At Bet365, we don't do ordinary. We believe that every sport should be epic. Every home run, every hit, every inning, every play. From the moments that are legendary, to the ones that fly under the radar. See for yourself when you sign up today and get $150 in bonus bets when you bet just $5. Whatever the sport, whatever the moment, it's never ordinary at Bet365. Bet365, proud partner of the Colorado Rockies. 21+ only, must be present in Colorado. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call or text 1-800-Gamblur. Terms and conditions apply. Looking for a financial institution that has fewer fees, better rates, and gives back to the local community? As one of Colorado's largest credit unions, Belco offers great rates on products like our free boost interest checking and lower rates on loans, including our home equity choice line. Bank virtually anytime, anywhere, through online banking and our mobile app. Becoming a member has never been easier. Visit belco.org or stop by any Belco branch. Membership eligibility required equal housing opportunity, all loans subject to approval, insured by NCUA. Belco, banking for everyone. But I did want to ask you some advice because we had touched on this last turning two. And I did a whole show on Bronnie and being thrust into that spotlight, especially because there's questions on whether he's a legitimate NBA player or not, and he got a NBA contract not the two-way which in basketball, I could send you to play in the developmental league or I can keep you and you can go on that shuttle back and forth. He's a laker for four years. I was going to ask you some advice because you've experienced on both sides, right? You were the son of a big leaguer and you had to earn your respect. Obviously, you say you were a better player than your dad, but when you were a kid, nobody knew how good you were going to be. And then you were the, so you're the first third generation. So you have that hanging over your head as you're trying to get to the big leagues. And Bronnie is going to have every time someone talks about him, he's like, what's it like to be LeBron James' son? And then you also could probably offer some advice for someone and you don't have to give it to LeBron if you don't want to. But you have a kid who's following your footsteps and you now see it from the other perspective. So I wanted to get your thoughts. I just think, you know, I saw this and you've got a young kid was at USC a year ago. I think his father's doing him a big disservice. I think LeBron James is doing the biggest disservice you could do to a son is to obviously wield your influence to get him in a position. Like you said, and it goes beyond the contract of four years, but putting him in a spot where I'm far from a from a basketball expert, but every just just as a dad and then life and a professional athlete. I think to put that on your son, especially when you're the when you're potentially the goat, you're definitely in the conversation of the greatest of all time. That's enough hanging over your head as a kid coming up, man, try, try walking in those shoes. You know, I had a tough shoes to walk in my dad and grandpa to follow, but that's nothing like walking in the greatest of all times, you know, try walking in Babe Ruth's son's shoes. You know, I could you couldn't imagine that. And then to be thrust in in this position where he was a freshman last year and he averaged four points, right, coming off the bench for USC, which is far from a powerhouse in the basket. It will be now though, because they've got a new coach, right. But to be kind of like a declare for the draft. So what you're telling me is he's the 55th best amateur in the world. The thing that was sad to me is this I saw and this is not I don't want to get personal with him. It's just the situation. Sports is sports. You can't have daddy's influence, get you in a position because the talent at the highest level will run you over. It's not like other industries where dad calls in a favor and you get a job. The top level, the NBA, the NFL, NHL pick anyone you want. You can't fake the top level. The competition will crush you. I think he needed and this is coming from guys that I respect. I watch in the industry. I'm not a basketball expert. Don't blame to me. But nobody has said he is ready to go to the NBA. Nobody I've heard say that's an NBA prospect. And the fact that I saw him doing an interview the other day and he said, hey, it's the NBA. They don't just draft people because of who my father is. I'm thinking, could you be more self-unaware? Of course, that's the only reason. The amount of resentment he's going to witness not only from his teammates, but by guys on the other team, by just his peers, guys he's leaving in college. Imagine how they look at him right now. Oh, daddy gets you. I couldn't imagine it. I think Rich, we've talked about it, but I had a small, not on the same scale. It was my first spring training. I was in minor league camp. My father was 42 years old. He's trying to play one more year. He signed with the Seattle Mariners. The year was 1991. It was in spring training. I got a phone call and they said, Brett, I'll tell you what we want to do. We want to bring you up from minor league camp playing the big league game. Your dad's going to catch. We think it's going to be great. I hated the idea. I thought it was a circus. I knew that after that big league game, because getting called up when you're in minor league camp, getting called up to a big league game, that's a big deal. You earned that. I mean, guys start looking at you like, wow, we got to go to a big league camp. If I would have taken that invitation, gone to a big league camp, I'd have come back down to a ball and they'd be like, oh, yeah, big leaguer, you get to go up because of your daddy. I couldn't imagine facing that. And I didn't want any part of it. I said, and my dad agreed with me. I said, it's a circus. This isn't a, this isn't a circus. This is what I'm trying to do for a living. One day when I earn the right, I will be on that big league field. But I'm not going to go up there to just say I played with my dad when it wasn't legitimate. So I can't imagine. I mean, that was me, the kid, wanting no part of it. And I couldn't imagine being the kid wanting every part of it. I don't understand it. Do you regret that at all? Absolutely not. You don't regret not being on the field with your dad in uniform playing with them? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. It wasn't legitimate. It wasn't real. It was it was it was a staged. That would have been a movie. Oh, look, when I watch Ken Griffey senior and Ken Griffey junior in the big league outfield and they have that clip, they went back to back. They have that clip of Ken junior catching the ball in front of Ken senior. That's unbelievable. Because that's legit. That's legit. Nobody says, oh, they just signed Kenny. Maybe they signed Kenny to play with his son. But at the same time, he was still a big league player. He was coming off a year where it warranted playing another year in the big leagues. Right. It wasn't fabricated at all. It was a legit Ken Griffey senior, really good player at his own right long career, big red machine. Great career. Great career if you junior Hall of Famer. Right. But the fact that they played together was above board. Everything was right. Yeah, maybe aside. Now, if I was in the big leagues and we found a way my dad's last year to get a trade to my team, doesn't matter. He's still a big lager. I'm a big lager. That's legitimate. That would be cool. But to the way they wanted me to do it, I had no rights being on a big league field at that time. I hadn't earned it yet. The resentment. I know that you got tired of the media asking you every place you ever went. What's it like to be the potential to be the first third generation? And I know you've told me before that it got old after a while and you didn't want to talk about your grandpa. You didn't want to talk about your dad. You wanted to be your own man. We've never actually talked about the resentment. Were there resentment? Did people try you? Oh, look at this bone kid. He got drafted. He's here just because of his daddy. Did you face any resentment? Did people try you a little bit? When I was young. Yeah, when you were young, that's what I'm talking about. So you talk, hold on a second. You talked about Bronnie. If I'm playing in the summer league right now, I'm going to go make a name for myself by dunking over the top of the kid. I'm going to take it to the kid and embarrass him. I'm going to break his ankles so I can get some of this club that he's getting. So did you face any of that when you were young? Not at the minor league level because baseball is, you get drafted and you're in the minor leagues. Your talent speaks for itself. So there's no favors once you get to professional baseball. Daddy has nothing to do with anything. So I didn't feel it at that level. I felt it when I was a kid, when I was a little eager, when I was a little league all-star team and ponyball. Oh, that's Bob Boone's son. There was a resentment from other kids. I didn't really care because I'm just going to steamroll you. I didn't care. That didn't hurt my feelings. Did it add to your fire? Yeah, I don't know. I don't know if some snotty-nose kid could really add to my fire. You put a chip on your shoulder? I mean, listen, you come. So you're playing, I can't remember, where'd you play high school? El Dorado. El Dorado. I knew it was an El. You're at El Dorado. You're going to go take on modern day. I'm sure you heard the cat calls, oh, hey, big leaguer, come on. Hey, look, there's booty's kid. Go down. No, not so much. Once you establish yourself as a high school, really good varsity player, it's kind of that doesn't work anymore like because it's legit. And everybody knows it. So it's not as you're not going to hear that. Maybe right before high school, like you're on that pony team and oh, it's Bob Boone's son. Oh, that's why he's on the all star team. I heard that my whole life growing up as a little kid. Once you start to get to high school and you start to earn it, nobody really cares who your dad is. Once you got to the minor leagues and you're putting numbers up, in my case, yes, because it was the storyline it had never been done before. So as a reporter, of course, they've got to cover that. I just resented it because I wanted them to cover what I was doing on the field. Why I was going to double from able to double A in one year, why I was in triple A and on the cusp being being called to the big leagues had nothing to do with grandpa had nothing to do with dad had to do what I was doing on the field. But I also understood from a media standpoint, they have to cover this because it is a story. So I got it doesn't mean at times I didn't get a little frustrated with the coverage. Can we pull the curtain back a little bit on the Boone family? I don't care. Okay. So... Take your business further with a smart and flexible American Express business gold card. It offers flexible spending capacity that adapts to your business. You can also earn up to $395 in annual statement credits on eligible purchases at select business merchants. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Terms apply. Learn more at american express.com/business gold card. We see this with professional athletes and people, you know, Dion Sanders has his kids playing for him. LeBron is going to play with his son, but I've seen some really great professional athletes. I think of the late Bill Walton, who's a friend of this podcast came on with this, an amazing human being. And I remember him with Luke when Luke decided to go to the University of Arizona, who Bill would show up and he'd sit in the student section. And you'd see all these, you know, five-foot-two blonde hair, blue-eyed co-eds, and then right in the middle of him is a seven-foot redhead sticking up above everybody else in the zone of zoo. And I just remember how supportive he was, but it wasn't like he was living his dream vicariously through Luke. He had already accomplished so much in life. And I see so, and you know, and sometimes I've probably been guilty of this trying to live my life vicariously through my son, which is something a father shouldn't do. But go through this for a little bit, for us, for all the families out there, their kids are playing travel ball. Maybe their kids are playing football and the dad wants so bad to help him. You have it with Jake. Jake's playing minor league baseball. And I see you being supportive, but not living your life vicariously through him. Give some advice to folks that have kids that are playing on where the line is, because I didn't go well and have that line. Other dads like myself fail miserably at it. The way I am with Jake, and I try to make myself invisible whenever I'm with him. I speak when I'm spoken to, I give advice when I'm asked. I pick and choose my times, times. Timing is really important. But I learned all this from my father. My dad was as great of an example as I could imagine growing up, how he made himself invisible. You know, when I was grown up, because my dad played a long time in the big leagues, he had me at a young age. So my entire childhood and young adult life was my dad was a big league baseball player. So he was always recognizable. And if my dad was at one of my games, he was probably watching my game before he had to go to his game. He was never that guy, never had something to say, never brought attention to himself, would watch me play, would slowly sneak out of the arena wherever we were, sneak away from the ballpark. And depending on where I was, how I was doing, was I playing well, was I struggling a little bit, that discussion would come probably the next day. And he would come up to me and say, hey, how are you feeling? You know, what do you think about those a batch yesterday? That's how it was brought to me. And you know, whether it was good or bad, you know, I'd have an answer for him and we'd have a discussion. Never put any pressure on me. I never felt like I had to live up to anything. It was the game of baseball was exposed to me at a young age. And I hear my dad through the years he did interviews, he said, you know, I gave him the platform. I took him to the ballpark. I showed him the game of baseball. And if he loved it, that's awesome. And if he didn't, I'd support him in whatever he chose. I took that took that on as a parent. And from my daughter, who's my oldest to my three sons, it's basically, yeah, I hope here's baseball. I hope you love it. And I hope you pursue it. But if not, everybody can't be a big league baseball player. So whatever you do, I'm going to be there and support it. But whatever you do, do it to the best of your ability. I always had that from my dad. Never, it's crazy, because I never felt an ounce to this day. I've never felt an ounce of pressure to live up to anything in the family. Because that's my parents took that off me. They didn't make me feel that way. My grandpa didn't make me feel that way. And maybe my personality had something to do with it too. Because I was, I had blinders on it. I didn't really give a give a crap what anybody had to say. I was going forward, get out of my way. So I think personalities come into it too. How you're born, genetics, how you think God gave you a certain kind of a brain. Well, my brain was, I don't give a shit, get out of my way brain. So it sounds like your dad loved you more than he loved baseball. Yeah, he was great. He was a tremendous example. And maybe that should be an example for parents, especially, you know, you've seen travel league. I mean, I see dads out there. I see AAU coaches. I see seven on seven. Well, I was, I did it. You know, I coached travel ball for years. And I saw it up close. It's like, you guys are crazy. I'd rather pick the, I'd pick the parents over the players, because that's Johnny. Let Johnny be a little ligger that, you know, let him have. And I say it all the time. Let him go get his pretzel, his hot dog, go roller skating, whatever the kids do. Let him go chase girls. Let him be a kid. Little Johnny's not going to the big leagues. Let me tell you that right now. You mean, wait a minute, Brett, because again, you're two million people have seen you on, on X in the last 24 hours. I also see about two million people that have every goofy, crazy drill in baseball that's going to make little Johnny big leagues. I hate to say it, but you are born a big ligger. You are wired a certain way. And all the coaching, all the drills, curricula activities, equipment, eight travel ball teams, and you got the greatest bat. Right. If you're not a big ligger, you're not a big ligger. It doesn't matter. Right. And that being said, if you are born with a ridiculous amount of talent, it doesn't matter how much you don't play baseball. If Ken Griffey Jr. didn't pick up a baseball bat till he was 18 years old, he would still be Ken Griffey Jr. That's just the way it is. Okay. I'm not saying these. I don't want to be that guy that blows back on all the the travel ball teams and stuff. Every kid doesn't have to play baseball because they want to be big lagers. Some kids just want to play baseball because they love baseball. There's nothing wrong with getting instruction going to camps to be the best you can be. There's nothing wrong with that. Be the best version of yourself you can be. Right. I love basketball growing up, Rich. The writing was kind of on the wall that I wasn't going to be an NBA player. But probably instructions could have made me the best player I could be. It doesn't have to be NBA. And if we took the perspective of, I just want him to be the best player he can be for his skill set, well, then there's nothing wrong with that. But I don't think that's the motivation behind it is the selling that they're selling the dream of come with me. I'll turn you into a division one player. I'll turn you into a pro ball player. I'll turn you into a big ligger. And that just ain't so. You're either a big ligger or you're not a big ligger. You don't take a non big ligger and turn him into what? It's impossible. All right. Flip side of that, Brett. Flip side of that. If I, if I had Ken Griffey Jr. as a kid, could I ruin him and keep him from being a big ligger? There's a guy, the most talented athlete you've ever played with. For sure. I'm sure Ken Griffey Sr. took kind of the perspective that my dad took hands off. Okay, let me let me let me let me restate this. Can I take someone who has potential to be a big ligger and ruin them by being a bad influence, making them play too much, overplaying them, burning them out in the game, earning them out, burning them out without a doubt, making it your will, not his, telling him, this is what I want you to do because I see this in you. Go, go, go. When that's not the kids, that's that's not his passion. Right. First of all, for 99% of us, you got to be born a certain way and you got to have a passion for your for what you're going after. If you don't have the passion, you'll get run over by somebody with equal talent that has the passion. Right. Like I said, 99% of us. The Griffies of the world. Okay. Even if he wasn't passionate about it, he could still be as good as we were. Right. He doesn't have to, if LeBron James wasn't passionate about basketball, he'd still be better than most people because he's just that talented. So I'm talking about just the normal rest of us. You need to be passionate or you got no chance. You can't force passion on, on a kid. Hey, it's Cheryl Swoops and Jordan Robinson from the Queens of the court podcast here to talk about staying connected to what you love. With AT&T 5G and home internet, you can be a sports super fan your way. You could cheer like crazy in any room of your house or your backyard, which might startle your neighbors, but they won't judge you. You could fist pump after watching your team hit a buzzer beater while you're on a train surrounded by strangers. Who cares how you look? You enjoy that moment or you could let out a triumphant roar when your team makes an incredible trade. And don't worry if you're out with your coworkers. They know what this trade means to you. So however you watch, listen or read about your team and no matter how that makes you act. AT&T 5G and home internet keep you connected at home and on the go. AT&T connecting changes everything. AT&T 5G requires a compatible plan and device. Cover it's not available everywhere. Learn more at att.com/5g for you. [BLANK_AUDIO]
