COFFEETALK XL: Burritos and Overcoming Adversity

COFFEETALK XL

SHOW NOTES

SEGMENT 1

Kevin Barbaro starts his show off with introducing Kevin Beck, an author who writes about Track and Field and who was Kevin’s former roommate and teammate back in college. Run Strong is one of the books Kevin has written within his writing career. They speak about the recent news surrounding Shelby Houlihan and the ban that followed her positive drug test. The substances found in Shelby's system could have come from things like ingested meat, which further questions the legitimacy of the test. Kevin Beck then discusses the media and press and the narratives that have come out following this suspension.

SEGMENT 2

Following the break, they continued their Track and Field discussion on Shelby Houlihan. Kevin talks about his observation on the tiny “fishbowl” of Track and Field in the sports world, and how this impacts the media coverage on this sport. Kevin Beck is able to give his personal perspective on sports writing on T/F and the lack of coverage on this specific sport. Sometimes he sees how journalists would rather be the “big fish” in this sport rather than give more focus on the quality of the written or verbal media being produced from it. Kevin shares his personal experience with accidentally taking steroids because the substance he bought was over the counter and he was not drug tested. Today, Kevin is still surrounded by people and actors who are taking steroids. And he shares the many reasons as to why Shelby might be telling the truth, as the process it takes to obtain the drug without others knowing is more complex than others would think it would be.

SEGMENT 3

Kevin welcomes his second guest onto his show, Willie Randolph. After his career of coaching, Willie then wrote his first book, Faith in the Eye of the Storm. Willie shares his personal experience on when Hurricane Karina hit and there was loss and grief found everywhere. As a head coach, Willie stepped up and helped multiple families in this tragic crisis. From the values he was raised on, he continued to stay kind and faithful despite the burdens he had brought on to him. By progressing into multiple roles including the NCAA representative to a cook, his main focus was making sure his players would be taken care of and given comfort during this difficult and uncertain time.

SEGMENT 4

Following the break, Kevin and Willie continue to speak more about Willie’s book and the experiences that sparked him to write this book. Willie gives special thanks to his mother and grandmother, two very strong women he had in his life during his youth, for being his main source of faith. Watching his mother go through many difficult things, including illness, showed him the values of a true character. After Katrina hit, Willie noticed more people having a feeble foundation in faith or even an absence of faith. Kevin jumps in to talk about certain questions that come up when things are going bad and your faith is being questioned. However, both Kevin and Willie agree that still, we are all human and it is inevitable to be imperfect. Willie adds that it’s important to keep “moving in your purpose” and find ways to make an impact in this world despite the difficult experiences that may occur.