Matt Man! Where did that name come from anyway?

Matt Man! Where did that name come from anyway?

I get asked this question at almost every seminar I speak at...it's funny because most people think that it is some kind of spin off of the "Batman" comic book hero. Although, I never did miss an episode of the Batman TV show or cartoon when I was growing up (I even cried when the show didn't come on one day) that is not where the name came from...

I used to workout at a health club with former NBA Professional Darnell Valentine. Our workouts were pretty intense in those days. Darnell was always known and continues to this day to be one of the best conditioned athletes around.

Darnell would run me around the basketball court playing "full court" one-on-one basketball, or hammer me on the squash court for an hour or two before I collapsed. Besides functioning as his personal cardio punching bag, I would also help him out with with some of the NBA Players Association projects that he would work on.

One day he we were onsite as a NBA Players Association Camp and someone was asking him a bunch of questions...He blurted out "I don't know Man!, just go ask Matt, He's got the answer Man...Matt Man!" That was it and it stuck!

From there on out, where ever we were, what ever we were doing I became Matt Man! I was Matt Man at the Gym. I was Matt Man at the burger joint. I was Matt Man at the Five Star Restaurant we went to in NY after the Nicks Game. It didn't matter where we were....I was Matt Man the guy who had all the answers.

Matt Man!