Speaker 1: Hey guys, welcome to another episode of Renee All Day
Speaker 1: Joy Now by the one the only Ted Cairess. How
Speaker 1: are you doing great? Thank you so much for having
Speaker 1: Oh my god, thanks for being on here. Um do
Speaker 1: I call you Ted? Teddy Theodore, Teddy Bears. What's the nickname?
Speaker 1: It's a choice. It's a mixed bag. It is only
Speaker 1: like one person my life calls me THEO. It's one
Speaker 1: of my friends, A good one though. It's cute. I
Speaker 1: like THEO. Yeah. I've never been a THEO though, but
Speaker 1: my friends. Yeah, how is it being like the third?
Speaker 1: Actually not the third. I'm the third Ted a Row,
Speaker 1: but I have a different middle name than the first
Speaker 1: two tents, So I'm Ted Carross. My dad's Ted Carress Junior. Yes,
Speaker 1: we do a lot of business together. And it's kind
Speaker 1: of confusing, right because people think, obviously I would be
Speaker 1: the junior. Sure, but yeah, you're like double junior three. Yeah. Wow,
Speaker 1: there's a lot to work with there. I like it
Speaker 1: a lot. Um. Okay, So, of course, as we were
Speaker 1: just saying, your family, you were a third generational football player. Yes,
Speaker 1: what would you have done if you weren't a football player?
Speaker 1: Gee's probably coach football. Okay, yeah, okay, but he's saying
Speaker 1: even just not even growing up plan probably just makes
Speaker 1: your heart go Petter pattern. Yeah, I love I love
Speaker 1: to read and I love like fiction and something like that.
Speaker 1: What are you reading can Fall it right now? Okay? Yeah,
Speaker 1: fall of Giants. I'm a big fan of can Fall.
Speaker 1: I think he's the best. It's funny that, I mean,
Speaker 1: not funny that you say that. But as I was
Speaker 1: like prepping for this interview us watching some of your
Speaker 1: other interviews, I'm like, he's got a really great vocabulary.
Speaker 1: I bet you he reads a lot. Oh, thank you,
Speaker 1: thank you. Yeah. I try. I try to sneak some
Speaker 1: in when appropriate. You can't force it, though, No, No,
Speaker 1: you gotta like pepper some in every once in a while.
Speaker 1: But I appreciate that. Um. Okay, So you would have
Speaker 1: maybe been a coach. It seems like you still do
Speaker 1: kind of a bit of that anyways, and like sort
Speaker 1: of a coach player role. How do you sort of
Speaker 1: switch between the two of those mindsets. Well, you know,
Speaker 1: we have such great coaches here too. I made a
Speaker 1: choice when I came in here. I didn't want to
Speaker 1: like step on any toes and I wanted to assimilate
Speaker 1: into a culture that's already been built and been successful.
Speaker 1: So you know, we have such great coaches, but there
Speaker 1: are certain things that I can bring to the table
Speaker 1: that you know, help you know the guys around me.
Speaker 1: Center kind of naturally lends itself to that. So it's
Speaker 1: it's I'm really grateful for the opportunity to play this
Speaker 1: position here. What all went into your decision to come here?
Speaker 1: I mean you look at your accolades and whatnot, and
Speaker 1: you see this, this opportunity to come up with the Bengals.
Speaker 1: What made this a great destination for you? Well, you
Speaker 1: know what the base motivation is. I just wanted to
Speaker 1: be wanted. Who doesn't, right, I've been a free agent,
Speaker 1: you know, three years in a row and had to
Speaker 1: sign three one year deals. Yeah, and just kind of
Speaker 1: no one ever really gave me a deal with confidence,
Speaker 1: like you're our guy. So yeah, I had a few options,
Speaker 1: but it really happened fast. I'm from Indianapolis, yeah, coming
Speaker 1: back to the Midwest. Yeah. But and then you know,
Speaker 1: you look at the talent of this roster, and to
Speaker 1: fill a position of need, a position that you know
Speaker 1: they really wanted to fill, was was such an amazing opportunity.
Speaker 1: I jumped onto my fifteen minutes to commit. Oh that's great.
Speaker 1: I do not agonize over decisions. Was there anyone that
Speaker 1: you were talking to that kind of made that did
Speaker 1: kind of go into that decision? Well, you can't really
Speaker 1: talk to anyone, so it was like, you know, Monday
Speaker 1: at noon, it starts and they called right around you know,
Speaker 1: twelve fifteen. Yeah, and you know, it's kind of like
Speaker 1: musical chairs too, so it's if you miss out on
Speaker 1: your opportunity and say yes, someone else is going to
Speaker 1: take your spot. So there's not a lot of deliberation,
Speaker 1: really not a lot of time for deliberation. So we
Speaker 1: pulled the trigger on it and couldn't be happier. Does
Speaker 1: it feel different going into a season when you have
Speaker 1: a one year contract versus having something where you know
Speaker 1: people are really invested in you and you are that guy. Well,
Speaker 1: I think that football is so seasonal anyway, So you know,
Speaker 1: everyone technically on a what you know, it's it's a
Speaker 1: what have you done for me lately? Business? So you know,
Speaker 1: I don't really change my mindset and how I want
Speaker 1: to approach my performance, but it's nice to know that,
Speaker 1: you know, with what they offered that they wanted me
Speaker 1: to be the guy I was a recruiting tools. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but yeah, no, it's definitely. You know, the past three
Speaker 1: years has been I've kind of felt, you know, I'm
Speaker 1: not going to be here next year, and that can
Speaker 1: be a liberating feeling too, especially in the season. But
Speaker 1: I'm out of here in a minute anyway. Problem, So
Speaker 1: you know, I do want to you know, make a
Speaker 1: life here, be around this organization for a long time,
Speaker 1: so obviously just want to keep performing my very best.
Speaker 1: Feel like Cincinnati is a great place to be, is
Speaker 1: it as like I know, like I'm sure for so
Speaker 1: many players in different leagues and whatnot, Like where am
Speaker 1: I gonna land? You want to be in like a
Speaker 1: great city with whatever team you're playing on. How do
Speaker 1: you feel about Cincinnati? I think it's so beautiful. It's
Speaker 1: been crazy. Oh it's so great. And we've been here
Speaker 1: about six months. I didn't really know anything about Cincinnati,
Speaker 1: even being you know, live growing up so close. We
Speaker 1: played a few of the high schools. But even driving
Speaker 1: driving home last night, I mean the autumn coming in
Speaker 1: the rolling hills of Cincinnati. Yeah, I think it's really
Speaker 1: cool that but every ten minutes. Is a new town,
Speaker 1: even though it's all Cincinnati. But that lends itself to,
Speaker 1: you know, a great culture. You know, a diversity of
Speaker 1: culture and different towns. So I think it's really cool.
Speaker 1: Where do you hang out? Where are your spots? My spots?
Speaker 1: I have a few spots. I like the oak Tavern
Speaker 1: and Oakley Okay, yeah, okay, Um, the establishment also an
Speaker 1: Oakley spent a lot of time in Oakley, as you should.
Speaker 1: As you should, Yeah, shout out to oak Is it
Speaker 1: hard for you to just go like hang out? No,
Speaker 1: I'm at the perfect level. Okay, So this is probably
Speaker 1: the most I've ever been recognized in my life. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but you know, still I'm plausible to just be a
Speaker 1: regular guy. I'm not like a giant. I'm a big guy.
Speaker 1: But yeah, and there's there's very knowledgeable fans here, so
Speaker 1: it is cool when it comes out. But you know,
Speaker 1: the fans here really cool and it's it's I've made
Speaker 1: a lot of great friends already. Hell yeah, that's great. Um,
Speaker 1: you've obviously had an opportunity to be around a lot
Speaker 1: of greats in football. Um, what are some comparisons that
Speaker 1: you can draw between like a Tom Brady and a
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow, And like what those guys really bring to
Speaker 1: a team the competitive stamina and you know, the ferocity
Speaker 1: with which they go after. There's a vocabulary everybody I
Speaker 1: want to I think just for you, but which once
Speaker 1: they go after the goal of common goal of winning.
Speaker 1: And you know, quarterback, I believe is the most important
Speaker 1: position in sports. And if your quarterback is not a leader,
Speaker 1: then the whole organization is going to suffer. And both
Speaker 1: of those two men are phenomenal leaders and obviously back
Speaker 1: it up with great performances. So that's a one win
Speaker 1: for the rest of us. And my job is to,
Speaker 1: you know, make him feel as comfortable as possible so
Speaker 1: that he can make us all look good. Um, you've
Speaker 1: got two super Bowl rings. Where's the funniest place you've
Speaker 1: ever worn those out? Too? Funniest place everything? I don't.
Speaker 1: They don't wear them out much. I don't wear them.
Speaker 1: I wear them to a lot of schools. Like if
Speaker 1: I go to a school to ring, yeah, I pass
Speaker 1: them out. You know, it's a They're almost like a
Speaker 1: magical little item because they really captivate everyone. It's such
Speaker 1: a special thing and they're they're very gaudy either, like
Speaker 1: the huge on you. You're a large Why how do
Speaker 1: you even like? So? I don't wear them out much,
Speaker 1: don't get any out of your pockets those things on? Um,
Speaker 1: but I you know I don't wear them wearing much
Speaker 1: at Okay, all right, fair enough, fair especially in season.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, um, okay, we've talked some football switching gears, fishing, fishing.
Speaker 1: What are you fishing? What do you use for bait?
Speaker 1: I've seen this on like your Instagram. Are you like
Speaker 1: quite the fisherman? I like to think I am looks like, Yeah,
Speaker 1: you've caught some some prize pieces, some really nice fishies.
Speaker 1: And I love to cook fish. So I lived down
Speaker 1: in Florida too in the off seasons. The following up
Speaker 1: with you on that one. Okay, so what are you
Speaker 1: we catching? The main fish? I have to catches a
Speaker 1: mahi mahi mahi, yeah, and then uh oahu and very
Speaker 1: similar to mah no, not really. Yeah, it's like a
Speaker 1: striped fish. Almost looks like a barracuda. Some cultures call
Speaker 1: it an oh no oh okay, but um it is
Speaker 1: very good eating. It's almost like clear meat and you
Speaker 1: only have to literally just sear it for a few second,
Speaker 1: it's ready to go. What do you use for bait
Speaker 1: for these guys? Bait you use like a strips of banita,
Speaker 1: which are it's like almost looks like a tuna, but
Speaker 1: it's not good to eat. But you catch a lot
Speaker 1: of banita just off of putting anything in the water.
Speaker 1: So strips of banita, and I don't rig it up.
Speaker 1: This is a very professional crew in Florida. I don't
Speaker 1: have a boat. I have a guys I go out with.
Speaker 1: You're gonna have friends with the boat you don't want
Speaker 1: You want friends with the friends of the boat. Yes,
Speaker 1: and they're great, So the broker charter, I'll plug them.
Speaker 1: Have you ever had um, like a scary experience on
Speaker 1: a boat, like seeing a shark or anything like that.
Speaker 1: I've caught a few sharks, yeah, like ruling that guy in.
Speaker 1: They were smaller, not like a big one. I would
Speaker 1: love to catch a big charter. We'd let him go
Speaker 1: and everything, but I see him up close. I don't
Speaker 1: keep anything we don't eat or yeah, but catching two
Speaker 1: wah who at the same time was I felt like
Speaker 1: I was in a Discovery Channel episode. They were both
Speaker 1: because they'll they'll if they make contact with you. You're out.
Speaker 1: You're getting stitches for sure. They got big nar teeth.
Speaker 1: Oh my lord, okay, jumping on the boat. They try
Speaker 1: to jump out of the cooler if they're still alive
Speaker 1: and attack you. Oh no, thank you, no, thank you.
Speaker 1: I'll pass on that one, okay. So how are we
Speaker 1: preparing the fish? What all goes into the cooking and
Speaker 1: the preparation of them? So I cook, I cook fish.
Speaker 1: I have a very simple recipe, butter lemon, some panco
Speaker 1: breadcrumbs and parmesan mixed together and just fried it. Maybe
Speaker 1: a little kay and pepper, ye sing something. You don't
Speaker 1: want to overpower the fish. You know, it's very fresh.
Speaker 1: You caught it that day. Yeah. Let the freshness do
Speaker 1: its own speaking. Yeah. Yeah. What else do you cook?
Speaker 1: You sound like you like to get down the kitchen.
Speaker 1: I do like I cook a lot of chicken grill.
Speaker 1: You know anything? I got a trigger? So, oh me too.
Speaker 1: Party It makes you look genius. All you gotta do
Speaker 1: is press the button you doctored up so great, put
Speaker 1: it in there, and then everyone thinks you're just this
Speaker 1: great h Yeah yeah yeah, Emerald, who what? And I
Speaker 1: don't think Memorial's really smoking things, but maybe he was. Um,
Speaker 1: what's the best thing you've pulled off of your trigger?
Speaker 1: Some ribs there? Yeah, yeah, I mean the recipe is
Speaker 1: on there, really great. Yeah. I did the smoked case
Speaker 1: so off of their one time and it was a
Speaker 1: dull light. Oh my god, us like desserts on there. Wow,
Speaker 1: a very good stuff. Um, you're a cat guy, I am.
Speaker 1: You got two cats? I have two cats. Cats better
Speaker 1: than dogs at times, especially for my lifestyle now, I
Speaker 1: don't have time to take care of a dog. My
Speaker 1: cats can take care of themselves, but they're pretty spoiled.
Speaker 1: That is nice when you can just they're fine, They're fine,
Speaker 1: and your wife can like you don't have to like
Speaker 1: hover over them or anything. Yeah, that is nice. What
Speaker 1: are your cat's names? Nigel and Nugget. Nigel and Nugget,
Speaker 1: These sweet guys. I love that. Um, what else are
Speaker 1: you doing in your downtime? What do you get up
Speaker 1: to when you're not on the field and you're not
Speaker 1: thinking about football? So in season is tough? Um, you know,
Speaker 1: it's kind of I do read before I go to bed,
Speaker 1: but there's really not a lot of hobbies I do,
Speaker 1: uh in season Okay, but offseason. I tried to do
Speaker 1: a skille. I'm either in school, but yeah, but I finished.
Speaker 1: So I've got three degrees. Oh my god, your degrees.
Speaker 1: My latest is at my MBA from Indiana University. This guy.
Speaker 1: Then I have two from University of Illinois before I left.
Speaker 1: So for you, Yeah, so I didn't do it this year.
Speaker 1: Started playing piano. I'm half decent. What yeah, oh my god,
Speaker 1: we have five months off. This isn't People don't utilize
Speaker 1: their time like this. You were making the most of
Speaker 1: your life. Yeah, trying to WHOA, So you're playing the piano.
Speaker 1: What are you playing? What was like your inspiration? Like
Speaker 1: if I can play this one song, if there's like
Speaker 1: a house party and you can just light it up
Speaker 1: on the on the key, I want to be I
Speaker 1: wanted to be ready for like a Christmas concert, my guy. Yeah, yes,
Speaker 1: so I'm not. I have I it suffered since the
Speaker 1: season started, so I'm not every confident in my ability.
Speaker 1: You're playing front of people right now, probably have to
Speaker 1: do like a two week refresher. But I did it
Speaker 1: pretty much every day for like four months. Got pretty good.
Speaker 1: Do you have someone come and teach or you use
Speaker 1: that like musician. I bought an app on the iPad
Speaker 1: that listens, Uh, maybe you piano. I don't know. I
Speaker 1: think it's the same. Okay, I did that with my banja. Yeah.
Speaker 1: It's really cool. It listens and coaches you up. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it tells you like if you're in tune, if you're
Speaker 1: in time. It's really cool. Wow gosh, Okay, So what's
Speaker 1: next on the docket? What else do you want to
Speaker 1: learn how to do? I don't know, you know, I
Speaker 1: that's it's kind of a game time decision. Every year,
Speaker 1: I'd probably go back to school. This year, I wanted
Speaker 1: to take an off season off. It took me five
Speaker 1: off seasons to get the NBA. So yeah, it was
Speaker 1: a lot, a lot of work. I failed accounting. I
Speaker 1: had to I had to do another semester again. These
Speaker 1: numbers a big fat as. Thank god there's other people
Speaker 1: like can handle that. Hats off to you guys that
Speaker 1: are good at that. UM. I also hit you're quite
Speaker 1: the hype man in the locker room. Yeah, you're out
Speaker 1: there pumping people up. Has that always been you? Have
Speaker 1: you always been like that guy to really like rally
Speaker 1: the troops and like, I'm not a speech guy. So
Speaker 1: I'm not like a raw raw. It's just my own energy.
Speaker 1: So I bring a lot of energy, enthusiasm. I think
Speaker 1: it's the only way to be successful. And this game
Speaker 1: is very hard, and uh, you know, I really do
Speaker 1: enjoy it. It's I'm very grateful. I'm twenty nine still
Speaker 1: playing this game. Yeah, so I have a lot of
Speaker 1: fun doing it. Maybe not in the moment, but yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm very hyped up for ray to go. So do
Speaker 1: you choose who leads the hood A Chant? Well, if
Speaker 1: you get chosen the week before, then the next win
Speaker 1: you choose. So I chose Jamark past week, so then
Speaker 1: when we win this week, he'll choose, uh, the next person,
Speaker 1: it's off to him. I understand that you guys do
Speaker 1: the hood A Chant incorrectly. I'm sure. I think everyone
Speaker 1: gets nervous when they get picked. And really my strategy
Speaker 1: was I'm just gonna start with a big loud hoode
Speaker 1: and hopefully the crowd takes over here, right, Yeah, because
Speaker 1: what they do who they say instead of who they think?
Speaker 1: It's either one I think I don't know. I haven't
Speaker 1: been formally uh who they think they think we've been
Speaker 1: saying say? Though I think which is apparently wrong, which
Speaker 1: is maybe New Orleans who DA says? Who they think? Yes, listen,
Speaker 1: I understand where the error could have happened. It's a
Speaker 1: fluid situation on it. We're working on it. Okay. Last
Speaker 1: thing to ask you about is um Cordell Wilson. What
Speaker 1: are your thoughts on him? I mean, how are you
Speaker 1: and how do you see this all plan out for him? Oh? Well,
Speaker 1: what a what a hit in the draft for this organization.
Speaker 1: Um to be where he is as a rookie's light
Speaker 1: years ahead of where I was. Uh, you know, he's phenomenal,
Speaker 1: does everything the right way, everything you wanted to do,
Speaker 1: has a great attitude, does his little rookie subservience. We
Speaker 1: don't make him do much, but you still have to
Speaker 1: check him a little bit. Yeah, but I think he's
Speaker 1: going to just be a pillar of this organization for
Speaker 1: a long time. So while I'm here, I'm going to
Speaker 1: help him as much as I can. But you know,
Speaker 1: when i'm done down the road, it'll be exciting to
Speaker 1: watch him be the leader that he can be. Amazing. Well, listen,
Speaker 1: you're great. I like hanging out with you. This was
Speaker 1: a lot of fun and super happy that you hear,
Speaker 1: a part of the Bengals and looking forward to the
Speaker 1: rest of your time here. Thank you so much. This
Speaker 1: was awesome. Definitely