You are in the right place.
Welcome to the latest episode of the Dan Time podcast.
I'm your host, Dan McCardell.
We've had some exciting guests on Dan Time.
And if you've missed any of them, go back and check out any of the previous episodes.
We went back in time with Vic Penn to the early division one days of UCF football.
Then we went north of the border to visit Dan Kabelka, a two-time heart transplant recipient and eternal optimist.
Then last week, we went south with Dan Harrison, a Nashville singer-songwriter and rising talent.
My guest today is DJ Sims, a big impact guy, somebody who genuinely cares about how you're doing.
You want to know him. You want to work with him. You want to hang out with a guy like DJ.
And if your kid is playing Little League, you want him to be their coach.
You just don't forget a guy like DJ.
He's had his ups and downs and he's faced struggles.
But by all accounts, DJ is a success story.
The two of us worked together at the same firm over 10 years ago.
We connected right away.
DJ has an outsized personality and a giant heart and you wouldn't have known that he came from such humble beginnings.
DJ coaches girl softball and you're going to love his outlook on coaching and how he influences these girls.
While working full-time, being a dad, being a husband, a coach, DJ is also pursuing a degree from the University of Alabama.
He's a huge Crimson Tide football fan, Cincinnati Bengals fan and Atlanta Braves fan.
Ladies and gentlemen, it is DJ Sims time.
All right. Well, I probably say this every week, but I truly mean it.
And this week is I don't want to say this week is no different.
This week is extra special.
My good friend, DJ Sims is joining Dan Time and DJ, I could not be happier and more excited to be talking to you today.
Dan, man, I can't tell you how lucky I feel to be on your show, man.
I mean, it's been so long since we've been able to have a conversation.
You know, I'm just happy to be here, man.
I really can't wait to talk to you.
Well, this is us kind of filling in the gaps like a lot of friends.
I think people listening to the podcast can relate.
You got people that you picked up along the way, and maybe that was 2007, 2012, maybe even three years ago.
And you text and you keep up with Facebook and LinkedIn and stuff.
But this is one of my favorite things about the podcast, reaching out to people.
And y'all, please remember, I don't cast this huge net where I'm just trying to get anybody to say, yes, I'll do the show with you.
I truly think about who's going to make a big impact.
That's what makes it special today with DJ.
We worked together for a short time and I was like a fish out of water in that environment because I had gone from late shift service industry work to nine to five.
And I'll never forget that first day and that first week in particular where when I met you, I thought everything's going to be all right here.
Man, I can't tell you how much that means to me for you to say that.
And you've stuck with me along the way too.
I love seeing you up based on LinkedIn, on Facebook.
There's always those people that you gravitate to.
And that's how it was for you and I when we first met.
I hadn't been there that long once you came along.
I was like you say, a fish out of water.
I come from working at UPS to moving back home.
And I was in Auburn and then I was in Birmingham and then I was at Protective Life.
And all of a sudden one day they came in and said, sorry, your jobs are gone.
So I had to find something else.
I just got lucky enough to find that and find those people.
And luckily you came along and we hit it off.
And that was some of the best months or however long it was that we were together in my life.
Oh, that's big.
That's a big statement.
I just knew that all of a sudden I'm in a new environment and I was taking a chance on it.
I really needed to get on a regular schedule.
And this period of time was a transition for a lot of us.
And I guess I didn't know it.
I just felt like the new guy.
But DJ, I referenced you.
I didn't reference you by name in the last episode with Dan Harrison as one of the guys that actually introduced me to country music and some songs that I was kind of familiar with just from the radio or being around other people.
But you and Scott and some of those Pandora stations, I think I was just happy to have some music playing at that time.
And what y'all were playing was like, OK, I'm usually listening to hard rock or whatever.
And this is a little different.
But man, I found a lot of songs that I liked.
And I just liked the fact that you in particular were trying to have the most fun that you could have with that day.
And the work we were doing was maybe not particularly exciting for us or anybody on the outside for that matter.
But it really stood out to me that you were trying to make each day fun.
And I'll let you speak to that a little bit.
Oh, yeah, man.
Like you said, it was very mundane, just the same thing every day.
You just process what we were processing.
There wasn't a whole lot of fun.
So we had to do stuff to kind of make us have fun.
And the music. I mean, I'm a heavy metal guy, too.
I like that stuff.
But when I want to feel something, I want to share feelings with people, you know, kind of country is what I lean into.
And that was kind of my wheelhouse and still really is.
And that just made for some good days.
People tend to let their emotions go and just kind of be who they are when they're listening to some good old country music.
And that's kind of what I wanted to bring, you know, not only to you, but Scott and May and Allison and all the people that were there with us at that particular law firm at that time.
You know, those are some really good memories.
DJ, I really thought that you almost went out of your way to cheer people up or even make people feel included.
There was not one day in that first week where I felt like you didn't at least care that I was there.
You know, a lot of people in your day to day life, I think people can relate to this.
They don't really pay attention to you, especially if you're the new person.
We just have a tendency, it seems like, to just blow past people and pretend like anybody that's not in our inner circle is just not really even there.
And you just seem to have this interest in other people that I admired right out the gate.
No, I appreciate that.
I'm still that way. You know, I try to, you know, I say as the leader in me, I try to lead by example.
You know, I never want to be some bossy person, but I want to make people feel comfortable.
And I don't have to have a leadership title to carry myself each day in different situations as a leader.
You know, I want people to feel comfortable.
I don't ever want people to think that I'm some stuck up guy that doesn't care because I genuinely care about other people.
And I feel like that's lost in today's society.
We don't really care about each other anymore.
But I'm going to, as my mom always taught me growing up, do unto others what you want them to do unto you, not how you're treated.
So, I'm going to treat people how I want to be treated, whether they treat me that way or not.
That's kind of where that comes from.
Well, those types of values usually come from your early days.
What are some of your memories growing up from being just five, six, seven years old and being around your mom?
Was she instilling some of the values of just, hey, please, thank you, yes sir, no sir?
Oh, no, absolutely.
I mean, when I say this, growing up, we didn't have much.
And when I say didn't have much, like we didn't have anything.
I grew up very poor. We were very poor.
You know, I lived in a trailer with no AC in the summer, no heat in the winter.
I mean, it was just, you know, we had to deal with what we had.
And mom was very hard on my yes sirs and no sirs and my manners.
And God, Lee, I just, when I think back, you know, she would slap me in the head if I didn't say sir or ma'am or treat people with respect.
And I remember one time we were at the grocery store.
I didn't say sir to the bag boy.
And then I corrected myself and I said, I mean, yes sir.
And the guy was like, you don't have to call me sir.
And my dad said, yes, he does.
So, you know, it's just one of those things that were always instilled in me to treat others with respect, no matter if they're the same age as you, younger than you.
And, you know, I got that from, like you said, a very young age.
Well, you wish that every child could have that role model in their life.
Doesn't always have to be their mother.
Sometimes it's an uncle or just a positive adult figure.
And I guess maybe every generation, when you get to be a certain age around our age, DJ, and you start thinking, well, the kids are just, they either got it rough these days or I'm worried about the kids.
I'm worried about the next generation.
I'm sure that's been going on for, you know, hundreds of years.
But sometimes I do have concern, I guess, about how adults are treating themselves as role models.
I know you can talk on that end about how you feel about today's society and your place in it.
Yeah, I understand what you're saying for a hundred, like a hundred percent understand where you're going with that.
They say kids have changed.
In my opinion, kids haven't changed.
We as the adults have changed.
You know, we don't demand those manners and respecting each other and respecting ourselves.
You know, parents are just hand a kid a tablet and say, here you go.
I mean, they won't spend time with them anymore.
You know, they don't take and play softball.
They don't want to coach softball.
They, you know, they don't want to catch baseball.
They don't want to volunteer their time.
Or if they're at, you know, softball games, I've seen this way too many times.
The parents will argue with umpires and argue with other parents and get themselves thrown out, embarrassed their kids, embarrassed their community.
And, you know, it's one of those things where you're looking at it from the outside perspective as, you know, I'm coaching, seeing this things, these things happen.
And I'm just like, man, what have we done?
Where are we? Where have we gone wrong?
You know, I mean, we see all these glamorous things on TV and all these people have all these nice cars and houses and watch the Kardashians or whatever on TV.
And we get this idea of that's the way life's supposed to work.
Well, that's not reality. You know, that's a form of fake reality that they just see on TV and they want to do that stuff in person or whatever.
But that doesn't help our children.
We're not setting good examples and being positive role models for the kids.
And that's a lot, has a lot to do with the way things have gone awry these days, in my opinion.
You know, I think that's a great point, DJ.
I think anybody who's a parent who has stopped for a second and done this for more than 30 seconds, what's your little kids?
And I don't have teenagers yet, but I think teenagers too.
What they really want is your undivided attention.
They want some eyeball time for five solid minutes.
And I think parents, we're busy.
We got a lot of stuff going on.
We got our mobile devices.
We got work calling. We've got people.
We got a text and all these things that are competing with our attention.
And we've got, you know, our little child sitting there next to us, but we're not looking at them.
We're listening with one ear, not both ears.
And I daily try to work on that.
And when you spend those five minutes and you put everything aside and, like I said, you have that one-on-one eyeball time, you can just see the light in their faces when they know that you're not distracted with anything else and they are important to you.
Yeah, you're absolutely right.
And a few months ago, I'm in sales, my phone always rings, always.
Whether it's text messages or phone calls or emails, you know, they're always coming in.
It doesn't matter what time of day or if it's the weekend.
One of my kids looked at me. She said, daddy, you love your phone, don't you?
And man, that just like, it kind of broke my heart.
I'm like, I wish I didn't have this love it as much.
Oh, I know.
It's a unique challenge that it's 2023.
I mean, in 1993 and 2003, this wasn't really a thing.
I mean, DJ worked close to the same age.
I remember in high school, I went all through high school with no cell phone.
A few of my classmates had beepers or pagers.
I'm a 90s, 90s grad.
So there was a time, people forget that there was a time where this stuff didn't dominate our lives.
But depending on the job you're in, and I can relate with you there, DJ, we're just so connected and it's hard to check out.
It's hard to not be available or to let a call go to voicemail because you just feel like you need to grab everything that comes at you.
Yeah, absolutely. And I'm one of those people that likes to respond immediately.
So I don't forget mainly.
So if I get someone buzzing in, I'm trying to deal with that and listening to the macaroni cooking in the kitchen or one of the kids getting hurt outside.
And you try to do all these things at the same time so you don't forget.
It definitely gets hard when you're always connected.
Sometimes I just want to go off the grid and stay off the grid.
I could definitely relate.
There's sometimes where you've got time off coming up and you need to take a few days.
And DJ, sometimes I think that a staycation is more desirable than a vacation where I've got a plan to go somewhere, travel to get there, and all the energy of that week.
And I just want to be at my house and take care of my yard, put all my stuff away and turn off the devices for a little bit and just be outside.
It is a unique challenge this day and age, that's for sure.
DJ, I want to ask you, how did you get involved in coaching and what are some things that you found that you really enjoy about it?
Well, honestly, I said that I would never coach my kids because two things, the parents and the politics.
I'm not a politics guy.
I do not play that stuff.
And parents, they expect you to do with their kid what you want them to do with their kid.
And if you have an opinion on if they should do something else, they don't like it.
And I wasn't going to coach, but the first season one of my daughters played, their coach was just awful.
I mean, it was one of the worst coach teams I'd ever seen.
And I've had to bite my tongue because I wasn't going to be one of those parents that just kept talking and chattering at the coach to do things differently.
Because it wasn't my team, it's their team, they do what they want.
So after that season, I just kind of decided that I was done with that.
And if I wanted my kids to succeed and not just at softball, but you know, I teach my kids, you know, we're going to be we're going to play this game, but we're going to play this game.
So it makes us better people.
And I've been saying that since the first week I stepped on the field as coach.
We're not here to be better softball players.
We're going to get better at softball, but we're here to be better kids and better people.
And that's just kind of, it's kind of fell in my lap that way, you know what I mean?
And I would not take it back.
I'm so glad, it's so rewarding to be a coach.
Not only do I coach Rick, but I have a travel team as well.
And I'm the vice president of the board of Smiths Station Youth Softball and all this stuff.
I mean, it literally just came to me.
I didn't have to go find it.
It's like the universe lined up that way.
Because I feel like it's something that I was called to do and I feel like I'm supposed to have a, you know, make a mark in children's lives.
And I have real passion for that.
So, you know, I would not change a thing.
I love being around these kids and I love coaching them.
Like I said, helping them be better people.
Well, like we were saying earlier, I don't think a child in this day and age can have any shortage of role models.
And just like you and I remember our kindergarten teacher, first grade teacher, first few little league coaches.
I mean, I remember really every coach that I've pretty much ever had.
And the ones that made the most impact, I remember them vividly.
And you've got that power right in your hands.
You're in a place with this team and this group of girls that if you take DJ out of it and you put somebody else in, they may not do a bad job, but you'll have a very unique impact on them.
And like you said, that's just got to be very rewarding.
You have to deal with some of the things on the outside, like you said, where parents and the pressures that they really unfairly put on these volunteer coaches.
Yeah, that's right.
The coaches, not only the coaches, but the umpires man, the umpires have an impossible job.
My oldest son played T-ball last spring and that was my first introduction at the T-ball level of how some people have a hard time keeping their emotions in check.
I had to do a double take a few times in the stands and thinking, are we really arguing about this?
Right, like it's T-ball. I mean, we're not, like I tell you, we're not here to win the MLB championship. We're not going to win the MLB championship on this field today.
So we're here to learn. That's like the kind of the point here.
And like you said, like my coaches, when I was a kid, they made a real impact on my life because my dad was big time alcoholic and he was really not there for my game.
So I gravitated toward my coaches and ultimately one of my little league coaches would adopt me after my dad died.
So not only did they make an impact on me in sports, but eventually they would make an impact on my life.
So, and I kind of know that's another reason why, you know, I want to have this relationship with kids because if it weren't for my coaches, when I was a kid, like there's no telling where I would be.
I wouldn't be here talking to you right now. I know that I would probably be another statistic.
So if I can help any child not fall down a different, like a dark path, I wouldn't change a thing as far as what I'm doing and how many late nights there are because I mean, as you probably know, I'm still in school too.
So I'm online and I wouldn't, I would continue to do everything that I do right now just to be able to say I changed one kid's life.
That is remarkable, DJ.
Even good people, I think that good people take a pass on huge opportunities that don't cost a dime.
And what I mean by that, I guess is it's so much easier to just go through your routine and get your job done and then get back to what you enjoy doing and not take advantage of things that come your way where you can make a lasting impact.
Particularly with a child, whether it's a teenager, a 10-year-old, a five-year-old, however you can impact them because the next generation is just a different kind of world out there.
And I think that they need to be even more equipped than we were to deal with it.
You're right. And I say it all the time, leave it better than you found it. I mean, that's the goal. You always want to leave things better than you found it.
DJ, I remember this may have been a couple years back, but it really stuck out to me. I remember one time that you posted, maybe on Facebook, a picture of the house that you grew up in.
And I don't know what brought you back there that day, but it was such a powerful post where you were talking about, I just want to remember where I came from and how far I've come since then.
And do you remember that in particular?
Yeah, I do. It was in July, June. No, it was on June 15, 2019. I only remember that because it's one of my best friend's birthday.
And I posted that on that day and it went viral. It had over like 30,000 shares and so many comments and reactions and things like that.
I definitely remember it, man. I mean, it pops up all the time. People still share it, send it to me.
People will still send me messages on Messenger to this day about that post. I mean, it meant a lot to me.
A lot of people don't understand or never knew where I came from. Some people think, oh, he's got it made, he's got whatever, he's got this and that. But that's not true.
I've had to overcome a lot of obstacles in my life. And that rundown trailer is a big part of who I am.
And no matter how far I go in life, I'll never forget where I come from. And that kind of keeps me grounded.
And DJ, you probably remember what it's like as a kid waking up and there's no Cheerios, there's no milk in the fridge maybe, or there's stuff that you have, but not stuff that there's not enough of whatever.
Were there ever periods of time where the power got cut off or the water got cut off? Oh, man. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, my dad made money.
I mean, it's not like he didn't make any money, but he spent all of his money, you know, on beer and cigarettes and stuff like that for him on mom.
So there would be times where, you know, the water would be cut off or the power would be cut off and we would have to take like my mom would have to boil the water and stuff like that.
I mean, it was really tough. It was really tough. People would see my dad, he would always be drunk. I honestly have no idea how I'm still here in that regard.
Because after football games or baseball games, basketball games, whatever the season was, like every time he'd pick me up, I'd be like, I'm going to go to school.
He'd walk so he'd always stay in his truck and how he drove me home without, you know, killing me or my mom. I will never know. I guess just God had a purpose for my life.
Probably the only reason I'm still here. But yeah, there were holes in the floor of that trailer and he bought that trailer and I'm still here.
I mean, I was born in 84 and I lived in that trailer until I was 15 years old when my dad passed away. And I moved out with that coach. I said he kind of adopted me and took me under his wing.
But you know, I was still in that trailer. I was still in that trailer. I was still in that trailer. I was still in that trailer.
But yeah, there was it was rough. It was a challenge. I'm just glad that I was an only child because I don't know if two of us would have gotten out of it the same way that I did.
Wow, DJ, that was something I didn't know about that you did not have siblings. I was starting to wonder, was there a way that you were able to get out of the trailer?
Was there a little sister, little brother that had to deal with that situation too? And like you said, maybe it was just meant for who knows. I really don't even want to speculate on why that was part of your story, part of your narrative.
But thank God for the coach that got involved in your life because you've got the makeup of an impact on the person that you're going to be.
And what is so sad is that there are little children right now in poverty, in situations like that, that are they're going to be type A, they're going to have leadership qualities, they're going to be interested in other people.
But they're stuck in this awful situation and maybe they get out of it. But maybe they're not going to be able to get out of it.
But maybe they don't have a positive male figure or female figure to carry them along the way. That's really sad. But I'm just fortunate that our paths crossed because of what happened in your life and I got to meet you and call you a friend.
Yeah, brother, it's very unfortunate that there are kids that have to go through that and I'm just glad that I got to meet you and call you a friend.
Yeah, brother, it's very unfortunate that there are kids that have to go through that. And honestly, a lot of times, and I joke about it to my wife, but I feel like TV dads raised me, honestly.
Because if it weren't for shows like Step by Step and Family Matters and Fresh Prince, you know, you had Uncle Phil and all those great dads that really showed you what it meant to be a good father.
If I didn't have those people in my life along with the coaches, I probably could have fallen right into the trap of not being that type of person.
But I just had the mindset that I was not going to be this way. And I remember that for as long as I can remember. This is not going to be my life. This is not going to be who I am. I'm better than this.
And I'm not going to, you know, I'm not going to live this way. So that's kind of always where my mind is going.
Now you get into your later teenage years and you're 18, 19, 20. Are you getting a new outlook on life and starting to see what's possible out there for you around that time?
Yeah, around that time, I started working with my uncle and we were doing some brick masonry work and I traveled to Miami. And I lived in Miami for about six months down there.
We were building a cement plant, which is ironic and funny at the same time because we were building a CMEK cement plant.
And now I actually worked for that company all these years later and I had no idea until I saw a picture that was posted on one of the screensavers at work. I was like, I know that place. Like, they'll build that place.
So it's kind of crazy how everything kind of comes full circle. But yeah, I was, I started doing some growing up around that age and I went to college for the first time.
I moved off to Auburn and I was going to Southern Union and I was working for UPS and I was working for a carpet cleaner and I was working for a diamond center and I had three jobs trying to go to school.
Something had to be left out. So I had to stop going to school and I was working three jobs just try to get by.
And I've been working ever since. So that's why I've tried to little by little, you know, kind of get things done.
But definitely my mindset changed when I was about 18, 19, 20 years old.
And you got to see that there is more than just your backyard, your hometown and some possibilities out there.
No, absolutely. And people always give me a hard time because I went to Auburn, you know, because I'm huge fan. I always have been, you know, I think my first words were roll tide, especially my family.
They give me the most grief for moving away to Auburn. But, you know, if I want to move to Tuscaloosa, I would have been 35, 40 minutes away from home.
At Auburn, you know, I'm two hours away. The people that, you know, I was around when I was growing up, they weren't there. They weren't closed.
I couldn't, you know, I never did anything like really stupid because I have an overactive conscience.
So I wasn't going to go out and do drugs or anything like that.
But, you know, there were some people that you go around and they want to do dumb things. And if you're with them, you're guilty by association. They do something to get you in trouble.
I never wanted to be that way. So I got as far away as I could where I could still be close enough to go back home if I needed to.
That's great, DJ. I never knew that as well about you.
And what a, you don't know it at the time, but I remember being 19, 20, 21 and being around people that were doing things that I didn't really need to be doing.
I still had a lot of late nights and went out and had fun. But I always kind of knew that I don't need to go too far here. Let's focus on the end game.
I absolutely agree with you on that. I never fall into the trap of the drugs. I've always said, you know, because my prior situation, I was like, this is not going to be me.
So I had to worry about that. But, you know, give me a couple beers and I'm going to sing some karaoke every now and again.
But, DJ, I've actually, and this is the first episode where I've decided to do this.
The garbage time or I used to call it the lightning round, but it really wasn't the lightning round because that's supposed to be like quick question, quick answer type stuff.
But I got to drop in a garbage time question right here. And this one just came to me today.
All right. You ready for this one? Let's do it.
All right. DJ, you walk into a bar. It's karaoke night and you think, oh, wow. I wasn't expecting this, but man, I'm ready to get up there and sing.
I'm already, I want to do this. And so you put, put in your song and when the DJ, the DJ calls you up there and you get to your song and you're about to walk off stage and he grabs you say, Hey man, listen, those five or six people after you.
I don't know what happened, but, but they all had to go. I don't know if it was an emergency or something, but they, they had to leave the bar. So, man, I need you to kind of carry us through here and basically just do a set.
And, and so stay with me on this. He says, why don't we just stick with that one artist and I just want you to just do a full set of songs.
So we keep the party going here. DJ, if you had to get up there and do a 30 minute karaoke set, who is one singer or band that you're like, all right, I could tear through that catalog.
Oh, man. That's a good question. Alabama. I mean, I know Alabama is a great band. I know that.
I mean, I would have to go, I'd have to go with Alabama. And after the third song, you got to stop and say, how's everybody doing tonight?
Oh, man.
Y'all having a good time?
That would be a great time right there. You know, I kind of, you know, next time I go to the karaoke bar, I'm going to ask them for that.
Because there's so many great Alabama songs, you know, the crowd can get into and sing along with, and that's all it is about karaoke. You got to have good delivery, man. Like you got to pick the song people know.
DJ, I think you need to draw up an Alabama set list of about eight songs, at least.
And say, hey, man, just let me get up there and rip it. Everybody else, everybody can wait. Everybody can wait 20 minutes. Give me about five songs in a row.
This is the DJ show. You're welcome. Let's show them the tips.
All right, so we're going to go ahead and get started.
We're going to get back on track in a minute here. DJ, I got one more question. This is a Alabama football question. You know, Saban, Nick Saban has been at the helm for over 15 years now, but we've been fans a long time.
Do you have a favorite Alabama football coach pre-Saban?
Yeah, Stallings. I mean, Stallings got, he got the rough end of the stick. You know, he wasn't like Coach Saban. He wasn't, Coach Saban doesn't give any mind to the boosters. You know, he's going to be in full control.
And he does what's best for the program. And Stallings didn't have, you know, wasn't a full control coach. He was a full control coach.
And he just kind of got pushed out. Had he been able to stay a couple of years longer, I think he probably would have been able to do a better job of, you know, winning other championships. But he got kind of a raw deal there, in my opinion.
And yeah, Coach Stallings is definitely in my, you know, lifetime the one that I'm going to be.
Other than Coach Saban, of course. I think I got to agree with you there. And Vic Penn, who was on Dantime a few weeks ago, he was on the Central Florida team that beat the Mike Dubose-led team, which they're the, that's the reason that Dubose got fired.
Yeah, I think you're right. I remember getting beat by Central Florida and just being beyond disappointed.
All right. Let's get back on track and we will return to garbage time in a minute. So, anyone who was like, oh, don't, y'all don't stop it.
I got a few more questions in the bag, but all right. So, DJ, at a young age, I don't want to go into a lot of detail here, but you lost your, both your parents pretty close together. What was that like? Did it take the wind out of your sail at that time? How did it put things into perspective?
I honestly don't even know how to answer this or ask this question the right way, but what was that like at that time period?
Honestly, I was 15 when my dad passed and it was very tough. Honestly, it's still like, I'm still in shock really. Because when you're that young, you can't normalize what's happened or conceptualize what's happened.
And you just think, well, it'll be all right. It'll be here tomorrow, but no, it won't be here tomorrow. And that's really, that's the hardest part. It's like your dad, like through all his faults, all the drinking, all the fights he had with my mom.
But that's my dad. How can you just take him from me? He was here yesterday. We were watching Monday Night Football. We were eating steaks. And now he's gone. That's it. 15 years is all I get with my dad. He was only 49 years old.
And that's kind of when I made the pact with myself that I'm not going to make these same choices. I'm going to do the right things that I need to do to make sure that when I have a family, they're going to feel loved by me.
And I'm going to try to live as long as I can so that I can be here to annoy them like I do now. That's my purpose, to annoy my kids. And it was a couple of years later when my mom passed. It was 10 years roughly.
And that hurt because she went through a lot. After my dad died, she lost herself and she got on drugs really bad. I walked in on her shooting up. I don't know what it was. I wasn't there long enough to figure it out. I walked in and I saw it.
And she blamed me for doing it. And that was one of the hardest things I'd ever had to deal with. We didn't talk for several years after that. And when we finally did, she had cleaned up.
And when she cleaned up, she was probably sober for about a year and a half. And then she got the swine flu was going around at that time. And she got the swine flu and went to the hospital or whatever. And she was in the hospital for like three months. And she was in the hospital for like three months.
And she got the swine flu was going around at that time. And she got the swine flu and went to the hospital or whatever. And she was in the hospital for like three months. And through Halloween, through Thanksgiving, through Christmas, through New Year's. And this was in 2009.
So it was rough. And she was here and we had gotten over everything. She was starting to get her life right. She had gotten a job. She had previously had a stint in prison because of the drug stuff. And we finally kind of made things right with each other and she was gone.
I just don't even know really what to say on that end other than DJ. I guess some things in life were not meant to understand them completely. And you have to, I guess, create your own closure, right?
And I imagine with your dad that you knew things about him on a deeper level. He probably had, he was probably capable of telling a good joke. I'm guessing I might be wrong.
You're absolutely right. And everybody loved my dad. I loved him. From what people tell me, I'm a lot like him. And that makes me happy because everybody really loved my dad. I honestly don't know what happened to make him an alcoholic. I wish I knew that.
And looking back, there were so many times I wanted to talk to him and ask him, why are you this way? But being so young, I never wanted to disrespect my dad. So I never thought to talk to him about it in that way. And I kind of hate that looking back. But so young, you don't want to say the wrong things to your parents.
Well, it looks to me like you basically took the best qualities that were given to you and you climbed out of where you came from. Now, I want to ask you about your name. After every episode, I always think this is Dan time. I don't ask people, hey, how long have you been going by the name Dan?
Or when did DJ come along? Or where did Danny come along? So you go by DJ and it's Daniel Jackson Sims. Was there a time when you were younger that you were Daniel for a while? Or do you still answer to Daniel? Or how did DJ come to be?
You know, it's funny. I was in the fifth grade and my dad's name was Danny. So I was named after him, Daniel. So in fifth grade, there were like three other Daniels in my class. And I was like, I don't like this. I don't want to be the same guy. And I went home that day and asked my mom, I was like, you know, mom, would you be okay with me going by DJ instead of Daniel? And she was like, yeah, you can go by whatever you want to, but I mean, that's what you want to do. And ever since fifth grade, I've been DJ.
I love it. Don't, don't ask my wife. She's going to tell you Daniel because she doesn't call me DJ. I tell her all the time. So I call her by my government name, man. You know, like I don't want to be called that, but she doesn't listen that well.
I'm just kidding. My wife's the best.
My government name.
I love it. DJ. All right. We got up. All right. Everything from here on out. It's going to be pretty light. I think we've hit on the, on the tough subjects and thanks for running through that gracefully with me. I felt a little uncomfortable asking you, but I knew that your story would resonate with people listening to this show who probably have, you know, at least some of them have something similar that they can draw back on.
Anytime, anytime I can help, you know, others, I'm all for answering any type of questions, you know, that's, that's why I'm here. I feel like, you know, just to help people. Yeah. You know, life is if you look at what's marketed to you on commercials during the Alabama football game, it's a lot of people.
I'm all for answering any type of questions, you know, that's, that's why I'm here. I feel like, you know, just to help people. Yeah. You know, life is if you look at what's marketed to you on commercials during the Alabama football game or whatever team you're watching or whatever show you're watching.
If you just watch what's being marketed to you in commercials and the lifestyle and the cars that you should drive and here's need to go ahead and get that new phone and you need to be vacationing here. This is all this stuff will make you happy.
It's not what's going to make you happy. I have found that the most I've had the opportunity to be around people in their sixties and seventies in places that I've worked and I've gotten to see what makes older people happy.
And it's not all the stuff that they have. It's the relationships that they have and the people that they get to make a difference impacting. So I find that that's what makes me the most fulfilled is when I'm spending time with my children or having a meaningful conversation with somebody just on the street in the store at the ball field.
Whether that's somebody I just met or a good friend. I think you and I can agree on that end.
Absolutely. I couldn't agree more. My most meaningful and quality time is the time that I spend with my family, whether it's here at home or softball field or when I take them to Alabama games. You know, it's just that's for me. That's the time I like the most when I'm with my family.
We can be on a vacation. We can be at the house watching step by step. What you know, whatever we're doing. As long as I'm with my family, that's where I'm at. You know, my best and when I'm in peace.
Well, DJ, I'm going to slip back into some. They're not all garbage questions. I really should come up with a better name for this part of the show. But all right. We have not touched on wrestling.
And I need to I need to say this. This go all the way back to the beginning. I think it was the first week or so that we were paired up together in Club 201.
Shout out to Scott and Allison on that one. DJ, there was I think everyone had left and it was a few minutes after five and I was finishing up something and you were too. And we got to talking about wrestling.
And you looked at me. I'll never forget you spun around and you said, I knew it. I knew it, man. And like we're going to get along and we must have been talking about one of the pay per views.
And I happen to have one of the Survivor Series DVD sets and let you borrow it. And we connected on that end. I don't get to watch it as much as I used to. I make a point to watch the WWE Royal Rumble every year.
My wife doesn't understand why that's so important. But I try to watch WrestleMania too. But DJ, do you get a chance? Are you still keeping up with AEW or WWE?
Man, like you said, like it's so hard to catch it these days. And it's funny you say Royal Rumble because the rumble is one that I will not miss. I have to watch it every year just for nostalgia purposes.
Man, you can't beat it. Every time that buzzer goes off of that next person coming down the ramp, it just takes you back to childhood. And it's one of those moments where you're like, yes, this is what wrestling used to be.
But WrestleMania, I catch WrestleMania and maybe SummerSlam or Survivor Series, but they've got so many pay per views it's hard to watch them all when you've got so many other things going on. But I definitely had a great affinity for wrestling when I was a kid.
And those are some of the best memories I had watching it with my buddies or with my cousin Benji. We would get little Caesars and rent wrestling tapes. And that was our weekend, man. It was just, it was awesome.
It was. I'm with you on that. I'll try to watch it sometimes when I'm flipping channels, but I'm out of all the storylines. I don't really know what's happening. And I guess I'm feeling like an old man where it's not going to really touch the old days as far as the characters for me and all the personas back then.
There's actually a podcast that I haven't mentioned them before, but the Something to Wrestle with Bruce Prichard podcast is the best and the funniest podcast that I have ever listened to.
And it's going to sound like I need to broaden my horizons and I just haven't heard something that's going to be funnier. But these two guys, it's Bruce Prichard, the guy that played Brother Love and Conrad Thompson.
He's actually from Huntsville, Alabama. He's in the mortgage banking business and it's just an awesome show. They go down memory lane a lot. DJ, what about Cincinnati Bengals? I know that that's been your favorite NFL team.
You've been a fan for a long time. What do you think about Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase and all these guys and how you feel about the Bengals this year?
Man, I've been a Bengals fan since I was, it was 1990 when I became a fan. And the only reason I became a fan is because Boomer Esiason, he started his first ever NFL game for the Bengals on the actual day that I was born, October the 7th, 1984.
That's real. You can look that up. You can Google that. October 7th, 1984 started his first game in the NFL for the Bengals around the time that I was born too. So I found that out and I was like, this is my team. This is one I'm going with.
And I love Joe Burrow. I'm actually sitting here wearing my Burrow jersey right now and I've got the Gamecast on the screen as well here so I can see how the game ended. Luckily we won today, beat the Seahawks.
I love Joe Burrow, man. Joe Shiesty is my dude even though he's an LSU Tiger. I don't care. You're in the NFL now, my friend, and you were, man, he plays so well. And Jamar Chase, like you said, he's like 7-11, baby. He's always open.
Oh, let me ask you. I remember 1990, I was in fifth grade, I think, at that Super Bowl with the 49ers. And I was rooting for the Bengals just because of their uniforms. And to this day, I root for the Baltimore Ravens, but I love the Bengals uniforms. I think they are maybe the most unique design and color scheme in all of professional sports. I really think that I've never seen anything quite like a Super Bowl.
I think that I've never seen anything quite like it, particularly the helmets.
Man, I love them. And, you know, honestly, this fall, my softball team, we went with the Bengals themed jersey. So we got the black and the orange and the girls love it. And actually, I love their whites. They're all whites, the alternatives, man. As soon as that helmet came out, I bought it and I've got it in a case. And, you know, I just, I love it.
Everything about their uniforms is amazing. And when they do the field white, the crowd's white it out. It's amazing.
Yeah, at first, I didn't think I was going to like it. I thought, what are y'all doing? I love the orange and black. This looks too plain. And then the more I watch it, I'm really into it.
Oh, yeah. White Tiger is so clean, man. I love it. I absolutely love it.
All right, DJ, I got a situational question here. All right. So you're heading into work or you're going somewhere where you're you're dressed pretty well. You got a nice pair of pants on and you spill something.
It's not necessarily coffee, but you just spill something all over the front of your pants and there's no turning back. There's no backup pair of pants. You got to get out of the car in about eight minutes. It ain't it's not going to dry.
What is your mindset when something like that has happened and you just got to walk in there like the mess that you are and act like nothing is wrong?
Well, you know me, man. I sometimes I just don't care. So I'm just going to get there. So walk on in like nothing happened.
You know, I'm sorry, dude. I was going to be late. I had to come in, sit down. I guess we get to work.
As we know with with little kids and when your daughter was younger, I mean, you pick them up and they just either a runny nose or something that they've got on them.
They just they could just make you look rough after just holding them. It's hard to have nice clothes or have anything that stays nice in some situations. But yeah, I just got to roll with it.
Yeah, you have to especially having kids, man. Like you said, I mean, but my two, they will make a mess out of anything.
So people aren't surprised if they see me wearing something that doesn't look exactly crisp out of the washing machine.
Girls are nasty, by the way. Yeah, I'm starting to find that out.
DJ, what's your thoughts on I try not to hit up the drive through for every lunch hour, but a couple of times a week, I'm in the car a lot.
So I went through Wendy's today and I saw the promo for the loaded nacho cheeseburger, loaded nacho cheeseburger.
I just looked at the picture and I thought, DJ, this is not an accident waiting to happen. This is an accident that is going to happen in about 20 minutes after you eat this thing.
What are your thoughts on just these fully loaded, just gooey, saucy, huge monstrosity specials that you see at what it might be Wendy's, but it's not going to happen.
Do you like them? Do you eat them? Do you ever? I'm asking too much out of this question. But what do you think about that stuff?
No. Well, let me say first, it's not a matter of if it's a matter of when, you know, it's time.
So that's one of those things where you don't have to get it after work and make sure you go home and eat it because in about seven to 10 minutes, you know, you know what's happening.
Let me ask. All right. On that end, do you ever, if you're eating nachos, just regular nachos, is there ever a time where you get out of fork or are you saying, hey, I'm in it. I'm in it to win it. No utensils ever.
Oh, yeah. All the time, man. We go to Mexican like four times a week, it seems like. I'll get nachos. I'm, you know, I'm just going to use my fingers, man. Why not? People look at me like I'm crazy anyway. So why not just dive in?
All right. I had a, I had a wrestling question. This is one I was going to skip over, but I got to ask it. If you had a chance to execute these two moves perfectly, and that's a hint for one of them.
And if you don't have a name, that's okay. But you got to pick out two buddies of yours and you deliver one finishing move to one and one to the other. I got a perfect plex and a stunner. Who are you given a stunner and who are you getting in the perfect plex?
And for those who don't remember, that's Mr. Perfect and Stone Cold Steve Austin.
I'm going to hit the perfect plex on Bo, my buddy Bo. He's getting the perfect plex and my cousin Benji, he's getting a stunner. I'm going to get him a stunner. And I'm going to pop the beers together and you know, do the whole deal. I mean, I didn't even have to think about that. That just rolled right off the tongue, baby.
I love it. DJ, does your refrigerator have that beeping function where you leave the doors open too long and it starts beeping at you?
It does, yes. Yes.
All right. Do you ever feel like you're moving around the kitchen, it's beeping and you actually need to keep it open a little longer, but you shut the doors almost like you're jumping into the ring and back out of the ring so you don't get counted out and you need to open back up?
Absolutely. To keep your sanity. Because that thing beeps and it doesn't stop.
DJ, how quickly do you get over, and this is recent, but the Atlanta Braves when they make a postseason exit, are you over it the next morning? Does it take you a week?
You had to bring this up, didn't you? I'm still not over it. I've been telling some buddies, it feels like we're right back in the 90s and 2000s and 21 was 95. I feel like we're right in the middle of that run, that 17 year run, and there's only going to be one trophy to show for it.
It's tough, man. Those metal relievers, the pins, killing us. I'm probably not going to be over it for at least another month.
I can relate. I thought they were going to make it in at least the playoffs and go a little further this year, but maybe next year.
Once I saw that we were trying to fight for that last wild card, and then I was, we didn't have a tiebreaker. We couldn't beat anybody if we wound up with the same record on the last day of the season. I thought, if we don't have any way out other than to just win this thing out right, I'm going to go ahead and just be over it. So I got myself over it before it was over.
Man, that's tough. That's so tough to do. I knew I didn't want the Braves to play the Phillies because they're just such a complete team. Bryce Harper is a man. I have followed that kid since he was hitting 500 foot bombs in Vegas in high school, and I love him. I've always wanted him to be a Brave.
And I know it's never going to happen, so I'm just ready for him to move to the AAL, man. He's a Brave killer. He is to the Braves what Shipper Jones was to the Mets, and it drives me nuts, but I love him so much at the same time. He's just a free Catholic.
Well, I went to a game in August. Have you been to any of the Braves games at the new stadium?
I have, but it's been a while. Back when it was SunTrust when it first opened, I went to two or three games the first season, and my schedule hadn't lined up, so we haven't been able to get back.
All right. I got so many other questions. I'm going to ask one more. DJ, in the summertime, you're at the pool, the kids are around, and no one's expecting anything. Have you ever just out of the blue said, all right, I'm just going to do a big can opener just out of nowhere? Or do you wait until that's maybe acceptable?
I usually just hang back until no one's paying attention, and then I'll hit them with the can opener, the hammond ball. I'll go full sandlot on them. I'm not afraid to do that. Make sure you get the wife soaking wet when she doesn't want to be wet. That's when you got to make them mad.
It's not like it's hurting them, but it's just annoying enough where they're not going to hurt you.
Oh man, DJ. Well, the only reason I got to cut it off is I'm looking at the clock, and I'd love to talk for two hours sometimes, but I mean this. Would you come back for a second episode?
Oh, absolutely. I would come back anytime, my friend, anytime.
All right. Well, DJ Sims, if you haven't heard of him before, you heard of him now, and you're going to remember this guy. He's out there making a difference.
Folks, if you're looking for a great place to, you got a child that's into youth sports, maybe playing softball, and you get ready to move, I'm putting it together like a whole package here, DJ.
Move your family to Phoenix City and try to get DJ to coach your daughter.
Specifically Smith Station. We play in Smith Station, so yeah, that's definitely the place to be. We're trying to really grow the area and grow the softball, so we definitely want to build it up and would love to coach your kids.
Yeah, I was going to forget to ask you this, but is there something you'd like to plug about your community and something you're happy about, excited about?
Yeah, man, I'm really excited. We've joined the board about three months ago, and there was a lot of updates that needed to be made at our complex, because the girls have a separate complex, and the boys, and myself and a couple of other family members.
We went to the board, into the city council, and made a plea to help us get the park in playing conditions, so we can bring kids back, because we've had a slew of people just leave the area and go to surrounding cities.
Our goal, like I said earlier, we want to leave things better than we found it. We want to bring kids in, so we got the community to donate $31,000 to put new fences up at the park.
So, I'm still working on donations. We're a 501-3C, so we're doing all we can to raise money and raise funds so we can give these girls the park they deserve in Smith Station.
I love it, DJ, and I love that you're leading that charge, and any community that has you is lucky to have you.
I'm here to be the voice of the voices, buddy, and that's all I want to do is make a difference for these kids.
All right, well, anything else you want to plug? Is there anything you're jamming to on the radio or on your Apple Music, Spotify, or?
Oh, yeah, man. Riley Greene just dropped a new album. You all need to go out and listen to that, man. Riley Greene hit you in the pills on all his albums, and I couldn't recommend him enough.
I'm checking it out. If it's your recommendation, it's got to be good.
It's up there, buddy. It's up there.
All right, folks. Well, hopefully we gave you some takeaways on this episode. DJ is truly the man, the myth, the legend. I'm proud to call him a friend, and can't wait to have you back on for some more Day and Time, some more
DJ time. Thanks for having me, Dan. You are and always will be a great American.
We didn't even touch on that. The Great American of the Day Award. I think it was supposed to be a daily thing or week. You got it for the whole week.
Yep. I was fortunate enough to win that award. I still have it hanging in my home office, framed, and I'm going to be able to do it again.
Hanging in my home office, framed. No, I don't, but I should.
Oh, man. See, it's always about boosting morale. You have to boost the morale. That's how you lead by example. You don't have to be a leader to do that stuff to make people happy.
That's right. That's right.
Okay, well, folks, that's it for this week, this episode of Day and Time. And remember, when you pull up in a parking lot and you're about to step out of that car, I don't know who does this, but apparently people do sit there in their car and finish off that last chicken wing and drop it right outside their driver's side door.
But please don't do that. I'm tired of stepping over these chicken wings. Do us all a favor and hang on to those bones. I don't want to see them. Okay, and go.
And return your shopping carts. Return your shopping carts. Can't be stated enough.
Don't leave them in that in-between zone. That doesn't count. DJ said it.
That's right.
Okay, y'all have a great week. And as always, look for little ways to make a difference in somebody else's life. Thanks, DJ. And we'll see you next time.
Hey, if you love that episode, tell a friend about it. I think every show probably asks you to leave a review, leave a rating. And I appreciate it if you do. But if nothing else, just talk about Dan Time. It really helps the visibility of the program. Send someone a text about it.
You can find Dan Time on all the social media pages, except maybe TikTok. And you can also reach me at dantimepod at gmail.com. Thanks so much for listening. I'll see you next week.