Latest / Pass The Rock: Real Talk / SPECIAL EPISODE: Rob Stewart - Biblical Basketball interviews Brian Dailey

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SPECIAL EPISODE: Rob Stewart - Biblical Basketball interviews Brian Dailey · Pass The Rock: Real Talk

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Today we're gonna do something a little bit different.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's a special episode.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: I was reached out to by Rob Stewart.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: He's a uh current professional basketball player, former walk-on at the University of Missouri.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: And uh I actually walked on to the team shortly after Rob did, and he started an organization called Biblical Basketball.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so he interviewed me and uh we got to relive some uh Missouri basketball stories.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: We've got to talk about Jesus and talk about some of the work he's doing and uh some applications.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: So uh this is a short pod for uh today, special episode, and uh I'll take you to it uh episode with Rob Stewart and myself talking about biblical basketball.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_01: Your name's Brian Daly.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: Played for the University of Missouri.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: I believe you played 03-04 and 0405.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: Is that correct?
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's right.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um are you from Seattle?
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: I am, yeah.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: So I was I was born in the Bay Area of California, raised in Seattle.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: I moved up to Seattle when I was like seven, so 1991, um, raised in Seattle, went to JUCO, and then uh that's where I became a Christian in junior college, and then we had a tournament, you know, mineral area.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, I heard of that.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um when I was there, uh gosh, I for I forget.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: No, not Moberly.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: You know what?
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I'm getting mixed up.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: Mineral area was in a um that was in Hoop Dreams.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: But there's there's a good JUCO out there that a former Missouri Tiger was coaching at the time.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: Curie Tate! Yeah, mineral area.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: That is the name of it.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Curie Tate, yep.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so we went out there, we had a tournament out there, and then uh Quinn Snyder being from Seattle area, we had connections, our coaches had connections.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: So we went out, we played in that tournament, and then we drove to Columbia.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's my first time in Columbia, and so we just went to kind of visit Mizzou, see Coach Q.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you probably would have been on the team at that time, and so I remember, bro, I remember walking into Hearns for the first time, and it was like it was a it was a slice of heaven, man.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: It was like, oh, so beautiful.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: And uh there was a really good hooper on the women's team.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: First name was uh started with an E.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: Can't remember, I'll look it up, but she she was a hooper.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, she was dropping, I think she had a game where she dropped 40.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, um, so she was just getting shots by herself, and I was like, This is this is amazing, you know?
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um, and so I I got a media guide, we met, we saw the locker rooms, the weight room, all that.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but there's not much more to it.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: And then in my uh in my off season after my second year at JUCO, I started looking at options, had some options to go uh to some smaller D1s, and then uh they gave me basically a chance to walk on at Mizzou, and if I didn't make it, I'd be a manager.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: And so as soon as I heard that, bro, I was gone.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, I'm driving out there.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so I drove out there, got connected, you know, went through the whole walk-on experience.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so yeah, 03 to 05, and then I got to coach with Coach U Snyder for one year and Coach Anderson for two years.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: So you're saying you got to coach.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the year I graduated, the next year you began playing.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_01: So I still was in town, I was teaching.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: So I would still kind of hang around with the guys, come to the apartment.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I think it was called College Park at the time.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, no, no, was it called College Park still?
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: It was something at College Park.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, uh, they can do their research, but they changed the name for some reason.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: Anyways, uh I can see that.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um I remember because I was like, well, let me see what the walk-on after me does, what they look like.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_01: And you were the only walk-on or player I've ever seen jump up off the bench and look like he's coaching.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: Like you would jump up, I mean you would be pacing the sideline.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, I guess they could tell that that coaching bug or gift was really in you because when I played, had I I had I gotten up, there were people on the in the bench that were like, Man, you need to sit down.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: You messing up the beat.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: Nah, I just had to sit down.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, I mean, you guys, uh, you know, I came in, so Cap, Kevin Young, he just took me under his wing, told me about all the guys.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: So I knew about you, I knew about Flo, I knew about Jake, I knew the tradition, I knew the bar had been set, and then I think, you know, grow like being from JUCO, starting every game, playing so much, I had never been in that spot in that role.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure you could relate, where I just never been that guy, so I didn't know what to do.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: And then I was kind of like, okay, I can stand and cheer, so I guess I'm gonna do that.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: I I guess I'm just gonna stand.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: And um, you know how it is, man.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, praxes are like games.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: You're you're trying, you're trying to get on the court and practice, and so it was a it was a constant game of what can I do um to grow my role that's acceptable, that helps the team, and um, and I mean, just the respect for the program, for the tradition, for the guys, man, it was a slice of heaven.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, and I don't think a lot of people know maybe how stressful or the responsibility or how it can get it to walk on.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: They think, well, this is a guy sitting at the end of the bench who gets to wear the clothing and gets a few minutes, and they just think yeah, it's a piece of cake.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, I know for me, uh, you know, you you gotta kind of hold your own ground at practice every day.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: You gotta some people praise you, some people could care less about you, and it's it's a grind, and you really have to love the game.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: And like you said, you have to figure out ways to contribute, whether it's talking, listening, knowing when to speak, when not to speak, just what types of things did um you experience that kind of relate to what I just said?
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: I I don't I even love hearing you talk about it.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, it was okay.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: So I think the first thing was how can I add value to what I bring to the team?
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean, you know, for me, it being a guard, it was like if I if I get in, I want to be able to handle the ball.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so I had these little two-ball drills I used to do before before any workout of practice.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm doing these two-ball drills.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: So Ricky Paulding comes up and he's like, Hey, can you show me some of those?
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm like, You want to do you want to do two-ball drills with me?
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm like, Heck yeah, you know.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: So um, so I started doing that before every practice, and then uh Rick would join me.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember like I could hear the coaches being like, Is he making them do that?
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like, does Ricky want to do that?
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: And Ricky's like, yeah, I want to do it.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: So I was like, okay, right away, there's things I can do to help because I mean Ricky was such a hooper, he is such a hooper.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: So it was like, if he sees value in this, I'll do this.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then you know, Jimmy McKinney, uh, he used to just love getting shots up after practice.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: He had all sorts of crazy stuff.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: He would try to like swish seven in a row or something, we'd be there forever.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: But I was like, okay, I can do before practice, I can do after practice, and then it was humbling, bro.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, the life, like you got to know every play.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you got to know every play from every spot, and so I was always a point guard, but that first year, my position could have been four, three, whatever, whatever will get me on the court.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so, yeah, I think that was nerve-wracking.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: And then you know, Rob, when I when I started coaching, I I coach youth now.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I still, anytime there's a team meeting, I get the little voice.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you have this.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure my phone's off.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, yeah.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: You don't want your phone to go off, like make sure my phone's off on silent, turn whatever, because that was no bracket too.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: Like, if you didn't want to disrupt anything, only contribute positive to the team.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: You mentioned uh Paulding and Jimmy.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_01: So Ricky Pauldon was, I want to say our leading score projected.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: I think he he got drafted.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: He got drafted with uh after playing with you, and then he played real well against Marquette uh when we played against Dwayne Wade the year uh my senior year.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_01: But he was just a real humble guy.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, to be to be that good and to have that much popularity and then still walk up to someone like me who uh didn't shoot ever, you know what I mean, and to just treat you like you were at the same level.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_01: It it it it made my job easier when there were other uh obstacles around.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: And then uh Jimmy so just the opposite well, the same thing you said with you and Paul and uh my my claim to fame was defense.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_01: I had to stay low, keep my butt low, shuffle, dive on the floor for loose balls.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_01: And when Jimmy saw, oh, you're gonna go all out every day.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_01: I remember before games, he would have me guard him and we would play, not necessarily one-on-one, but can I steal the ball as he dribbles not east and west, but north and south on the court before games.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I didn't know that was I didn't know why he was doing that.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: But then I looked back at it and I was like, oh, he was he was up for the challenge.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: He wanted to get better, he wanted to improve his ball healing, and you know, that's that's what kind of keeps guys like that ticking.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's big because he ended up on on that year, the year I came in, 2003, 2004, we went going after after Marquette the year before we had such a high ranking, and then we had a point guard come in from JUCO, it just didn't work out.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then Jimmy took over at point.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, he needed all that, um, all those all those drills.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I I think too, Rob, is like it's it's humbling, um, but it was so good where you're you're having to learn new ways, um, and then also be content with like you're probably not gonna get a lot of praise from the coaches.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and so if you did, that was great.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, I don't know how you felt.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: If I got coached, yeah, if Coach Q coached me up, I was like, okay, appreciate that, appreciate that, you know.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: That's just to be coached.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_01: I remember, I don't remember what I did, but I remember being in practice, and who knows what I did.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: I might uh try to do a crossover or do something, and coach Harvey grabbed me.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: He said, You know why you're on this team to play defense and bust your butt.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_01: That's why you're on the team.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_01: So okay, that's my role.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: And that was it.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: That's the that's the coaching I got.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yep, that's great, man.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, now this is another thing I remember.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_01: See where this goes.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_01: I remember when I say the name, you might know where I'm going.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: Keith Langford playing.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: He had these new the 12s on the flu games.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's no, it was the 18s.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: Either way, I think he landed on your ankle.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: Heck yeah.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: I tried to take a charge, man.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: Tell me about that play and everything that happened around.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: Oh man, Rob.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: That was, I mean, first of all, Coach Q started me.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: That was that was uh such a blessing, you know.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: And you know how it is.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: It was it was going into the game.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't know if I was gonna play, let alone start.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: And then the way I found out was in the um pregame scout.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: So they say, I think he said Langford, Daly, you're gonna start on him.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just like, oh, okay, okay.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: So I know I'm gonna start, I don't know how long I'm gonna play, might be 30 seconds, might be a couple minutes, and so yeah, um, at that time we had my my role is if a shot went up on offense, make sure I got back.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: So I I was trying to make sure I got back, and then I was trying to take a charge.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, just so happened he came down to the ankle.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: I took a charge, didn't call a charge, uh.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, and so then he was out for the game.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: And um, yeah, he had some quote he said about me, and then I still I've got some good friends uh that are ministers in Lawrence to this day, and uh one of them like watched it when he was a kid, he was so upset because he couldn't play in the Big 12 tournament, and then they got knocked out early of NCAA.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: So that's unfortunate that happened.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but man, I I was working my butt off trying to get a charge.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so do you remember your first bucket?
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: I do, I do.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um man, you know, and I think again, it's so humbling because I can't remember my first bucket I scored in a season at any other level.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: You just get used to kind of getting some buckets, right?
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: So it was my my junior year.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: We weren't playing great, we were highly ranked, but we were just barely winning or losing.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: And then we had Iowa at home.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: I don't remember the I don't remember the exact day, but we had Iowa at home after playing poorly, tough practices.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: So we finally have a game where we win by like 20.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: And as we're getting to close to the end, I'm like, oh, I might I might play.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: So boom, get put in.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: I don't remember how much maybe a minute left, play defense, come down on offense.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: I'm in the corner.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I forget who passed to me, but I'm chilling in the corner, and I just didn't think, Rob.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: You know how it is.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: You're in there.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: I I mean, I've seen your clips.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: I know you got when you're in there, you're just playing.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so we're up 20, but I get the ball in the corner, I'm like, I'm gonna shoot this mug, you know?
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: And he contested me, bro.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: He kind of contested me.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm like, okay, I'm gonna shoot it.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: And then as soon as I shot it, I felt great, and Cap came running up to me, like, yeah, BG.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but there's like 10 seconds left.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, man, let me get back on defense.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: And then Arthur Johnson in the line, Doc, he goes, Hey, make sure you apologize to coach.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, You're so right, man.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: I should have just held it.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like the etiquette's you hold it, you're up 20.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: So I went up to Coach Q.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, hey, I'm sorry I shot a coach.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: I wasn't thinking.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, that's okay, Brian.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: That's okay.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that was a great feeling, bro.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: And uh yeah, I remember that moment against Iowa and 04.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, now you said Kevin Cap, Kevin Young, yeah, uh, congratulating you.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_01: So I remember it was practice, and I got two back-to-back steals, and I got a layup.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: And of course, we're on scout team or the second team.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_01: I have no idea if we won that scrimmage, but no one celebrated for me with more enthusiasm than Kevin Young.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's the best.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm a fifth-year kid that makes it the last time he tries out.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_01: I'm from Columbia, Missouri.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not, no one really knows who I am.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm I'm I'm in a Missouri practice scorn.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_01: So you know I'm excited, but the way Kevin treated me, I was like, I felt like I was the man, like, yo, and he was so excited for me.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_01: So I remember that about about Cav.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, man.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: I love Cap.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: Tremendous teammate.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, he he was totally like that.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: And then he would he would talk about you guys all the time.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: You know, he would he like enjoyed enjoyed the experience.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he enjoyed everything, man.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: He had, I was, he was my roommate on the road.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: So man, we go, you know, the meals, you're going back to the hotel room.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, he would never eat any vegetables.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, he was just he was fun.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: He he loved his teammates, he was a great teammate, man.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I remember we went to when no Hardy's.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he orders like a double cheeseburger, no vegetables, no tomato, no lettuce.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_01: They bring him the burger.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_01: There's tomatoes on there.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_01: He said, I told y'all no tomatoes.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_01: And they take the burger back, they take the tomatoes off.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_01: He said, No, make a new one.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_01: I don't like tomatoes touching it.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: It touched, yeah.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: That sounds like him.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: I love to find out.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I follow him on socials, but I'd love to find out if he's eating vegetables.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: You know, he had such a long career.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: I bet he had to start eating some vegetables.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: But I think he told me he he started eating more.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm pretty sure he said that.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so let's get into you.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_01: Said you became a Christian in at junior college.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: Kind of yeah, yeah.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: Basically, um, I I grew up in a household that I'd say my parents, you know, raised me to believe in God, but we didn't go to church at all.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: We maybe went twice a year, and so my my dad would go more than than the rest of us.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: I was kind of more like Sunday morning, I'm gonna be hooping somewhere or watching MBA on NBC or whatever.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so I remember trying to read the Bible growing up, and then in high school, I started going to a youth group.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: You know, to be real, I was probably doing more damage to that group than I was helping it.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: I was just, I was, I was a mess, Rob.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I think everyone goes through their phases, and my like I went through a rough phase in high school of really going after uh impurity with women, alcohol.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: I worship the basketball.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so I found myself in JUCO, uh, which is kind of like basketball version of hell, in a sense.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: You you don't really want to be there.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, my first our first practice in JUCO, you'd love this.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: So we're we're meeting up, it's our first practice, JUCO.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: You never know who's coming out.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: We finally have our team.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: Our coach brings it in and he goes, All right, guys, the one thing we have in common, none of us want to be here.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: If we work hard and we work together, some of us will move on.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: So, man, it was a humbling time.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: And um, I was leaving practice, and this guy came up to me.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: He's big, big dude, looked like he played football.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: He did.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: He played at at Utah, and he was a linebacker, and and he came up to me, he was a minister, and he just said, Hey, he said, like the one thing that really got my attention, which I loved Magic Johnson growing up.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: Still, it's my favorite player all time.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: So he goes, I've seen you play, you hoop like a white magic Johnson.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay, what?
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: All right, you see me?
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you see it, and so um, so then he's like, You want to study the Bible?
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so he, you know, he really kind of caught me with the Magic Johnson comment, but I had never studied the Bible, and I didn't know where to start.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's before AI, it's before Google.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: So, Rob, I I knew I knew Genesis was in the front.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: That's about it, and um, and so he taught me the Bible, and then a concept he taught me was anything I learn from faith will help with basketball, and anything I learned from basketball can help me as a disciple of Christ, and and bro, that learning about Jesus, applying that, trying to deny myself and live differently, that changed everything for me.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so tell me a way that you see a connection between um the gospel and basketball, maybe the way you play it, maybe parables, maybe lessons you learn.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_01: But can you connect those two for me?
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think that's probably dude, that's probably my favorite thing to do is just make those connections.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um so the first one of the first ones was um there's a passage in Hebrews and Hebrews 11 and verse 1, it talks about uh now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and so you know, I was just like, man, when you shoot, it takes faith.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: You know, uh when you shoot, you gotta really believe that sucker is going in.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: The more you believe it's going in, it's it's got a better chance of going in.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: When you play, you gotta really believe you can be successful.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and especially when you go to different levels, like you know, you you grew up in Como, you get a chance to play there, you got rec guys coming at you.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: As soon as you have that practice jersey, you gotta you gotta target on your back.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: So it was like, well, do you believe?
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: Do you have belief?
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so um that's one of the first principles was I would try each day to have a goal with my faith and have you know believe it could be done.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: And then same in hoops.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: I I had kind of some goals I would pray about and have faith that they could be done.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: So that's one of the that's one of the first connections is just having faith.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: Because it was hard for me to to believe I could live as a Christian.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: I just I was so into sin.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so I was like, all right, let me do one day.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: Let me just try one day following Jesus.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: And and so having faith was was important to learning that life.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and you're coaching now.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, sir.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_01: Where are you coaching at?
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: And so um basically from Mizzou, after I got done coaching at Mizzou, I got married, my wife's from Kansas City.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so appreciate.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: You Missouri.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then we went to uh Israel in the Palestinian territory for one year.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: So I started I played there and then I started coaching there.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: I coached a high school there, went back to Seattle after that season and coached up my old high school at East Lake High School.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's in Samamish, where I'm from.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: So that's that's where I went.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: That was great.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: I did that for four years.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: I was really young and so um learned a ton.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I apologize to the guys when I see them because I ran them, I ran them a lot.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but it was a lot of fun.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: And then in 2015, I went to the ministry and came out to a town, it's a small college town in Washington State called Pullman.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: And so I left, I left coaching.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I actually was gonna be on staff uh here in Pullman at Wazoo, and then at the last minute didn't work out, and then uh my wife and I accepted the role to plant the church, and so talk about faith.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: We had never been a full-time ministry, so that was definitely we're taking a leap of faith.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_00: We got a lot of help.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and and so I just focused on that, and then I I got connected with the football team here and started serving as chaplain, and so that that kind of itched the the sports scratch for me for a while, and then in COVID, we're coming out of COVID.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: My son's getting a little bit older, Rob, and so there's not a lot of programs.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_00: There's there's no AU program here, no feeder program.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: And so in 2022, uh we started a youth program called Palooce Cougars.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_00: Palouse is like the region, and so we have third grade to eighth grade boys and girls, and so um I run that program, and then I coach uh this year I'm gonna coach a seventh grade team and okay.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: So I'll coach them in travel ball and middle school.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_01: Well then you that means you're busy then.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: That means I'm busy, man.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_01: And you're on your toes.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: On my toes, on my toes.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: I get to coach, man.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: I I love it.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we'll teach some run and jump this year.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna teach them some run and jump defense.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, try to do some 32 minutes of hell.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_01: No, I'm looking at the background.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_01: You got an ABA ball.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_01: What do you what'd you do with the ABA?
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, bro.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, I'm I'm just a connoisseur, man.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I love the basketball.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um I did play one ABA game, though.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_00: I was a grad assistant.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_00: When I was a grad assistant at Mizzou, I went back for Christmas to Seattle, and my old JUCO coach was coaching the ABA team, uh, King County Royals.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so they're like, You want to play?
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, Yeah, I'll play.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so I played one game in the ABA, but I just I like the basketball, so I got it back there.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_01: I'm still playing a little, so I was with uh ABA team last year, and I just began with the ABA team this season.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_01: So we'll see if my body still holds up.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_00: I follow you, man.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: I I saw you do that.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you remind me of Jamal Crawford.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, no, no.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_01: Jamal Crawford has sauced.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_01: I'm older, I like I don't have sauce like that.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I'll say this Jamal.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: So when I was coming up, I'm not from the exact same area, but I'm from the Seattle area in the suburbs, and so we looked up to Jamal for a lot of different reasons.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but he talks about playing forever.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean, Jamal can hoop, he's like, you know, he's a hooper.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: So you remind me of that, man, because you keep playing and playing and playing.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I love that.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, God's blessed you, bro.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_01: Well, if I if I grow up a little more and I get like you, and I finally have a wife and some kids, then maybe I won't keep playing.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_01: But until then, I'm gonna play till God sends me the right one and keep it.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's a good way to do it.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: Not a lot of people could do that, man.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I got a bunch of younger players, kids who I hope watch this.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_01: Hopefully, there's people who want to play division one, just a younger youth.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_01: What words of advice would you give them and also connect it with some biblical advice uh for them to walk away with?
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_00: That's great.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: I think um I would say two things.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_00: One is when it comes to your sport, there's a couple different ways you can handle your sport and your faith.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: Most people uh keep them separate.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_00: So you got your who you are as an athlete, who you are as a Christian.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, or they hurt one another.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: So the way that we that we compete hurts our us as as in our faith because maybe we compromise our faith with the way that we play, you know, or like when I was learning more about the Bible, I was like, man, I I don't want to be a soft Christian, you know, I want to play like, but the more I learned about the Bible, it's like, no, you're you're it's tough, you know, it's it's being a mighty man of faith is tough, and um, you're tapping into something greater than yourself.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: And so so I think not going down those paths of of keeping them separate or having them hurt, but how do I integrate my faith into the way I play?
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, and I see the work you do, Rob, but it's I think it's it's on a daily basis going, um, what are what is my vision for how I can impact my teammates today, my coaches today?
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, what scripture can fuel me as I go into practice?
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and then um after that, what can I take from my experience in the game that I can apply that discipline to the way I am with my friends, with my family, uh, with work.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: So I think uh the earlier you're looking to integrate your faith into who you are as a player and a man uh or a woman, the better.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um then I would also say, like, okay, you know, when when the ball does stop bouncing and you're not you're no longer getting trophies or accolades, you'll still have your faith.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_00: And so am I preparing myself for the long run?
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um I preparing myself for like the greatest jewels I can get are gonna be what God teaches me in the game.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_00: You know?
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um so and I think like you probably feel this way.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you're if you're still learning, but man, I'm I'm still learning all the time from God in coaching.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I mean I'm learning, I'm learning like I'm trying to work on how I uh how I communicate to officials.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: I get heated.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_00: And then uh what one thing I'm trying to do is after the game, I make sure because I'm also running tournaments and stuff, so I'm calling some of these same officials.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_00: But bro, I remember uh I went off on an official, you know, I'm not cursing or whatever, but it was too much.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_00: And then I went to the grocery store like the next day.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_00: I saw the same official at the grocery store.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I just went up to him.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_00: I had to be like, hey man, that was too much.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_00: My bad.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_00: And he was like, What game did I what game did I even remember?
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_00: No, but um, so I think I'm still learning, man.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_00: Uh God will still allow us to learn as long as we're looking for ways to learn about him.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_00: You know, yeah, yeah, that's good, man.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um okay, well, the little thing popped up saying I've got a couple minutes.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_01: But I I love to keep the conversation going.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_01: And one thing you said, uh, I I have a ministry called Biblical Basketball, but this kind of connects to what you said, and this is how I present my ministry when I connect the Bible with basketball.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_01: I tell the kids, the families, whoever I say, there's a 0.03% chance that your son or daughter is gonna go division one and maybe even less pro, right?
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_01: But there's a hundred percent chance that the principles they're gonna learn about the Bible, yeah, they're gonna need.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_01: So if even if they play forever, which no one's done, they're still gonna need those principles, you know, to continue their growth and their their career.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_01: And if they don't play, like everyone else, like you said, the ball's gonna stop.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_01: What what foundation did they get while they were playing?
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so yeah, I love that, man.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_00: And then uh you've probably seen like the whole the naismith, the background with faith and all that.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so that's researching that too.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like um, you know, he has a bunch of books uh out and he kind of describes, you know, how he came up with the game.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: But the the truth is his mission statement when he applied at YMCA was to teach young men uh about the master through the gym.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_00: And so to teach young men about Jesus through sport.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_00: And then uh two years later, he would kind of get this assignment hey, come up with a new game.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_00: And he had a kind of a tough class to present it to, and so he's he's trying to think of it, and then he came up with it the day before it was due.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and so it is amazing to see what God's done with that.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_00: But if if that was his kind of mentality from the get-go, was I want to I want to teach young men about God, and then from that, basketball is is is born, you know, we're a part of a an amazing legacy, yeah.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_00: And so, like that principle you're talking about never ends.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I when I watch your stuff, I'll go, man, I didn't think about that, you know.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I love pulling nuggets out uh from the game and from faith, but um, that's a great thing, is it's it's a never-ending journey, you know.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_00: Like in the 80s, never-ending story.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's like a never-ending story, bro.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_00: There's always always new stuff.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_01: Well, great time talking to you.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_01: Hopefully, we're gonna continue having conversations like this about different things going on in basketball and then relating that to the Bible and keep it moving.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_01: Sounds good, man.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, maybe next time I can throw a couple questions your way.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_00: All right, that'll work.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_00: All right, all right, have a good one.