The Melanie Avalon Biohacking Podcast Episode #335 - Johnny Damon

TRANSCRIPT

Johnny Damon
Your body does need the right energy to continue to play at a top level. I don't want another football player dying.

I know it gets hot here. I know the coaches need to make them tough, but if they have proper hydration, that won't happen. We want people to just be able to be as healthy as they can, be as hydrated as they can, and be the best that they can, and to always bring their A game. At the end of the day, that's what we're looking for, to live the longest, healthiest life that we can have.

Melanie Avalon
Welcome to the Melanie Avalon biohacking podcast where we meet the world's top experts to explore the secrets of health, mindset, longevity, and so much more. Are you ready to take charge of your existence and biohack your life? This show is for you. Please keep in mind we're not dispensing medical advice and are not responsible for any outcomes you may experience from implementing the tactics lying here in. So friends, are you ready to join me? Let's do this.

Welcome back to the Melanie Avalon biohacking podcast. Okay friends, it is always so exciting when I get to interview literal legends on this show. I was so grateful and had the best time connecting with Johnny Damon. He is a renowned former Major League Baseball player who had a 18 series career and won the World Series with both the Yankees and the Red Sox. Now he's dabbling in biohacking and has even partnered with Gary Breca for his incredible sports drink, A-Game, which he formulated to be non-toxic with no artificial flavors, colors, refined sugar, and high fructose corn syrup.

All those nasty things that are in conventional sports drinks. Yes, I'm looking at you Gatorade and Powerade. If you'd like to stock up on A-Game, which I highly recommend, you can go to www.drinkagame.com and use the code A-Game20 to get 20% off your order. Again, that's www.drinkagame.com with the code A-Game20 for 20% off your order. Johnny, it turned out to be the nicest, coolest human being. We dive into so many fun topics on today's episode. I asked him questions about his childhood and what it was like becoming a Major League Baseball player, the role of diet, health, and recovery in athletic sports, the difference between fueling football versus baseball, and the interesting problem that he experienced with the recommended diet when he played for the Cleveland Indians, the importance of hydration for athletes, including some sad stories about death from dehydration, and the super importance of having clean sport drinks to support that.

We talked about what it was like for him to become an entrepreneur and formulate his own ideal sports drink and how he somehow manages to do all of this while being a super cool, supportive father with a wife and eight kids. My mind is just sort of blown. The show notes for today's episode will be at melanieavilon.com slash johnnydaemon. That's J-O-H-N-N-Y-D-A-M-O-N. Those show notes will have a full transcript as well as links to everything that we talked about.

So definitely check that out. I can't wait to hear what you guys think. Definitely let me know in my Facebook group, I have biohackers, intermittent fasting plus real foods plus life. Comment something you learned or something that resonated with you on the pinned post to enter to win something that I love. And then check out my Instagram, find the Friday announcement post. And again, comments there to enter to win something that I love. All right, I think that's all the things. As a brief reminder, you can get 20% off Johnny's A-game sports drinks with the code A-game 20 at drinkagame.com.

Melanie Avalon
And now without further ado, please enjoy this wonderful conversation with Johnny Damon. Hi friends, welcome back to the show. I am so incredibly excited to be here today and have this conversation. So this is something really new for the show. I have not, I've had some sport people on the show, but I have not had anybody in the world of baseball and I definitely have not had any legends in the world of baseball.

And it's not only baseball, it is so many things. I'm here today with Johnny Damon who for his, well for his MLB career, it was 18 seasons. He is one of the most respected outstanding players in MLB history. He won the 2004 World Series with the Boston Red Sox and also signed with the New York Yankees and in 2009 won a World Series with the Yankees. So he is the only, with Babe Ruth, the only full-time everyday player to achieve World Series rings with both the Red Sox and the Yankees, which is absolutely insane. And also before I keep going on with your bio, Johnny, so growing up, one of my most treasured memories is I grew up in Atlanta and my dad would take me to the Braves games. I was at like the 1996 World Series. I remember that with the Yankees and the Braves. I just remember being there like all night. I remember being like a very long night when I was six years old.

Johnny Damon
Oh, yeah. Now there's a song about it, Morgan Wallen and the 96 Braves, right? Or was it the 98 Braves? It's the 98 Braves that created heartbreak to a lot of you fans, because I think that team was considered one of the best of all time. And winning a World Series is so tough. I'm glad you guys got to win in 96 so you could celebrate and enjoy how the city comes to life, how the fans come together. It's just a wonderful moment.

So, yeah, the 96 Braves were incredible. So were the 98, but unfortunately, Morgan Wallen put them in a song because they did not come through.

Melanie Avalon
See, I don't even remember. So the 90s, we did win. I thought we didn't win.

Johnny Damon
Well, 96.

Melanie Avalon
Wait, let me look this up. I mean, this is like this is like core childhood memory that we're unlocking. We lost. Yes Yes, so 96 is when so maybe that's the heartbreak maybe

Johnny Damon
No, because the song is actually the 98 Braves by Morgan Wallin.

Melanie Avalon
Heartbreak starts and keeps going until 98.

Johnny Damon
Yeah, because they had such a great team. And I mean, one of the best teams of the 90s, but unfortunately, they had to run up against the New York Yankees, which was just dominating the American League.

And the only team that really had a chance against them was the Cleveland Indians at the time, when they had Manny, Jim Tomy, Travis Fryman, Roberto, Sandy Alomar. I mean, the Cleveland Indians were stacked during that time, and the Yankees were just better than everybody.

Melanie Avalon
I mean, the visceral feelings I'm remembering from like when I think the Yankees, I feel scared. So, because like you're like a child and you go to all the Braves games and I just remember being there and thinking the Yankees were just the most terrifying thing and then they did win.

Johnny Damon
Yeah, absolutely. But the Braves actually won in 1995 against the Cleveland Indians. They are now called the Cleveland Guardians, but that's who they beat. And 95 was a shortened year because there was a strike.

It was actually my very first year in the big leagues. I got called up from AA and never went back to the minor league. So that was a great year for me to get to the big leagues, but a really great year for your Atlanta Braves.

Melanie Avalon
Wow, so many things. So yeah, so this is really special to me. I mean, it's ironic because I don't I'm not a very sporty girl. I don't really engage in sports, but I do have this insane love for baseball. I don't have a lot of knowledge, but I have love because of, you know, how I grew up and I genuinely enjoy watching it like I it's the one sport maybe it's maybe it's the only sport I understand and that's why I like watching it. But yeah, I just I love it.

And actually I asked for I'll circle back to this but I asked for listener questions for you and so many people wanted to know about your upbringing and if you always wanted to play baseball. Actually I will ask you that and I'll actually tell you an exact name. Alice wanted to know what growing up was like. Did you always prefer baseball? There was another one about when you were young. I'll circle back to that. But so growing up, did you always prefer baseball?

Johnny Damon
Yes, growing up, I absolutely loved baseball. I also love soccer, but they kind of ran into the same season. I dabbled a little bit into football, but I realized very quickly that I didn't love it. I didn't love getting hit. I didn't love playing in 100 degree weather down here in Orlando, Florida. And so baseball was my game.

And I was just better than most. Like I had an older brother and he had a bunch of his friends and we would go out, play in the neighborhood, go to the ballparks down the street and just played baseball until the sun came down. And it came natural to me. The fact that, you know, I was a big kid. By the time I was 13 years old, I was six foot two, 180 pounds. And everybody else was pushing me to football, even though I was like, man, I enjoy watching football, but I don't enjoy all the other things about it. And so I enjoy watching it now, but I think I made the right decision. I was able to play 18 years in the big leagues and there was no place for soccer at the time. So I believe if I was to succeed in soccer, I would have had to go overseas. And that was in the 90s. And I'm thinking about America. I know the Desert Storm War was going on. I know there was a lot of stuff happening in Europe at the time. And I just said being at home would be a lot better than trying out soccer, which I am decent, but the world is so good at soccer.

So who knows if I would have made it. I play now to get my cardio win. And these guys are running laps around me now. I mean, we do have one of the older teams out there. We're going up against 25 year old kids and we just don't have the stamina. Like we're trying. And that's why we're trying to take the right vitamins. We're trying to stay in great shape as we continue this life process and try to look as good as we can for as long as we can.

Melanie Avalon
So actually, to that point, I was thinking about this because you're mentioning, you know, not going the football route. And I recently had on Dr. Heather Sandison for her book, Reversing Alzheimer's, and we were talking about, you know, cognitive health and all the things to do. And one of the things not to do was don't play football because of, you know, TBIs and things like that.

But that aside, when I think of stereotypes of different teams, when I think of football players, I think of them just eating, like, all the stuff, all the stuff that's not good for you. And I know that might not be how they all eat. But I actually have no idea what the stereotypical eating regimen of baseball players is. And Sean actually asked, what's the typical food spread or setup in a major league locker room before and after the game? So I'm curious, synthesizing all of this, what I just said. The stereotypical baseball player and their lifestyle with, like, diet and food, is it any healthier than the stereotypes of, like, football or is there not really a stereotype? What's that like? And what did you eat back then?

Johnny Damon
that's really a great question because every sport we need to eat and we need to eat meat so we can have protein we need to stay strong baseball we have 162 games so we're pretty much playing every single day from April 1st until October and then if you have the playoffs you as far as you go you head to November with 20 more games so I remember playing for Cleveland they wanted to go the healthy route which I agree with but before the game we would have sushi every single day which is fantastic but we can't keep weight on and as athletes you need to have weight because me being 208 pounds with Cleveland because of the sushi I'm eating before the game or when I'm playing for the Red Sox or Yankees when we have Philly cheese steaks we have pasta we have all this stuff to load up and have energy and strength for the game like tapping a ball could go out of the ballpark but when I was playing for Cleveland I was making great swings absolutely crushing the ball and these guys are going back and catching it on the warning track and I'm like that extra 10 pounds definitely gives you strength so I'm always thinking about what's your best playing weight you know I came into the league at about 190 pounds I was probably three to five percent body fat but I kept blowing out a rib cage towards the end of the season of one one year I missed the remainder of the games like 10 games but another season I did it halfway through the season but I was able to play didn't cause me too much discomfort but after that I was like man I need to bulk up I need to make sure I can't pull muscles every single chance that I get so for baseball and for football we need to eat eat we need to eat healthy like forget all that junk but for the most part we're eating rice chicken rice and steak they're not bringing in the bad food in the clubhouses anymore that's a great thing but your body does need the right energy to continue to play at a top level

Melanie Avalon
wow it's it's funny so like sushi restaurants are probably like the one restaurant i would never pick because i i would just be starving it was she does not fill me cannot fill you up yes

Johnny Damon
Absolutely. Yeah, I started the season my last season with Cleveland like 218 eating sushi every day and working out playing every day.

I was 208 that quick and I just had no strength to do much but you do need strength You do need to eat properly and for the most part What Cleveland did if we won so many games One of our players was asking for it that can we get ice cream back in our clubhouse and we won enough games So they're like, yeah, you guys can have ice cream again, but they were taking everything away from us. So no No candy bars no no junk food, even though our body need needed it to perform at a higher level

Melanie Avalon
like needed the calories. Did they not realize that that was not sustainable or was it sustainable? Well.

Johnny Damon
They still haven't won the World Series, but but I think they they're getting close like they've had a decent team the past couple years, but I think they realize because we were a decent team in the first half. And then we just were horrible in the second half.

And then that's why I ended up getting released a lot of the other veterans got released and then yeah, they didn't finish too strong in 2012. But there's a lot of the new biohacking stuff started like the diets, the cold plunges like that was the first time in my career that after the game, they were talking about jumping in cold plunges. So a lot of good things became of it. But this was my last year, so I couldn't reap all the benefits.

But what I did play for the Yankees and the Red Sox, we had so much great food in the clubhouse and I was just ready to play every single day. But the best food or dessert was at the new Yankee Stadium. I mean, you had the Yogi Sunday and whenever Jorge Posada wasn't playing, he made sure he plopped down on the couch and made sure he had one of Yogi Bear's famous desserts.

Melanie Avalon
What all did that entail?

Johnny Damon
Oh, there was Sunday, whatever ice cream you wanted, say vanilla. You could throw bananas on it. You can throw sprinkles. You can throw Reese's cups on it. Yeah, just magnificent.

And everybody at Yankee stadium. I mean, those sweets that these fans get to go to the dessert tray that they bring out every single night. Yeah, it's absolutely amazing.

Melanie Avalon
Wow. I'm really fascinated by just the culture of food. I wonder why certain foods became for attendees the foods that you eat at the games. It's just interesting.

Johnny Damon
hot dogs, cheeseburgers, the sodas, yeah. And certain stadiums are a lot different. Like if you go out to California, in Anaheim, they have a much healthier menu. And my wife got to experience most of it, so I really can't answer what was the best and what was the worst.

But she said she enjoyed going out west because it was fantastic food.

Melanie Avalon
Oh my goodness, so many things. And so you were touching on it here and I didn't even get to it in your bio, but you're doing a lot of really cool stuff now in this world of quote biohacking.

So you mentioned how, you know, with the cold punches and stuff, things like that sort of were peeping through, but when did you, and a lot of people wanted to know this, when did you make a more conscious turn towards this whole biohacking world and, and why, and do you think if you had been, because you mentioned blowing out your rib cage and things like that, do you think if you had had some of the tools and modalities that, that you work with now back then, would it have changed anything in your career?

Johnny Damon
Well, I definitely do think it would have kept me a little bit healthier when I did get injured. I was very fortunate. I only went on to disable this one time and I knew my body. So I was pretty much doing the biohacking stuff prior, like to get my body going and ready for a game because 162 games, I mean, there's some days you're just looking at a wall saying, here we go again.

I remember when I played for Oakland, the weather was absolutely perfect. You know, you stretch and you like lay back and you're still trying to stretch and the sky is absolutely beautiful and the weather's perfect and you could not break a sweat because it was so perfect. So the first half of the season, I struggled minorly, like I was hitting 230 or 240 on the first part of the season, and then I had to find a way to actually get my body going. So I would go in to get loose. I would start lifting weights. I would start breaking a sweat. And then the second half of the season, you know, I hit a lot higher. I played a lot better, but I had to change the way that I approached the game, playing for Oakland as compared to playing in New York, playing in Boston.

But I really liked at the end of my career, how I actually got going. I would go in, lift weights, do my pushups, spend about 10 minutes on that. And I would be ready for the game. So the biohacking term is actually pretty new to me. I actually had to kind of look and see because it, it sounds a little strange. You're like, I'm not hacking anything, but just finding out all the different methods. Like I would love to be able to be in the Gary Breckas and the Dana White's world where they ship a cold plunge out to wherever they are. I mean, it takes time. It takes money to do a lot of the things, whether you get testosterone, whether you get all the supplements, whether yeah, there's so much that's involved with it. But when you have a conscious thought about being as healthy as you can be, it's a lot easier and you find ways to get better, find ways to have your kids be better, your family, your friends.

And a lot of times it's trying to get everybody involved in your household to work out and do pushups and get moving because the more and more you lie around, the more and more you're not going to feel like doing anything. So we have a very large family. The baby is nine years old now and they want to go, go, go. And I'm trying to give it to them. You know, it's, uh, I always thought my dad was old when he had me. He had me at 35 and I've had six kids from the age of 35 till now. So yeah, huge family, eight kids.

Melanie Avalon
Yeah, this is wild to me. Okay, so many things here. One, I agree that the biohacking definition, it's quite nebulous, and there's not even one agreed upon definition for it, I don't think. And I think it can be overwhelming for people, like you said, because there's just so many things, and it can be expensive.

So it's nice to make it more approachable for people, just this concept of pursuing health. And it sounds like, you know, you were naturally doing this by optimizing your environment and doing the things that you knew made you healthier. But it's also exciting to, you know, dabble in this, this world of quote biohacking. So your kids, okay, eight kids, you said nine is the like the oldest.

Johnny Damon
nine is the youngest. How old is the oldest?

26. So at one time, we had a newborn, we had a one-year-old, we had twin three-year-olds, we had a six-year-old, a seven-year-old, and then we had twin 13-year-olds. So yeah, it was a little difficult. And at the end of my career, we had twins, and then afterwards, we had two more. So it was like, wow. But it's great. Don't know what I would do without it. And they were keeping me on my toes and driving me crazy at times, but it's all part of it.

Melanie Avalon
I'm so fascinated by people who have really large families like that because so for me, I don't, I love kids. I also don't, I don't know that I'm meant to have kids in this life. I don't know that I could do everything I want to do career wise and dedicate the amount of time and energy and everything to having kids. I just am intimidated by the idea.

Johnny Damon
Yeah, I definitely understand. And it's a little bit easier now because my wife and I do get to travel a bit more than we have in the past. And because the baby's nine, and he's got his sisters who are driving him crazy. And so they just have to deal with it.

I mean, we're a family. So this is this is part of it. And mommy and daddy are going to have a great time because if mommy and daddy are in a good place, then all of you guys are in a good place. So we try to tell them that like if mommy and daddy are happy, then that's the most important thing.

Melanie Avalon
This is amazing. Did you know that you wanted to have that that many kids or was it after you started having kids that you realized

Johnny Damon
not at all. I think my wife went into it wanting a kid and then another one gave and then this and that and then yeah so I got snipped and then a year later we had another one which is the nine year old baby so now my second time second vasectomy has worked for nine years and we're hoping it works forever.

Melanie Avalon
Oh, I didn't know that those could maybe not work.

Johnny Damon
Yeah, that's why they always tell you 99% just like anything else like 99% effective. Yeah.

Melanie Avalon
Wow.

Johnny Damon
Yeah, so and

Melanie Avalon
Surprise!

Johnny Damon
Yeah. Yeah. So everyone's doing great though.

Melanie Avalon
Amazing. And we were talking before this, so you live in Florida and you live near Disney World, which I another thing I'm obsessed with because I love Epcot and all the things. But you're saying how you can't really go because the the fanfare would be too much. So I'm yeah, I'm really curious about that.

So the experience of having a big family being somebody really recognizable like this Do you like going out in the world? Is it inconvenient? Like do you guys go to like family dinners at restaurants and like

Johnny Damon
100 percent. I actually love taking the kids to Disney, to SeaWorld, to Universal, to all these places. My wife just doesn't like it because I'm a very recognizable face and I've always been a fan favorite everywhere I have played. Everybody is my buddy.

Whenever people see me, they're like, hey, what's up? How are you? We're pretty much stopping every, say, 100 feet. And my wife's like, okay, let's go to the ride. Let's enjoy Disney. And I understand my fan base and they understand me. And I have always tried to be the very best to them from the very beginning. I always took time to sign autographs. I always took time to take pictures and all that stuff. When I played, after you play, they're still there. They're still reliving their childhood for some. And a lot of their parents are reliving the great times that we had with Boston and New York and whatever team I played for. So I totally understand it. And we just can't get to a lot of rides that my family wants to get to. So my wife sometimes takes them by herself. And as I mentioned, we normally do universal and Halloween horror nights and all that stuff, but the kids have got to experience all everything that I got to experience as a kid growing up in Orlando.

Melanie Avalon
Awesome. I'm yeah, I always wanted to I wanted to live in Orlando so bad Oh, did you go to the the there was a biohacking conference in Orlando?

Johnny Damon
Did not go to it. I don't think I knew about it.

I'm so busy with my hydration drink a game and Busy with the eight kids. So that's something that Benjamin will provide me with Whatever I see him this kid who helps with my social media and he's pretty much my agent and manager now He he's been spending the past two summers in the Hamptons having a blast so he doesn't tell me much what's going on, but I'm sure I will go to a biohacking event soon and See what I can learn because there's definitely a lot of information out there There's definitely a lot more that is out there for people to know how to get healthy Certain tricks that work for some might not work for others But at the end of the day if you eat healthy and you work out and you find a way to be your very best That's that's what I need to do and that's what I want to do. So I've had this plan for a long time and there's a reason why I never got hurt playing baseball, there's a reason why I Still look the way I do at 52 like my mother is from Thailand I grew up eating rice and chicken rice and steak eating fruit like I grow mangoes oranges grapefruit papaya all that stuff at my house, so I Understand eating healthy, you know from a very early beginnings

Melanie Avalon
Oh my, okay, so so many things here as well. First of all, just side note, that is so cool that you grow the fruit and stuff at your house. I have an indoor garden. I'm in Atlanta and I don't have a yard.

So I have a lot of hydroponic units in my apartment. So I grow like cucumbers and strawberries and cilantro and flowers and all these things. Did you know that there's these trees called like multi? They're like multi fruit trees and they'll grow multiple varietals of the same fruit on the tree. Apparently it's like the way to grow like all the things with less trees. I just learned about this this week.

Johnny Damon
Oh, no, that's very interesting. Like we are on five acres here and we have three mango trees. And it seems like the mangoes go one year on, one year off, and this year it was on.

Like we had over a thousand mangoes and then our papayas have been doing fantastic.

Melanie Avalon
I love Papayas.

Johnny Damon
Yeah, the orange and the grapefruits have been kind of so-so.

Melanie Avalon
Do you, have you grown pineapples?

Johnny Damon
Yes, we have. And Florida, the climate's a little bit off, but we do get them. They're a bit more sour here, but we have grown, I would probably say, about 10 in the past couple years.

Melanie Avalon
Oh my goodness. If I had the land like you had, it would be so dangerous.

I would want to grow just all the things. I would love to grow a lot of the weird varietals that are not super normal like, I don't know, pink pineapple or white strawberries or I don't know, there's a lot of weird things.

Johnny Damon
My daughter was trying to grow the white strawberries this year, but the packet that it came to the house, you know, everything gets shoved in a certain area. So it's not in front of us. And I guess we accidentally did that. So by the time we found it, it was, it was dead.

So I had to get her another one. So she's still working on it.

Melanie Avalon
Oh my goodness. I managed to grow like one, like one little white strawberry. And I was like, this is my, my crowning joy. Last fruit thing. I promise. Have you had a cherry Moya before?

Johnny Damon
I believe I have. I mean, I've tried so many fruits in so many different countries.

And we always ask for it. When we go to a hotel, we always get fruit. I mean, you really can't lose with fruit. And that's the best snack you can have. Yeah.

Melanie Avalon
Mark Twain said it was the most delicious fruit known to mankind and I agree. So I always ask people about it because I think it's a game changer.

No pun intended which for with that tangent, oh wait, because I do want to I want to talk to you definitely about your your A game. One quick thing I was thinking of before that, I was thinking about, you know, people coming up to you and you embody, you know, these incredible, like glory moments and things that they just love about the sport and, you know, probably moments from your past or just seared in their mind. I'm really curious for you as a human being a going through for so long, 18 seasons, different teams. Did you find that your identity as it related to being a baseball player changed when you how do you like do you identify with like with one of those like with one version of yourself more than others and when people come up to you and remember you from the past is it like flashbacks to these other forms of yourself or have you always like really felt like the same person to yourself through it all.

Johnny Damon
Yeah, well, I always felt like the same person through it all. I always had an affectionate smile, and I enjoyed what I did. I understood how to play the game, and I hustled. And the fans really liked that, and everybody loves winners.

And being able to win championships, it just puts you on a whole different level. And I know the hair has changed. The facial beard came and gone on certain teams, but I get recognized for all the teams I played for. Boston and the caveman look was iconic. Being in the movie, Fever Pitch was incredible.

Melanie Avalon
Oh, were you in that?

Johnny Damon
Yeah, they had to change the ending of the movie. I didn't have the big part that Jimmy Fallon had, but he did a tremendous job. I got to see them a lot during the season. We filmed during the season, but they had to change the ending of the movie because we were supposed to lose.

And because we were winning, they got to celebrate on the field with us after the 2004 World Series that we beat the St. Louis Cardinals. So that was pretty incredible. But I also get the love from the Yankee fans just because I came from their evil or I came from their enemy and I went to the evil empire. But the fans enjoyed the way I played the game. I was the only guy on the Red Sox they actually liked because they saw the hustle, how much I cared about my team and I cared about winning, which I think everybody cares about. Winning is just how you go about it. Like I hustled. I created mistakes by the opposing players because they're like, why is he running so fast in this moment where the game didn't matter whether we're winning or losing by a lot. I still brought it every single day. So I have love from a bunch of fans. So I always like to tell people I've been loved and hated everywhere on the baseball field. But for the most part, people loved and enjoyed the way I played the game, the way I represented myself, not just as a baseball player, but as a human being who gives back to charity, who understands that it's not always going to be perfect on the baseball field. But you can only control what you can. Like sometimes your best hit turns into a line drive out to the second baseman. And sometimes your worst wing turns into a basis clearing double down the left field line. And so I understand the ups and downs of the game. And I was always accountable for whether we won or lost the game.

Melanie Avalon
Yeah, to that point, do you have, if you had to pick like one unforgettable moment while playing with something unexpected like that, does anything come to mind?

Johnny Damon
I've been fortunate to be able to do so many great things, whether coming up and playing for the Kansas City Royals, you know, that was my childhood team. I was born in Fort Riley, Kansas, and I was so thrilled to put on that uniform. And I was with them for about nine years, if you count the minor leagues and the big leagues. So that was pretty much my, my college, you know, from 18 years old to 27 years old, the Kansas City Royals was everything that I was all about.

And then you get traded, you go to Oakland, and that's what I told you. I couldn't break a sweat there until I had to biohack and figure out a way to get ready for a baseball game, playing in Oakland. And then like going to Boston, it was just a whole new animal. It was like, everybody pays attention. Everybody loves the Red Sox in the Northeast. So, uh, it was great. And then the Yankees like going to their rivals. I loved it. I loved the competition. I loved the fact that people like really didn't understand why I could leave. But you're dealing with contracts. You're dealing with other people making the decision and I'm making a decision that's going to be best for my family and the eight kids I ended up having.

Melanie Avalon
crazy. Yeah. Why? I can't even can't even imagine everything behind that.

So you mentioned a game and so the way we got connected what so was it been your social media person? Yes. So that who reached out to me probably

Johnny Damon
I actually think it was this Adam Romero guy and he worked for a marketing team that was kind of getting me on certain podcasts, on certain media talks, whether it was on Fox News or on ESPN or whatever. So they put me on some great stuff and just to keep pushing a game, I mean, that's what we have to do.

Like, it's amazing the marketing ways of today because like some people can promote a drink that absolutely is horrendous and has forever chemicals and has dye and just all this fake stuff and then you can sell so much of it because of the way they market. And I would love to have that marketing team because we do have a clean drink that I created it back in 2014 because there were these two kids down south, football players who passed away and that's two players, too many and just wanted to have a better product, like no artificial flavoring, no artificial coloring, no dyes in it and something that actually works. And we went to scientists, this guy named Chuck Shaw, he always put together these football camps to get the guys ready for the NFL Combine. Well, he had a scientist who created the way these kids eat, what they put in their bodies and we went to her and said, we want the cleanest and the most healthiest drink out there. And we said, we want it healthier than vitamin water and what we feel like we brought was 10 times better than vitamin water or 10 times more, I should say, than what vitamin water was offering. I mean, because that was a great product. That was when the hydration drinks blew up, you know, Mike Rapoli is the godfather of these hydration drinks, he had vitamin water, he had body armor and I feel like we have a clean product that tastes really good and it really helps people out and that's all I want. I don't want another football player dying. I know it gets hot here. I know the coaches need to make them tough, but if they have proper hydration, that won't happen to a 16, 17, 18 year old kid.

Melanie Avalon
Has that happened a lot? Or did something happen, did that happen, those two cases like kind of around the same time?

Johnny Damon
Yeah, it does happen. Unfortunately, I know there was one recently down here in Florida, it happens. Like a lot of times you find a player may have a heart defect and you know, it gets exposed. I had somebody on my high school team when he was running track, keeled over, died, and nobody knew he had a heart problem.

And but there's issues like that. But I mean, with the past five years and how doctors were siding with like the COVID vaccine was going to be great for people. It's like now they're coming out saying no, but we just had to do it. It's like a bunch of BS that the government kind of feeds you on what's good and what's bad. And I mean, that's why you're seeing a lot of changes going like we're not going to, we don't need to change our formulation of our product because it's already clean and ready to go. But there's a lot of these companies that are going to have to change by 2027, which I believe it's too long. It should happen immediately. But at least we're making a difference. And hopefully we'll continue to make a difference. And hopefully we can get more people to try our A game. Like you got to bring your A game every single day, whether you're an athlete, a parent, teacher, queen of podcasts, you know, you have to bring it every single day. And I always felt like there's no excuses if you don't bring your A game. So just bring your A game and let the chips fall where they may. And that's why I'm always a happy, positive, thinking person. I know things aren't going to go exactly the way I plan. Like when I play soccer, you know, these young kids running circles around me, I was like, at least I'm trying, you know, at least we're committed to being the best that we can.

Melanie Avalon
Yeah, I love this. And so for the hydration aspect and the sports drinks and things, I just shudder thinking about, I think about this a lot. I think about, I mean, again, I wasn't a Burlington athlete or anything, but I think about all the drinks I would drink growing up like Powerade, Gatorade, like Lemonade, and it was just like sugar and dyes. I find it interesting that it has taken, that our country had to go through, I don't know how many decades it was, but it just seems like complete obliviousness. I know some people were probably always suspicious and aware that these drinks were not good for us, but in general, like me growing up, I didn't think twice at all about these being problematic, the dyes and the ingredients and everything, and they were fueling a nation. And so it's really, really nice to see the tides turning with that.

When you had this idea of creating your own drink here, when you first started, because you said it was 2014, right? What were your long-term goals? Were you thinking you want to be the next Powerade, Gatorade, or was it more just focusing on this immediate need in your community in Florida? Because that's a big, big goal, making this drink.

Johnny Damon
For me, that was the only goal was to have a better product that people can take. And mostly athletes. I mean, that was the field that I was in. I remember plenty of times when we would have our water and our whatever mix they had, we kept going after the water because everything else just didn't taste fantastic.

Yeah. There's so many, so much bad stuff with it. So, and even as a kid, I hardly ever grabbed a hydration drink. I normally got the water out of my hose outside a lot of times when we're playing sports in the, in the streets or hanging out with the guys like, so. Yeah. Our parents want to let us inside the house until it got dark. You always knew where the kids were, where, where the bikes were. So we continue to drink out of water hoses. And it was a lot healthier than what they were selling to us in the stores.

Melanie Avalon
And it's ironic because, like, Florida water, I mean, it's like the one place where the water, I mean, I can still taste it, you know, growing up and going there every summer, doesn't taste good. I was always like, as a kid, I was like, why does it taste like?

I was convinced when I was a kid that it was like, I don't know what I thought it was, but it scared me.

Johnny Damon
Yeah, it's not the greatest at all. But we also, in my house now, we do have a water filtration system that we drink a lot of water and we drink a lot of a game, whatever our body needs at the time. But yeah, for the water, we do need some improvements. And hopefully we can figure that out.

Because they say New York has the cleanest water in our country. And there's so many people so much that's involved. And I just wonder why we can't do that in Florida. Hopefully we'll get to the bottom of things. But yeah, water in our filtration system is tremendous. And I'm drinking a dragon fruit plum, a game right now. And this is our top flavor. And yeah, it's so good.

Melanie Avalon
Oh, yeah, I definitely have questions about the flavors there. And yeah, I just remember when I was a kid, I was like, like, what is it?

Like, I was like, what is in the water? It makes it taste like this.

Johnny Damon
Alligators

Melanie Avalon
I know like that was in my head like swamp water like yeah I was convinced it was like ocean water but yeah I don't know.

Johnny Damon
I don't know either.

Melanie Avalon
some day. I was watching something and it was talking about the water quality everywhere, like all over, like where's the best water and the worst water. And I remember reading that about New York, which blew my mind.

I don't know why I thought, I don't know, I do not, I do not anticipate New York being clean water, but actually you have now in a game, you use pure Icelandic water. Is that correct?

Johnny Damon
WOAH!

Melanie Avalon
Re-include it.

Johnny Damon
Yeah, we now do Revose Osmosis. It seems to make it a lot cleaner, getting natural water. I mean, it was a great pitch for us.

Icelandic water is supposedly one of the best in the world. But unfortunately, when it mixes with vitamins, minerals, and all that stuff, it can create a mold. And we had to avoid all of that. So we had a bad experience. We were like, why is there mold in these bottles? So yeah, we had to mix that.

Melanie Avalon
That is so interesting to me. Okay, that's fascinating. That makes sense though.

Johnny Damon
Yeah, but it was a great tool to let people know, hey, we're going after the best water in the world, but unfortunately when it mixes, yeah, it kind of hurts it. So we had to can it, but I'm glad we caught it before we got going to where we are now, to where we're going to be in 2026.

Melanie Avalon
That completely makes sense. I mean, it's kind of like when I mentioned earlier having my hydroponic gardens and you have to do distilled water because if you do like spring water, you know, that's a problem.

Like if you do like natural water, it can get mold and stuff.

Johnny Damon
Yes, yeah, it's it's pretty amazing. So we are learning every single day, just like all the healthy people in the world, like, what is going to be the best for my body?

And what do I put in it? Do I use NAD? Do I check out like, gut health? Like, what's going to actually work? And I think that's the biggest problem for people because they're so like, we're all different. I know what made my body the very best playing baseball. And I understood if I did this, did that, did this, I was the best that I could be. And if I decided to go a different way that day, or decided to sleep longer, you know, I, I'm horrible when I sleep a lot, I don't require sleep, I require quality sleep, and I get so much done. So that's what I try to do now. I've got three dogs that wake me up every morning that I kind of start moving. And then it's just so much better for me to stay up at that time, get my workouts in and then get on with my day and get the kids ready for school. That's when I'm at my best, like sleeping from 12 to six, but sleeping from like 10 to 10. Yeah, my body just doesn't work.

Melanie Avalon
Yeah, no, I love that, especially with the sleep thing, because like for me, for example, I need basically like the eight hours, but I'm a horrible, like it's such a night owl, so they're very shifted hours that don't really align with society, but I'm very much a proponent of people knowing what works for them, and especially like their own circadian rhythm, and like people know what works for their body, and you know, what feels good. And I also super appreciate, I love that you can share the story of, you know, the evolution of A-game and the transparency and what's going into it and the mission, because can you imagine if something like that happened with, you know, like Powerade or Gatorade, or like the PR campaign that would go up to like, you know, cover that up.

When you started, because like I mentioned to you before starting this, I have my own product line, it's a supplement line, but I created it similar to you. It was really important to me to make the dream version of what I wanted to be putting in my body, which sounds like that's what you've done with A-game, like you're making the dream version of, you know, electrolyte drinks that people, that can fuel sports. So that process, like becoming an entrepreneur and, you know, creating a product line, and having, because what I found was hardest for me with product formulation was knowing what I wanted, and then actually like finding things that met my standard, like actually like doing it. I found most of the processes out there and the way things are done or like the way things are done and that's what's cheaper and all the things. So it's difficult to like get what you actually want. So the process of creating A-game, was it difficult? Did you find production partners that just really could do what you wanted? Like, what was that like starting that?

Johnny Damon
Yeah. So we are constantly learning, but we also knew that we had to ask a woman scientist to come up with the best of the best. And we had our trust in her and she created a incredible product and we had to do some fine tuning because a lot of times healthy things do not taste great.

We had to find a way to say, okay, why don't we add natural honey as a sweetener? Well, that goes a long ways because honey is great for you, opens up the blood vessels. You don't have to worry about the sugar amount that's in this drink because your body actually does need sugar. I think over the years, like they say, okay, eggs are bad. Sugars are bad, which most of them are. If they're fake sugars, we wanted to make sure that we were as clean as possible. So there's a lot of things that we are trying to learn. Like we get our hydration from sea salt. When we do our pouches or our packets with Gary Brekka, you know, we plan to come out with a Baja salt because Gary says it's the best salt in the world. I believe it's called Baja gold salt or something of that nature. So we're going to have that in our pouches and we're going to see if we can find a way to put it in our product instead of natural sea salt, which is a lot better than the other stuff that's in drinks. But we are going to continue to do our homework. We're going to continue to try to bring a better product every single day. And working with Gary Brekka, I mean, he actually knows a lot of this stuff, a lot of this biohacking and we're going to have different flavors and we're going to try to come out with a gut health packet. We're going to try to come out with NAD packet. We're going to try to have this stuff that nobody else really has right now. And I expect all that stuff to come out October, November at the latest, but that's what we want. We want people to just be able to be as healthy as they can, be as hydrated as they can and be the best that they can and to always bring their egging. That's the goal.

Melanie Avalon
Yes. And so for listeners, when I was connecting with Adam, how Johnny was partnering with Gary Brekka, who is a legend and in the biohacking world, this, I didn't know about all those things that you're going to be creating.

This is so cool with Gary. Like, were you familiar with his work or did they bring him to you? And then you were excited and what, what has it been like working with him?

Johnny Damon
I was familiar with a bunch of these new techniques, and then seeing him on Instagram talking about what's good for you, what you should do, what happened with Dana White, how he just made Dana White just care about himself so much to live for so much longer. I mean, at the end of the day, that's what we're looking for, to live the longest, healthiest life that we can have, and what he did with Dana White just opened up so many people's eyes on what we should and can do if we put our minds into it.

And so I wanted to talk to him, and I did, and I told him I would really love to have him on my team. We were able to come together and talk about creating a healthy packet so it would be easier to ship, easier for people to take with them and mix it with water wherever they are, and they'll get benefits. And at the end of the day, that's all we want people to have. Be the very best you can be, and if you put something in your body, hopefully there's a benefit to it instead of not.

Melanie Avalon
could not agree more and I'm fascinated. Do you do with the NAD? Do you do injections or IVs or supplements or patches or what's your experience with that?

Johnny Damon
Okay, well, I have done some injections. My wife has to do that for me.

And yeah, it can tell the difference and like glutathione men, like been fortunate enough to be able to make sure everything is, uh, running smoothly. We also have some NAD middle, I don't know what they're called, but we do have some that we, uh, take, whether it's pill or whether it's liquid, but, uh, yeah, there's some things that we are trying out. My wife and I are both in our fifties and she just, she's having her birthday year and she looks absolutely amazing, especially after having all of the kids and, you know, she can pass for a 30 year old very easily. So, uh, I've been very blessed to have a, uh, smoke show for a wife.

Melanie Avalon
Amazing. Yeah, the NAD, I've done the, I used to do the injections. They made me feel, I don't know, I don't know if you could, that's impressive that she helps you with those. I don't know if they, if you get the response I did, but like the tight chestedness and everything kind of made me feel uncomfortable, but I love supplementing to support it.

So like NR or NMN or the patches, the NAD patches. So I'm definitely really excited about your product. And my audience, that's one of the really hot topics. So especially in the biohacking world and, you know, just with my audience and such, they're always looking for recommendations there. So that's, that's very cool to hear about. Yeah, I'm just, I can't believe eight kids. That's, wait, do you think I'll have any more? Oh, you said you did the another vasectomy.

Johnny Damon
two vasectomies. So I'll be waiting on some grandkids maybe a couple years down the road, but yeah, I'm very happy.

And like our younger kids are starting to get in the sports world. Like my twin 13 year old girls are starting to play soccer. My 10 year old daughter is a singer and dancer. And my nine year old son is just so fast and so athletic that we're getting ready to start him in baseball. And we're also going to do soccer, but his name is Dash and he is fast. So I'm glad that he's living up to his name.

Melanie Avalon
Wow, that's amazing. I'm really fascinated by the dynamics of parents and kids and career goals that kids have versus parents have for them. And I know for my my family, my parents were amazing. They're always really supportive.

And my dad always made it clear that he just wanted to support us so that in whatever we wanted to do, like so we could, you know, do that, do that thing. So is there like with your with your eight kids, before having them and during having them, did you secretly hope that some would carry on your like what you did with baseball dreams? Were you completely open to whatever they wanted to do? Like, do you think they even if you don't give pressure to them, do you think they have pressure to to go the sports route? What's that like?

Johnny Damon
I think my oldest son felt some pressure because I was still playing when he was playing baseball. And I never pushed him. And he graduated from college and also got his master's in international business. So I'm very proud of what he's doing.

I believe he's going to be working in DC or Boston soon with some of the campaigns that are going to happen soon. So I'm very proud of him. My oldest daughter, she's an attorney. And the thing that's most important or that you never expect them to leave the house because you still remember them as little kids running around the house. And you're kind of going, huh, there's two out of the house now. There's another one who could, but I don't want her to leave.

It's kind of like we got to enjoy this time that we have because I know everybody grows older, just like my parents. They got me in a pretty good situation to succeed in baseball. They never thought I was going to go that far, nor did they care for me to. But my job was to make sure that I got a college scholarship. And I did sign with the University of Florida. Turned pro. And I just, they were so proud of me doing that. And I was proud of myself because we didn't grow up with extended means. And so me being able to cover my college if I went to college was so important.

Melanie Avalon
Wow, amazing. I remember not being jealous, but I remember when I would see people with product formulations who had kids where there was different flavors.

The thing I always wanted, I was like, I want my parents to have a brand with flavors so I can help pick the flavors. Is this a thing? Determining the flavors?

Johnny Damon
Oh, yes, 100%. A bunch of my kids are asking for a blueberry flavor, which we do have one that we haven't brought out, but we will start talking about it because we, we have to learn every single day, we have to listen to the consumers on what they want.

It seems like dragon fruit plum is something they really want. A strawberry lemonade is what they really want. A lot of people don't really look at grape the same, but our grape is fantastic because everybody looks at the lunches grape from the past and like how much sugar was in it or whatnot. For us, people didn't realize what citrus actually meant. Even though that was my favorite of all, I think we may have to stop making it. You know, it's unfortunate because I understood, well, no, but it's, it's part of it. Tropical, a lot of people love tropical and then black cherry pomegranate. It's outstanding, but in certain, I would say in certain places in our country, you know, it goes well in the Northeast, in the Southeast, it's dragon fruit plum, it's citrus and strawberry lemonade. So it's just different dynamics on where people live. And I totally understand it and what people want. So you have to listen to the people buying the product. If we do that, we will be a very successful company.

Melanie Avalon
You know what's really funny about this? I guess I hadn't really thought about this before, but all those flavors you mentioned, they're all like actual flavor, like they're all like fruit and like real things compared to a lot of sports drinks.

There's just these vague titles like glacier freeze or like frost or like not even a real thing. Like what is that?

Johnny Damon
Right. I actually thought Lionel Messi and his Moss Plus drink, he had some pretty cool names because he brought in the Miami scene. I believe it's like, I like the names that he had. I haven't tried it yet.

I know he's teamed up with White Claw and with his hydration drink, but obviously Messi's one of the best, but we're competing against him on this. I had a hydration drink for sure.

Melanie Avalon
Oh, man. Oh, and speaking of if he's partnering with White Claw, I was actually going to ask, do you do you drink alcoholic drinks?

Johnny Damon
I tend to partake in because of eight kids, yes.

Melanie Avalon
Oh, I love, I mean, my book is partly about wine. I'm all about wine.

Johnny Damon
Yes, I do like wine. I tend to like rosé all day, but this Wilfer Estate Winery, they have the prettiest bottle that you can get. It's like summer in a bottle. It's a wonderful rosé from Long Island.

My wife likes her red wine, so every now and then I'll have a little bit of it, but I'm trying to figure out what the healthiest. We keep hearing red wine is healthy. We also keep hearing tequila is healthy, but a lot of people don't have great experiences with tequila, so I'm like, okay, if you don't have a great experience with tequila, maybe not drink it, but Mark Wahlberg, he's got his fleche of azul out now, and it's pretty good, so hopefully it can be in most places soon, but distribution is the key to everything, whether it's alcohol, hydration, even water. It's all about distribution, finding a cold backer in all these areas, and yeah, it's a tough business, but I'm up to the challenge.

Melanie Avalon
Oh my goodness. Yeah, this is one of my favorite topics.

And actually, so hearing you say, you know, it's hard to know like what is healthy with the wines like red or white or whatever. I love that you're rosé because I feel like there's this idea out there that men don't drink rosé. I love that you but you own that. I think there's the same problem actually with wines. I was gonna say not to the same extent, but almost to the same extent as drinks like like the electrolyte drinks because like conventional wine in the US can have all this stuff in it that I mean, there's not even a label. So you don't realize that there could be, you know, over 70 additives that are approved to be added to wine. There's they add colorizers to to make it all look the same. So they literally add dye to wines.

Johnny Damon
the wines from France, Italy, overseas, and even our food. It's all healthier over there. Even the Doritos are healthier overseas. And it's like, what's the problem?

Why are they trying to poison Americans? But having RFK Jr. and the Maha movement now is not going to make everybody happy. Let's just go with that. But he is going to give his expertise. He is going to be as honest as he can, but he does want everybody to live healthier. I mean, we've seen that guy do pull ups at his age. I'm not even sure if I can hang for that long with my 225 pound self, but he's trying. And so is Gary Brekke. And so is everybody who kind of got shut down during the whole COVID pandemic. You know, it's like a lot of healthy people got very sick and the rate of heart attacks, the rate of athletes dying. I mean, I believe the study from 1960 to 1990, there was a number of athletes that died, let's say 10,000. For a shorter amount of time, there's been a lot of athletes who have killed over from getting the vaccines and having heart issues. And a lot of my former teammates, like a lot of them recently passed and they were healthy as can be. And so they deserve to live longer than 45, longer than 52, longer than 65. But those are the tough questions that ask, you know, tough questions that ask the family members, did you get the vaccine? How many boosters did you get? It's stuff that people don't want to talk about because the government kind of forced you into it. And most people in Florida kind of were living off of Governor DeSantis saying, you don't have to do it if you don't want to. And for the most part, I think most Floridians kept on living a great life.

Melanie Avalon
Yeah, yeah. One of my family members got the vaccine and then got an aneurysm like the next day, which I mean, it was bad.

It was so and what's interesting, I'm so grateful and happy and excited about the the Maha movement. And I find it really interesting. Like some people push back, I've seen people in my sphere push back saying that, you know, that they're going after focusing on the wrong thing, like, Oh, like, what is it actually going to do removing this one die? But for me, I'm like, it's the bigger messaging of regardless of like, what actually gets taken out this paradigm shift of every of the nation, like actually focusing on removing these problematic things from our food and drink supply, I think is just amazing. I never thought this would happen.

Johnny Damon
Yeah, I never thought so either. And we always talk between friends and family like, man, you can eat as much as you want. When you're in Turkey, when you're in Greece, when you're vacationing, and you won't put on a single pound, but if you vacation here, the States, you're, you're coming home five, 10 pounds heavier, or going on a cruise. I mean, they give you as much food as you want. And that's, that's one of the places where people put the pounds on.

But no, I'm glad this movement is happening. And I'm glad there's, you know, a lot of talk about health, because there's a lot of young people who just look very unhealthy. You have to have movement. If you don't have movement, you can eat as healthy as you can. But you've got to move, you've got to live and you've got to have a strong heart to live.

So hopefully, you know, with your podcast with the Mahav movement, hopefully people understand, get out there and bring your egging.

Melanie Avalon
Yeah, I could not agree more. And one thing about the tequila, and I'll have to go back to that, but it's interesting too, because you know, you're saying you've heard that's healthier.

Again, it's because, or I think even with like the like the liquors and stuff, they always have, they can have all these additives. And so like, there's a very few things where it's just pure distilled spirit, which would be like, you know, a clear tequila, a clear vodka. I just think it's so important to draw awareness about the going even with something like alcohol, like, like what is being added to everything. And so I think we can really empower people to look at labels and make smarter choices.

And if you if you were to make a tequila, Mick, could you use a game as a mixer for a drink?

Johnny Damon
I believe you can. I believe it goes very well with vodka with anything. So yeah, it's a great taste that we have and you just have to experiment, I guess.

I have mixed it with some vodka before and it does taste very well.

Melanie Avalon
Okay, so there there's a little hack for for people

Johnny Damon
Yeah, hydrate and dehydrate at the same time.

Melanie Avalon
Yes, exactly. I have my whole like really insane recovery protocol and like party protocol. And I really do find when you do all the things, I mean, it's shocking how much better you feel with like the recovery, the NAD, the glutathione, the cold exposure, sauna. It really makes a difference.

So do you have a go to, because I saw like a picture of you on Instagram wearing like red glass, like blue light blocking glasses, I think, unless they were just, I've made the mistake of going up to people in the grocery store who seem, I think are wearing blue light blocking glasses, but they're really just wearing like, I guess it's cool to wear like orange glasses. So I go up to them and I think they're like in the know and I start talking to them and they're like, who are you? Like, what are you talking to me? Yeah, do you do any of the things like the blue light blocking glasses or things like that?

Johnny Damon
I do have some because I do have a infrared bed that we use every now and then to take care of inflammation, all that stuff, but it wraps my entire body. So I really shouldn't move for at least 20 minutes or so.

I haven't tried the glasses, like going around town or anything. I really don't know about it, but I will definitely look into it, yes.

Melanie Avalon
You're like the person at the grocery store that I walk up to and falsely assume are wearing. What did you say? Yeah.

I think you would really, well, it sounds like your sleep is pretty dialed in, which is awesome, but you might, I really, they're a game changer for me, like wearing them at night to reduce exposure to blue light and artificial light. Like it's just great for your circadian rhythm. Your, I don't know if you get headaches or anything like that, but like it just our overexposure to devices is not good for our health and our, our eyes and just our bodies. So.

Johnny Damon
down right now to take a peek at it.

Melanie Avalon
I wear them, I can send you like all the things I do, but, um, yeah, I wear them every night and they're, they're pretty awesome. Well, this has been amazing.

Was there anything else you wanted to touch on or share about what you're doing with A-game or just empowering people and your life's journey?

Johnny Damon
People want to check us out, go to drinkagame.com. It is a very clean drink that tastes really good. We've been doing so many great things.

Like we are now part of TNA Wrestling, which they started in Orlando, Florida. They've been going for a little bit over than 20 years, but they become a really good partner of ours. We teamed up with DC United, Miami FC. There's a lot of good stuff happening. Like Tyler Adams, men's US national team is with us. We have Caleb Downs, national champion for Ohio State. Jake DeHome, former NFL quarterback. So we have a lot of strong people on our side. We're going to continue to get stronger. I mean, I've had Bo Jackson on my team forever, the greatest athlete of all time to many. So he's done some wonderful things for us. We just need to keep plugging away, keep enjoying this journey, because the journey is not easy, but it can be fun. It can be beneficial to many people. And that's at the end of the day, that's what we want. We want people to live healthier, happier lifestyles, have a great family life, have everything you want in life. And you start by eating healthy, working out, and being the very best that you can and always bring your aching.

Melanie Avalon
Absolutely amazing. So for listeners, I cannot recommend this enough. And I know we were mentioning, you know, the natural honey and stuff like that. There's also a zero sugar virgin sweetened with stevia, which is cool. And if you go on the website, which is drinkagame.com, you can, it's really awesome. You can look at the flavors, you can see the ingredients and you'll see that it's just like the stuff that you need. It's none of that nasty stuff that you don't. So you can use the code agame20 to get 20% off your order. So definitely, definitely check that out.

Again, that's drinkagame.com with the coupon code agame20. I know you're mentioning, you know, distribution being a big battle earlier. You are in stores as well, is that correct?

Johnny Damon
Yes, that is correct. In the Northeast, we are in Shaw's and Stop and Shop in the South. We got Piggly Wiggly. We got Winn Dixie. We have Brouses. You know, we're hoping to get into more stores, but you know, it's, it's difficult with slotting fees at times.

So we're hoping one day there are no slotting fees that we're selling enough product. And we believe that day is going to be soon that we can get into the public's we can get into all these other stores that can really use us and their customers can really enjoy having a much better hydration drink and especially being down here in the South. People need to hydrate and drink in a game. We'll definitely do it for them.

Melanie Avalon
Yes. Well, and I'm going to keep my fingers crossed for Whole Foods. That's where I primarily shop. That would be amazing. You guys would be a perfect fit in Whole Foods.

Johnny Damon
100%. I mean, there's also like giant, there's like Calandros, there's Darignac, there's Kannada's, there's Central Markets over in Texas, there's Benedetto's, Alexander's market, there's a lot. Champagne's, Supermarket, F-45 training facilities, Matherne's market, Langensteins. So we are in a lot of places and just growing.

A lot of these seem to be the healthier food markets and a couple of the big box stores.

Melanie Avalon
Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Johnny. Thank you for everything that you do.

I mean, just your incredible career, inspiring people. You were talking earlier about the idea of winning and I think it's interesting that I think people judge winning as, you know, you shouldn't want to win or that it's like somehow not a good thing. But literally, you have inspired so many people and people love winners. So like everything you've done is so motivational. You brought so much joy to so many people's lives and now you've literally created this incredible sports drink that is filling such a need. So I cannot thank you enough. The last question that we ask every single guest on this show, and it's just because I am so obsessed with gratitude and mindset, what is something that you're grateful for?

Johnny Damon
Oh, I'm grateful for my family, my upbringing, how my parents taught me to always give back to the community, whether like fortunately now it could be cash at times, but me showing up places, you know, I bring so many smiles to people, you know, even being retired for about 14 years now, people still recognize me, people still want to be around me. So I'm very grateful for my family, for people I have around me who helped me get to this point in life. So friends and family definitely mean the most to me.

Melanie Avalon
Amazing. I love that so much.

Well, thank you, Johnny. I'm just sending you all the love and good vibes and I'm really, really excited to see the continuing evolution of this brand because it's incredible and you're doing great things. So thank you so much.

Johnny Damon
Melanie, thank you so much for having me on today and best of luck with everything moving forward for you and your team.

Melanie Avalon
Thank you. Have a beautiful rest of your day.

Johnny Damon
I will, thank you, same to you.

Melanie Avalon
Bye. Bye.

Thank you so much for listening to the Melanie Avalon Biohacking Podcast. For more information and resources, you can check out my book, What Win Wine, as well as my supplement line, Avalon X. Please visit MelanieAvalon.com to learn more about today's guest. And always feel free to contact me at contact at MelanieAvalon.com. And always remember, you got this.