Growth Comes from Failure - with Special Guest David Mlnarik

Growth Comes from Failure
Wed, Mar 15, 2023 7:02PM • 54:18
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
sports, events, games, nebraska, people, state, year, sport, participate, basketball, competition, big, play, thought, program, wrestling, podcast, compete, technology, crossfit
SPEAKERS
Intro, Sam Fischer

Intro  00:00
Welcome to cowboys, not eggheads; home of the brave, not home of the fearful. The world needs more cowboys and fewer eggheads. We're everywhere podcasts are found. So tell your fellow cowboys, and let's keep the conversation alive on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Remember to subscribe, rate, review and share. And now, cowboys, not eggheads. With Sam Fischer

Sam Fischer  00:32
we're here today with my longtime friend Dave Mlnarik, who's the executive director of Nebraska Sports Council. Dave, I appreciate you coming on. You know, Dave and I have known each other for longer than I probably think he remembers, because I think that you were Did you live on Schramm 10 in the year 1987 8887 88. You were so you're on the other side of the I was in the south west? Yes. The southwest corner and you were in the northwest corner, right? That is correct. Where you go. And you did you live with Kelly Prater. I did. And Kelly played for University of Nebraska as a wingback. Number 25.

01:12
Yes, he did. He remember

Sam Fischer  01:14
all that weirdo did. So that's probably when I first got to know you. And so we've been I think you became friends with my brother because the next year you stayed there and I left my brother came on campus on tram 10. And so we've known each other for a long time, buddy. 35 years. Yeah, that's something. Yeah,

01:35
that's a lot of history. Sam. It's

Sam Fischer  01:37
pretty crazy. But I thought I'd bring Dave on today because Dave has got a very important job but the rest of Sports Council as executive director and one of the main things that they do, and he'll tell me if I'm wrong, obviously is the annual Cornhusker State Games. Tell my listeners because I don't honestly I don't know that much about the games myself. That's why I want to talk to you. It's a pretty big endeavor. It's like a two week thing in July and there's a ton of sports and tell us about the Cornhusker State Games.

02:08
So the Cornhusker State Games we also refer to as Nebraska's amateur sports festival. And it's made up of this year, roughly 65 to 70 sports. And we are projecting somewhere around 10,000 participants within this

Sam Fischer  02:26
stop right there. 10,000. That's a lot of people, my friend. It is 10,000 people. And I'm in the office today and I see a staff of about three or four. That's pretty crazy.

02:39
It is we have six full timers. And we bring on Rick this year, we have seven interns we bring on we've got a pretty robust internship program. And those people do all the work of, of act mostly kind of pulling the people and resources together that it takes to do something like a 70 sport festival. And I'm estimating we usually we have the number in between 20 503,000 volunteers a year. So it's very much that's a lot of volunteer driven.

Sam Fischer  03:14
But that's a lot of work because you got to work with that many, many more people. Yeah, a

03:19
lot of many committees. Yeah, sure. But we, we have people that are correctly brained to manage in that way. Sure. And everyone here has a passion for sports. And competition, we, we believe, competitiveness is inherent, everyone is competitive. And so our focus is to bring that out for their own health, to bring it out for their own happiness. So it's good, clean, fun. And the people here, you mentioned that that kind of make it happen. Have that drive to see it. We love to see people enjoying it.

Sam Fischer  04:06
Well, it's it's a great thing for the state of Nebraska. And I know you guys work your tail off and you know your game. Your game time, then is the end of July. You guys are busting it right? What 18 hour days. I mean, you're you're you're rolling, right? It's not

04:20
quite as crazy as it used to be in that way. We've We've, I think learned over the years to work smarter. Yeah. And a lot of things that technology has improved for us. Sure, so that we don't have to be we don't have to be at the office till 12:30am working on tomorrow's bracketing from today's that those things are all there not all of the past we still have oversight and we have long hours during the weekends of the games. But technology has helped a lot in terms of reducing the number of hours that we all have to be here like it's a war A room for 80 hours a week or anything like that, that's kind of what I pictured. That's the way it used to be. And it was actually fun. I mean, we didn't have any problem with it, he just adapt. But these days, it's it's a little more sane. And, and a lot of it too, is that, you know, it's technology, but like, you know, apps that do bracketing for you, and it's real time, you know, somebody's somebody's just at the location, that's part of the event team for basketball, they're putting the score in as the as, as a runner brings a score to them. And the app is automatically calculating where they're going to end up in the bracket tomorrow.

Sam Fischer  05:39
Make sure you got Wi Fi, charged. Laptop. Yeah, that's right. And there's of course, always human error still, but so obviously, there's a ton of events, and there's no way that you personally can go to all the events, they're not not all your staff goes events. So how many events do you go to?

05:57
I try to visit as many as I can. That's my only function during the games, because I don't do anything. I line up these people to oversee this stuff. And I get to go enjoy and talk to people and see. And so I think during the we have two main weekends of competition, during the two main weekends of competition, we usually have between 30 and 40 venues that are happening. Yeah. And I usually get to more than half of them. That's good. I think so. And I try to stagger each year. So I'm seeing every sport every other year. Sure. That's my goal every year. I've gotten I found that in my older age. I've gotten a lot more Gabby, and a lot a lot more inclined to I started a podcast, a lot more inclined to spend time with people I haven't seen recently. And inevitably, when I go to these events, it's like old home week, I see people that are coming back for her for their 30th year and the games will be 40 Next year,

Sam Fischer  07:03
I was gonna ask you 40 A lot more than I thought a lot longer than I thought so this summer

07:07
2023 is the 39th Okay, and next next summer, we'll have a pretty grand celebration for the 40th

Sam Fischer  07:14
Now who can who can participate in the Cornhusker State Games, anybody? Anybody so you don't have to qualify there's a this that or other if you want to go and participate. That's the name of the game.

07:26
All ages, all abilities. So the game has has been from the beginning inclusive, and, and what what we're looking for is and what works really good and in the under the Cornhusker State Games umbrella or beginner competitions in the sports because the sport organizers have brought their sport to the games a lot of times to get new members new players new people interested because the games has a pretty broad support base and abroad audience across the state. So if I'm if I'm organizing an event, just use the example of BMX freestyle came to us about five years ago. BMX freestyle, I had no idea it existed. I knew what BMX biking was. We had BMX racing the the course

Sam Fischer  08:26
was like one of those skate ramps or something. Exactly. That's not exactly nuts, but it's admirable.

08:32
So they wanted to attract more people and showcase their sport on a bigger stage. And so they create fun or things that you probably go to. It's awesome to why Oh, my. But they you know, they wanted to, to have a beginning level competition in their sport. So somebody who's never tried it. You know, if you could ride a bike show up and we'll show you a few things and by the end of a clinic period, you'll be able to come out and do a couple of tricks and you know, you can compete. So that's, that's an example of how most of the sports approach the Cornhusker State Games that beginner beginner level intro level is super important. But we also offer the highest levels. So and my favorite example is the adult Men's Basketball Championship. It's a collection of teams made up of former college players. Division One Nebraska Creighton players often take part and they round up their teams and they come in and play in it as high level ball I'm sure. With the past couple of years we've televised the men's championship, and it's got a pretty darn good audience. Yeah. People who've who remember these ballplayers mostly from the past 10 years, yeah, and in college and, and so it's it's fun. That is That is

Sam Fischer  09:59
awesome. Some What is your personal history with sports? You're always been a pretty lean looking guy. You clearly you take care of yourself, what did you play high school sports or what do you what do you do to keep in shape these days?

10:16
The glory years? He was well I grew up in Clearwater as you know, clear waters small town, and probably like your Sandalow County,

Sam Fischer  10:25
right? Yeah. 26 plates. Yep. Nebraska. We have listeners in all 50 states and have to explain to him in Nebraska, they have license number license plates. And so he comes from 26 County and I come from 66. But go ahead. Sorry,

10:39
no, no problem. Mr. Rain Man, I gotta tell you some more about license plate numbers. Anyway, we grew up playing all the sports. And it was one of the coolest things about growing up in a small town I thought was that everybody did everything they could, if you were physically mentally able, you participated in a sport every season. So for us, it was football in the fall basketball, the winter track in the spring. And we had a non school related baseball program in the summers, which was not very robust, but it was still fun. But I enjoyed playing all the sports and you know, we look forward to being in high school and playing hopefully on the varsity and and making it to state making it to state was everything. I was lucky enough to be on some state championship basketball teams back in the day Clearwater.

Sam Fischer  11:34
Yeah. Now did you do Did you like play Battle Creek? And

11:39
was that they were bigger than us. So we didn't play them.

Sam Fischer  11:43
Okay. Battle Creek was a juggernaut in the state for a long time. They were

11:47
we were we were Class D to my four years of high school. And

Sam Fischer  11:52
what was the smallest? Yep. Ladies and gentlemen, it

11:55
was happened to be the first four years that they divided C and D. Okay, so we were D two. And we were one of the bigger schools and we had a great basketball tradition. And we ended up winning four state championships in a row. And it was the first time that had been done in Nebraska. During your high school career. Yes. Wow. We were the first boys team. And the week before Battle Creek became the first girls team to win four in a row. So we had to two towns nearby each other that both set that precedent. Now those records have been broken, but we but I got to enjoy that time. And you mentioned before a guy named Kelly Prater. Yeah. Who was the heart and soul of our teams. He was yeah, he was the best athlete of our time in that area played football for University football for in Nebraska and he was he was you couldn't guard him in basketball. You didn't want to be guarded by him in basketball. And as of five, six guy it's strange to think of him being any average under five points a game probably. It's hard to imagine a player like that being dominant in basketball. He was dominant. Yeah, well, you couldn't do anything with him

Sam Fischer  13:10
in high school. You know, it's guys that are quick, quick feet, they're they're gonna stand out really pretty immediate guys that are fast. They're on the kickoff return, like you're gonna see them is that they there? There's a big separation there with those guys that are that talented. Well, he made

13:29
everybody else better. Long story short, I'm sure we won some championships. I stayed active in sports, not on a in college, I just played intramurals and kept playing, coming back for Town team and basketball. And I did softball and kind of got into running after that and, and participated over the years and a lot of road races and done the half marathon half a dozen times and did a full marathon once. And so running is kind of my go to for fitness. I still is today still three times a week I tried to get in a 5k. And and, you know, I I've recognized later on in life that you know, getting back some strength training is really important to how you feel and helps your flexibility. So yeah, so I do I do basically core workouts three days a week. I try to stagger those with the running. And that's what I do now. But I have always been a sports fan. You might just say a fanatic and not just obviously Husker sports grew up with that still love it, follow it to a degree of passion, I suppose. And my pro sports teams that I enjoy watching and baseball and and NFL football. But I became a fan a long time ago of fringe, different sports and I guess it was more to know what the heck was going on with the sport. words. And and so when the opportunity to be part of Cornhusker State Games came, I was already familiar with the games I had never participated. But I saw the different things they had with badminton and table tennis and art, he put it ping pong competition on, and bowling and just all of the other things I've gotten into just kind of following how sports began. And so sports nut on that level. And so I fell right into this organization. And it I don't, I never really looked at other jobs or anything else because I thought, you know, if I can make a living, being part of something like this, that's what

Sam Fischer  15:47
I want is enjoyable. It's not really work. Well, it's work. You might get tired, but it's not really work if you enjoy it. Sure. So how long have you How long have you been the executive director here?

15:57
I started here in 91. Wow, that was a year ago. I was gonna

Sam Fischer  16:01
say a decade. Holy cow. Try three, huh? Yep.

16:05
It's been 32 years now. They've been part of the organization. Wow. And I started as the Torch Run coordinator, which is where I became pretty darn good at naming every county on license plate. No, there you go. Because the torture unwound time to sit there and memorize them. Exactly. You're going five miles an hour in a band following runners who are exchanging the torch and relaying the torch across the state. So

Sam Fischer  16:32
you still know your counties in I don't know. Um, I used to see I was in political campaigns for years. I always made I took my candidates out. Out and About I would I would make them memorize county seats. And then the license plate number is it's a good little drill. That's sweet. It's all Nebraska baby.

16:48
I like okay, well, I'll try. Yeah, well, 3737 is Phelps. That's correct.

Sam Fischer  16:55
He's legit Holdridge that's your legit the importance of physical activity. I mean, clearly, I've been on the record in this podcast is featured many, many athletes, elite athletes and CrossFit. And it's some, you know, I just kind of fell into and I fell into it, you know, like, I, I kind of, I saw a lot of guys die in between the ages of 48 and 50. Just gone, you know, heart attacks, they weren't they weren't taking care of themselves and their heart got the best of them. And when I was about 44, you know, I was I got up to 282 pounds I was at m&m shore to Holy shit. Sorry. That's a very cute guy joke. But anyway. And I, you know, I've gotten up and down as far as my weight and I still do, but I right now, in my age of the ripe old age of 54, I'm better shape than I've ever been in my entire life. And it's just something that I feel very strongly in. What are your thoughts on on staying fit and, and the importance of physical fitness in today's world?

18:06
Well, first of all, congrats to you. And I've noticed I've followed. And it's, it's one of the things that I really like about people posting. And we've taken that with what we call our willpower movement here. And it's a simple activity tracking program, you can do any activity you want, you go in and log your miles. It's not what I would consider modern day tech friendly, but it's it's a simple website. You can earn prizes and badges. And it's so important. It's so important to get physical activity. And I think it I think it has a lot to do with our mental state. Why No, it does. It's proven it's studied. And what we do here with the Cornhusker State Games, the original mission and our mission still today is to help people stay motivated to stay physically active. So I consider it a passion of mine that you know, along with sports and competition, that people to help people find ways to stay physically active. So, everything we do here the Cornhusker State Games, and and the stories that come through every year of somebody who was our age, who hasn't done anything for years, but used to be a fairly good miler and track or a hurdler and thought, You know what, they have age divisions for me in the Cornhusker State Games. Let's go, let's go. And usually, usually when we get the success story, it's from a person who put it on the calendar after they heard about this years. So next year, I'm doing it and they got they put it on the calendar when we're in the register stations opened in December or January, they signed up. They put the money in there. So there's 30 bucks on the line. I've got it in there. Now I'm going to train. Yeah. And so they train and they come around. They may not when they may have gotten a metal bin in one of two people who signed up in that age group 200 meter hurdles, but they feel great. Yeah, they, they, their back looks great. And they're back next year. And it's a lifestyle change. That's what we're, that's what we're looking for. We're looking for lifestyle improvement in terms of, of being physically active, and taking care of yourself so that you can take care of others. It all comes down to being able to be better at at husbanding dabbing, brother, ng citizen ng leading in your community. And we can't do it as well as we should if we're not taking care of ourselves. Yes, my philos what

Sam Fischer  20:54
a rewarding spot you're sitting in to be able to see that and just meet people and have people thank you. And you're like, No, thank you. I'm

21:01
100% percent every year, we have athletes of the year. And they're on our YouTube channel, the videos that we put together for them. And I invite anyone listening to this podcast, go to youtube search Nebraska Sports Council, check out last year's athletes of the year. And if that doesn't inspire you, and become something that you want to share with a friend, then you're not a good friend. They're awesome stories. And they will they will if people take time to take a look at them. They will inspire you and inspire others.

Sam Fischer  21:40
They What do you think is the biggest challenges facing this? I don't know what this industry is the fitness or sports industry? What are the biggest challenges that we face today?

21:51
Well, I mean, everybody's challenges money. There, you know, we're in a, we're in a constant process of funding our organization. And for us, we are a 501 C three nonprofit, which helps us attract sponsors. The sponsors can come in and participate and we have a whole program and right now. There's more than 300 businesses that that contribute annually, and the program is from $100 to $30,000. At the highest level we have for that 30,000 Oh, hell you take 35,000 home, somebody wrote check, right? Absolutely. And we have sponsorship properties up to a quarter million Sure. If you want to put your name if you want it to be the Acme Cornhusker State Games next year, that title sponsorship, that's where we get into the big bucks. But right now, it works really well, to have a broad support base. So money is the first thing. It accounts for corporate sponsorships account for about 40% of our annual budget. And then user fees in our in most of our programs account for about 40%. And then we scratch it out with 20%. That's, I think the number one thing The number two thing is I blessed technology earlier. But technology has really led us to be a more sedentary society. And and it's a it is in conflict with physical activity. I have a you know, I have a my youngest son is a freshman and he loves gaming. He loves playing combat games occupying big money at that stuff. That's right. That's right. And there is that and now it's become a sanctioned sport and maybe not in Nebraska high schools, but it's a huge club, sport. And college, all the colleges are offering varsity programs now in gaming. But I think that, that technology, the number of entertainment options we have in our handheld device, has led people to be less apt to sign up for the Cornhusker State Games and do it. Yeah, it's just a thing.

Sam Fischer  24:15
Yeah.

24:17
Other challenges that come to mind, I don't, you know, I don't think of any anything as an overall challenge for our organization. I think you know, I think we're, I don't know, like, that's a good question.

Sam Fischer  24:37
Yeah. What are there any upcoming trends or anything? I mean, we talked about technology, how that's dramatically improved how you do business here, but is there are there any trends? You know, he talked about the BMX freestyle, like, wasn't even on your radar, but are there are there any trends or anything that we that you're looking forward to or that you can share with folks

25:01
I can I can speak to that a little bit and and I'll I'll share something that's probably not common knowledge if you've heard of the Cornhusker State Games. And that's that it's half the size, it was in terms of participation in 1992.

Sam Fischer  25:18
And that's a bad trend,

25:20
it would seem to be a bad trend and and in some ways it is. But the entire difference between 19,000 participants and 10,000 participants exists in the youth team sports. Sure. So youth team

Sam Fischer  25:39
sports, it's filling that void loves

25:42
it, they're getting their opportunities, and there's more and more opportunities than ever. Yeah, at a competitive level,

Sam Fischer  25:50
have kids but it's I have friends, obviously they have children and kids are, you know, 12 1314 period, but they're traveling the country.

25:59
Indeed, I Whoa. And there's good and bad to that. But I would think so but but where the Cornhusker State Games was the biggest and in a lot of these youth team sports the only statewide tournament in 1992 Was it now were the game. Different sanctioning bodies governing bodies, for profit have taken to have taken over the market and monopolized or I shouldn't say monopolized, they've dominated the parents budgets and schedules. And, and I have my own kids involved in numerous clubs, sports, so it's not like I haven't gone along willingly with the trend. Because we do encourage our kids to compete at the highest level they can. Well, what's happened over the years that in the Junior High in high school ages, where the money is the Cornhusker State Games has had doesn't have a place anymore in the sport calendar.

Sam Fischer  27:04
Is that right? That's correct.

27:06
So most of those boys basketball, volleyball, baseball, softball, so we've been pretty agile. And we've we've really, we found we found other individual entry events, mostly for to really capitalize on the youth. And we still get a lot of the athletes we probably didn't use to but instead of competing in basketball, volleyball, softball in the games, they're doing track and field. They're doing other individual sports somewhat. But the other thing we've done is diversify the events we do. We don't just do Cornhusker State Games anymore. 10,000 of our annual 30,000 participants are in the Cornhusker State Games and we get 20,000 involved in other events and programs. I mentioned the willpower movement, the activity tracking program, we're up to about 8500 participants a year. That's great. The do the activity tracking, it's based on just individual physical fitness. And that's a free program.

Sam Fischer  28:11
Is that the program that we're I see you on the paper annually with the Governor Walker.

28:16
Yeah. And he before he Yeah, yeah, that's, that's the willpower movement. And it's kicked off every year by the governors walk. I think the the governors, I know they listen to your podcast, so I want to make sure they know that. How much we appreciate that and

Sam Fischer  28:34
know if United States Senators listen to this thing, but

28:39
maybe. Anyway. So we now have a very robust corporate games. And it's the fastest growing part of what we do at the Nebraska Sports Council. We have Lincoln corporate games, Omaha corporate games. There were a total last year of about 70 companies. I

Sam Fischer  28:56
didn't know that I did not know that. Yeah, when is the Omaha corporate games in Omaha

29:00
corporate games take place, as do Lincoln. During the months of August through October, okay, there's about a dozen sports that happen one or two a week in that time, and it's company versus company. And it's a mix of competitive sports events like sand volleyball. I remember it's the other ones right off the top my head but also more social events like bowling cornhole? We do have some fitness or you

Sam Fischer  29:30
have to throw in a joke I throw in a joke. Yes. You know, Jim Rohn says it's not really the more you drink and the more you smoke, it's not really a sport. But anyway, I got true actually, because I can bowl for crap.

29:43
I don't I don't care what I don't get into that argument or whether it's

Sam Fischer  29:49
all due respect. I can't play cornhole or bowl. So, you know, there are certainly people that can do that pretty well.

29:55
My point is, it's a mix of repetitive athletic events and social All Events turn and the companies have have bought in at a pretty good level. So I think this year, we're going to be maxed out at 50 in both communities and the sports to take place. It'd be like a six person roster from your company will come and compete in sand volleyball. Sure. And we try to keep the competitions within a three to four hour window Max, so that your workers aren't, you know, seeing it as a burden. And it could happen on a on an evening, weekday evening. It could happen during the weekends. But both competitions, I think so up in a trivia challenge. And those are really fun events. But the point is, for companies, it's team building, team building, it's camaraderie, to some extent, it's wellness, all that stuff. Yep. And it's become a really good hiring perk. The companies are really competing for talent right now. And if you're competing in the corporate games, and you have the banners hanging in your lunch room, or whatever, that's attractive to potential employees. Yeah. So So corporate games are growing fast. We do a youth fun run here in Lincoln called the pumpkin run. And it's the largest run of its kind in the nation. We have around 4000 kids, it's done in conjunction with the PE program at Lincoln public schools. But the other parochial schools and area schools have gotten into it as well. They promote it. We have more than last year, we had more than 25 schools that had 10% of their, of their student body that are participating in this. It's enormous. It's done in the rail yard in the Haymarket area, it's really cool backdrop with the finish right in front of Pinnacle Bank Arena, they can see themselves on the Cube screen. When they finished really fun event. We just stand alone events and volleyball in the spring and in the fall. We now have good size wrestling tournament in November. That is standalone. We do a lot of different things now. So wow,

Sam Fischer  32:16
that hair I thought hell I thought August you just took the rest of the year off.

32:20
Yeah, it's

Sam Fischer  32:21
I just thought your Cornhusker State Games. And I've learned a lot. I mean, you're rockin and rollin.

32:26
We have events from this year. It'll be mid April to mid November. So that's our event season. And

Sam Fischer  32:36
so when you get to go to Vegas on vacation on here, you don't well, I

32:39
told you before we're working smarter. So and like myself, you know, I've had a daughter that's been in, in club softball, they travel. And so that season finishes up just before the Cornhusker State Games happen. But with our team and our technology, you know, it's not unheard of, for me to spend the first week in July at the annual largest FastPitch youth softball tournament, that country it's called the firecracker and or I don't remember what it is. It's kind of but anyway, there's just the best teams from across the country come to that event. And we've been going for the past three or four years, five, six day deal. And in between games, I'm on my laptop. Yeah. And I got a great workout here. They, you know, they take care of like I said before, they take care of events and and so, so we get our leisure in, in between and around surance No problem. Good. Trust me. I don't miss out on my leisure.

Sam Fischer  33:46
As a benefit of participating in sports, any sports, whether it be high school or college or participating as a 60 year old in the Cornhusker State Games, what do you think are some of the lessons learned from being in sports that helps a person just be more successful or be more whole? Or what are those benefits where they look?

34:11
Well, I to me, I think growth comes from failure. But I wouldn't classify I would maybe that's not the right word. But

Sam Fischer  34:21
Well, I agree with you 100%. If you go down that line, that's fine. I'm here to

34:27
you know, I use the example of wrestling. We're talking about my own upbringing. The best thing that ever happened to me was being a terrible wrestler, getting into wrestling. And I didn't wrestle through high school, but from fourth to eighth grade. And this is just one person's example. I wrestled and the best thing about it was I didn't quit. So perseverance that comes through You know, not just sports but being competitive about your fitness, because you're gonna binge here and there, you're gonna miss a day of workouts. But the perseverance is probably the number one thing that people gain from participating in sports. As a fourth grade wrestler. I was not a tough kid. You know, I did chores and everything. Growing up where I did, I was already working and doing the things at fourth grade. I was not a tough kid. You punched me in the mouth, and I'd probably cry and run. Wrestling. Wrestling was a rude awakening, because I got whipped. And we did like three meats a year, so I would too and barbecue. Oh, and six as a fourth grader, fifth grader. sixth grader got the first win. one and five. That was a big deal. That was a big, big deal.

Sam Fischer  36:00
But you remember what it smelled like? I mean, I bet I bet I bet you're wet socks.

36:06
It was overtime. It was awesome.

Sam Fischer  36:09
It was it was a dude's name. Who would you be?

36:12
I'm not gonna say come on. I'm not gonna say because I know him. Of course you do and are a killer? No, I'm not gonna say

Sam Fischer  36:20
listen. No,

36:21
he you know his name? I do. I do. And he lives a block from me.

Sam Fischer  36:27
Well, now you might as well say,

36:29
As fate would have it. Yeah, he does. But not everyone needs to have a first win. And then seventh and eighth grade. I got medals in every meet. And I I was at a point of after eighth grade of it was a toss up because I knew and in my freshman year, I wasn't going to see the basketball floor as a varsity player if I made varsity. But I could come into wrestling and wrestle in probably the 105 pound weight class. And I could, I felt like with the competition of the area that I had been kind of competing with and against. I had a shot to maybe go to state as a freshman. That's pretty enticing. But point is getting back to your point is its growth. And I remember I remember, like the second meet, and my dad went didn't want me to go out for wrestling. I mean, we're busy enough. You did your youth basketball season. And that's when wrestling kicks in. Now, somebody's got to take you somewhere and

Sam Fischer  37:31
yeah, and things to do. Yeah. So

37:35
anyway, after the maybe the second meet, he came in, and he said, Well, how'd it go? And I just busted out bawling. And he said, you wanted to do it. Now see it through. You wanted to do it now see it finished the job. After the season's over, it would give me no problem whatsoever if you hung it up, but you're seeing the season through and I kind of remember that. And and but it was a good teacher and I think wrestling is a sport that is a good teacher and I think all sports. When you're when you're in a running race, you're gonna get beat. When you're in a basketball game, you're gonna get a shot, locked in your face. And I think that perseverance, that keep going be better. That's to me the number one thing

Sam Fischer  38:24
growth comes from failure. Yeah, love that most important thing you said in this entire podcast, I love that. So I'm gonna I'm gonna go maybe place you that you didn't expect us to go here. And that is one of the things I've talked about. And I've gotten kicked in the teeth. My entire sports career. I never played in high school. I was terrible, you know, and, but I never quit either. And, but one of the things that we've talked about is my adamant opposition. And I don't have kids so you can call me the biggest hypocrite in the world, but my adamant opposition to the participation society that we live in. Now, you got your tail kicked in for years before you got to where you were able to compete competitively and won a medal. But they didn't give you a medal when you got your butt kicked. Did they know it's what are your thoughts on that?

39:25
I don't like participation medals for any age. I

Sam Fischer  39:28
mean, I think we have kindergarten or or I don't know what the age is. I don't have kids. I don't have a sense of it. Well, I do have it's that's not true. I do have a sense of it. I think probably you know once you hit about eight years old, you better man the hell up and work for what you you gotta work for. They just don't you can't. It drives me crazy. Dave i You can't give everybody a medal. That's not the way life is. Yeah, there's only one winner only one And he what he's done to get there is a lot different from the guys that quit. Right? So I think when you give these folks the I'm getting on a rant now here, but when you give everybody the same participation lead, I think it makes them feel worse. It makes them feel worse because they know they didn't earn it. What are your thoughts? I

40:21
agree, I agree. 100%. And I'll qualify that because we do have if a person does the 10k walk, and these are adults, a lot of them look forward to getting that finisher medal. And I did like there's

Sam Fischer  40:38
a difference between finishing a 10k walk and and expecting to everybody gets pizza tonight because everybody won.

40:47
That really that's one side of it. And the other thing that I that I do think is is I think it's okay and helpful is when the program and the YMCA used to do this. They had, you're in your kids are signed up, and they're in the fifth grade rec division of YMCA basketball, and there's a there's a finishing order in the league, and the top two or three teams, and there may be tournament, I don't remember, top two or three teams get a medal. And then there's a couple other tournaments you can get in at the tournament level, at the event level, the game level. I don't think unless you win, you should get an award. At the end of the season. They had what they called the season finisher award. I liked those. And I put those out there as hardware that you can earn if you stick with it. And I like

Sam Fischer  41:51
theirs, but not everybody. They earned it right. I mean, there's Yeah, exactly. Yeah. You earn this if you participate in all of this. Yeah, I guess. I don't even know about that, buddy. I

42:06
don't know. I don't either.

Sam Fischer  42:09
I mean, you get a piece of paper that say you played or you are part of a team. Sure. But a trophy, a trophy is a trophy. A trophy is something you put up on a mantle, a trophy is a significant frickin it means that you're the champion, not everybody gets to be champion. And that, to me, that's what sports are all about. I mean, it's learning how to compete how to compete in the spirit of competition, learning how to the, you know, the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat, you know, and most time you have the agony of defeat, and not everybody gets the thrill of victory all the time. Yeah, it just doesn't work that way.

42:48
Yeah, I agree with you. You know,

Sam Fischer  42:52
Coach K was just interviewed by Chris Wallace. And he talked about the 1991. And we all remember or at least I do, I bet you do remember the Laettner shot, you know, the Grant Hill pass freakin unbelievable play one of the best plays in college basketball history. And he talked about the coach, they asked Coach K, what do you remember most about that play? And he said there was a Kentucky player and I can't I'm sorry, Kentucky play I don't remember your name. But well, just a standout basketball player. And he was right in front of the bench and he collapsed right in front of Coach K was that, you know, when that plane went down, and Coach K went straight to that player that because he goes That's the difference between the the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat, just that split second gives me goosebumps just talking I

43:36
got him to. That's a great story. And those moments. They inspire I mean, it goes back to why I love the Cornhusker State Games because I get to go out there and hear from people and see these things. But you're so right, the difference between winning and losing, whether it's the biggest stage, or the that's the teaching point. And it doesn't take a coach explaining to you what happened. Yeah, you feel you feel it either side of it. Yep. You feel either side of it. And that stays with you. And and so I, I got to agree when our present and our you know, our events and programs have a mix of everything. Sure. There's, there's the award of Cisco

Sam Fischer  44:31
Systems for the record, folks, I think we need to separate your that's just you and me your role. I mean, I don't I the corners are Cygames a terrific deal. I mean, it's not. It's a participate. It's based on encouraging participation and that is good. That is good. And I don't ever want to discount that at

44:51
all. Well, I could go on for a long time you and I probably both could with Get off my lawn type stories. What's wrong with sports? Today, but that's for a different time. No,

Sam Fischer  45:03
no, that's right. That's right. Um, how? One more question which is off the wall, off the wall, and I thought of it coming down here. And that is, you knew my mom and dad. Is that correct? Did you knew him? Both? Yes. We've talked a lot about my dad and your, you know, you can talk about him too. We I'm talking a lot about my mom. And I just I like, asking folks this because I do have nieces and nephews that listen to this podcast and they, they learn, they learn. And it's, it's, you know, I pay 10 bucks a month for the rest of my life. So it'll be forever preserved on the internet's but can you can you share kind of with my listeners, what what my mom and dad, I mean, how polar different my mom and dad were. And any fun stories are, if you had one word to describe one of them, or I mean, anything like that.

46:00
We still at manera gatherings when the Fisher family comes up. And we're reminiscing times. We still wait, we, my brother and I, we were trying to do our JB Fisher imitation. And, and I see you and will especially I see a lot of JB and you guys and and that whole imitating JB because his mind was going a zillion miles an hour, he was ahead of everybody else he was mouth could not necessarily bring the words out to what he's thinking. And I see that in both you and will and I'm hanging out with you. More So as you've gotten older, not quite to the left the to the JV level, but our dads and my put my dad somewhat in the same category are, you know, they're they're kind of I don't know if I call it legendary figures. But they're very, yeah, one of the kind that I think that generation of men who made their own way and for the most part, maybe it's part of being in the rural landscape. They're tough. And it's it's kind of at the beginning, you don't see any warmth. Yeah, it's almost like they're irreproachable and what and they are, they're sizing you up. Yeah, that's what the guys do, they size you up. And of course, after, after a short time of being your your house for the first time, I saw the other side of your dad and there was laughter and, and

Sam Fischer  47:46
I no harm he in

47:47
my in my in my experience with you guys in the family. I just thought the world of your folks and, and your mom, God bless her. Amen. Like my mom a lot similar. Recognize that, you know, the man has to be the man. He everything about him stuff that's driving you nuts. That's part of who he is. And you can chip away at it and and help him improve if it's something that that I think to me, the woman, the mom, and pat your mom. I think she obviously loved JB and and that that came through to you guys in the example they said she reformed and loved him loved on him and and stayed out of the way. In every by the time I knew your parents. Yeah. She hadn't mastered as far as I'm concerned. Yeah. And and she was she was not I don't think she was soft on you kids. But there is there is the yin and the yang to that too. There's got to be warmth and more warmth there to build to build you up when you know so anyway, yeah, I don't you know, I loved your mom's food. She She was amazing. Amazing cook.

Sam Fischer  49:22
Oh, she'd be delighted that you say that because she never thought she was very good cook. Oh, she

49:26
was I thought she was great. And, and just always welcoming. When when we were there anyway. And I I just

Sam Fischer  49:37
yeah, she's still kind of an enigma. We're still trying to find somebody to maybe just talk about her for about an hour. But they it's she's she's an Enigma in the sense that dad was like the powerhouse personality I suppose. But we'll keep investigating that but I appreciate that. It's kind of putting you on the spot. I do. and brief him that I was gonna ask him that question, but I figured you'd have an answer.

50:04
I'm glad you did. Because those are great memories, ya know, those times that we were together as, you know, whether we were coming up for, you know, visiting, or just, you know, the band trips and stuff where they all kind of all circled the wagons and had to had got to stay at the ranch quite a few times and just did not so long ago actually.

Sam Fischer  50:27
Yeah, well hunting trip. Well, yeah. Did you go up there annually, you go to Labor Day or something like that. We

50:32
typically will go up there once a year. And it had always fallen on Labor Day and, and this last time we actually got help permits. So it was a little bit delayed, but Gotcha.

Sam Fischer  50:45
Yep. Dave if somebody wants to get involved in the Cornhusker State Games out do they do it? Is it too late registration Pascal?

50:57
No, no. Okay. You can register through July 6 this year. So you how would you do that a while you go to. The best thing is go to Nebraska sports council.com Hit the Events tab. And I'm telling you, you can also go to Cornhusker State games.com but I would prefer you go to Nebraska sports council.com Click on the Events tab so you get a good idea of the other stuff we do. But go to Cornhusker State games.com or click on the Cornhusker State Games tab. And the first thing to do is go to the sport listing. And then you can just get a good alphabetical run through of what the sports are that are offered. And you just click on the ones that you think you might be interested in.

Sam Fischer  51:45
And they have CrossFit. We do you just start out what

51:48
Dustin Tovar? Is that his name? Yeah. Okay. I want to make sure I had it right. Yeah,

Sam Fischer  51:53
I don't know him personally,

51:54
I certainly know him. He brought it back to them, brought it back to the Cornhusker State Games and had a fantastic event last year. And I didn't make it and so he's on the list. This year. Gotta go this year. Maybe get in there. Yeah, get in there. Yeah, get in there and do it and we'll get a piece not everybody gets a metal Oh, shoot. But we're we're really glad to have that event back

Sam Fischer  52:21
because yeah, it's Yes, that'd be nice for doing it because

52:25
the the test yourself fitness events, the triathlon, the CrossFit. I mean, those things are really important to have under the State Games umbrella. Yeah, because of our our overall mission of promoting fit fitness. But back to the

Sam Fischer  52:41
Nate took it pretty seriously too, by the way, I think it's I think I saw Stacey she hired I don't know if his Rich Froning or something one of the CrossFit I'd like to program it. So it's, it's, it's, it's not just willy nilly. It is. A lot of I have a lot of CrossFitters listening to podcasts, so maybe they'll sign up, but there was a lot of thought that went into it. And so I was glad to see that.

53:00
Well. I'm glad to hear that from a from a CrossFit athlete. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Sam Fischer  53:05
She She hired. I mean, she herself is one of the best CrossFit athletes of all time. Yeah. And she could she could certainly program but she hired somebody else. To program. So anyway,

53:15
anyway, what they did with CrossFit is wonderful, very welcomed from our standpoint, and we're looking forward to whatever we can do to help grow that event. So sign up, but go through the sport listings. Check it out. And I don't know, maybe your audience is more Omaha than not than Lincoln, but we now have probably close to a dozen events in Omaha. That's another thing that's different about the state games used to be two weekends and everything was in Lincoln. Yeah. But our biggest sport actually is hockey. Sure, that happens in the Omaha metro because we need every sheet of ice and here in Lincoln during the summer, there's one right so we would never be able to host it here. So check it out. Again, if you want to do something locally and you're in the Omaha metro area, you can find something.

Sam Fischer  54:09
Well, I appreciate our time together my friend I do to keep after thanks for

54:12
having me. You bet.