RUSH: Margie in Ocala, Florida. Hi, Margie, welcome to the EIB Network.
CALLER: Hi, Professor Rush.
RUSH: Hey!
CALLER: It’s just an honor to talk to you. I just had to persevere and just call and thank you for such an inspirational program that you had recently, when you interviewed Jim Nantz. It just confirmed why I’ve listened to you for the last 17 years and why you’ve been my lunch date (laughs) all this time. I’ve probably had lunch with you more than my husband. (laughs)
RUSH: Well, I’ve had lunch with you more than anybody else, too, in the last 20 years because I don’t have lunch.
CALLER: (laughing) Oh, well, there you go.
RUSH: Anyway, you’re very kind. You know, that was a great hour. I didn’t intend for Jim to be on that long. It was last Friday.
CALLER: Yes.
RUSH: I didn’t intend to talk to him for an hour. We talked about it, it just flowed, and at the end of every segment I asked him if he could stay. But it’s a great, great book. It’s all about family values that were instilled in him by his father and his mother. It’s called Always By My Side. He’s got some fabulous stories about the people he’s met in his life. When he was six years old, he wanted to be an announcer for CBS Sports, and he is.
CALLER: Mmmn.
RUSH: It’s a book about how dreams can come true and how you prepare for them and luck equaling preparation meeting opportunity, and so forth. I’m glad you enjoyed it.
CALLER: I really did. I’m not much of a sports fanatic, but I think there’s more in that book probably than just sports, and I’ve even read some excerpts online, and it’s just great.
RUSH: It’s not a book about sports.
CALLER: No.
RUSH: And Jim doesn’t look at sports that way. He said this Friday. It’s life lessons.
CALLER: Yes.
RUSH: It’s about how to deal with setbacks and victories and moving forward and learning from the people who are the best at what they do. He’s had the opportunity. He’s kind of like me. One of the great things I’ve enjoyed about my success is the people I’ve been able to meet, who are the best at what they do. Well, in his case those include presidents and members of various sports communities from athletes to announcers and so forth. But it is a great read. It’s very inspirational and I’m glad you liked the interview. You should get it!
CALLER: Yes, I’m thinking about getting it for my dad. Again, he’s not a big sports guy, but I think he would enjoy what he has to say about his father. It was just… To me what was so exceptional is how he honored his father, the stories that he had to say. I mean, those aren’t really themes that are really out in our culture right now, and to me it just brought… You know, it’s something I can identify with and having a father that really raised my sister and I to be strong.
RUSH: Yeah. You know, this is exactly what I say about the people who make the country work.
CALLER: Yes.
RUSH: You say that such father-son relationships are not out there in the culture. They may not be in the culture, but they’re happening.
CALLER: Yes.
RUSH: It’s just the pop culture media is not reporting it because it’s boring.
CALLER: Yes.
RUSH: You know, the days of Ward and June Cleaver and the Donna Reed Show, people watch those things and laugh now at how silly they were; but people still raise their kids that way, the vast majority of people do, and that’s what’s good about this book. Here’s a very public figure explaining he’s no different than anybody else in how he was raised. So I’m really glad you enjoyed it, Margie, and I’m glad you called to talk about it. If you’re just joining us, we’re talking about Jim Nantz’s book Always By My Side. When he was on the program on Friday, it was at like 485 on Barnes & Noble; and when I got off the plane in Los Angeles on Friday night, I had an e-mail from Jim. I think it had moved to number 15 and then over the Saturday moved to 14. I think he’s just now starting to do his regular tour of interviews on various programs. But we wish him the best. I would hope — and I told him. I said, ‘It is a perfect Father’s Day book,’ and that’s coming up in June. ‘The timing here is perfect for you to end up very high in the New York Times list, perhaps even number one.’ I’m not making any guarantees here, Jim, but yours is a book that deserves it.