Your Worry Plate - Episode 45

Summary

The Musers The Podcast – “Your Worry Plate” (Episode 45)

Release Date: May 27, 2026
Hosts: George Dunham, Craig “Junior” Miller, Gordon Keith
Network: Cumulus Podcast Network

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Episode Overview

In this episode titled "Your Worry Plate," The Musers dive into an honest, funny, and sometimes surprisingly deep look at worry in their lives. Triggered by a listener email and reflections on family, career, and society, George, Craig, and Gordon share banter and insights about what keeps them up at night, how worries evolve, and how they try (sometimes unsuccessfully) to manage them. Balancing genuine experience with trademark wit, the discussion touches on work stress, parenting, health anxieties, money issues, and even existential worries about sports, politics, and climate change.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Listener Email: Plane Sneeze Story

• [00:25 – 05:15]
  The show opens reading an email from a listener named Nate, recalling an embarrassing plane mishap where he accidentally sneezed on a stranger while boarding, without realizing it. His sister witnessed the incident but said nothing, leaving both brothers mortified in hindsight.

  • Notable Quote:

    • Nate (via email), paraphrased by George:

      “To this day, I cringe every time I hear her tell that story...on the off chance that the guy I snotted on is a P1 or the Singapore listener, this is me finally taking the opportunity to apologize.” [02:20]

  • The trio debates which is worse: being sneezed or spit on.

  • George: “Could you imagine being the guy who got snotted?” [03:16]

  • Craig claims, “Symbolically, spitting on somebody is worse.” [03:57]

2. How Worry Manifests for Each Muser

• [07:16 – 10:46]
  Pivoting from the email to the topic, George asks the others if they think of themselves as worriers.

  • Gordon suspects he and Craig are both worriers, but “in different ways.”

  • Craig traces his worry back to his dad (“I inherited that from him”), especially about work.

  • George confesses that although he may worry less, he still carries work anxieties, especially over performing on-air after 32 years:

    “That performance element…always out there…has been my biggest worry of things outside of my own family.” [10:38]

  • Discussion of the unique anxieties in broadcasting: daily pressure to “deliver” on radio versus the “hiding” possible in other jobs.

3. Parenting: From Diapers to Adulthood, a Lifetime of Worry

• [10:54 – 18:46]
  Much time is spent unpacking how worry shifts with parenthood.

  • George notes, “As a parent, you never stop worrying about your kids.” [12:07] Even with adult children, his concerns ripple out: Are his kids and grandkids safe? Happy? Provided for?
  • Craig, a newer parent at age 55, feels transformed by worry about his daughter’s safety, friends, future relationships, and even choking hazards—relating a family trait for vigilance around food.

    “My dad...anytime one of us would cough at the dinner table...he would get up and run out of the room.” [13:34]

  • The group shares stories about watching children sleep, fretting over school selections, and “meet-cute” scenarios gone awry (with classic Musers humor about saving shirts after “hot girl” sneezes).

4. Controlling vs. Uncontrollable Worries

• [20:06 – 25:08]
  Gordon introduces the idea that healthy worry sorts issues into those we can control versus those we can’t, referencing the Serenity Prayer.

  • Gordon:

    “You got to separate your worries into things you can do something about and things you can’t.” [20:06]

  • Craig discusses his own lifelong health anxieties, motivated more by fear of pain and hospitals.
  • The trio agrees: Some degree of proactive worry is healthy, but rumination is “the bad part.”

5. Money, Finances, and Social Judgment

• [27:52 – 33:27]
  A frank conversation about financial anxieties unfolds.

  • George recounts years of scraping by, taking extra gigs, and the freeing feeling after paying off all debt:

    “...when we were debt free...that was a big moment for us.” [32:16]

  • Craig recalls being “worried about finances even from a young age,” even as a child with his first credit card.
  • Discussion of how worries about money never fully go away, regardless of income—"everything scales up.”
  • Social judgment emerges as a major form of worry, intensified in modern life by social media.

6. Public and Societal Worries: News, Politics, and Climate Change

• [37:07 – 44:18]
  Conversation shifts from personal to collective anxieties.

  • George notes, “Government corruption is higher than the state of the economy” as a public worry. [37:30]
  • Craig describes intentionally cutting down news consumption for his family’s mental health:

    “Not having that diet of news every day has made me a little happier.” [39:24]

  • Gordon points out how “news as soap opera” overwhelms the elderly and those perpetually online.
  • Discussions of climate change, local vs. national politics, and “bandwidth” for additional worries.
  • Craig confesses, “25 years ago, I was a climate change denier...Now I’ve done a complete 180.” [43:25]

7. Sports as Yet Another Realm of Worry

• [48:46 – 53:25]
  Sports-related anxieties get the Musers treatment.

  • George admits to “spending a lot of time worried about sports scenarios that I probably shouldn’t have been that concerned about.” [53:07]
  • For some, fandom is an escape; for others, it’s a major item on the “worry plate,” sometimes even above family and career.
  • Gordon reveals he avoids sports precisely to bypass that emotional rollercoaster.

8. Humorous Outlier Worries

• [53:25 – 55:43]
  Craig shares his top three “outside the box” anxieties:
  1. A small plane crashing into his house
  2. Getting chopped in half by an elevator
  3. Being buried alive after being mispronounced dead
  • This sparks a running joke about Gordon being responsible for “making sure” Craig’s really dead at his funeral.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Managing Worry:

  • Gordon, paraphrasing the Serenity Prayer and Mickey Rivers:

    “Ain’t no sense worrying about the things you got control over...and ain’t no sense worrying about the things you don’t got control over.” [22:35]

• On Parenting Worry:

  • George:

    “As a parent, you never stop worrying about your kids.” [12:07]

  • Craig:

    “All the things that can spin out of control...that kind of stuff keeps me up at night.” [19:44]

• On News-Doomscrolling:

  • Gordon:

    “It lowers your cortisol levels when you just don’t tune in constantly.” [39:24]

• On Climate Change and Priorities:

  • Craig:

    “That worry and political worries...rank for me below the present-day health of my family, my health, my job worries...Is that bad of me?” [44:08]

• On Social Media & Judgement:

  • Gordon:

    “Now we have these social tools...an online flash mob can destroy your life within a day...” [34:30]

• On the Enduring Value of the Serenity Prayer:

  • Gordon:

    “I want to worry about the things that I can have some effect on...not worry about the things that I have no control over...and the wisdom to know the difference.” [56:49]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 0:25 Listener email: the airplane sneeze story
• 2:30 Debating: snot vs. spit—what’s grosser?
• 7:16 The Musers define their worry profiles
• 10:46 Work performance anxiety in broadcasting
• 12:07 The permanence of parental worry
• 13:34 Inherited anxieties about health and children
• 17:16 Raising girls & generational parenting worry
• 20:06 The controllable vs. uncontrollable worry dichotomy
• 27:52 Money and financial anxieties
• 33:00 Social judgment as a major worry
• 37:07 Top public worries in America
• 39:24 The benefits of limiting news exposure
• 43:25 Craig’s turnaround on climate change
• 48:46 Sports: from passion to anxiety
• 53:25 Craig’s three outside-the-box worries
• 56:49 Gordon recites the Serenity Prayer

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Episode Tone & Takeaways

The tone throughout blends self-deprecating humor, candid reflection, and the kind of eccentric, intelligent banter that longtime Musers listeners expect. The trio make plenty of space for laughter, especially when worries become absurd (e.g., “being chopped in half by an elevator”), but the sincerity is never lost when the conversation turns to family, health, or the state of the world.

The collective wisdom, in true Musers fashion, boils down to this:
Worry is universal and unavoidable—but there’s freedom and even some happiness in focusing only on those things you can change.

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Closing Guidance (and a Callback):

• Gordon:

  “I want to worry about the things that I can have some effect on and...not worry about the things that I have no control over...and the wisdom to know the difference.” [56:49]

• George (satirically):

  “Don’t worry, be happy.” [55:43]

---

Recommended for listeners who appreciate honest discussion, relatable anxieties, and the unique wit of Dallas-Fort Worth’s radio legends.

Transcript

[Gordon]

And you realize, oh, wait a second. I was able to still live life without being tuned in at every goddamn second.

[George]

Right? It's the Musers, the podcast, episode 45. Yes, 45. Three dudes who talk together on the radio now with a podcast. I'm George.

[Craig]

I'm Craig.

[Gordon]

I'm Gordon.

[George]

And here we go into another episode. You know, you can email [e-mail] and our letter of the week comes to us from Nate, talking about on our last episode, mishaps on a plane. This one's kind of gross. He says, hello.

[Gordon]

Bathroom.

[George]

No?

[Gordon]

Okay.

[George]

But he says, hello, Musers. Yalls discussion of etiquette on planes was hilarious and reminded me of a horrifying story that I went through. I'm 25 years old now, and I was probably 16 or 17 when this happened. To this day, I'm grateful I didn't realize in the moment or I would have died of embarrassment. My sister was behind me and witnessed all of this as they were boarding the plane. And when he was walking down the main aisle boarding the plane, he felt a sneeze coming on. That's always a trip up, isn't it? When you feel the sneeze coming on, do you finish your sentence? Do you. No, I think, sneeze into your elbow or shirt?

[Gordon]

Or you do the vacant look and start looking up at the sky.

[George]

He tried to sneeze into his elbow and kept walking down towards his seat. He didn't realize what had happened, and that is that he overshot his elbow so his mouth and nose were still exposed, and he shot snot onto the shirt of the guy who was sitting in the aisle just to his left.

[Gordon]

And he kept walking because he didn't know it.

[George]

He had zero clue this happened. And his sister, he says, his sister told me when we got to her seats, she didn't say anything or do anything. And the guy didn't either. He just froze and looked down at his shirt. His jaw dropped in complete shock at what had just happened to him. He says, to this day, I cringe every time I hear her tell that story. On the off chance that the guy I snotted on is a P1 or the Singapore listener, this is me finally taking the opportunity to apologize to you after all these years later. Cheers. Love the pod, Nate. He kind of failed that day, didn't his sister failed to. Hey, you nailed that guy up in aisle 13. And then you got to walk up there, don't you? And say, man, I had no idea. I'm so Sorry I sneezed on you.

[Gordon]

Why didn't she say something to that guy when she's talking to him? I mean, if her brother goes on ahead and he didn't realize it, she goes, I am so sorry. My brother obviously didn't realize what had happened here.

[George]

Yeah, I know. Part of it's on her too.

[Gordon]

Yeah, I think it's her fault. Blame the woman. That's what, that's what Craig always tells me. Blame the woman.

[George]

He has said that many times. Man, that is gross. Could you imagine being the guy who got snotted?

[Gordon]

That's. I think what's worse, being snotted on or spit upon?

[George]

I think snotted with the sneeze. The blast of a sneeze.

[Gordon]

I know, I kind of think that too. I kind of think that too. But you think spit is gross. Grosser because it's got food in it and you have all kinds of stuff in spit that is gross.

[George]

And like the most expensive thing that can happen to you. We see it in a sporting event. It's like, okay, it's on now. That guy just spit on that guy.

[Craig]

Right.

[George]

Like in the Calgary's opener last year.

[Craig]

Symbolically, spitting on somebody is worse.

[George]

Yes, I guess so.

[Craig]

But from a pure gross standpoint, I think snot might be grosser.

[Gordon]

I think snot is sterile, isn't it?

[Craig]

Is it?

[George]

I don't know. If you're the guy who's the victim, when you have said something like, hey, yeah, what's. You nailed me with your sneeze. I think I would have said something then. I'm sure that guy would have gone, oh gosh, I'm so sorry.

[Gordon]

I think it depends on who is sneezing on you.

[George]

Some 16 year old kid. I think I would.

[Gordon]

Yeah, I would have said something to him. Yeah. But if it's a young kid, you know, who does it on accident, then you're like, okay, right? That's part of society. You take one for the team. Kid didn't know.

[George]

Yeah.

[Gordon]

Don't cause a. Don't make a federal case out of it. And if it's a hot girl, you save the shirt.

[Craig]

Yes. You're happy.

[Gordon]

That shirt for what stuff?

[George]

Okay.

[Craig]

If it's a hot girl, you're like,

[George]

look at this, it's so crazy, so fun. How wild are we?

[Gordon]

In the middle of a meet cute or what?

[George]

I don't know. Either way that's really gross. But thanks, Nate, for the email. You can email us at the musers pod gmail dot com.

[Gordon]

No one goes to Hanks for spreadsheets. They go for a darn good pizza. Lately, though, the shop's been quiet, so Hank decides to bring back the $1 slice. He asks copilot in Microsoft Excel to look at his sales and costs help him see if he can afford it. Copilot shows Hank where the money's going and which little extras make the dollar slice work.

[George]

Now, hank says.

[Gordon]

A line out the door. Hank makes the pizza. Copilot handles the spreadsheets. Learn [e-mail] work the NBA playoffs are

[George]

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[Gordon]

I would say that I think that Craig and I are both warriors. Really. Yeah, in different ways. Yeah, in different ways.

[Craig]

I'm not a warrior to the point where it's debilitating, but my dad was a warrior and I think I inherited that from him. Yeah, I worry about a lot of things.

[George]

Okay. Yeah, I do. I guess I don't share it as much. I think we all worry. Every human worries to A certain degree, and it's just part of what our makeup is.

[Gordon]

But I always like the people who don't really. I like the people who don't have that kind of really crippling psychological worrying. You know, I like people generally who are worry free, but not when they become the people who just don't plan ahead for anything and depend on someone else thinking through the eventualities of a situation to save their ass.

[George]

Yeah, that's.

[Gordon]

That's bothersome. But the people who just seem to be like, I don't know, man, this is, you know, let's just, let's go. Let's take off on a trip and just do it. Yeah, I kind of admire that in

[George]

People says 47% of Americans are in a constant state of worry. You guys aren't in a constant state of worry, are you?

[Gordon]

About some things?

[Craig]

Yeah, I think about some things. I think I'm in a constant state of worry. About work. Not so much this podcast because it's once a week and we each take turns leading it. So maybe only once every three weeks. But for our radio show, which is Every day for 32 years, I've been in a constant state of worry about whether I've got something for the next day.

[George]

I have that written down as well, but, man, all these polls I looked at very rarely does that mean we have a very rare job in that they have financial concerns, but. And there are some, you know, employment concerns. But. Yeah, I feel like our job has always been hanging over us for 32 years. I don't know if that's a healthy outlook on your occupation. Okay, so that's interesting. Different of entertainment, though. I think that's just a different element of it.

[Gordon]

So you're saying you're positing that most people worry about maybe employment and finances, but they don't worry about, am I going to do a good job tomorrow?

[George]

Yeah.

[Gordon]

Whereas this job has that element of you can't hide in a cubicle, you're on the air. So it's that your job as a parent, if you're not doing a good job.

[Craig]

Right?

[George]

Yes. And there are a lot of advantages to our job. The best thing for whatever your job is is that you enjoy it. And I've always enjoyed our job. We wanted to go into radio now, podcasting. But I got to tell you, over the last 32 years, I would think about someone who was going into an office and all they had to do, all they had to do stuff that I couldn't do, like accounting or book work. Thinking, I wish I had that job tomorrow where I could just show up and I don't have to perform or know the critical points of this basketball game that I just watched and then be able to talk about that. It's. It's. It's the downside of whatever we've been doing for the last three decades or so. That performance element that's always out there that you're thinking, okay, we gotta. We gotta do that tomorrow. And some say, oh, it's just for three hours, big deal. Okay. But it's still some sort of performance. I would say that has been my biggest worry of things outside of my own family over the last 30 years, most of my adult life.

[Gordon]

There's a lot of accountants who would go, man, that's. I look forward to finishing my accountant work where I can go talk about that basketball game. Right, buddy? Over in the.

[George]

I know everyone has their. Their idea of what a downfall is about some sort of situation, but I think of what I worry about the most, and I think this ties into talk of parenting. And Craig recently became a parent. I would say I've spent most of my adult life worrying about my kids, from back when we had our first one to our second and third same worry. Are they sleeping enough? Should I go move them? They're only a month old. Are they sleeping in the correct way? Am I feeding them right? Then you go into, okay, well, what preschool should we get them into? What? Once they do go to school, you worry about them being at school, from safety reasons to, I don't want them being made fun of. I would say I've spent most of my time in my adult life, and I became a parent at a very young age of worrying about my kids. And I came to the realization they're all adults now. They're all married, and one of them has kids. But now I find myself worrying about, are they feeding them right? Are they bringing them? Are they sleeping right? And I worry about their jobs. In other words, as a parent, you never stop worrying about your kids.

[Craig]

Yeah, I've heard that. I was just introduced to this at age 55. For my previous 55 years of life, the only thing I really worried about was my job and what we just talked about, the anxiety of performing every day. And the other thing I've always worried about is just my own health. I think since I was very young, for no particular reason, because my parents and my sister, we were all healthy, but I always had this fear of bad health. And I don't know why, but it Drove me from a very young age. Like when I was in grade school, I wanted to start exercising, and I just always feared ending up in a hospital or something like that. So I've had those two fears, and I can elaborate more on that later. Five years ago, when we had our daughter, then I was introduced to the real worry that pretty much everybody in the world that has kids for the existence of the world has had. Parents are always worried about their kids, and that is a whole new ball game of worry. And I think, again, I inherited a lot of this from my dad. He was always obsessed with us choking. Anytime one of us would cough at the dinner table and he would get up and run out of the room, he would think we were choking and let my mom the nurse handle it.

[George]

He would run out of the room?

[Craig]

Yeah. He was just so freaked out about. And he was always telling us to chew our food. Well, we never got out of him. Whether or not he had a traumatic choking incident as a kid or one of his younger siblings, I don't know what it was, but I somehow inherited that. And I'm really worried about my daughter. I'm always telling her to chew your food. Well, I get nervous when she eats a blueberry because I see it getting lodged, you know, so. And that's just a small part of the worry. Yes. When she was born, we went through all of that. Is she breathing? Are you sure she's breathing? It doesn't look like she's breathing.

[George]

Side sleep or on their back. What is the thing now? We've changed it, like, three different times in the last 30 years or so.

[Craig]

And the older they get, when they get close to a street, you freak out because they're four and it looks like they have no idea cars coming down the street. And there's just so much to worry about with a kid again, I don't think it's debilitating. I think I have a healthy worry in these areas, but it's definitely added a lot to my worry plate.

[Gordon]

Imagine back in the day when they didn't have baby monitors. The parent would be constantly having to go into the room to look over the crib and see what's happening.

[George]

Yeah.

[Gordon]

At the beginning, weren't the first baby monitors just the audio baby monitor? It wasn't a video component.

[George]

That's what we had. We had the audio.

[Gordon]

Yeah.

[George]

But that was kind of a game changer. But it would wake you up, it seemed like every 20 minutes, because they would just, you know, let out a little cough. What was that?

[Craig]

Yeah.

[George]

And yeah, kind of a strange thing. Maybe you did this as dads, I used to go in and watch my kids sleep. Just to double check sometimes just to creep them out. No, but I used to think about

[Gordon]

that painted like half painted as a clown.

[George]

No, there was none of that. It was, hey, look how peaceful that is. Watching them sleep. But always. Yeah, always worrying about that too.

[Gordon]

Sleeping in a jail cell. Those bars of the crib kind of look like a jail cell.

[George]

And yeah.

[Gordon]

When they get older and standing up and rattling it, you walk into the room and they hold out a mirror where they can see around the corner.

[Craig]

Right.

[George]

Do we need a redesign on cribs and just make it plexiglass around that's

[Gordon]

just not so jail like that seems

[Craig]

like suffocation waiting to happen if it's plexiglass all the way around.

[Gordon]

Yeah.

[George]

Just kind of like a hockey arena, you know, instead of a jail cell. I think that may be more pleasing.

[Gordon]

Some nice, maybe some nice lattice work that you can grow vines on or something. So add some greenery to the space work.

[George]

Yeah, I, I find myself self now worried about some of those same things and just I still worry. Like I remember when I was telling you guys through the years when my kids would go off to college, which sounds like that's an awesome thing. They, number one, they have the ability to go, they've made the grades. We have the financial ability to send them to college. But I'm telling you now, you can see this the first night that they're staying outside. Wait, they can't stay outside our house. How can they possibly do that? And I don't know if you guys remember this. In our old studio, my oldest son, after he graduated from Arkansas and he came back to live and got his first job, his apartment complex was within view of our studio. And usually in the 6 o' clock hour, I would go look out the window and look down at his apartment. Almost like I would check in on him back when he was in his crib. Like, yeah, everything looks okay down there. But it was just a strange sensation. My son's just down the street and he's got his own place now.

[Craig]

Yeah, that's definitely my biggest concern going forward in my life is everything about my daughter's life. And because she's a woman and I don't know if this is fair or not, maybe fathers of sons have the same worry. But I worry about her partner that she is eventually going to find down the road. That is my number one concern about her. I Don't want her in a bad relationship. I don't want her in abusive relationship. That just, I just can't imagine how horrific that would be, not only for her, but for her parents, you know, And I just want her to find somebody nice.

[Gordon]

And you can't say too much against the person.

[Craig]

Right.

[Gordon]

Because they'll turn on you and then you got. You'll be in loss of contact for five years until they figure it out themselves. They need to get out of that relationship.

[Craig]

Yeah. Everything that we can control, I feel okay about. Even though that can spin out of control as well. You don't always have as much control as you think. But I think we'll be able to give her a good childhood and good education and all that. But it's the outside elements, it's the finding bad friends. I think I've told you guys that. My mom always told me through high school and college, I never worried about you because you had nice friends. I knew you were going to be okay. And if my daughter fell into a bad friend group and that just like you were talking about Gordo, you can't talk them out of that.

[Gordon]

No.

[Craig]

So that's a huge. All that kind of stuff is my biggest fear going forward.

[George]

Yeah. I used to worry about or wonder about my parents saying, well, yeah, I'm just going over his house. They'd always, well, who is that? I don't know their parents. And then when I became a parent, it's like, well, I don't know their parents. I don't know if you should spend the night over there, you know, or go hang out there for the next eight hours or so. It's just the friend group's really important and yeah, wait till they start bringing some friends home that are a little bit on the smart Alex side. Or if it is the high school boyfriend who thinks that's his time to, you know, go ahead and offer a few opinions about your life and career. Oh, man.

[Craig]

And being a girl, dad, you have to think about this. Not just the friend group, but the teachers, the camp counselors, things like that. You know, you're sending a 10 year old girl or a 12 year old girl, even if it is spending the night at a friend's house. Do you really know that, dad?

[Gordon]

That well, no, you don't know anyone

[Craig]

in this world, really. You think you're sending them off to this good camp with these great counselors that you've kind of gotten to know through your school or through an organization, but do you really know what that person Is like that's going to that now you're sending your daughter for the weekend away with that. That kind of stuff keeps me up at night.

[Gordon]

So the solution to all this, the solution to worry, the best approach to worry, you got to separate your worries into things you can do something about and things you can't.

[George]

Right.

[Gordon]

And the things you can't, you've got to do yourself and do your child and family and friends a favor and not worry about those to the extent that you were before.

[Craig]

Yep.

[Gordon]

If it's something you can't do anything about, then you need to eliminate that

[George]

from your worry plate or become proactive. It is a health thing. And it's funny you bring up health because as we're getting older, I never really worried about it through my 20s, 30s and maybe 40 started to worry about it a little bit more. And that's something you can do something with. I obviously chose not to for several decades and kind of let myself go a little bit. But I do worry about that a lot more now than I say that I did 20 years ago or so because we're getting up there and we're losing friends who are our age and have for years now. That's a totally different perspective for me as it is now at 60 than it was when I was in my 30s. Yeah.

[Craig]

I think for me it started at such a young age, probably because I just feared pain. I feared going to the hospital. I still fear having a surgery, anything like that. I just wanted to make my life as pain free and as simple as possible. So from a very young age I tried to eat well and exercise and all of that. And it's a battle. The human body is amazingly resilient, but also amazingly fragile. And you can do everything. That probably falls into a lot of what you said, Gordo. If you can control it, then worry a little bit more about it because you do have control. But so much of the human body is you don't have control. You can do everything the right way. And I think that's. That certainly helps. But there are environmental factors that can get you and you have no control over those. I'm reminded of the great. I had to look this up to get it right. But I'm reminded of the great quote from Mickey Rivers, the old center fielder for the Yankees and Rangers and Angels.

[George]

Well known philosopher.

[Gordon]

Yes, he was a left hander too.

[Craig]

You had a Mickey Rivers glove.

[Gordon]

That was my first baseball glove.

[Craig]

Mickey Rivers, he was like Yogi Berra. He was incredibly quotable and one of Mickey's great quotes. Ain't no sense worrying about the things you got control over, because if you got control over them, ain't no sense worrying. And ain't no sense worrying about the things you don't got control over. Because if you don't got control over, ain't no sense worrying.

[Gordon]

See, it's kind of an odd remake of the Serenity Prayer, but. Yes, yes, I get it. Yes.

[George]

Same kind of thing. And I would say, for the most part, I am not the worry type. Like, I know someone who's very close to me who will sometimes introduce situations that haven't even happened yet. Well, what if this happens? And what. Okay, well, that hasn't happened yet. Stuff that I wouldn't even. Wouldn't even come to mind with me. Let's. Let's cross that bridge if we ever come to it. But as it stands now, we're on the road to a solution here. This is going to be great. Yeah, but what about this and what about that? I'm not to that point. I think everybody worries. Of the three of us, I guess I worry the least. But I still. I still stay up at night and still spend my day worried about what's next. And I keep a list of things. Okay. I got to get this done. It does seem deadlines bring on worry, and I know they do for Gordo. We've covered that before, but that with. With me, causes anxiety. Okay. Do whatever you do. Don't forget this, because if you do, they're, you know, going to be terrible ramifications.

[Craig]

Do deadlines bring on worry for you, Gordo, or do you ignore them so you don't. You don't really worry about it.

[Gordon]

They bring on more. Just anxiety. Yeah, yeah, but. And they are motivating in some sense, but usually it's. It motivates me a week after the deadline.

[Craig]

Right, right.

[George]

That's a whole nother show in itself.

[Craig]

I'm one of those people that does introduce worry.

[Gordon]

Yeah. And I kind of do that, too. I like to think, whatever the mental exercise. I try to think of all the things that could go wrong, and there's some sweet spot in there of. I like people who do think about, okay, well, if I do this, then what are the possible outcomes there? And then if I do this, what are the possible outcomes? So therefore, what is the best. You know, in other words, just thinking through the situation. Yeah, but at some point in there, you have to set down the worries after you've thought about them. You can't ruminate on them. The Ruminating is the bad part.

[Craig]

Yeah. I feel like I bring up all of the potential scenarios, positive and negative, because I want to be completely prepared. Like if we're on a course and it feels good, like you were saying, George. Yeah, that's great. But I also want to be prepared in case that course is diverted.

[Gordon]

Right.

[Craig]

Okay, well, now what if. What if that happens? Well, that would be terrible. But how would I handle that that way? I feel like I'm more prepared if and when that does.

[Gordon]

You kind of have a preliminary plan in case something. It's contingency plans. You try to think of contingency plans.

[George]

You may think about it, but if you're working with someone on that project, do you bring it up or you just have in the back of your mind of, you know, you think it, but you don't necessarily articulate it.

[Gordon]

What do you mean? Like, give me an example.

[George]

You sound like a warrior. Well, okay, say you had. You had to sell a car you're trying to get one of rid of one of your 15 cars.

[Gordon]

Gordo, I don't have 15 cars.

[George]

But yes, and you get an offer for that car, and it's what you went in hoping to get, but then you immediately start telling whoever you're working on this, your wife or something. Well, what if they don't qualify? If they don't qualify, what if they just want to get our personal information so they'll know where to find us? And what if they do qualify but the check bounces? How do we find them? You know, just stuff like introducing things that. Wow, slow down. Some of those are things.

[Gordon]

Some of those are logistical things that you have to think about. But, you know, and if you're collaborating on that project, which it sounds like in this scenario you are, you know, then what's wrong with talking about those?

[George]

Nothing.

[Gordon]

Saying, hey, make sure we get his information in case something happens, we need to contact.

[George]

Yeah, just basic stuff. But I guess, I don't know, maybe I'm just such an eternal optimist that I don't. I don't say it. I may think it, but I just don't even cover that ground. Almost like a worst case scenario thing.

[Gordon]

Well, I think that you're not saying it out loud to her because she is the way that she is and you don't want to. You're like, I'm going to deal with a whole bunch of negative worrying already by default. Why would I start introducing some worries for her to have? That's what it sounds like you're saying.

[George]

Yeah, maybe it's. I was just talking about. My brother and I are trying to sell a go kart. That's what I was talking about.

[Gordon]

All right.

[Craig]

Her.

[George]

You know, I don't even know what you're talking about when you.

[Gordon]

But let's say your brother is the eternal optimist who never comes up with negative scenarios. He never catastrophizes.

[George]

Yeah.

[Gordon]

Then why wouldn't you say that stuff to him? When there are logistical things that you do have to cover and make sure you have your crap, your T's crossed.

[George]

Yeah, no, I guess that's, that's a good balance. If you're, if you're in some sort of relationship and you're trying to work something, some common goal out. Here's something we haven't talked much about. Money and finance. We hear that, that people worry about that so much and it's really tough on relationships. And I do know when we started our careers, that was my top concern. How am I going to support my family? And that was a concern for a lot of, I don't know, the first decade or so of being in radio. Should I get in something else that has more money in it? Because I don't know if I'm ever going to be able to provide. And I learned this over the years. Whatever level you set, if I could just get to this salary or even

[Gordon]

double that, all of my dreams will be true and I'll never have a worry.

[George]

That is not true.

[Gordon]

No, it doesn't happen.

[George]

Now, maybe obviously something like $10 million or a billion dollars. Yes, that would probably settle your financial concerns, but you would take others on.

[Gordon]

We say that. And I bet you there's billionaires out there who still worry about money and we think they're idiots for doing that

[George]

because now they're in all these big deals that well worth 300 million. But I got a 200, $250 million deal.

[Gordon]

That's the problem is on the books here is that, yeah, you're a billionaire, but now you're making billion dollar deals. So everything scales up.

[George]

Yes, but.

[Gordon]

But, yes, yes. They are much better off than us and most people. Yeah, even generally.

[Craig]

Yeah. I was worried about finances even from a young age. Now that we're doing this episode, I realize I was worried about a lot as a kid. My health, my finances. Even before I got into high school.

[George]

You start thinking about retirement ages.

[Craig]

At age 8, I was thinking about retirement.

[Gordon]

You were a middle aged 8 year old.

[Craig]

I think I was. But even from like the time I got My first credit card, which I remember was 1988, just right in college still, or getting out of. I got an American Express card. And I remember I was so paranoid about having to pay that off every month. And I think because I had that fear, that worry that, oh, no, it's going to get to a point where I've got this huge debt that I feared debt from that point that I've pretty much stayed out of debt my whole life because. And, you know, I was single for a long time and didn't have a kid to 55, so that helps. But I had that. Even from my teenage years, I had a fear of going into debt, just like I had a fear of poor health. And I had a lot of these worries that drove me to make sure I could do everything within my power to stay out of debt and to stay out of a hospital.

[Gordon]

So you need to do my system, run up a bunch of debt and then eat really poorly. So you're kind of counting on dying young to get out of the debt.

[George]

Hey, okay, there's a plan.

[Craig]

That's one way to do it. Yeah.

[George]

You know, we did run into a time where we ran up debt. And it was either. That was the only way we could do it, finance it, and think, okay, well, we. And this was not, hey, let's get this new sailboat. This was, you know, clothes for the kids. Hey, let's keep it shopping before school. Yeah, it was a school. I don't know. I didn't know how to sail. No, it was what we thought were essentials. The air conditioning went out. You know, we had to once borrow money from her parents to pay for air conditioning on a car that Gordon used to make fun of. And because I don't.

[Gordon]

I told you that that was an iffy air conditioner that they installed.

[George]

That's not why. Rolling in a Tempo, huh? Couldn't go to the Taurus. God, that was such a terrible thing to say. But it's okay. I've forgiven you.

[Gordon]

It sounds like

[George]

was kind of a beaten car, but, yeah, that was, I would say, for, I don't know, 10, 15 years at the very top, it was all about finances. And that's why I used to work a lot of different gigs just to try to make a living and try to catch up. And finally we caught up. And that was freeing. I don't know if there's ever an amount that you get to, but the fact that we got to where we were debt free, as far as the credit card debt, that was a Big moment for us.

[Craig]

Do you have on your studies that you read were finances number one? Was that the most common worry for I'm guessing, Americans?

[George]

Yes. Of your own worry. You know, now I believe that now worry about who's in charge of the government and you know, what do you say some of that?

[Gordon]

What, what do you mean?

[George]

Well, I'm just talking about your personal worries. We'll get into some of the. The public worries like government corrupt, corruption, cost of living, the economy. I got some thoughts on that. But yeah, money and finances at the top even.

[Craig]

Even ahead of kids or is kids their own category where I guess that's

[George]

its own category because everybody health of others was like fourth, you know, of your kids and maybe your older family members. Second one was social judgment. We're so, wow, worried about social judgment. And I think that that did exist before we were taken over by social media, but that's always been out there. What are people going to think of me? What do they think of me? And that's a big worry.

[Craig]

Why does that drive us so much?

[Gordon]

Because we're social creatures and we count on cooperation in order to survive. So yeah, we were highly tuned. I don't know how much you guys believe in evo psych, but yeah, we're highly attuned to what others think of us because status in the group is very important. Important for our own survival and for our progeny's survival. But I wonder if it's worse now the social worries or better now because back in the day you were worried because we lived in a more religious society and you could be ostracized from that. The bar for proper citizen was a little bit higher than it is now. But yet now we have these social tools with social media where basically an online flash mob can destroy your life within a day, which is such incredible social nuclear power that's in the hands of people who don't care about you to begin with.

[Craig]

Right.

[Gordon]

So now the balance has tipped in a very unforeseen way.

[George]

Well, that constant state of worry, 47% of Americans say they're in it. 62% of Gen Zers say they're in a constant state of worry. So I don't know if that keeps skewing younger. Yeah, I don't know about that. But yeah, I think it is different now just because of that.

[Gordon]

Did it say within Gen Z are worried about that is different in any way? Different?

[George]

No, it just had them categorized as in a deeper state of worry.

[Craig]

I wonder if they've got even more Financial worry. You know, so many of them are saddled with college debt. You know, can't buy a new house, can't buy a car because everything's so expensive. And then combine that with. They're probably more in that social media anxiety pressure generation than the older people are.

[Gordon]

And the acceleration of climate change is going to happen in their lifetime even more than we'll see.

[Craig]

AI. They're probably worried about that, taking their

[Gordon]

job, a lot of things to worry about.

[Craig]

Yeah, yeah.

[George]

And back to that whole thing about affordability, as I used to worry about that for us, my wife and I, supporting our kids. Now I do worry about that for my kids and my grandkids. What is. What's my responsibility?

[Gordon]

You know, and you need to fund everything they do at all times.

[George]

Hey, I would love to. I would love to. But do you know, you balance that with. Somehow they have to find their own way as well. And I think it is different for them with inflation, with how difficult it is to buy a house. It's a lot tougher now than when we were trying to do it when we were in our late 20s or 30s.

[Craig]

What's the old saying? Give your kids enough to do something, but not enough to do nothing.

[George]

Yeah, I think that's a key there.

[Gordon]

Warren Buffet said that, did he? Yeah.

[George]

Yeah.

[Gordon]

The United States Soccer Federation presents the U.S. soccer Podcast.

[George]

My name is David Goss and I'm joined by my co host, Megan Kleinenberg. And now we're giving people an inside look at the World Cup.

[Gordon]

Time's ticking.

[George]

I think you can feel the intensity.

[Craig]

All the guys are wanting to really

[Gordon]

stake their claim and they want to

[Craig]

be on that World cup roster.

[George]

There's no doubt about it.

[Gordon]

Hosting the World cup on home soil comes with its pressures, but we're just

[George]

really excited, just as the people are.

[Gordon]

The U.S. soccer Podcast, presented by Henkel. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.

[George]

All right. Some of this other stuff that's outside of your own worry stratosphere, government corruption. They say that's the top public worry for Americans right now. That's concerning that. That so many people are spending time on that. The second was cost of living, the economy, the state of democracy.

[Gordon]

Well, government corruption is higher than the state of the economy.

[George]

Yes.

[Craig]

Wow. I would not have guessed that.

[George]

Disruption of federal government services.

[Gordon]

Yeah.

[George]

Cultural and social divisions in the U.S. yeah. There's one thing that's fueling this, and this is one thing that I do. With our jobs, we feel like we have to stay up to date. So we read news, we Watch news. I have put a limit on how much I watch because I think if that's all you do, if you're okay. What's the latest? We bomb and I ran as the straight open. If you did that every day for two or three hours, I think you would drive yourself insane.

[Craig]

Yeah. Yes.

[Gordon]

Why do you think so many old people go crazy?

[George]

And I think that's all they do. A lot of people are doing that.

[Gordon]

Tune into the soap opera channel, which is called CNN or Fox News or any of those. It's just a constant diet of what's the soap opera of the world doing right now? And they're never reporting. You never tune into Fox News or CNN and see everything is going well right now in Liechtenstein.

[George]

John, thanks.

[Gordon]

It's always, we're gonna report on what's going wrong.

[Craig]

You know, we used to have the evening news on every night in our house. And again, I got that from my dad. He was a news junkie. Listened to it in the car, on the radio, watched it on TV every night. So I grew up with this news everywhere. So that's how I was as an adult. And my wife and I would have the news on all the time. Once our daughter hit about three and is able to soak up everything she's hearing. Now we really don't have it on in the evening. We'll get caught up maybe after she goes to bed. Maybe. But we usually only have time for whatever Netflix show or Taylor Sheridan show we're into at the moment. And I've realized not long ago that not having that diet of news every day has made me a little happier.

[Gordon]

Yeah, it lowers your cortisol levels when you just don't tune in constantly.

[Craig]

Yes.

[Gordon]

And you realize, oh, wait a second. I was able to still live life without being tuned in at every goddamn second.

[Craig]

Right.

[George]

See, I struggle with that though, because then I feel like, well, I'm kind of out of step with what's going on. What is going on? What is the price of gas? What is, you know what's going on?

[Gordon]

And you don't buy your own gas.

[George]

Well, yeah, I do. I know the price. You guys don't know the price of gas.

[Gordon]

I know the price.

[Craig]

Again, I hardly ever look at the price of gas because I just see it as something that I've got to do. What am I going to do? Not fill up and not go to work?

[Gordon]

I know, but comparison shop?

[George]

It doesn't kick in with you. When you see 425, you go for

[Gordon]

425i, I will burn three quarters of a tank to find the best price on gas.

[George]

That's really smart. Yeah, I, I do worry about that.

[Craig]

But, you know, I also feel like for our jobs, we have to kind of be in touch.

[George]

Yes.

[Craig]

We have to know the news headlines.

[George]

Yeah. And that's why I feel like, okay, I, I need to see what's going on locally and you watch local news. And I think we're pretty blessed here, where we live in Dallas, Fort Worth, that we have really good news departments, but, man, try to fight through some of that for 10 minutes or so, day after day. That trial of the delivery driver who allegedly, even though I think he was convicted, killed the small girl because he was afraid she was going to.

[Craig]

I couldn't watch it.

[George]

I couldn't watch it. I couldn't after one day. And it was, it was the second or first, third story in the news for what, two straight weeks?

[Craig]

That would add to my worry about my daughter, you know, watching a story like that. Yeah, I think you, you know, I was aware of the story because it was a big local story and we have a job that requires us to be up on big local stories, sports or news. But I couldn't go beyond that. I couldn't listen to the details of that.

[George]

Yeah, for some of these Americans, they had their own health and their own job, well below all those things that I listed. Plus global warming.

[Gordon]

Crime was ahead of their own job.

[George]

Yes, Global warming.

[Gordon]

Wow.

[George]

All of that ahead of them.

[Gordon]

Pretty secure in their jobs these days. And it's surprising to me, and I

[George]

guess I've pretty much localized my worry that it is basically my friends and family and things that I do day to day. I do worry about what is the future, what's that going to look like for my kids and my grandkids here in 10 or 20 years. But I don't focus on it because I do think you can drive yourself crazy if you're always thinking along those lines of what It's. It's hard enough just dealing with today. Don't take on the problems of 20 years from now.

[Gordon]

That's what I've been saying about this whole climate change thing. I don't need to worry about 20 years now.

[George]

Well, I think with your own actions, you should. I believe that, but, yeah, that's higher

[Craig]

on my list now. 25 years ago, I was a climate change denier. I think it had to do with my weather background because I'd been following the weather so closely. I know how erratic it is. I know we have these crazy days here and there that aren't attuned to the seasons. They seem way out of whack. So I always thought it was cyclical, but since then I've become a very firm believer that there is climate change and we're heading in the really wrong direction. And I love to ski. In the last two years, I haven't been able to ski because there's no snow in the mountains anymore. The question used to be, I remember in the 80s growing up in Colorado, my parents moved up there and we would visit them. I didn't grow up there, but we'd go up there in the winter and spring break and we'd always go skiing. And the question never was, does Copper Mountain have any snow? The question was, can we get through the blizzard to get to Copper Mountain to ski? Yeah, I mean, it was. They were always open from the 1st of November to May 1st, and now ski areas are lucky if they're open by Christmas and they close sometime in March. I mean, this climate change is very real and there's the science now supporting it, I think is irrefutable. So I've done a complete 180 on that. But that worry and political worries and things like this rank for me below the present day health of my family, my health, my job worries and anything else that I've got top of mind. I don't know is that bad of me that I don't take.

[George]

I know.

[Craig]

Then you feel like big picture, like I don't have that as number one.

[George]

No, I don't think that's bad. I don't know that you.

[Gordon]

I don't think you should have it as number one. No. But where is it on your list? I think is the thing that I think where I fail is that I find myself tuning out and I can't worry about those things. And I should be worried more about those things. And what can I do to affect political change? Just even that sentence, that question gives me tired. Ed.

[George]

I think you should do more, by the way, do better with this podcast and your radio show.

[Craig]

But there are a lot of people that will tell you that is the most important, important thing that your family will not have a world to live in if you don't battle climate change and political corruption.

[Gordon]

Yes, I've noticed that the people who always are doing that and wagging their finger, knowing exactly how other people need to live their lives oftentimes don't have the most squared away life themselves.

[Craig]

So. Yeah.

[Gordon]

What do you do with that? I mean, if if it's like, if I was to use every platform, I had to say exactly what that person wants me to say at every second I can say it. I would have the platform for two seconds and then the platform goes away.

[Craig]

Then you would be fired.

[Gordon]

Yeah. And then that's it. And so then that. Then that person.

[George]

Then what?

[Gordon]

They walk away and go yell at the next person. I'm like, well, I did all this stuff for you. Exactly what you said and everything. They're off on another project. So they seem a lot less invested in my life than I am, so maybe I better trust my own judgment on this.

[George]

Yeah, I know. And as we recently discussed on our radio show, we should really pay more attention to local politics. What's ever happening in your city or your county. Boring, I know, but it's a direct effect on your life. And the quality of these kids we talk about that we're raising in these towns and the education that they're going to get, the funding.

[Gordon]

I'm not thinking about that. I just want to know if Biden tripped down the stairs or Trump didn't make sense.

[George]

I know we're all guilty of it, but it matters what's happening around you and most of us. I'll raise my own hand about it until you hear about it. Until you, in my case, had a friend who runs a business who's going through something, I wouldn't have known anything about it. Sadly, I probably wouldn't have cared as much. Just thinking, okay, well, I've got my own set of. I'm not even sure I understand what's going on there, but we should. We should.

[Gordon]

Well, think about.

[George]

Talk to our neighbors about it.

[Gordon]

Think about how Devil in the well changed your opinion.

[George]

It did.

[Gordon]

You were at one time a very pro business guy.

[George]

I still am pro business. My grandfather was in the oil and gas business, but he also wasn't putting gas wells 100 yards from a school either.

[Gordon]

Okay, Snowflake.

[George]

It's something that's. Okay, go ahead, put some labels on me.

[Gordon]

But that's all that is when it's

[George]

a phenomenon that we're putting oil or gas wells right next to residential areas, next to schools, and it's a whole. It's. It's a very strange show.

[Gordon]

Kids, they can look out and see business working and seeing people who wanted to succeed.

[George]

Don't worry about emissions or anything like that. Get to the Snowflake stuff.

[Gordon]

Emissions affect the environment, and then that

[George]

ties into global warming. Like that's really happening. I know. And that's the thing, it's like you only want to take on so much, whether it's in your personal life, your own community, Washington, D.C. whatever.

[Craig]

Isn't it a bandwidth thing that your personal worry bucket, you can only worry about so much? So it depends on your life. Like you were saying, Gordo, everybody's got a different life and set of worries. And you prioritize. Well, okay, in my life, I know I'm worrying about my job because we're on a stage every day. I know I'm worrying about my daughter because she's only four. I know I'm worrying about my own health because I'm now 60. So those are my priorities. And if I've got more bandwidth, well, yeah, I feel kind of strongly about climate change. Maybe I'll do something there, or municipal bonds and local politics.

[George]

But you.

[Gordon]

And that's all I'm asking about everything. And that's all I'm asking is if you have 30 minutes after dinner tonight, for example, just end the war in Gaza. Just, just, I mean, do a little something else.

[Craig]

I don't. Because I've got the Western Conference finals tonight after dinner, so I've got.

[Gordon]

That's why Gaza can wait.

[Craig]

That's a whole nother worry. Your sports teams. Right now I'm worried about my basketball team, but see.

[George]

Yeah, but sports is supposed to be an escape. But we just worry there, too, right? Do they have enough shooting? I don't know. Do they play good enough defense? So they're going to lose again, I

[Gordon]

am not a sports fan.

[Craig]

My baseball team just got no hit.

[George]

They got swept by the Angels, man.

[Craig]

They may be the worst team in baseball. They got no hit.

[George]

That's interesting you say that. Is that really the reason you didn't get involved in sports? You just didn't?

[Gordon]

Yeah, because every time I got invested in something, then it would. It was too much of an emotional roller coaster, and it just extracted energy from me rather than give it to me.

[George]

Yeah, I can understand that.

[Craig]

There's a lot to that.

[Gordon]

And like you, for example, Giorgio, like you love your alma mater, unlike most people I've ever known, of North Texas

[George]

State University, it's now the University of North Texas.

[Gordon]

But, yeah. And they have not been a powerhouse. Let's say there's been. You've had a lot of. You've had a lot of heartbreaking seasons you've had to go through. And I sometimes wonder, like, what. Why do you put yourself through it?

[George]

Yeah. And I'm not as invested as I was. Like when my son Played there or when I was working part time for the university. But I still want them to do well. And I guess over the years, I've been clubbed enough to know that I can't expect nice things. I just want the best for them. But, yeah, that's a whole nother thing about sports. And I'm a huge Jordan Spieth fan. And it's been a tough five or six years.

[Gordon]

I always think it's weird when you come out in huge support of somebody. It always seems like that's the beginning of kind of the downfall and they'll start struggling.

[George]

I may be a sports jinx. That's a whole nother topic.

[Craig]

I really may stay away from my teams.

[George]

And I think that's just the thing that sports, though, you're on top, but you won't be there for long.

[Craig]

Right.

[George]

Whether you're a football team or you're on the PGA Tour, it just. It doesn't happen that way. That's just not the way sports works.

[Craig]

You know, for. For a lot of people, that is their number one worry, their team, their team that weekend. You know, we all. We all have our own worry rankings, and there's a big portion of our population, some of it may be driven by gambling. They're worried because they've got 200 bucks on the game.

[George]

Right.

[Craig]

Or 2,000 bucks on the game. But I bet for a lot of people, sports is right at the top of the list.

[George]

Oh, yeah.

[Gordon]

Okay. Giorgio, would you have traded this? Let's say your oldest could get into his second choice college, but not his first choice college, if you were guaranteed that North Texas would win a championship, national championship.

[George]

No, I would not sacrifice anything.

[Gordon]

It's the second choice. I mean, it's like, son, you liked both of them. You know, no colleges is number two on your list.

[George]

I wouldn't want him to be compromised that way. I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't.

[Gordon]

Wish he would never was.

[George]

It was still going to be an sec.

[Gordon]

Never compromise.

[George]

What was it still going to be an SEC school.

[Craig]

Yeah.

[Gordon]

It's a second choice.

[George]

Okay. Well, yeah, he was in the. Yeah. As long as he stays in the sec, I guess that's okay.

[Gordon]

See there?

[George]

No, I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't do that. That's just not the way it works. And I guess I always had the expectation of hoping for the best for my team, being that optimistic person that I am. But.

[Gordon]

But you get emotionally invested.

[Craig]

Yeah.

[Gordon]

And there obviously is some value to it or otherwise millions of people wouldn't do this all the time. I just don't. My psychological makeup just says that I can't take that on.

[George]

I guess it's just like the athlete that finally gets to the mountaintop. When I was hanging that banner on our garage in January of 1978 that said Dallas Cowboys cheaply spray painted on a bedsheet, World champions that day. When Jordan Spieth came back and won the British Open, the last major that he won, jumping up and down on the hotel bed that I was staying in, that being at the top is worth the struggle.

[Gordon]

But what's crazy is it's not you at the top. It's Jordan Spieth at the top.

[George]

Yeah, but that's my guy or that's my team. You know, I'm hopping up and down

[Gordon]

on a hotel room bed. He's hoisting a trophy.

[George]

He felt it in the universe. I think he may be a Jedi. He felt it. I don't know. Yeah, sports is a whole nother different animal. But you're right. I've. I've. I'm not going to say wasted. I've spent a lot of time worried about sports scenarios that I probably shouldn't have been that concerned about.

[Craig]

Can I give you guys my. My three outside the box worries? I think you may know these, but I have these three great concerns. One, a small plane will crash into my house.

[George]

You really spend time worrying about that

[Craig]

because it's an epidemic. I think we have about 30 of these a day happening. Two, that I will be chopped in half by an elevator. As I'm walking off or on an elevator, a cable snaps and it chops me clean in half.

[Gordon]

I worry about that, too.

[Craig]

That's why I'll go quickly.

[Gordon]

Yes. Never linger. Never hold open the door and finish a conversation while you're half in and half out of splits.

[Craig]

Oh, never. And three, I'm worried that I will be declared dead by the medical examiner, but I won't really be dead.

[George]

Oh, my gosh, that would be terrible.

[Craig]

And then I'll be buried alive and I'll come back to life. Wait a minute. What's going on here? That's why Gordo and I have a deal that at my funeral, he's been instructed to walk down to the coffin and to put a bullet through my head just to make sure I'm dead.

[Gordon]

But I have to not explain to anyone what I'm doing. So they just have to watch me walk down there at this very solemn moment and then pump five rounds into you real quick. And Then run out a side door.

[George]

So people run out of side door

[Craig]

yelling, it's what he wanted. It's what he wanted.

[George]

So people start vomiting, they start running out because there's a guy with a gun.

[Gordon]

Yeah.

[George]

Someone's gonna call the cops and say, okay, someone just. There's some sort of violation here. Someone is.

[Gordon]

I think the reality lead is firing inside the city limits, right?

[George]

Yeah, but it's not supposed to do that to a corpse either.

[Gordon]

Is that defiling a corpse?

[George]

Yes, it is. If the corpse. Balming fluid all over the preacher. Yes, I think so.

[Craig]

And why is.

[Gordon]

Well, I'm talking about when you were pre corpse.

[Craig]

Why is that my solution and not. Hey, check my vitals.

[Gordon]

No, I don't check pulses.

[George]

I only put bullets and corpses five rounds into him. Holy cow. All right, well, my advice to everyone is don't worry, be happy.

[Gordon]

Oh, wow.

[George]

Did you make that up? I did. I just came up with. That's great for this episode.

[Gordon]

No, it's always. It's always the Serenity Prayer, which now I can't remember what it is, but God, grant me the strength to change the. What is it? God grant me this. God, God, give me. Don't worry about.

[Craig]

Give me the gun to pump five rounds.

[Gordon]

Do the thing. Okay, I'm going to tell you. Remember Mickey Rivers, I think, wrote this, The Serenity Prayer. God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. It's the Serenity Prayer, in part, which maps onto this, which is about worrying, which is I want to worry about the things that I can have some effect on and then do those things to minimize the bad outcomes. And I want to not worry about the things that I have no control over, that the worry does nothing but cause more suffering than needs to be in the equation.

[George]

Okay.

[Gordon]

And then the wisdom to know the difference.

[George]

We should say that prayer every day, shouldn't we? Yeah, we should think along those lines every day.

[Craig]

Okay. Boomer,

[Gordon]

he just won.

[George]

We almost got. Everyone feels worse off that we all felt good about. And then he said that, and now we got to start all over again.

[Gordon]

Yeah.

[George]

All right, well, we'll do that next week. How about that?

[Craig]

All right.

[George]

On the podcast. That's a deal.

[Gordon]

I will be here again next week.

[George]

I may be here next week. You're worried about episode 46. Thanks to Peter Welton for producing us. We appreciate him so much. And thanks to you for tuning in to the Musers, the podcast.

[Gordon]

Jim Rome takes on sports. Why?

[George]

Because I have a job to do

[Gordon]

with rapid fire takes.

[George]

So I don't want to hear from

[Gordon]

you lava pigs on this notion today. No idea what you're talking about.

[Craig]

You're complaining more than you like to breathe air.

[George]

It's like you get up in the

[Craig]

morning only to complain and cry and

[Gordon]

moan on social media about things that

[Craig]

you don't even understand. He's the spitfire of sports smack.

[George]

Take advantage of. But get up in here. The Jim Rome show podcast. What's your beef? Follow and listen on your favorite platform. You've been warned.