing them in the right direction, and then hopefully, yeah, the Holy Spirit steps in and transforms and changes and convicts in those moments, but it might take some time.   Ed Uszynski: (46:02 - 47:47) Tom Bilyeu So that's how you push back, Laura. You were asking that. How do we push back without being just completely involved in it or going for the same ride that everybody else is going for?   There's just little moments like that scattered throughout. Literally, every day that my kids are involved in youth sports, the car ride over, what happens on the way home, how we talk about it, what happens during the game and what we wind up talking about out of that, the side conversations that happen that just get brought up apart from games of how we interact with people and so-and-so looks like they're struggling. What do you know about that?   That's how we push back, that in our corner of the bleachers, oh, how we interact with other parents. We haven't even talked about that yet, that I can take an interest in more than just my own kid in the bleachers and spend way more energy actually in cheering for other kids and just trying to give them confidence and spend way less time trying to direct that at my own child who knows that I'm there. In fact, my side kid has said he doesn't want to hear my voice during the game.   It distracts him. He's like, I'd much rather that you cheer for other people. It's like, okay.   Having questions ready for other parents during timeouts and as you sit there for hours together, what do you talk about? Well, I could be the one that actually initiates substantive conversations over time with them and asks them about what's going on in different parts of their life. And in having done that, people want to talk.   They want a safe place actually to share what's going on in their So let me be the sports minister. Let me take on that identity and actually care about other people.   Laura Dugger: (47:49 - 49:47) I love that. Even that practical idea of just coming to each game, maybe with a different question, ready to open up those conversations. And I'll share a quick story as well.   Our two oldest daughters recently just gave cheerleading a try at a local Christian school that allows homeschool kids to participate. And this is an overt way that somebody chooses the different way. So, it's the coach of the basketball team.   His name is Cole. And at the end of every game, we saw him consistently throughout this season when it was a home game, whether their team won or lost, he would ask them, okay, shut off the scoreboard. It's all blank.   He gathers both teams. As soon as the game is over teams, cheerleaders, the stands stay filled with all the parents. And he says, this is not our identity.   The world and Satan, our enemy, who's very real. He wants us to put our identity here, but it's not here. You made us better tonight by the way that you played and you were able to shine Jesus.   And we're going to go a step further and we're going to do what we call attaways. So, he's like, all right, boys, you open it up. And his team is trained.   They say to the other team, Hey, number 23, what's your name? I loved how you pushed me so much harder tonight and says, my name's Ben. And so, their Attaway is, Hey, Ben.   And everybody goes, Hey, Ben. Yeah, Ben. Yeah, Ben Attaway.   And everybody just erupts in clapping. And the other team is always blown away and they are just grinning, whether they just lost. So, the boys go through that for a while and then they open it up to the other team and they start sharing Attaways.   And then they open it up to the crowd and the parents are able to say, I see the way you modeled Jesus by being selfless with the ball or whatever it is. So, Cole said that his college coach did that many years ago and he's passed that on. And I love that's one way to redeem the game.   Ed Uszynski: (49:47 - 51:39) Wow. Beautiful. Beautiful.   Yeah. That's amazing. And, you know, I, so Brian and I talk about this too.   And I coached at a Christian school. So, we, we think that it's really important if you're going to play sports and you're going to be a Christian coach that you actually take the game seriously. And that we actually are here to compete and we are here to try to win.   There's nothing wrong with that. And we're going to pursue excellence when we show up with our bodies, and we train for this sport and we're going to try to win. Cause I think sometimes we end up kind of going all or nothing, especially within our Christian circles.   We're uncomfortable with that. And it's like, yes, do that. And on the backside of that to do what that coach did is amazing.   It's that, that is, that is exactly what we're saying. We're also going to try to form our souls in the midst of this. We're going to try to win on the scoreboard.   Okay. The game's over, we lost, we won, whatever. There's more going on here than just that. And can we access that together? And again, that's so rare. Probably everybody listening has never even heard of anything like what you just said.   It would be amazing if a bunch of people did, but that's what we're saying. Let's do more of that. Let's find ways to have more of those conversations in our sphere of influence.   Maybe we're not the coach, but we can do that in our car. We can do that when we're at dinners with the other, with other players and other team, you know, we, we can do that. We can take that kind of initiative.   If we have those categories in our mind, instead of just being frustrated that my kid didn't get to play as much tonight. And I'm that bugs me. It's like, okay, it can bug you.   And now I gotta, I gotta be a big boy and get more out of this than just being frustrated that he or she didn't get to play as much. It's hard.   Laura Dugger: (51:40 - 52:11) Absolutely. Well, and like you guys are doing having Bible studies outside of the, the team that you can instill values in that way and share scripture that they're memorizing to go out there with excellence for the Lord. So, I love all of that.   And I've got just a few quick questions, just kind of for perspective. I want to draw out something from the book. Is it true that young athletic success predicts adult athletic success?   Brian Smith: (52:13 - 53:51) It is not true. This is, this is not a hot take. This is researched back more and more research they're doing on this.   And they're finding that there's not a direct correlation between a young elite athlete and them continuing that up into the right trajectory and being an elite athlete later in life in large part, because when puberty hits, like everything is a game changer. So, this is, I found this fascinating and this is probably going to be new to you too. This just came out today.   At the time we're doing this podcast, the winter Olympics is going on in Norway. It's just like, they're killing it. Nor Norway's youth sports system.   This is wild. They give participation trophies for all the kids. They don't keep score until 13 years old.   They don't do any national travel competitions, no posting youth sports results online. So, there's no online presence of youth sport results. And their country motto is joy of sport for all.   And they're, they're killing it right now in the Olympics. So, like, that's not to say, like you got to follow their model and then you're going to win all these gold medals, but it is, there is something to just let the kids have fun. And the longer they play sport, because it's fun, the better opportunity you're actually going to have to see them blossom and develop some of these God-given gifts that they might have.   Don't expect it to come out before they're 13. Even if it does, there's no guarantee that it's going to continue on until they're 23. Just let them have fun.   Ed Uszynski: (53:52 - 55:55) Brian, we, Brian and I got to speak at a church the other day about this topic. And there was a couple that came up afterwards and they asked the question of what, so when do you think we should let our kids play organized sports or structured sports? And so again, Brian and I are careful.   Like I, there's no, there's no one size fits all answer to that. We would suggest as late as possible, wait as long as possible. Because once you start doing structured sport where there's a coach and you have to be at practices and the games are structured and there's reps, it just cuts away all the possibility they have to just play and just to go up to the YMCA and just play for three hours at whatever it is that they like to do.   And they said, well, it's encouraging to hear that they said, because we, we actually are way more into just developing their bodies physically. And so, we do dance with them, and we do rock climbing and they were kind of outdoorsy people, and they just started listing off all these things they do because we want them to become strong in their bodies, and learn to love activity like that. And I just thought, again, that's, that probably would cause a lot of people to freak out to hear that, that they have eight, nine-year-olds that aren't on teams yet.   They're just, they're training their bodies to appreciate physicality and to become coordinated and to, you know, to get better at movement. And it's like, what sport is that not going to be super helpful in five years from now, even when they're 12, 13 years old. And now they really do want to play one sport, and they do want to be on a team.   They're going to be way ahead of the kids actually that just sat on benches or stood in the outfield, you know, day after day after day at practices. Again, that's maybe hard to hear, but maybe there's some adjustments that need to be made again; to give ourselves permission to say, we don't have to get on that train right now. You don't have to, your kid's not going to be behind.   They actually could be ahead. If you do the kinds of things we just talked about.   Laura Dugger: (55:56 - 56:11) I love that. And even that example with what it looks like played out with Norway and also, do you have any other quick tips just for instilling and cultivating a heart of gratitude and youth sports rather than entitlement?   Brian Smith: (56:13 - 57:33) I'm a high school cross country and track coach, and I have kids on my team who want to get faster at running, but instead of running, they want to lift weights and they want to do plier metrics. So, there's, yes, there's a spot for that. But the way you get better at running is to run.   You got to run more miles and more miles. And I think gratitude is similar. That gratitude, part of it is a, it's a feeling, but it's also a muscle that we can flex even if we don't feel it.   And so, I would encourage parents who are trying to instill gratitude into their kids to give them practical things like, hey, after practice, just go shake your coach's hand or give them a fist bump and tell them, thanks for practice today, coach. That that's a disciplined way to practice gratitude that will hopefully build the muscle where they're, they're using it later in life. After a game, I taught my kids this when they were young and they still do it today.   Go shake a ref's hand. I mentioned this earlier, just a really, really practical way to show thankfulness and gratitude to somebody who really doesn't get a whole lot of gratitude pointed at them during a game or after a game. If anything, they have people chasing them through the parking lot for other reasons.   I want my kids to be chasing them down to give them a fist bump or a high five. And so, gratitude is something that we can just practice practically. And hopefully the discipline practice will lead to a delight and actually doing it.   Ed Uszynski: (57:34 - 59:39) And how do we cultivate an inner posture? Cause I tend to be a cup half empty type person. I'm a, I'm a whiner by nature and a continuous improvement.   There's always something wrong. And I'm, it's easy for me to find those things just as a person. I'm not even saying that as a dad or a coach or anything.   And it's been super helpful to me in the last decade, even to just like, I can choose to shift that. There, there is, there's a list of things that are broke, but there is always a list of things that are good. There's always something good here to be found.   And even as I've tried to like, again, tip the scales more in that direction, I can keep pushing that out of my kids. So, so this, you know, my ninth-grade son tends to just like, he doesn't like a whole bunch of what's going on in basketball right now. So, I keep asking him if he's having fun.   He says, no, like, why not? Or like, who did, why did you not have fun today? So, it's just the same thing every day.   I'm like, okay, who did you enjoy even being with today? Nobody. And I'm like, dude, I don't believe that actually.   I just, I don't believe that. There was somebody that you had some moment with today that you enjoyed, or you wouldn't want to keep going back up there because, and he does. So, give me a name.   Okay. Lenny. What happened with Lenny that was fun? And I make him name it. Like I'm, I'm, I'm trying to coach him through it. And sure enough, he does have some sentences of what was fun today.   And it's like, good, let's, let's at least hold onto that in the midst of all the other stuff that's not right. Let's choose to see the thing that was good and that you enjoyed and that we could be thankful for. Not everybody got to have that today.   Again, I have to have my, I have to be the parent. I have to be the discipler. I have to be in, you know, in charge of my own soul that wants to be negative all the time and say, nope, we're going to, we're going to choose gratitude today because the Bible tells us to do that.   There's something about that posture that opens the door for the gospel to be expressed through us. So, let's practice.   Laura Dugger: (59:40 - 59:50) Well said, and there's so much we could continue learning from both of you. Where can we go after this chat to learn more from each one of you?   Brian Smith: (59:52 - 1:00:14) Yeah, we do a lot of our writing online at thechristianathlete.com. And so, if you go there, you can see articles that are specifically written for parents, for coaches, for athletes, all around this idea of what does it look like to integrate faith and sport together? So, the

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Your mission is simple, should you choose to accept it: By awarding or subtracting 24 points from a handful of old college football games, how much can you alter about the entire trajectory of the sport? Richard and Alex see how much damage they can do with three possessions' worth of points: * 0:23: RIP to college football's Wes Rucker, Joey Knight, and Rondale Moore* 3:37: Richard's additional reporting on Sacramento State's MAC move and the ridiculous math used to justify it * 13:22: The Split Zone Duo Hockey Hour responds to the Olympics * 19:46: News of the week: Joey Aguilar loses his eligibility case, and Jeff Monken suggests moving Army-Navy to Thanksgiving weekend * 24:32: Reshaping college football history with 24 pointsGet more SZD by becoming a paid subscriberThe offseason is a busy time at SZD, where we focus a lot on creative projects and CFB history while also keeping tabs on the news of the moment. Many of our favorite episodes go out in these months for subscribers — including the next one on Friday, featuring host emeritus Steven Godfrey. Thanks to our sponsorsnokiantyres.com/hockeyhomefieldapparel.comProducer: Anthony Vito This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.splitzoneduo.com/subscribe

Today, in our ongoing You're in Good Company series, Molly Flinkman tells us about the time she invited nine strangers into her home for Thanksgiving. She fully owns what an insane situation it was while also making a compelling case for why it mattered so much. In this episode, you'll hear how Molly came to value this kind of hospitality—why she keeps her eyes open for strangers in need—and she'll also give some smaller scale suggestions about how this can play out in our real lives. In all the stories she tells, Molly invites us to consider the question she continually asks herself: What kind of stranger will you be? This show is brought to you ad-free by our generous Substack community. If you'd like to support the work we do for as little as $3/month, head to coffeeandcrumbs.substack.com to join us (and get bonus episodes!). For show notes, go to coffeeandcrumbs.net/podcast. We love hearing Molly tell stories; listen to this bonus episode to hear more stories from the C+C team, Story Slam. For more encouragement in your motherhood journey, check out the stories at Coffee + Crumbs.  Show notes:  Pre-order You're In Good Company Molly's monthly newsletter Molly on Substack Molly on Instagram Molly's Coffee + Crumbs essays Coffee + Crumbs on Substack  

A sudden death in a small town has a way of touching everyone, even those who weren't especially close to the person who died. When a high school teacher was killed in a violent car accident over Thanksgiving break, the loss settled heavily over the community. Vigils were held, counselors were brought in, and life eventually moved on — at least on the surface.Days later, one student decided to visit the teacher's grave, hoping for a quiet sense of closure. The cemetery was older than expected, uneven and difficult to navigate, and they left just as daylight faded, convinced nothing unusual had happened.It wasn't until later that night, alone in her bedroom, that the atmosphere shifted. The room went strangely quiet. Her music stopped without explanation. And something moved that shouldn't have.#RealGhostStoriesOnline #ParanormalPodcast #CemeteryStories #TrueGhostStory #Unexplained #Hauntings #Ghosts #ParanormalExperience #GhostStoriesLove real ghost stories? Want even more?Become a supporter and unlock exclusive extras, ad-free episodes, and advanced access: