Sevan Matossian (00:00):
Ouch. You, um, you don’t like the shirtless guys? Bam. We’re live. Caleb, you don’t like the shirtless guys?
Caleb Beaver (00:05):
I don’t care. I think it’s, I think it’s fun.
Sevan Matossian (00:10):
It’s a new phenomenon, right? I don’t ever remember seeing shirtless guests. Like,
Caleb Beaver (00:16):
I think Hiller was probably the first one.
Sevan Matossian (00:18):
Liver King Hiller. And then, uh, and now King and, and Tanner. Did you know, do you know of Tanner Jr. The guy we had on yesterday, Tanner Shuck. Had you heard of him? 2014. Winner of the Dubai CrossFit Championship?
JR Howell (00:33):
No, I know of Brandon Shuck. I didn’t know. I don’t know if they’re they’re related or not. He’s, he’s from pretty local in this area, like North Carolina.
Sevan Matossian (00:42):
We had him on yesterday. I couldn’t it, it was weird. Cause I invited him on because of his Instagram account. Cause it so many, he had so many cool posts. And then as I started researching him, I realized he had won the Dubai, uh, CrossFit championships in 2014. It was weird.
JR Howell (00:56):
That’s cool.
Sevan Matossian (00:56):
That I had never heard that name. Yeah. That is cool. Do you think that, that, that was a prestigious event in 2014, right? I mean, it’s still a prestigious event.
JR Howell (01:05):
What was the first year? 2012. 2013. Yeah, because Mike, because Mike McDonald on his story posted being in Dubai, competing outside years and years and years ago. So I wonder if that was like Wow. One of the first years.
Sevan Matossian (01:20):
Um, and, and, uh, I asked him, who took second? It was Miko, uh, aro Aropa. Do you remember him?
JR Howell (01:26):
Oh yeah.
Sevan Matossian (01:28):
He was a kind of a special kind of athlete. Um, kind of reminded me of the early Sam Briggs. Not the greatest movement, but fuck could destroy shit. Do you remember his mo his movement? Like it was
JR Howell (01:41):
Yeah. That he’s one of, he’s one of the like the, the OG names that I remember along with like Kenny Leverage and people like that.
Sevan Matossian (01:47):
Yeah. Uh, Dubai, uh, fitness Championship has been attracting athletes of the highest caliber since its initiation in 2012. What was the first year you went into an affiliate?
JR Howell (02:02):
I started in a garage. The first affiliate I went into was the affiliate that stemmed out of my buddy’s garage.
Sevan Matossian (02:11):
And, and, and do you remember the year that you, the first time, the year you did CrossFit?
JR Howell (02:15):
Yeah, 2013.
Sevan Matossian (02:16):
Oh, okay. The year after the Dubai Fitness Championship started.
JR Howell (02:21):
Right.
Sevan Matossian (02:23):
Uh, anyone? Uh, we are giving away a free, well, California Hormones is giving away a free level one. We will do the drawing probably on, uh, Christmas Eve. No, maybe Christmas morning, I’m not sure. But, but very close to then. And, uh, all you have to do is go over to ca Hormones and, uh, sign up. If you live in California, you can get free blood work. If you don’t live in California, you won’t get free blood work unless you get your insurance to pay for it, which I hear is pretty easy. And then you’ll get a free doctor’s, oh, they’re, my headphones are starting to work. And then you’ll get a free doctor’s consultation, uh, through California hormones. And they can tell you, uh, whether or not, um, what they recommend. My buddy Gary Roberts, who’s been on the show, he’ll be on the show tomorrow. We’ll talk about his experience with it. So will Andrew Hiller. And, uh, Gary just ran a 6 32 mile at 50 years old. It’s absolutely nuts. I did see the video. It is,
JR Howell (03:16):
The last time he was on that was quite the entertaining episode.
Sevan Matossian (03:19):
It’s wild. He he’s wild, right? Some people
JR Howell (03:21):
He’s he’s wild dude. He’s wild. He was, he was talking about he and his wive’s differing opinions on raising their kids. And it was awesome.
Caleb Beaver (03:29):
And Lovings all thes.
Sevan Matossian (03:31):
I, I remember, um, he came to CrossFit HQ one time wearing a Hillary Clinton shirt, and he, and, and we all knew that he was a Trump supporter. And we said, why are you doing that? And he said, because my, you know, my wife hates Trump. And so one of the things is I have to wear this shirt. Alright. And I made fun of him for it. But, um, because I, I don’t, no one’s listening yet, right. Because I voted for, I’m sure I voted for Hillary at least once. And now it’s weird when a dude like that schools you, that dude schooled me anyway.
Caleb Beaver (04:09):
We could all learn something from his husbandry.
Sevan Matossian (04:11):
Do you know who Alex Stein is? Jr. He’s been on the show a few times. Prime time. They kind of, they’re cut from the same cloth, right? They
JR Howell (04:17):
Are, yeah. Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (04:20):
It’s a lot. It’s a lot. It’s a lot. That’s how I would describe them. They’re a
JR Howell (04:27):
Lot. Yeah. They make you appear somewhat subdued.
Sevan Matossian (04:31):
Yes.
Caleb Beaver (04:35):
Somewhat.
Sevan Matossian (04:36):
Anything else? I have to promote the free level one. Did you see Andrews Hiller Hiller’s video yesterday? The 40 minute video?
JR Howell (04:45):
Yes.
Sevan Matossian (04:47):
I, I, I think he misspoke at the end. I think he said something about, um, and so he doesn’t care any, anyway, I it’s, it’s an incredible video. It shows a lot of work. Did you like it?
JR Howell (05:01):
Yeah. I actually remember listening to that podcast live and I can’t believe that was two hours long. I just didn’t, I didn’t remember it being that long. The interview you did with him.
Sevan Matossian (05:12):
Oh yeah. Almost three hours. Yeah. Closer to three. Yeah.
JR Howell (05:15):
Yeah. I thought it was really cool that he and his wife reposted and
Sevan Matossian (05:21):
Oh, Andrew’s video. Yeah. Tag it, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Very cool. I, um, it’s amazing to me how many people are getting, not getting no one, no one’s saying he didn’t lie. And no and no. And, and I didn’t take Andrew’s defending him at all, and I’m not defending him at all. But it’s weird how so many people think that’s what’s happening. There’s this kind of, this evolution that all human beings go through and some people stop somewhere along the way, and then some people don’t. How, how old’s your oldest kid? Jr
JR Howell (05:51):
Four.
Sevan Matossian (05:52):
Yeah. The shit they, like my, my six year old son will worry about, um, shit, like one of my other sons will say, I’m not gonna play with you anymore. And it will make one of my sons cry, or any of ’em. If any of ’em says it to the other, they cry. And that’s a certain level of consciousness. And then as we evolve to the higher levels of consciousness, you start being able, you become more, it, it, it, it runs in tandem, um, with, uh, self-awareness, right? Your own self-awareness. And it’s kind of like, you, you, part of it is, is it, what it kind of looks like is you cold the herd of what matters to you, right? You start letting less things bother you and then that opens. It’s like getting rid of furniture in your living room. You start getting rid of shit and it gives you more room to do stuff in that space and to think on deeper levels. And rarely do you go backwards. There’s a saying in the Bible, I think it says, um, don’t be like a dog and return to your own vomit. And I always took that as, as you transcend shit don’t go backwards. And at the higher level of consciousness is, is a deep compassion and understanding of other people because that you start getting that deep compassion and understanding for yourself. And I was thinking about it, I think it’s a misnomer that you ever can forgive anyone else.
(07:19):
So let’s say Oh, oh, is that as a dog returned to his vomit, so fools repeat their folly. Yeah. And what’s weird about consciousness is you rarely, you don’t really slide backwards in consciousness. That’s what, and if you do, that’s what kind of where guilt comes in, right? Because that’s when you start knowing you, you’re doing wrong shit. But forgiveness is a, is a, is a trip because someone does something to you and then you spin up a narrative about it, right? Let’s say someone does something bad to you, let’s say like one of your clients spits on the floor and you get upset at them and you, you think you’re forgiving them. But really what you’re doing is, is at some point, if you really want to forgive them, you have to forgive yourself for spinning that narrative. True forgiveness is forgiving yourself for making up a story about them, right? Because they just spit on the stor floor. But the story you created is that it was bad or they’re a bad person, or you’re judging them. And so true forgiveness and, and that’s a pretty humbling thing. I dunno, that’s the way I was thinking about it. And any thoughts on that?
JR Howell (08:25):
Yeah. I think as you become more self-aware, you become more aware as well of what other people think. And yet at the same time, less affected by it.
Sevan Matossian (08:39):
Yeah. It’s kind of the trait. You have to, you have to, right? That’s kind of how it grows, right? You’re
JR Howell (08:46):
More conscious of what’s around you, but you are less affected by those things. You care less. I mean, at least that’s the way I see it. The reason why years ago I stopped using my personal social media account. That’s why I don’t post anything personal on CrossFit crashes, social media. Occasionally, I think I posted my four year old’s first day of school, just a picture of her. Um, because a long time ago,
Sevan Matossian (09:14):
At least she’s a great marketing tool,
JR Howell (09:16):
At least to me. Sure. Yeah. She’s beautiful. Um, if I’m posting something to social media, I’m posting it for others and people will push back and say, well, no, no, no, no, I’m, I’m posting it for me. This is for me. No, no, no. If it was for you, you would just have it on your phone and you would look at it whenever you wanted to look at it. You post things for others to see and either give you feedback because that feels good, getting likes, getting comments, or you’re posting it because you’re unsure and you need the validation from others. Right? So
Sevan Matossian (09:51):
You’re looking for validation.
JR Howell (09:53):
For me, it’s like, I can do this workout and just do it and know that I did it. Why do I need to post that? I did it. Why am I posting it? Right? It’s because I want validation that what I did was good, or what I did was cool or what I did was savage or whatever. I, whatever feedback i, I need affirmed. I’m doing that for, for me, it’s a selfish thing for me. So I just made the decision at the time. Now, if you’re doing it for monetary reasons, hey, I get it. Right. Right. Me too. If you’re doing it to grow your brand, which a lot of people would argue that that’s why I should post more cuz it is for the brand and it is for the gym. Um, I want the gym to be about the gym, so, right.
Sevan Matossian (10:36):
And it is nice, even if people do do it for themselves, uh, or for monetary reasons. Like, like the other night, I wa I wa I probably wasn’t gonna work out. And then I saw a post on Instagram and I’m like, fuck that I’m working out. So it, it does have, you know, it does do colla has collateral effects, right? Or, you know, you can choose how the person who’s watching it can choose how to use it. You could be inspired by something.
JR Howell (10:59):
Yeah. And someone listening to this could just say, ah, well that’s just his way of dealing with his own self-esteem issues.
Sevan Matossian (11:05):
Right?
JR Howell (11:05):
He can’t just post it and put it out there because he is afraid that if he does whatever it is, a picture of his car, a workout that he did with a time on it, that people are gonna give negative feedback. And it’s not about the selfishness of wanting feedback, it’s about not wanting people’s real thoughts and opinions about it.
Sevan Matossian (11:24):
<laugh>, right? I mean, even as simple, simple as something like cooking chicken, right? Uh, let’s say I was gonna sit down, I was gonna run out to McDonald’s and grab a hamburger, and then I see someone post a little video. It takes three minutes to make a piece of chicken, and then that can influence me too.
JR Howell (11:39):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (11:40):
I mean, there’s tons of net benefit is, is what I’m saying. It’s not, it’s not, I, I don’t mean to couch this in a negative way, but, but, but, but when things bother you and you start judging other people, it, it’s an immediate opportunity to look at yourself and you shouldn’t let that pass because it will keep repeating itself. And it’s, it’s, it’s each individual person’s bondage every time we judge someone and we don’t look at ourselves, uh, it, it’s just a cycle. It’s, it’s coming back. You’ll get it, you’ll get another chance. And so, and at that point, you’re development of consciousness has come to a halt.
JR Howell (12:19):
Yeah. It’s,
Sevan Matossian (12:20):
Uh, that’s not fun.
JR Howell (12:22):
Yeah. It’s, it’s tough. You know, you know, you talk a lot about things happening to you and things don’t happen to you. It’s your perception of that thing that’s causing you to feel the way that you feel. It makes no difference that the person cut you off. It’s the way you interpreted that action and the way it’s making you feel. Right? Sev, that’s a, that’s a me issue. Sev, that’s not a, that’s not a they issue, right? So like you said, it’s actually happened at the last competition. Uh, they were doing this sled workout and someone just spit on the turf, like just honked Augie, right on the turf. Oh. And someone came up
Sevan Matossian (13:01):
Spitting in the gym
JR Howell (13:02):
And someone came up to me and they were like, did you see that dude just spit on the turf in lane, whatever? And I said, no. And they were like, well, I just thought you should know. And I was like, well, next time, just keep that to yourself,
Sevan Matossian (13:14):
<laugh>,
JR Howell (13:15):
Because what am I gonna do about it now? <laugh>,
Sevan Matossian (13:17):
Hey, um, keeping
Caleb Beaver (13:19):
Into the turf
Sevan Matossian (13:20):
<laugh>, I, I know we’re falling into the weeds here, but what is the etiquette on that? I, I could see during gym hours you don’t spit on the turf, but at a competition, it’s, it’s, it’s, if the guy has to throw up and keep running, he has to throw up and keep running. If he has to pee, um, he has to pee, right? I mean, this is for sure competition. All, all the etiquette kind of out the door, right?
JR Howell (13:40):
It’s true. Yeah. One of the, one of the Jim rules that I have posted is, you are not LeBron James. And then one of the other Jim rules I have posted is, don’t puke on my turf, but like in a competition, I mean, Alexis Johnson puked several times in different spots on the gym floor
Sevan Matossian (13:57):
During the comp.
JR Howell (13:58):
Love you Alexis. Yes. Uh, and during the competition, people are gonna throw chalk, they’re gonna spill water, they’re gonna do whatever. Um, there was a guy who started bleeding, and so he started handstand walking on his n uh, he had like a, he had broken his wrist, so he’s like, Hey, I’m just gonna handstand walk on my fist on one arm. And I was like, dude, if you can do that, do it. Well over the, over the course of 300 feet, his knuckles started bleeding. So there was just like a trail of blood on the turf. And I was like, dude, I’ll just get some Windex and clean it off. Like that’s just in competition. Yeah. You gotta go do whatever need to do. Holy,
Caleb Beaver (14:35):
That’s,
Sevan Matossian (14:37):
Hey, how did, how did he do with that, with the one hand and, and the knuckles, dude, I
JR Howell (14:41):
Mean, he finished, I was amazed. He finished under the cat 300 feet on his knuckles. It was nuts.
Sevan Matossian (14:48):
I I I was also thinking about, um, consistency, right? So if you judge other people under something, you know, let’s say the way pe people aren’t taking the opportunity to look at themselves. If you’re gonna start looking at the world of the Liver king the way so many people are, what about the rock? And I’m not talking about his steroid use, but he launched an ice cream brand, an alcohol brand, and an energy drink brand during the middle of the pandemic. All three things that only exacerbate illness. And I think Wow. But, but he, he has 240 million followers and he gets a pass. And it, it just seems com completely inconsistent to me, to a guy who, or, or here’s, here’s another example. People are saying that what the Liver King did is bad for kids because kids are gonna see that and then try to be like him and then find out steroids and they’re gonna lead to his depression. Well, if you’re gonna use that thinking, if you’re gonna start doing math and talk about the net benefit, then think about the tens of thousands of millions of people that did change their lifestyle for the net positive. And then, then we need to, if you wanna play that game, then now we need to see an equation of whether he is helping or, or hurting. I had heard that, I had heard that The Liver King, uh, his people told me he was going on Andrew Schultz, and uh, I think he also went on Patrick bed. David.
(16:12):
Yeah. I just think that, I think there’s a great opportunity for society to get a lesson here. And, and, and, and, uh, sorry Caleb, you guys remember every, don’t you remember those magazines we would look at as kids? Like Flex or whatever? And, and every third page would be an ad for like, some supplement. Weren’t all those guys used to the gills? It’s just, uh, I’m not justifying just painting a picture. People don’t, some, there’s always one person in the comments. It’s like, why are you defending him? I’m not. I just, I just think it’s a great opportunity for us to look at ourselves and, and, and what would, what and our rea what, what is the best reaction that makes us the best people that, I mean, at the end of the day, that’s the goal. Are you gonna say something, beaver? No.
JR Howell (17:00):
Oh, you talk about it all the time. And I’m, I’m sure it’ll come back around in this conversation more than once, but if you look at a confession and you look at someone saying, you know, I’m sorry I lied to you. We’ve all lied. We’ve all betrayed people. When we confess that the only thing that we want, especially from the people that we care about, is for them to say, you know what? You messed up. I’m hurt by it, but it’s okay. Right. Because we want to treat people the way we should be treating people the way we want to be treated. Right. And we forget that when it’s someone that is fake in quotation marks, because unless you know them, right? Personally, you know, like for instance, if, if you savon, if if you lied to me or betrayed me, I feel like I, I know you, but in a, in a way you’re like a, you’re a, you’re an electronic person to me. You know, I told my wife the other day, I’m going out there to see him at some point. And he was like, well, why do you say that? He’s like, because the first time I see that man is not gonna be at his funeral, and I meant it a hundred percent. She’s like, well, why? And I was like, because this is what we miss as people. We do it in this way. You see this person and I feel like I know the liver king. He lied to me. You don’t know that dude. Right?
(18:30):
But yet this kind of relationship, like I consider you and Caleb close friends, close friends, but I’ve never shaken. I’m, I’ve, I’ve never shaken your hand. Right? Right. May never, don’t even know where Caleb is right now. <laugh>, <laugh>, I know you’re not gonna let me on the estate even to pick avocado. You know, it’s like, it’s one of those things, but at the same time, it is real because perception is reality. Yeah. And if you are talking to me and you’ve inspired me, and then motivation has come from within to buy your ancestral supplements and eat liver and not eat vegetables anymore and not eat seed oils, and then you tell me that I look a certain way not because of maybe what you think or maybe what from you interpreted, but actually because I’ve been supplementing other things and all of a sudden I’m, you’ve hurt me and you’ve betrayed me. But like, I’m just someone that sees you on your feed. I mean, it’s crazy. It’s, it’s just crazy to think about. Right.
Sevan Matossian (19:31):
And, and, and if people, Hmm. I, I wonder how many of these people get, allow, um, have a different relationship with people in their own lives. My mom, when, when I, I remember distinctly, um, whenever I would fight with my mom and then I was gonna, no matter what, if I was leaving the house to go to school or something, she would then be like, Hey, she would come over, gimme a kiss, don’t worry about it. Have a good day. And that shit was fucking huge to me. And I make sure I do that to my kids and my wife. Like if my wife and I are fighting, there’s some bad blood between us. If one of us is leaving the house, I make sure to like put a momentary pause on it so that the person can go out into the world free from the, that shit meant a lot to me when my mom would do that.
JR Howell (20:14):
It’s so, it’s so crazy that you say that. When, when I first took her over to the gym and I was coaching 90% of the classes and I was getting up at four 30 and coaching the 5:00 AM every single day before we had kids, whenever I would walk outta the bedroom in the morning, I would always whisper, I love you. Yeah. And I didn’t know my wife was asleep, and I know she couldn’t hear it, but I just thought to myself like, if something happens, I don’t make it to the gym or I don’t make it home, I’m gonna know that the last thing I said to her was that,
Sevan Matossian (20:44):
Yeah,
JR Howell (20:45):
Doesn’t matter if, if we were, you know, doesn’t matter if we had an argument the night before or not. People use that all the time. You know, don’t go to bed angry. Don’t, don’t go to bed because you’ll wake up in the morning and still have that pit in your stomach because you didn’t resolve whatever you should have resolved before you went to sleep. What if you go to sleep and you don’t wake up? And then the last conversation you had with each other was an argument. Right? Someone posted something the other day, which was so crazy. And it really made, made me think about being impeccable with your word, which is like one of the four agreements. If you’ve ever read that book about really saying what you mean, re being very careful with your words that one day you’re gonna have the last conversation ever with someone and neither of you is gonna know it.
Caleb Beaver (21:29):
It’s just like when you used to hang out with your friends as kids, like eventually you guys weren’t going over to each other’s houses. Yep. And now you’re in, you go to high school or you go to different schools and you’re in college, and then eventually you just never see them again.
Sevan Matossian (21:42):
Yep. There was that day you saw the la that was the last day you saw your best friend, but you didn’t know.
Caleb Beaver (21:47):
Yep, exactly.
Sevan Matossian (21:50):
Yeah. Um, JR I have something similar to that too. Every before mine’s kind of more like a superstition, but every time before I start the podcast, I go over to my wife and give her a kiss, and if she’s awake, she says, good luck, always Good luck. Go get it. Good job. It’s interesting. Maybe I have mommy issues. Where were you, where were you born, JR?
JR Howell (22:14):
Um, I was born in Greenville Memorial Hospital, but I’ve lived, I lived in Clemson my whole life until I was 18.
Sevan Matossian (22:21):
Clemson. That, that’s the, the, that’s a town, that’s where the town, the school, Clemson is that I always
JR Howell (22:25):
Hear about small town. Yep.
Sevan Matossian (22:26):
It is a small town.
JR Howell (22:27):
Very.
Sevan Matossian (22:28):
But they have good sports team. They have a good, like a, a renowned football team.
JR Howell (22:34):
Yeah. Over the last, especially over the last seven or eight years for sure. But, um, when I was growing up, I mean, the football team was, was good, you know? Okay. Like eight and four, nine and three type. And the baseball team was really, really good. Soccer team was usually really good. So yeah, Clemson’s always had some pretty strong sports programs.
Sevan Matossian (22:53):
Um, what state, what state is that in
JR Howell (22:55):
South Carolina? And if you pull it up, it’s, it’s a beautiful campus, you know, it’s in the foothills. So there’s, you know, there’s beautiful evergreen trees everywhere. There’s mountains close by. It’s, uh, what, two hours from Charlotte? Two hours from Atlanta. So it’s, especially for a lot of the people from up north that come from big cities or maybe from out west, I think it’s really attractive to the parents of those kids. Um, as far as recruiting goes for sports,
Sevan Matossian (23:24):
Is
JR Howell (23:24):
That the just students,
Sevan Matossian (23:26):
Is that the south that’s considered the south?
JR Howell (23:28):
Oh yeah.
Sevan Matossian (23:29):
<laugh>. Um, what, um, and and you’ve lived in the south your whole life? What’s the south?
JR Howell (23:36):
Yeah, my whole life. So there’s a interstate, interstate 85 that runs like, you know, from Atlanta and farther south to Charlotte and farther north. And I’ve lived all along 85 that highway my whole life. So I lived in Clemson and then I moved to Anderson to go to school, which is about 30 minutes away. And then I went a little farther north to Greenville, which is like 20 minutes away from where I live now in Spartanburg. So yeah, I’ve, I’ve, I haven’t gone far.
Sevan Matossian (24:08):
Uh, how many people live in Clemson?
JR Howell (24:10):
Oh gosh, I wouldn’t even be able to guess, but
Sevan Matossian (24:13):
Are your parents, were your parents professors there?
JR Howell (24:16):
Um, my dad played basketball at Clemson and oh shit. My mom was a rally cat at Clemson, which is essentially like a cheerleader that dances more Uhhuh <affirmative>. Um, and then my mom was the director of housing and vice president of student affairs at Clemson for over 20 years. And my dad started his own business in Clemson.
Sevan Matossian (24:39):
And what kind of business?
JR Howell (24:41):
Um, landscape maintenance. And he sold that a few years ago. So they’re, they’re both retired now.
Sevan Matossian (24:46):
Did you do that? Did you do, did you ever work for him?
JR Howell (24:49):
I did, yeah, in the summer, um, in, in the summer, I either pulled weeds or I picked up trash at the apartment complexes of all the fraternities and sororities. And now that I look back on him mean, there’s a lot of things that my dad did to groom me into make sure I did not grow up kush. And that was one of those things is that I could have been on one of those standup riding lawnmowers, you know, where it looks like you’re skiing the whole time. And I’m like, yeah, you don’t wanna do that, or at least weed eat or prune shrubbery or something. And he’s like, no, you can follow me and, and rake up my clippings. Or you can go pick up trash and juniper beds full of like wasps and hornets or yellow jackets, or you can, um, sit in this bed and pull weeds for four hours, even though like, I know it’s gonna take you eight hours.
Sevan Matossian (25:39):
Um, instead
JR Howell (25:40):
Of, instead of just spray,
Caleb Beaver (25:41):
Instead of a front
JR Howell (25:42):
Loader, instead of just spraying the weeds. Now I, looking back on it, he was probably laughing every day, drop me off that he was like, I could just spray that bed and kill all those weeds. But he needs to just sit there and pull those individual weeds for four hours.
Sevan Matossian (25:55):
How, how old were you?
JR Howell (25:56):
Uh, probably 14 or 15.
Sevan Matossian (25:58):
And and was it just shitloads of paper cups and plastic cups and beer cans and just all the fraternity sorority shit?
JR Howell (26:04):
Oh my gosh. Some. I mean, I was a home health nurse for two years, so I, I’ve smelled excretions and secretions and wounds that he did that would rival things that most people could stomach, you know? Yeah. Just without dry heaving. And some of the worst smells ever were like old beer and whatever that college students would, would puke into and just throw out in the front yard. I mean, it was, it was disgusting.
Sevan Matossian (26:31):
Uh, St. Spiegel condoms. You ever run into a lot of condoms?
JR Howell (26:35):
So many.
Sevan Matossian (26:36):
So many. That’s good. That’s a good sign. Right.
JR Howell (26:38):
Set
Caleb Beaver (26:39):
You up to be a good home health nurse.
Sevan Matossian (26:41):
Did you find any needles?
JR Howell (26:45):
No,
Sevan Matossian (26:46):
It was prenatal. How, how old are you?
JR Howell (26:50):
37.
Sevan Matossian (26:53):
Do you feel young still?
JR Howell (26:55):
Very, I don’t feel any different than I felt when I was 30, 27.
Sevan Matossian (27:02):
Uh, so, so your d so your, your mom and dad went to Clemson and, uh, no, sorry, your dad went to Clemson, played basketball there.
JR Howell (27:10):
They both, they both went there as students.
Sevan Matossian (27:13):
Okay. And she Oh yeah, right. She was the cheerleader of the dances more. Right, right. The rally cat. And then did they meet there?
JR Howell (27:21):
They did, they met when they were freshmen. Um, as the story goes, my mom said, you’re way too full of yourself and not nearly mature enough, so kind of blew him off.
Sevan Matossian (27:32):
Oh, so he was trying.
JR Howell (27:33):
Oh yeah. And then, um, they were very obsidians of the spectrum. I mean, he probably like graduated with, you know, a little over a two. Oh, then he went overseas and played professional basketball. My mom graduated with a 4.0 and got the Norris medal, which is the highest like academic honor you can get at Clemson that they give to one student every year. She got That’s, so they were very, that’s cool. They were very <laugh> different in their, um, in their goals. And then when he came back from France, they ran into each other. She went to Wake Forest to do a graduate program and they ran into each other. He was coming back to finish his undergrad and said, you know, I’m gonna finish my undergrad and then, um, go into graduate school and start coaching. So I guess at that point she kind of gave him an a second chance and then that’s it.
Sevan Matossian (28:22):
What’s the most someone can make playing basketball overseas? Is it legitimate basketball?
JR Howell (28:27):
Oh, dude. I mean, you can, you can, my brother-in-law, um, lives in Israel with my sister and he’s been over there for seven or eight years playing and in division one, which is like where a lot of the people will go back and forth, like Maccabi Tel Aviv is a really, really like, well known international basketball team. I mean, they’re, they’re playing, they’re paying their players over a million a year.
Sevan Matossian (28:52):
Oh shit.
JR Howell (28:53):
Oh yeah. I mean, you can, you can make hundreds of thousands. I mean, I, I joke around all the time and say if my mom wasn’t five two, I mean, I would’ve never met Becca and I probably would’ve been overseas until I was like, the age I am now. My dad’s six, seven, my mom’s five two. Wow. So I, so I ended up at like six foot, six, one, but if my mom would’ve been a little <laugh> a little taller, I definitely would’ve probably found my way overseas.
Sevan Matossian (29:19):
How tall are your grandparents on your dad’s side?
JR Howell (29:22):
His mom was five 10, so very tall. But his dad was like six foot
Sevan Matossian (29:26):
Si. Your dad is six seven.
JR Howell (29:29):
He,
Sevan Matossian (29:29):
Is he still alive?
JR Howell (29:31):
Yes.
Sevan Matossian (29:32):
That’s like really big.
JR Howell (29:35):
Yeah. It’s funny when you see him like walking to the gym for competitions and stuff, because I’ve been, he doesn’t look tall to me. Of course I’ve been looking at him my whole life, but when I see him in a crowd or something and I’m like, oh yeah, he is a big man.
Sevan Matossian (29:48):
Uh, Hasim Alani has Alani basketball in Europe. Uh, average top 16 salaries, uh, 500,000 to 4 million. Wow. I had.
The above transcript is generated using AI technology and therefore may contain errors.
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