Olivia Harlan Dekker, Part 2: Humble Enough To Prepare, Confident Enough To Perform

Olivia Harlan Dekker Interview Part II.

00:17

Welcome to the bog dogs podcast. I'm Herschel Gurley here as always with my co host boss, dog boss market people. Welcome back, everyone. hope

00:24

you all enjoyed part one of Herschel's interview with Olivia Harlan Dekker. Today we're going to have Part Two for y'all.

00:30

Yeah, part two coming up. So Olivia is gonna tell us more about her professional journey. Amongst other things. She can talk about some cool opportunities. She's She's had not just from a broadcasting perspective, but other things, as well. And she's going to answer the smart 16 for us, which we always love. So make sure y'all go and follow her on Instagram at Olivia Harlan Dekker, and also on Twitter at twitter, just at Olivia Dekker. So at Olivia Harlan Dekker, on Instagram and at Olivia Dekker, on Twitter. We had a great chat with her. And we're looking forward to y'all hearing it. So without further ado, here's part two of our chat with UGA grad Olivia Harlan Dekker. So I read somewhere and tell me if I'm wrong about this. Or I misread this that I read that when you cover games, you send thank you notes to the head coach and the assistant coaches after the game.

01:23

I do unless they were a total jerk.

01:28

The reason I asked that is because I have a theory is something we're trying to teach our kids. And that's if you are willing to work hard. But at the same time you live in a space in a mindset of gratitude. That's a really lethal combination, a combination that's going to take you a long ways. And your story seems to mimic that the way you've kind of handled things. I've heard you say it multiple times when we've been speaking to people that you're thankful for and you attribute things to and I just think that's something that should be highlighted. And there's a reason that your career has advanced the way it has. So I don't think that's a mistake. It was like a throwaway line in the article. Right. But I thought it was like a really interesting thing, because it's kind of mimicking what my wife and I are trying to teach our kids now. So it's just awesome to see that as an example. I mean, have you found that to be true as you've continued to progress in your career?

02:22

Absolutely. And there's one thing and I definitely get that from my dad and Grandpa, who are always like the most humble worker. And I think, yeah, those two words kind of sum up what you've talked about. And I know I did not get here alone. And I know it was I How many times have I also referenced like, Lucky like, just lucky like it wouldn't be repeatable it. There's no way I could have concocted this plan. And, and I that is not beyond me. I wake up every day grateful for that. And there's a quote my dad just brought up and I don't know if it was, oh, he's a famous actor who's in Gone with the Wind, I think or he was married to Vivian Lee or, or someone, it'll come to me but his quote is, be confident enough to perform, be humble enough to prepare.

03:09

That's awesome.

03:10

I don't care what you're what you're doing you you should have this kind of swagger and confidence to pull it off, be confident enough to pull it off. humble enough to prepare. I just think a lot of times you see people climb, climb, climb, climb, but and I think a lot of times you are like, kind of feeling yourself. And that applies to so many professions. And then you stop doing what got you there. That's and I use that with my husband all the time. You know what, what got you your college scholarship, do that. What got you drafted in the first round do that, you know, it's it's Don't forget what got you there and never get comfortable with where you are ever. And I think also constantly looking at what else you want, in an ambitious way. Not like I'm never satisfied to like get away because you've got to be satisfied where you are too, because life's too short. And you can't spend it all wishing away and wishing for the next best thing, but but also to say, well, one day, I'd love to do that one day. I'd love that opportunity. Well, I'm going to work hard to get there.

04:10

I do want to touch on this. Because you've I mean, in a lot of ways you've had a meteoric rise, right? And the outside world may look at that and say, Oh, well, you know Olivia's a, she's an overnight success story. And I think that's a product of you know, you talked about you talked about the phones earlier, right? We're social media generation, we are an instant gratification. You know, my wife and I always talk it's, it's the, it's the microwave generation, right? You want things right now, but success is a slow cooker. And your story mimics that right? Like there's so much work in that story. And then it leads to kind of the climb that you're making and and you've continued to go So talk a little bit about where you are now with your career and kind of what what the highs and lows are of that whether it be the travel cover In the different conferences you know and all those type things and in that please speak to get into do the Monday night game with your dad and be the first father daughter combination on on a broadcast. I think that's such a cool thing. Yeah,

05:12

that was a career highlight for sure. For me, I know there's no two football seasons ago and ironically, it was San Francisco at Green Bay, which again, like they just had to pick a date on the schedule that it worked cuz my dad does every Monday night game and they had a spot they could plug a reporter on. So again, it was not going to be the Packers it could have been any other week of that NFL season and so you just got to think okay, how did that work out it's very Kismet rose so incredible for my family and I don't care what else I do in my career that game I think will always be an absolute hi and just such an honor and I just like I've said I revere my dad's so much and to do a game with him was about as special as it can get for me. And I think he feels the same because what a full circle moment have your kid broadcasting with you but and the Packers won that game by the way on a go ahead field goals that just made it all the person not that you remember put up the next year that they would ultimately lose to San Francisco to go to the Super Bowl was also I mean, it's just there's so much there. That was huge. And sorry, the first part of your question,

06:19

so you know, you're covering a lot of stuff now you're doing college stuff, you're doing pro stuff, you're doing college basketball, what are kind of the the peaks and valleys of that. What are your favorite parts? What are the most challenging parts?

06:30

I just want to make sure every year that there's some new layer added I you know, the is it john madden, he said, if you're not getting better, you're getting worse, I think goes down. I'm a big quote person. I love quotes.

06:41

Yeah, that's great for us to

06:44

like you guys are raising your kids with all the right principles. That's awesome to hear. But yeah, I like to add a new layer a new fold into every year. So adding on NFL was just the last two seasons. For me this year, it was adding in hosting, which I did with big 10 network for the first time in studio and then on site and that point that so open my eyes, that is a tough job. So I've been doing sideline reporting, which has its intricacies and its challenges and I can speak on that all day. But this was like putting on a different like putting it in a different brain. It's such a tall task and now i i will never watch SportsCenter the same I will never watch Laura Rutledge on sec nation the same that is so hard. And to the point I I'll never forget we are in studio my first day with big 10 network. I done sideline reporting for their games, but they wanted to let me try some studio. This was just a couple weeks ago. And we're doing halftime reads and highlight sheets. And you know, I had to send it back to the announcers on site. And I remember thinking like, Oh my gosh, I wish I was sending it back to myself at the game. I miss the smell of popcorn and the word sweat and being there and doing what I know. And what I know is sideline reporting. It's halftime reports, it's it's injury updates, it's interviews. I love interviewing the coach, it's amazing. It's so fun. And to have that taken away and not doing a whole new skill set. Like I was so outside of my comfort zone. And I remember like, I hadn't felt that way and years. And it's a great reminder. And it's a great challenge. And you should be constantly challenged. And another quote I love if it doesn't scare you a little bit. It's not hard enough. And this really scared me. And then I had a whole week of doing that the big 10 women's tournament. Just got to that now I feel like you said it feels like a year ago, I think it was just half ago. And that I just got to wrap it out. I got it. You know, we had four games a day for four days. And so it's just constant hits and in and out of breaks and managing traffic like control cop and hearing a producer do a countdown in your ear, but you're also trying to get this redone and like so I got to wrap it out. And now I left that tournament being like I think I really like coasting, whereas a week before I was like near tears being like, Oh my gosh, just let me get back to what I know. And I think to answer your question, what's next for me I'd love to do more hosting I think I always want to be a sideline reporter first and foremost, because I'm a gamer. I like I like the game I like there's a start and finished I like that there's a clock I like that. I like everything I know about being the person who gets to witness and you never know when it's gonna happen. It can be a week one seven overtime, which now doesn't happen anymore, but that Texas a&m LSU game a couple years ago, overtime you never know what game it's going to be. That's going to be historic in some way or that like the game to attack a fella got hurt in I can't remember who they were playing now to it but it was it was not a big sec opponent

09:54

now Oh gosh, who was it? I just I just remember seeing it. The first thing first thing I thought of was going, oh god, I hope he's not hurt really bad, right?

10:09

third night game or something it was an Alabama would have played Thursday. But I remember Molly McGrath was on the game. And I remember it was

10:17

it was the noon game.

10:18

That's right. And it wasn't a very sexy opponent. And on paper, it didn't look like a good game that ended up being all we talked about for months and months a month still are. And here, we can't even think of who it was against. Right. So you never know what assignment is going to be the assignment. I love that about being a game reporter too long, long answer again, to your question, I want to constantly add a layer, I want to add tools to my tool belt, I want to be as versatile as possible prepared as possible. I want to rip out different things. That being said, I have no interest in doing play by play. I mess that all the time. You know, women are getting into play by play now. Like it's this newfangled thing, like wearing pants. What do you think? And to me, it doesn't make me more involved or more important to the broadcast. I think people think, you know, sideline reporters lowest level and then your animals and play by play the most important parts of the broadcast. To me, I don't see it that way. I see it as a three man booth. I think all three of our jobs are so different, you know, and we can't do each other's job. And I think play by play there's such an art to it. And I think sighs I don't know Porter. There's a whole different art to it. So, you know, I don't aspire to be play by play because that's not my job. And to me, it's no better than what I'm doing. It's no, it's just different. So my aspirations are to get better at what I do now and and kind of adding in that hosting. So I hope in the next couple years, you see me hosting more thing.

11:48

Yeah, I have a quick question. I want to ask you something about the Westwood One work you do because it's you're doing radio work. And I have a soft spot in my heart for radio, my dad and I used to travel to see my brother play college baseball, be played across the states, we'd have to drive about six hours. And so NFL football we would have to listen to on Sundays on the radio coming back home. And the Redskins at the time had Frank Herzog and Sonny Jurgensen and Sam huff and Frank Herzog has its iconic voice and iconic calls. And you could sit there for three hours together and absorb this game. And you're not really saying anything, but yet you have this shared experience together, because I think the radio is such a different medium. and such. It's almost more of an art. I feel like because there aren't pictures to assist you. You're doing all the work. I mean, you You're the artist and the canvas, right? I mean, you're all of it. Can you kind of speak to that about how that experience is different from when you're on live TV or doing studio hosting or things like that?

12:42

Well, if you ask anyone in the business who does both 100% of the time, they're going to tell you they prefer radio, and here's why. You have less business to fill. So a game on TV, there's truly a stack of cards that the play by play guy has to read and welcome back to the bla bla bla presented by Speedway but why you know, it's like it there are a million of those. There's a lot of business to get in and less of the game radio. It's like all game plus a couple sponsored read to keep the lights on it. But it's like you are serving the viewer you are serving the kid and his dad and their car driving across the state who are not able to be in front of the TV and watch the game. So you have to explain to them. They're driving left to right. Aaron Rodgers is messing with his shoulder pad. Aaron Rodgers is looking down at his right guard getting the call from the center. And you're just you're sitting there and yes, I know what this is supposed to look like. And you know my dad's done radio for years and years and years he just did his 11th Super Bowl and it also broadcast to our troops overseas and I know we take pride in that of these guys who aren't super bowl but cheering on their Kansas City Chiefs and the Super Bowl from Iraq and I mean that's that's a whole nother layer is your it's a different audience. It's truck driver. If you drive cross country it's inlays on road trips it's so yeah, there's there's a lot of pride in that. And then from a sideline reporters perspective, I love doing games on radio because I'm not only saying you know Aaron Rodgers went over and talked to his receiving corps about blah blah blah because a camera would be on them as I'm saying that report if it were TV in radio I'm saying Aaron Rodgers went and he picked up so and so by their right shoulder pad and and you could see the spit coming out of his mouth as he was vehemently reprimanding them on bubble. You know, like what a more beautiful opportunity to have. So yes, I am a I'm a big fan of doing radio. It is such a fun way to call a game and it's like you said there's there's so much art to it. So I really like doing that.

14:51

Yeah, my favorite and I'm sure a ton of them do it. But I can I mean I can still hear Frank Herzog going to Redskins are going left to right on your radio dial and that's like, it's just such an Different, like medium, you know? So yeah, just just a cool thing. Well, I'm gonna ask you one more question before we do our smart 16 because you had been more than generous with your time. But I can't have you on and not ask you about singing the national anthem number one, because it was awesome.

15:13

Thank you.

15:15

Yeah, I mean, like, you could sing the phone book. I mean, that's, it's awesome. So how did that come about? and How cool was it that it was, you know, at Wisconsin at your husband's alma mater? Like, just so many neat layers that you talk about that a little bit?

15:29

Oh, well, it goes with kind of what I was saying earlier about doing something that scares you a little bit. I've always been a singer. I've always been in the church choir, the school choir, musicals. I've started musicals in high school, meaning, you know, you're the female leads, you have your scene onstage by yourself, usually dancing and doing something goofy that comes with a musical. So I've never been scared of performing. Singing the anthem is as intimidating a song as you can. First of all, we all think we know the words, right? Well, it wasn't until I really started practicing every once in a while I'd like mix up or for whatever. I was like, Oh, my gosh, I would get annihilated if I'm mess up the worst of the anthem. So it's just an intimidating song. And everyone has done it every type of way. And so you just have to really think, how do I want to sing this song. And for me, I wanted to sing this song. with who I didn't want to be too long. No one likes along and everyone's like, someone who worked in sports. I know that more than anyone. It's kind of like, I pick it up. We got it. You can see we got it. But I also wanted to make it thoughtful. I wanted to sing a thoughtful anthem. So that's kind of what I was trying to get out. And I was doing the game for big 10 network. It was Illinois at Wisconsin. And I knew that if I accepted singing the anthem, which they brought up, it was kind of a fun opportunity. And I was like, okay, and my thought for 2020 has been to say yes, to take on challenges and to do things that scare me. And so I've been doing that this year. And that really that was February. That pretty much kicked it off for me. And I was so my hands were so sweaty. And I would read it and form and then run to the side where my cameraman and like, man, we're waiting to do my open hit. You know, that day I had to go to shoot around like normal. I had to talk with both coaches like normal who were just like giving me hell about it. They're like you're releasing an anthem tonight. I was like, yeah, so if you win, you know, why are ours it's a lot of fun. So you're very nice. Ask about that. I would love to do it again. Now that I got one under my belt because it is not for the faint of heart. It was it was very scary. But it was such a privilege to sing our nation's anthem.

17:45

Yeah, it was awesome. That's a talent that I would kill to have is to be able to sing my wife my wife probably gets so sick of me singing in the car, but I you know, if you let if you love music to have that instrument is just a fantastic thing. So well. Like I said, you have been more than generous with your time with us. And this is how we close all our interviews. In honor of coach smart we do the smart 16 and even though you're a journalist, you're a UGA grad first so we're gonna make you do it as a UGA grad. How do you feel about that?

18:11

Good. I just got to work in remote wherever my time and

18:17

I don't think

18:19

you'll be good. So the first question is, what's your middle name? Amen. Okay, and who is your favorite dog of all time?

18:27

My.

18:31

My favorite dog. I love Todd Gurley so much. I've gotten to know him personally over the years. I think he's such a great guy. And it's so fun to watch him succeed at the next level.

18:41

What is your favorite game

18:43

my first year covering the SEC championship for Westwood One was Georgia beating Auburn. And was oh my gosh, that's a great game come from behind. didn't look likely. And then when that red and black confetti falls in the Superdome. And I'm interviewing players post game coach post game holding a Westwood One mic flag. I it was such a pinch me moment because I was not far removed in the last time before that Georgia had been in the SEC championship. I was a student so is so full circle.

19:15

Oh, that's really cool. How about your favorite rivalry that Georgia has?

19:19

I guess the Auburn one is such a good one because so many kids from Atlanta go to Auburn or Georgia It feels like so that rivalry always seems more personal than like Alabama that hasn't been much of a rivalry over the years. I think that Auburn Georgia rivalry might be my favorite.

19:36

What is your favorite away Stadium in the Southeastern Conference?

19:40

LSU LSU on a Saturday night, there's no place in the world like it.

19:44

We had Dr. Stan Beecham on who was the first ever person to wear the hairy dog costume. And he he also answered Death Valley and he said it's like you combine Mardi Gras and a football game all in one and I thought what an awesome way to explain.

20:03

Yeah, it's it these special they're in bedrooms for sure.

20:06

What is the loudest home game you've ever attended between the hedges? See, that's

20:09

a tough one too. Because the games I ended up working for sec network or ESPN, I feel bad. I was cursed with the dogs for a while I had a Vanderbilt win at UGA. At one hurt that I have winning at UGA. I think South Carolina win at UGA, maybe my most recent games between the hedges. I think I was bad luck or something. So I haven't. I haven't even been to a game in a while. And as a student again, I was kind of working a lot of them and I can't tell you I have a good answer that sorry. I knew one would get me.

20:43

That's okay. That's that's a very honest answer. We appreciate honesty. So I know this one generally doesn't apply to you because you're generally working the games. When you get to go as a fan. What is your go to tailgate food,

20:54

go to tailgate food. I feel like what Georgia fans are really good at. And again, I'm a Midwesterner. I came down to the south. And I feel like like it was always like good chicken wings and cornbread. And like, wait, like, like good barbecue in general. Most of my football fandom experiences at Green Bay Packer games, and there is always a broad burst. So depends on the geography. But I think if it comes off of a grill, it's good. And if you were attending the world's largest outdoor cocktail party as a fan, what

21:28

would be the cocktail that you'd be mixing?

21:30

Well, I think it has to be read to show your fandom you know, I can't just say I'd have like a bad light, which is probably more dirty surely. So it's red. All right. Yeah.

21:42

All right. I'm here for that. When you go back to Athens, and if you only had one meal to eat in Athens, what's your favorite place to eat napkins?

21:50

I really like going to the Georgia theater rooftop. I think their food is so underrated. Oh, their food is so good and serve kind of as bar food but with really great quality and anything you can see into the kitchen. You know, it just I think the food at Georgia theater is so underrated.

22:07

Plus, food's always better with a view. Right? And like that's such a cool little venue. Like I love that they do. That's one of my favorite places to hit before the game and stuff. It's just such a it's an awesome setting. So I like that I'm gonna get some eat. So the next time we're there, how about any and this could apply to you as a fan or as a as a broadcaster? What do you have any game day superstitions?

22:28

Okay, as a broadcaster, I'm cheering for no one. So I guess I don't really have a superstition there. And I guess just as a fan, I think your time of arrival has to be good. I guess that'd be my only one is like, you don't want to be rushed into the game. You got to make sure your tailgate routine is up to par. Everyone is there who needs to be there. So I guess kind of the pregame semantics the being in the parking lot. Making sure you're in your seat. Not going to the bathroom at kickoff not getting a beer pick off. You need to be like in your seat at kickoff. I guess that'd be that'd be mine.

23:04

That leads perfectly into the next question. Then. Of all the pregame traditions that Sanford stadium whether it be the lone trumpet or the red cup marching band spell in Georgia or Larry Monson narrating the before the start event, what is your favorite Sanford stadium pregame tradition.

23:20

Definitely the lone trumpet it is I think I appreciated it more once I got into broadcasting and got out of UGA and being at Sanford stadium for half year Saturdays. But once I really got around to all these other schools, and every school has got their tradition they're proud of that lone trumpet is bone chilling. And I think being there in a working capacity when you are one of the more sober people in the stadium. I think you also are really able to appreciate how special that is. And appreciate that. Not everyone gets to be so lucky to have that. It's like this solemn, quiet, reflective moment before all hell breaks loose. And there's something so special about that. That is my favorite.

24:04

All right. How about black jerseys? Yes or no?

24:07

Yes. They look scary and aggressive and mean and I love it. Deep.

24:12

I love the black jerseys. I think they're so sharp. I think we've gotten so crazy about being scared of wearing them and all this kind of stuff. Like look, our colors are red and black. wear black jerseys. It's totally okay. Yeah, they look sharp. So yeah, rock and roll with it. I think they should do it for sure. What's the loss? You're still not over

24:30

Alabama national championship game. That was that was so painful. That one is so painful. I'll never forget my husband was playing for the Clippers at that time. And they had a game at the same time as the national championship. And I was like, What do I do here? So what I did, I stood in the concourse of Staples Center. And I never went to my seat that night and I watched the first half my in laws were in town. I watched the first half with them at a restaurant, which I did. Didn't like either because I felt like it was like I would watch any random game I kind of care about. This was the national championship of my team and I was watching and so at halftime, we carefully like ran across the street to staples got in. I said, Okay, I'm just gonna stand in the concourse. And I watched it just all go to hell and the second half. And the crazy thing was, my husband knew I was so anxious about it. When they lose, and he could hear commotion because a lot of people were cheering in the hallway and he could hear from the court plane, and I walked down the stairs and he's in the frickin game. And he walking down the stairs to the court, and he asked me what and I go past hurt after that, like it was such a weird moment I'll never forget but that that's a loss I will never get over and neither will any Georgia fan ever

25:52

know. I the suddenness of it was just so brutal

25:55

losing their the way they had to the way they had to beat us was painful.

26:01

cash. It's It's so was it's so was Alright, what's what's your order at the varsity?

26:07

Okay, this isn't one

26:11

place that's your pie? Or what's the pizza place? That's by like five bar now? Ah, like, on the way from Georgia theater if you're going towards campus in Georgia theaters to your back?

26:22

Yeah, yeah, I can see it in my brain. That was our Yeah, I can't think of it off top my head. But I could see it in my brain

26:30

at the varsity. But it was never my friends that I was like nightspot, we'd always do the pizza place. And then I don't know how many people like to go to the varsity in general for like, mid meal, midday meal.

26:43

Plan. Oh, yeah,

26:44

I know. I've been there. But I couldn't even tell you what I order.

26:48

I go when I've told this story before but when I go, like I have to fly places and fly through Atlanta. I will fly through Atlanta because they have one in like terminal C. And so I will I will go get across that orange on my way to my next flight just because it's such a delicious treats.

27:06

To do that. I can't imagine why I don't take advantage of that. I try to eat so healthy because I fly so often. I'm like, if I make allowances one time, I'd make allowances all the time and just eat really unhealthy in airports. So I think I can make an allowance for that one.

27:19

Yeah. All right. There ought to be a constitutional amendment outline noon kickoffs? Yes or No,

27:25

I'm gonna say no. Because selfishly as a broadcaster there's like nothing better cuz you can get home at night.

27:31

Yeah, this is the same thing set ever since. Exactly.

27:35

I love him for that reason, but an 11am Central Time kickoff. That's pretty brutal. I know. That's no fun for the fans. And but coaches coaches, like they're like kickoffs, too, because otherwise they're sitting in a hotel room all day watching every other game and worried their guys focus is there. So I think media and coaches love the early kick. So I don't know if we're gonna get rid of them.

27:57

Yeah, so small tangent. But what about the PAC 12? Talking about doing Ernani in local kicks? Oh, my gosh, that'd be insane. No,

28:05

I can't imagine, right? I understand why they just want more eyeballs on their games. And that would be the way to do it. But you've got to think all the lumps that you want to come to your games and buy tickets. If they're driving in with their three kids from Seattle. I mean, they're not going to leave what at 6am? Where are they going to know they're not going to do it. So it's a formula that's going to leave a lot of empty chairs, but would get the eyeballs and viewership that you want. Which makes a huge difference. I think when you think about guys who are up for huysmans and stuff like that.

28:37

Yeah, that's a good point. All right, last question. College Football Playoff expand to eight teams or fine How it is

28:44

expand, expand for so many reasons. It's it's just such a cash cow, let the network let the conferences let everyone capitalize on it and make it more of a play in system because it it is a play in system. But it's such a small sample size. So when you're that five or six seed team, I mean, it's like you got all that for what a great bowl game. Yeah, but why not a chance to win it all. And so I think, I think I think most college football fans if you ask them, Hey, you want to juice your more intense playoff Of course, because it's it's amazing. And unfortunately, a lot of our playoff games that we have seen have been big blowouts. And I think if we expand it, we'd rid ourselves of some of those.

29:29

All right, if you've gotten off the hot seat, you've completed it smart 16. Well done.

29:34

Well, varsity and I could have done a lot better.

29:37

Well, a terminal seat next time you're in Atlanta. Well, what tell us tell everybody who's listening. Where can they follow you? Where can they find you?

29:44

You can find me pretty dang active. My dad would say to active on Instagram. That's at Olivia Harlan Dekker. And on Twitter, at Olivia Dekker. I think it's funny. I bet a lot of people actually come on here and can't remember their handle.

29:59

You're doing an awesome thing right now during kind of the break from sports with your dad, it's been super cool. I just Well, first off, let me say, because you've said this a couple times, as we've talked this evening about how you know, you have reverence for your dad. And first off, that's very obvious in your interaction with him, you can just kind of tell that you have a lot of pride in him as you should. And that's awesome. But I think the neat part too, is you can see the reverse with him is that he's super proud of you. And like, he just seems like he's so pumped to just kind of be sharing that time with you. So it's been a really cool dynamic as a viewer. So thank you both for doing that. Because great content, especially in the in the dearth of sports content right now.

30:39

I really, really wish he could hear you say that because he has told me he doesn't want to do anymore. And I'm completely peer pressuring him into doing it because I said, Dad, people love it. People are so bored. we're bored. People want content. That's not Doomsday and, and yeah, it is what it is. And he's like, he's just, he's so old school and once zero attention he if if he could do his job under a fake name, I think he would if he could go by Joe black and do his job. I think he would. He wants that little attention. And I think it's such a generational issue because I don't see it as attention. I see it as this is what we do. We just we we create content. We put stuff out there. It's not like a look at me look at me thing. And he sees it as self promotional. So I'm really glad to hear you say that because I I told him he's the only one who thinks that.

31:29

No, you tell you tell him to keep doing it. You tell him Rock Chalk, Jayhawk. And you tell him that if I have to, I will send my brother from gardener to take him to get a z man for doing his good work this week on the Instagram stuff. So tell him to keep

31:44

talking. I'm hoping after this I can I can force him into doing at least one.

31:47

Yeah, yeah. Well, Olivia, thank you so much for your time. You're so gracious with us. We're so proud to have you as a as a graduate of UGA. And everything you're doing. And thank you for coming on. You're welcome back anytime.

31:58

Thank you so much. This was a lot of fun. I appreciate you having me.

32:02

That concludes our two part interview with Olivia Harlan Dekker boss, what what were your thoughts on not just part two, but but the entirety of the interview with Olivia.

32:11

I hope that when my daughters are grown, that they have, just close to the work ethic that Olivia does, if that happens, I will feel like I've been successful as a father because she is, as I said previously just tenacious with her work ethic, and it is just so impressive for someone of her age to have the work ethic that she does. I'm just so impressed by her work ethic. I can't say it enough. As far as the interview goes. I mean, y'all had a great rapport, it was very clear that she y'all were very comfortable with each other y'all. It was just a very great interview. There's so many things that I loved about the interview, especially the second part, I love the way that she talked about. She compared what she does to taking reps as in sports. And you know, you don't think about it when you're doing your everyday job. But when you're doing something and you want to do it well, you you really are, you're taking reps, whether it be mental or you're doing your job, whatever it is, because if you want to do something, well, you have to do it over and over and over again to try to perfect that craft, whatever it is. And you don't compare that to sports. You don't you just don't. And but you know she does, because she comes from a sports family. And I love that comparison. Also the the reverence that she has for her father, and her family in general is just so clear in the way that she talks throughout the entire interview process, and how their journeys have paralleled each other. She mentions that multiple times as well. And it's very clear that, you know, she's very proud of that. And they have a very close relationship. And it's just it's very awesome to see that also, you know, being a UGA alum and being a UGA fan. You know, we all share in that common trauma slash misery of the national championship. And then the story that she told of, you know, her being at a clippers game for her husband in her watching it in the concourse and then coming down and then her him getting ready to take an inbounds pass and then seeing her and kind of knowing right away what had happened. Just that that story for her. You know, it's very unique just to her but you know, it's very awesome. You know, her hearing her experience about how the national championship game ended for her. But I was just so impressed with Olivia, it No, there's no doubt in my mind that whatever her goals are going for that she will she will achieve them. She just has an amazing work ethic and she's just wildly impressive young young woman. So we wish you nothing but the best going forward.

34:26

Yeah, I love the story she shared about the national title game not I mean, obviously we all have her own story about the gut punch that that was and the finality of that. But I just thought she painted that picture so well of walking down to her seat and she said Sam was like about to get an inbound pass and like looks at her like, hey, like what happened? And she gives him the thumbs down and just I thought that was a she painted that picture well, but kind of the agony and the sadness, and I think we all carry a little bit of that with us as it pertains to that game. So that was a great story. Also to your point, too. I thought it was great how throughout the entire interview, you could just tell that she has already reverenced not only for her dad, but her whole family, they just seem like a tight group and kind of root for each other and are on their own team. And so I thought that was really neat to see. And like I said before, I just think after speaking with her boys there is they're no better ambassador for, for the University of Georgia than her and especially for the Grady School of Journalism. I mean, boy, I would put her on every poster I could because if I had a young kid boy or girl wanting to go to college and want to be a journalist, I'd want them to talk to her about what it takes and what you can do if you work for it. And if you do it with the right attitude, so we wish Olivia all the best she'll always be welcome back on the podcast whenever she wants, and we will be rooting for for all the success in the world for her and go dog sick them