Marty Smith - ESPN Sports Journalist Reporter

 There's a substantial contingent of folks out there who watch and listen to what I do on ESPN and they think I'm faking the accent.
 As if a Southern accent is some sort of substantial benefit in the world of professional broadcasting.
 Ryan, I've said countless times, I don't care what level you achieve when it's over, you lose a piece of your soul.
 I was charged with interviewing Dale and hard junior, who's like a brother to me.
 I mean there's 30 people waiting to talk to him and he like kind of gives me one of these head nods like get your ass over here.
 Put his finger in my chest and he goes, you need to shut up.
 And man, I was so mad at him, but I knew he was right.
 You're listening to the Radcast. If it's radical, we cover it.
 Here's your host, Ryan Alford.
 Hey guys, what's up?
 Welcome to the latest edition of the Radcast.
 I am excited today, my friends.
 You know, I don't get to talk to everyone that's necessarily a passion, but growing up here in South Kakalaki, going to clips in university, following college football and NASCAR.
 I got someone who I truly admire, Marty Smith, what's up brother?
 Ryan, hey man, I appreciate you having me and full disclosure to all you guys listening. I'm late and I'm very sorry.
 I've put Ryan in a heck of a predicament here is very popular man, his schedule is packed and I have completely food barred the whole thing.
 But man, I appreciate your interest in hearing a little bit of my path and story and I appreciate you and what you do there with your podcast and I know it inspires a ton of people.
 Thank you, Marty. I really appreciate that.
 If you don't know, Marty is going to tell you shortly, Marty is a journalist, a writer, an ESPN top shelf talent.
 If I may say and father who I admire a lot of the way he goes about things and you know watching him balance life and family at least for a far.
 And you know, hopefully this is the start of a relationship with Marty, which I'm looking forward to.
 We got a lot in common. I got four boys, Marty under the age of 12.
 Man, y'all got your hands full, brother. Oh, yeah, every sport known to man, I'm coaching, practice. I don't know why we had six out of seven days in the spring where it was practice or games.
 So we're writing the thick of it.
 I'm going to say a prayer for you and mama because that's just so much to manage, but the memories made and the experiences and seeing your kids achieve.
 And seeing your kids learn how to win with grace and absolutely hate losing, but learn how to lose because in this life, we lose a hell of a lot more than we win.
 And all of that is so important and sports are, I don't know if there's a better, a better platform to learn those things than that age group in those sports.
 So prayers are up for you too.
 Yeah, man. Well, I would talk about Marty. Let's start. I mean, you know, as we talked pre episode, I'm sure a lot of our audience has heard of you seen you on TV, seen the stories that you bring to life.
 But for anyone that has it and for those that have that don't know some, I would mind just talking a little bit about your, your journey, you know, growing up and, you know, what's kind of molded you into who you are, which is always I've always said, you're like one of the most earnest people on TV.
 And I want to, and I just, it's all, you know, it's funny, you know, watching Clemson and dabbo and people going, is that real? And then I've always watched you and sometimes people are like, it's Marty.
 Dude, that is growing up in the South. That is real. And I'm real knows real. And I've always admired it, but I'd love for our audience to hear a little bit about that journey.
 Well, thank you. First of all, I appreciate your kind words. It is always makes me laugh. There's a substantial contingent of folks out there who watch and listen to what I do on ESPN and they think I'm faking the accent.
 As if a Southern accent is some sort of substantial benefit in the world of professional broadcasting.
 But so I'll try to give a truncated version of the path. I grew up about 20 miles or 25 miles west of Virginia text campus in a little town called Parisburg.
 And it's a kind of a farming community, super blue collar, God and country kind of vibe. And I would not trade my upbringing there for anything, my best friends then or my best friends now.
 And we just had an amazing, amazing upbringing. It's one of those towns where the high school football Friday night lights vibe is 100% accurate.
 It's the marquee social event of the week. It is the identity of the town. And I was on some teams that were very good.
 And it's one of those things where if you're kind of a starting player on a team that's that good, you don't pay for your blizzards, you don't pay for your haircuts and the whole thing. I mean, it's remarkable for me to chase that nostalgia.
 And so I went from growing up there in Parisburg to Radford University. I had a brief stop at a school in East Tennessee called Carson Newman College. It's now Carson Newman University played middle infield there.
 That wasn't right for me. So I transferred over to Radford and it was one of the greatest blessings ever for me because I had to figure out who and what I wanted to be when I wasn't an athlete anymore.
 Ryan, I've said countless times. I don't care what level you achieve, whether you are the kid who his last athletic event ever is his final high school football game where you're painting man in your Tom Brady who plays till you're 107.
 When it's over, you lose a piece of your soul and you have to rewrite part of that and you have to find things that fill up that portion of your competitive nature, that portion of your identity and your purpose.
 And I really struggled with that when I lost ball. Well, one day someone coaxed me into walking into the sports information department at Radford University, my alma mater.
 And I really found that purpose. I loved it. And while working in that sports information department, I was rekindled a relationship with a writer for the Rowan Oak Times, which would be like the Greenville news down there where you guys are. It's kind of the major regional newspaper in that area.
 And they hired me to cover high school sports and they also hired me to cover the local short track, then called New River Valley Speedway. It's now called Motor Mile.
 And I didn't want anything to do with it, man. I had completely fallen out of love with auto racing when Davey Allison, one of my childhood heroes died in a helicopter crash in 1993 at Talladega Super Speedway.
 And so I tell you all of that to tell you that the first couple laps of the first race I covered, I fell back in love with it. And I went, this is where I need to be. I got to chase this man.
 I loved the smell. I loved, I mean, the stands were packed on a Saturday night with New River Valley people from all over the region that I grew up in. And it just really captivated me.
 And from there, as a senior in college at Radford, I was hired by the Washington Post to cover Virginia Tech football as their reporter nationally, cover Virginia Tech.
 So it was a massive responsibility for which I was not ready. And graduated from Radford and took a job in Lynchburg, Virginia, cover and NASCAR racing and Liberty University athletics. I was there for a while, then I got hired by NASCAR.
 And NASCAR for 18 months, the website got bought by Turner Sports in Atlanta. I worked for Turner Sports as a writer in auto racing until 2006 when ESPN called out of nowhere and said, Hey, keep this under your hat.
 Guy named Jack Obringer, who's still one of my best friends and great mentors at ESPN. He said, look, dude, keep this under your, we're going to start broadcast and NASCAR races again in 2007.
 And we're putting together our ancillary programming group for our coverage team. And I don't, I mean, I did, I was like a deer in the headlights. I'm like, what, you got the wrong guy. I actually said to Jack, there's a guy named Marty Snyder, who's a tremendous broadcaster and a great man.
 I have his number. That's who you meant to call. And Jack started laughing. He's like, now, dude, everybody we talk to says, you know, the driver's really well. You got a great pulse of what's going on in the garage.
 I said, is this a job offer? He goes, no, it's not. It's something to consider. So what do I do? Get home, park the truck, walk in, talk to Laney, my wife and say, Hey, I think I just got it all for the job from ESPN.
 And we both decided, we're going to jump into this thing because I would rather crash and burn and fail knowing I can't because I'm incapable. Then wonder when I'm 75 on a back porch with a code one if I could.
 And from there, it's just been a heck of a, I mean, the journey's unbelievable. I don't know how to define it, describe it, but it's a blessing of indescribable proportions. And I covered auto racing until 2014 exclusively.
 But we lost the broadcast rights to NBC at that time and ESPN promptly dropped me into college football like an alien from Mars.
 And from that point, I mean, I can't, I still don't know how to even begin to quantify how all this is unfolded other than a greater purpose, which is to be kind and and have great effort and great passion and everything that I get to cover.
 And hopefully inspire somebody along the way, I love it. And I've heard you mentioned those three words, the kindness effort and passion and everything when I've read it, when I read it when I was studying up for for us to talk and you know, getting to know you better behind the scenes.
 I read those words and I'm like, that defines who I see on television, you know, like sometimes, sometimes you have people that you admire you, whatever, and you see them in their personal television.
 And then you see them maybe an article or something that writes about it and you're like, they write these words, I do this kind of like, that's not really you I see.
 But when I think of Marty Smith, I do think there's this earnest, earnesty, this kindness that comes through and you're reporting and you're storytelling that truly is the Marty Smith brand.
 Well, that's amazing. I appreciate you saying that. Here's here's kind of a way I look at it and look, here's the facts, Ryan, it was an evolution over time. When I first started in this, like a lot of dudes, a lot of dudes are insecure, we pretend like we're not, but we are.
 And so my greatest insecurity is I like to be liked and in our business, man, I ain't a good one to have because not, I mean, not there, there's a lot of people who don't like your style or don't like your haircut or don't like how you carry yourself and that's okay.
 That's their prerogative to feel however they want to and you can't force them any other way other than to live your life in a manner that gives you purpose and fulfillment.
 And as I grew through this and going back to my wife just a minute, I mean her influence on my evolution, it's amazing because she was willing to grow and evolve with me.
 This is not a path that we expected. We did not, I mean, when she said yes to marry me, I was working in Lynchburg, Virginia, making no money at all expecting to, man, this is going to be awesome to get to cover sports in the written word for the next 45 years.
 But she knew we weren't going to have any stuff and the rest of this stuff was never even a part of our thought process. We just celebrated our 21st anniversary, May 20th.
 So that's been so important, her willingness to be malleable and patient with my ego driven insecurity and to the point where I got to to a guy who understood a broader plane.
 And here's where that kindness effort, passion thing comes in. We don't control much on a daily basis. We most of what we face every single day is beyond our sphere of control.
 But when I wake up every single morning and I'm brushing my teeth and I'm looking in the mirror, I know that I control those three things. I control how nice I am to other people.
 I control how hard I'm willing to work and give every last ounce of everything I am to whatever that challenge is before me and that I do that with an undeniable positive energy.
 That's on me every day. And as we've gone through this very unique time in our country over the past 18 months, I started to add sort of this fourth pillar of respect, which falls in line with all that anyway.
 But that is the truth. And my son's sitting over here 10 foot away from me probably rolling his eyes because I, my kids, my three children hear those words every single day.
 Every day, I tell them that you control that. And you think about this Ryan, like if you dig a little bit deeper into hypotheticals, imagine we, we as human beings can change the world if we want to every day.
 We don't have to donate Bill Gates money. We don't have to all we have to do is be nice. If I go into the Starbucks, and I asked that barista how their day is going, they might be having a crappy day.
 And if I say man, how's your day going? He's like, I man, I don't know I'm working on like what's going on, dude?
 You by acknowledging them as a human being can completely change their day. And that dude behind you in line might be having the crappy day. And now that you've changed the barista's day, the barista might change that guy's day.
 And then he let somebody into traffic because he's in a better mood and that person in traffic has a better day.
 You can like people might consider that to be so cheesy, but it's factual.
 And if we just do a little bit, man, it could be, it could change so much.
 That's right. Well, we like to over complicate things, you know, it's like very to blame. We like to, you know, it's easy to play the blame game.
 And but you had a control as you control. I love that. And I love the addition of respect, you know, because that's it's a law start today, brother.
 I don't know what it is, but, you know, and you know, it kind of leads me out. I want to talk a little bit more about some of the foundations, what you're doing with the ESP within the college football and all those kind of things.
 But while we're on this path, you know, how do you feel about cancel culture?
 Does that, does that way? I wonder when I talk to journalists and media and other outlets.
 If that, obviously if you're living and breathing that truth that you just talked about, those things, you probably don't have a lot to worry about compared to some people.
 But does it live in the back of your brain now? Is it hard to kind of navigate? Is that is that front and center and talked about, you know, more than even we realize?
 I don't know, man. I just again, I just try really hard to keep the main thing, the main thing all the time.
 Yeah. And for me, it's those three kind of pillars that I just mentioned and it's being true to stories.
 And if I'm interviewing someone, it's asking them open-ended questions that let them tell me their story.
 Rather than trying to drive them towards a story. I mean, anybody who's read my book knows this one story about Dale Earnhardt Jr. that really altered my entire approach to the way that I interview people.
 And I had done, this was 2012, I think. I had done an interview with Jeff Gordon, the NASCAR icon.
 And in that, in that, my career was sort of blossoming a little bit in that moment. And I was feeling myself a little bit.
 And I started asking Jeff questions that he would start to answer. And if he started to meander off from where I wanted it to go, I would cut him off right there.
 And then I would try to drive it right back where I wanted it to go.
 Well, the interview didn't air for a couple weeks. And when it did finally air on one of the pre-race shows, I got a lot of positive feedback.
 And I was really proud of the work we'd done. Well, after that race, it was in New Hampshire.
 I was charged with interviewing Dale Earnhardt Jr. who's like a brother to me. And you talk about honesty.
 I mean, there's 30 people waiting to talk to him. And he like kind of kind of gives me one of these head nods like get you ass over here.
 And I go over there and he turns his back to the crowd and puts his finger in my chest and he goes, you need to shut up.
 And I said, excuse me again, we're like brothers. So I was about to have a real one here.
 He goes, you need to shut up, man. He said, you need to stop interrupting people.
 He said, I was watching that interview you did with Jeff. And there were some things that he was saying that I wanted to hear him finish and you cut him off and it was rude.
 And you need to stop interrupting people. And man, I was so mad at him, but I knew he was right.
 Because I knew he was right in my heart, it completely altered the way I do this and what happened.
 I got so much better as an interviewer.
 And so to do all the way back to what the original question, I mean, it's honestly, it's just not something I personally have in my daily walk.
 So I don't know if I'm a great guy to answer that question, honestly.
 I just didn't know if there's just mounting pressure with anyone that's telling stories and doing things that for me, the answer is no.
 I mean, that's just good. Just for me.
 But it might be just be back to how you know, like you're not trying to frame stores or push people to an opinion, you're trying to share whatever they have to share.
 I think the problem maybe people run into people, but in that, I just think, you know, we've gotten to the place where it's, you know, you can't criticize anyone.
 I know it's not your job as a reporter telling stories to be critical, but it just seems like we've ventured into this place where it's hard to show opinion.
 Yeah, I mean, again, yeah, as a reporter and as a host as well, I do a lot more hosting now.
 Yeah, well, Marty and McGee, I mean, you guys are sharing.
 And then that's, that's an opinionated platform.
 Yeah.
 And, and I'm going to tell you straight up, brother, when it comes to something that we are passionate about, you're going to get every ounce of our real.
 And, and that's what's expected of us from our employer.
 And that's a standard that we hold ourselves to as as journalists and men.
 But so much of what we get to do on that platform is fun.
 And it's a, I hate the word brand, but it's a, I'm sure it's a word that gets used often on your platform and in your ad, ad agency there.
 Now the brand that we've built is one that is fun, but it's very honest.
 And people enjoy spending time with us in an open interview platform.
 Not because our questions are easy, but because our questions are fair and open ended.
 Yeah.
 I had, there was a funny moment where a guy kind of came at me recently.
 We were interviewing Greg Sanky, the southeastern conference commissioner.
 And a guy came at, this was last Saturday.
 A guy felt like we were too easy on the commissioner.
 Well, if you go back and listen to the questions posed of him about name, image, likeness.
 I mean, we can't be there.
 There, we asked the questions.
 So you did a lot of times people hear what they want to hear.
 They might hear it, but they might not be listening.
 And so, and with social media, we have impulsive platforms to go right now.
 And that's also part of all this stuff.
 We go on and on for days about this, but I don't enjoy it because like I know social media is a part of our business.
 But I will not let it.
 That's not true.
 There are two.
 I don't read a lot of mentions.
 Because I don't want, like going back to that insecurity.
 I don't want to let someone else's feedback.
 Drive my definition of the success or the dot or the impact.
 Good or bad.
 Make sense?
 Total sense.
 And we're going to earmark that for a, that's going to make the highlight clips.
 If we do highlight clips in this Marta, you just hit the highlight clip right there.
 I try to pound that into people of letting their self worth in their direction.
 Be determined by the trolls and the people that the only body success they get is taking a body yours.
 Not just the trolls.
 Yeah.
 Like we have to, you, we as public speakers have a daily platform where that feedback is going to be really good.
 And it's going to be really not good.
 Not good.
 That society right now.
 So it's in, it is imperative that we, our self worth has to come from a different place.
 It cannot be defined by what someone says on a social media platform, good or bad.
 You can't, you can't, if I let myself get into that game, then that is a very toxic formula.
 For me, for me as a man and as a husband and as a father, I can't bring that home good or bad.
 Totally agree.
 I do it.
 Let's talk about outsider.
 What, what, what, what you guys are up to there.
 I know you've got the podcast, you got a lot of different.
 What was the passion point behind that project and what you guys are doing with everything with it?
 It's a really amazing, it's amazing, man.
 So outsider.com is a new platform that I'm involved with.
 I'm a partner in that business with a couple of guys in Nashville who are extremely successful business people.
 They know what they're doing in that space and there is a group of people who love God and country
 and all those things that we were discussing before and who love the outdoors and who love country music
 and not just country music, but like they love, they love music and they love all of that.
 There's a culture that comes with that outdoors kind of vibe.
 And some guys came to me and they wanted me to be involved from a content side and a partnership side in this business in this media company.
 And it is extremely fulfilling.
 I've to your point. I have a podcast that we've actually just rebranded.
 It's now called the Marty Smith podcast from outsider studios.
 We have built a, I see your studio is amazing right there.
 We've built a state of the art studio in Brentwood and Nashville, Tennessee.
 And I'll be heading over to Nashville monthly to line up a bunch of interviews.
 I'm actually, as you and I tape this here, I'll be heading there next week.
 And I'm going to interview a guy named Casey Bethard, who's one of the best writers in town.
 He's written so many monster hits for Chesney and McGrawl and he's written a lot of Eric Church's catalog with Eric.
 And just a brilliant man and his father is Bobby Bethard, the architect of the Washington football team dynasty back in the 80s.
 Put Super Bowl teams together in Miami and San Diego and just had an amazing career.
 And and so I can't wait to sit down with Casey.
 I'm also interviewing Tracy Lawrence, any of you guys who are country music people.
 That guy is a God.
 I'm interviewing Red Acans.
 She ain't my truck who is now one of the premier songwriters in town.
 His son is Thomas Rhett.
 And I'm interviewing Tracy Adkins all in the same day.
 And I'm badgering my buddy Cole Swindell to see if he'll join me after I arrive in town the night before that.
 So it's an amazing property.
 The feet and we're also right like you know it's barbecue and and it's hunting and fishing and it's all that stuff that is part of that culture.
 And that is a sector of people that from a media perspective are underserved.
 And they're yearning for that kind of content like one of the pieces that I've also written several pieces for outsider just about.
 Growing up in the country and nostalgic memories of being in the hayfield with my my daddy and my high school buddies and then hopping in the truck when we were done and my daddy.
 Burning and what like that smell of a fresh lit marble light when it mixes with fresh cut hay on the ground with the windows down in my daddy's blue Ford Ranger short bed.
 All of those things that are so authentic to those folks is what we're serving with outsider media.
 And there are people involved in that who are like-minded and there's people involved in it that I can't mention who would knock your socks off.
 We have massive massive intentions were very intentional with this brand and I'm so grateful to be a part of it.
 All of you guys that are listening please check it out it's outsider dot com.
 And we got a lot of really cool stuff coming.
 So we already interviewed on.
 On that podcast I've interviewed heroes of mine like Mark Miller the lead singer saw your brown fascinating human being.
 I went to Travis tritz ranch down outside of Atlanta spent an entire day with Travis you talk about pinch me stuff now amazing time.
 Who is your favorite country singer like I know that's like who's your favorite little who's your favorite child but you got to who's your favorite.
 Whatever maybe like let's do an old school and a new school.
 Okay well that's easy sorry old schools wail and Jennings wail and it's I just watched this documentary that was produced and directed by Don was I'm not sure if you're familiar with that name Ryan but
 it's a legendary record producer.
 And you know who the highway men.
 Oh yeah.
 So for those of you listening who may not that's wail and Jennings Johnny Cash Chris Christofferson and Willie Nelson.
 The goats upon the goats upon the goats upon the goats and they they did a collaborative project together.
 Call the highway men and the more key centerpiece of that is the highway man which is I mean it's a top five song of all time in my personal catalog.
 And so wail and is my guy and if you haven't seen that Don was documentary it actually was like 30 minute program that ran on CMT way back in the day like early 90s.
 And on YouTube I just found it like a week ago I sent it to my best friend Eric church that who is my modern day favorite singer.
 And I can tell you why in a minute but it blew all of us so it knocked our socks off I couldn't watching the dynamic of those guys actually interacting with one another was so psychologically.
 Youngest just got home if you guys heard that our beach house ain't massive so you always want to deal with the life heart.
 Sweet thing.
 We wanted as real as possible.
 Yeah my nine year old Vivi.
 She's a sweetheart.
 She's got home from day anyway.
 You know what a girl is like Marty.
 I mean you know.
 Yeah Joe because like what's it like to have a girl.
 I don't know.
 It's painful.
 It's painful.
 So let me so I'll tell you I'll tell you about about Eric and why he's so important to me and.
 This could be redundant for the any of you guys who know anything about my story but Eric is integral to my story because.
 I lost then this is going to be a little bit I'm just going to give you the whole thing do it.
 Since we're in podcast form so yeah in 2008 in April 2008 my father died and.
 That was ten years almost to the month that my mama died we lost my mom Joyce Smith in 1998 to breast cancer she was only 47 years old.
 And then after that we lost my dad spiritually and emotionally but we still had him physically for another 10 years.
 Well he was suffered from terrible depression during that 10 years and really let my childhood home go.
 I mean it was what I should have probably done was just bring a wrecking ball in and knock the joint down but I was too proud to do that.
 In the months that followed my father dying in 2008.
 I would go up sometimes Laney would go up sometimes and we made it our mission to kind of clean the place up.
 And get it back in working order.
 And that was very hard for me emotionally we couldn't bring my son Cameron was three years old not even three years old at the time he was two and a half.
 So we couldn't we didn't feel comfortable bringing him up there man it was just not a good place for that not a good environment for for a little one like that to be in.
 So when I was there by myself I'm not proud to admit it but I would drink Jack Daniels out of the bottle.
 And I would turn Eric's record called centers like me his first album up as loud as it would go.
 And I would sing at the top of my lungs off key singing's not my forte but it was this beautiful vehicle perfect vehicle to carry my hurt and my motion in that moment.
 So fast forward to the end of that year buddy of mine got tickets to see Eric play at a little honky Tonkin Greensboro North Carolina called Arizona pizza.
 So my buddy and I go up there and Eric was had not really made it yet at that time made it he'd had a record out he was working on his second record called Carolina at the time.
 But his meet and greet was on his bus which he shared with his band at the time and they wasn't but like 50 of us or so so everybody got to meet him.
 So I'm deep in this line and I'm having this mental back and forth with myself do I tell this guy what his work means to me or do I not because he's going to think I'm a stalker.
 My decided not to well the further up in that line and the more Jack I drink I got I was like I'm going to tell him I'm never going to see this guy again who cares.
 So I get up on that bus and I stick out my hand I don't have the guts to look him in the eyes I'm sort of looking down towards his chest.
 Chin chest area and I'm like look dude this is going to be weird I lost my daddy this year and that records saved my life you saved my life with that album.
 And I needed desperately something to help me cope and your words did it and I know you're playing.
 These places like this place you're playing the night and you know it and I know it and you're better than that and you're bigger than that.
 And every single night there is somebody in that crowd that desperately needs what you have to say and tonight it's me.
 Thank you for what you do and I was so mortified I ran I was going and he came after me he's like come back here come back here.
 I need to hear more so I told him a little bit more no big deal and show was amazing and that was that fast forward six months.
 I'm standing in the garage area at the Polkano raceway on a Friday afternoon waiting to interview Kevin Harvick the NASCAR driver.
 Phone rings I'm super shady about answering numbers I don't know.
 But I felt led answered and I did and it was a 615 number.
 This is Marty.
 Hi Marty my name is Judy McDonough.
 Yes ma'am what can I do for you?
 I didn't know what I've got.
 And he said I'm Eric churches publicist.
 And I said I love that guy she goes we know trust we know because I had written about Eric a lot in my ESPN column.
 And she basically told me we are begging him to do some good will because he'd been fired from the rascal flats tour.
 For playing too long there's the biggest tour in the world that you're called to me and my gang tour.
 And so they wanted him to do some good will in Nashville and he's hard headed it's a devil he wouldn't do it.
 So eventually he pounds his fist on the table and says you get that Marty Smith guy.
 That NASCAR guy from ESPN to fly to Nashville Tennessee and spend a day with me fishing I'll do it.
 Otherwise get out of here.
 And she said Marty will pay you to come whatever I was like you ain't got to pay like if you're serious about this.
 So I get hang up the phone I call Laney I said hey I ain't coming home tomorrow I ain't coming home Monday morning.
 I'm going to fly to Nashville she was like what I said air church wants to go fishing with me.
 She was like BS I said I'm so I swear unless it's a prank call.
 So I got on an airplane I flew to Nashville I slept on my buddy's floor and got up the next morning and went to the marina.
 And I waited and I waited and I'm sitting on this boat by myself and they just a shotgun started 8 a.m.
 The boats are gone 30 minutes late.
 That's Eric time.
 We call it EC time.
 He comes sliding inside ways in the Silverado pulls his case of beer out of the back hops on the boat.
 What's up fellas?
 He and I go win the fishing tournament talk trash to like build dance and Jimmy Houston the whole like.
 And we've been but I mean very very good friends ever since I talked to him.
 We text weekly I mean we talk all the time and the vast majority of the major life decisions or or conflicts we've had.
 Over the last 10 12 years we that we that's our advisement group he's in it.
 He's in mind and I mean he is so I love about that for a story dude I got cold chills listen to you talk about it.
 You know like confused with Eric church you know like very few people have impacted my life.
 More deeply than he has and certainly my career you know he taught me he taught me to be completely fearless in doing it my way whatever my way was.
 And it Pat be fearless in passion if your way is to beat the hell out of yourself while you're playing a show do it.
 If you know and and so I started to be fearless in doing that as a broadcaster and man it's been beneficial to me because what do we want us human beings we want authenticity.
 And so he's a great human being man and I'm grateful for his influence in my life I'm grateful for that story I I couldn't have asked for better on that is awesome Marty is I even hate to transition a minute but I I do want to get some of your opinions on some college football coming up you got time for that.
 What's what's your thoughts on the whole name and image lightness thing I mean that's that's not like I'm sure it's hitting your radar you gotta talk about it but do you have.
 Concerns or you agree with I mean like any what's your thoughts for how it's going to impact the game I'm still processing it all I think a lot of people are because.
 With the way it's unfolding right now with all the different state laws and how the universities are are really.
 They're currently defining what their own rules rules are for their athletes now athletes like the air king and Mackenzie Milton are really taking advantage of this and those twins I think they are at Fresno state who signed with boost mobile and masterpiece son just signed a $2 million deal so you know there's all these haves and have nots and it's kind of the wild west right now.
 It's going to change the paradigm of collegiate athletics in a very big way and I don't even know what that looks like yet.
 I think that it's awesome awesome awesome for college athletes that they have the opportunity to do this.
 I mean if you hear Clemson guy imagine if this was available to Trevor Lauren imagine if this was available to the Sean Watson like even as simple as.
 Think about this something as simple as booster comes in hey man like I think about okay let's go back to my country music buddies my country music buddies all of them get these insane offers to come play wedding receptions for 30 minutes hey.
 There are people with money we have we will pay you this in an ordinance obscene amount of money to come play for five of your songs acoustic at this wedding reception imagine if you're Trevor Lawrence and booster X with all this paper can say hey Trevor man my daughter and her little 12 year old buddies are the huge fans of yours would you stop by their birthday party.
 And say hello it will pay all this money that is not out of the realm of possibility in fact it's probably already happening now right so like where I don't know there's so many tentacles to this Ryan like think about the transfer portal.
 Think about if you are like let's back up to win the transfer portal had Jalen hurts in it and just in fields in it right like I mean what's to say Tyler Murray what's to say that booster X now now agents and boosters have direct lines to play there they can go right to or their parents or whatever hey.
 You hop in the portal and you commit to our school will have Billy Bob Jackson Toyota waiting on you when you land.
 They're like all that is in play now so i'm still processing what I think about it that's why like going back to interview and commissioner sanki interview and people who know way way way more about it than I do.
 Is imperative because that's who shapes our opinions on it and I do think it's awesome that these young people are have the opportunity in a free enterprise society to benefit off of what they're doing collegially but.
 I don't know where it stops I don't know I don't know any of that yet yeah that's the big if for me is like I don't know if anybody do I don't think you might does either but you're going to see where there's opportunity there's good and bad right and you're going to see both sides of it you know the recruiting what how it impacts recruiting and.
 You know you got to think that most of the big schools have the big donors and have all that so.
 It may all shake out to be exactly where it is because of the balance of where a lot of the dollars are until but then I'll tell you.
 So i'm sorry to interrupt yeah there's an interesting point to be made.
 There's a young man to play safety at Appalachian state named Caden Smith okay i met him he did this article in sport for sport echo.
 Before the I don't know it was last football season as all this was really starting to get a lot of momentum.
 I I implores to strong word I suggest and encourage you guys to go read this article i'm kind of looking it up as we're speaking here.
 It's it's it's it's in sport echo and it really laid out to me like the media opportunities for example they have a podcast.
 Caden and some of his teammates have a podcast that they can now go benefit from financially.
 Which I never considered those things I was always thinking like big boosters cars whatever.
 It's it doesn't have to be can be something like that where oh wait i can advance my career aspiration.
 At this level i like he plays for Appalachian state great program great success but it ain't Bama.
 And so there's it opens a lot of doors that I had not considered.
 Yeah totally.
 And Smith app state sport echo is what I just I just searched it he wrote it last December.
 And it's such a great article and he's a phenomenal young man I have since he actually requested that if we could maybe do a face time together.
 And I did do that because he impresses me so much and he has a very bright future in sports media and it's it's called NIL eligibility rules.
 NIL poses question for NCAA athletes should I stay or should I go is the title of the piece it's so good go find it sport echo.
 Yeah it's going to be interesting how it plays out and we do a lot of personal branding for like executives of companies and different things so we play in that space.
 And we're even thinking about venturing into waiting into these waters of helping the student athletes with their brand and their personal brand and all of those things and so.
 It's going to be interesting I love the opportunity for my only my only pause is probably like yours is just you know when how the money impacts the game specifically and you know.
 You know life is context and repetition yeah I say it all the time life is context and repetition and we don't have either of those yet.
 In this arena we don't know you can't know what it is until you see that until it happens so we don't know those answers yet.
 That's true what what you think is going to play out this year this season in the I know you've been doing your research you've got SEC media days come on you got all the big talks and everything else.
 Any any teasers for us.
 Well you're a Clemson guy you guys are going to be really good.
 I can tell you that DJ Ouyangola lay I just wanted to say that because I had a couple games last year where he appeared I did the.
 Where what games did I do with Clemson the Georgia Tech I did Notre Dame maybe but Ouyangola lay I got that one down.
 Total stood he's going to plug right in there and do really well you guys have so much talent on the perimeter offensively it's an embarrassment of riches and I expect a lot.
 I expect a lot from Clemson I do think Mac Brown is building something really really really really special in.
 In Chapel Hill I love Mac Brown like a dad and I'm so impressed with what he's done there.
 Now SEC wise I have very lofty expectations for the Georgia Bulldogs whom you open the season against what a tremendous match up man the dukes kick off.
 I don't know I don't know you know it's funny Ryan I say all the time when fans when I'm at these games or shoot if I'm up here on the boardwalk getting pizza people always asking me who's going to win what you know my standard answer is they pay herb street and Desmond all in millions of dollars to pick them games they pay me to make people talk.
 But I man I don't it's it's impossible to pick that one because Georgia has produce everywhere and when you what they have missed like JT Daniels is going to be a ball he is a baller.
 He is that's the difference.
 Georgia's hadn't had that dude at quarterback you know they finally got that dude.
 I love Jake from he's a phenomenal human being JT's ability to push the ball vertically down the field which has every I mean anybody who pays that you got to do it today.
 Yeah with the offences that are being run and the end in the talent on the perimeter for these schools.
 I expect a lot of of what JT is going to do this year of course BAM is going to be really good.
 I expect a lot out of Ole Miss man I love Matt Corral at quarterback now DJ Durkin had their defensively those guys struggled last season.
 They had a couple of their games too and what as good as Lane Kiffin is offensively and as potent as they are they had a lot of ground to make up on the defensive side of the ball.
 Florida is going to be good Dan Mullin always puts together great teams.
 I'm trying to think I think Oregon's going to be good at West.
 There's a couple big 12 schools a lot of my colleagues are picking Oklahoma to go to win it.
 So it's going to be I see your facial expression that you know that facial expression was that's I believe it when I see a facial expression about the Oklahoma sooners.
 I have high expectations for Notre Dame you know Ian book is now gone.
 He started 700 games for the Irish but you know it's going to be it's going to be fascinating kind of to see what unfolds here but I'm just glad to have some fans in the stadium.
 You both look I was I worked all fall last year.
 I can't imagine and being in the swamp.
 Being in the swamp in here and every single word that was said on the field and on the sidelines was the weirdest thing I'll probably ever go.
 Either although that may not be true.
 Another one of the oddest things that I've ever covered was the masters with no fans.
 No patrons whatsoever was a very different and all the autumnal hues the the bronzes and the yellows and the all burns and the reds.
 Just very very different experience.
 That's crazy man well I really appreciate you coming on.
 I got one more segment for you if you're game we do a segment called rad or fad.
 Some of these probably right down your alley.
 Some of them might be a little off off the off the normal radar but one word answer and you can expound if you if you want to you game.
 All right.
 We're going to start with something we already talked about the NIL rad or fad.
 I think it's rad because I don't think it's going anywhere tick tock.
 Okay I'm a 45 year old man.
 I'm saying fad because I'm a 45 year old man and all that I love it but I know that it is.
 I know people are monetizing tick tock in a very dynamic way.
 So I am wrong but I'm saying fad.
 All right.
 DJ you you already talked about him.
 Close the quarterback.
 He can hoop.
 Oh yeah.
 Finally.
 12 team playoff.
 Expansion rad.
 12 teams fad.
 I don't get 12.
 Yeah I don't either.
 Too many.
 Too many games.
 Too many games we have to pay them more.
 Whatever that is I'm looking like.
 Marty man.
 I can't appreciate you more.
 Some of the stories you told has been the best we've had on the podcast.
 We've done 150 episodes and I was sitting here.
 I don't remember the time I got cold chills.
 Think about Eric Church inviting you fishing and you actually went in the fishing tournament dude.
 I mean you are real and I hope that we can stay connected and you know we can do this again.
 Look I appreciate you having me again.
 I'm sorry that I was late and I appreciate you giving me a platform for the message.
 I think it's really important today.
 And given the platforms that I have to try to share these stories and hopefully maybe touch a life or two or or shape a thought or two.
 And so I appreciate you giving me the opportunity to do that.
 What y'all are doing man.
 Thank you thank you so much.
 Finally Marty what's the best place I know we talked about outsideer.com we talked about a lot of platforms what is the best place for everyone to keep up with all things Marty or even multiple places to keep up with Marty Smith.
 Your television.
 I so so from a social excuse me social media perspective.
 I'm active on Twitter and Instagram.
 I know I should do TikTok like we just talked about I haven't waited into those waters yet everybody in my family use a snapchat.
 I don't want to touch it with a thousand foot pole.
 I think that's a disaster waiting to happen.
 So Twitter and Instagram are Marty Smith ESPN so please do check that out.
 I'm constantly at the behest of my lovely bride trying to do Instagram stories and it's funny why even started doing Instagram stories.
 It's so that she could see my life when I'm at games.
 So yeah those two platforms I'm active on and I would appreciate if you check them out.
 So thank you for teeing me up there my pleasure.
 We really appreciate Marty Smith coming on you know where to find us we're at the radcast.com.
 I'm at Ryan offered on all the platforms TikTok.
 Instagram Facebook you know where to find me Ryan offer.com as well we'll see you next time on the radcast.