Episode 48 - Blaine Taylor

And so, If you look over in Europe, you know, All the players that we had from over in that area, you know, we easily could have been involved with him, but I honestly, I, it's not like I sit there, you know, nights wondering why we didn't have that happen and, and I can't even verify for sure that it, it was me that actually said it to him.

Uh, we had struggled trying to get our footing in, in, in my early years. We got the constant center opened. We got quite good, uh, and were really disappointed we didn't get an N I T bid, you know, my third year we, we were really close and then my fourth year, Uh, it all came together and we won the tournament, but we played, uh, uh, V C U in Richmond in overtime, and we had a play in that game that was the play of the game in the whole country.

If you recall, on Monday night, You would have the Missouri Valley, the C aa, and then you would have the West Coast conference. And those were the three early tournaments. And so we had the play where Alex Lowden threw the ball over the top, uh, to Isaiah Hunter dunked it and Juan Foul. The whole place was going crazy.

And you saw that play about a hundred times as the play of the day, because then they didn't have games Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, it was up until the weekend before the tournament started. So we, we just got a. Lot of, uh, publicity out of that. And the people now have been in f Frisco and Pensacola. We used to complain about that tournament in Richmond cuz we always had to beat B C U there.

But, uh, now people look back so fondly with how accessible it was in the size of the crowds and, and then the number of teams that we played that there was a, a history with

All our fans would storm the court and I have people coming up to me left and right. You know, I, I, I, you know, you hugged me after the game. You hugged me after the game and, and then I have people come up and they have teenage kids. And they show me pictures of me and their teenage kid, or, or excuse me, their teenage kid when the kid was like two years old, And, and now I hear these, they still have the pictures.

And uh, of course I was a little heavier than the, Hey, the picture you guys had promo in the show. Uh, what are the most complimentary? I know it just, it had an NCAA logo in the background,

And uh, but the best mustache story, I think is, um, we go to J M U and we're in position to clinch the regular season championship. I never came outta the locker room before the game because the fans had always, you know, yelling at me and every, everywhere we went. And so I came. At, at right before Tipoff and I walk over and All of my assistants are sitting there with their hands over their face, and I walk up and, and, and I, I go, what the heck's going on? And they all uncovered it.

And they had fake mustaches on these big fake mustaches. They had distributed through the whole stadium. They had fake mustaches through the whole jam. I mean, they had thousands of them and the whole, the whole game, they had all these fake mustaches on. We still beat 'em middle of the championship, but it was, it was a, a good.

Uh, so we had solved the press, but in the NCAA tournament, everybody under prepared for them. Uh, the one thing that I told our guys is when you were playing b C U in, you're up. You better plan on getting up 14. Don't think you're gonna hold onto a seven point league cuz the minute you got conservative that just fueled that press. Yeah, they just were like piran and I thought that we got to where we attacked it. I always told them, we'll always take a layup and we'll always take a look.

And you see so many teams that just try to get the ball down the floor. And so we got to where we'd come down and dunk the ball on 'em, lay it up on 'em. We'd even shoot the three if it was there with board coverage. So we, we played in a, in a disciplined fashion. But a very opportunistic fashion. The other thing that we did is we adjusted how many people brought the ball down the floor. Uh, we didn't just put it on our, our point guard cause they'd worry out by the end of the night.

And so somebody like Gerald Lee, who I would have at the center position at times, we'd clear the court and have him bring the ball down the floor so it would basically negate their press. So we had a lot of different things that we, we saw where it was weak, probably better than the national audience.

And when, when you would e experience the, uh, esprit de corps and the confidence and the toughness that that drill brings out in a group kind of galvanized and you could walk out of the gym, You know, eight o'clock after 20 suicide runs and go, you know, this group's got a chance to, to, to sort of go nose to nose with some guys.

And so sometimes you can even have a sense in the off season of what you have, but you're never, you, you're, you're never, uh, hardened, uh, like a good steal until you get into the fire. And so, uh, you, you'll have some, some things happen in practice. Where there's some really, you know, keen moments and you go, wow, we can really get to end to end. We can really get on the glass. Uh, geez.

We we're really developing some depth, uh, hey, this young player really has come along and we got to the point where I pretty much counted on us being a contender and a potential post-season team? for, oh geez, I wanna say, you know, eight, nine years in a row. We were, we, we were gonna be in the. You know, these playin games they have in these tournaments now, I, I'd never played in any of those playing games ever. And so we were always a, a threat then.

And, and so you, you would, you would then have that game, uh, beating Georgetown at Georgetown. You would, you would have that game, uh, you'd have that moment. You would, sometimes it was beating not a great team after having a average performance. And you'd go, you know what? We have the ability to win ugly. We have the ability to come from behind. We have the ability. And then, you know, as John Wooden used to say, you gotta be at your best when your best as needed.

Some teams look pretty good against. Bad teams look pretty good at home, but you know, when you all of a sudden see guys rise up at the right times to make shots, make plays, uh, you know, you start getting those indicators and I could usually tell by December if we were gonna get for real.

And then in January, and I always prided, if you go back and look at the record, We were really good in February, we would start climbing and then I always told the guys men win in March and there's a lot of pretenders that show up in March and go home early. But you know, I was really proud. Hit. And this is, uh, something I mentioned to you, Aaron, Mike, um, the. When I was in college in my four years, I was a starting point guard as a sophomore.

Uh, we played in the tournament championship game three of my four years. We were headed to the N NCAA twos. We had the fourth pick in the first round of the N B A draft that played in the same back court, and we lost all three of those games. And so I thought one of the things that I did, um, was I learned what kids felt and what pressure felt like and what that elite performance, the things that maybe held you back.

And, um, I, I thought that once we got in position to be good, we typically went all the way. I really pride myself in the fact that in conference championship games as a head coach, virtually won every one. Uh, we didn't, we didn't finish. Second when we got to that point, we, we went for the gold.

At Bradley, you know, really strong Missouri Valley setting in front of, I wanna say there was almost nine, 10,000 people at the game. And so we had a young team, they, they came back and, you know, went to the N twos The next couple years, that young team that run really set the stage. And one of the young players, uh, Frank Cast. Uh, was just a sophomore and I remember being in the interview room and we got behind Bradley pretty big early in the game.

And Frank was just, you know, just as genuine and easy a talker as you'd ever wanna be around. And they says, when you got behind early, he says, you didn't, did you get worried? And he, and he, and he pointed over at me and he said, well, he didn't look worried, so we weren't worried. And, uh, so it was just a young team reading their coach, reading each other and, and fighting uphill.

And then, and then they started getting very good and, uh, yeah, I guess you start doing things like when we went to the Virgin Islands and won the championship down in St. Thomas. all of a sudden you beat the likes of a Clemson and the semis and Xavier was really good back in those days. Uh, I beat them in the championship. So you do that kind of stuff, uh, you, you know, everything kind of starts to, to build and you start growing. Uh, my regret, we got good enough to be an ncaa uh, contender.

The first year we were in the NCAA two a's against Michigan State. It was the highest scoring first round game in the whole. And we pressed Michigan State. We're a head eight at half and, and we just weren't experienced enough. They had, they went to the final four that year. They had all of these guys that had been Big 10 champs for the last. Whatever, and been to postseason play and, and we had guys who had just emerged on the scene.

Now, when you flash forward, when we got to 10 and 11, we, we had the same quality of players, but we had more experience and momentum in, in, in, in playing, you know, national, uh, you know, caliber teams and, and beating prominent people. And so my one regret is we were good enough to make a long. In the NCAA tournament and just kept, you know, kinda shooting ourselves in the foot or running in really as much as anything ran into the wrong opponent.

Uh, you know, if you would think during those years, George Mason goes to the final four V C U goes to the final four. And one of the. things that I point out to people when they ask me about that, I says, well, they didn't win our league and they didn't win our tournament, and they ended up in the final four. That's how strong the CAA was at that.

We had a breakaway layup with Brandon Johnson, and he kind of nonchalant and they knocked it outta bound. So we didn't get, the lamp would've put us up seven. They turn around and had a guy hit two bombs and all of a sudden as the clock's running down, we're down one instead up seven. And, uh, narrowly got beat. So now you're playing Butler again. And, and they're good. They go to the national championship game and, but so are we.

And we've won in the NCAA two A tournament before and I think we could have, have gone farther. And the ironic thing about it is we led the nation in rebound. We were, you know, I, I have a big wooden plaque that's in the locker room somewhere over at Old Dominion that we led the nation, I mean the number one rebounding team out of 350 schools. And we have three of the best rebounders in the country with their MITs all six hands surrounding this ball.

And, and, and, and the dude comes from the top of the key that can hardly touch the rim, and his hand sticks up between all these hands and just deins the ball with 0.2 seconds to go. And as a kid, you watch all of. March Madness videos and the, the, we are the champions and all this stuff. And you imagine you being in one of those magic moments, you don't imagine it being against you. And they, I got, I, I watched that thing way too many times by surprise.

When people would play that, that, that, and, and that was heartbreaker. That, that was really hard on me. I mean, there was some, when I. You know, going in a spiral, the wrong direction in life. That sure didn't help my, my side. Yeah. So that was a tough one. And I, and I think it, it's amazing how many people remember that because, uh, there's always these great moments in your program's history, but there's pivotal moments and some of them are the heartbreaking moments.

And I remember being in the post, uh, game interview room and Virginia Tech was clamoring for an at-large bid, clamoring for an at-large bid. And, and that's when I had the statement. I says, you know, Virginia Tech is just, you know, big hat, no horse. I mean, oh, I'm tired of listening to them. I said, that team that we just beat out there in the championship game, I think if they got a bid, They could win games.

Lo and behold, they get, you know, that's when the field went to 68 and they got in that play in game and beat u usc. And so, uh, we had their number. Um, we, you know, we, I, if we played 'em again, I'd bet my bottom dollar that, that, that we'd have been able to go forward again. But, uh, you have to take your hat off. They, they, they played the bracket the way it came to them, and, and they made the most out of.

And we were good with, we had like four different zones we could run and we were big as all get out. We were one of the biggest teams in the country and so they struggled cuz they had to come to us at some point and everybody in the big East just played their game. We made them come and play a different game than they were accustomed to.

But the process of the game, you know, we played a good back and forth game, but Luke Herron Gutti did not score until he put the, the, the basket in with two seconds to go. Uh, and you know, he was a big east player of the year, but the, the, the thing that I remember is, is we were up three, they had the ball. A lot of people will foul in the last seconds these days.

And a lot of the international coaches that I've been with think were crazy in the United States cause we don't foul enough late in the game. And so the guys came over and I turned to my assistants and I says, we could foul, but we've never practiced it. We always had so much pride in our defense that we're gonna stop you.

So I walked into the huddle and I said to the guys I. You know, there's some people that would foul in this circumstance cuz I was one of the kids empowered to be a part of the decisions when they were really big. And I says, we could foul. And they all just screamed back at me, we're gonna stop 'em. I said, all right. So we go out there and, and they shot a three pointer out of the left corner that just ringed around and Aaron Gutti put it back in, in the buzzer blue and we ran off.

So, Uh, a great memory and, and the thing that was interesting about it, It was Notre Dame at, and it was St. Patty's Day, uh, right about then down. And, and I still think there's some, some of those, uh, Notre Dame fans wandering around down there on Bourbon Street,

And do you think that we won't really see that type of stuff as much anymore in the college game?

Stu Mor. So I, the people I'd been around are Hall of Fame type dudes, people that are won national championship. So, so, but a lot of red shirting, a lot of player development. A lot of patience of, of kids getting better. Um, and we really benefited from the loyalty the kids had. We did not lose a lot of kids. I did not take, uh, transfers. If you go back and look at, at, at the 12 years, that wasn't our roster.

Um, and I think it, it really, one of the things is we were the number one family activity in Hampton Roads. The constant center and, and, and the little kids and the families and the businesses and, you know, people really connected with, with the teams. And, uh, part of that was the continuity, uh, getting to know the kids. Ken Baysmore, uh, five years, two degrees. I don't know if he's, you know, in the N B A for 13 years, if he doesn't have all of that experie.

Frank, I don't know if he gets as good, if he had bounced around at two or three different schools. Uh, but uh, in, in today's world it is different and you see a lot of people, um, Oh, you, you'd look at Bob McKillip stepping away at Davidson. You'd look at, uh, Jay stepping away at Villanova and, and, and, and you see some guys that just say, you know, I just don't know if I want to deal with all that you're dealing with today.

Uh, if I had to deal with it today, I would, you know, winning Rome doers or Romans do, and, you know, I'd be the best Roman in town. I'd adapt. Uh, so I, I think that's what you have to do. But it is a different mission statement and, and it's hard for your fans to identify. Kids coming and going. Uh, academically it can't make a lot of sense. Uh, and I, I think there's some kids that maybe benefit from it, but they're in the minority.

There's way too many kids that are thinking the, I used to say the grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence, but you still gotta mow it, So it, it is a different time we live in now and I think. Uh, it, it, it, it's harder. Uh, I have some guys that I worked with and stuff that are dealing with it, and, and they're winning, uh, and they're putting teams together, but it's in a different fashion than what we were accustomed to, you know, 10, 15 years ago.

And he says, Well, I don't, you know, I didn't come here to go to school. I came here to play basketball. I don't even care about school, you know, and, and everybody, there was a, you know, I got the president and the ad and I got the dean of a bunch of different schools there, and I'm like, oh, no. And, and, and, and we're walking out of there and he says, Isaiah says me. He says, my mom's gonna kill me. I can't believe I said that. And, and now he has a master's.

He has two degrees from Old Dominion. You know, he grew up. And so those kinds of stories aren't quite as prevalent today. Uh, and, and that's kind of a shame, uh, but doesn't mean you can't get from here to there. Uh, there's a lot of good stories that go with baby people getting their footing at a, you know, fresh start. And, uh, so I, you know, I don't want to cast too much judgment on everything that's going on today, but, uh, you, you certainly have to.

If you could pick one of those teams that you took to the tournament and go in a time machine and let's say, let's do it all over again, but let's win this time. Who are you picking?

And each of those groups can arguably say that they're as good as any team in the history of the school. Now, there's other teams that would argue, and I'm not saying they are, but arguably either of those groups is the one advantage that the 10 11 group had was the experience of the people that had come before them and they did win back to back. And so you kind of have to take your hat. To, to that bunch.

The also, the thing that that group had was back to back players of the year in the tournament. You know, one year Gerald Lee, one year Frank Cael, and you know, even as, as much as I love Kent Baysmore and he plays 13 years in the N B A. There was many nights that he was just one of our top four players. He wasn't, he wasn't just the spotlight guy. We had, we had, you know, Ben Finney was, is is tough a rebounder and defenders you'd ever wanna be around. And we had really good bench players.

We had really good size. And so that group, it was very um, Uh, significant in the fact they went back to back at a time when the league was multiple bids. And, and so those two groups, I I, I'd be splitting hairs to say, I think one would beat the other. Can you imagine, you know, loud and playing head to head with Gerald Lee? Wouldn't that be something, you know, can you, can you imagine.

I mean, there, there there'd be, there'd be some interesting stuff going on in a game between those two bunches. And, and yet there's a camaraderie there that, uh, they, they, there's a love that we all kinda share a bond of, of, you know, making Old Dominion that used Old Dominion used to be script, the President would only let you put Old Dominion in script on a shirt, and, and we made O D U A brand.

And I, and he said, coach, you know, I'm, and I says, Hey man, if I can be hard on the toughest guy on the team, just imagine what's gonna happen with this team. And so he now, now Drew Williamson. Was extremely tough minded as a point guard, you know, the, the, as a freshman, he goes to the, the tournament and plays three games without a turnover.

Imagine a point guard in our system flying up and down the floor, running sets, getting the ball to the right guys at the right time and not turning the ball over. He had won three state championships in North Carolina, two in football, one in basket. There was a certain T Mental toughness Ben Finn. And then, then there was, uh, Val Basilus, uh, his name pops up in my mind. He just was rugged. I remember we were on a tour to London and we played like four games over there.

And at the end of every game, all these pros and all these guys, you know, from all over Europe that were playing in London, they all wanted to fight him by the time they got to the end of the game. And he's just looking at him with this quizzical look like, what? This is just how I play. I don't know. What's the problem with you guys? And, and, and he just was rugged. You know, he just was flipping and flopping around and flailing. And, uh, so those are three guys that come to mind.

But when you're as good as, as we were, uh, we had a kid by the name of John Morris who did not get a lot of publicity, but he was as hard of mine. I, I recruited him, specif. Because I wanted a guy who would fight you every day in practice and hold everybody on the team accountable. And so I went up to Little Trinity High School, they had shamrocks on their uniform up in Pennsylvania. And I said, that little red-headed Irishman is the guy I need.

And he would come in there and if you weren't ready to play, he'd nail you. And uh, so when you talk, there's some different types of toughness that kinda stirs the.

I, I think all of it makes you a formidable opponent. For instance, we could go huge. We could play Gerald Lee at the three. I could have him play some point guard once in a while. He's six. I could play three point guards together and we did with Drew Williamson, Isaiah Hunter, and Brandon Johnson. And we could go really small and just cut you up. And so I, it's not as if we just went small, just went big, just played through the post, just shot threes.

I, I thought we were multi-dimensional and I thought that's why we could play in a tournament three straight days against different teams. And not have to like reinvent the wheel every day. Our system could handle whatever came at us, especially late in the year. We'd pretty much seen most everything. And I would go, you know, you talked about V C U earlier. Um, I would go, uh, search out, uh, a team or two that pressed in the non-conference.

I wanted us to go play like, uh, Mike Anderson, who was at Arkansas. Uh, you know, we, when, when he was at Missouri, I wanted to go play those kind of guys. Uh, you know, the, they, they used to call it 40 minutes of hell. Uh, you know, I wanted to go play those kind of guys to prepare us for league and then for whatever we might see down the line. So, uh, I think my days of big guys, um, I had an all league big guy for like 20 some years now.

It doesn't mean that we just threw the ball to him and everybody just stood and watched him, but, but that we could play through them. We could put, we could break down the defense with interior touches. Right now everybody's trying to get the ball to the interior off the dribble. We could get it to the interior and break down the defense off of the dribble or the pass.

And so I thought that made us more, more, uh, multi-dimensional and, and also a little more effective against, uh, different, uh, zones, different trapping scenarios. So yeah, we could come in behind you with some bulk and dunk the ball and rebound it and put it back and all that kinda.

So kind of getting back to the NCAA tournament vibe at the, let's say at the G five level, do you think it's important for a team to have a bit of a different look that those P five teams are gonna come across that they're not quite so used to seeing or playing against those styles to be successful in, um, to make a run in the.

And, and I thought that particular year that I'm watching people play b C U and I'm shaking my head like, you know, that guy is not a bad coach. He's not stupid, but they are absolutely playing B C U. Ass backwards. And they did it over and over and, and, and I even ran into shock later on. He said, can you believe how those guys played us? You know? And that guy's the big 10 coach of the year, you know, that guy's the big 12 coach of the year.

I mean, you know, so they, they just didn't know what they were getting into and shock at that time. He hasn't even been able to replicate exactly that style at Texas or Marquette. Now he's doing really well at Marquette now and I'm happy for him. Uh, but, uh, that, that was really unique at the time.

Now, what they d didn't, what you don't realize is what they were doing with the press is one thing that caught everybody off guard cuz they're flying around and he really couldn't get the high priced recruits to do, to play as hard as those kids.

But they had a five man who got a hot hand and they all of a sudden had their center that they were rolling up to the top of the key and shooting three pointers, and that as much as the press opened the court up and all of a sudden teams were being pressed and they're behind. you know, they, they played from in front of people with a lot of, you know, no pun intended, a lot of shock value. They a lot of shock value.

They, they, they, they got in front of people and people are like, well, wait a second. And they're still pressing us. See, people pressed behind and they're still shooting threes. Well, it's, it's what they did. It wasn't like, Hey, we're just trying to surprise you in league. They finished fourth in. And to be honest with you, they were calling for shock's head before the. uh, conference tournament. I remember Shakka goes in and he burns the, uh, sta sheet for his kids.

Like, okay, this is over. And somehow they miraculously got to the championship game and then they really, you know, cut a rug. So that's what can happen. I, I think that what you don't want here, here's what I think is, is kind of bated with. Everybody wants to be that sixth or eighth or ninth, 11th seed that has the miracle. You know, run. And, and I don't think that that's what you should try to do in November, December, January, February.

I, I want to get in, I want to contend for a regular season championship and, and have, I mean, I have 11 championship rings from my years, uh, coaching and uh, you know, I think to get good, you need to get good all year, not just try to be a one weekend wonder.

I always sought out good, strong tournaments. I, I, I sought out good pressure packed games. I think competing for a regular season championship puts pressure on you. You know, there's these teams that are playing for seventh, eighth, and ninth, and sixth and fifth, and they're, you know, they're, they're, they're not playing for all the marbles, so they're playing pretty loose when you're playing for first and second. You know, all year long there's pressure and I think all of that steals you.

It, it guards you for the challenge. And then, you know, the experience and continuity of like when we won the, uh, the, the tournament down in the Virgin Islands, uh, that's the kind of tournament that you wanna go down and win and say, Hey. That three straight days, you gotta beat Power five teams. That's what it's gonna be like in the, uh, in the NCAAs. So how do you get ready for it? You don't have any holes in your armor. You don't wanna be pressed vulnerable.

You don't wanna be zoned vulnerable. You wanna be able to run, you want you, you've gotta be able to have a catch up offense if you get behind. You don't have to run and shoot all the time. You gotta be able to get the ball down the floor and, and, and utilize the clock. you gotta be able to make free throws. You gotta be able to shoot threes. If it's demanded. You gotta be able to bang in the paint. You gotta be able to out rebound people.

So, you know, the, the way to do that is to not have any holes in your armor. And, and I thought that when our teams got there, I slept at night knowing, Hey, when, when our guys show up, they'll leave with no regrets. And no matter what the other team does, we'll have a.

and, and you just can't take it, take that away from you. And, you know, I've won championships here and there at other schools and at Stanford, Montana, and at, at uc, Irvine. But it was really special to come here because when I came, the Constant Center was being built. The, the, the everything was at a low web and the constant, Change the school. I don't believe we would've started football if that hadn't been a success.

Uh, and it just changed the presentation of the school to the community, to the region, uh, to the country. And so to look down and, and, and see that, uh, that, that, that's, that's just a great memory. There's a picture in my office actually that was given to me of, of the very first champ. Uh, of, uh, of, uh, uh, up on a ladder with the, the, uh, ca logo in the back. And, and, uh, that's a great memory actually. I, I walked into the copy machine.

I work at the foundation, of course, and I walk into the copy machine, and of course, I'm not exactly the IT guy around there, and I look above the copy machine and there is a picture of Kaya Thomas kissing a trophy in the, in, in the colo. And I go, I've never seen that picture in my life. And, and that's on the wall there in the foundation and, and I'm gonna steal it and put it in my office one of these days. So this is, you know, if it comes missing, they know where it went.

And so, uh, when I was the head coach at Montana, I, I, I kinda watched all the, the way this, the, the athletic department and the media and the fundraising. No, I was very involved. Uh, we were in seven, I mean, I had my own television show that I owned through L L C, that was in 17 markets. Uh, and then when I went to Stanford, I learned a lot about philanthropy. And when I came told Dominion, We endowed the whole men's basketball program for the most part.

And so I'd always had an eye on things besides the. And so when it came time after the pandemic, I went and got a, a ankle replaced and I went and kinda laid up in Vegas for a year, kinda waiting to see what was going to go on with the pandemic. Uh, I had a chance to go to Chicago. A head hunter had called me and I was gonna go to DePaul perhaps. And then I was invited to, to, by the vice chancellor at at, at Irvine to consider coming back there.

And, and then, then, then out of the blue, this thing came and, and what a blessing. Uh, I am reminded every day when I just run into people. Uh, I had dinner last night with some fans, uh, Ben and Jackie Richs, for instance. I had dinner with them down at Freemason Abbey. Great fans, great memories. And, you know, uh, it's just the kind of thing that just warms your heart that you get a chance to come back and, and, and I never would've saw those people again.

I never would've rekindled or renewed all those relationships and all those memories. So for me, I'm getting way more out of it than I'm, than I'm giving. I can tell you that it's, uh, and, and so the foundation I worked hand in hand with Ed Frame Mark Bens. Alonzo Brandon was there, Jenna Virga came on at one time, but I worked for Jenna in Wood Sea League and I worked with a great group of people and I'm just, I'm just loving it. I'm enjoying it. I'm enjoying the ODU setting.

Uh, it's, it's got a, you gotta, I've always liked being on college campuses cuz it keeps you young. and, and, and I, there's a youthful element and so I always have this saying when, when I went, people say, I said, you know, you're growing old when your regrets replace your dreams.

I still have dreams and, and this has been a dream come true to come back here and, Hey, I've got a fiance and I'm engaged to be married and you know, I'm, I'm 60 some years young and uh, you know, I got a lot of life ahead.