0:00 So we went I went to one hospital and then I went to another hospital and they turned me away and because I like if I take my shirt off I have like one thing funny joke you guys will like this. What's the difference between a Mexican and Jesus? What? Jesus doesn't get Mexicans tattooed on [Music] him. Welcome back to another episode of the Careful Boys where we are still hanging on the edge of our seats here with Mr. Paul Gomez. Come on. So, so, um, I was saying, so we're we're in Australia and I've made this really good deal and we've we've like by this time Aaron sold it like we're just on a roll, right? It's just it's it's so cool and I'm watching all my friends do all these amazing things, but Nike is like really starting
0:50 to tell a different story that I'm I'm not resonating with. And then I I found myself being in meetings where I was being excommunicated from the meeting. I was like, "Oh, I was like that guy who's like, "We're going to do what?" It's a terrible idea, right? And I was like, "Oh, we're going to do this." I'm like, "Why? That's like It's just like stay in your lane. Do what you're good at." And then we started doing stuff that was like super not in our lane. So, I was in Australia and everyone thinks when you get bought by Nike that you have Nike money. You don't. You're on your own P&L. You have to hit your own numbers. You have to do everything by your everything right. And one year we lost a lot of money and Bob and I flew to Nike to fire ourselves cuz we lost all this money and Tom Clark's like you just got Nike eyes don't do that again. Go this. So I went around the world and opened all these office. The next year I went around and fired everybody. I was a black flag. Sucked. So but we got back
1:41 on track. So that being said, fast forward we I'm making this deal in Australia. It's a huge deal. And I get a phone call. I'm at the f if you've ever been to the Festival of Lights. It's insane. It's in Sydney Harbor where they all these it's like an art show but it's all lights through the Sydney Harbor and I'm with like the prime minister or whoever it is. I'm at this dinner and we're like everything's happening. I get this phone call like hey we're backing out on the Australian Open. I'm like uh no we're not. Oh yeah we don't have we don't have them. Nike is not Nike doesn't want in. They're going to put don't put their money in. And I'm like oh that's too bad cuz I'm still going. And they go well you can't go. I go, I'm I'm the CMO, dude. I can sign the paperwork. Sign the paperwork and let them I was like, it was gnarly. I just like I just hung up the
2:31 phone. It was just like, I'm going for it. Like, so I just went for it. And then I was like, and I called Bob and I'm like, hey, he's all I signed the paperwork. I go, dude, I've got 30 years of relationships. I've been going to Australia. Like, at one point Nike asked, that's when things started getting weird for me because Nike asked me to go around Australia. I told him no. I'm like, I don't I'm not gonna move my my kids are in high school. I'm not going to move them to Australia. So, I was like I I made the deal and I but I didn't have the money and I'm like this is crazy. So, I'm like I'm going to go meet with Gordon. So, remember we we we broke off. Who's Gordon? Gordon's the founder of Bill. I told in the beginning. Okay. So, when we broke off with Gordon, that was an ugly experience. Yeah, cuz he was trying to like take all of his guys too. Yeah, he took our guy. It was bad. It was bad. It was like and I'm
3:21 like I don't know who to call, right? Like it's like but they're only a surfer knows a feeling and we're microphone for youth and wouldn't have worked with Quick and Quicksilver was on their heels. So, and I was went to Gordon's daughter's wedding, Astra, and it was like I was still friends with his daughter and like cuz we've worked together for ever. And I it just we Gordon and I didn't. So, I just call him up. I'm Hey. So, what's up? And I'm like, I want to come meet with you. He's all for what? I got I got to talk to you in person. He's like, okay. So, I go up to him. Hey, this is what happened. Blah blah blah. I think I think Billong and Hurley should come together. We can totally knock Quicksilver on her ass right now. We should do this together. D like Game of Thrones but with surf the top. He was gnarly, dude. It was so heavy cuz he could have just told me no and then I would have really been in a world of hurt cuz I would have been
4:11 like, "Okay, now who do I call?" Right. So Weezer. No, but it it was it was cuz like cuz by that time Osiris by that time Nike told me I had to pull out of the Vans work tour and that was that was kind of the starting to be the fall of everything for me cuz I've been a Vans guy forever, right? And I couldn't wear Vans, couldn't do this, couldn't do Luckily we bought Converse so I could wear Chuck Taylor cuz they're sick. But um it was like that all happened and like Steve Vandor's like why? And I'm all he goes we don't care. And I'm like I can't I can't be part of the band's work. like we started like I was like day one and it's like so then it it starts happening again can't do this. I'm just like dude really I'm like no I'm going to do it. So I'm I'm So I sign that deal and our CEO at the time goes you should be fired. I'm not going to fire me. Well fire me and he goes he
5:01 goes when are you coming home coming back? I got to go close the deal. So I go to Gordon he's like you go talk to um this guy this other guy Finno who's in he's in So I fly to the Gold Coast. I break it down for him. Hey, this is how we're going to do it. We can put quicks serve on the heels. People will never see it coming. Blah blah blah blah blah. Make this whole plan. Crazy plan. Bill Bon, we're in. We'll do it with you. I'm like, okay. So, I fly back and I'm already in hot water. I'm like, this sucks, but whatever. So, I go back to Australia because we're going to make the announcement. And so all the team like Mark Okalupa who premiered his movie last night, very famous world champion surfer, like we I was his team manager and worked with him and then we parted ways. We never talked again like a lot of the Bill Bond guys we never world champions we never talked again. So then we were in Manley Beach at this crazy hotel and we have all worldwide
5:53 press there and it's like like what's going on blah blah blah like and it was like so you had Mick Fanning world champion Steph Gilmore world champion Barton Lynch world champion like Mark like Lane all the world champions of Australia sitting there and they dropped thing Billong Hurley Australian Open surfing just like insane and all of like all the prourfers like giving these speeches like Mark starts crying. He's like, "Dude, there was like a divorce. It was super terrible." And it's like, "Now we're friends again." It's like, "Yeah, I'm so excited to work with these people together." It was like global news. Like it went big. Like everyone was like, "Dude, Billong and Hurley came together cuz nobody does that, right?" No. Like it's be like Nike and Adidas coming together. Become Yeah. Yeah. That'd be crazy. It wouldn't happen. Yeah. That would explode. So, I brokered that deal and then um I got back and I was I went to I was
6:45 I went to the Gold Coast and I was working with those guys and my whole thing is in any podcast that I'm that any person who work for me knows it's like when the waves are good, we'll work later. Every p like a million podcast I work for Paul Gums. Anytime the waves are good, we work later. Like I've been in meetings the wind turn it off. We're going to go we'll come back and work till midnight. Like it's good. We're out of here. Surfing comes first always. That's why we do this, right? Everything that we try to I always try to tell people anything I'm doing, I want to do it cuz I want to have fun, right? And then I was like this wasn't it was becoming not fun, right? I started having that happy Gilmore moment where I should kick my own ass for looking that way. So it was like like I'm on the go coast and I'm with these guys, all the Bilibong guys who some are new, some of the guys I knew from years ago. And it was like they're like, "Dude, the waves are good. Let's go surf." And I was like
7:35 surf like scoring and working at like 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning just banging out. I come back and I go to Nike and like I'm an executive in this in the game and I'm like all I go to the guys I'm like, "Dude, look at how sick these waves are." And everyone's all just like I'm all, "Oh ████ I'm that guy. Look how sick these waves are." Everyone's in a suit. Yeah. I was all, "Oh ████ I'm that guy. I'm that guy. I swear I'd never be like I like never be like I and then um so I call my lawyer and I'm in Nike and I call my lawyer. I'm like, "Hey, these people have been pursuing me. Look at these deals, blah blah blah blah blah, whatever." So he looks at all the deals. He's the worst one with the most upset. Tell them I want to meet with them on Thursday. So I got back, met with them, they go, "We'll hire you right now." Done. So I go, I go to my office. So I'm in the exact I live. So Bob, Roger, myself, and then
8:28 our executive. So, we have this executive office. Like, we I have like a chopper in my office. Like, it's like this crazy big office. And I walk into Roger's office. I'm Hey. He's like, I know I said a lot of stuff and you know, I didn't realize it was going to be this big. Like, this is huge news. This that and I'm like, that's cool, but I'm not here to talk about that. I'm resigning. And he's just all he was just like, I'm totally and he has an English accent. And then he said, I'm totally unprepared for this conversation without an English accent. And I was like, oh, like what happened? It was like the reboot. It was like full of weird. It was super weird. Turned American all of a sudden. Yeah. It was weird. And then I was like a glitch in the Matrix. But maybe he was just so caught off guard. Yeah. And then he's like, "You call Bob." I go, "Why would I call Bob? I report to you. I don't report to Bob. I report to you. I report to Nike and I'm done. I'm out. I don't want to do this anymore." He's just like, Bob calls me
9:19 and he's like, "What's going on?" I go, "I don't want to do this anymore. It's not who I am. I don't I don't believe in where we're going. I could rap for you guys, but it's not who I am. Like, that's just not who I am. And that goes back to like a Lou Alane story. So, Lou invites me. I go to Laker games and hang out with Lou. And and they would, this is basketball stuff, but they would bench guys so they could have more money to pick up guys down the line, whatever. But it's it's fully corrupt sports. So, so that's like betting on them. So, but no. So, so I call Lou. I'm like, "Hey, I go I want to come to I want to come to a game tonight." and and Jacob and oh that's when they benched the wall for a long long time right and so they benched him and I'm going to come hang out and he's like oh I'm going to bring friends he goes no only you can come like okay what up guys come join our Patreon cuz there's hundreds of videos dating back
10:09 to 2019 support the channel's growth and new ideas and tap into the closer community by joining our Discord come chat with me inside and then you can say funny things to me and get the opportunity to suggest new video ideas. Come join our Patreon. Thank you. Link is in the description box below. So, I I come and there's like a full carnival going on like crazy. And I'm like, "What's going on here?" And it's like, "They're retiring Kobe's jerseys." So, I'm there and I go there and they give me the jerseys. Like, cool. I'm walk outside and see some kid who's like some little kid who's all stoked. I'm like, "Here you go." Wow. I gave him the jerseys. That's sick. And he's in L and Lou calls me. He goes, "Who'd you give the jerseys to?" Oh, some kid on the street. He's like, "That's why I invited you cuz I knew you wouldn't keep them." I go, "I knew you wouldn't sell them. I knew you wouldn't fawn them. I wouldn't I I knew you
11:00 wouldn't do that." That's why you didn't invite me. I would have kept it for sure. I I didn't. So, I was on a plane one time and I was sitting next to a guy named Warren Moon. I don't know who do you guys I didn't He's like a famous football player, announcer, whatever. So, I'm sitting next to him on plane talking the whole flight and I get up and my friend's like, "Dude, you were sitting next What was your conversation like with Warren?" I'm how did you guys know his name? So that's Warren Moon. I'm like I don't know who that is. Like dude, he's famous. I'm like whatever. My point being is so I looked at that and I went I don't want to do that anymore. Right. And it was like do what? do the through the Nike early thing and like we we had made there was kind of really no impact after that like US Open surfing agenda putting ASR out of business
11:50 starting blink like as where do you where do you go from there? Oh, I see. You want to make a big impact. Yeah. It's like well you just want to do things that are going to make change, right? All right, if you're not going to make change, you just so that's so left, went was CEO for a different company for a hot minute and those guys were just like super lame. I bailed from there and then I was like I had progenics and then when I got to Progenics it was like CrossFit was popping off and I just took a recipe book and went into sports that fitness space and blew it up. That was gangster too cuz you guys were the first I think to make protein out of like salmon and Yeah. We just did stuff that was so off and I was like, we can do whatever we want. Like, who says you can't do this? Who says you can't do Who says you can't do that? That's why I make these shirts cuz nobody at retail will sell a shirt with a gun on it. Go try to buy like
12:41 Bass Pro Shops used to buy Smith and Wesson T-shirts. They don't sell them anymore. Really? I do notice that now. But when I was a kid, I would remember there'd be guns everywhere. Yeah. Yeah. You can't you can't buy that stuff. So, it's like So, so going there, I went, "Okay, I'm out. did Progenics, got in the fitness space, was super fun, made a lot of great relationships, blew a lot of people up, like help people get their stars. Like Miranda, who's my who is my head of marketing, she owns street parking now, massively successful. I got to meet Bart. I did everything in my power to make sure that Bart would be who Bart is. And he was already rad as it is. Like that talking about like the ice cream and all. I was like, "This dude's so cool." you know, he's there's and any way I could just plug in what I knew to help somebody grow bands or whatever, whatever it was, cuz it's like I came from nothing. I didn't have a
13:33 handout. I grew up in a pretty rough neighborhood. My parents were, you know, alcoholics. And then luckily, I had found God earlier in my life and that kind of kept me on the straight and narrow, right? And just not doing stupid stuff. And then so 3 years ago I died. It was the accident in Mexico, right? Oh ████ So I was on a surf trip and um I was I was it was really sorry Chris, but I'm going to share the story. So our friend Taylor who's in the Foo Fighters had passed away and my friend Chris is a guitar player for the Foo Fighters. And it was like a month later. I'm Chris is a great surfer. And I was like Chris you got come on just just and I I know Dave really well. I know Nate. All those guys are my friends. And I'm like Chris just go surfing with us. like you need to get a break like this is not good. So we go on a surf trip two days in a trip like I crash and he's I he's got a tattoo and and hold his hands. I remember I focused
14:24 on his tattoo that was one thing. So I was we had a bunch of guys and we're going surfing and it's Justin from Botchons, Chris from the Foo Fighters, like all these like Daryl Eaton who runs CA like all these like super gnarly guys are and we're all really we're still surf buddies, right? We're still the same dudes except one guy runs CIA, one's a guitar player for food fighters, one owns botchons, and my other friend who's there owns 10 McDonald's. Like he's like this. And we're all but we're all just grubby surf kids and we're funny. So they all take off and I'm late behind him. So I jump on this ATV pegging it down the beach. Boom. Crash. Nobody sees it happen. So I'm laying on the beach. I I'm I don't know what's going on. Then they come back and my friend John turned around. So John Park owns a really good restaurant called Fish 101 if you ever
15:14 It's super good. So John, they go, "Where's Paul? He should be here." So at this time, so I I I never knew you had 24 ribs till I broke 19. Oh ████ So I So I have this scar here, Mexico surgery. I have this scar here. I have all these different scars from my lungs were collapsed. I have this scar here that goes from here. So um What did you crash into? I I was looking at the waves like an idiot going fast and I just like the water blows out, creates the little divots in the sand and I was just looking and oh ████ I just drove off something like that size as this table. Oh my god. The thing came over and crushed me. Oh ████ So I was laying face down and and then the water started coming in. I was starting to drown cuz I was like in a couple inches of water and luckily they
16:04 got me and they they they tried to flip my and I remember don't flip me over cuz they pulled this and this whole thing just kind of rolled around my back. It was crushed and I was like oh and then they got me back. So I guess I died in the driveway and the the kid who I brought blue shout out to you. The kid who I brought is a filmer. 22-year-old kid's EMT. Didn't even know. Wow. And then my friend Devin who owns uh New Greens, he's there. New Greens, shout out to them. They make way better stuff than AG1 News. New Greens. So, um Todd Richards, famous snowboarder. All I mean, we're and everyone's just tripping. Like, so so they call an ambulance and we're I'm seven miles down on the beach. They get a four-wheel drive truck, get me off the beach, get me to my friend's house, call an ambulance. He's seven miles on a the
16:54 gnarly dirt road. Yeah, seven miles is a long ways down. And so I stopped breathing in the driveway. They throw me in the back of a truck going down the road. Then I then I my friends told me I was like holding their hands. They kept going, "Squeeze my hand. Squeeze my hand. I don't remember any of this." And I just go, "Dude, I just want to close my eyes." And they were like tell I was telling like I've lived a good life. I'm good. I'm like all good. Like no, no, no. And I guess I said I just I just want to close my eyes. And I dropped their hands and my eyes roll back in my head and I was like, "Oh s███." And they're like they're ████ They're freaking out. Right. So then I remember being in the white room. I was just like, "Dude, it's so comfortable here." Like nothing nothing goes with you. Nothing goes with you. And I'm in the white room. I'm just like, "Wow, this is crazy." Like I'm like, "Where am I? This is so weird." And all a sudden like hear these voices. Boom. I'm back in my body. And
17:44 now I'm awake. What the ████ And you're in the hospital or something? I've been still in the back of the truck. Oh my god. And I'm like, I I can't breathe because my lungs are collapsed. And I'm like, and and they're like, give us five more minutes. Five more minutes. Like, fight, fight, fight, fight. And they got me to the hospital. And this is in Mexico. And then um we go in there and I just remember being on the gurnie and they're rolling past it was like this dirty little hospital. And they rolled me past this one room. I'm like, why am I going? And they rolled me like in a room like this with all but like those black and yellow containers that you get at Costco. Oh yeah. Yeah, man. this room and it's like I guess it's got better lighting. This guy comes in with this little cardboard box, puts gloves on. He's like, "Oh." And everyone's told me when your lungs are collapsed, the most painful thing is is when they have to reinflate your lungs. So he stabs me and his finger goes and he's pulling the ribs out of my
18:34 And so now I can breathe. I'm I can breathe. I'm like, I can breathe. And and then he does it. So now I'm able to breathe. And then they're like, get throw me in an ambulance. So they take me to one hospital. Rick Devo is I've been talking about the whole podcast. He's with me and and they go I'm not letting my friend go to this hospital. So we I went to one hospital and I went to another hospital and they turned me away and because I like if I take my shirt off I have like one thing funny joke you guys will like this. What's the difference between a Mexican and Jesus? What? Jesus doesn't get Mexicans tattooed on him. That's funny. So, so I have all these crazy like my whole back's like the resurrection and crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Like it's all like I'm covered. So they're like thinking I'm some So they're like not sure if I'm a cartel guy or whatever and
19:24 I'm just like tripping and then so they finally get me in one hospital and they're like I have a picture like my they're they're trying to hold me up and actually I'm like crumbled. So all my friends are standing. Thank god they all have kids cuz everyone's getting freaking nuclear bombs thrown as they're x-raying me. And then they finally get to me this other place where they do a cat scan and they get the cat scan and my friends just all look at I can see on their face they're just like he ain't going to make it. He ain't going to make it. There's no way he's he's he's I mean this was crushed. It was like powder. It's like this was like a bag of potato chips. How old were you at this point? This is 3 years ago. So 5 57. So I was like and I was like this was I just put a post up on my Instagram and then so I tell the guys so they go hey we have to rush him to Aapco 6 hours away
20:14 in an ambulance. Oh no we got to get him to Aapokco. So I and my friend that's like the next biggest hospital. Yeah they could do the surgery cuz they didn't have anything to do the surgery that I needed. It's like the biggest one of the bigger cities. And I looked at the guys and Bob Hurley and I always had this packed. If you die on a surf trip, you go in the freezer cuz you're already dead. Don't end the surf trip. The waves are hidden. We got Why Why would you? You're dead. Wait, surgery later. Waves burn. Waves now. Surgery. 100%. Like that was a deal. So those guys are They're They're all freaking out. They're like They're just looking at me and I'm like, "Hey guys, I'm telling you one thing. If you guys don't go surf, I will die. I seriously it'll kill me that you guys miss the waves. Go surfing. I'll I'll I'll pull this off. So, go to Aapokco, supposed to have the surgery.
21:04 First day I get there, nothing. And everything in Mexico, you got to pay up front. Pay up front. Pay up front. They won't touch you until you give them money. So, the guys like Germa who's who's the caretaker of the house was like, "Take care of me. I love G. Shout out to you, G money." And um so, first day, no surgery. Second, so the second day I'm really bad. So they come and read me my last rights and they're praying over me and and I'm just like and I wouldn't my family's like want to fly down. I'm like don't fly down. Hakapokco is like one of the most dangerous cities in the world. I don't want to have to think about you and try to live like just stay home. GMO will communicate with you. Another day goes by and then that they the girl like thank god this girl got on a freaking bus from Mexico City and rode the bus from Mexico City to Aapokco. Who who was posting for you at that time? GMO. Germo. Shout outs to Germo. Yeah. So he was like, "So I was cuz I was trying to like cuz people knew it was like kind of
21:55 people knew it was going on." I'm like, "And then um cuz he set up a GoFundMe for YouTube." My daughter did cuz my ATM card got eaten. Oh ████ So this is where it gets I got a video. It's a crazy video. So So then I have my surgery and like now GMO's got to go back to work. I'm in Aapokco and I'm like uh they go you have to have somebody here with you. I'm in I'm in intensive care. I've been out of surgery for like maybe 18 hours. And I'm like, "Oh, I'm like, dude, I don't have any. My family's not here. I don't even want to go." And he's like, "Oh, well." I Well, you're just going to kick me out. And they're like, "By this time, my daughter's sending GoFundMe to start paying for my bills." And then um cuz it was going to GMO and GMA was paying. And then I I'm like, "They bail him while
22:46 GMA we're out of here." He's like, "What do you mean?" I go, "Take all these machines, put them between my legs, and we're freaking out of here. I'm going to call an ambulance." You didn't run with the machines, dude. I have the video. Oh ████ I'm We're out of here. He's like, "I don't know if we can do that." I go, "They're not going to chase us to Aquapco." And I'm I'm like pretty much unc like like a vegetable. I have tubes in just I'm just like, "Dude, let's go." So he wheeled me out, threw me in an ambulance and we bailed. Drove back to the to where I was 6 hours back and I was in the hospital there. Like when you go for a walk in a like I'll show you these videos. They're gnarly. Wait, you took an ambulance? Like you hijacked it? No, he h he got an ambulance to come get us from and you escaped. I literally escaped. It was so heavy.
23:38 Damn. Yeah, I remember uh just living normal life and I saw your post and I'm like, "Oh s███." And then Yeah. I didn't know if it was your daughter, whoever set up the GoFundMe. It was my youngest daughter. Yeah. And then uh both me and Gio sent like 500 bucks each cuz we didn't know what the ████ was going on. We just knew it was emergency like surgery and we're like, "F███, it must be really bad if Paul can't even post for himself and it's like someone else posting." ████ was crazy. Yeah. Well, this is this is them like taking tubes out of my lungs. Dang. Oh, ████ So, that was after the surgery, but there's um trying to find this one where you go for a walk in the hospital. This guy's story just keeps going. Yeah, I'll show it to you guys after. But it's it's pretty hectic of where um
24:28 God, where's the one in GMA? Is it this one? I'll have to find it for you guys. But um hey, we'll just we'll just pause it on that call so that you can just hold your See the next one.
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