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00:37Today's episode is featuring Tony Reale.
00:40Of course, you remember him from Around the Horn.
00:44He was stat boy on part of the interruption.
00:47Well, right now he's starting his own new podcast, which I recently was a guest on.
00:51And talked about pain of sports and just being a big sports fan in general.
00:58So, let's go for a walk.
01:00Frank Waltz, Frank Waltz, it's time for Frank Waltz.
01:06Frank Talks while Frank Waltz, it's time for Frank Waltz.
01:16Frank Waltz, it's time for Frank Waltz, it's time for Frank Waltz.
01:16But yeah, I just didn't really have, like, I grew up surrounded around negativity, where
01:24everything I was given was negativity.
01:26Right.
01:27And I see that now, and I understand that's where I came from.
01:31And have you thought of now, in your fandom, when it comes to negative moments, is there a space for
01:41you that said,
01:41okay I've experienced what what one side of this is let me try to view this in the opposite side
01:47or let me try to not try to will positivity out of any moment but just see that there's a
01:52full
01:52picture here no that's gonna take a lot longer to overcome we can get you there now you got this
01:59new podcast I do what's going on with this podcast I like to now think of sports and my fandom
02:07in
02:09sports moments you know I would even liken it to you get a your feed open or your group chat
02:16open
02:16and you see a video that you've seen in the past but you're happy to see it again and you
02:22want to
02:22unpack the feeling I see sports as a conduit to feelings for me and I think you do too right
02:30yeah um and I want to unlock those feelings again and see how maybe they've changed in time or relive
02:38the sports moments that I remember being impactful to me and impactful to any sports fan right you
02:45know um I know when uh 2000 I graduated uh college yeah and uh democracy graduated at the uh continental
02:56airlines arena yeah and I sat on the zamboni and the devils playoff comeback began that day yeah
03:03yeah and that's always been like special to me that that moment yeah right so I think we all as
03:09sports fans have those moments and I'm going to do my best to find the ones that that are uplifting
03:17and positive but not all moments in life should be that way and I know you have you have almost
03:23become
03:24a face of of stress and frustration I mean uh I don't run away from that you know I live
03:29with uh
03:30generalized anxiety disorder yeah I probably have something like that right and for me uh part of
03:37uh the unpacking of what that is is recognizing that moments in life and feelings should be full
03:45they should be expressed for me giving voice to a feeling is very important so you don't bottle it
03:51up inside and when it gets inside you sometimes that that kind of changes what it is it metastasizes
03:56into something worse right and you experience that yeah yeah a lot worse so I've always been
04:02uh quick to react and uh explode if I want to oh there it is and the rockies take the
04:09lead
04:09the rip roaring rockies right and I think you have to be honest with yourself about what that is
04:18and leave space to do that while also recognizing there should be a fullness to this feeling and I have
04:24to recognize what I know and what I don't know and what I don't even know that I don't know
04:29you
04:29know you ever hear that expression the known known and the unknown unknowns I don't know what I don't
04:34even know yet let me learn more about myself but part of that comes with you know I think self
04:39-discovery
04:40which I think is at the core of what has carried you through your walk for the last thousand and
04:4950 days however you many have you been now when you were starting around the horn that you just got
04:55voices thrown into it thrown into quickly I got a phone call the night before it was Patriots
05:01Panthers Super Bowl what's happening how you doing Patriots Panthers Super Bowl it was about five
05:07minutes before Janet Jackson went on stage at that Super Bowl halftime all right and they said Max
05:13Kellerman who I knew um I was doing PTI at the time and he was doing around the horn wasn't
05:17going to be
05:19doing around the horn anymore we need to fill in for one day can you show up tomorrow in a
05:23suit
05:24and host around the horn every other ESPN person either at the Super Bowl or Bristol nobody's close
05:28I said yes I was sweating through my suit within minutes I was a 25 year old kid who was
05:38a sidekick
05:38on on PTI that's 30 seconds of air time a day you know asked to host around the horn on
05:44the biggest
05:44sports news day of the year right just thrown into it the day of the Super Bowl and of course
05:48you
05:48got the whole Janet Jackson that you're talking about I mean so I had a good Super Bowl 2D Ricky
05:54Pro
05:54catch John Casey kicking the ball out of bounds and then Brady having a half a feel to work with
06:00the game-winning drive right and of course Adam Vinatieri yeah one of the most clutch kickers of all
06:05time so I got my dream thrown at me in a way that you would never imagine right the dream
06:10job I wanted
06:11to be a sportscaster since I was a kid I wanted to be a host of a show like that
06:17I found myself in that
06:18opportunity and I never let go now I viewed myself as as a film and host and was for a
06:25year until
06:26he used to be and said all right you've earned the job and it's hard to remember back at those
06:30days
06:31but I do remember working on the craft as much as I could and what I found out about myself
06:35in that
06:36time self-discovery again your mission is a mission of self-discovery mine is a mission of all of ours
06:41that's why we live in the world oh yeah right so what I found about myself was I wanted to
06:47be uh
06:47the type of host who and sports fan who lean into those feelings and found the human moments in sports
06:57right yep and that's what my new podcast is is really leaning into well that's gonna be a great
07:02podcast we're gonna talk to you about the Mets you know and I I want you to get a a
07:09moment that means
07:10it might be a frustrating moment knowing the Mets but I also want to get you to a place where
07:14where
07:14you can see the bright side I'm not forcing it on you but I I want I want you to
07:19see that
07:20I did it's just so dark this year it's been the most depressing the most really mean that yes
07:28I've never been so low on the Mets this is probably what it felt like to be a Mets fan
07:32in 1979
07:35when there is no hope I don't think the Mets are gonna I think the Mets are not gonna have
07:39a winning
07:39season for at least the next five years I don't I don't I in fact I think the Mets here's
07:45a prediction
07:46there will be a team in Nashville that will be in the playoffs before the Mets even sniff the
07:54playoffs again in fact there'll be expansion in baseball the expansion teams will win divisions
08:01before the Mets even come within two games of it they will not have a meaningful game in September
08:07until 2040 that is how bad it will this next decade will be the darkest deepest most depressing
08:15especially after salary cap comes in the Mets will be non-competitive I'm talking the Mets are gonna lose
08:23at least 90 games each of the next 40 years and then the NFL is gonna have this
08:30I'm so smart I hear every word you're saying because you've been hurt by them in the past
08:34Pete Crow Armstrong is gonna be the biggest star in baseball he already is then they're gonna get
08:37rid of Benj and Ewing then they're gonna become big stars and every player the Mets get is just
08:42gonna just continue to turn out I just want to point out one thing while all this is true today
08:46you're gonna keep signing polonkos it doesn't mean it's true tomorrow it's it's it's it Frank your whole
08:52life my man Frank your whole life is a testament right now to what change is possible right your whole
09:01life this whole yeah but you gotta fire you gotta fire David Stern first well I mean I I have
09:07not even
09:07to make a ruling on that but I'm just saying you have seen firsthand what yeah a little self-love
09:14and a little self-discovery can do to change a person now that that that we're not applying
09:19that to a franchise but you just saw with the Knicks how quickly it could turn around as well
09:23yeah well you got to bring in the right guy the Mets yeah as long as David Stern is standing
09:27there
09:27this is like this is like the Knicks without Isaiah Thomas this is like hey yeah you know how you
09:34know
09:35you draw the map of the Knicks getting out of the wilderness yeah right now the Mets are at
09:41Isaiah Thomas that's what they are yeah okay well but then there's still a light at the end of the
09:47tunnel I know this comes from a place of caring and from having your heart broken in the past
09:53I know I know you have experienced success with the devils before and I know you have experienced
09:58enormous success with yourself yeah living the life that you dream thanks and now I would always ask you
10:04to leave open the possibility that things could change for the better everywhere else too I mean
10:08well the dolphins they're uh they're at they're at least at the point where the house has been torn
10:14down they should get to go back to those old jerseys yep you get back to the old jerseys dolphins
10:18turn it
10:18around turn it around turn it around give me a hug no all right
