Welcome To The Stair Pits Zone

What happens when a retired investor in a suit walks onto a college football practice field?In this first episode, author R.A. Thompson and co-host Max pull back the curtain on an unlikely friendship, an even unlikelier mentorship, and the book that came out of a life spent doing the next useful thing.Robert shares how five weeks at Utah Tech turned into years of steady presence on the sideline — not because he knew football, but because he showed up when no one else did. Together, he and Max dig into the contrarian mindset that guides everything: when everyone's selling these kids short, buy their future.They also open up about Stair Pits — a lean, darkly funny memoir about a childhood gone spectacularly wrong in the 50s, 60s, and 70s, written for modern attention spans. Short chapters, no filler, and a simple truth at its core: you only ever live one of two arcs. You fail and keep going — or you fail and stop.In this episode:How humor delivers hard truths without drawing bloodWhy identity has to outlast the athlete labelThe contrarian logic of betting on people everyone else gave up onWriting a book designed for people who don't readCreation over consumption — and why it matters📖 Grab the book: unbreakableorigins.com🎙️ Follow the show, leave a review, and tell us what topic you want next.[00:00:00] Humor's Lens: Long Shot Vs Close-Up[00:06:03] Showing Up Becomes A Mission[00:11:39] Connecting Through Humor And Truth[00:17:11] Why Write Stair Pits[00:24:00] The Two Life Stories We Choose[00:28:20] Closing Gratitude And Book Tease