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Speaker 1: Part.

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Speaker 2: What's up, guys.

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Speaker 3: I know we asked you during the week if this

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Speaker 3: was gonna be It seemed like there were a lot

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Speaker 3: of people here. There was a lot of gestures pregame

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Speaker 3: and postgame for you. Is this it for Matthew Slater?

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Speaker 2: Let's talk about that another day. Just want to express

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Speaker 2: my thanks to the guys in that locker room today.

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Speaker 2: So very appreciative of all the love and support that

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Speaker 2: I received, you know, this whole season, certainly today in

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Speaker 2: this week, and I'm just proud to be part of

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Speaker 2: that group. Even though the season was what it was,

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Speaker 2: to come in every day and be able to work

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Speaker 2: with those guys really meant a lot to me.

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Speaker 4: Hi, Matthew, thank you for taking your time.

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Speaker 5: I just wanted to ask, what was it like to

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Speaker 5: see the whole team come out in those kind of

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Speaker 5: sweatshirts in the warm up, to see you know them

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Speaker 5: on Are you like that?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? It was then a lot, then a lot. I

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Speaker 2: was blown away by it. So look, I don't want it,

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Speaker 2: you know, I never wanted anything about my experience here

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Speaker 2: to be about me, so did make me a little

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Speaker 2: bit uncomfortable. But to have the guys do that, I

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Speaker 2: just I'll never be able to put that into words

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Speaker 2: as long as I live. So it meant a lot

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Speaker 2: to me.

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Speaker 6: Matthew.

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Speaker 2: Matthew, we've heard a lot about your post game addresses

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Speaker 2: to the team, last game of the season, last game,

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Speaker 2: maybe for you did.

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Speaker 5: What did you tell them today?

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Speaker 7: What was the message?

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Speaker 5: What did you want them to take away from today,

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Speaker 5: from the season, from from the experience today?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? Look, for me, I look at life as a race. Uh.

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Speaker 2: Paul talks about it and his writings, you know. Second

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Speaker 2: Timothy four to seven says, I have fought a good fight.

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Speaker 2: I have finished the race. I've kept the faith. And

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Speaker 2: I think to me, as you're running your race in life,

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Speaker 2: there's gonna be some some ups, some downs. You're gonna fall,

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Speaker 2: you're gonna fail, you're gonna succeed, But you just gotta

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Speaker 2: keep running that race. And no matter what the people

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Speaker 2: around you may say, detractors or naysayers, uh, you keep

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Speaker 2: running that race until you get to your finish line.

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Speaker 2: And for for these guys in that locker room, yeah,

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Speaker 2: this was a part of the race where we fell

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Speaker 2: and and we gotta get up. And as an organization,

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Speaker 2: we gotta keep running. And we gotta find a new path,

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Speaker 2: a better path, and keep running out race.

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Speaker 4: Two questions. One message to the fans, and to no

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Speaker 4: one in that locker room knows Bill Belichick better than you.

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Speaker 4: What did Bill mean to you? What does he mean

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Speaker 4: to you? That's the fans first.

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Speaker 2: I mean message to the fans is just thank you. Look,

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Speaker 2: I told you earlier this week. I came here. I

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Speaker 2: had no expectations. I didn't think I was gonna be

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Speaker 2: here very long, you know, just a special teams player

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Speaker 2: like you know, I'm not. I'm not the quarterback. I'm

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Speaker 2: not catching balls. I'm not out there sacking the quarterback.

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Speaker 2: So to be embraced by the fans in the community

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Speaker 2: the way that my family and I have it means

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Speaker 2: a lot. I thank them for that. I thank them

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Speaker 2: for their endless support for our team. I thank them

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Speaker 2: for challenging our team, spurring.

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Speaker 7: Us, you know.

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Speaker 2: But to be embraced by this community, in this fan base,

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Speaker 2: has been a great deal to myself and my family.

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Speaker 2: So thank you. And then Coach. I mean, I'm without Coach.

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Speaker 2: I'm not standing up here talking to you like he

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Speaker 2: took a chance on me. A lot of people when

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Speaker 2: I got here thought I got drafted because my dad,

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Speaker 2: So he took a chance on me and has taken

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Speaker 2: a chance on me for sixteen years. So I'm very

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Speaker 2: grateful for that, and you know, it is the best

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Speaker 2: coach has ever coached this game, in my opinion, So

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Speaker 2: thankful for the sixteen years that I've had with him.

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Speaker 5: Matthew, when you first came out and came here, if

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Speaker 5: someone had told you that day that you were going

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Speaker 5: to have a sixteen year career, ten Pro Bowls and

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Speaker 5: two All Pro Teams, would you have been surprised then?

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Speaker 5: And would you have expected that I'd.

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Speaker 2: Have called him a liar. No, I wouldn't. I didn't

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Speaker 2: have that expectation for myself at all. I was just,

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Speaker 2: you know, I tell the story all the time. I

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Speaker 2: called my dad during rookie mini camp and asked them

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Speaker 2: if they could release me before I got my signing bonus.

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Speaker 2: So I wasn't. I didn't have a vision for this

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Speaker 2: type of career, to be a part of the special

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Speaker 2: teams and work alongside the people that I have. But

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Speaker 2: you know that, really my career is a testament to

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Speaker 2: the goodness of God and his grace in my life,

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Speaker 2: his favor and like it. I don't deserve any of

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Speaker 2: the credit, and the people around me deserve all the credit,

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Speaker 2: and my wife and my family, my parents, my brother,

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Speaker 2: and then God, I mean, God has just been so

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Speaker 2: kind to me, and I'm very humble by it.

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Speaker 7: Matthew, I find it interesting. Our questions are very you know,

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Speaker 7: reflective at this point at the end of the season,

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Speaker 7: but hearing you speak, it's very in the moment and

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Speaker 7: looking forward. And you talked about the challenges that the

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Speaker 7: season present and the opportunities to work with younger players

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Speaker 7: and building towards the future. Right now obviously focuses on

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Speaker 7: the record the way the season finished, but with your

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Speaker 7: impact and builds impact, what can you say you were

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Speaker 7: able to accomplish this year in terms of building for

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Speaker 7: the future of this franchise beyond just the record that

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Speaker 7: we see right now.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, well, in my opinion, there are a lot of

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Speaker 2: players on this team that have to learn how to win.

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Speaker 2: You know, that's a process for everyone when they come

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Speaker 2: into this league, and if you're fortunate enough to be

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Speaker 2: in the right place around the right people, you learn

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Speaker 2: how to do that. And you know, maybe this year

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Speaker 2: was necessary for this team to learn how to win.

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Speaker 2: And realize what it takes, the commitment to sacrifice, the detail,

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Speaker 2: all those things in order to get to winning, and

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Speaker 2: sometimes you have to be broken down to rise again.

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Speaker 2: And you know, it's my belief that this organization is

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Speaker 2: not going to be shackled by its failures this season,

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Speaker 2: are going to rise again. So I have a lot

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Speaker 2: of confidence in that from the ownership on the way

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Speaker 2: down that we'll figure it out.

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Speaker 6: Hey, Matthew, I'm sir. I'm wondering how you saw maybe

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Speaker 6: how you described the way in which Bill finished the season.

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Speaker 6: You're just seeing him sort of frantically waving at Rigger,

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Speaker 6: you know, before a return. It looked like he was

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Speaker 6: he was sort of you know, he's coaching through the end,

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Speaker 6: But what did you see from him?

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Speaker 2: I saw no quid in Bill Belichick this season. You know,

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Speaker 2: as a team, I think we're a reflection of our

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Speaker 2: coach and that we competed all the way to the end,

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Speaker 2: regardless of the scoreboard, regardless of our record, regardless of

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Speaker 2: what was going on around us. We kept fighting. And

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Speaker 2: I think a lot of that can be attributed to

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Speaker 2: the man who's steering the ship. So for us, you know,

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Speaker 2: we see him every day coming here. If you had

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Speaker 2: set in these team meetings this week, you would have

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Speaker 2: thought we're getting ready to go play in the FC

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Speaker 2: Championship game. That's how he's coaching the team. You know,

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Speaker 2: he didn't turn it down, he didn't shut it down.

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Speaker 2: And I have so much respect for him, especially in

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Speaker 2: the year like this. Again, like when you're winning and

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Speaker 2: you're doing well and you're going to Super Bowls, everybody's

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Speaker 2: having a good time. You guys are pumping this up,

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Speaker 2: we're all key king. It's a great time. But when

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Speaker 2: you're in moments like this, you find out who people are.

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Speaker 2: And I certainly found out a lot about Bill Belichick

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Speaker 2: this year.

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Speaker 1: Another Bill Belichick question. Obviously, special teams his one of

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Speaker 1: his specialties, your specialty, so you have a connection there.

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Speaker 1: But as you leave here sixteen years you said he's

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Speaker 1: had a major effect on your career, who you are

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Speaker 1: as a player. If I had to say, what was

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Speaker 1: maybe the one thing you take that he gave you

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Speaker 1: that you maybe didn't have before you got here.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, well, that's our question. I think if

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Speaker 2: you want to have a team, a true team, championship

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Speaker 2: caliber team, and you want to have a team that's

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Speaker 2: together and is competitive. Everyone on the team has to

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Speaker 2: be a star in that role. But everyone's role looks differently,

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Speaker 2: and I think as a young player, especially coming out

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Speaker 2: of college, you don't have an appreciation for everyone's role

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Speaker 2: on the football team. But he taught me to appreciate that,

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Speaker 2: and I certainly tried to embrace my role in my

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Speaker 2: time here. So you know, the one thing, you know,

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Speaker 2: I'm looking at my kids play sports and I'm thinking,

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Speaker 2: you know, everybody on this team has a role, and

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Speaker 2: everybody's role is a little bit different, And to me,

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Speaker 2: that's a you know, that's a biblical concept. You know,

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Speaker 2: every member of the body we talk about as Christians

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Speaker 2: has a different role, but nobody can do anybody else's role.

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Speaker 2: You have to be a star in your role. And

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Speaker 2: the reason that this place was so successful for so

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Speaker 2: long is we had people that understood that and bought

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Speaker 2: into it, and you know, we did it at a

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Speaker 2: high level. But I, you know, I believe that that's

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Speaker 2: important and I believe that's something that will certainly continue

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Speaker 2: to live on here.

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Speaker 8: Hi Matthew, Hello, You've always been clearly a fan favorite,

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Speaker 8: and I don't think that's ever been more apparent than tonight.

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Speaker 8: I don't know if you saw all the signs in

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Speaker 8: the stands and the fans cheering for you. A lot

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Speaker 8: of them were laminated so they wouldn't get wet just

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Speaker 8: singing your praises. How does that make you feel, just

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Speaker 8: knowing there's so much love for you from your fans.

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Speaker 2: It's very humbling. Again, I came here as a no

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Speaker 2: name guy, fringe player for a lot of my career.

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Speaker 2: A lot of you guys said I was getting cut

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Speaker 2: early on there. I thought I was getting cut too.

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Speaker 2: But to have the fan base embrace me the way

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Speaker 2: that they have and appreciate what I do on the

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Speaker 2: football field, appreciate what my teammates do on the football field,

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Speaker 2: is very, very humbling, you know. Just it's hard to articulate.

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Speaker 2: And I never thought, you know, when I came here

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Speaker 2: in two thousand and eight, twenty two years old, uh

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Speaker 2: so far from home. I never thought that I feel

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Speaker 2: like this place was home for me. But sixteen years later,

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Speaker 2: it feels like home. And the fans are a big

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Speaker 2: part of that, the way that they've embraced me and

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Speaker 2: my family, and I've been so kind and generous to us.

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Speaker 2: So you know, like I was saying earlier to Steve,

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Speaker 2: I'm just very thankful for that and it's something that

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Speaker 2: I'll I'll never take for grant. Thanks guys,