2 Guys Talking Baseball
Our Dogs are Barking!
Ever wondered how a dog could become a baseball team’s biggest star? Meet Meg Hackett from the Rocky Foundation, who reveals the heartwarming origin story of Rocky the Batdog. Her journey from a passionate baseball fan to a non-profit founder is sure to inspire, as we dive into Rocky's growing stardom and the incredible community support that has fueled their mission to train therapy dogs.
But that's not all. We navigate through the highs and lows of the baseball season, starting with the Chicago Cubs' struggles and bright spots, like Ryan Sandberg's victorious battle against cancer. Our spirited discussion takes us to the Dodgers, where we passionately defend manager Dave Roberts and celebrate standout players like Kershaw and Gavin Stone. Expect some humor as we brainstorm outlandish ideas to energize the Chicago White Sox, including rotating managers and celebrity involvement.
For baseball card enthusiasts, we explore Phillies reliever Matt Strahm's quirky collecting habits and the vibrant community within the hobby. Then, brace yourself for some spine-tingling tales of haunted hotels that baseball teams frequent, adding a mysterious twist to the episode. Finally, we close with a glimpse into the creation of Rocky's bobblehead and spotlight the impactful work of the Rocky Foundation. Join us for a mix of baseball banter, supernatural stories, and heartwarming moments that will leave you entertained and inspired.
Ever wondered how a dog could become a baseball team’s biggest star? Meet Meg Hackett from the Rocky Foundation, who reveals the heartwarming origin story of Rocky the Batdog. Her journey from a passionate baseball fan to a non-profit founder is sure to inspire, as we dive into Rocky's growing stardom and the incredible community support that has fueled their mission to train therapy dogs.
But that's not all. We navigate through the highs and lows of the baseball season, starting with the Chicago Cubs' struggles and bright spots, like Ryan Sandberg's victorious battle against cancer. Our spirited discussion takes us to the Dodgers, where we passionately defend manager Dave Roberts and celebrate standout players like Kershaw and Gavin Stone. Expect some humor as we brainstorm outlandish ideas to energize the Chicago White Sox, including rotating managers and celebrity involvement.
For baseball card enthusiasts, we explore Phillies reliever Matt Strahm's quirky collecting habits and the vibrant community within the hobby. Then, brace yourself for some spine-tingling tales of haunted hotels that baseball teams frequent, adding a mysterious twist to the episode. Finally, we close with a glimpse into the creation of Rocky's bobblehead and spotlight the impactful work of the Rocky Foundation. Join us for a mix of baseball banter, supernatural stories, and heartwarming moments that will leave you entertained and inspired.
Hello, hello, hello. Welcome inside the Three Crow Studios, morristown, tennessee. We are sweating like I don't know man. There's a lot of analogies, but the heat has taken over my brain and I can't think of a good one. So we're just full disclosure. Bear with us. Today the air conditioning is not working properly at the Three Crow Studios, which happens to be in Brian's house, so we have been subjected to a little bit warmer temperatures indoors than we're used to this time of year. We're fine, everybody's safe. But yeah, bear with us, it might be hard to get through some of this today. My name is Dallas Danger. I'm joined as always by my esteemed colleague and best friend more now than ever, brian Logan. Brian, how's it going, man? It's been a great week for baseball.
Speaker 1:It has. It's been a wonderful week. So, yeah, I guess we got a lot going on today. Main event of the program today, so to speak, is we spoke with Meg Hackett from the Rocky Foundation, which you'll hear all about later. Uh, brian, maybe the uh, maybe our favorite interview we've ever done on this show, and we've done a few oh, absolutely.
Speaker 2:She was so pleasant to have on there, so insightful, and it was such a good cause and a great topic and, uh, we just love the puppies and now we love her.
Speaker 1:Yeah absolutely a wonderful chat that you will hear later. Um, but, brian, before we get into a couple of the other things we want to talk about this week, uh, what do you have to say about the chicago cubs today?
Speaker 2:well, it's a sad. Sad day because I unfortunately, I'm ready to admit that our season is over. We could go 26-14 in the next 40 games and that's highly unlikely. We're going to do that and we still wouldn't be in contention.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think the point to make there is they could do better than that and still not. Still not make it, Depending on there's a lot of hurdles they would have to jump and a lot of teams would have to get. Not that good all of a sudden.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, a lot of teams would have to go on a losing streak and they'd have to win like 35 out of 40. Yeah, I mean, that's just not going to happen.
Speaker 1:Real talk, brian Logan. Just me and you chatting, nobody's listening, nobody. We'll talk, brian Logan Just me and you chatting, nobody's listening, Nobody's listening. Are you going to give up on the Cubs and just become a huge football fan, like you have done in the past?
Speaker 2:No, I'm going to still watch the games, but you know football season is upon us, so I've got to integrate that. The good thing is that I watch the Dodgers so we can talk.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there you go.
Speaker 2:So I've become a pseudo-Dodgers fan for the second half.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, and you've always got the Rays. You enjoy catching a Rays game every now and then I do enjoy the Rays.
Speaker 2:I haven't caught them as much as I wish I would have this season like I did last season. I watched them every day last season, yeah, but yeah, there's still plenty of baseball to watch and, uh, the everything's going great. That that division you guys are in is incredible yeah, we'll get into that.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, I know we will, we'll get into that but I mean the cubs just can't buy a break.
Speaker 2:I mean they just they just keep messing up, you know it's.
Speaker 1:It's funny because the cubs have always been the lovable losers, always. I mean, that's their reputation, that's what makes them so charming and likable as a team. I think that's why they have the fan base they do because it's easy to love that team even when they're not doing well, you know, traditionally, absolutely. I think 2016 happens and it recalibrated Cubs fans' expectations. Yeah, yeah, and like is often the case in the last I don't know 25 years in Major League Baseball, their World Series was a one and done, I know, unfortunately, and that's just the nature of the business of baseball. Now, yeah, they're competitive. They're not the worst team. They're not even're not the worst team. They're not even close to the worst team. They're not the worst team in their own city, right? But yeah, man, I tell Brian all the time folks I don't know how he does it, because I'm used to watching a team every day that's really, really good. Even when they lose, they're in games, you know, and it's not typically. I mean, it's a long season, everybody makes errors, everybody gives games away. Excuse me, I'm dying over here. Sexy, that was something. You made a dinosaur noise. That was something you made a dinosaur noise.
Speaker 1:But anyhow, I mean, I guess there is good news in the Cubs camp because we found out yesterday, as we are recording, that Ryan Sandberg is now cancer-free. Yeah, that's great, great news. Yeah, huge, huge news for Rhino, who we love, adore yes, love very much. What a guy, what a player. Um, it just was always one of my favorite. You know, one of my favorite guys. Yeah, mine too. Yeah, I'm sure I mean probably more so for you. Yeah, you know, I always respected sandberg and and, uh, you know, uh, thought his, thought his son was a decent little player and a pretty good manager at the minor league level. Jared Sandberg. So happy, very happy for Rhino. That's fantastic to hear. Yeah, is that everything you got on the Cubs?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean I wish I had more, but I don't, I mean the Parades experiment. I just don't know man, I don't know. I mean I guessaredes experiment, I just don't know man, I don't know. I mean, I guess we'll see next year.
Speaker 1:Well, I've seen a couple of stat listings that might make you feel a little better. First off, his OPS since the trade is higher than Morrell's and I know that doesn't make up for the loss of the emotional guy yeah, the morale, but he is hitting better than Morale since the trade. And also, I saw a list of every player that had a certain number. It might have been like 45 at-bats this season that were considered high leverage According to I don't even remember. I'm pulling this out of my ass, folks. You know how it gets when I do this. I don't like not having all the information, but I'm going to talk about it anyway. So, within the parameters, everybody that had that many at-bats in high leverage situations was ranked by their OPS in those situations and parade A's. I was shocked to see this.
Speaker 1:Paredes, in those situations, has a higher OPS than Teoscar Hernandez. Oh, wow, who in the big moment this year? Well, joe Davis said it best the other day when Teoscar hit his second walk-off of the year. If you need a hero, dial 37. Because Teo has been there at every moment when we needed him. Right, he stepped up and Paredes, by the numbers, is doing better in those situations than Teoscar is Right. So you know good player. You know I don't think we can take that away from him. It's just. You know we've talked about that trade ad nauseum. I don't want to go back down that road yeah, I just don't know if it's working out.
Speaker 2:I mean, but again, it wasn't made for this season, so it was made for next season. So I guess we have to wait and judge it then yeah, but then do we get to july next year?
Speaker 1:and they say the same thing do we get to july and they trade him? That's what I'm saying, you know. Do we get to july, they trade him? That's what I'm saying, you know. Do we get to July? And the plan has changed again? Of course it has. The outlook has changed. I don't know, man. The Cubs are an interesting study, but I guess we should pivot to the Dodgers.
Speaker 2:Okay, let's pivot.
Speaker 1:So the Dodgers are playing good baseball right now. For the most part you know still not where we want to be, but we're also not full back yet. You know Muncie and Edmond are imminent first of the next week. You know Yamamoto is throwing again and looking good and probably about to go on a rehab stint. Ryan Brazier to the bullpen, which you know could be good or could just exacerbate the bullpen problem. He wasn't very good before he got hurt but he and Trinan are both back soon in that bullpen, so like we still have a considerable amount of really good talent coming back on this roster.
Speaker 1:The problem for the Dodgers currently is that while they are the third best team since the All-Star break based on record win-loss record, the second best is the Padres and the first best is the Diamondbacks. I might have that backwards, but the two teams in front of them since the All-Star break are the two teams chasing them in the division and we've lost some ground. The lead as of right now is down to two games and both those teams hold the tiebreaker over us, so it's really one game when you look at it that way. I still am confident in this Dodger team. I like the spark they've gotten from the guys that have come back and the guys that came over at the deadline. Again, we, as you know, again we, as Dodger fans, are just so spoiled we're not used to being, you know, middle of August and there's two teams in the division that are really close to Right on your heels, yeah, right on us, right. Yeah, we're not used to that. Run on us, right, yeah, we're not used to that. But I keep going back to there is a, there, there's a. There's a argument to be made I guess is what I'm trying to say that this way of going about it is better for this team, because usually by this time of year we're not playing meaningful baseball anymore. That lead in the division is so wide, right, that there's literally nothing left to play for for two months, month and a half, two months, right.
Speaker 1:So now, now there's a sense of urgency and you know, walker bueller bueller comes back up, thank you. Uh, walker bueller comes back up and you know, he know, he flat out says I understand, I know I cannot have a 5 ERA on this team. I get it. The guys understand the levity, you know, or the gravity of the situation. You know there's a sense of urgency throughout the whole organization to win. Now you know they spent a billion with a B dollars in the offseason and every move was not to win more games in the regular season, it was to win in October, which is the one thing. This team, depending on how you look at it and depending on how you ask and I don't want to go back on my off-air Dave Roberts rant from last night again but this team has not won enough in October, especially recently. Right, because we're getting punched in the mouth game one and we can never recover.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, they're going to. I mean, they've got to pace themselves and that's what we talked about. You know, winning 106 or whatever is great, but you, you don't want to outdo yourself for october. So now, right, you know, maybe they're right on pace. Well, that's, people can't deal with it.
Speaker 1:That's what it feels like is everything's coming together and this team is getting right slowly. Don't get me wrong, we're not there yet, but we're getting there. You know I watch his team every day. I pay attention to details. We are getting there.
Speaker 1:Edmund and muncie are going to make a huge difference. Um trinan is going to make a big difference. Ryan brazier potentially could make a big difference. If we get yamamoto back and he's anywhere near as good as he was before he got injured, that's going to make a big difference. If we get Yamamoto back and he's anywhere near as good as he was before he got injured, that's going to make a big difference. I mean, kershaw looks right. You know you throw out the start in San Diego and he's been vintage Kersh. Gavin Stone finally seems like he's gotten through his rough patch. So the pitching is there. As far as the starters go, the bullpen's been a little iffy lately. But man, ask a fan of any team, ask a fan of all 30 teams, if they have bullpen issues and they'll go on a rant for 30 minutes.
Speaker 1:It's everybody's problem Every year. So you know I feel good about this team and you know I want the Dodgers to win the World Series as many times as possible in my life. Right, duh, I mean that goes without saying, but I'm going to say it anyways as a precursor to what I'm about to say. I would rather this team not win another one in my lifetime, but be filled with guys that I enjoy watching play the game every day, and the last two years I have fallen back in love with the Dodgers because the teams they're putting together are just really likable. This is as likable as the Dodgers have been in a while, and they've been a likable team, obviously in a lot of ways, but you know it's been a very interesting season and I'm anxious to get to October and see what that entails for this team, because again it's starting to feel like oh, my god, this team is getting right and everybody's getting back and it's all coming together right at the perfectly right time. Um, okay, fuck it, here's the dave roberts. I knew it was coming, okay, okay.
Speaker 1:The sheer idea that the manager of the best team in baseball, by almost every single metric you can come up with since he took the helm as manager. The idea that that team the best team since he took over the manager that has the highest career win percentage of any manager ever should be fired is so asinine, and I see it a hundred times a day. Dave cannot do anything right to some people. And if you're a Dodger fan and you're bitching about Dave Roberts, anything right to some people. And if you're a Dodger fan and you're bitching about Dave Roberts, I have questions for you. First off, and don't throw a name out just because you like him or because somebody else said it. Give me a real reason, a legitimate reason, that anybody else out there is better for the job than Dave Roberts.
Speaker 2:You can't do it. No, you, dave Roberts, you can't do it. No, you can't. You can't, there isn't anybody.
Speaker 1:Because we talked about this last week. The only thing they could do is go poach somebody else, and that would have to be counsel. And how many rings does he fucking have? Exactly One less than Dave does. And if the Astros don't do what they did, two less than Dave does Because that's the other thing we forget is he should have two 2020 counts and 2017 shouldn't, and that should be the end of that discussion. But there's going to be discourse on that 2020 World Series forever and it pisses me off Because of what they had to go through.
Speaker 1:And here's the other thing. It's not like they squeaked by. They dominated that season, dominated every. I mean I think they lost one series the whole year. I mean that counts. That ring is as legitimate as any ring other than the 2017 Astros rings, because those are hot garbage. They don't mean shit. Yep, I agree and pardon my language, but I'm sick of this and I was so proud yesterday to see the amount of people in the Dodger community on Twitter coming to Dave's defense, because the Dodgers had a one-run lead in the eighth inning, with the middle of the order coming up, and they put their best, most consistent reliever in and it just didn't work out right. Which happens? It happens. Nobody is perfect, nobody is, you know. 100 percent zeros every inning they pitch Nobody. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean. You know any team can beat any other team on any given day or night. Yes, and that just happened to be not their night.
Speaker 1:And you know you're talking about football season coming up. Some of you fans need to go watch football and leave baseball alone, because there's 162 games in a season. In baseball. They don't every single one of them matter so much that you do whatever it takes to win that game. That day. You have to think about the series and the week.
Speaker 1:Dave Roberts has to think about the fact that this team doesn't get another day off for a week. We're in the middle of a 13-day stretch with no days off, right, and that includes some travel, you know. So there's layers to this, there's levels to this job. There's layers to this. There's levels to this job, and Dave Roberts, whether you like it or not, is the best at that job right now, and there's nobody better out there. Now I understand the argument, for if you think we need a chemistry change but that's not Ask every player who's ever played for Dave Roberts, and they gush about how much they love him. Right, the vibe in the clubhouse ain't the issue. Yeah, and here's the other thing. Guys, the Dodgers are a really good team.
Speaker 1:It is hard to win it all. That's why no one's done it back-to-back in over 20 years, because it is not easy. It is hard, yep, absolutely. Everything has to go your way. It has to be your year and guess what? There's 30 teams and one team gets to win a year. Yeah, can't win every game. No, you can't win every championship. Right, we are going to look back on this era of Dodger baseball the way that we look back on the boys of summer from the 50s. There's that many Hall of Famers. There's that many guys whose numbers are going to be up with Pee Wee, reese and Roy Campanella and Jackie Robinson and Sandy Koufax. That's how good this damn team is, and you wouldn't know it if you get on Twitter. Right, and I'm just, I'm over it. I'm so over it. If you can't watch this team and enjoy them, go watch football. Go watch fucking Game of Thrones, I don't care. Go watch something else and shut the fuck up. I'm over it, brian.
Speaker 2:I'm over it. I can tell. I can tell that X has got you a bit out of shape.
Speaker 1:We have a rule we never call it that. Oh okay, it's Twitter forever and Elon Musk can suck my dick. Okay, Well all right, gloves are off today, folks, if you don't, like the adult content. You should probably, you know. I mean, I don't want to say, go watch another show, because we can't really afford to lose viewers at this point no please, please stay watching us. Please watch, you know.
Speaker 2:I apologize. If the language offends, I'll act good, it'll be all right.
Speaker 1:All in good fun, though, because at the end of the day, it's a game and you know big picture. Does it really matter at all? That's the other thing. These people get so bit out of shape over something that's like supposed to be an escape yeah, an escape from stress and escape from the real world.
Speaker 1:And they want to make it so serious that they're red in the face. Yeah, and now they're getting me red in the face and that pisses me off too. You're literally red in the face. I really I, you know, I get rosy. Yeah, I get real rosy. I mean it's it's 80 degrees in this house.
Speaker 2:It's incredibly hot.
Speaker 1:It's cooler outside than it is inside yeah, that fresh air, you know, it's just everything's stale in the house when we get done here, I'm gonna put my speedos on and go lay in the backyard uh patreoncom slash 2GTB for pictures and video of Brian in his backyard in the Speedo.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, yes, because I'll have the camera ready. I'll have the camera ready, I'll rock a Speedo.
Speaker 1:All right, I guess we should get into talking about some other stuff here we want to run through. There was a lot of cool, fun, weird stuff happening around the game this week, and so we did a great interview, but we wanted to talk about these things before we get to Meg Hackett and the Rocky Foundation. So at Razball on Twitter, I couldn't really figure out what their account was about. I'm sorry, razball, but this tweet was amazing. At Razball tweets out when the White Sox fire Pedro Grafal that they should hire a new manager every game. But if you win you get to come back, but as soon as you lose you get replaced. Beat the manager. Okay, hear me out. I know some people would have a conniption and an aneurysm over something like that, but it ain't like.
Speaker 2:The white socks are, you know, setting the world on fire no, I mean, that's the one team that the cubs are better than I'd sell some tickets, man it really would. I mean just the lottery pick to see who's next. And I say we go old school, we put it on post-it notes and put it in a hat.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and here's the other thing, folks, You're dealing with two wrestling minds talking about baseball. Yeah, you could have the sentimental, you know. Oh, here's Ozzie Guillen, who's like a celebrated White Sox manager took him to the World Series.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And he does his game and it goes terrible because who gives a fuck? And then we move on to the next guy, right? Yeah, I don't know. I mean I want to go down the rabbit hole with this. I want to brainstorm ideas to make this work, because I think it's such a good idea.
Speaker 2:It is. It's a great idea.
Speaker 1:I mean, how do you make the White Sox interesting?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you rotate the managers. This is it.
Speaker 1:Beat the manager, you know I should have put more time into this and like come up with names, you know, of people that are available and you know.
Speaker 2:I mean, that's just so crazy. It might work and it'd be a good draw for the attendance you know to see who's going to win. It's worth a shot right. I mean, you know, if they still don't buy a ticket, then you're not out anything and then like, if you win five in a row, you retire as the manager but you get like a million dollars.
Speaker 1:Well, they're not going to do that.
Speaker 2:Well, come on.
Speaker 1:I think their bet's pretty safe here. There's a fire cell going on. Yeah, I guess you're right. I guess they're not in much, much trouble of. Uh. Well, I mean, I guess they'd be like well, hell, you won five in a row, you're the guy now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're, you're, you're stuck here yeah, that's the thing the loser or the winner is the loser.
Speaker 1:Former President George W Bush for a game? Yes.
Speaker 2:Yes, that would be great, that would be awesome.
Speaker 1:I mean, can you imagine Like there'd be like way more wacky stuff going on? Oh yeah, like you know, some random guy that has no business managing a major league team is like everybody bunts. Oh yeah. If there's somebody on base with less than two out your button. Yeah, it's like I've never I haven't buttoned since high school and I have 40 home runs. I don't care, your button I mean what?
Speaker 2:what happens if? If the guy I mean, would they really be trying to win because do they want to stay another week?
Speaker 1:yeah, see, that's the other thing is, like you know, there's so many layers to this. Again, I I maintain it's so crazy. It might work. Yeah, I like it. I think we should do it. I mean, and they're so bad, you and me might get a shot.
Speaker 2:I would do it for a night. Yeah, I mean I don't want the job in, you know in general, but but yeah.
Speaker 1:I would do it for a night than one night in my hotel in chicago.
Speaker 2:yeah, exactly, well, I don't necessarily want to stay on the south side either. So yeah, fair enough. No offense to the south siders, I just would rather be on the north side.
Speaker 1:Personal preference personal preference, that's all right, all right, so um.
Speaker 2:I've seen shameless.
Speaker 1:I know what goes on down there speaking of making the white socks interesting, they they did have some positivity and something that would, I I think, sell some tickets. Not a lot, but you know, it's definitely appealing enough to get people to come to the ballpark. And that is the viral campfire milkshake, yeah, this thing looks really good, Brian.
Speaker 2:It looks so yummy. It looks so, so good on the video. I mean, I can't imagine what it looks like real it looks so, so good on the video.
Speaker 1:I mean I can't imagine what it looks like. Real MLB shared the video of one of the food workers there at whatever they call Comiskey now, making one Explaining all the ingredients and the process. A culinary vision Very, very top-end milkshake, uh. But man, I mean, and, and I mean you know, simone biles is posting pictures with the milkshake and the socksters. I mean, you know, and we joked about the, the, the different manager, every game thing you know drawing people in. But man, that couldn't have come at a better time for the white socks yeah, I mean, and the pictures are, so you know.
Speaker 2:The presentation is just beautiful. Can you imagine how well it tastes?
Speaker 1:oh, that's what I'm saying, man, and it's, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's got all the s'mores campfire elements to it, you know, and it's got the toasted marshmallows on top, which they leave the windows open at that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and smell through. So yeah, you want to be great.
Speaker 1:People walking by smell the toasted marshmallows and they're, they're hooked, you know.
Speaker 2:What is a thing like that cost?
Speaker 1:I would love to tell you, after tax Of course, the White Sox campfire milkshake is sixteen dollars and sixty one cents. Right, right, right, right. And here's the thing. Y'all this thing, if you haven't seen it, is a meal. Yeah, it's pretty big, it's a meal. I mean it's like a three-course dinner, but it's all dessert.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean I would pay the $16. And it would pay multiple times because it looks that good.
Speaker 1:You know'd get. I'd get something small, like maybe one hot dog. You know, when we first get there get a little something on my stomach and later in the game I'd get the milkshake.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, the thing too is is uh, like me, I love milkshakes. I like drinking them fast. Yeah, I drink the one and then I'm ready for another one. Now I'm out like 45 bucks. I come to the game with five or fifty dollars, I get two milkshakes, I'm out and you're done. I'm done.
Speaker 1:But I mean for ballpark prices and for what you're getting on this thing I don't. I mean that's reasonable. Yeah, I mean no, it really relative to pricing. Now you know, sixteen dollars for a milkshake is is, is the furthest thing from reasonable in the grand scheme of things. But as far as what you pay for something in a ballpark, I mean that's not bad, it's not bad and it's big.
Speaker 2:You've got to Google this thing, yeah it's huge. Put it in the Google machine and take a look at this thing.
Speaker 1:It's not your average milkshake. Well, yeah, I mean, you buy the cheap seats. You're at the game with your buddy. You guys want to split one, Right? I'm not sharing, I know you're not, but I'm just saying if you're on a budget, you can still pull this off.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, it's totally worth it.
Speaker 1:And you get a commem what?
Speaker 2:Did I just have a stroke?
Speaker 3:You did just have a stroke A commemorative cup.
Speaker 2:I tried to say collector and commemorative at the same time.
Speaker 1:I'm glad you made a weird noise, because I was feeling real self-conscious about my dinosaur noise earlier. Right, right, right. But yeah, man, campfire Milkshake, you know, make you feel a little better if you're at a White Sox game. Well, get all that sugar in you man, get it charged up.
Speaker 2:Maybe that's what it is. Maybe if you win as a manager, they just give you like a milkshake, and if you win five in a row, you get lifetime milkshakes. Oh wow, that would be worth it. Right now, brian's considering moving to the south side I, I really want one of these milkshakes now, let's take a road trip, all right.
Speaker 1:So we have talked about Matt Strong, all-star reliever from the Phillies in the past, in regards to his baseball card collecting. If you will recall, for the All-Star Week he had a belt made of his cards of him. Well, uh, a great story. Tops. Uh, tops is right on, right on it. I didn't want to say tops is on top of it, because that sounds weird. Um, top, tops is, you know, johnny, on the spot with this. Um, their social media has been really fantastic, uh, as of late, and, uh, they did a video where strom is explaining that everyone who hits a home run off of him, he buys one of their cards. Yeah, that's, that's, that's you know. And as a collector, uh, I learned very quickly when I got back into it, uh, four years ago, that you have to figure out what it is you want to collect and don't let anybody else and their opinions sway you from that.
Speaker 2:Right, right. Pick your niche of what interests you and then stick with it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what is it worth to you? Who cares? What it's worth to some yahoo on eBay who's just trying to resell it and make money? What's it worth to you? Personally, I just collect Dodger cards because I'm a Dodger fan and that's how I stay close to my team as I collect. Now, I love breaking packs, so I've got a whole box of thousands of cards that aren't Dodgers, but you know I use those for trade and whatever else. You know, fodder, fodder, exactly. I thought it was really cool that he explained that he tries to get a rookie card or an autographed card, until Freddie took him deep.
Speaker 2:Right, and then it was too expensive. Yeah, it was like that gets a little pricey.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but he said if somebody takes him deep it's definitely an autograph. Yeah, like he.
Speaker 2:No way around it, he's buying an autograph card if you take him twice deep okay, well, that's good, I mean, I mean it's he's going to give him up so he might turn this into a positive with his collecting he's having fun and that's what the that's what the hobby is all about.
Speaker 1:That's what hobbies are all about. But that's what card collecting should be all about is having fun, because I mean it's little pieces of cardboard with baseball players on it, it ain't that serious. Y'all Come off it. It's a fun hobby and it's a cool community to be a part of. I'm sure he's not as connected because you know, um, people are weird and creepy and you know it's hard to be a part of a community with regular people when you're you know that level of uh, notoriety. But it's a cool community to be a part of.
Speaker 1:You know I've been gifted cards, uh, from people just to help me out, you know, with my collection, when I was first getting started and right, um, you know I I log my collection on a website called trading card database and, um, they have a trade feature where you can trade with other users. So you know I've got cards listed in my collection so I can keep track of what I do and don't have. But I've also got cards in what they it's like a buy, buy, buy or trade list, so people know those cards are available and they can offer me trades. It's it's a very cool and I I've done a lot of trades, you know, not recently because I turned that feature off when I got a little busy and didn't want to. You know, because it's like anything else, like ebay or whatever. There's feedback and you, you know you want people to, you want to, you want to make good connections because you know, I've I've traded several times with people. Anytime I, anytime I bought a new product and put up a bunch of cards available from that new product, that year's tops or that year's whatever series.
Speaker 1:Um, there were guys that would immediately offer me trades because they were, they were, you know, they were set, they were trying to build the whole set and get all the cards in the set. And that's the thing too is, it doesn't matter how valuable the card is, somebody out there wants it. I have a slew of 1990 Don Russ, which is the most overproduced junk wax of all the junk wax, and people still offer me trades for it because they're building the set or they're a super collector where they can have like 600 of the same card of the same. You know, because they collect one player, but they don't stop if they have one of each card. They want as many as they can get. That's wild too.
Speaker 1:My, my, my buddy bo in a huge Cubs fan, the One Million Cubs project. His goal was to collect one million Cubs cards. Yeah, and I sent him a ton, I think, at one point and this was pretty early on in my collecting, so I didn't have a lot hundreds, but I mean I sent him every Cubs card I had because I was like I don't need these.
Speaker 1:I don't want them, right, and I'm trying to help him out. Man, he sent me the awfulest mess of dodger cards back and it was all shit I didn't have. Oh, that's good. It was like a whole era that I didn't even have anything because I didn't have access to him yet. Um, great guy, cool, cool idea. You know he pulled it off, you know. Um, you know, so it's a cool, it's a cool hobby.
Speaker 2:And and and matt strom has grown on me through this too he seems like a really down-to-earth cool guy yeah, he seems really cool, uh, and uh, he's on my radar now, one of the players that I'll take a look at. And uh, you know, the belt thing was cool, and uh, where he had the cards on the belt, yeah, uh. And then this is just you know what a way not to be upset. That somebody takes you deep is sure. At least you turn a negative into a positive right, and you know that.
Speaker 1:I think there's a deeper psychological component to that too, because you want to forget, you don't want to wear giving up a home run, so you immediately switch your brain to oh, now I gotta buy his card, yeah, rather than oh. That guy took me deep and now it's going to affect my next hitter and the next time he comes up I'm you know. It just sort of takes the piss out of a guy taking you deep sure does.
Speaker 2:It makes it, like I said, a negative into a positive and uh, you know where, he doesn't have to dwell on it, he can dwell on it in a positive way absolutely very cool.
Speaker 1:Kudos to matt strong, um. And here's the thing, folks if, if, if you want to get into collecting or back into on it in a positive way, absolutely Very cool. Kudos to Matt Strom. And here's the thing, folks If you want to get into collecting or back into collecting baseball cards, now is a wonderful time to do it. Again, there's a great community out there and if you're interested and want some help navigating that, please DM me at Dallas Danger. I'd love to share the hobby with anybody who's interested in getting into it or getting back into it after you know giving it up in adulthood.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, so very cool. We promise we're very close to our interview with Meg Hackett. I'm excited. Yeah, it's coming up. I'm excited for everybody to hear that. But one more topic we want to talk about, brian. So the Dodgers were just in Milwaukee for a four-game series this week. The Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee Go ahead, we've heard them all. That's where the visiting teams stay when they play the Brewers. That's the visiting team hotel. It is famously haunted. You don't believe me? Google it. Google baseball haunted hotel Milwaukee and you will get pages and pages of players' stories about the supernatural experiences they've had in this hotel. Supernatural experiences they've had in this hotel. Right, mookie Betts claims he's never experienced anything out of the ordinary, but he's always so anxious that something is going to happen that he doesn't sleep Right, can't relax. So for the second year in a row, mookie Betts has got an Airbnb in Milwaukee.
Speaker 1:Won't stay there Instead of staying at the team hotel. Yeah, there are countless other examples of players telling these stories about hearing things, seeing things, feeling weird. It's pretty wild and it's one of those things that like if this happened in football, they'd just shame the guy and call him a wimp and probably hit him harder in practice. I mean, that's just football culture, but in baseball it becomes part of the story, yeah, part of the lore. Yeah, 100% it's lore for days.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, and you've got to get your rest in, and if you can't rest there, then I get going to the Airbnb. I mean, I kind of would want to stay there and see what I can see.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I don't know. I'm on the fence, yeah, and I don't want to get into my relationship with the supernatural because that's not relevant past this conversation, but I think initially I would give it a try. Yeah, because at the end of the day, everybody's different and, whether or not you believe things are there, that's all going to vibe differently with different guys. Yeah, and mookie's a professional and he knows if he doesn't get sleep, he's not going to play as well and he's not going to be able to help his team as well.
Speaker 2:So you know, if this was the 70s, that he would be a guest mookie, be a guest star on scooby-doo. He would be a guest Mookie would be a guest star on Scooby-Doo, and they would go to the hotel and they would find. You know who was the hidden ghost.
Speaker 1:I need you to stop, because I think you're on to something that we can actually sell to somebody. Okay, all right, because that's a great idea.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Scooby and Mookie meet the ghost of the Pfister Hotel.
Speaker 1:Mookie.
Speaker 2:Mookie, do that's pretty good, you're right, I had to do that.
Speaker 1:I had to do that, copyright pending. Just another interesting wrinkle in the tapestry that is the story of baseball.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely More flavor to the gooey goodness dinner that is professional baseball yeah, just baseball in general non-professional yeah, just the sport, you know.
Speaker 1:Uh, it's, it's I, I will, I will say this until I'm blue in the face. It is a game of ghosts, a game of it is a game full of ghosts. And uh, it's no different in milwaukee when the visiting team comes to town. Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Yeah absolutely. I would love.
Speaker 1:I should have. You know, I always should have done more research for this show, admittedly, but I should have tried to look up like Milwaukee's home record compared to their away record. Okay, because it's like, is this affecting teams so much that, like Milwaukee's really good at home or is it just like not that big of a deal?
Speaker 2:Well, do other teams stay there? Yeah?
Speaker 1:it's every I mean. And again, there's countless tellings of stories from all over the league. There was one, and I wish I could remember the player. I've read this one a couple times. But he said he heard something or someone stomping around in his room and he's trying to sleep. It woke him up and he was like. So I just out loud said hey, stay as long as you like, you are welcome here, but I gotta get some sleep. Yeah, let me sleep. Yeah. And he said he didn't have any issues after that. There you go.
Speaker 2:So you know, take that for whatever you will well, you know and know, and I wish I knew that you're going to love this story, because I have no details. So there's the hotel in Cincinnati that I stayed at that has the ghost lady in the elevator. It's the old Hilton, which is right across the street from the new Hilton, ironically, but yeah, it's supposedly notoriously haunted and it's right by the ballpark. Like you can walk from that hotel to the ballpark. And I stayed there. We stayed there for a series of games and I went looking for the lady in the elevator of course she did couldn't find her, but everybody else else swore up and down that she's exists and it's a big deal.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so apparently haunted hotels and baseball are fairly common. Maybe she doesn't like you. She might not have liked me, I mean, maybe I wasn't her cup of tea I guess not.
Speaker 1:No, I guess not yeah brian is all about going to look for ghosts and not finding anything.
Speaker 2:Oh, I know well, that's another topic we just can't get it edited, but I found it ma'am. We just can't get it edited, but I found it ma'am.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, that's so funny. Okay, at long last we're going to go to a prerecorded interview that we did with Meg from the Rocky Foundation. Rocky is the back dog for the Johnson City Doughboys of the Appalachian League and I live in Johnson City. I go to a Johnson City Doughboys of the Appalachian League and I live in Johnson City. I go to a lot of Doughboys games. They're my home team and Rocky has taken over that ballpark. It is his house now and we've done a few interviews over the last couple years for this show and they've all been great, don't get me wrong, right, but I don't know over the last couple of years for this show and they've all been great, don't get me wrong, right, but I don't know, man, I feel I feel as good about this one as any we've ever done, and that might just be because of the cause that we end up talking about with the Rocky Foundation and what they're setting out to do, but we had a really great time talking with Meg.
Speaker 2:Yeah, she was fun and, like I said, it was a great cause. Time talking with meg yeah, she was fun and, like I said, it was a great cause. Uh, you know, uh, before we go into the the interview, hold up the uh rocky bob again on camera, because we're gonna be talking about it and uh, yeah, the the tail, yeah, the tail, the tail bob the tail uh, there's, there's.
Speaker 1:There's detail and logos everywhere there should be. It's a gorgeous bobblehead, absolutely One of my absolute favorites in my collection. Yes, it's great. I love him, oh and the box.
Speaker 2:I'll show you the box. Yeah, put him back where I can see him again. Yeah, he's fine. I'm just saying put him back. Carry on, sir, okay.
Speaker 1:So we talk a little bit about the box. There's the blurb. We'll talk about how that came to be the word search, cool pictures and then, of course, tva Credit Union, who owns the ballpark. This is their promotion, that they did a great promotion with this. Yeah, they're wonderful. Great place to see a game.
Speaker 1:If you like a beer at the game, the beer selection for the size of the ballpark is is incredible. The food is always good. They they deal with some local, local restaurants to get some of their food stuff. For instance, they have barbecue from a really great local barbecue chain. It's weird to say it's a chain. It used to just be one spot in Johnson City, but they've expanded a lot and there's a good reason for that. It's wonderful. But anyways, without further ado, let's go to our interview with Meg Hackett from the Rocky Foundation. Alright, everybody Brian and Dallas here, as always, but we have a very special guest. We have Meg Hackett almost messed that up right off the bat from the Rocky Foundation. Meg, thanks so much for being with us. We're really happy to have you here yeah, thanks for having me of course.
Speaker 1:So I was just telling Meg before we hit record. I live in Johnson City. I go to a lot of Johnson City Doughboys games, so I have witnessed Rocky the Batdog in action. I have felt the power of Rocky the Batdog myself. Brian has yet to experience it in person. But, meg, the first thing we are really dying to know and Brian and I have talked about this a lot off air we want to know how this all came to be. I've, uh, you know my partner is a big Rocky fan and follows Rocky on social media to see that he's been competing and a working dog for quite some time. But how did being a bat dog for the doughboys kind of come about? Was this y'all's idea? Did the team approach you? I just want to know the whole story as much as you can tell us.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Um, I, we've been big baseball fans for a really long time and I think actually it was like pre-COVID we had actually seen another bat dog. I don't know if you all are familiar with Ripken. He plays for the Durham Bulls.
Speaker 3:He's also a Black Lab. I want to say he's like the most popular bat dog out there, he's got quite the following. And so we're like, oh, most popular bat dog out there, he's got quite the following Um. And so we're like, oh, that's. You know, that's super cool. Love that idea. What, what more could you?
Speaker 1:ask for baseball and dogs.
Speaker 3:It's just the most beautiful thing. Um. And so after getting Rocky, um, it didn't take us long to realize, um, how special of a dog he is. Um, don't get me wrong, I have put I mean of a dog he is. Don't get me wrong, I have put I mean thousands of hours into training him. But he makes it very easy, him and I have quite the bond. So as far as getting him to do things, he catches on very quickly.
Speaker 3:So at one point I guess it was two years ago it kind of just hit me and I was like, oh man, do you remember seeing that bat dog? I can't believe we haven't taught Rocky to do that yet. I'm going to like work on that and see what happens. And so it took me all of literally guys like three days and he was like targeting the bat, bringing it back, it was perfect. And I was like I have no idea how we're going to get connected. I don't know if we should like film him and send an email or what the situation is.
Speaker 3:I'm originally not from Johnson City, so at the time I didn't have a whole lot of connections. Until I guess it was February of last year, I had decided to join Young Professionals of Johnson City because I own a small business, decided to join Young Professionals of Johnson City because I own a small business and I happened to meet the general manager for the Doughboys at a networking event while I was there and so I like immediately pulled him to the side and was like hey, I need to talk to you. And he was like oh, he's pretty caught off guard. Like who is this crazy person? I like just met and I just asked him straight up. I I was like do you guys?
Speaker 2:need a fat dog by any chance.
Speaker 3:Oh, that's great and he was like um, I mean, do you know a dog?
Speaker 3:that can do that, yeah, actually I sure do. And he was like well, I gotta talk to the higher ups, let me like ask around. And so we exchanged numbers and then they had us come in for like a little working interview I'll call it um just for him to like see him do it and make sure he was legit I guess. And so he saw him and he's like okay, yeah, we have to do this, let's, let's do it. So that's.
Speaker 1:That's such a cool story, so I love that. Y'all like trained him first, you know, and then and then presented him as a finished, ready-to-go bat dog. That's so cool and I love watching him warm up chasing a ball. That's always so much fun. It's part of the ritual now when we go to games. We get in, we get our food, we go sit down. We have stadium chairs we always use, so we set those. Know we get in, we get our food, we go sit down. You know we have stadium chairs we always use, so we set those up and we get settled and we eat and then we just watch.
Speaker 1:You know what's going on and you know that's just part of the ritual. Now is sitting there and watching Rocky get warmed up and you know, and I've got to know, at what point did you kind of realize that like your dog is becoming I mean, I say it all the time that dog could run for mayor of Johnson City. Oh yeah, he's a star, Huge star. So, like, at what point did it get to you that it like, did you realize, like that was even like a possibility of something that could happen with your dog, like your pet?
Speaker 3:Yeah, honestly, it's still something that blows my mind a little bit. I mean, I'm obsessed with my dog, but to see people's reaction towards him or to have I have had people recognize me in public and be like, oh my gosh, are you Rocky's mom? And I was like geez, this is like my entire career at this point is like riding on my dog wow um. But I want to say the first time I really uh kind of took it all in was, um, when they dropped our merch um for the first time last season.
Speaker 1:It was pretty close to the end of season um, and I want to say they got 300 t-shirts in and they were gone within 30 minutes yeah, they went so quick like oh gosh, okay, because I remember my partner, jen, wanted one so bad, the first rocky shirt, and it was like we, we saw people wearing them and never saw them for sale. So that makes a lot of sense and I'll tell her that too, because she was like, are they going to reprint it, like what? That's the one I want, you know, and we, we're, we're, we're, we're pretty staunchly for ourselves, not in general. Obviously, we love Rocky and want everybody to love Rocky, but we, staunchly ourselves, personally, will not wear the.
Speaker 1:I'm only here for the BatDog shirts, because we are not only there for the BatDog. He's just a cool perk, you know, yeah, but it's I. I mean, if you're listening to this and you have not seen this for yourself, it's true, rocky is a huge star at these games and I mean there's as much rocky merch in the stands now as there is just general doughboys merch yeah, so great yeah, so that's just insanity.
Speaker 1:I mean, I can't imagine my cat becoming that big of a celebrity.
Speaker 2:It's just really taken off. I mean it's a phenomenon.
Speaker 1:It is a phenomenon, that's a good way to put it. It's it's turned into a whole phenomenon, so, um, so we have here and and I hate we're not on camera like we plan to be, but we have here the Rocky bobblehead is in our studio.
Speaker 3:Oh okay, you guys were lucky enough to snag one of our bobbleheads.
Speaker 1:Oh listen, Jen and I are well-versed in bobblehead days. We get there super early and I will say, for the time that we get there, we have a pretty standard schedule of events when we're trying to get a giveaway. The line was twice as long as it's ever been by the time we got there, which was like earlier than I'm willing to admit uh in public uh, but we did get. We got two which we were very, very thankful for. Um, brian can attest to this because he's seen it now and touched it. It is one of the coolest bobbleheads I've ever seen, like this thing looks just like Rocky, for one.
Speaker 3:His head is massive. It cracks me up. Yeah, his head is huge.
Speaker 1:But the tail bobs, which is amazing not the first example of that I've seen. You mentioned Ripken from the Durham Bulls. The Bulls did a bobblehead of the bull sign in left field that says hit bull, win steak and it's like the whole bull and there's the little fence sign that says you know, hit bull win steak and his tail bobs and I thought that was like the most revolutionary thing. So when I got Rocky and his tail bobbed, yeah, the tail is awesome.
Speaker 1:Perfect. So tell us a little bit about the bobblehead process, like what was your role in the whole process, and, depending on your answer, I have another question to follow that up.
Speaker 3:Yeah, honestly, I wish I got to be a little bit more involved than I am, but it's a TVA credit unions promotion that they do every year. Obviously, they own that ballpark, so they Patrick had approached me about the idea after last season and he was like we have to do this, like I think it'll go over, great. And I was like, oh yeah, we could do like a bobblehead of private and then like Rocky, you know, like just a little Rocky beside him, and he's like no Meg, the whole bobblehead has to be Rocky. And I was like, oh, oh, okay, excellent, um. And so we just filed through a bunch of pictures together and basically like drew up a mock design of what we wanted it to look like. Um, the bobble tail was actually Patrick's idea. I'm not sure if he was aware of the durham bull one.
Speaker 3:I'd actually never heard of um the tail bobbing before, but I thought it was brilliant um so we sent our little mock-up design with a bunch of photos, and then, um, they get back to us with like a, a mock print up of what it will look like, um, with like color schemes and stuff like that, and then they you know, it's up to the, the employees, to improve approve all of that and um, and have it officially made.
Speaker 1:So yeah, it's, and it's again. It's a great bobblehead. He's got his little cape that he wears and he's got the bat in his mouth.
Speaker 2:It's, it's wonderful, um well, and the eyes too. The eyes make him look like a happy puppy, and in bobbleheads usually you, the eyes are kind of soulless, but not on him, he. It kind of makes the face look look good because I can see the eyes. The eyes are, the eyes are perfect on that bobblehead yeah so I had to look. I had to, yeah because rocky's facing me on the table.
Speaker 1:My favorite thing about the packaging. First off, it's a massive box which was hilarious with people trying to carry them around all night at the game. We again have a process and stowed ours away. But my favorite thing about the packaging is there's a word search on the box, like that's so cool. Was that your idea? Did you not know that until you saw them? When did that kind of come into play?
Speaker 3:Nope, that was all, patrick. The only thing I had done on the box was the write-up blurb of him, and actually my best friend and I wrote that together because it's a. It's a little bit awkward for me to um talk about my, my um, you know, just like to give people what they want to hear. And she's like well, let me help you write this up. So her and I wrote that blurb up together, but everything else was a complete surprise. I had no idea what the box was going to look like.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what was your initial reaction the time you like held the thing in your hand and like got to see it, like in person, and like feel it as like a tangible thing?
Speaker 3:Oh, I cried.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I don't think I mean that's not. I'd be more surprised if you didn't.
Speaker 1:honestly because, it's, I mean, it's so well done and, um, you know I was talking, uh, we were wrapping up the show last week and I was kind of telling people that were listening you know what was coming up this week because we were being so excited about this and you know I mentioned that. You know we have some really interesting bobbleheads from going to games in Johnson City like, uh, my, the the most, the craziest one we have is Daniel Norris, who played in the big leagues in his high school uniform with a full beard, uh, like a grown man, you know, and and it's, it's, it's literally a bobblehead of a major leaguer.
Speaker 1:You know, pitching in a science hill high school uniform, it's the craziest thing I've ever seen, you know, and it was a lot of laughing going on that night at the ballpark and a lot of people were wearing their science hill toppers stuff and you know it was just. It was just a quirky little thing, but this is, this is. I mean they did such a good job on this and so thrilled we were able to get our hands on a couple of them.
Speaker 2:Has Rocky seen the bobblehead? What does he think of the bobblehead?
Speaker 3:I actually haven't shown it to him. I'm not sure what he would think.
Speaker 2:I mean, did he lick it, did he sniff it Did?
Speaker 3:he put his snood up.
Speaker 2:I mean yeah.
Speaker 3:I, you know, but it's snooed up. I mean, yeah, I've not had a chance. Um, I know a couple of fans were like, trying to show him the box, like well, this is you. And he was just like is this, is this a treat? Did you get me a present? Like what's in there for me, can I eat?
Speaker 1:it. That's so incredible man. But yeah, I mean, and the and the little blurb you guys wrote is perfect. It mentions his unwavering charisma, which is like you hit the nail on the head. I mean he is such a charismatic dog and just a good boy overall.
Speaker 3:He is, yeah, just a good boy. He really loves his job and I think it just shines through his personality. I think one of my favorite parts about our relationship together and through training him is I've always, you know, taught him to be obedient but still given him the freedom to be his own dog. I know a lot of trainers and scientists will say that like dogs don't actually have like emotions and things like that, but I don't agree with that.
Speaker 2:We don't either. No, I don't agree with that either.
Speaker 3:So I wish I could take credit for it honestly, because it's brilliant. But I just taught him to retrieve a bat and bring it back, and it was about halfway through his first season when he started to really realize that people were screaming for him, and that is when he decided to adopt this like lap that he does around some plate and then like looks up at the audience to show everyone what he's done, and that just gets even more cheers.
Speaker 3:And so I mean the first time he did it I was like what on earth is he doing? And then I'm like, is he, is he really looking people dead in the eye right now, like he is such a ham.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I remember we were at a game earlier this year and there were some people behind us that were indulging in some adult beverages and they were having a lot of fun with Rocky, all you know, lighthearted, nothing, mean-spirited, but he gets a bat and he does his little lap, like you, like you referred to, and the guy in the group behind us just went look at the big stick, I got, you know, and it's exactly that's exactly what he's doing. He's showing everybody like, look what I did, you know, and and yeah, that's so. Uh, we, we 100% agree that dogs have personalities, they have emotions. They, they, they, you know, and, and I think, too, you should take some credit because, uh, animals, pets are, are a product of their environment. You know, um, brian's dogs act like his kids, like they're just his kids, and they act the way kids. Kids would act if brian was crazy enough to ever have kids. You know, that's exactly how they act and they, you know, they like certain things and they don't like certain things, and they'll let you know. I mean, they have tails, you know. I mean you know you, you've spent thousands of hours training a dog to retrieve a big stick, you know you, you get it.
Speaker 1:You know we're not talking to you about this stuff. So the reason we wanted to really bring you on today, other than to talk about this great special dog, rocky, is to talk about the Rocky Foundation. We were at Fridays After Five almost called it First Fridays out of habit, but Fridays After Five is an event during the summer in one of the parks in Johnson City and you is the one you spoke at. I don't know if you've done that more than once, but you spoke about the foundation and I remember listening to you talking about what the goal was with the foundation and I was like that is so incredible, like the idea for this foundation is really remarkable, especially for dog lovers. So please give us your I guess your elevator pitch and explain what your goals are with the Rocky Foundation.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, do you want me to give, like, the full backstory?
Speaker 1:Yes, give us, yeah, give us everything.
Speaker 3:Like I don't want to over-talk.
Speaker 1:No, there's no such thing.
Speaker 3:This is a talking medium?
Speaker 1:Yeah, you can't, you can't over-talk.
Speaker 3:No, there's no such thing, this is a talking medium, yeah you can't over-talk.
Speaker 3:Okay. So this year when the Doughboys asked us back, they actually wanted us to sign a contract. So the first year that Rocky did his bat-dog duties, it was just volunteer-based. It was kind of, you know, a dream come true for us, and so we were just really excited to be there like he was having a great time. So it was all volunteer basis, um.
Speaker 3:But then the doughboys approached us again and they were like you guys have to come back. We want to pay you for your time, which is really awesome because, um, summer ball is quite the time commitment it's a lot of games squished into just two months time. So we felt really honored that they wanted to pay us for our time and you know, extra food and things like that that we go through during season. But I am very privileged. I own a grooming salon and I'm the head trainer and manager for a training facility as well, and Rocky's dad works for Eastman, which if you're local you know it's a great company to work for, and so being paid to do something with my dog that he loves just kind of felt a little bit icky.
Speaker 3:I appreciate being paid for my time. It's not why we're out there Like he loves it. We're there to have a good time Watching everybody react to him, and the smile it brings to people's faces is honestly enough for us. So I was like what can we do to give back to the community who we feel like have given so much to us just through this opportunity? So that's when I decided that I wanted to start a non-profit in his name.
Speaker 3:Working in the dog community I've become grossly aware of how overpopulated our animal shelters are in this area. I feel like we're constantly trying to do like adoption events and things like that. It's every other day on my Facebook feed that I'm seeing like Unicoi and Carter County and even the Washington County Animal Shelter are bursting at the seams. Even Morristown I follow closely because we're out there often Hamblin County is bursting at the seams with shelter dogs and then also working in the therapy dog community. I know that there is a need for working dogs as well in hospitals, in the VA, at ETSU and things like that and even places. I feel like people haven't necessarily thought about the benefits of a therapy dog that could really use one dog that could really use one. And so I was like okay, how can we bridge the gap between our overflowing shelters and the need for working dogs in our community? So that's what I decided our nonprofit funds would go to.
Speaker 3:So I have come up with a vetting program to go into shelters and pull some pre-approved dogs who we think would have some good potential. Typically I'm looking for dogs who've been there for an extended period of time. We are using the funds to pay for their training. So they will go through like a two to three week board and train program and while they're in that program program we'll be posting about the dog on social media, you know, pumping out pictures and videos and things like that to gather some interest until we find them an adopter who falls in love with them. And then we will take the new adopter and the dog and put them through a therapy training program and then, once they're finished, that we will partner with with partner them with our partners like the VA and ballot health and place them in the community so that they can actually go out and work and volunteer. So I'm trying to Kind of kill two birds with one stone, but everybody benefits along the way.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:I mean again, this is something that is I think it feels like it's something that's been right there in front of us as a need, but nobody really thought about it I guess is the best way to put it Like it didn't occur to anybody.
Speaker 1:But it sounds like you had the perfect storm of influence.
Speaker 1:And then, you know, I remember when you spoke at fridays after five, you talked about like how the experience of rocky being a bat dog and being a working dog has changed your life and changed his life, and you wanted to share that. You know, and I think that that's what really spoke to me was like wow, like this isn't just fun and games, this, this is somebody who really, you know, found a way for their dog to make a difference in people's lives, because Rocky does make a difference, it's. It's it's hard to go to a game and not be joyful anyways, but, man, when Rocky's there, it's impossible not to smile and for you to, for you to take something like this opportunity and use it for the betterment of our community. You know, because we, because you know I do live in Johnson City and you're right, you know the shelters are constantly and I don't know that that's an issue specific to our area, but it's definitely an issue in our area and so you know, it's very, it's very commendable.
Speaker 1:I love, uh, the last time I saw rocky. Uh, there's an addition to his vest now and there's always like money sticking in his vest, which I think is like it's like a new wrinkle to rocky, you know. It's like oh hey, what's with that money? Well, it's, somebody donated it. Do you want to? I got a five here. Take a five out of my pocket and put it in Rocky's vest. That's great.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, we try to go out and collect some donations for the foundation before games and it's been a really great opportunity to chat with people about the foundation. The Fridays After Five was our soft launch, but we honestly haven't had a ton of time to dedicate to getting the word out. I really need to reach out to some of our local news channels and stuff like that. Just you know, was waiting for baseball season to be over, so we all have a little bit more time on our hands. But people are like, oh, look, rocky's like getting donations for treats and I'm like, no, no, no, this is not for us.
Speaker 3:We're not taking this money that's incredible.
Speaker 1:That's incredible. So, um, I know this is a something that's still kind of in its infantile stages, but, as you're getting the word out, is there a way that, uh, we can, that we can share with people, that they can help out if they are looking to do so?
Speaker 3:yeah, um, honestly just starting to follow us on social media? Um, so that when we do um start getting these dogs going and training, we have like a good following and are able, you know, of course, with the more following we have, the more people will be able to reach to get potential adopters and things like that. And then, um, I know I've had several, several people generously reach out already to see if they can volunteer foster homes and things like that. So we will have some volunteer applications pop up on the website whenever that's finished, hopefully in the next month or two. We've got some ETSU students working with us on that. So, yeah, really just social media following and, um, just talk about it. Talk about it with your friends and family and let people know what we're trying to do absolutely so.
Speaker 1:Uh, I I have, uh, the instagram pulled up right now at the rocky foundation pretty simple, easy to find, great logo um, with rocky, of course, with a bat in his mouth which you, you know no other way to to represent uh Rocky for the foundation. Um, and Boomtown did those great shirts for you guys too.
Speaker 2:Um that was so cool.
Speaker 1:And uh, yeah, if you're not familiar with Johnson city, we have this great little uh, it's I mean, it's a t-shirt company, it's just like a clothing design company and they, they make great stuff. It's always like super comfortable, really high quality material and they do all kinds of like local cultural stuff. You know, whether it's Dolly Parton or, you know, the Tennessee Volunteers or just you name it. They do all kinds of stuff and they did some great shirts that you guys were able to sell to raise some funds. So that was super cool. Who designed the logo?
Speaker 3:They did too. Actually, Jill and Jamie worked with me on that. I had a couple mock-up ideas and they worked with me and we kind of all came up with that together. So they were so wonderful to work with and actually donated all of their time to putting that logo together and donated our first batch of t-shirts that we sold at Fridays after five. So they're a wonderful local company to work with.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they're, they're super. Uh, I, you know, and everybody that I've ever encountered in their shop has been like beyond helpful. You know, um just really good it, just it just. It's further proof that you really should go check out your local businesses, because you never know when you might need you know a couple hundred t-shirts for something. You know what I mean.
Speaker 3:Right yeah.
Speaker 1:And, and, and there they are. You know the work that's going to be done and getting to know some of these dogs that go from you know a miserable existence to a really meaningful one. So so, hats off and everybody go follow the Rocky Foundation on the socials.
Speaker 3:You want to give those socials out, meg, so everybody you know get finds the one they're looking for yeah, yeah, it's um at the rocky foundation on instagram, and then the facebook page is the exact same um. We will also have a website, which is uh, the rocky foundation, tnorg, but that is currently not up and running yet because I had no idea website design got so complicated in the last 15 years.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a little difficult.
Speaker 3:I designed a website when I was in high school. I can do this and I like bought the domain and did everything. I got on here I was like, well, I have no idea what I'm looking at.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, it's good that you've got those ETSU students you know helping you out with that. You know, johnson City is a great little community and ETSU is a big part of that, so I'm sure you found very willing and able people to help you out.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, it's been awesome.
Speaker 1:That's great. Well, before we let you go, Brian, do you got any questions that have come up?
Speaker 2:well, I just know. I just want to say that I think this is awesome and I can't wait to meet rocky at a game. I I really got to get out there and see him now that I'm in live and in person if you guys want to be the first to know.
Speaker 3:A little secret hasn't been posted yet oh, absolutely going back to play with the tennessee smokies on september 14th. So if you guys want to see rocky in action one more time this season, that's where we'll be there you go.
Speaker 1:That's perfect, that's coming right up absolutely that's fantastic, brian's, right down the street from the the smokies.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm just we're real close to there and we go all the time, so that is absolutely perfect, all right. Well, meg, we're real close to there and we go all the time, so that is absolutely perfect, all right.
Speaker 1:Well, meg, before we let you go, is there anything else we should know about Rocky? Any fun trivia or little quirks about him that we need to let the people know about?
Speaker 3:I don't think so. I mean, he's just a black lab, he's just a goofy boy, yeah.
Speaker 1:No, he's a good boy.
Speaker 1:Uh, a great, uh, a great addition to a wonderful ballpark experience. Uh, he's a part of that. Now, meg, I mean, you guys are a part of that, and that's so cool. I've been going to games in johnson city pretty consistently since 2018 and and the job that has been done there by Boyd Sports and Patrick is I have never seen somebody roll with the punches as well as he does.
Speaker 1:I mean, we always sit in like the very front row of general admission, so we see a lot of traffic walking right past us and that is largely the staff and Patrick, you know, and things will just go totally sideways and, other than getting a little flushed in the face, patrick just rolls with it and he'll look he'll kind of look intimidating for a second and then he'll turn and look at you and go oh hey, nice to see you. How are you guys doing? Like it? You know jovial as can be. So we love the dough boys, we love Rocky and we want to thank you. How are you guys doing? Like it? You know jovial as can be. So we love the dough boys, we love rocky and, uh, we, we want to thank you, meg, for taking the time. Thank you out of your busy schedule to uh to talk with us and uh yeah, so uh.
Speaker 2:Thanks again, meg, we really appreciate your time, thank you and thank you guys give rocky a pat on the head and tell him he's such a good boy.
Speaker 3:I will, I will.
Speaker 2:All right, thank you very much.
Speaker 3:Thanks so much, guys.
Speaker 1:All right, there you have it. We can't say enough how much we enjoyed talking to Meg and getting to know her and getting to know more about Rocky and the great work they're trying to do with the Rocky Foundation. So hit up that social media Facebook and Instagram at the Rocky Foundation TN. I think that's the website. Rockyfoundationtnorg is going to be the website that they're working on.
Speaker 2:It's not quite up yet. They're still designing that.
Speaker 1:But they're working on it and, yeah, please keep track of that. Really good work they're doing and we're going to support them every way. We, we, we know how. Um, but yeah, brian, is there anything else you wanted to cover this week before we?
Speaker 2:get out of here. No, I just want to say what a pleasure it was to conduct that interview. And again, we love rocky and he's such a good boy the goodest boy, the goodest boy, and and she, she was so right.
Speaker 1:When he does that little lap, the place comes unglued, it's it, you know, it's a, it's a moment, and it's it's something that you can't. You can't understand unless you experience it yourself. Um, and and hearing that rocky came up with that on his own is like, oh, it's amazing, so cool.
Speaker 2:I mean, what a remarkable little guy, yes, he's, he's adorable, we love him all right.
Speaker 1:Well, thanks as always for listening. You can follow the show on twitter at 2gtb pod. I'm at dallas danger. Brian is at three crows. Bri, please give us a follow, let us know what you think of the show. Uh, you can buy some merchandise with uh, with our logo and and some other stuff on it.
Speaker 1:2gtbstore. We've got a little bit of everything. You know we say this all the time, but we really tried to have a really good merchandise store so that anybody could find something, no matter their budget or you know, listen, I get it. I don't need another T-shirt, I don't need another hat, but you know something for your dog. You know something practical like a notepad or a phone case. I mean, there's all kind of coffee mugs. Yeah, coffee. I mean. There's all kind of cool stuff. Um, we really we really put a lot into what we were going to offer there and we're really proud of it, so it's free to look. 2gtbstore. Um, if you do want to support us financially, we would would really appreciate that.
Speaker 1:Patreoncom slash 2GTB. We've got some classic content on there. We've got some plans for some stuff coming up. We're going to add Brian is in the process of doing some research to talk about Dale and Jeff Torberg. We're going to kind of intermingle baseball with our or in that case, specifically Brian's history in wrestling and how they kind of intertwine and kind of cross paths. I just found out yesterday or last night that the Bartman game is on YouTube legally. The Bartman game is on YouTube legally. Mlb has a great YouTube channel called MLB Vault with some classic games and stuff like that, and they've got the Bartman game. I think we're going to sit down, me and Brian together and watch the Bartman game and talk about that. Yeah, definitely going to do that. It's a huge, memorable moment in Cubs history, for better or for worse. I remember it vividly and we're going to talk about that. So a lot of cool stuff the original 11 episodes we did in 2022, a couple episodes of a podcast Brian did with his wife called Married with Baseball.
Speaker 1:We're trying to give you as much bang for your buck we're not price gouging it's really affordable. Much bang for your buck? Uh, we're not. We're not price gouging, it's really affordable. Uh, you, you really might not even notice it. Uh, every month coming out of your bank account. So, um, that's patreoncom slash 2gtb and listen, uh, we get it. We're broke. Uh, we can't take on another subscription. But you know we're really trying to get our YouTube subscriber count up. It's free to subscribe and unless you hit the little bell, you're not even going to notice you've subscribed, so that would help us out a ton. We're trying to do some things with our YouTube channel that require our subscriber count to be higher, and that's just the truth and the long and short of it. Three Crows Entertainment is a mom-and-pop production company owned by the two people you see on camera right now. Yep, we are shoestring on everything we do, pretty much, and the only staff we have yeah it's just us.
Speaker 1:It pretty much always has been, even when we were doing bigger productions.
Speaker 2:And Eric. We can't leave Eric out. Yeah, Eric Lester is our third crow yeah, he's our third crow.
Speaker 1:He's really great for us with the behind-the-scenes stuff and the technical side. He has a background in IT, so he's very good at navigating new programs and, hey, we want to do this, but we don't know how Eric will figure it out.
Speaker 1:He's a lifesaver sometimes, yeah and he'll dumb it down for us so we can do it. Well, brian, I don't do shit on the technical side, I'm just the pretty face of this operation, the brains sometimes. But yeah, anyways, we say all that to say thank you for listening and if you like what you hear, those are ways you can support us, uh, financially or otherwise. We're really trying to, um, stick it out with this podcast and uh, make it something that's, uh, we're going to do for a long time. So, if you enjoy it, we would appreciate your support in any way. Uh, you can give it to us.
Speaker 1:If that's a social media follow, if that's a uh, you know, a subscribe into the youtube channel, uh, and again, if you're gracious enough to have a few extra bucks for Patreon or the store, we would really appreciate it. Everything we do with Three Crows is for love of the game. I mean, we don't look to make a bunch of money. You know money's great. We would like to have more of it, but this is a passion project for us in the truest uh sense of the term. So we just appreciate you listening, uh, if you're here with us, and uh, brian brian's updated, uh, updated me very soon. We promise we're going to be on the podcasting apps next week.
Speaker 2:We're going to start uploading episodes, uh, probably later today, um, so that'll take it. So it could possibly, if the internet works right, be up there tomorrow, but by the first of next week we'll have all this on all the normal podcast platform yeah, so maybe even by the time you hear this, some of it'll be up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we'll be working on it. For sure. Uh, things have kind of come together for us a little bit, uh, recently recently and we're we're finally able to, uh to get back on the, the podcasting apps and um, yeah, so we're not just on youtube, so, um, but again, we we appreciate every single one of you listening. We had a lot of fun with this episode. Meg was fantastic and, uh, we're looking forward to doing it again next week. Right, b Brian, that's right. All right For Brian Logan. I'm Dallas Danger. One more time, thanks for listening. We'll see you at the ballpark.