PS: I thought that was great earlier you were telling the story of the young boy and the basketball. How did he end up finding you and how did you end up finding him?
TD: Of all the stunts that we did to get the people to understand that I was a scoundrel, was that one. When we rehearsed, I wasn’t really hardcore harsh. When we did it live in front of the crowd and it got to the place where he dribbles the ball, he supposed to get to 15, he gets to 14 and I stick my foot out and the ball bounces off my foot. Everybody knows I just screwed this poor little kid. I say to him, I’m sorry son, but at a young age, you’re going to have to learn a harsh lesson of life. When you don’t get the job done, you don’t get the money. My loud voice and deep voice scared him. He had these great big crocodile tears. He ran to his mother. In reality, he couldn’t have done it any better. We couldn’t have rehearsed it. It wasn’t that good when we rehearsed it.
I look like the biggest heel because I just made this little boy cry. I remember going in the back and everyone’s saying, oh man, that was great. I said, it might have been great, but you guys are going to need an armored car to get me out of this building tonight. Those people want to lynch me right now. People always want to ask, did you do that? Did you really do that to that kid? I tell them of course not. I said, the last couple of years I said, that kid was like 4 or 5 or 6. Somewhere now, he’s got to be somewhere in his mid-20s, 24-26 years old. With my luck, he’s probably 6-6 now. He’s going to walk up to me in an airport, tap me on the shoulder and say hey remember me. I just laughed.
I actually flew to Omaha, which is where I’m from originally. I was going there to do a speaking engagement. I rented a car and I walked out to where they had the cars. They had another place where I had to pick up the keys. Just like I said, jokingly 50 or 60 different times, this guy walks up to me, taps me on the shoulder and there he was. Six-foot-six. He said, “Do you remember the little kid with the basketball?” I said, “No way.” He goes, yup it was me. I said, what did you do with your life? He said well, I went to Colorado on a basketball scholarship.