It's Dan Time. Grab a seat. It's Dan Time. Yeah.
It's Dan Time. Only dance on the line. Only dance
all the time. This is the Dan Time podcast with
your host, Dan McGarrett. I would love to have
you come up. I want to take you to Deggy Street
in Chatham. That's where Fergie Jenkins grew
up. I know he was a big hero for you. Chatham
is on the bucket list. If you ever come up, I'll
get you to do some research on the War of 1812,
and I could take you some historical sites from
the War of 1812. And we have the forts in Amherstburg
just south of here, so yeah. Historically, it's
a pretty interesting place. Anyway, this has
been kind of a nice chat. If nothing else, we've...
Gone like you said some circles, but you just
want to catch up. So it's been great Dan I I
didn't come with a long list of prepared questions
like maybe the first time but I Think my viewers
and listeners sometimes enjoy that just enjoy
the rapport Actually, I mean I have an idea for
ya. Yeah get your wife to do a podcast I'll put
Brenda on with her now that might be the hook
because I've not been able I've been trying to
get Natalie to do a podcast with me Yes, and
she's always said no, I don't you that's your
thing. You got plenty of people you can call
They can compare notes publicly over their husbands.
Yeah, that sounds like a great idea Dan I hope
that you get up in a couple more months Back
in the gym. Yeah doing it back. It's trying to
improve your your 40 41 yeah Sometime, I'll send
you a picture sometime. They actually have organized
sports and games for people with organ transplants.
Oh, really? I don't know if you know that. 1990,
10 months after my first transplant, I went to
the Canadian Games and I got two golds and a
silver. I got a gold in the 60 meters and the
silver in the 4x100 meter. Maybe that's the validation
for the challenge of sports because I got to
do sports after I never thought I'd do it again
On some low now Dan. I realized one question.
I probably didn't ask the first go -around When
you were a young You're a young boy. You're 8
9 10 12 years old Did you like to play any kind
of sport that you that was available to you?
Did you like basketball? Did you like swimming?
Did you have opportunities to swim and I was
baseball When I was in high school and I got
competing against people of my own size, I was
a wrestler and I was a distance runner. I was
a very good distance runner as a matter of fact.
So people were surprised when my heart went.
Like I ran cross country and my secret wrestling
was at 98 pounds I was three years old and everybody
else went weight class. And I had a little bit
of a mean streak back then. A little bit of a
mean streak. No, we played the recreational sports
baseball. We're always out in the field. I'm
sure you went through this when you're playing
baseball, the lights come on, it was time to
go home. Yeah. Or your mother stepped out the
door and yelled out, Dan, you know. And our baseball
field was only about 100 feet from the door.
And road hockey, that's a Canadian thing. And
if you're ever with a Canadian and you want to
see them jump, just say car. Because you're playing
road hockey and somebody else car that means
get off the roads are coming through But that's
a bit of a tradition up here On the on the baseball
front when you got up to bat and you're you're
a kid and you get to pretend to be a ballplayer
Did you have a player that you said? Okay, I'm
a Okay line or who oh Probably Willie Horton.
Yeah, it's a great story. They said the east
side of Detroit to left field Tiger Stadium And
when they had the riots back in 67, they had
to cancel the second game of a double header
because of the riots. And Willie Horton went
out in the streets with his uniform on to calm
people down. And he's a legend for that because
he really believed in his community. And he meant
something to the community going from East Side
of Detroit to Tiger Stadium. And he realized
that. And these are back in the days when the
LK Alliance realized they had an obligation to
those kids to be good role models. Some didn't
see it that way, but they did I Think I think
we're back in that place now To an extent not
that Everybody should look to the two sports
venues and ball fields for their heroes. But
man, it's it's hard to look elsewhere Well, what
just applies to you right now with some of these
fellas and I'm gonna be judgmental here, but
to that doing betting Advertisements. Yeah Wayne
Gretzky is doing advertisers for betting and
that's not going over well up here. It's not
going well up. He doesn't need the money, but
people really held him in such high esteem and
he did everything right. He really did. When
we started getting the betting, people went,
we don't know if we know him anymore. And that's
unfortunate, but I found that betting has really
taken some of the enjoyment out of sports. I
think so. It's uh, and you never know online
who's who's being nasty What they comment and
what they post if they're if they're so enraged
and so vitriolic because they lost a few hundred
bucks on this guy missing a field goal or something,
but Well, you know isaiah kind of falafel. Yeah,
you know he is He's out by like two inches The
whole time where one of his he got death threats
Because they're saying you know that lead off
a third. He should have been far off the bag
and Yeah, I got death threats You know, that's
crazy It's crazy So there they've always been
hecklers and and I think it to an extent Inside
the venue. Yeah, you're gonna get some emotion
stirred but outside online I'm not into it whatsoever.
And I listen to podcast the book of Joe Joe Madden
and Tom Braducci And I was really pleased that
Joe Madden, the former Cubs manager, he denounces
gambling and the platforms. Yeah. Some of it
is just, you know, back in the day, if you wanted
to gamble, you know, you had to go down to the
track. You had to go to the casino. You couldn't
just sit there on your couch as a 22 year old
male that's knocking back a few drinks. And it's
just so easy to just tap and tap and just let
me, let me deposit. 60 more. Oh shoot. I just
lost that prop bet. Let me make another 20. You
know, it's not the game scores that's killing
people. It's the prop bets. Yeah. You can bet
on the first pitch is going to be a strike or
a ball. Right. You can bet on the first three
throw. Well, that opens up a player because who's
going to know? It was a pitcher and he was supposed
to throw a ball the first one and people bet
on whether or not he. So it's a prop bet. It's
really it's unfortunate. People get into trouble
with the gambling. It's like I said about the
smoking and drinking. You don't start You don't
got to stop. Yeah And it affects everyone else
and I know someone and they lost the family home
because of that so and if I'm being a Self -righteous
Christian or whatever then I'm gonna have to
live with that. That's just how I I see it and
I was raised up in a family where my and I go
to my friends fathers' funerals. And their life
stories are all the same. Born on a farm, went
through the Depression, joined the army to get
four squares or three squares, left the army,
got a trade, and spent their whole lives dedicated
to their families. But they're all the same.
That was that generation. Of course, they didn't
have this little fella either. Right. Saw a picture.
All the kids are sitting around the kitchen table.
They're playing on their phones. Access we are
truly prisoners of our own device And I had a
role like no phones at the table, yeah and no
watching TV when we Know that's the time when
we can get together We we had shouting matches.
I'm not gonna lie, but we were together. Yes
No Okay, and kids especially anybody listening
if you have young children, which mine aren't
teenagers yet And I've been forewarned what to
expect and all that. But if you got a four year,
especially a three year old, four, five, six
years old, they want nothing more than your undivided
attention. Yes, they want to play. You can leave
them alone for a little bit. They'll go out and
or they'll occupy themselves. But policy in my
house with me is if I have to do something on
my device, that's optional, it's not work related.
I just, I'm checking scores or I'm scrolling
on something and I can tell in my peripheral
vision that my daughter is coming around the
corner. I can hear her a little, the pitter patter,
a little feet walking down the hallway and she's
coming in my direction. That phone is down before
she even gets to me, before she makes eye contact.
At all costs, I do not let my small children
Stand in front of me without me making eye contact
with them. It drives me. I hate to tell people
what to do, but when I see people in public at
playgrounds and their child is looking at them
and they cannot break their eyes from their phones,
it's rough. I just, I can't sign off on that.
The guy in the stands is swearing at the players.
His four year old is sitting next to him. I mean
that. they don't think you're the example well
if you take anything away from this this interview
it's you're not the only person in the world
you're not the only person in the world and you
gotta kind of catch on to that now how old is
your oldest he's he turned eight in november
i want you to know when he turns 13 you're going
to get really stupid and then when he gets 20
you're going to smarten up again I guarantee
you and the other thing and the only advice I
gave my stepdaughter she bring home a boy How
does he treat his mother? Yep, that's that's
how he's gonna treat you and watch your dad treats
his mother cuz that's where he learned and It
stood her in good stead, you know But yeah, I
raised a teenage girl and it's a it's fun Tell
you what she's got her doctorate in immunobiology
right now, so I guess just did something right
you did something, right? Absolutely Well, she's
making great last I heard she was working at
a lab in Toronto making drugs for AIDS patients
so For all my flaws as a father. I did something
right Well, Dan, I haven't said it before on
the show but god bless you for thank you very
much making your life mission what it is and
You've talked in the past or on a previous episode
about Of course 1989 and 2000 and people people
can imagine when you have a heart transplant
or you have a second one The medications that
just the average person of a certain age has
to take every day You can only imagine what's
on Dan's plate Just the hoops that you have to
jump through in general. Okay? Same to with transplant
especially hearts. We all go through depression.
I went through it. I got it I talked about this
in a newspaper article. I got addicted to one
of my drugs. And I didn't know I was addicted
until I missed a dose. And then it went through
the withdrawal. And I went to the hospital and
I said, I worked too hard to get this far to
screw it up over a drug addiction. Let's deal
with this while we can. But I know how much I
put into keeping me alive. I'm 70 now. I know
full well what other people have put into keeping
me alive. And I realize that and I appreciate
it and I kind of it's kind of hokey, but I live
for them too and Whenever I I want to get lazy
I say the person who might have got this heart
that I didn't get it somebody else got it They
might take care of it better than me That's a
bit of a motivation for me, too. You know the
person who could have got it and didn't so Anyway
great talking to you today You too, Dan. I wish
we could um And we will get together in the flesh
and I get to visit your digs. I live in a bachelor
apartment. The thing about when you can't get
around is why your apartment starts to get really
shabby really fast. We call it the motel syndrome.
You walk into the motel, your shirt goes here
and your pants go here and your shoes go here.
But I keep coming over all where they may the
pieces follow it and we will work on getting
Natty and Brandon to do a show together. Yes
Brandon's an interesting person Anyway, well,
that's your family. Yeah, let's um Are you prepared
to make a Super Bowl champion prediction? well,
I want to say the Bears because I wanted to beat
the Packers, but I Think and it was just a one
game Seattle against San Francisco said it looked
really good. Yeah, they did They look like a
very well -rounded team. There is something to
be said for experience. I think the Bills will
probably beat the Jags this weekend just because
of the experience, to be honest with you. And
Houston's probably going to beat Pittsburgh because
they're just a better team. Dan, as a Baltimore
fan, yeah, losses really, they affect fans in
different ways. I had to take a step back and
think, okay, well, that was really tough. Anytime
you miss a field goal, it's brutal. But I thought
It's not a playoff game. We got ourselves in
fortunately into a position where we can win
and you're in illusion, you go home and we're
going home. Um, so it's a, it's a bad feeling,
but the remarkable thing you're talking about
a field goal that if this thing, this ball goes
to the uprights. Yeah. Mike Tomlin is out of
a job and John Harbaugh is still the coach of
the Ravens. Um, I mean, the entire trajectory
of. Several multiple people's lives, I guess
in the professional lives are just based on the
way that Tyler loop kicks the ball I thought
he was really really classy and how he Described
it and what he's going and I was pleased to see
at least I I'm trying to wean myself off reading
a real lot of sports posts and People seem to
be very supportive of Tyler loop and what I am
as coaching channels in baseball and It was a
championship game. They're really nervous. I
said, did you ever watch the Wizard of Oz? Yeah.
That scarecrow is always smart. He just needed
a diploma. The lion always had courage. He just
needed a medal. Yeah. The Tin Man always had
empathy. All he needed was a tick, tick, tick.
He said, fellas, it doesn't take a trophy to
be a champion. That's correct. Doesn't take a
trophy to be a champ. They always had it. They
just needed the visible proof. Well, you don't
need that validation I Love their life and their
life's not gonna end if we all win this game
Just that simple The coach on the other hand
was another story They actually videotaped this
game I can see my hands were clenched the whole
cake So you were wound up in there, but that's
that was my story This is you don't have to have
a diploma to be smart. Yeah, you have to have
a trophy To be a champion. I mean, who's to say
Dan Marino's not a champion because he didn't
win a Super Bowl. I think he did about as much
as you could expect and I can't remember if it
was the run game or the defense on those Dolphins
teams that really didn't keep them in position
to be, you know, more competitive than they were.
But I think Marino did about all he could. Well,
Bum Phillips, coach of the Oilers, he says. Don
shula can take his and beat yours and he can
take yours and beat his yeah Because he as you
know in the 70s it was about the run zonka kicked
morris You get into the 80s and now it's about
to pass and he changes team around so we'll give
don shula credit for that Oh, and uh, we were
talking about of course indiana earlier in the
conversation Man after last night. I I think
the hoosiers it's gonna be a great matchup miami
and indiana and Think it could go either way,
but just or before last night's game. I think
Indiana's just a behemoth. Yeah It's funny because
they were not expected. No, I think people were
snoozing on signetti and What he's out there?
Actually, one player I like was Ole Miss was
that quarterback? Yeah, Chambliss Chambliss.
Mm -hmm. I thought he looked good Now Detroit
or Detroit Michigan has Bryce Underwood Imagine
Lamar Jackson, but he can't pass. Now mind you,
he's 18 years old. He's got some growing to do.
But he's an exciting player, but he's not a very
good passer. And in Michigan, you know, having
losing the coach like that, you know, because
of the scandal. Yeah. I don't know how, you know,
what's going to happen with that team. So, but
there's a saying, you can win every game of the
year if you're Michigan. You can lose every game
of the year if you're Michigan, but you better
beat Ohio State. Better win the big game. The
big game comes on. Yeah. Same with Ohio State.
You can lose every game, but you better beat
Michigan. Well, Dan, I know you and I will chat
during the playoffs and everything here, and
this was so much fun. I hope my listeners and
viewers, Dan and I have been talking for a while
here, so I take no offense if you've been cleaning
the house on the back end and not hanging on
every word, but maybe when Dan speaks, you do
a double take and you you tune back in, I feel
like I have a Tennessee Dan to ramble. I'm always
hanging on the edge of my seat when you drop
in. Whenever I step in front of a microphone,
the next few words are here. Keep it short. Give
it short, Dan. Keep it short. Now, if you go
to the Chatham City Council meeting, September
the 8th, and I did a deputation. I did a presentation
about the baseball and they're trying to put
in a new field in Chatham. regulation field,
but they wanted to design it just for our Challenger
program. And so they had me come in and talk
about Challenger baseball and what it would mean
to us to have that field and what the program
is about. And basically what I said was the program
is about developing people and life. Because
our players, we encourage them to volunteer.
Because that's life. And it's another story.
And if you got time to put this in, that'd be
great. Every parent, I go and talk to them. Who's
your son? What can I do with your daughter? What
can I do last game of the year? couple shows
up and I go over Hi, I'm Dan and said who are
you rooting for and they said number three Number
three does not know what color shirt it's on
Number three does not know the intelligence level
the skill level the language the color the culture
of the person wearing it The kicker is Number
three that night was a finalist for the top athlete
scholar in Chatham. The captain of every team
she's on, she's not a basketball scholar, one
of our volunteers. But in her parents' mind,
she's just number three, same as everybody else
out in that field. And when they said that, they
said, they get this program. They get this program.
Our volunteers wear the same shirts. They don't
have volunteer on the back, because they don't
want it. And that way they can build a relationship.
with the players. But when they said number three,
I thought, they get this program. They get this
program. Nobody's there for the spotlight. Yeah.
Well, that's why we became a big family because
the families, our volunteers, our players, they're
all treated the same. They're all treated the
same. But that's one of my favorite little anecdotes
from the baseball is them saying, and they should
have so much to be proud of with their daughter,
to be honest with you, and she's just number
three. Dan, I wrote this down. I was thumbing
through my files. I keep a lot of notes on every
episode, research and things like that. And I
have a one, two, three of, I think this is as
it relates to challenger baseball, number one,
have fun. Number two, make friends. And three,
show good sportsmanship. Was that something you
said, or is that, I may have just pulled that
out of? Well, I would have, making friends in
sportsmanship is personal growth. It's just about
personal growth. We had players, we couldn't
get them out of the dugout when they first started.
And I want to tell you, if you're socially awkward,
dugout is not a good place to be. And they had
to adjust to being around other people because
they weren't used to it. And by week three, you
can't shut them up. They dance around the field.
I don't care. As long as they're enjoying themselves,
I don't care. the worker in the group home said,
every Thursday night, as soon as they get home
from work, on goes the shirt. It was nice to
provide it. And I've been thinking a lot about
how we've asked organizations and businesses
now to change their mandate. And you got the
poster for soccer. I sent a copy to Minor Girl
Softball and Minor Baseball. Could you promote
this for us? And they said, yes. That doesn't
always happen. That doesn't always happen between
little league organizations So for me, it was
very gratifying to have to come back and say
yeah, we'll support this You've made you've made
one heck of a difference in that community. I
hope I try By the way, if you want to feed your
ego go into chat GPT and put your name in I Wonder
what they had to say. I did that. I put my name
in it all comes all flattering. I go like you
like this Dan anything else that you'd like to
plug we covered a lot. Yeah, you know you get
to edit this so falls in your court and uh I'm
always happy to shine the light on Chatham. I
think it just from what I've read and seen from
afar. It's a wonderful community Yeah, and we're
we're like any other mid -size or smaller city.
We have our pluses and we have our Our downside
and that's just life. We're the same as any other
We have been accused of being too kind to the
homeless You're What's the word enabling enabling
I enable them to see tomorrow I Can well with
that and Dan, I mean I would think that people
maybe have a binary way of looking at things
Well, you know or certain Programs that benefit
the the underprivileged well someone's gonna
steal from this or someone's gonna get this checked
and they're not supposed to have it because they
They're gonna game the system. Well, that's gonna
happen at a small percentage everywhere But in
your case, you know, let's just say one person
that you're reaching climbs out of that or to
my friend and I'm gonna plug this motel and we
deliver sandwiches through this colonial motel
East End of Chatham, it's not great. One day
the owner come out and said, I'm really impressed
with you guys, what you're doing. I have a room
right over there you can use. So once a month
we take our portable barbecue and we have a barbecue
for the people in that hotel. By doing that,
they're more than just sandwiches. And we got
to know them on a personal level. And it was
two people were grieving the loss of a child.
Well, my church has a grief program, so we were
able to hook them up. But we got to know them.
And my suggestion is the story in John chapter
four about the woman of the well. That's the
story. Because he developed a relationship with
that woman, found her needs, rather than judge
her for being divorced more times. And that's
the key. And that's the key. What, my friend?
Football's going to start in a few minutes. Oh,
wow. We've carried it all the way to kickoff
almost. All right. This has been terrific, Dan.
Let's do it again. Yep. We'll get the girls involved.
Yes. Folks, thanks for checking out the Dan Time
podcast and hopefully your week ahead is much
brighter and we put a bug or two in your ear
about making the most of your time on earth.
Sure. Thank you so much. Dan Cabalca, folks,
tell a friend about the podcast and And check
out everything they've got going, all the good
things they have going on up there in Chatham
and with Challenger. Okay. All right, my friend.
Say hi to the family.