Latest / NY's Sports Loud Mouth (VIDEO) / An army veteran and public relations professional joins the show!

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An army veteran and public relations professional joins the show! · NY's Sports Loud Mouth (VIDEO)

0:00
Any questions we're. Back This is the Jabba and the
0:04
Mouth show. Welcome back everybody.
0:15
Once again, this is the Fish cast.
0:18
Tommy, thanks for giving us a shout out there in the sports
0:21
MINUTE. Yep, it is me, Aaron Fishman,
0:24
our executive producer filling in for Errol Marx tonight.
0:27
Errol is on vacation on a cruise again, doesn't like deep water
0:32
and he doesn't like drinking, yet he's on a cruise.
0:34
Hopefully he's having a great time.
0:36
Before we go any further tonight, we are so excited to
0:42
not only have our guests but also have a sponsor for a guest.
0:46
Yes, it is the one the only the ice shaker.
0:51
Yes, Jabba in the mouth is brought to you by Ice Shaker.
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Go to iceshaker.com to check out all they're great products and
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deals. Well, there it is.
1:24
There's the ice shaker. There it was.
1:26
And fish we we just gave away. So we are at Addie's and Omaha
1:30
for the College World Series at 101 N 10th St. and we just drew
1:36
for our giveaway for our eyeshaker and everything.
1:40
And Bentley wanted, and he is excited and he is right here.
1:47
And. Congratulations.
1:48
Yeah. So he's super excited.
1:50
And he, he, he made a bet and he was like, OK, if I win now he
1:56
has to have a job in the mouth eyeshaker.
1:58
So we're going to have to get one of those too.
2:01
All right, well, Bentley, your your next.
2:03
The only thing you got to do Bentley is tell everyone else
2:04
about the show. Job in the mouth, Aaron.
2:06
Monday and Thursday, 7:30 PM Eastern, live everywhere that's
2:12
streaming and the next day on Apple podcast and Spotify and
2:15
video. Well, guess what?
2:17
We have a special guest on right now.
2:20
Here he is, the man himself now joining us on job in the mouth.
2:26
U.S. Army veteran, associate vice
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president for development of Tunnel to Towers Foundation,
2:31
owner and operator of Upstage strategies, the public affairs
2:34
professional himself, Mr. Frank Luna.
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Clap it up. And bro.
2:41
Welcome, Frank. How we doing tonight?
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Good man I I don't know if I appreciate that intro more or
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how many pictures of myself are on the screen.
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So I I that was well done bro. I I appreciate the shirt by the
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way. Thank you.
2:56
I'm sure it is fire. I appreciate that job.
2:59
This podcast can get no better because Jabba Chamberlain said
3:02
he liked my shirt so 20 year old me is just like, what in the
3:06
hell is going on right now? So we're here for it, baby.
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Now the real now the real question.
3:11
Have you ever seen in your time knowing Nathan, him wearing a
3:13
shirt like that? I don't know, man.
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I thought Nathan was punking me. So Nathan hits me like, yo, you
3:22
want to go on Java Chamberlain's podcast?
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And I'm like, yeah, I mean, who would say no to that?
3:27
I thought he was punking me. So I'm, I don't know if I'm more
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surprised that I'm on this podcast or that Nathan has never
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worn a shirt like this that I've ever seen.
3:35
So. Nathan wears some interesting
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outfits first. Of all, Nathan is awful in
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coordinating. We love him and he's great to us
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and we love him near and dear to our hearts.
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But his his fits are terrible. Kind of legendary.
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In in a way. Yeah, you.
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Know. There's one thing legendary
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about him, that's his world famous.
4:00
Blue Blazer. He's got the Blazers, yo.
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He's got the Blazers, man. Nathan's, Nathan's got the
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Blazer. Game on fire.
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Well, listen. Well, I think we could get back
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to Nathan. Maybe we'll even invite him on
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near the end of the interview. But I got some questions for
4:15
you. We want to hear from that stuff.
4:16
You have an interesting life, Frank.
4:18
You're in Jersey. You down by the shore in Jersey.
4:20
Yeah, down by the Jersey Shore, about an hour, 20 minutes from
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New York City. Yeah.
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I grew up at the beach. It's tough for me to leave
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there, you know, It's, it's. Everyone loves the Jersey Shore,
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Long Island guys, Speedy Errol, that those Long Island guys,
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they only swear by their beaches.
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I live in Rockland County. I'm right on the border so I go
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down hour. 20 hour. 30 go down the Parkway.
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I'm a Jersey Shore guy myself. Well, tell why don't you tell
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these Long Islanders that are fans of our show Why the Jersey
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Shore? We'll start there.
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Why the Jersey Shore is superior than these beaches they have in
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Long Island? Dude, you know, I don't, I think
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I, I only went to Long Island like once, so I can't say why
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theirs are less superior. I can say that the the thing I
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like about the Jersey Shore is you can go anywhere and find
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different stuff to do. You know, one of my side hustles
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that I just can't give up. My lady and I both bartended the
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Stone Pony. I don't know if you've guys ever
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heard of that spot. Of course, there you go.
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But Jabba. But I bet that ain't as stiff as
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the one I make you. Hey, look, we we are absolutely
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willing to go on location to do you.
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Can go to American Whiskey and I guarantee you I'll make them
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stiffer than you do. There you go.
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All right, all right. I don't doubt that.
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Yeah, man. So the Stone Pony.
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We, I love the live music venue. My chick and I both bartend
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there. The summer stage, which is like
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30 nights of summer. It's such a good time, you know,
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it, it might sound crazy to have a side hustle like that when
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you're, you know, 41 year old guy with a full time gig and,
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you know, my chick is also a nurse.
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But bro, it's so much fun. It it, it just being out at the
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beach, you know, live music, 5000 people.
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Most people are never in bad moods when they're at concerts.
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There you go, Jabba. Let's go.
6:16
I mean, you see the championship ring like a lot of things stop.
6:20
We we went as on the as a showdown to the Super Bowl and I
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got to see all the couple of giant Super Bowl rings and I got
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to put on the O 7 and the 11 ring.
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I I don't know which one was better.
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I think I I like the O 7 ring better just because they went
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they beat the undefeated Patriots that year.
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The most famous my my opinion upset of the Super Bowl that I
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remember watching. But a ring is a ring man.
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Like those? Those things are awesome.
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Well, especially, I mean, you know, not to get too down into
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it, but I mean that O 19 man, that was that was wild to watch.
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I was figured what I was like 2526 that season.
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So that's when I was like right field bleachers, insane out of
7:02
my brain every night, you know, wherever, when anytime I could
7:05
get in the stadium when bald Vinny was the Bleacher creature,
7:08
not whoever the new guy is, who's a nice guy, nice enough
7:11
guy, but nobody beats bald Vinny.
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I mean the OG of it all, you know, like if you didn't get
7:18
into a near scuffle anytime you're in the right field
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bleachers back in those days, man, you left covered in beer
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and it was never your own. My my friend, it's funny, my
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friend actually went to a road game when the Yankees played the
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Phillies in the World Series, He said.
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The Philly fans actually like dumped a bunch of soda on him,
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like from the row behind him and one of the games he was at.
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So. It's all of everything you need
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to know about the Philly fans, which is not surprising.
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By the way. Before I get to my question, I I
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will salute you for your service as well.
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I know you're an Army. Guy, thanks.
7:50
Man, Now shifting to the biggest news of the weekend, and that
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was the Raphael Devers trader. Were you shocked?
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Obviously the Yankees got swept initially.
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Were you shocked the Red Sox did that after that?
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I was, I mean, you saw a lot of the turmoil going on there with
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the, the leadership in, in Devers.
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I mean, I, I don't just as a team guy, I don't know how much
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I would have appreciated some of his, his approach to it.
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But at the end of the day, I mean, he's, he's the face of
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that franchise in a lot of ways and has been for a while.
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I mean, he was the last remaining guy, the World Series
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team. I mean, I was surprised because
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he's a ball player. I mean, that guy could hit.
8:28
I don't know. I'd be an interested job on your
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take. I didn't hear if you guys were
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talking about it before, like when a guy is saying the stuff
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he's saying won't switch positions.
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I mean, it does that cause a headache in the clubhouse or is
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it just his approach with leadership is is what I'm, I
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don't know, I mean. I well, yeah, that's what the
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team was. The team was all very young at
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once. They brought up three kids this
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year, 3 rookies all at once, which I guess was
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unconventional, but it seemed like the position thing was the
8:54
main thing, which it's today's game where it's so position
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versatile. It seems surprising like you've
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guys that could play to both corner outfield spots in first
9:02
base, like somebody like Bellinger, like can play all
9:04
those and be fine with it. And, and even infielders like,
9:07
like they play second, they'll play left field, they'll play
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third. Like it's just kind of weird in
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today's game that he would be that fussy, I guess.
9:15
You just hear sacrifice for the team, right?
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Like you grew up playing sports. You, you know, I'm sure in the
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Army, you know, it's about the squad.
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It's about us together. It's not about any one person.
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And when someone's like, no, I'm not going to do that.
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It's just so strange. I mean, they did pay the guy a
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lot of money. I guess he felt entitled to say
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that, right? They're like, well, you just
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gave me that contract. The contract was that I was
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going to play third base. So now maybe not.
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It's just, I mean, when you're making over 1/4 of a billion
9:43
dollars, does it really matter if you're playing on the left
9:45
side or the right side of the diamond?
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It's guaranteed money, isn't it Jabba?
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It, it is, but also at the same time you got to understand, and
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I think Frank can understand this too.
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It's like, yeah, we have all, we have our job, but sometimes we
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got to do other shit. Yeah, man, sometimes we have to
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step up and like, you know what? Let me let me do something else
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where I don't want to do it. And that's a difference between
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good and great where men step up in certain places and certain
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decisions where you understand. It's like, let me make a
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sacrifice, Frank, you made the greatest sacrifice for us to be
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able to let us do what we do. And that is one of the greatest
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things ever because I've never had the balls enough to do what
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you did. I was able to throw a baseball.
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Great. That don't mean a lot.
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But also too, when it comes down to what we're talking about is
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like, put yourself out of the money side.
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Let's let's win because at the end of the day, we want to win.
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Don't give a damn what it is. I don't like losing.
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I don't care if I'm playing Uno with my son or what I'm doing.
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I don't like to lose. So if I have to sacrifice
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something, then that's what it is.
11:17
So, Frank, when you obviously being a Yankees fan and you
11:23
know, you're only a couple years older than me, more Gray than
11:28
me, though, so. I know, dog I.
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Know I'm proud of myself. Keep it, yeah, but you gotta
11:34
keep growing. My dad was never Gray, so like,
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I think I got a little bit of that, but my dad couldn't grow a
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beard either. So but he was also 100% Native
11:43
American, so that that didn't help either.
11:46
But when, when you make those sacrifices and like certain
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things, like is there a conversation because like what
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we've talked about today is like, do you have that or when
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it happens, do you just react to it?
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I mean, look, man, I, I think just in anything in life,
12:11
whether it's the military, professional sports, I mean,
12:14
Jabba, you're a parent and I fellas, I don't know if you guys
12:17
are, but if you are, I mean, you know, there's a lot of times
12:20
what you're doing on any given day changes.
12:23
And, and I think Jabba said it off the jump, like you got to
12:27
step up, You got to do what you got to do.
12:29
I, I, I, I was surprised how it was handled the whole way
12:33
around. I think the Red Sox leadership
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in bringing him in or bringing Bregman in without a real
12:38
conversation and and involving Rafael might have had created a
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little bit of unnecessary tension off the jump.
12:48
At the end of the day, I I think I was surprised they didn't get
12:51
a little bit more for him to be quite frank.
12:54
That to me seemed like work through the issue.
12:59
And especially a few hours earlier, he was at the podium,
13:02
right? He was interviewed kind of
13:04
saying like, yo, I, I'm here, everything's great.
13:06
And then he's in an Uber, you know?
13:08
He literally said like if you guys I'm here, I want to be
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here, but if you guys don't want me, I don't want to play for
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people that don't want me. And they got rid of them.
13:16
They clearly said they didn't want him and which is?
13:19
Yeah, I mean, I, I thought they might have got a little bit more
13:22
another one. Pitcher's kind of a stud, but I,
13:24
I mean, Deborah's, I mean, he, oddly enough, when I first saw
13:27
that, I was like, man, I I wonder if the Yankees might get
13:29
in the mix and try to get who's playing third for the Giants?
13:34
Chapman. Yeah.
13:38
Yeah, so Devers gets to go over there and bat and look, Chapman
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was a Gold Glover in the NL, Bregman was the Gold Glover of
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the AL. He goes there.
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It's the exact same situation for him over there.
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Just, you know, 'cause he has 2 Gold Glove third basemans, he's
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not going to play third base over there.
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They have a Gold Glover and Matt Chapman that they paid a bunch
13:57
of money to. So he's going to be in the same
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scenario. I bet he's the DH.
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He'll play some third, you know, he'll back up at third.
14:04
He'll get some some games in there, but he's not going to
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play a ton of third. He's going to be there DH and
14:09
probably they're going to ask him to play first next year.
14:11
But I bet he does it to kind of stick it to Boston now, because
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why would Boston do that? I don't know, the, the trade
14:18
didn't make a ton of sense to me.
14:20
The timing of it, just the, you know, the, the haul back for
14:25
them. I thought if they waited a
14:26
little bit longer closer to the deadline, they they might have
14:28
been able to get a little bit more for Devers.
14:32
I mean, they might have also been seven or eight games up
14:35
over 500 at that point and, you know, been in a better position
14:39
for themselves. So I don't know if the timing of
14:41
it to me seemed off, but you know, it's might be like a
14:46
divorce, man, you just kind of hey, we're doing it today and
14:50
there is no tomorrow, man. There, there is no tomorrow.
14:53
So that's. Yeah, we are.
14:55
Hey guys, we are talking to U.S. Army veteran, Associate Vice
14:59
President for development of Tunnel to Towers Foundation,
15:02
owner and operator of Upstate Strategies, the public affairs
15:04
professional self, Mr. Frank Luna Jabba.
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Question, Frank. I do honestly have a question
15:11
and and it's not, I wouldn't say it's, it's baseball related.
15:16
I I think it's man related, right.
15:21
So when things change and you understand kind of what your
15:28
role is and like as we talk about sports and we talk about
15:34
Shay Alexander in basketball and and then certain guys like if
15:41
you were the leader or if you were the guy in the troop, like
15:45
how, how did you guys come together and respect that guy
15:51
that who was the leader because we all had him?
15:56
And how did you either being the leader or the guy in the troop,
16:03
because we're all on a team. How did you that the mental
16:10
capacity? How do I be better?
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That's the one thing I want to know.
16:16
Java, I appreciate that, you know, and my military story is a
16:19
little, I don't say interesting, but I joined at 36 years old and
16:24
I went enlisted infantry in the Army National Guard, which I had
16:29
a college degree. I'd spent years working in a
16:31
professional capacity. I went enlisted infantries
16:34
because that was kind of like almost what you're saying.
16:37
That was like the bottom of the barrel knuckle dragon.
16:40
Like that's what the Army had to offer was like the guys who
16:43
killed the bad guys, right? Like that's what I I wanted to
16:46
be. And, you know, I got there and I
16:47
was rocking a Jimmy Buffett T-shirt and I was twice the age
16:52
of most of the guys there. And I get off the bus and the
16:56
first drill Sergeant is just yelling in my face and he's
16:58
like, are you lost? Are you effing lost?
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And I'm like, man, I'm effed. And I looked the guy in the eye
17:07
and, and I, I was like, no drill Sergeant, just a little bit
17:11
late. And bro, you could have heard a
17:14
pin drop. And I thought I was cooked at
17:18
that point. I'm like, I am freaking dead.
17:22
And I'll tell you man, the guy kind of looked at me and walked
17:27
away. And as he was walking away, he
17:31
like looked back at me and I'm like, all right, I didn't die.
17:37
You know that that's an interesting way for him to
17:40
respond to that. So I think to me, anytime
17:44
leadership gets brought up, I just say, like, dude, you got to
17:48
you got to do what you're going to ask anybody else to do behind
17:51
you. And that's in life.
17:54
Liberty and the pursuit of happiness is podcasting.
17:58
You know, you got to be able to cut, cut a promo and, and go to
18:02
break, right and, and do all those things the right way.
18:06
So for me, it was all about being willing to do what I had
18:10
to do or that I would ask anybody else to do.
18:13
So I mean, just the cheesiest thing we hear is kids, right?
18:20
Like lead by example. So I think if you do those
18:26
things, people look at you and and follow your lead when you're
18:30
gone, wherever the hell it is you're going.
18:32
So how have you applied that with some of the Yankees players
18:35
that you've worked with? I know Oswaldo Cabrera, Ben
18:37
Rice, Will Warren, some of them on the Major League roster, and
18:39
then a couple of the prospects as well.
18:41
What type of approach? Like is it something similar you
18:43
would take when you were in the Army to doing it with athletes?
18:46
Obviously it's not the same level as combat like Jabba was
18:49
saying, but like it's still something that you're going
18:51
into, like brotherhood, the team culture in the locker room with,
18:55
especially with the team like the Yankees that has all this
18:56
tradition. Well, I, I never served in
18:59
combat, but, you know, I was activated once to the Capitol on
19:04
January 6th, you know, after that whole thing that went down
19:08
there a few years ago. So I, I can't speak to the
19:10
combat side of things, but I think in, you know, Jabba can
19:15
probably talk about this, the amount of events he's done over,
19:17
over his career. You know, three years ago I was
19:20
sitting at my kitchen table and I was kind of bored and I was
19:23
like, man, I wonder how hard it is to do an event with a guy on
19:25
the Yankees. So, you know, I just emailed a
19:28
bunch of people, DM, Ed, Instagram, whatever the hell it
19:31
was. And you know, one guy got back
19:32
to me and he's like, hey, Oswaldo Cabrera is going to be
19:35
in New Jersey, New York on December 18th.
19:37
I remember the date for whatever reason.
19:39
And he's like, here's how much it costs.
19:41
It's a few hours and here's what you get for.
19:43
I'm like, send me the contract. And the guy's like, you know,
19:47
like this isn't a joke. And I'm like, dude, send me the
19:49
contract. Like I'm in.
19:50
I'm good for it and he sent me the contract, I signed it.
19:54
And you know, I think from my angle, I was never in and I
19:58
never kind of got into the whole autograph public appearance
20:01
athlete thing to make a ton of money for myself.
20:06
For me, first and foremost, treat the athlete like like the
20:09
guy that they are and and deserve to be treated like 2.
20:14
Make sure they get paid on time, picked up the right way.
20:18
They're never the one saying no to stuff that whatever you agree
20:21
upon beforehand is it what happens on site?
20:25
But a lot of that stuff, the integrity of it, I think, you
20:28
know, I learned in the military that was a big thing in the
20:30
military. Like, you know, I'm never a guy
20:32
that's like, yo, can you sign these 40 pieces for these kids
20:35
with cancer? Like that stuff's just so cheesy
20:38
and I hate when I see that shit. But to me, I, I worked in
20:43
politics and government for a long time.
20:45
I worked with governors, senators, congressmen.
20:48
So to me it was really just kind of treating the athlete the same
20:52
way I would treat one of those guys.
20:54
You know, I'm not an equal on any level, but we're, we're both
20:57
men. Like we're here for the right
20:59
reason. We're doing it.
21:00
We're doing this thing here. Nobody wants the athlete doesn't
21:03
want me to lose money because that's going to put them at risk
21:05
of getting paid right then and there.
21:07
And you know, to me it's just have a good attitude about it.
21:11
And the most important thing that I think it's lost just
21:13
generally in sports, in life, that shit's about the kids, man.
21:18
Like that ain't about the grown ass man who's wearing sweatpants
21:21
with 16 baseballs. That is about that 9 year old
21:24
kid who's going to look up and see Jabba Chamberlain, you know,
21:28
in 2008 at an ice cream shop in New York and get his picture
21:32
taken with him and and get an autograph.
21:34
So that's kind of like my, my 30,000 foot view of it.
21:40
You know, I've, I feel like I've done pretty well in that space
21:42
the past three years. And, you know, I just, I do what
21:47
I say I'm going to do and I, I do it the right way.
21:49
I mean, that's just really how I feel.
21:52
It's that shit should go, quite frankly.
21:56
And if it if for me too. It's like my dad worked in
22:00
corrections for 30 years. I grew up with Jack shit and dad
22:06
always said is what you give you receive and if you give respect
22:12
does not matter. It's like I'm I'm not curing
22:16
cancer I'm giving you 3 hours for you to do what you want to
22:21
do. You guys in your same realm and
22:26
I've been so fortunate enough when I had my Tommy John.
22:33
God bless, Doctor Andrews. Thank you so much.
22:37
But I got to work out with Eagle fun guys.
22:41
Oh, wow. Can't say who they are and what
22:44
they do because you can't do that.
22:48
But these are the best of the best.
22:52
And it's a mutual respect and exactly what you say.
22:55
It's like, just do what you do like.
22:59
And I don't want nothing from you.
23:02
Like I I honestly like the greatest joy that I ever got was
23:10
those dudes challenging me because I'm just a fat kid from
23:15
the north side of Lincoln that happened to make it a baseball.
23:19
If you want to come get some, come get some like I'm.
23:22
Good. I'm good and it was.
23:27
It was just fun. And I think for me, like when it
23:32
comes to all of these things and how you know you have grown your
23:39
career and and what you've done and how you did it later, but
23:46
it's just like, how do you not respect that factor?
23:53
Like you allowed me to do what I do.
23:58
Like my dad was great, God bless us.
24:00
So I lost him three months ago and but he was like, you don't
24:09
take shit from nobody. You may not be able to beat him
24:13
up. I was like, well, I don't want
24:14
to fight nobody. And he goes, you know what you
24:18
do? You do your job because they
24:22
can't beat you if you do your job.
24:27
And I got that opportunity to do that, and so did you.
24:29
And it's been an absolute pleasure to have this
24:33
conversation because there are certain dudes that you have
24:37
conversations with that understand certain things.
24:41
And it's like an unwritten rule when you meet men like that,
24:46
where they don't have to say what they say, but you know what
24:49
they're saying. Yeah, I appreciate that, John.
24:54
You know, I, I don't mean to get too into it, but I remember.
24:57
And, you know, I think anybody who ever met your dad just
25:03
always had such an awesome opinion to him.
25:06
And, you know, I was talking to my cousin Tim today and I was
25:09
like, hey man, I'm going on Java Chamberlain's podcast tonight.
25:12
And he was like, dude, you remember that time we met Harlan
25:16
at the Yankee game and he was just so cool.
25:20
I'm sure we probably took I don't, I don't even know if we
25:22
had camera phones back there, but like I remember Meteor dad
25:26
and and he may have been in, was he in a motorized wheelchair
25:29
back then or? Yeah.
25:31
And and we met him at the stain, but he always had your jersey
25:34
on, right? If I'm he wore your jersey.
25:37
No, he he just wore a Yankee hat.
25:39
OK, all right. And I remember we met your dad
25:42
at a game and, you know, think about that.
25:44
My, you know, my cousin, 1516 years, that had to be maybe 18
25:48
years later is, you know, still thinking fondly of, of Harlan,
25:53
you know, all these years later. So I, I, I thought you'd
25:55
appreciate knowing that. And you know, I know you
25:57
recently lost him. So I want to let you know I'm
25:59
thinking of you guys. And, you know, he left his mark
26:01
on a lot of people, man. And I know he was proud of you
26:04
and that that's something that you you can't buy.
26:07
And and you know you've carried yourself in a way that left your
26:10
father proud. And I will say, Frank, to you,
26:13
it's like knowing that and getting to spend the life I did
26:20
with him. And not to get emotional by any
26:23
means, but Father's Day was yesterday and it was, it was
26:30
tough. It was tough the first day
26:33
without my dad and my dad was my best friend and I missed him a
26:39
lot. Then I missed him a lot.
26:43
But it was so cool because I got to hear stories and I'm like, I
26:53
love posting on social and, and, and talking to fans.
26:58
But I, it was, it was something that I really wanted to like I
27:04
was like, do I post that my dad passed?
27:07
Like that's kind of bougie. Like, oh, you're just trying to
27:11
get clicks. And I'm not trying to because I
27:13
don't, I don't need it. I don't want it.
27:17
But you know, the coolest thing I did and I'm so glad I did it.
27:21
I'm so glad I did it because there were so many pictures of
27:25
my dad interacting with fans that I never saw because I was
27:32
on the field and I would never have had that if it wasn't for
27:38
and I social media is shit at times because people take it a
27:44
different way. And that's why I didn't really
27:47
want to do it at first. But I was like, you know, I,
27:51
I've kind of done some cool things.
27:53
So let's let's see if it works, but I really don't care.
27:59
Pictures that I got that I would have never have seen if I did
28:02
not post that. And it was so cool.
28:05
They're like, he was great. He met us over here and, and I
28:10
and I put it at his memorial and it was, it was just so cool.
28:14
And I can't thank the fans enough and the people that have
28:19
followed me and have I fucked up?
28:23
Yes, 100%. But they stuck with me, and they
28:30
rode with me, and we had a great run.
28:34
And it was really cool just to see the stories.
28:40
I had no idea about half of these, Dad.
28:45
Dad would give me half of it. He'd be like, yeah, well, I met
28:48
this really cool person from, you know, Rhode Island or
28:53
something. I'm like, oh, look that that
28:56
doesn't tell me much Dad, sorry. Yep.
28:59
But I got to see all these things and, and I spent a lot of
29:04
time and I know I couldn't get back to everybody.
29:08
But for everybody that did that, I am so grateful.
29:15
And I am so thankful that my dad got to spend that time with you
29:20
guys and I got that time with my father and it that's the coolest
29:25
thing ever. Yeah, man, I and I appreciate
29:29
even, you know, you saying all that.
29:31
And and you know, my dad and I and I think we're kind of we're
29:34
skipping out a lot a little bit, but, you know, it just kind of
29:37
came to my mind. And, you know, my dad and I have
29:40
had an interesting relationship throughout our years, like all
29:43
of us, right? I mean, fish, I'm sure you've
29:44
had it. I mean, we've all had those
29:46
things, right. And, you know, yesterday I drove
29:50
down and and had lunch with my parents and, you know, you got
29:54
to, you got to keep going And, and your parents at the end of
29:58
the day are, are kind of like the the only two who stand
30:01
behind you. And you know, in some cases 1,
30:04
you know, where, you know, it might just be your dad and, or
30:07
your mom And, and you know, Jabba, you said you've messed
30:11
up, man. Everyone has, you know, we all
30:13
have. And you know, at the end of the
30:16
day, all we got is just 24 hours every single day to try to do,
30:20
do right. And you know, I remember I was
30:22
talking to this one guy once, you kind of one of my mentors in
30:25
life, and he said to me like these, it's just crazy.
30:30
He's like, if you go through any given day and make it to the end
30:34
of the day, that's miracle number one in your life.
30:39
If you make it to any given day and you helped one person that
30:43
day, that's miracle #2 Every single one of us has the chance
30:49
at 2 miracles every 24 hours. And dude, I got to tell you,
30:53
when he put that to me that way, I was like, holy shit.
30:56
Like that just made so much sense to me.
30:59
Like wow man, all I got to do is make it through today and help
31:02
one person and you know, to just kind of wrap all that stuff up
31:06
like another. We go through bad stuff so we
31:09
can help other people go through bad stuff, you know, and whether
31:12
it's the loss of a parent, it's, you know, something through your
31:15
career or something in your personal life.
31:17
I guarantee you everyone of us like have done something not
31:21
great that we're going to help somebody go through something
31:24
similar, you know, at some point in our life.
31:26
So I don't know how this just got so deep but.
31:30
I didn't expect us to get this deep, Frank.
31:32
Yeah, man, look. It's all right.
31:35
You know, Java, we were going to do a Father's Day segment, you
31:38
know, but we're kind of doing it now.
31:40
It's, it's actually better than anything I had written because
31:43
how can you write something so pure and emotional like that for
31:46
me? You know, I'm very thankful my
31:48
father's still here. I, I coach football up at near
31:51
West Point. I have a lot of kids that half
31:53
of them live on the Army base. I'm an offensive defensive line
31:56
coach, kind of offensive assistant.
31:57
I've been doing it for a long time.
31:59
It's such a joyful thing to be able to coach kids whose parents
32:03
are in the Armed Services. You know, you, it's like an
32:05
extra responsibility. Obviously you get a lot less
32:09
talking back to you on a football field than you do in
32:12
certain, certain places that I've coached a little trained a
32:15
little differently over here. But you know, I I bring up
32:20
coaching because you having some background in strength and
32:23
conditioning and especially when we talk about baseball and I see
32:26
it in football all the time. But in baseball there's all
32:29
these elbow injuries, there's all these Tommy John injuries.
32:34
We see these stop these young pitchers, these stud pitchers.
32:36
This year was Jackson job was supposed to be the next guy.
32:40
As soon as we hear a flexor tendon strain, we we all know
32:44
what that means at this point. We they they got to stop with
32:46
these fake names for a torn elbow.
32:49
By the way, we call it every time on this show, Yeah.
32:53
We, we like call it a the last, the last three we've called
32:56
them. So my question to you, Frank, I,
32:59
I remember, you know, the story of a rod warming up with a
33:03
football at Yankee Stadium because he wanted to train the
33:06
other ligaments and muscles in his elbow surrounding the ones
33:09
he uses to play baseball with. And I, I was wondering if you
33:13
had any experience with training athletes, especially baseball
33:18
athletes to try to like, you know, you see all this like the
33:21
fall ball, the 24/7, they're playing all year round.
33:25
They're doing the same motion. These guys blow out their arms
33:27
by the time they're in rookie ball or by the time that, and
33:30
they never end up having that career.
33:32
What, how much of that do you see?
33:34
Do you train baseball athletes? But you know, we see it in all
33:36
sports, overtraining and things like that.
33:40
Yeah, I mean, I don't really train individual athletes.
33:43
I'm a I'm a partner in strength and conditioning facility.
33:46
You know, a lot of the guys who work out there got a lot of
33:49
college athletes that train there.
33:53
And I think you kind of touched on a fish when kids at a very
33:56
young age are thrown harder and a lot more than maybe their arms
34:00
were meant to. My stepson is 9 years old and
34:05
that kid like this year was his first year of Little League and
34:10
I like the same 3 kids pitched every game.
34:14
I was just like, I'm like, what are we doing here, man?
34:18
Like these kids are 9 And it was like a wreck Little League like
34:24
the same kids pitched every game.
34:25
So I, I think that's a huge part of it.
34:26
I, I think they're throwing the velocity's up, right?
34:29
I mean, these kids are throwing harder in high school and
34:32
college and they I think have thrown in quite some time.
34:37
So I think that's just overuse, man.
34:39
And, and for the wrong reasons. Like that.
34:41
I, I, you know, like, come on, dude, nine years old.
34:46
These kids are shouldn't be thrown 70 pitches.
34:50
I mean, it's funny, quick story, but that my, my girlfriend's
34:55
fiance's son, I just got engaged.
34:58
You know, he asked his coach if he could pitch.
34:59
Congratulations, Doc. Congratulations.
35:02
Appreciate that voice. Thank you, Thank you, thank you,
35:04
Thank you. Here it is, John.
35:07
Here you go. I'm joining the club.
35:10
It's something it's. Exclusive club, you know you got
35:14
it. Speedy where you at?
35:15
Speedy, where you at? Speedy's.
35:17
Speedy's a little bit away from that right now, unfortunately.
35:19
A little might be a strong. Speedy, do you have any
35:21
prospects? No.
35:25
No, no current prospects for Speedy, unfortunately.
35:28
We're working. None that he knows.
35:30
We're working on well, we're trying.
35:31
No, no, we're trying. We know you.
35:33
Sign me up. And Frank, that Speedy, where do
35:35
you live? Frank, Frank, you're you're.
35:37
Speedy where you live at? Well, I'm on Long Island, my
35:40
family's, my immediate family's in Connecticut.
35:42
But your, your, your buddy Niffitt is trying to be like,
35:46
he's trying to scout out some other prospects for sure.
35:48
He's trying to make it always seem like he's going.
35:50
To be a white man, yeah. We got to take him to the
35:53
jersey. Shore, Here's what I'm going to
35:54
do, Speedy. I'm going to send you a link to
35:57
the Stone Pony Summer stage. You like concerts a bunch?
36:00
Of them, yes, I've I've been a. Bunch of concerts.
36:03
If he's a you're a concert guy, I'm going to send I'm going to
36:05
send you a link to this thing You pick the night of the
36:10
concert that you want to come to.
36:12
I'm going to give you a spot right next to my bar.
36:15
I'm going to put you on my I get 2 tickets per night.
36:19
I'm giving you 1 ticket, you can use the other as a date and then
36:24
you'll know a bartender. You got AVIP ticket, You're in
36:28
early. You know the bartender.
36:31
This old guy's throwing drinks at you all night.
36:33
Or is it a is it a free tab, Frank?
36:36
Is it a free tab hell? Yeah, I'm Kelly.
36:38
Yeah, I got him job. I'm not gonna say it's my guess,
36:41
bro. I mean shit, he's my guest.
36:43
I'm not going to charge him and put him on my tab.
36:45
I'm going to cover his drinks. And then you could either bring
36:50
a chick, which that's kind of cool.
36:51
Like you bring a chick, you get a hotel room not far, say hey,
36:54
we're going to have a couple drinks.
36:55
We're going to go to this concert.
36:57
I know this guy works. Write all this down speedy.
37:00
No, you don't. Write it down.
37:01
Text it to him. Even better.
37:04
And then you get a, you get like $120.00 hotel room somewhere
37:08
nice, maybe a little more money since you're saving money on a
37:10
concert and you don't have to worry about no food or anything
37:13
at night. Just eat a pretzel when you're
37:15
there. Or you come with your one of
37:17
your like one of your good friends who's like a good guy
37:21
and then you guys can. What do you mean?
37:23
What do you mean good though, Frank?
37:25
Like what do? You know this.
37:27
You know this. We.
37:29
All have. We all have men in our life that
37:32
if we go to a concert and we have an open bar at it, it's not
37:36
going to go well. But we do have men in our life
37:40
that we know if we do this, we'll get through the night OK
37:44
and there will be no issues. So my offer to Speedy, you tell
37:50
me you want 1 ticket, you just come and then you meet a nice
37:54
young lady there that night or you get 2 and you have a cool
37:57
date line at the Jersey Shore. It's on you bro.
37:59
You don't even mean to call now, but I'm just saying that that
38:03
that's, that's that's about a good offer as you're going to
38:06
get on a night like tonight. So.
38:08
I mean, I don't, I don't know how much better that gets,
38:12
Speedy. Speedy that's that's like an all
38:14
inclusive right there all. Inclusive night in Asbury Park,
38:17
buddy. I'm not buying your hotel room
38:19
and I'm not going home with you, but you'll.
38:21
I wasn't going to ask. Speedy, Speedy.
38:23
I will, I will. I will buy your hotel room.
38:27
Look at this, it gets better speedy.
38:30
I will. I will buy your hotel room.
38:33
Yep, and I can't. We can't wait.
38:35
So look, Frank, we, we love having you on.
38:37
We're going to. I just got one more thing for
38:39
you. But we, you know, we I.
38:41
Don't know how we're going to top that.
38:42
I don't know how we're going to top that all.
38:44
I'm going to do is I'm going to top that by asking you about
38:47
your new, your new gig that you have with tunnels, a tunnel to
38:51
towers. Can you tell us a little bit
38:52
about what you're doing over there and what that that
38:55
foundation is all about? Yeah, man, I, you know, it's,
38:57
it's really God works in mysterious ways.
39:00
I, I never expected to be working with this foundation.
39:03
You know, they do literally the, the Lord's work.
39:06
So there's a few aspects of what Tunnel Towers Foundation is
39:10
doing. First and foremost, if you're a
39:13
service member or a first responder who gets killed in
39:16
the, in the line of duty, Tunnel Towers Foundation comes in, they
39:21
pay the family's mortgage off, they make sure the kids are able
39:24
to stay in their home. And you know, there's no issues
39:26
around that. If a service member or first
39:30
responder is injured catastrophically, tunnel to
39:34
towers, we'll build them a smart home.
39:36
Which as you can imagine, you know, this isn't something you
39:39
would think about unless you know, guys or women who have
39:41
gone through it. You know, say you're a Sergeant
39:44
in the Army, you got a 7 year old kid and you're married and
39:49
you lose your leg in combat or a training accident.
39:53
You can't really live in the house you were living in before
39:55
that. You know, you're going to need a
39:57
job. You know, from from having, you
39:59
know, Harlan is your dad. You know there's adjustments
40:02
that need to be. Made to the home and so total
40:04
towers will come in make sure that the the home is outfitted
40:08
correctly for you know to deal with that injury.
40:12
OK, so Frank, tell us how how our fans and everybody can get
40:18
involved with that like website or whatever it is.
40:22
Like let us know how we can because we'll do this on the
40:25
show because that for me is like going to Dad's house and
40:33
understanding how I had to make his house and you guys
40:38
sacrificing your life and, and, and sometimes changes happen,
40:43
right? So let us know how we can help
40:46
you guys, like website wise, if there's something that we can do
40:50
that we can post and, and, and do everything and I can do and
40:54
from my family to yours, I will 100% do that.
40:59
And so just let me know. Appreciate you guys.
41:01
Yeah, I mean, you know, T2 t.org is the website.
41:06
You know, there's a really big push.
41:08
There were so many people trying to reach out, you know, hey, how
41:11
can we help? So they wanted to make it, you
41:14
know, sometimes when you're doing charity stuff, you're
41:16
like, you know, if I donate 10 bucks, does it really even
41:19
matter? Well, they've got a an effort
41:22
where an initiative to donate $11.00 a month and you know
41:28
dude, you sign, sign up on your credit card or your debit card.
41:31
11 bucks a month is is easy to spend.
41:33
Way too much money that wastes like we can do that.
41:37
Yeah, yeah. So it, you know, it's a really
41:40
manageable amount for most folks.
41:42
And that's a really good way to, to contribute.
41:45
And the money, you know, over 90% of the money, you should see
41:49
our offices like we're, I say it like a cubby.
41:52
You know, we're about to like this big fancy office space in,
41:55
in Manhattan. We're like literally Jabba, I
41:58
shit you not. We're in Staten Island and we're
42:01
next to a tanning salon and a hair hair salon, so it's like
42:08
the most Staten Island thing in the world.
42:11
There's at least you're next to a hair salon because you have
42:14
hair because I don't. Your hairline is fantastic.
42:17
I appreciate that job I need. That I got I got crickets.
42:20
Why do you think I always like I got a great beard?
42:23
I wish I could transfer some of this here.
42:26
I know it don't work though but I feel.
42:28
Good at 41, you know, my, you know, we're my old man still has
42:32
his hair. All right, So, you know, one of
42:33
the few good things my dad gave me was his hairline.
42:36
I guess so. I will I will say this and I
42:39
know we we had a Father's Day segment, but when they put dad
42:43
to rest, they had him in a comb over and I'm like, no, dad wore
42:48
hats. Get out of here.
42:50
We are not doing. That yo and by the job I have
42:54
got to correct this because you'll love this story even
42:57
more. My I try to stay off the phone
42:59
when we're doing something like this.
43:00
So my cousin texted me. I misremembered the story about
43:05
your dad. My cousin was wearing your
43:09
jersey and asked Harlan to autograph it and he did.
43:16
I did. So I want to tell a great story
43:20
and fish, I'm killing your segment, sorry.
43:23
No, no, we're, we're going to just do it right here, right
43:25
now. In fact, you know what I'll put
43:27
up the graphic for? It and so my dad was with us in
43:36
2010 when we got our rings. My father, Ward every day, every
43:44
day. And my dad asked my son two
43:51
things. Not even me, because I was going
43:56
to bury my dad with this ring because he wore it every day.
44:01
And Carter said he wanted to keep it and he asked him about
44:08
his house and my son wanted to keep that as well.
44:13
You know what I did and I know I devalued the ring.
44:20
I took a diamond out of it because Dad's not here anymore.
44:29
And I will never replace it and I won't care because this is the
44:33
man that got me to where I'm at and I'm good with that.
44:38
I'm good and I will never replace it because when I always
44:45
look at it, and now that I have it, I will always think of my
44:51
father. And I love my dad and I think
44:54
about him every day. But when my son gets it, he gets
45:00
to see a hole in it and he gets to think about his choke up,
45:04
which is so as Native Americans, choke his grandfather in our
45:08
language. And so I go, Carter, when I
45:14
pass, you take another diamond out and then you pass it on to
45:21
yours. My dad was the man.
45:25
My dad was the shit. Job thanks for sharing that man
45:31
I I I. Appreciate.
45:32
That and you know, you said you may have devalued the the ring
45:36
man. If anything, you made it more
45:37
valuable, you know, and what a cool heirloom and and story for
45:41
your boy. And you know that that's that's
45:44
life, man. He was supposed he was supposed
45:46
to be on the show with us today because we got immediate pass
45:49
for him. Thanks Nathan.
45:50
Love you. But Carter's like at the lake
45:54
and hanging out with his girlfriend and doing all the
45:57
other stuff. And how old is he, John?
45:59
I guess I would probably be doing that when I'm in 19 too.
46:02
So 19? Holy cow.
46:03
Wow. His sophomore in college.
46:06
Sophomore in college. That's awesome, man.
46:09
I'm not mistaken. We had a a picture of him at one
46:12
point in college. There it was.
46:16
There's Carter down there in the middle.
46:18
That's from one of the first episodes.
46:20
Oh, but it came in, yeah. Remember that when he.
46:23
Came in Carter's right next to our logo, Yeah.
46:25
Yeah, right next to the. Logo He was in the backseat with
46:28
his buddies. They were doing what college
46:31
kids do, probably. Oh yeah.
46:35
Well, Frank, listen, man, we had a great time having you on.
46:38
We'd love to have you on again. You know, any time to come talk
46:42
about anything going on with the Yankees or you know anything
46:45
doing with your what you're doing over here with tunnels to
46:49
tunnel to Towers Foundation. We're just so appreciative of
46:53
magnificent job tonight man Thanks for.
46:55
Coming. It's you guys.
46:56
Yo hold on every good job. What were you saying?
46:59
Let us know how we can help in any way in any way.
47:04
Joe, you ever make it back out to to the East Coast?
47:07
Get out. I'm going to get out once I get
47:09
Carter back to college. Cool.
47:12
Yeah, man, I'm going to. Spend the summer, yeah.
47:15
Yeah, fans would love to see you out here too, man, There's no
47:17
doubt about it. But yeah, we'll we'll figure
47:20
something cool out. And you know, Speedy, don't
47:23
think you're off the hook because you're on mute, dog.
47:26
Like I'm not on me. I mean, I'm going to send you,
47:28
I'm not on mute. I'm going to send you that.
47:30
I'm going to send you that calendar of all the concerts and
47:33
you better let my ass know. All right, hold on.
47:35
Nathan wants to come back. This is the leash legend.
47:40
You see this Java? Can you see this?
47:42
The leash legend. That's my cousin showing you
47:45
the. Picture I got arrested.
47:47
I'm showing you the jersey your dad's on.
47:49
That's awesome. That is awesome.
47:51
I got arrested in that sweatshirt.
47:55
Yep. My cousin probably got arrested
47:57
in that jersey, so don't feel bad.
47:59
Perfect works. That's.
48:01
Pretty funny. Yo, Frank, what up?
48:03
What up missing? What's up, man?
48:05
Thank you for joining. Legend.
48:06
Yeah. Thank you.
48:07
For the legend of the leaf. All these guys, I thought you
48:09
were pranking me. Why would I prank you man?
48:11
I would never prank you like that no, but I know too like
48:17
truly thank you for joining man. This was like really impactful.
48:21
So I. Appreciate you man.
48:23
Yeah, I'll see you on this weekend.
48:26
No, me, man, I'll be running around, running around
48:28
somewhere. Can you guys hurry up because I
48:31
got to pee. Yeah, me too.
48:33
Yeah, us old guys got to go to the bathroom.
48:35
Get, get, let us get off. If it came in to purposely
48:38
impact your bladder. Guys, that was appreciate the
48:43
final read off for you, Frank. That's Army, U.S.
48:47
Army veteran, associate vice President for development of
48:49
Tunnel, The Towers Foundation, owner and operator of Upstage
48:51
Strategies, public affairs professional.
48:54
Mr. Frank Luna. Thanks so much for joining us,
48:57
Frank. Audio sports appreciation.
48:58
Have a good night. Later.
49:00
Later, guys. That is tonight's show.
49:03
We made it. We got through the second ever
49:06
fish cast. The fish cast strikes back.
49:08
It is over on Thursday we're going to have another episode of
49:13
the fish cast because Arrow is still there.
49:15
So that one will be the return of the fish cast.
49:17
Yes, that'll be if you guys follow along with the return of
49:20
the Jedi type of motto. I'm going on with you.
49:23
If not, that's quite all right. We have sweetie.
49:26
Who do we have coming on on Thursday All.
49:27
Right, so joining the show for the first time on the show at
49:30
8:45 PM. He is the New York Yankees Daily
49:34
News New York Yankees Daily News writer Gary Phillips will be
49:38
joining us on the show at 8:45. By the way, the Thunder won
49:41
tonight. Just now, Jalen Williams with 40
49:43
points and one went away from the NBA title.
49:46
Now new. York Daily New York Daily News
49:48
He's been with The Athletic New Jersey monthly Sports
49:51
Illustrated in the past two, now with the New York Daily News for
49:53
the New York Yankees. It's about to get busy here too,
49:56
because they just, they just called the CWS so.
50:01
Well, guess what, CWS still going on rest of this week we're
50:04
going to have, you know, more recaps of maybe the Stanley Cup
50:07
Final. We'll wrap up before our next
50:09
show. Maybe same thing with the NBA
50:10
Finals. We're going to have plenty to
50:11
talk about on Thursday. And we're going to talk about
50:14
the CWS. Don't fucking forget that fish.
50:17
Oh yeah, 100% live from Omaha, NE.
50:22
We'll be talking about the College World Series on Thursday
50:25
as well as all the big things going on.
50:27
We can't wait to see you there again.
50:29
Watch us on all the different streamings.
50:31
Download us on Apple Podcasts or, and or Spotify if you want
50:35
to see us in video. If you haven't seen us in video,
50:37
we do a lot of cool stuff on here.
50:39
Want to give a special shout out to Zach, Aaron and Jake, our
50:42
interns, you know, relatively new interns stepping up in
50:44
production roles tonight, stepping up on screen tonight.
50:47
What a great job by you guys. Really pretty flawless tonight
50:51
boys. Really impressed.
50:52
We're going to run it back again on Thursday for everyone else at
50:56
home. I hope you enjoyed the show.
50:58
We'll see you again next time. Goodnight it.
51:01
Is the worldwide sports radio network.