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14Rock n' Jock N' Talkin'

A few weeks after filming with Bo, we were set to shoot episode two of MTV Sports, but this one had a bit of a twist. We were filming my wrap-arounds from the 3rd Annual Rock n' Jock Softball Challenge, a pro/celebrity softball game that had more stars than Michael Spinks's eyes after Iron Mike Tyson dropped him.

My man Patrick Byrnes was executive producing the Rock n' Jock special and was stressed out having to deal with the logistics of the shoot and egos of the celebs, so he decided to take a leap of faith. He said he wouldn't be able to simultaneously produce my wrap-arounds as well as the game, so he gave me a sheet of paper with specific talking points he wanted me to mention while I was filming. Then he sent me off by myself with the camera crew. As Patrick headed off to deal with more Rock n' Jock drama, he yelled back to me, “Dano, don't let me down.” Hearing him say that was the equivalent of a coach's pregame pep talk. Knowing that he had that type of faith in me after shooting just one episode inspired me to not let him down. Once Patrick had gone, I remember there was some nervous laughter between myself and the camera crew when we realized we were on our own to shoot the wrap-arounds however we wanted to. It was similar to when your parents leave you and your brother home alone and tell you to “behave.”

Before we started shooting I remembered there was one thing I had to do, per some MTV execs in New York. They had seen some of the rough ...