Ta ta ta ta!
Good Sunday morning to you and wherever you may be.
FRPC comes to you today solo.
Vince is here.
Nico unfortunately is not.
The reason why this podcast is late, usually on a Friday, we hit you with some hoops.
Unfortunately, my mother went into the hospital and we are dealing with that slow walk.
Unfortunately, my mother is dying.
I don't think there's a question about that.
It's been hard.
So I apologize for us being late.
I apologize.
It is on me.
It is not on Nico.
We are trying to provide consistent hoops talk, football talk on Mondays, and unfortunately,
life got in the way.
For those who don't know, my mother is struggling with a litany of issues.
She has a congestive heart failure.
She has kidney issues, COPD, that's from the smoking.
She also has an aneurysm that is at least eight centimeters, if not more, because it's
been growing.
And what it's doing is kind of surrounding her heart and squeezing it.
She has decided to forego the surgeries.
She didn't know if she could make it through it.
The observations of the doctors is that it was pretty much 50-50 shot, whether she could
survive the surgeries.
But I don't think she realized that with that, that this was going to be just basically a
merry-go-round to the hospital.
She was trying to avoid that.
And some little back history on our family is that early on, or all of us, every last
one of us, I'll put it that way.
I think we kind of, uh, what's the word I'm looking for?
I'm sorry if I'm a little jumbled, so just bear with me with this.
You guys wanted the full scoop.
You guys wanted the real, you guys wanted the journey.
This is a journey I'm on, so I do apologize.
But we as a family weren't the most, well, responsible 100%.
But I think also we just didn't have fighting through adversity.
Now I'm not going to say I'm better than anybody else because I'm not.
You know, I had for a long period of time with substance abuse, with alcohol, and now
I'm living or trying to live day by day for the last six years without alcohol and just
turning my life over to my Lord and savior.
Now that has 100% help.
But the one thing I do agree with, and I don't know if you haven't read it in a book or anything,
but there are doctors out there that say that once you really start abusing substances and
what have you, you really stop aging at that point because your maturity level and how
you overcome things or how you figure things out or how you contemplate what is actually
happening to you, you're not doing it on your own anymore.
You're allowing the substance to take whatever feeling is away.
So usually when you get to a point where you stop drinking or you stop using drugs or whatever
the case may be, you usually have a lot of immature grownups.
Maybe not in every area.
Could be in certain areas.
Could be in responsibility.
Could be in procrastination.
Could be in can't make a decision.
Could be in choosing a mate.
Could be in making terrible decisions.
It can be a lot of things that can manifest itself in a lot of ways.
The reason why I bring this up to come full circle is that my mother has dealt with just
not being able to make up her own mind.
She's dealt with not knowing who she is totally.
And really to tell you the truth, she's always had someone in her life to tell her what she
likes and what she doesn't like.
Now you would think, hey, that seems weird.
Why would that be?
My father was abusive.
I think we've talked about this on the life card, obviously.
But just because you get rid of somebody does not mean that their shadow doesn't impose
itself on you.
And I think my mother lived in a prison of her own making for a long period of time.
I know how this feels because I was directionless.
I was motivated by adoration, not by money.
And I'm not talking about adoration to talk about fame.
I'm talking about just the ability to be seen.
Now I've made a lot of mistakes on that path.
But here's a person, my mother, who is turning 75 this year, who really has been in quite
a kerfuffle for a long period of time.
I pray every day that there's some clarity and some discernment for her and that there's
a peace.
What I meant by that, it's not peace like you get peace and solace.
I'm talking about peace.
When you make a decision, if you struggled with making that decision, once you've gotten
to that point where you have made it, you should feel lighter.
You should feel more like, OK, this is the road that we chose.
I'm committed.
I'm confident.
I made all the necessary thoughts thinking this through.
And this is the course of action that I've decided to come up with.
These are things that people learn how to do at 13, 14, 15.
Obviously you get better at it when you get to college.
Obviously you start to really get it going and perfecting it in your late 20s and early
30s.
And then by the time you get to late 30s and 40s, these things are just nestled with inside
you.
When you unfortunately deal with substance abuse, as my family has, these things don't
come natural to you whatsoever.
You have to learn them.
You have to create good traits.
And that's really hard for somebody who has always taken the easy way out.
And I'm speaking for myself.
I'm not speaking for my mother because I want her to be able to tell her story.
But I just wanted to kind of give you guys a little bit of what's going on with me and
why we didn't have a Friday pot.
So I've been very busy trying to figure out where we are.
And unfortunately, where we are is in a place where basketball had to become a little bit
less important.
The NFL draft had to become a little less important.
And I had to figure out how to deal with my feelings, what I'm actually feeling, preying
on it, how I can help her, how I can be a good steward, how I can be a person that she
wants around, that she looks to for comfort.
So I pray on these things every day.
I pray on the right things to do for her in her journey as she gets closer to the end.
And it's been easier.
But I think we hit a new phase this week.
I think we're in a phase where her body is starting to shut down a little bit.
I'm not saying she is in trouble or anything like that.
She's not.
She's resting comfortably at a hospital right now.
But I think this is this kind of might be where we are.
And I have to get comfortable with the uncomfortableness.
Something that I had said something about this before.
And being uncomfortable with the uncomfortableness basically is allowing yourself to understand
like, hey, listen, this is not going to be fun.
There's not going to be a lot of ton of joy in this, but there will be nuggets.
There'll be granules of lessons.
There'll be granules of blessings and maybe not for yourself.
Maybe these blessings are for somebody else that you can pass along to people who are
going through some of the same things that you have gone through.
Maybe it's not any of that.
Maybe it's you're just here.
And the great thing about it is that I used to be a fixer, fix everyone.
Shout out to my exes.
I said I wouldn't name them just for keeping their private lives private.
But shout out to to my exes.
Boy, little did I know that I was also the problem.
Said earlier in this podcast that we were going to be consistent with podcasts.
Unfortunately, I feel like I let you guys go.
I feel like I've been derelict to my duty.
And I just didn't have it Friday.
I tried to pull it together yesterday.
And for some reason, I couldn't.
I just couldn't call the trigger on turning the mic on.
I couldn't pull the trigger on saying, hey, what about those Celtics or what about those
Detroit Pistons or what about Aaron Rodgers to New York or whatever the case may be?
Yes, I know this is supposed to be a basketball pot.
So keep it basketball bits.
You know, the madness is going on.
March madness is going on.
And here's a little antidote for you.
So my mom is obviously in the hospital with some heat.
What it actually is is that she has she can't breathe.
And what is actually happening is she's drowning.
There's liquid, there's fluid that gets in between your lung and your heart.
And for a lot of people, that just flows very well.
Unfortunately, for my mother, it does not.
And to counteract that, obviously, or not counteract that to to.
Impact the problem or in or just compound the problem more.
Actually, let me take this back.
To compound the problem more.
You put the aneurysm, you put the COPD, you put all the other issues that she has.
And you get to this point where we're in and out of emergency every couple of months.
Now.
This sucks for her.
This sucks and it sucks for me.
Because.
I'm sad for her.
The thing that she tried to avoid by not having or electing not to have the surgeries.
She didn't realize that she had actually signed herself up for more hospital visits by not
having the surgery that would alleviate the aneurysm and allow blood flow to matriculate.
How it's supposed to be.
He just couldn't see herself in the hospital.
You know, in and out of hospital for a year, because that's what the doctors told her.
It was going to be multiple surgeries because the aneurysm was so large.
It was so.
Advanced.
The thing is doing some really.
If you're a doctor is doing probably some really cool stuff.
If you're a person, it's doing some horrific, scary things.
And it was going to obviously have to be done in sections and what have you.
And she just she said, no, I don't want to do that.
I do not want to do that whatsoever.
And I think she thought she was.
Kind of pushing the hospital away.
Little did she know that she was actually signing herself up for like a, you know, a
two year annual subscription of every couple of months going to the hospital.
So that is where we are with that.
But the funny anecdote that I wanted to tell you is that with the March madness going on,
obviously I've always talked about how I'm a UCLA fan.
This is where the sports comes in.
Right.
So she goes to the hospital and her biggest concern was, Hey, can this TV get TNT?
Cause there's a UCLA matchup that I need to see.
So if you guys want to know where my passion comes from, when it comes to sports and when
it comes to, to being able to share this with you guys, you look no further than the four
foot 11 white lady that's laying in the hospital bed, long beach, California.
That's where I came from.
My mother was the person who threw the baseball with me.
My mother was the person who threw the football with me.
My mother was a person who rebounded for me.
When I was shooting hoops, my mother was excited at when the super world would come up and
she was there to wipe my tears away.
When UCLA lost to USC, when it came to going to the Rosewell or going to certain bowls
or whatever.
So there's the sports with the life, but she was very concerned, not with all the things
that are going on with her, not all of the things that you're trying to figure out with,
man, I, I don't know if I'm coming out of the hospital.
I don't know if this is it.
I don't know.
Am I ready?
You know, cause we've had conversations like that.
Are you ready?
Do you feel ready?
You know, and obviously nobody has an answer for that, but I mean, I think you can start
getting yourself more together.
I don't think you're ever ready just as a FYI.
Now for people who have more crew, crew people who have tasted a lot of success, obviously
being ready is like, you know, my kids are secure financially.
I, you know, raise good kids, you know, and they're good.
They're taking care of, you know, my wife is taking care of, or my spouse is taking
care of, you know, if you left a legacy with a company, you know, you want to make sure
that the right people are in place and that your, you know, what you built is important
to you and you want to see it kind of live on.
Yeah.
My mom wasn't thinking like that.
She was thinking about, yo, five 40 Pacific standard time.
UCLA will be playing their second round game and we are trying to get to the sweet 16.
So let's go.
That's where she was.
So I know this was a long roundabout way to get to sports, but this pod is specifically
for the reddicon.
I love you mom.
Can I dedicate this part to you?
If you know me at all, pretty still, it got, not still.
Like in the way of still a good time, but you know, I usually am able to provide some
comedy relief or just kind of deal with things or deal with things in a, in a way.
I definitely understand that she is going.
I definitely understand that my mother, uh, the outlook doesn't look great, but like I
said on the life pod before my only job here is to be a servant, allow her to have joy,
know that she has people in her life that love and care and think of her.
And if you haven't listened to the life pod, go back and listen to it.
You know, I'll, I'll hit on a little bit.
She was a victim of domestic violence for countless years.
So for the women out there who are dealing with that, know this, you aren't alone and
know this, that your value of yourself is way bigger than the person beaten on you.
And I hope you find the way to love yourself enough to get yourself out of that situation.
But yeah, she, she was concerned with the UCLA brooks.
She was concerned about how they were going to match up, how this second game without
Jaylen Clark was going to look and was her boy, tiger Campbell, because she loves his
hair and high knee high kids, junior, we're going to be able to play well.
So when you want to know about why I get psyched about the draft NFL or NBA or trades coming
down or spectacular play, or even when it's a hard situation like John Moran, who's coming
back to us in next week.
And I was harsh on John because I grew up in the inner city.
I grew up in South Central LA.
So I know.
I was scars, prove it.
And just, I hope for better for John.
I hope that this, this little wake up call, this little kind of, if you want to call it,
like let's just kind of rub our brow, wipe the sweat off and kind of go take a side and
you take a deep breath.
He should, he should.
And I really hope that he takes advantage of this opportunity to not one better himself,
but what a great lesson that he can now bestow on others through this.
Even if he's a vulnerable enough to talk about it, how this could impact young men coming
into the league or even young, you know, even younger, like middle school and high school
kids who are, who look up to job, who want to be like John Moran, who want to have an
NBA career and be able to take care of their families like John Moran, who wants to have
a Nike shoe deal like John Moran.
I really hope that he has learned his lesson.
I really hope that not just he's learned a lesson, but I really hope that he started
to appreciate what he actually has in the, the many gifts that God has given him because
it all can be taken away from you just like that.
So we hope that we see improvement off the court with John Moran.
We hope that now Memphis can continue their, their assent of the Western Conference standings.
And also here's the thing.
This makes for a more interesting playoffs.
Obviously, if John Moran is here now, we have no idea what that man is going to be going
through.
We have no idea what measures he is taking to better himself.
And we don't know how those measures are going to affect him on the court because a lot of
people think that your persona, you know, some people can turn it on and off.
Coby was one of those people.
He could turn it on and turn it off.
LeBron is one of those people turn it on, turn it off.
Actually Coby didn't turn it off.
He just kept it on.
He was like, this is me probably going to be a hole and this is how it's going to be.
You either don't like it or you're not because there were just so many stories within him
and not having like this like bunch of friends and what have you.
And he wasn't a real going out type of person.
And, you know, just wanted to practice and play ball, man.
If you hold for job that that his persona or whatever he was doing to kind of unleash
the pressure vows, sort of speak, that he finds another way that he can do that because
that's going to be monumentally important.
Listen, I'm not a crew.
Go out and have a good time.
You want to go out and drink and party, have a good time or whatever, you know, have a
bunch of girls around you.
If that's what you want, like if that's what you're choosing to do by all means, do you
keep that in private though?
Don't let that get out.
You know what I'm saying?
Don't don't allow yourself to be put in positions where your career, all of your, all of the
things you built up are now called in question because the media will start looking at his
leadership qualities now, now that his decision making process has been out there on display
for the world.
And by the way, shame on the guys who were around him, who did not tell him that turning
IG live on in the strip club was a bad look.
So if you are part of job, Moran's contingency or his, his party, as I like to call it, you
guys need to look yourself in the mirror.
What, what is your worth to this situation?
Cause we talked about it before.
You gotta have somebody around you that will tell you, no, that will say, Hey, John, I
don't think this is the way we should be moving today.
I don't think this is the proper way that we need to be hanging out.
Maybe we should go get some shots up.
Maybe we should go and get some, uh, you know, some, some cardio in or whatever, but this,
this gun thing and, you know, after all crazy in the strip club and whatever, that's all
wasn't good.
If you not make it $200 million that your annual salary is like 44 or $45 million a
year.
No, you can't act it like that.
You really can't.
Now to my mother's, uh, favorite team, the Lakers.
Hey, mom, love you.
Shots out.
You lost two in a row.
Wow.
Yeah.
Uh, there was a lot of good vibes around the Lakers.
And then all of a sudden Anthony Davis sits out the Houston game.
Now albeit Houston is tanking, but they had just beat Boston.
And then they went in and wrecked the Lakers in Houston.
The Lakers then follow that up with a game in Dallas.
Now this game in Dallas did not have Luca, but you saw a very uninspired Lakers team.
Now there's a lot of things, a lot of blame going around and whatever.
Here's the other thing, man.
Now whether those guys were on the team before or not, but once you do get there, you start
to feel the weight.
You start to feel the weight and the significance of what's going on.
And maybe they just didn't have it.
Now if this was, you know, early two thousands, we're not worried about this because we're
probably a first or second place and it's not a big deal, but it's a big deal to a lot
of Laker fans, including my mama, that first of all, AD is sitting out games, but here's
the thing.
You knew they were going to be cautious with him when he came back.
Sorry about your schedule and or lack of success throughout the year, but your guy is not playing,
AD is not playing in back to back games.
That's the mandate from the medical staff and you will follow that.
And that is it.
There's no question about that.
But playing uninspired, it happens.
There's just lulls in the year.
Some days you just don't have it.
Some days you just can't muster up.
You know, I talked about it on this pot.
You know, I had every intention on doing a pot on Friday until my mother was carted into
an ambulance.
Right.
I had every thought imaginable to do this pot.
And I just couldn't.
I just couldn't bring myself to do it.
Was I sad?
A little.
Was I concerned?
A lot.
Was I praying?
Yeah.
But the one thing that I want to do, and I think I've said this before, but I really want
everyone who is listening to me right now.
I do this because I love to do it and I love to do it for you.
The servant posture that I have is not just for my mother, but it's for my audience.
I want to bring you a good podcast every single time.
That's my goal.
Now whether we meet it or exceed it or not live up, it's for you to decide.
But know that the goal and the passion and the drive and is there for you.
You know, yeah, I like to talk well sports and I would do this if there wasn't a microphone
in front of me.
100%.
I do do this because I hope that it brings you some joy and I hope it brings you some,
hey, oh, he says some stuff that I was not thinking of.
So the Lakers have gone through some stuff, you know, with all the Westbrook antics and
things of that nature that happened earlier in the year and then the LeBron injury and
the uncertainty with that, with him doing everything in his power to get back as quickly
as he possibly can.
But now we're at this point where, you know, we're 60 plus games in the season.
Teams have nagging injuries in a lot of respects.
You got to remember there are six new guys on this team.
How many of them have families?
How many of them have wives?
How many of them have like long term girlfriends or whatever?
And people say, oh, well, they have a ton of money and whatever.
But to get those people there, if you were like, let's say D'Angelo Russell for a second.
So this man is in Minnesota.
He's with his best friend, Carl Anthony Towns.
Now he's heard the rumors.
He knows he might get traded.
He understands he's done it before.
He got traded from the Lakers to Brooklyn, you know, and then he went to Golden State
and then he went to Minnesota.
So he's been around the league.
He understands how it goes, but still, it still sucks to move.
Think about us normal people and moving now.
Is it easier for D'Angelo Russell to move?
Yes.
He's probably not picking up a damn thing, but it's still unnerving to go to even a place
that you're familiar with, but it's definitely changed since you've been there.
And you changed.
Now, also, if you have a family or kids or whatever, now you got to navigate whether
they're going to stay in your old town until the season's over.
How much time do I get to see them?
Is FaceTime enough?
And I got to navigate where I'm living in Los Angeles, where, you know, where my car
is going to be at.
Like, listen, I understand that you don't feel a lot of sympathy for somebody making
20, $30 million a year.
I get it, but it's still a pain in the butt, man.
Moving stuff, getting stuff done in a short period of time, because when a trade happens,
it happens and that's it.
You're gone.
Now, you might be able to ask for a couple of days to get all of your affairs in order,
but you don't have weeks.
Think about a move when you usually when people move, it's usually not out of the blue.
Now, you might be blessed with a job that does put you in that situation that you are
so dynamic, so impactful.
And God bless you if you are and round of applause for you as well.
And I mean that with all sincerity, because, hey, listen, if you got the bag, you got the
bag and you know how I feel.
If we don't, we don't stand for nothing at FRPC front runner podcast collective, we are
pro getting the bag.
If you're getting cash, we are excited for you because we feel that you have worked extra
extraordinarily hard to get that back.
All right.
So with that being said, you know, you're starting to move, you start to get everything
together, the logistics, everything like that.
There's a lot going on.
OK, now you you add that to an NBA player.
OK.
And all the stuff that goes on around him.
The people, the publicist, the PR person, the manager, the agent, the homies, the family,
the extended family, you know, oh, we thought we were staying in Minnesota.
Now we're not.
We're bummed.
Who's moving out to Los Angeles with you?
Or are we not going to make that decision until the offseason?
These are all things that are playing in this person's head.
And then let's say for some reason, somebody doesn't agree with your point.
So somebody doesn't agree with, oh, I don't think we should do it this way.
Well, first of all, Angelo Russell is a breadwinner.
So how it goes is how it goes.
Now there might be a lot of discussion.
I don't know how D'Angelo Russell handles his house in my house.
There's discussion.
Because I want to make sure there's not a stone that has been left unturned.
I want to be able to see it from a bunch of different viewpoints.
And then at that point, hopefully with prayer, I can make a really good decision and usually
I'm asking God for the right way to go.
So discernment is key, but those are some of the pitfalls of moving around.
I'm not saying that I'm not suggesting that it's on D'Angelo or it's not on D'Angelo.
Well, it is not on D'Angelo Russell that the Lakers have lost a couple of games.
Now he's had bad shooting games, but like I said, we have no idea what's in his mind.
And I understand that you could say, well, he can lay on 30 million dollars to ease his
mind.
We all know that money is not everything and people deal with things differently than others.
I am sure that when you turn this podcast on, you didn't think that you were going to
hear about how locked up I was the last couple of days mentally trying to figure out how
I can muster up enough energy to do this pot for you guys.
You know, they're human beings.
D'Angelo Russell, A.D. Shaq, Shaq, what am I doing?
I'm so old.
That's a that was an elderly moment right there.
LeBron James, Malik Beasley, Troy Brown Jr. and not we're not even talking about the professional
aspect of it.
You look at Troy Brown Jr., you look at Malik Beasley, you look at some of these other guys,
even D'Angelo Russell.
These guys are all in one year contracts to plan for their next deal.
So you're trying to incorporate dudes who are definitely looking for the bag next year
and security and also play in the teen concept.
Does anybody see where there could be an issue?
Can anybody see where human beings, human beings, I say, who are not perfect, can have
a slump.
So Laker fans, this is your boy.
And like I said, I love you guys with all my heart.
I know you guys are struggling.
I know the hurt is there.
I'm with you guys.
I understand.
But let's ease off some of the destructive statements that I've seen on Twitter about
certain individuals not being on the team anymore.
And let's get Kyrie over D'Angelo Russell.
Let me tell you something.
There is no way in hell.
You really want Kyrie and what he does in his stuff.
Trust me.
Laker fans ask Brooklyn net fans.
I know you don't like to talk to him, but ask Boston Celtics fans about Kyrie Erman
and his inability to make up his mind.
So we have a game today against the Orlando Magic.
We will see how that goes.
If the Lakers come out sluggish, Orlando is one of those teams that will smack them
and smack them good.
Paolo Bencherro is awesome.
Franz Wagner is awesome.
These guys, this team is definitely headed in the right direction and I cannot wait to
see what they look like next year with another pick.
Think about it.
This team is getting more talented next year.
We don't know if it's going to be a high, high draft pick, but there's enough dudes
in this draft that I'm safely saying legitimate difference makers.
Let me see.
Let me think about this.
Give me one second.
I know this is bad podcasting, but give me a second.
People would say there was something like six or seven difference makers in this draft.
I don't know if I believe that.
I believe there's three.
I think there's some people on the fringe of it.
Now if they hit, we can get to the six or seven or eight people that people were talking
about.
But as far as high leverage role players or contributors, like starters to a team, there's
got to be like 14 guys in this draft class.
Easy.
And this is without doing a ton of work.
Cam Whitmore.
Awesome.
The Thompson twins, Asar and Ah-Man Thompson.
Both fantastic.
Walker from Houston.
Excellent.
Grady Dick from Kansas who's been eliminated.
Gone.
He's going to be good.
Ed Howard from Michigan seems to be moving out the draft boards.
So we have enough dudes in this draft that Orlando is going to get somebody pretty significant.
They need a guard desperately.
Somebody who can get them in and in their actions.
And if the clock starts to dwindle down, we can get the ball to our necessary go to guys
and get them a bucket.
So they need ball handlers and a point guard would be nice if they can get one.
Don't don't reach.
But if there's a point guard out there, go ahead and wrap that up.
Now what that means is that let's see if there's anything else that we need to talk about.
Like I said, the madness has been going on.
We're going to have a pod.
We're probably going to do more pods.
We're probably going to do multiple pods all day for like the next two or three.
I know that we have a Monday pod, which is usually the football pod.
So that will definitely hit the way it should.
I think there will be a different type of basketball pod, because obviously this seems
like a verbal love letter to Loretta Kern on a podcast.
So I am sorry that you guys, if you guys turn this off in the first 10 minutes, I definitely
understand if you didn't and you listen to the whole thing.
Just know that you are hearing a son love his mother and hope and pray that everything
turns out all right.
And if it doesn't, we hope and pray that her eternal sleep is restful.
So we will be back tomorrow.
Obviously we do not have a Sunday pod.
Like I said again, I do apologize for that.
I do not want to miss pods.
Trust me on that.
But I couldn't give it to you.
I couldn't give it to you until today.
Honestly, it just didn't have it.
And for that, I'm sorry.
Well, we will rally and we will bounce back and we will lean on our people who are there
for us.
We will lean on our church family who are there for us.
And we will get through this and I will see you guys tomorrow on the Monday pod.
And we hope to have Nico back tomorrow.
He was he had no idea I was going to end up doing this.
Honestly.
Normally we have conversations.
Obviously it's been muddled with stuff.
He's got a lot of stuff going on.
Some stuff that hopefully I want to say in two months we can talk about.
But we'll see.
Along with the marriage, with the wedding.
So he's got a lot going on.
There's a lot on his plate.
So I'm actually kind of happy that we were able to get a part in and not use his voice
because I know that he wants to be here, but he spreads himself thin to be here.
And I appreciate him so much.
And this is not your normal pod.
I understand that you don't usually get a bunch of warm and fuzzies and all that sort
of stuff from me.
Usually you get jokes, you get numbers, and hopefully you get inside information that
I have somehow dug up, listened to on a pod, just done some kind of like if I was in that
position what would I think?
And following up with other people.
That's what you guys come to expect here.
But every once in a while you are going to get this.
And you know, I know I have been promising a lifepod, but you know, the problem is is
that you know, the person can't cooperate because their body won't cooperate.
So the days that we think we can go ahead and knock out a lifepod with my mother on
it, she hasn't felt well.
Plain and simple.
So it's not like we're trying to hold it back from you, but life gets in the way.
And with that being said, let's look to these games today in the madness real quick.
Obviously UCLA is going to the Sweet 16.
We got that eight clap all day.
Fords up.
Shout out to my boy, Hami Hockes Jr.
And shout out to Tiger Campbell and also shout out to Amani Bailey, who has stepped up his
gameplay over the last, I would say since the conference tournament.
It's been a lot better.
And my mother is excited.
So I mean, Hockes, Tiger Campbell and Amani Bailey are really helping the spirits of my
mother.
So you know, I don't know how many UCLA fans are out there.
If you're not a UCLA fan, let's jump on the bandwagon.
Is there any way that.
That they can win, they can win number 12.
And I know they doing it for Jaylen Clark, but in our little community, is there any
way that we can get UCLA to rally the troops?
Or the four foot 11 white lady that's in the in the hospital?
Is there any way that we as a community can grow the mojo to have UCLA win?
And trust me, if you think for one second that won't make her feel better, then you
are definitely listening to the wrong pot.
Because that chick loves the Steelers.
She has terrible taste in college football teams with USC.
And I listen, if you're a USC fan, I get it.
But you got to understand, I am a UCLA guy.
So therefore, unfortunately, where I will not be biased when it comes to analyst stuff
and observations, you know, Tommy Trojan.
That I do not like you.
With your private school having self, you know that.
You know, you've been a thorn in our side for many a decade.
So but she's a USC football fan.
She's a UCLA basketball fan.
She's a Dodger fan, and she is a Laker fan.
So that is my mother's fandom.
Hopefully we will at some point get her on to talk about that fandom.
But the breathing issue has kept her off mics, not because it does not sound good.
She just can't talk for any kind of period of time.
So not for this.
You know, when you're given a lot of energy into this.
So if she feels better, she will make her appearance on the pot.
If she doesn't, then we'll just have to do these every once in a while and just kind
of talk it through.
So I really appreciate everybody, everybody who listens to these pots.
We have people in Germany.
We have people in Brussels.
We have people in Australia.
For some reason, we have people in Ashburn, Virginia, who download the pot regularly.
We have some really loyal peeps, and I just want to first just send my appreciation to
those who find this entertaining.
And if you do find this entertaining and hopefully you find this a little informative, tell a
friend.
We need numbers, just like every podcast, obviously.
You know, I would like to have sponsors and be able to show them numbers of growth and
what have you.
So if you appreciate this pot, tell a friend.
And download and subscribe and give us five stars and follow us on Twitter, which is Front
Runner PC and at Niko FRPC.
But man, I've seen people in Singapore, literally.
Like I'm looking at the map and seeing people all across this globe that download this podcast.
And from the bottom of my heart, I am so grateful.
And I hope that this pot wasn't too cheesy and it wasn't too emotional and it wasn't
too crazy.
And yes, we didn't hit on a lot of basketball, but know that we are, they are number one
seed hunting out there.
Be careful out there, number one seeds for the March of Madness.
You guys are endangered species.
But this basketball pot, obviously, is a little bit different.
And you might get one of these every once in a while.
Because as a creative person, when we're hurt or when we're going through stuff, this is
how we get through it creatively.
And I hope that this was somewhat enjoyable for you and we will see you Monday.
So with that being said, for my guy, because I will definitely do it for the Canadian bomber,
the Canadian shaman, the Canadian Bill Simmons and the Canadian Zach Lowe, my brother, I
love you.
I know you haven't heard from me in a couple of days and we tried, we missed each other,
but all is well, my man, all is well.
And with that being said, we are signing off.
I'm Vince and for Nico, who's not here, we love you guys.
We appreciate you guys.
Tell a friend about us.
Tell a friend about RFPC.
If they like football, you know, Monday they're getting it.
If they like basketball, you know, Friday, normally they're getting it.
And every once in a while we're going to drop a life pod.
So today is a basketball life pod.
I don't know what it is.
What it is, is a babbling idiot speaking into a microphone and hoping that this reaches
someone who's going through something and just know that when it's completely dark,
light will find its way in.
I believe that with all my heart, my faith is strong in God.
He will carry me through this situation.
And I hope that you guys will pray for my mother a little bit.
And you know what?
Also, reach out to somebody that you're close to today.
If you can physically give them a hug, look them straight in the eye and say, I really,
really love you and I appreciate you.
You know what I'm saying?
I don't think we do it enough.
I don't think we handle ourselves accordingly enough.
But if this pod makes you feel a certain way, I really hope that you reach out to somebody
today that you probably haven't talked to in a while.
Just catch up with them and say, hey, just wanted to tell you I love you.
You know, you're in my thoughts.
So with that being said, we are going to sign off again.
Thanks to everyone who is downloading and subscribing to the podcast.
Thanks for the listens.
I so, so appreciate it.
And again, tell a friend, tell a coworker, tell a parent, tell a gas person, gas.
Oh my God, I messed that one up.
So tell someone who works at a gas station behind one of those windows.
When you are asking to put 90 to $125 in your tank to download the podcast, let's build
the community.
And by the way, you don't have to hit me out to give me well wishes on my mother or anything
like that.
If you have a question about your team, whether it's football or basketball, you definitely
can hit me up at front runner PC or at Nico and that's N I C O F R P C and that is Nico
Mia Tello's Twitter handle.
Again, I'm babbling, so I'm just going to turn off the mic at this point.
Appreciate you guys.
We'll get one and we will see you tomorrow.
So I can't wait and we will be back tomorrow.
Stay mage and enjoy yourselves and enjoy the madness that is going to happen today.
And for those teams and for those schools and for everybody who is biting their nails
and whatever, man, this is a great time of year.
So we'll see you Monday with some football out.
Bye.