Suiting Up With Paul Rabil

Welcome to an all-new season of Suiting Up Podcast. I'm your host – professional athlete and co-founder of the Premier Lacrosse League – Paul Rabil.Today's episode features one of the greatest athletes of all-time. Yet beyond the record-smashing, multiple MVP awards, and Super Bowl Championship, Jim Brown has impacted our human race arguably more so through his endeavors off the field – marked by his 2014 Muhammed Ali Humanitarian Lifetime Achievement award. On the show, Jim tells me about his upbringing in sports, the tactics behind his success – from his meticulous training regimen and game day prep, to his superior intelligence, including ways he would "win the mind game". Additionally, we discuss the impact Jim has made on society – from his charitable initiatives, to job creation programs for inner-city men and women, to his current efforts working with the incarcerated through extensive rehabilitation programs and post-incarceration job opportunities. Among everything he has accomplished

Happy New Year everyone! It’s 2019, the weather’s warm on the east coast, and there’s opportunity in the air. For the avid Suiting Up Podcast listeners, you may recall me teasing a final, year-end highlight show – publishing my favorite moments from the guests of 2018.  Here it is. We decided to take this to another level by synchronizing themes. On today's episode, you'll hear from folks like Steve Nash, Christian Fuchs, and Kyle Harrison on work ethic; then Jay Dyer and Mike Levine on specific working habits; then Erika Nardini and Adam Grant on soft skill and personal development; as well as true wealth and career fulfillment from Tony Robbins. I found -- with the help of my Chief of Staff, Andrew Manning -- that these moments are not only incredibly retrospective, but can provide us with a jumpstart to the new year. Let's get to work.  Suiting Up Podcast is a show that explores the psychology, playbook of tools, and strategies of the most influential people in sports, entrepreneurship, and entertainm

Happy Holidays, everyone.  This is the final Suiting Up Podcast episode of 2018! On the show, we’re going to cover a number of subjects and set the stage for the future of Suiting Up Podcast. This entire series is going through a reorg, restructure, with new dates and special guests.  Over the last several weeks, I've spent quality time with my content and creative peers, colleagues at Cadence 13, and most importantly, listening to many of you on what you’ve liked, prefer to hear, and ideal guests moving forward.  Additionally, and core to the show, I share some of my favorite end-of-year tips around reflection, goal-setting, journaling, gifting, and being present. The holidays bring a lot of excitement and connection -- but also often stress and discomfort. So, stay tuned to the second half of the show for my take.  Suiting Up is a podcast that explores the psychology, playbook of tools, and strategies of the most influential people in sports, entrepreneurship, and entertainment. Best wishes for a high

Alex Banayan is the youngest author to ever sign with Penguin Random House. His book, The Third Door, was a 7-year project to uncover the how the most successful people in the world got to where they are today.  His road to The Third Door was unique, too. He funded his quest by hacking his way into a winning methodology on famous gameshow, The Price Is Right. Alex is a critical thinker, challenger, innovator, and introspective entrepreneur. His path to authorship required him to drop out of college, self-fund his quest around the world, with an insatiable level of persistence in securing meetings and interviews of each of his subjects: Bill Gates Steven Spielberg Jessica Alba Pitbull Larry King Tim Ferriss Maya Angelo Steve Wozniack ...and many more In addition to discussing the core tenets of his book, we lean into how he and the world's most successful people enhance their states of courage, confidence, humility, and vulnerability -- each are critical attributes to personal and professional succ

Time for the finale of Creating the PLL with our final episode of the series, highlighting our lead investor and board -- the Raine Group. Founded in 2009 by Joseph Ravitch and Jeffrey Sine, The Raine Group is an integrated merchant bank advising and investing in high growth sectors of technology, media and telecom. With offices in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, London, Shanghai and Mumbai, Raine’s investment portfolio includes (but is not limited to) Draft Kings, Cheddar, VICE, Nitro Circus, SoundCloud, and…the Premier Lacrosse League.  Topics on the show range from a discussion on the PLL launch, our corporate strategy, financing, and the future of sport – but not just lacrosse...we discuss major sports properties like the UFC, NFL, and MLB, noting differences and similarities to our business approach in lacrosse.  I think you’ll hear why having a strategic lead investor is mission critical to a company’s road to success. It’s actually more rare than it is common.  Two PLL board members join me f

On this week's show, I sit down with Suiting Up Podcast guest #10 -- now the Premier Lacrosse League's Manager of Media, and founder of Shootout for Soldiers, Tyler Steinhardt. We made an important announcement today, unveiling our community initiative, called "PLL Assists". We're so grateful for the work the lacrosse community puts into the broader growth of the sport (via investments, access, support, education, etc.), and it's integral to our mission that we invest and contribute resources into the growth of these efforts. From a Nov. 19, 2018 Press Release: As the Premier Lacrosse League continues its revolutionary approach to the sport, the league is announcing the formation of its community and charitable initiative, PLL Assists. PLL Assists is seeking to change the way that sports leagues interact with their communities by building lasting relationships with meaningful programs around the country. The program will focus on three specific areas during its inaugural season in 2019: increasing access to

On October 22, 2018 my brother Mike and I announced the arrival of the Premier Lacrosse League. Bloomberg broke the story across digital, print, TV and radio. Additional stories followed on NBC, Cheddar, Yahoo Finance, the NYSE, Bleacher Report, Uninterrupted, The Players' Tribune, Inside Lacrosse, Lacrosse Magazine, The Lacrosse Network, and more. We flipped the lights on at PremierLacrosseLeague.com and launched our Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube channels.  We were live. And that week, we pressed record and shared the news on this podcast with all of you.  This week, I'll continue to share more about the making of the PLL -- specifically the why and how. And interestingly enough, the timing of construction was on the same timeline of the launch of this podcast. The major difference? This show was public, and the PLL was not. Suiting Up is a show that explores the psychology, playbook of tools, and strategies of the most influential people in sports, entrepreneurship, and entertainment. 

Through innovative marketing deals, the acquisition of elite athletes in the NFL and NBA, and a knack for forecasting new trends in sports media, Mike Levine, known within the industry as "Vino", is a pioneer, visionary, and leader in sports business.  On the podcast, Vino and I discuss his rapid rise early in his career, the hard knocks and lessons he learned, and how he's led CAA into the stratosphere of best in sports talent representation and brand marketing consultation.  Throughout the show we discuss the modern sports media landscape, how players have become empowered through digital and social, and why he decided to invest in the Premier Lacrosse League.  Suiting Up is a show that explores the psychology, playbook of tools, and strategies of the most influential people in sports, entrepreneurship, and entertainment

This week, my colleagues and I – over 140 of the worlds best professional lacrosse players – joined by my co-founder and CEO, Mike Rabil, launched the Premier Lacrosse League. In short, the PLL is a revolutionary, tour-based, professional lacrosse league – where next June through September, 6 teams comprised of the best players and coaches in the world, will set off along a full regular season, all star break, and playoffs, to compete for a Premier Lacrosse League Championship. Major part of the news? We launched with a major media rights deal with NBC Sports Group – where all of our games will be broadcasted with NBC throughout the season, being featured on both TV and digital. Exciting times…and over the next several weeks on the show, we’ll be talking about it. Here’s my first conversation with the Premier Lacrosse League co-founder and CEO, Mike Rabil. Welcome to an all-new episode of Suiting Up Podcast – this is a show that explores the psychology, playbook of tools, and strategies of the most influ

The New Off-Court Play for NBA Stars Is Startup Equity…and potentially ownership in teams and leagues. Today’s guest is a friend, entrepreneur, and partner of the Athlete Tech Summit I’ve attended in San Francisco over the past two summer’s. Together, Rudy Cline-Thomas and business partner Andre Iguoadala have reinvented the modern athlete over the last decade. And let’s face it, the NBA and their athletes are not only at the forefront of sports competition and entertainment, but they’re leading trends in pop-culture, and now venture investing. After years of hard work and learning the business of sports and athlete representation, Rudy Cline-Thomas has become the source of advice and mentorship for professional athletes – especially in the NBA -- looking to break into early stage investments. His network includes some of the most successful CEO's and VC's in the valley, aside from star athletes like Andre Iguodala, Neymar, and David Beckham, to name a few. On the podcast, we discuss how he forged a whole

Throughout our interview, Tony Robbins describes our path as “a lifetime of putting yourself on the line. And there’s only one way -- it’s forward.”  Tony's been dubbed by national and international publications as the #1 Life & Business Strategist, he’s a multiple-time #1 New York Times Best-Selling Author, he’s an wildly successful Entrepreneur, and one the world’s greatest Philanthropists.  Tony's the founder of 8 private companies that generate close to $10B in annual sales. Each of these businesses operate under the same creed: “improving the quality of life for people around the world.”  On the philanthropic front, the Tony Robbins Foundation and Feeding America conjoin to feed children all over the world. Tony's on his way to – get this – feeding 1 billion people. He’s been at it for 37 years, and in 2017, Tony and his team fed 100 million homes.  His passion and energy will jump through the speakers. I watched his “I Am Not Your Guru” doc that premiered on Netflix last year, and thought to mys

Erika Nardini is the CEO of Barstool Sports, a hardcore New England sports fan (Go Coach Belichick...also a podcast guest), and one of the trailblazers of the internet. I'm lucky to call her a friend and mentor. Quick Erika snapshot: after changing her career trajectory out of school from legal to advertising (opting to take a $35K pay cut), she immediately became fascinated by the connections that people and brands could make online. With each creative campaign and team of workers (she talks about the value of "managing around" vs. "managing up"), she continued to climb the executive ladder, pushing branded content and internet advertising into a multi-billion dollar industry. With executive positions at MSN and Yahoo, she was then named the CMO of AOL, and in 2016 was brought over to Barstool Sports via her friends at Chernin Group. She's taken Barstool from 2 shows and 3 podcasts to one of the largest media companies in the modern era, attacking revenue at a clip that's unmatched -- featuring branded cont

Deepen Parikh is a partner at Courtside Ventures, co-founder of NYVC Sports, and (in his words) disillusioned Baltimore Ravens fan. Investing at the intersection of sports, fitness, media, and technology, Deepen says he "feels lucky to work in the field he's been in love with his entire life."  Deepen, along with powerful backers in Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, George Pyne’s Bruin Sports Capital and British advertising company WPP, has helped the Courtside Ventures become a major firm helping several well-known entities take significant leaps. Since taking the position 2 years ago, he's made investments in over 20 early-stage companies. On the podcast, we discuss how Deepen got into venture, the principle differences between venture investing and other forms of private equity and debt, we do our best to forecast the future of broadcast media among major sports properties, and give advice to the aspiring sports business analyst. “It’s a challenge, but the game of venture is not for the faint of he

Complex is a media platform and an online community that publishes the best, most diverse and most relevant voices in pop culture. It was co-founded by Rich Antoniello and Marc Ecko in 2002. Complex Networks’ stable of brands, now owned 50/50 by Verizon and Hearst, generate over 810 million videos views a month and have a combined social following of more than 194 million users. Their millennial-driven authentic voice strives to defy the stale conversations of the past, and shift the world’s attention to the movements within convergence culture. They were born in American Pop Culture – a business built on telling the stories of subcultures and communities, and have now reshaped who the faces of mainstream are.  On the show, Rich Antoniello and I discuss media trends, how to build an online community, how to monetize your network, some of the darkest challenges facing an entrepreneur, where the long-tail opportunity in sports is, the sneakerhead boom during the launch of the Air Jordan’s, and why he thinks

It’s rare to find a business partner who is selfless. A year ago, I introduced many of my listeners to my older brother Mike – who’s been a lifelong business partner – and we talked about ways we approach business, investments, and hiring good people. One of those good -- great people/hires – has evolved into my co-founder of Rabil Events – a nationwide events business that hosts both experiential and lacrosse instructional properties. Mick Davis is wise beyond his years. He’s just 27, but is jam-packed with athletic and business prowess. On the show, we discuss the business of youth sports, the race to an athletic scholarship, recreational vs. club participation, and what you should know to put yourself in the best position to reach your athletic and academic goals. Suiting Up is a show that explores the psychology, playbook of tools, and strategies of the most influential people in sports, entrepreneurship, and entertainment. Enjoy my conversation with former Dartmouth Football player, now co-founder o

A high performing athlete requires superior skill, athleticism, and mental horsepower. On today's show, I sit down with my strength & conditioning coach of 14 years – Jay Dyer – to discuss how you can develop your physical prowess. A large cohort of people believe that athletic superiority is reserved for a specific gene pool. Rather, the appropriate mindset should be that the largest share of our strength and speed is actually nurtured over time. Jay Dyer is a certified strength and conditioning specialist and director of sports performance for MedStar Union Memorial Sports Medicine. Outside of his lacrosse S&C roles with Johns Hopkins University and Team USA, Jay’s trained Division I, II, and III athletes in football, basketball, baseball, soccer and field hockey. Included on his client roster are athletes from the National Football League, National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball.  Today, Jay and I open up about our relationship from coach to athlete – discussing what's worked,

Our podcast took a 3-week break for lacrosse's biggest tournament that takes place every 4 years. I joined Team USA in Netanya, Israel for the Federation of International Lacrosse World Championships. There were 46 participating countries, and on the final day, the USA held the flag high, sang our national anthem on the podium, and brought the gold back to the States. To relive the moments, drama, and fun, I asked my roommate with Team USA (he's also my New York Lizards teammate), heralded All-World attackman, and one of the best NCAA D1 players of all-time, Rob Pannell, to join me.  On the show we talk about his origin story – how he found lacrosse. He was a "late-bloomer" and went grossly un-recruited through high school. RP3's as focused as any professional athlete. He works hard at his craft, training, and nutrition. We talk about it all. Suiting Up is a show that explores the psychology, playbook of tools, and strategies of the most influential people in sports, entrepreneurship, and entertainment. E

There are a number of things unique about this episode: 1. It's just me. No interviewee. 2. I take some time to update you on my podcast, my life, and what you can expect over the next 14 days (hopefully, Team USA wins a gold medal!). 3. I share 2 very meaningful articles that came across my desk this week. One on regret minimization framework -- something I've personally adopted as of later -- and the second on the correlation between professional ambition/success and pain.  Thanks for listening, and I welcome all of your feedback -- always. Shoot me a note over twitter: @PaulRabil. Suiting Up is a show that explores the psychology, playbook of tools, and strategies of the most influential people in sports, entrepreneurship, and entertainment.

I’m often asked about my nutrition – and on the podcast, we've discussed my macronutrient intake (remember: saturated fats, carbohydrates, and proteins). Today, I bring on the expert to discuss nutrition and high performance. Here's the format: we dig into diet types, veganism, clean meat consumption, and discuss the poor farm treatment of animals.  Our guest today, in addition to being among the world’s first clean meat consumers, is Paul Shapiro. Paul's a four-time TEDx speaker and long-time leader in food sustainability. He's published hundreds of articles in publications ranging from daily newspapers to academic journals, and is the latest best-selling author on the podcast! Check out Clean Meat: how growing meat without animals will revolutionize dinner and the world.  Quickly: clean meat, you ask? It’s the next great scientific revolution of creating and commercializing cleaner, safer, sustainable meat – real meat – without the animals. More on this during the interview.  Suiting Up is a show that ex

I used to beg my Mom and Dad to subscribe to ESPN. This was in the early 90's when the premium cable show reached only 1.5M homes (compared to now where they’re in 90M+). At the time, there was this new show dedicated to sports headlines and highlights called SportsCenter – with lead anchor, Dan Patrick. Dan Patrick was to ESPN what Howard Stern is to Sirius XM – helping grow the reach of ESPN into millions of homes. However, before landing the gig, he was on the road as a Disc Jockey doing radio station top and bottom-of-the hour score callouts, while sending in his self-made highlight tapes to industry executives hoping to get an interview.  After a decade and a half at ESPN, Dan left what was familiar, to begin something far more risky and new. And over the course of the next 18 months self-funding project buildout, staffing, and ops, The Dan Patrick Show became the most successful sports talk radio show on the planet. Today, Dan can be spotted calling the Super Bowl, World Series, and more as a lead hos