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How Cooking Completely Changed His Life · Tigs Bits Podcast

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What happens when a Midwest dad swaps booze for brisket and
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starts cooking his way into people's hearts?
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Today's guest is proof that average doesn't mean ordinary.
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He's building a lifestyle brand, one recipe at a time.
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All right, y'all welcome back to Tigs Bits where we stir the pot,
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serve the truth and occasionally get a little sauce on the
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microphones. Today's episodes, a special one.
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This is going to be fun. I've got somebody on who's doing
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it for all of the right reasons. He's a father, a content creator
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and a man who decided to get sober, get healthy and pick up a
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spatula instead of a bottle. And what started as a simple
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cooking channel, the average dad cooking channel, has grown into
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something a lot deeper. Brandon's not just making
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plates, he's changing lives, starting with his own.
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From grilling outside in the Minnesota cold to making boudin
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king cakes, he's cooking with heart, humor and hustle.
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So before we jump in, do me a solid hit that like button.
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Subscribe if you haven't. And if you've ever burned a pot
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of rice trying to multi task with kids running around, this
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one's for you. Brandon, it's so nice to have
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you on. Yeah, it's awesome to be here.
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Really glad that you gave me the opportunity to be on the
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podcast. So you were coming to us
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definitely the first Minnesotan that we've had on Tig's bit.
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So where at in Minnesota? Where do you?
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Where do you? Live.
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I live in southeast Minnesota, so I'm actually about two hours
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South of Minneapolis. It's a little small town, it's
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called Winona. Beautiful little area.
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We got a couple lakes, Mississippi rivers in my
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backyard. Grew up playing on that, so it's
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been a nice little town. You live in the great state of
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Minnesota, the land of a kazillion lakes, and you're
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right up the Mississippi River rolls right through here in
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Baton Rouge, LA. So where did the Average Dad
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Cooking Channel come from? Like bring us back to how this
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all started and how you're here and and how you and I are both
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talking. Yeah, so a few years ago I was
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playing with the idea. I've always been kind of like an
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outspoken kind of, you know, in your face kind of person.
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I've always thought I've had, you know, the face for camera.
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So I was like, but I didn't, I never really knew how to how to
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make that into fruition. I didn't have the greatest
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childhood. I made a lot of mistakes as a
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child growing up, got into some trouble, things like that.
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And so I figured after I had a kid, I started thinking to
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myself, I'm like, you know, I, I watch a lot of food content
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creators and some of them are really good.
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Some of them are, you know, average.
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And I'm thinking to myself, well, you know, I like to cook.
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I cooked at a restaurant for a while.
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And after a while I started to realize that my food was better
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than the food that I could get around here.
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So I'm like, maybe I could do something with that.
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Maybe I could show the community, show some people how
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to cook. So I started talking to some
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friends and I was playing with the idea of the average, that
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cooking channel. And they say the best ideas are
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the ones that just kind of keep coming back.
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And this one, it just wouldn't go away.
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I would play with the idea and then I kind of throw it to the
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side, play with the idea, trying to throw it to the side.
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And eventually I took the phone, I hit record and I recorded a
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spaghetti, right? And I put it out into the world
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and it did absolutely nothing. I'm like alright I.
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Understand that. Yeah.
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And so I just kept, I just kept playing, you know, OK, how can I
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make this better? It was a long form.
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It's probably like 15 minutes long.
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People are like, you know, people don't want to see that.
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I mean, that's what I want to see.
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I want to see how people do things.
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But I like to cook and it's not a lot of people who watch
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cooking content don't want to see that.
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So I, I started playing with the idea of of making it in the
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shorts and then I realized that if I was going to post as much
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as the social media platforms wanted me to post, I needed to
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incorporate more than just cooking into my channel.
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And so I so I started kind of incorporating my life and, and
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to the, to the life. And then, you know, I started
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getting messages, the people being like, oh man, you're above
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average. And I'm like, no, like I'm truly
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not like I am average. And that's where I really
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started to run with the idea of the average dad cooking channel
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to show people anybody can do above average things.
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You just have to want it. You have to put yourself out
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there and you have to work harder than the guy next to you,
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you know. So that's it.
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Yeah, yeah. Just started hitting record and,
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and now we're here and it's, it's crazy all of the things
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that are happening. How did you discover your love
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of Louisiana cooking? In my full time job that
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actually pays the bills cuz this doesn't turn any kind of profit
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really. They have me trapped, right.
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They have me travel the country. I've been on their private jet
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and all sorts of stuff and I've been down to Orange, TX, which
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is right on the border of Louisiana.
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We were, we went out to eat and with some of the best food I've
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ever had in my life. And I'm sitting there like, man,
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cuz I've been all over Texas up north, I've been in Dallas.
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I lived in Arlington for six months.
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I've been all the way up to Austin and all these things.
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And I'm like, all right, you know, down in Houston and I'm
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like, this, isn't this, this food is different?
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Like what is this? And then I realized it was
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Louisiana inspired, right? Not even, not even like
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Louisiana, but Louisiana inspired.
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We went to this one restaurant called Tio Anita's and it was
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right buy you. It's got like, you know, they
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got whatever the Crocs or alligators, I think I can't
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remember which ones you guys got there, but they they were like,
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I'm like, man, this is some of the best food I've ever had in
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my life. And so I made it a goal to get
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to Louisiana. And then what happened was I was
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scrolling my Facebook doom scrolling back in the days of
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posting into the abyss, and my feed was filled with just crazy
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AI and all of this stuff. And Rachel actually popped up on
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there and she was talking. She made a status.
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She was like one of the sponsored people, like getting
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pushed into my feed. And she made a status about her
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feed being stuff that she didn't want to see.
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So I started, I commented on it and she followed me and we
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started talking and then I started, you know, just
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following her cooking and seeing stuff like that.
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I'm like, Oh snap, I got I have a little engineer figuring out
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how to Louisiana style myself and I just I love the food.
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I love Cajun. I I just love it all.
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So when I first started making her recipe, she's like, Oh, you
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got to try this, You got to try that.
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So I I started making different things and I'm going to butcher
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this name, but the boudin, everybody makes fun of me.
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Well, you mentioned the 5050 foods in 50 states thing.
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What brought that idea about? So it was, it's funny and
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actually a Co worker kind of mentioned doing it and I started
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playing with in my mind because I'm like, well listen, I'm
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making these Louisiana inspired things and I'm getting into this
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community of Louisiana and I have a ton of followers that are
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Louisiana based. And I'm like, well, what if I
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were to take each state and try to get in there and learn it The
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way that I've been learning Louisiana and kind of build my
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following that way, you know, and, and not only incorporate
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them, but incorporate their favorite dishes, try to make it
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myself, show them what a Minnesotan can do.
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And I, I just feel like it'd be a good way to be interactive and
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make the, have the audience be involved.
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But also I love to eat and I love, I love all the different
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kinds of foods. I'd like to try different kinds
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of foods. My favorite saying is I'll try
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anything twice, you know, And I've always wanted to go to each
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state and try their different dishes, but I'm also broke and a
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father of three, so I can't do that.
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So I make it at home and and build the channel while I do.
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It with these 50 States and these 50 foods, what's some of
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the most interesting things you've seen so far?
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Somebody came back and from Illinois and said a horseshoe
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hamburger. And I was kind of blown away
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because I'm like, I'm thinking Illinois.
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I'm thinking I don't know, I thought they're gonna maybe say
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pizza or like a hot dog or something like that.
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And they said it horseshoe hamburger.
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And I looked, I had to Google this thing.
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Yeah. And it's got and you take
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toasted bread burger and then like pile it with fries and then
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take cheese and make like a little horseshoe around it.
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And I saw the picture of it and I'm like, wow, that looks really
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good and sounds. Really good.
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It looks really good. It sounds really good.
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You make your own like beer cheese sauce and you put around
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it. And I was, I was a little blown
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away by that because I'm like, yeah, I definitely didn't see
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that coming as somebody from Ohio commented and said Skyline
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Chili. So I had to look that up.
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And that's just a, that's just a restaurant who makes a secret
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sauce chili. So I I've tried to tag them.
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I can't wait to see what the what all comes from that.
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It's going to be amazing. I just have no doubts whatsoever
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that it's going to just crush. But let me back up for one
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second and and then we will go into that because it all ties
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together with you, you wanting to get sober and and live a
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healthier lifestyle for your kids.
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Can you share a little bit about what your turning point, where
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that turning point was in your life?
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Yeah, yeah, definitely. I'm, I'm an open book and I'm
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actually planning on writing a book about my life 'cause I
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just, I think that I can help a lot of people, but for me,
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honestly, it used to be a long a while ago, it used to be a lot
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of harder stuff kind of circled, you know, at lowest of low.
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I was homeless, I was 150 lbs dripping wet, which I haven't
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seen that, you know, since face full of acne.
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Yeah and, and it was, it was bad.
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I crawled my way out of that and then I started drinking and
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drinking was never really a problem for me.
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And then it became a problem because it was the only thing,
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you know, Oh my God, this is legal.
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Like, let's let's just do this all the time.
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And it, it became this, I mean, nightly thing for me.
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I was coming home grabbing a six pack of beer and a couple
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shooters. You know, if, if we're being
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honest, probably more than a couple.
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And I would, you know, I'd get just drunk every night.
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And I was always a like, functioning alcoholic, right?
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Like I'd still get to work and I'd still get the things done.
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I'd come home, I'd cook food, but by the end of the night, you
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know, I'd be stumbling into the bedroom and my wife would be
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looking at me like what are you doing with yourself?
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She's not a big drinker. She's not into any of that kind
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of stuff. And we had some talks and
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someone one on ones and you know, I'm like, oh, I'm fine,
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I'm fine. I'm gonna be fine.
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I've done a lot of harder stuff than this.
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It's just alcohol. And so last summer I actually, I
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had quit and I had quit for 90 days and I went and hiked
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mountains in Colorado and was and I ran 1/2 marathon.
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And when I got done with that half marathon son, I went and
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had a drink because I'm like, oh, well, I mean, I, I can go
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back. I can drink again.
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Like it's not going to be a big deal.
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I can just have a couple beers. Well, that didn't, that didn't
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work. I just, I can't have a couple
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beers. That's just not who I am.
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I, I have a couple beers and I have 12, you know, I have a
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couple shots and I have a bottle.
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And I always tell people I'm addicted to more.
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It doesn't really matter what it is.
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You give it to me and I want more of it and I want more of it
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and I want more of it until I'm in this circle, into this abyss
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where I'm waking up in the morning and feel like crap,
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Maybe go to work a little bit late, you know, cranky and
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fighting with her. You know, every little thing's
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pissing me off. So this year, actually, so I
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think I just hit like 110 days sober.
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I took on this challenge called 75 Hard.
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And it's this program where you got to like, maintain a diet.
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You got to work out twice a day, 45 minutes a day or two 245
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minute sessions a day. They have to be 4 hours apart
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and one of them's got to be outside and there's no drinking.
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And POTS legal here too. So we were smoking pot and I, I
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decided to myself, it says no drinking and I'm like, well, I'm
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not going to cheat the system. I'm going to quit smoking pot
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too. And I just quit it all.
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And I'm just like all of these health issues that I had and
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heartburn and sleeping issues and headaches, they all just
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magically went away, you know? And yeah, and I was more
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intuitive to my kids. I was able like, you know, I'd
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always, I'd find an excuse to, to miss something because I was
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either tired or, or I wanted to get drunk.
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And now I don't, I don't do that anymore.
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I'm at their baseball games. I'm at their PTA conferences.
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I mean, I was still doing that stuff, but when I would go to
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it, I'd be in this awful mood. I might have heartburn and I
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just didn't want to do anything. I didn't want to get off of the
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couch. I just wanted to drink all of
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the time. So I told myself that I would,
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you know, I'm just going to stop for this 75 days and we're going
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to see what happens when that 75 days got over.
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I came to the realization that, like I just told you, there is
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no dabbling for me. I'm not one of those people.
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I don't even understand people that can have a beer.
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I'm like, what is the point of drinking a beer?
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Like, I just it doesn't make sense.
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Nothing. Yeah.
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Like you're not going to get drunk.
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Like, why are you even drinking? And like it's what's the?
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Point. Yeah, yeah.
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So, and then when I started doing that, you know, another
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thing too, is my kids would give me something.
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So we had, we just had Father's Day, right?
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And so they filled out this sheet of like who dad is, how
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old is he? Where does he work?
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What's his favorite drink? And they, they both put beer and
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I'm like, all right, like, you know, my kids are six and three.
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You know, I live, I live by don't tell them, show them.
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Everybody sits on the couch and they talk to their kids and they
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tell them, hey, you can be anything you want to be.
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You can chase your dreams. You can do the wildest things
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you want to do. You can be a football star.
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You can be these things. But how many people get up and
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show them because they're not, they listen, but they're
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watching and they're doing what you do.
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And so that was, that's, that's big to me is to like, and
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something that terrified me on this journey was I can't have my
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first beer with my son because I'm not going to like, my wife
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still drinks, you know, like people around me still drink.
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I don't, that doesn't bother me, right?
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So I'm not going to like, make them be sober.
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But like, I'm like, man, I can't, I can't have my first
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beer with my son. But then, you know, something
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clicked. I, when I was, I went and hiked
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the Grand Canyon this year. It's called rim to rim.
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Go from 1 rim to the other took like 10 1/2 hours.
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It's like 24 miles, 8 miles down, 8 miles across and then 8
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miles straight up, which is Oh my God, hard.
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It's so hard. And while I was while I was on
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there, I started thinking to myself, I'm like, you know, it
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would be a lot cooler than having their first beer with
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them, running their first marathon with them or hiking the
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Grand Canyon with them. Or, or have there's so many
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other firsts that you can have that just don't have anything to
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do with alcohol and, or pot or I mean anything.
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Well, alcohol is the biggest one because it's just so
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romanticized in today's society. It's everywhere.
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Now it's everywhere. I mean there's people that make
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whole social medias on them and you know, like that is their
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biggest thing is like drinking and it is what it is.
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Like, I'm not trying to like bring anybody down, but it's
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just what it is. I think it's awesome that you
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that you had that self-awareness to pull yourself out of that
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and, and do it all for all of the right reasons too.
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You know, like that grounds you and keeps, you know, that you,
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you see those three reminders every day that you know, I've
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got to I've got to do this. This is, you know.
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It's tough. It's tough.
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Some days. There's a lot.
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There's definitely a lot of days that I mean, we were just so
17:06
just to kind of give you a story, we were just, we were
17:08
just fishing on the Mississippi River and my boat took on water
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and couldn't figure out what it was.
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My bilge pump died at the same time.
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So we're like sitting on the middle of the Mississippi, like
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what I thought was sinking. We went and found this little
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island and we were just kind of sitting there.
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I'd called Progressive up because I boat insurance and
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like, well, we can't come get you, but we can call 911.
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And I'm like, no, no, just hold on.
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Like cuz I'm in, I'm in a fishing league.
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So I'm like, there's plenty of guys that'll come get me.
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I'm like, what am I supposed to do with my boat?
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And they're like, oh, just just leave it there.
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I'm like, I'm not leaving my boat in the Mississippi.
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Mississippi is high, It's fast. I'm like, I'm gonna come back.
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This boat's not gonna be here. You know it's a.
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Fact. Yeah.
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So we ended up we ended up driving it back and we found out
17:48
what happened was I put a little bit more weight in the back.
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I'd added another battery and when I stopped this big wave,
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I'd come over and took it on. But the more the story is, so I
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come, we had come back and where we dock, where we come in,
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there's a bar right there. And I've never wanted a beer so
18:05
badly in my life. And and it was like I was like,
18:09
man, I would, it was, I was hot, I was thirsty, my water bottle
18:14
here I was using the bailout water.
18:16
So I didn't have anything to drink.
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And that, I mean, the beer had sounded so good, but I had I,
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you know, I didn't. And I called my wife and I'm
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like, listen, man, I want a beer.
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And she's like, you'll just don't, you know, just come home.
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Like I so I, I come home and I get here, I pull up and my kids
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come running out. Yeah.
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Then they come and give me a hug and like everything just washed
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away. And I'm like, this is, I mean,
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if I'd have stayed there, I'd have just got drunk.
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All of them guys, they drink. Not a big deal again, but they
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would have all came to the bar. We would have had a bunch of.
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You hung out all night, got hammered, and yeah, I get it
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right. Exactly.
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So I come home and and they're just dead.
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And they come up and they give me this big hug and I'm like,
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this is this is my reason. Like this is what you want
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exactly? Again, I just can't be any more
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proud of you. And I've just know you from the
19:07
Internet, dude. But I, I mean, I've been
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watching your story for a little bit and I know that I know this
19:13
too. It LED you to doing, you've been
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doing a lot of exercise and stuff like that.
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I saw that you recently completed a Tough Mudder.
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You're pushing it, you're pushing it, but I love that it
19:26
is a good example for your kids to see that.
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And you, you certainly you may be an average dad, but you are
19:33
far from average in what you're doing so right and.
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Which is huge, which is the whole point of the channel.
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And like, kind of what I said in my like news interview and stuff
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too, that I just had was, you know, everybody's just like, oh,
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you should name, you should change the name of your channel.
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And I'm like, no, but that's the point is like, I want to show
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people because I, I am average. I am as average as it comes and
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everything that I've ever done. My turning point, similar to
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yours was 250. 3 lbs I stepped on the scale and was like, Oh my
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gosh, I see a picture of me and I was pregnant.
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I mean, I was seriously pregnant.
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I'm like, I was like, something's got to, something's
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got to give here. And just like anybody else, I
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mean, you know, nothing was handed to me.
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I just, I just went out and I worked for it.
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And I think that resonates with people to be like, you know, see
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the average Jack cooking channel.
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You see what I'm doing, You can do that too.
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You just have to want it. And I've gotten countless
20:31
messages from family friends, from people that I've met online
20:35
that I that I don't even know in real in like in life being like
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you've inspired me. I started walking and they'll
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they'll message me there, you know, Hey, I walked two miles
20:45
today and I'm like, that's awesome.
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Like that's how you do it. Like that's exactly what
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happened, right? Like that's, that's perfect.
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Like that's what you need to do, you know?
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Show up everyday, be consistent. Exactly.
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You don't have to run a marathon.
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You just got to get out there and, and just, and just get out
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there. And that's, you know, that
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doesn't show him being that sober, showing myself, showing
21:07
my health journey, being vulnerable.
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And and it's a big reason why I want to write this book because
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I had read David Goggins Can't Hurt Me.
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And that thing freaking makes me want to run through a brick
21:17
wall. But I have an extremely similar
21:20
story to him in my own way. And I'm like, you know, if he
21:25
can inspire people, I can inspire people too.
21:27
Just yeah, we're going to do it a little bit of different ways.
21:29
He's very intense. I'm more.
21:33
Yes, you seem to be. You seem to have a lot more calm
21:37
and nice demeanor there. He's a little, he's he.
21:41
He'll make you feel bad about yourself, no doubt.
21:45
He earned that, you know he earned that, so good for him.
21:49
Well, that's great man. I appreciate you sharing all of
21:51
that with us kind of a good inside I've won.
21:54
I've been wanting to know the story of like where it really
21:57
where it came from and how we got to this point.
22:00
Now, one, the thing that we've touched on more than once
22:04
tonight is fishing. And I know that you fish
22:08
Wednesday derbies and, and all that stuff.
22:11
So where did where did you get your passion for fishing these
22:15
derbies and, and, and how'd you get into fishing?
22:18
OK, so I actually have a really funny story.
22:21
It's one of my favorite stories of all time.
22:23
But when I was really young, yeah, and didn't have the best
22:27
childhood, my mom was never really around.
22:29
And she, she actually left when I was 9.
22:31
But when I was probably like 6 or 7, we live with my grandma in
22:36
these little apartments right by one of the lakes.
22:38
And I went out and I found some fishing line and a hook.
22:42
And that was it. I took this fishing line and a
22:44
hook. My grandma would sometimes send
22:45
me with like a can of peas or a can of corn and I would go down
22:49
to our lake to our dock. And I was standing there with my
22:51
fishing line and my little hook and I would just try to catch
22:55
fish all day. Well, these guys, these, I want
22:58
to say they were college kids. This is, you know, 2530 years
23:02
ago. So if they end up watching this,
23:03
shout out to you. But they saw me and they were
23:06
like, hey, I bet you can't catch a fish with that.
23:09
Because like, again, I, I had this, I didn't even have bait at
23:12
the time. Like there's no way you're going
23:13
to catch a fish. So I went down, I pull up this
23:15
little sunfish, this little tiny thing.
23:17
And they were like, no, that there's no way.
23:19
I can't believe you did that. I'm like, you know, I'm all
23:20
proud of myself. I'm like, yeah, that's right.
23:22
And I and I sat there and they left and I'm fishing for a
23:26
couple hours and I start walking home because I was just like, we
23:29
were just right across the park or this little lake and then a
23:32
park and then where we live. So I'm walking home and this,
23:35
this what I call a kidnapper van holes out and it stops, right?
23:39
It stops right in front of me and they open up their trunk and
23:42
I'm like looking around. I'm like, Oh my God, is this it
23:44
like this is this, is this happening right now?
23:46
And I'm just like, you know, I'm just a little kid.
23:48
And they come out and it's the guys from the lake and they pull
23:51
out this fishing pole and they go here like you, you, you earn
23:54
this. And they, they give me this
23:56
fishing pole. And ever since I, I just, I've
23:58
always fished. I've always loved it.
24:01
I thought, I thought it's a great hobby.
24:02
I used to do it all growing up. I'd go to that same lake.
24:05
We'd go out and we we caught everything We caught, we kept we
24:09
bring it back home. We fillet them up and we'd eat
24:11
it. Not like today a day and age
24:13
around like picky. I'm like, oh, I'm not going to
24:15
eat a bass because we don't eat bass.
24:17
You know, we're like, I'm like only walleye.
24:19
Only back then we were like, you catch it.
24:22
It's getting put into that fry. Or eating it release in the
24:26
grease. Right.
24:27
And we did that. So we thought that was a lot of
24:30
fun. And then you Fast forward to
24:32
today, my job that a couple of the guys there, as I got to know
24:37
more people a few years ago, I, I started talking to them
24:40
because they're like, they, they have a fishing league and they
24:43
go out and they fish on Wednesday nights.
24:44
And I'm like, well, what's it take to get into that?
24:46
Like, I don't know the boat and 20 bucks and there's, there's
24:49
two of us. So it's 10 bucks a piece.
24:50
You pay 20 bucks on Wednesday nights.
24:52
You get, you start at 5:00, you end at sunset.
24:56
So like this last one was 845. You catch, you can catch up to 3
25:00
bass and you weigh them in, let them go.
25:04
And I'm like, this is going to give me a reason to get out on
25:08
the water because they kind of died off for a while there.
25:10
And not that the passion did it, just the time to do it did or
25:14
like you know, the motivation. And I got this little 14 foot
25:18
Lund 1970 Lund that's got you know, these guys got big old
25:23
bass boats and $80,000 fishing boats and all this cool stuff.
25:28
And I mean, these guys are insane when it comes to last.
25:32
Last week, their bag, the winning bag was over 13 lbs.
25:37
They had 3 / 4 LB bass. I mean this is.
25:40
That's good bass. That's.
25:42
Good. And say especially for this,
25:44
this area like this is in Texas and people were pulling up 10
25:47
pounders, right? Yeah, no, four pounders up there
25:51
are those, that's good. Are they mainly small mouth?
25:53
Are they largemouth too? A mixture of both.
25:56
Yeah. Mixture of both.
25:58
Yep. Yep.
25:58
So yeah, we had. We had come in all confident
26:01
because we had, we had, you know, we don't ever catch 3
26:04
fish. Me and my buddy, we're just kind
26:05
of figuring out this whole Mississippi thing and we, we
26:08
caught 3 fish. We caught them within an hour,
26:10
boom, boom, boom. One of them we, you know, maybe
26:12
stretch the fin on a little bit to make sure she was legal.
26:16
So we come in and we're like, oh, you know, we're not going to
26:18
win. But like, what if we place, we
26:20
end up taking second to last place.
26:21
We had a 7 LB bag between the three between our three fish and
26:25
the next guy was like 8 and then all the rest of them were 9 lbs
26:28
and then the winner was 13. We're like you know what guys,
26:30
you just, you go away right? This is exactly.
26:33
Go away, we thought. We.
26:34
Had something tonight, right? And usually, like on a normal
26:38
night, like, that's not a bad, bad, bad, no.
26:40
I wouldn't think it would go. But yeah, that of course, you
26:44
know, we catch some fashion, so does everybody else.
26:47
And we should have known, you know?
26:48
What's your favorite type of fishing to do?
26:51
I'm probably now bass fishing, but I love, you know, I love
26:56
walleye fishing because I like to eat the fish that I catch a
26:58
lot of times, Yeah. I've never caught never caught a
27:01
walleye and I'm certainly never eaten one, but I would love to
27:05
do both. I've heard they're delicious.
27:08
Yeah, that's definitely my favorite type.
27:10
And then I love just fishing the the small ones, the the the
27:13
sunnies, the perch, the copies. My son loves doing it.
27:17
And our big thing, at least once a year we'll take them out and
27:22
we'll we'll catch a bunch of little ones.
27:25
I actually have a video this year of me showing them how to
27:27
like fillet them up. It did that one did kind of
27:30
well. But you know, we're sitting
27:32
there, we filet the fish and this year we didn't.
27:35
But usually what I'll do is I have a little backyard garden
27:38
over here and before I plant, I'll, I'll lay up a bunch of
27:42
little fish and then I'll dig a nice big hole and I'll, I'll
27:45
throw them into the garden and kind of show them like this is
27:48
the, you know, a circle of life. This is they're gonna, now
27:50
they're, we're gonna get this nice crop of, of tomatoes and,
27:54
and Peppers and things like that.
27:56
And it comes from that fishing. So I mean honestly I just love
28:00
fishing in general, but bass fishing is definitely starting
28:03
to starting to grow on my heart a lot more these days.
28:07
How do you balance your love of fishing with all of the other
28:11
things that you are doing like cooking and creating content
28:15
working out like how are how are you finding that balance?
28:19
Yeah, so the Wednesday night fishing league is kind of the
28:23
the balance of of when I do majority of my fishing.
28:27
But what I like to do is to make content walleye fish.
28:34
So it's I'm like, this is a chance for content.
28:36
I also bring my kids with. So if I'm not fishing the
28:39
leagues, my kids are coming with me.
28:41
So we got a chance to be, you know, to spend some time
28:44
together, put them on the water, have some fun.
28:46
When I catch the fish, it's a chance for me to show them how
28:49
to do something. And then now all of a sudden I,
28:52
you know, if I want to, I now have a recipe video of like,
28:55
Hey, this is what we cooked up this weekend.
28:57
You know, so kind of try to put, incorporate most of the things
29:01
that I do into this. And it's sometimes it is, is a
29:05
little difficult sitting on your phone a lot and trying to like,
29:09
OK, no, I got to put this down. I got to make sure.
29:12
But I, you know, I'm like, I'm like, this is the dream.
29:14
Like I got, I want to chase it. I want to be, you know, bigger.
29:17
And I, you know, I told my wife, like, once we make it like I
29:19
won't have to sit here and respond to everybody all the
29:21
time. I'm like right now, like
29:22
everybody that's with that comments, I'm like on it like,
29:25
Oh yeah, what do you, what do you do, you know, like so it's,
29:28
it is difficult to to find that time.
29:31
As for working out, usually I just do that before every either
29:35
while everybody's sleeping in the morning or when they go to
29:38
sleep at night and I just don't sleep as much.
29:42
So there's this, there it is. There's the sacrifice.
29:45
You just don't sleep as much. That's that's it.
29:48
Exactly. All right dude well, let's let's
29:52
move into my favorite segment of the whole show, the Tigs blitz,
29:58
where I'm going to ask you some rapid fire quick questions and
30:02
you just give me some fast answers.
30:04
Don't overthink it. This is just fun.
30:06
Just the first thing that comes to the top of your mind.
30:10
I have several tonight, so we'll we're going to go down it.
30:13
I'm going to start with softballs.
30:15
What's your go to comfort movie? You know, probably Disney
30:20
movies. I I love Mulan, I love Moana.
30:24
I love a lot of those. Those old.
30:27
Well, that with Moana is not too old.
30:30
But yeah, I mean, I loved old Disney classics.
30:33
A lot of times if I'm just sitting there, I can't find
30:35
anything on TV, I'll flip on Toy Story or I'll flip on Mulan or
30:39
any of those. I just I've been always been a
30:42
really big Disney fan. There you.
30:44
Go Have you ever been to Disney? I went to Orlando Studios once,
30:50
but that was really awesome, really good time.
30:53
But yeah, nothing. Not Disney World or anything too
30:55
crazy, but. Not on my list, but since we're
30:58
talking Disney, are you a Star Wars guy?
31:01
Oh, I love Star Wars. I have six of them at least, You
31:04
know, not 9. I have 6 right back here.
31:07
What's your favorite book? An easy one, this.
31:09
So this is called The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss.
31:13
There is another one and the name is escaping me right now
31:18
and he's supposed to write a third one but he refuses to for
31:21
whatever reason. He says he's got it down, but
31:23
this book is like, this is a comfort book.
31:26
I've listened to the audio. I bought the really extremely
31:30
expensive hardcover version. It is, it's just such a
31:34
fantastic book. It's kind of like a fantasy
31:38
book. It's got a little bit of magic,
31:39
but not in the way like other magic is.
31:42
And you follow this character from a very young age into where
31:47
he's at now and he's like telling the story as like this
31:50
bartender and he's like this, you know, really great.
31:53
He's very talented and he kind of goes to like this magic
31:56
school and he's just run-of-the-mill like always kind
32:00
of getting messed over. But it's just it's so well
32:03
written and it's yeah. The name of the wind is one of
32:06
the my go TOS for for telling people favorite authors.
32:11
Stephen King, though, because he's.
32:13
Yeah. Are you more Netflix or YouTube?
32:17
Oh wow. So Netflix when I'm home,
32:19
YouTube when I'm at work. I work in an office job.
32:22
We have two screens and so like I kind of just put on like
32:27
random whatever stuff like I'll watch fishing tournaments or
32:30
I'll watch body cams. Body cams has been like an
32:33
addiction of mine, man. I could run into UI tests right
32:36
now, like I could read you your rights and then run you through
32:39
the stuff and be like, hey man, this guys drunk get a body here.
32:42
You know, like awesome. The body cams are just they're
32:45
just so hot. Like, you know, people used to
32:47
love cops and I'm like, and if you loved cops, you're gonna
32:49
love body cams because this is the unfiltered version of cops.
32:54
What kind of music do you play when you're cooking?
32:57
Oh wow. Usually I don't have too much
33:00
music on just for the simple fact that the kids are watching
33:04
TV and will yell at me. But if I do, if I do play music,
33:08
I have a playlist with anything from the Titanic theme song to
33:12
Lil Wayne to rock music to old classic.
33:16
I got Frank Sinatra on there. I got, I mean, you name it.
33:20
It's hard, you know, one of my favorite rappers of NF.
33:24
So like all of a sudden you'll go from Frank Sinatra to NF to
33:27
Little Wayne to Céline Dion. It's just my playlist is all
33:32
over the place. Would you rather cook for a
33:34
Super Bowl party or family reunion?
33:37
Ohh, so I've done both family reunion definitely just because
33:44
when you think Super Bowl, people always want like quick
33:47
hand foods they don't want, you know, when come to a family
33:50
reunion, I get to open up and kind of be like, listen, this is
33:53
what I'm gonna cook. It's this is my choice.
33:55
Like I get to, I get to bring you this.
33:58
Charcoal, gas or pellet grill? Pick one forever.
34:03
Oh, charcoal easily. I have all three of those.
34:06
Like I have the Blackstone runs on propane, I got the pellet
34:08
grill smoker, and then I got charcoal And yeah, there's just,
34:12
there's not too much that'll be a charcoal.
34:15
If you could have a dream collaboration with a brand, who
34:20
would it be? Oh, Blackstone, definitely
34:23
Blackstone. If they were to you'd also.
34:26
I used to cook at a restaurant and you have like these big old
34:29
flap top flat tops and I always loved it.
34:32
And I was always trying to find something to replicate that.
34:34
And then we got a Blackstone and I'm like, Oh my gosh, it's like
34:37
I'm back on the line cooking. Like I just, I just freaking
34:40
love that thing. I've got a feeling on these 5050
34:43
States and 50 foods that that Blackstones getting going to get
34:47
used a good. Day.
34:48
Oh yes, Oh yes. What would you say?
34:50
This is going to put you on the spot and you may not have this,
34:53
it may be a little unfair and it's not singling anybody out,
34:57
but of the seasoning, and it doesn't have to be a Louisiana
35:01
seasoning. I know that you've been sent
35:03
several seasonings of different people and all that.
35:06
So far, what is your favorite? I would probably say the MADI
35:12
don't know what they call the MAD seasoning.
35:14
It's the newest one that was sent to me and that stuff is
35:18
like really freaking good. Last question and we'll, we will
35:21
wrap, we will wrap this up. If your kids look back one day
35:26
and watch every video you've made, what do you hope they take
35:30
away from it? That they can do anything that
35:34
they are able to do and they, like I said, not just tell them
35:39
that they can chase their dream, but to watch their dad, their 34
35:43
year old dad that works at a factory and and has for 8 1/2
35:48
years that I sat here and I made time not only for them, but for
35:54
this and and chased a dream. Whether I do something with it
35:59
or if it all just eventually just kind of fizzles regardless.
36:03
I did. I tried, you know, and it's not
36:05
from a lack of trying. Where can everybody find you?
36:08
What do you have coming up beyond the 50, the 50 meals in
36:12
50 states? Tell us.
36:14
Tell us everything that they need to know.
36:16
Yeah. So the average dad cooking
36:19
channel can see here. We're on almost every platform
36:22
except X We're on Facebook, Instagram, lemonade threads,
36:27
YouTube, TikTok. As for what's coming up is
36:32
you're going to see me crush a marathon that is going to
36:35
happen. You're going to watch me train
36:37
for this marathon. We're going to continue our
36:41
sober journey. They're going to kind of, you
36:43
know, little little tidbits of my of my kids.
36:46
And then just instead of, you know, I'm not only going to
36:50
focus on the 50 states, we'll still just bring out different
36:54
content or whatever comes to my mind showing because like, you
36:58
know, I originally kind of started this to like show people
37:01
that you can cook at home, you know, as always, big thing like,
37:05
Oh, I don't have time. Like, no, you have time.
37:07
You just you just can't watch that TV show.
37:09
You got to you got to cook and stuff, you know what I mean?
37:12
So I like to still kind of do that and and, you know, show
37:16
people just the average meal of like, of what, what am I going
37:20
to eat tonight? It doesn't always have to be
37:23
Dumbo. That took me 8 hours.
37:25
You know, it, it can, it can easily be something, you know, I
37:27
made some chicken wings tonight. Here's the seasonings that I
37:30
use. We're going to have more
37:31
seasoning reviews and we're going to use more of these
37:34
different kinds of seasonings and incorporate them into
37:36
things. And then I'd love to do some
37:38
food reviews. I don't ever have time for it.
37:41
I don't ever. I don't go out that much, but
37:43
anytime I do, I try to drop a food review.
37:46
So really just kind of giving you content of everything that
37:50
yeah, that is life, I guess. Yeah, just living life, cooking
37:55
and eating and raising a family and all of that.
37:58
That's right. That's what you're doing, man.
38:00
You're doing it well. You're doing it well.
38:01
So keep keep that up. Appreciate you.
38:04
That's going to do it for this episode of Tigs Bits.
38:06
A big thanks to Brandon for keeping it real, showing us what
38:11
it means to turn your life around with purpose, passion and
38:14
a whole lot of seasoning. And so if you enjoyed this one,
38:19
make sure to like, comment, subscribe and hey, share it with
38:23
somebody who's trying to figure out what's next.
38:26
Maybe they just need a little cast iron skillet and a little
38:29
inspiration. Who knows?
38:31
I'll see you guys on the next one.
38:33
Thank you, Brandon. Thank you.