This week’s Post Game Newsletter features Drew Shore, Denver University hockey alum and 6-year NHL vet who’s doing incredible things for current and retired athletes since stepping away from the game.
He is an agent with Wasserman, hosts a podcast Betting the Limit, and co-founded Amalfi - an executive leadership community for athletes & CEOs.
Here are some of the takeaways from the conversation:
The Successful Failure Paradox
Drew talks about how his childhood dream was to one day suit up for Denver University and wear Pioneers across his chest.
Looking back on his NHL career which spanned six seasons with four franchises, he says he views his playing career as a failure. In reality, the goal posts just shifted and he held himself to an incredibly high standard - which ended up being his greatest strength and greatest weakness.
I asked him if he still views his playing career as a failure, despite what he’s accomplished since retiring in the agent world, starting a podcast, and building a company:
“So, I kind of look at it as twofold. I do look at it as a failure, which is probably not what a lot of people would say, but I do think it has provided me with an opportunity. And from some of the lessons that I've learned in my career (in hockey), I think my next career in business will be a lot more successful than my hockey career ever was. And I don't think that that would have come had I had the hockey career that I always envisioned.”
The Mission Behind Amalfi
Amalfi was derived from conversations Drew was having on his podcast Betting The Limit. He thought his retirement struggles were unique to him. The more conversations he started having with athletes, the more he realized some of these guys and girls struggled figuring out what they wanted for YEARS.
He created Amalfi to shorten that gap for athletes facing retirement and get them in the room with folks having success in the business world - he’s curating high end experiencing, physical challenges to bring them together, golf, bringing in speakers, etc.
“I tell people all the time, athletes are like, how am going to be happy again after my career? Like, I just can't find it. And I think what I've realized is you have to find something that you're passionate about that you can apply that sports mentality to, because if you don't find that, like, you're just never going to be happy. So, it doesn't really matter what that is, whether that's real estate, finance, coaching, being an entrepreneur investing, but whatever it is, find something and kind of attack that with the same level of intensity and drive that you did your career. And I think that when you do that, a lot of guys are able to find not only happiness, but a ton of success in their next career.”
Experience from the Amalfi site
Advice / The Future of Athlete Investment
To wrap up the conversation, he gives advice to retiring athletes we have heard on the pod before and a recurring theme. To take advantage of their platform while they have it, to build relationships with people having way more success in business than they did in sports, and to find something you want to go all in on and attack that with the same mentality you did while playing.
He also talks about how athletes are continuing to get smarter with their investments / brand deals while they’re still playing to set themselves up for massive success in the next chapter.
“The smartest guys are doing it with a ton of the brand deals that they're doing. Like I said, I mean, like guys are no longer just blankly accepting small checks for doing things. It's much more of like, how does this fit into my overall brand portfolio? If I do take some, a check, maybe it's like half the check and half of it's an equity. Cause I think the equity can actually be worth10 to 20 X that down the road.”
Bryson / Steph Curry
Bryson and Steph talking about setting goals, asking themselves what they’re trying to accomplish each day, and leadership styles. Crazy this is available for free on the internet.
Also, the fact that Steph Curry could legitimately be a professional golfer in addition to being widely considered the best shooter in the history of basketball is kind of unfair. Save some for the rest of us brother.
Brian Kelly and LSU
Another week, another college football buyout. What could have possibly gone wrong after Brian Kelly magically developed a southern accent in his introduction to LSU.
The Dot Com Bubble of paying college coaches $100M to not win a National Championship continues to burst and it’ll be interesting to see how schools structure these contracts moving forward.
On an SBL interview yesterday with Rob Thompson who was on episode #78 of the podcast, he talked about how contracts should include dilution clauses based on performance and that most coaching contracts don't have performance-based reductions, something that will most likely change.
The Louisiana Governor also said he’d let President Trump name the next coach at LSU over the LSU AD, Scott Woodward. I thought this was crazy until I read that Woodward was also responsible for Jimbo Fisher’s contract at Texas A&M. Not pretty in the bayou.
Nebraska Women’s Volleyball
I do not post a ton on Tik Tok, but put this clip of Jack Adler out there talking about how Nebraska Volleyball is the most marketable team in college sports. I’m not sure whether the Chinese government is full of Nebraska Volleyball fans or if the team gets this much attention all the time.
There are a few angry people in the comments saying this can’t possibly be true, but in context of the conversation with Jack and how it relates to Out2Win helping brands partner with athletes, the number of people interacting with this speaks for itself.
My dopamine is also completely zapped after seeing numbers pop up every time I open Tik Tok on my iPad. Maybe time to start planning another weekend on the App Trail with MM.
@thepostgame_podcast Who are the most marketable teams in college sports? #nebraska #volleyball #nebraskavolleyball #collegesports @Out2Win @Nebraska Volleyball
There are some awesome PGP Episodes Upcoming. Here are a few:
11/5 - Lucas Espada - Former college soccer player at Northeastern. Founder of ShowNxt, transforming the soccer recruiting experience
11/12 - Dean Snell - One of the co-designers of the Titleist ProV1 and the founder of Snell Golf. Thank you Sam
11/19 - Kianna Smith - Former Louisville hoops star who played in the Final Four, Former WNBA player, and currently working at Nike
11/26 - Bela Carrasco - Former soccer player at Marquette, Assistant VP at Origin Investments, and podcast host
Thanks as always for tuning in and checking out the Newsletter and pod.
If there’s anyone you want to see in the future, let me know and I will get on the case.
Also, Happy Belated to DM. Stop by Proper Coat Painting for all of your Tampa area painting needs and tell them the PGP sent you.
See you next week,
Joe