THIS IS EPISODE 184 OF THE SPORTS SPECTRUM PODCAST
Les Norman was selected by the Kansas City Royals in the 25th round of the 1991 MLB Draft. He made his major league debut on May 29, 1995, and played two seasons with the Royals.
He is currently a syndicated sports radio host, TV analyst, author and motivational speaker. You can hear his show, “Breaking the Norm,” on ESPN’s 1510 AM and 94.5 FM in Kansas City each Tuesday, as well as streaming on his website, LesNorman.com.
Norman grew up in less-than-ideal conditions with a father who was abusive and an alcoholic. Years of battling the “father wounds” drove Norman to those same addictions, and attempts to cover them up almost cost him his family. Through God’s healing power and His Word, Norman uses his story and years of experience to share and help other men live a life armed for battle.
On this episode of the podcast, we talk to Norman about growing up with an abusive father, how he dealt with his dad’s death, how baseball drove him to many of the same decisions his dad had made, and the awesome story of a coach coming alongside Norman and sharing the Gospel with him. This is a story of redemption and amazing grace.
Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Clay Holmes, Aug. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Clay Holmes got a taste of the World Series experience in 2024 with the New York Yankees, but he and his team came up short of winning the whole thing.
He’s now with the Chicago Cubs, where both he and the team’s front office hope his addition to the starting rotation could mean a deep run in October.
The Cubs acquired Holmes from the New York Mets at the MLB trade deadline last month, and in his seven starts with Chicago he has a 2-3 record and a 3.46 ERA. Between the two teams, he’s 6-7 on the year — but with a 2.85 ERA and a 2.4 wins above replacement rating, which is the highest of his career.
“It’s been a very easy transition for me,” Holmes told the Chicago Sun-Times last week. “Everything’s about winning. You’re in that competitive environment, and you get to focus on and do the things that you want to do. It makes showing up to work a lot of fun every day.”
The 33-year-old made his major-league debut in 2018 with the Pittsburgh Pirates, and he spent the beginning part of his career as a reliever, including when he was traded to the Yankees in 2021. New York used him as a high-leverage reliever and closer, logging 20 saves and earning his first All-Star Game selection in 2022. He racked up 24 saves in 2023, then 30 in 2024, when he earned his second All-Star Game selection.
He then moved across town to the Mets ahead of the 2025 season and was converted to a starting pitcher. In his first year being stretched out, he logged a 12-8 record with a 3.53 ERA over a career-high 165.2 innings pitched. He has continued to flourish in his second year as a starter.
The Cubs are clinging to a 1.5-game lead in the National League wild-card race. Should they reach the postseason, they”ll have a number of options for starting pitchers, including Kevin Gausman, Matthew Boyd, Shota Imanaga and David Peterson, in addition to Holmes. That means the Cubs could employ Holmes out of the bullpen. He’s ready either way.
“When the lights get brighter and the games become more meaningful, the rest of everything else kind of drowns out. From my experience, that’s what you crave,” Holmes told reporters last week. “It’s a drug. It’s all you want is just to care about this one game in front of you, and that’s all that matters.”
His mindset has been formed by a mixture of his upbringing, his path to the major leagues and his faith in God. He’s the son of a preacher, which means — fair or not — he grew up under perceived heightened pressure and expectations to live a certain way. But that helped prepare him for the pressure of playing professional baseball.
He was drafted out of high school, so he knew it would take a while to make it to the majors. But Tommy John surgery delayed that process by another year or two, leading him to spend about seven years in the minors before getting the big-league call-up.
But that experience tested his faith and perseverance, he said.
“It’s a lot of bus rides. A lot of patience,” he said on the Sports Spectrum Podcast in 2023. “But I kind of knew what I was signing up for. I knew that being in high school I was a pretty raw talent, so there’s going to be some refining that needs to take place. It was maybe longer than I wished, but I look back on a lot of those years and I met a lot of great people.
“You go through things with some teammates that really just remind you why you play the game. … There’s a lot of moments in those seven years that I wouldn’t trade for anything.”
Plenty of players who have faced similar setbacks and delays have retired before realizing their MLB dream. The grind can become too taxing. For Holmes, it was his faith and God that helped him stay focused and grounded.
“My confidence, my identity, who I am and what I can do is not really tied into some title that’s given to me,” Holmes told MLB.com in 2024. “Obviously it’s an honor and a great thing, but knowing who I am, knowing what I’m capable of and the pitcher I can be — the person I am — those things weren’t stripped away.”
His faith grew even deeper right before he was traded to the Yankees, where he wanted to embrace being a living sacrifice for God.
“When you become that living sacrifice, there’s a freedom that comes with it that allows you to just display the talents and the uniqueness that God’s given you — and the identity you have in Him — in a way that’s much greater than you can do on your own,” he said on the Sports Spectrum Podcast.
And it was during his All-Star season of 2022 when he learned how to rest better. A passage he leaned on was Psalm 23.
“For me, it’s a mental thing of just learning how to rest in those things and trust that God’s brought you to a place and He’s going to continue to lead you,” he said. “You can find a lot of rest in that.”
Holmes will make his next start on Friday against the Cincinnati Reds, then make one more scheduled start before the end of the regular season.
Adam Thielen in October 2025. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt)
THIS IS THE SPORTS SPECTRUM PODCAST HOSTED BY MATT FORTE, FEATURING ADAM THIELEN
Adam Thielen played 13 seasons in the NFL with the Minnesota Vikings, Carolina Panthers and Pittsburgh Steelers. He was originally undrafted in 2013 after a stellar career with Division-II Minnesota State. He spent his first 10 NFL seasons with the Vikings before moving to Carolina in 2023 and 2024. In his final season of 2025, he returned to Minnesota before finishing with the Steelers.
His 13-year career includes two Pro Bowl invitations, three 1,000-yard receiving seasons, and an NFL-record eight straight games in which he surpassed 100 receiving yards in 2018.
Today on the podcast, Adam Thielen talks with Matt Forte about his decision to retire from the NFL in 2026, the feeling he’ll have watching an NFL game on a Sunday for the first time, his incredible journey from Division-II undrafted player to Pro Bowl wide receiver, and how choosing to follow Jesus has been the cornerstone of his life.
THIS IS THE SPORTS SPECTRUM PODCAST HOSTED BY MATT FORTE, FEATURING EMEKA EGBUKA
Emeka Egbuka is a wide receiver with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, selected in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft after a stellar college career that saw him lead Ohio State to a national championship in 2024. In his first season with Tampa in 2025, Egbuka had team-leading 63 receptions, 938 receiving yards and six touchdowns.
Today on the podcast, Emeka Egbuka returns to the show to talk with Matt Forte about his recent marriage, draft day memories from 2025, adjusting to life in the NFL, staying strong in his faith, and having Baker Mayfield as a teammate.
Cleveland Guardians players speak at the team's Faith Day, Aug. 29, 2026. (Photo via X/@msteller123)
The Kansas City Royals took down the Guardians, 8-3, in Cleveland on Saturday in an American League Central matchup. The loss dropped the Guardians to a .500 record on the season and weakened their already tenuous grip on the third and final AL wild-card spot, which they had acquired thanks to a seven-game winning streak leading up to the series with Kansas City.
Yet despite the loss, many Guardians players considered Saturday a resounding success, all because of what happened before the first pitch was ever thrown.
In partnership with the Northeast Ohio chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Guardians Faith Day was held at Progressive Field in Cleveland for the second consecutive year on Saturday. During the hour-long event hosted by team chaplain Mike Suit, Guardians players were given the opportunity to share their testimonies of faith in Jesus and how a relationship with Him impacts their lives on and off the field. Fans enjoyed Christian fellowship and were encouraged to follow the Light of the World as well.
One of the players who spoke was All-Star rookie pitcher Parker Messick. Much of his testimony revolved around his grandfather’s incredible healing and how God was at work in his life through that time.
“I had the conversation with the Lord,” he said, “and I’m like, ‘Lord, I know You’re real. I’ve seen what You can do. I’m never doubting You again. You’ve proven Yourself to me time and time again. I know what You did on the cross, and I’ll live for You forever.’
“I’ve tried to live that out ever since that day. He’s never left my side and I’m seeing the things that He can do in my life, so I encourage all of you to do the same.”
Messick was joined on the panel by the man sometimes called upon to catch his lethal fastballs, 34-year-old catcher Austin Hedges.
The veteran told the story of how he grew up knowing about God and being part of a church community, but he realized he was relying on others’ faith rather than his own. In 2021, during his first stint with the Guardians, he challenged his Christian background and completely left the church.
One of the biggest influences during his spiritual wandering, he said, was the fellowship of his numerous Christ-following teammates on the Guardians.
“The biggest change is these men standing here with me,” Hedges said. “These guys are so inspiring to me. Only a few months ago, I said, ‘You know what? That’s it. I’m in!’ … These guys are living their lives the right way, and I want to live like that.”
Austin Hedges shared his testimony with fans Saturday during Faith day at Progressive Field saying “God’s love is so real” and thanking his teammates for inspiring him. #GuardsBallpic.twitter.com/Y22ifMLiEu
Hedges continued later: “As of May of this year, I got back. And I am so bought in. The last couple of months, everything is just crystal clear to me. Everything makes so much sense. God’s love is so real, and I’m so excited for the rest of this journey — my life — growing with Jesus.”
“It’s very humbling,” he told reporter Natalie Turk after the game. “It’s been very cool to see how God has grown this group of guys we have in the clubhouse, how the numbers have grown and how each guy in that group has grown individually as well. That’s been a very, very cool thing.”
“You grow in your faith and you learn that, hey, there are some things you gotta give to Him that are gonna be heavier, and things that are out of your control, that you need to be able to just give off and release,” he said.
Joey Cantillo spoke to fans pregame about his faith saying “some things you have to give to Him because they’re heavier & out of our control” #GuardsBallpic.twitter.com/geEqPfUpHn
On the diamond, the Guardians (now 69-68) are set to begin a three-game home series Tuesday night against the Toronto Blue Jays (68-70). Cleveland currently holds a half-game lead over the Orioles in the AL wild-card race.
