Brave Men S3E39: Chris Broussard - The courage to be an Opinionist

Chris Broussard is a man who helps shape the narrative of the world you and I live in is a sports commentator on Fox sports and I I knew Chris and I guess I go back years watching him cover the NBA on ESPN and now he covers it for Fox sports and then as we became friends I realized man this is a man with great wisdom with me is a Chris shields who's our producer for brave men and you knew about Chris before we ever got on to interviewing him didn't you yes sir I did because you're a round ball guy yes I love basketball basketball yeah and he and he played you played college and and Chris Broussard played yes college yes he did he played at Oberlin college Oberlin college yes and where is that up north somewhere yes I like we're in Texas so anything north of the red river is like I don't know what's up it's far yeah it's it's up there somewhere so because he ended up in Cleveland was his first newspaper job before he got the break with the ESPN well that's actually where the college is it's in Ohio okay yeah where you go well I'll kind of came together and but you know what I appreciate about him he's got a men's movement called king yes you know what that means no what does it mean well I thought you had the answer you're the producer I do I actually have it written down knowledge inspiration and nurture through God yes man you almost got fired right there bro it was real close Chris bam you're fired yeah I've seen I've seen guys do that I've seen people get fired in the middle of a show because my background's television in the media you know I saw this I was at this live to in fact all while I was producing it and the director did something that the host who you would recognize the man's name I'll tell you off my oh and he walked daddy goes the guys fired have fire I go you know he's not talking to me but I'm standing right there and I just talking to the vice president anyway the guy gets his job back the next day you know it was just that moment it was like bam out so anyway you would have had your job back tomorrow okay but Chris Brussard I mean he came across my radar years ago I met him we spoke at an event in Long Island and it just hit me I thought man this man isn't just a sports analyst he's not just one of those guys it gets up and talks about stuff and easy inside phone numbers with guys but he's a real deep man of faith yeah here he is yeah and I one thing that I really admire about him is how down to earth he is you know he's not someone even despite all of his accomplishments he doesn't he hasn't put himself on this pedestal where he's unreachable he really has always been intentional about his relationship at least I can only speak from firsthand experience it it amazes me how quick he is to respond to me and I'm like well right all over the world sir like yeah because here he is he's really famous he's got this national radio show called the odd couple yes Rob Parker and syndicated around the world he's famous everywhere yes but then but when you texted him about being on our podcast today he did what he responded immediately he texted you right back yeah every time I texted him he responds back immediately yeah and then he texted me he goes who's this Chris guy bugging me and then he always talks about wanting to play basketball which I'm highly looking for yeah well we were supposed to be together in in Charlotte yes we were and we were all going to do a little pick up game after the event the king event but in the king event is coming up next March next March in Brooklyn in Brooklyn Dr. A. Bernard's Christian Cultural Center so that should be amazing yes I think you'll really appreciate today on brave men the the conversation I had with Chris Brussard he's a man a character a deeply honest man and in really a remarkable conversation coming up today Chris Brussard Fox Sports brave men it's brave man with Paul Lewis Cole wisdom and courage for the journey talking with Chris Brussard Chris Brussard is probably one of the most trusted men among men in in North America and at the same time probably sometimes the most disagreed man with America because he makes his living his profession is talking about athletics and sports in particular Chris has been one of the great sportscasters for the NBA speaking into the NBA but really your background is Chris Euro writer that's really where this started right oh yeah yeah I mean I entered you know the profession as a sports writer and I started off covering high school sports really in the yes in in fact initially I worked at the Cleveland playing dealer right out of college and for the first nine months to a year I would sit in the newsroom and answer telephones that's it I wasn't doing any writing I wrote a few you know blurbs here there on on high school sports the stringers called in but then after about a year I began covering high schools in the Akron Ohio area where LeBron James of course is from and he was younger he was a little boy when I was there covering sports so you were and you paid your dues man oh yeah yeah and plus you're in Cleveland yeah that's paying your dues right no I give I got great friends there and it's got the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame so right but now it's got some I cover high school sports for like four years no kidding and before I move going to the NBA and here's the thing most of the guys you see on television who are now analysts commentators opinionators opinionist Michael Will Byron Tony Cornheye's or Skip Bayless Steven A Smith Adam Shepter Adrian Woznerowski myself we could go on and on we got Rachel Nichols we all started out as writers wow and and you know eventually those that they start putting someone on television those that had good information those that had some type of presence and charisma in front of the camera kind of moved into more television and radio and that's what I've done right and then so you and you actually did a series of shows with Skip Bayless he skipped was a writer here where I live in the Dallas Fort Worth area covering the cowboy and the columnist right yeah it's a columnist and I love the words you just used opinionist that's a new profession now is that the I want to I want to get a job I want to get a job in that man you know that's actually why in 2016 I left ESPN because they offered me a contract another contract to just be strictly a reporter you sideline reporting and try to break news and things like that and Fox wanted me as an analyst and a commentator and opinionist so now for instance when free agency in the NBA happens and say Anthony Davis is a free agent I don't have to chase where he may go and try to break the news or what team he's going to whenever it happens I just have an analysis and an opinion ready and that's much better I give you you know what it is that's why but see that's why because you're with FS1 yeah which is Fox Sports you were with the ESPN that's where my sons and I begin to follow you and your opinions and that's why I said you're one of the most trusted men in North America and one of the most reviled that comes with the territory I'll tell you that yeah but yeah it's uh so that's how it's you know what it's like and I know you know the media on that newspapers you have beat writers and you have columnists and so I essentially move like and ESPN I was essentially a beat writer at times I would do columns I would be on opinion shows but now if Fox I'm more of a columnist so my personality my opinions get to come out more versus just reporting the news yeah that's that's you know and you were talking about Anthony Davis and and or things like that moving from one team to another and then you can have an opinion right and then and then at some point Charles Barkley's going to go you know uh Bursard's full of it right or knowing him he takes him a little bit beyond and you know what's interesting we tell I we I do a radio show daily radio show called the eye couple with Rob Parker and we tell uh athletes all the time and even before the show started we would tell athletes that want to get in the business like look you have to say something you have to be you have to give your point of view give your opinion you can be oh I play with this guy oh I don't want to hurt my friends feelings or my former teammates feelings or even ex-coaches I may want to get back in the league as a coach I can't say nothing if that's going to be your approach you're not going to make it because you're not going to say anything and so yesterday Paul Pierce comes out and says LeBron James is not one of his top seven greatest players of all time now I think that assa nine I didn't hear this are you kidding but but kudos to Paul Pierce for giving a strong opinion and packing it up he did back it up with some logic again I disagree but I Kendrick Perkins is now in the business he's coming out with strong opinions Jalen Rose you see I mean that's Charles Barkley's probably the most successful athlete certainly a basketball I would say yeah to go from the plane to the commentating why it's not that he's so technically sound of course he is just he shares his opinions he's fearless when it comes to speaking his mind and that's entertaining yeah it is but you know the the thing it's to me it's like a Tony Romo yeah Romo's been great in truly eight men and guys like that but Barkley has a sense of the flow of the game you know he's he doesn't he's talking about individuals occasionally but but he'll what he'll watch the whole game the flow and he'll say you know what's happening you know he does halftime let's say what needs to happen this third quarter is such and such or if they come out and they double on this guy this will happen so he's got a sense of that that that to me is more than just an opinion it's like yourself because and this is what most people probably don't know is that you are in the Oberlin College Hall of Fame is all right no I'm not actually you're not yet are you kidding me yeah I am not kidding I'm in my high school Hall of Fame holy name and Cleveland Ohio holy name and a captain at Oberlin but I was not a star I was not a Hall of Fame but you were you were a point guard at Oberlin and but you came out playing football and basketball so you didn't just come out of you know sideline guy with an opinion you actually know the game yeah and and look they're great commentators or reporters who didn't play there are some who are women who obviously wouldn't have played a sport like football so it's not a requirement but I do think it helps me in that I'll give you one example if two teammates on an NBA team getting to a fight I've seen it where some writers who may have nothing that didn't play sports at a high level they write consistently like those two guys will hate each other they hate each other year two later three years later oh you know they don't get along because they had a fight you know back when they played for the nicks or whatever that's not necessarily the case and having played on teams in college you know I almost got in fight with a guy and later that night we were in the you know in the bar sharing the beer you know and you know sometimes it will be something that carries on and the guys really don't like each other but other times I'll say more often than not yeah it's the heat of the moment thing and you know it goes away and they may even be friends so that's an example of understanding the dynamics of a team and a sport that and that's one reason in the NBA they stop right before I started covering the league and it wasn't because of me obviously it was a league-wide rule they stopped reporters from being able to attend practice oh wow in the 80s and early 90s you could go watch a practice the whole time and when I got to the league you could only watch like the last 10 minutes if the coach let you in and the one reason they did that one coach told me Mike he said one well there are many reasons but one is that if two guys got in the fight you would you write about it I was like yeah he's like well you write about it there's a headline it becomes a huge story it can it's a distraction to the team it can it may not even be that big of a deal but once it becomes a headline it is a huge dirt and a vetsky and same cash got an altercation now people may assume they don't get along they don't have chemistry anymore when in fact the next day they may have made up and been great friends yeah because that's part of that's part of actually wanting to be excellent and and I would think you know you're doing this nationally syndicated actually it's listened to all over the world the odd couple radio as well as a number of other things I would have to think that even within your industry because you all want to be really good they're they're friction moments they're friction moments on our shovel that's why it's the odd couple I mean we it has been very unique in that I mean we've known each other rock park and I for 27 20 years something like that yeah and so we're friends we respect each other for what each is done in the business and I think that enables us to really go at each other and we do and at times it's gotten heated and we're you know but we're able to brush it off and it's not it doesn't impact our relationship off the air and so but yeah there's friction moments and then as you mentioned in just beat writing you're competing with other other writers and other outlets and there are some writers that really dislike each other that that really compete hard against one another I haven't been in that situation um yeah I can yeah I know of names that if I mention your many of your listeners who were in the sports would know um don't get along because of the competition yeah yeah because they don't want the other guy to get up and it isn't that isn't that something as a follower of Christ how do you deal with that you've made it very clear your profession of faith I want to talk about that in a few minutes Chris but how do you deal with conflict in the workplace because we all deal with this whether we're selling insurance or driving a forklift you know there's always stuff because people have stuff right and we each carry different filters how do you deal with that you know particularly when somebody's coming at you in a diametrical position they they're not really about your best yeah they're really bad about you winning I'm generally I bet my employers and people that have dealt with me my agent they would say I'm a low maintenance type guy you know I'm not always calling or visiting and what's going on here what's going on there I do my job and I prepare for it and you know then I'm kind of out um but uh so I just try to in the workplace I treat treat people with respect even if people have come at me a certain way or don't like me or whatever it may be I still try to treat them with respect be civil um and so that's one that's my approach I think that's a a biblical approach you know obviously love your enemies pray for those that's vitally usually yeah but in in the one thing I you know I've had to learn and sometimes you you've got to really look at their nuances like even in my business being critical of athletes or getting into debates and stuff you know you can look at that like okay how does that match up with my faith and then I look at Jesus and I say you know Jesus didn't meant words I mean Jesus he called Peter Satan yeah he uh he called the Canaanite woman a dog yeah the brute brute of vipers was a Nazareth swear words yes I mean he obviously always went off on the Pharisees and the Sadducees yeah so being a Christian doesn't mean that you always meant words to keep the peace yeah sometimes you tell the truth in love but you speak truth and that's also understanding that as much as we may try everybody's not gonna like you and you're not going to get along with everybody Jesus said what do you when everyone speaks well of you yeah and um at Jesus never sin and yet people didn't like him so I think that you have to understand that because I think a natural inclination does feel like I gotta you know just not say anything and not offend and not you know so is it that's a fascinating thing man is a Christian man because I want to talk about this you you're very involved in the uh well we would call the men's movement uh in Christianity and I want to talk about the King movement in a moment uh but as a Christian man what you're saying is is that turning the other cheek doesn't mean I lay down right right I mean again we just look at Jesus' example it's as simple as that that's who we're trying to emulate um and he's clearly didn't back down and I think you're right and you know in the men's movement I think in church overall we've seen that the numbers in churches across all races in America at least um they're way more women than men and there's a lot of talk about how the presentation of the gospel in America or as it's as it's done in church has been feminized to some degree yeah and I look in the Bible and as as you do as well and I look at and I say you know there was never a dose of men you know I mean there are obviously great women of God who did wonderful things for the Lord but there's never like where are the men we know Deborah I guess if you want to say that one time but you know throughout this history of you know the people of God there were always strong men available and so maybe are we press presenting things wrong um you know when we're lacking men I think we need to look at that and as you said you know clearly I mean being a man of God you must stand up and I mean Jesus I just think of quickly the book of Joshua chapter 1 in the first 9 or 10 verses he told Joshua be strong and courageous three times three times he demanded him to be strong and courageous so that is a part of what the Lord is calling us to be as men yeah and then first Corinthians 16 13 it says be strong but in another translations it just basically in the take courage part it says be like act like a man act like a man do it you know and and and I know this is something you deal with because obviously in America maybe in the western world in general there's this attack on what what's called toxic masculinity yeah and I think some of that is very legitimate and but I think you can go too far and what we tend to say and I got this from one of the guys who's a member of king Justin Gibboni who started the end campaign he's in Atlanta but he's he's presented and I thought it was wonderful we don't want toxic masculinity and we don't want effemination we want we need to be like Jesus and Jesus as you said was very strong he was out spoken he had backbone when he had to go into the temple and rush run out the money changes yeah he beat up guys in terms he was premeditated he stood there rolled the whip up you know this might get ugly I got to be right yeah also we see Jesus wet Jesus had compassion on the multitudes wow Jesus loved his brothers he wasn't afraid to show he loved his disciples and so that that's the balance you know that we we need as men and that's what we believe we should strive for as men of God you know we've had some dear friends over the years that played professional level and I remember Reggie White talking to Reggie one day and I said he had knocked over some guys and we were talking and I said hey wouldn't you say to that guy man God bless you or something he said that I can't tell you what I said to him he said but I will tell you that he knows where I stand that's okay and then a man that you covered who actually wrote the forward in my book AC Green remember talking to him one day about about playing NBA because NBA is a rough sport yeah and and you actually started covering it when when it was a lot tougher than even than it is the question no question no Detroit and and all that stuff I remember AC one day I was talking we were talking about this and talking about standing up for your faith in Christ and I was talking about how men have a tendency to feel like Christianity is passive and I said how do you carry that you know and he said you know here's the deal when I step on the court because I'm a follower of Christ but I also have a job my job is to stop that guy right and his role you know he played a number of teams in fact he he was the Iron Man of the NBA and that happened while he was here in Dallas which was really a cool moment but you know what he was playing with L.A. he was a guy that had to do certain things to help the team win and it was basically not backing down as part of it right right so Christianity and this is the King movement tell me about the King movement because the King movement you're calling it up and here's what I call it is biblical masculinity right because you can define manhood with allowed culture to define masculinity as toxic and no other words it's like linkage and what we have to bring back is redefined that it's biblical masculinity tell me about the King movement hey this is Chris let me take a moment in the middle of this great conversation to remind you how to get in touch with Paul and Christian men's network and the Global Fatherhood Initiative you can find all the resources for mentoring and fatherhood at cmn. men that cmn. men also you can write to Paul at Paul at cmn. men that's Paul at cmn. men we have tremendous resources for churches with special discounts for groups on that website everything a church needs from A to Z to mentor and disciple men of all ages and backgrounds now let's get back to this awesome interview between Paul and Chris Bussard yeah that's a phrase that we definitely use and the King movement is an acronym that stands for knowledge inspiration and nurture through God and it is a national Christian men's movement honestly and what we say is our our our main goal in a nutshell is to strengthen men in their daily walks with Christ from Monday through Saturday yeah or maybe I should say Sunday afternoon through Saturday night you mean from the time they forgot the sermon right when they come back okay I mean I was a pastor so I understand all this exactly so we try to do that through accountability encouragement yeah teaching training brotherhood fellowship support and so in a nutshell you might say it's a discipleship you know and and you know not in intense you know we're on you you got to do this do that but really I men need male bonding and females need female bonding and what I saw when I first became a Christian which I was 21 years old I longed for that male bonding and I had it as most men do outside of Christ you know fraternity brothers yeah so you got fraternity you've got you've been football teams basketball teams you've been on teams you guys are on buses you're working together you're sweating together you're and you wanted that in Christianity right and and even not just we're all sitting around doing a Bible study which obviously is at times you do that but just men I could relate to in other areas sports culture music whatever but yet who loved the Lord and who you're gonna encourage me and support me in my attempts to live a biblical lifestyle rather than even if they didn't do it on purpose non-believers you can be put in situations where you're tempted to or encouraged to go against your biblical principles and so that's that's a big reason why we created the King movement and what we try to do today what happened when you were 21 how'd that how'd you move into because now are you in college at this point I was a senior in college and I had I grew up Catholic and so I was taught you know biblical stories taught stories about Jesus but never encouraged to have really even know what a personal relationship was yeah never read the Bible and so in college I began dating a woman she's now my wife and she was a Christian she's really the first person that kind of introduced me to biblical Christian really and so it took about or it was about a year and a half of us dating and struggling back and forth before I became a believer but I what in a quickly what happened was I had gone to a church with her I'd been convicted of my sin knowing and knew like I need to get my life to the Lord but I didn't want to yeah and so I was running from God and that he still blessed me that summer I was going into my senior year of college with a summer internship at the Cleveland Plain Deal and I did well and they told me it was in sports writing and they told me look when you graduate we're gonna next year we're gonna hire you and so I was on top of the world you know when you didn't know it was that for answering phones no no I didn't tell you all that but I was on top of the world you know of course so but after a week or so a few days it hit me like okay I grew up with the idea and being taught that the American dream was kind of the purpose of life like well to school get good grades so you can go to a good college do well in college so you can get a good job that's what life's about and here I was now with essentially the American dream in the palm of my hand I'm gonna have it okay and once I got to that I just became overwhelmed with this sense of is this all there is wow is this all that life's about and I knew because I've been running from the Lord I knew that I needed Christ and that was the void I was filling filling but I didn't want to repeat quite honestly I didn't want to I knew I didn't have to be perfect but I didn't well it's called dying to self it's called dying to self you right right and I didn't want to do that I was of course not the sinful things I was doing and and all that and so I look kept looking for loopholes and overperioded maybe six months yeah looking for loopholes man that's that's awesome all types of ways to try to fill that void without giving my life to Christ well it's okay let's let's let's be real about it it's like okay I want to be the Christian guy and I want to marry this girl but I don't want to have to do this salvation thing right right that was it that was it and um that's awesome that's all I got broken me down where it was like you either will keep running and be miserable or you're gonna give your life to me and have some peace and some of them and so I believe it or not my 21st birthday you know you're I think you're over to cake and you're supposed to make a wish of course instead of making a wish that's when I repented and gave my life to Christ oh come on man my 21st birthday literally come on other people are doing all types of stuff on their 21st of course that's amazing Christ yeah and if you don't if you're not familiar with that they're not from the United States in the US at 21 is when you can actually walk into a bar legally yeah that kind of thing so a lot of guys do that and here you are in your 21st birthday when you can go out and do some stuff with guys that had been you know when you say you were doing send you were doing stuff you were just being a guy but what we're told yeah the day like just being a guy involved in I was getting drunk a lot I was getting involved in sexual morality and you know yeah like you say stuff like that I wasn't a drug dealer gang bang or anything like that's what I'm saying you know it's you're just being a guy it wasn't like you know what's interesting if I can if I can go here yeah uh you know there's obviously always the last even really has become transparent maybe in the last 15 20 years of the push to you know that men are struggling with pornography yeah you know and I read a few years ago my wife won a well-known public Christian admitted that he had struggled with pornography and all that stuff and my wife was like that is disgusting I can't he wasn't really judge him she was just saying that you know the pornography and everything was disgusting yeah and I said to I say you know what I said for many most men that's just how you grow up as a boy I grew up looking at my dad's playboys sneaking in to look at his hustler magazine penthouse you know they didn't have the internet and I wasn't watching movies and all that but I grew up like why doing that and you know I wasn't really ever it big in the pornography but you know I obviously saw some and I said what most men when we grow up to your point that's just a part of being a man like however the level some version of pornography whether strip clubs or magazines or movies whatever that's just a part of being a man and I say when you get saved then you okay I want to stop doing that and that's when you recognize I'm addicted like there's an addiction here you know what I mean like so for women it thankfully is different and I know now they say women it's growing but that has been kind of a right of passage with a lot with most men and so she might not understand it but I understand a fully way it was coming from so when you're 21 you make this change and then you find out okay I accepted Jesus Christ but now I've got to change my lifestyle walking a new direction but now you find there's what's called what you find out is called the power of the 19 of the Holy Spirit right to be able to live a righteous life that and not man I'm glad you put it that way because you know as it may be a challenge but God does encourage to do that and and I tell people this from the moment I gave my life to Christ obviously you have struggles you have challenges and things but I was filled with joy and like even as some people that I had been friends with and maybe the basis of our friendship was getting drunk getting high chasing women that that walked away from me that didn't like me anymore didn't want to deal with me anymore even this stuff like that may have happened I still felt joy and people like I even as I might you know I wasn't hanging out with the same guys like I still was solid like I never regret for one second giving my life to Christ and then and I think you said something that's powerful and and fortunately I understood this from the beginning I never when I got saved and the Holy Spirit convicted me said you know stop getting drunk and it was at different points stop watching you know dirty movies or whatever stop you know doing it like I never looked at it like wow Lord how can I I can't I looked at it like well okay God said do it and he's giving me the power to do and so I was able to do it so I think a lot of times we give our flesh and the devil too much power yeah instead of saying believe in that God said you know what I can stop this and and believe in he gave us the power to do it you know so basically what was your saying is that somebody didn't hand you on your 21st birthday a list of rules and regulations no thankfully you thankfully I'm thankful for that I'm thankful that I was not surrounded by a group of Christians who we're gonna tell me now this is how you got to live come on man you would have you would have been you would have been backing off real quick I'm gonna give you a story I remember so at that summer I got an internship with the need out the star and I was living in the floor and and you know you remember Andrew Dice Clay and he was a big time comedian at that time in the early night is but very crude yeah very dirty and all that yeah so I was you know I'm Christian I'm a young Christian and I'm doing this work and I saw he was going to be on HBO that night and I was like oh I can't wait to watch you know Andrew Dice Clay and blah blah blah and so as the times getting near I'm back from work I'm in my dorm I'm gonna watch it as the times getting near I just got convicted like wow did you really want to watch that should you really watch that you know you know what he's gonna be talking about this and that and I was like you know what no and I didn't watch it and that's when when when you get convicted about a Holy Spirit it's easier to go give up things versus a group of Christians telling you don't watch that though you better not watch that Andrew you know and and and I've probably done that myself to others you know we all probably have but we have to be careful and remember that like I thank God that the spirit just kind of was able to lead me in different things that I need to change well Paul did it becoming a law Paul the Apostle said that the law causes lawbreakers so it shows us where we're wrong but but if all you have is the law you become a lawbreaker yes is that's in our nature so what has to change the process of conversion Romans 122 says your thinking has to change don't act like the culture and change by changing your mindset so as the mindset changes what tastes good to your mind begins to change right right so now over a period of time not just overnight over a period of time and that show you're talking about which would have been very crude and actually very demeaning to women yes all of a sudden it didn't taste good it's right you know David no it was Job Job said truth is like honey you know truth is like honey it tastes good in the mouth and you know I thank God Chris for you being in a place of you are a voice of wisdom and reason for men across North America and who listened to your radio who listened to your opinions I got a new word now an opinionist so I'm I'm going to work on becoming a Christian men's opinionist I don't know man I don't know if I can do that but but uh but the thing is is that I I thank God for the fact that that you've got this moral basis fiber foundation so that when you do speak like like you mentioned earlier and I was going to come back to it when you give an opinion let's say on LeBron coming back for another year or whatever it may be your opinion isn't you're not uh you have a sense of the humanity of that comic right you have a sense of I'm talking about a man in his family right yep because that's what Jesus does to us we have a sense of humanity and people and in the life and it's not just a player and it's not just a guy and so your opinion you've got you've got opinions but you have this texture if you will uh that that's perfect because you're right I don't and there are guys in the business that look at the athletes as objects to make a name for themselves yeah I don't care what they say about I'm always cognizant of like you said I don't get personal I try to keep it to the sport try to be objective and yeah because I understand that person is a human being yeah of course we all led by doing to others as you would have them do under you I wouldn't want somebody criticizing me unfairly you know and and and and so I try to definitely keep that in mind all the time when when you're doing this well not only that because you get opinions about you all the time if you just have to go on the internet right go on twitter and see what christmas art is full of this week I call them twitter mussels because I have all the thousands of people I've seen out out in arenas and out you know just out and about they come up to me never once has anybody come up to me and rip to me or say it's up negative they want pictures and all that but I'm like on twitter I'm getting crushed by the same guy that's got the photo with the armor out there right right you know and I'll tell you and this you know and you know this as a as a public figure you whatever whether it's an athlete and and analyst a politician a preacher a lawyer anything and in the public realm an actor actress you have to have thick skin yeah you have to have thick skin because you get Chris and I always think about it you know this is this comforts me I say you know Jesus never sin and yet he had critics you know yet he had people that didn't like him so come on there's you're gonna have people that just don't like no Jesus never Jesus never send but he did call some guys some brutal vipers so maybe that's a term we could come up with a I can you that yeah you know but I do I do thank God and that you've taken the you and your wife family have taken this platform that God's given you to speak into the lives of people across the nation and started a movement like king king movement you've got this year it was canceled because of all the coronavirus stuff yeah but you've got an event coming up again next year and you're encouraging people and I appreciate it because it crosses it crosses basically every every socio economic barrier because sports does that right athletics does that and you're able to speak into the lives of people that you otherwise that that I would never be able to talk to that are never going to walk into a church they're never going to go into a mims meeting going hey I hope I get my act together today I don't give a rip about getting right together but you're God's put you in a position christen you know and I would say and I would just ask guys to pray for you it's chris brusar bill b-r-o-u-s-s-a-r-d and you can find you can misspell it and still find you on the end that's a big time you are and and you can find chris there and you can find the stuff he does and the materials and so forth but but the thing is that what I want to call guys to is to pray for you and for those who are followers of chris that are in the media there's a number of them and you know I was talking with Clint Gresham the other day and he Clint was on as a friend who was on two of the Seahawks teams he was a long snapper and he talked about winning a Super Bowl and after winning a Super Bowl he was sitting around with some guys they were in the training room a month later and one guy said man I I don't know when this is going to begin to feel real and Clint right then knew what he was saying that I thought it was going to make me happier I thought winning a Super Bowl would make me a man I thought it would complete my life and so to every person listening right now all of our friends the fact is is that what chris found on his 21st birthday is what fulfilled his life was being connected with God through Jesus Christ finding new life fresh start and from that day brother I'm just asking guys to pray for you pray for all guys who are doing stuff like you and we pray that every place you put your feet is holy ground everything your hands such a prosper and God will keep you and your wife deep within the grip of his grace and favor for the glory of God so thank you chris bursard for it's great I you know I love conversations with you and we want to talk some more NBA and maybe throw a little trash in at some point so we want to come back on but I'll call you into the show one night within opinion okay okay you know what my sons my sons Bryson Brandon uh they all have a pen so I'll go okay what's the opinion I'll ask them I'll call you and I'll say here's the opinion from the calls all right champion God bless you man man is great and we'll talk soon and I look forward to seeing you be safe I keep you in your family and prayer for sure yeah you two man we're praying for you all the time the odd couple the odd couple fs one love you man all right you two see this but what a great conversation that was Paul you know I don't think he knew that uh I knew that he went to Oberlin you didn't yeah I know he probably didn't know it's probably a shock to me yeah hey and then I said why aren't you in the Hall of Fame because yeah I don't know for Oberlin yes yeah what an amazing guy you know this is a guy who shapes culture yes you know you and I've talked about it before Chris it ideas have consequences yes and here's a man who puts out ideas he's not always going to scripture and chapter and verse and all that he just lives it right yeah that's what I was gonna say when you don't have to quote the scripture when you are walking in it hmm when somebody can see it on your life they're just gonna follow what you do and may not even know the principal lies in the Bible but then when you have the opportunity to open up the Bible and show the thing this is why I do what I do well you know and one of the things that you always tell me and remind me of even when it comes to kids like hey kids are not going to always listen to what you say but they are going to follow what you do and this is a man that leads by that example yeah it does lead by example he's a dad and he was he was pretty excited about his girls graduating yes you know didn't have to write checks to the schools anymore well I mean when you got twins that's a big deal and then you know because you're still paying college you had to bring that up yeah hey looking forward to being with Christopher Sarve whenever you're listening to this he has the movement KI in G which means knowledge inspiration nurture through God and man I he's one of those guys I look at and go okay this is an ally yes definitely this is an ally we're in this together yes his voice the way he articulates his faith is what I want men across the nation around the world to listen to this is the guy that I want to promote yes in other words I mean he's already famous it's not like he needs to be promoted him but to anybody in my sphere of influence I want to go hey this guy yeah that's the real deal there yes because he's been through some stuff man he got misunderstood you know that the what is it the social media crew came after months yes yep you got hammered on some things over at ESPN yep you know what this is a man who though he said okay I may have said that wrong but here's my values yes and my values are immovable yeah and you're not going to change me no matter what you're coming against me with hey thanks for being with us on brave men today is as Chris mentioned earlier you can get a hold of me by writing to me at Paul at cmn dot men Paul at cmn dot men and on that website are tools and resources for mentoring men and for you personally if you if you'd like to just take your son through something like Chris you and your dad are going through materials right now yes we are what book are you on right now well we're done with all the books we're just all the materials yes we're just going back and finishing up the workbooks right now finishing the work and I'm going through communication sex and money right now communication sex and money just good man you can need to learn that stuff yes I do wherever that is that your wife you know she's out there somewhere yeah hopefully not in la la land hopefully that is la la land and hopefully not in first grade yes please no I'm not waiting no so uh... christiel thanks for being with me today on this podcast with christian men's network and brave men why we do what we do is so that men will hear the word of a man like chris brusard shift change begin to redirect their lives and become followers of jesus christ be build great families and strong churches that's why we do what we do yes thanks for being on brave men today you just experienced brave man with paul who is cold paul is president of the christian men's network connect with paul at cmn.man or write to him at paul at cmn.man