Speaker 1: Hey, everybody. My name is Lindsay Young, and I'm a
Speaker 1: staff writer and assistant editor here with the Minnesota Vikings.
Speaker 1: I'm super excited that you are here for another segment
Speaker 1: of our Getting Open series, which focuses on all things
Speaker 1: mental health. I'm going to make the assumption that most
Speaker 1: people are pretty familiar with today's guest Paul Allen, voice
Speaker 1: of the Vikings. He also has a radio show on
Speaker 1: k FAN nine to noon Monday through Fridays, and so
Speaker 1: he's typically the one asking the questions. But we decided
Speaker 1: to flip the script a little bit and I got
Speaker 1: to interview him. I really appreciate the conversation with Paul
Speaker 1: because he was willing to get really vulnerable and open
Speaker 1: and talk about a variety of topics, including how the
Speaker 1: COVID nineteen pandemic has affected his life personally. Well, Paul,
Speaker 1: I feel a little bit strange doing this and being
Speaker 1: the one asking the questions instead of answering them. So
Speaker 1: thank you so much for joining us today. I appreciate it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's my honor. The series is great. From Jail and
Speaker 1: Holmes through Kendricks and then coming on my radio show
Speaker 1: at KAPAN, A couple of times. Thank you very much.
Speaker 1: Absolutely well. We are going to get into a few
Speaker 1: different topics here today, but I wanted to start out
Speaker 1: a little bit more generally because we've been doing this
Speaker 1: series now for several weeks. I know you and I
Speaker 1: have talked about it. Like you just mentioned, there have
Speaker 1: been several players involved. I love the wide spectrum of
Speaker 1: perspectives that we've been able to get on this topic.
Speaker 1: And you had told me early on that you wanted
Speaker 1: to be a part of this from your perspective. Why
Speaker 1: was this an important series to be a part of
Speaker 1: for you? Well, for me, you know, being a man,
Speaker 1: and I mean whether you want to take it from
Speaker 1: the game calls or if I know you, you know,
Speaker 1: I guess that would be pacified as an emotional man
Speaker 1: where I'm open, you know, I don't. I don't. I've
Speaker 1: failed a lot, and I guess professionally I've succeeded to
Speaker 1: a certain level and through all of that, I just
Speaker 1: know through the people I've met, specifically men that you know,
Speaker 1: when there are problems or when somebody's hurting, they will internalize.
Speaker 1: And you know, certainly in no way to put my
Speaker 1: professional a lot in life in comparison to members of
Speaker 1: the Vikings or NFL or whatever. But you know, being
Speaker 1: a public figure and to some a big fish in
Speaker 1: a small pond. You know, I think people will look
Speaker 1: at a lot of things I do with cafe and radio,
Speaker 1: calling racist at Canterbury or calling Vikings games, and they'd
Speaker 1: be like, he has it all figured out. I mean,
Speaker 1: this is just absolutely fantastic. And it is. But along
Speaker 1: the way, there's been a lot of turmoil, and there's
Speaker 1: been a lot of hey, and you know, I have
Speaker 1: been a man who I'm not afraid to open up
Speaker 1: and I'm not afraid to talk about things that are
Speaker 1: hurting me, and it has benefited me all of my life.
Speaker 1: So you mentioned that it's been all of your life,
Speaker 1: so that's always kind of come easily for you to
Speaker 1: be open to talk about your feelings, to share about
Speaker 1: what's going on. That's just been something that's been natural
Speaker 1: for you. Yeah, it's always been natural, like my faith,
Speaker 1: which always has been there, you know, but I really
Speaker 1: intensified it the last couple of years by by either
Speaker 1: listening to or reading the Bible on a daily basis.
Speaker 1: And I'd say over the last couple of years, I
Speaker 1: just became more at peace and more comfortable with who
Speaker 1: I am as a person, more so than PA and
Speaker 1: you know everything that goes into it, and you know
Speaker 1: there I'm a pretty black and white individual. There's not
Speaker 1: much gray area with me, and sometimes that can be
Speaker 1: to a fault because you can, you know, you can share,
Speaker 1: whether it's about me or trying to help somebody. And
Speaker 1: you know, not everybody's used to that, specifically men, so
Speaker 1: you know it can it can get a little awkward,
Speaker 1: but by faith, I know the way I'm doing it
Speaker 1: is the right way to live. Can you talk a
Speaker 1: little bit more about how that faith aspect has played
Speaker 1: a role in just this whole topic that we're talking
Speaker 1: about in mental health? So in your mental well being?
Speaker 1: What part does faith play in that for you? Well,
Speaker 1: the Gospel, the prophecy, the Bible. God first and foremost
Speaker 1: to me over every single thing, and always has been.
Speaker 1: So you know, now that I've really taken time to
Speaker 1: study the Old and New Testament, we can begin in
Speaker 1: Genesis with Noah when it was all wiped out, the
Speaker 1: story of Noah's ark, you know, through the turmoil and
Speaker 1: everything two thousand years ago, people went, for instance, in
Speaker 1: the Lard's prayer when it says give us this day
Speaker 1: our daily bread. When I'm teaching that to my kids
Speaker 1: or praying it or talking about it with people, I
Speaker 1: don't take it loosely. I mean, when it was written
Speaker 1: two thousand years ago, they didn't eat, they didn't have
Speaker 1: any food. So when they said give us this day
Speaker 1: or daily bread, it was they were begging for the
Speaker 1: opportunity to eat. So, whether it's coronavirus now, whether it's
Speaker 1: really anything that has transpired in the history of the
Speaker 1: world or my fifty five years, I have a great
Speaker 1: appreciation for the totality of the last two thousand years,
Speaker 1: and it helps me put in perspective a wounding you
Speaker 1: know that potentially is taking place with coronavirus and just
Speaker 1: everything that goes into heavy things that are hitting us.
Speaker 1: This faith is not by convenience. You know, when you
Speaker 1: follow and believe in the Bible the way I do,
Speaker 1: it puts things in perspective that what's right in front
Speaker 1: of us now it's awful. A lot of it is
Speaker 1: so awful physically for so many, mentally for so many,
Speaker 1: But if you go back two thousand years, it was worse,
Speaker 1: and here we are still professing the Bible. For those
Speaker 1: who don't believe in it, you know, we're still debating it,
Speaker 1: and that's a two thousand year prophecy. So it helps
Speaker 1: me stay at peace, not by convenience, but by faith.
Speaker 1: I know it's right, and it helps me put things
Speaker 1: in perspective. I really appreciate you sharing that. I know
Speaker 1: that you and I have had some conversations and you
Speaker 1: are on the same page with that. But I think
Speaker 1: you also have the nail on the head that life
Speaker 1: is always hard. But this has been a really hard
Speaker 1: year in a lot of different ways, for a lot
Speaker 1: of different people. And even if we can find peace
Speaker 1: in that, it doesn't make it not difficult. So let's
Speaker 1: talk about your career. Obviously a long time voice of
Speaker 1: the Vikings, but this year looks so different for you
Speaker 1: because you were calling road games from home and not traveling.
Speaker 1: We understand the health protocols, We understood why that was
Speaker 1: important and health and safety is number one, but it
Speaker 1: did impact your job. What kind of impact did that
Speaker 1: have on you personally and how did you kind of
Speaker 1: work through that? Well. The first road game that I
Speaker 1: called off TV was the Indianapolis Colts game, and I
Speaker 1: made more identification mistakes in the first half of that
Speaker 1: game then I'm going to make in ten years. And
Speaker 1: I'm very prideful with pronunciation, preparation and just laying things
Speaker 1: out the way I think the audience wants to hear it.
Speaker 1: So after I tightened that up and got things good,
Speaker 1: you know, I feel the calls of the games off
Speaker 1: TV were up to my standards, which are incredibly high.
Speaker 1: Now the double edged sword with that, Lindsay is I
Speaker 1: enjoyed it too much. And what I am enjoyed too
Speaker 1: much was the convenience of coming from my house to
Speaker 1: the stadium and then getting done, going home and being
Speaker 1: able to Mowilawn at for forty five in the afternoon.
Speaker 1: That's great, Okay for me, that's great. That's not how
Speaker 1: the job was constructed. And it's not just being able
Speaker 1: to see the full plane of the field from the
Speaker 1: road stadiums or feeding off the road crowds. It's everything
Speaker 1: that goes into it. Working with the team, and you've
Speaker 1: traveled before, so sitting on the buses for a long
Speaker 1: amount of time, the tarmac, getting up early to get
Speaker 1: to the stadium three hours early, a lot of it
Speaker 1: can be a grind, especially when the team's not winning,
Speaker 1: but it's our grind, it's the team grind, and we're
Speaker 1: all doing it together. You know. During the course of
Speaker 1: my career, I've had agents approach me privately about doing
Speaker 1: things nationally, whether it's radio or TV, and I've always
Speaker 1: thought about it or second and then I'm like, I
Speaker 1: like working with a team. I like being part of
Speaker 1: a team that's succeeding and feeling that exaltation. And when
Speaker 1: things aren't going well, I like being on that grind too,
Speaker 1: and then doing my nine to noon radio show and
Speaker 1: hearing from the fans whether it's negative or it's positive.
Speaker 1: And you know, I think I just became a little too.
Speaker 1: It was just a little too convenient doing road games
Speaker 1: the way I did them last year. If there's an
Speaker 1: organizational decision made that that's how road games are going
Speaker 1: to go, I'm going to call the games off TV.
Speaker 1: But you know, despite personal life sacrifice with the leaving
Speaker 1: on Saturday and getting back super late on Sunday, I
Speaker 1: found myself missing that because I didn't feel like I
Speaker 1: was immersed or one with the team. Did that at all?
Speaker 1: Drive home for you even more kind of the importance
Speaker 1: of connection, of having a support system, of being a
Speaker 1: support system to tend to to one's mental health mental wellbeing. Well,
Speaker 1: the answer is yes. And you know, I think a
Speaker 1: lot of people would agree with this is it's yes,
Speaker 1: But I'm not completely sure the totality of the why now.
Speaker 1: I think the best way to put it is, I
Speaker 1: haven't even met Justin Jefferson in person. I mean, that's ridiculous. Okay,
Speaker 1: it was almost Rookie of the Year. He's unbelievably cool
Speaker 1: and good and yeah, I did some zooms with him
Speaker 1: several times, and it's the best we can do, and
Speaker 1: I understand it. But I mean, you know, when you
Speaker 1: go to road fellowship like I do, when you when
Speaker 1: the media leaves the locker room and I'm left in
Speaker 1: there and I'm chatting with people privately about life or
Speaker 1: about the team. I greatly missed that. In fact, I
Speaker 1: missed it so much that I was sour at the
Speaker 1: end of the year. I mean, those home games with
Speaker 1: nobody in there, and again we letely understand why. It
Speaker 1: was just awful. It was just awful. I mean, it
Speaker 1: was very, very The home games were more difficult than
Speaker 1: the road games because I just became saddened during the
Speaker 1: Star Spangled banner of what we were missing. But I
Speaker 1: understood it every step of the way. So you see
Speaker 1: taking hits like that, now that's me. Other people take,
Speaker 1: you know, they're taking job related, family related, health related,
Speaker 1: financial related hits all throughout the year. And the physical
Speaker 1: damage COVID has done, that's obvious, and people can see
Speaker 1: that and they can understand what it is like if
Speaker 1: they've had it like I have. The mental part of it.
Speaker 1: I think that's all going to come to pass, and
Speaker 1: I know it is with me. I mean, we're doing
Speaker 1: this interview and I'm a Twin Cities Orthopedix Performance Center
Speaker 1: actually inside at the TCO studios for the first time
Speaker 1: in six months, and you know, when I walked in here,
Speaker 1: it took my breath away because I miss the intimacy
Speaker 1: of being part of a team, sitting in Zimmer's office,
Speaker 1: talking about things for the game coming up over the weekend,
Speaker 1: being next to cousins and talking about faith and Matthew
Speaker 1: eleven twenty eight and Deuteronomy and things like that, and
Speaker 1: messing around with Dalvin about the great game he just had.
Speaker 1: I just missed that. You know, I've done this coming
Speaker 1: up on my twentieth season, So I don't call the
Speaker 1: games trying to establish myself in the pecking order locally
Speaker 1: of where I stand or nationally where I stand. I
Speaker 1: couldn't care less about that. What I really love and
Speaker 1: adore is the intimacy and the personal contact of being
Speaker 1: part of that team. And it was gone, and I
Speaker 1: understand why it was gone, but it doesn't mean it
Speaker 1: felt good. You mentioned the impact both physically and mentally
Speaker 1: and emotionally that COVID has had on so many people.
Speaker 1: And you mentioned that you dealt with COVID yourself, and
Speaker 1: I know that you've been pretty open about that. Can
Speaker 1: you share with us just a little bit about the
Speaker 1: experience that you went through and what that was like
Speaker 1: for you emotionally? And I know that there were positives
Speaker 1: and negatives to that. Yeah. I live with a flight
Speaker 1: attendant named Lisa, she's the love of my life. February
Speaker 1: twenty eighth, she tested positive. So with that happening, I
Speaker 1: immediately contacted kay Fan and Eric Sugarman with the vikings
Speaker 1: and I said, the flight attendant came up positive, what
Speaker 1: do I do? Kay Fan said, You're not coming in Monday,
Speaker 1: March first, Sugarman said, get over here Monday morning. We're
Speaker 1: going to give you a test and see what happened. Now,
Speaker 1: during that time, Lisa and I had been tending to
Speaker 1: her eighty one year old mom who has who had cancer,
Speaker 1: and living with her is her son and Lisa's brother, Jimmy,
Speaker 1: and he's had a very very rough life for the
Speaker 1: last quarter century. So I'm positive, Lisa's positive, Agnes her
Speaker 1: mom positive, and Jimmy, her brother positive. So we knew.
Speaker 1: We knew all of that March first. So now I
Speaker 1: said to Sug what do I do? And he said,
Speaker 1: just wait. About two hours later, I had the worst
Speaker 1: fatigue hit me a human being. It was seriously like
Speaker 1: a freight train just rolled me over. I mean people
Speaker 1: were texting and or emailing. I'd look at it and
Speaker 1: I couldn't respond. I was just wiped out, lost taste,
Speaker 1: lost smell, no respiratory problems, thank Evans. And I was
Speaker 1: sleeping Monday and Tuesday, about sixteen hours a day. I
Speaker 1: couldn't pray. I like to listen to the Bible in bed,
Speaker 1: couldn't do that. I couldn't focus, couldn't watch TV, look
Speaker 1: at the internet, my phone, nothing that's okay because it
Speaker 1: will pass, at least I thought. And during that time Lisa,
Speaker 1: who also tested positive, she was fine. So now we
Speaker 1: get to Wednesday, March third, jump in the hot tub
Speaker 1: for a second, see what the hot water is going
Speaker 1: to do in the jets after sleeping again seven in
Speaker 1: the morning until about ten in my recliner because I
Speaker 1: just I can't function, and those who have had the
Speaker 1: fatigue due to COVID know exactly what I'm talking about.
Speaker 1: You can't do anything. And got out of the hot
Speaker 1: tub and felt a little better and picked up my Bible.
Speaker 1: With Lisa, drove up to Woodberry and said, we're going
Speaker 1: to go to your mom's. She's starting to struggle badly.
Speaker 1: Everything we have heard, read or seen with those saying
Speaker 1: the elderly with a predetermined condition when they get COVID,
Speaker 1: look out, everything was right. Every single thing we have
Speaker 1: heard was dead accurate. And so we get over there
Speaker 1: and we pray. I read some of John fourteen and
Speaker 1: Romans eight to Agnes Agnes harmony. There's a lot of
Speaker 1: crying in the room with Lisa and Jim. Then I
Speaker 1: go to leave and I get in my car and
Speaker 1: I can smell and I can taste and my fatigue
Speaker 1: is gone. I had COVID forty hours, and thank Heavens,
Speaker 1: however you want to look at it, I only had
Speaker 1: at forty hours because two days later Lisa's COVID became
Speaker 1: COVID pneumonia and she ended up in Saint Joseph's Hospital
Speaker 1: in Saint Paul for eight days. So now her mom
Speaker 1: is dying rapidly, and she requested in home hospice where
Speaker 1: she wanted. She wanted to die in her bed with
Speaker 1: her loved ones next to her. So I had some
Speaker 1: people who had gone through death with family members and stuff,
Speaker 1: and the hospice team said to me, you know, twenty
Speaker 1: four hour hospice is available, and I said no. I
Speaker 1: got healed in forty hours, and I believe I'm healed
Speaker 1: to be here to guide this woman to the end,
Speaker 1: and that's what I'm going to do. So thankfully, Cafin
Speaker 1: and the Vikings were I mean not thankfully, not surprisingly
Speaker 1: Cafan of the Vikings were awesome during that time, and
Speaker 1: I was at her Woodberry house twice a day at
Speaker 1: least or twenty four hours a day for eight days.
Speaker 1: Her daughter, Lisa was in a cold hospital room during
Speaker 1: a pandemic where people couldn't come see her, so she's
Speaker 1: devastated or facetiming, it's the best we can do. And
Speaker 1: from that Sunday through the next Sunday when she died,
Speaker 1: being somebody who had the responsibility of providing comfort and
Speaker 1: care for a woman who was dying and you know,
Speaker 1: a son who was really struggling in his own right
Speaker 1: and basically running that hospice for eight days. It's the
Speaker 1: greatest honor ever bestowed upon me in my life. And
Speaker 1: that's the only way to put it, whether it's via
Speaker 1: prayer with her, trying to get her to smile, trying
Speaker 1: to get her to laugh, trying to get her jaw
Speaker 1: to on lock so she could take an ice cube,
Speaker 1: the secretion that started coming out of her mouth, and
Speaker 1: how and dealing with that, changing diapers, turning her over,
Speaker 1: just every single thing that went in with the earthly
Speaker 1: ugliness that is death, while reminding her every step of
Speaker 1: the way that you're going to heaven. And I'm so
Speaker 1: envious that you get a chance to go to heaven.
Speaker 1: And that's awesome. It's the greatest honor that's ever been
Speaker 1: bestowed upon me in my life. And when it was done,
Speaker 1: you know, of course, you have a daughter and a
Speaker 1: son grieving the loss of their mom. And while I
Speaker 1: understood that and I felt for them for about two
Speaker 1: or three days, I just wanted another honor like that.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's like, what's next. That's all I want
Speaker 1: to do the rest of my life is what I
Speaker 1: just did because of how meaningful and impactful I saw
Speaker 1: it was and how righteous it was. And took me
Speaker 1: a while to get through that, you know, but yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean it's it's we're all better now. But that, man,
Speaker 1: that that was unbelievable. Well, thank you so much for sharing,
Speaker 1: um such a personal experience and um being so open
Speaker 1: about that, which is, you know a lot of what
Speaker 1: we're talking about. I really really appreciate you sharing that
Speaker 1: with us. And that's what I've really loved about this
Speaker 1: whole series. And not to be cliche, but just the
Speaker 1: idea of getting open and hearing so many different people's
Speaker 1: personal stories around mental health, whether it impacts them directly
Speaker 1: or indirectly through family members and such, and the experiences
Speaker 1: are just really important I think to impact other people
Speaker 1: that that that whole experience, Lindsay, I mean, it's it's
Speaker 1: going to set a lot of people back, and I'm
Speaker 1: not here to win God's power rankings. I'm the same
Speaker 1: as you. I'm the same as car I'm the same
Speaker 1: as Nate, I'm the same as everybody. I was in
Speaker 1: that spot for a reason, and it impacted me in
Speaker 1: a very positive way. Now my tolerance level with a
Speaker 1: lack of common sense has become a zero, and I'm
Speaker 1: working on that specifically having a daughter who's a senior
Speaker 1: in high school and a son who's twenty and teenagers
Speaker 1: can lack common sense, so that needs to improve on
Speaker 1: my part. But it's when you hold a dying person's
Speaker 1: hand because her daughter can't be there because she has
Speaker 1: COVID pneumonia and she's in the hospital. It has an
Speaker 1: impact on me. That is the greatest thing I've experienced
Speaker 1: in my life. And it's a peace that I'm a
Speaker 1: person who's non confrontational. I'm generally at peace, but it
Speaker 1: elevated it and took it to a different level from
Speaker 1: a spiritual standpoint, And so, I mean, I guess that's
Speaker 1: the serendipity of it. You know, you somebody died and
Speaker 1: her daughter couldn't be there with her, and through it
Speaker 1: all thanks to the honor bestowed upon me. I look
Speaker 1: at things with more patience and I look at things
Speaker 1: with more grace because I've had so much given to
Speaker 1: me in my life that I'm not worthy of. And
Speaker 1: I was not worthy to be in that position, but
Speaker 1: I was put in it and I came through. So
Speaker 1: that's impacting my relationship with other people in positive ways.
Speaker 1: And when other people are listening to whether it's your story,
Speaker 1: John Randall. We talked to recently Eric Kendricks a while back.
Speaker 1: What do you hope from listening to your story and
Speaker 1: from hearing some of your experiences over this past year
Speaker 1: that others will take Well, there's a common thread with
Speaker 1: this series that I've noticed without people saying it. Maybe
Speaker 1: I'm wrong. If you're into the Bible, it's stated pride
Speaker 1: goes before the fall. If you're not, just let me
Speaker 1: tell your pride goes before the fall. So I'm not
Speaker 1: going to pigeonhole just men with this, but for a
Speaker 1: lot of men to open up and say that they're struggling,
Speaker 1: and you know what, it's more than obvious things. I
Speaker 1: took a pay cut, I'm checked to check. It's really
Speaker 1: difficult to pay the bills. All of that is real,
Speaker 1: and all of that counts, but it cuts deeper, and
Speaker 1: the pandemic year has whether it's drug abuse, alcohol, putting
Speaker 1: on a massive amount of weight, not knowing what to
Speaker 1: do with it, jobs, all of that that hurts people,
Speaker 1: and some people are too prideful to find somebody to
Speaker 1: whom they can chat about it, and even just opening
Speaker 1: up a little bit vividly with somebody you love, even
Speaker 1: just taking a tiny step. It's a breadcrumb that leads
Speaker 1: to a cruton, which leads to a full, beautiful salad
Speaker 1: of life that opens everything up for you. So just
Speaker 1: taking that first step, it doesn't necessarily have to be
Speaker 1: counseling or therapy. Maybe it is, but just opening up
Speaker 1: to somebody about your struggles. Taking that little step, it
Speaker 1: seriously is one tiny step for you, but a massive
Speaker 1: step for mankind if a lot of people do it. Yeah. Amen,
Speaker 1: I think that's so true, and it definitely has been
Speaker 1: a theme throughout this entire series. I'm thrilled that you
Speaker 1: joined us for this series. We're getting towards the end here,
Speaker 1: so thank you for being a part of it and
Speaker 1: for caring. And I know that people will really enjoy listening.
Speaker 1: It's my honor. Thank you very much, A huge thanks
Speaker 1: to Paul for joining us today and really getting open
Speaker 1: about some personal topics and some really tough topics as well.
Speaker 1: I know that I always appreciate Paul's willingness to just
Speaker 1: be himself, and you know, he doesn't mince words. He
Speaker 1: just gets to the point, and I think that's so
Speaker 1: appreciated and really makes an impact. I'm excited for next
Speaker 1: week because we are going to have one more episode
Speaker 1: of Getting Open. It's going to be kind of a
Speaker 1: unique episode. Part of it will be reflecting over the series,
Speaker 1: and we will also have another story to share with
Speaker 1: you as well. So please keep an eye on Viking's
Speaker 1: digital platforms next week for that final episode to roll out.