Latest / Johnny's World / Episode 16-Bo Bounds

Transcript

Episode 16-Bo Bounds · Johnny's World

• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: All right, we're good.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: All right, Johnny Squirrel Podcast.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: I'm your host, Johnny.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: This is my co-host, BW.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_01: How you doing today?
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, Johnny.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: Doing great.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_01: Sun's shining, so that's a good day.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: Well, uh we wanted to uh bring on a special guest we have today.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_01: Uh you might know him in the Jackson area from the host of the out of balance radio show in the Jackson area, or uh you might know him from the y'all lifestyle brand.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we have uh a very special guest, Bo Balance today.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the show, Bo.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: What's going on, guys?
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: Glad to be here.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: Well, we're happy to have you here.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah, I was telling Brand, I was like, we gotta get Bo on because this kind of what we got with these sunglasses, just fits his uh his style with the lifestyle.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: So I was like, he'd be a great guest, and we talk about sports and and restaurants and food.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, gotta get Bo on.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: He'd be perfect for it.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: So we're excited, excited to have you on.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: Well, well, uh first off, just kind of tell us uh, you know, me and Brand, and we're both uh MRA graduates, graduates.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: Sunday you went to MRA as well.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: Just kind of start talking about, you know, any any memories you have from MRA on to where you what you did now and where you went to college, all that sort of stuff.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: We just love to hear.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: I uh graduated from MRA in 1992 and uh went to Mississippi State and uh had a great time at MRA and then eventually finished undergrad and grad at MSU.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: That was during the Cheryl days and the uh Richard Williams days, so that was a lot of fun in the 90s.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_02: And Jack Carlisle Carlisle at MRA, right?
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: So Coach Carlisle was there uh when I was in high school.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: I played for Richard Deweys basketball, and um that was a blast.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: And then uh I'd gone to Jay for 10 years or something and made the move out to MRA and enjoyed Jay, but MRA was was a great experience for me.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: And a much smaller school than it is today.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: I have two kids there in 10th and 11th grade, and it's so much bigger.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's great growth, but uh I only had 40 people in my class.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: So at JA I had 123, so totally different deal.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: But uh enjoyed both and go to Mississippi State and undergrad in history.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: I thought I was gonna coach and then graduate school in sport management, which led me to sports marketing and sports talk radio and and so on.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but first I got into my first job as general manager of Shapley Steakhouse, uh, which is now Kessel Prime.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: And um that was a great experience too at bartended there in college.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: And uh and then I got into sales after that, and then eventually in 2003, I got into sports talk radio and stayed with it, you know, we were able to build a a profitable show business and grow along with the you know the SEC and the NFL and and digital and all that.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it's been a heck of a ride.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: I've been fortunate, had a blast for sure.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_02: So did you start your show in in 03?
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_02: So the out-of-bound show started at 03, or were you doing something before that?
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: So 2003, I was I mean, I basically begged to get hired by an AM 5000 watt station called Super Sport 930, and stayed there until 2009, and then that's when I went with a 50,000 watt FME SPN station, which I'm still on.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, it was it it was a grind, it was uh very difficult to build back then.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: It took it took a couple of years to really get up and running, and I'd left a good job to do that, but hindsight 2020, you know, who knows if I'd have done it again, but it's really worked out.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: So uh it you gotta be able to sell and do the show.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't know a lot about you know 14 different industries, but I understand sales, marketing, branding, and you know, sports.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's why uh I think that's why we're still rolling today and still growing at a double-digit you know growth every year.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: So that's good.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I remember I was so when I graduated in 08 from optometry school, uh I lived in Nashville for for about a year, and so I was there and all I heard about was the Titans and you know UT football and all this stuff, and and then we moved back to Jackson in 09, and and I found your show and I said, man, this is what I've been missing all these years, you know, talking about the SEC and you know, the Saints, and because you used to have that Saints show that would come on, and um so it it was always I felt like it was man, this is this is awesome.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_02: And I could sit here and listen to this, and because I get so tired of listening to the national you know radio shows because they you know they might talk about something Mississippi State did every six months or something like that.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that home hometown talk.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_02: So I've always loved it.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and and that's why sports local sports talk radio is still powerful and growing.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we're SEC West driven and Saints and DAC, so that's uh that's a good pool to swim in for sure.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: Very lucrative, and and as you said, I mean, there's a lot of people that are passionate about SEC West football and uh or baseball too, and and uh the Saints and and DAC's been a blessing too.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: So works for us.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: Now, were y'all one of the first ones to uh start it up?
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: Because I know that there's a lot of sports talk radio now, but I think y'all are one of the first, it seems like.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: Was that is that right?
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: Or we were, you know, there was uh there was a morning show on 620.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: And um and they had Southern Sports Tonight, which was kind of regional, you know.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we didn't carry it.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: No, we didn't.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: So uh I started off afternoon drive in 2003, and then they gave me my own show six weeks later.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, no.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: I started off in the midday, sorry, lunch, lunch show, 11 a.m.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: to 1 p.m.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: So lunch show for six weeks, then went afternoon drive for about two years, and then they said, Do you want to go morning drive?
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, Yeah, I'm in.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: So uh starting in 2000 and right after Katrina, I switched from the afternoon to the morning.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: Cool.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: Well, well, tell us a little bit about how the y'all lifestyle got uh got started.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: Want to hear all about that.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: So, all right, on the show, we were always talking about um tailgating, eating, you know, great food.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, food goes with sports, right?
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: So I it wasn't real complicated.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: It was people enjoy food, cooking, whatever, and and the games.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: And so over time, it just at first I was saying, well, you know, the SEC, it's a lifestyle.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: People like to do sports.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: Well, then all of a sudden, I just tripped on y'all lifestyle.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: So that's kind of the entertainment piece of the show.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, when we're talking about tailgating or grilling or going out to a great um restaurant or even a college.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we all have our places that we loved in college.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: So a lot of the y'all lifestyle is built around dive bars that have um a great poboy or a great burger or great fried cheese, whatever.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: And so we didn't overthink it.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: We just it was very simple and and it kind of took off.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: And then it took off, and then I thought, and then we started selling off of it.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I've sold hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars on the show because of the all lifestyle, and so it's it's it's just you know, it it really made sense to add that as an element, really a division within the show to create more revenue.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I didn't know that we were gonna sell, I mean, you know, 20 something thousand pieces of or wherever we may be higher than that, but um of hats and shirts and whiskey glasses and things like that, but it just kind of evolved and grew, and we've had a lot of fun with it.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we keep it real simple.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, the tagline is celebrating the best of southern culture through food, drink, and travel.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: Bam.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: If that right, if that speaks to somebody, great.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: If it doesn't, we're okay with that.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: And so, like everything we've been able to do in business, I've tried to keep it the show very simple.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: SEC football, Saints and DAC, along with some big stories, right, that are gonna happen.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: And the y'all lifestyle is the same way.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's just a it's a damn good burger or steak in T Town or Starbucks or Oxford or Batonworth, wherever.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's day drinking in New Orleans.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you you go see a Saints game or Mississippi State and Ole Miss are playing in New Orleans for some reason.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: You meet up with a bunch of couples and friends, and you go into the warehouse district and you find this place that's got this unbelievable oyster po boy.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: That's the and uh you get a cold Modello or Miller Lake.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: That's the all lifestyle.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: So we've tried to.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just a big believer, you make things complicated, it gets all mucked up, right?
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: We've tried to keep the show and the y'all lifestyle very simple, and it's it's worked for us.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: And we've had a blast with it.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: I've been able to travel the country and you know live out a lot of dreams and set new goals.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: So it's you know, sports and entertainment, as y'all know, that's why y'all are getting into this.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: Sports and entertainment are a multi, multi, multi, multi-billion dollar company uh business industry, and sports betting is going to be a$24 billion industry once it gets legalized in all 50 states, and it will be.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: So we haven't even scratched the surface on where this thing is going.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: So it's exciting.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's another thing I always liked is you had the the uh the guys come in and give the the betting odds and and um and some of that stuff too.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_02: I always really enjoyed that.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: Our listeners love look, even if you all right, even if you don't bet, it's intriguing, all right?
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: Or if you only bet a couple of times a month during football season, or if you bet every weekend, right?
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: You're still interested in what's the line, what are the odds, what's the over-under, and now that we're gonna be able to do it here, you know, it's just gonna be a game changer.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: So FanDuel released an article two or three weeks ago, and they said, look, it's and by the way, I think this is low.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: They they said once once it hits full maturity, sports betting, it'll be a$24 billion industry.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I think they're low.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: I think they're low by several billion, but I'll take that.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I think it's gonna be 30 billion, um, which is exciting.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: And look, I want you to gamble what you can afford to gamble, but it is fun.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: And if whether you throw 25 bucks or 500 bucks on a game, makes it it's exciting because you're calling your butt, you're texting your buddy in the second half, and you're like, we're covering, we're covering.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: Oh no, we're not, you know, those are the kind of things that we all love to interact with our pals with.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_02: And all the prop bets, just the you know, how long is the national anthem gonna be and all that stuff, too.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: Look at look at this weekend with the Kentucky Derby.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: I just received an email because we get all these aggregate emails being in the business.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: The prop bets on the Kentucky Derby were like five pages long.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's so much fun.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: So it gives us something to do, um, especially as we're trying to get from the end of football season to you know back to Labor.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's like this week, this Thursday night, the NFL draft.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: There's prop bets everywhere.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: That's it's fun.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: How many quarterbacks are gonna go in the top 10?
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: You know, four and a half, over, under?
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: Who knows?
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, the other thing, too, is I mean, you you'd sometimes do your your stuff like you'd be at turquoise place, and you know, I'm driving into the office, and and Bo's over there at turquoise place broadcasting live from there, and I'm thinking, man, really wish I was at turquoise place now.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: So you know, look, we have been able to partner with some cool businesses, turquoise place, Tito's, vodka.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's so many of them.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Miller Coors and you know, Kessel Prime and and uh well, Salad Mookies and Bravo, but and look, we've been down on the coast to the Boervaj and the Hard Rock, and we're in the Golden Moon casino.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's it is it's a lot of fun that I don't have to go into a uh law firm in the morning.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: Not that there's anything wrong with price and wall, but it I can't I wouldn't be the guy that grinds out 10 hours of billing, you know, every day in the in the law firm.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, we're I get it, we're fortunate.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_02: So what is a what is a day-to-day thing look like for you?
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_02: Do you have to do a lot of you know preparation before the show, or do you do you mostly just kind of wing it and get on and talk?
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: Or what is um now it depends on what direction the show goes, but here's how the day goes.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: I get up about 5.05.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I'll do a quick 10-minute workout, jump in the shower, get to the studio uh at 6 or before, and do an hour, an hour plus of of uh, you know, show prep.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: And Blake gets here um at 6 or 6 15.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so we just throw ideas out, eventually, you know, write notes.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: So on we get some aggregate email, you know, some emails about all sorts of things going on every morning.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's already there when I get up.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like 4 30 in the morning.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: It lands in our email invice.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: And but as far as booking guests, we're doing that all the time.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we've we've got people booked tomorrow, Wednesday, Thursday.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you're always looking three, four, five days out.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and you sometimes you book a guest the morning of.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, uh we may text John Cohen at 6:45 in the morning.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: And John, do you have time to go at 7:30?
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, among other guys.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: But we got our staples like Tom Luganville, Mike De Tilier, and guys like Steve Palazzlo or Pro Football Focus.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: Those are home run guys, and and then we mix in Bianco and Lamonis and Cohen and so on.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, the prep is ongoing, and uh it's gotta be to uh to do three hours every day is a lot, but we've got a really good system down now.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: If the show turns because of a text or a call, we'll run with it, you know, or something funny.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it could be something stupid, um, and then, or it could be something around food, or something happens during the show, and if it's got some legs, boom.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: We'll run with it.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: That's what makes the spine the spontaneity piece, right?
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: The spontaneous part is also um extremely valuable with what we're doing, because you just don't ever know what somebody's gonna say on the text line or something.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: You know, when I started it was emails, little calls and emails.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um and and over time it evolved to to Twitter.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh because guys just send us a tweet.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: And then the text line is huge because I mean that thing just I've got a computer over here, and I mean they'll just start coming in, and and that's a blast because you get to you get to see what people are feeling and thinking about a certain topic.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: And some of them will come in hot, you know, boom.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but that's what drive it.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: Look, this is all driven by it's our hobby, uh fandom, fanaticism.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: We love our teams, we love our sports.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: And so uh I don't even think we've scratched the surface in sports talk radio.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: Kind of like sports betting.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: We're still almost in neophyte stage, even though it's been around since 1987, technically, with the fan in New York, but it didn't really get down here until in the Sunbelt SEC late 90s, but really early 2000s.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: Kind of, you know, and then it really took off in 2009, 10, 11.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_02: So do you make a point to try to watch like during football season, like pretty much every SEC game, or you know, what is your things you have to do on the weekend to make sure you so that's a good question.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: Uh state, obviously state and on this.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then the top two or three games outside.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: I I watch if I'm not on campus, I watch football from 11 a.m.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: to 11 p.m.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: or midnight.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but you know, you got to pick like State and On this, and then uh LSU and Auburn, and maybe you got um another good game.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: You you definitely want to hit the top games because people are into that.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: If Auburn and AM have a huge game, that's that's easy.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, we lock in, watch a ton of NFL, but I do more red zone.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: I watch Dak and I watch some of the Saints.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it doesn't keep me.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: I can watch every play of Dak, and I'll watch a chunk of the Saints game.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: And then the red zone is unbelievable.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: Changed our world.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure maybe y'all's too.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: But uh and the NFL's so darn good today.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's just the quarterback play.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: But to have Eli the first you know, chunk of my career in sports talk radio, and and to now have Dak starting is and Breeze.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: Those are like gifts.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um Eli, Breeze, and Dak, you know, gifts.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_00: So that's been great because it's all tied here in in Mississippi.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's low-hanging fruit for us, just like for anybody in the in the business.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I I'm always under a lot of pressure because being a state fan, I always obviously love Dak, but love the Saints.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_02: But my in-laws are Cowboys fans, been Cowboys fans their whole lives.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_02: And so when Dak came in, you know, if they're gonna be a little critical of him, you know, well, what's wrong with your boy Dak today?
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, they they were um worried about the contract, and and so you know, seeing it from their perspective versus you know these rose-colored lenses with being a CB fake guy is a little bit different.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_02: So I always gotta be be careful.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_02: I don't want to walk in on a conversation with them, they're they're they're bashing him or something like that.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: So hey, look, um every NFL quarterback is under the microscope, but when you're the starter for the Dallas Cowboys, it it's it's just ruthless.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: But it's part of getting paid, having that gig.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: He he is a he is almost perfect for that position because of the way he can handle the media and the locker room in Dallas.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: And look, I'm biased.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: I hope they win a Super Bowl.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think they will with Jerry Jones, but I damn sure hope that they do.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: So, but they're in a good spot and he's gonna come back healthy and he got paid.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so so excited for him.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, he he meant the world to uh not just Mississippi State, but the town of Starble, too.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: He really the growth was there, but he took it to another level.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, talking about talking about Starble, bringing that up, uh, you're right, man.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_01: That the you know, from going to school there and you come up there now, and you're you know, it's just totally different.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_01: And and you're right.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_01: Dak Prescott, man, he he uh he's a major contributor to why it's booming like it is now enrollment in the school, buildings coming up, what people want condos and places to live on the weekends and for games.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_01: And it's just uh it's booming, and and it's just that year 2014, when State went to number one and Dak came on the map.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_01: It's just it really Really changed everything and uh and football just in general.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_01: But uh talking about talking about football, I mean talking about startwall, uh Brandon and I, we always like to talk about towns and places to eat and stuff like that.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: Well tell us a little bit about what you like to do in Startwall when you're up there and your favorite places to eat up there and all that sort of stuff.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: Well, okay, so um I love two brothers.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, they they do a great job, they're a partner.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's been great.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: I I love their new place in the in the cotton district.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um I love Dave's Dark Horse.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, very underrated, got great, you know.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: I went by last weekend.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_00: I always go to Two Brothers, and I went by Dave's and picked up a pizza to go.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I love the guest room.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's a super cool bar.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's got kind of a Charleston, South Carolina, New Orleans feel.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: And um, you know, we'll run through strombolies for a to-go order and stuff like that.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, the grill.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I loved it when it was in the cotton district.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's still cool now.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: They did a good job.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: There's some new things coming.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, veranda closed, but there's a place opening called Taste, where the veranda was.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I know the owner and chef, they'll knock it out of the park.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: And then the um what's the new taco place on Universal?
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_00: Humble Taco.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_00: I went there the other day.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's fantastic.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: I I finally dropped by there the other day, and that that's that's a great place.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so many great places to to uh you know go and get a beer or smash a taco or a sandwich.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, Dave's dark horse, that was one of our favorite places.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_02: And Thursday night, Bill Cook would play there.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know if you've ever heard him play some old classics.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_00: That that place has a lot of character, and uh the you wouldn't think the food was good, but it is.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: It is.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: They've done look, two brothers, Dave's, stromboli's, guest room, humble talk.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of good things going on there, and I miss some of them.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: So, and that there's two or three of oh, Georgia Blues up there now, that's awesome.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, the grill, and there's several more coming, two that will open this summer before football.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: So that's that's great.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: Because look, you can't even get a hotel room in that town now.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's that's a good thing, but the demand on the hotel and Airbnb side is just through the darn roof, which is I'm I'm great with it.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: I want people to make make money.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: And the and Welcome Home Beef is a cool, and again, I'm plugging my partners, but Welcome Home Beef on Main Street is selling steaks and they're doing great.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm I'm happy for them.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: That's great to be able to drive up and let's say you got eight people coming over to your house or condo.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_00: You go get several fillets, rubis, and strips and throw them on the grill um either the night before or after the game.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: That's it's fun.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_01: What about what about barbecue?
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_01: You like barbecue?
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_01: What's what's your barbecue go to?
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, Little Dewey's has been there for a long time and and they do a good job.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'll tell you one of my friends uh at the Breakfast Club, Eric Hallberg.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, Eric.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: It was Cappy's steakhouse, and he saw a great opportunity to open another breakfast place, and he's done great, so he called it the Breakfast Club.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Petty's barbecue, that couple just retired.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: So Eric bought their two big smokers, which you know those things are already ready to roll, right?
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_00: Eric bought both smokers three weeks ago and hired their son.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: And he's gonna start serving, well, he's already started serving barbecue for lunch, and I think maybe this week goes lunch and dinner.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm excited about that.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: The more the better, right?
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, Lil'Duy's will do great, but but the breakfast club and Eric just did a deal with Jonesy Q, who's a friend of mine, Rubs and uh award-winning rubs and sauces, and he's using the Jonesy Q line on his barbecue, which I think is pretty cool.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: So he's got Petty's, the son from the from the family, and and bought those two smokers.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_00: So that's another place that's serving good, slinging good, kind of real local divy y'all lifestyle barbecue.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I I'm all about that.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_01: Now, now with with you being the start with the 90s, do you remember uh a place called Owl's Barbecue by chance?
• 26:43
  unknown: Owl's Barbecue.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_01: It was right by Petties.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_01: Petties came along right after it.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry, sorry, yes, I'm sure I do.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_01: It was it when I would go to the games with my grandparents when I was a little kid, man, that was our go-to spot.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_01: It was in an old uh milk truck or bread truck, actually.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_01: And uh he parked it right there where Petties was, and uh man, it was some good barbecue, and it would be on uh white bread that give you the barbecue, white bread, that was it, you know.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_01: It was our spot, and then and then not long after, Petties came along and built their stuff there, and and then Al went away.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_01: But while I was in college, Al was selling uh cooking, grilling out barbecue for Brandon.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_01: He might have come with me.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah on Octock Road at his house.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_01: We'd stop by there and he'd be like, Hey man, if y'all can catch us some fish, I'll trade y'all fish for barbecue.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_01: Oh and uh oh man, it was we loved Al's.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_01: It was uh it was a great place.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, that's cool that he said that about uh about Eric and Breakfast Club that they're doing with all that.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_01: And that costs great story.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_00: Great story.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we had uh well, I moved up here um in 2019 to be closer to my uh doctor's in in Birmingham at UAB, and it's been a real great move.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_01: I really enjoyed it.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I moved out to uh out to Browning Creek, and we got the lake out there.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_01: It's really, really, really nice out here.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_01: And uh yeah, Coach Polk lives across the lake from me.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I I remember hearing you on uh y'all talking about him on the show that day about uh his uh his quite uh unique uh what's say uh kitchen appliances there that he does uh he just something.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_01: What what what uh what do you think about that?
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_01: And what do you think about Coach being uh with Jim Ellis on the broadcast?
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_01: It's uh it's pretty interesting to say the least.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it is.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_00: Look, um the fact that Coach Paul has never taken the uh plastic wrapping off of his dishwasher or oven is fantastic.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: I think he keeps about three or four items in his refrigerator.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: And look, man, I mean, that guy's just one of a kind.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: He eats out every meal, and um, he's a treasure and an icon at at Mississippi State.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I remember stay I went out in like 2003, maybe four, I don't remember.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I interviewed Stansberry who lives who lived at Browning Creek, right?
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_00: Right by Ron, right, right by um and he started telling me Ron Polk stories.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_00: You know, they were tight for even even when Rick was an assistant and the head coach, uh Stansbury and Polk were were in total opposites.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, my goodness.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I mean, you know, Rick is this big time salesman recruiter, has three kids or four.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_00: You know, Ron's never been married, doesn't have any kids, whatever.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_00: So it was funny that they hit it all.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but Brian and Kriegs are great, great development.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_00: Ron Polk in the in the booth is uh unique for sure.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_00: And he he's gonna say whatever's on his mind, which is kind of fun, especially in baseball.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_00: Y'all know that.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, yeah, there's so much downtime.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_00: You need you need some personality on the broadcast.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_00: And I think Ron.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I love when Cohen used to jump in because John is so good at framing up what's going on.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um but yeah, that's fun to see Ron back and start with.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I hear uh I hear his house is like a baseball museum, and they get to the war, supposedly.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I'll kind of want to go check it out, everything in his house, the baseball memorabilia and everything.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_00: Man, that that's all that guy's ever known.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_00: Seriously.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, baseball.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_00: He reads, he obviously has to eat, and then it's baseball.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: That's it.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: And um what a dude for sure.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, man.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_02: Well, this has been great, Bo.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's that's probably a good spot to end it.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_02: We've got some good some good stuff here.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_02: I think people enjoy listening to it.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Brandy, you want to tell tell Bo uh well, I told him a little bit before we got on about the glasses, and I feel like it fits into the y'all lifestyle brand, man.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we got we got sunglasses, and here's a pair right here.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_01: You can see uh on the website, it's just kind of tied into Mississippi.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we we have all the sunglasses that we're selling are all named after Mississippi towns, and and uh it's it's a really cool thing that Brandon got going with the uh naming them after towns, and and you can just get on our website and uh and look at all the ones and and uh you're all the website johnnypacker.com.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_00: Johnnypacker.com.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and get on there and look.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_01: And uh yeah, it's really cool uh the way that the way they're all set up, named after Mississippi towns, because we're obviously Mississippi people, and yeah, and uh it's just uh in a cool way, the best thing about it is it's benefiting the Cystic Five versus Foundation because I'm 40 years old and still and and I've had CF my whole life, which is uh which is amazing.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_01: I made it 40 this past year, so I'm excited about that.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_01: But uh the glasses benefit that, and uh it's just kind of a win-win deal way to promote uh cool eyewear, and they're really cool, they're not cheap sunglasses like that we just get at a gas station.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_01: They're really cool design.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_01: Gotta really cool to them.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_01: How much are they?
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_01: Roughly yeah, 129.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's not bad at all.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we'll we'll give it some plugs on our show.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_00: We'd love that and try to direct some people to the site.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, since it is raising money for CF, and obviously you have lived with that your whole life.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_00: We would love to plug that and uh maybe we can drive a few a few purchases and transactions to y'all, and I'll have to look at at getting a pair too.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_00: I I'm really good at losing my sunglasses.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so I'm wearing some costas now, but I go through I I like to lose at least one, if not two pairs a year.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's unbelievable.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_02: I always try to tell people these are good for uh, you know, costas are good for you know out fishing and playing golf and you know being more active.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_02: These are more for like chilling in left field lounge and they're polarized, so really good vision.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_02: They're gonna they're gonna hold up really well, really durable frames and everything.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_00: So um well, county I'm gonna grab a pair.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_02: Well, great.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we appreciate the plug too.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_02: That that makes a big difference for us.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_02: So um, and we can do prescription, we can customize whatever, because I just I sell them through my shop.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_02: So we can if you want a different color lens, if you want a mirror-coded lens with you know purple mirror or whatever you want, we can kind of change it to whatever specifications.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_02: There's an email address on there.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_02: People can just email us and um ask us kind of what they're looking for.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_00: I love that concept that y'all come up with.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_00: That's great.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_02: Well, all right, Bo.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_02: Well, uh, I guess we'll we'll go ahead and end it here.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_02: So um, this has been really great.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_02: We we appreciate it once again.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thanks so much for it.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_00: Thank y'all so much for having me.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_02: All right, y'all have a good one.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_00: All right, have a great week, guys.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_00: Thank y'all.