Latest / The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast / 2022 USTFCCCA LIVE podcast: Greg Schmidt-Univ of Bridgeport

Transcript

2022 USTFCCCA LIVE podcast: Greg Schmidt-Univ of Bridgeport · The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast

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  What a great, great person. I can't wait to see who the next
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  person is. We got another alum, so buckle
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  up. We're going to get another
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  question right back here at your humble host here.
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  All right, you've been working out, so introduce yourself to
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  the crowd. Here, Greg Schmidt, head coach,
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  cross coach at Track and Field, University of Bridgeport.
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  So brand new program. Mike, you're missing all the
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  fun. This is where the fun is out
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  front. Here all the coaches talk to
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  each other. I feel bad.
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  I told you I was going to be here at like 455, but I saw Gary
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  Aldrich saw Mike Sergeant, and we stopped talking.
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  You know what? Those are two good people.
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  So I'll allow that. I'll allow that.
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  Yeah. It's really hard to be focused
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  right here on our audience and our guests and all these amazing
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  people that I'm just super excited.
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  We said we're going to go five to seven, but I've made a
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  promise to myself. If at 7:00 PM people are still
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  here, I'm still here we go. Roll with it, baby.
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  Keep in mind. Yeah.
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  So tell me, what are you doing here at the convention?
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  What are you looking forward to the most?
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  Here this. Week for me, the thing I enjoy
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  the most still is just like I said, interacting with the
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  coaches and doing things like that.
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  I have committee meetings, you know, starting a brand new
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  program from scratch, just getting the word out there and
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  all. But you know, I I actually enjoy
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  the meetings because that's where we kind of grow our sport.
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  And get more about our sport and.
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  Well, I like the symposiums and things like that.
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  Just interacting with the other coaches.
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  I mean, you learn a lot more. You see how everybody's doing
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  and like, you know, if you're a track coach or you know with the
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  sport, you're fanatical about it, right?
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  So it's good to be You're a track nerd about it, yeah.
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  Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's good to just.
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  Meet other people who have the same mindset as anything else.
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  So tell us a little bit now and we got into this.
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  So here we have another alum of the Guild Connections podcast.
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  So you just gotta Google his name with Gill Athletics and the
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  podcast will pop up or the YouTube and we got into this.
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  But I want just kind of a 30 second version of starting a new
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  program from scratch, cuz that just like I feel like that's
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  what I would have really enjoyed in the coaching.
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  You say that and then you do it. No, it's it's it is exciting and
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  I I feel privileged and I'm the first, you know, I'm the only
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  first ever coach in the universities ever going to have.
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  That's right. So it's it's exciting thing to
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  do. It's a lot of recruiting and
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  just getting the word out there. You know, I think you saw, I did
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  a news report for our News 12 in Connecticut, just talking a
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  little about the program and the universities bought in and
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  they've been very supportive of it.
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  So it's exciting and I get to build it in my own model and I
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  love division two track and field during any division I've
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  coached just because I can do both things.
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  So I can get those higher end athletes and I would love to get
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  to USA's or another trials, things like that.
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  But I can still get those other athletes that just want the
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  opportunity in order to improve and reach their potential.
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  So that's why I love, well, I have no doubt that they're going
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  to improve in their unit just from talking with you and
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  getting to know you better. All right, we're having a little
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  fun tonight. So we've got 100 random
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  questions. You get to pick the number. 100
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  Do you want a? 100, no, no, let's go 54.
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  I was just 54. I was about to say we've already
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  had 100. 54 is my old football number, so let's go.
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  I was gonna ask for the significance of this.
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  All right, 54, let's go hunting for hobbies.
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  What's your hobby, man? I am and you can't say coaching
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  track and field. Oh no, I'm a huge I make.
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  The rules. I'm a huge comedy nerd, so I go
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  to comedy clubs. I've written open mics.
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  I've. Done various things I've tried
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  to do. Stand up once in a while
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  generally. So you can't say that without
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  you gotta give us a joke or no. I know it's not a joke, like a
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  punchline joke, but there's gotta be.
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  People with their faces return bread.
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  It's there's no bleep button, no editing, no.
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  No, Okay. I thought it was like killing
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  after hours. Maybe these people right here I.
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  Thought this was killing after hours.
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  Don't give, don't give me ideas. We might have to do that.
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  So this is the podcast there where we This is the Buffalo
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  Wings there, right? Yeah.
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  OK. But I thought about trying
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  something like that. You know, we've been out, but
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  this will keep evolving. Yeah, but no.
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  So we talked about it before. You know, I'm a pretty open
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  person, right? I talk about my life quite a
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  bit. And for me, if I do an open mic
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  thing, it's about that. It's about the things that
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  bother me. And that's why I love real
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  world. Yeah, well.
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  The the good thing about comedy is you laugh about the things
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  that hurt you, that the things that I'm most serious about that
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  bother me the worst. When you make jokes and you, you
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  know, joke about them and you mock them almost, it makes it
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  easier to digest and then you have the rest of the day to
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  treat them as awful things. So for me, nothing is, you know,
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  off limits in terms of comedy and things like that.
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  So if you need to get personal, if you need to get a little bit
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  wrong, a little bit rough, that's a great thing to do, so.
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  I love comedy, even if it's something that, like me, I'm a
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  big animal rights guy. I love animals.
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  But if I get to a club and the comedian makes it really funny
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  having a cruelty joke, I'm going to laugh because I know that's
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  something I really care about and they're making me laugh.
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  I got it. It's something I love.
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  I don't know if that question comes up, if anybody else will
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  ever get that same hobby, that's that's really.
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  Like I said, I anytime something pops in my head, I think is a
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  funny idea. I take out my phone in the notes
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  program and I text myself and something like, that's cool, all
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  right. So something that we're doing
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  and only Gill Athletics Connections, alums, you get to
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  do. This is so you were gracious.
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  You were awesome on the podcast. So thankful that you would join
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  us on that podcast. And I grilled you for close to
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  two hours, right? You remember the experience,
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  right? You probably went home and cried
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  a little bit and had to, you know, fuck yourself back up to
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  get back on that horse. Now you get to flip it.
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  You get to ask me one question. Okay.
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  What do you miss most about coaching?
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  That's a great question. You know, I think the thing that
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  I miss the most is there's some freedom in going outside at 2:00
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  every day to work with young people.
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  There's just something about, you know, not being in the
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  office all the time. And I think maybe that's why I
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  like to travel for for my profession here at Gulf Lakes,
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  because I'm out of the office at that point.
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  But there was something about just being toes in the sand pit,
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  helping people work on the long job, house friendships and
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  hurdles. That's probably what I miss the
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  most, the young people. For sure.
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  Well, I mean, if you're doing a great thing here, I we talked
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  about it to a handful of the coaches as I was walking up and
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  then they said where do you head?
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  I said I'll actually told Mike I would go and do the podcast with
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  him and everybody said the same thing.
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  It's a great thing you're doing because for me, I I don't like
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  the cynical podcast. Sometimes people take cynicism
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  as intelligence, where they think if I could be really
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  critical of coaches or athletes and things like that, it makes
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  me sound smarter. Whereas you're highlighting the
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  sport, you're highlighting the coaches, which I think is a
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  great thing. Yeah, well, it's all about
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  uplifting and honoring what you do because what you do is
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  immeasurable for our young. And you could do it while you're
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  dressed like Jake from State Farm.
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  I actually went with my pet Henry, actually.
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  Yeah, yeah. I was kind of hoping.
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  I saw Pat this morning and I was in my workout clothes and he was
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  like, you look like you're going for a run.
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  And I was like, woof. You don't know me, Pat.
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  I'm sure I. Didn't see Pat.
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  I saw Lance harder down here. I saw this man, yeah, I saw
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  Lance in the airport last week. He was flying to Footlocker
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  internationals and in Dallas he walked by and I was like, you
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  don't expect to see them. In the airport.
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  Well, I made a joke because I think the podcast, the extra
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  mine was the the Lynchburg guys. I'm on Lynchburg and along.
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  Yeah, sure enough for an extra. It's funny Lynchburg guys I
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  guess just migrate to my mother. Actually they were on the the
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  shuttle with me to go get cargo as I arrived in the airport, so.
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  It's going thanks to each other the whole time.
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  It's one of the more unique mascots.
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  So you know, Hornet. Life forever, you know.
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  Yeah, I forget the chant, but I'm sure.
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  It might have changed in the last 27 years.
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  Let's get ourselves here, man. Appreciate you so much for being
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  on the show. Alright man.
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  Thanks. To see you appreciate Carol.