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Christian Martinez | The Christian Reeve Podcast #327 · The Christian Reeve Podcast

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Hello and welcome to another episode of the Christian Reeve
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Podcast. My guest today is an adjunct
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lecturer at the City University of New York.
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He is the creator of Fan Foresight.
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We'll be discussing a lot of things today.
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His name is Christian Martinez. Welcome to the show.
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How you doing? Thanks so much for having me,
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I'm doing great so far. It's a pleasure to have you
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here, man. Yeah.
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Been looking forward to this show.
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I I just look forward to every single podcast, man.
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I think it's weird. The longer I do this, the more
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grateful I am, which is is interesting.
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I don't know what that means, but probably something
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important. So I.
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Actually really like your your most recent one, the onions one.
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It's not part of your podcast per SE, but I was listening to
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it and you got me with like, it wasn't click bait, but I always
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think about Shrek. Ogres are like onions.
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I don't know if you've ever seen Shrek.
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And I always think about that, right?
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And like Shrek is one of my top movies of all time.
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New York Times just asked everybody if they could put like
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their top ten. I had to put Shrek in it.
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So it was really resonating when you were saying, and ogres are
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like onions. Humans are like onions.
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You know, it's funny, like I this year has been maybe like
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the toughest year of my life for quite some time.
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And I started doing these videos like a month back where I just
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started. Like like there's this quote
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book I have where I write down quotes or I see or stuff that
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resonates or stuff I learn and I write it down and sometimes I'll
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do a video about it, share my stories and, you know, all that
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jazz. And I don't know, like
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something, something clicked recently and I don't know what
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it was. Maybe it was just like a
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realization that I can finally talk and, and make it
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interesting and make it something that people might want
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to actually listen to. Because it's a lot of it comes
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down to like, the presentation of how you do things and like
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letting go, not worrying so much if something is good or bad, but
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rather like, does it have heart? Does it have soul?
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Does it connect with people, inspire people?
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I don't know better people's lives, something like that.
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And so I just started recording these videos when I had the
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feeling, you know, it's a bit like writing a song, like you
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just you do it when it feels right.
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And then, yeah, I don't know, for some reason people seem to
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dig them. And you know, I I'm good at
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talking. You should be.
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Well, I don't know. That's something I got
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criticized for in the beginning was was talking too much.
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And I was like, on my own show. Is that a bad thing?
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And then I was like, well, if you have guests, you know, you
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got to make it about your guest, but why can't you have a
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conversation with your guest? Why not?
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I agree. Actually in your in the 2005
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Asher video, you speak about this directly.
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He apologizes for talking and you're like, hey bro, this is
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the podcast we're supposed to talk.
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Yeah, that broke me up, man. I I really hope that that show
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helped that dude. I feel like he needs some guy
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needs confidence, man. I've been there.
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Either when life beats you up, breaks you down and you, you
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find yourself like apologetic for just existing, you know,
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like it's where I've been there, man.
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It's, it's, I think it's a trauma thing, you know, But
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like, yeah, like when I, when I see, because he's like a kid as
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well. I just wanted to like just grab
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him and hug him and tell him it's just.
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Give him a big hug. It's.
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Going to be OK dude. It's I wish, hey, I wish someone
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had done that when I was younger.
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I've I felt so lost at his age. I was, I was a mess and, and now
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I'm a bit old, older, seasoned. And I think I understand now why
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people kind of just develop this sense of humour where you just
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laugh at life, you know, because it's, it's all just one big
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silly game. And you get to a point where
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you're like, I'm just not giving you any more of my energy.
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I'm I'll put my energy into things that matter, like love
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and things I believe in, but everything else can just do 1.
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And I agree with James. And there's intent behind, like
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if you have good intent behind doing things, and that has to be
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taken into consideration too. I think so as well.
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And that brings me to, like my first question to build this.
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Yeah, to get it back to you. So, you know, I feel like this
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business you've created is based on exactly that.
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So you are the founder and creator of Fan Foresight?
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Yeah, the fan engagement platform for live events.
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Where does, where does this idea come from?
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Because I've, I've seen people's attempts at trying to bring
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people in and a lot of it for events, you know, to kind of
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create like a not necessarily a platform, but like a space where
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people can, can communicate surrounding an event or
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something like that. And it, a lot of time it falls
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flat because people want to just kind of do their own thing
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elsewhere. Or, you know, they end up being
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asked to pay to do things, which I think is silly unless there's
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some incentive to do so, obviously.
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But where does the idea come from this?
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What? What was the ethos behind it?
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So if I'm trying to date it back to maybe the as far back as I
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can without actually thinking, oh, this is going to be
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something is really that I, I do enjoy gambling and not the type
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of gambling that's like, let me throw my life savings or throw
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the house on, but fun little prop bets.
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So like back in the day, I'm watching the NBA Finals with
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some friends and for fun, we throw a bet like on who we think
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is going to score the first basket, right?
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A dollar wins $8 or something like that.
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So you take 10 bucks, you throw it on 10 different pop rock
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bets, throw a dollar here, dollar there, you're with your
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boys, you're having fun. And then it makes the entire
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space of not only where you are with your friends, but also the
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actual event more fun. And that's from my personal
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experience. So with a little amount of
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money, you can really transform the game.
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And so I thought about doing this and pairing my love of not
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only sports, but also analytics and most importantly, bringing
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people together. I do think I sway more towards
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community engagement to see how can I pair a bunch of the things
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that I not only like but am good at and bring them out.
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So the first time I did this was for the Super Bowl last year.
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I have recently been reconnecting with a bunch of
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family from all across the country.
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I've got family everywhere. So I was like, oh, like, how can
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I do something fun to bring people together for one of the
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biggest events? And so I did it for the Super
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Bowl. So with my family, we all threw
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like $10 in just for fun and we answered 25 questions about the
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Super Bowl. So it was like, which team is
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going to score first? Will the player that scores the
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touchdown first jerseys be odd or even?
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What color will the Gatorade be? Will Travis Kelsey propose to
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Taylor Swift? So the goal of any and all the
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questions that I provide is trying to be somewhat fluid in
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that if you've never watched the event that you're at, you can
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have fun and if you are a die hard fan, you can also have fun.
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So I did this for 25 questions and that was it.
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Yeah, it sounds like somewhere in between, like gambling meets,
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like a quiz kind of thing, which is kind of cool.
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How long, how long is that? Has the platform been out now,
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roughly? I know you, I know you've got
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some some some news articles and some some buzz for it and stuff
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like that. So that's good.
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But like. Yeah, so I did the one with my
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family and that was just like family fun.
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We all threw like a $5 and then I was thinking and I was like,
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you know, like what if I could take this to more of a
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professional setting? So I just literally went into a
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few sports bars and I was like, hey, I'm Christian.
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I have an idea that I think would be fun for anyone that are
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anyone that's watching any of the games that you host.
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So I like the UFCI. Don't know if you are into MMA
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or anything like that. More of a wrestling guy, but
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yeah, there. I, I just went on the UFC
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website and found all the places that were playing the UFC cards
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in my neighborhood. So I went to the bars and was
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like, hey, I got this idea. And so we really started in
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early this year probably like April, May ish of like when I
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did it. And so the biggest difference is
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that like when I did it with my family, we all threw $5 to make
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a pot. But now I do not do that.
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So anyone that plays it is free entry and you play to win the
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prize. Do you not think from a business
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standpoint though, that you're kind of limiting it somewhat in
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the sense that maybe like instead of going for say like a
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freemium model or something like that?
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Because I think I, I agree, I think it should be free.
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This is just more accessible. People are more likely to play
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it. But just out of curiosity, like
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how come you didn't sort of go for that?
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That's a great question. So I thought of it more as a the
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price point would be coming from the actual institutions that I
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am hosting it at. So let's say I take the bar down
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the block, they offer the UFC events, I would charge them to
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host at their bar so all of their constituents would be able
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to play. So it's not that I'm getting
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money from each person, it that it's that I'd be getting money
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from each establishment. What did they get from working
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with you? That's a fantastic question.
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So what do they get from me is everything.
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So part of the what ioffer right now is that you take the survey,
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right? It's whatever 1015 questions
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based on the event doesn't matter.
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So I set up the survey, I make the questions, I do the creation
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of the flyer. If there's a particular event in
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that once you submit the survey, you get an e-mail automatically
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thanking you so much for your participation, here are all your
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picks and here's the date. Then during the actual event,
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I'm the one that creates a dashboard and it updates live.
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So as the first quarter goes on of a basketball game, you find
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out who scores first. So now people scores themselves
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are changing and you could see that live.
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So like, oh, I got this question right.
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I scored three points, now I'm in 3rd place.
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Oh, I got this other question right now I'm in second.
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And then you also get the e-mail thanking you for your
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participation and your place, etcetera.
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What's other than and we'll get we'll get to like obviously the
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app because it obviously sounds quite complex as far as how it's
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tied to real time statistics and and sport and stuff.
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But what's stopping like venues from doing this?
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Would it be the cost of setting it up?
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Like if you think like you're bigger brands, like let's say, I
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don't know if like Hooters would show sports in the States, but
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like the the the main like sports bar brands that are
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franchises in what's to stop them from like?
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Buffalo Wild Wings or something, OK.
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Yeah, So what would stop them from, say, creating their own
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app and and doing exactly what you're doing?
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Like what? Why should people work with you?
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The SO I am a big believer that anyone can do anything right.
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And so there are a bunch of different sports bar brands as
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Hooters, there's Buffalo Wild Wings when he goes again, when
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he can do DraftKings or FanDuel, etcetera.
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And like to some degree they're all basically the same in my
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opinion. There are maybe minor details,
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but unless you disagree. I don't know.
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That's why I'm asking. I mean, I know DraftKings is, is
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is huge in the States. I know it's like really, really
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taken off in the last sort of 5-10 years.
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Yeah. But like, I guess what I'm
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trying to allude to is, is like what's differentiating you from
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those other providers? Like why?
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Why should people use fan foresight?
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Like what? What is the the key thing that
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makes you stand out from other fan engagement platforms?
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So as of right now, I don't know anyone that's doing exactly the
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same thing, but I could be wrong of course.
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The first is that it's free to everyone.
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So if you are interested in gambling on sports, right, you
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have to go to FanDuel, you have to put your own money to risk
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it. This is free for everybody.
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So if I'm offering it to the bar down the street, you'd be
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interested because everyone can do it, right?
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Doesn't matter if you're not a five year old great grandfather
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or like your 10 year old cousin or whatever.
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Anyone can do it when no matter what your education level on the
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actual event is to and then why would you want to have it as bar
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A? And and like, why would you want
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bar A to have it because Barbie doesn't.
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So if you are now deciding, oh, should I watch the NBA Finals at
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bar A or bar B? They're both showing the bars.
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They're both showing the event. They both have food, they both
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have drink. The difference is that one I
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could potentially win a prize. I could be involved in
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something. Yeah, by has been foresight
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like. Exactly.
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Oh, great. Yeah.
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It's a it's the competition within the competition.
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So now there's a competition that you're watching NBA Finals,
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UFC, wrestling, doesn't matter. Now you're also competing
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against other people regarding to what's actually happening.
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How many bars venues are you partnering with currently?
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I'd like to do more. I've only done that a handful so
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far, but we're hoping to expand. Tell tell me more if if you can.
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So, OK, which which state are you based in right now, if you
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don't mind? Right now the New York City,
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yeah, so New York. I'm from New York though.
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Fantastic. So it's, it's like perfect for
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that. It's like if it works in New
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York, it'll work anywhere. I I really do believe that,
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yeah. I agree too.
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Have you what have been the biggest challenges with with
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setting this up so far? Oh man, that's a fantastic
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question. So the biggest challenge, number
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one, is just getting my foot in the door.
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I have no problem whatsoever. I've I canvassed way back in the
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day. So when I was a teenager, I
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worked for a solar company and I went knocking on people's doors
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and was like, hey, I'm Christian, do you want solar
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panels? Obviously not like that, but you
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know the gist. And so they're having a lot of
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bars that like, I'm like, hey, we'll do the first one for free.
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If you don't like it, you tell me to go F off.
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If your patrons like it, we do it again.
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We figure out a deal. And getting that first one has
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been the hardest one because any place that I've done the first
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one, they've loved it and they've got great reviews on it.
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People have asked to have it come again, so I'm not worried
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about the second or third. Just getting from zero to 1 has
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been the hardest part, which is like makes sense because it's
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turning potential into kinetic energy which is always the
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challenging part in my opinion. Yeah.
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And it's, it's interesting, like we live in a very unpredictable
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world when it in general, but also when it, when it comes to
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business, because, you know, I've had like some amazing
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concepts on my show over the years, businesses, ideas,
16:39
concepts, etcetera. And I've seen a lot that should
16:42
work and sometimes do and sometimes don't.
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And you really can't predict what is going to pop off, so to
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speak. It comes down to what people
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connect with and relate to on some level.
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Sometimes it can be a social media fad and it can just kind
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of pop up for a little bit and then sort of fizzle out.
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Other things stick around, stay. You know, I think there's
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something like this that the in my opinion, the the standout
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thing is is like with your friends, a sort of a fun game
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style thing where maybe that you can mitigate the risk somewhat,
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which kind of leads me to my next question.
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Like, how do you protect people other than the obvious ways that
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we know about, like having the warnings and stuff like that?
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What are the things you have in place to, let's say, prevent
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from gambling addiction or at least kind of, I don't know,
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keep it at Bay? I know obviously like it.
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A lot of it comes down to individual responsibility and
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and discipline is the word I was looking for.
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But what what measures have you put in place to kind of protect
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from that? So I'd say the first thing is
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that there's no actual money involved.
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No person has to do it. So in theory, there's no
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gambling. Like if you're at the bar, you
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scan the QR code and you're you answer your questions and now
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you are in it to win it. OK.
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So like, let's say I'm at bar A, right?
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You're like going to watch the the NBA Finals.
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You and all your boys are trying to go out.
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You go out to the bar and you're like, oh man, they're having a
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fan foresight here. You scan the QR code, you answer
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questions and then you are just basically in a raffle to win
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prizes provided by Bar A. So they'll do like a $50.00 gift
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card or like a bucket of beers or something like that.
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So in terms of gambling, there's actually no gambling happening.
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It's more similar to a raffle local I'm putting my name in to
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win a prize. I just have to do it based off
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performance and less off of random luck of like oh I got
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raffle ticket 30. OK.
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So on that basis, so you're not earning any money from users
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actually using the app? Not currently.
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The venue pays you to host, yeah, an event, but with an app,
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etcetera. So what?
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What's the upside for them? I guess like, other than the
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event itself, like people buy more drinks, people stay in the
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venue. Is that the the upside?
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Absolutely. So there's a few things.
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There's one, it's that you're not separating yourself from the
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sports bar down the block. Assuming that most of the things
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are the same, you're now separating yourself.
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SO2 you get this. Have people stay long and they
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want to see there's more interactivity as well.
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Three, one thing that I have found so far is that all people
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that have earned prizes have come back to redeem them.
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So they are getting more people to come.
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So if you want a bucket of beers, you are now coming in
20:05
that next Tuesday instead of that next Friday when you were
20:08
originally going to go in to get the bucket of beers.
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And now you brought your friends because it's a bucket and now
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everyone's getting an appetizer and an entree and so.
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Now you won. You brought your four friends.
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Now they all know about it. And now you spent more money
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than they even bid off that one bucket of beer that they gave
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you. Yeah.
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So it's it's tied in directly with the business of the
20:29
establishments. Exactly.
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Yeah, that makes sense. OK, Because I was going to ask
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like, oh, who sets the? I assume you if you put like a
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cash prize or something like that, like, yeah, that's great,
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but like it'd be better and the the bars are more likely to go
20:46
for it if it's like, OK, here's a $50 bar tab for winning and
20:51
then people will always spend more than the $50.
20:54
Exactly. And the crucial part of that is
20:56
that you cannot redeem it same night, so you have to come back.
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So if I got a bucket of beers, like let's say I want a bucket
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of beers, I have to come back a next time to redeem that.
21:06
That's clever. That's just how.
21:08
Yeah, that's just how I have. That was my idea and how I've
21:12
recommended it. And obviously the bars are able
21:15
to do whatever they want. And we'll just so that now you
21:18
have to force them to come again.
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It's clever. Hey, I hey, I'm now driving
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business away from one of my contemporaries to me, and I'm
21:27
spending more money than they probably would have because they
21:30
got something for free. I want to talk about the
21:34
analytics side and the just kind of like how you're able to do
21:39
things in real time. So obviously a lot of
21:42
programming will be involved at the back end to kind of make
21:46
that possible. We'll get into your background
21:48
as far as that's concerned and probably a little bit later, but
21:52
how is it exactly? Is it tied to programs that
21:55
you've made yourself or is it tied to maybe real time
21:59
statistics somewhere else and partnered with that?
22:02
Like how how is that sort of made possible?
22:06
Everything is made by me, blood, sweat, tears.
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So I have, I would say hopefully less of swab, blood and tears.
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But everything that I have done, I've created myself.
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And so as of right now, once the answers are available, like
22:24
let's say it's the UFC event, and once someone wins, then
22:26
things are automatically updated.
22:29
And so your score dashboards, who's got things right, who's
22:33
got things wrong, percentages, etcetera, are all updated in
22:36
real time. Is it just you doing it?
22:39
It's not going to stop just. Me.
22:41
Just just me. Oh.
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Dude, I feel you, man. I it's, it's me, me, me all the
22:46
time as well in my life. It's.
22:49
The New York City grip, man. It's the New York City grip.
22:53
I really can see this taken off. Thank you.
22:57
I don't know, like I kind of get a feeling with certain things
22:59
sometimes and I feel like, OK, how long, how long has this been
23:05
going now? Let's say since May.
23:12
OK. I think next time, this time
23:17
next year, you'll be a millionaire.
23:20
I'll be back on the podcast to see.
23:23
We'll call it that if it happens.
23:25
If it happens. I cooled it and I'll be like,
23:29
look, I cooled it, here it is. I'm flying to you and I'm
23:33
buying. Oh.
23:35
Hell yeah. What?
23:36
No, if if you become a millionaire, I want to come to
23:39
I've never been to New York. I'd love to come to New York and
23:42
just and and yeah, come to the bar and play it and and do it
23:46
like that would be cool. I just.
23:48
Yeah, no problem. Hell yeah, man.
23:50
I just, I feel if you look at the state of the world right
23:57
now, with the way things are, we need as much fun as possible,
24:03
right? This is fun.
24:04
And it's I've seen similar things here in the UK.
24:09
Not exactly though, but there's definitely like a space for it,
24:14
a gap there would be in the UK as well, I feel.
24:19
And if you if you look at something being like, oh, it's
24:24
completely free to use, obviously, you know what's
24:27
happening in the sense that, OK, if I win prizes at the bar, I'm
24:31
probably going to end up paying more at the bar or where, you
24:33
know, you know, but hey, like who doesn't love getting
24:36
something for free? Like that's it.
24:38
And. Who doesn't love to win?
24:41
Sure. Yeah, exactly who?
24:42
Doesn't love to win and if you're with your boys right and
24:44
you're just like you don't care about the the game on whether
24:48
you do, you don't doesn't matter, but you're like, oh man,
24:50
I don't want to lose though. I don't want one of my boys to
24:53
have a like win instead of me. I want the prize.
24:57
It reminds me of so, OK, so people who listen to my show,
25:02
they're going to be like, oh, he's, he's brought it up again.
25:05
So I'm a massive fan of this TV show called How I Met Your
25:08
Mother. Love How I Met your mother.
25:11
Sand castles in the sand. Oh.
25:12
Hell yeah, man. If you know, you know, there's
25:18
an episode and I'm, I'm sure you know, but like for those who
25:21
don't know, there's an episode where it's all about the Super
25:24
Bowl. And they couldn't catch it for,
25:30
for whatever reason, But they make a deal that they're going
25:33
to avoid all spoilers or the Super Bowl and then try to watch
25:39
it after the fact. And Barney puts a bet on the
25:42
actual game. So keep that in mind for one
25:45
second. And the brilliance of it is it's
25:47
easy for Ted. I think he works from home and
25:50
at one point he has to wear like a a visor thing to get all the
25:54
chicken and the sauces from his local sports bar.
25:57
But he's trying to avoid all spoilers.
26:01
Lily and Marshall want their respective jobs.
26:03
And I think it gets ruined because they hear on the radio
26:07
or something by the janitors. It's like, ah, but they were
26:10
doing well. And then Robin, the character
26:13
Robin, like she presents the news.
26:15
So how, how? And they managed to find a way
26:18
to like where she presents it with nonspecific names and
26:23
somehow makes it work. And then it gets ruined.
26:26
And then Barney just couldn't like he couldn't deal with it.
26:30
He had to ruin it for himself, finds out he loses money.
26:34
And then they all get together and they're like, come on, guys,
26:36
let's watch Barney lose money. And it's just fun.
26:39
And it's and they still have fun.
26:42
But it kind of dawned on me as well like it, it was always fun
26:46
floating a little bit of money on it.
26:48
It's not fun when people get like upset like, Oh God damn it,
26:51
Oh, this sucks. This sucks.
26:52
You don't want to be at that level.
26:53
You want to keep it in fun sphere and and kind of like it
26:58
when I think about it every time I ever did like a pub quiz, like
27:01
I never really particularly cared if I won.
27:03
Like it was great when I did. But you do want to when you play
27:06
to win, I think you want to kind of keep that balance, that area.
27:11
And I think that's where an app like this could work really
27:14
well, is keeping it in that kind of ballpark where it's always
27:17
fun and just everyone's having a good time, you know?
27:21
That that's my goal. It's kind of like a a new age
27:24
take on a trivia night or something like that as well.
27:27
Just it's tied to a particular event because the trivia event
27:30
like you don't know what's going to go down, you don't know what
27:32
questions are going to be asked, but you go, you try to have fun
27:36
and it breaks up the Menominee of just watching it.
27:39
Have you approached similar companies about not necessarily
27:44
partnering but doing like collaboration, stuff like that?
27:49
I don't know if this answers your question but I have been in
27:52
contact so I like to volunteer especially with the kids.
27:57
When I was in undergrad, I was part of Big Brothers, Big
28:00
Sisters, and now I do good about the volunteering work with Make
28:04
a Wish. I don't know if you've ever
28:06
heard of either of those. I'm sure make a Wish though,
28:08
right? It's like ubiquitous in the
28:09
world. So I reached out to both of them
28:13
and I'm looking to partner with both of them before the end of
28:17
the year, which would be which would be awesome.
28:19
I don't know if that counts as like a collaboration on your
28:24
end, but that makes. Hey, it makes your company look
28:26
good from PR standpoint if you're helping with charity, I
28:30
think, I don't know, it's a weird 1 isn't it?
28:35
I don't know if it could be part of the game as in like win
28:38
something for charity, maybe, maybe not, I don't know.
28:41
Then there's like a grey area there if if it's OK or not.
28:45
But if there was some way to like give to charities, know
28:49
that you're partnered with the charity.
28:50
Like like it's, it's good. It just makes a company look
28:53
good, but more so when it's genuine and you can see like
28:57
people like yourself, like going and actually being there with
28:59
people and helping people and stuff like that.
29:01
You know, like John Cena is the person I think about when you
29:05
think about Make a Wish, and he's done my.
29:07
Best. Yeah, he's done like 300 of
29:09
them. He still does them.
29:11
He doesn't need to anymore, but he still does.
29:13
Because for those who don't know, like WWE is partnered with
29:17
them and and gets like wrestlers to come visit often, like very
29:21
sick children in hospital and stuff like that and grants them
29:24
wishes. And it's, it's just like really
29:26
lovely stuff to be honest. But it's, it's like you can tell
29:32
like a lot of it is corporate like that.
29:34
They have to do it. But obviously the wrestlers want
29:35
to be a part of it because it's great, good stuff to do with
29:39
your life. But John hasn't been working
29:45
full time in the company since I want to say like 2014, 2015,
29:52
something like that. That's when he caught sort of
29:54
left for Hollywood. After that, he, you know, he was
29:56
always part of the company, but more as a kind of like
30:00
spokesperson, sort of legend, like a.
30:03
Face. Yeah, Yeah.
30:04
But he wasn't like the guy anymore from that kind of
30:08
corporate perspective, if you like.
30:09
And it's just refreshing to see that, you know, after all these
30:14
years, he's still doing it, still cares.
30:15
And I don't know, I think there's a lot to be said for
30:18
that. The, the cynic in me is always
30:22
like looking at stuff like that and going, oh, well, are you
30:27
doing it for PR or is it real? And I think it's if you've got
30:30
people like especially like the owner of a company in the thick
30:36
of it doing it and, and really caring about it, then it's, it's
30:39
just always going to be a lot more positive for the company,
30:43
but also just making the company more relatable, I suppose.
30:48
And it could be both, right? Because you can get happiness
30:52
out of providing happiness to others.
30:54
Yes. Even if it's a detriment, I
30:56
mean, that's the somewhat of the definition of altruism, right?
30:58
Whether it's no benefit to you or it hinders benefits to you.
31:02
Like I'll give you an example. I helped grant A wish last year
31:08
for this kid that loved cricket, loved cricket, and he wanted to
31:14
go to the Cricket World Cup, which was happening in New York
31:16
City. And so Make a Wish actually was
31:20
able to, he's from the Middle East and he flew in from
31:24
Seattle, I don't know where, like somewhere on the West
31:28
Coast. And he got to meet the Pakistani
31:33
cricket team, like the national team.
31:36
And I mean, it brought tears in my eyes how loving and just
31:41
emotional it was. And so the whole cricket team
31:44
was there and his whole family was there, like aunts, uncles,
31:48
whatever. They all had a great time and
31:50
they got to go to a practice. So they got to meet everyone and
31:52
watch them practice and like they literally are just taking
31:58
the shirts off their back. The jerseys that they have to
32:01
give to the family signing things.
32:03
They took the hats, gave one to everyone, like the the shirts
32:06
and clothes off their back they gave to the family.
32:08
And like, sure, maybe they do it because it's PR and like looks
32:12
good for the pack and standing national team.
32:14
But like, man, if you don't also get enjoyment from doing that,
32:20
It was one of the IT was one of the most heartwarming
32:25
experiences of my entire life. And I'm just there trying to
32:28
make sure that things move from here to there, the where the
32:31
family is, making sure the the team is still here, etcetera.
32:34
I'm just like a middle man. And to even be able to be a part
32:38
of that, you could be both. You could be John Cena and be
32:40
like, oh, like this looks good for the WWE.
32:42
But like man, like if I can make a kid have a like a great day,
32:47
kill two birds, that won't stone.
32:49
Yeah, I, I totally agree. I think normally you can see
32:53
through it if it, if it's just PR, you know, I think it's just
32:57
more because we live in a very cynical world now.
33:00
I think it's more important to kind of get ahead of it and just
33:02
be like, because if you're spending your own time doing
33:06
something, you're doing it regularly.
33:08
It's very difficult to make that argument, like, oh, it's just
33:10
about the PR. And it's like, really, would you
33:12
spend all your time doing this if it was just about the PR?
33:16
Yeah, I think I've. Done like a million of those,
33:19
like, all right, like he made his news, if anything.
33:22
Yeah, you know what I mean? Like would John Cena have done
33:25
like over? It might even be more than 300,
33:27
might be like 500. Would he have done all of them
33:30
if it was just about PRI? Don't think so.
33:32
I just don't think so. I agree with you.
33:35
What have been the biggest successes with the app so far?
33:39
My biggest success was at one event, getting over 100 people.
33:43
I thought that was really impressive and like something
33:47
that I wanted to like a personal milestone, right?
33:50
Because you're always like, OK, like let me get one person then.
33:53
Then let me get 10, let me get 50.
33:55
And so I thought getting into triple digits was a pretty
33:58
successful moment. I brought up an old TV show that
34:02
depicts New York from what I hear very accurately in sort of
34:08
mid 2000s to the early 20 tens. What does the modern sports bar
34:15
event centre in New York City look like?
34:18
How has it changed over the years?
34:22
Like what? What are you looking at in 2025?
34:25
That's a fantastic question. So I think the first one is that
34:28
there still are, I would say #1 is that it really depends on
34:32
location because a bar in Brooklyn versus Queens versus
34:36
the Bronx may be different, especially because that there
34:39
are particular fans in each neighborhood as well.
34:43
Like so like if they're, if you're in the Bronx, there may
34:46
be ones that are more geared towards the Yankees or like if
34:49
you're in the Queens, more geared towards the Mets.
34:51
So like there's differences in location.
34:54
I would also say that like there are a lot of smaller venues, but
34:58
also still a lot of bigger ones like Buffalo Wild Wings.
35:02
So there's a bunch of those. And your experience going to
35:04
Buffalo Wild Wings is going to be different from going to like
35:08
Pilot House, which is one that I have done.
35:12
I'm looking for a lot of TV's and I'm looking for sound.
35:19
I'm looking for sound at the same time that answer your
35:24
question. Does the model look like, I
35:27
think like also it's either like you're going to like a real
35:30
divey bar and like there's a bunch of stickers and it looks
35:35
like it's been there since like 1776 or there's the New Age 1.
35:40
They're like, oh, it looks so modern and and spacious and
35:44
like, yeah, you can have ATV, but you can have like this craft
35:46
beer as well. Yeah, I got my own feelings
35:50
about that. I'm very mixed feelings about
35:52
that. Tell me.
35:53
About them? If I was going to see an OK, OK,
36:00
cool, All right, So the last time I I went to one of those
36:03
for an event was an A feels like years ago now.
36:09
It was but an AW wrestling event and nice the way it was, but
36:14
then has just gone down off off a Cliff and.
36:17
You know, Summer Slam was just last weekend in.
36:21
In New York, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
36:24
Yeah, yeah, new. York, yeah, sure, they always do
36:29
it in New Jersey because it's cheaper.
36:31
I just, it just bugs me and they're like so much lamb in New
36:35
York and it's it's New Jersey. It's a different place like
36:37
it's. Yeah, well, if you in.
36:38
MetLife 100% and I don't know if you know, but the two like New
36:44
York City football teams play in MetLife too, so they don't even
36:47
play in New York. That's a weird 1, isn't it?
36:50
Like I I, I never quite understood the whole New York,
36:53
New Jersey thing because New York.
36:56
OK, correct me if I'm wrong. New Yorkers consider New Jersey
36:59
to not be part of New York. Is that correct?
37:01
It's 100% not part of New York. OK, so totally.
37:04
Different state because. I know that New York City is a
37:08
state. I had to get my head around this
37:10
because a lot of people get this confused so and I've spoken
37:12
about this on the show before so sorry for rehashing this but the
37:16
bit that we all know from like movies and TV shows is is tiny
37:20
Manhattan is is this small little island an.
37:23
Island. And though all those places you
37:25
mentioned, Brooklyn, Queens, etcetera, are in that little
37:28
sphere. And then there's everywhere else
37:31
in New York City, this or New York, the state, sorry, which is
37:36
is, you know, it could be upstate, down downstate,
37:39
etcetera, and there's like farmland and shit.
37:42
So yeah, yeah. Like New York is massive and
37:45
then New Jersey is its own state.
37:49
Is that right? Yeah, yeah.
37:51
So. So that's really clear.
37:53
It's a different state. So why is there confusion?
37:56
Is it because it's close to New York City?
37:59
I think it's because it's close to New York City.
38:01
I think also because they both start with new.
38:05
So it's like New Jersey, New York, there's I don't think
38:09
those are the only two states I may be getting this wrong, New
38:14
York and New Jersey that start with new.
38:17
Yep. So they're like, oh, they're
38:20
both new, They're both right next to each other.
38:22
They both thought with the same word maybe that so I could drive
38:26
from New York City to Jersey right now if I wanted to, right?
38:29
Like it's very close, there's Jersey City, etcetera.
38:32
Yeah. Yeah, that's just a little guys.
38:34
This guy through my head, yeah. Quite literally.
38:37
Probably like 45 minutes, hour maybe.
38:40
Honestly, there's always just so much traffic.
38:42
What? About if you're getting trained.
38:46
I I actually have never taken the train from New York to
38:52
Jersey. I've never done that.
38:54
Maybe I should put that on my list of things to do?
38:56
They make it look so bad in How I Met Your Mother.
38:58
I just, I feel bad for people who live in New Jersey because
39:01
of that show. I'm like, give them something.
39:03
The only thing they said is, oh, it's nice, like to live in the
39:06
suburbs, but they also kind of shit on that too.
39:09
And it's like, you got to give them something.
39:12
Thank, thank God for The Sopranos and maybe Jersey Shore.
39:18
I don't know like how people feel about.
39:20
They also I love Jersey Shore, they have Atlantic City which is
39:23
very nice. There you go.
39:25
There you go. So there are two things.
39:31
OK, what has fan foresight taught you about fan
39:37
interaction? I think that overall people are
39:52
looking for community and I think that we've gone to, we've
40:00
been moving forward in the society where like in a good
40:04
way, there's been less peer pressuring and less bullying.
40:07
I'd like to believe that, right? Like.
40:09
Overall from like back in the day to now, right?
40:12
Like people are supposed to be more accepting and you are
40:14
yourself. What I think has deviated away
40:19
from that in a bad way. It's like the friendly jabs,
40:22
like being with your friends and just being able to make fun of
40:25
each other and not in like, oh, you are bad, you suck in a way
40:29
that's like friendly and like I, I'm repeating myself, but like
40:34
friendly jabs. And so I think that this
40:37
provides a way to bring that back like something that's not
40:40
really tied to yourself, like like who scores first has no
40:45
impact on your knowledge or yourself, but you can make fun
40:49
of each other like, oh, like at least I got it first.
40:52
And so it allows for like an easier way.
40:57
There's so many things I can ask you about.
40:59
I think what I might do is, is sort of like sort of round
41:06
things down and then would you be interested in doing maybe a
41:09
follow up show? Yeah, absolutely.
41:11
Would you? Would you be down for that?
41:13
Yeah, I'd be down. Fantastic because I feel like
41:17
we, we, we've, we've really like spoken a lot about your, you
41:21
know, your company and, and everything you, you do.
41:25
And obviously we've got to know a little bit more about you as
41:29
well and your ethos and, and philosophy and stuff.
41:31
And, and that I think is always really useful in, in promoting
41:35
an individual, maybe more so than just like strictly talking
41:38
about the business itself. Fantastic.
41:41
I know, I know, people are going to love this show anyway.
41:44
I hope so. Yeah, absolutely.
41:45
I, I put out what I do is I, I put out a show.
41:48
And for those who don't know, I put out a a Patreon sort of
41:53
bonus episode or bonus content, and they'll certainly be bonus
41:56
content from this show available.
41:59
So make sure you check that out. And yeah, more to come, I guess
42:05
if you if you game, fantastic. OK, couple of final questions
42:12
for you. Let's let's, OK, let's talk New
42:17
York and then let's talk some final questions because we'd
42:20
spoke about it earlier. I think I think it would be good
42:22
to kind of like circle back. So which TV shows and movies
42:29
have accurately portrayed what it's actually like to live in
42:32
New York? A question I actually think
42:43
Howard Met Your Mother does the good job of like everyone going
42:45
down to the local bar. I would say that I might be
42:49
primed for that answer because we've been talking about it.
42:52
But I think however much your mother has done a good job of
42:55
that, I do think that like, I have not watched it, but growing
43:00
up, my mom would watch Sex in the City.
43:02
And like, I do think that Sex in the City, well, like obviously
43:06
romanticize an HBO show. But I do think they do a good
43:10
job of like exploring different personalities in New York and
43:14
what it's like to be a woman in New York.
43:16
Not that I am one or like trying to speak to that.
43:19
Just like, hey, you have all these different people and all
43:21
these personalities. Oh, we're going out.
43:23
Like there was just an an episode that I remembered of
43:26
like that having to go to Long Island for like a weekend or
43:29
something. And they're like, yeah, we don't
43:30
want to go to Long Island. We want to stay in New York.
43:34
And so I thought that was like a an accurate description.
43:37
Yeah, it's, it's interesting. Like I, I obviously I mentioned
43:42
How I Met your mother earlier and we spoke about that like I,
43:44
I, I'm a big fan of it just because of just like how it's
43:48
structured, the messages, everything.
43:49
But it, it does make New York look really, really fun and it's
43:53
obviously of its time, but it's also kind of talking
43:55
retroactively, like from the future into the past and stuff.
43:59
It's interesting. But whenever you get a situation
44:03
where a something is is not filmed in the place that was
44:06
filmed, I think got a sound stage in like LA or something.
44:10
So they did a pretty decent job of of sort of recreating A
44:13
somewhat realistic New York City scape, I feel somewhat.
44:20
But also more importantly, and for those who might not know,
44:24
there's there's a podcast out there right now called How we
44:26
made your Mother. And yeah, I always find that
44:30
that title funny. They even they even have fun
44:33
with it in the in the promos. They're like, you're a mother
44:36
anyway. It's it has Josh Radnor, who
44:40
played Ted and also the show's creators on the show just
44:43
talking about every single episode, breaking it down, sort
44:48
of behind the scenes questions everything.
44:51
And what I learned is that the show's creators actually lived
44:55
in New York for years. And a lot of the stories they
45:00
took from their own lives quite a lot.
45:02
And the show, other than being like what it is, it's also kind
45:07
of like a love letter to New York and and like their
45:11
nostalgia for it and stuff like that.
45:12
Just sort of trying to capture it and that.
45:15
Do you know what I mean? It gives it such, so much more
45:18
realness because you can tell when something is coming from a
45:22
perspective of people who've like never lived in a place.
45:24
So they don't really know like, you know, like it's but but then
45:28
there's also the aspect of of like types of life in in the
45:33
city, because obviously shows like friends and how, How I Met
45:38
Your Mother give you like one idea.
45:40
But it's like like I saw I saw a criticism recently, which I
45:43
thought was fantastic even for the 90s.
45:46
They said old friends is just like so unrealistic.
45:49
Like imagine being able to have the time to have like full on
45:53
breakfast before work in like in between friends apartments and
45:58
the chances of like living across the hall from each other.
46:00
Like it's just not realistic. And it's it's true.
46:02
Do you know what I mean? And like that and they've been
46:05
living in like pretty expensive apartments even for the 90s.
46:08
Like it's just. Yeah, and they're all supposedly
46:10
broken and live in a great apartments.
46:12
And like, it's not like college where your best friends are
46:14
right next door. Well, Joey is the best example
46:18
of that because he's a struggling actor most of the
46:19
time he's broke, right? And it's like, OK, so how can he
46:24
afford to live in that apartment?
46:26
Even if Chandler is taking up like is, is, is he just in depth
46:30
to Chandler or something? Why would Chandler take that off
46:32
100? Percent of it, yeah, Yeah.
46:33
Like why would like, yeah, I get that their besties, but that's
46:36
taking the piss, mate. Like eventually there's got to
46:39
be a lion where it's like, hey, hey, listen, you might want to
46:42
like downsize or rethink this. I don't know I've I just find
46:48
that interesting. I agree with.
46:50
You. Because they commented on that
46:51
in How I Met Your Mother, they tried to make them living in
46:54
that apartment realistic. So it's quite, you'll notice
46:58
it's quite bunched together. It's a two-bedroom apartment,
47:06
but it's very compact. And one of the things that they
47:11
said in a recent episode is that like in in your 20s, that's
47:14
quite a common thing that you would do is bunch up.
47:16
And I'm doing it now in my early 30s.
47:18
Like you, you, you power with people.
47:20
You, you do what you can. And it's, it's, it's crazy.
47:22
Like I said to my friend Scooter, and yes, his name is
47:24
Scooter. It's cool.
47:28
We were talking about this and it was like, it's crazy how
47:32
sometimes it's cheaper to live with people than it is to go and
47:35
find your own place. Exclusively.
47:41
So they charge you for that privilege.
47:43
It's like, oh, you want to live on your own?
47:44
Oh, we're going to charge you triple.
47:46
Yeah. One bedroom is more expensive
47:49
than two. Grand like.
47:50
Yeah, yeah. Oh, no, people like have people
47:54
have people ask me that for like, oh, would you want to live
47:55
in New York City? And I'm like, no, not unless I'm
47:59
a millionaire. Yeah, I don't blame.
48:02
You because you're just paying out your ass for what to say.
48:05
Oh, I live in New York City and it's like, OK, that's cool.
48:08
But what about the day-to-day? Like it's costly.
48:14
I mean, I, I reckon because I, I remember someone saying this
48:18
years ago as well, like, OK, and you correct me if I'm wrong.
48:21
Let's say A2 bed apartment in Manhattan.
48:27
Somewhere like that, you know, somewhere in the heart of it
48:29
all. OK, so maybe downtown, something
48:31
like that. I reckon 3000.
48:39
Yeah, I I'll give you for reference in Williamsburg, part
48:42
of Brooklyn. I would say it's a more popular
48:45
part of Brooklyn. My friend and I 2021 before they
48:50
were upping the prices after COVID again was 2500 for a 2
48:57
bedroom right now. We left that spot because
49:02
afterwards they raised it to 3500.
49:06
Jesus Christ. Yeah, but if you were trying to
49:10
look for like a one bedroom or a studio, 1700 per person is not
49:15
out of the realm. That's insane, man.
49:18
I don't know how they can. I mean, they try to get away
49:20
with that here in the UK, but how can you justifiably charge
49:23
that much? It's.
49:25
New York Someone's going to pay it.
49:30
Crazy. Some say New York, Some say New
49:35
York City is the best city on earth.
49:37
What say you? I've been to a lot of cities and
49:42
I've been to all 50 states. I actually do.
49:46
Yeah, I've been all 50 states. We'll get to that in a SEC, but
49:50
go on. So I think it's the best city.
49:55
Yeah, I do. And there's a few reasons why. 1
49:58
is that I think that New York City does such a fantastic job
50:03
of letting people be themselves and the most authentic selves on
50:07
the individual, on the individual level, and also on a
50:11
more group scale. What I mean by group scale is
50:15
like, you can go to Little Italy and have first generation
50:19
Italians. You can go to Chinatown and have
50:24
people that are from Beijing. You can go to these particular
50:28
neighborhoods and there's so many of these and get authentic
50:34
first, second generation people, real immigrants and they're
50:39
there and like no one bothers you, right?
50:42
When you go to Chinatown, everything is in Mandarin.
50:47
There's English in Mandarin, but like, you're like, I'm in, I'm
50:50
in Chinatown. That's what's that's what's
50:52
going down. So I think that it really does
50:56
allow people to be themselves and be as culturally authentic
51:00
as possible. I also think that in my opinion,
51:05
it's the best city and easiest to get around in.
51:09
There are driving, there's walking, there's bicycles,
51:13
there's buses and there's trains.
51:17
I think that like people may be able to say things out, but they
51:20
do and don't like, but the amount of options that I have is
51:25
just stunning. It's the easiest city to get
51:28
around and I think that those pair together because it needs
51:32
to be easy to get around in order to really experience it
51:35
and experience different cultures so the all the
51:38
cultures, while independent, are able to interact with each
51:41
other. Yeah, no, it's beautiful, man.
51:47
And it's funny, like how many people have the same feeling as
51:50
well that show I mentioned, whether they say the same
51:55
things, same thing. And they've not lived there in
51:58
like since from what I understand, like the 90s, maybe
52:02
the early 2000s, something like that, because they moved away.
52:05
They moved to LA to work on like the show and stuff like that.
52:08
And they talk about it like that, like they just something
52:12
about it, something about that, say.
52:14
Yeah. What's it like living in New
52:18
York in 2025? I'm going to say that.
52:36
I'm going to say that one of the biggest differences is the
52:38
Citizens app. Have you ever heard of the
52:42
Citizens app? I don't think it's exclusive to
52:45
New York, but the Citizens app is like I hear a loud noise on
52:50
my block. I can now put it on the app and
52:56
everyone in like a a mile radius can know that there's like an
52:59
incident going on in my block. I think that because of that,
53:05
people have been more in each other's businesses.
53:09
But I do think that New York City is still as rock'n'roll as
53:13
ever. Last weekend I literally was at
53:16
a rooftop show, like someone in the power building.
53:18
They decided to have like a a show like they had a bunch of
53:22
bands playing. I went to go see one of my boys
53:24
person band. He's in person band and we're
53:29
all like there like and we're drinking, having fun.
53:33
There's two bands before him. Him and his band go on the first
53:38
song. They're like, oh, cops are here,
53:40
cops are here. I'm all just like, all right, so
53:43
we'll wait till they're here. So they're they could have just.
53:47
Been like, offer them a beer, man, Fuck it.
53:49
Yeah, yeah. But hey, come in, yeah.
53:52
So we just like, the cops come up and Person Band keeps
53:56
performing until they literally have to grab the mic out of
53:59
their hands. That's sick.
54:02
Yeah, it was awesome. And so I do think there's like,
54:06
rock'n'roll. I'm like, yeah, like, let me do
54:09
whatever I want to do. I don't think that New York
54:11
spirit has ever has diminished whatsoever.
54:14
I think people are like, yo, I'm from New York.
54:16
I want to do what I want to do, like leave me alone.
54:19
It's cool as well that that that has kind of stood the test of
54:22
time and it's good that people are still doing shit like that
54:25
as well. Like I, I go out regularly with
54:27
friends. I don't touch my phone, you
54:28
know, I don't, I don't care about any of that.
54:30
Like, it's, it's cool to have it.
54:31
It's good to know it's there and you check it now and again.
54:34
But like, it's good to just go out of your buddies, do things,
54:36
experience things. Like these are the things you're
54:38
going to look back on in the in the future and be like, yeah,
54:41
hey, do you remember when we did this?
54:42
Do you remember this? This is hey, kids, this is what
54:45
we used to do. Yeah.
54:47
Yeah, when I think of New York, right, like people are like, oh,
54:50
the difference between East Coast and West Coast.
54:52
Like in New York, people will save your life, but will get mad
54:58
at you for making them late to work.
55:00
Like they'll yell at you like, yo, like they'll like pick you
55:04
up from the train tracks and like, yo, like, but see what you
55:06
had to do. You had to make me late for
55:08
work. But they'll help you, right?
55:09
They'll be mad, but they'll help you.
55:11
And I think that's part of the spirit.
55:12
Like they're all together, but like I I think there's love too.
55:22
OK, this is a big one. Hit me.
55:26
What has New York taught you about life?
55:30
Anything is possible. I really feel that way.
55:36
New York, anything is possible. And I think that starts with the
55:39
fact that you're just surrounded by the most niche people.
55:46
UK like I went to high school and there was like a million
55:48
different types of nationalities in my high school, right?
55:52
And you could do this and you could do that.
55:54
You could be whoever you wanted. And I think the New York set
55:56
still stands. So like, I do feel like
55:59
anything's impossible. Anything is possible.
56:02
Nothing is impossible. That's what New York City has
56:05
taught me. It makes me feel like you can do
56:07
whatever you want. Like who made the rules in New
56:10
York City? You make the rules.
56:15
I have to ask because I I mentioned it earlier that I come
56:19
back to it 50 states. How did you how did you do that?
56:23
What did you learn from? Oh man.
56:26
This is what I can tell you is that I think, and I don't know
56:30
what you are ingesting overseas, especially in Europe, like
56:35
there's so much rhetoric of like there's so much internal
56:40
American discourse and people not getting along with each
56:43
other. I think I couldn't tell you how
56:48
false I think that really is. I think that America is gigantic
56:52
and the East is not the same as the WSN.
56:56
Like they're it's totally different cultures, but all of
57:00
it is really the same as well. I think that I would make George
57:06
Washington and the Founding Fathers proud that I've been to
57:08
all 50 states. I think that's awesome.
57:11
I do think that there's a lot of merit in travelling in your own
57:17
country 1st and experiencing what your own country had to
57:20
offer before you really go and explore.
57:22
In not saying that exploring other places is bad either, just
57:25
like, but you should see what's in your own home too.
57:28
I completely agree with you. I think that America is fucking
57:32
amazing because people forget like it's, it's, it's a
57:35
continent, North America and South.
57:37
America. Right.
57:38
No, I hate. And you've got like every type
57:40
of weather. Like it's so different.
57:49
Like New York versus LA, Texas, they're all so different.
57:54
People are different, culture is different.
57:56
The laws are different. I mean, it's basically 50
57:59
countries really, if you think about it.
58:01
Truly, it's 50 countries. It's crazy and I totally agree
58:06
with you. Like I, I, people complain about
58:09
the UK and look, I've, I've bitched and managed about the UK
58:11
as well. But do you know what?
58:12
I moved away for three years. I went to live in Europe for
58:15
three years. Biggest take away, I learned
58:21
what I missed. Yes, I actually started to get
58:24
homesick. I came back, I was eternally
58:26
grateful. I'll joke every now and again
58:29
about the UK, but you know what? The UK has so much to offer and
58:32
every time I get to go to a new city, a new place to perform or
58:35
just visit, I make the most of it.
58:37
And I really am just enamoured by what the UK has to offer and
58:42
I just want to see as much as possible.
58:44
And to me, it's like adventure, you know, like there should be
58:49
adventure in life and, and why can't that be on your doorstep?
58:53
Yeah, I think it's it's funny too, because it's coming from
58:55
New York. Like I think the trove of people
58:58
aren't that friendly can stand. And I was living in Nashville
59:01
for a little bit of Nashville, TN, which is what's colloquially
59:05
known as like the Bible Belt of America.
59:08
It's like this string of different states where like it's
59:11
pretty religious. But it was so cool living there
59:14
because like, I would go on my morning runs and everyone's
59:17
waving good morning to me, right.
59:18
And like, they just see me. Hey, good morning.
59:21
So I thought that was cool. I think what's also interesting
59:24
about New York is that, like, I lived in a particular
59:27
neighborhood in Nashville, the same spot, and all the Uber
59:31
drivers were like, oh, you're living here.
59:32
And I was like, yeah, they're like, oh, you got to be really
59:34
careful. This is a bad neighborhood.
59:36
And I was like, man, you have no idea what a bad neighborhood is.
59:40
If you think where I'm living right now is a bad neighborhood.
59:45
Like you have no idea. I'm not even this is not me
59:47
flexing of like I've been in the worst neighborhoods in New York
59:51
and I live there. That's not what I'm trying to
59:52
say here. But like comparatively, the bad
59:56
places that people have told me versus, well, what's actually a
1:00:00
bad place is, is night and day. Yeah, it's, it's just so
1:00:05
different when you actually explore and see what there is
1:00:09
and you get a, a better understanding of things.
1:00:11
Like it just opens up your mind. Yeah, I think it puts you more
1:00:19
in touch with things and tourism will get you as well.
1:00:24
Like I, I look at like people's perceptions of the UK and it's
1:00:29
very distorted from reality. It's not to say that there isn't
1:00:33
truth to some of it. It's just there's the an
1:00:36
assumption about the UK if if you're abroad that all we do is
1:00:40
is drink tea and and eat crumpets and we're all pally
1:00:44
with the Queen. And it's like, dude, most people
1:00:48
live in small box rooms or, you know, apartment blocks, often
1:00:54
derelict shit. We've got nice ones, sure, but
1:00:57
like a lot of people are poor or don't have a lot of money and
1:01:02
get by paycheck to paycheck. We live with, with high streets.
1:01:08
You know, I, I've tried to explain that to people abroad,
1:01:10
like a High Street and then what's that?
1:01:12
And it's like a row of shops, cheap chicken shops, you know,
1:01:19
kebab shop that, that's UK. That's what I grew up with.
1:01:22
You know, I grew up with the corner shop that's run by a Sikh
1:01:26
dude or a Muslim dude and he's been there for like 30 odd years
1:01:30
because, you know, his family moved there years ago and he
1:01:33
bought a shop. And now, you know, the
1:01:35
explaining boss man to people, it's just you.
1:01:39
Probably something you don't have in the States.
1:01:40
I don't know why the fuck we call people boss man.
1:01:43
It's just a thing we do, but it's a respect thing, you know,
1:01:48
supporting your local chicken shop owner and maybe he'll give
1:01:51
you an extra bit of chicken. Just, I don't know, like that's
1:01:55
the UKI grew up with and the perception I've seen that when
1:02:01
other countries talk about it, I understand it.
1:02:02
They're looking at the Midsummer Murders UK or they're looking at
1:02:07
the, I don't know, I don't know. There's millions of examples.
1:02:15
You know what, what's that one that the big show that everyone
1:02:20
was on about Britain, Britain, not Bridgeton.
1:02:22
The other one the, the, oh, is that the Royals or whatever?
1:02:29
Downton Abbey? Wow, that took me a while.
1:02:34
The people have an idea of the UK and it's a small idea that
1:02:36
it's probably like 510% of the UK, maybe 20.
1:02:41
So it's not wrong, it's just one idea and there I feel like
1:02:44
that's very accurate. If you really want to experience
1:02:46
a country and get to know what it has to offer, you need to see
1:02:50
all aspects. I always say to people, if
1:02:52
you're going to visit a country, don't just go to the capital, go
1:02:55
elsewhere. 100% it's. Like I lived in Estonia for
1:02:58
three years and I can tell you Tallinn is not Estonia.
1:03:02
Tallinn has parts of the culture, sure, but if you really
1:03:07
want to see real Estonia, you need to go out to like rural
1:03:10
South in the middle on the islands like that.
1:03:14
Then you, you know, to venture out of the city, then you'll see
1:03:16
the real country. And it's so true for so many
1:03:19
places. I've seen it time and time
1:03:21
again, yes. I can agree with you more.
1:03:24
You got to go to as local as possible.
1:03:28
What's the best advice you've ever received?
1:03:37
I was probably about 14. I was at the park with one of my
1:03:44
best friends who I'm still friends with today, and we were
1:03:46
playing game of basketball and we are picking teams and so it's
1:03:55
however the teams went out. One team was just stacked with
1:03:59
the best people that were there. It was fantastic players.
1:04:05
Another which I was on with my friend was totally undervalued.
1:04:09
I mean, we were not going to win at any point.
1:04:12
And I'm like, yo, bro, like it's not going to win.
1:04:14
Like we can't do it. And he goes, Christian.
1:04:19
I always think I'm going to win in any game I play.
1:04:23
I always think about that like he he didn't care that the odds
1:04:27
were against them. He didn't know that most likely
1:04:29
was going to lose. He was like, yo, if I'm playing
1:04:32
the game, I can win. And so that's the best advice
1:04:35
that I've got. Not in terms that may not be as
1:04:38
direct as like I'll take some advice from me.
1:04:40
But that was the advice I think that he gave me that I, I really
1:04:43
stand and like, if there's anything I'm doing, I think I
1:04:45
can win. I think I could do it.
1:04:49
Yeah, You got to approach life with that kind of winning
1:04:52
mentality, even if the odds are stacked against you.
1:04:55
I think it's what is it they say like, you know, it's half the
1:04:59
battle, wasn't it? Like it's.
1:05:04
I can't win if I don't think I could win.
1:05:05
Yeah, yeah, it's a big part of it.
1:05:12
What's the biggest life lesson you've learned so far?
1:05:17
You are who your friends are. Think that there are many times
1:05:27
in my life where I thought that I was I I actually didn't
1:05:31
realize that I was acting unaccording to myself because of
1:05:35
the people I surrounded myself with and taking a step back of
1:05:39
like oh that's actually not me these actually aren't my friends
1:05:43
and so my sphere of influence needs to change it's.
1:05:51
Hard to disagree with that. I yeah, I mean, you could fall
1:05:55
into the wrong crowds. I've, I've, I've had situations
1:05:59
where I thought people were a certain way and they weren't.
1:06:01
So it's it's one of them, isn't it?
1:06:06
Yeah, it's challenging. Nad final question for you to to
1:06:17
round things off. It's been such a great show.
1:06:19
Do you have any upcoming projects or any final thoughts
1:06:21
that you'd like to share of our listeners?
1:06:24
Well, it seems like I may be brought on for a Part 2 so.
1:06:27
Hell yeah. I think that's something I'm
1:06:30
looking forward to. I think now that football season
1:06:35
is starting, I really like to get something going around that
1:06:40
I have some ideas. And then a personal
1:06:43
accomplishment of mine, we didn't get to talk about it,
1:06:45
maybe on the next episode, is that I do teach in the CUNY
1:06:48
system, which is the largest urban collegiate system, I think
1:06:53
in the world. And I'll be starting working at
1:06:58
Brooklyn College at a master's program for the first time.
1:07:01
So I think that's something I'm really looking forward to.
1:07:07
I think the future spread for you, pal.
1:07:11
That's what I see. Thank you.
1:07:13
Yeah. How old are you by the way, if
1:07:15
you don't mind? Me asking, I'm 30, I just turned
1:07:16
30 this year in March. That's crazy, man.
1:07:20
I it blows my mind because you're really achieving some big
1:07:25
things with your life and you see very young minded, but like
1:07:29
matured as well. Like, I mean that in the best
1:07:31
possible way. Like, like you've kept the
1:07:34
youth, but you seasoned, you know what's what and, and you're
1:07:39
making shit happen. And I remember years ago someone
1:07:41
I heard it said like, oh, your 20s is where you figure out what
1:07:46
you want to do with your life. Your 30s is where you make it
1:07:48
happen. And yeah, yeah, I don't know.
1:07:51
There's, there's something huge about that that I think is
1:07:53
really important. I don't know.
1:07:58
It's, it's just it's big. It's big.
1:08:04
Appreciate. The kind words.
1:08:05
I'm trying my best. We'll see how it goes.
1:08:09
I really hope this this app works out dude, I really do.
1:08:11
Me too. I think that there's a lot of
1:08:13
potential here and I I think that the the real battle maybe
1:08:28
that's maybe that's not quite about the challenge is, is to
1:08:31
see how it will it will be taken by the people and how people
1:08:35
will react with it. You know, there's good signs.
1:08:39
You got 100 people in one in one session.
1:08:40
That's incredible, man. That's what it's about.
1:08:42
But. Also, too, I was pumped.
1:08:44
I was really excited about that. It's been an absolute pleasure
1:08:48
having you on the show discussing everything about you
1:08:51
and and fan foresight and everything in between.
1:08:54
Thank you so much for your time Christian, really.
1:08:55
Thank you. I really appreciate it.
1:08:57
Let's do it again. Would love to.
1:08:59
And to all the listeners of the Christian Reeve Podcast, make
1:09:02
sure you go to patreon.com/christian Reeve and
1:09:05
get bonus content from this episode.
1:09:08
I'll make sure there's links to Fan 4's site so you can check
1:09:12
that out and see what's what. If you're a stateside, then
1:09:15
you'll be able to see because we don't quite have it in the UK
1:09:17
yet, but you know, you never know in the future.
1:09:19
You never know, Never know you. Never know.
1:09:22
Hell yeah, man. Fantastic.
1:09:25
Absolutely fantastic. I wish you all the best.
1:09:28
Thank you so much and. We'll be in touch.
1:09:31
Absolutely. To all the listeners of the
1:09:33
Christian Reeve Podcast, as always, be safe, be well, and
1:09:37
I'll see you in the next one.