The Head Game Podcast

By Dr. Lee Picariello and Dr. Hunter StevensSports

The Head Game Podcast episodes

July 27, 2020 44. Addictions: Escaping Reality or Chasing The Dream
Welcome back THE HEAD GAME! During this week's episode, Host, Clinical Sport Psychologist Dr. Lee Picariello and Co-Host, Mental Strength Coach Jessica Ferdinand discuss "Addictions: Escaping Reality or Chasing The Dream". Further discussion will be based on the following:
- Why do humans gravitate towards using substances, simulations, and various stimulants to make them feel better?
- How many of us are truly addicted to something? Is it a part of who we are as humans?
- Dr. Lee and Jess: Can you think of a time when you were addicted to something in your life? If so, how did you overcome it?
- Does being addicted to something always have to have a negative connotation? Can you be addicted to something that positively affects your life?
- If we are addicted, what is causing us to be addicted? What are we all trying to escape?
- What are some of the potential positive impacts of addiction awareness?
--- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/dr-lee-picariello/support
--- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/dr-lee-picariello/support
53 min
June 29, 202042. A Little Help From My Friends
Welcome back THE HEAD GAME! During this week's episode, Host, Clinical Sport Psychologist Dr. Lee Picariello and Co-Host, Mental Strength Coach Jessica Ferdinand discuss "A Little Help From My Friends". Further discussion will be based on the following:
With all of the negativity going on in the world, how can we gravitate towards supportive relationships to help us deal with adversity?

How have you relied on your friends and family to get you through tough times? How have they relied on you?

Are two of the necessary needs of the human condition companionship and community?

Have we taken these needs for granted? Do sports allow us to engage in this sense of community?

Know Your BioQ: Are we practicing a higher or lower BioQ by being amongst our loved ones? What about social distancing? Do we need each other to survive?
WHO'S GOT GAME!
Where each week a new candidate is chosen and dissected on how they are playing their own Head Game! This week's pick: European Soccer Leagues
With professional Soccer being played all across Europe without fans, how are they dealing with a post-Covid-19 sports world? What are they doing right that we can apply in American sporting events as we attempt to continue flattening the curve and return to sports?
Credits:
Intro/Outro Music: "Head Games" by Foreigner
After the Break: "With A Little Help From My Friends" by The Beatles
MAT Minute: "Give It All You Got" by Chuck Mangione
--- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/dr-lee-picariello/support
--- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/dr-lee-picariello/support
1 hr 15 min
June 22, 202041. Binary Thinking: Us vs. Them Mentality
Welcome back THE HEAD GAME! During this week's episode, Host, Clinical Sport Psychologist Dr. Lee Picariello and Co-Host, Mental Strength Coach Jessica Ferdinand discuss "Binary Thinking: Us vs. Them Mentality". Further discussion will be based on the following:
What about us as humans makes us want to associate with a particular team, party, or clique?

Is it ever acceptable to root for both sides? Can this be productive or just cause more division?

Are we competitive by nature and seek to win a game or argument? Why?

Are we practicing a higher or lower BioQ by picking a side or by seeing both sides and taking a neutral stance?
WHO'S GOT GAME!
Where each week a new candidate is chosen and dissected on how they are playing their own Head Game! This week's pick: MLB Owners vs. Players Association
Credits:
Intro/Outro Music: "Head Games" by Foreigner
After the Break: "The Way It Is" by Bruce Hornsby
MAT min: "Give It All You Got" by Chuck Mangione
--- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/dr-lee-picariello/support
--- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/dr-lee-picariello/support
Read less
55 min
June 18, 202040. The Boiling Point
Welcome back THE HEAD GAME! During this week's episode, Host, Clinical Sport Psychologist Dr. Lee Picariello and Co-Host, Mental Strength Coach Jessica Ferdinand discuss "The Boiling Point". Further discussion will be based on the following:
How much exposure to a monotonous and tiresome routine are humans willing to take before they mentally tap out? (Is this the definition of insanity?)

On a psychological level: What does it truly mean to check or tap out?

Are we in a battle with the media and the governments that we live under?

Once you have tapped out, where do you go? What do you do?

What are our natural instincts and impulses towards this state of exhaustion?

What opportunities are available to us that can serve as an outlet for these concerns?

In an industry that emphasizes repetition, how do athletes break complacency and diversify their routines? Are athletes more likely to “win” during this time of quarantine?
WHO'S GOT GAME!
Where each week a new candidate is chosen and dissected on how they are playing their own Head Game! This week's pick: The Silent Majority
Jessi’s No Sports Update:
MLB draft / Travel ball beginning

Football is less than 100 days away!
Credits:
Intro/Outro Music: "Head Games" by Foreigner
After the Break: "Are You Not Entertained?" scene from Gladiator
MAT min: "Give it all you got" by Chuck Mangione
--- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/dr-lee-picariello/support
52 min
June 03, 202039. The Healing Power of Sports
Welcome back THE HEAD GAME! During this week's episode, Host, Clinical Sport Psychologist Dr. Lee Picariello and Co-Host, Mental Strength Coach Jessica Ferdinand discuss "The Healing Power of Sports". Further discussion will be based on the following:
How will sports play the role of the “national healer” once they return?

History shows that sports have a medicinal power, how and why is this true?

Psychologically, why does having sports back make us feel almost immediately better?

Last year, 89 of the 100 most-watched TV programs focused on sports, what have we been doing without them? Was this break actually good for us?

Is it possible that sports will not be as popular as it was once before, or will this break make our love for sports stronger?

WHO'S GOT GAME!
Where each week a new candidate is chosen and dissected on how they are playing their own Head Game! This week's pick: The Year 2020: What head game is this year playing?
1. What are the Positives from 2020 (why are we so encompassed by the negatives?)

Credits:
Intro/Outro Music: "Head Games" by foreigner
After the Break: Man in the Mirror by Michael Jackson
MAT min: "Give it all you got" by Chuck Mangione
---
Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dr-lee-picariello/support
54 min
June 02, 2020 38. Sacrifice in the Name of Sport
Welcome back THE HEAD GAME! During this week's episode, Host, Clinical Sport Psychologist Dr. Lee Picariello and Co-Host, Mental Strength Coach Jessica Ferdinand discuss "Sacrifice in the Name of Sport". Further discussion will be based on the following:
· Do we know what genuine sacrifice is? (wartime, immigration, great financial depression)
· Are we now being asked to sacrifice our basic civil liberties?
· How does sacrifice impact us emotionally and psychologically? (resilient vs vulnerable)
· Is sacrifice one of the unwritten rules that all athletes know too well?
· Psychologically, what happens to our mindset when our “sacrifice” is not authentic, are we stunting our mental growth?

Questions to be answered during the show:
1. Is this considered true sacrifice or just a loss of our civil liberties; are the people wrong for breaking the rules (hairdressers/ gyms/small business owners beginning to defy orders and open up anyway)
2. Is this fair?

WHO'S GOT GAME!
Where each week a new candidate is chosen and dissected on how they are playing their own Head Game! This week's pick: Memorial Day: Boy Scouts banned from planting flags on veteran’s graves, for the first time ever.

Jessi’s Daily Question: What are the top 5 things athletes have to sacrifice in order to be great?
- Are these essential to being the best? Why? Why not?

Credits:
Intro/Outro Music: "Head Games" by foreigner
After the Break: "Head Games" by foreigner
MAT min: "Give it all you got" by Chuck Mangione
47 min
May 18, 202037. Mindset Matters!
Welcome back THE HEAD GAME! During this week's episode, Host, Clinical Sport Psychologist Dr. Lee Picariello and Co-Host, Mental Strength Coach Jessica Ferdinand discuss "Mindset Matters". Further discussion will be based on the following:
How well do people recover in the face of adversity?

Does personality impact your mindset OR does mindset dictate personality? Fixed vs Growth Mindset

Do we really "grow" when we apply a growth mindset in the face of adversity and still fail?

Is COVID-19 driving us to focus more, as a society, on our mindset (mental health), and if so, will it impact the next generation?
Questions to be answered during the show:
1. Do professional athletes play for us or themselves? It is selfish to want sports to come back?
2. How have we allowed COVID-19 to take away our free will?

WHO'S GOT GAME!
Where each week a new candidate is chosen and dissected on how they are playing their own Head Game! This week's pick: Small Business Owners
- What are the challenges that no one is talking about?
- How has COVID-19 impacted the future mentality of a small business owner, of the industry in general.

Credits:
Intro/Outro Music: "Head Games" by foreigner
After the Break: Blake Snell on the MLB salary decrease
MAT min: "Give it all you got" by Chuck Mangione
52 min
May 07, 202036. Human Nature vs Mother Nature: The Epic Battle
Welcome back THE HEAD GAME! During this week's episode, Host, Clinical Sport Psychologist Dr. Lee Picariello and Co-Host, Mental Strength Coach Jessica Ferdinand discuss Human Nature vs Mother Nature: The Epic Battle. Further discussion will be based on the following:
Does Mother Nature always prevail? (Neither sports-minded nor a sports fan?)

Historically, has any natural disaster ever given birth to the life cycle?

If change is important throughout the life cycle - why is it so uncomfortable?

What has a more powerful impact on history: mother nature or human competitor?
Questions to be answered during the show:
1. Is COVID-19 becoming our greatest teacher?
2. Which is more unpredictable: Weather or Sports?

WHO'S GOT GAME! Where each week a new candidate is chosen and dissected on how they are playing their own Head Game! This week's pick:
COVID-19
- How is COVID-19 our greatest teacher? Teaching all humans how to push through adversity and adjust in the moment.
Credits:

Credits:
Intro/Outro Music: "Head Games" by foreigner
After the Break: 1989 World Series Game #3 - LIVE commentary
MAT min: "Give it all you got" by Chuck Mangione
1 hr
April 29, 202035. Real or Rumor: How SPORTS remain our TRUTH
Welcome back THE HEAD GAME! During this week's episode, Host, Clinical Sport Psychologist Dr. Lee Picariello and Co-Host, Mental Strength Coach Jessica Ferdinand discuss how sports remain our truth during the global pandemic. Further discussion will be based on the following:
In a world of polarizing media coverage, is the SPORTS world all we have left to believe in?

What about sports allows us to see things clearly without judgment?

Why can's other news stories capture us the same way?

Questions to be answered during the show:
1. How is it possible that sports remain our greatest escape from reality even though they have been removed from our lives for the time being?
2. With baseball being the first sport to potentially come back, how will this shape the future of the game? Just last year the MLB was considering making the games/seasons shorter to try and combat the decrease in fans.

WHO'S GOT GAME! Where each week a new candidate is chosen and dissected on how they are playing their own Head Game! This week's pick:
The Desperate Sports fans in ALL of US
a. NFL Draft: remote but never closer to home
b. The Last Dance: Michael Jordan (love him or hate him) to the rescue

Credits:
Intro/Outro Music: "Head Games" by foreigner
After the Break: "Sirius" by The Alan Parsons Project
54 min
March 23, 202034. Remote "Control": It's Nothing Personal
During this week's episode, Sport Psychologist Dr. Lee Picariello discusses the mental effects of working from home and what happens to the mind in isolation! Further discussion will be based off of:
What are the benefits/challenges of working remotely?

Does anything get lost in translation when talking is not in-person?

How does virtual learning help or hurt our children?

If society disconnects now, what is the potential fallout later?

Is there a conflict between evolution and technology? Which impacts communication more?
Who’s Got Game? Where each week, we choose someone or something that is playing their own “head game”. This week’s pick is ALL DISTANT US CITIZENS.
-We are perhaps playing the toughest Head Game of our lives.
-Are we too late to the game?
-What’s fair play at this stage?

Cohost: Mental Strength Coach Jessica Lynn Ferdinand

Special guest:
Strength and conditioning coach John Kalinowski of "Kalinowski Performance Academy" will call in and give his professional take on this week's topic.

Follow us on Social Media!
58 min

About The Head Game Podcast

From the publisher's feed

Sports Psychologists Dr. Lee Picariello and Dr. Hunter Stevens thank you for tuning in to The Head Game Podcast powered by Mindful Athlete Training, where you grab an inside look into the heads and…

Share The Head Game Podcast

Sign up to save your podcasts

The Head Game Podcast

The Head Game Podcast episodes

About The Head Game Podcast