Latest / Story Scaling / Hot Takes vs. Hard Truths in Sports Media

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Hot Takes vs. Hard Truths in Sports Media · Story Scaling

0:00
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Storyscaling by Podcastvideos.com, where creators share the truth behind the content, the grind, and the growth.
0:10
SPEAKER_00: Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, friends and family, I am Bang of Podcastvideos.com.
0:14
SPEAKER_00: I'm here with a good brother of mine, Brandon Marcello.
0:18
SPEAKER_00: Brandon, welcome to the podcast.
0:20
SPEAKER_00: Appreciate it, man.
0:21
SPEAKER_00: You got one out the way, and uh you got another one.
0:23
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
0:24
SPEAKER_01: And I love talking, so prepare yourself.
0:27
SPEAKER_00: Let's go.
0:27
SPEAKER_00: That's what this is for, baby.
0:29
SPEAKER_00: Let's do it.
0:30
SPEAKER_00: Man, I did some research and uh I put together a bio.
0:33
SPEAKER_00: Now I want to give you the opportunity to listen to this and let me know.
0:37
SPEAKER_00: Either bang, you got a spot on or let's switch some stuff up.
0:41
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
0:41
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
0:42
SPEAKER_00: Okay, cool.
0:43
SPEAKER_00: It says today's guest is Brandon Marcello, a national college football reporter for 247 Sports and CBS Sports.
0:52
SPEAKER_00: And one of the sport's sharpest narrative voices, Brandon Storytelling.
0:57
SPEAKER_01: I appreciate that.
0:58
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
0:58
SPEAKER_00: We already cooking.
0:59
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I appreciate that.
1:00
SPEAKER_00: One of, hey, this is this is my research, and this is what the this is what the streets are saying.
1:05
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
1:06
SPEAKER_01: It's good to hear.
1:06
SPEAKER_00: One of the sport's sharpest narrative voices, Brandon Storytelling Roots Run Deep, starting in small town, Arkansas, in a newsroom before evolving into a national voice on the culture, strategy, and spectacle of college football.
1:18
SPEAKER_00: He also co-hosts uh the podcast Basic AF, College Football for Newbies and Fanatics, a podcast he co-created with his wife Amanda, offering a fresh fun lens on the game for both newbies and diehard fans alike.
1:32
SPEAKER_00: And in this conversation, we'll walk through the evolution from print to podcast, explaining reporting, storytelling, and share what it's like to build a brand that's honest, insightful, and just a little bit obsessive, but in the best way.
1:45
SPEAKER_01: That I think that encapsulates myself perfectly.
1:47
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:48
SPEAKER_01: Be quite honest.
1:49
SPEAKER_01: Because I'm all about honesty and integrity.
1:52
SPEAKER_01: And that's just from my upbringing in the business as a journalist.
1:56
SPEAKER_01: You gotta share the truth and get to the truth and make sure that someone who's talking to you is not trying to steer you toward their direction, even if it's not true.
2:05
SPEAKER_01: You gotta get both sides of the story.
2:07
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes there's there's not two sides of the story, there's this side, that side, and the truth somewhere in the middle.
2:13
SPEAKER_01: And so, yeah, I appreciate that about being an honest narrative, but also just showing kind of why I'm so obsessed with what I do and the spectacle of everything that is college sports and college football.
2:27
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, man.
2:28
SPEAKER_00: It's always cool to write these bios because sometimes people don't get their flowers, and sometimes people are multi-hyphen that you are a reporter, you're a podcast host, you're here, you're there.
2:39
SPEAKER_00: And so it's hard for people to realize maybe in real time what are they actually involved in.
2:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
2:44
SPEAKER_00: I try to make these bios that are like, nah, this is you, Brandon.
2:47
SPEAKER_00: Like, yeah, you telling the truth.
2:49
SPEAKER_00: You're impacting the collection, you're doing these things.
2:52
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's you know, I do a lot of TV stuff too, and like I you know, you just know in the in the newsbreaking world, you just never know, like, you know, I gotta be on the ready, much like in here, like I flip a button on and I have camera and lights turned on so I can do a quick like live hit on CBS Sports HQ you know through Zoom or whatever.
3:11
SPEAKER_01: And you just never know what your day is gonna be like.
3:13
SPEAKER_01: One day might be I'm writing two things, one day might be I'm not writing anything, but I'm on TV, or another day is doing a podcast, you're guest hosting something.
3:22
SPEAKER_01: I've mean I've guest hosted shows on Sirius XM and all that.
3:26
SPEAKER_01: So it's just like in this day and age, like especially in like in journalism, you gotta be multifaceted, not necessarily like, oh, I'm on the cutting edge.
3:36
SPEAKER_01: No, that's like what the job entails nowadays because people consume information differently in a number of different mediums.
3:44
SPEAKER_01: It's not like the old days where people are on a subway train in 1945 or whatever, and like you have a newspaper.
3:50
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's how you hear everything or a radio.
3:52
SPEAKER_01: It's not like that anymore.
3:53
SPEAKER_01: People are getting their information a number of different ways.
3:56
SPEAKER_00: Around the clock.
3:57
SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
3:58
SPEAKER_00: Yep, exactly.
3:59
SPEAKER_00: Man, so take us to the beginning.
4:01
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
4:01
SPEAKER_00: The the very, very beginning before the podcast and the CBS appearances, and I mean the ESPN, and now you everywhere you got a lot of different things going on.
4:12
SPEAKER_00: Like, where did all of this start?
4:14
SPEAKER_01: You know, I wanted to be a meteorologist, a weatherman growing up.
4:18
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
4:18
SPEAKER_01: And then like when I was in high school, I was in advanced classes, made A's and B's, but then I started, they went into AP calculus and I nearly failed it.
4:28
SPEAKER_01: It was terrible.
4:29
SPEAKER_01: I had to beg for a D.
4:30
SPEAKER_01: And I quickly realized, like, man, meteorology deals a lot with math and calculus.
4:36
SPEAKER_01: And about that time, I had just moved to Northwest Arkansas and always loved sports, but it was so much different up here because it's just like the razorbacks.
4:44
SPEAKER_01: That's it.
4:44
SPEAKER_01: Where else you go elsewhere, it's like it's this team, that team, that team.
4:48
SPEAKER_01: Where'd you move in from?
4:49
SPEAKER_01: I moved in from Mississippi, Southern Mississippi.
4:51
SPEAKER_01: So down there it was it was Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Southern Miss, the New Orleans Saints.
4:57
SPEAKER_01: Um, uh, so it was just a little sporadic.
4:59
SPEAKER_01: LSU is sporadic.
5:01
SPEAKER_01: But here it was just like everybody was focused and everybody was obsessed with this.
5:04
SPEAKER_01: So I would read the newspaper a lot just to keep up with it.
5:07
SPEAKER_01: Sure.
5:07
SPEAKER_01: And about that time, I think the Razorbacks, it was 1998, they started 8-0 in football.
5:13
SPEAKER_01: Like it was an amazing run.
5:14
SPEAKER_01: Everybody was like, they didn't see this coming, and like I just fell in love with it.
5:19
SPEAKER_01: And one thing led to another.
5:21
SPEAKER_01: I wanted to be a sports writer and went to school, did that for a while, writing, volunteering for every little assignment I could.
5:28
SPEAKER_01: Sure.
5:29
SPEAKER_01: You know, we didn't have podcasts then, we didn't have video.
5:33
SPEAKER_01: I mean, the iPhone had not come out yet.
5:35
SPEAKER_01: In fact, I was using Flip Phone.
5:38
SPEAKER_01: And uh, but you do that for a while, and then you just like anything in life, one thing leads to another, that leads to another, that leads to another.
5:47
SPEAKER_01: And you gotta be willing to like try new things.
5:49
SPEAKER_01: And people always say, Well, yeah, that's easy enough, try new things.
5:52
SPEAKER_01: But like I say that to say this don't be afraid to fail.
5:56
SPEAKER_01: Sure.
5:57
SPEAKER_01: Because failure is not a loss, a failure is something you learn from all the time.
6:01
SPEAKER_01: So I can't tell you how many times I've failed trying something new or doing something different, but you learn from it, or you take that lesson to go do something else.
6:09
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
6:10
SPEAKER_01: Um, and so that's kind of what's like kept me in the business as long as I have, because I try new things and I'm always excited about what other things we might be able to do.
6:21
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, because no matter what happens in this world, we all want information.
6:26
SPEAKER_01: You want knowledge or whatever.
6:28
SPEAKER_01: And being the medium, someone who's able to gather that and provide it to people, and then also provide context around it and the institutional knowledge that comes with covering something or being involved in something for years and years and years.
6:43
SPEAKER_01: Sure, it's invaluable.
6:44
SPEAKER_01: Everybody counts on someone, something like that, or a platform of some sort to get their information, whether it's like you love a certain like movie or a writer or uh a team or an artist or whatever, you know, you can get it directly from them sometimes, but also people are covering in, telling you what's going on or whatever, and we all gobble up information like crazy.
7:09
SPEAKER_01: Even we don't realize it, even when we're just you know, doom scrolling and looking at stuff, you're learning things, you stumble on stuff.
7:16
SPEAKER_01: So you always that's kind of what gets me going every morning.
7:20
SPEAKER_00: Man, you talked about something that is crucial and and typically something that we talk about later in the podcast when you get into actual application and practical steps about putting yourself out there, but you spoke on the fear of not being afraid to fail.
7:34
SPEAKER_00: Talk about that because that's that's I equate that to somebody saying, you know, you're gonna get punched in your face sometimes, but you got to keep going.
7:43
SPEAKER_00: Even though you know that, it still hurts to be punched in your face.
7:46
SPEAKER_00: And so even though you know you're gonna fail, it still sucks to fail and it's still difficult.
7:51
SPEAKER_00: And so talk about your experience with failure and your relationship with turning that into not only a learning experience, but saying, like, yeah, it's part of it.
7:58
SPEAKER_00: I'm still gonna show up.
8:00
SPEAKER_01: I think like in my job, it's almost natural to fail a lot because in this industry you got competitors, everybody's got competitors, but like you'll get it, you'll get a scoop some days and you beat everybody else on it, and you're like, oh, I felt great.
8:14
SPEAKER_01: Then that high goes away quickly because someone else scoops you a day later or whatever.
8:19
SPEAKER_01: And every day it's like it's like a fist pump and then a fist to the gut.
8:25
SPEAKER_01: So that always like you're dealing with failure almost every week, every day.
8:31
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
8:32
SPEAKER_01: Uh sometimes.
8:33
SPEAKER_01: And so you can't like let that drag you down, otherwise it's gonna affect your next scoop in my instance, or trying to report on something else, or developing a really interesting story that people might want to read later.
8:44
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
8:44
SPEAKER_01: You can't get too involved in your head.
8:47
SPEAKER_01: And I think journalism, sports journalism, in a lot of ways helps with that.
8:52
SPEAKER_01: It makes me not afraid to go try some new things.
8:55
SPEAKER_01: Like I I mean, I remember, gosh, back when iPhones were just becoming a thing and like shooting video with it and like you know, editing it together.
9:05
SPEAKER_01: I remember doing like a three-part documentary when I was uh at the Northwest Arkansas Times back in 2008 or 2009, and it was just, you know, it's like iPhone or whatever, and I got some wireless mics, and I did a three-part documentary on the Razorbacks.
9:24
SPEAKER_01: One was on offense, one was on defense, one was on the special teams or whatever.
9:28
SPEAKER_01: And we're able to sell ads around it, and it was a huge success.
9:31
SPEAKER_01: And this is back, I don't even know, was you YouTube was around, but anyway, right?
9:36
SPEAKER_01: It was one of those things that's like this just seems kind of cool, and it was a huge hit.
9:40
SPEAKER_01: And then, like years later, iPhones are becoming more advanced and everything.
9:45
SPEAKER_01: You start doing, you know, they call them stand-up videos.
9:48
SPEAKER_01: So after your game, I would just film myself talking about the game and like here's something I learned from it from talking to some folks.
9:55
SPEAKER_01: And then, you know, a few years later, we start doing podcasts, and then of course, you know, the ability to live stream.
10:02
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you can just pick up your phone and start streaming somewhere.
10:04
SPEAKER_01: And so I would be at a game or whatever.
10:06
SPEAKER_01: So if halftime at halftime, I just set my camera up and start live streaming, going, hey, anybody got any questions up here?
10:12
SPEAKER_01: I'm in the press box or whatever.
10:14
SPEAKER_01: Um, and it's a way to interact with people, um, which is great, and cultivate, you know, one, your brand, but also the trust that people might be able to have in you.
10:23
SPEAKER_01: Um, I would do the same thing after games, like it'd be like 12 o'clock, 1 a.m.
10:28
SPEAKER_01: or whatever.
10:29
SPEAKER_01: I have filed all my stories, done everything I can.
10:32
SPEAKER_01: And literally just from the walk from the stadium to my car, I would pull my phone out.
10:36
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
10:37
SPEAKER_01: And I don't know if you remember Periscope.
10:39
SPEAKER_01: I would Periscope, I would do live video and just go, anybody got any questions?
10:43
SPEAKER_01: And here's what I learned while I'm walking the car.
10:45
SPEAKER_01: And then once I got to my car, everybody knew that was a cutoff point and we had to end it or whatever.
10:49
SPEAKER_01: And I'm I'm going home, going to bed, or whatever.
10:50
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
10:51
SPEAKER_01: So um, you know, and then I've tried a lot of other things that just didn't work out.
10:57
SPEAKER_01: I've I've tried doing like interview series and stuff like that and podcasts, and it just doesn't catch.
11:02
SPEAKER_01: People don't like it.
11:03
SPEAKER_01: So I just get rid of that, move on to something else.
11:06
SPEAKER_01: I've I've had so many false starts where I'm developing stuff and I've even sunk money into it where I think it's a really great idea, and then I'm unable to pursue it for any other reasons.
11:16
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and you can't let that get yourself down, you can't let that affect the way you go about doing your work because then you show one little crack, then the people who are accustomed to seeing you, listening to you, or reading you start going, I don't know about what's going on with this guy.
11:31
SPEAKER_01: Like, why does he not seem as sharp as it used to be?
11:34
SPEAKER_01: Or why does he not seem to know anything about this when usually he does, all because you're letting someone go, man, that podcast didn't go too well, or man, I got scooped on this story yesterday and I've been working on it for three weeks and I thought I had it and I got beat on it.
11:48
SPEAKER_01: You just you just can't deal with that.
11:50
SPEAKER_01: And we all deal with that sure in our everyday lives.
11:52
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
11:53
SPEAKER_01: And um, you just can't let that affect you.
11:57
SPEAKER_01: And you also can't let, I mean, you know this, when you put yourself out there, the internet is the internet.
12:03
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna hear more negativity than positivity, especially early.
12:07
SPEAKER_01: And I dealt with that a lot.
12:09
SPEAKER_01: A lot.
12:10
SPEAKER_01: And you can't let it affect you as long as you're in, you're telling the truth, showing the truth, being yourself, yeah.
12:17
SPEAKER_01: That's all that matters.
12:18
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you can't listen to outside noise.
12:21
SPEAKER_00: I heard somebody say, don't let a win go to your head, don't let a lot, don't let a loss go to your heart.
12:26
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
12:26
SPEAKER_00: That's perfect, you know.
12:28
SPEAKER_00: And yes, I mean you you put it so eloquently as you speak about what it looks like to show up and to fail.
12:34
SPEAKER_00: And and you're gonna mess up.
12:36
SPEAKER_00: Anything that's worth doing is probably worth messing up at, you know, and trying different avenues.
12:40
SPEAKER_00: For you, you started as a writer, then you started getting in front of the camera.
12:43
SPEAKER_00: Was that a natural transition?
12:45
SPEAKER_00: Was it difficult for you?
12:47
SPEAKER_01: Uh, it was a little difficult.
12:49
SPEAKER_01: I do just like talking, and I kind of I almost I had it in my brain that whenever I got in front of the camera, I just treaded, treated it like just act like you're talking to someone, just one person that you're having a conversation with.
13:02
SPEAKER_01: Like even my writing has always been very conversational, something that you can relate with and it just flows easily.
13:09
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to use gigantic big words and flowery language where you feel like you're reading poetry instead of.
13:15
SPEAKER_00: Let's put it in.
13:16
SPEAKER_00: Let's put a pen right there real quick.
13:18
SPEAKER_00: Because I think that's profound.
13:20
SPEAKER_00: Now I follow a lot of different um people who are like vocal coaches and and and brand ambassadors and marketing agents and all of these different people, and they talk about the skill of one-to-one communication, even in a broader context.
13:34
SPEAKER_00: Even if you have a platform of a million people, they teach you how to niche down and treat it like you're speaking to one person.
13:40
SPEAKER_00: And you came in knowing the importance of saying, Man, I'm talking to this camera, but I'm gonna treat it like I'm talking to one person.
13:46
SPEAKER_00: Where did that come from?
13:47
SPEAKER_00: How did you even have that forethought?
13:49
SPEAKER_01: More or less, probably because I'm trying to tamp down my nervousness and anxiety.
13:55
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
13:55
SPEAKER_01: Like instead of looking at a camera and being like, oh gosh, there might be 500 people watching this or 20 or 30,000.
14:04
SPEAKER_01: You get in your head, it's just like I'm recording this, and it's just for me and whoever I'm talking to right there.
14:09
SPEAKER_01: Love it.
14:09
SPEAKER_01: Um, that's just how I've always treated it.
14:11
SPEAKER_01: And I still do that now, even on live TV.
14:13
SPEAKER_01: When I'm talking, I know people are watching it, and uh I just treat it like I'm having a conversation with the other person on the other side of the camera who is in my ear, yeah, you know, speaking to me.
14:21
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
14:22
SPEAKER_01: Makes it a lot simpler, I imagine.
14:24
SPEAKER_01: No, it's easy.
14:24
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it makes it so much easier.
14:26
SPEAKER_01: Even if you're not, I'm not a profound speaker, I don't enunciate every word or whatever.
14:32
SPEAKER_01: But just be yourself, be clear at least, and be natural.
14:36
SPEAKER_00: That's all it's all about.
14:38
SPEAKER_00: Man, tell me about that time, that that moment, if there was a moment where you said, man, what I'm doing is is maybe bigger than what I even thought.
14:48
SPEAKER_00: Or man, this I'm doing something.
14:51
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
14:52
SPEAKER_00: Like it's not just a casual story, it's not just me showing up and now I'm reporting on something.
14:57
SPEAKER_00: Like this has led, or even your your videos walk into your car.
15:01
SPEAKER_00: Where was that moment?
15:02
SPEAKER_00: Was there a a defining moment where you maybe thought, man, this is this is more than just yeah, you know, what I expected or or imagined?
15:11
SPEAKER_01: Well, like selfishly you get in your head of like, oh, people recognize me.
15:15
SPEAKER_01: So like you'll get recognized somewhere from your videos and stuff.
15:17
SPEAKER_01: And man, I love watching stuff.
15:18
SPEAKER_01: You're like, oh, there's people actually watching this and actually enjoy it.
15:21
SPEAKER_01: But also, you know, there were times like when Twitter was first coming out, I remember being at a restaurant with uh my uh fiance, or not even my fiance, my girlfriend at the time who's now my wife, and she was visiting, and I remember someone taking a picture of us and putting it up on Twitter going, Who's this girl with Brandon Marcello?
15:39
SPEAKER_01: And it's all like, what the heck?
15:41
SPEAKER_01: But when it talked about actual impact, sure was whenever I'd write a story, and I can pick out a couple, like I remember writing a story about a baseball player, a pitcher, who very short guy, but ended up pushing himself, ended up being a closer, doing very well.
15:58
SPEAKER_01: And I found out like the reason why he was so small and short and everything is because he battled cancer as a kid, and right when he was supposed to be maturing and everything and growing, it stunted his growth.
16:12
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
16:12
SPEAKER_01: And also found out that the kid like died on a table in the hospital once and they brought him back, and then he ended up beating cancer and sharing his story with everybody.
16:23
SPEAKER_01: I can't tell you the amazing feedback that he got, that I got, but mostly just being able to share that out there and people were able to understand that kid, that player more or whatever.
16:34
SPEAKER_01: Like it's those type of stories I always carry with me.
16:36
SPEAKER_01: And then, like, whenever I see these guys, like later in life, or whatever, they've got that connection.
16:41
SPEAKER_01: It's just like, you know, we both kind of understand each other.
16:44
SPEAKER_01: Sure.
16:45
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, and being like, you know, I there's a couple stories like that.
16:50
SPEAKER_01: I remember, you know, Dak Prescott, who plays for the Cowboys now, Dallas Cowboys, he was at Mississippi State when I was there, and he was just a freshman, hasn't had played a little bit.
17:01
SPEAKER_01: And I remember I did a story on him during a bowl game preparation where he was just kind of, you know, he's not gonna play or whatever.
17:08
SPEAKER_01: And so I was like trying to figure out who this kid was or whatever.
17:11
SPEAKER_01: And he did this whole story about him and his mom, and his mom was battling cancer, and he was still working at a gas station at night to help push everything through, help him get through college and all this stuff.
17:23
SPEAKER_01: And she never complained about it or anything like that.
17:26
SPEAKER_01: They always kind of try to keep it quiet, you know, and they grew up and like had conditions and all this stuff, and he was like the kid that was like gonna try and get him out of there.
17:36
SPEAKER_01: And um I remember doing that story, and then a year or two later, I took another job to go cover Auburn and SEC Rival, and the week Auburn was gonna play Mississippi State, uh, found out his mother died.
17:53
SPEAKER_01: And I was just torn up over it.
17:55
SPEAKER_01: Just torn up, and I remember going to the being in a press box for that game, just going, Whoa, I can't believe it.
17:59
SPEAKER_01: And the kid, Dak Prescott, comes out there and plays the game.
18:02
SPEAKER_01: And I'm all like, how does he do this?
18:04
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
18:05
SPEAKER_01: But it's like being able to like connect and share stories about people because sports is so much, it's a reflection of life, right?
18:12
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but sports is amp amplifies it because all these people have stories are going through stuff, and then they can kind of let all that out on the field or on the court.
18:23
SPEAKER_01: And if they succeed, it doesn't necessarily wash things away.
18:26
SPEAKER_01: It just like it's a moment of relief for them and fresh air.
18:30
SPEAKER_01: And it also gives them a platform to be able to share themselves and show who they are.
18:35
SPEAKER_01: And that's that's that's the main reason why I love what I do.
18:38
SPEAKER_01: It's not about necessarily breaking news or knowing this or knowing that.
18:42
SPEAKER_01: It's about like I love being able to find stories like that and share with people.
18:46
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, man.
18:47
SPEAKER_00: That's beautiful.
18:48
SPEAKER_00: Shout out to Dak.
18:48
SPEAKER_00: I'm a cowboy stuff.
18:49
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so you know, I know we got I know we got mixed feelings out there, but but I'm a good one.
18:53
SPEAKER_01: He's a good guy, he's a good guy.
18:55
SPEAKER_01: You know, I haven't talked to him in years, but I remember just working on that story and then following him and then being able to bump into him in the in the past when he was still a college football player.
19:04
SPEAKER_01: Sure.
19:05
SPEAKER_01: Uh, it was amazing.
19:06
SPEAKER_01: And I was there for the day that I was covering Auburn.
19:09
SPEAKER_01: Auburn was number one in the country.
19:10
SPEAKER_01: Mississippi State, I think, was number four.
19:13
SPEAKER_01: They beat Auburn, and Mississippi State went up to number one for the first time in their history.
19:18
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
19:18
SPEAKER_01: And they're the first team ever to be in the number one in the college football playoff rankings.
19:23
SPEAKER_01: And uh little old Mississippi State, but Dak Prescott was the big reason why.
19:28
SPEAKER_00: I was so, so happy for him.
19:31
SPEAKER_00: You know, you tell these stories, whether that's about the gentleman who was battling cancer or Dak Prescott, and there's an intentionality and a spirit behind these stories.
19:39
SPEAKER_00: Now, in journalism in general, it feels like it's a lot of noise.
19:42
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
19:43
SPEAKER_00: I know there's great ones out there, you know much better than me.
19:45
SPEAKER_00: You know, maybe some of your peers or people that you subscribe to, but how do you cut through the noise and how do you say, I'm not gonna put something out there for the sake of putting something out there, for the sake of being on your timeline when you scroll, and I care about what's going out there.
19:59
SPEAKER_00: How do you battle that?
20:01
SPEAKER_01: You know, we used to always talk about it being a hot take culture.
20:04
SPEAKER_01: I think we're more or less now in a character culture.
20:08
SPEAKER_01: And by that I mean people are putting on these new personas that aren't necessarily them to drive up, we say clicks, but to draw people in, and they're not actually that person.
20:18
SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
20:19
SPEAKER_01: You see it too.
20:20
SPEAKER_01: Like in your so you watch this stuff, you can see through it, and then like these people are like obsessed, like, oh, I I love watching so-and-so, and you're like, you know, like I know that person, and they do not believe a word.
20:29
SPEAKER_01: Brandon in their mouth.
20:30
SPEAKER_00: That's hurting y'all.
20:31
SPEAKER_00: Like, that's that's I agree.
20:32
SPEAKER_00: It's hurting y'all, man.
20:34
SPEAKER_00: We we go to, I won't even name some of the people that I have recently started to abhor.
20:40
SPEAKER_00: It's like, man, I I grew up watching you.
20:42
SPEAKER_00: There was such a genuineness and authenticity in what you do, but it's so cheap and you you hit the nail on the head.
20:48
SPEAKER_00: It's a character culture.
20:49
SPEAKER_00: People shape shift and put on these, and you know they say things just so we can go and watch it.
20:56
SPEAKER_00: And it's like, man, you don't realize what this is doing to your credibility.
20:59
SPEAKER_00: Well, I get it all the time.
21:00
SPEAKER_01: I've had, I've had, uh, I've been in situations where people are just bad mouthing the media or whatever, and they don't realize I'm in the media or whatever.
21:10
SPEAKER_01: And I'm all like, hey, what do you think of this?
21:13
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, why?
21:14
SPEAKER_01: And you go, because I work there and I do this, and they're like, Oh, I didn't mean you.
21:18
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I understand that, but also let me show you my perspective.
21:22
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of really good people in this industry, and just because you might see one, two, three, four, five even people talking about this one subject, I'm gonna guarantee you there's about 500 or whatever more that are actually doing the right thing and actually getting to the truth and providing information that the public needs or whatever.
21:38
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
21:39
SPEAKER_01: But that gets the attention because it's someone, you know, waving their hands in the air, saying things.
21:44
SPEAKER_01: And again, uh the thing I run into sometimes is like I know some of these people, and I know that like they don't believe half the things coming out of their own mouth, but they're saying it because it riles up things, they've got a fan base or whatever.
21:56
SPEAKER_01: But in a lot of ways these days, I hate saying this because people's eyes glaze over and they hear this, but we need more media literacy in culture, and by that I mean just simply understanding the difference between a sports journalist and a sports commentator or a sports personality, as they call them now.
22:17
SPEAKER_01: Those are people giving their opinion.
22:19
SPEAKER_01: Three different things.
22:19
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly.
22:20
SPEAKER_01: Like a someone like me, I'll give my opinion or whatever, but it's always based solely off of what I've been hearing and been told by people that I trust and by my own reporting.
22:31
SPEAKER_01: A lot of other folks and love them.
22:33
SPEAKER_01: I think you have to understand that a lot of the the like the noise, as you say, that's entertainment.
22:39
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's not news, it's more or less news entertainment.
22:43
SPEAKER_01: That's good, brother.
22:44
SPEAKER_01: They're taking a they're bending, they're taking the tree and they're bending it this way instead of it being straight up.
22:50
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so you gotta realize that.
22:52
SPEAKER_01: But I think so many people, and it's not necessarily a person's fault, but especially younger people, when you're looking on your phone and you don't know that there are multiple angles of something, you just like the way this person looks or the way they talk or whatever.
23:06
SPEAKER_01: And so you just go there and you're like, that's an interesting point.
23:08
SPEAKER_01: That's an interesting point.
23:10
SPEAKER_01: But you don't actually know the full truth behind some of them.
23:13
SPEAKER_01: And that that's what steers everything in different directions.
23:17
SPEAKER_01: Because it used to be, I mean, everything's in a lot of ways, there it's things are so much better, but we've got too much information out there.
23:27
SPEAKER_01: It's information overload.
23:28
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
23:28
SPEAKER_01: You know, used to be, you know, even before my days, we had, you know, three network channels or whatever, and you get your news.
23:34
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
23:35
SPEAKER_01: Now it's anybody.
23:36
SPEAKER_01: Anybody can pick up a microphone and say something, but as long as if you build up an audience, people start thinking that you're credible in what you're saying, even if it's not.
23:44
SPEAKER_01: So anyway, long-winded way of saying just everybody needs to do their own research and look into the people that they're listening to and going, has this person actually been reporting the truth or are they just sharing know the difference?
23:58
SPEAKER_00: That's good.
23:59
SPEAKER_00: That's good.
23:59
SPEAKER_00: And and I feel a little bit of conviction right there because there's probably times I've gone to I've done it, I do it too.
24:05
SPEAKER_00: People who are personalities, but no, they don't they don't have the the I do it too.
24:09
SPEAKER_00: They just got the following.
24:10
SPEAKER_00: They don't have the history, they don't have the research under their belt.
24:13
SPEAKER_00: It's just uh a platform.
24:14
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not saying I mean I'm not it I'm not pumping myself up at all.
24:17
SPEAKER_01: Sure.
24:18
SPEAKER_01: But what I'm saying is I just want people to know, people need to know the differences between certain roles in in the media or whatever.
24:26
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
24:26
SPEAKER_01: You know, and uh it's um I think the lines, the lines aren't just blurred anymore.
24:31
SPEAKER_01: There's there's no lines.
24:32
SPEAKER_01: Everybody's just swimming in the same pool.
24:34
SPEAKER_01: It's no longer adult swim, it's just everybody's in at the same time.
24:37
SPEAKER_00: Like you mentioned, there's a lot of things that have changed over the years.
24:40
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you've been in this business for a while, and there's some things that I'm sure you're like, man, I'm happy that we've grown in this way.
24:46
SPEAKER_00: We got more access to be able to put ourselves out there.
24:49
SPEAKER_00: What are some things that you look back on and you're like, it was a a a simpler time where I wish this from this era would would transition and kind of bleed through, you know?
24:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's a good question.
25:00
SPEAKER_01: I think because of everything needing to be immediate these days these days, it's not allowed for a lot of reporters out there to do the proper work behind a story to develop it and let it breathe before publishing it or sharing it.
25:15
SPEAKER_01: Because in a lot of ways, it's just like you hear something immediately and you go, sources say this is going on.
25:19
SPEAKER_01: And then like 10 minutes later you find out, the guy goes, Well, actually it's this, and you go, I already put this out.
25:24
SPEAKER_01: And I've run into that problem.
25:26
SPEAKER_01: Others in this industry have too.
25:28
SPEAKER_01: But the issue there, of course, is the person reading that's not going to be like, I need to go follow back up on that 20 minutes later to see if that's still true.
25:35
SPEAKER_01: It once it's out there, it's out there.
25:37
SPEAKER_01: So we don't allow ourselves enough grace and time to build on something.
25:43
SPEAKER_01: So that's that's one thing I I kind of miss.
25:46
SPEAKER_01: Um personally, it's just I miss the feel of it being in a newsroom and being in there and everybody working on stories and discussing things and bouncing ideas off each other.
25:57
SPEAKER_01: Um, that's not necessarily the case anymore.
25:59
SPEAKER_01: You know, everything you can do things over Zoom and everything, but you're not in the same building like most of the day, and you just bump into someone and go, hey, I haven't seen you in a while.
26:06
SPEAKER_01: What are you working on?
26:07
SPEAKER_01: I'm working on this.
26:07
SPEAKER_01: And you're like, oh, by the way, yeah, I know that guy.
26:10
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
26:10
SPEAKER_01: Here, you need to ask him this.
26:12
SPEAKER_01: You don't have that anymore in the um in a in a lot of newsrooms.
26:16
SPEAKER_01: Um but yeah, I think the push for quantity over quality in a lot of ways has has hurt a lot of things, not just journalism, but uh everywhere.
26:29
SPEAKER_01: But I do think that in a lot of ways we're steering more back to people who provide quality content, getting more attention.
26:39
SPEAKER_01: And I think a lot of companies out there are seeing that and realizing oh, people always want the quality more so than just here's a French fry, here's a French fry, here's a French fry.
26:49
SPEAKER_01: And it's like, oh, by the way, we're gonna have a steak for you later night.
26:52
SPEAKER_01: It's like, well, I'm full.
26:53
SPEAKER_01: Well, you could wait, man.
26:54
SPEAKER_01: You could have this amazing steak or whatever.
26:56
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
26:57
SPEAKER_01: So um I still see those glimmers of us getting back to that type of stuff.
27:03
SPEAKER_01: And that and that gets me going.
27:05
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
27:06
SPEAKER_01: That's pretty poetic.
27:07
SPEAKER_01: French fry and steak.
27:08
SPEAKER_01: You know.
27:09
SPEAKER_01: I like, hey, I've had a steak with French fries.
27:11
SPEAKER_01: Me too.
27:12
SPEAKER_01: I haven't done it.
27:13
SPEAKER_01: I've done it, but it's just like it's just it's um, we all want to know something now.
27:17
SPEAKER_01: For sure.
27:18
SPEAKER_01: It's just difficult to kind of cultivate and have it both ways.
27:21
SPEAKER_00: You know, it feels like people want to be first as opposed to being right.
27:25
SPEAKER_00: Right.
27:25
SPEAKER_00: Um, you spoke on something again where talk about the importance of showing up, especially as a you know, a journalist and somebody who's reporting.
27:35
SPEAKER_00: And for you, it is a matter of, I gotta go and I gotta get this out there.
27:40
SPEAKER_00: And you almost don't have time to sulk or sit back and be like, man, the last scoop didn't go well.
27:45
SPEAKER_00: Now, you know, so for somebody out there that's dealing with the paralysis of analysis, yeah, and just kind of talk about that, how important is it to not only go, but to go fast and and not as it pertains to compromising integrity or truth or anything like that, but no, get up and and get it going.
28:02
SPEAKER_01: A lot of that it goes, you gotta go with your gut in a lot of ways.
28:05
SPEAKER_01: Whenever you're in a situation, fight or flight, when you get into a situation and you're like, oh, this seems to I need to run away.
28:11
SPEAKER_01: Someone's coming at me right now.
28:13
SPEAKER_01: Trust your gut.
28:14
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
28:15
SPEAKER_01: And so in this industry, in a lot of ways, you gotta trust your gut.
28:17
SPEAKER_01: If you're working on a story and it seems like you're working on it a lot and you're not getting anywhere, instead of maybe continuing to pursue it, maybe you should just stop and go focus on something else.
28:24
SPEAKER_01: I run into that a lot.
28:26
SPEAKER_01: Um, but also if you're just like getting into anything for that matter, but even in journalism, I always say volunteer for everything.
28:35
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
28:35
SPEAKER_01: Like so, like my industry is like, man, we don't have anybody go cover this like junior eye basketball game, and I go, I'll go do it.
28:41
SPEAKER_01: I'm there.
28:42
SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't maybe want to do it, but I'll go do it.
28:44
SPEAKER_01: And then you always have an experience from it.
28:46
SPEAKER_01: Sorry that you forget, but someone's just like you get that work ethic or whatever, and you also show to people, I'm willing to do a little bit of everything, want to develop myself, but also help you out.
28:56
SPEAKER_01: So maybe you can help me out later.
28:57
SPEAKER_01: So I think that's very important.
29:00
SPEAKER_01: Any walk of life, if someone needs help with something, whether it's work-related or not, sure, and you've got the time, go do it.
29:06
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, just go help someone, help something out.
29:08
SPEAKER_01: And at some point, you're gonna learn something about yourself, but also you're helping someone else out.
29:13
SPEAKER_00: That's something that's some of the best advice I've received from my grandmother.
29:21
SPEAKER_00: Right.
29:22
SPEAKER_00: And now you realize you're just paying it forward and it'll come back.
29:25
SPEAKER_00: The worst word in the English language is no.
29:30
SPEAKER_01: In my opinion.
29:31
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you gotta know your own limits and respect your own time or whatever, but it's so easy just to say no to everything.
29:39
SPEAKER_01: Nope.
29:40
SPEAKER_01: Nope.
29:40
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you don't need to be saying that.
29:42
SPEAKER_00: I like what you said.
29:43
SPEAKER_00: Eric, Eric Howarton, he started podcastvideos.com, you know, good friend of mine.
29:48
SPEAKER_00: He says there's no such thing as a bad opportunity.
29:51
SPEAKER_00: Even as a performer, if you go and you do a show for two people, oh yeah, that's a good opportunity.
29:57
SPEAKER_00: Because, like you said, not only do you get practice and rest.
30:01
SPEAKER_00: But also that two that those two people out there, you could have impacted them in ways that you might not even have imagined.
30:07
SPEAKER_01: You're exactly right.
30:08
SPEAKER_01: And there's times I'm sure you run into this where I've run into people that have impacted me, and I go up to them like, dude, um, I used to read you all the time or whatever, and they're like, Well, what?
30:20
SPEAKER_01: I go, dude, you remember when you wrote this or whatever?
30:23
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I was actually just texting with a friend yesterday that was meeting for lunch, someone in Fort Smith who used to do this local television show names Marty.
30:32
SPEAKER_01: And shout out to Marty.
30:33
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
30:33
SPEAKER_01: Marty used to do this show on the Fox affiliate called The Huddle or whatever.
30:36
SPEAKER_01: And I remember in high school when I'd be sick home from school, his show was always on the noon, and I would watch it, and I loved it.
30:44
SPEAKER_01: And so, like the first time I was able to like actually talk to him, I was just like, Man, I used to watch a show all the time.
30:49
SPEAKER_01: But you're almost embarrassed to say for sure.
30:51
SPEAKER_01: And I remember seeing him uh a few months ago, and like, dude, I used to watch your show all the time.
30:56
SPEAKER_01: I loved it.
30:56
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, What?
30:57
SPEAKER_01: He goes, He goes, He goes, but you're doing this now.
30:59
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, yeah, it don't matter, man.
31:01
SPEAKER_01: Your stuff was freaking awesome.
31:02
SPEAKER_01: I love that stuff.
31:03
SPEAKER_01: And then my my friend was having lunch with him yesterday.
31:05
SPEAKER_01: I go, make sure and tell him hi.
31:07
SPEAKER_01: And then I still loved watching his stuff.
31:09
SPEAKER_01: I wish he still did it.
31:10
SPEAKER_01: Um everybody, someone's impacting someone every day, every which way, even when you don't realize it or think about it.
31:17
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but just you don't.
31:19
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's it's why, like, even if I'm walking through an airport or something, and you know, if someone looks at me and I didn't smile or something, I feel like I just screwed up.
31:28
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
31:28
SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
31:28
SPEAKER_01: It's like I could have they may think that, you know, I'm mad at or whatever, and I didn't make them feel good.
31:34
SPEAKER_00: You're just thinking about the steak and french fries, you're gonna eat whack when you land.
31:37
SPEAKER_00: Like you're not even thinking.
31:39
SPEAKER_00: You know, okay, get home.
31:40
SPEAKER_00: Man, what's the what's the biggest misconception about media in general?
31:44
SPEAKER_00: What's something that either people don't realize or something that we think as as non-media people, yeah, that's just not the case?
31:52
SPEAKER_01: That we have an agenda outside of just giving you the truth and the information you need.
31:57
SPEAKER_01: The media, the reason why we exist is to have checks and balances in this country, um, whether it's politically, sports, entertainment, it doesn't matter.
32:08
SPEAKER_01: Journalists, the try and true publications out there, the pillars, you know, like the Associated Press, New York Times, all this stuff, people want to say, well, this one's more leaning this way, or this one's more leaning this way politically, or in the sports world, it's like, well, they seem to favor the SEC more than the Big Ten or the Big 12 or whatever.
32:28
SPEAKER_01: I'm telling you, the core principles within publications and everything like that, it's not that way.
32:35
SPEAKER_01: It's perception mostly by outside noise.
32:38
SPEAKER_01: Sure.
32:39
SPEAKER_01: And people start feeding into that.
32:41
SPEAKER_01: So if you hear enough noise around, it's like, well, I think they're more of that hardly ever that's the truth.
32:47
SPEAKER_01: And especially it's not the truth among the hardworking journalists who are on the ground dealing with the day-to-day stuff.
32:55
SPEAKER_01: We don't, I don't wake up in the morning and go, how can I take down the SEC?
33:00
SPEAKER_01: How can I make this bias towards it?
33:02
SPEAKER_01: How can I make this team look bad?
33:04
SPEAKER_01: How can I make that team look bad?
33:06
SPEAKER_01: I've never done that.
33:07
SPEAKER_01: And even when I have a personal conflict with something, like a source or whatever, sometimes I'll just go, I don't know if I can fairly report that because of my own feelings, and we pass it on.
33:18
SPEAKER_01: Why someone else go, hey, can you go handle this or whatever?
33:21
SPEAKER_01: And the good editors out there, and every company has them, they watch out for that stuff.
33:26
SPEAKER_01: If they see something and they know it's like, why is this story going a little bit this way?
33:31
SPEAKER_01: The good ones go, not running that.
33:34
SPEAKER_01: We're giving that to someone else.
33:35
SPEAKER_01: What's going on here?
33:37
SPEAKER_01: Um, but having said that, we also know every publication has columnists.
33:42
SPEAKER_01: Or that that's the thing.
33:44
SPEAKER_01: Back in the old days, and it's still like this, you had columnists, you had the opinion page.
33:49
SPEAKER_01: So people knew exactly if I want to read an opinion, a take on this, I have to turn the page to this.
33:54
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
33:55
SPEAKER_01: Or on TV, they used to like you do the news, and then it'd be here's a commentary by social and it show on the script commentary, editorial, or whatever.
34:02
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's not like that anymore in a lot of ways.
34:04
SPEAKER_01: It's just everything's out there.
34:05
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, something publishes a video, and the lines are blurred.
34:09
SPEAKER_01: No one knows what's a story, what's news, what's an opinion, or whatever.
34:13
SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, every company does that now, but we're relying a lot on the reader and the listener to differentiate the two.
34:23
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
34:23
SPEAKER_01: But I think in these days, people can't really do that because there's so much information out there that it's easy to confuse what is truth and what's not.
34:32
SPEAKER_00: Give us a good way to think about that.
34:34
SPEAKER_00: I know that you've spent decades perfecting this craft of storytelling and figuring out how to weed through what's, you know, maybe swaying one way or not.
34:43
SPEAKER_00: But for us, just the casual, like you said, person who gets their news every morning on the phone or somebody who's on TikTok or watching even some of the bigger channels, CBS, ESPN, what is a good way to think about how we filter through the information that we receive?
35:00
SPEAKER_00: Whether that's is this a story, is this an opinion, is this how what what's a simple way to engage that?
35:06
SPEAKER_01: You almost have to remove yourself from your own body in a lot of ways and try to be neutral and listen to something or read something and go with your gut.
35:14
SPEAKER_01: Again, I talk about going with your gut, but listening to your gut, like that seems to be more going this way, not based on actual fact or something or something like that.
35:23
SPEAKER_01: You gotta trust your gut, even if it's something you like really believe.
35:25
SPEAKER_01: Like you're a big time like Arkansas Razorbacks fan, and someone's telling you, like, man, things are really great right now.
35:31
SPEAKER_01: You know, you know, a four-win season should be celebrated or whatever, and you're like, that doesn't sound right.
35:38
SPEAKER_01: Am I you know, so you gotta trust your own gut.
35:40
SPEAKER_01: And again, that a lot of that's just media literacy, being able to differentiate that stuff yourself.
35:46
SPEAKER_01: And then I think, you know, the clarity of knowing certain personalities, podcasts, writers, or anything, sure, knowing and seeing what they've done, their body of work in the past, you can go, oh, that person's an opinion, opinionated, and they're gonna be sharing their opinion.
36:02
SPEAKER_01: And a lot of the times their opinion is leaning this way or that way.
36:06
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and they build an audience based off of you know being on the right side of something instead of the left side of something, or they're just outrageous and they're an entertainer going up there and saying crazy things just to say it.
36:17
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
36:18
SPEAKER_01: Um, but you know, in a lot of ways, the long form of podcast is a lot of a lot of ability for people to say something that might not be true, but then double down on it and almost build a uh a false narrative behind it with false evidence that makes you go, that makes me think that that actually that might actually be true.
36:38
SPEAKER_01: That person might be right because they're allowed to keep speaking on it or whatever.
36:42
SPEAKER_01: Um but long-winded way of saying like you just you just gotta pay attention, go with your gut in a lot of ways.
36:51
SPEAKER_01: And I I hate saying like do your research because like the popular thing to say, but like do your research on not necessarily the topic, but do your research on the people delivering that topic.
37:02
SPEAKER_00: That's real.
37:03
SPEAKER_00: Yep, that's real.
37:04
SPEAKER_00: Man, last question.
37:07
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
37:07
SPEAKER_00: I like to, you you've given so many gems and so many keys, and I hope y'all paying attention out there.
37:13
SPEAKER_00: Um, what are your five, I like to say five creator commandments?
37:17
SPEAKER_00: And so anybody that's wanting to start writing that first sports story to the person out there that wants to do their own live videos and and want to report on whatever the case may be, what are the and five it can be ambitious, but three to five things that you say either you must do this or you must not, you know.
37:38
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
37:39
SPEAKER_01: I used to be someone who says there was a right way to get into the business.
37:43
SPEAKER_01: There's no right way anymore.
37:45
SPEAKER_01: There's multiple avenues to get into it.
37:47
SPEAKER_01: I work with people every day that were just fans, football fans, and started their own podcast or fan network or whatever, and it's on-the-job training.
37:58
SPEAKER_01: They learn things on the both sides, and they have a unique perspective on what I do and attack things so much differently than me.
38:04
SPEAKER_01: But then I'm like, man, what they do is just like something I really respect and like I'll listen to or read every single day.
38:09
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
38:10
SPEAKER_01: Don't let anybody tell you that you gotta go do this to get into it.
38:13
SPEAKER_01: Find a way to do what you love.
38:15
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
38:16
SPEAKER_01: You know, professionally, whatever.
38:18
SPEAKER_01: That's one thing.
38:19
SPEAKER_01: Don't let anybody tell you there's one right way to get into it.
38:22
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
38:22
SPEAKER_01: Um uh secondly, we mentioned earlier, don't be afraid to fail, um, especially early.
38:29
SPEAKER_01: Like you gotta differentiate yourself, but you also have to be willing to show that you're doing be able to put in the work to try something new instead of just doing what everybody else is doing.
38:37
SPEAKER_01: But also, you gotta be able to show yourself that you know, I did it your way, I failed, now I'm gonna try my way and work out and see if I fail that way.
38:45
SPEAKER_01: That's good.
38:46
SPEAKER_01: Um uh also like if you're working, you get that job or whatever, and there's something out there that needs to be covered, but you don't feel like doing it, you got the time, go volunteer to do it.
38:57
SPEAKER_01: Show some work ethic, show someone that you're willing to do something, work your tail off.
39:01
SPEAKER_01: It's as simple as that.
39:03
SPEAKER_01: Um people talk about talent a lot or whatever.
39:09
SPEAKER_01: Work ethic beats talent a lot of times.
39:12
SPEAKER_01: If you outwork someone, it will beat talent sometimes.
39:15
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, unless it's literally like you're being an artist or something.
39:19
SPEAKER_01: For sure.
39:19
SPEAKER_01: That's a stick figure.
39:20
SPEAKER_01: That's a that's that's a fact.
39:22
SPEAKER_01: But if that when it comes to like gathering stuff and working, it's work ethic.
39:26
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, it's just simple, like someone who's you know doing something for two hours, working on building something, yeah, is gonna get more done than the person who spent an hour on it or 30 minutes.
39:36
SPEAKER_01: Yes, yeah, it's that simple.
39:37
SPEAKER_01: Work ethic.
39:38
SPEAKER_01: Um I mean, that's a good thing.
39:40
SPEAKER_01: That's like a that's like my main thing.
39:42
SPEAKER_01: I can't think of anything else I was telling anybody.
39:44
SPEAKER_01: I know that sounds very simple, but like as I've gotten older, I was so stuck in my ways of like, if you want to be a sports journalist, you gotta go to school, and then you've got to, you know, work your way up.
39:56
SPEAKER_01: You gotta cover junior highs and then high schools, and then work your way up.
40:00
SPEAKER_01: You know, I see I say kids, people in their mid-20s are like doing what I'm doing right now, and I had to quote unquote work my way up to where now I'm 41 years old and I'm finally doing what I always want to do.
40:12
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
40:12
SPEAKER_01: Well, guess what?
40:13
SPEAKER_01: He started on TikTok and he started doing something different and it caught on and he loved doing it, and he's got age has nothing to do with it.
40:21
SPEAKER_01: Sure.
40:21
SPEAKER_01: He did it a different way than you.
40:23
SPEAKER_01: You were probably dumb for doing it the way you did, or maybe not.
40:26
SPEAKER_01: The point is you got where you wanted to go.
40:28
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
40:29
SPEAKER_01: But you just can't, don't let anybody out there tell you to do it one way or another.
40:35
SPEAKER_01: Because I ran into that even when I was young.
40:37
SPEAKER_01: That's good.
40:38
SPEAKER_01: Like, you need to do it this way, you need to work your way up and do all this stuff.
40:41
SPEAKER_01: And then slowly while I was doing that, I really looked around going, people aren't doing it that way.
40:46
SPEAKER_01: What am I have I mister wrong?
40:48
SPEAKER_01: Don't let anybody tell you.
40:49
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
40:49
SPEAKER_01: What else you got?
40:50
SPEAKER_01: Where can we keep up with you?
40:51
SPEAKER_01: Anything, anything you want to plug?
40:53
SPEAKER_01: Or oh man.
40:54
SPEAKER_01: I I people ask me that.
40:56
SPEAKER_01: It's like, but I've got content coming up every day.
40:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
40:59
SPEAKER_01: Just check me out on socials.
41:01
SPEAKER_01: Where can we follow you at?
41:02
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, uh, at B Marcello on Twitter and X, uh Brandon Marcello on Instagram, TikTok, uh Blue Sky.
41:10
SPEAKER_01: I'm on there.
41:11
SPEAKER_01: Love it.
41:11
SPEAKER_01: Got videos coming out, podcast stuff coming out, and got a uh new show coming out in August, too.
41:16
SPEAKER_01: Let's go that I can't wait for people to see on uh on CBS Sports on YouTube.
41:20
SPEAKER_01: So I can't wait for people to see it.
41:22
SPEAKER_00: That's exciting, man.
41:23
SPEAKER_00: If I want to go to some of the games, I'll just call you and go recall and I wish.
41:27
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes I can't even get into some games.
41:29
SPEAKER_01: I'm apply for credentials, like we're packed, man.
41:31
SPEAKER_01: We can't let you in.
41:32
SPEAKER_01: But yeah, yeah, I can give you a ride if I'm going somewhere with me.
41:35
SPEAKER_01: Let's do it.
41:35
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
41:35
SPEAKER_01: Man, thanks for joining us, bro.
41:37
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
41:37
SPEAKER_01: I had fun.
41:38
SPEAKER_01: See ya.