Some people grow up here and leave.
Some people leave and never look back.
And then there are the rare ones who come home—and decide to carry the weight.

This episode is about one of those guys.

I sat down with Josh McClurg—born and raised in the Santa Ynez Valley, gone long enough to think he’d never come back… and now he’s back as San Ynez High School’s Head Football Coach and Athletic Director.

This is a conversation about why high school sports matter—not just for the kids on the field, but for the entire community that shows up behind them.

• 🏴‍☠️ Small Town, Big Heart
Why San Ynez feels like “small town Texas dropped into the Central Coast,” and how Friday nights, packed gyms, and local pride keep a town stitched together.

• 🧱 From Local Kid to Leader
Growing up riding bikes until dark, dreaming of wearing black and orange, and learning the hard way what responsibility really looks like.

• 🏈 The Long Road Back
Hancock → Chico State → football program cut → teaching in Sacramento → twins on the way → a leap of faith back to the Valley.

• 👨‍👩‍👦‍👦‍👦 Family + Faith + Grit
NICU twins, building a life from scratch, working weekends, laying floors, and doing whatever it takes to provide.

• 🧠 Why Sports Change Kids
How team culture pulls kids into structure, raises grades, creates belonging, and turns “lost” into “locked in.”

• 📈 The Golden Era of Participation
Josh shares that about 78% of San Ynez’s 750 students play a sport, plus why track and wrestling are exploding—and what great coaching really does.

• 🏟️ Rio Memorial Stadium
The story behind renaming the field to honor Jeff Rio and Carl Rio—and what legacy looks like when a community remembers its own.

• 🧱 Wall of Honor
Why Josh is pushing to recognize more of the “old guard” who earned it—and how pride and tradition get passed forward.

If you live in the Valley, this episode is a reminder:
these games aren’t just games.

They’re community.
They’re belonging.
They’re a training ground for becoming someone.

Go Pirates. 🏴‍☠️

This is a very special episode of Chopping It Up with Keith Saarloos.

Episode 34 is the audio companion to our 2026 Winter Allocation, shared here so the stories behind these wines can be heard in perpetuity. I’ve made more than 75 allocation videos over the years, and this episode lives as part of that permanent record.

Recorded live from Ballard Canyon, this episode isn’t just about wine — it’s about farming, family, risk, and legacy.

Inside, I walk you through the wines that define this allocation:

• Mayhem 🌊 — a carbonic Grenache moonshot, a farming flex, a prayer paddled into the unknown

• Purpose 🌱 — Syrah grown with intention on the high hill

• Resiliency 🛡️ — Syrah from one of the hardest vineyards to farm in Santa Barbara County

• Legacy 🦅 — Syrah from a steep, dangerous hillside that reminds us what we’re protecting

• GRIT 💪 — a Petit Verdot built like the people it honors, strong, patient, and earned over time

These wines are not manufactured.
They are not repeated.
They are one hillside, one year, one moment, bottled.

This episode also touches on:

• The Very Ambitious Group Project — one small act a day to push good back into the world

• Why farming and winemaking are not separate things

• Why stress, risk, and difficulty make better wine — and better people

• Honoring my father, Larry Saarloos, and the values that built everything we stand on

This is about giving our farming a shot at immortality in the bottles you open with people you love.

If you’ve ever wondered where wine really comes from —
not the winery,
but where the song is written —
this episode is for you.

Thank you for being part of our family.
We live to honor those who came before us.
And we prepare the way for those yet to come.

Stick with us.
We’ve got your back. 🍇➡️🍷

Shaun Cassidy | Teen Idol, Reinvention, and Creative Longevity

Some people become famous.
Some people become useful.
A very rare few become both—and then evolve.

This episode is about the evolution.

I sat down with my friend Shaun Cassidy for a conversation about growing up in the spotlight—and choosing not to stay there.

Shaun entered the public consciousness as a full-blown teen idol: The Hardy Boys, hit records, magazine covers, screaming crowds, and instant fame at 18. The kind of success most people never experience—and very few survive intact.

But instead of living off the past, Shaun transitioned.

What unfolds is not a comeback story.
It’s a reinvention story.

• 🎤 Teen Idol, Up Close
What early fame really feels like when you grow up inside it—and why seeing it firsthand can either break you or prepare you.

• ✍️ Writing His Way In
Falling in love with the writers’ room, learning how stories are actually built, and discovering that the real magic happens behind the camera.

• 📺 Building Modern Television
Creating American Gothic before antiheroes were fashionable. Discovering Heath Ledger on Roar. Working on The Agency, Cold Case, Invasion, Blue Bloods, and New Amsterdam.

• 🏛️ Walt Disney’s Office
What it’s like to work inside Walt Disney’s actual office—and how legacy can inspire you… or paralyze you.

• ⚖️ Art vs. Commerce
Network notes, creative conviction, and the moments when protecting the idea matters more than protecting the deal.

• 🎶 The Road to Us
Why Shaun returned to the stage after 40 years—not with nostalgia, but with songs, stories, and a mission to get people back in the same room again.

• 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Family, Grounding, Perspective
Why longevity only works if you know who you are when the noise fades.

This conversation is about identity, reinvention, creative longevity, and what it really means to grow up in public—and then grow beyond it.

This isn’t nostalgia.
It’s evolution.