Rocky IV (Episode 6) - Apollo Creed’s Powerful Speech: “Without Some War to Fight…”

Welcome back to The Rocky Series Podcast: Going the Distance — Episode 6 of our Rocky IV coverage!

Ryan and Ruban break down one of the most emotional and pivotal scenes in the entire franchise: Apollo and Rocky watching old footage of their Rocky II fight and having a raw heart-to-heart about legacy, identity, change, and what it means to be a warrior.

We dive deep into Apollo’s motivation to fight Drago (“without some war to fight, the warrior might as well be dead”), Rocky’s wise advice about changing your trajectory, the foreshadowing of the Creed movies, and why this conversation hits so hard. Plus plenty of tangents — Ruban’s old cable access show, Carl Weathers’ underrated MVP status, Tom Petty, Spud Webb, and more.

If you love in-depth Rocky breakdowns, brotherly banter, and honest film discussion, this one’s for you.

0:00 – Intro, housekeeping & iTunes review shoutouts
6:45 – Scene breakdown: Apollo & Rocky watching Rocky II footage
9:20 – Apollo’s “you’re ancient history” comment & real-life fame discussion
14:05 – Heart-to-heart: “Is this fight against you?”
17:40 – Warrior identity, legacy & “without some war to fight…”
21:10 – Personal stories: Ruban’s cancer advice & “new normal”
24:50 – Carl Weathers as the true MVP of the first four movies
29:00 – Foreshadowing Creed & Apollo’s final grin
32:50 – Outro & “Ding ding” sign-off

Thanks to all our listeners and reviewers (especially Dave Massey, Rene Tungate, Bob O’Rourke, Doug from Rocky Minute, and SavvyM01). Your support means everything.

Creators and Guests

Host

Ruban Rebalkin

Host

Ryan Rebalkin

What is Going The Distance: The Rocky Series Podcast?

Step into the ring with *Going The Distance: The Rocky Series Podcast*, the ultimate celebration of Sylvester Stallone's iconic underdog saga. Hosted by passionate Rocky superfan Ryan Rebalkin, this dedicated feed dives deep into every punch, montage, and heartfelt moment of the *Rocky* franchise—one film at a time, in glorious chronological order.

Whether you're reliving the gritty streets of Philadelphia in the original *Rocky* or breaking down the epic family legacy in *Rocky Balboa*, Ryan brings the energy of a champion. Joined by his brother Ruban, fellow superfans, amateur boxers and even musicians behind the films' anthems (shoutout to Robert Tepper's "No Easy Way Out"), each episode unpacks scenes with infectious enthusiasm, behind-the-scenes trivia, and personal stories that capture why *Rocky* still inspires millions to "go the distance."

From dissecting the legendary training montages and rematches, this podcast isn't just analysis—it's a knockout conversation that honors the heart, humor, and hustle of the Italian Stallion. It's perfect for die-hard fans, casual viewers, and anyone chasing their own eye-of-the-tiger moment.

Tune in for laughs, insights, and motivation that hits harder than Apollo Creed's left hook. Lace up your boots—it's time to go the distance!

Going The Distance - Rocky IV - Episode 6.mp3
The End
Hey Ruben, welcome to the show.
Why are you already laughing?
I don't understand why I'm laughing.
Ruben, everybody, welcome to Rocky Series, The Going Distance Podcast.
I don't know.
Welcome to the Rocky Series Podcast, Going the Distance.
I never remember the name of our show.
You changed it that one time.
I changed it once.
Well, yeah, but why did you change it?
What was it originally?
It was Going the Distance.
And then Rocky Series.
And then you changed it.
Let me look at iTunes here.
It's called The Rocky Series Podcast, Going the Distance.
Before it was Going the Distance.
Oh, I'm positive.
I'm positive.
Because then we could, after the Rocky Series were done, then we could tackle other things.
Going the Distance with like...
Rambo.
Rambo or...
We did talk about that.
Katie and Kelly or whatever that name was.
Katie and Kelly.
Party at Katie and Kelly's.
So, yes.
We did discuss that we were going to continue talking about, of course, Stallone films after
the Rocky franchise was done.
And we may get there one day, Ruben.
But we're only on Rocky 4.
This is Episode 83.
So, right now, it's called The Rocky Series Podcast.
Going the Distance.
We want to say thank you, first and foremost, Ruben.
And I'm just going to get the housekeeping out of the way right away.
So, people have to listen to it before they can listen to the episode.
How does that sound?
Well, let's find out.
Okay.
So, first off, I want to say thank you to the new reviews we got on iTunes.
I got to say, as anybody listening will probably clue in at some point that I'm just...
I'm on the back seat.
Brian's in the driver's seat of this podcast.
He knows that.
You know that.
I record.
I show up.
I love doing it.
But I never think for once anybody is listening.
It doesn't even cross my mind that somebody's going to listen to this.
I mean, it really doesn't cross my mind.
And then Ryan sends me, hey, we've got some reviews.
And he sends me all the reviews.
And I got to say, I was speechless.
Saying you're speechless is kind of ironic because you're saying something with your speech.
But, yeah, I was really surprised and moved that anybody would listen, let alone enjoy, and leave a review.
Well said, Ruben.
And Ruben, yes, you're not...
I've told you, you're like my Andy Richter.
I can't do the show without you, though I've done many episodes without you.
But what I find interesting, Ruben, and for the record, I know people like you and me together on the show.
Not to say that our guest hosts like Kyle and the crossover episodes I've done with the Slycast and the Rocky Minute podcast, those are well-received, of course, as well.
We're brothers.
We have a shorthand.
That's right.
So Ruben and I, we are the show.
We are the main attraction, I should say.
And everyone else that we cross-podcast with, guest hosts with, we thank you.
And we're going to need you again, because sometimes we're being Ruben, busy family, man, busy working, we can't always be together.
But let me just, Ruben, check this out.
And I know you've already read these, but I want to thank Dave Massey from England.
He said he found this podcast by chance, starting off with an amazing interview with Tommy Morrison's wife.
Then he started from the beginning.
He says, Ryan and Ruben keep me going on my 120-mile round trip to work every day.
Whoa.
Crazy.
120.
So you go 60 miles in, 60 miles back.
Unfortunately, Dave, you've caught up to the show, so you're going to have to find another podcast.
Do you know how crazy that sounds to us?
We live on an island.
Yes.
So nobody can be 60 miles.
No, it'd be silly.
Yeah, it's half the island.
He also wants to be a guest on the long awaited review of Rocky V.
Yeah, absolutely.
Dave, we'll get you in and have you chime in on Rocky V. He says, keep up the good work.
Thanks, man.
And then we have one from...
I wonder if Dave Massey has a band.
Is this the Dave Massey band?
The Davey Masse band?
And he's got 1976, so I assume he's probably born in 76.
Yeah, I was born in 77, so I'm 41 this year.
I'm 43 this year.
That means Dave Massey, probably 42 this year.
Yeah, in between us.
Maybe he's like a long-ass brother that we don't know about.
The reason why Ruben and I love these reviews is because, like we said before, we don't get paid.
It takes time out of our day.
We pay to do it.
We actually cost us money to do it in a good way.
But, you know, we do a lot of sacrifice for you guys, and we appreciate it when you say, hey, guess what?
We're listening, and we love it.
It gives us a little bit of fuel.
Another review came in from Rene Tungate.
I won't go over the whole thing.
But he said, again, this show gets him through the commute and the working day.
He absolutely loves it.
He goes, you can't recommend it enough.
He goes, I've tried to start this in a spinal tap kind of way in rate 11.
Only lets me do five, he said.
So thanks.
Those are our British listeners.
But we have some American listeners, too.
We've got some new reviews from Bob O'Rourke and Doug from the Rocky Minute podcast.
Thanks, brother.
And I left him a review on his podcast.
And Rich Vieira said he found us from Twitter.
So thanks, man.
Bob gave us a great review.
And I just want to read a little bit of his because his was really kind of cool, and I appreciate it.
He just said, you listeners won't regret it from in-depth analysis of each and every Rocky film,
sometimes almost literally every second of a scene or breakdown, like the Kree 2 trailer,
to incredible interviews from other Rocky fans from around the world and people who have been associated with the films.
The Robert Tedper interview for The Wind Guys.
Thanks.
That was an awesome interview.
Ding, ding, he says.
You know, you got a listener there when he ends with ding, ding.
Ding, ding.
And we just want to say one shout-out to someone who reviewed this a year ago.
We didn't know how to find it, but we found it now.
But it's one of our few female listeners.
Her username is SavvyM01.
She goes, I love the brothers that go through the films meticulously.
Sometimes they go off on tangents.
A few reviews have mentioned tangents.
Yeah, a few of our reviews have mentioned tangents.
I have no regrets.
I have no regrets.
But she goes, the Burt Reynolds and the Bear Rug, those have even grown on me.
So thank you guys.
Keep the reviews coming in.
We'll give you a shout-out on the show.
We really do appreciate it.
And if you don't want to make an iTunes account to leave us a review, then please just go on our Facebook page.
Speaking of which, we're almost at 3,000 likes.
So come on our Facebook page.
Join the discussion.
Look at the pictures that we post.
Have some fun there.
But if you leave us a review on the Facebook page, it still spreads the word.
And it tells all your friends on your Facebook that you're listening to.
Ryan Rubin on the Rocky series.
Go on the Rocky Distance Podcast.
Okay, Rubin.
You ready to talk about Rocky IV?
Okay, so in this scene, we've got Apollo and Rocky watching the Rocky II fight sequence.
But the rematch between Apollo and Rocky.
And they're watching on Rocky's television.
Again, we've mentioned this before, Rubin, in a previous episode.
Where we have this movie trope.
Where somehow the people in the movie are watching past footage of a movie experience that they were a part of.
But it's the same footage that we watched.
As a film goer.
We watched a cinematic filming of.
Of a Rocky fight.
Yeah.
We watched boxing matches at some point in our life.
Like Tyson or me, especially when we were kids.
You're just watching the match.
Not this widescreen.
Right.
Yeah.
So I understand.
I don't know how else they could have done it back then.
They'd have to reshoot the fight to make it seem like they're watching a proper boxing match fight on TV.
But we're to believe that the fight that they're watching on TV is the way viewers saw it worldwide on closed circuit television.
But let's check it out.
So they're watching the footage.
And they're having some laughs.
And they're chuckling about it.
They think it's pretty great to watch this fight.
That took place in their life.
I guess this would have taken place in 79.
And this is about 85.
So it's about five to six years since they've had this fight.
Has passed in the Rocky world.
It's about five to six years.
They're reliving it together.
And that's kind of an interesting experience.
If you think about it.
These two professional athletes are watching the fight.
And Apollo is watching the fight where essentially Rocky beats him.
Fair and square in a knockout victory.
And they're laughing at it.
Apollo says, you know, what are you using for...
He basically calls out Rocky for blocking punches with his face.
Which is...
So they're watching the fight together as now as friends.
And Rocky makes a comment.
I'm just getting punchy watching this.
You know, he's reliving the experience of being in the ring with Apollo.
And Apollo comments on all the hits that Rocky's taking to the face.
And he's still blown away by Rocky's ability to take punches.
Because he goes, what are you using for a chin there?
Because we hear if a boxer goes down easy, they have a glass jaw.
Yeah.
But Rocky's got an iron jaw.
You punch Rocky in the head a hundred times, he doesn't get knocked down.
So Apollo makes that comment.
Apollo goes, everybody's basically cheering for you when you're in the ring.
But once you're out, you're ancient history.
Now, we mentioned that before with Kyle.
When Kyle was on there, Ruben.
And he mentioned...
We talked about how Apollo feels like he's not feeling the love anymore.
He's not getting autographs anymore.
Now, I understand that's just a writing trope.
Again, I hate to use that word trope.
But this is just a story that we're trying to tell here.
But nowadays, ex-champions, they're still very popular.
Yeah, but I guess there's that element where you're not a huge celebrity anymore.
Like, here's a for example.
I used to have a cable access show called The Ruben Show.
Right?
You can still, for our listeners, if you want to see Ruben on a cable access show, this is for real.
Yeah.
Okay.
We haven't plugged this enough.
We've got a few listeners.
Two are absolute fans.
People who just can't get enough of Ryan and Ruben.
I'm sure they can.
I'm sure you can.
But if you can't get enough of Ryan and Ruben.
Mom, Dad.
Mom, Dad.
And our wives don't even listen to this show.
Google The Ruben Show.
That is R-U-B-A-N show.
The Ruben Show.
And you will see exactly what Ruben's talking about.
It's on YouTube.
It's on Google.
Just Ruben had his own cable access show.
Yeah.
So the quality was terrible.
Much like our podcast.
Well, The Ruben Show is what led to us podcasting.
I thought it was your now defunct.
Other podcast?
Yeah.
Always hungry at podcasting.
Because I enjoyed doing The Ruben Show.
But all the filming and all that sort of stuff was just so like ugh.
And like, oh, podcasting.
I can do podcasting.
Then I had another podcast, which is now defunct.
But it was a good one.
I enjoyed it.
Long story short, yes, it's easier to podcast than it is to have a TV show.
Especially when your brother does all the editing.
Exactly.
Exactly.
Yeah, that's what led us to podcasting.
My point is about the autographs.
Do you remember the band in the 1990s?
The Presidents of the United States of America?
I do, Ruben.
I remember that band.
Peaches come from a can.
They were put there by a man in a factory downtown.
I eat peaches every day if I had my own way.
Anyways, long story short, Ryan was living in Washington at the time.
I went to go visit.
And I'm like, oh, who's in Seattle that's kind of semi-famous that we could interview?
Long story short, I emailed Chris Ballou, the singer of the Presidents of the United States of America.
And then I said, hey, I noticed that you now are a children's singer.
Now he sings children's songs.
We went and interviewed him.
We had a really great time.
It was a really great time.
Now, what are the chances, Ryan, that we would have been able to be invited into his personal house during this time?
So you probably remember that song now, guys.
So basically Ruben's saying, at the height of this song, what are the chances that Ruben and I would have been able to go in with a camera, interview this guy?
A local cable access show.
Zero?
Zero.
None, right?
But, you know, the fame came and it went out.
And then we were able to interview him.
And that, too, is on YouTube.
Check it out.
The Ruben Show.
That was a lot of fun.
It was.
And that was Ryan behind the camera, if you ever watched that.
Okay.
So I think that's what Apollo's talking about.
Fair enough.
At some point, not everybody's going to care.
Fair enough.
Yeah.
So Rocky consoles Apollo and says, hey, come on, man.
You're not ancient history.
And then Apollo asks the question, I don't see anybody asking for autographs.
Again, I don't know how true that would be.
I think if this same situation was in 2018, you would have a Twitter account.
Put it this way.
Carl Weathers, the actor, who's not an A-list actor.
No.
Not even close.
No.
He still gets autographs asked of him.
So I understand what, you know, what Apollo's saying.
Okay.
Let's say tomorrow, Carl Weathers wakes up.
And for whatever reason, everybody treats him with the same fandom that they would sly.
And vice versa.
Oh, it hurts sly and would make Carl Weathers think somebody hacked his account.
You know what I mean?
What if that switch, right?
Yeah.
So this is reflecting reality.
Okay.
Oh, fair enough, Ruben.
You're right.
So you're right.
And to that degree, there's a little bit of art and life here is Carl Weathers is not getting
the autograph count interview request the way Stallone would.
Yeah.
Let's say Carl Weathers walks in your living room.
Everyone's like, well, hey, cool, Carl.
Hey, man.
Well, hey, welcome.
This Stallone walks in five minutes later.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
People drop him like a bad habit.
Rocky's now about to ask Apollo a question.
A little bit of heart to heart is about to happen here.
Rocky asks a question to Apollo.
Do you think maybe this fight against the Russian, maybe it's not against him?
And of course, Apollo goes, well, if it's not against him, who is it against then?
Rocky answers and says, well, do you think maybe it's you against you?
And Apollo laughs it off and says, oh, I think you really are getting brain damage.
Now, Apollo, you're a smart guy.
Rocky's making a pretty good analogy here.
Yeah.
He's just protecting himself, Carl.
Yeah.
Carl?
I mean, Apollo.
Carl's still in the movies right now.
Is he, though?
Hey, this movie.
He's still for...
What is Carl Weathers up to?
So, Paul goes, maybe you are really getting brain damage.
And Rocky goes, yeah, well, maybe.
He will be by the end of this movie.
Hey, for those that are interested...
I am.
You can check out...
Oh, he didn't do anything for...
I don't know.
He's in Star vs. The Force of Evil.
Okay.
TV series.
Nice.
Oh, yeah, it's a voice.
Hey, welcome to the podcast.
Kurtland just walked in here.
Hey, Kurtland.
Hey, how are you?
Where are you going?
We're a podcast.
Don't you want to be a part of it?
Not right now.
Remember, like, in theory, when we were kids...
Right.
It would be the kids in the garage doing something like this.
Yeah.
Now it's the...
Now it's the...
Dad's.
Dad's in the garage.
Okay.
Yeah, no.
Carl Weathers is going to be in Easter.
He's filming that right now.
Sweet.
That's coming out in 2019.
Nice.
Joey Leland navigates hostile political atmosphere while juggling familial problems as he combats
Mondi's empire.
Whatever that means.
Nice.
Sorry, he's not even in the top.
Oh, he's top two.
Nice.
You're just trying to go back to Rocky IV here.
Trying to throw Carl a bone here.
Make some soup out of that bone.
And so it sinks into Apollo, of course, that Rocky is not joking with the question.
And Apollo gets up and says, I don't think I want to hear this stallion.
So he's getting upset now.
Just like Ruben said and predicted, of course, that this is hitting close to home for Apollo
and he doesn't want to talk about it.
People still want to talk about their feelings.
When was the last time one of your friends had a heart-to-heart with you, Ronnie?
Ruben, we should acknowledge that right now Rocky's doing a real heart-to-heart with Apollo.
He just asked him or just told him, sorry, that, you know, you're a great fighter.
Nobody's arguing.
He's the Muhammad Ali of the Rocky series.
You are and were the best.
But it's over.
It's...
The show's over.
Like every series, book series, band, everything comes to an end.
Championships.
They come to an end.
Unless you're Michael Jackson.
Yeah, did you guys hear the news about Michael Jackson?
Ten years ago, an album was released after he died.
And it turned out through the songs weren't even sung by him.
By a person-hater.
That's crazy.
Yeah, so sometimes the end isn't the end.
But even there, it's the end.
So the point is, it's ending for Apollo Creed.
And Ruben asked a great question.
So he asked me in that same spirit here of this conversation in the film that they're having.
When's the last time a friend had a heart-to-heart with me like this?
Especially like this where we're having talking about life and what's it mean to us?
And it's been a very long time that I couldn't tell you how long and or who it was.
With Ruben?
Like Ruben?
You're asking me now for me?
Or Ruben?
Was it with you?
No.
I'm sure you and I have had more of a heart-
Oh, sure.
But I mean, outside of blood.
Outside of blood.
It's one that even meant something to me.
Yeah.
It's been many years.
It's happened.
But yeah, it's not a real common thing.
So I think there's a real response.
Yeah.
Where are two boxers, two athletes?
I think in this movie-
Alpha males.
I think in the movie in real life.
But I think even this movie, they're playing the age of about 39, 40 for Rocky.
Sure, yeah.
And he's 40 plus for Apollo.
He's past the prime.
The past are-
They're physical prime.
They're sports physical prime.
They're in incredible shape.
They're more than the average shape of the average man.
Yes.
As far as professional boxing goes, they've peaked.
So now Apollo comes back and says, look, it's easy for you to call me a fight against myself
and me trying to live past glory.
That's easy for you to call me.
I don't want that because you are on top.
You are the champion of the world.
Well, maybe if Apollo trained harder.
Wow.
You know, he could be on top too.
Instead, he's on the bottom.
He's on the bottom.
He just lost the belt to Rocky five years ago.
That's all.
But you're right.
I think he trained as hard as he could have.
His time was up as champion.
That's about it.
So Apollo's making the-
From what he feels, I guess boxing to him was just so important.
It was his whole life.
Because he says, where do you go when you're not on top anymore?
A friend of mine, Adam Creek, is a gold medal winning Olympian athlete.
Oh, wow.
Check out his stuff.
Creekspeak.com.
When I first met him, we were talking about what we did for a living.
And he talks about how he talks to former Olympic athletes.
And to help mentor them as they transition from being a world-class athlete to just living a normal life.
And I said, yeah, I think I heard of that program.
Adopt-a-jock.
It was funny to him.
Thanks for not laughing there, Ryan.
I thought it was a clever name.
Adopt-a-jock.
Yeah.
I thought this is the name?
No, it's not the name.
They should have made it the name.
Because that's what it is.
Yeah.
I thought you were saying that like, today's world of humor, in the today's world of humor,
Sure.
And clever taglines.
Well, thank you.
I thought that was something they came up with.
No, that's something I came up with.
So that's good.
I thought you were talking.
So the point is, especially in Canada, people that are Olympic athletes, they're not really paid.
They're not renumerated for their efforts.
No.
Yeah.
So once they're done, the level of alcoholism, drugs, that sort of thing.
Like a pro wrestler.
Depression.
That's pro wrestlers.
That happens to them as well.
Yeah.
Because what do you do?
They don't really know what to do with their time.
They can't chase those highs.
Okay.
That prime is gone from an athlete.
And so he does adopt a jock here and there.
Hopefully he doesn't have jock itch.
It's a dumb joke.
It means nothing.
And Adam's not listening.
Adam is not listening.
We know who's listening.
Our five reviewers.
Yeah.
So, yeah.
Long story short, I think what he's saying reflects reality.
That, well, what do you do?
Where's my purpose?
Yeah.
If your whole identity and self-worth is attached to whatever,
once that's gone, it'd be disorienting.
Sure.
It happens to people, big businessmen who retire and they don't know what to do with their free time.
Oh, yeah.
Or a big business woman.
Or a big woman that's in business.
So, Apollo says, you know, we can't be born again.
We can't live this life over again.
It's the only life that we have.
And I've been on top.
I was the champion of the world and something that I am good at.
And Rocky goes, no, you can't be born again, but you can change your directory.
You can change your, you know, you're once a boxer.
But now do something else with your time.
Change your trajectory.
Change your goals.
Well, the best conversation I had in my life that was actually probably one of the most helpful things was,
is when I went through having cancer.
Oh, here we go with cancer again.
The healing part, I expected it to happen.
Never did.
Seven years later, I'm still uncomfortable.
I'm still in pain.
As we're recording this, I've given Ruben a couple pills for his chair in our garage.
And I apologize.
I don't have a lounge in here.
Are you okay?
Well, you look like you look.
I feel terrible.
I'm supporting my hip.
Okay.
No, I feel terrible.
No, don't feel terrible.
I feel horrible.
No, no, no, no.
Let me tell you about the advice that I was given.
Okay, here we go.
This is from Dr. Wei, my oncologist.
She said, you'll never heal like you were before.
That will never happen again.
What was normal will never happen again.
This is your new normal.
Strong words.
Strong words.
So at some point, you just got to say, toughen up.
All right.
That part's gone.
I'll never run the boss a marathon.
I wonder if Apollo in this film will recognize that.
We'll find out.
We'll find out.
So Rocky says, you know, you got to change.
So Rocky goes on this little bit of a speech here, referring to the boxing match on the screen.
And Paul first says, you know, maybe I don't want to change.
I like who I am.
And Rocky goes, well, I like who you are too.
And he says, but that's not us on the screen.
That isn't us on that TV anymore.
We're not fighters like that anymore.
And I just realized during this little part here of Rocky's talking, he's very punchy in this scene.
He almost sounds Rocky V this year.
So we often criticize Rocky V for Stallone being punchy.
Like pulling up the punchiness, like going full punchy.
Never go full punchy.
Yeah, he's a little punchy here.
But he's actually pretty punchy in this scene.
If you go back and watch the scene, the listeners, he actually is pretty Rocky V punchy here.
I think he's kind of tapping into his future performance in 15 years.
Paul's making some strong and not necessarily points that I disagree with.
He's saying you can't change really who you are.
And he's also saying all the money around you and all that stuff around you, Sly, or sorry, Rocky, it doesn't change who you are.
It doesn't.
It doesn't.
Paul's a smart guy.
So he's kind of recognizing the world around him.
Like, I have all this money.
And I know people look at me in my life and say, I have all this money.
I have all this success in fandom.
But at the end of the day, I'm a fighter.
And he's going to get to that.
I'm a warrior.
I'm a fighter.
That's who I am.
And Rocky's hearing this.
He's having a hard time disagreeing.
You see his facial reactions.
Like, I don't know what to say to that because he's right.
I'm still just Rocky.
I'm still just a bum from the neighborhood to a degree.
Not a bum, but the guy from the neighborhood.
That's still who I am.
Well, obviously, you find out later films that the money does go away.
And Rocky's still Rocky.
He's still the heart of gold.
He didn't change his Rocky behavior just because he was in a millionaire home or if he was living with Paulie in his apartment for a short time.
Yeah.
Money doesn't change you.
No.
I don't follow any sports, which might be very evident as I talk about a sports movie.
But when people retire from basketball, like Magic Johnson, they're still involved in the sports, buying teams.
You know, it rings true.
That's one of the things I love about the movies is how much it reflects life, art reflecting life.
Yeah.
So he's saying here that we're warriors, that we're born with a killer instinct.
Yeah.
And this is where I agree with Apollo or even Sylvester Stallone's writing about this is, how do I say this?
I have a pet peeve room and I'm going to share this with the listeners with you.
All right.
Let's hear it.
I hate it.
I hate it.
Hate's a strong word.
I know.
I get very irritated by and have a negative reaction.
You dislike what?
Yeah.
Strongly dislike something.
When people say you can do anything, it should put your mind to.
Yeah.
Okay.
I'm not going to be creating the next symphony that's going to last a thousand years and people
are going to talk about like a la Beethoven.
There's no way that you can measure that.
But maybe he...
I don't want to take any names here, so just blank this out.
Sure.
Actually, never mind.
Never mind.
No, no.
Tell me the story.
Sure.
Maybe this might not be used.
Say the name.
Martin Hall.
Yeah.
He has a twin sister.
Okay.
They were like in the early 60s.
Yeah.
Okay.
Twin sister takes up painting.
Really good at it.
Good.
And it's like, huh, who knew my sister could paint?
Right.
So on a whim, Martin buys some paints.
It turns out he's really good too.
In 60 years, he has never painted.
Never even crossed his mind that he could paint.
He never found out until he tried.
Okay.
And I'm sure he can improve.
That's a good story.
I thought you were going to be a...
Yeah.
That's a fine story.
Yeah.
So I understand what you're saying.
Like, we're not going to...
You put the paint...
You give me the exact same thing that he has.
Like the exact same tools and paints that he has.
I go over to his house.
And he goes, now, Ryan, you paint.
I'll be like, what colors do I use?
Where do I start?
What am I painting?
Like...
Well, I don't know.
Maybe if he had time.
But I'm saying put your mind to it.
No, that's what...
You're actually making my point.
He was born with something he didn't know he had.
He was born with that killer painting instinct.
I'm just saying sometimes people don't know what they have.
Some people are terrible.
I agree.
Some people like...
You'll never slam down.
Okay.
For example...
No matter how much your mind...
No matter how much your mind...
I once had...
I once had...
And you might figure out who this is.
I once had a married woman come to me and say, look, I got a couple of kids.
My husband thinks he can make a living as an opera singer.
His family is supporting him, telling him that he can become an opera singer.
Could you please tell him that this is not going to happen?
So, this is what I said to her.
I said, I don't have to tell him.
The world has already told him.
Yeah.
Sweet.
In which I had a friend who believed that they would...
Yeah, I got to be careful.
Okay, hold on.
Let me go back to the opera singer.
Okay.
Whatever.
Sure.
He gave a go.
You know what I mean?
Sure.
You got to...
But that's what I'm getting at.
You can put your mind to it.
Why isn't he the best?
Yeah.
I'll probably never...
Because what I want to argue...
The point I'm trying to argue with this...
Sure.
Yeah.
Is that...
The point I'm trying to make with him, put your mind to it, is he's not a failure as an opera singer.
Meaning...
No, he's not.
He put his mind to it as much as he could.
He started off terribly.
Sure.
And now he can carry a tune.
Sure.
Yeah.
But no matter how much you put his mind to it, he's not the best opera...
Or even a opera singer.
So what I'm getting...
But that doesn't make him...
What I'm getting at is...
No, he's in the forces.
God bless our forces.
Yes, that's me.
What I'm trying to get at is...
I hate when people say that.
Because when people say that, I look at them and say, why aren't you a multi-millionaire
or whatever?
Excuse.
So I hate when people say, when you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything.
What I will say, when you do your best and give it your all, you may accomplish things
you never thought possible.
Sure.
Yeah.
For yourself.
For yourself.
I will never play basketball like LeBron James.
Even if I started at 15, I would never be him.
Well, no.
No, but I don't have the tool.
You know, here's...
So my mind is up to...
Back to my friend, Adam Creek.
So he and I, on one of the Ruben Show episodes, we went rowing.
He was a rower, Olympic rower.
And he goes, obviously, that's terrible.
It's my first time on the water.
But he's like, you're built like a rower.
That's right.
You could have done this.
Yeah.
Somebody who's four feet tall, they can have the same mind power.
Yeah.
But he mentioned that you have to have to build...
Yes.
That's what I'm getting at.
I hate when people say you can put your mind to it, but you're blind.
Who was that really short?
Basketball player.
Scotty.
No, Scotty Pippen.
Spud Webb.
Spud Webb.
Spud Webb.
Spud Webb.
That's right.
Spud Webb.
He was five feet, seven inches.
That is crazy.
That's pretty crazy.
Career highlights.
He won the NBA Slam Dunk Contest Championship.
Crazy.
That's it for championships.
I don't know if he never won a title, but he had an NBA career from 85 to that 13-year career.
Wow.
Good for him.
So I think that's where there's acceptance to the rule, where you can do it.
I guarantee you, whoever's listening, yourself included, myself too,
to do something different and more.
Like, for example, how many listeners do we have more compared to what we thought you'd ever get?
I don't know.
Like 100% more, right?
I thought we'd have maybe 10 or 15 in an episode.
Yeah.
I'm 20.
I think 20 hours.
I remember us thinking, like, just picture if there was like a room of like 10, 20 people,
we'd still have this conversation.
Yeah.
So thank you to our 20 listeners.
We appreciate your support.
So we're just going to finish up the scene.
So Paul makes the famous line in this movie where without some war or challenge to fight,
the warrior might as well be dead.
So in his life, it's about conflict.
And it's about facing a conflict, facing a future nemesis or enemy and conquering that enemy.
He is through and through.
Paul created as a warrior at heart.
Yeah.
He goes, as a friend, stand by my side this one last time.
And I know we all know that Apollo dies.
But the way this is filmed, it's tough to watch this.
It's very poetic that we all know this foreshadow is happening.
Like one last time.
What happens if Apollo won that fight?
Like if he had won the fight, would Rocky change his mind about Apollo's ability in the ring?
And say, okay, I'll stand with you again in your next fight.
Maybe he re-enters as a professional fighter at the age of 45, which isn't crazy.
I mean, George Foreman did in his 50s.
Like it's just, it's interesting how we all know he's going to do it.
But even does Apollo somehow feel or know this could be it?
That this man could truly destroy him in the ring?
I love a good foreshadow.
Yeah.
Well, it's kind of like Tom Petty.
You know, he had the hip issue, got medicated.
He had to finish his tour against all doctors orders because that's who he was.
You got to keep touring.
You got to keep playing your songs.
You got to keep pushing.
Like you are who you are.
That's right.
Tom Petty.
Tom Petty?
And Apollo Creed in the same sentence.
That's right.
It's Rocky Greaves.
I'll do it one last time.
Kind of has a, you know, like, oh, Paul.
He goes, oh, you're such a great talker, Apollo.
And Apollo really is a great talker.
Yeah, he is.
What I love is Stallone is acting, of course.
He says, oh, you're a great talker, Apollo.
But Stallone wrote those lines for Apollo to deliver.
For Carl was to deliver.
I love it.
I always get a kick out of the idea of like, here's Stallone listening to his dialogue.
Meta.
It is totally meta.
Yeah.
And he's basically saying, you're a great actor, Carl.
Because Carl delivers those lines so well.
He does.
Can we just say Carl Weathers, outside of Rocky, is really the MVP of the first four movies?
Oh, yeah.
Easy.
Easy peasy.
Easy to the MVP.
Like, without Carl Weathers, I don't think we sing his songs.
Let me say for the record, Carl, I know you're listening to Mr. Weathers.
You are the MVP of the first four movies.
And you are sort of the Mr. Part 5.
But his legacy lives on in Creed.
Yes.
So we just talked about this, how, you know, what would happen if Apollo won the fight?
So Rocky actually asked him, what's going to happen when this is over?
Apollo laughs.
He goes, you know me, Stallone.
I always think of something.
He did.
He's got a father to child that's going to come back and talk Rocky 30 years later.
So he totally foreshadowed.
Yeah.
He foreshadowed the Creed series.
Right here, guys.
We got it here.
Exclusively hers.
I guarantee you, we're the first podcast to exclusively say that Creed was foreshadowed in Rocky 4 with that grin on his face.
He goes, you call me Stallone.
I always think of something.
That's the smile of somebody who's been somewhere he shouldn't have been.
All right.
We're going to stop there.
Thanks so much for joining us this week on the Rocky Series podcast, Going the Distance.
Thanks for your reviews.
I really appreciate it.
I know it sounds going to be a little cheesy, but keep them coming.
We want those reviews.
We'll read them out.
If we don't get one every week, we're going to start charging every episode.
Just kidding.
Riven?
Ding, ding.
Ding, ding.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.