The following takes place between seven pm and eight pm.
All right, let's get to at seven oh seven, seven hundred WLW Welcome in RNL Carrier Sports Talk presented by Kelsey Chevrolet. Two hours to get it done tonight, man, do we have some grind to cover. We have a developing situation with the Reds. Let me give you the cliff Notes version on that. Sea Trent is reporting the Reds in Emilio Pagan have reached terms of agreement on a two year contract. Details to follow. My first guest
is a Cincinnati kid. You might remember him as a sports anchor and reporter for Channel five from twenty eighteen to twenty twenty two. After battling depression and suicidal thoughts, he checked himself into a mental health hospital, began treatment, found a new purpose, left TV, became a mental health advocate host of the Mental Game podcast. You might remember he joined me in studio back in twenty twenty two.
What a journey since. What an incredible latest chapter We're going to get to in a second, but what a pleasure to welcome back Brandon. Sayo, how are you?
I'm good land man. I look back to that moment in the studio. I think we had like maybe ten or fifteen minutes carved out. We ended up doing an hours together. And now I'll be forever grateful for you letting me share my story that way on the radio, because it was the first time that I really told a lot of those stories of my mental health struggle. So thanks man. I love it, and I'm excited to be back.
Well, I'm so proud of what you are doing and so excited about what you're doing. And that night I get goosebumps and my hair stands up on my arms just remembering the things we discussed that night. Let's do this before we get to the incredible news, do a little bit of backtracking. It's set up for those who may not be aware of what all is going on. Tell listeners what your mission is with the Mental Game podcast.
Yeah, so, I mean I struggled from fourteen years old on as a freshman at Lasal with suicidal thoughts all the way through college and even when I got my dream job working at WLWT and getting to do the sports with George and Elise and the crew at Channel five and covering the Bengal is going to the Super Bowl. No one really knew that behind the scenes, I was
battling suicide every second, every day. For those three months leading up to that Super Bowl run, I had three family members passed away, including my cousin Ben, who's based in my older brother. He had a heart attack at thirty one. I dealt with all this pressure on me, obviously at work, which I loved, but it's a lot. And then I always felt alone and wanted to have that picture perfect you know, high school sweetheart, marriage and
family and kids like we do here in Cincinnati. And I thought I finally found that person with that relationship, with going through a really moment and break up and toxic relationship, and so I get the rock bottom man where at twenty eight I had to go to my mom for the first time ever. He's the first person I ever told like, I don't want to live anymore, I don't know how to live and I need help. And that is the first time I asked for help, and I checked into a hospital at the Lender Center
Hope and Mason. That helped save my life the next day, and that was the first step man. But it's been a long, long journey since that day.
In twenty twenty two, and your Mental Game podcast is just blowing up and you it seems if I had a map in front of me. You are traversing the country talking with with athletes and celebrities and they are opening up to you. And I'm struck by how comfortable you make them in very uncomfortable conversations. They're opening up to you about stuff like this. Give listeners an idea of some of the people you've talked to over the course of the last few years.
Well, I have to give Sam Hubbard credit. That guy is a good friend of mine. Obviously a chance to cover him with the Bengals and I was at Channel five, but I texted him I had the idea, and I'm like, man, I got this idea to talk with athletes about mental health. Can I try it with you? And he invited me over to his house on an off day. I ended up becoming the first ever episode, and without Sam it
wouldn't happen. But man, it's been crazy. I mean it started with Sam, Ricky Williams, one of my first guests, Jake Frailey with the Reds when he was still in town. But it's grown now where you know, I moved to La almost two years ago. Now, I drove my car
out there, which is a long trick. But you know, I've been able to sit down with people like Harry Crews and it was the first time that he ever opened up about being suicidal, and he chose to do it with me because he felt comfortable with my vulnerability
in my story. And so to get to sit down with some of these big time people in sports, whether it's Adam Schefter, Will Wade, Ted Carritt, you know, Ryan shay Z or Nate Burlison, these people that you think have nothing wrong and they're rich and they're strong, and they're playing in the NFL, they're on TVs. Guess what we all struggle. We all go through stuff. And so I love what I've been able to do with the pod and it's not something I ever dreamed of, but
it's become my true purpose. And really that purpose is the in person stuff I get to do when I'm in schools or I'm at businesses, or I'm at LSU with Joe Burrow's parents, talking to thousands of people about mental health. Maybe for the first time they're talking about it because it's sports related. That's the whole goal.
Man your newest chapter is pretty dang incredible, and you are the subject of the interview. Explain what happened yesterday and who you talked to and who talked to you.
I can't believe every time I stay this sentence because it's been a secret I've had to keep for about three weeks. But I sat down with Oprah Winfrey, which is insane to say out loud, and I got to share my story with her. You know, I had. I had this video that went viral about three weeks ago where I talked about nothing It's related, not really mental health, but my fear of never being a father or a husband one day and I did not know that video would change my life and get to Oprah and her
want to talk to me about it. It was incredible to see the outpouring of messages from men and women. But lance I'm talking about like, I went to bed on a Friday night posted just not thinking anything, not putting a ton of effort into it, and I woke up and had millions of views. I mean, it's got
like fifteen million across three or four platforms. Now, I've heard from people all over the world, and one of those people was her producer, and I'm sitting at the Roses with my mom, like I'm in town for twenty four hours. I was speaking out Mountain ut her dame, and I go to the Roses in Blue Ass with my mom and I'm like, Mom, I just got an email about Oprah, Like I don't know what this is, and so I call the guy and it's legit and long story short, Yeah, I was able to sit down
with her. She had this amazing episode with Scott Galloway. It's kind of the feature Gatsi's the great men's mental health coach and author and professor at NYU, but the whole episode was about male loneliness and so for about eight to ten minutes they featured my story and I got to have that conversation with Oprah and the audience, and man, it was it was special and it was
really hard to hold on to until yesterday. But when you're with one of the all time greats when it comes to TV and entertainment and just I mean Lance, she's one of the top ten living people. Yeah, Like it's insane to say that, but it was really powerful. Man. There's some cool moments that I'll share here in a sec but just to get the chance to sit with her and have that conversation on a stage like that. I mean my phone that I put it out yesterday. It was pretty wild. I haven't stopped.
Man.
So you said, it's about eight to ten minutes. Where where did it take place? And how can listeners view? Would watch it right now?
Yeah? So she shot in New York. That's where we sho She shoots these group ones kind of with a fifty person audience. It kind of feels like her old show, but in a podcast form. And so yeah, add on the Open again. This sounds so weird to say out loud because I'm just a normal dude, but you can find me talking with Oprah on the Open podcast on iHeartRadio and all of your podcast platforms, and uh yeah,
it was just really special, man. I think what was really cool She plays that video and I actually just put this on Instagram right before you know, I hopped on with you and she plays the video on Oprah and I like kind of tear up together and she pats her heart at me, and it was just like this moment of man, Oprah's talking about my story and I'm on this platform and it's like, I had this moment afterwards, and it's a it's we talk about my dating life, my mental health journey, what I do with
the mental game, you know, the this vulnerability piece that I think so many men are afraid to having because we're told we're weak if we're emotional this BS that isn't true, but we are fed our entire life. But after the interview gets done, Lance, I walked backstage with Oprah and I'm sitting there and we're having a conversation, we take pictures, we hug, and all of a sudden, I just like hear this other person start running towards us,
and they're going, I love this branding guy. I got to meet him and it's Gail King, and I'm like, what is my life right now? Where I'm sitting backstage and I'm like the sandwich of an Oprah. Gail and
me hug. It was like the coolest thing ever. And at that point, Oprah's you know team, they saw that, like Gail and Oprah trusted me enough where it was just us for like five minutes, and I got to have that moment in my head where during that five minutes of us talking and just telling each other's story and connecting Adotta who we obviously they know everyone, but like I have connection with Nate on my show and
CBS Morning. But I had like ten seconds in my head man that I went, you are literally standing with Oprah and Gail King in New York City getting to do what you dreamed of, Like this is what all those nights walking on the road, Lank, thinking about taking your life, going to therapy, starting this thing, quitting your job, driving uber, having no money, getting sober, like all this stuff. Man, it was worth it in like that ten seconds. I you talked to like people like Burrow or these athletes
and they're like, not just another game. They don't really have time to soak it all in. I made sure that, like I soaked that in for at least ten seconds of that time because it was a special dude, man oh.
Man, And it kind of paint the picture of what you cat. You do a lot of traveling. In fact, I think you're going to be in if I have your itinerary or right, are you going to be an Indian Saturday as part of an event around the IU Loisville basketball game?
Yeah, so the care Source Invitational. I've got really Lucky where we've been out with a partner, the Mental Game and Care Source, thanks to the University of DAT and the coach Grant you know, you know his story where they lost their daughter Data and they started Javelite to raise awareness for mental health and funds to help people in the community. And started with one game with Dayton three years ago and a town hall at ud and now it's turned into this cross country tour. We have
three or four games each year. This one in India is huge, man. Want it's on the day of the Big ten title game with IU who's playing of course Ohio State, but we're on national TV on CBS. It's a huge game and it's all about mental health. Obviously they want to win on the court, but it's a mental health awareness game. So what's really cool is the day before so on Friday, both coaches and both teams will join us at a local high school and will surprise the kids and we have this big pep rally.
I do my fifteen minute keynote, really interacted, getting the celebrities that I know involved, with teams involved, and then they do drills with the players and coaches that get to interact. It's a special, special thing that you see Ohio State Zager, our old buddy coach cal and Arkansas has done it with a couple of years too. It's been really special, man. But yeah, I'm going there. I'm in Dayton tomorrow and then I am in Indy this weekend and back to LA. Before I'm obviously I was
in Texas and South Dakota and month. It's it's insane. We got forty six states down, four.
To go, Brandon. I can't imagine that the power of the connection you're making when when you take this message to schools or businesses. There are two events and and I watched the crowds you're talking to, and there's probably moments where you make eye contact with somebody who may be tearing up, and and just the connection and the help you're offering them when you put your head on the pillow at night, it's just got to make you feel so good. The how you're impacting.
Lives, it is pretty crazy, man. It's like being on Oprah is awesome. Getting to meet some of the people and live in LA and rough shoulders with who I'm rubbing shoulders with now is life changing. But the real life changing and life saving stuff is what I get to do when I'm at my alma mater at the South and I get I get to talk to those kids that were you know that I've been in their shoes. Or I get to be at UC, or I get
to be at UD and with these businesses. Hey, dude, it doesn't matter if it's ten people in a high school classroom or ten thousand in a basketball arena this weekend. Every time I stay after and talk and meet with people one on one as long as I possibly can, and every time, at least one usually more come up and say, hey, man, I never told anyone this, but I'm suicidal right now. I need help. I don't know
what to do. Can you help me? And it breaks my heart, but it also warms my heart because it gives me that confidence that we're doing the right thing. We're creating a safe space, and we always have resources with us so we can help them in those moments. And man, I'm not saying this is like a look at me thing, but we've been to forty six states.
We've touched them up two hundred and fifty thousand lives in person last year and a half, and man, my goal is to finish off fifty and then I don't know, I got open on myself right now, let's go International's Australia right now.
Unbelievable, Oh incredible. For those listening who want to check out the Mental Game podcast who want to maybe connect with you about bringing your message to where they are, tell them all the information they need how they can seek you out and check out your.
Stuff of course, Yeah, go to the Mental Dot Game. The Mental Dot Game, you can see where I'm going to be at, but you can also hit us up and email our team. I love to come to high schools, middle schools, businesses. I'll tell you what, man, talking to people our age that maybe don't talk about mental health ever and breaking that that stigma with them is really really special. You can see where I'm going to be at. I love to meet up with people, make content videos
and just be able to have conversations. And it's funny that obviously I'm in Cincinnati. I've got your studio twice today due to separate times. But I'm two hours late to the family party that I had to celebrate Oprah, So I'm gonna hang up and go party with the West for a little bit tonight.
But I love you, man, I love you too, and I'm so happy for you and so proud of what you're doing. And uh, just keep it rolling and definitely keep in touch and keep keep doing what you're doing and making the impact you're making.
I appreciate it, man, and thank you for letting me do that with you so many times on this platform. I know we're going to help a lot of people. Man in the triphy sounds good.
Thanks Brandon, awesome, Thank you.