The Musers - Junior's evening with a President and a Future HOF-er

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All right, me, auto parts.

Hi, I'm Adam Devine, chief fundraiser for Children's Miracle Network.

No, no, no, no.

I said more fun!

When I was a kid, a Children's Miracle Network hospital helped me get back on my feet, literally.

So trust me when I say that these places are just hospitals.

They are hoop factories.

Children's Miracle Network is hospitals, programs, partners, and donors like you.

Join us in making big change for all kids.

Visit us online at cmn.org.

And I can't wait to hear about this big night for one Junior Miller.

It ended up being one of the most memorable nights of my life.

Last night at the George W. Bush Presidential Center.

I want to thank Kevin Sullivan and Andrew Kaufman,

two friends of ours for a long time, both with the Bush Center.

We've known Sully forever back when he was with the Mavericks.

And then later he was a part of George W. Bush's administration.

He was assistant to the president for communications.

And now he works with the Bush Center and is overseeing the engage at the Bush Center productions.

They have guests in the auditorium.

I had never been to the auditorium at the Bush Center.

And it's just a really special little theater.

Seats about 300 people, just beautiful.

You know, everything at the Bush Center is top notch.

Yes.

And this auditorium is right there with all of the beautiful things that they've got at the Bush Center.

So a couple of months ago, Sully reached out to me and asked if I wanted to moderate

an evening with Clayton Kershaw and his wife Ellen that they were the guests

for this March presentation of engage at the Bush Center.

And they were going to talk about their charitable work and we were going to talk baseball.

And I said, sure, that sounds great.

I'd love to do that.

And they had to run me through some back channels to make sure that everybody was okay with me.

And I guess I guess I got approved.

But yes, anybody with the ticket, you always have to run through back channels.

I hate that guy.

Right.

But no, everybody gave me thumbs up.

So I got the gig.

And really been looking forward to it.

About a month ago, we had a quick Zoom call with Clayton and Ellen.

And I thought that was cool.

I'm on a Zoom call with one of the greatest pictures of all time.

Yeah.

And Clayton Kershaw is a local treasure.

I went to Highland Park High School Dodgers great for 18 years and just retired.

And he and his wife have been up here.

We've had them in studio at the ticket before and they're just good people.

They're really nice and they're easy to talk to.

And I knew that would be the case.

So I knew I'd have a good evening with them.

And so early in his career, he committed to I'm going to try to make a difference.

And I just love that about him.

But very early, he decided he was wife decided to do that.

And I think it's awesome.

So I had to get there yesterday to the Bush Center about 430.

They wanted to do a little walk through before anybody got there.

So it was just me and Sully and a few folks that helped run that presentation at the

Bush Center.

And we went through the program and kind of the line of questioning.

And as we're going through this, I'm starting to get a little nervous.

Because we're showing the video that we're going to play.

There were three or four short videos that we played during the presentation.

There were some still photos.

We kind of went through the flow of what the conversation would be.

And at one point, Sully says.

You three will walk out after Shiloh, who's the new director of the Bush Center.

Introduces you so you don't have to introduce Clayton or Ellen.

He'll introduce you.

You three just walk out.

The president and Mrs. Bush will be sitting right here in these two seats.

And I'm sorry.

What?

Hold on.

Hold on.

And I thought there was a chance that they might be there.

But I'd never heard that confirmed until he said the president, Mrs. Bush will be sitting

right here.

And I, okay, now now my nervous level went to 10.

Yeah.

Now everything you say is like President Bush is here.

President Bush is here.

Right.

I was like, okay.

And then there was this countdown clock and they run a tight ship at the Bush Center.

And once my first comment was uttered, the clock started and we had exactly 50 minutes.

And he said, you know, you can go over a couple minutes, but just don't go over 10.

And don't short everybody 10.

Don't stop the presentation at 40, you know, give everybody, you know, we're going to

give them an hour here after Shiloh talked for a while and then we had 50 minutes.

So now I'm getting really nervous because there's a clock and there's all these production

elements and they gave me some cue cards with some instructions on them and note cards,

I guess it would be and okay, that's great.

So we go through the run through and then he says, let's go upstairs and go through the

game changer exhibit.

And this is what they've got going at the Bush Center now and it runs until January

of next year.

And I highly encourage anybody to go see this.

If you're a sports fan or you're a fan of American culture and I think that's pretty

much everybody, game changer, united by sports, it gets some amazing stuff.

It's incredible.

And so we went upstairs and that's when the Kershaw's joined us and so we went through

this exhibit with them and it was great.

I think the favorite item that I saw last night on display was Jackie Robinson's glove

and I just looked at that glove and marveled how anybody could catch a baseball with it.

I know, those old time gloves, how do they do it?

They had one of his bats.

They had just all sorts of great Jackie Robinson memorabilia, Jesse Owens memorabilia,

two of the Olympic gold medals from Berlin on display there.

They had a great setup with the video and some notes and comments of when George W.

threw out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium right after 9-11 and that was what a moment.

What a moment it was and he throws a perfect strike.

So it took a few minutes to get through all of that and they have even modern day stuff

stuff from the 2020 Thursday World Series championship team, some Nolan Ryan stuff.

It's just a really great exhibit, Game Changer United by sports and that was also kind

of the theme of our visit with the Kershaw's last night because they've done so much charity

work and baseball has been a common thread.

It's been a common language and a lot of the work that they've done.

So we get through with the tour of the Game Changer exhibit and then there's a reception

for all of the big donors who give to the Bush Center and they were all going to attend

the show that night and several of them were P1s got to meet a lot of really cool people.

And then Sully says the president's going to come in here in a couple of minutes and just

talked to everybody.

Wow.

Okay, cool.

So there's you know 100 people in this room and here comes the president and the first

lady and he gets up behind the microphone up there behind the podium and he welcomes

everybody and then he says and we're so honored tonight to have Clayton and Ellen Kershaw.

They're just true treasures.

They're Dallas's own and we love having everybody gives them a big round of applause.

Then he said and we're also honored tonight to have Craig Miller from the ticket here.

What?

Where are you Craig?

Wow.

And he goes out from the president man, your relationship has taken such a big jump

from our relationship with him.

That's great.

And I was standing behind someone and Sully grabbed my arm and pulled me out into the

open.

And here he is.

This guy right here.

And he goes there he is.

Those guys on the ticket are great and he said if you need any help moderating tonight

ask me for some tips on a great moderator.

So that's awesome.

That made my day getting a shout out from a president.

I think it's the first and probably last one I will ever get.

Never know.

But that was really cool.

So then they take us downstairs to the auditorium and they take me and the Kershaws back

to the green room where they hook us up with the microphones and Sully says the president's

going to come in here in a little bit and talk to you guys like wow okay I'm going

to get more time with the president.

So we're sitting at a table and just chatting with the Kershaws again so down to earth

with such normal people and good people they're just easy to talk to and fun and funny.

And then the president walks in with Laura.

And so we all stand up.

Comes around shakes everybody's hand thanks everybody for being here and he probably hung

out with us for I'm guessing five to ten minutes somewhere here just hanging out talking

sports or yes radio radio doing he had a lot of radio questions for me of course he had

a lot of baseball stuff for Clayton but he was very curious about the ticket.

He asked if we're still doing the fake Mac Brown he did yes he said that was his favorite.

We all took a picture together he said to tell you guys high okay and George and then

he he and Laura and Laura was very sweet and and lovely and then they stayed for a little

bit and then they found their seats back in the auditorium now I've never been more nervous

in my life at this point oh you're broken the ice now though well I've broken the ice

but now I've got to go out and perform on a stage knowing the president and first lady

are sitting right there all these movers and shakers and Dallas Fort Worther in the crowd

I'm on stage with Clayton freaking Kershaw and his wife and I've got to you know moderate

this discussion so I mean I can't tell you how nervous I was at one point I wished I

could have been teleported back in time and said no can't do it because I was sure I was

going to tank and I actually before we went out there I set a prayer and I said dear

God please do not let me ruin this evening please let it go smoothly and please let nobody

notice me I just I want to be under the radar and sorry I haven't prayed in over 20 years

yeah that's a good approach see I would have I would have hit the bar for a couple of belts

before I would have no that would have made me terrible I want me ask you another

hey do you remember what you were president so now it's show time and they introduce this

and the three of us walk out there and I was thinking I can't just start asking questions

there's got to be some kind of icebreaker I need I need to hear a laugh or I need something

to okay we need an opening joke to break it yeah so so we all went out there and sat down

and I said something like thanks so much to Clayton and Ellen for doing this tonight we've all

been looking forward to this for a long time but I thought we'd start the evening off with me

telling everybody my life story oh no and that got a big laugh okay yes thank God and Clayton said

good because he didn't want to talk about his life so he's like good you tell yours so that got

a big laugh and that is the first time I felt relaxed okay and then what do we want to have

tanks we've all been there before when you're first you don't know doesn't hit and you get

real killer doing a black Friday report it's clear it was a very risky play by me but it worked

I like it I like the game plan if it had fallen flat I would have been I don't know I would have

just walked out but so we we start the conversation and we had a great hour it was so much fun

one of the things that we talked about was Clayton Kershaw joining the 3000 strikeout club because

it had a tie in with Kershaw's challenge which is their charitable organization which has raised

$25 million over the years they've done work in Zambia the Dominican Republic and Dallas and

Los Angeles where he lives and has worked and for each strikeout he's always donated a hundred

bucks or 500 bucks whatever it was to the cause so 3000 plus strikeouts you know you're

racking up a lot of money for charity which is great he's the 20th pitcher to join the 3000 strikeout

club and I asked him last night about that do you think you could possibly be the last guy

into the 3000 strikeout club I hope not I really do I hope not I think for the sake of the game

you know as a fan you know when I don't know how many baseball fans we have in here but like when

you when you go when you go to the ballpark you know the first thing that the first thing that I

do is you see who's the starting pitchers that night and you know when it's when it's native

all the diverse Chris Sanchez like it's going to be on opening day for the Rangers here it's like

that's that gets me fired up like I want to watch that and you don't want to see them out in

the fifth and sixth inning so you know you want to see them go seven eight innings and have their

game be dictated by them and it's a product of the game now there's so many great relief pitchers

there's so many guys throwing so hard that the managers have a tough decision you know these

guys are all really really good at what they do and that wasn't always the case back then bullpen

pitchers were maybe not quite as good as they are now and so there's better options sometimes

but all to say I hope we do and I'm not super confident that we will but I am I hope we do Chris

sales one that has a chance get cold maybe you know Jacob DeGrom if he keeps pitching this way

you can but he's he's my age so who knows how long it's but uh so I I'm very hopeful but I'm not

super confident yeah it's uh pictures don't go deep in games anymore so it's going to be really

tough for for that to happen he's such a dinosaur in so many good ways one two hundred games that's

going to be hard for pictures to do yeah uh three thousand strikeouts hit I was going over his

career numbers and they're just staggering especially in this day and age yeah

first player ever to lead the National League in ERA four straight seasons uh 11 time all star

three world series rings uh what was it four Si Young's I believe he just he's one of the greatest

pictures of all time I asked him at one point who his favorite teammates were and he listed four

or five guys and a couple of them with Ranger ties two of them are heavily involved with the

Rangers right now and they call themselves the bench militia and I have vivid memories of them

before the game they're on the bench but at any moment we had a lot of guys that would pull the

shoot and what that means is they like my hamstrings a little tight and they just pull the shoot

10 minutes before the game and so these guys are going to have to go play and so they're in

they're in the training room just lathering themselves and hot stuff all over their body try and

get loose just panic that they're going to have to play at a moment's notice and I'll forever

remember these guys one of them is the new manager the Texas Ranger skip shoe mocker

and uh skip is an unbelievable man has a great testimony and is going to do great things here

I really believe that he's one of my favorite teammates I've ever had and then the other one

is a Ranger legend Michael Young Michael Young was I don't know if a lot he finished his career

with the Dodgers he played with us for a couple months at the end of his career and uh

Michael was uh I just he was recently just my coach in the world baseball classic he was a bench coach

and got to connect with him again but Michael is everything that he was here he is in real life

and just such an amazing ambassador the game and such a great Rangers such a great baseball man

and so those those two guys are up there too might have to ask skip shoe mocker about that

coming up here in a few minutes when we have the Ranger skipper on Clayton is very funny he's

underratedly funny I would say and at one point we played the video of the only home run he ever

hit in his career he had 700 career at bats he had one home run and he had a funny comment coming

out of that Clayton Kershaw has just hit his first major league home run and not Los Angeles on its

year oh man that's pretty cool you had about 700 at bats this is before the universal DH and all

that and and you hit that one out of the park what did that feel like I was show here before show

yeah one show hey a little million that was a good line I was show hey before show hey that's

great and they talked a lot about being parents they now have five kids they they had a baby girl

back in December so they've got five well and I asked his wife Ellen how Clayton managed being a

father and playing 162 games a year especially when it was school time and she and the kids are in

Dallas and he's working in Los Angeles did he make a pit stop in Dallas once you were back here he

would Clayton would truly move mountains to get here for to get here for our kids so if they

would have an off day the team would usually fly overnight spend the off day in the next city and

then be able to play and Clayton without fail he would take every red eye flight home to be able to

see the kids in the morning walk them to school even with like take them lunch during their cafeteria

time be able to tuck them in bed and then take another red eye flight out so it was kind of understood

and a super rested for the next game yeah I was gonna say what was your e-r-a after those red eyes

yeah yeah it was great but I mean he just he made a point if he could be there for the big things

like first day of school daddy daughter dance the Dodgers were very supportive that he was

dad first that's great and then baseball player so great that's great they had so many great stories

about baseball about their charity work about their family it was just a really nice evening and it

turned out to be really one of the most memorable evenings of my life and I'm just so happy that I

didn't drive that that ship into an iceberg last night but you did a great job I ended up not

ruining the evening so that was my bar that's a win yeah that's a definite win and then after

words we all go back into the green room and I walked into the green room and I turned around and

there was the president a third interaction with him and he shook everybody's hand and said

congratulations good job you guys did great that was a lot of fun and we talked again for a couple more

minutes and then we all we all left you're like one of his best friends well this is amazing friends

with former presidents and Clayton Kershaw yes two two pretty huge names what are you doing tonight

what are you gonna how are you gonna top that I don't know how I top that tonight but yeah thanks

to everybody out together and talk about Mac Brown thanks to everybody at the Bush Center for

making me feel at ease and so welcome last night thanks to Clayton and Ellen they were just

wonderful to visit with thanks to the president and Mrs. Bush for being so wonderful as well

it was just a great night pan that's uh that's great good for you

hi I'm Adam Devine chief fundraiser for Children's Miracle Network

no no no no I said more fun what I was a kid at Children's Miracle Network Hospital helped me

get back on my feet literally so trust me when I say that these places are just hospitals they

are hoop factories Children's Miracle Network is hospitals programs partners and donors like you

join us in making big change for all kids visit us online at cmn.org

to the 25th register for free entry at NFL.com slash draft access