Charlie Robinson (00:02.284)
Well, I'm, I had to hit record because otherwise you and I will get to bullshitting and we'll leave all the good stuff on the cutting room floor. So how was your, how was your holiday?

Ricky Varandas (00:17.15)
Good, good. mean, we spend time. Yeah, no, it was good. We have a tradition. We just go over my cousin's house and my parents, uncle's aunt's cousins all get together. We eat and drink and do the typical Portuguese thing. know, just drink a little too much, eat a little too much. You know, we eat octopus on Christmas, which is a weird tradition. I don't know where it comes from, but since I was a kid, we've always eaten.

Charlie Robinson (00:17.166)
Good? Add? Crazy?

Ricky Varandas (00:46.15)
octopus on Christmas Eve and you know so that's kind of the I look forward to it because I like octopus maybe because I did grow up eating it and I don't really eat seafood that much because nobody at my house eats seafood my wife doesn't eat seafood so you know it's something to look forward to and then we we did the whole you espressos and desserts and CRF you know which is a popular Portuguese brandy and then start experimenting with different brandies and different

moonshines and whatnot and drank all night so it was fun and then you know my kids are little so we get to do the whole which sucks because after a night of eating and drinking and being kind of worn down we uh because I played basketball that morning to a buddy of mine put together a Christmas Eve basketball so we played that morning and uh and then we get home late it's like 11 o'clock the kids are keeping track of where Santa is and they're like Santa's near Massachusetts you know you can like google where Santa is throughout the night

And so we have to wait till they fall asleep and then it's hard for us not to fall asleep while, you know, while waiting for them to pass out. Then they, you know, we end up getting up and putting all the presents that are from Santa, you know, in quotes, from Santa under the tree. Because my wife wants to keep holding on to this. I'm like, dude, our kids have, they have social media, you know, or at least they go on YouTube, they go on, you know, the internet like...

They hear other YouTubers and Tik Tokers talking about, you know, Santa not being real. And they question it all the time. I'm like, this might be the last year we can keep this lie going. Because I'm like, I don't want them to be the kid who like, you know, is in school still arguing with their friends like, dude, absolutely Santa's real. What are you talking, you know, talking like, you know, just being the one who kind of is the last to figure it out. And. Exactly.

Charlie Robinson (02:33.147)
Trust the plan. Come on, Santa's real.

Ricky Varandas (02:37.826)
Yeah, yeah. QAnon told me that Santa's real. What are you talking about? So there's always a concern that, yeah, our kids are going to be the QAnon, trust the plan, Santa believers. so I told my wife, like, she loves Christmas. Like, that's her holiday. She decorate, like, you know, we have to real tree. It's like every year. We had a beautiful fake tree, but it wasn't good enough. We needed to have a lot of cleanup after.

Charlie Robinson (02:54.574)
Mine too. Mine too.

Ricky Varandas (03:06.228)
Christmas so it's like we we got this you know every year we get a real tree and then you know by time Christmas is over like you know the trees dying we it's made a mess in the house and I have to get it out of the house find somewhere to put it you know it's like my god I'm like can we just get a fake tree that we can just hit a button or something and it unfolds or you know and those exist you know there's no reason not to have one so yeah that's that you do

Charlie Robinson (03:27.182)
I have one. Well, the reason why I have one is because we had an artificial tree for many years. And then last year we were like, this artificial tree kind of saw, mean, it's sort of like, it's a mess. And it was kind of at the end of its life. Probably could have kept it going. the, you know, so we said, let's get a real tree. not this year, but last year, let's get a real tree. Like, all right, we'll go out there and we'll buy a tree. you know, I don't need to have to get the biggest one or whatever.

Clark W. Griswolding out there at the tree store. And I was like, how much is this tree? I'm sorry, is that pesos or dollars? They're like, no, it's like $300. I'm like, it's a fucking tree. It's a Christmas tree. I have to pay this much for it. I was blown away with how expensive Christmas trees were. was like, this isn't like a magic tree you're trying to sell me, right? This did no beanstalks or anything like that. This is just a regular old Christmas tree. And they're like, yeah, they're expensive now. I was like, God damn.

So this year, went back to the old, we bought a new artificial tree. we're like, frankly, we were disappointed. It wasn't even necessarily the price of the real one. But I was like, yeah, it's gonna smell good and it's gonna be this and it, I don't remember it smelling good. I remember it being a mess. All the needles fell off almost immediately. I was like,

gonna be like a Charlie Brown Christmas tree by the time we get to actual Christmas here. This is is disappointing. So I felt I feel your pain like we went to the real tree. And then we made a family decision to go back to the artificial tree this year. And we were happy that we did. And it's you know, it's up and it's pretty and it does its thing and it's not dropping needles and I've got cats, you know, and I want cats sitting there chewing on the trees and everything. And so we just did it.

The old way. We went back to the... I guess... Well, we did it the new way, I suppose. The fake tree. But it was fine with us.

Ricky Varandas (05:33.609)
Yeah, well, I think we're going to probably do the same thing. wife gave away to her father our old fake tree. Some years ago, we started doing a real tree, and he decorated it and put some fake snow on it or whatever. we go to his house on, so typically Christmas Eve, Portuguese people like...

celebrate it's a big day for for Portuguese people so Christmas Eve were usually my family and then Christmas Day were with her family and she's like look how beautiful the tree is I'm like yeah the one that we gave away that you're you know like she was mad because some of the lights that came on it were like you know dying or whatever some of them weren't working and her dad just like cut them all off and then just put new lights and then I'm like

You know, we could have done the same thing, but no, you want to get a real tree. And I don't know how much we paid this year. It wasn't 300 bucks. It wasn't that much. I mean, for 300 bucks, you should get presents with the tree. But yeah, that's a little absurd. Yeah, I think it was like, I mean, probably, I don't know. I think years past has been like 140 or 120 or 160. I don't It was less than 200 bucks for the tree.

Charlie Robinson (06:29.742)
It was out of control.

Ricky Varandas (06:45.044)
So somewhere between one and two hundred bucks, think. But it's and we get it from the fire department nearby. They always have Christmas trees. So like that's kind of the turn it in. And I mean, that's kind of what makes holidays fun. know people are always like, you know, it's like it's a it's a moneymaker. It's a business. like, yeah, unfortunately, everything in the world is a business and somebody will always find a way to take a good idea and make it a profitable idea. But it's you know, it is.

a reason to get together and the thing is I think that in many cases you know I had a friend of mine that was a Jehovah and I would always get in this debate with him right he's like you know because they don't they don't celebrate holidays and he's always like well why do need a holiday to get together with your friends and family he's like I do it all the time like I don't need a hall and I'm like yeah but if we're busy and you have people in your in your life that are so consumed with their work or their own things that are going on in their own personal lives

Sometimes you just need a reason to force them to gather and get together with friends and family. And I'm like, and that's kind of what holidays do. It's like it forces you to pick a day or have a day designated to get together. know, so in that aspect, I think it's good because if not, there's a lot. You see it all the time with groups of friends, right? Like if somebody doesn't take the initiative. And a lot of times, like in my group of friends, I'm the one who takes the initiative to like really try to organize a get together.

And if somebody doesn't take the initiative, it doesn't happen. just gets, you know, it just gets, you know, the can keeps getting kicked down the street and nobody ever gets together. And it's like, damn, I haven't seen my buddies in a long time or I don't know how he's doing. haven't hung out with him in forever. It's like all it takes is somebody like step up and do it. So that's kind of like the way I look at holidays is that it forces you to have to like pick a day to, you know, beat, you know, everybody's free because you're not working or you're, you know, or you're you're not working the next day or whatever.

and it designates a day for everybody to get together and just enjoy a little bit of company with family that you either love or maybe don't like that much, but at least it forces you to get together.

Charlie Robinson (08:49.23)
Yeah. Yeah. I have a, I have an unusual relationship with holidays. had, uh, when I was 16 on Thanksgiving morning, um, my dad went out jogging and died of a heart attack. So we had like, my mom had set up the table with like the food, everything there is like, when is your dad going to get back from jogging? This is crazy. He's been gone forever, you know? And so in my world,

I remember sitting on the kitchen floor after that and just going, fucking Thanksgiving, really? We had to do this on Thanksgiving. And you go out there and the tables just still set. Everything's ice cold, of course. And so I have, I don't want to drag that in to my family, you know, cause it's my trip, not theirs. so I, know, Thanksgiving is to me is the one that's like the emotional minefield.

And I think some people get that way on Christmas because it's like family time and you got everybody here. Or if you don't have a family or nobody's there, then you feel really isolated and super alone. I get that. But during Thanksgiving, so for me, I'm just trying to I'm like football games on Thanksgiving. We got three football games on Thanksgiving. Awesome. I can I can just navigate myself through the day.

based on let's watch as much football as we can, sit down and eat, and let's power through this and kind of get on with it and get to the day after Thanksgiving. That's always been my feeling. And I never really had like the, know, I love Christmas, it's so great, but that changed when I had a kid. And so that made Christmas fun for me. It gave me a reason to do it. So I don't get all weepy about the holidays and I don't get super...

like pumped up and turn on Christmas music and all that stuff. That's my wife's stuff. But I do enjoy, as you said, the idea that you've got like a designated day that everybody's gonna kind of power down, maybe the day or two before that and be together and do the things that you should be doing throughout the course of the year that you get really busy and you don't really do it. And so maybe in our chaotic society, we need to carve out.

Charlie Robinson (11:08.972)
some specific time for that. Cause if we don't, you know how it'll be. Like if we, like I work every day. I don't, I don't have a day off. don't like, Saturday, if thank God Saturday's here, I won't work. I mean, I'm not working, you know, 12 hours a day every day, but I work every single day. And I wouldn't, I could very easily get myself in a situation where I pull my head up and I'm like, shit, Christmas and Thanksgiving already happened. I didn't, I wasn't even aware of it. So if I'm not forced to stop,

and slow down and like do that stuff, then for me, I'll just kind of breeze past it. So I kind of need the forced brake pumping just to settle me down for a couple of days. And I'm always glad that I do it afterwards. I'm like, yeah, this is good. I should chill out for a little bit, but it's tough. I feel like I have to schedule my time off these days because I'm just so busy.

Ricky Varandas (12:02.868)
Well, busy's good, I mean, but... So how old were you when your dad passed away?

Charlie Robinson (12:08.788)
I just turned 16.

Ricky Varandas (12:12.618)
Wow, dude, that's crazy. That's some serious...

Charlie Robinson (12:15.106)
I know I was supposed to go running with him that morning too. He didn't wake me up. So that was the, I was like, you know, in my mind it's like, well, maybe I could have saved him. You know, I talked to the, I talked to the coroner about, said, you, you'd, you'd had just been traumatized. He said he was dead before he hit the ground. There was no, cause he was jogging through the desert and you could see tracks and you could see. So, you know, I mean, I, I,

nothing like that to shake you out of your little like perfect world and say, man, wake up, know, shit happens in life. And like, you need to have your eyeballs open. And like, if you're not careful, you can wake up one day and like your family can be gone. You know, so like, it's a bad lesson for people to learn, but it's a, it's bad that you have to learn it. But like at that age, I kind of learned like, you know, you may be thinking that...

Ricky Varandas (12:42.858)
He's a product.

Charlie Robinson (13:08.59)
Christmas is on the calendar. You may be thinking, thank God Thanksgiving's here, but life doesn't wait for you and life doesn't give a shit about the calendar or how old you are or whether you're ready. I remember saying to my mom in the aftermath of that, he can't die, we have bills to pay. I remember really saying that. Like almost like in a mocking way to my mom, like we're laughing, we're sitting there kind of laughing, like I can't believe this is actually happening. Like hello?

We have shit to do. Like, this doesn't work with our calendar. It's like, doesn't matter. So in my world, the holidays are also kind of like an important time to stop and like realize, know, like Thanksgiving for me really kind of changed. Like I really do have an appreciation. I really am thankful for what I have. I don't actually view it as like, I'm shaking my fist at the sky for how dare the universe do this to poor old me.

You know, there's people with much heavier stories than mine, right? Of course. But it reminded me that like it's temporary. You know, be grateful for what you've got when you've got it this Thanksgiving or, know, because the next one might be different or the next Christmas might be different. And so, you know, it's it's a it's a minefield for a lot of people. It's like time when you should be with your family and maybe you're not. You have to reevaluate that. And there's a lot of depression going on during this time.

My old roommate when we were in college killed himself right before Christmas, man. He was feeling all alone. And so like, I'm hyper sensitive to people who are like, you know, struggling during that time. I saw that with a good friend of mine. So it's like...

It's such a, the holidays are such a high and low period for people. You you get your family together, there's these amazing memories and it's great. And when it's good, it's great, you know? And then there's the other side of that, which is like, it's a reminder for some people that are feeling very isolated and alone and maybe they don't have families or maybe they're not where they want to be in their life or they thought they'd be further along and they're not. And it's like a time for reevaluation. And for some people it's super,

Charlie Robinson (15:27.468)
dangerous time to be isolated. So, you know, the holidays are like very commercialized and it's in your face and you know, Christmas movies and all that stuff. And for a lot of people, it's like, thank God we got to Christmas. This is the best time. And yet for other people, they're just white knuckling it, you know, just trying to get through the new year and say, okay, well we can, you know, thank God I don't have to worry about that stuff. I don't have to think about.

that stuff anymore. can think about that, you know, 11 months from now.

Ricky Varandas (16:03.325)
Now you make a really valid point.

the holidays are not the same experience for everyone. And I mean, that's why I'm so involved with like sports and just hobbies in general. I, you know, growing up, I found communities in just about everywhere. And even though I grew up in a town where there's a lot of Portuguese people, I was one of the few Portuguese immigrants in my class. Like a lot of the kids I grew up with, their parents came from Portugal, but they were born here. So they're Americanized.

And I always felt a bit of like outsider at first and you know English was my first language. I came here when I was four at four. I wasn't exposed to any English until I came to America and kids at four already talking only I was talking the wrong language. I was talking Portuguese and so it took me a little bit. I always felt like I was playing catch up. I always felt like an outsider and then I always found but then I found communities later in life in my hobbies like

you know, I start playing music. had the kids I played music with, the kids I jammed with, the kids I had, you know, were in the bands with me. And then I got into weightlifting. I had the gym rats and the meatheads that I hung out with. And, you know, I got really into that. got into...

the the car I car I hours. You know, my brother and I started like a car club during like the Fast and Furious era and, know, had like, you know, whatever was like the biggest car club in our little community and everybody wanted to be in the car club, so we made all these friends would go cruise together and meet other gear heads. And then I played basketball, so I met those kids and those were, know, I'm right outside of Springfield, Massachusetts, so I go to the cities and go look for places to play. So I made a lot of friends from, know, inner

Ricky Varandas (17:46.412)
and Holyoke and Chick-fil-A all these bigger cities and So I had like all these and you know sometimes I look back and I'm like dude if I didn't have Like you know these hobbies which created these friends I'm like you know I probably feel as lonely as I did when I came to America where I felt like outsider and these little communities gave me You know friends, you know, you naturally make friends right and and it's same thing with my kids You know, like I see it now like, you know, I got them into soccer

they got their soccer friends, then they have, you I got them in the basketball. Now they have the kids who play basketball. They got to know the basketball kids. They got to know, you know, and it's like these little communities in each, you know, each hobby and each thing that they get into, which, know, only creates, you know, more happiness because you have more friends and less likelihood of being lonelier and whatnot. And I think that's what like a lot of parents kind of lack. It's like they don't they don't realize that. Like I know it's a lot of work.

signing them up for stuff or maybe like nudging a kid who doesn't want to do something into something, but it's more than just the, you know, the learning a sport or learning a new thing, even though that is beneficial because, you know, putting yourself in difficult situations is going to be beneficial in the long run. Learning teamwork, learning sacrifice, learning to do something when it's difficult, you know, like my daughter twisted her ankle earlier in the week playing basketball and then.

past Saturday at a coach a game. We have 11 girls on the roster. had four available girls because they're either all sick or out of town. And so my daughter had to play all game on a limp to ankle. We had a couple other girls that were a little sick also. And I'm like, listen, you're probably not going to have your best game, but this is going to make you a tougher player later in life. I mean, you're learning to play through injuries and that's a part of the game. I mean, my son, he's tougher. He's right. Kind of learned that my daughter is like she, know, she's not

When she's in pain or whatever. A lot of times she she'll cut him. I wouldn't say milk it, but she's less likely to like push through it and have a good game where he's not like that he'll die on the court or on the field. I mean, he. He'll just I mean, he could get smashed. I would have to like, beg him, know, like, literally grab him off the court or off the field. I mean, he has. That's the way I played. So he watched. I'm like I'm not I could. I remember when I fractured both my arms playing basketball

Ricky Varandas (20:11.627)
keep playing that I just kept playing and it wasn't until after the game was over that I'm like yeah something's wrong in my arms and I fractured and then when the next day I couldn't get my clothes off that night the next day I went to the ER they did x-rays and I fractured both arms at the exact same time which was like a freak accident and yeah but that's you know the way I you know but I'm like it's everything's like a mental toughness thing it's like when I had dr. Sean Baker on my show to do the carnivore diet podcast

Charlie Robinson (20:27.52)
my god. Holy moly.

Ricky Varandas (20:41.067)
I told myself, I'm like, I haven't really done a strict carnivore diet. I'm going to do it for three weeks before it comes on. So I have a firsthand experience of it. And also it's little bit of mental toughness exercise. Like, can I do this? I love, you know, you know, I love meat, but like I want to do it strict. like just sea salt and meat and like no nothing else, you know, like literally nothing else. No, a little bit of salad. No, you know, no.

Charlie Robinson (20:48.686)
Mm.

Ricky Varandas (21:07.765)
Chipotle Primal Kitchen Chipotle sauce or you know or steak sauce where it just literally just and and I'm like It's gonna make me a mentally tougher person if I get through this and I felt great actually it was it was amazing but a lot of these things are so beneficial in the long run of You becoming an adult of you. You know like I mean talking about your experiences. I'm sure I mean, that's That's crazy. I mean to be 16. It's not like you were a kid and you didn't know what happened

Like to be 16 and really, I mean, I guess that would be a good question for you. Like, do you think it'd be more traumatizing or less traumatizing if you were younger and you had a harder time comprehending it?

Charlie Robinson (21:48.399)
That's a really good question. don't know. I never thought about that. on the one hand, I was very much aware of what was happening and you kind of need to be. If you want to process it and move on and sort of deal with it, you can't be like in denial of it. So I was old enough to know what I was seeing and understand the permanence of it. Had I been younger,

would have been like a memory. It would have been like I don't, it would have been like, I wouldn't have remembered any like firsthand experiences, I don't think. And that might've made it seem like it was somebody like might as well just be somebody in a movie, you know, who I don't really know or remember. I had a very powerful DMT trip at an Arkapulko a couple of years ago. Actually it was the first time I did DMT.

was with this guy, Johnny Dollar, was with the shaman in this big ceremony, but I got partnered up with this guy, Johnny Dollar. And the DMT ceremony goes, it's like 40 minutes. it's not the seven minute hit that Rogan talks about. It's the long, the five MEO, you know, powder kind that they blow up your nose. it's like, you get a much longer trip. You can kind of process things that are happening. And in that trip, I had, I saw

really very interesting clips of my life, almost like movie clips of mine. There's three different ones that I saw during that. And I'm familiar with the setting. So one of them was the last night I talked to my dad, was the night before. And I was watching, in this DMT trip, I was watching it back, but I had a different perspective on it. I mean, I don't mean like mental perspective.

It was as if they put a camera in the corner of the room and I was watching it from that vantage point. I wasn't seeing the experience with my own eyes. I was watching it from somebody else's eyes. Watching the interaction and the conversation that we had, which was, need you, you you going running tomorrow? Yeah, what time are you going this time? I want to go. Okay, well, you're going to set the alarm or are you going to get up? Just wake me up.

Charlie Robinson (24:13.602)
I'm not gonna set an alarm, just wake me up before you go, because I wanna go. Okay, sure you're gonna go? Okay. He didn't wake me up. So I had that, I saw that from a different perspective and that was really weird. And then I had two other instances during that DMT trip that were also scenes from my life that I was watching back, but they weren't, they were very positive. It wasn't a negative thing at all, but.

I saw that from a different perspective and it was interesting because, you know, I mean, if I had been four when that happened, I wouldn't remember it. If I'd been, you know, eight, it would have been blurry. But to be 16 and know that you just got back from the mall, seeing the premiere, because the movie came out that night of Scrooge with Bill Murray, I can't watch that movie.

because you just got back from the mall after seeing that and then you go in and dad's working at the computer and you have a little quick conversation, you go to bed and that's it. So in that respect, like, you never know what you're gonna get with psychedelics. And I certainly wasn't expecting that trip that night, but it was like, hello, you have some stuff you need to deal with. I'm gonna show you that last conversation from a different angle and then you maybe...

The 50 year old you will get a little bit more out of it than the 16 year old you, but you're gonna have to watch it again. So brace yourself. And I was just footballing during this. I had a mask on when Johnny, like when I lifted it up at the end, he could see, like as I was laying down, there were just tears coming down like through the side of my mask. And it was so real and so unbelievably powerful. It's like watching a movie.

It's like watching a movie that you're very familiar with that's been edited by somebody else with a camera that you didn't even know was there. And so you're like, holy shit, I've never seen this perspective of it. You're like, now watch it. And I was like, okay, I'll watch it. And it was like, whoa, what am I seeing? I'm seeing this like the movie Defending Your Life, if anyone's ever seen the movie Defending Your Life, which is fantastically hilarious with Albert Brooks. He's forced to watch scenes from his life.

Charlie Robinson (26:30.358)
like sitting in a theater, like watching it on a big screen and defending it where he's got a judge and he's got a prosecutor and a defense attorney and he's trying to judge his life. It was just like that. The DMT trip was just like that. I was like, my God, I'm watching it on a movie screen, but it's in my head, of course. And so, you know, that was something I wasn't expecting. And that gave me a perspective on it that

It's like, what would you think if that happened to you when you weren't 16, but you were, I don't know, 36, you know, it'd be a different trip, right? So I got to see something from a different angle and it was wild. But it's an interesting thought experiment that you bring up that, you know, the age at which you are when something traumatic happens to you, I think matters, like how you're able to, where you are in your...

brain development, emotional development for you to process it and handle it. Because some people don't do it very well. Some people are in denial and it fucks their entire life up and they wind up in prison or on drugs or something because they can never get to the bottom of what this super important thing did to them. so for me, I never was fearful of it. It's probably the same part of me that like

makes me want to like try psychedelics. I like, I just want to know how it all works. You know, I want to know why, what happens when you die? What happens? You know, do you come back? You know, I don't know if we'll ever figure that stuff out, but like maybe because I had that event, it triggered my curiosity to kind of figure out how it all works. And in some respect, changed my entire life. And instead of me wanting to, I don't know.

grow up and be a baseball player instead now I want to write books about how it all works.

Ricky Varandas (28:32.843)
Yeah, it's weird. You know, the 2000 or being 16, almost at 2016, being 16 is it's a weird age because it's it probably is one of the more difficult times because you're you're you're not young enough where it feels like a memory and you're not old enough where you've experienced enough loss where you can cope with it. You know, I mean, a little bit better because I mean, you know, I'm 40. I'm at the point where like

I'm going to lot of funerals and lot of wakes and a lot of, you know, people close to me are passing away and people, you know, that I grew up with are old and sick and whatnot. So, you it is it. You're right. I mean, if you're a little bit younger, maybe it would feel a bit less like you're in the present and like you were part of the experience and maybe more like you were a spectator. And it was a bit of a memory. But.

Yeah, I mean, that's why so many things that happened in our childhood like end up molding who we are, what we become. And a lot of times, sometimes unknowingly, right? Like there's things that happen in later in life, you reflect and you're like, why did that have such a impact on me? Why did that conversation with that adult? Why did that moment where, you know, that kid who I was playing basketball against talk shit to me?

Why did that really get to me so much that it bothered me every time I was shooting around and practicing that I was thinking of his voice and I wanted to get better just to shut him up? Why did he get to me? All these little things. And sometimes, I mean, I think sometimes in regards to sports, sometimes you do that to kind of just use it as motivation. I always say it's no different than trying to find the right song to get a better workout. You're trying to find the right motivator.

to get a better practice, get a better, don't know, just more energy, more aggression, more willpower to get through and become a better player. And so, yeah, we always try to find those little motivations. The thing about therapy, though, too, is like I've heard the counter-argument and it makes sense to me because especially from like a writer's perspective because growing up writing about some of my...

Ricky Varandas (30:54.719)
you know my upbringing and I almost had trauma but like I don't know I mean it's hard because I know like there's people out there who've had like yourself who've had like trauma that I could never relate to you know that's beyond anything that I grew up with but it's you know every kid it and what's that saying like the worst the worst thing that ever happened to you is the worst thing that ever happened to you right so it's like somebody could have

You see a rich kid dealing with like stuff that you're like, why are you like all been out of shape over that? Well, that may be the worst thing he ever dealt with, which means he's not really conditioned to deal with anything much worse, you know, and but like, yeah, growing up, I remember writing a lot of my lyrics and songs about like, you know, either friendships or heartbreaks or whatever, you know, it was as a kid, you know, that seemed important to you. Or maybe, you know, I shouldn't say seen maybe was important to me at the time. And

I remember like, you know, every time I would write, I would try to tap back into those moments, which naturally would kind of make you relive them, you know, similar to like, hey, if I tell a story to my wife about a tense moment at work where I'm fighting with my parents, or I'm fighting with, you know, a coworker, I'm fighting with another company or whatever, in the process of me telling the story, you know, I'm going to relive it emotionally. And...

you know, get worked up, right? It's like you're reliving it. And therapy, you know, I heard this counter argument, this alternate argument with therapy that like, we almost think we need more therapy than is actually required in regards to what we might be doing is it becomes counterproductive at one point. Like if you keep talking about it and you keep reliving it, then does it get to a point

where all you're doing is reliving something that actually you might be happier just facing it and then maybe just storing it in your subconscious and there's no reason for you to have to go unlock that door and relive it over and over again and with therapy in some cases like that could be what you're doing it almost becomes counterproductive because what you're doing is you're going back and talking about it talking about and talking about it instead of saying like hey this is a moment in my life that I went through

Ricky Varandas (33:15.815)
I've faced it, I've come to the realization that it happened and I'm ready to move on from it. And if I don't think about it or talk about it again, I'm okay with it. It doesn't mean I'm ignoring it. It doesn't mean I'm abandoning it. It doesn't mean that I'm in denial that it happened, but I'm better off not, you know, not thinking about it. And when I think about writing music, that was something when I got so busy with podcasting, I stopped writing.

I realized a bit of me wasn't reliving old shit all the time. my theory was always like, for me to get the best music, for me to write the most personal songs and lyrics, I have to tap into some shit I don't want to tap into. Because to me, music was always about emotion, right? It either made you want to dance, it made you angry, it made you sad, but you got to feel something. So...

Charlie Robinson (34:05.474)
Yeah.

Ricky Varandas (34:12.765)
I have to feel something as a lyricist or a songwriter to guarantee that the listener is going to feel something. So I would relive it over and over. You can go back and relive some shit, relive some shit. Or if there's something that happened recently that I kind of put in the back of my mind and kind of wasn't really focused on anymore, I'd go back and refocus on it. And then I'm like, OK, when I'm not writing, I'm sometimes I'm a bit...

happier because I'm not taught but and then there is a part of it that's also useful because when you do write sometimes you do feel like you kind of get it out a little bit too right so like so so it's it is a balancing act like you need to get it out but I don't think for everybody you need to relive it over and over and over again so it's like get it out and then move on from it and you might be you know better off that way so it yeah I'm like I'm like torn

because you know the writing and music was my therapy. think going to the gym is therapy playing basketball and like I think that's why I always played the way I played like I will. I'll be the kid who will play through. I mean I've never not played because of injury. I've I've played with you know fractured wrists. I've played with you know I mean just tons of injuries and it's almost like I'm fighting something or I'm beating something out of me and I just know I'm a better person.

when I get this workout in and I like I will die on the court. will I'll be the kid who will play so hard. I'll throw up, you know, and, know, and just will not give up. And and then I feel better once it's all done. I'm like, I feel like I just want the therapy like I'm so tired. I cannot be angry or upset or overthink anything because, know, that's, you know, what do they say? Depressions, pondering on the past, anxieties, pondering on the future.

you know, happiness is being in the present. It's like, okay, I'm too tired to be anywhere but here. And, you know, so, yeah, I'm kind of torn with therapy and how you handle those traumas in life.

Charlie Robinson (36:20.364)
I'll tell you, the best thing that happened to me in the aftermath of my dad's death was that I had the option, I mean, I was not living at home. I was away at boarding school. So I got to go, I got to leave. I was there for a few days, but then I got to go back and get into my routine. And part of my routine was soccer. And we were just in the middle. I was just getting...

It's actually my junior year, so I was just getting moved from left wing to center fullback. And it was changing my whole trip, my whole life, my whole soccer life. I was seeing the field from a different perspective. And I had these two great coaches for the next two years that like really saw something. They said, you've been playing the wrong position. You should be...

we're gonna move you to fullback, this is where you need to be, you have the mentality for it. And I started thinking like...

That really helped me to have that team and to change my mentality. I don't know. I went into like a defensive mindset where it was like, do whatever at all costs, make sure nobody overruns the castle. You know what I mean? Do whatever you need to do. And then having these coaches that were there at a time when I didn't have, you know, I didn't have the ability to pick up the phone and

call my dad and asking for advice. My soccer coaches helped fill in that. And then later in the aftermath of that, I had another coach who was never really my coach, but he was a major league baseball manager. He was the coach of many, many players for a long time. A guy named Don Baylor who was a 1979 American league MVP.

Charlie Robinson (38:25.517)
the angels and been a family friend of mine forever. And he, you know, I could talk about things with him in the aftermath of my dad dying. gave me my first job with the Rockies and in 93. And so I could, I could get where I was lacking in like my dad not being there.

That space got filled by super smart, very knowledgeable, awesome coaches. Two soccer coaches, one, guy named Clay Coyman who wound up playing on the USA World Cup team in 94. He was Alexey Lovis' backup. He was the guy who moved me to fullback. And he's like, dude, you're fullback. You have that mentality.

And then the other guy was my coach after that, guy named Nigel, who was the head of admissions for my boarding school. And he was a British guy. that dude could get in my head. He would just say, he would just say, let's go for a walk, you know, before the game, let's go for a walk. And he'd find the guy who was going to be the guy I was guarding. And he'd say, want you to just watch him, just watch him warm up and how disrespectful he's being right now and how...

You know, he would just, he would get me so revved up. Like that guy is being disrespectful of you. The guy who took his jersey off and was jogging with his shirt off to warm up. Who does that? An asshole does that, right? The coach saw that, pulled me aside and said, that's your guy. I want you to watch him running laps with his shirt off. Just watch that. I just got infuriated. The idea that this guy would do, and I just, you know, and he would just...

set me off for that. I was like, God damn, did I really have that in me to be like that, you know, totally cool off the field. And of course I wasn't like a dirty player or anything like that, but like to get on there and have the ability to flip that switch was really helpful. And I think that being with a team was the best therapy you could get and being with coaches who could talk to you, who really cared. And you're a coach, you know this, you know how it is. I mean, you're working with

Charlie Robinson (40:44.207)
with little kids, but as these kids get older, you know, I was never gonna be, yeah, I played soccer, I went on and played soccer in college, but I was never gonna go pro. I mean, it wasn't like he was turning me into the ultimate soccer player. It wasn't about, it wasn't even about soccer. It was about getting yourself focused and revved up and just absolutely committed to a task and then letting the coach just see.

then just fucking go and just do it the way, use your brain, but do it. It taught, I learned so much about life from sports, from playing sports and with never any intention that I was gonna go pro. I wanted to work in pro sports. Ultimately did, but that was my, I knew early on I'm not gonna be able to, I'm not gifted enough to do this, but I could.

I can strategize, I can understand, I can sit and talk to Don Baylor for three hours about the ins and outs of base stealing. You know what I mean? And like geek out on that stuff, like with the best of them. But it taught me so much about life and being around teammates and how you have that comradery and how you can bust each other's balls. And ultimately this wound up becoming important in my job later when I was doing the media training for pro athletes with

with my partner, Steve, because I learned from being on a team, being on baseball teams and soccer teams and football teams, and I was on a baseball team with my business partner, we went to high school together, so we knew what it was like to be teammates and everything, and we were working with people who were tennis players and golfers, who are individual sports people, who have only always, just you on the court.

It's all up to you. If you fail, it's all your fault. If you win, it's all your fault too. So having that all or nothing thing with the golfers and the tennis players, we're like, these guys are weird. Like these guys, we're used to being like athletes on teams, teammates and all that, busting each other's balls. Then you come to the golfers and the tennis players and you can't bust their balls. They don't know how to deal with that. They haven't had that experience. So we were like, holy shit, you have to talk to them a totally different way.

Charlie Robinson (43:03.981)
You have to approach it because they've been, since they're eight years old with an adult coach on the road in tennis tournaments their entire life, they're not normal. And so again, it's like back to like, what's the best therapy? Being on a team. Now you may get that and then as you get older or being in a band, you know, like you, for you, you're a musician as well. You actually get the benefit of both of these. You get the teammates on the court and you get the benefit. I am so envious.

of the people who have musical talent and the ability to just sit around like in a group and just pick up guitars and start jamming everything, that looks like the coolest shit in the world to me. And I bet you've got your interpersonal relationships of dealing with people in life were shaped from the way you learned how to deal with bandmates and tell them that song sucks, how you have to gently tell a guy that's not the best.

And like we should try it this way or have somebody criticize your work you go. Oh god, you know Hey, I want to fight back, but maybe they're right and maybe you know and how that Motivates you to be a better songwriter or a better, you know free throw shooter or better whatever, you know because now It's like shit. It's not just on me. I have I let these guys down

If I'm not good enough, I'm letting them down. And if I let them down, like, holy shit, that's a whole new level of guilt. It's not just me letting myself down and being like, I'm not good enough. I'm now, the team is mad at me or the team feels like I could have done better. So in navigating that sort of atmosphere, you got to get your kids playing sports. You got to get your kids doing stuff like that. It benefits them for the rest of their lives, don't you think?

Ricky Varandas (44:49.707)
without a doubt. there's studies that show that if you play sports, regardless of what you end up doing later in life, you're more likely to succeed or be successful doing it because of those life lessons. It's funny because I've dibbled dabble it in so many little communities were like and in every community is ever even in the sports community. Like I'm on the board of directors for the for a local club, the Western Mass Pioneers. I coach town soccer. I coach town basketball. The

basketball community, the soccer community is different. The sports community compared to like the artsy music community is much different. know, growing up, you you realize like all the sensitive vaginas were musicians, you know, like all the it seemed like all the you know, they're not as tough like you get an athlete and there's a bit more toughness to them, right? Like you've been criticized before you've been, you know, and I always say tough parents make tough kids.

I mean, I'm tough parent. I'll be the when you do amazing. I'll be your biggest fan when you do when you don't play up to your standards. I'll be the first one to critique you and make you accountable for it. And you know, so I give both and I have a lot of parents that appreciate that and have a lot of parents that do the same. And that's why their kids are great players. And while I love coaching them because you can do those things and but in the musical artistic world, you don't get a lot of that.

You get a lot of like, hey, I just want my kid to be themselves and, you know, and whatever, you know, and then I remember growing up with those kids and some of it's also, you know, I think some of it is kids who don't have community, kids who don't have a way to deal with the trauma like you did having, you know, a soccer team in a community and teammates and a purpose and you felt important and...

You know, I'm playing playing defense, you playing a right back or left back or whatever. Were you playing? Are you left footed?

Charlie Robinson (46:53.551)
No, I'm right-footed, but we were in a... We played like a 4-4-2, so I was like a center stopper as opposed to a center sweeper. I was offensive if I needed to be, but really sort of a defensive mindset. what I realized, I never realized this in the moment of playing sports. I realized it like 25 years later that...

Ricky Varandas (46:56.212)
Also.

Charlie Robinson (47:22.591)
all of the positions I played, I was a catcher in baseball, I was a free safety in football, and I was center fullback in soccer. They all had the same, they were all like the last line of defense. And was like, that's a very weird, you know, like, you know, if you know anything about football, like if you're playing free safety, like, you also have a better view of the field, just like you do as a catcher. I could see everything and I wanted to be involved in everything. And I didn't want to be

Standing in right field twirling, you know what I mean? Like I wanted to be where the action was and I also you know You're guarding the play like you got to make sure that they don't get home, you know, so it's the same sort of Mentality, I think that's maybe what he I don't know maybe saw that and I couldn't see it but but once that I Wasn't an offensive player. I wasn't the best and when I played baseball, I wasn't the best hitter. I was great defensively

And I was, and as a left wing, I was okay. But I wasn't doing anything special. I wasn't particularly talented. I wasn't left-footed. I was misplaced there, but had been there for my entire playing career. And so then after that, you're like, shit, man, like sometimes you're just the wrong piece in the wrong hole. Maybe in life too. Maybe you've got the wrong job. Like the next thing you know, you're like, I'm doing this job. This job is way better. It's way more suited for me too. So again, back to like...

Ricky Varandas (48:33.483)
That's why.

Okay, I'm off.

Charlie Robinson (48:48.611)
the teams being like a metaphor for life and explaining things to you. like, sometimes, man, you're playing the wrong position or maybe you're playing the wrong sport. Maybe you have the wrong coach. Maybe like you're good. Like you just need some coach to say, move to this position, change your mentality. It's not even about that your play style's fine, but like, think of things differently. And it's like, it's a change of...

a of setting, a change of perspective that sometimes you need. so, yeah, I I think that if parents, mean, how is it your coach of multiple sports, how is it dealing with the parents these days? that the hardest part of your job or, you know, are they

reasonable with you? they still, are the kids still at an age where it's like the goal is to have fun or are there starting to be parents who are like, I need my kid to be getting more playing time because we're gonna go find another team if not, like where are you with all that stuff?

Ricky Varandas (50:00.8)
Well, if you're if you're on my team, having fun comes from working your ass off and winning. And I, you know, I've taught my kids at a young age. I'm like, listen, sports is fun. And what's fun about sports is winning and losing socks. And we're going to experience both hopefully. And hopefully we're going to experience more winning than losing. And I've always had that mentality that I'm like, no, I'm like sports. If you want to do something just for fun and go color.

Charlie Robinson (50:16.964)
It's true.

Ricky Varandas (50:29.437)
I'm like there we there's scores. There's rules. I'm like there's and that's a part of what makes sports so fun. Like yesterday we had we hosted a two day tournament. It was actually you know my idea to kind of throw in like a winter tournament. We called it a winter cup and I had both my kids. I was helping orchestrate it but I was also putting teams in there so my kids could play in there. My my son ended up losing in PKs.

my daughter's team, which I coach both and winning in P. K. S. And, and it was like, you know, and who's funny because once my daughter's team were in the files, we conceded a goal like real late. And then my wife's like, dude, Ricky's gonna have a fucking heart attack. This is second game today doesn't go to P. K. S. And, in like, I love I just love the drama. I love the dry. I do. I love the ups and downs and I live for it. You know, and like parents are always like

Dude, I was going to have a heart attack. like, I know. And I love every second of it. love the, don't know what's going to happen. don't, you know, like we, my son missed the PK. He was my first PK taker. He's like, he hasn't missed a PK in months. I mean, in tournaments, we were in semi-finals in town soccer, you know, smashed the PK. He was in a big tournament. I forget where we were, Eastern Mass.

You know like he's just the most consistent ends up missing one. I'm like fuck we're in trouble He was like he always the first PK taker he never messes up You know and he and he just you know just messed up He just didn't I'm like listen even the best free throw shooter is gonna miss a free throw I'm like you can't you can't be too hard on yourself or whatever like it happens and when you have a bad game your teammates

Charlie Robinson (51:59.802)
Mm-hmm. Uh-huh.

Ricky Varandas (52:13.204)
have your back when they have a bad game you have their backs there's gonna be days where you have a good game and and and you know you're you're making up for maybe a teammate that's struggling and vice versa you know and and that's what happens my daughter. You most my kids had a rough day my daughter made a bit of Adam you know did didn't do the greatest job clearing the ball with like a couple minutes left in the game where we're up by a goal and then her her you know I'll say it she knows we talked about it like her crappy clear ends up.

Charlie Robinson (52:34.735)
Mm-hmm.

Ricky Varandas (52:42.72)
being, you know, leading to them scoring and tying the game and bringing in the PKs. So she was like crying and ball, you know, and I'm like, hey, it's not over yet. I'm like, I'm like, don't worry. then her, you know, she, you know, and it's like, you know, so it's like, I love all that. And the thing is, luckily, you know, my, I'll tell you what gives me a little bit of equity is that I take everything I do seriously and I don't have fast anything like we lost a basketball game or first basketball game a week ago.

Charlie Robinson (52:46.777)
Mm-hmm.

Charlie Robinson (52:50.243)
You gotta still play.

Ricky Varandas (53:11.724)
I don't think I slept in the next day like I was like thinking all I'm like dude what do need to do a practice of like what was our biggest weaknesses like what percentage of our practice should be dedicated to these things that got exposed in our loss and I I love losing a game from time to time because it kind of helps me as a coach like analyze like okay what do we need to work on you know because when you're winning it's hard to to figure out like hey I'm you know we look good I know we all we look because we just had a good game I know we have flaws

but we need a team to kind of expose what our biggest weaknesses are so then I can start working on those things. so throughout the years of me coaching and you know, could club soccer is very competitive and you know, Ludlow is known for their soccer program. You know, I think I've said it before, but like in the state of Massachusetts, a little town called Ludlow has the most state division one high school championships like.

Most people, unless you listen to my podcast, has never heard of the town called Ludlow, Massachusetts, outside of Springfield. But we have the most Division I high school championships. Division I. And it's because of the culture, right? Like we have a bunch of immigrants here, Polish, Portuguese, some French, Italians. everybody eats, breathe. All their relatives are like right off the boat Europeans. So they eat, breathe soccer. It the only sport that mattered.

had, you know, a big Portuguese club in town with that created a huge like, European style soccer field, which is where our our, our youth club and, you know, play and, and practice or whatnot. We, know, concrete, you know, walls and it looks like, you know, just something you'd see in Europe at a, you know, a soccer game. And, so that, you know, it, it makes it, it makes it important. And so

the nice thing about soccer, it's like we already have, especially the top tier parents, like a lot of times, if you're a top player in low low, you probably like I said, tough parents make tough kids, you probably already have tough parents that are all okay with a parent coach being a little, you know, being a bit of a, hey, dude, I'm going to make you accountable. Like you messed up. I'm going to call you out and let's nothing wrong with it that you messed up. We just got to acknowledge that you messed up and we need to correct it. And like so and I've done because of this approach, like I've done a lot of winning.

Ricky Varandas (55:34.656)
you know, like we've my kids, you know, dude, I didn't win a lot growing up. Like I worked my ass off, but I got in everything late, you know, and so I come in from the perspective of like, understood because Springfield has I mean, there's a lot of good basketball players in Springfield. I mean, I don't know if it's because of the Hall of Fame or the birth of basketball. Maybe it's a city thing. You know, I haven't played basketball in many other places like Springfield, you local cities around here.

Charlie Robinson (55:40.002)
I didn't either.

Ricky Varandas (56:02.759)
and in Massachusetts. And then, you I've played in Florida when we go down to Florida, I'll go, you know, I'll do the I still do the thing like I do. I do. When I was a kid, I'll go to a local court, fine run and go play. And I'm like, dude, our Massachusetts like what will bust your ass. You come to Massachusetts, these Florida kids cannot hang with the Massachusetts kids like you come to Springfield, you're to get your ass whooped because I'm like, if this is the best around here and I'm sure there's some good basketball players there, but on average, as much as I played pick up basketball in Florida,

and in Massachusetts, you know, but we have a lot of talent here. So there was a toughness to it, but I got into basketball late because I was always around soccer. So it forced me to be like, I got to work my fucking ass off. And I'm like to get better. And this OCD of like, I was tired of getting humiliated. I was tired of sucking. I was tired of some kid who, you know, who first time guarding me.

asking for the ball saying I got a mismatch and I haven't even touched the ball yet. I'm like, how do know you got a mismatch? I'm like, you're ready. You know, are kids shorter than me getting the ball and saying mouse in the house? You know, like I'm the mouse. I'm like, I'm taller than you. I'm like, and at the time I was like in the weightlifting, so was jacked and I'm like, they didn't care. I'm like, how much you can bench press has nothing to do with how good you are in a basketball court. And so like I have that mentality. that mentality has come over to my coaching.

where like I have that like we're going to outwork people you know and even one thing I love about coaching basketball in town is that basketball never been a sport taken seriously in town it's always been a a hobby for the soccer players so I recruited my soccer but my high level soccer players I'm like hey come play basketball I'm like my son's always ironic because I'm always playing it and so he loves it and I'm like you know let's sign up and I'm like whatever you guys

like, like, like, I like, I'm like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, I'm like, I'm I'm like, like,

Ricky Varandas (58:20.287)
we can be the most disciplined, can be the most unselfish, we can make the least mistakes, and we can work hard on anybody and we have chance to win. And we have, we've been successful just based on those things. you know, going back to like all these things, like I think that, you know, one, I think those life experiences, you know, I've had just like your life experiences has molded some of the way you approach life and some of your work ethic and some of the, you know, never give up type of mentality.

And then also, you know, I think, you know, when I always say, I'm like, when you're winning, parents kind of keep their mouth shut because it's like, you know, hey, maybe I am tough on your kid or maybe this, you know, but then I had, know, and I've had I've had some parents that will get, you know, especially I think my biggest issue is with I have a couple of kids that I brought over from my back from my soccer team that are like my starters. They're like the kids, they start every game. They're like a top, you know, top three, four player on the team. And then they come to my basketball team.

Charlie Robinson (58:58.33)
Mm-hmm.

Ricky Varandas (59:19.339)
and they're coming off the bench and they expect their kid to start. I'm like, no, no, this is a different thing. And I'm like, this is, know, so I'm like, I know you're used to your kid being the kid, the man, he gets all the playing time, you know, this and that. And and then you come on the basketball team and all of a your kids, not, know, not the man, you know, but I'm like, but I'm like, it's we have other kids, you know, so it just if anything, I think they, you know, some parents do appreciate that don't play favorites. Like if you're the best player who deserves to play, you know, I'm like

daughter's team same thing to girl who I convinced to come play basketball she never started a game and ever firm on my soccer team she always came out the bench and every game should be like you know it's like coach how come I don't get to start this game I'm like I almost said her name I don't want to blow I don't think anybody in her family's listening but I'll just leave it out but I'm like hey I'm like if you go in there and I'm like everybody's gonna get an opportunity to play

you decide at what you do with that opportunity. If you're helping the team, would not, I'm not, I will not take you out. I'm like, as you guys know, I'm like, I want to win, I want the team to win. If you're helping the team win, why would I sub you out? I'm like, help the team win it. And I'm like, everybody's gonna get an opportunity. When you get that opportunity, it's up to you to earn those, that playing time. And I write, I email before every season, basketball and soccer to all the parents. And I tell them the same thing.

I'm like I do not believe in a deserved mentality. I believe in an earned mentality. I'm like you your kid is Does deserve to get some playing time, but the playing time he gets is earned You know how much playing time and and I tell every parent I'm like if you have an issue with this I will be more than happy to put you on a fun focused team That's more concerned about everybody having equal playing time or whatever. I'm like now if you want to

because I'm always in the top division so I'm like I can't afford to have kids who like I have to worry about I got to keep their parents happy or I got to keep it you know and I tell all the kids and guess what I you know I had an issue after a first loss that I had these kids complaining about playing time it was again it was a soccer players were used to being stars that were now struggling because I have taller players and and more I have a couple kids that are focused on basketball that are just better options and tight games and I'm just like listen guys I'm like no offense but I'm like if if.

Ricky Varandas (01:01:41.996)
you if you were worried about your playing time I'm like we have rec teams we have CYO teams I'm like I'll be more than happy to get you on a team that can you you get you'll get more playing time you can really stick out like it's up to you guys I'm like but if you want to be in a suburban team I'm like it it's competitive which means when you're having a great game I'm gonna keep you in and and if you have you're struggling the kid who's having a great game I'm gonna keep him in and I'm like and and you know and never will I

you know favor a kid who's struggling over a kid who's having a great game i'm like if you if you give me a great performance i'm like i'll do that and then on the games that are a little bit more of a blowout i'll try to get those the kids who are still learning or weaker kids in to get that experience and you got to balance it all out but i'm like you know it it has to be about winning you know and you know i've had a couple parents that i've buttoned heads with a little bit where they'll you know i have to have this conversation with them which i hate i hate having the conversation because it's like listen like

you know, it's the way I treat everybody. You know, that girl that I was talking about that never started a game for me is my starting center on my basketball team. You know, it's not because I didn't favor her when I coached her in soccer and now I favor in basketball. It's just she's a great she's a much greater basketball player than I thought. And I didn't know she was playing and she's like, want to play on your basketball team like sign up. Hopefully you make the team. And then she didn't just make the team. She made the team and is a starter. And so it's like.

parents see that and hopefully they get it, you know, and, you know, and it's all the nice thing about coaching too, is that you do a lot of soul searching, it forces you to like, okay, am I favoring this kid? Am I doing this? You know, what am I doing wrong? Or how do I extract the most out of these kids? How do I get the most out of this kid or that kid? It's a lot of personality management. I think one of the most underrated parts of coaching is being able to communicate. Like you would make a great coach, I think, just because of

your understanding of the game is a part of it, you're a people's person. You get along with everybody. You listen. You know how to take the time to try to understand somebody's wants, needs, desires, likes and dislikes. And I remember Adam Krohler was talking about this, and I forget which podcast. It might have been when he was on the Rogan podcast. He was talking about how when he coached boxing, he wasn't the best boxer. He's like, by far, he wasn't the best boxer at that gym, but he was the best coach.

Ricky Varandas (01:04:06.281)
because when he coached, he would really focus on communicating, like in getting to know these guys and knowing how to explain the concepts. And he's like his communication skills made him the best coach where there was like coaches that are way better, better boxers than him, but struggle to coach. And you see it in pro sports, like, you you follow a lot of pro sports, like there's not a whole lot of great players that turn out to be great coaches.

Charlie Robinson (01:04:26.63)
Mm-hmm.

Charlie Robinson (01:04:36.401)
You know, it's interesting. I was trying to get an understanding of why the clubhouse was laid out the way it was. I was working, it was the first year of the Rockies being a team, 93, spring training in Tucson, a place called High Corbett Field. I was, Baylor had brought me there, I was working for him. And I said,

Why did you, I said, who picked the, who put the players lockers where they are? And he said, I did. And I said, why? And he said, he says, you have to racially segregate the lockers, locker room. I was like, I'm sorry? By the way, for those who don't know, Don Baylor is a large black man, really well respected, kind of like Darth Vader though.

super duper intimidating, like had the respect of the clubhouse for a variety of reasons. And I was like, I'm sorry, he's like, you got to keep the brothers over there. You got to keep the Dominicans over there and you got to keep the whites over there. And I was like, okay. And then he said, and then this guy's sitting next to this guy because he's going to, this is a sort of number one overall pick.

who's a pitcher, and I've got him sitting next to this other guy who's a veteran. And what was interesting about the... I wouldn't know this until like 20 years later, but out of locker room, out of that clubhouse, I was so fascinated with like the interpersonal dynamics of the locker room setup. And what was interesting was that from that group,

I think we had four catchers on the roster for spring training because pitchers and catchers report early, two weeks early, and I was there before they were there. And I think all four of those catchers went on to become Major League Baseball managers. Eric Wedge, Joe Girardi.

Charlie Robinson (01:06:58.417)
Fucking hell, I'd have to pull up the roster. There were four catchers on there. I think all four of them went on to become managers. They would just sit and listen to Baylor talk about stuff, about how he saw things and why. And I would sit there like with my mouth shut just listening, trying to like see how much I could learn from about why you're doing the things you're doing and why you're, you know. So when you're talking about like knowing how to.

interact with these players. That's as important of a quality than X's nose. You know what I mean? There's something to be said for losing the locker room. And when somebody loses the locker room, what that means and how you don't get that back and how that takes a while to earn it and all these things that you do throughout the course of the season really, Matt, when you've got, you know,

when the manager has his pictures back in a post-game press conference, like that can go a long way. Or taking the heat for something that he didn't need to take the heat for to deflect from something else that's going on. Like that goes a long way. The shit that never gets out into the press, that's happening behind the scenes. Like if you've got a good one there, if you've got a good manager or head coach, whatever, pick the sport.

They keep a lid on some of that stuff and keep the press out. It's where I learned to despise the media was working in pro sports, because I think they're vile subhuman filth that take advantage of unsophisticated young athletes and do horrible shit to them like they did with the Duke Lacrosse guys. Fucking unforgivable what Rolling Stone did.

to them, should have put those writers in prison. So like, I have a soft spot in my heart for pro athletes that, you know, say the wrong thing, do the wrong thing in the media because that's what my company did. That's what we did is we would get them before.

Charlie Robinson (01:09:16.177)
the media got ahold of them and explain like, listen, you know, this is what you say, this is what you don't say, these guys aren't your friends. And so like, you know, again, like I think it's so funny that I'm doing what I'm doing now. And like my public enemy number one is the mainstream media because it's like I've hated them for 25 years.

Ricky Varandas (01:09:40.596)
Yeah, it's even in sports media. It's very similar than I mean, it really is similar no matter what type of media you're referring to. It's about clicks. It's about creating drama. It's about, you know, those type of things. I mean, constantly clicking on sports stories that are deceiving based on the headline, right? I mean, they don't say something and you read the story like this isn't what this the story is about, you know, and yeah, it is in distress of a professional athlete. I mean, these

these players and I say kids because they are kids in many cases people forget that I think it was Jose Mourinho or whoever was a soccer manager that was talking about how when you know when you watch them on TV you think you know they all look like adults right there big they're faster stronger tough and then he's like and then they're in the locker room under tick tocking and talking about girlfriends and you realize like these are just kids man they're just kids they're in their early twenties

they're still figuring shit out. They're going to make mistakes. They're going to, you know, and yet if you do make a mistake, it's public. You got your friends busting your balls. You got the media busting your balls. You got your, you know, people, you know, talking trash to you. It's a lot of a lot of stress and the stress of being a professional athlete is no joke. It's it's you know, I I feel it even when I'm coaching a big game like I have a little bit of anxiety, a little bit of a

you know, little bit of like, I hope you know, I hope this goes well. I hope I made the right decision. I hope I started the right guys. I hope we had the right game plan. And I'm like, I couldn't even imagine that when you when you're on TV and you have the whole world watching in a big game and it just, know, and but that's also a part of one of the benefits of playing sports is that you also learn how to manage that. You know, I was saying my son, he's kind of fearless when it comes on the P. K. It's because he's he's already.

afraid of PKs. mean, when he was real little, he missed one in a big finals, and he's like, PKs, it's just not my thing. He's like, just suck at it. like, no, no, no. You don't suck at it. We just need to work on it. And then we worked on it. then he became, he went from being like scared of PKs to being the first one when it's a PK to be like fighting with his teammates. No, no, no, I'll take it. I'll take it. You know, he's like, he wants to take it. And, you know, so that's also something that came with playing sports at a young age and being put in that, you know, sometimes parents are like,

Ricky Varandas (01:12:05.807)
don't put you don't want to put pressure on the kids. I'm like, they're learning to deal with the pressure and the pressure goes away. You can't ignore it because it's just a matter of time before they're adults and they have to deal with it. So you're better off, you know, little by little exposing them to it now. And what isn't really, you know, if we win or lose, it really isn't life or death, you know, but they're you know, they they still have the pressure of the game. They're dealing with they're learning to deal with real life pressure.

in what is in a real life, you know, pressure scenario, right? It's not that serious, but then when they do have a real life pressure scenario, they've dealt with it and they know how to deal with that anxiety and stress.

Charlie Robinson (01:12:46.831)
Yeah, this was, I was just having this conversation with my wife about this, because our, our daughter does, is to equestrian and hunter jumper, you know, all this, you know, all of that, where you've got to, you know, follow a particular course and you've got to jump over the barriers and all this stuff. You know, it's a, it's a whole thing and it's super stressful. And she was at a tournament, this, you know,

earlier in the month and she got bumped up into a class that was like a class higher than hers that she wasn't expecting to be. And she was gonna have to be the first one to do the course. And she was unfamiliar with the course and had almost no time to figure it out. And my wife said, it's really kind of unfair that they did that to her. I said, no, I'm glad. I'm glad they did both those things to her because now...

in her mental Rolodex in the future, when somebody bumps her up into a higher court, she's done that, or makes her be the first person, she's done that. She can draw upon those experiences later. Good that she didn't have any prep or any time to think about it. Sometimes you don't want a lot of time to think about it, but you've now had those experiences, you've gone through those hurdles, and the next time it happens,

you'll be prepared for it. You at least won't have the anxiety of it being your first time. You may still screw up, but you'll at least, you're just building experiences, one on top of the other. And...

And so I sometimes think that when they throw you a curve ball or you miss a kick or you something like that, it's like, all right, well, remember that feeling, know, remember how you feel right now. Let's make sure you don't, if you don't want to feel that again, let's, might have to get back in the gym or back on the, on the actual proverbial horse.

Charlie Robinson (01:14:46.415)
You may have to just keep working through this. You know what it's like when you're trying to hit a shot over and over again and then you finally do that sense of accomplishment. That translates into your life. That's the same thing as you emailing a bunch of people, I'd love to have you on my show, I'd love to have you on my show, no response, no response. And then boom, you get the guy who's like, I'd love to come on your show, Ricky. And you go, you miss 100 % of the shots you don't take, right, Wayne?

So you start to, find that these lessons that you thought was about basketball, these skills that you learned when you were a kid that you thought was about skateboarding, like, no, man, it's that you sometimes have to try the jump a hundred times until you stick it. Because when you do stick it, that feeling is so great.

And that sense of accomplishment carries forward with you into your life. And you go seeking that in some ways for a long, long time. But that I think is a positive thing. I was talking to my daughter about being competitive. And my wife says, I don't understand. My wife says, I'm not competitive, but you two are. She says, I just don't, I don't know what that's like. I said, well, here's the thing that you need to understand. I'm not being

I'm not competitive against the guy who's next to me or the guy who's on the other team. That's not my driving force. I'm competing against me. I'm competing against how I was last week or how I was last year or what I think I can be in the future. But the competition is not it. So I I said, you have to understand when we're

when the two of us are being competitive, this isn't a negative thing, this isn't a bad thing. I'm not, it's not, I have to win at your, and you need to lose. know, some people are bad about it. Some people take it to like a really sick place and you can do that. But that's never been how I view it. I'm just trying to make sure I'm better than I was before. necessarily, unless you get on the wrong side of me, then I might want to fucking die.

Charlie Robinson (01:17:02.833)
at you. But that's rare. That's only like if it's like, if someone tries to make it like, okay, you want to go, then let's go. I'm down for that too. But normally it's just, when I go to the gym, what am I doing? Am I training for a bodybuilding competition or something? No, I'm just going to the gym because I've always gone. Because that's what I do. That's my...

outlet, that's my therapy, that's my stress reliever, I feel healthy because I feel healthy, maybe I'm gonna, you know, carry that forward with, you know what I mean? like, I think that people that get involved in group sports, I think it's tremendously beneficial for their kids. know, for them,

for the rest of their lives. It's not just limited to being on the field. I think that's why so many people in the business world come out of the sports world as well. there's a mentality, there's a mindset that translates very well. It might not translate very well to being like a research biologist, I don't know, but it translates usually pretty well in the sales world. find a lot of people in the sales world, in the...

real estate world that come out of sports. Because if you're already kind of working on a eat what you kill mentality in terms of like the way you train or the way you live your life, then you're not going to have a problem going into 100 % commission sales. You'll be you're sort of already geared for that. If it's a matter of outworking the other people in your office, holy shit, you're like, I'm a grinder. I'll get in there and destroy those people.

Like let me in, I'll take 100 % commission if there's uncapped upside. Yeah, but that's but those those are the people that are like, typically athletes, I think not bookworms.

Ricky Varandas (01:19:09.067)
No, I think you're absolutely right. you know, those are things you learn. I think being in a band and playing sports, one thing I learned was being like being okay with being criticized, which also probably prepared me for podcasting and comments, you know, but it just

Charlie Robinson (01:19:24.721)
for reading the comments. Listen to these two assholes.

Ricky Varandas (01:19:32.489)
Yeah, I'm like, super honest. So like, there's nothing a commenter could say that I haven't already thought myself, you know, it's like, yeah, maybe I too much.

Charlie Robinson (01:19:39.179)
yeah, I guarantee you. I'm harder on, yeah, you want to criticize me in the comments? I'm harder on myself than you guys would be. I've called myself every name in the book. Believe me, don't worry. You haven't said anything to me I haven't said to myself. I get it.

Ricky Varandas (01:19:49.407)
Yeah, and we get up.

Ricky Varandas (01:19:57.128)
And musicians aren't quite like that because a lot of times you have a songwriter and it's all about like, you know, like, he's writing the song. So there's not a whole lot of critique coming from the other people. You know, I saw when like growing up playing music, I would do the lyric writing. And a lot of times I would write the song on like on my guitar because I would sing and play guitar for the band. And I'd come with a idea and it would always be like, OK, they would shoot it down.

Right? Like, oh, no, we don't like that, or we do like that, or, you know, maybe two band members like it, but then one doesn't. So then there's like, should we do this or should we change that? So I was always the one kind of being critiqued, you know, so, you know, and then when anybody else in the band had an idea and you critique them, they weren't used to it. So then they would take it personal. Like, why are you? What's wrong with my idea? You know, it's like, no, no, it's not about your idea. It just does it fit the song, you know? And then when I got into playing sports,

was the same thing. Like, you know, I remember just even my my kids when they would come to you know, my son because my daughter was real small, but my son was real small before he got so busy with with his sports, you know, life, he would come to my games and you know, I play in like local city leagues and whatnot. And he'd be like, Dad, you played well. I'm like, No, I didn't, man. I'm like, I, you know, I made a mistake there. I missed that pass. I, know, I should have made that shot. I was wide open, you know, this and that and

he kind of learned how honest and hard I was on myself, you know, and like you said, it wasn't about beating the other team, was about me trying to give the most I could give. And anytime I felt like I came up short, I was honest about it. And I wasn't honest about it because I just wanted to like, you know, cry and be sad or what. I was honest about it because it just let me know that I need to work on some stuff. And it was motivation to do better, you know, and that was always the way I looked at everything. You know, my wife's always like, you're so disciplined with your diet. I don't know how you do it.

issues that you and abut then she also tells me that sometimes i'm too hard on myself when i cheat i like that i it's okay for me to be hard on myself when i when i have a rule of war day or cheat day because me being hard on myself is why the next day it's unacceptable for me to continue that cheating and i have to get back on track and you know so it's all those like you said it everything's like internal it's all like the these little

Ricky Varandas (01:22:14.569)
you know, things in your head and you learning these little life lessons that stay with you. I had a player that I coach give me a gift on Christmas and it's my favorite quote and that I'm sure she heard me say multiple times. A good coach can change a game. A great coach can change your life. And I say that all the time. I always have these little quotes I say and whatnot. And I never take for granted that I can be a part of some kids.

life lesson right and help them learn something in this journey of playing sports and and you know and I was like that you know I learned a lot from the ups and downs the sucking at stuff and having to really work I mean podcasting was the same thing I'm sure you you dealt you know you dealt with it this like a little bit of like I don't know if I'm good at this I don't know if anybody's gonna listen but I'm gonna work hard at it you know and the thing the thing about hard work and and luck it crossed paths

Charlie Robinson (01:23:03.491)
Totally.

Ricky Varandas (01:23:10.731)
at some point but if you don't work hard it's never gonna have the opportunity to cross paths with some luck right and I've gotten some some great guests on the show and people sometimes like how'd you get I'm like it's a lot of emails a lot of you know especially when I first started like it's like hundreds of emails a hundreds of being an investigative journalist and trying to find some contact info for people and and then getting zero response and it was a long journey from 2013 to now

where I'm getting emails and I'm turning people down and I'm getting free books in the mail for guests that want to come on or whatever. It was a long journey. And then sometimes I still deal with like, for some reason, I just can't get that person on. Either they're not interested or whatever it is. And it kind of reminds me of like,

I haven't gotten to a point where everybody says yes and that's okay too. It kind of humbles you and keeps you in place. So all these things are life journeys and you can either look at all the bumps as like, know, woe is me or you can look at it as like, hey, I'm going to learn from this. I'm going to use it as a life lesson. I'm going to be bigger and stronger and better because of it. And that's, you know, and it's my other favorite quote. If you change the way you look at things, what you look at changes, right? It's all...

everything's perspective. Everything is the way you look at it. And I look at things that go wrong sometimes as a challenge, right? And then, you know, or I can look at it as a defeat and be like, you know, this sucks. I just give up, right? Or I look at it as like, no, this sucks. But I'm going to find a way. I'm going to at least do my best to find a way to get through this. And we're going to figure it out. And, you know, I think.

having that mentality is why a Christiano Ronaldo or Tom Brady or a Michael Jordan or Kobe? at yet at the end of the game isn't looking at like, shit, coaches drawing up a play for me. I'm going to fucking blow this instead. They're like, coach better be drawing up a play for me because I'm going to win this and same situation, just different mentality.

Charlie Robinson (01:25:12.891)
Yeah.

Charlie Robinson (01:25:16.708)
Yeah, I have have you ever gone through like a major injury?

Ricky Varandas (01:25:24.588)
Yeah, well, I've I had I dislocated my shoulder. did the only things that kept me out, like the only times that I've been like literally forced to have to not play was I dislocated the shoulder twice. And then I when I fractured both arms and even then I was still going to the gym. I just do lower body and core or whatever. But it was the only time I was like forced where I couldn't play sports and it drove me fucking crazy. It drove me. I'm like, I have to do something.

I couldn't even imagine ACL or MCL where it's like you got no choice but be off your feet for like a year.

Charlie Robinson (01:25:58.195)
I was I was I tore my ankle my freshman year at USC and I missed two years I didn't play until my junior and senior year from that from that injury and that was a huge like psychological gauntlet you have to run where you can't

work out and I got misdiagnosed and I should have had surgery and I didn't and it fucked me up. That's why it fucked me up for two years and it's a whole thing. like that working yourself through an injury is, you know, you have to go through all that. watched my roommate tear his ACL and have to go through an ACL reconstructive surgery and the rehab of that and watching him on the machine that sort of straightened your leg and him going,

you know, and they're like, oh, fucking hell. I'm like, man, you know, the career of a pro athlete is so short, you know, and it is so stressful to be in that world because the majority of the people are like, barely hanging in there, just barely making it. And that...

or they just came up like from the minor leagues or something in the case of baseball where they're making jack shit. Now they're finally starting to make some money and they don't want to lose it. And so there's a lot of anxiety surrounding that and like, you so it's not like the most healthy environment because it's super obviously super competitive, but like there's a lot of money involved and

there's a million guys trying to take your job and you're trying to work with them and be cool with them because you're on the same team with them. But there's other aspects of it that factor into the reality of how you guys interact with each other. one of the guys I meant to mention, I said was one of the catchers was a guy named Brad Osmas as well was in that locker room. Dudes went on to, Ricky, you would have loved to

Charlie Robinson (01:28:15.923)
to come to the place where I worked back in 2003, I opened a division of our company at the IMG academies in Bradenton, Florida. Are you familiar with that place? Have you heard of IMG academies?

Ricky Varandas (01:28:31.839)
I've heard of IMG.

Do they do other things also? That's a huge company, right?

Charlie Robinson (01:28:39.633)
Yeah, IMG was a company that was started by Mark McCormick and they were talent managers. They just did that. they have, you know, over the years that's been acquired as IMG William Morris. So the talent agency side of it, and there's sports agencies that have all now turned into CAA, but at the time it was IMG.

baseball, IMG hockey, IMG football, and they bought the Nick Bullittary Tennis Academy and turned it into IMG Academy. So now there's a full facility there. There's a boarding school there. And my company was, we were the communications component of that. We were a separate company working there, but my partner ran that for, still runs that for 20 plus years. I'm not involved in it, but I...

It's like the sports fantasy camp heaven. Like the facility is unreal. I remember walking through one day in 2003, I was walking past the president, the president's office and he yelled at me, goes, hey, come in here. And I stuck my head in and he goes, have you been over to the basketball courts today? And I was like, no, you should.

Why? He said, you should go over there. We have $200 million of basketball players over there right now. And I was like, okay. So I went over and, it was like basically almost the entire starting lineup of the Detroit Pistons and a bunch of other dudes, just like a hodgepodge, like all playing pickup basketball in gym with nobody there except me sitting there just like, nice lunch break. I'll just watch these guys play.

The shittiest, by the way, the shittiest basketball I've ever seen them play. was awful. Nobody's hitting anything. So, but you would have loved it, Ricky. It's like a sports camp. Actually, people can go there and like play, like who are into tennis or golf and like go for corporate events and like stay at the condos and then get trained all day long by like world-class professional golfer instructors or tennis coaches and things like that. like,

Charlie Robinson (01:31:01.901)
Every single big-time tennis player in the 80s, 90s, and 2000s came out of that place. Like every one of them. And when I was there, they were there. I was watching Sharapova. I was there when Serena was there. I was there when Michelle Wee was there. Like crazy shit, man. Like a real interesting place to watch, to see sports from a weird perspective.

Ricky Varandas (01:31:27.947)
Well, cool thing about that, well, first of all, it's shitty. Well, when they play pickup basketball, you know how they are. Everybody's just playing for themselves. Everybody's being a little selfish. There's no team playing, that was, I mean, that was a good Detroit team. That was the blast, really good Detroit team. That was the year. Yeah, the who we just got.

Charlie Robinson (01:31:34.823)
Yeah.

Charlie Robinson (01:31:42.599)
John T. Billups was there. Stanley Roberts was there. Bunch of dudes rehabbing there.

Ricky Varandas (01:31:50.578)
So that's you, Matt. Rip Hamilton, Tayshon Prince, Ben Wallace, who got in the big fight with Ron Artest. Rashid was there, I think, at the time already, right? Rashid Wallace.

Charlie Robinson (01:31:55.793)
RIP Hamilton was there. Ben wasn't there.

Charlie Robinson (01:32:07.354)
He was on the team, but he wasn't at the IMG when I was there. I didn't see him there. But yeah, yeah, we know affectionately known as bird crap. Rashid Wallace. You remember that when he'd play road games? Cause he had that white spot on the back of his head. Yeah. His head, but it was just that one, like his, his black Afro had like one little white spot. So everyone you, everyone in the stands would yell bird crap at him. Best taunting nickname ever.

Ricky Varandas (01:32:11.113)
Yeah, but that was

Ricky Varandas (01:32:31.723)
I was actually, I was big, well he always had some of the records for the most technical fouls and he's been pretty honest also about the refereeing and some of the nonsense that happens in pro sports.

Charlie Robinson (01:32:41.161)
yeah.

Charlie Robinson (01:32:46.962)
He wasn't wrong. He wasn't always wrong. was a guy you could set him off real easily. They could easily get him in foul trouble or technical trouble. But I've seen him doing interviews recently. He's like, remember when I was talking about that motherfucker? that dude, I was like, now look at him. He's like, well, you might've had a point, Cheed. You might've had a point. But you also had a reputation.

Ricky Varandas (01:33:14.283)
No, he was right. Yeah, he did. And the thing is, the refs are human, and they also have personal issues with certain players, which is going to affect their decision making. It was like that Tim Duncan was a finals or Washington Conference finals game where they put the ref that didn't get along with him on the game. And everybody kind of knew, like, why would you do that? going to

the game. And it did like he got a technical when he was on the bench and got kicked out of the game, and everybody's like, dude, like he should have been roughing attempt. I can game. don't get along for whatever reason. And that type of stuff happened all the time that ref that came out publicly and start saying stuff. I mean, a lot of stuff he said made sense like, Hey, you see a guy at the bar the night before getting annihilated, and he has a game the next day. You'll know like maybe I should bet.

against that team, you know, or whatnot. So there was a lot of and then he also talked about how, you know, certain refs were put on certain games because they thought it would indirectly influence the outcome and maybe lead to a game seven if it was a game six or whatnot. So that type of stuff happens. Chauncey builds, you know, he just got caught. He was a part of that giant scandal. And I think we haven't even scratched the surface on how, you know,

deep and dark. All that is, I think we both have talked to Brian to he wrote the book to fix his in and this stuff has been going on for a long time. And if you think soccer just happens to be the only in boxing, you know, so there's like certain sports that everybody like publicly accepts is super corrupt. And then for some reason, the American sports, the big American sports have done such a great job with their PR and hiding it all. And now you have sports betting as someone of the

some of the biggest sponsors of the game. And I'm like, wait, wait. So you're suspending guys for betting. But during the commercials, you got, hey, I want everybody to bet. You're like helping the industry grow while saying that, like, hey, we don't we don't want it in our game. Like it's just it's crazy.

Charlie Robinson (01:35:27.635)
They're hypocrites, it's money driven. I mean, now when you can have prop bets on players specific statistics for the night of some obscure game, some basketball game in the middle of January in Milwaukee, nobody gives a fuck about, all of a sudden everybody's betting on whether or not some shooting guard's going to go off for a ton of, or.

hit the under on rebounds or something. All the money flows in. Very suspicious. Guys, there's gonna be a lot of that. think there's gonna be, I mean, we're seeing it right now with the NBA. And as you said, think that that, you keep an eye on that because it's not just limited to the NBA, of course. This is something that's gonna be pervasive throughout every sport, anywhere where there's money.

I don't know, did you see the video of Kevin Durant standing on the foul line? He's not taking a free throw, but some other dude is, and he's looking, he's making eye contact with that dude in the stand, white guy, young guy with a baseball hat, and the guy with the baseball hat is pointing at him and he's nodding, and Kevin Durant is going, shaking his head no, and the other guy's nodding yes. Are you familiar with that video? Have you seen that footage? Because that, to me,

I don't know what they were talking about, but it was really, really weird. And I think that once they really get to the bottom of this, it's gonna be throughout everything.

Ricky Varandas (01:37:11.499)
Yeah, I'm curious. haven't seen that. I'll have to look that up. I mean, there's some obvious ones. mean, Luca going to LA. You know, like you have Luca going to LA. Sports Center, I had Sports Center on in the background. had some friends over. Sports Center on in the background when it broke. The Sports Center hosts announced it, confused. They're like, we don't know if this is correct, but we're getting word that Luca was traded to the Lakers for

Charlie Robinson (01:37:15.635)
I'll send it here.

That was weird.

Ricky Varandas (01:37:41.58)
a very injury prone Anthony Davis and it's like and it's like wait wait this guy was like if they won in the finals against the Celtics that year he would have been finals MVP he brought that team to the finals you know the best player on the team they love him in Dallas and they didn't talk to any other team in the league and no other team to negotiate one of the best players in the league and and then they do a smear campaign

Charlie Robinson (01:38:02.952)
Yeah.

Ricky Varandas (01:38:05.321)
where they talk about his weight and all these things like yeah, of course that's an issue, but all you're trying to do is justify what seems to be an absurd trade. And it was to help the LA Lakers owners and franchise. And then magically, you know, the I'm sorry to the Dallas fans, the way the NBA tries to make right. It's almost like when a ref makes a bad call and it's a makeup call, like the makeup call was, hey, how about we...

Against all other odds, we give you Cooper flag.

Charlie Robinson (01:38:36.713)
Right.

Ricky Varandas (01:38:37.385)
It's like really like you think that was accidental that they just traded a franchise player and with very little odds to get the first overall pick in a year that you had an amazing first overall pick. You get Cooper flag like that's absurd. It's like the Patrick Ewing thing back in a day like it's absurd. It's like people it's like telling a wrestling fan that it's like it's rehearsed. It's like as a kid or telling a kid that Santa's not real like it breaks their heart. That's something they love so much.

they think isn't as real as, you know, as they've been told. But the truth is like this stuff happens. And it's like that one was just like so right in your face. It's like you nobody can believe that. I mean, Luca was stunned. Jason Kidd, the coaches, the coach of Dallas Mavericks, they had no talks with him. Like what? What? And some people have done some deep dives into this about the the owners.

and wanting to move a team to Vegas, the Dallas team to Vegas, and LA needing a franchise player.

Charlie Robinson (01:39:37.65)
You know who owns them, right?

Ricky Varandas (01:39:42.085)
yeah, Dallas, isn't it some big casino family, right?

Charlie Robinson (01:39:46.054)
It's Miriam Adelson.

Ricky Varandas (01:39:50.463)
That's right.

Ricky Varandas (01:39:55.007)
Conveniently. Jesus Christ. This podcast.

Charlie Robinson (01:39:57.524)
She, I mean, that's franchise malpractice. To send Luca to LA. And listen, LA always gets them, right? They get Kobe. They swung that deal with Charlotte, that crazy ass deal to trade Vladi Divac to Charlotte to get Kobe. Nobody remembers that, he never suited up for Charlotte. They get Shaq. They get LeBron. They get Luca. Come

Ricky Varandas (01:40:02.197)
Yeah, yeah.

Ricky Varandas (01:40:23.327)
Yeah.

Ricky Varandas (01:40:27.843)
At one point I don't know if you remember they actually lost to that Detroit team which shows you like a team is better than a bunch of stars They had Gary Payton Yeah, Gary Payton Carl Malone Shaq and Kobe and I think Derek Fisher. Yeah, he was there. He was a point guard I mean that team on paper is I mean all those guys are Hall of Famers and then a Detroit team where everybody knew their role Ben Wallace couldn't take a fucking shot of his life to

Charlie Robinson (01:40:33.587)
2004.

That was the team.

Charlie Robinson (01:40:55.869)
They were dogs. Ben Wallace would knock your fucking head off.

Ricky Varandas (01:40:58.549)
They were

Yeah, which they, he showed on video he was willing to do. That was crazy. Yeah, it's crazy when you look at that team, you know, they kind of cruised through during the regular season, everybody thought they were just going to get that Carl Malone ring and the Gary Payton ring that they deserved and whatever. And Detroit just kind of proved like, dude, we got, everybody knows the role, everybody

Charlie Robinson (01:41:05.031)
you

Ricky Varandas (01:41:30.655)
buys in time, know, Teishan Prince lengthy, you know, he, was a great defensive player, Chauncey Bill.

Charlie Robinson (01:41:36.359)
K. Sean Prince was there. That was one of the dudes who was at IMG

Ricky Varandas (01:41:43.605)
Yeah, dude, I just talking about this brings back some, some memories of some great basketball eras that were fun to watch. Yeah. It's yeah, it's wild, man. I mean, it's funny. Like my love with basketball is why I wanted to play basketball. My love with music is why I want to play music. My love for podcasts is why I wanted to podcast everything I love. I just also want to do. I'm sure that it's probably similar to you.

Charlie Robinson (01:42:06.397)
Yeah. was taught, was here's a kind of a creepy thing. I was talking to Tony Merkel. It was the first week of February in 2020. And we were just on phone talking about macroaggressions. We were going to launch it, you know, in a couple of weeks. And and so we were just having a conversation about that and sort of midway through he goes, my God, Kobe Bryant just died.

was like, holy shit. You remember that? uh, how that, that was like, frankly, like that was when all the bullshit began. I'm being honest, like I think it was like first week of February, February 4th, maybe, uh, 2020. And I was on the, just on the phone, just coincidentally, I just remember where I was when that happened because I was talking to Tony about macroaggressions that hadn't.

hadn't started yet. We were just getting it going. And I was like, whoa. It's like you didn't know what you didn't know. Then you get COVID three weeks later too.

Ricky Varandas (01:43:21.611)
It was crazy the timing of it all. mean, this is probably a great way of, you know, ending it kind of where we started just appreciation for life, you know, it's I remember when Diego Jota died, the Liverpool player, the Portuguese player, and, you know, I follow all the Portuguese players really closely, you know, he played at Porto in Portugal, went to, you know, Wolves and then, you know, made a name for himself at Liverpool, young kid.

just won the Nations League with Portugal against Spain in the finals. You know, had an amazing Liverpool Premier League where they ended up winning it all the last year. And he had some, because of surgery, it was some type of medical thing. It was either because he just had surgery or was having surgery or some health issue where they recommended him to drive from Spain to Portugal instead of fly. And he gets in this car accident and dies, him and his brother. you know, young kid in the 20s.

beloved by everybody. And I remember I remember being shocked similar to like the Kobe thing where it just kind of felt like it came out of nowhere. And and I'm just like, fuck, dude, like this dude just got married. He just won the Nations League. He's a he's a young dad on one of the best clubs in the world. Liverpool. He's a, you know, potential playing, you know, he gets to play in the World Cup coming up for Portugal, who's a favorite, like literally everything was going great in his life.

Charlie Robinson (01:44:30.356)
Yeah.

Charlie Robinson (01:44:50.526)
So unfair.

Ricky Varandas (01:44:51.723)
And just like that, there were, I remember my kid, and it's funny thinking about trauma and how it affects you. I remember my son just like, when we found out together, we're looking at each other and we like, I felt like he was adult dealing with it like adult. he understood how crazy it was and he was sad for a couple of days and didn't want to turn off the TV and wanted, you know, and I'm just like, wow, man, like he gets it. He understands like these, like.

you know, he knows what this means. He's like, he's not like he's gone. He's like his life's over. He like all those beautiful things are going on. We're taking away from everybody and his family and his teammates and now everybody's grieving and it was, yeah, I mean it. But again, like the only good thing that comes out of all these things is that room because I think we do need these reminders because we get caught up in being busy, right? And not taking a day off and not enjoying life and company and whatever and holidays or whatever.

I think the only good thing that comes out of all these things is it reminds you tomorrow's not promised. Don't take today for granted. Don't take tomorrow for granted. Don't take anything for granted because just like that it can be over and gone and you know that's why I've I mean and it's a flaw of mine that's why I never you know think too far in advance because I'm always like well I might not make it.

10 years, 20 years, like what am gonna do when I retire? like, don't, like, I might not even make it to retirement, like what's retirement? I don't know, I'm like, you know, it's like, it's to a flaw, but I'm like, I definitely am enjoying the now more than those people who are overthinking that, so it's a, yeah, it's crazy.

Charlie Robinson (01:46:33.862)
All right, let's wrap it up then, I suppose. It's good place to leave it. It's important to take care of yourself, not take everything too seriously. know, we're here for a very short period of time. Some people get to experience all those amazing things in a very tight window and other people live long, long lives doing absolutely nothing. So I suppose it's what you make of it.

And it's, we'll see what 2026 is like, but I'm cautiously optimistic, I suppose. think ultimately it's what you make of it with your immediate family, the people closest to you. think a lot of the nonsense that we hear or the stuff that we're fearful that might happen, even if it does happen, I don't know that it'll impact us really, if we're being honest about it.

But the things that will impact you are the things that you can control, the things within your reach with your family and friends and staying close to them and not making sure they're not, you know, if it gets weird, making sure it doesn't get too weird for your friends and they're not feeling isolated like during the, you know, the COVID era where things, things were rough. I'm looking forward to more Union of the Unwanted shows. I know that much because that's been

talk about a really fun curveball to have that outlet over the last couple of years has been, I think, very beneficial for a lot of people. So thanks for always setting that up. And yes, you are the party planner. It is the Portuguese and you, you do like to invite everybody the guest list and pour out the proverbial wine for everybody. So I appreciate it, man. It's good to good to partner up with you on podcasts. That's for sure.

Ricky Varandas (01:48:33.451)
Yeah, no, it's fun man. I mean, it's I've had so many great conversations with people, you know throughout this podcast journey and you know, especially you like you I feel like, you know, I even though you're a podcast, you know, partner and friend, you know, I definitely consider I mean, anytime I refer to you, I it's always like, my friend Charlie, you know, I'm like, I've never met this guy. But I feel like you're one of my best friends. And it's like, it's awesome. I mean, like if I need something I can

Charlie Robinson (01:48:56.328)
Yeah. Yeah.

Ricky Varandas (01:49:03.405)
text you if I will you know if you're if I'm bored I can text you if I have idea I can text you and you know it's it's it's it's awesome

Charlie Robinson (01:49:10.357)
If you have music, you can text me and you have been texting me and I would encourage people to go check out your music by the way, which since we've been talking about that, that's just nice to have that as a additional outlet. Podcasts are one thing and music is another thing and it's nice to see you making cool music and sending it my way. So I appreciate it.

Ricky Varandas (01:49:36.915)
Yeah, I appreciate that. Yeah, I mean, it's I think we both like to create. We have imaginations. We love bringing things that start in our head to life. And music is no different. And this conversation reminds me of one of the lines, the lyrics, that song, Digital Disease, I sent you, because one of the lines is at the end, do we restart or die? And that's always a thought I have in my head. And, you know, it's like, hey, what happens at the end of this journey? And, you know, we don't know.

but maybe we do restart, who knows, or do we get recycled, who knows, but it's these deep conversations and these deep just explorations into what's reality and whatnot, it's fun. And I'm glad there's people like you out there that people can listen to that kind of help spark these conversations and get people to kind of zoom out and not just live in the material world for too long, but they hear about your...

ayahuasca trips and you're like fuck me maybe maybe he's tuning into something maybe maybe he's you know maybe there's something there you know and so yeah i i think we're all just figuring out as we go and on this journey i'm glad that you know we're friends and we get to go on it together

Charlie Robinson (01:50:53.16)
Yeah, absolutely. It's good to, it's definitely good to have you along for this crazy ass experience. Well, let's say on my end, I know this is sort of a swap cast, so you'll say what you need to say on your end. On my end, I would say that I hope people will go to an archipelco in Puerto Vallarta in February 15th through the 20th. guess, well, 15th is the opening night.

It's in Puerto Vallarta. We outgrew Acapulco. So it's in a banger of a lineup too. Some really go to anarkapulco.com and you can find out the lineup. be, I'll be the MC again this year. good Lord. I'm going to be wrangling anarchist cats, but it'll be fun because, I should just read the lineup since I think I've got it here.

Jeff Berwick, Curtis Stone, Gareth Icke, David Icke, Max Egan, Dr. Andrew Kaufman, Christian Yordanov, Tim James, Patrick Henningsen, Greg Reese, Steve Falconer, Vit Jedlenka, the president of Liberland, which is pretty cool. Dan Dix, Mark Devlin, musical guest, Aya May. She's the Australian chick who's having some success. She'll be there. And a couple other people who I don't think I'm at liberty to announce, but...

Pretty big names that will be there. So I hope people will come and check it out and listen. It's the worst places to be than Mexico in February. You come after the Super Bowl, right? Watch the Super Bowl next week. Come on out. See you there.

Ricky Varandas (01:52:34.832)
and my a is that a huge artist i mean i don't remember that song all i wanna do is a ch ch chicken a big boom and take your money that's her song that that was a huge hit

Charlie Robinson (01:52:45.683)
This is not MIA. This is I am a I Y H H I am a she's a little. She's a this she's an Australian. She's a young, like blonde Australian, cute Australian girl who's got like songs on. She's got a song that mentions the Epstein files, which I thought was pretty fucking awesome. And she's she's got.

Ricky Varandas (01:52:50.924)
Wow.

Damn shitty wife.

Ricky Varandas (01:53:14.365)
wait, I didn't mean to-

Charlie Robinson (01:53:15.391)
She's, you know what I'm talking about. She's been kind of like on TikTok and X and everything, real cute, blonde, Australian.

Ricky Varandas (01:53:18.826)
Yes, that's the chief. Last year. What the hell was that song last year? It came out late last year. She was a nurse, right? She was a nurse or something like that. She came from the medical world. And then, yeah, she had that song that went viral at the end of last year. It was like I remember because it was like New Year's Eve. And I remember playing it for my wife. I'm like, dude, I can't stop playing the song. It's so catchy. And.

Charlie Robinson (01:53:30.463)
Something like that, yeah.

Ricky Varandas (01:53:45.311)
And then it was wicked good and she just came out with a new one called Evil Citizen, something citizen that's really good but the one that came out last year was like it was catchy, she had great lyrics, hit on really good important topics and it went viral and she started getting interviewed on a bunch of stuff. I actually tried reaching out to her and try getting her on because from a fellow conspiracy theorist musician I figured it should be fun to have on but yeah.

look her up that that song is i wish i had the song up front of me but just look her up i'm sure it'll come up because anyway

Charlie Robinson (01:54:16.245)
I did, yeah, I looked her up just because I was like, I mean, I'm going to be introducing her to the stage. I should be familiar with her stuff. You know what I mean? So I went and like looked it up. was like, oh yeah, I know who she is. I mean, I kind of recognize I didn't know the name and I didn't really know. There's a bunch of songs. So I had to listen to a bunch of them. So I was like, oh yeah, she'll be a good fit.

Ricky Varandas (01:54:37.686)
So the big one is.

I just found it. Carmageddon. That was a song. Carmageddon. That was awesome, awesome song. you're listening, definitely check out that song. Super catchy. I mean, you can play it in the background. Your kids will sing to it and dance to it because it's so catchy. They won't even know it's about how the world's being run by elites. It's a really good song.

Charlie Robinson (01:54:43.687)
Armageddon. Yeah.

Charlie Robinson (01:55:01.001)
Yeah. She's doing opening night. So and I think Mark Devlin's DJing. He comes in from the UK. He's great. And he's got musical truths, volume one, two and three. And then he's got a fiction, a new fiction book series that he's working on as well. So good to see Mark there. Yeah. So it's a good.

Ricky Varandas (01:55:11.32)
yeah?

Ricky Varandas (01:55:23.318)
but MIA also got some great...

Charlie Robinson (01:55:26.377)
For sure, yeah, yeah, I know who she is and it's not her, but I know who you're talking about and she would be a good fit as well. It just happens to.

Maybe one day, we'll see.

Ricky Varandas (01:55:37.472)
Well, the other girl is a bit more relevant because she got kicked off her record label, going down this path of being outspoken and had a song that literally went viral late last year into early this year and really just came out of nowhere and made a name for herself and she seems to be doing really well and she seems super smart, well spoken, like you said, cute.

I mean, she's kind of have the whole package. I mean, I see bright things in her future. So yeah, that's exciting. That's awesome to get her on.

Charlie Robinson (01:56:10.441)
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So and our friend Christian Yordnev too will be speaking there. So I'm excited for him. So.

Ricky Varandas (01:56:23.506)
Awesome. Yeah, and then I guess on my end, the ripple effect podcast calm, you can find ripple effect podcasts anywhere you can get podcasts. And then theory six is also available anywhere you stream music. And then yeah, I mean, take a listen, check it out. I do use just put it out there. I do use some artificial intelligence to play the songs that I write, but you know, to help speed up the process of starting a song.

from in my imagination to putting it into Spotify where you can listen to it. It's a long journey and it's not that it's much shorter with AI but it definitely helps quite a bit, you know, taking those ideas and helping, you know, generate them and bring them to life. And then of course the Union of Dunwantah.com. We live stream, at least Charlie and I try to, every other Monday and as long as YouTube keeps letting us, we'll keep doing it there and...

and then you can find the audio on all the podcast platforms.

Charlie Robinson (01:57:26.687)
That's it. Thanks everybody. Talk to you again soon.

Ricky Varandas (01:57:28.781)
Thanks.