Being engaged with the world doesn't mean we have to let all of it into our heads.

This week on The Back 9, it's just Dennis and Josh, talking about everything from the crime against humanity that is mixing 12-year Scotch with Coke to movies, anxiety, meditation, social media and the things we allow to occupy way too much space in our lives.

Dennis shares what happened when he dramatically cut back on social media. Josh talks about recognizing his own anxiety around conflict. And together, we wrestle with a bigger question: how do we stay curious, informed and connected without getting consumed by all the noise?

Maybe the answer isn't disengaging from the world. Maybe it's becoming more intentional about how we engage with it — and what actually deserves our attention.

Sometimes we get to a point in life and realize that we are spending so much time focused on the future for our family, that we've lost sight of the life we're living right now.

This week on The Back 9, entrepreneur Philip Crutchfield talks about becoming a father young, building successful businesses, and confronting his own role in the end of his second marriage.

Philip spent years working long hours and traveling to give his family a life he never had, only to realize -- a little too late -- that they already had a pretty good life. Now 50, with four children, he reflects on ambition, fatherhood, divorce and the years we can't get back.

Sometimes figuring out what happened isn't about assigning blame. It's about recognizing what we want to do differently with the years ahead. It's an opportunity to change the game -- on the Back 9.

Divorce can feel like the worst thing that's ever happened to you. For Kurt Heide, it once did.

When his first marriage ended, Kurt suddenly found himself raising three young children as a single father while trying to hold together his career and his life. This week on The Back 9, he shares what he learned about putting his kids first, keeping anger from driving important decisions, and eventually building the relationship he's now been in for 18 years.

Kurt also talks about his work with the National Association for Divorce Professionals and why the right legal, financial and emotional support can matter when you're least equipped to make clear decisions.

Because the choices we make during the worst moments of our lives long after it's over, and that's a lesson worth heeding on the Back 9.

This week on **The Back 9**, ESPN 1000 Chicago's **Marc Silverman** joins us to talk football, fatherhood and the non-Hodgkin's lymphoma diagnosis that changed the way he thinks about his time.

Now six years in remission, Silvy shares how therapy, mentorship and even acupuncture helped him through treatment—and why he no longer puts off the trips, experiences and time with his wife and sons that once could have waited.

Dennis also opens up about his own experience with prostate cancer, including why he chose to handle parts of it very differently.

Two dads. Two cancer journeys. And a conversation about health, family and why some things are too important to save for later...on the Back 9.

Three years ago, The Back 9 was born over late-night hot dogs and cheese fries at Chicago's legendary Wiener's Circle. This week, we sit down with one of the guys who owns it.

Investor and restaurant owner Ari Levy talks about preserving—and reinventing—a Chicago institution famous for its irreverence, and how the Wiener's Circle became part of the conversation around the Bears last season with viral stunts involving Ben Johnson, Caleb Williams and more.

Then we make the turn. After two divorces, Ari opens up about therapy, fatherhood, taking better care of himself, and finding an unexpected relationship with one of his closest friends from college. It's a conversation about what experience teaches us to value in a partner—and why friendship, shared values and simply enjoying each other's company may matter a whole lot more the next time around.

Everybody says time is more valuable than money. We decided to put that idea to the test.

So we kick off Season 14 of The Back 9 with a hypothetical that quickly becomes a lot less hypothetical. Our answers lead to a bigger conversation about time, money, family and what we value at this stage of life.

As we make the turn into another season, we also look at how far The Back 9 has come, the progress of our book, and our recent work with a former guest whose story continues to remind us what can happen when we turn difficult experiences into something meaningful.

Nearly 150 episodes in, we're still right there with you -- still asking questions, still learning and still figuring out what we want to do with the years ahead.

Welcome to Season 14 of The Back 9.

We went into Season 13 wanting to take a deeper look at divorce, particularly about what comes next when relationships end. Nine episodes later, we've heard some very different answers.

On the 19th Hole for this season, we look back at conversations about going through divorce in real time, protecting yourself legally and financially, avoiding the costly mistakes that can make splitting up even harder, building a successful second marriage, and doing the work that can sometimes save the first one.

We also talk about anxiety showing up unexpectedly in midlife, watching our kids become adults, finishing the manuscript of our book and one of the ideas that kept surfacing throughout the season: that the end of a relationship doesn't have to define what comes next.

Sometimes it's where the real work begins.

Divorce is already expensive, exhausting and painful. You don't have to make it worse.

On this episode of The Back 9, author and educator Eric Saperstein shares the lessons from his own three-and-a-half-year high-conflict divorce—and the practical steps that became the foundation of his new book, Simplify the Split.

We talk about the mistakes that cost time, money and emotional energy: treating your attorney like a therapist, responding to every angry text, fighting battles that don't need to be won, and giving up on mediation too soon. Eric also explains how he used AI to take the emotion out of difficult communication and why sometimes the smartest response is no response at all.