Latest / Not Right Now / Let Kids Play

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Let Kids Play · Not Right Now

• 0:00
  I would just warn you that you don't age in a linear way. Mm-hmm. All the choices you made as a young player come back to haunt you now, and your children go, "Why do you make that noise when you get off the couch?"
• 0:11
  And you're like, "Because I was- Yep... gonna do whatever it took to get that foul ball. Like, what are you talking about?" [upbeat music] Welcome to Not Right Now, the podcast about parenting through all of this.
• 0:24
  We'll be talking about/crashing out over topics like... Deciding whether you need to fight today for trans rights or for them to please just brush their teeth all the way. Group chat drama during actual global drama.
• 0:36
  Climate anxiety, and, "Mom, I'm bored" one second after you walk in the door from a field trip. Book bans, and stop reading under the covers, and do I have to read The New York Times just because we subscribe to it?
• 0:48
  It's not an advice show. It's a you're not alone, and you're also not crazy for screaming in the shower kinda show. I'm Claire Zulkey from Evil Witches. And I'm Quinn Emmett from Important Not Important.
• 1:00
  You can find details on anything we talk about in the show notes or at our website notrightnow.show..show.
• 1:07
  And if you like what you hear today, please share it with a parent who needs it or who might laugh and tell their kids to be quiet, and then drop us a nice little five-star review.
• 1:16
  And reminder, you can send questions or feedback to questions@notnotrightnow.show. [upbeat music] Hey, it's Quinn.
• 1:30
  We just finished a wonderful conversation with Congressman Chris Deluzio from Pennsylvania's 17th district. Congressman Deluzio is a father of four. He is a Navy vet, served in Iraq.
• 1:42
  He is quite progressive on everything from labor unions to the topic of today's conversation, which is getting private equity out of youth sports.
• 1:52
  He recently introduced the Let Kids Play Act, which is in partnership with Senators Murphy and Booker, I believe, and maybe some others at this point, to get private equity, vulture investors, as they say, out of youth sports, because it's so expensive.
• 2:08
  It's impossible. Everything from the state of play stuff, to team cost, to required jerseys, and, and travel, and all that stuff, it's impossible. And it's crazy, and it doesn't need to be this way.
• 2:19
  And so they are trying to get them out and to make them pay it back, which is amazing. So please enjoy this conversation with Congressman Chris Deluzio. [upbeat music] Hello. Welcome, Congressman. How are you? Very good.
• 2:36
  Thanks for having me on. How are you? Thanks for joining us. This is my cohost, Claire. She's a better person than I am, and we're excited to talk to you today. Well, thanks for having me. I'm looking forward to it.
• 2:45
  For sure. Okay. There's nothing... Oh, go ahead, Claire. Sorry. Oh, no, no. Go ahead, Quinn.
• 2:50
  I was gonna ask for some advice for a friend of mine who is the presumptive Jan Schakowsky replacement, who will be g- and, um, would be curious to hear Congressman's advice for a freshman, but- Daniel Besh? Yeah, yeah.
• 3:02
  Yeah. I'm friends with... I, I knew him before he even got into politics. But yeah, he is a great guy. I don't... I, I feel bad for him for going to DC, but, you know, at least he's...
• 3:12
  We need more normal people like you guys in government, so- Right... look out for him. He's a good guy. I, I supported him in his race, so small world. Great.
• 3:21
  What, yeah, what advice would you have for someone who is a, I don't know if you call, if you i- identify as a millennial, millennial, Gen Z, like Gen- I am a millennial. Yeah. Okay.
• 3:30
  What advice would you send, give to other millennial dads who are new, and moms, who are new in Congress about what to expect from the role?
• 3:37
  You know, this may be midlife, but you're gonna- you're about to feel very young walking into Congress, where it's, you know, a bunch of dinosaurs walking around in many ways.
• 3:45
  So it, it'll help you feel young, number one. And two, you know, so he's Chicago. He can get home pretty easily, which is great, because you can't lose sight of your family and- Mm-hmm... all that matters at home.
• 3:58
  Like, that, if that doesn't work, none of it works. So he's lucky in the sense of that's an easy trip back and forth.
• 4:04
  He's got options for flights, and that actually will make it a lot easier than some folks who have way worse commutes than me and Pittsburgh and him and Chicago. Sure. Yeah. I was gonna ask how we fix the Pirates.
• 4:14
  I, I, I mean, it's similar, similar era. [laughs] You know, I'm 42, so back to, yeah, I'm letting... You know, I, I was eight when the 1992 NLDS happened, which is, like, the, the perfect age to just traumatize you.
• 4:26
  [laughs] Yeah, put, they got the hooks in me. Yeah. That's exactly it. And then we had 20-what? 21 losing seasons in a row after that. Yeah. It's been a long run. It's such a waste- Actually-... of a great stadium.
• 4:37
  Anyways, Claire, sorry. No, I- I could do this the whole time. No, I can do it, too. I got to see Paul Skenes pitch against I forgot who, but I, we saw them play.
• 4:45
  Well, I'm in Chicago, but we s- we like the Brewers 'cause we're White Sox fans, so the Brewers are anti-Cubs. So anyway, we saw Paul Skenes pi- and unfortunately, not a great game for him.
• 4:54
  I was like, "This i- this guy is a good pitcher on other days." But yeah, I mean, baseball's king. Weird year. Weird year. I don't wanna blame the World Baseball Classic, because I love the tournament.
• 5:02
  That's what he blamed. Uh-huh. He said, he said it kinda messed up his season. Yeah. I don't know if... I don't know what to make of it. We can come back to this. I- All right. We, we got you.
• 5:10
  We don't have too much time here. I wanna talk about your... Wait, how old are your kids? You have 700 kids, is that right? Four. Yeah. Nine down two. So we are, uh- Nine down to two... we are in the thick of it. Okay.
• 5:20
  Mine are 11, 12, 13. And Claire, you're 13 and 15? They're merely 11 and 14, but- 11 and 14... who cares? Doesn't matter, yeah. Doesn't matter. Nothing matters. So are they in youth sports of any kind? Oh, yeah.
• 5:34
  We are- Okay... we're, our kids are in all of it, and it, we actually got hoop season about to kick off, which is- Sure... you know, big one for the older ones. Sure, sure, sure.
• 5:43
  Well, I'm coaching Little League tonight from 7:30 to 9:15, which is atrocious, but that's what we have, 'cause we don't have enough fields.
• 5:50
  But I know, I, I, I had read about the bill you, you have put out there with Senator Murphy, and Booker, and, and, and I think a few others.
• 5:59
  And I, there was a story about Senator Murphy saying that he wasn't allowed to record his own kid's game. Crazy. And it felt
• 6:07
  Immediately indicative of, we, we don't purposely participate in a lot of the total chaos o- of the, the very expensive pay-to-play stuff or pay-to-stay stuff, but of so many of the stories of, of friends who are in travel baseball at eight years old, travel soccer, tra- you know, all these different things, the football, the stuff, it's, it's crazy.
• 6:25
  How did, where did this come from for you? How did this start? Yeah, I mean, look, I'm a dad, a parent with kids who are in youth sports, and I already see the pressure coming and the travel stuff out there.
• 6:38
  I've got plenty of friends and people in my orbit who are in it, and they're trying to get out- Yeah... or are in it and just hate the cost. And then I'm the policymaker, right? I'm a lawmaker.
• 6:48
  Youth sports is a $40 billion a year industry now. I mean, it's nuts. Yeah. And we started getting data, my team and Senator Murphy's and others looking at this.
• 6:57
  You know, you've got the rate of inflation for youth sports about double the overall rate of inflation in the last several years. Mm-hmm. Parents are paying more. It is just true.
• 7:06
  And at the end of the day, I, I think kids should be able to play sports, and this should not be a luxury item.
• 7:12
  And my Let Kids Play act goes right into worst practices that are making it more expensive and too expensive for people.
• 7:20
  The state of play stuff you talk about, I mean, when people who don't know about it hear about that you, to play in a tournament, you have to stay in a hotel at the rate they've negotiated, it doesn't matter if you live five minutes away- Yeah...
• 7:35
  or if you've got friends or you just wanna drive home. I mean, that's like one of the worst examples of the way- Yeah... these guys are abusing their power.
• 7:43
  But end of the day, they're, they're ju- they're just jacking up the price of things.
• 7:46
  They're, they're contributing to the death of the rec leagues, which were really important ways for kids to play cheaply, who maybe don't wanna spend all this time and effort all year. It's a problem. We gotta fix it.
• 7:58
  This goes after the worst practices, but it's not gonna be enough without big investments at, you know, in the fields and the rinks and the courts.
• 8:04
  I mean, you mentioned the, the time you have for baseball practice, right? That goes to the- Yeah... facility. I could go on and on, but this is, to me, like a no-brainer for the country to fix. Yeah.
• 8:14
  I agree, and I, well, the, it's crazy 'cause like culturally you hear about it as a par- I have two boys, 11 and 14, the older one that loves sports but more just for fun.
• 8:22
  The younger one is a more competitive guy, but the travel sports, you hear about it, right? I feel like it bubbles up. You hear about it from other parents.
• 8:30
  You, first you see these kids who aren't on the team anymore 'cause they're joining these other leagues, and I learned the hard way that even if you try to stand firm and not join the system, like you said, the rec league falls apart because like you simply don't have enough players to play at any point.
• 8:46
  Right. Or they're sort of like the crumbs of the talent or they feel it that way. And, and, and it is really sad.
• 8:52
  And also it's like weirdly perversely funny 'cause it's like the same PE that's coming in and buying up like senior homes and veterinarians are chewing up youth sports as well. And you're like, "When,
• 9:03
  how far is this gonna go? This is not great." You, you put it right at the getting, I mean, frankly, these guys killing rec leagues. You know, I'll give you an example from my part of the world.
• 9:12
  We, there was an ice rink that Black Bear bought, and over time, you know, they jammed the long storied rec league hockey team into the worst ice time, put a lot of pressure on them, and ultimately they had to fold.
• 9:25
  They killed them. And that's the business model. They roll up the rinks, the leagues, the, the equipment sometimes- Oh, yeah... the tournament, and you know, what's left is no other option sometimes.
• 9:36
  And we saw that play out where- Which is crazy when everything is already so expensive as it is. You know? Yeah. It's, it's, so we're, we're still in rec. We're still probably like you and I grew up.
• 9:46
  We're, we're about the same age. It's slightly disheartening to see a congressman younger than I am. Mm-hmm. It's a little like watching- Right... people talk about how long is Flacco or Era Jr.
• 9:54
  gonna play, and I'm like, "I can't have that conversation yet, guys. Please don't do that to me." We've got the rec league. We're still sponsored by a hardware store down the street, right? You know, or a restaurant.
• 10:04
  But like you said, the, it always feels like these kids and a lot of the parents, because of these external pressures, it feels like they're one foot out the door to go do the branded travel thing that is owned by something that is...
• 10:17
  And then the families go, "Well, we're gone every weekend because we have to be because we're contractually obligated to do these things and pay these things," and you just go, "I don't understand how..."
• 10:25
  These kids are 9 and 10. Like, how is this growing up? Like you said, the equipment stuff, oh my God.
• 10:31
  It's crazy, and you know, I thought it was really interesting when the World Cup was going on, you had all these pretty big voices in, I mean, Landon Donovan on down talking- Sure...
• 10:40
  about that pay-to-play, they would never be able to play. Landon Donovan said it directly that he never could play at the elite level of youth soccer today.
• 10:49
  And this is a guy who's one of the greatest American soccer players in our country's history. And so there are different models. The Norwegians did something very different, which completely- Mm-hmm...
• 10:59
  looks like a 180 compared to the pay-to-play model of elite American sports.
• 11:03
  They just subsidized the federal level youth sports everywhere, and by the way, casting a pretty wide net, the idea is to get the most kids in, which is a pretty important social good. Mm-hmm.
• 11:13
  And also at the most elite level, you'll have every kid playing, having a shot to see who might rise, who's got the talent.
• 11:19
  Pay-to-play, if you care about our Olympics and international competition, you're pricing kids out before they even have a chance. It's just crazy stuff to me. Or just the, the, the bottom line health, right?
• 11:30
  Of, of kids who, who are being sucked in so many different directions, who, who
• 11:36
  socio and economically do not have the option even to participate in any of these things more, much less, you know, have a space outside to get outside and just, just do things.
• 11:46
  I was just gonna ask what your experience doing sports was growing up, but you, I'm just curious.
• 11:50
  I mean, I know we can't apply our own pre-internet childhoods to our own kids, but tell me a little bit about where, you know, just what memories you had from that and like what made you decide from your own experience to possibly put your kids into sports as well.
• 12:04
  I, I mean, I loved it. You know, I, CIT was my Little League baseball league, which is still around, and- Got plenty of friends who look back at that time with, with love.
• 12:13
  And much like you guys were talking about, you know, the sponsors were like volunteer fire departments and like the Rotary Club, and the Knights of Columbus, the local lumber store. I mean, it was...
• 12:22
  It feels like a different era, and yet we had enough rec league teams that our in-house leagues were big competition.
• 12:31
  You'd have an all-star team that would travel, and by travel I'm talking like, you know, to the next municipality's league over. Right. You know. Yeah. You're not staying in hotels for this stuff. Travel. Yeah.
• 12:40
  Well, yeah. It was- Right... you'd play the other rec league teams. Mm-hmm. You'd try out to make the all-star team. Which felt su- super fancy, by the way. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. We had...
• 12:49
  I remember like the first year that I, I was old enough to do it, like our, our all-star uniforms were like a trucker hat that was the league. I think that was it. Maybe there was a T-shirt. Like that was it.
• 12:58
  That's incredible. Yeah. We didn't have all this swag, nope.
• 13:02
  Well, one thing that, like I- So I'm working on a newsletter talking to friends of mine who, like on the one hand, are too feminist and progressive to really...
• 13:11
  They, they hate the notion of travel sports, and yet, as you know, when you're a parent, you can hate the systems all you want, but you can't keep your kid out of it just to make a point.
• 13:20
  I mean, you could try, but it probably won't work out.
• 13:23
  But one of the things that struck me as I was interviewing this mom is that if you have more than one kid, let alone four kids, and you're in this travel sports league, that is like a whole job to maintain, 'cause you're like hanging on for the schedule at the last minute.
• 13:35
  Everything is last minute. You know, everything like that. And we just talk a lot about regular life as parents on this pod.
• 13:42
  Can you tell us a little bit about how you maintain giving the attention to all of those kids in that age range? Yeah.
• 13:49
  You know, it helps that oftentimes they're like in the same court or field, 'cause we're in the rec league stuff, and that feels manageable for now. I don't know what the heck the future will look like. It's not great.
• 13:59
  Continue. Ask me in a few years, I guess. Yeah. Yeah.
• 14:01
  You know, and I'm, you know, I'm on the ballot in a couple weeks, and like early Saturday morning, you know, we're at the soccer field this last weekend at like V15 or something. Mm-hmm.
• 14:11
  And I sort of chuckled to my team like, "Guys, you know, the families who are voters are out here on the fields, by the way." Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's real, that's real life.
• 14:19
  But look, it just, I prioritize being around my kids when I can. When I'm not in DC, which is typically in the middle of the week when we have session and voting, we make it work.
• 14:28
  My wife and I try our best, and we've got family nearby, and you know, the carpooling with friends and neighbors is a big deal, 'cause everyone else- Yeah...
• 14:35
  is going through the same struggle of, well, this age kid's here, and this one's at the other one, so- Yeah... you know, it takes a village, and there's something, something nice about that. Oh, yeah.
• 14:44
  You know, with friends and neighbors, we're kind of all in this together. Yeah. No, it's necessary. Not only for driving, but for like yelling at each other and, you know, or whatever it is. Oh, yeah.
• 14:53
  Nothing better than someone else parenting my children. It's the best. But you're right. I mean, the car- So I was... I'm calling you from above a candy shop in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia.
• 15:02
  I was born and raised here, left for 1,000 years to do other things.
• 15:05
  But we were out in LA for a long time while my kids were growing up, till about four or five years ago, and it was hard getting around and doing things, and they weren't even really in stuff yet.
• 15:14
  And then COVID happened, and we kinda skipped a bunch when we, we came back here.
• 15:17
  But it, it's funny, a, a friend was in town, and my kids, like you said, at one point, all three of my kids, when they were younger, were all in the same swim practice. And I was like, "This isn't that bad.
• 15:27
  This is totally doable." Mm-hmm. It's a disaster now. It's a total disaster now. That didn't last.
• 15:32
  But I remember at one point I was walking one kid into swim practice, and I had a buddy with me who was in town, and, and one of the other moms that I'm friends with, she looked at me and she was like, "I'll bring your kid home from practice today if you go get me a thing of bread from the farmers market."
• 15:46
  I was like, "Done." But it's like, if you don't have that, it's im- it's impossible. It's- It's hard. It's hard...
• 15:51
  it's so difficult, and much less when like, again, every week you're like, "Can, can we continue to pay for this, and how do we explain that to the kids?"
• 15:58
  Make it a great argument for why there should be rec leagues, by the way, where, where- Yeah... you don't have this huge burden of crazy travel and expense.
• 16:05
  Like, this should not be the most high stakes thing that a family has to navigate every weekend. I just, I just think we have to say that like over and over again.
• 16:12
  No, it's gotta be a healthy outlet for everyone, hopefully. And the technology, I think that's an unspoken aspect of it, how many apps you have to download and constantly monitor in the meantime. I mean, we...
• 16:22
  And even outside of sports, I know that's a thing anyway, but like for every, every league your kid is in, you're in a new app, and no one really tells you to [laughs] like be on your phone less around your kids, but also how are you gonna do that when you're actually, like, y- need that to- Mm-hmm...
• 16:36
  raise your kids. Mm-hmm. The school apps are another one, piece of that, you know. Oh, that's a whole different... It's such a- Yep. Like nine logins.
• 16:44
  Yeah, nine logins, and my kids now change them without telling me, by the way. You're welcome, so good, good best wishes with that. So can we talk about the bill for a minute here? So how does...
• 16:54
  'Cause it's, it's, it is, you know, and I, and I know, you know, it's, it's fairly early in, in the process, but, but there's some teeth to this. There's real, like, divestment that is required of this.
• 17:05
  There's penalties to be paid in this. How do you enforce that? What is the plan on that? How do you begin to govern, you know, what is a complicated process, but a necessary one? I agree. I think it is necessary.
• 17:19
  So Let Kids Play Act, our bill, it goes at what we call the vulture investors and the way that the worst actors in PE have rolled up youth sports.
• 17:27
  So if you've done a whole series of things, the kinds of conduct like state of play, like junk fees you tack onto parents, like multi-year contracts and anti-competitive stuff, forcing them to not play in, you know, rec leagues.
• 17:40
  There's a whole host of things we define- Yeah... as these vulture practices. Basically, you can't be a participant in the business of youth sports. You've gotta divest.
• 17:49
  And there are remedies when you violate the, the law that we will set out should this thing get passed, and those fines go back to a fund that's supposed to then support parents paying for youth sports, and it goes back to rec leagues.
• 18:04
  And, you know, there are safe harbors, right? If you can attest you haven't done these things and you don't do them, you can go invest in youth sports.
• 18:10
  But again, we go at the worst practices like state of play, just say you can't do it. It's not a normal part of the economy. It's kids playing sports.
• 18:18
  There's a social good at issue here that matters more than whether PE can squeeze more profit out of desperate parents. Mm-hmm.
• 18:25
  And again, we, we require that these actors divest from these businesses if they're vulture investors, as we define it. There's a remedy process, and really- Yeah... it empowers the FTC,
• 18:38
  the Federal Trade Commission, to go enforce this thing. Yeah. We're giving the enforcers in Washington power here, because these aren't just local investors. No. These are big, sophisticated private equity investors.
• 18:49
  They know the money. I mean, you can hear them bragging about it, to the extent they even have to do earnings calls. But they're also nervous.
• 18:56
  They're nervous about the backlash, not just from our bill, the Let Kids Play Act, but parents around the country are pushing back on this, and I actually think there's an opportunity, too, because the big sports retailers and the apparel companies, you know, if parents don't have any money left over after they pay for all these fees and costs to travel, they can't buy the shoes and the gloves and the balls.
• 19:16
  Yeah. And I actually think there, there's pushback that's coming broader than just some legislators in Washington.
• 19:22
  Even if it's just participation dropping, at some point, you know, it becomes impossible, especially if there's no rec league to then go to, 'cause that's been, been hollowed out, right?
• 19:31
  It's, but I, I appreciate how pointedly you all, which is always such a issue with everything from climate to whatever it is, to, to pointing out who the bad actors here are so that people can understand the levers that are being pulled that made things-- We, we really try not to do the passive voice here.
• 19:48
  Like, things didn't just become expensive, right? That's right. They didn't just become untenable for your family. Those things were orchestrated.
• 19:54
  And like you said, this isn't the FTC going to, like, every small town and knocking on doors.
• 19:58
  Like, these are big, big, big pl- They're the same guys, I got a buddy down the hall who sells cooling towers to, like, naval bases and colleges and all that, and PE's been knocking on his door for two years.
• 20:07
  They're just rolling up as they go. And so many of the pla- It, they overlap. It's crazy. It's crazy.
• 20:13
  There's a piece of this that, you know, kids' data is actually really valuable, and they're also, a lot of these vulture investors are going after the kids' data from the family apps- Mm...
• 20:23
  from what they're capturing on gameplay. And it's a, it's its own kind of dark part of this that, you know, privacy for kids is, is barely even an afterthought for people in power.
• 20:33
  And I think that's a mistake, and we're seeing it maybe through the apps or otherwise here, where again, they're hoovering up data on kids because they can.
• 20:41
  So I worked for ESPN for about three years when it was at its height, sort of the 2006, 2009 range. And the group I worked with was a bunch of,
• 20:55
  it was myself and f- five other idiots, all under 30 years old at the time, who loved sports, lived it. We, and we ran the fantasy sports group and all the other interactive stuff.
• 21:04
  And Disney didn't really have, Disney, who owns most of D- ESPN as of today at least, didn't have much of a digital presence. Mm.
• 21:10
  But it was really interesting when the iPhone started coming out and, you know, videos started to take off online.
• 21:17
  We would have these little startups come in to pitch us to say, "Hey, we'll videotape your school, your ki- like, a school sports league. Like, is this something that ESPN wants to get invested in?" And maybe- Mm...
• 21:28
  then kids could actually show video to, like, college coaches. And we were like, "First of all, that's the future. That's crazy. That doesn't seem possible."
• 21:35
  And now, like you said, you skip ahead to every single bit of their data is not only- Yeah... being hoovered up, but is invaluable to these folks. Yeah. That's right.
• 21:44
  And, and, you know, look, at the most elite level of play, like, it probably helps kids get discovered, but at, that's a tiny fraction. I mean, tiny fraction.
• 21:52
  And I just think the warning signs about what's happened in youth sports that come from former D1 athletes, even former pro athletes, are maybe the most powerful, because they made it, right?
• 22:01
  They're, they're the- Yeah... somewhere around 1%, and they're telling you it doesn't even work for the kids at that level, that something's wrong. Yeah. You know, we talked about my guy Paul Skens. You know- Mm...
• 22:11
  the, the most elite pitchers are saying to kids, like, "Don't pitch that much. Delay pitching." That's right. Yep. Like, you shouldn't- Right... be throwing this every week as a 12-year-old.
• 22:19
  I mean, I got a, by the way- You don't think you should need Arthur Scott Brick sold- surgery before you can drive 'cause you threw too much? It's crazy. Mm-hmm.
• 22:26
  By the way, like, the rec league I'm coaching tonight, 11 and 12-year-olds, their, their pitch limit is 90 pitches. And I'm like, "Guys, I'm not going anywhere near that. Are you kidding me? Like, what are you talk-" 90?
• 22:37
  Like, it's just, anyways, it's crazy to me. How do you, sir, obviously you got an election coming up here. Low stakes for everyone. It's fine. How do you start to really whip the votes for this? How do you find- Yeah...
• 22:49
  like you said, you walk in, it's a bunch of dinosaurs. They're fired up about college sports. They're fired up about Isra- like, the whole thing. How do you start- Yep...
• 22:55
  to whip the votes to this so it doesn't get lost among everything else? Look, sports parents know how to make their voices heard, and they have, frankly.
• 23:02
  Like, we, before this bill even, but when we did the bill, we started hearing from way more interesting, outside of politics influencers and parents groups- Mm-hmm... and journalists.
• 23:14
  And I actually think that's a big part of the groundswell that's coming, that parents are pushing back. It is not obviously partisan. I mean, it cuts across all- Yep... the normal political divides.
• 23:24
  That's how it's gonna happen, 'cause look, I'm from Western Pennsylvania. It's, we bleed black and gold. We love sports.
• 23:29
  We're not the only part of the country that's that way, and I know there are sports crazed parts of really conservative Texas and- Sure... really liberal California and wherever else. Like, great.
• 23:39
  That's the coalition that can fix this, that can decide, "Hey, kids playing sports is a really important thing for the country, for these kids. Like, let's, let's pass this bill.
• 23:50
  Let's break this, you know, obsession with profit at the expense of our kids." And I think that's the path forward. We're gonna have to get a big coalition.
• 23:57
  I think we can, because again, people care about their kids playing sports. Yep. And they want, they want it to be something that's not a luxury for people in this country.
• 24:06
  So it's interesting you brought up the California thing, 'cause we were out there. And again, like, the, the, like, the outside of LA football schools and the basketball academies and stuff- Yeah...
• 24:14
  and obviously Texas football. I showed my 13-year-old the other day some high school stadiums in Texas, and he was, he talked about it. Like, that's been going on for a long time.
• 24:22
  But it's that it has taken over everything. How do you sell this to those groups of people and the people who represent those districts? Because it's- Of course... it's a, it's a big thing. It is.
• 24:33
  And, and yet, like, look, I think if you're seeing the pool of kids who can compete even at the elite high school level shrink because they're priced out- Yeah...
• 24:42
  or because mom and dad can't keep up with even the travel schedule, or for all the reasons we talked about of trying to make the logistics work, like if- Mm-hmm...
• 24:50
  again, if you care about competing at the high school level, what's happening in pay-to-play youth sports is a problem for you, too. And, and I think the coaches see it.
• 24:57
  I had a field hearing in my district about the Let Kids Play Act a few months back, and had some parents, some former athletes, and a bunch of coaches, some at the AAU level- Mm...
• 25:08
  for basketball, some do community and rec league, and they all were saying the same thing. Like, "This doesn't work.
• 25:13
  Even if we can get sponsors from some of the AAU voices there, it, it just doesn't work, and the, the, the...
• 25:19
  It's becoming too hard even at the elite level to keep kids in this, let alone how many kids you're losing along the way who are not gonna be pro athletes, but man, really learn something about teamwork and discipline and hard work, and had something to do in the middle of the day on a Saturday to hang out with their friends and stay out of trouble, and not be sitting in front of an iPad."
• 25:38
  For me, it's like a unifying thing I hear from, like, every kind of community. Like, we want kids to have sports. Yeah. Yeah. How...
• 25:45
  What, what kind of role do, again, some of these institutions really that have been around for a long time for soccer, the ODP stuff, for AAU, like what kind of role could they play in navigating this chaos?
• 25:57
  I think it's an open book. I mean, look, they, they're a big part of it.
• 26:01
  I, I would think, again, if you're seeing the product priced in such an aggressive way that you're losing families and parents, that's ultimately bad for your business, too. Mm-hmm.
• 26:10
  I, you know, I don- I think they have to decide whether they wanna be productive and helpful or not. As I say, I welcome folks in to try to fix this. Yeah.
• 26:18
  And I, that includes the big apparel and gear manufacturers, the big sporting goods stores. Like, I think they should have the same interest as parents in wanting to get the cost of participation way down.
• 26:28
  Can I ask another question? I know we don't have you for that long, but just something else that's been on my mind that's family oriented is that I know you're a veteran, right?
• 26:36
  And you are, serve on the Armed Services Committee. Is that correct? Yep. How are our military families doing a bit now? I know it's not ever great for them, but just what are the vibes? What are you hearing from folks?
• 26:49
  What kind of support do they need for those who are in, in areas where people may know military families? Yeah. I mean, it's a great question, and if you've got friends and people in your world, check in on them.
• 26:59
  I, the, the sailors and Marines who just recently got home on the Abraham Lincoln, the aircraft carrier, and the reports there were pretty public. I mean, brutal. I, I'm a naval officer.
• 27:08
  I can tell you [laughs] going at sea for any amount of time can be tough, but man, they were, they were out there the longest in modern Am- American history- Yeah...
• 27:16
  without a port visit, you know, supporting combat operations. And so, you know, some of the reports of folks, you know, speaking out on behalf of their service members are brutal.
• 27:25
  I mean, it's, it's stuff that we have to investigate on the Armed Services Committee, 'cause I think if you sign up or if your kid signs up, you're not, you're not naive about, about what might happen, but you should expect and demand that your government does everything they can to manage their safety and risk knowing what the job is, but to do everything we can for them.
• 27:43
  And I, I, I worry the government has failed to meet that standard, and we have an obligation set aside party in the Congress to go look out for our troops.
• 27:52
  One of my best friends just finished being a captain of a sub after- Very cool... rising up forever. He did ROTC at Notre Dame and the whole thing. Like, you know, signed up for it when he was young.
• 28:00
  His parents knew what he was doing.
• 28:01
  It helped pay for college, and he stayed in the pipeline, and he was, you know, sc- scary for me at times that he was one of the most important people on the planet for a minute there, and I'm glad they didn't call me.
• 28:13
  Mm-hmm. Ask him questions. But at the same time, again, like, we're surrounded here, Fort Eustis, Norfolk, the whole thing. I mean, you, you, you name it.
• 28:19
  And you know, the, the thing that has really come up the most with them is just, like, the mental health of these kids, and they are kids, right?
• 28:26
  So many of these people that are signing up their kids because everything else is unaffordable. And he was genuinely like, "I'm not... I don't know how, how do I help these guys?" You know? "What, what can I do?"
• 28:38
  You know? "What can I do in their daily lives when we're out at sea or where we're in the dry docks to, to help these kids to become adults, but also to deal with, you know, everything?" Yeah.
• 28:50
  And look, to say, calling them kids, I mean, it, it's not wrong. You look at a unit, an American military unit, whether it's a submarine or I was on a destroyer. I spent some more time on the ground in Iraq.
• 29:01
  A lot of young people. Yeah. You know, I, I was a brand new naval officer at, I think, 21 or something. Y- you know, you got a lot of responsibility as a young officer.
• 29:09
  You've got a lot of responsibility as a, as an E5- Mm-hmm... as a, as a sergeant if you're in the Army, for instance, and you're not that old typically. No. And we put a lot on our troops.
• 29:19
  They're patriotic and the best in the world, but they should expect that we, we respect that patriotism and look out for them and take care of them. And again, I know
• 29:28
  a lot of folks have been, I, I would say, downrange, the language we would use, in this war, and that's a, that's a real, a real burden for anyone to take on. Yeah. Yeah.
• 29:39
  I especially feel bad for anyone who's, like, family's out in Iran. I mean, I don't know what the mentality is out there, but the war is so unpopular and- Yeah...
• 29:48
  but I think people understand and can appreciate nuance now at a new place, at a place that wasn't before, where I think it's way more easier to hold supporting troops and not supporting a conflict at the same time.
• 29:58
  I think that was much harder a couple administrations ago, but yeah. [laughs] Yeah. I, I think that's right. Like, look, I'm a veteran of Iraq.
• 30:05
  I think looking back, like, this was a war we shouldn't have sent Americans to go fight. Again, I- Yeah... I've cried for my- Sure... the brothers and sisters in arms I served with.
• 30:13
  I, I think that people genuinely feel pride for our service members, and I think we should end the Iran War.
• 30:19
  I think it's been disastrous and a mistake, but I, I'm always gonna look out for our troops, and I think that's, that's the kind of nuance that most Americans hold about separating what the people in Washington decide versus what our- Sure...
• 30:31
  what our troops do.
• 30:32
  And just to carry it full circle, literally one of the kids I coached tonight's dad was supposed to leave to head to Jordan a c- a few weeks ago from Fort Eustis, and just started having panic attacks.
• 30:44
  And this guy's- Right... a wonderful guy, brave guy, all this stuff. Is he here to watch our, our, our team play against, you know, a local restaurant-supported team tonight and his kid play second base? For sure.
• 30:54
  But again, like, these folks, despite all the training and all the money we spend, like, as a person, they are having such a difficult time. M- Yes... you know, being... Again, he's a, he's a young person.
• 31:05
  We're all old enough now to be able [laughs] to say, like, these are young people, and you think- Yeah... you're older, and you, and you're really not.
• 31:11
  And what we're asking them to do is a lot, especially when they gotta go then leave their families, and we gotta go, "Hey, Mom, any of us, the rest of the parents will pick up your kid.
• 31:19
  We'll take him 'cause you also gotta take your daughter to this place and pay this." I don't know. I would just like to support people better, I guess, and kids. Yeah. I- That would, that would be great.
• 31:27
  By the way, th- I'm not at all surprised that you and others would pick up the slack there because that- that's how we look out for each other.
• 31:34
  Take, you're, something as small as taking a kid to a game to help out a service member's wife there is, is, you know, that- that's the basic stuff of who we are. You hope so. Yeah, absolutely.
• 31:44
  I know you don't have a lot more time, but I, do we have maybe a few, for, like, one or two more minutes maybe? Sure. Okay. Quinn- Totally yell me if we're wrong. Keep going. Okay. I- Perfect.
• 31:53
  That's how my life goes, except it's children. Well, I was telling Quinn I always laugh when there's someone with... He has three kids, which I feel like in blue America might as well be five kids.
• 32:01
  And you have four kids, which is, like, a dozen, you know, in other parts of our America. But I always hear that once you have more than three kids, it doesn't matter.
• 32:11
  Like, they just, like, s- starts becoming a perpetual motion machine.
• 32:15
  And I just wanna know, if you had, you know, a colleague or a friend who had three kids and was on the, on the fence about having a fourth, what would, what advice would you give about going, going all the way?
• 32:26
  Well, you will have a very important choice, which is minivan or big SUV. 'Cause that's what you gotta decide- I know...
• 32:32
  for that, for that number of kids, 'cause you gotta be able to ride some of the friends too, all right? That's it. Yeah. You gotta have a driver whenever they need to. So- Mm-hmm... those are your choices.
• 32:39
  You decide whether you're gonna be a minivan person or a big SUV person. Mm-hmm. Okay. Which one are you guys? Well, Western Pennsylvania, we have snow, we have hills, so big SUV. Okay. That's, yeah.
• 32:50
  Well, that's pretty good to, to drill down to the important, important elements like that.
• 32:54
  Who are your best buddies, would you say, in Congress when you, like, are done working and you go get a beer or go for a jog or just shooting the breeze of non-work stuff? Yeah.
• 33:03
  I gotta tell you, so I get to play in the charity congressional baseball game, which is a lot of fun, and I've made, you know, great colleague friendships o- over that.
• 33:11
  Morgan McGarvey was the catcher for me from Kentucky. I pitched the last several years. And so, you know, the, the battery always has a pretty strong- Sure... bond.
• 33:20
  And it's actually a pretty important reminder, right, of, like, just playing a pickup basketball game with some friends is a big deal.
• 33:25
  Like, having the connection of still playing sports into whatever we are as millennials has been awesome.
• 33:30
  And even in that job, you know, it's one more way to build some relationships that you gotta have to get something done. I would just warn you that you don't age in a linear way. All the choices- Mm-hmm...
• 33:41
  you made as a young player come back to haunt you now, and your children go, "Why do you make that noise when you get off the couch?" And you're like, "Because I was-" Yep...
• 33:47
  "gonna do whatever it took to get that foul ball. Like, what are you talking about?" I was never a pitcher. I was always a catcher, and they had me- Oh... pitch in the charity game.
• 33:54
  So I, I got some pitches left in this arm, but typically after the game I don't, I can't move for a week, so. No, it feels like being hit by a car. That's amazing.
• 34:02
  I'm gonna tell you my quick Steelers story just bef- before we let you go. So how many coaches have there been in Steelers history? Well, three in the last, like, 50 years. Right. Okay. So one was Chuck Noll.
• 34:14
  And four including Harvey Ungar. Right? Mm-hmm. Chuck Noll and Mike Tomlin. Cowher, Tomlin. Ch- yeah, yeah. Okay. So Williamsburg, Virginia, William & Mary down the street. Mike Tomlin played football for William & Mary.
• 34:27
  Oh, he's alum. He's an alum. Mm-hmm. When he was younger. Claire, if I told you this story, you don't care. I think so. Claire doesn't give a shit about any of my stories. It's fine. It's like everyone else in my life.
• 34:35
  It's fine. You're gonna care, though. So Mike Tomlin, when he was a wide receiver for William & Mary, delivered pizza for Papa John's, and I know this because my dad owned that Papa John's franchise, right? Oh.
• 34:47
  And so Mike Tomlin definitely delivered pizza to my neighborhood. Here's the thing. Do you know at the time who lived in my neighborhood? Chuck Noll- Word... did for, like, one year. I'm not kidding.
• 35:01
  I'll send- That's crazy... I'll send you the info. So the question is, b- has, I, I've been thinking about this, I don't know, for two decades. Did Mike Tomlin ever deliver pizza to Chuck Noll? Did- That's crazy.
• 35:11
  It's entirely possible. That's a great story. Anyways, that's it. That's my- That's great Steelers lore. Yeah. It's- And Bill Cowher from my side of where I grew up of Allegheny County, Eastern Crawford. Amazing.
• 35:20
  Yeah, that guy was great. I don't know who Chuck Noll is, but I am a journalist. Have you Googled Chuck Noll plus Jim Ch- plus Papa John's just to see if he's ever admitted to eating Papa John's?
• 35:28
  No, there was no internet back then. 'Cause we could take this further. Claire, I'm gonna let you do the real reporting on this. I'm just gonna imagine. Yeah, I will. That's fine. Yes. Okay.
• 35:35
  Claire, let's let the lovely congressman get out of here so we can get back to fixing things for us. One last question.
• 35:39
  Are you gonna, do you have anything planned for relaxing or doing anything fun once the midterms are over, just once that, that's off your back?
• 35:46
  The honest answer is no, because we go back to session, like, the Monday after the election, and there's a lot that will be done. So nope is the short answer. Okay. Perfect. Well, thank you for your work.
• 35:56
  We apprecia- we really appreciate it. And yeah, we're, we're whipping up what we can to get people interested in the state elections.
• 36:02
  We know that's where the influence is and where we cede power, and so we're happy to talk to you and grateful you could break off some time for us during this- Yeah... during this season.
• 36:11
  Thank you for looking out- Thanks, guys... for the families, sir. [laughs] That's it for this week. You're gonna make it.
• 36:26
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• 36:36
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• 36:43
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• 36:51
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• 37:29
  Yes.