I asked the 20 year old XGames stud @chadkagy to list his injuries. "Broke my thumbs five times, both my wrists, left knee cap, ACL rebuilt, broke left cheekbone... and, oh, knocked out my teeth last year " We called the story No Regrets. But he said... (1 in thread)

..."people tell me I WILL regret this when I'm 40. But I can't tell you that until I'm 40." (Here's the story from 1999/2000) https://soundcloud.com/kevin-patrick-allen/no-regrets-x-gamer-chad-kagy?ref=clipboard So, as fate would have it, I found Kagy 20 years later and... (2 in thread)

He let me in to his 40 year old world that included additional injuries including a broken neck (recovered) broken back (recovered) and shattered heals (career ending)... (3 in thread)

We did a documentary about regret called What Comes Next and added a parallel story of a man returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. (4 of thread)

Pretty soon it turned into an anthology that included a woman who lost her son to suicide and a heart transplant recipient whose heart came from that suicide victim. Then we added stories of two black men who spent decades on death row for... (5 of thread) https://www.amazon.com/What-Comes-Next-Chad-Kagy/dp/B07M7B5ZQN

Murders they did not commit. Unreal. Unfathomable. And crazy insightful. I wasn't a great video guy... my career had been in radio... but their STORIES are so effective and they led me that this new project about the guy pictured below who... (6 of thread)

Was the captain of the Kansas City Chiefs team that won Super Bowl IV. The only thing more impressive than his play was his character. "Big man, big heart" teammates say. He was a lock for Hall of Fame. Like all the other people in my stories, he was resilient... (7 of thread)

Until he wasn't. In 1980 he committed murder/suicide. It was never clear what happened. Enter http://www.goodmanmovie.com  which I just finished. All four of Jim Tyrer's kids have been a part of the project and it will premiere in Kansas City Sept. 10. (8 of thread) My hope is...

That these themes of what resilience looks like, how it can be built will resonate. I hope that the Religion of Sports of the world @aschlossman will imagine how these kinds of narratives can work, that the @waitwhat's and @pushkinpods and @30for30's will say... (8 of thread)

Let's do some more of this, Kevin! Stories about messy legacies and living on the edge and adversity and strength and complex characters!! BTW -- Kagy has pain, yes, but ask him about regret and you'll hear an inspiring story. That's my story... that's my pitch...

END of thread (Pictured: Kagy and lil Kagy.)

P.S. -- I really should have tagged @emilymcmc in this thread...