AA: I'm Not A Sports Fan Anymore

Getting told “no” can flip your whole mood in seconds, especially when you thought you’d at least get a fair shot. We start there, with a real-time reaction to a rejection and a bigger question behind it: how much of our disappointment is the outcome, and how much is the expectation we built around it? I talk through pride, emotional triggers, and the practical safeguards I use to keep feelings from turning into decisions I regret.

Then we pivot into sports culture and the way modern sports debate shows drifted from analysis into performance. When hot takes get rewarded, the conversation becomes “you’re wrong” instead of “here’s why I disagree,” and fans learn less even while they watch more. We dig into how media incentives, league partnerships, and gambling attention can shape narratives, and why it’s worth recognizing when you’re being nudged toward a conclusion instead of being given tools to think.

From there, the same lens goes to faith and history. I share what sparked my curiosity about early Christianity in Ethiopia, different biblical canons, and what gets emphasized or removed when institutions gain power. My goal isn’t to hand you a final answer. It’s to model a habit: hold conclusions in pencil, check multiple sources, and stay brave enough to ask questions even when it’s uncomfortable.

If you like conversations about critical thinking, media literacy, religion and history, and living with more freedom in a consumer economy, hit play. Subscribe, share this with a friend who loves a good question, and leave a review with the biggest belief you’ve had to reexamine.

Transcript

Cold Open And Missing Notes

SPEAKER_00 0:32

One of these days I'm actually gonna be totally prepared when I press the R and record. But today's not one of those days. I left my notes on the desk. So, because I actually took some some paper notes for this show. Uh, I was watching something the other day or reading something, I don't remember, but it talked about just how we don't retain nearly as much information as we used to because we don't write things down. Hold on, man. I gotta turn this game down. Like, I didn't realize it was this wild. I don't want to hear this. All right, there we go. So I was like, you know what? When I listen back to shows, sometimes I forget some of my points or my subpoints or topics that I kind of had, but I go, that's not really a full topic, but I can wrap it up into this other topic, you know. So we put out the old yellow pad and we got back to writing. Um and then, you know, I log in, getting ready to start the show. Took a nap today, so I'm feeling good. And um, I had a platform job, and uh I just said, oh, let me just refresh this real quick since I got it open. And one I didn't even get an interview for. And it's like, dang, for real? No interview? And and I won't share like some of the situation behind it, but like if you kind of knew some of the backstory, and maybe there's a a greater backstory that I don't know, but based on the information that was given to me a while back, you would think there would have at least, you know, been an interview, but and then you go, well, what is it? Maybe you're looking in all the wrong places, maybe you know, twitching, you know, you just your brain goes, and so then I I like getting my feelings for a second, and I'm like, dog, bro, I don't even feel like record now, bro. Feelings, and I'm like, hold on, I thought you turned over a new leaf in life. So when things don't happen the way you want you want them to, you don't worry about it because you understand the big picture is better for you for whatever reason. And you don't know, you know what I mean? And like you're not creating expectations, you're just putting in inputs, and then you respond as things come because the things that let us down most are expectations. You know, it doesn't bother you when she doesn't text you back until you expect her to text you back. It don't bother you when he he he talking to this girl you like. It didn't bother you at first until you create an expectation for him not to do that. It didn't bother you that that person was a thief until they stole from you. You know, but it's expectations that usually um uh our expectations are usually what affect our responses to uh outcomes and you know, lower your expectations. If you don't expect anything, you know, you're not disappointed. Because at the end of the day, you still have to deal with what's there, right? So, anyways, so then I I go, wow, that's a great opening topic because uh it's it's personal, it's real, and I was in my and you get a true emotional response. Because let me tell you guys, I'm an emotional human being, but I don't make a lot of emotional decisions. So like I put all these these different safeguards to protect me from myself, because the better and the more and more I learn myself, the more and more I learn how to better manage myself. And from the big important life event that I had, like, you know, in the past like year and change, the thing I learned about it, the thing I learned most is bro, some things about me is just me. And instead of projecting to be something else or trying to be something else or someone else, no, put in safeguards so that you are working towards it, or you're insulated or you're protected from it while you yourself are working on that thing, right? So, because I know when I get good news, bad news, whatever, important news, I I usually have an emotional response to it. So, like I typically don't make decisions just on my own in a bubble, you know what I'm saying? Like it like snap decisions. Sometimes you do when you have to, right? And you know, that could be one of my weaknesses. But when given time, you know, I'm gonna ask, I'm gonna seek counsel, I'm gonna bounce things off of people who I know and trust or who know uh the subject topic better than me to ensure that I make a well-informed decision. Um that that not even getting a uh interview, even if it was a sham interview, which would save all of our time. That that does hurt my pride, right? But what but what does pride get you? Absolutely nothing. But, anyways, yeah, I I don't know how funny today's show is gonna be. I don't even know if I can uh interweave any any jokes into into today's show, but we're gonna try. We are gonna try. And and I don't think I've done this topic yet, but maybe I have. Honestly, I'd much rather go to a game than watch a game on television. I don't really care to hear people talk about it, and then I see all of this money and I hear conspiracy. Yeah, there's some conspiracy to it, but then the money and the conspiracy follow each other, and you go, oh, this just isn't even the same anymore. And it's nothing, it's nothing about the players. Like the players are playing hard, doing what they're supposed to do, and the players are amazing. But I don't want to listen to people have fake conversations about sports. Like today, I just hopped on YouTube and I said, you know what, let me listen to first things first. I just want to see what they're talking about, and then I'm listening and I go, bro, what what value does this add? What do you actually learn about sports? Or the sport if you didn't watch the game or you watch the game and you're trying to like fill in the gaps, right? Like, what would you actually take away from these shows and learn? And I'm like, not much, because uh this this one instance they're talking about uh uh Carl Anthony Towns and how he doesn't get the ball enough for the Knicks, and he needs, and they're saying he needs to be more aggressive and ask for the ball more. Then he was like, you know, we need to get offensive rebounds so he can get more touches, and you go. Maybe he should get more off, he should be more aggressive on the offensive rebound, on the offensive boards, right? Maybe he should be more aggressive and calling for the ball, telling his coach to get him the ball. But telling a player as good as Carl Anthony Towns, who had like 12 points in one quarter, or 14, whatever it was, his six shots, telling him to go get it off the glass in order for him to get more touches, that no. That's bad basketball, that's inefficient, that's crazy. But that's what you're that's the analysis that you're providing. That doesn't help anybody. Because that's not his role. He doesn't get paid to do that, and he has a skill set that says, hey, we should get the ball to him directly. You tell Isaiah Stewart to get it off the class, you don't tell Carl Anthony Towns to get it off the class. And it's such an egregious thing to say. Like, how do you get paid this much money and also have an MVP vote, postseason awards votes, which affects people's money, legacy? Oh. And this is who the league partners with and wants to discuss. I know when I'm being programmed. You know, and it's like Wimby being the first um unanimous defensive player of the year while not having like even his best defensive season statistically, and not having a once-in-a-lifetime defensive season. I'm not saying he wasn't the best defensive player in the league, but is it unanimous? I I don't think it can be unanimous because different players would have different experiences, different people watching the game would watch it and see things differently, you know. And going back to sports talk, because a lot of this, a lot of I've listened to a lot of sports talk, and I've just watched the the landscape change, especially uh in this digital era. Um and I've watched personalities change and the types of personalities to get opportunities. Like, you know, it's it's a lot of these little things I've seen. But you're like, you want us to have consensus or just be a two-party system when it comes to how we think about the sport. And it's no longer I disagree with you, here's why. It's you're wrong, and here's why. And that's not real life, that's not reflective of real life, it's reflective of a system that's driving conversations for entertainment value instead of educational value. And in our society today, we see so much entertainment. Like, I mean, I'm watching basketball right now, I got it on TV as I'm sitting here, and you're seeing all these ads for different games, but basketball itself is entertaining. Think about the genesis of sports, like sports were for the young men in the villages to train to become warriors. And then, you know, you throw in your Olympic Games where you you get the chance to compete in these sports as an amateur, right? That's cool. But then we realize we can make money off of them, and then we get these other sports that are just recreational because our society gets more intelligent, so we get more intelligent, we we get we get softer, that's okay, because we have more things to help us survive, so we don't have to survive on our own, and we get leisure time, and we have to do something with that leisure time, and the easiest thing, especially in a capitalist society, a a consumer-based economy is to provide entertainment and then prop up that entertainment with ad dollars. So we're selling things while we're entertaining you, and then designing a lifestyle that pretty much has you working and then being entertained while you're off of it or you're spending your dollars. Well, where's the room for education? And where are the convenient outlets for education? It's easy, easy to turn on the TV and watch something entertaining. There used to be news networks that were more news-based. Hell, ESPN, they've lead they've leaned into the entertainment part, right? It's not really a news network anymore. It can't be a news network. Look at its programming. I mean, hell, look at Fox News. More entertainment programming and prime time than news programming. A lot of your news programming is on during the day. Why? And I'm not against entertainment. I think we should be entertained. I enjoy being entertained. Like I'm watching a game, I listen to music, I go to shows, I hang out with friends. Yeah, I do that stuff. But I'm also learning as much as I'm being entertained. And I think as a society, we need to continue learning and learning more than we're just being entertained. And sometimes we can be entertained and learning. Look at some of your entertainment and see what you can learn from it and how you can apply it. And it may even change how you view it and change what entertains you. Then the more you learn, it can change how you view the world and view life. And then gain you can gain different perspectives than your own, you know. You can read about a historical event from the side of the victors and the side of the losers, right? And then when you get both of those perspectives, you can then draw your own analysis, and then you can listen to the analysis of other people, and then again build your own conclusions, not lean on the conclusions of someone else. No, no, no. Use their conclusions to help you come to a conclusion, and in that conclusion, I've been to question Christianity, and I say that like I'm not questioning like my relationship with God. No, but I question Christianity and not my personal relationship with it because that's something that I do on a regular basis. That's why you gotta have faith, so on and so forth. But I question it because things don't make sense, and when things don't make sense, I ask questions. And I was doing just some historical research, actually learning about um some African traditions, African history, um, learning about it from an African perspective as opposed to a uh Western uh perspective, and then it gets me to oh, there was a Christian church in modern-day Ethiopia. Okay, and they use a different version of the Bible that has more books in it, okay. But I was taught that the first Christian church was in Rome. Okay, Rome's Italy, Vatican Pope, a lot of control, you know, a lot of bloodshed, pushing ideology, pushing religion, okay. So you go, okay, this book that's used to push this religion, that's also been used to push other things. Power, conquest, and all of this stuff in the name of religion. And this is not just Christianity, right? Other religions have done it. Okay, you chop something out, you use this to control me. Ah, some okay, some things are starting to make sense. Then you start diving into some of the left out books, learning about them again. This this is basic. Like, I'm not coming to you with any conclusions, right? It's just me questioning Christianity. Um you go, wow, patriarchy's been pushed, and but they removed a lot of the women from and their roles, and ah, but then they gave the slaves Christ, took them out the wilderness, but hold on, there was a church here before that church that gave up Christ, but huh? But we've killed people throughout history, various societies to they didn't convert their religion, so you go Interessante. Well, if Christianity that I know is based off of this book that I know left things out that were available and then has been used to, for lack of better words, whitewash this religion and paint a narrative in history. I now have to question the religion because of the issues with the faults in the text, right? And again, this isn't coming from a religious point of view. This is just me being uh a curious person, someone who learns, somebody who researches, and somebody who like checks, you know, checks the sources, fact-checks the fact checkers, get multiple perspectives to come to what I believe to be a reasonable conclusion at the time. But again, these conclusions are written in pencil, they're not written in pen, because when we get more information, our conclusions change. Right, so I got more information about Christianity. So my conclusion changes. And it's not to say that it changes to say I'm no longer a Christian. It says there's more about being a Christian than I've been given. So I need to go learn it. And when I learn it. I need to ask questions. You know, and then I need to spread the information, put it out there so that it can be challenged, supported, defended, dismissed. That's the whole point of having information. You don't gather information to be right, you gather information to get it right. So that's what I'm doing. So I'm gonna ask pastors, and specifically black pastors who've gone through seminary because I'm interested in what they're being taught in seminary, because the expectation is when you go to school to learn how to do something, you're going to experts and they are putting you on the right path. They're not teaching you everything because they don't know everything, but they have, you know, when you get there, they have more information than you, more access, more experience, and they are pushing you towards finding more information, right? So I'm gonna ask them, specifically, black pastors, hey, why are you not exploring this? Why are you not looking at the Ethiopian Bible? I'm not saying adopt it. I'm saying question your Christianity. You know, like fact check your fact check your facts and your fact checkers. You know, like you know what religion, I think a lot of people project that they know and they lead with that, and I I just think that is a misguided approach to religion. I think some of that is because of how religion is used to galvanize people around the common belief set uh in order to be mobilized for whatever, like the institutions do that. So I think that even religious leaders are indoctrinated to the point that they don't question, they believe so much, and whatever reward is tied to the belief, whether it's in the current life or the afterlife, they cling to that so much that they won't question it. Just like if somebody's willing to pay you a lot of money to do something, what is that something actually worth? Or if somebody's willing to pay you a lot of money not to do something, what is it actually worth, right? Like YouTube will pay content creators or people with YouTube accounts that upload that upload videos money based on what they make from the platform, but when YouTube pays you, give you a monet a monetize a monetized status, right? They also then pay you not to do certain things. So you can't violate their guidelines. You should make the art and let them come. If you're doing research and you're writing an essay, you should write an essay and publish it and then promote it to get people to read it. Then if you're selling it, you promote it to get people to buy it, but you don't write an essay that the people want to buy. You make the people want to buy the essay. The essay has to exist first. So if you're gonna give a speech, yes, you want to appeal to the crowd, but you're there to inform people, not to just pacify people. So if you're on YouTube, I'm on YouTube, okay? I'm on social media, right? There's nothing wrong with using the platform, but you can't let the platform dictate the message. The message has to dictate the platform. So if you can't get the message across on this platform, you have to go somewhere else. The same I talk about with Kanye and telling him not to bend over and beg for all of this forgiveness. Ask for forgiveness and live your life and show that you've that that that you deserve forgiveness by changed actions. But you have a message and you want to spread it. Well, go to where you can spread it. And don't compromise yourself for the money that comes along with spreading the message. Because I bet those countries would allow you in if you said, hey, instead of you all paying me, I would donate it to your cause. I would donate what the revenue I the revenue the revenue generated from me that I would make for this engagement because I want to reach the people, I bet you they would let you do it. Money is a means, it's not the end. You shouldn't go to work just for the money. Yes, we live in a society where you have to make money, so there's compromise, there's trade-offs. But as a society, we should not be chasing money first. We should chase goals, we should chase family, we should chase community. And when we chase those things, we have what we need. And I don't say that to say we don't need money. You don't need survival skills. Yes, you do need survival skills, especially in this consumer economy that we live in. But now that we know that we're in a consumer economy and it thrives off our consumerism, consume less. You consume less, you need less money. You create more time, you create more freedom. These broke millionaires, paycheck to paycheck millionaires. Yes, they do they they have a lot of money. They make a lot of money, but they have a lot of expenses. Do you need five mansions? Do you need two mansions? What if you lose uh uh income stream? You know what I'm saying? Or do you just need somewhere to live? And again, you can have something nice, get something nice. I'm not telling you to live in a in a in a in a in a slums if you can't afford it, but you know, if you got the money, you you you but do you need the extra bathroom? Do you need this do you need the theater? You know, so you know, it's just what kind of life do you want to live? Do you want to live a life inside of the system, or do you want to live a life outside of the system? Both have their pros, both have their cons, both have their struggles. One's probably easier than the other, one's more restrictive than the other. It's what it's what's important to you. I'm kind of gonna wrap this up. To conclude, man, yeah, what life do you want to live? Do you want to live in the system or outside of the system? I choose to live outside of the system. And I mean in my thinking, right? If you tell me to do something, you tell me to think something, I'm gonna question it. It is what it is, it's not personal. I just want more information because I know that you have a reason for wanting me to do this or think this way. Just like I have a reason for wanting people to do and think certain things, depending on the situation. But yeah, I question Christianity. I question sports. I mean, the gambling markets are in bed with the leagues, that's crazy. You know, gambling's supposed to be a novelty, it's not supposed to be what gets you there. It's supposed to be something you do while you're there. Add a little intrigue to it, you know. Like casinos themselves should barely exist. It should be more like community casinos. Like for the people, not for like one person or one small group of people to benefit. But hey, go get that money. But if you get that money, don't get caught up into the system. No, no, I'm not gonna tell you what to do. You make a choice, do what they tell you. Or learn while they tell you, do it. Anyway, those are my thoughts for the week. Should be back here tomorrow at Parlay Pete for a little wash and winning. A sports fan and a non sports fan. That's gonna be fun. Alright, man. Y'all enjoy these NBA playoffs.