The Rick Barry | Dropping Truth and Dimes | Episode #62

Description/Show Notes:
NBA Hall of Famer Rick Barry joins Mosaic Minds for a powerful conversation that goes far beyond basketball.

In this special re-release, we revisit our interview with one of the most outspoken and iconic figures in hoops history—now newly appointed to the board of the Dropping Dimes Foundation.

Rick opens up about:

His days in the ABA and NBA

Why he shot free throws underhanded—and why more players should

His passion for justice for former ABA players left behind after the NBA merger

The work Dropping Dimes is doing to support these forgotten pioneers

Rick Barry brings fire, fun, and full honesty—and this episode is more relevant than ever.
Support the cause. Learn the history. Share the message.

👉 Learn more about the mission: https://www.droppingdimes.org

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Transcript

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welcome to Mosaic Minds today we have a very special show we have one of the most underrated players in the history of basketball and Hall of Fame player Rick Barry we also have another special guest we have Jason's son Harrison with us today and he is on the show because he's a huge Rick Barry fan and he has some questions for Rick Barry himself so we invited him to come along for the ride so you're not going to want to miss stay tuned and enjoy the show compliment to you you're the first person in all these years theyve done that actually understands that that's that's the yeah I've been called arrogant okay I am not an arrogant person an arrogant person to me is someone who really lacks confidence in themselves and it's a camouflage mechanism behind the fact that they're scared shitless welcome to Mosaic Minds the podcast where every episode is a colorful blend of perspectives ideas and conversations join us as we delve into a mosaic of topics ranging from the profound to the light-hearted the thought-provoking to the downright random each week our diverse team of hosts brings their unique backgrounds experiences and interests to the table Mosaic Minds is your invitation to join the conversation to see the world through a kaleidoscope of viewpoints so grab a seat tune in and let the Mosaic unfold before you hello hello hey Rick how you doing I'm here we have a kind of a special guest with us today we got Jason's son Harrison here so he's gonna he's a big fan so he wanted to be a part of this and so we thought we'd we'd have him sit in as well hello all right so you know a lot of people spend most of their lives trying to find whatever it is that their you know their purpose is so I mean it's pretty it's pretty awesome that you already have a legacy you know to to leave behind but I know that Jason said also that you're uh your your son right can and he's kind of following in your footsteps correct well I've had five sons and all five of my sons have gotten divid one college scholarships and all five have played profession basketball and my youngest son just made the Olympic team for 3x3 great okay that's that's awesome all right and you just you're fresh back from playing a pickle ball three medals right I won the Triple Crown yes very cool well I mean obviously um I'm sure that you're probably tired of hearing this question because most most people always ask about the uh the underhanded shot but I think that um Harrison actually has a question about just that so I'm going to go ahead and let him ask that so obviously like you're up there free throw shooters with like the greats of Steph Curry Larry Bird Steve Nash and obviously you had a very unique Style with the underhand shot why do you think no one else has picked up on that since you were so lethal like such a lethal shooter in that like with that form I I wish I had the answer to it I don't know it makes no sense whatsoever it's proven by physicist to be the most efficient way and the best way to shoot free throws least amount of moving parts and yet nobody wants to do it because they're worried about the way that they look who the hell cares how you look the whole try to shoot the highest percentage you can I mean if I could have stood there with my back to the basket with a blindfold on and thrown them over my head and made a higher percentage I would have done it that way I was going to do it the way that made the highest percentage possible I was able to do that I just wish I was smart enough to have changed my technique earlier in my career which I did late in my career and I still think I am the best because Steph I think is the best around 92% but in my last six years I shot over 92% my last two years I shot over 94% from the free throw line and I'll brag about it because it's the only part of the game of basketball that you can be selfish and help your team and my youngest son Kyon playing now he's been as high as 90% he is shooting him handed Rick I love the Bravada there um you know on a very small level I led the county in three-point shooting but they said it looked like it was a two-hand shot put I was a 48% shooter you know from the three-point Arc and shot looked absolutely terrible with it was flat there was no rotation on it uh talk to us a little bit about like away from the free throw line you're also known as one of the better Shooters greatest Shooters you're right in that conversation talk to us a little bit about the confidence and what you were thinking when the ball you know left the fingertips at a crucial time in the game well first of all I was not a great shooter uh I was a great scorer big difference between the two guys on television especially when I hear former players talking and they're saying well this guy's a lock down Defender well then obviously they got locked down some behind the time of their career but trust me you can't lock down a scorer okay nobody ever locked me down and nobody there's no way I to many ways to beat you but a shooter can be locked down because you're one-dimensional and so that's why you have to have a well-round game I think when playing it and so I got to be a better shooter as I got into my career I was not a bad shooter by any stretch of imagination in fact if I were playing today uh I got to like 33% from three-point range because I never shot from that far out hell if I sh enough for our coaches would have put me on the bench especially my father was younger and it's just a matter of again and you you made it one word the best word you could have used it's confidence that's the biggest thing in life when I have talks for people business people and everybody else the most important thing when you are learning to do something in life whether it's basketball whether it's music whether it's uh acting it doesn't matter whatever the profession is you have to learn the fundamental principles and concept of what it's about never stop learning that's the foundation that you're laying and then you have a foundation to build on I always tell people you can't build the a tall building without a big foundation and the fundamentals to the foundation and then you go over and over and you practice and you're always trying to refine and you're always trying to get better like I did with my free throws and what you develop is you develop great confidence in your ability to do what it is you've trained to do and if you've learned to do that you'll eliminate the other word that is used so often I almost want to throw up every time I hear it and I hear it so often in every walks of life the word pressure there is no pressure when you have confidence in your ability to do what it is you've trained to do I never felt pressure in my life on a basketball court if I could have controlled it I would have wished that every game I played and came down to the last 10 seconds the ball in my hands and the game on the line I live for those situations I thought that I was every time now was I of course I wasn't you know nobody's perfect God wasn't perfect for God's sake I mean you sent the Sundown the sun got crucified For Heaven's Sake so yeah you just have to believe in yourself and your ability to do what it is you've trained to do and you can eliminate pressure from the equation but how many times you oh pressure's really on pressure this pressure that now can pressure become a factor yes it can but if you analyze it which I did in certain things in life let's say in basketball these situations become very critical and very demanding right you have the ball there's five seconds to go and it's a tie game or you're down one that's a pretty important situation but it's not a pressure situation it's a very demanding situation and you have to believe in yourself that you can succeed in those situations and be willing to fail because you're gonna fail some players will never want to take the shot because why they're afraid to fail I always tell young people never be afraid to fail that's a that's a great message there Rick you know having uh Harrison on here my son I told him the other day that sometimes you got to go back in the locker room and having teammates question hey why did you take that shot but it's having the to take that shot so I've I've studied as much as I can about your game about you uh talk to me a little bit about uh the question that I would have is did you work extremely hard to get to the line knowing that you were a high percentage shooter or did you just kind of play your game and that was a residual of how the game Flow was going well you used the word there that doesn't apply because here's the thing I thing I always tell young people and people who are older as well if you don't love what you do you've got a job but if you love what you do it's not a job it's not hard work hell I'd love to do that I would go out when I was in high school i' get I'd have in in in the summertime my mother would make breakfast fix a lunch for me and she wouldn't see me till dinner time where would I go I went to the park if no nobody was there I practice all by myself drill practice all the time if somebody's there you play you just keep working at your craft and so it's not work it's something you look forward to and that's why you don't want to be a person who gets up in the morning as I got to go to work today I tell young people I said I was able to say I get to go play basketball today and someone is paying me to do this now unfortunately when I played they forgot three zeros on my contract but kind of leading into that uh we were talking earlier we had had um Bob n on a few weeks back and I know he's big into the dropping dimes Foundation um I from what I understand you're also a big part of that I've tried to help as as much as I possibly could it's it's it's a great thing that uh that was done and it was trying to help out those players who didn't have a pension because the ABA players weren't included in the NBA as far as pensions were concerned that a lot of guys are really struggling and Scott Tarter has done an amazing job uh I mean he he deserves so much credit I mean what a what an effort he put forth and I I tried to help him as much as I could over the years and he was very successful he was very determin and adamant about trying to get something for him and he actually did get the NBA to do something for those players but they had no obligation whatsoever to do that so it was really quite an achievement and anytime I could do something by signing special cards they could get sold or balls or whatever it may be to raise money to put it into that fund for those less fortunate players I was happy to do that that's cool he got Man of the Year at the event there in Indianapolis and he's great speaker and then Dan Isel was the keynote just to kind of throw out kind of how I became aware of that organization so I think that's great so um yeah great that he got that it's great that he got that award I mean he he should I mean the the uh Basketball Hall of Fame gives out awards for things and everything I mean special Awards outside of you know for your basketball playing or coaching or whatever I think Scott in fact I may I may have to do that I think Scott deserves to receive an award for what he did that was so incredible on his part to do what he did and to achieve what he achieved in fact I'm glad brought that up I may just do that I'm going to call up to Hall of Fame and tell them they need to think about giving him a special award we'd love it man and that's a great cause and a great a great honor and just a great human being I mean putting his life on hold to to Really accomplish that and and reward those guys for the hard work that they' done it wasn't like he was taking money and using in pain exactly so I told him when you start selling this stuff say look when you start selling this stuff start taking a percentage of those profits to get your money back so that you leaste come out of this hole yeah I think the betterment in the in the heart and the mind's there um let me ask you a question about the free throw so I'm curious here so if I go out and I shoot you know 100 200 free throws you go out and you shoot 100 or 200 free throws I'm going to give you an opinion but I want you to fact or fiction this do you feel like you're less tired from a muscle structure after that 100 200 500 free throws than shooting kind of your traditional style at the line absolutely that's why I say it's the much more efficient at least the amount of moving part you're in a natural position who stands around doing this and who stands walks around doing this yep oh you're standing here and you do this pretty simple you know so no question about it but the amazing thing to me is I was the best free throw shooter on my team and then in practice I would shoot more I free throws to my my uh my teammates it was crazy and I always thought coaches I mean when I coached I Chang things a little bit with the free throws I you know I try to tell guys if they like to you know do it I would do it I don't understand why owners and coaches and managers don't make guys change I mean if you're paying your so many millions of dollars and you suck at the free throw line you're shooting 40 50 60% for the free throw line it should be required of you to have to try underhanded free throws I mean you're an employee you need to do what your boss wants you to do and this players say no how do they have the right where in the real world can an employee tell his boss he's not going to do what he wants him to do with the uh with the NBA now though and really any big athletic organization I don't I think that wins with them is only about half of what they're looking for I think they're also looking for kind of what you were saying you know who cares if if somebody thinks that it looks weird but I mean they're performers now you know a lot of them I think you know and I think that's part of the reason why they make all the all the money that they that they do make what what's kind of your take on that about how it is now I know you've had some opinions on even the three-point shot and and that sort of thing so what you know what's kind of your take on how players are now versus how you think that they should be getting paid what they what they make well they're they're getting overpaid as far as I'm concerned but obviously if the money wasn't there they wouldn't get it so God blessing for that they're very fortunate they should be going to church and lighting candles and thanking God that they're so fortunate very much well with foundations and things of that nature and I'm really happy to see them doing that because I mean how much money do you need to live on for God's sake um but I don't think they a lot of them don't appreciate it I think as much as they do um but they still should not be allowed to do what they want to do as an employee they are they're employees I don't care how great you are and how talented you are you are still an employee it's not like you are a singer who goes and makes records and somebody decides to buy your records and you make money off of that you're working for an organization you are an employee of that organization and your boss is entitled to demand that you do things a certain way the way the the team or the organization wants to conduct business and if you suck at a certain part of the business well then by God you should have to do it the right way in order to get your salary I don't understand why they don't take a stronger position on that I mean certain people's no no I'm not gonna do it you know Shaq I'm not gonna do it I remember Andre beun for the Warriors Don Nelson before he got he got fired but beun shot 18 and a half or 19% for the free throw line can you imagine I would have sliit my wrist probably I mean close your eyes and just shoot it up there you could yeah y know that hey you're going to do this you're going to have to shoot and learn how to shoot underhanded free throws and he said I'm not going to do that well you know he said you're not going to do that you're going to be on the team and then Nelson got fired but I was you know I was proud of Don for taking a position like that players should not be able to dictate what they're going to do or not do you should always be striving to get better and if you're deficient in a certain area of the game you should be out there practicing and working on and required to have to make a change in order to improve yourself that area I love the take on that you know when um when when I'm coaching and seeing stuff and you know at a small level you know the younger guys it's all about the fundamentals I think you know the the bounce pass you don't have to go no look and three dribbles between you know just hit the basic stuff but it also it has to be a game it has to be a game situation you can't just take your time line your line your steps up line your shoulders up square and shoot sometimes you just got to shoot off balance you know off one leg drawing in the defender what do you think what do you think uh what do you think back in your era could be brought back today and still be successful as far as uh maybe a style of play a uh a technique like what what do you see would be good in today's NBA World actually running a play to create a shot for someone instead of one-on-one that would be interesting wouldn't it love it love it that's one of things why the warriors were so successful during that run that they had is because they passed the ball they passed they moved they cut they force my father always told me was a semi-pro player and coaching the one that got me to shoot the free throws that way thank God he was relentless about doing because I didn't want to do it obviously because the same reason all that everybody's gonna make fun of me he said Son they can't make fun of you you're making them and I always remember that and so in fact I actually remember the first time I shot him when I made the switch over in high school and I was in Scotch Plains New Jersey on the road I was shooting a free throw and a guy from the stands yelled out Hey Barry big [ __ ] shooting like that and I heard perfectly clear the guy next to him say what are you making fun of him for he doesn't miss and from that and and so that's that's an important element of it but yeah um I always remember we have plays there's plays designed you always take what the defense gives you and the more decisions you force the defense to make the more the likelihood they'll make a mistake and if you have fundamentally sound players you will take advantage and recognize no mistakes and you'll get things other than the play that you run because it's rare that a play when you design a play will run through it's to a conclusion exactly a could put on paper because the defense will do something else if that happens you react to that and you take advantage of the opportunity that presents itself you have something the guy's at of position screw coming off and running off and getting the ball coming out to the left side you back cut the guy and that's sound fundamental basketball I just like to see more of that being played because first of all it's fun to watch it's fun to play that way and you'll be more successful doing it rick you gave me cold chills with that answer man I got to be honest with you who your was filmed 20 mi from where we're at in the studio in Indianapolis um you can't be more right on that you know give that give that one foot jab out there at the corner line and back cut somebody I think I think if that that fundamental play would come back at a young age it would be a natural thing as opposed to well you don't need to dribble between the leg three four times not taking away from the pros just trying to make that fundamental thing so I I really like that let's talk a little bit of pickle ball let's talk a little bit of pickle ball um oh yeah explain to the audience what the Triple Crown I know you kind of touched on it a little bit and ironically Rick I had a guy in Naples actually speak with you there in the tent Village he said they had like a little village set up for people to kind of cool off a little bit uh you talked to a lot of people there I'm sure but he got a chance toh speak with you briefly talk to us a little bit about uh what exactly the Triple Crown is and that accomplishment and how much it meant to you there at the recent US Open for pickle ball well in pickle ball you can play singles men's doubles and mixed doubles and then they skill in age categories and so I had only been playing and I've been playing for several years uh doubles men's doubles and mix doubles because I just thought singles might be too hard on my knee I had no carage and I've had four knee operations and I just said geez I don't know and but my knee's been really great um and doing well and I said you know what I I gotta find something else to go for because I I I wanted to win some major n you know National tournaments and I've won the world seniors and men's doubles and mixed doubles and so and I've won the US Open and I've won the USA pick of all nationals and all of those divisions in different categories and so I said what can I do differently and so I said you know what I'm gonna try maybe singles and I love the singles because it's all on me I don't have to worry how my teammate plays okay and when you play you always take advantage of the opponent's weaknesses right you exploit the weaknesses of your opponent and so I'm a better player if I'm better than my partners well heck you know sometimes I would play in the mixed doubles and all and they would be hitting everything at my partner so I had to find and look to find great Partners who could play well and be able to carry the burden of having to play at a high level in order for us to be victorious so when I did the singles I really got into it and I really liked it a lot and so I worked hard at it I played with much younger people really some good players you know they were kicking my butt and doing stuff but the redeeming thing was I'd hit a shot and they'd get something back and I said a great shot David I said but you know what I know that some 80-year old is never going to get that shot back so it's okay so it was really good for me because it forced me to have to play and elevate my game when I played against them and so my goal with them is to try to get more and more points I wasn't going to necessarily beat them I was trying to beat them every time and even though I wasn't winning which I hate losing uh it was making me a better player and I basically dominated when I finally played in the US Open I mean I think the most points anybody got to me you played games to 15 one person got 10 points and a lot of those points were because I made some unforced errors and gave some points that I probably shouldn't have but I I I loved it I absolutely loved and I really enjoy the single so now my goal is to try to win the Triple Crown in the in the world senior championships coming up in October and the USA pick of all nationals in November so U we'll see what happens but a lot of that is predicated on how my partners do my men men's partner friend Fred who and I have played together he's out of San Diego I was really proud of him because actually Fred I thought played better than he's ever played before with me this year we won the 75 to 79 last year in the US Open and we won we won we we dominated in the uh in the 80s and so that was kind of cool and I was proud of him and then my sue you know Sue Matthews the lady from Naples actually who I found I had everybody I knew I was searching the country I was calling everybody I know I got to find an 80-year-old a four at least a four- old player who can play and they found sue for me down in Naples and Sue was absolutely great we played terrifically and uh and we we basically dominated in that as well so when you play doubles your partner has to be good so it was it was good great experience it's I had to find something for the competitive juices that flow in me all the time one of the hardest things when I gave up basketball and had and retired was finding something else to compete in and so I actually played a lot of golf I got to be like a one handicap golfer and I found World Long driving um and so I got into that and I was I actually won four World Long driving championships in my age category and then they cut all of the old farts out they wouldn't let us compete anymore and so I said oh boy what am I going to do now my wife was the one that introduced me to pickle ball and she's a great athlete in all America basketball player in fact she and my youngest son Canyon have the distinction of the in the history of NCA basketball and only mother and son who have both been first team academic all Americas and my son was actually Player of the Year in his last year at Florida so fantastic that's special thing and my wife's the only woman at har jersey retired at her college at William and Mary and she ran USA Basketball for for uh 12 years and and U so she's she's a great uh great athlete was a great student and fortunately in that area my son takes after her hey Rick I got a question I'm going to take a stab here um did was she integral part of starting or helping start the w NBA or or am I wrong there I tried to do some online research oh huge factor I mean nobody ever talks about it but know Val was picked as the president of the of the N WNBA by David Stern uh you know obviously he she wasn't given the title commissioner she was given the title a president of the WNBA and she did a great job she's a former college player and she and my wife were friends because my wife knew her for over the years you know running USA Basketball for women and my wife they asked her because she had uh retired from USA basketball and they asked her if she would come and be the Special Assistant special adviser to Val Akerman so she she helped them get all the foreign players she helped them set up their training I me my wife knew more about women's basketball than anybody at the WNBA and she was an integral part of getting that started up for the first five years so I went to a little cornfield School Rick believe it or not with about 80 or 90 people and uh a young lady that graduated from there went to Notre Dame won the national title and then she's an exec in the WNBA her name's Ruth Riley so that was uh I've always respected that here in Indianapolis we got the blessing we got Caitlyn Clark here Lo locally kind of putting put him on the map for that let's talk uh let's talk one last sport it's rare that you get to talk three Sports in one day and then we're going to respect your time from there but talk to us a little bit about fishing where do you like to fish what do you like to fish for and uh we'll uh kind of go from there I was never a fisherman start with my dad would take me sometimes I always remember the guy's name his name is John danik and my father had take me out I remember the first time I went and I caught a a New Jersey blue fish it was only two and a half pounds but I was a young kid at the time I thought I had a whale on the line I always remember that experience and but I wasn't into fishing because I'm an egg typ personality I mean to sit there and hold the rod in your hand and have a line in the water and just sit there and hope that a fish decides to swim by and bite that whatever the hell is on the end of the line that's not my idea of a whole lot of fun and so I got introduced to fly fishing and uh fly fishing is really an art form I mean it's a skill that you have to develop and the better I got at my casting every time I go out I get these good guides and I just tell them look it give me some pointers tell me what I can do how do I get better and that's the whole thing like I say in anything you do in life never be satisfied what they're doing always strive to get better and even now I've gotten to be pretty good at it but I still always asking if a gu's there look if you see something I'm doing that I can make better please let me know or if you've got some other pointer or tip to let me know about please tell me and you know I'm a long way from being you know super great caster and and fly fishing because some of these guys are amazing they have these competitions of what they can do and where they can put a fly it's amazing so I got into that uh I love it it's just it's a great Adrenaline Rush every strike that I get is is just a super high I love I love it and I'm I'm a numbers guy I mean it's fun I can go out and sometimes just one episode one fish if you catch it you track it down and you get it and all makes the whole day but more enjoyable for me is numbers and so I would go out and the guides that I would go to and I go to Alaska which this fishing up there is insane how many fish there are and so my goal got to be I always wanted to hook at least a hundred fish now it's not about bringing them in because I know I could bring them once I hook them I'm fine but I but you marbelous hooks when you do it up there so I learned how to be able to put slack in line and get those hooks out out of their mouth because I didn't want to spend 101 15 minutes trying to get I got the strike I got it I put it where I had to do it I got him I hooked them now I want to get rid of him unless he was big enough and what I call picture worthy so I had live a lot of pictures but once you have you know you've got hundreds of pictures of fish who were 20 inches long I always laugh when I come back down to the lower 48 something oh my God it was I said he said I went fishing youall the other day I said I got a 20 incher I said really that's great I'm happy for it hell I just get back from Alaska I hook 100 10 fish in one day and 100 of them were 20 Ines or more so it's it's about the numbers and so I loved it and my biggest day in Al is I went out with the guide we flew up to a lake above where we were staying on one of the rivers and they usually do float trips coming down and we had a small raft with a motor and we went through the slooh and usually they float back down and they get picked up and go back to the lodge well we went out of the slooh and then we took the motor and we went up to where hardly anybody goes and so the guide says to me he say Ricky said you know they knew I'm serious they said know we should be able to get a 100 today I said are you kidding just you and me with a boat going up where no we doesn't go we don't get a 100 you might not get back to Camp I said you got to put me on some fish he said well so I got so many fish so fast he said Rick I think we can get 200 fish today if you want to do it I said let's go for it and it was incredible I mean he P bring that in he changed the fight let's go let's go boom in the thing go to another spot so we come down to where we're going to down the bend was coming where I knew we were going to picked up and go in the regular boat to take us home and drop off the raft and I actually stopped because if my number was 24 I could have caught even more I hooked 224 fish that day it unbelievable and then now I got into my friend Robie Anderson who runs a lot of trips called bucket list fly fishing you should check that out if you're really into fly fishing folks she's got places in Pyramid Lake out in Reno area in California and Reno area and he's uh he's got private water that he made arrangements for down in the Amazon junk and we go for peacock bass and I've gotten you know 20b peacock bass on a fly rod wow and you're there and nobody else is there and it's big time numbers as well just super special trip uh to go on I just went with a group of guys fact Ed marinero the former uh football player and actor a good buddy of mine he went on the trip with me with some other friends and we just had an amazing amazing time I live myself vicariously through that I I fished in a tournament I'm kind of your AAA or your semipro fisherman kind of fish out of the back of the boat I play a lot of pickle ball I don't play as much basketball but I'm kind of regarding to my son I think Nick's got a question for you here as well yeah just just to kind of move moving away from Sports just a little bit um you were talking about earlier about confidence and how important that is you know there's a lot of words out there right now that people love to throw out and are misused but you're obviously a very confident guy so where would you say how would you distinguish between confidence and I know that you probably heard the word back back in the day arrogance used where would you where would you draw draw the line between the two of those compliment to you you're the first person in all these years they've done that actually understands that that's that's the yeah I've been called arrogant okay I am not an arrogant person an arrogant person to me is someone who really lacks confidence in themselves and it's a camouflage mechanism to hide the fact that they're scared shitless okay arrogant anybody is an arrogant person they're [ __ ] okay because they don't have the confidence that they need to have I'm an extremely confident individual and that scares the hell out of people okay and yeah there there's a huge difference between the two I don't think I'm better than anybody else as a person do I think I'm better as a player hell yeah yeah because why because worked at it I trained to get that I'm sure I think I'm better than you why the hell would I go out and go and think somebody's better than me when I'm out there playing are there guys who maybe were better than me yeah of course but the thing is is I'd be more than happy and like people say to me Rick you couldn't play with these guys today I said are you on drugs do you understand what you're saying I had zero help other than what I was told by coaches to work on zero I didn't have a strength coach I didn't have an agility coach I didn't have a dietician we travel commercially we didn't go on commercial flights and get good night's sleep after games we'd get

to bed at 2: 31:25

00 in the freaking morning after going out with $8 per day per de

to find something to eat get up at 6: 31:29

00

in the morning or 5: 31:31

30 to catch a commercial flight to get to the next next city to play a game the next night hope that your freaking uniform that you used to wash in the shower got dried before the game that night these guys are so spoiled and so catered to they get done they have they get on they get on chartered flights to get to the next city they have chartered food and stuff and catered food to have a great meal while they're getting there get a good night's sleep stay in great hotels you know four seasons or whatever it is and it's a different world I would be faster stronger quicker more endurance jump higher I would be so much better a basketball player because I knew the game I had the fundamentals and I understood how to play and if I had all that other stuff to help me be scary how much better I would be where have you always had that conf confidence even since a kid like how was that how you were brought up by um by your folks or not something that all shows up that you all of a sudden have it's a characteristic that's inred in you hell no confidence comes from putting the time and the effort forth to like I said to learn the fundamental principles and concept to try to always get better at all facets of whatever it is you're studying to try to learn how to do and keep doing it over and over again that's how confidence comes about you know failing you know learning making sure you don't make the same mistakes over again do it better the next time it's it's a it's a pro growing situation that you grow according to the amount of time and effort you're willing to put forth to be able to get better at what you're doing and then you can believe in yourself 100% agree Rick I think on the pickle ball court you know I I've spent eight years and I haven't paid for a paddle you know I've taught hundreds of people how to play I'm a certified instructor so the thing that's cool about that is is I'm thinking in my mind how can I train myself to be an elite player as a 50-year-old because I'm 45 right now and I'm kind of at that middle age to where it's hard to play with a 20-year-old it's easier to play with someone a few years older but I think I think what I'm hearing from you is is just go after it you're not fly fishing just a fly fish you're out there to put it in a 5 gallon bucket space you know if you're playing basketball you're there to be the best you're there to push that you know when I tried out for the basketball team in college I didn't make it but guess what when we ran the mile out on a 90 degree heated track I was running a 5 minute mile and dusting people going into a heated gym best conditioned athlete there so I really appreciate that and quite frankly it's inspirational to hear that not only are you confident you're engaged you're staying busy I mean people 30 years Young younger than you with all due respect to you don't do half of what you do from a mental standpoint from a confidence standpoint in multiple Sports so I just want to tip my cap to you in that you're right in what you're saying because I started pickle ball I was in my 70s okay it's my first tournament that ever won when a guy asked me he said what's against 50 year olds because what in pickle ball the age is not the major factor it's your ability to play the game the right way now are they going to be a little quicker than you of course they are I mean they're going to be a little quicker you know they can jump a little bit higher you know but I still have great hands and reaction stuff and I love it sometimes when I'm playing doubles and people hit power shots and everything the game's becoming more and more as you know if you're a instructor it's become more of a power game everybody's starting to hit and I am myself I mean I got my cirk stuff cell Kirks gives me paddles I mean I got their new Lux paddle and it's unbelievable the Top Spin stuff my Top Spin drives and all awesome but they start hitting them to me if you have great hands man I love people to hit it at me I mean that's just crazy I mean you know what they say like like uh you know like in pitching it right used to say you know throw it where they ain't you know or hit it where they ain't I mean that's the whole idea is make somebody move especially when I'm playing against some even older people if I'm gonna make them move I'm gonna have to make them make a difficult shot as opposed to if they've got good hands you hit it to them they don't have to move exactly yep hey Rick I'm gonna end you with a question here you you've done a great Insight of what you're about what you do what motivates you and man I was just a pleasure talking with you it it kind of seemed like I'd known you for a lot of years and I really like the fact that you're very candid and open with us I'm going to I'm going to give a little bit of a tribute to my son here uh practicing out in the in the in the driveway 13 year-old what advice do you have to him as far as his journey that he's about to embark on and what would make him successful in your eyes 13 years old through the rest of his basketball uh playing days well forget the basketball it's just in life in general okay I mean b basketball is secondary so your number one priority has to be your education you need to apply yourself and try like you say always try the best that you can my dad instilled that in me give your best effort in everything you do and especially in the classroom because and have a goal you know you want to try think you become good enough to get a college you know college education and a scholarship playing basketball God bless you try for it go for it but focus on your grades because get your grades get your education find something you have a love and passion for outside of the basketball and study as much about it as you can I did that I did that radio TV and filmwork when I was in college I got my my degree in in marketing but I had so many elective courses but they wouldn't allow you to have another major or even a minor in the business school but I had so many courses and credits in radio TV and filmwork that's one of the reasons why I was able to go and get into the broadcasting world and do that for so many years because I trained and studied to be able become good at I mean I still watch stuff now I mean and I'm listening to these people who are doing interviews on National programs and stuff and they still have no idea how to answer there's someone I'm not going to mention his name because he actually is somebody that I know is one of the worst interviewers ever ever I mean the whole thing is is when you have a guest on and you have a show the guest is the person who should be doing most of the talking not you and when you talk to somebody if you ever get to this point in life when you're doing it never ask a question that could be answered yes or no never right yeah MH never it's the worst possible thing in the world they go on and on and on and then give their opinion about stuff and then go to the guy and ask question or stop after their opinion and expect the person to have something to respond to I mean I I go I just cringe when I see this with the experience that I've had and I'm saying how are these guys doing and getting paid the kind of money they're absolutely awful just listen sometimes but the best thing is effort when you put your head on the pillow at night you want to sleep good and you should be able to sleep good even if you failed that day in what you tried to do as long as you gave your best effort and you learned from the experience that you had that's the most important thing and you should be happy with yourself and you should sleep peacefully that night and if you don't then you should have trouble sleeping knowing you let yourself down not your parents not the teacher not your coach you yes you have happy with your effort and what you're doing in order to be successful in any in life that's great hey final final one to the final one here Rick I want to give you an opportunity if you'd like to mention any sponsors any causes anything personal in life and where we can maybe find you if we would like to connect or network with you yeah yeah I'm I think Rick 24 Barry is my stuff I don't do crazy amounts of stuff on social media but if anybody's got aches and pains and doing stuff I'll give you some things that you can put out there I'm into the canabo world okay you know natural stuff as opposed to taking ibuprofen and all this other stuff that's horrible for you and so medicala m c Leaf m c lef.com if you go there any of the products that are there and they have some amazing products the Platinum Pro Sav for for if you've got discomfort and information and every stuff stuff is off the charts and RB my initial small rb24 my number rb24 for all these things I'm going to tell you is the code to get a really nice discount but awesome product same thing we have there's another cream that we have for another company and the it's ald a l oem.com alom md.com and the product is called ultimate repair X ultimate repair X put that code in there that's an incredible cream you don't need very much of that I I just you know I already put some on I just got done taking a shower after I just worked out before I did this with you and put some of that stuff on it's amazing product uh give that a shot and you get the discount any of the other products on that site for you know if you've got if you're if if you guys if you your wife or whatever there's all kinds of face cream and other really cool stuff that rb24 code will work for them as well and the last thing is if you got any problems with you know calf muscles or knees and stuff I have no cartilage in my knee and so these guys gave me these sleeves to try that have kesio tape built into them I've seen a lot of people with kesio tape on it peels off whatever this has got it built into them and so I tried it I liked it so much that I actually wear it on my good knee as well I never play pickle ball without my ghost sleeves g l ees.com goes.com the runners are going crazy over it we've got tons of football players are starting to wear it the basketball guys need to use it it's just an awesome product I just rinse mine out and let it air dry and then you can dry you know you can sometimes if you really get super sweaty and stuff you could just put a little mild detergent in there and do it on gentle cycle and just let it dry out don't stick it in the dryer for any length of time but it lasts forever great product okay ghost sleeves. comom same rb24 code those are three things that I just absolutely love and and swear by I mean they're incredible I just hope that they do for people who use them what they've done for me we'll make sure to get get all that stuff up on the screen and everything but uh last question who who is your team now like when it comes to basketball do you have it like who do you root for the Warriors of course okay all right I just I I wanted I thought that's what you'd say but I just wanted I just wanted to ask so right now I'm rooting for I'm I'm rooting for the I my two favorite players to watch are Steph Curry and the Joker The Joker Is unfreaking believable this guy is the most efficient player I've ever seen there's never been anybody he's again a guy anomaly there's never been a center like this guy in the history of basketball he is absolutely a joy to watch and if you understand the game if you're not impressed by what this guy does then you don't know the game this guy's it's been a pleasure you're you're high class it was great to speak with you and enjoy the rest of your day yeah thanks so much for coming on thank you bye bye