SAX IN THE MORNING

I would love to hear from you, just send me text and let me know what you think of the podcast. Today I talk with Mike Kowalski who spent 39 years playing a variety of instruments for The Beach Boys, touring with them as a second percussionist starting in 1968 and taking over as their full time drummer for 23 years after the unfortunate death of Dennis Wilson in 1983. Mike was given his first set...

I would love to hear from you, just send me text and let me know what you think of the podcast. Being a parent is one of the greatest joys we get to experience in our lives. Most of us say we would give anything for the good of our children. Well, today I want to tell you a story about a man who did just that over 80 years ago. This is the story of Easy Eddie, the man who helped make the notorious...

I would love to hear from you, just send me text and let me know what you think of the podcast. So many of us are concerned about how much money we are going to get paid to do something, but when you are doing something you love you don’t do it for money or recognition. A prime example of this was Ted Williams who not only played at a time when players weren’t paid a lot of money but “Teddy Ballga...

I would love to hear from you, just send me text and let me know what you think of the podcast. Chivalry is a quality that seems to be waning in our society today. When I think of chivalry I don’t just think about how men treat women, I think about how we all treat each other. To me another word for chivalry is simply class. The spirit of chivalry is being attuned to the needs of others instead of...

I would love to hear from you, just send me text and let me know what you think of the podcast. There’s a scourge in life that affects all of us on the path to our dreams. They go by many names: doubters, haters, Debbie downers or naysayers. Every brilliant idea, every new product, every “crazy” dream has run into people who try to say it’s impossible, stupid, wrong or unnecessary. It’s at these t...

I would love to hear from you, just send me text and let me know what you think of the podcast. We all are going to face hardships in our lives. It may be something we have no control over or it may be personal demons that we are grappling with, but one thing that we have some control over is our attitude. Just take my friend John, who was diagnosed with terminal cancer and had tumors riddled thro...

I would love to hear from you, just send me text and let me know what you think of the podcast. Today on Labor Day as many of us enjoy a day off, it’s the perfect time to stop and consider what kind of effort we are putting into our lives and careers. All of us are blessed with special abilities and special talents and putting those God-given gifts to good use in our lives is very important. But t...

I would love to hear from you, just send me text and let me know what you think of the podcast. All of us are on teams in our lives. Whether it’s in sports or business or in our personal lives, we all have to work together. The better we work together to create a positive culture and mindset the more successful we will be. When I was on the 1981 Los Angeles Dodgers we were picked 4th to start the...

I would love to hear from you, just send me text and let me know what you think of the podcast. One of the primary attributes to being secure and successful in this world is patience. Patience to stay the course and trust the process when things aren’t going well, but also patience to avoid distractions and temptations along the way. People who frequently succumb to instant gratification are rarel...

I would love to hear from you, just send me text and let me know what you think of the podcast. We are living in times of great uncertainty and turmoil, but during times of turmoil are when there can be great opportunities for us to make changes in our lives. Now is the best time for you to set yourself on a new path to big dreams. In order to highlight someone who set a goal and made the most of...

I would love to hear from you, just send me text and let me know what you think of the podcast. One of the biggest struggles facing our society today is a lack of humility. We see it everywhere, in sports, in politics, even in people’s day-to-day lives. Humility is a quality that we must teach to our kids and that we must have in our leaders. Because true leaders lead with humility, they build oth...

I would love to hear from you, just send me text and let me know what you think of the podcast. Did you know that when it comes to first impressions what you say is far less important than how you present yourself? Body language is vital to making a good first impression. Whether you are giving a presentation, trying to make a sale or meeting your girlfriend or boyfriend’s parents for the first ti...

I would love to hear from you, just send me text and let me know what you think of the podcast. What gets you out of bed in the morning? What gets you excited for the day ahead? What are the goals and desires that cause you to work hard and persevere through hardship? What's your “why"?  We are all going to experience difficulties, failure, self-loathing and doubt, but  if your “why” is...

I would love to hear from you, just send me text and let me know what you think of the podcast. Wow!  It's not often you get to interview your idol and mentor, not to mention, your teammate.  I get to do that today with a MLB MVP, 4 time Gold Glove winner, 2 time All-Star game MVP, 10 time All-Star, World Series Champion and on and on.  Steve Garvey joins me on today's show and we talk b...

I would love to hear from you, just send me text and let me know what you think of the podcast. What does it mean to be magnanimous?  It means being a person who has no vanity, no jealousy.  Someone who lives with honesty, integrity and forgiveness. Magnanimity is an incredibly powerful trait in the people who possess it. In fact, a magnanimous act at the surrender of the Civil War was one of the...

I would love to hear from you, just send me text and let me know what you think of the podcast. All of us have to make big changes and often reinvent ourselves and our careers during the course of our lives. With so much changing in the world today with COVID, maybe now is a time for you to make a change. I had to do it when I retired from baseball, went into media and then became a public speaker...

I would love to hear from you, just send me text and let me know what you think of the podcast. When people are trying to chase a dream and achieve something great, naysayers love to say “the odds are against you.” But the odds are only against you if you believe you are average in your pursuit of that greatness. The odds of a given outcome are based on the average chance it happens but just like...

I would love to hear from you, just send me text and let me know what you think of the podcast. We all experience pressure in our lives. I experienced it everyday on the field as a Major League Baseball player and I experience it as a public speaker. The key to overcoming pressure is not simply ignoring it or pretending it isn’t there. The key is to not make it worse by creating undo pressure. Pre...

I would love to hear from you, just send me text and let me know what you think of the podcast. When I was younger I used to have a recurring dream about a large rectangular facade that came to a point. I had this vivid image as part of dreams three or four times when I was a kid. Then, on my first day at Dodger Stadium as I walked up to the park and...BAM! There was the facade I had seen in my dr...

I would love to hear from you, just send me text and let me know what you think of the podcast. What does it take to become truly great at something? It's said 10,000 hours of practice is  how long it takes to become an expert at something. What is so important about that number is the hard work it represents. Many of us want success right away when we start something new but just like with a...

I would love to hear from you, just send me text and let me know what you think of the podcast. Let's talk about the wimpification of the American sportsman and how this phenomenon is evident throughout society today. It makes me crazy.  In 2015 Ruben Tejada of the New York Mets turned a lazy double play and had his leg broken by the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Chase Utley. Instead of focusing on Te...

I would love to hear from you, just send me text and let me know what you think of the podcast. Did you know that 70% of 35 year olds haven’t even thought about retirement? If that wasn’t bad enough, they think the best way to bank $500,000 for old age is to win the lottery! That’s probably not going to happen, and even many young athletes I’ve seen who had tons of money ended up broke anyway.  So...

I would love to hear from you, just send me text and let me know what you think of the podcast. Smoking, substance abuse, weight loss...the demons exist within all of us.  Let's talk about that a little today. Let's bite that thing in the face, set up some time to practice around it and be sure to celebrate the successes with every little bit of progress. Don't get stuck in the land...

I would love to hear from you, just send me text and let me know what you think of the podcast. Let's talk about change.  Gallup polling has shown that 70% of people were unsatisfied with their job. That means that seven out of 10 people are working just hard enough to not get fired. It also means that many people are looking for a change. Oftentimes people think about change coming from thes...

I would love to hear from you, just send me text and let me know what you think of the podcast. Throughout my career as a baseball player, financial planner and executive coach, I have seen firsthand the importance of treating people with kindness and respect. Not just because it’s the right way to be but because others are always watching us and our actions follow us forever. This was never more...