Latest / Life According to Brian and Jason / #35 - When Father Time Strikes: Ronaldo, Messi and the Aging Sports Stars

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#35 - When Father Time Strikes: Ronaldo, Messi and the Aging Sports Stars · Life According to Brian and Jason

• 0:00
  All right, hey friends, welcome to another episode of Life According to Brian and Jason.
• 0:17
  Jason, what are you thinking about this week? Father time is always a winner, Brian. Cristiano
• 0:27
  Ronaldo is all in the news because father time gets to us all. Right, now Ronaldo, he's the,
• 0:37
  what, the famous Portuguese player. Yeah, and then the headlines, he's 41, which is ancient.
• 0:45
  This is like, you know, six World Cup, I think, which is amazing. Wow, that's every, you know,
• 0:52
  four years. Yeah, four years. So the headlines, Cristiano Ronaldo is holding Portugal hostage.
• 0:58
  Ronaldo is out of sorts for Portugal in World Cup. It's just all in there. That's because he is not
• 1:06
  scoring. Now, it doesn't help that, and for our listeners, the World Cup is going on right now.
• 1:13
  Very great action play, but Messi, who plays for Argentina, just scored a hat trick in a game.
• 1:22
  Dude, you know, everyone plays, everyone's going hard, and that just accentuates. Now,
• 1:30
  you know, Ronaldo, you know, he's 41, and Messi's 38, still. Right, 38, though. Right, 38, man,
• 1:39
  crushing it. But just the mind, you know, your mind says, I can do it, your body says no, but
• 1:47
  just a couple of their stars, like, on the Colombian team, James Rodriguez, he's 34,
• 1:55
  so an up and coming star. Harry Kane from England is 32, which is pushing it, and he's doing some
• 2:01
  good stuff. Neymar, he is from Brazil, he's 34. I mean, you got this group. Luka Modric from the
• 2:12
  Croatian team, he's 40. He's 40, I know. He's throwing a 40 burger up there. Exactly. So,
• 2:20
  well, it's hard to say no, Brian. So, when is it time? When do you know?
• 2:27
  When do you know? That's a good question, because, you know, you and I are not young anymore.
• 2:33
  We're not old, but, you know, we're in our late 50s, but isn't that, you know, that's the problem
• 2:40
  all of us face is, you think you're younger than you are, and how do you know? How do you know?
• 2:47
  And for me, I think it's this, you know, you wake up and go, oh, I'm feeling my age this morning,
• 2:54
  but the brain still says, nope, it'll, you know, you're fine. Well, how do you think athletes
• 3:02
  handle, I mean, you got to feel old after a match. I don't care what sport it is, soccer, football,
• 3:10
  baseball, you're in your 40s or near 40s, and you got to play every other day or every day.
• 3:17
  I can only imagine the aches and pains that you've got to deal with mentally. How do you get over
• 3:22
  that? What do you think? Well, it's having a personal chef, Brian. It's having the best
• 3:28
  medical care. It's having a rub down after every and before and after and stuff like that. You know,
• 3:36
  having some mental and physical toughness and, you know, drive. You got to be,
• 3:44
  you know, kind of on it to do that. Right, right. Well, you know,
• 3:51
  you see it all the time in sports. It's like, you know, the team gets put on someone's back
• 3:57
  and they just grind it out. But I think it's so much more than that. I think what I've learned
• 4:04
  at my ripe age of 58, you can do activities if you know how to recover. And recovery science
• 4:13
  is way better than it used to be. I mean, you and I grew up in an era where, man, you don't need
• 4:20
  sleep. Sleep, what are you talking about? You know, you go to bed late, you got up early,
• 4:27
  you held two jobs, three jobs, you did whatever it took, you raised kids, sleep was a luxury.
• 4:34
  Now, the science says, hey, dummies, you need a full eight hours minimum if you want to recover
• 4:41
  from life, let alone sports. And what do you think about sleep science? Oh, yeah,
• 4:48
  that is definitely up there. And you think, oh, just go catch up. There really is no catching
• 4:54
  on your sleep. But same with water in this
• 4:59
  World Cup. The whole big thing also is, you know, hydration breaks, right? When we were younger,
• 5:05
  you know, you were not given water. I did two a days. Okay, everyone. Great. Everyone wants to
• 5:12
  play football. Get over here. You know, right. Right. Ronaldo needs water. He needs this, that.
• 5:20
  But also, you can be pressing, he's older. Athletes can be pressing, right? Can't tell
• 5:27
  me Messi doesn't have the same pressure. But, you know, athletes knowing how to manage their bodies,
• 5:37
  how to do it. Like just for Messi, he'll like walk, walk, and then have this burst of speed.
• 5:42
  Right. And wow, man, like the ball's not near him. He's just kind of walking, walking.
• 5:46
  Right. And I have by no means a Messi expert. I don't know if he's done that his whole career.
• 5:53
  But it just seems lately, that's what he does. I don't know if Ronaldo is just in his head.
• 6:00
  I don't know if he's got people telling him this. You always have the people. Oh, you're great. You
• 6:03
  know, you're doing awesome. Just, you know, those guys don't know nothing. I think he's hearing it
• 6:09
  and bummed. But there's been athletes in all kinds of other sports. Hello, Tom Brady.
• 6:14
  Right. Yeah. Tom played to what, 44? Yep. Eating avocado ice cream. Let's go.
• 6:22
  Well, yeah, there's got to be, there's got to be some secret science going on here. I do know
• 6:28
  recovery for legs. You know, they, all these athletes put these, their legs, not only in
• 6:34
  cold baths, which was around when I played, you know, we had a, I went to a big 5A school
• 6:41
  and we had big ice baths back then. And I got shin splints real bad running cross country.
• 6:48
  And we had, he was a, he was a doc. He was an orthopedic surgeon. He was just coming to do
• 6:57
  sports, you know, after school. And he taught me how to rub my shin bones down with the shin splints.
• 7:06
  Cause you know, you're up at five, five 30 in the morning, that's Phoenix, you're running
• 7:12
  early in the morning and you had two days. Right. So then after you did a shorter practice,
• 7:16
  cause you know, when's the season start late August, you go to October, it's hot,
• 7:21
  you know, so the afternoon practice was much shorter just due to heat, but just a lot of
• 7:27
  pounding. And so he's like, so I learned a lot from doctors just on cold therapy,
• 7:35
  you know, insoles, proper shoes, you know, and that's in the eighties. I can't imagine now they
• 7:41
  got cool pressure technology and they slide these things on the legs that give them, you know,
• 7:48
  gets your circulation going. Yeah. You got massage therapists, but you know, still there's only so
• 7:54
  many minerals and supplements you can take. There's gotta be something else. I think some
• 7:59
  athletes are just more durable. What do you think about durability? Oh, totally, man. It's your
• 8:04
  genetics and everything else and how you play and the kind of type of player you are. Sometimes
• 8:09
  you're just lucky with genes, but that mental, you know, everyone has the mental coaches. When
• 8:14
  we were younger, there really wasn't such a thing as that. I mean, they never talked about it,
• 8:19
  but now you have these mental coaches where they help you focus on the prize. I don't know if that's
• 8:25
  Ronaldo's problem, but you know, if it is even a problem, I mean, dudes should be out there playing.
• 8:32
  I mean, I don't know. This is his last cup and he helped get them there. So personally,
• 8:42
  I'm like, man, you're, you're, and he's an all time great player. He's been doing it just like,
• 8:47
  you know, Tom Brady. I don't love him, but he's like the best quarterback ever. Michael Jordan
• 8:53
  played with the Wizards to the end on the team, you know, he was way done. But I think
• 9:00
  saying no and putting it down can be hard and that competition, you know, go to coaching and
• 9:07
  or the gambling, you know, get that thrill. I think it's tough when you, you are the man,
• 9:14
  then especially soccer. We talked about on a few or a past podcast, you know, billions watch soccer.
• 9:20
  So you are very known, right? You know, the pressure and the want to stay in that light.
• 9:28
  Soccer players are known in at least 150 countries around the world, you know, at least. And,
• 9:35
  you know, our, you know, our American mind is where the biggest thing on the planet
• 9:40
  doesn't even compare, you know, you know, to the televised abilities of these players around
• 9:48
  the world. Yeah. Our, our NFL and baseball reaches a fraction of that. And, you know,
• 9:55
  what's interesting is you, you start to see, it seems like 35 seems to be the age when,
• 10:05
  I don't know, maybe it's the glass wall. It's like, if someone's can play past the age of 35,
• 10:10
  it doesn't matter what sport, there's something that they're doing that keeps them going at that
• 10:17
  age. And a good example of that is tennis. And I love watching pro tennis. You know, we're,
• 10:25
  we're big Raphael Nadal fans, you know, before he retired, but I think it's Netflix did a
• 10:33
  docuseries on him. Wow. I did not know this guy had a genetic foot problem from like,
• 10:42
  when he was super young, like he should never even played his foot was so messed up,
• 10:48
  but yet he found the right people to train and how he managed his, he had chronic foot pain
• 10:57
  for 20 years, become one of the greatest players ever. And so it's a great series to look inside,
• 11:04
  you know, behind the curtain of these pro athletes and see them grind it out.
• 11:10
  And the doctors they have to sit in front of and the treatments they go through and the surgeries.
• 11:15
  I mean, a lot of this doesn't make the news for them to just show up on the court or the field
• 11:21
  somewhere. And you're like, Oh, you know, what's wrong with you and your fans, they're fickle.
• 11:25
  Like, what's wrong with you? You have no idea, you know, the grind that they just did to even
• 11:31
  be on the field at that time. And so that's a great series. You don't even have to be a tennis
• 11:37
  fan just to watch, you know, the mental thing and the physical thing that these players go through.
• 11:44
  Sure. And then of course, you know, I got up, walked around today. I try to do a walk every
• 11:50
  day, but I have distractions to keep me focused and maybe I won't do it. No, I'm gonna, I mean,
• 11:55
  these guys, professional athletes, you know, talk about, especially when they get older,
• 12:01
  they're usually more famous. So they got a lot of little side projects. People want them to do
• 12:06
  that. They have this, that, not only is he trying to eat good, you know, he's got to get tickets
• 12:14
  for people. He's got to do his promotions, got to sell the brand. You got all that pressure.
• 12:22
  You know, I'm not, you know, I'm not saying all poor him, but, you know, at some point you're
• 12:28
  like, wow, this is hard to keep, keep up with it all. Right, right. Well, you know, these older
• 12:36
  athletes, I think they have two choices at this period in life. Either they're a good ambassador
• 12:43
  for a sport or they're just all about them, you know, and it's funny to watch a lot of them
• 12:53
  turn into great ambassadors. You know, I think Nessie's probably a great one.
• 12:59
  You know, I don't know about Ronaldo. He seems to be in a weird zone.
• 13:05
  But, you know, I'm looking at like switching over to baseball. I'm looking at these older players.
• 13:13
  I just don't see them as great ambassadors for the brand.
• 13:19
  Yeah, like Justin Verlander. No, no, he's not a great, you know, here's my side story on Verlander.
• 13:29
  I'm working at a double-A ball club here in Northwest Arkansas. I'm just an usher. I'm
• 13:37
  getting paid 11 bucks an hour just to stand in the heat, you know, and Verlander's trying to make
• 13:43
  a comeback. And, you know, he shows up at the stadium. They fly him in, goes out and pitches
• 13:51
  and out. And so I talked to people that worked the dugout when he was there. Didn't say boo
• 13:57
  to the young kids, didn't sign an autograph, didn't talk to anybody, just came in, pitched his
• 14:03
  thing, left. You know, did no media, didn't say anything nice about the Naturals, nothing.
• 14:13
  Absolutely zero. I mean, he could have been worse, I guess. He could have said negative things,
• 14:19
  but the whole point is, who are you? You can say what you want about Tom Brady. At least he's an
• 14:28
  ambassador for the sport, you know. And for the kids that are upcoming and the brand itself,
• 14:36
  just like these, a lot of these soccer players, they are literally, you know, doing really cool
• 14:42
  things for the next generation. I like the youth, you know, they walk the youth out in the hand,
• 14:48
  you know, all that. Good tradition. Right, right. So I do see a lot of players over the age of 35,
• 14:56
  what are you? Are you still in it for you? Are you in it? Because now,
• 15:02
  you know, you're a top dog and you can give back to, you know, the world that you took.
• 15:08
  Which takes energy, right? I mean, hey, we don't know any of these people. I mean, right. But
• 15:12
  you have to be consciously, you know what, I'm going to be cool. I'm going to do this. I want
• 15:16
  to do this. Right. Giving back and signing an autograph, just saying hello, looking eye contact.
• 15:22
  Mm hmm. Yeah, giving back. He probably didn't think he should have been there,
• 15:28
  is probably what I'm thinking. I'm probably like, what? Yeah, I know. It's got to be embarrassing.
• 15:33
  You're like, what? I'm down here, double A, throwing ball. I just want to get out of here.
• 15:36
  I get it. But, you know, had a few kids on the back, say hello. You know? Yeah. Hey, guys,
• 15:43
  we got this. Good luck. I don't know. I'm getting it all secondhand. So maybe he's like the coolest
• 15:49
  guy ever. He's got a cool foundation. I have no idea. But it's funny how when you work in a sports
• 15:56
  organization, you know, I'm just a low life usher. But all that information just comes to you. It's
• 16:01
  like people whispering all over the park, you know. And, you know, you got to have shreds of
• 16:08
  truth to it somehow. You do. Well, Ronaldo is getting all kinds. Baseball gets it. Players
• 16:16
  get this. But they have lots of games like they can, you know, address it the next game. Football
• 16:22
  can be a little tougher. Basketball, there's a lot of games like Argentina plays Monday against
• 16:28
  Austria. So, you know, Messi is going to be out there again. And then Portugal plays June 23rd
• 16:35
  against Uzbekistan. And he's got a chance. He's, you know, him and his people are hearing all the
• 16:41
  noise. So, I'm curious. That'll be Messi watching. Of course, that's an 11 a.m. game. Well, the
• 16:51
  scuttlebutt that I was looking at is when Messi won the World Cup in 2022 with Argentina was a,
• 17:01
  what was it, sudden death at the end? It was a shootout, right? They won it over France.
• 17:09
  Well, France's big player is, you should know, right? Mbappé? Is that how you say it? Mbappé, yeah. Mbappé.
• 17:18
  So, he's supposed to be the second coming, right? He's like the next Messi. Maybe even going to be
• 17:25
  better, right? And so, you know, he comes. Here we fast forward four years and Messi does the hat
• 17:35
  trick and Mbappé only does two goals. It's like, what? What is going on here? So, anyway, that's,
• 17:44
  for all you soccer fans or new to soccer fans, there's the goal to watch is the younger one
• 17:53
  coming up, the old one going out. Who's going to outdo who here? Well, Mbappé had two goals
• 17:59
  on four shots, right? And they're winning on Senegal, right? But Messi's still out in them,
• 18:06
  if you look at the numbers. So, yeah, that's 27. Now, is father time going to catch up here
• 18:14
  during this tournament? So, that's what I think, if I'm hearing you when you first started talking is,
• 18:21
  is you got to have endurance. You got to have the durability. I mean, everyone's hot in the
• 18:27
  first game. Okay, what about game three, game six? You know, how good are you then? So, we'll see.
• 18:36
  Yep, and the track record for Messi, you know, you have to be, you know, just like
• 18:44
  and Ronaldo. They've had long, distinguished careers. Oh, yeah. Through injury, non-injury.
• 18:50
  Both of them are focused, dedicated to the game, people. So, yes, only you can be that way.
• 18:57
  Jason Hill getting up, doing his walk, so he could go around and not have a tight back when he gets
• 19:02
  up. That's what I'm living with right now. How do PE teachers stay in shape, right?
• 19:11
  Yeah, I know. I know, I'm in the same boat. It's like, you know, you create your morning.
• 19:18
  You know, when I was working, I tried to have morning rituals, but I wasn't very good at it,
• 19:24
  and then I retired, and I realized I'm still not very good at it, because consistency is king,
• 19:30
  and I think that's where all these players have showed up, is they're the ones willing to do work
• 19:39
  at a time when no one's doing work. You know, they're the ones up at five in the morning,
• 19:44
  doing the most boring thing ever, and that's like stretching or warming up
• 19:50
  when no one's watching, but you got to do it every day. You miss a day,
• 19:56
  then that turns into two days you miss. That turns into three days you miss, right, and then you're
• 20:01
  not. That's what I've learned, is even when I don't feel like it, I still got to show up on the
• 20:07
  mat. For me, it's stretching in the mornings. You know, I do yoga with Tim on YouTube,
• 20:15
  and I pay the price when I'm not on the mat. Yeah, like I go out and walk for about an hour,
• 20:24
  and then I play disc. Nice. I'm trying to do that every day, disc every day in the walk in the
• 20:30
  morning, and that's just on the low level. It's just us doing that. These guys are doing whatever
• 20:36
  they're doing on an elite level, but obviously, we see all this. Father Time eventually wins.
• 20:44
  Yep, over all of us. Yep, yep. I know, like you look at some players, you know, they'll do the,
• 20:52
  hey, in the audience tonight, we got, you know, people from the 1985 whatever, right, and you see
• 20:59
  some players come on like, wow, they're still in really good shape, and then you look at others,
• 21:03
  you're like, Father Time is not being kind. As soon as they stopped being professional,
• 21:09
  it all went to hell, you know. So, you know, just because you're a pro athlete doesn't mean you know
• 21:18
  how to be retired, right? Right, totally. Yeah, yeah. Now, just really quick as we go as a teaser
• 21:27
  for our audience to maybe listen to our World Cup preview, just real quick, what has been your
• 21:34
  Croatia? You've been to Croatia, you were kind of like, you know what, I'm gonna follow Croatia.
• 21:39
  Yeah, watch that game. What's been your little synopsis? Well, they played England, so that was
• 21:45
  game one, and I loved it. It was great, you know, England went up, Croatia surprisingly, bam, back
• 21:52
  in at 1-1, and then England goes up 2-1. All of a sudden, Croatia, right before halftime, bam,
• 21:59
  they scored another goal, go in, tied at halftime against the powerhouse England. I'm like, go
• 22:04
  Croatia. Now you know why England is ranked the way they are. Yeah, it's all England after that.
• 22:13
  I did not realize Luka was 40 years old. I did not, I'm like, ooh, but it's exciting. I love the
• 22:23
  Croatian fans, they're all wearing the white and red checks, and if you notice in the crowd, there's
• 22:29
  people with swim caps on. They love water polo in that country. You ever travel to Croatia,
• 22:35
  and you go down the coast, stop in all the little towns, what do they have? Water polo rings
• 22:41
  everywhere off the side of the docks, and so they are a water polo culture, and so that's why
• 22:47
  they're wearing them in the stadium. See, that's great, man. Otherwise, I would not have known that.
• 22:54
  I'd be like, what? Why is that guy wearing that? You know, why is that? So, yeah, so that's very
• 22:59
  exciting. I have to say, man, I appreciate you kind of leaning on me a little bit, going, yeah,
• 23:04
  you sure you don't want to pay attention to the World Cup, and I'm like, okay. Well, when you pick
• 23:09
  a team, and kind of watch them a little bit, you know, I picked Argentina, which is kind of
• 23:13
  cheating in a way, because they're favored to do well, but I gotta tell you, that's because at my
• 23:20
  school, I have so many Messi fans. Oh, I bet. I have so many kids. I have to watch, because when I go
• 23:26
  back to school, I gotta be able to be able to talk about Messi, and the three goals he did here,
• 23:33
  whatever else they do. I have to have some knowledge of that. So, yeah, anyway, good, man.
• 23:40
  Yeah, no, I appreciate that, and that's, I will follow them through the whole tournament, and
• 23:45
  you know, soccer, I have to say, I, let me back up a second. What do you call it,
• 23:52
  being an American? Do you still just call it soccer? Oh, yeah, call it? No, just soccer. Okay,
• 23:59
  all right. All right, I've referenced soccer. Yeah, I get enough of it on Fox,
• 24:08
  Airwaves TV, that I think I can follow through the whole tournament. So, yeah, I think I'm good.
• 24:15
  So, you've been watching on Telemundo, right? I have. I'm watching every. How's your Spanish
• 24:20
  coming, man? It's good. It's a little better, but I just love the excitement and stuff. Looking
• 24:26
  forward to Mexico tonight, as we are recording this. There's another team. I think that'd be my
• 24:34
  second team after Argentina. I'm excited for Mexico to make some noise, see what they do.
• 24:42
  I don't know. It's all fun. Well, so,
• 24:47
  keeping with our theme of this one, where father time catches up, do you think
• 24:52
  Argentina's going to have the legs at the end? Will Messi and father time run out
• 25:00
  on this World Cup? What do you think? My prediction is, I think the experience of
• 25:05
  the team will help them. They'll know when to push hard, when not to. Not to get overly,
• 25:13
  not excited, but if they get beat, they're not going to waste energy. They're going to
• 25:18
  stay calm. It's all about conserving your energy, knowing when to burst,
• 25:22
  knowing when to do that. Like I said, Messi's a master of that. I bet he has helped his team,
• 25:27
  or they watch how he plays. So, I'm going to say they're going to have enough to be competitive,
• 25:32
  where they'll win all that. I am not sure. There's some pretty good teams out there,
• 25:39
  but my prediction is they're going to go far. Okay. All right. Well, now that I know a little
• 25:46
  bit more about the age of these athletes. A lot of the stars are old. Yeah. Yeah. I did not
• 25:53
  realize that here in the soccer world. I thought, except for a few outliers, most of them are like
• 26:00
  24, which a lot of them are probably. But knowing that Scotland's, that's a big game. That's a big
• 26:09
  team. They're gamers. Mexico, Portugal, and Argentina all have older players. I'm like,
• 26:20
  Germany, they got a little newer. He's 40. I mean, you need those people who can set up and play
• 26:28
  and know. It's knowing, I think, I believe, just knowing when to use your,
• 26:35
  your, explain your energy and when not to, and just how to keep your head around you.
• 26:40
  Right. Right. Before we wrap up here, what's with all the leg injuries in soccer? What's with the,
• 26:49
  is that really a thing? I mean, I would think how hard they kick. A lot of guys go down. It's legit,
• 26:56
  but also a lot of flopping happens. Like, someone didn't even kick it. They tripped themselves,
• 27:03
  but they're rolling around on the ground, holding their leg. Sure. Some of that is to give everyone
• 27:08
  a break. I think, kind of try to change momentum. Sometimes I think they are actually stunned. This
• 27:14
  is my own personal app. I obviously never played professional soccer, but also it's, if you're
• 27:21
  struggling, they might do that because at the end, you'll notice they tack on extra minutes
• 27:27
  after a match. And some of that is, you know, when you're down hurting and they got to bring
• 27:33
  some guy over to look at you, just add some time to the end of the game. There's strategy in there.
• 27:39
  I cannot pretend to know all of it by inches, but I definitely think it's a little strategy.
• 27:46
  Well, I think I'm going to look at the game through a little closer eye now. And that is
• 27:53
  when I'm watching the matches with these older players, I'm going to see if they are doing the
• 27:59
  limp and the flopping that I see. I see a lot of flopping going on here. And, you know, so I'm
• 28:08
  going to watch like, you know, I'm going to watch Ronaldo and Messi and see how much they're like
• 28:12
  hobbling around like there is it. They never do. I don't know. Yeah. You know, do they ever flop?
• 28:18
  I don't know. So maybe that's for the younger players. I don't know. That's what I'm asking.
• 28:25
  Yeah, I don't know either. I think other than I think some people have roles on the team.
• 28:29
  It's your job to take one for the team right here. Right. Go down. Yeah. Go down. Turn.
• 28:35
  Slow it down. Give everyone a breather. Right. Do this. Okay. Or do some kind of foul on somebody.
• 28:42
  I don't know. Right. Well, we're just two dudes kind of talking about older guys playing soccer.
• 28:48
  Way to go. All these old players. Yeah. I love the end. Yeah. These older players, man. Let's go
• 28:54
  represent. Yeah. Well, Craig Gordon of Scotland, 43. He's the goalie. So go Scotland. So I'm going
• 29:02
  to watch them a little closer. But I'm still going to watch Croatia. And you're still watching
• 29:08
  Argentina, right? Yep. Argentina with my other team, Mexico. Okay. All right. Well, guess what,
• 29:15
  dude? What? We are out of time, man. And well, everyone, I hope you're watching the World Cup.
• 29:21
  And until our next episode, this is life according to Brian and Jason. And until next time,
• 29:29
  let us know how you think these older players are doing in the World Cup. See ya.