Speaker 1: Welcome to the NFL Legends Podcast, an NFL podcast for
Speaker 1: the players, by the players. Here's your host, four team
Speaker 1: year NFL veteran and Hall of Famer Enius Williams. Hello, Well,
Speaker 1: welcome to the NFL Legends Podcast. I am a Nius
Speaker 1: Williams the day. We're joined by NFL linebacker Sam Acho,
Speaker 1: a man who has made a tremendous impact on and
Speaker 1: off the field, and who's written a new book, let
Speaker 1: The World See You, which hits the bookshelves October thirteen
Speaker 1: in the middle of a pandemic. Welcome Sam, and he
Speaker 1: is man, I'm so glad to be here. It's so
Speaker 1: glad to be doing this with you. Obviously, we go
Speaker 1: back a little bit with the Arizona Cardinals connection, right,
Speaker 1: You're an Arizona Cardinals legend and I got a chance
Speaker 1: to play there for four years, and uh, just knowing
Speaker 1: the man you are and what you stand for and
Speaker 1: what you're all about, I couldn't be more excited to
Speaker 1: be here with you. Well, let's start out with the
Speaker 1: elephant in the room. You're a free agent and were
Speaker 1: recorded this before Week five season. Where's your head in
Speaker 1: terms of playing are becoming a legend. That's a great question.
Speaker 1: That's a great question. Yeah, we're recording this. It's week
Speaker 1: it's getting up to week five and the NFL season season.
Speaker 1: And funny enough, before I get to the answer of
Speaker 1: the question, last year, I was in a similar period
Speaker 1: last year around this time, I was a free agent
Speaker 1: and I was when I said I was stressed out.
Speaker 1: Stressed out is an understatement because I was the first
Speaker 1: time of me being a free agent. I was always Also,
Speaker 1: I was on my last year. I was going on
Speaker 1: year eight, and I always been on a team, and
Speaker 1: I was things were fined, and for whatever reason, God
Speaker 1: had me on the sidelines for a little bit. And
Speaker 1: it got to a point last season when I said,
Speaker 1: you know what, I'm ready to be done, ready to
Speaker 1: be done playing. I want to move on. I want
Speaker 1: to do something different. And so I had a conversation
Speaker 1: with my wife. I was with the Bills for training
Speaker 1: camp and I got released from the Bills and we
Speaker 1: happened to stay up in Buffalo while we were kind
Speaker 1: of getting calls from teams and training at a compa
Speaker 1: with my wife, I said, hey, let's just go, let's
Speaker 1: just move on. Let's do something different, and she was like, well, no,
Speaker 1: my God is still opened the door for us. I'm like, well,
Speaker 1: how do you know? Because I and so we have
Speaker 1: that conversation on a Friday, right before we Kate. We
Speaker 1: were still in Buffalo. We leave Buffalo, drive from Buffalo
Speaker 1: to Chicago, where we had a place at a house
Speaker 1: in Chicago, and ready to go to Minnesota because one
Speaker 1: of my buddies was starting a company in Minnesota. And
Speaker 1: that weekend, right it was We're gonna leave on Monday
Speaker 1: to Minnesota. And that same Monday, I got a call
Speaker 1: from Tampa Bay to go sign with the Buccaneers. And
Speaker 1: so I signed with Tampa last year literally the day
Speaker 1: signed with Tampa, finish the season in Tampa last year
Speaker 1: and was completely thinking I was gonna go back to
Speaker 1: Tampa this year, but for whatever reason, I haven't. I'm
Speaker 1: currently a free agent. And so you asked where my
Speaker 1: head's at the elephant in the room and reality or
Speaker 1: my head and my heart is at. I mean, it's tough, man,
Speaker 1: in a lot of ways. I'm ready to transition into
Speaker 1: something new. Right the book, I couldn't be more excited
Speaker 1: about let the world see You, how to Be Real
Speaker 1: and a world full of fakes. I love that. I
Speaker 1: love speaking encouraging people. Um so I know God's given
Speaker 1: me a gift. But even as we speak, something in
Speaker 1: my heart is not ready to say no. So what
Speaker 1: is doing typical weekend routine now? As you prepare either way? Absolutely, yeah.
Speaker 1: So during the week, I'm training and doing some book stuff.
Speaker 1: Obviously throughout the week, and then weekends I'm actually, this
Speaker 1: is the first time I've done this. It is probably
Speaker 1: gonna be a shock to a lot of people. My
Speaker 1: Sundays are spent only watching football. And I say this
Speaker 1: is a shock because in the past I would never
Speaker 1: do that. Last year, I couldn't watch games because I
Speaker 1: was sitting there like I should be on the field.
Speaker 1: I need to be out there. I'm better than these guys,
Speaker 1: you know. And then when I was and then when
Speaker 1: I was playing, obviously we would play on Sundays, and
Speaker 1: if I was gonna watch games, i'd watch our opponent
Speaker 1: or i'd watch something specific to what it helps make
Speaker 1: me better as a player. But now I find myself
Speaker 1: almost like a fan. I'm watching all the different games
Speaker 1: at the NFL, like ticket the whole deal. And so
Speaker 1: I think there's a little bit of a transition going
Speaker 1: on in my heart. But that's my weekend routine. It's
Speaker 1: Saturdays with the family kids. Sunday morning we'll hit up church.
Speaker 1: My dad is a pastor, so we go to his church. Uh,
Speaker 1: socially distanced and all that stuff. And then from there
Speaker 1: we're watching all the games. All right, you don't have
Speaker 1: a strength conditioning coach, so how you stand mentally and
Speaker 1: physically fit and ready to play? Absolutely? So. I've been
Speaker 1: training at a place called XOS up in Dallas, and
Speaker 1: so it's a facility of performer facility with about there
Speaker 1: probably seven to seven to ten other guys who are
Speaker 1: training with me are the free agents. A couple of
Speaker 1: Baseball one baseball players training with us as well. So
Speaker 1: we're all training together. We've got a meal plan set ups,
Speaker 1: so we're eating right. We're training together. We'll do drills afterwards,
Speaker 1: whether it's one on one drills um or or well,
Speaker 1: not a lot of one on ones because if you know,
Speaker 1: masks and stuff, but we'll do you know, linebacker drills
Speaker 1: and stuff like that, just to stay ready just in
Speaker 1: case we do get that call. And a lot of
Speaker 1: the guys I've trained with have gotten calls, right there's
Speaker 1: been probably three or four guys who have gotten calls
Speaker 1: and now they're on teams. Other guys have gotten workouts,
Speaker 1: and so physically mentally, um, I'm staying ready. And it's
Speaker 1: the emotional and the spiritual part that are a little
Speaker 1: bit more difficult. And the Trust provide the xos as well.
Speaker 1: What do you know about that? Absolutely, So that's all
Speaker 1: through the trust, right, all through the NFL Trust and
Speaker 1: our NFL p A trust and so yeah, a matter
Speaker 1: of fact, I was wearing my Trust shirt yesterday right
Speaker 1: as I was working out, and so it's it's provided
Speaker 1: being provided free of charge, and the meals are provided
Speaker 1: free of charge. And I'm from Dallas and so I'm
Speaker 1: actually it's been cool because of COVID. I've been just
Speaker 1: last few weeks. I've been staying with family. Before I
Speaker 1: was in Chicago training and Arizona training, and then I said, man,
Speaker 1: I want to see my family. And so my parents
Speaker 1: and little cousins and nieces and nephews and sisters are
Speaker 1: up here and so I've got a chance to see
Speaker 1: them a lot more often. All Right, here's a big question.
Speaker 1: If the full rings team calls, are there certain balls
Speaker 1: you will accept that you will go. Are there are
Speaker 1: certain teams you may not want to go play. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's that's the That's a great question, and he is. Um,
Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't know what's funny. In the past,
Speaker 1: if anybody would have called out of said yes in
Speaker 1: a heartbeat, absolutely, Whereas this year, obviously, I'd love to
Speaker 1: go back to Tampa Bay because I played there, and
Speaker 1: you know Bruce Arians I know well he was my
Speaker 1: coach when I was in Arizona for two years Todd Bowls.
Speaker 1: The defensive coordinator was my coach as well, the linebacker coach.
Speaker 1: I got a really good relationship with all those guys,
Speaker 1: the coaches, the strength coat everybody. So I love to
Speaker 1: go back to Tampa Bay. So if they call it,
Speaker 1: I definitely would feel that call Chicago as well. I
Speaker 1: had a really great time in Chicago, so if they
Speaker 1: called it, I'd love to go back to Chicago as well. Um,
Speaker 1: those are probably top on my list, But I don't know.
Speaker 1: I think every day is different, and you're right if
Speaker 1: if if I wouldn't necessarily say outright saying out right
Speaker 1: no to anybody, but I definitely no matter who it was,
Speaker 1: even if it was TAMPLA, Chicago. I definitely would would
Speaker 1: pray about it and consider, Okay, guy, what do you
Speaker 1: want me to do at this moment, at this time.
Speaker 1: It's interesting your book focuses on a lot on identity
Speaker 1: and how much we hide ourselves. But when you say,
Speaker 1: out of all the sports, football players will be more
Speaker 1: prone to hide ourselves because we're the ones hiding behind
Speaker 1: that helmet, right if I would use that as a metaphor,
Speaker 1: what is a good example of an NFL player hiding
Speaker 1: his true self? Sam? Now we're talking. So my book
Speaker 1: is called Let the World See You, How to Be
Speaker 1: Real in a World full of Fakes, and it's it
Speaker 1: really talks about what it means to be authentic and
Speaker 1: to be vulnerable. And I know for me, I don't
Speaker 1: know how it was for you or even anyone listening.
Speaker 1: It's hard nowadays being you, like being who God made
Speaker 1: you to be. It's so easy to pretend or to
Speaker 1: fit in or to try and act like someone you're not.
Speaker 1: You ask, when what's an example of someone in an
Speaker 1: NFL locker room hiding? Well, me specifically, I know, like
Speaker 1: for me as a as a linebacker in the NFL,
Speaker 1: but also a Christian that I'm I'm a follower of Jesus,
Speaker 1: people woul look at me and say, if I ever
Speaker 1: got mad at practice, they'd say, well, Sam, you're not
Speaker 1: supposed to get mad. You're a Christian. You're not supposed
Speaker 1: to get angry with it, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: And so, and as a young player, I didn't know
Speaker 1: how to deal with that because I knew I love Jesus,
Speaker 1: but also but I didn't really know what these guys
Speaker 1: are gonna think of me. And so for me, my
Speaker 1: hiding showed up in me trying really hard not to
Speaker 1: get angry. Mm hmm. I'll try really hard not to
Speaker 1: get angry, so be at practice and I'd be so upset,
Speaker 1: but I would try to hide it. I don't want
Speaker 1: people to see me get angry, because when you're a Christian,
Speaker 1: you're not supposed to be angry, supposed to be forgiving.
Speaker 1: And yadi yadi. If you actually like read the Bible,
Speaker 1: Jesus was slipping over table, Jesus was calling people out.
Speaker 1: Jesus was lying as well as a lamb. And so
Speaker 1: for me, that was an example of hiding. But there's
Speaker 1: another example of hiding as well, and personally as well
Speaker 1: I I could and academ me. I love learning personally,
Speaker 1: I love learning, love school, I love As a matter
Speaker 1: of fact, I got my m b A from the
Speaker 1: number one international NBA program in the world while I
Speaker 1: was playing. And but here's the thing, and I didn't
Speaker 1: tell anybody. I hid. I hid. I did not tell
Speaker 1: any of my teammates. And you can probably guess why.
Speaker 1: I didn't want them to think that I was this
Speaker 1: guy who didn't care about ball or that was something nerd.
Speaker 1: And also my coaches, to coaches or general managers or
Speaker 1: I didn't want them to say, well, this guy is
Speaker 1: not committed. And so think about hiding. And that's just
Speaker 1: in football. Imagine if whether it's in a marriage or
Speaker 1: as a parent, or as a spouse or anything at work,
Speaker 1: we tend to hide. And I'm really the purpose of
Speaker 1: this book. Anybody picks up this book and you can
Speaker 1: get it at sam i cho book dot com. It's
Speaker 1: my first book, so I'd love for everybody to go
Speaker 1: and check it out at sam i cho book dot com.
Speaker 1: You can like, once you read that book, you'll have
Speaker 1: a better idea to be able to know why you
Speaker 1: hide and what are the benefits of showing people the
Speaker 1: real you. When you talk about genuine authenticity, how can
Speaker 1: a legend or current player, what do you suggest how
Speaker 1: they can live out genuine authenticity. I think it's actually
Speaker 1: really difficult in a lot of ways. The reason is
Speaker 1: that you have to be extremely intentional. The waves of
Speaker 1: the world or of culture will naturally draw you towards
Speaker 1: like conglomeration, towards just coming together and being the same
Speaker 1: as everyone else naturally, So if you don't actively um
Speaker 1: Like for me, I do a lot of a lot
Speaker 1: of prayer, a lot of just like quiet time with myself,
Speaker 1: just like trying to say, man, who am I really right?
Speaker 1: As I'm praying going through scripture? Right? That's one piece
Speaker 1: another piece of saying, man, what do you actually like?
Speaker 1: What are the things that I like as opposed to
Speaker 1: what does everyone else like? And I feel like I
Speaker 1: need to fit it? What do I like to do
Speaker 1: and what do I like? What do I love to
Speaker 1: learn about her? To read about her? To not read
Speaker 1: about what I mean, and so being really intentional about
Speaker 1: the things that you enjoy and then practicing those things,
Speaker 1: not being ashamed of those things. A lot of us
Speaker 1: really know who we are, but you talked about the
Speaker 1: insecurity we're afraid of showing the world who we are.
Speaker 1: In your book, you talk about the affirmation you got
Speaker 1: from making a great play as a trap. How do
Speaker 1: we avoid traps like these? Absolutely so, just for a
Speaker 1: little bit of context with those who haven't read the
Speaker 1: book yet. UM football specifically is an interesting place to
Speaker 1: be in the locker room on a team because when
Speaker 1: you play well, all of a sudden, you start hearing
Speaker 1: the rounds of applause. You're the best in the world,
Speaker 1: and you hear it right. And if you play poorly,
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, you start hearing less. Either either
Speaker 1: you won't people won't talk to you, or they'll tell
Speaker 1: you how bad you are. And so for me, I
Speaker 1: got caught up in the trap of people pleasing Oh man,
Speaker 1: I made a good play. My coach thinks it's good.
Speaker 1: Let me will do another one for my coach, or
Speaker 1: my teammates think I'm gonn let me go do it
Speaker 1: for my teammates, as opposed to doing it because I
Speaker 1: wanted to do it. I wanted to be great, right, yes,
Speaker 1: inside of me, deep down I wanted to be great.
Speaker 1: But there's a little icing on the cake of Oh wow,
Speaker 1: my coach really thinks highly of me. Maybe now I'll
Speaker 1: get more playing time, Now I'll be have more favor
Speaker 1: in his eyes. Bibbles are clear, the heart of the
Speaker 1: kings in the hand of the Lord, right, like that's
Speaker 1: God's decision in a lot of ways. And obviously we
Speaker 1: work and all these things, but I got caught up
Speaker 1: in trying to please my coaches and do the things,
Speaker 1: do it the way that they wanted me to do it,
Speaker 1: as opposed to having a conversation and saying, hey, coach,
Speaker 1: I see where you're coming from, but hey, this is
Speaker 1: my skill set. What do you think about this? And
Speaker 1: then going that way. I was afraid. It's interesting that
Speaker 1: one of the unique characteristics about what's caused UH coach
Speaker 1: Bill Belichick to be successful is he finds out the
Speaker 1: unique authenticity and I'm using that word paraphrasing it about
Speaker 1: each player and he only asked that player to do
Speaker 1: that which he knows that player does well. So it's
Speaker 1: interesting some of the behind the mask of their success.
Speaker 1: Identity is often difficult for NFL players and legends because
Speaker 1: we're often deemed just a football player, and after a
Speaker 1: while that's all we see. How do we discover the
Speaker 1: many facets of our identity and make a true impact
Speaker 1: on our world. Sam, It's either going to be the
Speaker 1: easy way or the hard way. Right, Like the easy way,
Speaker 1: and is anybody listening. The easy way is to slow down, right,
Speaker 1: we're all on this rat race, Okay, let me slow
Speaker 1: down and let me actually tap into the things that
Speaker 1: I enjoy, or the things that will bring a benefit
Speaker 1: to my family, or the things that I feel like
Speaker 1: I have a calling to do, even if it's against
Speaker 1: the grain. That's the easy way. The hard way, which
Speaker 1: is what I experience, is essentially it's going to be
Speaker 1: done for you. And here's what I mean by that.
Speaker 1: I didn't I wrote this book last a little a
Speaker 1: couple few months ago. As I was working on it
Speaker 1: last year. Um, I did not know I was a writer.
Speaker 1: It wasn't until I almost lost my marriage, almost I
Speaker 1: lost my starting spot, I tore my pack, I was
Speaker 1: out for the season, I lost a mentor, my house flooded. Uh,
Speaker 1: my wife's wallet got still, I mean so much. Her
Speaker 1: green coach she was won't even US citizen. Her green
Speaker 1: car got so we were suppos to take a trip
Speaker 1: overseas for a five year university. I mean, I was
Speaker 1: like I was doing all the things. I wasn't even
Speaker 1: paying attention to things around me, right. I wasn't being
Speaker 1: a loving father to my kids. I wasn't being a
Speaker 1: loving husband to my wife. I wasn't being a good friend.
Speaker 1: I was just so focused on the goal, the goal,
Speaker 1: the goal, the goal of the goal. And so you
Speaker 1: talked about the easy way or the hard way. The
Speaker 1: the easy way we talked about is saying, Okay, am
Speaker 1: I going down the right path? Am I not getting
Speaker 1: people around you you can speak life into you. The
Speaker 1: hard way is saying, you know what, I'm just gonna
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna do it and we'll be fine. And
Speaker 1: you're you're not gonna be fine. Your body, your body
Speaker 1: is gonna catch up to you. Your body keeps the score.
Speaker 1: And so for me, the hard way of going through
Speaker 1: all that, and in all reality, what came out of
Speaker 1: that hard time in a lot of ways was this book.
Speaker 1: And I say that to say I found that I'm
Speaker 1: a writer. So we all have all these gifts that
Speaker 1: we don't know about. And either you're gonna use the
Speaker 1: gifts God gave you, or you're gonna find out the
Speaker 1: hard way, that you keep on running yourself into a
Speaker 1: brick wall and you're not getting anywhere. Marriage, relationship with
Speaker 1: kids are failing, all these things. How did you get
Speaker 1: what was your epiphany? Absolutely? Absolutely so? It was. So
Speaker 1: I just signed a multi year, multimillion dollar contract with
Speaker 1: the Chicago Bears, my first ever. Right, I was one
Speaker 1: on your eight. Everything had else have been minimums, rocky
Speaker 1: minimum or one year veteran minimum contracts that had been
Speaker 1: my whole career. And by God's grace, I signed this
Speaker 1: big deal and so I was going into I was
Speaker 1: gonna be the guy. I was a star, I was
Speaker 1: a starter. And it was a week before training camp
Speaker 1: season and as I mentioned, like I felt like my
Speaker 1: our relationship with my wife wasn't going well, my relationship
Speaker 1: with my kids wasn't good even inter personally, like within myself,
Speaker 1: like who am I? And I was sitting down with
Speaker 1: a friend and I looked at him and I was like, dude,
Speaker 1: I'm struggling man like I And I told him, I said,
Speaker 1: I just need the season to start, because said all
Speaker 1: this whole offseason, all my teammates are gone, my friendships
Speaker 1: are gone. I don't know, I don't know where everyone
Speaker 1: else is. I said, I just need this season to start,
Speaker 1: so get back to football. Then I'll be okay. Everything
Speaker 1: will be fine once I get back to ball. And
Speaker 1: he looked at me and he said, Sam, if that's
Speaker 1: how you are right now, I'm afraid of what happens
Speaker 1: when when football ends for you, when it's over. And
Speaker 1: as I'm kind of sharing with him some of my
Speaker 1: struggles and think with you know, trying to be a
Speaker 1: faithful husband and trying to like really like love my kids,
Speaker 1: where is this hatred in my heart coming from? As
Speaker 1: I'm sharing with him this all the stuff, I start
Speaker 1: to cry. I started to cry. And he looks at
Speaker 1: me and he says two things. He says. He says, Hey, Sam,
Speaker 1: maybe God is writing a book in your life. Mhm.
Speaker 1: And and you may only be on chapter two. Well
Speaker 1: he said that. Then he said, and oh, by the way,
Speaker 1: it's nice to see you. Huh. It's nice to see you, Sam,
Speaker 1: It's nice to see you. And I didn't understand what
Speaker 1: he meant. A matter of fact, I think I didn't understand,
Speaker 1: but I didn't want to understand what he meant, right
Speaker 1: because I was like, I felt like my life was over.
Speaker 1: I was crying, broken, breaking down in front of this guy,
Speaker 1: one of my friends I've known, like helped me build
Speaker 1: business stuff. We did business stuff together and my brand
Speaker 1: and all this, and he said, I've never seen the
Speaker 1: side of you. I used to always think you were
Speaker 1: this perfect together guy. But it's good to know your human.
Speaker 1: You're not perfect. It's nice to see you. And so
Speaker 1: we actually recommended I've talked to a counselor. He actually
Speaker 1: he actually had just finished meeting with this therapist counselor
Speaker 1: guy doing a life plan for his life. And you know,
Speaker 1: he's not a football guy, he's a business guy. But
Speaker 1: he said, he, I recommend you talk to this guy.
Speaker 1: And so I did. And the next opening this counselor
Speaker 1: had was the day reported a training camp. And so
Speaker 1: as everyone knows, legends of players know, you report that
Speaker 1: like it's like seven pm or five pm or whatever
Speaker 1: time it is, it's your first meeting. Well, that morning
Speaker 1: I was at a counselor's office and I'm sitting in there, like,
Speaker 1: you know how it is, let me get in and
Speaker 1: get out, check it off the box, right, how long
Speaker 1: you know? And I'm like, how long will this be?
Speaker 1: He's like, Sam, this is not a one or two
Speaker 1: sessions issue. It's going to be a twelve the twenty
Speaker 1: four month process. Like what you don't know? You must
Speaker 1: not know me. I'm this is I come on, man,
Speaker 1: I just fly by it. He said, okay, Sam, we'll
Speaker 1: start here. I got a couple of questions for you,
Speaker 1: so go ahead. He said, what do you do when
Speaker 1: you get angry? I said, okay, that's easy. I just
Speaker 1: don't get angry. M hm. He said, well that's interesting answer,
Speaker 1: but I'll ask you again, what do you do when
Speaker 1: you get angry? And I said, I tried not to
Speaker 1: get angry mhm. And he looks at me and he says,
Speaker 1: he says, Sam, everybody gets angry. And I proceeded to
Speaker 1: cry m hm. And he looks at me. He says,
Speaker 1: it is it okay if I And I'm like, it
Speaker 1: wasn't just like a tear shad. It was like something
Speaker 1: was almost releasing from my yeah right the and so
Speaker 1: he said, do you mind. I'm I'm gonna put my
Speaker 1: hand on your chest right breathe, breathe. I putt my
Speaker 1: hand on your stomach. I need you to breathe. And
Speaker 1: I'm breathing and breathing, and he looks at me, right,
Speaker 1: he kind of back up a little bit and he says,
Speaker 1: or put his hand on my shoulder. He says, it's
Speaker 1: nice to see you, Sam mhm. And he said, oh,
Speaker 1: by the way, get used to hearing that. And so
Speaker 1: you asked what was the moment, the aha moment, the
Speaker 1: realization of what it means to be me? It was
Speaker 1: not necessarily a moment, but more of a journey. The
Speaker 1: journey the next the next day, he recommended as we left,
Speaker 1: he said, I recommend you start. I don't know if
Speaker 1: you journal, but start journaling, start writing. I don't know
Speaker 1: if you listen to music, but start listening to music.
Speaker 1: And so I did that night, report to camp. We
Speaker 1: go through our meetings, and I go back to my
Speaker 1: dorm room and I start writing and writing and writing,
Speaker 1: And as I'm writing, I'm crying again because I'm almost
Speaker 1: I'm like, God, why do you love me so much? Like?
Speaker 1: What have I done for to the earn or deserve
Speaker 1: you love? And I'm writing and crying and I don't understand.
Speaker 1: I'm calling my friend, like the friend who told me
Speaker 1: about this counsel. I'm like, dude, what is what is
Speaker 1: going on, and so I go to I go to
Speaker 1: practice the next day and we do our conditioning tests.
Speaker 1: And we finished the test. Everybody goes inside and they
Speaker 1: shower up and they go to get some food, where
Speaker 1: I kind of just sit down, pop down in the
Speaker 1: in the chair in the locker room. Most people have left.
Speaker 1: One of my teammates have seen me. His name was
Speaker 1: Nick Williams, and he sees me, and he saw that
Speaker 1: I was a little bit dejected and wasn't myself. He said, hey, Sam,
Speaker 1: are you are you good? And usually a nest I'd say, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm fine, or I'm tired, or I've got a lot
Speaker 1: going on. Well this time I looked at him and
Speaker 1: I said, so you know what I'm not. I'm not
Speaker 1: doing good. And he said, well, I recommend you whatever
Speaker 1: is going on, let it out, let it out. So
Speaker 1: I did, and little by little the tears started to float.
Speaker 1: One of other teammates, Danish your Faithan, had just walked
Speaker 1: in the locker room. He saw me, and for whatever reason,
Speaker 1: he went to the speakers in the locker room. Was
Speaker 1: bluetooth phone, was gonna do to it, and he changed
Speaker 1: the playlist in the locker room. Change the song usually
Speaker 1: in the locker room is you know, rap music, bumping
Speaker 1: ever country or whatever. You know. He changed it to
Speaker 1: worship music, and not any kind of worship music. It
Speaker 1: happened to be the exact same songs I was listening
Speaker 1: to the night before. And as these songs start to
Speaker 1: play over my heart, I started to cry even more.
Speaker 1: And this time it's the really it's like that, and
Speaker 1: I'm looking there like telling him tell me to breathe.
Speaker 1: Guys tell me to breathe, and they're like, hey, I
Speaker 1: just breathe, bath and I'm breathing. And then he looks
Speaker 1: at me and he says, they watch. It's nice to
Speaker 1: see you. Mm hmm. And that was and has continued
Speaker 1: to be the journey that I'm on of what it
Speaker 1: means to be seen, and not only to be seen,
Speaker 1: but to be known, and not only to be known,
Speaker 1: but to be loved and accepted for who you are
Speaker 1: from who God made you to be. And so I
Speaker 1: believe any legend listening, or any current player, or even
Speaker 1: a spouse or whatever, right, So not just a spouse.
Speaker 1: You have your own things that you do, right, whoever
Speaker 1: is listening to this podcast, my desire for you once
Speaker 1: you pick up that book, right Sam Macho book dot
Speaker 1: com at s A m a c h o book
Speaker 1: dot com. After you read that book and order that
Speaker 1: book and go through it, you'll understand why we hide,
Speaker 1: and learn how to name your emotions and learn how
Speaker 1: to let the world see. You would understand that it's
Speaker 1: not an overnight process. It's not just an aha moment
Speaker 1: for everybody. Some people it is, some people it's not.
Speaker 1: But for me, it's really been a journey. Right, we're
Speaker 1: talking about this twelve or twenty four months journey of
Speaker 1: discovery of saying, man, this is the real me, this
Speaker 1: is who I am. Do you still love me? And
Speaker 1: the answer oftentimes is yes. There's a word pivot, pivoting,
Speaker 1: and you've just described your pivot. So there's a part
Speaker 1: and you shared that about about that in your book.
Speaker 1: What advice would you give current players about how important
Speaker 1: it is to handle the transitions that come their way? Transition, pivoting, change,
Speaker 1: all these words as you see them, they're moving right,
Speaker 1: their movement words. They're not steady, nor are they stable.
Speaker 1: I think a lot of us we want to get
Speaker 1: to a certain place, but it's just that unknown period
Speaker 1: that we fear in a lot of ways, or that
Speaker 1: we're not used to, are not comfortable with, and it
Speaker 1: could look different ways. For me, I'm used to going
Speaker 1: almost from team to team, are being ready to move
Speaker 1: and all these things. So for me, what transition looks
Speaker 1: like is from this guy who says, oh, let's go
Speaker 1: here today and go here tomorrow to saying, wow, what
Speaker 1: if I need to settle down for my wife, for
Speaker 1: my kids? Right, there's just a little bit of fear there.
Speaker 1: I'm not used to that. And so my advice as
Speaker 1: we journey together. Right, I'm not a guru or whatever,
Speaker 1: but I've been on the journey and I'm currently on
Speaker 1: that path and I've seen what it's like is don't
Speaker 1: let people define you. You know you talks about that
Speaker 1: idea where former player, legend or or NFL player. It's
Speaker 1: easy to get caught up in almost like trapped in
Speaker 1: that box of well, I'm an NFL player, look right,
Speaker 1: I played for this team, where I'm a former player
Speaker 1: or I'm a legend, But you are more than that.
Speaker 1: You specifically it is you're a former player, yes, you're
Speaker 1: a Hall of Famer, but we're also a pastor. You're
Speaker 1: also a other. I've heard you teach and preach multiple times,
Speaker 1: and I see you know I never I didn't get
Speaker 1: a chance to to watch you play, right, I've seen highlights,
Speaker 1: but I've got a chance to hear you speak over
Speaker 1: my life and the lives of hundreds of pro athletes,
Speaker 1: specifically not even at your church. But it's some conferences, right,
Speaker 1: because you're more than just a football player. Magine you said, well,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm pro, I'm Hall of Famer or whatever, and
Speaker 1: there are people that that relate to you because of that, right,
Speaker 1: But there's a comma after that pro football Hall of
Speaker 1: Famer and also pastor, and also father, and also business
Speaker 1: leader and also and also and also and so what
Speaker 1: I would say is I would just say, almost like
Speaker 1: learn how to get yourself out of that trap, out
Speaker 1: of that trap of saying this is who I am.
Speaker 1: I'm a former football player, or yeah I played for
Speaker 1: this team. Because people get cut all the time, people
Speaker 1: get traded all the time, people's career careers, and all
Speaker 1: the time, no one, no one has ever played forever
Speaker 1: Father time is undefeated. And so I would say, as
Speaker 1: you're playing and as you're doing the giving it your
Speaker 1: all and doing your best, find your other passions, be
Speaker 1: you let the world see you because it will make
Speaker 1: you better at your current job. Final question, You're and
Speaker 1: your brother Emmanual. You guys do a lot of community work.
Speaker 1: You're working in the community and social justice. Tell us
Speaker 1: about what you guys have done, why it is important
Speaker 1: that you do it, and what's it like in this
Speaker 1: current climate that we're in. My brother he started, uh,
Speaker 1: my brother Emmanual, he started and a series and called
Speaker 1: Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man, And we had a
Speaker 1: conversation beforehand, and we've kind of been going through it,
Speaker 1: but it was essentially what we understood is, hey, what
Speaker 1: if this is our time to use the gifts that
Speaker 1: God gave us and share them with the world. And
Speaker 1: so for him, it looked like the Uncomfortable Conversation series.
Speaker 1: For me, it looked like going in the different communities
Speaker 1: where I've lived then in Chicago specifically in other places
Speaker 1: and bringing people together to try and bring It's not
Speaker 1: even really biblical justice, but it's more that that idea
Speaker 1: of like, man, God, let your kingdom come and let
Speaker 1: your done. We were in Chicago, we saw what was
Speaker 1: called the food desert. We saw an area on the
Speaker 1: West Side that had two grocery stores and seventeen liquor
Speaker 1: stores and a half mile radius, and something about that
Speaker 1: wasn't right, and so we got I love bringing people together,
Speaker 1: So I got some people together. We raise half a
Speaker 1: million dollars and bought up one of the liquor stores
Speaker 1: and turned into a food mark that's being run and
Speaker 1: managed by the kids. Every different person has their different
Speaker 1: gifts and callings. I don't want to host a series
Speaker 1: called of comfortable conversation, right, And he doesn't want to
Speaker 1: be on the West side of Chicago meeting with random
Speaker 1: people and saying, hey, let's try and raise his money.
Speaker 1: That's side his thing. It's my thing, and his thing
Speaker 1: is not my thing, it's his thing. And so God
Speaker 1: has given each of us our things and the temptation
Speaker 1: and is too get caught up with our eyes on
Speaker 1: someone else's thing. Man, If I if only I had
Speaker 1: that kind of cloud, if only it's only that I
Speaker 1: wrote my book last year, And it's interesting the timing
Speaker 1: that God God as a he's really kind and in
Speaker 1: a lot of ways, because the timing of that book
Speaker 1: could not be better. Let the world see you take
Speaker 1: off your masks be real, come out of hiding us COVID,
Speaker 1: because that a lot of us isolated in a lot
Speaker 1: of ways. And now it's like, even with COVID, let
Speaker 1: the world see you as a parent, as a husband,
Speaker 1: as a wife, as a teacher. Let the world see
Speaker 1: you even with social race relations in America. Right. I
Speaker 1: talked a lot about the Kaepernick stuff that was going on.
Speaker 1: I was called upon by my team to lead the
Speaker 1: charge and ask and and and and the questions of
Speaker 1: what we wanna do during the national anthem. And I
Speaker 1: talked about that in the book, those discussions, what that
Speaker 1: looked like. Right. I was in the crux of that
Speaker 1: for the Chicago Bears, talk about the negotiating the new
Speaker 1: collective bargaining agreement with the ownership right the title chapter
Speaker 1: title of bargaining with billionaires. So like God doesn't make mistakes,
Speaker 1: and so the fact that we are going through this
Speaker 1: time right now, it doesn't mean we're supposed to doesn't
Speaker 1: mean were supposed to go and say, I gotta go
Speaker 1: write seven books and be the guy. No Burage started
Speaker 1: this book last year, you know what I mean? Like
Speaker 1: you know what I mean two years ago? And and
Speaker 1: by the grace that gotta happened. I mean you have
Speaker 1: to go and start a series, right, But it also
Speaker 1: doesn't mean you're going into hiding as well. You don't
Speaker 1: go and say, well I don't know what to do,
Speaker 1: so let me just wait till this pass is No.
Speaker 1: You find your places, find your spots like in football,
Speaker 1: right right, right place, right time, eyes, hands and feet right,
Speaker 1: open up your eyes, use your hands and let your
Speaker 1: feet take you. That's all that it is. And so
Speaker 1: it's not it's not necessarily one extreme or the other. Right,
Speaker 1: you don't have to go and you know, start seven
Speaker 1: businesses during COVID, or you don't have to go and
Speaker 1: start nonprofits and foundations that deal with social injustice. Maybe
Speaker 1: just use your eyes, look what's around you, go with
Speaker 1: your feet in your hands and help somebody you need
Speaker 1: in whatever way that you can. Sam, this has been incredible,
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for joining us once again. The book
Speaker 1: is called Let the World See You. It could be
Speaker 1: found where against Sam. Yes, so you can go to
Speaker 1: Samo book dot com, s A M A c Cho
Speaker 1: book dot com and it's also available right it's just
Speaker 1: coming out, so as soon as we're hearing this, it's
Speaker 1: just coming out. It's available anywhere books are sold, and
Speaker 1: so Barnes and Noble. It's gonna be in Target, um,
Speaker 1: anywhere books are sold, Amazon and wherever you get your books,
Speaker 1: audio book, anywhere you get your books. Just type in
Speaker 1: let the world see you, how to be real in
Speaker 1: the world full of fakes, and you'll see it. Thanks
Speaker 1: for listening in The best is yet to come. Absolutely
Speaker 1: this has been the NFL Legends podcast. To provide feedback
Speaker 1: or request a topic for discussion, email us at NFL
Speaker 1: Legends at NFL dot com.