Latest / The Scrambling Dads Podcast / Episode 51: Golf & Boots

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Episode 51: Golf & Boots · The Scrambling Dads Podcast

• Alex: welcome back. took a week off there. School got started. We were all pretty busy. just getting I I'm not even gonna say any of us are really to our normal. I mean, we had what, two days of school. last week so it's like enough to like be a teaser of hey the kids are back and then they're at home again. so first full week that we're heading into baseball started yesterday for us for Grayson sports soccer starts in a month lacrosse starts in a month so I mean it's it's gonna be another three four months of sports for for our household after what maybe six weeks off of sports so but glad to be back today we are going to chat a little bit about how apparently marcus and i have really rubbed off on jason in the Marcus: Yeah. Alex: western culture world the rabbit hole of boots that he's gone on We're going to chat a little bit about some I'm gonna call it personal priorities. you know, just making life decisions that impact your kids and what the best best way to do that when you decide to have to do it. what else we got on the agenda, boys? I feel like there's one more thing. Producer, I'm looking at Marcus. Marcus: me, hope. yeah, we're Alex: Yeah, I th I th I thought you Jason: Yeah, you guys ran Alex: were Jason: a whole tab of stuff and I just Marcus: I'm more of a creative mind behind the scenes. no, we did have a I'm I'm new to this whole play date thing. I didn't have those growing up, so yeah, it was a little little Alex: yeah. Yeah, there's that. Marcus: a little different for me. So Alex: Well, and that's honestly kind of what got us caught up today, because I was supposed to do yard work today. That didn't because stuff happened. so let I guess let's get into this. I want to talk golf real quick. First, I played another round, and the game is feeling good. However, I've got to figure out how to get my front nine a little bit better. my past two rounds, I am plus Nine on the front, if you combined both fronts, and I am minus seven. So seven under on the back of those same respective rounds. So going on birdie fest on the back nines lately. so I mean I'm seven one over seventy-three a few weeks ago, and then I shot a 75. No, 77, sorry. because five over 77. The other day. so I mean, two good rounds. I'll I'll give it that. My putting, my putting. So we were at Fields Ranch again, and I know that video hasn't come out. I'm actually like the background of my screen right now is the video timeline, and it's giving me anxiety because I have not worked on it at all past week. but Y'all will see, like I was struggling putting on those greens. I I wanted them to be so much faster than they were. And the exact same thing happened on this nine or this eighteen. I I don't think I started getting the ball to the cup until like hole eleven. Then Jason: Here. Alex: I started making some putts. but I played some mind games with the guys. So these are all baseball dads. It was one of their birthdays, and we said, Hey, that he had like two friends coming in town from Arizona. Like, hey, do you want to take a day off and come play with us? Absolutely. So we went and played Field Ranch. And this time to West Course a little bit easier. But these guys know that I'm a good golfer. So you my phone has been blowing up for the past three weeks, ever since this was planned, of they're all just coming after me and they want to beat me. So I decided I'm really gonna lean into the good golfer kind of douchebag mentality. And I sent them a text and said, guys, I'm on rolling hot. I got meetings in the morning. I had things going on. so I'm just gonna show up and play. Like I'm not worried about I'm gonna wipe all of y'all anyways. And that that they're like, whatever, like typical scratch golfer, blah, blah, blah. So I really decided to lean into that and I said, I'm not gonna be there. In reality, I took the entire day off and I spent two and a half hours at IGP Jason: Yeah. Alex: warming up like a pro. And and I Jason: Well I I I remember you said that. I didn't know it was that long. Marcus: Yeah. Alex: yeah, I got there at eight. We our tea time was at ten ten forty two and I walked up there at like ten twenty. I left IGP at ten. So I was there for two hours, not two and a half. Two hours Marcus: Nice. Alex: I was at IGP, took my clothes, I was in gym clothes, I took my clothes, changed, drove over to the golf course, and I check in. I was hey, 1042, blah blah blah. They were like, you must be Alex. And was like, Yeah, how'd you know? Like, am I the last one to check in on this T Town? He was like, No, you're the last one to check in in general. Like all all the other seven guys are on the range already. They've been here for like an hour and a half. They said something about they have to beat you. I was like, solid. That that that tracks. I'm not too concerned Marcus: Yeah. Alex: about it. I I'm I'm going off, you know. I I just I'm good. So I should Marcus: So So they just painted you like a douche to the pro shop. Yeah. Alex: absolutely. What's the Jason: They did. Alex: funny thing is the pro shop, a lot of the guys up at the pro shop know me because I've played up there Marcus: Yeah. Alex: with my friend that's a pro. So I go or drive they're all hitting on the driving range. And again, I decided I'm really gonna lean into the douche here. Like, you know what? I don't play the like douche scratch golfer often. I'm gonna do it today. So I grabbed my wedge and my driver off the cart. Walked over, of course, started talking trash as soon. I was like, guys, they're saying that you've been here for like two hours trying to warm up because you're trying to beat me. Like, this is ridiculous. Like, y'all y'all know it's you're it's not gonna happen. They're all whatever, we're gonna all this crap. I took like three swings with my wedge, two drivers, which after a two-hour warm-up, I piped two drivers. So I like, cool, great. Marcus: Yeah. Alex: I walked off after like literally 30, 40 seconds of hitting at the range, it felt like. I like, let's go. Then we went over to the the little thing. We were the second group to tee off and the chipping greens right there. So I go grab my wedge. And again, I had chips. I'm at IGP. I'm I got my feels. I'm good. I put like three spinners right next to the hole, walked off, put my wedge in the bag and said, Alright guys, you ready? Let's go. So Marcus: Yeah. Alex: we get to the first tee. And I grabbed my mini driver, it's a par five. And I had planned this at IGP. So I did two practice rounds at IGP on the simulator of the first hole specifically. I knew it's a par five. I knew what club I was gonna hit because I knew the game I was gonna play. And I pulled the like DOD King move. I grabbed the ball, I tossed it down on the ground, walked up and just piped driver off the deck. mini driver. was like, come on guys, let's go. Like, I'm in the fairway. Let's are y'all done. Marcus: Yeah. Alex: I ended up boguing the hole. So it it didn't totally go didn't totally go great Marcus: Still look cool. Alex: for me. ended up bogeying the hole. But anyways, I went it was really windy in fairness. So my I can't remember where my first shot went or my second shot. Well no, it it it was really windy. Sorry, no, I parred that hole. I bogeied the next like three holes after that because it was dead into the wind uphill, and I ended up pull double crossing my second drive. Third was that par three. That's really hard. The fourth one is that uphill par four that has like a huge grass bunker. Ball went down to the collection area. I was just like, just get it up a two putt, so I was three over after four four holes, anyways. but yeah, I really leaned into the golf douche and made the turn six over and then played the back nine and one under and the rest is history. So it was kind of fun. Jason: Where'd the rest of them finish? Alex: so there was a guy that is a six handicap. He shot an 82 and Everyone else finished somewhere between a ninety-one to one something. There's like four of them that were like 91, 92, 92, 93, and then there was in the hundreds. So only only one person in the 80s and then myself at a 77. Which I felt good because the the guy that's I was kind of surprised he's a six-handicap now. He was a four a three or four because he did one of the league nights at IGP with me. A handful of months ago, and he was three or four at that time. so I don't know how he set up to a six point eight, because I looked afterwards. but he was in the group ahead of me. And when you haven't played the West course, it's a little bit different than the East. The West, you f finish out, it's kinda like old school, you finish out. so you don't come back by the pro shop. So like hole ten, no, eleven turns back and hole ten green is right there. So that's the first time we like saw each other and could talk. So they were hitting their tee shot and I was already on the green, ready to put. I was waiting for someone on their approach. So I walked over and talked to his name's Neil. I was like, Hey, how'd you shoot on the front? He's like, Dude, eight over. Like that wind and uphill. Like the first seriously, the first five holes of the West are dead Marcus: Mm-hmm. Alex: south and all of them are uphill because you're climbing the hill and then you kind of come back down. It's just a brutal start. even if you're striping the ball. Like it is just a brutal start. And he was like, that it ate me alive. I kind of evened out after that, but I may turn an eight over. I was like, okay, well, I feel better because I may turn a six over. So it was a it was a tough day. Wind died down. it actually felt really good for about two hours there. The last hour of the round was tough, because that's when it started heating up. But it it was a it was a fun little round. I thoroughly enjoyed it. And I I'll say that it I think my charade played off for the most part. Marcus: Ha ha ha. Jason: Mm. Alex: Some some mental some mental games, you know. I gotta take it where I can get it. Marcus: Did anyone else in the group shoot better on the second or on the back nine? Yeah. Okay. Alex: Everyone did. It yeah, once the wind died down, it and the back nine has a little more favorable elevation changes. It's either flat or like there's one par four, a ravine. Very similar. So the west course is very similar to the east. Like a lot of similar holes, but the west is either wider fairways or just little nuances that make it a little more friendly. So if you remember, there's the one T-Box that's probably 30 yards up from the fairway landing zone on the east course. They have that same type of hole on the west. And I mean, I hit a four-iron all the way down to like 20 yards shy of a 350 creek, because you're got 40 yards of elevation change between the two. Marcus: Mm-hmm. Alex: So, I mean, that's an easy drive hole. all of the par fives I could reach in two. I was either barely off the green or or on the green and two on pretty much every par five except for hole one that's dead into the wind. it's just it's a much easier course to play. Much easier, especially the back nine. And you finish with two par fives. It's a par five, par five finish. So you can. try to pick up a stroke on both those holes. And they have two driveable par fours. At least from the T's we're Jason: So Alex: playing. Marcus: Mm-hmm. Jason: So the back plays e I mean, like you said, the back plays easier, but it also sets you up if you're obviously a longer hitter to be much more scorable. So Alex: Yeah, back is one hundred percent more scorable. Jason: So that kinda feeds into why you shot better on the back nine for sure. Alex: Yes, on that core specifically, yes. Stonebridge is a Jason: Now Stonebridge or wherever else you played, I don't know. That's a different story. Alex: Stonebridge is little different. That one I I'm gonna give that one mainly. We talked about this what two podcasts ago is two drivable par fours that I just I felt it and I was on my game that day and I drove both par fours. Like one of them we talked about, it's a 290 carry. Jason: Yeah. Alex: I wouldn't typically go for that green, which means I'm probably powering that hole at best because you're gonna do a layup, then a typical approach, then probably a two putt. But When I carry the green, I mean it's literally like a 20-yard landing area and a 290 carry. Like that's a one out of every 10 shot shot for me. Like I'm not doing that often. I just happened to do it well that day. Marcus: Mm-hmm. Alex: So I think there was some stuff that went my way. Marcus: Mm-hmm. Alex: The Stonebridge round, I think, Jason: Mm-hmm. Alex: PGA, the weather calmed down, and that allowed me to get back to normal golf instead of trying to fight the wind. 'Cause I we had twenty, thirty mile an hour gusts on Friday morning. So I mean it was Jason: Mm-hmm. Alex: it was gusting. It was pretty tough. So that was my golf round. I have zero on the books, but I I thought it was fun to kind of lean into lean into that. And like I said, I even one of after w right before we were about to tee off, he was like, d you had some work to do this morning and I was like, Yeah, I had a l I had timesheets, I had a couple meetings, like, no big deal. I'm ready, let's go. Like Just brushed it off. It was it was fun. I don't know if I'm ever gonna Marcus: Yeah. Alex: tell them that I actually went and warmed up somewhere else. Jason: Unless they listen to this podcast. Alex: Yeah, I mean that's obviously something can happen, but I don't know if they do. Jason: Your secrets out. They're gonna they know who you are now anyways. Alex: Yeah, well if they wanna listen then they can call me out on it. Marcus: Yeah. Have our first caller. Jason: Well yeah. Alex: That Jason: Well they knew you they they already knew you were already a skilled golfer because they already came in talking like they needed to take you down. So they already had that insight on you. It's just I guess the matter of you actually tuning up beforehand is the I guess the big factor because they'd be curious to see how you would have done if you didn't get a chance to warm up and you did just show up. Alex: Yeah, I don't know. That's either going really good or really bad. I don't know. I I I'm in a really good headspace with golf right now. Like I just we've talked Jason: Yeah. Alex: about it so much. Like I just don't care, honestly, how it goes. and I'm playing really good golf, not caring. So it's just kind of working for me and I'm just playing the right shots and you know, it's like I it I took on many holes, I took Two clubs more than I needed. Like, I'm just the ego isn't there. I'm hitting an eight-iron at a 140 pin, just a nice little chippy eight iron. So like, I can control this better than I can, a full wedge. So I'm just gonna Jason: Mm-hmm. Alex: hit a chippy little three-quarter finish eight iron and see what happens. And like, it's just I'm just playing smart golf. Jason: It's like you smarkoff, care but don't care mentality. And that's just it. You're thinking better. Just thinking better, Alex: Yeah. Jason: taking the whole different strategy to the course. I mean, the yeah, you said it right there. It's like with all these young players, and you know, every once in a while, like we'll get into it just I think within ourselves to be a little ego in our own personal like shot selection. And then it's like realizing like, dude, probably should have done it. our second option, but it gets it gets away from us. But it's a good that you're getting to a space where you're able to hone it in through the whole stretch or a longer stretch before you kinda get a little aggressive or get a little greedy. Alex: Yeah, and it's just like being smart. Because like I said, on like that one hole that's a par four, I grabbed my iron and all of them are like, Why are you hitting an iron? And obviously, again, I'm leaning into the golf douche mentality. So my initial response was I hit my iron farther than you hit your driver. So that's why I'm taking an iron here. Marcus: Ha ha ha. Alex: But then like then then I'm like, no, like I I say that with the joke and a laugh, and then I'll look at them and be like, no, like really, you don't need distance here. Like, you're not carrying a creek. You want to get to where you have a full wedge into the screen. So that's what I'm going for. Like I could hit a mini driver and get as close to that creek as humanly possible and risk going in the creek. Or I could just get something in the fairway that's gonna put me somewhere around a hundred to one twenty out, got a full wedge, and I can try to hit the green. Funny enough, I actually shanked it on that hole. dead, dead into the crap. Jason: Mm. Alex: and had a chip out. So I took I ended up getting double bogey on that hole. funny enough. But no, like it's just like I'm just playing a lot smarter than I used to be. Cause every time I'd be like, I'm pounding this as close to the creek as possible, flip wedge in, and you end up spinning it off the green or hitting it too far or shanking it like I did anyways. So then you're just you're compounding the risk. Jason: The old bomb and gouge technique, just those guys ripping it and just wedging it in. No, I mean that's one of the things that I've also just tried to play into, you know, it's always gonna be a little fuzzy. but it's just play a club differently so you have your second shot to fit your yardage. Like you don't need to go 250 when I can go 200 and put myself in this better position, better line, and then have a different shot in. Or, you know, like you said, try Alex: Yeah. Jason: to to push it so far up. And then sometimes you can hit a great drive in the fairway. And there's some courses, you know, with the dog legs, you're great bomb in the fairway, but your angle is actually worse. Alex: It's crap. Yeah. Jason: So again, low in the course, strategizing. And like for me, I've been working what I can more on my longer irons, like the five, six, and then even the seven to try to get those a little bit more crisp and dialed and When we were at East, I mean, my five iron was on the green, six iron was on the green on those two hundred, one ninety yards. I was like, I haven't done that I think since ever in both those. So I like, you know, it's just little things like that. Just if you can start getting more confident and dialed in throughout your bag instead of just trusting the long game and the short game. You need everything. Alex: Well yeah, and you know, again it goes back to like I told these guys I didn't care at all about this and like I'm it's not even a second thought, I'll show up and beat them. But I went to IGP multiple times and played Fields Ranch for full eighteen and I kind of knew the misses, like I knew the spots to play Jason: Mm-hmm. Alex: to. Like I had the course knowledge and I was even talking to that about the guy I was riding with. Because he was asking me questions on like, you know, what separates like you versus a five handicap versus this and versus that. And I was like, you know what, at some point in the handicap system, like, yeah, it becomes how do I control my shot? Then it's well, it's like, how do I hit and plan for my miss? I guess. How do I hit Marcus: Mm-hmm. Alex: it farther? Then it gets to, well, how do I course strategize and plan for my miss? And then it gets like you have these like steps that make you better incrementally. And I was like, dude, like we we were looking at one hole specifically, and was like, what would you do here? And he said, I'd do this. I said, why? Like, if you look at it, the miss is actually 20 yards short. You don't need to be, it was a part five. I was like, you don't need to be on the green in two. Like, that's yeah, sure, it might give you a chance at a birdie. But let's say you flare it right, now you're bringing that hazard into play. Or You don't want to be on the backside of the screen because it's a uphill chip to a downhill green. So you very likely are going to roll off the front of the green anyways, unless you know how to play a flop shot. So I was like, you're if you're going to end up in the same spot and it's safe regardless, then just take the club that's going to put you there in the first place. And it's just like I knew those misses because I had played field of one, I've played it enough times in person, but then I also played it on the simulator. I was like, I kind of knew my shots and I knew where I wanted to be on a lot of it. So again, it goes to I didn't warm up, quote unquote, and I didn't strategize, but I had a full game plan for Marcus: I think it's Alex: the entire round. Jason: That's you do it. I mean, you said it earlier, pros, they play for the miss. Like it's well common knowledge that they play for the miss, knowing how to position it versus just unless they need to get aggressive for like Saturday moving day or Sunday trying to eat inch back up into the top ten or whatever it might be. But yeah, they always play conservative, very casual, look for the miss, never go for the pin. And yeah, you like the guy asked, what's the difference? course knowledge, strategy, and then obviously the biggest component is putting. Like you gotta be able to drain some ten to fifteen foot putts. Like that's that's huge. Alex: Yeah, it's it is, especially on a course like that. making putts and I'll say, like I always walk off a course. Is this the best that I could have done? at Stonebridge, that 73, which really probably should have been a seventy one. We talked about that. How on the last hole I decided to pull out a driver I shouldn't have. I should've just played for the par and moved on. that was the best I was gonna play at Stonebridge that day. It was not the best I was gonna play at Fields Ranch. Like on the first four holes I had two hard lip outs one burned edge on putts. and then there I can't remember, there's one more drop shot that I had somewhere that was like that. It was just a stupid error type thing. And I was like, this is like and I had probably four or five shots with when we were going into the wind on some approaches that I mean My ball was dead in line with the pin. And it came up two clubs short. And that's after me clubbing up because the wind was just that hard to read out of some of those lies. So wasn't the best I was gonna play that day. I probably could have picked up one or two strokes somewhere in there. but win some you lose some. I beat everyone, so I hit my I hit my objective for the day. I didn't wanna I didn't want anyone to beat me, so Marcus: Yeah. Alex: We did that. It helps when you're five strokes better Jason: Nice. Alex: than everyone else, so Marcus: Next time when you're hitting the iron and they go off they need to use their driver, can you just get a quick do you need to use your witty bitty dwiva? Just just a little little cherry on top there. Alex: Well, so the guys, the guys in my group, like I said, the baseball dads, it was pretty much the entire coaching staff. and I was playing with the head coach, and then just one of our other buddies that's an assistant. And I started granted, he's 52, I think, 53. It was his birthday, so somewhere around there. so I mean I'm 16 years younger than him as it stands. So like I should be hitting it farther than him, especially when I'm a scratch golfer. Like you there all of the all of the factors in that relationship will show that I should hit it farther. But there was a handful of times, I think it was like whole six or seven. Like I looked at my riding partner because I had outdriven his name's Paul. I outdrive him by like eighty yards at one point. I was like no, no, no. It was on a par five. It was the first par five we hit. My drive was farther than his first three shots because he hit it in the bunker, hit the lip on the way out of the bunker, and then duffed it out of the bunker again. And it was like 10 yards short of my ball. And I out at the guy I was riding with. I was like, Is it too early to start like trash talking to him? And he's like, No, absolutely just go at it. And so we got Marcus: Yeah. Alex: to that. I was like, Hey, Paul, what are you lying? It's like three, did you see those bunkers back there? I like, no, I was just focused on the fact that I outdrove you and I'm that's that's my first shot and you're hitting four. Like like Marcus: Yeah. I'm on two. Alex: I I'm gonna be on the green in two and you still have three shots to get there. And he just started laughing. It's like, you're an idiot, like stop. Yeah, I didn't even know those bunkers were there. Like Jason: Be like, no, I would didn't worry about it. My ball flew past those bunkers, so I wasn't even looking. I looked past the bunkers. Yeah. Marcus: Just said. Yeah. Alex: I didn't even see them. Jason: There are bunkers? There's a waste area? Marcus: You should you should have said, by the way, there's some bunkers up there by the green, so watch out for those. Yeah. Alex: Yeah, t watch out for these other bunkers. Jason: My ball usually goes in the fair way when I go off the T. So yeah, I don't know what Marcus: And then green. Jason: happens a fifty yards in front of the T box. Alex: No the best thing about it was those two guys, we obviously no one was playing any game. Well, I say no one, I was not playing any games like within the group. Like I was just out there to play golf. A couple of them had some side bets going. And the two guys were riding together, so the assistant coach and Paul clearly had something on it, and they're asking me for rollings on what can I do here, what can do there. And on hole 17 bar five, Paul puts it over the green and he's on like some crevices within like and PG or like the actual USG rules would give you if your ball's resting in one of those crevices, does technically count as ball under or ground under repair. Or if like your feet is are on crevices that impacts your footing. So like You get a little bit. So I was like, okay, technically, yes, we would get some relief here. But then the nearest point of relief really puts them in the hazard. So you would get relief from there. So like we went through this whole thing. And I'm like, look, like, this is a really loose interpretation. We're not pulling out a rule book here. And we're just gonna like eyeball this because I'm not doing this. Like, we're not in a tournament here, and I don't care what y'all have on it. But like this is roundabout, you'd be somewhere right here. So he drops it and hits. And the other guy was like, well, that was favorable, whatever. The other guy is on the other guy. Well, he Marcus: Yeah. Should have said you're gonna chunk it anyway, it don't matter. Alex: ended up making a par bogey, can't remember which one. The other guy was on the green putting for a birdie, like 60 feet. And he drains it, but left the pin in. And it was rolling at a speed of which it hit the pin. And bounced out of the cup four inches. I looked at him and I was like, dude, that pin weren't there, that ball's in all day. Like, that's the perfect pace. It didn't ricochet off like COVID rules. Like, it was a four-inch little bounce directly to the right, which means it hit it pretty square. I was like, that ball would have hit the back of the cup all day. Nine times out of ten, that ball drops. And Paul's like, no, no, no, no, it's it doesn't count. It's a birdie. I like, Paul, we just went through a 15-minute exercise to give you the most favorable call ever on a ground under repair. And I was like, if you really want my answer, I almost dropped a ball and showed you that you could hit it off that stuff, anyways. And my cart, my the guy riding my cart was like, You should have freaking done that. That would have been actually been really funny. I was like, It's like, and you're not gonna give him that birdie. So they they ended up tying the round all because he didn't give them that birdie. I was like, man, that's a that's a low move, man. Marcus: Wow. Jason: Holly dude, put you say what sixty feet and he does that, give him the just give him the bird, man. Alex: I know. He was like, No, no, no. He he left it in. It was it was on him. I was like, I mean, I get it. Like, yeah, if you want to go by the actual rules, but I I feel like through seventeen holes we can look at a lot of questionable non rule calls here. So maybe we just give it to him. Jason: Gosh, what I tell you though, th those USG rules, they are a hot mess. Some of are pretty cut and dry, but some of it's just well, depends on who the your marshal is at the time or your s rules official. Alex: I only knew the crack in the ground one. Like the crack has to be bigger than like an I want to say half an inch or an inch. Like not bigger than the ball, obviously, because then the ball is going to fall down into it. And that's clearly a relief situation. It has it has to be so big. The whole area has to be. It can't just be one. It has to be like the entire area. And it has to impact your ball, your footing. I I only know this because I played in either the mid-am or am qualifier a few years back and my playing partner had a situation. So we had to call, Marcus: Mm-hmm. Alex: ask, because obviously we wanted to get a rolling. And that was what they had told us on the phone. that's the only reason I knew that that was even a thing. And again, it was loose, like the ball was resting up against a crack. He probably could have hit it, but his feet were also on cracks. I was like By the colour of the law, I think you'd probably get no, d on s Jason: You're talking You're talking like Alex: yeah, on Friday. Jason: Yeah, you're talking about like it's so dry that can the clay that the ground is okay. Alex: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, you do you would get relief from those situations under the Jason: So what do they call it? unusual s condition course conditions or something like that. Alex: Yeah, that's Yeah, something like something like that. Which at a place like Fields Ranch it it is. Like it's it's usually right near the creeks where they're not doing anything. I mean, y you had to bad shot to be there in the first place. So I feel like you should just be penalized for that regardless, but but you know, it is what it is. Jason: Well fun. Alex: So that was that was 30 minutes on a golf round that I thought we were gonna talk about for about five minutes. So Marcus: huh. Alex: there's that. no, it was a lot of fun. it's been nice getting back out and playing, but I think my gloves are gonna stay in my bag for a solid five months until sports are over. Jason: No, we'll we'll we'll get out. We'll just have to sneak away like nine holes or something. Alex: Yeah, the the really good thing with the kids' sports is Grayson has one like one or two Saturday games and he already played one this past weekend. most of his stuff is Monday, Thursday. Bella will pick up playing on Saturdays for soccer, and then Jason: Ha Alex: Tripp doesn't have any weekend stuff until tournaments, which are like November and December. So my weekends actually aren't looking that bad between now and the end of the year. but I mean the problem is like for me rodeo season kicks up again. I'm going out to I'm going out to Denton Friday, Saturday, Sunday night for the Rodeo Starts at 7:30 up there. the North Texas fair and rodeo. So I'll be up there three nights back to back shooting a rodeo. So that's kind of picking back up again now that they the rodeo season kind of takes a big swing up north, at least all the big s the big people and stuff. Wyoming, Montana, all that fun stuff. And then it kind of comes back down a little bit before before the end of the year. So Jason: Sweet. Alex: That's that's where we're at. Marcus, let's talk about your play dates. 'Cause that's that's what Jason: So yeah, what's going on with that? Alex: that's what snagged me last night and and today. Yeah. Marcus: Really? Man, I didn't I didn't know that like me growing up I didn't If it was like if I had asked like my parents, hey, can so and so come over, they'll say, Well, don't they have a house? Don't they have parents? Why do they have to come over here? And so I was never used to like hanging out with friends at even at their houses or or my house. So this is a whole new concept to me, which luckily Blake, she She was kinda talking me through it because she could I guess kinda sense that I it wasn't that I was un uncomfortable. It's just like I've never done this before kind of thing. And sh she was like, Alex: Mm-hmm. Marcus: All right, I'm gonna go to the store and their parents are gonna pick up at this time. I was like, their parents trust me with their kids? Like, what's going on here? Like, so I was just kinda internally just, you know, okay, this is this is how it goes. which yeah, I've never been I guess exposed to that and I didn't realize that till we moved over here kinda closer to while where all his friends are and so they're yeah, no, it it seems like they can come over whenever. So yeah. Never had that, so Alex: Yeah. That's that's about how it goes. Yeah, it's it Yeah, it it I don't know. I I I was a little different. Like I would always have friends over at the house and or I would be at friends house. I mean both of y'all know one of my best friends, Travis, like we we were inseparable, it felt like. I was either his house or he was over at our house up until like high school. so I I think a little bit different, but what's what's new to me is like It's no longer kind of like just the single person. It's like the families. Like we are if if our kids are hanging out, like the families are hanging out. And it's like an all-day Jason: Mm. Alex: thing. Like it was one of the girls' birthdays yesterday and they did it at the the community pool. And like we're there, then we leave, went to Grayson's baseball game, and then came back, went back to the pool and was there till, you know, 9:30 or whatever. before we come home and are getting absolutely nothing done. And then like today it's again, you when you have a birthday party, it's not just one person. Like back it felt like back in our day, like, mom or dad takes you to birthday party, you get dropped off or they might stay there, but then like you leave right after. and it's like an hour, hour and a half, but like we went to this birthday party and we were there for three hours, and then it's like all of us are doing stuff, so let's go do this now, and we're all together doing stuff. Jason: Yeah. Alex: So it's like then you go do that. Next thing you know, you've wasted six hours of the day and you're like, Man, I had yard work to do, I had all these things to do, and I did none of it. Jason: No, like when I was growing up, it was just all right, the kids handled everything. Parents were just like, Okay, where y at? All right, see you in a few hours. Birthday parties, it was drop you off. That was our relief that was the relief. They went shopping, ran errands. All right, I'll be back, pick you up. Boom. And so it's a to differ different generations. Alex: Well, I mean, in in fairness in fairness, you had carrier pigeons for communication. So look, that's a little different than what we had. Marcus: That's true. Jason: Well, we ha we had a couple of fox runs too. Alex: Fox News. No, I I I say that in jest because you're totally right. Like it is different generations. And you know, Casey and I had this exact conversation. And I don't I'm not like saying this a segue into the other topics we're gonna talk about, but it kind of does play in. Like when we were driving home today and she was I can't remember where we were, but she saw the construction, she was like, is that where the that new water park is going? I was like, What are you talking about, a water park? And I guess apparently McKinney's getting one of those Kalaharis that are big in Austin area, or something like that, is what she had heard. Jason: Really? Alex: That's what she I hadn't fact checked it, and that's kind of what she was thinking. and I was like, no, I mean I hadn't heard of that. And then we went on the rabbit hole, or I went on this soapbox of like it's I'm all for growth. Like I'm in construction, like growth is growth is great, especially for business. Marcus: Yeah. Alex: But like it brings traffic and a bigger demographic. And I mean, when we moved to McKinney when I was young, like it was I hate to be that person that's like, we were fifty thousand people here and now it's I mean, but it but it's you're not r it was it was probably a quarter of what it is now. And all these it's like it takes me 15 minutes to get from my house to the highway. And that's it's a pain in the butt because of the traffic and the stoplights. And then you have all these schools and like half the schools are overcrowded and it's it's all the stuff. So I made a comment that I was like, you know, like would you be open to moving? Like if if we were to go north and go get some land, you know, two, three acres. Then they like we're not worried about what the kids are doing. Like they're running around on two, three acres, they're enjoying life. And I go I gave her this whole like spiel about how when I was in high school, I would go to my friend's house. He lived up in Lantana. And we would just get on four wheelers and go four-wheeling all day. And we were staying out of trouble, but having a blast. You know, phones weren't on us because this was 2006, 2007, when like you had a cell phone, but it wasn't like you didn't it wasn't social media and didn't have internet. So it was like strictly for communication, like texting your parents. So half the time we left it because whatever. Like we're we're on the four-wheelers on his on his property, so we don't need a phone. Like we can walk back if we needed to. you know, and just doing all that crap. And was like, you know, it'd be nice to like do that and like raise our kids like they're living in the 90s again. Outside of all this outside influence and all this crap that has just muddied the waters with social media and just ever all the screens. I was like, it it'd be kind of nice to live out and not have to deal with this traffic and not have to deal with. all of the nonsense that comes with living in a city. Jason: That's funny. really quick though, I did look it up. So yes, McKinney is getting a resort water park called Cannon Beach. Two hundred million dollar Alex: Gana Beach, so not California. Jason: two hundred million dollar project. Stacy and one twenty one. Alex: Yeah, that that's exactly where we were. So yeah, she was right. I hadn't fact checked it nor had I heard it. I I they put the fence up and they started moving dirt and I I didn't know what for. I just assumed it was another apartment complex or something. Yeah, that's Jason: I've seen it, yeah. I'm just like wonder what's going there, but now I know. Alex: exact that's exactly where we were. Yeah, Jason: Is Alex: which is great. Great, 'cause that's exactly my path to get to work. so just more traffic. yeah. Jason: Yeah, but the water park won't be open when you drive by. Alex: Yeah, true. It'll be open in the afternoon when I'm coming home. And that exit's gonna be a freaking nightmare now, and so's the Custer exit. So's the Lake Forest exit, so Marcus: Sounds like an old man now. Jason: Gosh, it's gonna be it's gonna be like that amphitheater when that goes in. Alex: Well, yeah, then then you talk about the hardening and the seventy five exit because you have that theater there. So it's I'm going like I said, put on my soapbox of like Marcus: Yeah. Alex: growth is amazing and this is awesome for the city in general. Like but like do we need to be part of the city? Or can we maybe move? Yeah. Marcus: Can we just visit? Jason: my gosh, that's funny. It's like I get I I could just imagine Alex just getting on his soapbox about this whole this whole thing. Yeah, just like, my god, what are we doing? Like this this makes no sense. And Alex: Well well, you get that Yeah, it's Marcus: He's yelling at clouds just Jason: then it's like, what are you doing? Alex: Well, and I I will admit, like, I think it's like any life stage. Like you Jason: Mm-hmm. Alex: do something and it starts to kind of shape and mold your perspective. That's why one is different. We all have different life experiences. And we're now going on a month of this horse lease thing. And Belle and I wake up every Sunday morning and we go get on the horse. And like today, it was so nice because we're just doing it's called call it trail riding, but it's really just walking the pasture. We're just walking the fence line, just her and I, her being a chatter box in front of me, just talk, talk, talk. and I'm sitting there and you can imagine as a dad, like you're just loving that moment, like it's you and your kid. and You know, as we're kind of coming around and walking over to the arena so that she can ride the horse by herself a little bit, you know, the people that manage the the property are starting to be up and about and get the horses moving to get them fed for the morning and the pigs and the goats and the cows. Like it's just you kind of see that ranch wake up in that, you know, hour and a half that I'm there. And it just gave me this moment of like, it was kind of nice. Like, like that's a lifestyle that I could get on board with of like you just And you can't see like that part of McKinney, because we're still in McKinney there. You can't see a single highway. Like it is all pastures, all land, all ranches. just absolutely amazing. Like you you can barely even see a single road other than the one that is you know, budding the the property. And it's like it is just it was a very peaceful morning. And the more that we have those peaceful mornings every Sunday that Bella and I go do that, it's like this is a lifestyle that like I could get on board with. Like just not have to talk or see or deal with the crap. Like you wake up and you're on your own little bubble every morning, every day. Jason: It'd be great if they could keep it that way, but you know, with all the growth, you gotta imagine at some point stuff's gonna start slowly creeping on up up there. Alex: yeah, if we wanted that lifestyle we're we'd be looking at Jason: Wyoming. Alex: twenty twenty miles north of where we live now, which then you get into the makes my drive an hour and a half to work every day. Is that something that we want to put up with? And my mom has talked about potentially like Marcus: Yeah. Alex: If we were to go buy, say, five acres or three acres, like she would buy off an acre of that and build her Jason: Right. Alex: house and live with us. So it's like, yeah, we'd have someone to help with the kids, which would be nice because now I'm driving an hour and a half. and I would do that for the lifestyle. Like I would drive three hours a day for that lifestyle. I'll just alter my days. This my mom's gonna help in the mornings with the kids. Like I just move my days where I leave the house at five in the morning, get to work at six thirty, and then leave by three thirty so I can be home by dinner time. So I guess Jason: All valid options. Alex: They are. but yeah, so we've we've had that conversation. But I say we've had it like it was mainly me having a conversation to myself and Casey just having to listen to me. yeah, pretty much. Marcus: I was gonna say you or you having the conversation Jason: That's what I'm pic that's what I'm picturing. Marcus: and Bella just chatting away at something and you're having a whole conversation inside your head, how this is nice. Alex: No, at that moment Bella was just asleep in the backseat of the car. and it's funny, I'm having this conversation. You know, I I joke that Casey and I are beauty and the beast with our cars, right? I got my diesel truck and she drives the Tesla. And at this moment we're in the Tesla traffic, and I'm talking about moving north and buying land, and that way we can have livestock while we're driving our little Tesla around. Marcus: Ha ha ha. Jason: Just get the Tesla Marcus: Yep. Jason: truck. Marcus: Yeah. Alex: Okay, I will never get the Cybertrock. Will that happen? that thing is ugly. I'm not getting a new truck until one of the boys takes my truck. They've already been fighting over who's gonna get my truck. And I was like, I don't know if I Marcus: Yeah. Alex: hate this or love this. Like the fact that my two boys want a truck instead of a sports car is amazing. But Marcus: Yeah. Alex: also, like, do one of you really wants a 10-year-old truck with 300,000 miles on it? Because that's what's gonna happen. Marcus: You'd be surprised. That's like it's gonna be like the cool truck in high school. Jason: Mm-hmm. Especially out here. Alex: I Marcus: Mm-hmm. Alex: I'm f I'm fine. Well, especially when we move and own a ranch up north. Jason: Wh there you go. Marcus: Mm-hmm. Alex: it's gonna be a great, great ranch truck that is gonna get beat to crap. Marcus: Yep. Alex: No, so anyways, that that segues. But okay. I'm gonna bring that back around full circle to Marcus's thing about play dates. Jason: we're still on that? Alex: Yeah. Circle back. Marcus: Yeah. Alex: well we weren't on it. We we kinda put a pin in it, gave us a roadmap real, real Marcus: Yeah, we're coming back. Yeah. Alex: long, now we're back there. I told Casey, I like, the biggest part is like it's hard to move the kids out of the community that we've created. Like Marcus: Mm-hmm. Alex: Grayson's baseball team, you know, the people that we hang out with, we're all like within a five-minute drive of each other. We can hang out whenever we want. We have the girl gang, so Isabella's daycare group that they're all on the same soccer team in in the town, and four of them all go to school together. And that's who we were with. I mean, three of the families live in the same neighborhood. That's why we're always at the community pool, because we're always hanging out and they have siblings that are Grace and a trip sage. And so it all kind of works out. It's like in my head, I'm like, it sucks because what are we gonna do? Uproot them? Like we have this great community and we're gonna go from having that community to them not having anyone within 15 minutes, 15 miles maybe. you know, and I get you make new friends and it's just hard because you want to prioritize what's best for them, but then you're like, Well, is moving away what's best for them and it just Marcus: Mm-hmm. Alex: doesn't seem like it at the time, or does it seem selfish to want to move farther away, or what do you do there? And then I feel like you also have like unspoken timelines of Well, really, Tripp's already in middle school, but we can never dictate where he goes to school because he's in prosperity, anyways. So if we remove him from the equation, he's only a part of the equation to say we need to be within a relatively short drive to his schools so that we can make sure we get him there and he can hang out with his friends. But we don't need to be in the same school district per se. So Marcus: Mm-hmm. Alex: there's that conversation, but it's not a factor. Okay, so do we need to move by the time Grayson's in sixth grade so that we're not uprooting him in middle school? So that he can kind of start fresh in middle school and create the relationships with friends before high school. So he has a good group of friends going into high school, or you know, is there a proper time to move him that's not impacting him much? I don't I don't know. And once you start thinking about all that, it makes it even harder. Marcus: Yeah. Jason: Yeah, well Marcus, what year are your kids 'cause you made the move Marcus: The Jason: recently. Marcus: Yeah, they're four and seven. So we're just starting, I guess, to do all those things. Yeah. Alex: Yeah, so they're on the elementary school side of it and like I moved when we moved when I was going into fourth grade. And then I stayed, and then I actually made a decision to go to a private school in high school, but that was my decision. So and it went I went to a small private school. So like I made friends. I already knew one person there, and then I made friends with everyone else because I graduated with 40 freaking people. So it's like you make friends with everyone pretty fast when you have all of a hundred and sixty kids in the high school. Like everyone's kinda just everyone's friend at that Jason: Mm-hmm. Alex: point. Marcus: Mm-hmm. Alex: So I don't but like so I had an established friend group. From fourth grade pretty much all the way through senior year. Cause even on the weekends I was hanging out with the people I knew from McKinney that I grew up with. I couldn't imagine moving. Like Katrina happened when Marcus, we were what? I want to say freshmen in high school? A freshman or sophomore in high school? No, it was freshmen because I was at Marcus: Freshman, yeah, freshman sophomore, somewhere in there. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Alex: the first high school. So Katrina happened when we were freshmen. And like I remember all those people that ended up coming to our school because they got uprooted. And I was like, I couldn't imagine like having to restart finding friends at you know, fourteen, fifteen years of age when all these other people already have friends. And if you play a sport, that obviously helps. But like you're trying to infiltrate a friend group and get there. And for someone like Grayson who has some of those disabilities, that you know, that always worries me of like, how is he gonna make friends? And and now I'm pulling him away from his friends. So on my whole soapbox of a conversation, I finished it with, I just don't know if there's ever a good time for us to move. And maybe that's the answer. Maybe we don't end up moving for 15 years and we just deal with the traffic, and the kids get out of the house and then we Sell this and get a small house up with land and we kind of do our retirement thing. I don't know. But yeah, it's Marcus: probably it. That's my end game. Alex: yeah, but it goes back to exactly what we were talking about: of like you build the community and the playdates and all this stuff, and it's like, when do you do what's right for you versus the kids versus what you know is right for the kids five years from now? Marcus: Yeah. I think it's yeah, I think it's once they bounce out of the house. And hopefully you don't have no you know, kids with that are, you know, super emotionally attached to to the house 'cause then that'll be hard 'cause it's like, well, I'm gonna sell this house to go get land up north and it's like what the hell you we've lived here, you know, twenty years and now you're just gonna sell it? Alex: Well, you also influence your kids too. I feel like if we were to go Marcus: Mm-hmm. Alex: move on property now, it's more likely that our kids want to do the same thing when they're adults and Marcus: Mm-hmm. Alex: when they start their families, and it's more likely that they come live around us. Whereas like if you grow up in a city, all cities are same. And Marcus: Mm-hmm. Alex: I might want to pick up and move to Austin or I might want to pick up and move to Chicago or So some of it is a little bit selfish, like you raise them in a certain way of life that they ha they can only get in certain areas. And you're like, I'm just playing long game here. I'm just trying to keep you near me long term so I can see my grandchildren. Marcus: Yeah. Jason: That's a I mean, it's a tough one. I mean up me growing up again, the generational the parents, we stayed until got in young, got out of the house, went to college, high school, then the parents decided to move. Nowadays it's boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. I mean, shoot, there's kids now, they're the parents are literally in one of the not the worst time on the market, but We've had kids who are supposed to come to our school because of rezoning, but the parents literally moved like to stay within their area so they could stay to school. So parents nowadays are just they're willing to move on a dime. I don't know how they make it work. but timing is always like one of those big things. Like we've talked about it just if we know, if we decide to move, you know, it's like do we wait till Miles is at this grade or at this grade? So we doesn't quite remember what's happening when he was younger and then we sit through he's through high school and then go to the retirement small house type thing, or do we just keep it here till he's completely out and then kind of goes from there. But circling back to what you said, Dick, shoot, like you've been to our house now, like that one main road. Last week or yeah, anyways, like one of these last days we had to go to school for either training or school. We left 75 had a bad accident. Everybody's now coming down McDonald. It took us 20 minutes just to get out of our neighborhood onto the road and get on to out to school. And it took Shelby Alex: Yeah that Jason: 40 minutes, I think, about a month ago, because it was so bad. Alex: Ticket. There is. Jason: Because she had to go around and we've she's actually been looking. We've given a w realtor a wish list to potentially relocate. Because, you know, she grew up. Out of town is what they call it. It's like 10 to 15 minutes out of town. We just talked about this today. And she's laughing Alex: Mm-hmm. Jason: because she enjoyed the out of town. Then she moved in in with me when we first got married in town. Now we moved out of town. And now she's like, No, I don't want to be out of town. I want to be in town, closer Alex: Yeah. Jason: to everything. It's like, you know, we're not far, but when it takes us 20 minutes sometimes just to go to Target or somewhere, and we're only like three miles from from it, it's just it's getting Bad. It's getting really bad. so we know it's congested, we know it's a little bit packed, kinda like the El Dorado Stone Bridge, but you are closer to everything. There's a little bit more convenience, more established neighborhoods. So there is a possibility if like things fall in the right place in a few years, we might shift that direction and just kind of get Alex: Well Jason: out from up here. Alex: and I think y'all are in that spot that like a lot of people land it where they're they're like I don't necessarily be need to be like right in the city. I just want to be Jason: Mm-hmm. Alex: just right on the outskirts. But then when stuff like is happening in our town where we're getting big developments and more people and more construction Jason: Mm-hmm. Alex: and more traffic it overloads the infrastructure when you are just barely right outside. And that's where that two-lane road kind of comes in where it was great five years ago, but now it's overloaded. Now they need to widen that road. And that's why, like, I don't think there's an in-between move for me. I kind of told said that to Casey, like, 'cause she was like, Well, are there subdivisions that we can move to that are farther north? This with that. And my response was no, like, this is this is binary for me. Like, we're either Marcus: Yeah. Alex: staying or we're going north and we're buying five acres with the house and we're gonna be thirty minutes from where we are now, so that trap the traffic will never hit us. You know, it's not gonna To move that direction fast enough in our lifetime for us to feel the impacts of that load. And then at the end of the day, if it does move up there, we're sitting on a gold mine that we give to our kids and they can sell the land and move, you know, do whatever they want with the money after that. But yeah, you can't you can't do the hybrid in between where y'all are right now because we're booming so fast that you're gonna do that Jason: Mm-hmm. Alex: and be like, we're Five years from now, great, now we've got a road that can't take the traffic load. Jason: No, it's it's horrible. Yeah. but I mean if you live get something like that, it's gonna take you like an hour just to go to the to get groceries or to run just some errands. Like that's like a planned Alex: I'm okay with that. Jason: is Casey gonna be okay with that? Like I can't I mean Alex: No. That's why I said that's why I said this was me on my soapbox. She agre she Marcus: Yeah. Alex: agreed to none of this. Jason: Time is valuable, man. I don't wanna spend half a day going in town loading up a truck and you have to get like a portable freezer bag or something or portable freezer just to keep your stuff cold to drive an hour and a half back home. Alex: But in any of the towns that we'd be looking at, you wouldn't be driving an hour. It would be like there's a frickin' Costco in Salina now. Like you can we would be close to something within a fifteen minute drive, no matter where we would look. Jason: Right. And so about but that's in about ten years it's just gonna get worse. It's just gonna keep creeping and creeping up. So get it's just gonna get that way. Alex: Yeah. Yeah, we we would have to shoot up like we would have to shoot up like two towns is where we're looking. Jason: you're gonna be in Oklahoma at that point. Marcus: Yeah. Next episode. Alex moves to Oklahoma. He's on he's gonna be on lake Lake Texoma. Just s just make it just Alex: I mean we'll we'll be close to Oklahoma. Hey, honestly, I wouldn't be opposed to that. If I if I'm being Jason: Yeah. go to Pottsboro. No one wants to go to Pottsboro. Alex: If if Marcus: make the move. Alex: if we are being honest, I would not be opposed to moving into Oklahoma. Would not. Marcus: Hey, I'm already looking at pontoons here. Alex: As as a Texan, look, as long as I'm close enough to Texas, you know, I'll still rep my my Texas in Oklahoma. It's fine. I'll tell that they suck every day. It's it's okay. Jason: Man, yeah, we'll see. I mean, I think they really need to build I guess Fort between Fort Worth and I forget Cleburn, they did the Chisholm Trail. Alex: Mm. Marcus: yeah. Jason: Right, that expansion. They're gonna need to do something over here, like between Bonham, Melissa down to three eighty, going by like New Hope in Princeton. They're gonna need to have a bypass because all that growth that we saw projected for, even in the school districts, is all eastward north. east to east and they already have developments and like projected growth. It's just there needs to be another pass through. There will be eventually just when. Alex: Well and again Yeah, th there will be. There'll be another thing and that's that's an area that this one goes on to that it will never happen because we're locked in with a school district for trip. If I could pick anywhere, like you give me a dart and I could throw it at the Metroplex, I'd be over by Marcus. I'd be on the west side of Fort Worth, South Fort Worth in a heartbeat. Wouldn't even think Jason: Mm. Alex: twice about it. Like because what Marcus: Yeah, it's Alex: that area is is what Collin County was 20 years ago. Marcus: Mm-hmm. Alex: And it has so much potential and it will get there, but right now, like, it's still the old school way of life over there. Jason: Is there much growth that way or does it seem like everything is coming north? Marcus: Yeah, there's a couple of data centers that have popped up here lately. and then that whole Chisholm trail, I mean, if you go west, like going over to Crescent, I mean it's I mean it it you get acres out there. and it's not you're not far from Fort Worth. Alex: Fort Worth Fort Worth to Glenrose is essentially what like Dallas to Salina is like that's what it will be over time. And it's getting Marcus: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Alex: built out. There's a lot that happens in Glenrose. There's a lot of touristy stuff with the dinosaur Marcus: Mm-hmm. Alex: park and the rodeos and a lot of ranches down there. So like it's like Crowley. I remember when my friend moved to Crowley 10 years ago. There was like nothing out there, and now Crowley's almost fully built out. Like it is slowly all moving that direction. Marcus: Mm-hmm. Alex: And then Weatherford Alito, I drove out. Out with all those Marcus: Mm-hmm. Alex: rodeos I was doing in Stevenville. I was driving through Weatherford and Alito, and back when I was building that hospital, we had a subcontractor that's office was out of Alito. So we would drive out there to look at you know the glass and everything. And I could I didn't even recognize the drive when I drove out there back in the spring. Like that whole Alito area is completely built out now off the highway, off I-20. Like it's it's insane. So I mean it's all moving out of the cities as it is. I think I will say I think they're gonna hit a lot more pushback on the growth because you do have so many ranches out there, like legitimate ranches. Cause I'm Marcus: Mm-hmm. Jason: Mm-hmm. Alex: pretty positive the creator Taylor Sheridan, Boski Ranch, that's out in Boski County. Marcus: Mm-hmm. Alex: I mean that ranch isn't going anywhere, like he's never selling that ranch. So, I mean, if he's not selling his ranch, then the neighboring ranches around aren't gonna sell because they're not worried about getting pushed out with money. so I I think they'll hit a a wall of growth just because the ranches aren't gonna fold. But they're still moving that direction. Jason: Okay. Alex: So Jason: New world we live in. Alex: yep. so anyways, we made it to all of two of our topics, which is great and amazing. Marcus: Yeah. Alex: anything else we we need to add? Jason: we could save it, but maybe a little teaser my rabbit hole ventures. Alex: No, no, let's get into that one. because it's it's following Jason: okay. Alex: it's following the Western world, anyways, and we can cover it in like five, ten minutes max. So it's it's a short one. we started off with cowboy hats. This this was a whole conversation back like 10 podcasts ago now. But Jason, tell us what what have you purchased? Because like I feel like I know you've purchased something. Jason: no, actually Alex: Use how it said it. Jason: it was close. I have not purchased anything, but I mean to kind of give you the context to our few viewers and listeners, like I literally wore my cowboy boots that I had for ten years to impress Shelby. Some $180, $200 Ariatts, which are still actually pretty comfortable to wear, and got some co yeah. Marcus: They were very clean, while Alex: Well the bet the backstory on that one too is I think Marcus and Marcus and I both clocked exactly what boots he had on because Jason sent a text Jason: Yeah. Alex: and said, I think they're Ariots and my exact response were one hundred percent they're Ariotes. I know that exact pair. Jason: Yes. Yeah, it was so quick. yeah, I was just like I found them a closet, was like, it might be kind of fun to give them a whirl and enjoyed them. And I was like, maybe I should get a leather pair, like a decent pair. And so, you know, texting you guys, it's like, where do I go? What am I looking at? And then I remember Marcus mentioned something about he just got some tacobas or ordered some tocobas, and I was like, Okay, I heard of that brand. And then Alex's first response was, Well, do you want exotic, roper, pointed toe, round toe, this, this? And I was like, What the flip are you talking about? I just want boots. Just give me some boots. Alex: Look, here's the thing. Like, I'm the friend that I am not going to tell you not to spend your money. But I am gonna make sure you're educated in your decision. Marcus with guns, he asks me questions, I answer, I tell him this is what you should look at, this is what you shouldn't. You with golf clubs, like I've always said, this is what I think. Like, I at least want to make sure my friends are making intelligent, dumb decisions. Jason: Intelligent dumb decisions. We're gonna coin that. Marcus: intelligent financial challenges. I don't know. It's in there. Yeah. Alex: I if you're gonna do it, let if you're gonna do it, let's at least do it right. Like let's not do this Jason: Yeah. Alex: half assed. Like let's So I mean it it's very personal. Jason: Right. Well, and then I'm like I yeah. I was appreciated because it is, 'cause you want to fit right. They have to fit right, and you're spending that kind of money on I mean, they know they're gonna last a long time. I mean, I'm Marcus: Mm-hmm. Jason: not gonna wear out. Like I just know I won't wear like so much that they're gonna get so worn, but like you the voice of Vader, yes you will. Marcus: you will. you will. Alex: Well, you're I'm also not a good person to ask about some stuff because I'm the kind of person like I'm gonna go get the right tool for the situation. Like, we got this horse and I went and got a pair of boots specifically to ride the horses. And granted, I can wear them at the rodeos too, so it was kinda twofold, but I was like, I want this toe so I can ride horses. I want this style. Like, and I went and bought that for that. And I will I could probably wear them for 10 years. And the souls Jason: Yeah. Alex: are never the souls are never gonna wear it out on me because I'm literally wearing them riding horses or shooting rodeos. Jason: what did you end up with? Alex: I bought the hires. I Jason: Okay. Alex: bought the higher rough outs. so it's like it's they turn the leather around, you get the rough side of leather. It hides Jason: Mm-hmm. Alex: dirt well, it hides scratches well. and then I got the cutter toe because it's it's a square toe, but it slightly comes in. It's not a broad square, Jason: Mm-hmm. Alex: it's a narrow square. because it's made to go into the the stirrups. Yeah, so your toe can get around that edge 'cause in a broad toe you're you hit the edge of the stirrup easier. Jason: Mm-hmm I think just looking at different styles, I think I like 'cause I think my Ariats are similar to that cutter toe. They come up, they squirt just a little bit, but Alex: Yeah. Yeah, the it's a it's a cutter toe. Jason: so I I actually like that look. don't like the big square. I have some students and stuff, they come in with the big, big square cut. I'm like, I personally that's I don't like. Alex: Do you like the do you like the rope or heel or the cowboy heel? Jason: Okay, what's that? Alex: So the roper heel is like an inch. Marcus: Yeah, it's a flat. It's flat. Alex: A cowboy the cowboy Jason: Okay. Alex: heel, yeah, it's like flat in all directions. It's flat straight down, flat Marcus: huh. Yeah. Alex: across. The cowboy heel has a spur ledge on it, so it comes out like a little bit farther because that's where your spurs would sit. But then like the back of the heel, if you can imagine, kind of comes in at an angle, just a hair. And then so like the actual heel part is smaller than the heel part up here. So it's Jason: Hmm. Alex: kind of flat and it kind of straight, then it curves up almost like a trapezoid, right? That shape. If you're looking at it at a profile. Jason: that might be something I may have to like that might be something more of just put it on and walk and feel. Yeah, I don't know. Alex: Well, yeah, and that's why I'm asking, 'cause that's a how much are you walking? Like 'cause it's it definitely adds like another half inch to your to your height. So Jason: Height and movement. Alex: like to your incline of your foot. So is is that gonna hurt your heel all day? Like some people don't like that. Like if I'm wearing boots all day, I go with the rope or heel 'cause it's a little more neutral. Marcus: Mm-hmm. Jason: Well, I was gonna say that set the way you're describing it, it's like it I could feel I already just could feel it like it would the angle like would set your hips and low back up in a kinda uncomfortable long term state. Alex: Mm-hmm. I I stopped wearing the cowboy heel because I was having heel and back issues and I just wear ropers and I only wear wear the cowboy heels to ride now. Jason: Okay. Alright, that's good to next. I haven't gone, but yeah, you guys said it's like the biggest thing is like I'm gonna go through and just hit up Cavendars and just look Marcus: Mm-hmm. Jason: at some different styles, just different feels and just kind of see narrow my spectrum down and then it's like, okay, now I kinda like the shade, the color. maybe an exotic, I don't know, or a exotic Marcus: Ostrich. Jason: exotic stamping so it looks like it, but I'm not paying the full price. Alex: Well and Marcus: No, Alex: no, don't do that. You're don't do that. You're you're you're you're you're paying one one, Marcus: get the don't do that. Don't do that. Don't do that. Alex: anyone that wears boots clocks it immediately. Two Marcus: Yeah. It was like Alex: two you're pa you're paying Jason: Those are fakes. Marcus: Yeah. Alex: a premium for leather that's not premium. So you're gonna pay more than a standard pair of boots. But they're not gonna last you as long as the real exotics will like real ostrich, if you take care of them, will last you a freaking lifetime. Like if you condition them properly, you take care of them, you you're gonna wear them once, twice a week. Those things will pay for themselves. But if you go buy a printed pair, they're gonna wear out like normal cowhide does. It's gonna dry up on you, and you're gonna get rid of them in three years, and you're gonna pay a hundred extra dollars in a standard pair of boots would. Jason: What about the w the lizard or croc or whatever reptile and reptile type skin? Alex: That that just comes down to your preference. And I promise Marcus: Yeah. Alex: you, me and Marcus being different types of Hispanic have different opinions on what leathers look good and which don't. Marcus: Which I have both. I have I have croc and Cayman, I guess, whatever wherever it is. Jason: Yeah, it came in, I think that's what it was. Yeah. Alex: Cayman Caymans are great. I was fully expecting Marcus to come out and say that he has pythons. Yep, there's the Mexican. that's Marcus: I do have some pythons. Jason: Yeah. Alex: Yeah, see, I'm from the Caribbean Hispanics, and it's a lot more the the Cayman and Gators. So like Jason: okay. Game in okay. Alex: I have Cayman's tails, I love them. I will not touch lizard belly, I will not touch snakeskins. Like to me, I just don't like the look. But I I kinda figured Marcus would have one of those. Jason: So I looked on Cavender's website just to kinda get an idea. Their exotic lineup doesn't seem like it has the same variety. So I don't know where else to look besides Alex: The Cavendar Cavendars in general as a store or Cavendar brand? Jason: The store. Like I looked on their store website and looked at exotics and it was Alex: Look well I've already told you this. If you're gonna exotics, Marcus: I mean yeah. Alex: you don't need to go to Cavendars or Boot Barn. Like Jason: Okay. Alex: go to Tacova's, obviously, but Tacova's is you're paying for a name when it comes to the direct-to-consumer boots. Lucese is obviously top tier. Tacova's is right below with you're paying $600 for a pair of Osher boots that you could probably get for 400, similar quality somewhere else. Then you have like a whole bunch of that tier in like the hire brand, even the Cavendars in-house brand. I've never worn Cody James, which is Boot Barnes in-house brand. But all of those have exotics that you can get. Jason: Okay. Alex: Hire has exotic boots for sure. Jason: Okay. I haven't looked at their site directly. I I think I was just looking just to cover his website lineup and see what they have as a whole. So if I went in I Alex: Yeah. Jason: could kind of narrow like Alex: If if you like the cutter toe Finoglio boots, they're pretty much all cutter toes. they're good, they're a great brand of boot. They're direct-to-consumer. They do have a store in Fort Worth and the stockyards. Who else is out there? I'm trying to think. They I'll I'm gonna start sending you all of these because they come across my Instagram Marcus: Yeah. Alex: all the time. There's a ton of direct-to-consumers. Jason: Actually that'd Marcus: I like Jason: that'd be helpful. Marcus: blackjack boots. Mm-hmm. They're good. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I think it's Alex: Blackjack. That's what I was thinking of. And they're they're reasonable, aren't they? Pricing wise. Marcus: yeah, I mean just about round Luke Casey pricing. A little less. Alex: so their the Lucese pricing. Marcus: Yeah. Jason: So if I were to say, like you said, if I'm gonna invest, go with exotics, let's say ostrich, 'cause I kinda like the look, how what would what would be a good price I should pay? Or I can get Alex: My Jason: get to I'm not like nine hundred or whatever, but Alex: Again, it totally depends on what you want. So I wanted a pair of full quill cognac ostrich that I can wear every day. And I'm not going to feel bad when they wear out. So I bought the Cavendars brand and I've been wearing them. I literally wear them every day to work. And I condition them every other week. Like I take care of them so they look new. I was out the store with a matching belt for $550. And I wear both of Jason: Okay. Alex: those every day. Now, would I get that same pair if I was gonna wear twelve times a year and with a suit or This or that? No. I would go spend the thousand dollars on a pair of Lucasis. So it truly depends on like what is your use case for and then find the price point that makes sense. For me, four hundred for the boots made sense 'cause a pair of Oxfords to wear anyways are two hundred fifty, three hundred dollars. Same thing as Jason: Mm-hmm. Alex: dress shoes. So it's literally the same concept for me. I'm just wearing a pair of boots, I'm gonna wear for hopefully two years. Two hundred dollars per year essentially for work shoes and I ride it off and move on. Jason: Realistically probably like let's say at best once a week at school and then maybe on a weekend. Alex: I'd g I'd go Jason: Just a minute. Alex: I wouldn't get Lucci's because I think and this isn't a knock on Lucesi. I love them. I don't think I I don't think they're worth the name anymore. My Lucesi soles have both pairs Lucese I have have worn out faster than any other pair of boots I have. The leather soles have just I've burnt holes in them. if you're talking about wearing them once a week and going out and doing that, I would upspend on them and go get a pair of full quill Tokovas or Blackjacks. But full qu full quail ostrich. I sent you your pair. Marcus: Sent you your pair, Jason. Jason: Do I did he send me a pair? Marcus: I sent you a pair. So the the first one is what I wear like almost every day. And then that second one, that one's for you, Jason. I think those would be great for you. Alex: The only problem with Tacovas is I don't I think you're either round toe or broad toe. I don't think they do a cutter toe. Jason: Yeah, I mean I'm not opposed to some of those, but it's more of just like Like I I gotta put it on. You know, it's like one of those things where it's like Alex: So Jason: I gotta put it on to give it a try. Alex: So here you go. A full a pair of full quill cutter toe. From higher is six hundred dollars. it's actually the same boot I have. It's the culver. But mine are the rough outs. Jason: So six hundred. So I would probably be sitting somewhere between five to six. Alex: Yeah, I would say on any reputable brand that you're gonna be able to trust their quality, you're looking at five Jason: Okay. Alex: to six at a at a minimum, all the way up to a thousand for a full clue. Jason: I mean I would I would probably cross I wouldn't cross that line. Alex: Yeah, but higher I would go look at the higher website, H Y E R. because they they have a pair of broad squares with a rope or heel, full quills, They have the culvers that I was just talking about. They have some lizard bellies, or sorry, gator bellies, which are pretty. Distort it by their exotics. and Jason: Mm, okay. Alex: some of those have the cutter toe, some of them have you'll see the difference in the heels. Jason: So What was the boot what was the soul? Ca rober soul? Rubber heel. Marcus: Roper Hill. Alex: You got roper roper heel or your traditional cowboy heel are the two heels. Jason: Okay. Alex: Then you got round toe, snip toe, cutter, square, broad square. Sounds like you want to stay cutter or round. That's the other thing. and this is like, again, it's totally personal. I have a thicker build. So I can't wear cowboy cut jeans. Cowboy cut jeans might have like a 14-inch opening, leg opening, so you can get away with wearing round toes. But I also have way too much information probably. I have smaller feet on that side. Like because I played soccer growing up where you bind your freaking feet, it feels like. So like if I wear wide jeans and round toes, like you can see like two inches of my foot underneath the jeans, and it it just makes you look really short and stocky. That's why I've Jason: Ha ha. Alex: always worn square toes as well, because it just like it evens out Jason: Ha ha. Alex: being a little bit on the thicker build. You you are taller. Jason: No, I got flippers, man. I Alex: You're taller with bigger feet, so you can get away with round toes and they would look good. Jason: I mean I got size twelves, so yeah, I mean I've got some got some floppers. Okay. Alex: Huh. Yeah, squares won't look good. Squares won't look good. Marcus: yeah. Alex: They'll they'll they'll look like flippers. Like quite literally, they'll look like flippers. I would go with I'd go cutter, Jason: Okay. That's where I was like Marcus: I like I like round toes. Alex: cutter or round for you. You you're on the taller end. So, there you go. See, I told you, Jason: Okay. Okay. Coat around cowboy rope or heel. All right. Helped me out. Alex: we'd have that conversation in ten minutes. so J Jason's coming Jason: Yep. Well, it's funny. Alex: to the dark side. Jason: Dark side. Well, Marcus: Ha ha ha Jason: Peyton's boyfriend said, I guess I'm kinda he's visited Texas. He's still here now. They've come in for about two weeks. And he's like, So, like am I honored Texan? Yeah, because he's trying to he's trying to feel the vibe and stuff. And we're like, all of us said no. He's Alex: So Jason: and he's like, Well I was like, dude if you're gonna be even come remotely close you go, you gotta get some boots. Like don't wor Alex: Yeah, see. Jason: don't waste 'cause you'd like between a boot and hat or like boots, you'll get better use and more frequent Alex: Yeah. Jason: use out of boots than a hat. Alex: Boots first. Dude, I have as much as I wear a cowboy hat, I have not worn my cowboy hat riding the horse once. Like I wear a ball cap every time we go. Like it's Marcus: Yeah. Jason: Does it i does it interfere with the metas? The cowboy hat might work better for the meta. I was gonna say Alex: I the cowboy head actually works better with the meadows. It does. I've yes, it works better with the meadows. I just haven't had like it's like I don't know. Like I just work toss a ball cap on and go. Like So well Jason: Alright, got some information to go on, so we'll see if it'll still probably be a little bit before I end up pull the trigger. Alex: it'll be next week. Anyways, Jason: Actually Marcus: Yeah. Jason: actually what I might do is figure out the feel Alex: Already started make Jason: and the cut and then ask it ask gift cards or something for Christmas. Alex: Yeah, there you go. Nice little birthday or Christmas present. Jason: Yeah, I mean it's all stacked right there. Alex: Exactly. So all right, gents. we'll end on that one tonight. as always, everyone, every Wednesday morning, Apple, Amazon, YouTube, Spotify, let us know if there's anything we need to talk about. otherwise we will be back on our normal cadence. And gents, we'll talk next week. Jason: Talk to you later. Marcus: All right, see ya.