Episode 4: Us and Us

Who are these guys and who cares!!!!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:37

From Goodyear Heights to podcast listeners everywhere.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

Welcome back to Bearded and Crunchy episode four. Again, guys, thanks for listening. Everybody that that takes time out of the day to listen to us, we so appreciate that. It means a lot to us. And now we're going to get into our regularly scheduled program. Our first three episodes were specialized episodes about subjects that we talk about a lot, things that are important to us. And now we're just going to get into regular life and stuff that we need to talk about or think is important to talk about or talk about absolutely nothing.

SPEAKER_00 1:14

Is it really all that important? Probably not. But maybe. But we just throw the shit out there and we don't.

SPEAKER_01 1:23

We're trying whatever works.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

It's like spaghetti on the wall. Just kind of throw sticks.

SPEAKER_01 1:36

But I did want to start with this question. Are you ready? Because I've been I've been teasing you this for a few days.

SPEAKER_00 1:44

Yeah, you've been dropping here.

SPEAKER_01 1:46

Is a hot dog a sandwich?

SPEAKER_00 1:54

Is a hot dog a sandwich?

SPEAKER_02 1:55

Is it?

SPEAKER_00 2:02

What's the popular belief? No? It's polarizing.

SPEAKER_01 2:05

It's like pineapple on pizza.

SPEAKER_00 2:06

Oh, okay. You either do or you don't. There is no fucking.

SPEAKER_01 2:10

It's gotta be. And you know why I say that? Back in the day, now they don't do this anymore, but this is from my older folks. Remember how Subway used to make their subs when they would cut that little triangle? Same thing.

SPEAKER_02 2:22

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 2:22

They were still a sub shop. Sub is a sandwich.

SPEAKER_00 2:27

I mean, I'm gonna say yes. And here's my rationale behind it, right? Because you have sausage sandwiches. And technically that's a form of sausage. And there goes your pot filter. Nice. Yeah, whatever. Uh so yeah, I'm gonna say yeah. Because you could do a lot of condiments and I agree. Um yeah. More like a sub-sandwich.

SPEAKER_01 2:49

There's yeah, but there there's some people that say, well, it's, you know, you know. It's not like a sandwich is like between two pieces, not one piece. But I disagree with that. I agree. It's between bread. But uh, I'm gonna throw this one out there because this is really gonna blow your mind, and then we'll move into our our regularly scheduled program. Is cereal soup.

SPEAKER_00 3:13

No. Cereal cereal. Why? Milk.

SPEAKER_01 3:18

What about cold? What about like cream of broccoli? Well, okay, there are cold soups. There are cold soups.

SPEAKER_00 3:24

I know, but it's cereal cereal.

SPEAKER_01 3:26

I just want I I just thought those were interesting.

SPEAKER_00 3:28

Yeah, because then you gotta go into like, you know, there's some old timers out there that'll say like oatmeal is soup, or not soup, but cereal. They'll call it cream of wheat cereal. Porridge. Porridge, porridge. I don't like porridge.

SPEAKER_01 3:40

All right, I just thought that would be a fun way to enter this. Um so guys, episode four. Um I honestly can't believe we're here. I know we just said that in our last episode, but it's crazy. Um, we're we'll we'll get into a little bit about us, the podcasters, and maybe tell some funny stories or something like that.

SPEAKER_00 4:00

I realize that we haven't done that yet. It's just been like Star Wars, sports, music.

SPEAKER_01 4:05

Yeah. I mean, they know what we like, but they don't know who we are.

SPEAKER_00 4:09

They're gonna know what we look like before we know what we um Bob, I'll let you go first. Man, that stinks.

SPEAKER_01 4:22

Gotcha with that one. What do you want to know? So where are you from? Are you are you born and raised from where you're at? Did you were you born somewhere else, move here? What what what's give me the details? Were you we both say Goodyear Heights because that's we we what we were both raised in Goodyear Heights the majority of our life and that's that's where we got all of our I was actually I was actually born at uh the now torn down St.

SPEAKER_00 4:48

Thomas Hospital in Akron, Ohio.

SPEAKER_01 4:50

Which eventually became a psychiatric hospital.

SPEAKER_00 4:52

I spent three days there back in the day because my medicine drove me insane. I unfortunately mental health. Yeah uh and we've talked at length about that over the years. We've been friends. But yeah, I grew up in in Goodrich Heights for most of my life. We I spent the first five years of my life uh down Britain Road. Um you know what used to be the hamburger station and it became like the the titty bar down there at Jen's Denver River? There's those brick apartments right across the street.

SPEAKER_01 5:24

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 5:24

Actually, my parents lived there when I was born. And my dad bought this, my mom and dad bought this house in 1988. I was five years old when we moved here, and it's 2026. My dad's still here. Uh we record here uh because our houses are very both very chaotic with children, dogs, spouses, uh life, neighbors. Yep. So it's it's actually very quiet over here because my dad is a retiree and he lives by himself 99% of the time.

SPEAKER_01 5:59

And he was graciously very gracious to allow graciously uh allowed us to record here. So um uh similar story, it's actually a little crazy. Um wait till you hear this. Yeah, I was born in southern Ohio in Springfield, not township that's right over by the lake. Yeah, the lake. Uh it's actually down by Dayton in that area. Um, I was born at Springfield Hospital, 1980. And five years later, when I was five, we moved to Goodyear Heights.

SPEAKER_00 6:32

Nice.

SPEAKER_01 6:33

Uh yeah, uh well, that's actually there's a little bit to that. Uh I actually only lived there for like the first eight months to a year. Then we moved to South Akron. I actually spent the first three and a half, four years.

SPEAKER_00 6:45

The South Side?

SPEAKER_01 6:46

In the worst. I lived on the corner of Westmiller and Victory. And if you know anything about South Akron, that's the heart of some of the worst areas in Akron. No kidding. Then my my dad, we moved over, they moved to Goodyear Heights. And yes, literally less than a three-minute walk from from your house.

SPEAKER_00 7:06

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 7:06

That we didn't find out until we were both adults. Um, but uh yeah, and then we moved over there, and then you know, we we lived there. Well, I lived there until I moved out. I tried to get out as soon as I could. Yeah. Uh, but they lived there until 2005 when my dad had a heart attack. Then they moved to Stowe, and then now they're both dead. So yeah, there's that. Um yeah, so I mean, yeah, same man. Like, you know, we moved there. Uh it was, you know, again, we both don't live there now, but no, it it developed us in a way like what people don't know about Akron, and I love this about Akron, is I mean, it was so diverse. Very uh, you had Asian kids, you had Hispanic kids, you had black kids, you had white kids, and you know, as you know, I'm a firm believer, you're not born with hate. Right. You're taught or you learn hate. 100%. And I just I was privileged enough that we or we were privileged enough that we grew up around a lot of different cultures and stuff, so we were able to really, you know, and and really, if you really think about it, you know, it's really not about color, it's about green and gold. We were all poor. That's what we're the most part, you know, that's what we had in common. You know, is we didn't have a lot growing up, so you know, and that'll bind you quicker than anything else in the film. And it does, it does. Um, but yeah, uh, yep. So definitely representing the heights to the fullest. That's why we start. We always do, yeah, that's why we start every episode. Um, so uh a little bit more, Bob. Um obviously you've alluded, you're married, kids.

SPEAKER_00 8:40

Married kids, yeah. So we we it's funny for me, with me and my wife, we were actually we had been friends on Facebook for a long time. And I was in a relationship with my daughter's mother for a long time. And that dissolved, you know, there's no it may be contentious on some sides, I could care less. I have moved completely on, you know, with my life. And you know, I've been I've been with my wife for almost nine and a half. Oh my god, nine and a half years almost. We've been married five goes goes by fast. In fact, my anniversary was ten days ago. Five years, and it doesn't seem like that because it it feels like I just got married recently, although sometimes, you know, being married for as long as you guys have been married for, it it's a it's a process, it's a lot of work.

SPEAKER_01 9:30

It's a lot, and we'll get to my situation here in a minute.

SPEAKER_00 9:34

But don't get me wrong, I obviously I love my wife. Of course. I do. I love my wife, I love my kids. I've got I've got one from uh previous, uh, she's 15. And then my wife has one from a previous, she's also 15, they're uh two months apart, two and a half months apart. They might as well be twin sisters at this point. Um and then we have our little boy together who's a little toehead version of of me. He he's my little mini me. I shall call him mini me.

SPEAKER_01 10:06

Yeah, uh beautiful family you got there. Sometimes. Shout out to the family. Uh me. Uh I'm me and Rihanna knew each other. Um, I actually knew her older brother. So I've known her my uh basically our entire life since we were kids. And you know, she found me on Facebook one day, we started talking, and in 2011 we got married. Uh I also have um kids from a previous relationship, and um uh even though I have child support and stuff, I haven't seen her in a very long time, but that's a story for another day. Um and then we had Ty in 2013. Uh he's a good kid, he's a sweetheart. Uh, but unfortunately, uh we are currently going through a divorce. Um but you know, it's it's amicable, you know. We you know, a lot of things happen in relationships, man. You know, I I don't care who you are, it doesn't matter if you grow up with somebody, you know, sometimes you just grow apart. Sometimes you're not gonna be able to do what different things or and you know we both made some mistakes and we just realized that like you know, we're just really, really good friends. And that's okay. And you know, I still live there. We're cohabitating, co-raising tie. We want him to we gotta break the cycle, you know. Yeah, I I had both of my parents, but it was a very toxic childhood. I'm in therapy for it now. Uh, I've told Bob a lot of yeah, a lot of my deep, dark past. Um and you know, you just you know, you change as a person. And you know, the good thing is is like we we can make it work until you know we want to like I said, we wanted to break the cycle. Um, we wanted him to see that just because sometimes, you know, people break up, that doesn't mean that they hate each other. Yeah, that doesn't mean that they don't like each other. It's just she just realized it's like, you know what, you know, maybe maybe on a romantic level, it's just it's not that's not it anymore. And then that's okay. Um, but she's an amazing mother. Uh, she was an amazing wife. Um, I wouldn't regret anything. I mean, hell, I wouldn't be the man I am today without her. Yeah, I mean she got me to go to college. Um she's she's helped me through everything I've been through. When my dad was dying, she helped me through that. Yeah, um, when I was going through everything with with my ex and my daughter, she she tried to help me with that. So she she's been amazing.

SPEAKER_00 12:33

But and that's the funny thing, like it's almost it's not even a six degrees of separation. I I knew your I knew your wife way back in the day when I was a young man too. Indeed. You know, and she knows my wife. Yeah. And it's kind of one of those things, like, how the hell did we never how did we never know?

SPEAKER_01 12:50

It it's it we'll we'll tell the story now. Tell it. Um so I I I went to school uh later in life in my 30s, and I graduated with a drafting and design, basically a a wish version of an engineer. Still a degree, it's an associate. And I got into uh drafting and design, CAD drafting, and I got hired in by a small little place that we like to call Dycom. Uh it's a pipe manufacturing place, they do pipes and tubes for big cranes and stuff like that. Hydraulic. Yeah, hydraulic lines. Uh some exhaust, uh, but more so hydraulic and pneumatic lines. Um, and when we would get slow on the engineering side, they would have me go out to the shop and work. Yeah. Lo and behold, they sent me in the cryp one day, and here's this gentleman that I keep looking at, and I'm like, God, this guy looks familiar. Like, who the fuck is this? Who the fuck is this? He keeps looking at me and like, motherfucker, I know you. Yeah, like we just knew, like, man, and and he he I broke something. Yeah, yeah, he he approached me. He was like, Hey, did you go to East? I was like, Yeah, you did too, huh? Yeah, and as they say, the rest is history. Class uh 99, correct, sir. Yes, uh 99, and you were let me make sure I get this right, oh two. Oh one? Oh one. Oh one. I should have known that.

SPEAKER_00 14:09

Oh one. My wife, and the funny, funny part, my wife was 2000. So we're all kind of but the that's kind of the the juxtaposition, I guess, to use a big word. You know, we we literally grew up, I mean, you could probably see your house from my dad's front yard.

SPEAKER_01 14:27

Yeah, if you look in a certain direction, you might actually be able to see that.

SPEAKER_00 14:30

And to to run with we've talked about it before, obviously, but to run with completely different people, our friends' groups, to go to the same high school to know a lot of the same people, to not become friends until we were in our late 30s is beyond me.

SPEAKER_01 14:51

I yeah, it it's amazing because I mean we absolutely know the same people. Um, but you know, to be fair, in my younger years, I wasn't, you know, again, the childhood I had and the constant trying to be away. I wasn't I wasn't an evil person, but I wasn't the nicest person to get along with. So you know, who who knows what would have happened back then? It happened, you know, the way I like to say it is my son says it all the time, and he goes, It happened the way it was supposed to happen.

SPEAKER_00 15:19

Yeah, I agree with your son.

SPEAKER_01 15:20

I mean, think about it. If we would have had that, I mean, we would we may not be sitting here right today doing what we're doing. Um, so you know, everything happens for a reason, but yeah, it's it's wild. Like, guys, when we say we live that close, like we're not like I guarantee you I couldn't do it now because bearded and crunchy. Um I could probably throw a rock and hit my house over this couple of these streets.

SPEAKER_00 15:41

And the cool part about now is where where we both live at. I mean, obviously we're we're still in different cities, but we're only what seven minutes away, maybe eight minutes away.

SPEAKER_01 15:50

Yeah, I think I'm I think I'm like 12 minutes, but I mean But it's only like a two miles?

SPEAKER_00 15:56

Yeah, it's not very it's not no. I mean we we still live close.

SPEAKER_01 15:59

Yeah, close enough for sure.

SPEAKER_00 16:01

And and unfortunately, not not in Akron.

SPEAKER_01 16:03

No, no, Akron's not what it used to be, it's a little different, but I mean I guess that's you know it's every neighborhood changed.

SPEAKER_00 16:11

Unfortunately. I mean, it's still it's still the city I come from.

SPEAKER_01 16:15

Well, and it I mean the Cyberlink tore down gone. Yeah, good job tore down gone. Uh East renovated, and I now have seventh and eighth and another wing. So, you know, things have definitely changed. Um, as Bob said, you know, he's 43, I'm 45. So we're you know, we're a little bit older, but you know, it Akron was like I said, it was diverse. It was a place to be. There were so many places. Like if you were in the heights, you were at the res. I mean, you can't if if playing ball, swimming, swimming. There was 85 baseball fields, and then we could cut through where the Linda was and go to dairy mart and steal candy drinks. Oh those were the days.

SPEAKER_00 16:58

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:59

Um, but yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:00

And we did all of that.

SPEAKER_01 17:01

Oh my god, for sure. And unfortunately, the news rack. I took so many cards and comics from that place.

SPEAKER_00 17:06

And it's not even the news rack anymore. No, it's a fun fact.

SPEAKER_01 17:09

A friend of mine growing up, it turned into the game rack.

SPEAKER_00 17:13

It did.

SPEAKER_01 17:14

Uh a couple guys we grew up with actually bought it. Uh I actually I think I I I I might have this backwards, but they either reopened it as the news rack and then changed to the game rack, or they reopened as a game rack and then changed it back to the news rack. But since it's been completely closed. But there was a flip-flop there too. But that was a nice little store. I used to love that place. It was right next to we had a theater. Uh is it still open? I believe so. Because I know I mean I haven't been by there in a while. Maybe on my way home today, I'll take that route just to see.

SPEAKER_00 17:49

Um, I think what's his face is part owner in the Linda because he owns what used to be the post office right there.

SPEAKER_01 17:55

Yeah, uh Schwire. Well, anyways, um uh yeah, I mean, yeah, uh good times. Um we uh I I just as I'm saying this, I'm I'm drawing a blank because I'm going back to memories of being a kid there. Like it was just so much fun. We did so much stuff. We did travel into neighborhoods that you know we know we weren't supposed to. Something you kids don't know about, making sure you're home by the time the street lights are on, and you know, those types of things, you know, all the memes you guys see is real life. It's very true. We drank out of garden hoses if we were like once you went once you went out that door, if you came back in, you were interested in it's beat.

SPEAKER_00 18:37

So, yeah, yeah. Summer vacation hit, man. Like we were gone. I was down the street with my friends. We were we were out playing ball, riding bikes.

SPEAKER_01 18:48

Yep, the moment I woke up, I was on my bike and gone. Man, I was traveling to Ellit, fire stuff, wherever the fuck I could go. Telling my dad, I'll be over to such and such house.

SPEAKER_00 18:57

I was out never, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:59

Um but yeah, let's let let's dive a little more into Akron, uh, you know, where we grew up, some of the things, you know, things that are there, things that weren't there, staples uh that that that we know of and go to. Um the rubber bowl.

SPEAKER_00 19:13

Gone. Oh I drive by it every day. Uh going so I run a I run a retail route delivering tires and car parts for Conrad's. I love my job. I really do. It's a lot of fun. I enjoy it. I love being on the road, but I I go by there quite often, and it still makes me sad because I have seen a lot of high school football games there. I saw a couple college games there. My fun fact is I saw the game with Akron You. Oh God, who did he play for? It was it was Leftwitch when he hurt his ankle and they were carrying him down the field.

SPEAKER_01 19:50

Marshall.

SPEAKER_00 19:51

Marshall. They were carrying him down the field. I was at that football game. Wow. And and it was it was cold as balls.

SPEAKER_01 19:59

Well, I think they missed an opportunity there because they did finally, somebody had bought it, and they were gonna turn it back into because there, I mean, from what my dad had said back in the day, there was a lot of legendary concerts there too, and they could have redone that it wasn't you could have never turned that into a field again. No, there was trees growing in the stands and shit. Yeah, um, I'd have loved to have seen it as a you know it's funny though. I've played on that turf.

SPEAKER_00 20:21

You played you played on the old turf though, the hard puke green.

SPEAKER_01 20:27

That shit sucks. Hurt. Yeah, it was rough. But that was we didn't at East, we didn't have a I mean, we had a practice field, we didn't have a home field.

SPEAKER_00 20:34

I don't even know if they do at all still.

SPEAKER_01 20:36

No, they still have the practice field, but they actually have new. I I I actually uh when I'm coming here uh every week, uh I drive right past the way I go and brings back a lot of memories. I'm sure still tell they don't have a lot of money, boy. That sliding that uh the sled bag still the same beat the fuck up. They did get new uh goalposts, but it still looks like or they just repainted them. No, no, they're different style. Oh remember the old school that were like AH? Yeah, they actually went to the the newly used style, yeah. So that's how you can tell they were different, yeah. But they didn't do it with nothing else. Um but yeah, I played on that field a couple of times. Um good times.

SPEAKER_00 21:17

I have a question for you thinking about that in high school. And my wife and I have talked about this uh a few times, actually. And I agree with my wife and my mother-in-law, actually. So when we went to East, what were we? What were we? High schoolers? Yeah, but what were we? Teenagers. What what was East? Oh, the Orientals. We were the fighting Orientals, we were the fighting Orientals, and now they have changed it to the dragons. To the dragons, which, you know I mean that was our mascot. The dragon was always Chang was always the mascot, but I'm never I I will never, ever, ever, ever, ever be graduated as Orientals. Yeah, I will be at an East High School fighting Orientals.

SPEAKER_01 22:00

Uh and and we uh I I acknowledge how that could be seen offensive, but we it was never like n nobody I knew even talked about it being offensive.

SPEAKER_00 22:10

Even the Asian kids we went to school with didn't care. They're like representation.

SPEAKER_01 22:14

I mean now we look back that that's representation. I mean we they never you know I'll give it to East. Sorry about that. That was my medicine alarm, guys.

SPEAKER_00 22:21

Take your medicine.

SPEAKER_01 22:22

Um, but yeah, um, yeah, there was never like there was never no, you know, racist kind of like nobody ever looked at it like that. We were just we were the fighting Orientals, yeah, didn't care and uh yeah, and I I same I graduated on Oriental, you know, that's fine, they can change the name. I and I understand it, but I graduated in Oriental.

SPEAKER_00 22:42

I did, my wife did, my mother-in-law did, yeah, my mother did.

SPEAKER_01 22:45

Yep, Rihanna did. I mean, uh her uh uh her older brothers both did. I mean, yeah, East was, you know, it was it, man. Like I said, it was diverse. You can see so many different types of cultures and kids and stuff. It was amazing.

SPEAKER_00 23:02

Do you remember when you were in high school during lunchtime when they would have like that open gym period? I sure do. And you could walk from the cafeteria across the then parking lot to the gym. You know, that's not like that anymore, right? They built all on the back of that when they remodeled everything when they built the new edition of Goodyear. Well, they took a lot of that back parking lot where the kids parked and teachers parked at in the back. Built off. It's all built, it's all built up now.

SPEAKER_01 23:28

I'll have to go look because I drive past it, but when you're coming up the little, you know, the little hill over on that side, you can't see back there.

SPEAKER_00 23:35

There's like a um it's like a courtyard there now. So it so they flipped.

SPEAKER_01 23:40

Because remember in the front of the courtyard. Yeah, but it's because when we when we so when we were freshmen, that's what the freshmen would practice was in that front yard because the JV and varsity would be in the back the backfield. But so it looks like they flopped.

SPEAKER_00 23:51

Yeah, they moved the parking lots to more because they had more space up front.

SPEAKER_01 23:54

And I I seen that, but I didn't realize that okay.

SPEAKER_00 23:57

Yeah, the back is all built up now.

SPEAKER_01 23:58

Well, I mean, shit, because we wouldn't go to the gym. There was those stairs that went down to the field, you could go down there, or behind the that was the weightlifting garage there. Behind there, you could get behind there and go smoke. Yeah. I didn't smoke cigarettes then, but I did smoke other things. Yeah, um, so yeah. Yeah, man. Yeah, we're yeah, they've it's definitely changed a lot. How about how about let's let's talk about some staples? Um I might be niche here with this one. Um, I think about this a lot, and Jermaine, you're gonna love this. Um at Six Corners, and if you're from the Heights, you know Six Corners. Um we had Six Corners Delhi, we had uh Young Fellows, which ended up becoming like a CVS and all that, but it was originally called Young Fellows. And then there was Mr. C's Bookshop. Yeah, and then you had Dairy Queen, and then there was a Dairy Mart, and then over there was a bank. Yep. And then where that bank was, there was like a section of like buildings. Like a strip. Yeah, and there was a Italian pizza shop called La Pizza Shop.

SPEAKER_00 25:07

Best pizza you'll ever have.

SPEAKER_01 25:09

They had what ironically ended up when me and Rihanna got together, they made something called pizza pups. It's where you take a hot dog, you put spaghetti sauce, and you put uh provolone cheese, you put them in the oven. Nice. The pizza shop was the first place I've seen that it was a foot long like that, and it was called a Pinocchio. God damn. And it had pizza sauce and like the and bro, motherfuck, those were good. I I can't begin to tell you how much I'd love to have one of those again, but that that closed way before they even tore that down, and then they built the new bank and then Yeah, the the the guy that owned it had, I believe from what my dad said, he had retired, passed it down to the sun.

SPEAKER_00 25:50

The sun basically drove it into the ground, and then when the bank wanted to build and Walgreens, oh yeah, they built the Walgreens over there. Yeah, that's right. But when they wanted to buy all that up, he said, Yep, no problem. And then the Chinese place, Chinese food place.

SPEAKER_01 26:05

That that was my introduction to Chinese food. It was a place. Uh, me and Jermaine used to go there. Dude, you could get uh two egg rolls for a dollar. Yeah. Oh, I'll never forget that.

SPEAKER_00 26:15

They all sold out. I my dad had been going to La Pizza from the time he was a kid in the 60s until they closed it down.

SPEAKER_01 26:22

There's only one pizza shop better in Akron, and that's Luigi's. Luigi Yeah, Luigi's. I mean, it it's it's it's it's award-winning. Um the the issue is getting there and getting it because it's packed at all times. Right. And they're only opening certain hours. And it's expensive, it's not cheap, but you're getting I mean, it's top quality shit, man. I mean, I'm telling you guys, if you're in Akron and you ain't never had Luigi's, you gotta stop. If you got four or five hours to wait in line to get in, unless you're there early, you get it to if you get it to go, it's delicious. You don't have to wait.

SPEAKER_00 26:52

But I had lasagna from there one time that was phenomenal.

SPEAKER_01 26:56

I their meatballs and their pizza is just something to fucking uh it's it's phenomenal. It's so good. I mean, it's so good. Uh what's what's some things that aren't there that you remember?

SPEAKER_00 27:09

Or maybe even some things that are there, but not really you know what's really sad for me is Midway Plaza.

SPEAKER_01 27:15

I was hoping you would say I'm not kidding you, that was in my mind.

SPEAKER_00 27:19

All the shit that used to be at that plaza, and it's basically just a it's an empty parking lot. It looks like a DMZ. Yeah, it's all gone. And then you go down around the corner up Talmadge Avenue, and I grew up bowling there because I I bowled for many, many years. Not even well, Eastgate's gone too. Oh Eastgate's East the one in the basement. Yeah, yeah, yeah. At the plaza. But Midway. Midway. I I grew up bowling at Midway from the time I was five until I was in my twenties. And they just sold and the guy that owned it got in bed with the guy that was uh running Stonehenge. And now Stonehenge isn't Stonehenge anymore. Station 300.

SPEAKER_01 27:59

Station three station 330, I thought.

SPEAKER_00 28:01

300.

SPEAKER_01 28:02

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 28:03

For 300 games. Oh. But I mean after all the money that they had spent renovating Midway for it to only be open for maybe a decade after it was done, and then just gone. And then they were gonna turn it into a dispensary, and I don't know if they ever did that or not.

SPEAKER_01 28:21

I hope they're at least using it for something.

SPEAKER_00 28:22

I mean, that I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 28:24

That area is prime for those types of businesses to thrive.

SPEAKER_00 28:27

I hate that area.

SPEAKER_01 28:28

Yeah, it's shitty now.

SPEAKER_00 28:29

Um North Hill it is, you know, it's just gone downhill, yeah, unfortunately. It didn't used to be that way.

SPEAKER_01 28:37

Let's talk about a staple in Akron, it's still there though. Swenson's.

SPEAKER_00 28:42

I just had Swenson's the other day, bro. I'm jealous.

SPEAKER_01 28:45

Um and I apologize because I know you had to mortgage your house to eat there.

SPEAKER_00 28:49

14 1450 for a galley boy mushrooms and a mint whip.

SPEAKER_01 28:53

Yeah, it's it's I haven't been there in quite some time, but if you want to talk about a good burger, Dod. One of the best. It's and it's there, it's only in Northeast Ohio. There's a few towards Cleveland going towards Cleveland, but not a lot. But the main ones are here in Akron.

SPEAKER_00 29:07

Like Mr. Hero. We'll say we'll talk Mr. Hero then too. Because that's a that's an Ohio staple. It's a Northeast Ohio staple again as well. And I could tell you a story about that. I have an uncle that lives down in just outside of Houston, Texas. Shout out to Houston, Texas, to everybody down there. But when he would come up here to visit my grandparents back when I was a kid, they would always stop the day before they would go home to a Mr. Hero, and he would buy like eight Roman burgers.

SPEAKER_01 29:39

Good for him.

SPEAKER_00 29:40

And put them in the cooler on ice and take them home.

SPEAKER_01 29:43

Well, that's funny you should mention that because for Mother's Day, that's what re-anded when it was Mr. Hero. You got Mr. Hero? So we got Mr. Hero. I could eat a hundred Roman burgers and not give two shits. It's so good. Um, yeah, guys, that's a it's a sub shop, and it's it's not like it's not Jersey Mike's, it's not subway, it's just different. Um, if you've never been to one, go to one. I I highly, highly recommend a Roman burger or a hot butter cheese. 100%. They are so good, and they have the waffle fries, and they have they call them wafer fries. Yeah, but they're waffle fries, the cheese sauce that they give.

SPEAKER_00 30:21

Phenomenal.

SPEAKER_01 30:22

There's nothing like it on the planet, not even close anywhere else. It's so good. Um, but yeah, yeah, there's a there's a few things, and then there's there's Swenson's rival. Oh, I'm drawing a blank. Skyway. It's over in. I don't think it's a comparison, but Michael Simon, the famous chef, you guys are assuming chef, he is from Ohio, he is from Cleveland. Uh talked about there was a um show that used to come on the Food Network, and it was about rivals, and he did a Skyway Swenson's.

SPEAKER_00 30:54

I would rather have Swenson's.

SPEAKER_01 30:56

It's not close for me, but believe it or not, there's some people that think Skyway is better. I disagree. Not saying Skyway's bad. That's not what I'm saying. But it it's not Swenson's.

SPEAKER_00 31:08

Oh, here's another, since we're on the topic of food staples, what about when AW used to be up at the circle? Please don't please. Does that not make you that breaks my heart? I know, man.

SPEAKER_01 31:18

It is listen, guys. Root beer stands are no longer. There's one AW left in the world, and I can't remember where it was.

SPEAKER_00 31:28

There's one on 59 out in Kent. Is it still open? Yeah. And there's a B and K out in uh Hogo Falls. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:36

B and K is alright. B and K is good, but it's not AW. No. Guys, AW is literally the best hot dog I have ever had. They're Coney dogs to die for. You could get $12 for $10 back in the day, dude.

SPEAKER_02 31:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:50

Um, but what I have to tell you is they made their root beer in-house, and you could tell. Oh, yeah. They had this cold and you could see it. It was a drive-in. You couldn't eat, like you could eat there, but it wasn't like an inside restaurant. It was a drive-in. You would pull up, you'd eat in your car, they'd have the little tray that sat on your window. And we didn't get to go very often because we were broke before. It is expensive. We did. It is now, I'm sure it is now. Back then it was actually really affordable. But um, man, I I'm so mad about that. It's the best hot dog and root beer you will ever.

SPEAKER_00 32:27

The building and the property is just empty.

SPEAKER_01 32:29

It's just I I I would give anything for that. I would give that more than honestly, I and this is gonna sound crazy more than the pizza shop.

SPEAKER_00 32:39

Because we have good Italian and pizza shops that I can we ain't got nothing like I would say that because I remember going there just to get, you know, like a foot-long pony dog, mustard onions.

SPEAKER_01 32:51

I can taste it.

SPEAKER_00 32:52

But I can literally taste it. But my difference is is as much as I loved root beer, I loved AW cream soda that much more.

SPEAKER_01 33:01

It was, dude, and they they used to sell those glass mugs that was a hundred pounds. Yeah. So you put them in your freezer, yep. You get the root beer, you get your scoop of vanilla, and it is game the oh, it's game over. Uh, I will say another thing that they had that a lot of people don't talk about is their onion rings. Good. Oh my god, dude. Everything about that place, even if you got a burger there, it was good. Yeah, their hot dogs were where it was at.

SPEAKER_00 33:27

Mm-hmm. I agree.

SPEAKER_01 33:29

Um, a uh Eminem has a line in a song that he does with um TI where he goes, if you're gonna tell me that AW ain't the spot for the best hot dogs, you can get the F1 dog. And me and Rihanna should love that if she listens. Uh, we we laugh at that line because we agree. Yeah, it's the best hot dog place you have ever eaten from. Yeah. For sure. Oh, that brought here's the one.

SPEAKER_00 33:54

Big boy. Man, remember when it was at the circle as well?

SPEAKER_01 33:58

Yeah, so I'm gonna tell a quick story about that. Um, my dad was very controlling, and I'd never got to do, even as an adult before my mom passed, to do anything with my mother, just me and her. He had to be included. But there is a caveat to that. Even if he was included the day of or the night before, we were going to do something, and this is even like eating out, he would just cancel. I don't want to do it. So I would offer the tell you, can I want to take you guys out? He wouldn't do it. Well, when my mom was diagnosed with stage four cancer back in 2007, um, that was that was a rough few years for me, but um I I looked at my dad and I said, the Mother's Day that year, it was uh Mother's Day, because we had found out towards the end of 2007, going into 2008. Uh Mother's Day 2008, I said, we're going out to eat for for for Mother's Day. And we went to the big boy. Um we went to the one that was because after the one on that you're talking about closed, um there was still one in Power Falls I Stowe.

SPEAKER_00 35:07

Yeah, it was uh Graham Road.

SPEAKER_01 35:08

Yes, and we went to that one because my parents were living in Stowe at the time. Oh okay. So we went to that one and I have fond memories about that because we sat there for four hours just and just talked and laughed and cried and just she was like nibbling at her plate, and I was like, Mom, you're dying. Eat. She goes up and comes back, and her plate is mounded with food, and I I felt good about that. But yeah, big boy man, and and they were they had everything. I mean, it was it was your typical just like a like a Applebee's, but better. It's just a good diner. Yeah, it was just like a diner, and it was just good food. But um let's see. What else? I mean, uh dude, there's so many things we could talk about. I mean, at one point it was the rubber capital of the world, if you guys didn't know that.

SPEAKER_00 36:01

Yeah, now it's the polymer capital. Yeah, indeed it is.

SPEAKER_01 36:04

I took polymers in in high school.

SPEAKER_00 36:06

I did not.

SPEAKER_01 36:06

Uh I took tech of engineering, which was polymers, computer programming, computer design, robotics, and something else. But I learned all that. Didn't take any of it with me, but obviously the drafting, the CAD, but uh so um I'm trying to think, man, what are like just some things from our child, like, dude, things that like I don't what you might get it more than but where where we're at now at where we live now, we don't get ice cream trucks. Do you guys still have them kind of floating around? I haven't seen one in oh god, since well and that's weird because that down on Barber Road, they have that storage place that keeps a lot of those creatures.

SPEAKER_00 36:50

I haven't seen one, I haven't seen one in my neighborhood in five years.

SPEAKER_01 36:55

I don't know if Ty's ever seen one. Six years?

SPEAKER_00 36:57

I don't know. Because I remember shit. Over here, we always we had like two or three that would run the neighborhood.

SPEAKER_01 37:02

There's so many, man. There's so many.

SPEAKER_00 37:04

And now there's something about it's a thing of the past, I think, unfortunately. And that stinks because kids will never understand.

SPEAKER_01 37:11

So since we're on the subject, another spot that Akron was good for that they have a lot of ice cream parlors. You got Strickland's, yeah, you got um handles, you got um Pav's Creamery.

SPEAKER_00 37:28

Yeah, um I got scoops out in bars.

SPEAKER_01 37:30

There's another one out there, too.

SPEAKER_00 37:32

Uh Magic City Freeze uh something.

SPEAKER_01 37:35

Durbin's Durban's called Durbin's Durbin's is we've we've had ice cream. We had the one by me, and it's mistaken me now.

SPEAKER_00 37:43

The one next to Fat Boys?

SPEAKER_01 37:44

Yeah, I know what it's called now, but I can't remember what it was before. Because that's when it was good. Oh, it's not good. Well, the same people that bought that restaurant bought them. It's now the Wolf Creek Creamery. Oh, okay. Um, but yeah, but we had a lot of those too. Um Strickland's was where we went, the one down by the rubber vault. Always. Um, that's where we went as that was the spot, man. Once we once we moved out here, though, and we started seeing or once we moved where we moved, and then I got hit to Durbins and um Scoops. Scoops. I wish I could remember what yeah, I don't remember. I can't remember what it was called now. It's literally right next to my house. Yeah. But yeah, man, we had a lot of ice cream parlors, a lot of that. No wonder I'm a diabetic. Yeah. Um yeah, those were good times, man. We we definitely didn't have a shortage of man. We that that's the thing, man. Like, you know, I understand technology, you know. I'm gonna get in my my put my boomer pants on now. I understand technology is necessary. Hell it rules our life. I can't live without my phone. Right. Like, there's a lot of stuff we can't, you know, live without, you know, nowadays. But man, there was something simple about just getting up, getting on your bike, and just going, man. And not caring.

SPEAKER_00 38:57

And yeah, just the only time you were ever inside during summer vacation was when it was raining.

SPEAKER_01 39:02

It was raining, and that's when video games came out.

SPEAKER_00 39:04

Yeah, oh god, yeah. I I I can remember sitting around the 64 and just having Mario Kart battles and Mortal Kombat battles and just all kinds of stuff.

SPEAKER_01 39:13

Playing Madden to all NBA Live 95.

SPEAKER_00 39:16

Yep. Weekends crashing at somebody's house. Like, I'm gonna be never home.

SPEAKER_01 39:21

Dude, once once me and Jermaine met once once that bell let out Friday, dog, I was at Jermaine's the Sunday night. I don't blame you. I wasn't I yeah, I wasn't trying to be home if I didn't have to be. Yeah, um, but yeah, man, it was good times, man. It raised us. I mean, shit, definitely the core values of what we are we learn from from the heights, man, from Akron.

SPEAKER_00 39:44

So But the nice thing now is where I'm at, it's so quiet over there. You know, I can sit on my deck and have a bonfire going, drinking a glass of wine, just relaxing and not hearing gunshots and you know, not taking not taking anything away.

SPEAKER_01 40:01

No, Akron wasn't perfect, but I mean we we grew up in the heart of the gang wars. Yeah, like when the bloods and crypts were really heavy, and it was in the music and it was in media, and you know, it was on news. And so I mean Akron wasn't the easiest, man. It was, you know, there was definitely trials and tribulations. Like I said, man, you know, a lot of us were you know, weren't weren't weren't the richest. We were broke. So, you know, we didn't have a lot.

SPEAKER_00 40:23

Um had to fight for what we had to do sometimes.

SPEAKER_01 40:25

But I guess we'll go into something real quick that I'm I'm meant to bring up and I forgot, but it just jogged my memory. But what a lot of people don't know is where Goodyear Heights is, uh, actually used to be um Native American land, and that's why if you noticed uh a lot of the street names are Native American. Mohican, Tanawanda, um Mohawk. Mohawk. Like they're all intertwined and they're all when we were growing up, they tried to tell us, like we heard old wives tales that it was an Indian burial ground, but since then it's been proven that that's not true. But but it was old Native American land, and that's why they they they tried to and they call it Goodyear Heights because all of the rubber stuff from Goodyear. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:13

In fact, what my dad's house is was a motorcycle up the street. Awesome. That's why I don't live in Akron anymore. But my dad's house is over a hundred years old. It was originally built as a Goodyear executive home for executives. That's why it's like 2,000 plus square feet.

SPEAKER_01 41:35

And 35 feet away from the at one point the worldwide headquarters.

SPEAKER_00 41:40

Yeah. And then did you see, have you gone up the street and seen what they're doing with the reservoir? I did.

SPEAKER_01 41:46

They're redoing the actual reservoir part of it. Um, I did I drove by when we first started recording again, just to look, and I seen that they completely redid the pool. They had closed it for quite a few years, and now it looks like fun. I'm jealous. Holy shit. I'm jealous. No slides and shit when we were going to go. No, it was just the deep end and fun, just concrete and sludge. Yeah. Um, but you know, like I say, man, Akron had his plus and minuses, but yeah. It's uh it's like Rose said in I believe it was either Last Jedi um or Rise of Skywalker, but but she goes, I want to burn down this beautiful, wonderful place. It's like sometimes it had so many good times, but there was there was a lot of heartaches, rough growing up, a lot of shit we had to deal with. But you know, we ain't no different than anybody. It doesn't matter if you're in Akron, you're in Compton, you're in New York, or if you're in Miami, bum fuck Nebraska, dude. We all go through what we go through, and that's what makes us all the same.

SPEAKER_00 42:50

That was always the fun part for us was getting to leave this place and go on vacation. And you know what it's like as a as a father, and you get to that point and you're like, I just want to leave just for a week.

SPEAKER_01 43:05

I I mean listen, it's okay to be attached to where you grew up, but guys, you know, you you gotta spread your wings. I mean, you know, if I hadn't settled down with Rihanna and had kids, I you know, the fact that both of my other best friends, besides you, moved out of state, right? I I'd be with them.

unknown 43:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:23

I mean, there's nothing I mean, you know, listeners don't know this, but you know this. We had this discussion. Um my uncle or my aunt passed away last summer, and we're the patriarchs and matriarchs.

SPEAKER_02 43:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:37

Like my older like with my older cousins and my siblings, I'm ten years younger than them, but they're still my cousins and siblings. Right. They and me included are the there's there's no grandparents left, no aunts and uncles. There's nothing. Really? They're all gone, man.

SPEAKER_00 43:51

Man I got I got one grandparent left. She's gonna be what eighty five, or is now eighty five, but all my other grandparents are gone. Much like yourself. My mom has been gone for 15 years. Strangely enough, because we've had a chance to talk about that over the years, my mom also had stage four cancer. She passed from uh renal cell carcinoma, which strangely enough, uh lead singer from uh Three Doors Down just passed from it. But I think his was more aggressive because my mom lived with hers for over ten years. So I had time.

SPEAKER_01 44:33

11 months.

SPEAKER_00 44:34

Really?

SPEAKER_01 44:35

Uh my mom was diagnosed December of 07, and she passed away November of 087. But it was stage four small cell carcinoma. Yeah, and nothing they did. And and the chemo on her just she she couldn't handle it. Yeah. Um, but yeah, uh so yeah, uh my mom this year, uh November 18 years.

SPEAKER_00 45:08

And it doesn't feel like it, right?

SPEAKER_01 45:11

It feels both. Yeah. Um in many ways it feels like I I haven't seen her in 50 years. Right. In some ways I I can still feel her hug me. You know.

SPEAKER_00 45:22

Have you gotten to the point and and I not to like be the Debbie Downer here, but have you gotten to the point where where you almost forget what she sounded like when she spoke? I do. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:35

Many times. Um, and that's that's the hard part of it. Yeah. Um, you're trying to keep the memories, but it's hard. Um, you know, I struggled with my mom's death. The first three or four years was really hard. Um, but I struggled even up to recently, up to the last few years, um, with it sometimes. It's tough. And unfortunately, um when we had decided me and Rihanna that we were gonna divorce, um, I I I needed to go back in therapy and really be a hundred percent open because I was very bad with not communicating, but communicating when something bothered me or when I didn't feel like my needs were being met. I I I just I I live by this saying, it was it was safer to be quiet than to be misunderstood. So I kept things to myself, but once once I realized that, you know, our marriage had had had had you know, you know, finished its course, um, I really started delving into uh therapy. And unfortunately, um I reached out to my brother and I had found out some, you know, my dad was a very, very mean man. He was a hells angel. Um, he was a misfit. For all you people that are older, uh, you know that the misfits ran Akron and Kenmore for a very long time, back in the late 60s and 70s into the 70s. And it became the Akron chapter of the Hells Angels. Uh he was in the Marines, uh, he got dishonorable or honorable discharge. He was in and out of prison most of his uh teens and young adult life. Um, and my mom was my hero, but unfortunately, in delving into my past and really opening up and trying to heal wounds, my mom wasn't the most innocent either. So I now had to have two caveats. But my therapist told me, she goes, don't let that cloud the good memories that you had. And and and and I try to do that, but it it is tough because it led me to figuring out that you know love isn't blood, love isn't how you feel. Yeah, you know, I I got people that are supposedly my blood that I haven't talked to in a very long time. Yeah, me too, me too, surprisingly my friends, you, Vonnie, uh, you know, and Vonnie and Jermaine just because of longevity, but you became that immediately when you came into my life. But yeah, I didn't realize this until I had a therapy session about six, maybe about four months ago. Um, I didn't have a safe place as a kid.

unknown 48:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:13

That that's why I ended up being the way I was. That's why I kept to myself and I didn't, I didn't, I didn't, I didn't feel safe anywhere to talk about what what I was going through or what I was feeling until I met Jermaine. And she told me, she goes, you know, she said, Eric, she goes, You you you didn't have a support system until you were 16, 17 years old. She goes, You're already through. You went through your formidable years with with with with no safety net, nobody to help you or and and that made me realize that you know it again it it did help me get over the shock of finding out that you know my mom wasn't perfect. And and I understand that people aren't perfect, but there was things that I found out that yeah, if it if the source wasn't the source, I could have went that's not true. Right, right. I understand. But uh not to not to get too long-winded, but yeah, I um I found out that blood don't mean shit. Um you know, you uh Vonnie and and and Jermaine, I can't think enough because you guys have been my my support system, you know. Jermaine for 30 years, Vonnie going on 26, 27 years, and you now what six, seven years? Um goddamn kids.

SPEAKER_00 49:36

Fuckers.

SPEAKER_01 49:37

Um I would say that I am more well off than most people with that though, because you know, some people feel obligated to work on those relationships because they are family, and I don't feel that way.

SPEAKER_00 49:56

Well, I mean that's the thing, like we talk it doesn't even matter, we talk every day. Every day, guys. Every day. Even when I'm driving when I'm not supposed to be, shh, don't tell anybody.

SPEAKER_01 50:10

But I mean even when I'm at work, God, I hope they don't hear that.

SPEAKER_00 50:13

But it's always it's always something like, hey, did you see this? Or you know, how you feeling today?

SPEAKER_01 50:19

Yeah, you know, especially doing all right, Bob, haven't heard from you. Yeah, you know, he'll send me a text, he'll be like, hey man, you alright? Feeling good today. I haven't heard from you. And I'm like, Yeah, you know, and it's never intentional, but again, man, you know, we're we are not we don't try to be your alpha males. No, we're aware that we're flawed. Um, we have issues, and that's why, you know, guys for you that don't know, like this is part of our therapy.

SPEAKER_00 50:42

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:43

Come in here and me and him just talking while you guys just listen to us babble on about shit that nobody wants to hear. Nobody wants nobody cares. Nobody gives a shit. Nobody gives a shit. Um it gives solace to us because it gives us the time to break away from the real world. Yeah. It's priceless because you know, uh, you know, Bob, you you deal with a really bad anxiety, right? And you do have depression, but I in my experience with you, I think the anxiety is much more prevalent than depression. Yeah. Um, whereas me, I think it tilts a little heavier towards depression. I think I'm closer to the middle, yeah, but I think it leans heavier to depression. But again, you know, we both had decent childhood, but there was, you know, you you um, you know, had to go through a divorce, you know, at a in the worst time in in as a teenager in a young adult's life to go through a divorce. Yeah I um I didn't have to go through that. I don't know what that's like.

SPEAKER_00 51:43

Yeah, I was like 17 when they divorced.

SPEAKER_01 51:46

I was at the tail end of high school. And see, for me, it I was the opposite. You know, I I remember talking to co-workers and telling them, you know, how bad my childhood was, and they would say things like, Oh, well, at least your parents stayed together. And I'm like, that's not necessarily a good thing. Yeah, if they were. My parents fought like yeah, it wasn't even that they fought. My dad did the fighting, and that's pretty much all I gotta say. Yeah, he wasn't-I won't say he wasn't physically abusive because he was, but he didn't do it a lot. But there were times he put his hands on my mother, but he was controlling and emotionally abusive, yeah, and I can tell you that's way worse. Oh, yeah, for sure, bruises and shit heal, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 52:25

Um, but uh unfortunately for me, my dad was a lot of the same way. It was more the verbal, you know, and I love my dad, my dad's still here, but that's the way he was. And unfortunately for me, there's some times where I am just like him, and I have to be reined in by my wife by basically her going, you gotta remember who the fuck you're talking to, bitch. Like that's to me from her and that's funny because I'm being an asshole, right?

SPEAKER_01 52:56

Well, and and it's funny because the I will say this, me and Rihanna, we didn't argue very much. We really didn't. No, I'm not saying you do, I'm just saying, like, we really didn't argue, but there was a time, and I'll never forget this. Um we we were arguing, and she said, she goes, that's not you, that's your dad. Right. And that that hurt, you know, as much as like I was mad at her for saying it, oh yeah, I knew it needed, I needed to hear it. And I I say this to a lot of people. Eminem has a line in one of his songs, and I will take this to my grave. I should get it tattooed, to be honest. But he he has a song where he's going back and he's he's the the beefs and he had, he's kind of clear clearing clearing them up, and he goes, I also want to thank my father too, because he taught me what not to do, right? And there's a lot of lesson in that, more so than what they do teach you to do, and I think that's where I get from is I catch myself falling into the trap of acting like my father, and I go, You that's not you.

SPEAKER_00 53:57

I'm pretty lucky on that one with my dad. He I mean, all he ever did was work, and obviously, he's not perfect, never was, but I mean he worked, he worked, he worked, he drove a truck for a living, he worked his ass off. I mean, he's been retired for got 15 years now, but he's living his best life now. Right, and it the crazy thing is, is I didn't understand it then. Like when I was 18, like we just you know constantly butted heads, and now you know, I I literally really consider my dad one of my best friends, you know.

SPEAKER_01 54:34

That's that's a good thing, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 54:35

And and my sister's much in the same vein. Like, we we we were it, like it was me and her, it was we were tight-knit, obviously, as kids growing up, you know. We grew up kind of went our separate ways, obviously. She had kids way younger than I did, like her kids are grown, both both of them. And I didn't have my first one until I was almost 28.

SPEAKER_01 54:57

You and me did the exact same thing, bro.

SPEAKER_00 54:59

And but that was the thing, like, but now because there's such a distance between us, you know, mileage-wise. I mean, down in Nashville, we're up here, you know, we're talking 500 miles, it takes me eight hours to go visit. But we're on the same plane as that. We talk it almost every day, whether it's on the phone for two and a half hours, or we're texting constantly, or I'll send her a stupid ass meme just to be like, hey, make made you laugh. Yep. You know, and I I'm supposed to because I am, you know, I'm the big brother. I I'm the the oldest sibling out of the two that are, you know. I had an I have an older brother, but he passed at birth. He he'd actually be the same age as you. Oh, okay. So in fact, I think he's actually uh I think he was born dis I want to say it was like December 30th. The day before my birthday.

SPEAKER_01 55:52

That's literally the day before I was born. Yeah. I was born December 31st, 1980.

SPEAKER_00 55:57

So he literally's crazy. Like if if my brother were had lived, he'd probably be friends with him. Yeah. Because it would be, you know, closer.

SPEAKER_01 56:08

Yeah, I guess. I mean, yeah. I mean, I would have known him more because we'd have been in the same grade. So that's crazy when you think about the did you know that? Did I ever tell you that? You told me that, but I didn't know you never told me the birthday. That's new information.

SPEAKER_00 56:21

Yeah, it's like December, December, end of December 80.

SPEAKER_01 56:24

Yeah, I'll I'll tell you a fun fact about that that'll make you guys laugh. My dad got out of prison January of 1980. I was born in December. He did not fuck around when it came to 18.

SPEAKER_00 56:34

I I can't say anything because my wife and I got together in in March of 2017 and my son came in February of 18. Yeah. So yeah, I didn't mess around either. Super start.

SPEAKER_01 56:44

Uh we we waited uh when me and Raina ran and got together. You're smart. Well, she we both didn't think we wanted more kids. Yeah. Uh and she had an IUD. Um, so we were just like, oh, like she was like, I'm done. Like she had she had Sonny and she was content, and I was like, that's fine with me. But you know, when you fall in love, sometimes plans change. Oh, yeah. And we were like, fuck it. And the doctor told her because she has really bad her hips are basically bone on bone. She doesn't have no like cartilage or anything in there. And we went through a lot of years where she dealt with a lot of pain, she still deals with chronic pain every day, but it was really bad for no thoughts of hip replacement or anything like that.

SPEAKER_00 57:21

She was too young. They wouldn't let her because hip replacements aren't permanent, right? Right.

SPEAKER_01 57:25

They have to continuously be done, and she was too young. Um, so um they told her they're like, look, if if you happen to want kids, then we need to um you need to next year or two, you need to think about it. And next thing you know, here comes a little baby boy. Little baby boy. Yeah, and he is everything to me. Um he's a good kid. I, you know, obviously I love my other kids very much, and and and Sonny is the greatest daughter I could have ever had. I mean, she had her teenage years, but dude, we were all fucking teenage. Oh, yeah. She's so responsible. I'm so proud of her. And I just, yeah, but but Ty, man, just I actually had the opportunity to raise him. Right. You know, she was already six when I came into the picture, which is young. Yeah. But you know, she had her dad, and I didn't want to step on those toes.

SPEAKER_00 58:20

Well, that was that was Maddie for me. Um, she was six when I came into the picture, and you know her her who her biological is. I I'm not gonna say any names, obviously, but those who know know. Yeah, and you already know what kind of person he is. Indeed. And you know, there's a reason why after almost 10 years that that child is that's mine. That's my daughter, and that child calls me dad, and I'm the one that in the last almost 10 years, I'm the one fixing boo-boos, I'm the one, you know, wiping tears, putting together Barbie houses on Christmas. I'm I'm the one showing up to band concerts at you know, middle school, now into high school. See, I I come to the football games for marching band.

SPEAKER_01 59:08

I see, I didn't Matt Sonny's dad um is uh he's in it, she he does an amazing job. Yeah, so I I didn't have to deal with that.

SPEAKER_00 59:19

So I'm I'm kind of I'm envious of that, but I'm also lucky on the fact that I don't have to deal with any of it. Yeah, you know, and that's his choice, yeah, not my choice. I never pushed him away. In fact, I advocated for him to get his shit together to take care of what was his.

SPEAKER_01 59:37

Fathers, fathers are important, yeah. I don't think they get the the love that they get.

SPEAKER_00 59:42

Yeah, even stepfathers. Well, you know, we get shit on a lot. We get shit on a lot.

SPEAKER_01 59:48

Well, I made a lot of mistakes with her, but you know, it happens. I I I I did my best.

SPEAKER_00 59:53

Right.

SPEAKER_01 59:54

But I I think that I think we can close it off there, man. I think so. Close it off there. It was a good episode, gave people a little insight into our life.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:02

We're not just some cold robotic. This is our special. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:05

Although those are fun. They enjoy very fun. They will come back. We will we will sprinkle them in from time to time, but you know, we want to talk about day-to-day things and and and stuff like that, and you guys just get a uh uh a window into our twisted minds.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:21

Yeah sometimes.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:23

Right. All right, with that, our weekly dad jokes. Dad jokes come back this week. Took a break last week. Yeah, we took a break because that you guys will see. We're recording two episodes because next weekend is Memorial Day, and Bob's going to be with his family, so we're recording two episodes, and we were just so into our last episode that we've we just we just forgot. Yep. So we're back.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:49

Eric, I just have to let you know that I had a very quiet game of tennis today.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:55

I wouldn't strike you as a tennis player, but okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:58

Well the reason why is because there was no racket.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:08

And with that, we'll see you next week.