[00:00:00] Jim Jansen: I just sat down with Lane Grindle, the voice of the Brewers. Those of you from Nebraska may remember him as one of the sideline commentators, a host for the Husker Sports Network. Lane is a professional broadcaster and a husband and a father and a man of faith. We sit down and we talk about sports and faith and parenting and living your faith in a very demanding profession. You're gonna love today's conversation. Take a listen. 

Lane Grindle, welcome to the EquipCast. How you doing? 

[00:01:06] Lane Grindal: I'm doing well. It's so good to see you and hear you again, and, great to connect with all the people back in Nebraska. 

[00:01:12] Jim Jansen: Give everybody just a little bit, like you, you are a lifetime Husker fan.

[00:01:18] Lane Grindal: Mm-hmm.

[00:01:18] Jim Jansen: And some of you may remember your name and your voice. You were one of the sideline commentators for the Husker Sports Network. Tell everybody just a little bit about your story. 

[00:01:26] Lane Grindal: Yeah. I grew up, as you said, I really grew up a Husker fan. I am 42 years old, so if you do the math on that, when I was in junior high and early high school years, it was a good time to be a Husker fan.

So, I grew up in southwest Iowa, just outside of Omaha, maybe 30 minutes. The years of Tommy Frazier and Brook Berringer and all of those great legends through the mid-'90s were really present in my time as a young sports fan. So I'd been a Husker fan my entire life, and it came full circle for me at an early age.

I went to the University of South Dakota and ran track there, and less than a year out from college, I was working in Yankton, South Dakota. I got the opportunity to go back home and work for Nebraska and work for the Husker Sports Network. I was 24 years old at the time. I don't think I realized that I wasn't ready for the job, but I had to get ready for the job quick, so there's a lot of on-the-job training.

That was really a dream come true for me. That's what I wanted to do. I wanted to work for the Huskers, and I had that opportunity, and I worked 10 years I hosted a nightly talk show. I did baseball play-by-play for the majority of the time that I was there, did some sales work, sold some of the sponsorships in the stadium and the multimedia rights, and just had a chance to learn a ton about the business in a different way.

So it was a really rewarding experience. I got to work for some great people while I was there, make some great relationships that are still very, very strong and important to me to this day, and, Nebraska will always be a big part of home for me, for sure. I'll never be able to shake it. It gets in your blood, and it never leaves.

[00:02:58] Jim Jansen: It does, yeah, and it's been tested, for most of us lifetime Husker fans, it's been tested for a while. It breaks my heart. Some of my kids are like, "Dad, I thought you said Nebraska was good." I was like, "Well, they used to be. Trust me, it's coming back. It's coming back." 

[00:03:12] Lane Grindal: I have to educate my kids a lot on what Nebraska was because it's kind of turned into a, Dad, you're gonna watch them lose again?" And I'm like, "No, it's gonna turn at some point." Like, just have faith . That's part of the reward is that on the other end it's gonna get... You know, maybe not mid-'90s again, but it's gonna get good again, and so that hope is what keeps bringing us back. 

[00:03:31] Jim Jansen: Yeah. No, I mean, it, it's like, oh, it's becoming a little bit of a exercise of faith. 

[00:03:35] Lane Grindal: Yeah. Absolutely. 

[00:03:36] Jim Jansen: Lane, you've got a great, faith story. You were raised a Husker fan, but you were not raised Catholic. Tell everybody a little bit about your faith journey. 

[00:03:44] Lane Grindal: I was raised in the Lutheran Church and then was confirmed in the Methodist Church, and my parents were really great about supporting me and empowering me, quite frankly, to find my way, in my faith.

We went to church pretty much every Sunday. We were there. I went to Sunday school, and then when the time came for confirmation, we had a wonderful pastor named Pastor June. He was from the Philippines at the Methodist Church in our town, and he just really connected, especially with the younger kids, that were at that age of confirmation.

I really wanted... And I think my parents were very good about encouraging me, too, to go through confirmation with him and, made a great connection with Pastor June and had a big impact on me on my faith and my faith journey. And then, in college, I continued to be Methodist, and I always, though, had this interest in Catholicism.

My best friend growing up was Catholic. I went to Mass with him a lot on Sunday mornings or sometimes Saturday evenings for the vigil Mass . And I kinda had the rhythm and the rhyme of Mass down a little bit by that point because we were together all the time. And then I met a girl, and she was Catholic.

Her father was a deacon. And before I'd even proposed to her, I felt like this was gonna be the one, I felt like the thing I wanted to do was to be all in the same boat when it came to our faith and raising our kids and everything else. So I made the decision at that point to go through RCIA and become Catholic.

And again, my parents were unbelievably supportive, my sisters as well. I remember when I was, finishing up RCIA and I was coming into the church, they were all sitting in the front row crying, as I was being, brought into the Catholic Church. So that's a big part of it. I think when people, make the conversion, it can be challenging if they don't have the support from the people in their corner, and I had so much great support and really empowering me to come to this place on my own, and I'm always grateful for that.

So it was quite a journey, and it's been a very rewarding one. Catholicism has absolutely been the right thing for me, and I'm learning new things every day. There's always something that you can educate yourself on and grow in your faith . It really is a journey. I think when some people look at you and find out that you're just coming from confession or you're coming from Mass, sometimes they wonder, like, "Well, do you think you're holy because you're doing that?"

And my answer's always, "No, like, that's why I'm doing it . I need it. Because I'm flawed and because I need to grow and because this is the thing that kinda helps get me up off the mat if I had a bad day or whatever it might be, so. 

[00:06:14] Jim Jansen: Yeah. You should see me without confession.

[00:06:17] Lane Grindal: Exactly. C onfession's a big thing for me. I don't know that I utilized it in my early days when I converted like I should've. And I got this book. Scott Hahn wrote a, a book on confession . He's written a lot of great stuff.

Scott Hahn's been a big influence on me in learning more about the faith and growing in my faith. But he had a book, and I can't remember the name of it. I think it was-- 

[00:06:39] Jim Jansen: Is it I Confess? 

[00:06:41] Lane Grindal: I don't think it was that one, but it was- 

[00:06:43] Jim Jansen: Okay ... 

[00:06:43] Lane Grindal: it was similar to that. 

[00:06:44] Jim Jansen: Right, yeah. 

[00:06:45] Lane Grindal: What onfession's does for you and what... why it's important, and it really spoke to me. It really had a profound effect on me as a Catholic, and I've pretty much, since I read that book, I would say average going to confession once a week. I find it to be a really good reset. 

[00:07:02] Jim Jansen: Yeah. That's awesome. 

[00:07:03] Lane Grindal: Kind of nails me back in on my focus. It's a great way to take inventory on yourself and how you're doing. So that's been a big thing for me, and I try to really preach it in my house as well. I try to make it a weekly thing because I just think it's the best way to stay on top of where you're at and where you're trying to get to.

[00:07:20] Jim Jansen: That's awesome. So, I wanna give you a chance to talk a little bit about your day job, 'cause ultimately I wanna connect, you know, like how do you connect your faith to your day job? We talked already a little bit about the Husker Sports Network, but you're now the voice of the Brewers. We were talking before we turned on the mics, eight years now you've been in Milwaukee. 

[00:07:39] Lane Grindal: Yeah.

[00:07:40] Jim Jansen: On the outside, I think broadcasting professional sports You know, I think when, broadcasters kind of do their job, they bring the moment to life, but they're almost invisible. And there's a little bit of like a mysteriousness, to just, the world of professional sports broadcasting. Just give people a little bit of a glimpse. What do you do all day? 

[00:08:02] Lane Grindal: It's an interesting profession, for sure, and 99% of what I do is Major League Baseball. I dabble a bit in college football and college basketball, but it's pretty small how much of that that I actually do. And so my job is to do professional baseball, and there, there's a rhythm to the professional baseball season.

There's challenges within it, too. Just as a family man, as a man of faith, there could be some challenges. I leave February 20th, usually, somewhere around there, and I go to Arizona, and I'm away from my family for basically six weeks. I'm living in- 

[00:08:34] Jim Jansen: Wow ... 

[00:08:35] Lane Grindal: an apartment or a condo for six weeks by myself, and my family will come down and visit.

If the schedule allows, I might sneak home for three or four days at some point in the middle of it, but that's not always something that's able to be done. And that's usually during Lent, too. So I do try to take that time where I'm by myself to dive into whatever it is that I'm trying to focus on throughout that Lenten season.

You find different parishes in Phoenix that work for you, depending upon where you're staying. So, that's all a big part of just getting the season started and then you get into the season and, spring training is much different than the regular season in terms of schedule.

Most spring training games are a day, maybe at , 1:00 in the afternoon Phoenix time. So you get up, I usually go get my coffee to get my day started. Maybe I'll get a workout in and try to pray, whatever I need to do from a faith standpoint that day, or any of my Lenten promises that I've made. Try to get those things done in the morning if I can.

And then I'm off to the ballpark, honestly, not as early as you would think. If it's a 1:00 game, I might leave for the ballpark at 10:30 because spring training's just a little bit different animal and then you're home in time for dinner, and you have dinner, and then if you have some people, you know, you have kind of your baseball family as we call it.

And so if your broadcast partners or people in the baseball family are staying close to you, maybe you go grab dinner with them, maybe you go catch a movie, maybe you do something socially like that. Or for me, I'm 42, I have four kids, a lot of times it's like- ... I'm gonna go hang out on the couch and maybe go to bed early.

Then you get into the regular season, it's mainly night games. So you get up and you... I try to do something faith-based to start my day, and if I don't, then my day usually doesn't go that well. There's absolutely a connection there. I've noticed that over the years. And then you try to go out and you run, and for me, that's what I do.

I'll go out and run, try to find some things to keep yourself in some sort of self-discipline, right? Like it's just a, better way to start your day. Grab lunch, usually something pretty light, 'cause then I'll usually get after it a little bit from a dinner standpoint before the game. You want to have that energy that stays with you throughout what is now, with the pitch clock, maybe a two and a half hour broadcast, three-hour broadcast at the most.

So, that's kind of what your day looks like. We're basically gone a week, home a week for the most part over the course of the season There's some real challenges from a family standpoint, because not only am I gone from my family throughout spring training and I don't get to see them as much, when I'm at home even in April or May and they're still in school, I see them for maybe a half hour before they're out the door on their way to school, and then I don't see them again because I'm gone for the ballpark before they're home from school. 

And then when I'm on the road, of course, I wouldn't see them. So it's not until summer that I get to really kind of dive back in and connect with them when they're home from school. So there's some challenges with all of that. But there's a huge reward on the other side of it, and that is the off-season from the standpoint of being a husband and a father, because I get four or five months in the off-season where primarily I get to focus on my kids, my wife, myself.

And, it's a great way to reset, exhale a little bit, recharge, reconnect, and, I found it to be really rewarding. The other thing I found it to be with this job, because I... Look, my job can be high pressure, it's kind of in the public light, right? So there's always some social media criticism or praise, whatever, that's out there, and so there's some pressure with it and some stress, there's no doubt. But look, I'm not in surgery, right? I'm not trying to save somebody's life. 

[00:12:16] Jim Jansen: Right. 

[00:12:16] Lane Grindal: And so I do try to keep that in perspective and enjoy it and be where my feet are and enjoy the moment, because I worked hard to get to this point. And I think I'm more present when I'm home with my family than I have been with past jobs as a result of that. So, I don't know if that's just me maturing and finding a better way to- 

[00:12:37] Jim Jansen: Mm-hmm ... 

[00:12:37] Lane Grindal: to manage all of that than I used to, or if it's just that this job really lends itself to that. But I do find that I'm able to be more present than I used to be when I'm home because I'm not as distracted by everything else that's going on at work behind the scenes.

My job is my job, and when I leave the ballpark, I'm able to leave it there for the most part, and that's been a really rewarding part of this job. 

[00:12:59] Jim Jansen: Just that last line you said, being able to leave work at work, how do you do that? ''Cause I think about people listening- lot of people feel that, except for they don't feel like they can leave work at work. And they're not necessarily, I mean, maybe they are in surgery, but, like, they're not necessarily, in a high visibility, high profile job where, they're, being praised or critiqued on social media. How do you do that? How do you leave it at work? 

[00:13:25] Lane Grindal: I got a lot of good training in terms of criticism or feedback, positive or negative, to be honest with you, throughout most of my career. That's one of the great things about working at Nebraska, to be honest with you, is there's such a microscope. I mean, you're in a fishbowl.

[00:13:39] Jim Jansen: Yeah, yeah. 

[00:13:40] Lane Grindal: In a very positive way, for the most part, but there can be some negative things that come along with it. Unbelievable fan base. I'm a part of it now. So I get it. But, yeah, there can be some tough critics, and they have access to you now that they maybe didn't have 30 years ago, right? I just learned early on, like, there's a lot of people that praise you, there's a lot of people that criticize you, and you really probably shouldn't put a ton of stock in either. As much as you appreciate the praise, and it's wonderful to see and read nice things about yourself, you start buying into that and you can get lazy and start to fail at your craft a little bit in that way. 

[00:14:15] Jim Jansen: Mm. 

[00:14:16] Lane Grindal: I just try to stay very grounded with that. And I think in a lot of ways, that's kind of what a baseball player has to do. There's highs and lows over the course of the season. 

[00:14:23] Jim Jansen: Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:14:24] Lane Grindal: There's good feedback, there's negative feedback that they get, over the course of the year. And the best players don't ride too high when things are going good, and they don't get too low when things are going bad. They find a way to keep that kind of even mindset across the board throughout the year, and then the peaks aren't as high, but the valleys aren't as low either, and they have this steady performance that at the end of the year you look up and they had a really good season.

I think that it's different, but there's a little bit of a similar mindset for me, with all that stuff that's out there. I just don't put a lot of stock in all of it. Sometimes I'll get feedback that's negative and I'll be like, "Ooh, they actually have a pretty good point." Honestly, I have done that.

And I found myself a little bit surprised that instead of getting all bristled and defensive about it, I was like, "Actually, that might be legitimate what they're saying." But I try not to pay a lot of attention to it. I try to do the job the best I can. Listen to the people that I know that really understand this business and, in many cases are in the same boat as I am with that kind of stuff.

And so I've learned how to leave that at work. I learned that a long time ago. T he harder thing for me in terms of- Leaving work at work and being present at home was when I was in Nebraska and I was doing sales, because there is a lot of pressure with that. There's a lot of expectation of performance.

[00:15:38] Jim Jansen: Right. 

[00:15:38] Lane Grindal: With smartphones and everything else that were coming onto the scene when I was there, any client can reach you at any time, and when you would get an email from a client, you felt this pressure to get back to them right now, no matter what I was doing, I'm gonna stop, I'm gonna go get the laptop out, and I'm gonna fix this problem if it's a problem, or I'm gonna answer this question as fast as I can 'cause I wanna get this put to bed.

And really we're never off the job. I can remember taking vacations, nothing real elaborate, but, like, you know, going with the family to the Ozarks. My parents had a place in the Ozarks, and we'd go down to the Ozarks over the Fourth of July, and we would be on the boat, and I would be sitting there trying to hammer out an email to a client while we would be on the boat.

And, I was not good at just stepping away from that and getting to it when the time was right. I don't have to worry about that stuff with my job now, 'cause when I'm at the game, the game is happening. When the game is not happening, I don't have to do a whole lot. There's preparation leading up to a game, but at the end of the night, I can turn that off and go get in my car and go home. So I think the nature of the two jobs has helped me do that probably more than anything. 

[00:16:47] Jim Jansen: Yeah. That's huge. And you also mentioned, you have a routine of faith that, almost like an athletic discipline, it keeps you grounded.

I want to give you a chance, you talked about how spring training is happening during Lent, never quite, like, made that connection. I remember one of the first times, we met, we were having lunch together with, Father Robert Matia at the Newman Center in Lincoln. You told this great story of this Lenten resolution where you wrote letters to old friends.

Can you just share that story with us? 'Cause I love that. I mean, it's like, phew, I don't know. We're probably eight, 10 years later, and I still remember that story very vividly. Give us a picture of what you did and how it went. 

[00:17:27] Lane Grindal: I can't remember why I was inspired to do that, but I can tell you it was one of the most rewarding things I've ever done, and I should do it again because I felt like I got so much out of it. I hope that the people that I wrote letters to got something out of the letters, but I know that I felt amazing telling these people what kind of an impact on my life they had made. In so many cases, it was wide-ranging in terms of how they had impacted my life or in what way. So yeah, for 40 days, I wrote a letter to somebody that had impacted my life, and it ranged from my father, my mother, my father-in-law, my mother-in-law, to, a college professor.

I was a history minor, and I had this wonderful professor. I don't know that I ever got more than a B- in any of his classes, but I still took his courses every chance I got because he was... He just had this way that he presented that I learned and I grew and I just really enjoyed. It was Dr. Kurt Hackemer.

I still remember his name, and I still try to check up on him. You know, Google him once in a while to see what he's been up to next, and he's had a great career, and just a very brilliant guy when it came to United States history specifically. So you know, I, I wrote college roommates.

I wrote people that had impacted me in my faith journey, people that had impacted me in my professional journey, my first boss, things of that nature. And I heard back from a lot of them and in a couple cases, like college roommates were like, "Are you all right? There was, like, some concern. Like, "Why? Why did I get this letter from you?" And , for so many other people, it was like, "Wow, this was such a great surprise. What a fun thing to open up today and be able to hear from you." And look, I think probably the genesis of that is that, sorry to Husker fans here, but you know, Bill Snyder, Kansas State's legendary head football coach, is a big letter writer.

[00:19:18] Jim Jansen: Yeah. 

[00:19:18] Lane Grindal: And he has made it a point over the course of his career to write letters to people and to thank them, and some of his assistants have carried on that tradition. 

[00:19:27] Jim Jansen: Wow ... 

[00:19:28] Lane Grindal: I don't know if this is the actual genesis of why I decided to do it, but I can remember having different- coaches on my show at Nebraska, whether it be Bill Snyder or Bret Bielema when he was at Wisconsin, And they would write you a letter thanking you for having them on the show afterward, I don't know that they were that excited that they were on the show, but it was just this nice personal touch that's like, wow, that's pretty neat that they took the time to send that letter, and it made me realize the power of writing somebody, right? Like, we're in this world now where we text everybody- 

[00:19:58] Jim Jansen: Yeah ... 

[00:19:58] Lane Grindal: or we Snapchat people or whatever. I'm so far behind on social media and what's new and what's out there now. I barely do any of it anymore outside of, whatever Twitter's called now, but- ... I do think that writing letters or even picking up the phone and calling somebody rather than texting still has a really big impact, and connection's an important thing, and we're getting less and less of it as we move forward as a society.

And so, it was a really rewarding thing, and I hope to do it again at some point in the future because it really was something that I felt like I got a lot out of, and it made me think back to these different moments in my life that had they not happened, I don't know, maybe things are different. So, it was a great thing for me to do over the course of Lent. I'm a big believer with Lent, I mean, I'm all about sacrifices and I do... You know, I give up Pop in Nebraska, but now that I'm in Wisconsin, soda here. I give up soda 

[00:20:52] Jim Jansen: Thank you for translating. 

[00:20:53] Lane Grindal: Starting to make that transition into, you know... it's not a water fountain either. It's a bubbler up here in Wisconsin. That was hard. 

[00:20:59] Jim Jansen: Wait, really? They call a water fountain a bubbler? 

[00:21:01] Lane Grindal: Yeah. My kids would ask if they could go get a drink out of the water fountain, and teachers would look at them like, "What's wrong with you? It's a bubbler." 

[00:21:07] Jim Jansen: Wow, I've never heard that. It's a whole nother country. 

[00:21:10] Lane Grindal: So, like, yeah, I give up soda or sweets or things like that like everybody else does, but I think the most important thing in Lent for me is the things I add in because I think that is what I really grow is when I add things, whether it's the rosary, and sometimes it's hard for me to maybe do the rosary every day depending on how my schedule works out, but if I do it three times a week even, that's better than not doing it, right?

And so just things like that that you try to add in over the course of Lent, and that was one of those things I added. It was really impactful for me. I don't know what kind of an impact it made for the people that got the letters, but I know for me personally, it just made me really appreciate that this has been quite a journey to get to where I was at that point and there's been a lot of people since that point that have impacted me now, and you can't do it on your own.

It does take people propping you up and helping you and picking you up when you fall down to get you- Yeah ... to where you're gonna get to. So, it just gave me a lot of perspective on that and a lot of appreciation for all the people in my life. 

[00:22:10] Jim Jansen: Thank you for sharing that. Again, it's been like 10 years since I first heard you, you know, talk about that, and I was inspired by it in a sort of like...

It was also like a little desolating 'cause like, all right, I'm gonna do it this year. And I'm like, all right, may- maybe I'm gonna do three. Okay, maybe one. And it's just, I think I called my mom last Lent, but like, I mean, it's challenging, but it's like I love that perspective that, just adding something, and really, I mean, what you're adding is gratitude.

[00:22:36] Lane Grindal: Right. 

[00:22:36] Jim Jansen: I'm gonna take a moment and reflect on the gift that this person has been, and I'm gonna say thank you. Yeah, that's a pretty good spiritual resolution. So much of your, professional career, you're interacting with so many different people And oftentimes, I think, interviews were a big part of your job.

I think there's a little bit of a rhyme between what you do professionally to put people at ease, as a broadcaster or as an interviewer, and then what all of us, those who are like, "Okay, I'm supposed to be sharing my faith. Or at the very least, I just wanna be a good neighbor and pay attention, to the people in my life."

How do you put people at ease? I mean, you're connecting with people. They might have their guard up. They might have just experienced the greatest moment of their professional career or what they feel is the worst. How do you connect with people? How do you put people at ease? 

[00:23:27] Lane Grindal: I think that's a really good question, and it's probably a unique answer from what I do and broadcasters like me do.

Sometimes it's a misperception of what we are and that people think we're journalists. We're really not. Maybe some consider themselves journalists. I don't. I consider myself an entertainer that works for a team. And so I'm trying to describe the game the best I can so people can accurately follow what's happening, and they're informed.

Trying to do it with energy and excitement. I want people to listen to my broadcast and genuinely be able to tell that he is so excited that he's there. 'Cause if you don't sound like you're enjoying it, then it's a problem. Doesn't mean you have to be screaming every second or loud every moment or in this unbelievably upbeat mood every moment.

You can put it down in, in, in four low sometimes when you're broadcasting a game, too. But there is a rhythm to it and I think a cadence to how you call a game, for sure, in that way. But from a broadcasting, standpoint and with interviewing, I'm usually not trying to break news. I'm usually not trying to get the scoop on stuff.

[00:24:35] Jim Jansen: Hmm. 

[00:24:35] Lane Grindal: I'm trying to allow this person, in many cases, to talk about what was maybe the biggest moment of the game the night before, and they had this positive impact on it. So most the guys I'm talking to, if your team is winning, are reliving great moments, or reliving successes of theirs. And so most of us guys don't mind talking about that most of the time. 

[00:24:58] Jim Jansen: Right. 

[00:24:58] Lane Grindal: Right. Um, the other part of it is I'm embedded with the team. So I travel with the team, I fly with the team, I stay at the hotel with the team, I'm on the bus with the team, I'm in the clubhouse with the team before the games. And so you get a lot of face time with these guys. And over the course of 162 games, and really 190 if you start throwing spring training into it, they know you, and they know that you are really, for the most part, you're on their side. And you wanna tell their story and illuminate them in a positive way.

And so you get some trust out of that, I think, naturally. Maybe not every guy even worries about it in that sense. But I think most of the guys that get to know you know, "Hey, that guy's one of our guys. Like, he's interested in making us sound good and look good."

Now, there are journalists that are more, you know, they're gonna be down the middle, they're trying to report this even story, and that's a totally different deal, and I respect them. That's a great job. It's an important job, for sure, but that's not my job, and that's not how I see my job. And I really enjoy it this way because you're able to form some great relationships with some good people and get to know more about them and really have a lot of fun with them.

And you really celebrate their success. I mean, that's the thing about doing my job As you get to know these guys, and when they have success on the field, you are so happy for them because you see the work that they're putting in. You have to be incredibly talented to be a Major League Baseball player.

Every single person that enjoys baseball should have to stand on the field at some point, or be lucky enough to stand on the field at some point during batting practice, and watch these guys take infield and just see how much different it is than at your local, in Legion game or whatever. I mean, those kids, God bless them, they're really good players and they put a lot of work into it too, but these are the best players on the planet.

And it is a totally different deal. It's jaw-dropping how good they are. And it's also really incredible how much time they put into it, even once they get to the big . Like, the development's not over. These guys are out there on the field working, grinding every single day. And so it's really rewarding.

With the Brewers specifically, like, We've had incredible clubhouses with great culture and great guys and so that makes it even easier, too. When they're good guys, when they're good people, and they come from all these different backgrounds, right?

We have players from the Dominican. We have players from Venezuela. We've had players from Cuba. We... obviously all over the United States with different, regions of the United States that players have come from and no matter, what their faith is, no matter what their political affiliation is, none of that matters to them. They are in it with each other. They are connected, they're united, and they're fighting for this one goal, and they're treating each other with respect, and it's just a really neat thing to see, to be honest with you. It's, inspiring. 

[00:27:36] Jim Jansen: Yeah. 

[00:27:36] Lane Grindal: You just really pull for these guys, when you get a chance to be around them because, it's a really neat process in how they come together and play this game together.

[00:27:46] Jim Jansen: I love that because, I mean, you're kind of, like, a part of this team. You're, you know, a professional broadcaster. But with all the fundamentals of, what it means to develop a relationship where you can have a positive impact on somebody, you develop trust with face time.

You're just there.

[00:28:03] Lane Grindal: Yeah.

[00:28:03] Jim Jansen: And I think often, in the world of evangelization, we have this misnomer that I'm somehow gonna meet somebody on a bus and talk to them about Jesus, and God bless, people who have that gift. But for most of us, it's about face time. I just need to connect with my neighbors and my coworkers. And then when I have trust, and I love how you highlighted this, too, when they know that I want their best and I just want their good then the conversations are easy.

[00:28:31] Lane Grindal: I think unfortunately, we live in a society right now where we are very inclined to be skeptical, and we're not very quick to trust . And so we have to work hard to earn that. And, I trust quickly typically, and sometimes you get burnt by that, but I'm good with that. Like, that's fine. If that happens, then that happens because I just find I'm a happier person if I assume the best in people. And like, I'm saying all these things. I fail at all these things, right?

Like- 

[00:28:59] Jim Jansen: Yeah, yeah. But people live up to it too. I mean, you show them, it's like, wow, I, you know, I, I trust you. Most people wanna live up to it. There are people who are gonna take advantage of it, but I wanna give you a chance just to talk a little bit. I just wanna have some fun here 'cause, you've had over the years, you get a chance to interact with professional broadcasters, professional folks in the world of sports. Who do you admire for their faith? 

[00:29:24] Lane Grindal: Oh, wow. , So I've got, I've got a few, just from a professional athlete standpoint. The way they have stayed true to it has inspired me and I'll be honest with you. , like early on, I didn't know if I bought into all the Tim Tebow stuff, right? I was like, "Ah, is this real?"

But it is. Like, it absolutely is, and that's a guy that has never negotiated off of the line he's on and what he believes in, and he, just like us, he's imperfect too, and he's had his failures for sure. But the consistency of the way he always comes back to that I think is really cool.

And, my appreciation for him and admiration for him has gone from being very skeptical, to now, like, no, he's proven it time and time again. This is who Tim Tebow is, and it's pretty cool. Another player that, we had with the Brewers early on in my time that was very, consistent within his faith, he was not Catholic, but Christian and just very devout, was a pitcher named Chase Anderson.

And the way he consistently came back to Jesus, and to his faith was really neat. It was really inspiring and really cool. And so that's a guy that I- when I think of athletes and their faith, I think of him a lot. Chase Became a good friend and just an A+ human being all the way around, but was a, a guy that did not waver off of the understanding that this is, this is the key fabric of who I'm gonna be- 

[00:30:52] Jim Jansen: Hmm

[00:30:52] Lane Grindal: and I'm gonna stay true to it, and so definitely him. There's another player, that has always been a little bit of an inspiration to me that has never made it to the big leagues, has been in the minor leagues for quite some time, and he's actually from, Menasha, Wisconsin, but he was a Husker. And it's Scott Schreiber, who was a first baseman for Nebraska. 

[00:31:13] Jim Jansen: I knew him just a little bit. We met a couple times. 

[00:31:16] Lane Grindal: Yeah, Scott was a great, great kid, and I haven't stayed in touch with him like I should have, and I do regret that, this inspires me. Maybe I'll reach out to Scott. But when he was a freshman at Nebraska, I would go to mass on Sundays when we were on the road. I'd find a place to go to mass, and the coaching staff knew that I was doing this, and so Scott wanted to be at mass on Sundays, too. And so they connected that I could take him to mass on Sundays, and we started riding to mass on Sundays and going wherever mass was offered. And by his second year at Nebraska, he stopped asking for rides. And I was like, "Oh, I hope Scott's still going to mass." Well, I would get to mass, and I would look up, and there he was, and he would have six of his teammates- sitting with him. 

[00:32:02] Jim Jansen: Awesome.

[00:32:02] Lane Grindal: He just was a neat kid. He played the game the right way. He carried himself the right way. Just a wonderful young man, and I've always been a big fan of his. And as an adult watching that, it was really inspirational to see this kid that was reaching out and making the freshmen, when he was a sophomore, come with him, to Mass. I think that's a really admirable thing, and I've always really admired him for that.

[00:32:24] Jim Jansen: Seeing a young person I mean, my faith, you know, came alive in college, but when I see people either in college or especially those beforehand, when they're embracing , their faith life, it's... I mean, it's inspirational 'cause you're thinking like, "Man," like, "I wish I had figured it, this out at your age." I know for many parents, as they think about trying to raise their kids, and let's say they've got a kid who like, they love sports, they wanna play. The parents are thinking, "Well, I don't know, maybe someday could they be professional?" If you were to give advice to parents on raising your kids in the faith and raising your kids in the world of sports, what's some advice? Pitfalls to avoid, things to make sure to try and establish in a young person's heart and mind. 

[00:33:09] Lane Grindal: Man, that's a really good question. Um, so I'm gonna Cut it two ways. I'll start with the faith part of it. I think just trust your instinct. I think pray, listen to God, and do the best you can. Like, there isn't a template for this, unfortunately. We do have the Bible, and it has a lot of great advice, right? And there's a lot of great things in there, but there isn't like, "This is how you parent, and it's foolproof." Like, every kid is unique. We've learned that. We have four kids. They're inherently different than each other. 

[00:33:37] Jim Jansen: Amen. Mine, too ... 

[00:33:38] Lane Grindal: and it's wonderful, and I love that, and they all present their own challenges, and we all have our own connections and things with them individually and then collectively as a group. So, we haven't figured it out yet, by the way. We're still learning and still growing as parents. T rying to figure out how to do this. But, we try to be consistent. Expectations of going to mass on Sunday, talk to them about reconciliation, talk to them about what they're gonna do in Lent. Sit down at dinner, prior to Lent and talk about what can we add in as a family and do together. Do we succeed at all of that? I don't think we do. But we try, and I think that's important. And I think if your kids see that you're trying, and you're rying to incorporate the faith as much as you can, and that it is an important part of what you're doing.

[00:34:23] Jim Jansen: Yes.

[00:34:24] Lane Grindal: I think that example is as good as you can possibly have for them. 'Cause I think kids can, they can detect whether it's important. So I think from a faith standpoint, that's what I would say, and I don't know that there's any thread that we're gonna thread perfectly on that. I think that's the best way we can do it moving forward. Now, from a sports standpoint, I'm probably different than a lot of other people. Youth sports has gotten out of control. It's really intense, and, I find myself and my kids, falling in line with it sometimes.

I'm like, "Whoa, this is what 10 years ago I said we weren't gonna do." But, what happened was, and Craig Counsell, the manager of the Brewers, told me this years ago, and when he said it, I was like, "Man, that is so accurate." What happened is people figured out with youth sports that parents will pay whatever they've gotta pay to watch their kid do something that they love.

And so if the kid loves it, it's very easy to get out the checkbook and write the check for the extra lessons, or pay to get into the AAU tournament, whatever it might be. We love seeing joy on our kids' faces. And it's a positive thing, but there's really nothing we will stop at to see them enjoy competing in sports if that's what they love.

So I think youth sports figured that out, and it's turned into a money-making thing for youth sports. However, the lessons you learn from sports are incredibly invaluable. How to be a great teammate, how to be mentally able to overcome adversity, how to be coachable, how to be able to do two things at once, 'cause that's a big part of sports, too.

How to fail. How to fail, how to succeed. All those lessons, I think, are incredible lessons that sports brings you. But you have to be ready as a parent to support your kid in all those moments the right way. My son loves baseball. He is obsessed with baseball. He consumes it every second he gets. He plays it every second he gets.

And he will fail ultimately at times. And when he does fail , it's very, very hard for him. And so I've learned how to be supportive in those moments versus say, "Well, the reason why you failed is you did this and this wrong." I, I don't think he gets a whole lot out of that.

And so I think there are life lessons that are more important than the technical lessons of the game. And so I've tried to be better at that. I don't know that I'm great at it. I've tried to be better at that. My daughter had a volleyball game last night, and she started the first set.

She didn't play very well. She would be the first to tell you. She's a freshman in high school, and she sat the next two sets. She was super disappointed, but she also understood why she sat. And she wasn't upset her coach. her coach. Her coach did a great job of communicating with her what was going on and why she wasn't playing.

But the one thing she did do the rest of that game was cheer on the bench and be a great teammate, and I was really, really proud of her for that. And that was the first thing I talked to her about was that, "Hey, look, this, tonight didn't go the way you wanted it to, and you're disappointed, and that's okay.

You can be disappointed. You should be disappointed. But here's what you did really well tonight, and that was you were an outstanding teammate in a moment where you probably didn't feel like being an outstanding teammate." Now, here's the thing I am gonna say that I think a lot of people will maybe not think that I was gonna... If your kid has a dream- My son has a dream of being a Major League Baseball player. 

[00:37:49] Jim Jansen: Mm-hmm. 

[00:37:49] Lane Grindal: Odds aren't great that he's gonna be one. But I'm encouraging it. Lean into it, man. Like, dream. Somebody's gotta get there, and you're eight years old. You got a long way to go, but if that's what you want to dream and do, then do it, man. Like, go for it, and lean into it, and do it in a healthy way, but go for it, and dream big. Dreams are wonderful. I think dreams make you happy. I think dreams give you hope. I think they get you up in the morning. They push you, that extra little bit to try and see how far you can go with stuff, and I'm a big believer in dreams. And lofty dreams are great. You just have to understand that they're really hard, and if you don't accomplish it, there are other things you can find to satisfy and bring you happiness.

But I think teaching kids to dream big is wonderful. That's what youth is all about. That's what adolescence is all about, and I think there are kids that don't have dreams, and unfortunately, those are kids that are struggling to find their way sometimes. So I think it's healthy. I think it's great.

[00:38:51] Jim Jansen: That's so good, 'cause I think so many parents, out of a misguided... They're like, "Well, I don't want him to be disappointed," you know, and like, "The odds aren't great," and they stifle the dream. 

[00:39:02] Lane Grindal: Yeah. 

[00:39:02] Jim Jansen: And yeah, the dream, it might be unrealistic, but would it not be better to say, "Hey, I'm gonna encourage you to dream, and I'm going to encourage you to pursue your dream, and if this one doesn't pan out- Well, let's find another dream.. 

[00:39:17] Lane Grindal: I just think the secondary part of it for me, and I don't know that I consciously got to this point, but as I've gotten into it with my kids, There's been a lot with my son because he just has these big dreams, and he loves sports, and he loves being with Dad. My oldest daughter, I think for sure, my two middle daughters have their dreams, too.

My second oldest is a, you know, she's a thespian. She's into plays and part of the theater world. And my youngest daughter, who is my third oldest child, she's into all of it. She's into plays, she's into basketball, she's into volleyball, right? But I think the thing that I've learned, and I think I've really learned this with my oldest daughter and my youngest son because they've been probably more active athletically than of my two kids.

What I've learned is that when you encourage the dream, the secondary part of it is your child understands that you believe in them. And if you try to dampen the dream, the message, whether you're intending it or not, can be interpreted as my dad or my mom doesn't believe in me. I don't know that that's the intent for people that try to, like, "Hey, let's have some realistic goals over here."

the young mind, that's kinda how they might, see it. So if they don't accomplish the dream, that's gonna be disappointment, which is also not a bad thing to learn how to kinda work through that. Yeah. But I think at the end when they get over that disappointment, they're gonna realize that, Mom and Dad were there, and they believed in me.

And if they believed in me with that, they're gonna believe in me and my next goal or my next dream or whatever I accomplish next. 

[00:40:55] Jim Jansen: Right. And, if you throw a little bit of like, okay, maybe the Lord has a dream for this child, the likelihood that they're going to be able to find that and embrace that with all they have, boy, the habit of dreaming dreams and pursuing those dreams, that's gonna set them up very well for when, the dreams the Lord has begin to, when they begin to welcome those into their lives.

Thank you for that. That was great. Okay, so our time has just totally flown here. This has been awesome. I wanna give you a chance here, Somebody, you know, they're listening and they're like, "Gosh, I'm a person of faith, but I don't know how to incorporate my faith into my profession." How do you bring your faith into your life, and what would you recommend? Just as, you know, kind of one beggar to another.

[00:41:44] Lane Grindal: I'll be the first to admit that I'm still figuring that part out. I think most people get this, but some people believe that, faith is this finished pro- It's never a finished product, right?

Like, we're always- No ... still trying to find better ways to connect and to grow and to build our faith. so I think I'm still figuring it out, to be honest with you. So the things that work for me, and these are all things I fail at, and it disappoints me when I fail at it. But I have the presence of mind to be able to recognize what happens when I don't.

Daily prayer is an unbelievably big thing for me, and I fail at that. I get caught up in the busyness of my day and wake up too late and think, "Oh, I don't have time to pray, so I gotta go do this." I do that all the time, more often than I should, and when I do that, my day is off. It just is. It is, I think, so important to start your day with your faith., just to ground yourself, put everything in perspective, what's important today.

I just think it's huge. I remember Father Johnson at St. John's in Lincoln telling me, even if it's just when you first wake up, make the sign of the cross. Something as simple as that can be The thing that starts you, on your way that day just a little bit better. So, yeah, I think morning prayer is big.

Ending your day in prayer is big. I try to do both things as frequently as I can. Like I said, I do fail at that. I do fail at that, but I do find that things are better when I'm doing that. Weekly confession has been really big for me. It helps me reset. It helps me kind of dial back in and put everything in perspective and remember what's important.

Those things have been important with me. Talking about your faith with your spouse. I'm very lucky. A wonderful wife that teaches at a parochial school and taught at St. John's in Lincoln before we moved here, and we do try to talk about our faith and share it with each other, and that's really important for a healthy- Yeah

marriage and so, the fact that we share our faith together I think is good because you have a teammate in all of this. We've talked a lot about sports, and she's my most important teammate when it comes to this stuff. So, I just think all of those things are important. I think everybody's gonna find their own way.

One of the things I always try to do during Lent, And again, I fall out of the habit of it- But, like, just even reading the gospel or reading Mark, reading Luke, reading Matthew. The thing I found really rewarding this year was I started watching the series Chosen during Lent.

And the way I felt when I turned off the TV at the end of every night, I'd watch an episode before I'd go to bed at night. Mm-hmm. And again, spring training, so I'm by myself. The way I felt when I turned off the TV that night was a lot better than I feel when I turn off whatever else is on television.

[00:44:37] Jim Jansen: Totally.

[00:44:37] Lane Grindal: There's a book I'm reading right now. It's called Holy Moments, Matthew Kelly. 

[00:44:41] Jim Jansen: Yeah. 

[00:44:42] Lane Grindal: He breaks things down in such a simple way of throughout every single hour of every single day, you have decision to make. We normally make them subconsciously.

We don't think about them in the present sense that he presents them, but most of those decision you have a chance to make a holy decision or an unholy decision, the right decision or the wrong decision. 

[00:45:03] Jim Jansen: Yeah. 

[00:45:03] Lane Grindal: When you start breaking it down in very simple terms like that, you realize how much you could turn your life into a better direction if you could stay disciplined with that. Probably gonna be challenging, but, I, I'm a sinner, man. I have days I wish I could have back. I have things I wish I could have back, every week. But, I think the most important thing is that you stay in the fight, and you keep pushing forward, and you keep coming back and, resetting yourself with the Lord and trying to grow your faith.

I think that's, for me, what has worked, has just being consistent in the effort, knowing that I'm gonna fail, knowing that I'm imperfect, but the effort needs to be there. Hopefully, over time, with the effort, you keep making progress, and you keep improving as a person and as a man of faith. 

[00:45:49] Jim Jansen: Amen. Lane, thank you. Thanks for making the time. Thank you for the conversation. This was fantastic. 

[00:45:55] Lane Grindal: Absolutely, Jim. It's a pleasure, and thank you so much for having me. 

[00:45:58] Jim Jansen: All right, everybody, you know somebody who needs to hear this conversation, So when you get to your destination, and you are safe to do so, share this out with a friend.