you are putting this layer of yourself out into and this energy in the world. You have to be ok with whatever comes back good or bad. You’ve given this and holy crap it’s giving me anxiety and Lainie is like why? That was always my response to my friends too because they were putting out something good – but you’re putting this part of yourself out there and above all, I know it’s relatable and vulnerable. I think it will sing and I think that a lot of people will see themselves in that. I discuss things like the primal sorrow of losing my mom when I was barely an adult. She had breast cancer and died when she was 47 years old. My sister turns 47 in Feb so, Stacy and I go back and forth about what that’s like. Because when you’re 21 you don’t realize how young 47 is. When you’re 43, you think that she hadn’t even gotten started yet. I’d give anything – anything to be able to show her. She would be tickled and the coolest grandmother to these little people that we have running around. My son has Tourette and so there is a lot that comes with Tourette. His tics, how people react to that. He’s used to people staring at him. Middle School is hard, he’s only recently gotten to a place where other kids sometimes aren’t nice. My mother, back to that innate grace, I never met anybody that was more Godly than my mom. She raised a lot of kids and I only have one sibling. She raised a lot of kids. I had a lot of buddies and she was there momma too. I wish she was here to see all of this and to be that for my kids. I go all the way into that primal sorrow. I write it in that way that’s really really raw. It’s a hell of a thing and I hope that people feel themselves in it. There’s a football coach that I have become very close with, Barry Odom – head coach of Missouri – Missouri Tigers. He wrote me the nicest text the other day. The 4th chapter of the book is about one of the most impactful people in my life. There is a Special Olympics athlete that I chroniled in '15,
her name was Olivia Quigley. It’s all in there – why she was so important to me and Barry read the chapter. I sent him an advanced copy. He was like, “dude – I knew you were pretty cool on TV, but this is what you need to be doing. It’s changing lives.” That was very cool for him to say. AM: How long did it take for your to put the book together? MS: I started almost immediately when I met with Twelve last May. My deadline was Jan. 15th and I was very naïve about the time – really naïve. I wrote a lot of it in Ocean City Coffee. I would get up before dawn every morning when we were here last summer. I rode my bike down there and wrote until about 9:30am morning and then came back. Then, I thought I didn’t have to worry about being a present father or husband on airplanes and hotel rooms. But when you have covered a college football weekend, the last thing that you want to do is go to your hotel room and write! You just want a cold one and to laugh with your buddies a little bit, eat a meal and get on the pillow. I somehow managed to do it. That last week, I still had quite a bit to write. I came home from the National Championship in Santa Clara, California – immediately packed a bag, flew to NYC and spent 5 days holed up in the publisher’s office pounding on those keys. I’m not kidding ya, 5:30 on Jan 15th was when I needed to have that thing in and it was 5:30 on Jan 15th when I said, I don’t know if it’s done, hope it is - but here it’s yours. AM: How did it make you feel when Eric Church wrote your forward as he’s your best friend. MS: He’s my best friend. I was here – he called me about something else and he needed my opinion and perspective. We probably talked about it for 90 minutes. You get Eric Church on 90 seconds it's a miracle - we were on
