Speaker 1: This is cut to it with Steve Smith Senior at
Speaker 1: production of The Black Effect and I Heart Radio. I'm
Speaker 1: Steve Smith Senior and I'm John and this is cut
Speaker 1: to it. Good do it, Good do it. Let's getting
Speaker 1: down to do it. Good do it. We asked the
Speaker 1: questions you always want to know, but no one ever asked,
Speaker 1: let's cut to it. You ain't heard them about it,
Speaker 1: then we're about to let you know. It's all tell man,
Speaker 1: don't tell me how the hamburgers made already already good,
Speaker 1: We're good. What up? What's up? Man? What's up? Man?
Speaker 1: Did you see that ass whooping the other night? I'm
Speaker 1: not Shelly Shalli. I'm not dancing around it. We were
Speaker 1: texting back and forth. We're supposed to hang out, but
Speaker 1: we didn't get a chance to because with everything going
Speaker 1: on with with with the pandemic, so we didn't get
Speaker 1: a chance to. But we're texting back and forth. We're
Speaker 1: talking about getting the fight. So we were both watching
Speaker 1: simultaneously as you have to do now, and so, um,
Speaker 1: I was excited just about seeing Mike Tyson fight, seeing
Speaker 1: Roy Jones fight. Hold on, but why did Roy walk
Speaker 1: in that thing like he had a hip hip replacement.
Speaker 1: Roy was built like the appliants manager at like like,
Speaker 1: of all the I don't know how much leaves they
Speaker 1: had from the time that they announced this to the
Speaker 1: fight that happening. But my mind is I don't know.
Speaker 1: Both these guys in their fifties. Tyson's fifty four, Roy's
Speaker 1: fifty one, so I understand that, and Roy looked fifty.
Speaker 1: Look about here's what happened to Roy. Roy's like, I'm done.
Speaker 1: They got this fight, and Roy try to use every
Speaker 1: water peel, a golden seal, clean you up, and it
Speaker 1: still didn't want that boy had he got hit with
Speaker 1: the bad body pillow something like that's what you show
Speaker 1: after all these weeks that we had from the time
Speaker 1: that we announced the fight until now, that's that's the
Speaker 1: body you show up with, Bob, Like what comes you
Speaker 1: Catt now throws. But anyway, that's not even what we
Speaker 1: really wanted to get into your card. Before Tyson and
Speaker 1: we had Nate Robinson who was going against YouTube star
Speaker 1: care what Jake Paul, I don't care where he was.
Speaker 1: He could have been a YouTuber, he could have been
Speaker 1: a drive through two fights. According to According to Paul,
Speaker 1: he broke his nose and rolled out of bed and
Speaker 1: whooped this ass. Well, the proofs in the pudding because
Speaker 1: he definitely did listen. Here's the problem I have with Nate, right,
Speaker 1: I think I'm mad Nate. I don't know. I'm not
Speaker 1: in the business. I've squawped. But but we know everybody's like, oh,
Speaker 1: Nate's trainer needs to be fired. Let me tell y'all something, people,
Speaker 1: when did they start announcement? Nate did not listen or
Speaker 1: at here to any of the training. Once that bell roll,
Speaker 1: he was lungeon. He threw everything out through m what's
Speaker 1: that bell rung? He just continued. Any type of advice,
Speaker 1: any type of training, anything that he got from his training,
Speaker 1: he didn't use. It. All went out the window, lunched in,
Speaker 1: hands down, and unfortunately he got hit with that two
Speaker 1: piece and and that Popaye's biscuit. You can't even you
Speaker 1: can't even chew that thing. I heard she want to say,
Speaker 1: what that eat? Twenty three nerves? That's what he got.
Speaker 1: Hit in the back of the head the first time
Speaker 1: he went down, and then he was frustrated. O refree,
Speaker 1: you didn't stop. He was too knocked up to be frustrated.
Speaker 1: That second that second one he got, he got a
Speaker 1: he got a five finger dose a Nike will He
Speaker 1: is going to have to leave the country. Even Steph
Speaker 1: Curry got on, bro, did you see how bad? I
Speaker 1: feel bad? But then I don't. He got his ass whooped.
Speaker 1: You know how, You know how back in the day,
Speaker 1: like your grandma and your mom say, I knocked you
Speaker 1: in the next week, Nate got knocked into Nate next Tuesday,
Speaker 1: it was, it was, it was bad. He'll be back
Speaker 1: next Friday. No, he won't. You know where natives right
Speaker 1: now currently after that fight, Nate is waiting for all
Speaker 1: of us to catch up with him. That's where he
Speaker 1: got nothing. The next year. What's that terminator? You go back,
Speaker 1: you go back? You got the T two And he
Speaker 1: had on. The funny part is is head on blue
Speaker 1: and orange on the Knicks colors. So he was dressing.
Speaker 1: He was dressing the official attire. Did you hear what happened?
Speaker 1: Did you see what Adam Silver did? He took away
Speaker 1: his three times swam dun championship. He show us, he
Speaker 1: stripped him of all honors. We cannot even be associated
Speaker 1: with you. He got his ass whooped. And then every
Speaker 1: time you see Nate. What you think about by the YouTuber,
Speaker 1: I don't care you got knocked out on TV. Somebody
Speaker 1: got to get somebody, don't you see? You gotta get
Speaker 1: his He was sitting in the chair and he was
Speaker 1: just like, here's I'll tell you what he was thinking,
Speaker 1: because I was thinking, yeah, what what? What? What? Give
Speaker 1: me the in sequence of from the time that Nate
Speaker 1: got into the ring, you want me to be Nate.
Speaker 1: Be Nate as as a professional squad, but as yourself.
Speaker 1: I've heard you got into a couple of rumpers before.
Speaker 1: I don't know. Give us the Steve Smith breakdown of
Speaker 1: how you would how you would have came in first.
Speaker 1: You gotta pick what would you come into the ring?
Speaker 1: It don't even matter because you got your ass. Uh,
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter. Something something hype. All right, are you
Speaker 1: come in too? And you know they come in Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: picturing me rolling? Okay, all right, there you go. Yeah
Speaker 1: you can't do ice cube today. It was a good
Speaker 1: day because that was a bad day. Oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: So you go you go in there and bang you
Speaker 1: in there and he gets in there. You're boxing. I'm
Speaker 1: about you better watch out right, they're gonna have to
Speaker 1: get this dude to Scooby Snacks. When I'm finished with him,
Speaker 1: think Bay round one. Now what happens you're nervous, there's
Speaker 1: a whole two minute round. You realize her. Now I
Speaker 1: prepare for this, but I don't know if I'm ready.
Speaker 1: Mans own right, here's what he says. I'm about whoop
Speaker 1: his ass? Is that Snoop doing commentary? Yes it was,
Speaker 1: it's that Snoop. They got Snooper. Yeah, And so he's lungeon.
Speaker 1: He's gonna look, I'm gonna rush him. I'm a that
Speaker 1: ain't part of the rules. I'm gonna hit him. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna hit him with a flour reason. The only problem
Speaker 1: his hands down the old time. So he just left
Speaker 1: himself over. I'm gonna get him. I'm gonna get him.
Speaker 1: I'm gona get him. About a minute in that boy
Speaker 1: is painting. And here's where it gets really interested. So
Speaker 1: now he calms down. But yet he still has that athleticism.
Speaker 1: If I can knock for sure, Oh yeah, he's an athlete.
Speaker 1: If I can knock this dude, I'm good lay basketball,
Speaker 1: played football, he can box. He played a lot of things.
Speaker 1: Game playbox. Know what that brother did not play. He
Speaker 1: did not play a good box here custom motto could
Speaker 1: have been arrested, so could have been his trainer. He
Speaker 1: didn't use any of his training tips. Anybody was saying
Speaker 1: that he trained twice a day. That was the issue. No,
Speaker 1: the issue as his brother did not adhered anything, no guides,
Speaker 1: no DC nothing. No, he didn't social distance. You don't
Speaker 1: wear his mask. He didn't did not social distance Robinson's
Speaker 1: face and then it just went down. Did you see
Speaker 1: his eye? He laid that when he put him to sleep.
Speaker 1: That's how you know he was sleep. He wasn't sleep
Speaker 1: faced down in the mat. He had his head to
Speaker 1: the side. You know what happens when you have your
Speaker 1: head to the side, You and what they call rim
Speaker 1: sleep ut the s your body is recovering from a
Speaker 1: long day. The Navy had that shot of Nate when
Speaker 1: his eyes was all big and he knew he was
Speaker 1: going down, and his arm was already down, his arms
Speaker 1: already down. It was terrible. It's like when you see
Speaker 1: a dude catch the ball and get hit and he's
Speaker 1: stuck in that position and they had to pry the
Speaker 1: ball away. Nate was he is how you know they
Speaker 1: got hit His ass was up, ass up, face down.
Speaker 1: Everyone was even funny with snoops coming to you. Man
Speaker 1: was awesome. Got knocked out the second time. Oh lord,
Speaker 1: look at my two uncles. Look grandmother, that I got
Speaker 1: the fighting boy Nate got knocked out. And then what's
Speaker 1: even worse when they woke him up, he was like convulsive.
Speaker 1: So you know he was in a deep sleep. He
Speaker 1: was he was sleep always toy story when he was
Speaker 1: sleep like this. I'm gonna go through several things that
Speaker 1: I experienced when he was sleep. One five more minutes, Mommy,
Speaker 1: I am Batman, Donna Tello Leonardo. He went back several decades,
Speaker 1: Mighty Mouse, super Friends, the one he was dreaming about,
Speaker 1: all that he was dreaming about, all of that, he
Speaker 1: was dreaming about playing in the NBA. Man winning the
Speaker 1: Slam Dunck contest. But you know what, he did not
Speaker 1: really not. He did not win his first did not
Speaker 1: in his last. I hope this is I hope this
Speaker 1: is grand, open and grand. He gonna have to he
Speaker 1: gonna have to keep fighting. I pray that that's not
Speaker 1: his decision. No, he gotta keep fighting, because you can't
Speaker 1: take that. It's not a pivot to another sport like
Speaker 1: let's let's try, and it's something else like Jack's badminton, solitaire, anything, domino, spades, chess,
Speaker 1: jen Remy. I don't care. You know, it's something else.
Speaker 1: I just wanted yacht sie. I don't care. Uh Uno
Speaker 1: flip flip is I don't think he could be mother
Speaker 1: made talk. You're doing something, you know, some old school
Speaker 1: anything that he can get it dubed. I'm with electronic
Speaker 1: black Jack. Well, so let's have a moment of silence
Speaker 1: for Nate. Alright, cool? So, hey, who do we have next? Alright,
Speaker 1: come out the cut to a podcast. We've got Sam Ao,
Speaker 1: an NFL linebacker that's played with the Cardinals, Bears, Bills, Bucks,
Speaker 1: and Patriots, and the author of Let the World See You,
Speaker 1: How to Be Real in a World Full of Fakes.
Speaker 1: Sam Acho, want to cut to a podcast, man, I'm
Speaker 1: glad to be here. Thank you all for having me,
Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us. So our first segment is
Speaker 1: called get Iced Up. It's our version of Icebreakers. Smithy
Speaker 1: has some random questions. I have no idea what order
Speaker 1: there in? You have no idea what order they're in.
Speaker 1: I don't know if he's gonna follow up. We'll get
Speaker 1: right into it. Smitty, have no idea what order they're in.
Speaker 1: Oh he does. He got them written down. Listen, just
Speaker 1: because you're doing a few games. So I don't get
Speaker 1: a twist. We do the run, we all collectively do
Speaker 1: the rundown. But the ice up questions no one really knows.
Speaker 1: I have like three or four pages of questions that
Speaker 1: I just randomly he picked, he got, he got book pages.
Speaker 1: He came in here next owners quick, and I got
Speaker 1: questions like I'm like, I don't know about this one,
Speaker 1: or oh I may ask a question, I'm like, uh,
Speaker 1: that individual may be too stupid to answer. So let
Speaker 1: me simplify it. You know those football players, those jocks,
Speaker 1: those dumb linebackers. All right, he go, you ready, ye,
Speaker 1: all right, buckle up, butter Cup, here we go. You
Speaker 1: just finished a book that we'll discuss. Let the world
Speaker 1: see you. Are you a pen or pencil person? Oh,
Speaker 1: I'm a pen I'm a pen person all day. That's easy.
Speaker 1: And but that's it has to be the right pan though,
Speaker 1: something what kind of ballpoint? Ballpoint? Ballpoint? It's like the uniball,
Speaker 1: the uniball pan ballpoint. Ideally, you like the two I
Speaker 1: know what it looks like when I write with it. Okay,
Speaker 1: do you like spicy food? No, not even close, not
Speaker 1: at all. What does it? What does it do to
Speaker 1: make you sweat? Well? Why don't you like spicy food?
Speaker 1: Because when I leave that restroom after this spicy food
Speaker 1: is it's a problem for my body. He said, it
Speaker 1: feels white love. So what was your favorite book as
Speaker 1: a child? Mm hmm, that's a great question. So oh,
Speaker 1: I know, thank you. I'm patting myself on the as
Speaker 1: you speaking. So my favorite book, I'm gonna give you
Speaker 1: this one. The only reason. And in our reality, like
Speaker 1: when I was growing up, I wasn't reading all the books.
Speaker 1: I was usually doing the synopsis is and you know,
Speaker 1: trying to let me get the first couple of chapters.
Speaker 1: But there was a book called Things Fall Apart by
Speaker 1: an author named China Cheban who Chin. He's a Nigerian author,
Speaker 1: and the book was called Things Fall Apart. The reason
Speaker 1: I loved that book wasn't because of its contents, which
Speaker 1: is probably not the greatest thing to say, but this
Speaker 1: dude was a Nigerian author, and I'm Nigerian. We're reading
Speaker 1: about reading a Nigerian dude's book in my pretty much
Speaker 1: all white school. So for me that was dope. It
Speaker 1: was like, oh wow, like we're in here, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean? And so things fall apart was probably
Speaker 1: probably my it's the most memorable at least book that
Speaker 1: I read growing up. I'll do that now. I can't
Speaker 1: tell you what it was about. But I did have
Speaker 1: to read that book. Really no flex, no cap As
Speaker 1: the younger generation said, I didn't. I noticed my support
Speaker 1: may my he who cares. I didn't read a lot
Speaker 1: of books when I was I was growing up. It
Speaker 1: just was not something that was that was offered. Uh.
Speaker 1: But I love reading books today, and I'll read a
Speaker 1: book and I'll stop reading a book in a heartbeat,
Speaker 1: like if I if I get enough information, I'll take
Speaker 1: notes and say, well, don't make you stop reading it.
Speaker 1: Well not not not flextion or you know, not trying
Speaker 1: to be you know, prisoner of the moment. But I
Speaker 1: stopped your book, Sam three times mm hmm, because as
Speaker 1: it really spoke to me, it broke me down. I
Speaker 1: had to go in my office when I was reading it,
Speaker 1: talking about your mentor and we'll we'll dive deep, but
Speaker 1: asking the permission to pass away that that really spoke
Speaker 1: to me and I have to stop. I literally start
Speaker 1: tearing up, and I walked in off. I told I
Speaker 1: was reading you. I told wife, I said, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: go in my office and do some work. And I
Speaker 1: was wiping a little little tears out of my eyes.
Speaker 1: So I know, we you know this is cut to it,
Speaker 1: and we we got a pretty good following. But I
Speaker 1: cut everybody in the room. If y'all tell anybody that
Speaker 1: I was all right, last one, last one, and this
Speaker 1: one tell me everything. Now, I'm gonna joke around with you,
Speaker 1: you know, defensive guys and offensive guys. We always bantering
Speaker 1: back and forth. But I think you look like um,
Speaker 1: you know you from you just dark skinning, you play linebacker.
Speaker 1: You're ugly, so so you you. I'm gonna ask you
Speaker 1: what your favorite ice cream flavor is because you look
Speaker 1: like you're like butter. But calm, first of all, I
Speaker 1: don't I don't know where it's starting. Man, he just
Speaker 1: racially profiled you. He just just basically profiled you. He
Speaker 1: profiled me by my race, my taste buds, by my
Speaker 1: position group. That's a problem right now. All the profiles
Speaker 1: Steve Smith's fault what's your flavor, Soucker. It's hey, I'm
Speaker 1: a cookies and cream guy. Every day of the week
Speaker 1: that ends up, since I've been, since I've been five
Speaker 1: years old until thirty or whatever. I will eat. I will.
Speaker 1: I don't care where I go. Give me cookies and
Speaker 1: cream and it's not it's not I'm probably just not
Speaker 1: eating ice cream. Just give me cookies and cream. That's
Speaker 1: just that's my thing. So vanilla bean, I'll do with
Speaker 1: vanilla bean. I'll do vanilla bean every now and again.
Speaker 1: You were winning with the cookies and cream. I'm definitely
Speaker 1: definitely with Sam. I'm definitely big cookies and cream. But
Speaker 1: I don't eat a lot of ice cream. I am.
Speaker 1: I'm that black dude who is who is lacto? So
Speaker 1: I can't eat ice cream. I'm bad business when you're
Speaker 1: not supposed stupid. But sometimes I have always loved it.
Speaker 1: I don't know why Rocky roll with a with a
Speaker 1: nasty I don't even think I've had that before. That's
Speaker 1: much with a nasty cake. Yeah, with a cake cone.
Speaker 1: You know the styrophone comb. If I eat ice frome,
Speaker 1: I gotta get like the kids size. I can't just
Speaker 1: can't do it bro, you know it won't do it.
Speaker 1: You know what I hate though, because my dad used
Speaker 1: to eat it, and I think that's the worst flame.
Speaker 1: Butter ber cons that's all he would eat is. But
Speaker 1: it is so nasty. It's I don't really I pick
Speaker 1: out the depends where you from. I didn't want to
Speaker 1: say that, we say. I didn't want to say that. Nothing.
Speaker 1: All right, let's move Hey we have digress. But it's
Speaker 1: been fun. Sam. I appreciate you coming on again. You
Speaker 1: could get Sam's booked. Let the world see you. It's
Speaker 1: a fantastic read. Um. It's true. Your transparency is also
Speaker 1: which which lead me to having you asking you to
Speaker 1: come on here, because you give us a different perspective.
Speaker 1: I also want your faith to come out in this.
Speaker 1: I got some faith questions I really think you are
Speaker 1: super qualified um to talk about and I think you're
Speaker 1: gonna appreciate it too, because at times, you know, when
Speaker 1: we talk about faith people, a lot of times it
Speaker 1: gets turned off. But I want to ask you some
Speaker 1: faith questions that really resonate in how you have been
Speaker 1: able to maneuver through the game of football and then
Speaker 1: also the game of Let's just be honest. The game
Speaker 1: of judgment of of of of Christians. At times we
Speaker 1: can be amongst ourselves, you know. Um, A number of
Speaker 1: times I've had people come up to me and say,
Speaker 1: how do you call yourself a believer? If you're working
Speaker 1: on Sunday? What I've Yeah, I mean I thought so,
Speaker 1: but I'm not sure they've. I mean some of the
Speaker 1: churches I've been to. In current church I go to
Speaker 1: now on that Sunday, they do a pastors off. All right,
Speaker 1: so let's start off. So what was your favorite team
Speaker 1: growing up? Any sport? Oh, any sport, any sort? And
Speaker 1: with the questions today, okay, oh you we ain't even
Speaker 1: got started. Brother, My favorite team? My favorite team. I
Speaker 1: like the Rockets growing up because a chem was part
Speaker 1: of it. But also so I'm from Dallas, so I'm
Speaker 1: not from Houston, but I liked the rock The mass
Speaker 1: were weren't great back then. I like the Rockets terrible
Speaker 1: in in the in the nineties coming up, they were awful.
Speaker 1: Hell is black Man and then and uh and um,
Speaker 1: but then they got they had there was a period
Speaker 1: there they had Steve Nash, they had Michael Finley, uh,
Speaker 1: and they had but then they let Nash and Philly
Speaker 1: go and I'm like, okay, what are we doing? But
Speaker 1: but so the rockets, but also the Houston comments whatever reason, Yes,
Speaker 1: and that was the that was pulled three back. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was a big three back in the day Anthea
Speaker 1: Tina Thompson and uh yeah yes, cool, okay, so that
Speaker 1: would be those are probably my team's took you long enough.
Speaker 1: But like a linebacker trying to dissect the run, play stop,
Speaker 1: the offices are easy to boom. The tackle gives it away,
Speaker 1: the tackle past walking on the look like what you
Speaker 1: doing the tackle? Yeah, big hog my lace and it's
Speaker 1: pause for a little bit. We'll be right back after
Speaker 1: this break. I love cut to It, and I love
Speaker 1: it even more when you download us and subscribe and
Speaker 1: you can follow us on social media too, Smithie, where
Speaker 1: where at? That's at? Cut to It on Instagram? What
Speaker 1: about Twitter? At? Cut to It Facebook? Cut to It
Speaker 1: featuring Steve Smith singr. What about online? And you can
Speaker 1: follow us at cut to It podcast dot com where
Speaker 1: you can buy merch and you can subscribe to us
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to podcasts. I got all my answers questions, Um, yeah,
Speaker 1: I got all my questions answered. That's what I'm here
Speaker 1: for a brother? Cut to a podcast dot com Where
Speaker 1: are you from in a place you call your hometown?
Speaker 1: Great question, I'm from I was born in Dallas, so
Speaker 1: I'm from Dallas, but I called Chicago home right now
Speaker 1: and I'm a little bit of a transition. But well,
Speaker 1: well I played for the Bears for four years and
Speaker 1: this city really embraced me. Right maybe for you, I
Speaker 1: don't know if that would have been Baltimore, Carolina that
Speaker 1: really embraced you, but shaka, yeah, I played in Arizona
Speaker 1: and y'all play in tap but Chicago really embraced me.
Speaker 1: Like I go a lot of places. Where I go here,
Speaker 1: people know me, and you know, I just feel like that.
Speaker 1: I feel like I fit in this city when it
Speaker 1: comes to like a need basis right, trying to help
Speaker 1: build the people up, but also just from uh the people.
Speaker 1: I love the city. For me, Charlotte is the place
Speaker 1: now call home. It's only taking me about seventeen and
Speaker 1: a half years to say that. Um, but my football
Speaker 1: home actually is Baltimore. UM. I can go that city
Speaker 1: right now and say we're gonna do a charity event
Speaker 1: and people will come in droves. I can I can
Speaker 1: go to I can go to Baltimore and say, hey,
Speaker 1: we need ten thousand dollars for this. People do it
Speaker 1: a little bit in Charlotte. Sometimes it's like, well we
Speaker 1: gotta see, let me see what my savers in my
Speaker 1: checking is doing. But you know, but both cities have
Speaker 1: embraced me. Is just I think Baltimore in a football sense. Um, well,
Speaker 1: they're just a different city, right in the football sense. So, Sam,
Speaker 1: you born in Dallas, growing up in Dallas, how did
Speaker 1: it shape your view on the world today? Growing up
Speaker 1: in Dallas? How did it shape my view? Well? I
Speaker 1: grew up in Dallas, yes, but my parents are from Nigeria,
Speaker 1: so we spent a lot of time at Nigerian events,
Speaker 1: if that makes any sense. So every every first Saturday
Speaker 1: of the month, there was something called African Christian Fellowship.
Speaker 1: All the Nigerians from the Dallas Fort Worth metroplex, almost
Speaker 1: a lot of them, maybe all of them would get together,
Speaker 1: you know, these young parents and their kids would get together.
Speaker 1: We almost grew up together in a lot of ways,
Speaker 1: and so that those were once a month. But then
Speaker 1: also there will be events, whether it be weddings or
Speaker 1: parties or whatever. Not even not like a party, like
Speaker 1: going to the club, but like this get together gatherings
Speaker 1: where we all kind of together. Go ahead. I had
Speaker 1: a family event, a family event, but it was extended family.
Speaker 1: So now, like like a lot of these Nigerian people
Speaker 1: you see in the NFL, a lot of us know
Speaker 1: each other in some way. And if we don't know
Speaker 1: each other, our parents know each other. Right, We'll be
Speaker 1: watching the draft. My dad would be like, some random
Speaker 1: Nigerian dude will get drafted and I'm like fifteen fourteen,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, okay, we're watching. But that would be like, oh,
Speaker 1: I know defined out, I know defined, I know him,
Speaker 1: Like that's no way you know. Then the next guy, Okay, yes, yes,
Speaker 1: I know, I know, yes from my village, Like there's
Speaker 1: no way. But it's so true and so true. The
Speaker 1: way my parents even got to that my parents were
Speaker 1: from Nigeria. They came over to Virginia. Initially was super
Speaker 1: cold up there and not a lot of they didn't
Speaker 1: have any friends. And there's some Nigerian people who they
Speaker 1: knew from their village area who were in Texas, who
Speaker 1: were in Dallas, and they said, hey, it's a lot
Speaker 1: of Nigerians down here. In Dallas Houston. Just come come here,
Speaker 1: like we'll kind of help you out family, and so
Speaker 1: that's how they got here. So so my growing up
Speaker 1: in Dallas experience, it wasn't like I really got a
Speaker 1: chance to know Dallas. I just got a chance to
Speaker 1: know different cultures. Nigerian culture was one piece another piece
Speaker 1: and talking and I talked about this a little bit
Speaker 1: in my book as well, right, the Nigerian Peace. Also
Speaker 1: I went to church in South elk Cliffe, so like
Speaker 1: the South Dallas Peace. But then also the cool I
Speaker 1: went to was a predominantly white school, so almost like
Speaker 1: the rich the old money. Talk about pen, you talk
Speaker 1: about pens, Right, a dude in my class, his name
Speaker 1: or he was a year or two younger. His name
Speaker 1: is Drew Jalish. He was in my grade. Actually his
Speaker 1: dad invented the three in one pen, the first three
Speaker 1: in one pen, so it was a pen that could
Speaker 1: also be like with like a highlighter and then a
Speaker 1: stylist for the new iPads and things that it wasn't
Speaker 1: even I pad. It was another kind of thing that
Speaker 1: was coming out back then. Right, Another dude who was
Speaker 1: actually in my grade one the not the scripts National
Speaker 1: spelling be Um Ross Perot who ran for president his
Speaker 1: his kids went to that school. Um, I mean it
Speaker 1: was that kind of school. So when I say old money,
Speaker 1: I mean as soon as you're turning fifteen sixteen kids
Speaker 1: are pulling up in range overs. What were some unrealistic
Speaker 1: expectations and how did those unrealistic expectations impact you mentally
Speaker 1: being a preacher's son. Now, I love that question. Some
Speaker 1: of the unrealistic expectations weren't the fact that I was
Speaker 1: a preacher just on So in Nigerian culture, I was
Speaker 1: also the first son, first the first boy, and so firstborn.
Speaker 1: No no, no, I have two older sisters, so that's
Speaker 1: but in Nigerian culture, the first son is the one
Speaker 1: in a lot of ways who takes the inheritance. And
Speaker 1: why say inheritance, It's like okay, you go back to
Speaker 1: the village, but you know, it's like you there's you know,
Speaker 1: everything that you have will go to the first son
Speaker 1: culturally speaking. And so the pressure wasn't the fact that
Speaker 1: and I know we will get to the kind of
Speaker 1: the Christian aspects I'd love to get to. But the
Speaker 1: pressure that I felt to answer your question was this
Speaker 1: feeling of Okay, am I going to be enough? For me?
Speaker 1: It was this deal of okay I I love to compete, right.
Speaker 1: You don't make it in a lot of whether it's
Speaker 1: NFL or whatever without competing. But there's also aside of
Speaker 1: me that really loves loves. I empathize with people. I
Speaker 1: empathize with their pain, with their struggle. What and so
Speaker 1: for whatever reason, I felt like that wasn't who I
Speaker 1: was supposed to be, right Nigeria. You been in Nigeria,
Speaker 1: the manner come on, get out, just hurry up. And
Speaker 1: I'm like and I'm like, can we just like, can
Speaker 1: we take some time? Can I think about it? Can
Speaker 1: I for me? Right? Right? So for me and no one,
Speaker 1: it wasn't verbalized to me, but it's what I saw somethinking, Okay,
Speaker 1: am I am I enough? Am I enough? And so
Speaker 1: and that's for me personally, is from a culturally whatever.
Speaker 1: But if people go through that, whether whether it's in
Speaker 1: the church, in church aspect, or in sport or in business,
Speaker 1: this idea of am I enough? That was the question
Speaker 1: that I grappled with starting from a young age. And
Speaker 1: so the preachers something that kind of popped in there
Speaker 1: a little bit. Um you know, But my dad was
Speaker 1: more than just a preacher, right He's a pastor at
Speaker 1: the church, but also is a businessman. He's also a
Speaker 1: Nigerian businessman, a missionary, all these things. And I've heard
Speaker 1: it said people some people don't have a father in
Speaker 1: their house, and there's this question of man, am I enough?
Speaker 1: My daddy never told me I was enough. Other people
Speaker 1: have dads who are doing phenomenal and they still ask
Speaker 1: the same question, will I be able to live up
Speaker 1: to what my dad did? I don't think maybe if
Speaker 1: any where I felt, I would fall in that second aspect. Right,
Speaker 1: dad did a great job, but there was this idea
Speaker 1: of who am I? Who am I? You know? And
Speaker 1: that's why when you and I connected in Angola, like,
Speaker 1: I just gained so much more respect for you. I
Speaker 1: always respected you watching you right like and even I'm
Speaker 1: gonna aid you a little bit, but playing with you
Speaker 1: on Madden when I was a little kid, when I
Speaker 1: was in the high school, right, I always respected you
Speaker 1: as a player, and that just the way you competed,
Speaker 1: the way it was like it something like people watch
Speaker 1: Honey Badger. Now, like you say you're gonna do something,
Speaker 1: you do it. I don't care what anybody else says.
Speaker 1: But meeting you in person and seeing the way you
Speaker 1: interacted with those men in Angola and you talk about
Speaker 1: being honest and being vulnerable and being real, I was like, Oh,
Speaker 1: this dude's real. I gained so much more respect for you,
Speaker 1: number one. But also I said, oh, wow, he and
Speaker 1: I I think we're more similar than we are different, right,
Speaker 1: because it's I idea of and I've heard some interviews
Speaker 1: you've done, etcetera. But this idea of man like insecurity.
Speaker 1: Insecurity often drove like insecurity would drive me in a
Speaker 1: lot of ways, even in college. Went to Texas and
Speaker 1: won a lot of wars and chant went to national championship,
Speaker 1: all the things, but a lot of me was driven
Speaker 1: by insecurity, this thinking, Okay, I don't know if I'm
Speaker 1: gonna be good enough for what everyone expects. And so
Speaker 1: it was almost be trying to prove to myself that
Speaker 1: I could do it. And it wasn't like I did
Speaker 1: it one time and it's like, yeah, I'm the man.
Speaker 1: It was like, man, I hope I can do it again.
Speaker 1: And so that, to answer your question, was what I
Speaker 1: was dealing with, and that's what the book talks about
Speaker 1: this idea who are you right? Like, who am I really?
Speaker 1: Because a lot of us we put on these masks
Speaker 1: and we prot we talked about what I mean Like
Speaker 1: sometimes some of us it's the bravado, right, yeah, yeah?
Speaker 1: What what what? Others it's the uh, you know, trying
Speaker 1: to fit in right too, whether it's white culture or
Speaker 1: black culture or whatever. We put on these masks, and
Speaker 1: I saw myself. I saw myself after I didn't realize it,
Speaker 1: but after wearing all these masks, I was like I
Speaker 1: was starting to like break down, like the talking about
Speaker 1: going to love and respect right, going to that book
Speaker 1: when things are going bad, like things were going bad
Speaker 1: in my marriage, these are going bad in my relationship
Speaker 1: with my kids, things are going bad with my relationship
Speaker 1: with my family. I just wasn't. I was. I didn't.
Speaker 1: This is a I'm not even gonna use the phrase,
Speaker 1: but I just wasn't being who God and made me
Speaker 1: to be. And by God's grace, had a really good
Speaker 1: friend who saw that in me and who I was
Speaker 1: able to open up to. And and he actually looked
Speaker 1: at me, he said, because I said. It was a
Speaker 1: week before training camp eight, going to my going into
Speaker 1: year age, just a multi year, multimillion dollar contract. I'd
Speaker 1: made it. In many people's eyes, right, every other thing
Speaker 1: was a minimum people's eyes. You made it. You made it.
Speaker 1: I made it. And I remember being a week before
Speaker 1: training camp and like I said, marriage wasn't Like I was,
Speaker 1: how do I how do I be? How do I
Speaker 1: be talking about lusting with your eyes? Like? How do
Speaker 1: I stop doing that? You know what I mean? Like
Speaker 1: people talk about like angry, you know, be slow to anger?
Speaker 1: Why do I Why am I getting angry so quickly? Right?
Speaker 1: I remember sitting down with a friend before training camp,
Speaker 1: looking at him and it's like, like, dude, I don't
Speaker 1: know what's going on. But I said, man, I just
Speaker 1: need to get to once the season starts. So I
Speaker 1: give me seven days. Let me get to training camp.
Speaker 1: I'll be back with my teammates. Once I get there,
Speaker 1: I'll be okay. Because I don't know what's going on
Speaker 1: in my life. This dude looked at me in my
Speaker 1: eye right at a restaurant in Chicago, looked at me
Speaker 1: and he said, he said, Sam, I hear what you're saying.
Speaker 1: He said, but if that's how you feel right now,
Speaker 1: so I'm concerned about what happens when when when you retire,
Speaker 1: when football ends for you, I'm really really concerned because
Speaker 1: then you have to now you have to address all
Speaker 1: the things that you have that football has allowed you
Speaker 1: not to address that I've been running from exactly. You
Speaker 1: have to now you have when you get up in
Speaker 1: the morning. Now you have to see that individual where
Speaker 1: before you can kiss him on the four go off
Speaker 1: to work. And and it was you choose how do
Speaker 1: we interact? Do we do we go backwards and argue
Speaker 1: about what we did didn't address, or do we stay
Speaker 1: air quotes in the present? You know, we just appreciate
Speaker 1: where we are. What's the fear and showing not someone
Speaker 1: what it was the fear and showing your true self
Speaker 1: to your wife. Mm hmmm. See that's the question. Our
Speaker 1: biggest fear, it's human race. Let me be general and
Speaker 1: my specific biggest fear is the fear of not being loved.
Speaker 1: M scared of being not even real necessarily being rejected,
Speaker 1: but just not being loved. Okay, I fear I fear
Speaker 1: death like I don't like as a follower of Jesus,
Speaker 1: like I don't fear death like of course, somebody wants
Speaker 1: to die. But like when my friend in the book
Speaker 1: I talked about my mentor right he passed away, said men,
Speaker 1: I'm ready to go see Jesus. I believe that heaven
Speaker 1: is real and like that that this life is temporary.
Speaker 1: So in our reality, if I believe that the Bible
Speaker 1: says about heaven, that I really shouldn't fear death right,
Speaker 1: that's kind of one thing that people fear. I fear
Speaker 1: death right. Some people feel failure. I'm gonna try, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna feel I don't believe that. I think I'm gonna
Speaker 1: be since I know God gave me gifts to be success.
Speaker 1: I think I can be successful in whatever I do.
Speaker 1: I really believe that it's and it's proven. The track
Speaker 1: record has proven true. The fear that I have is
Speaker 1: not being loved. So you say, what do I Why
Speaker 1: would I not show my wife my true authentic self.
Speaker 1: The reason why is that the she's the person closest
Speaker 1: to me, right Babba talks about it to become one flesh,
Speaker 1: so sexually, emotionally, um physically. She's closest to me. And
Speaker 1: what happens to the person who knows me best knows
Speaker 1: the real me doesn't love that person How devastating is that?
Speaker 1: But what if what if she doesn't love me? Man?
Speaker 1: I relate to that devastating. So this person, the real me,
Speaker 1: will they love me? Will they take me from me?
Speaker 1: Will they accept me from Here's why I know? For me, Well,
Speaker 1: I've struggle. I struggle with the relationship with my folks
Speaker 1: right because of their womb. So, of course, how can
Speaker 1: I manage to have a how can I manage to
Speaker 1: have a god a relationship with my wife? What do
Speaker 1: you mean by a guy? True? Love? Got bit so?
Speaker 1: So some people talk about love like there's like a
Speaker 1: sexual attraction. Okay, okay, I'm look, I'm I'm not even
Speaker 1: talking about the sexual attraction. I'm just talking about sitting
Speaker 1: on the couch watching the movie and being comfortable of
Speaker 1: like if I go for the hug, well she imaginarily
Speaker 1: get up to get something and then come back, and
Speaker 1: then she's sitting possibly with a further away, like I
Speaker 1: watched a movie with you, but don't act like we're good, right,
Speaker 1: and so have it? You know That's what I mean
Speaker 1: by so for me, my first my emotional wound of
Speaker 1: love was because of what my folks, their wounds were
Speaker 1: that I saw and felt rejection, not intentionally, not because
Speaker 1: they intentionally rejected me, but I saw felt that that dynamics.
Speaker 1: So of course when I take that crutch and wound
Speaker 1: into my marriage that I am co dependent. I'm also
Speaker 1: performance base borderline. Hell, now borderline about on the scale
Speaker 1: of one and ten, about a hundred on the perfect
Speaker 1: you know, trying to be perfect. And this is all
Speaker 1: going on in my mind trying to watch this movie.
Speaker 1: H so uh, you know, I think that's I think
Speaker 1: that's awesome. I think that you seen your marriage, you know.
Speaker 1: And I text my wife this morning, this afternoon and
Speaker 1: told her that I feel called that I have to
Speaker 1: build a better friendship with my wife, and I have
Speaker 1: to lead because the easiest thing for me to do
Speaker 1: is like, man, she don't really the whole thing is
Speaker 1: easier not to am I barking up the right tree? Oh? Absolutely, absolutely,
Speaker 1: It's funny you talk about that kind of love. I mean,
Speaker 1: I can't wait till you get to uh, I can't
Speaker 1: wait if you pick the book back up and get
Speaker 1: the chapter twelve. Maybe I just skipped to chapter twelve.
Speaker 1: I think chapter twelve, chapter eleven, it's called a chapter
Speaker 1: about my wife and my wife and my relationship. Um,
Speaker 1: and that kind of love that a god they love
Speaker 1: you're talking about, that love that doesn't care about anything.
Speaker 1: Going back to the story, I'm sitting down with my
Speaker 1: friend and saying and he looks at me, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: I don't know what's going on. He says, I'm afraid
Speaker 1: what happens when you retire. As he's saying this, as
Speaker 1: I'm like sharing with him what was going on in
Speaker 1: my life, like I'm I'm, I start to cry. And
Speaker 1: this dude had never seen this side of me, right,
Speaker 1: because everyone who had seen that usually it's like, oh, Sam,
Speaker 1: million dollars, smile, got it all together, looking good, playing football.
Speaker 1: And we worked together. He and I had worked together,
Speaker 1: like we don't. He helped me build businesses whatever. And
Speaker 1: he saw me in my tears crying as he's sharing this,
Speaker 1: and he says, um, he says two things, says the saying.
Speaker 1: Number one, this is how this book even came about.
Speaker 1: He said, he said, maybe God is writing a book
Speaker 1: in your life, and you may only be on chapter two.
Speaker 1: Mm hmm, that's what he said. And and and he paused,
Speaker 1: and I look up. I kind of wiped some of
Speaker 1: the tears away and he says, and oh, by the way, Sam,
Speaker 1: it's nice to see you. M it's nice to see you.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, wait, what what do you mean it's
Speaker 1: nice to see I didn't say, but if my my
Speaker 1: face is saying, what do you mean? It's nice to
Speaker 1: see me? Says Sam. I've known you for eight nine years,
Speaker 1: since you came to the NFL, all I've seen was
Speaker 1: this side of perfection. I've never seen this side of you.
Speaker 1: But it's good to know that you are human. M.
Speaker 1: That you're human because we trained like robots. M hm.
Speaker 1: That's not just in football, not just in but you
Speaker 1: see what I said. I said we we trained like
Speaker 1: robots men because we all are built to be problem
Speaker 1: to fix the problem, to screw in the last screw, yeah,
Speaker 1: right to to you know, use the wrench, get it all,
Speaker 1: to fix all the issues. Yeah, we're naturally fixers. But
Speaker 1: also I believe that every men and women struggle with
Speaker 1: showing their authentic self. And then if you have enough
Speaker 1: water under the bridge, it will really say that bridge. Yes,
Speaker 1: it will make it. At times you gotta hunker down, unpassable. Yes, Well,
Speaker 1: here's the thing we're having this conversation. Right, nice to
Speaker 1: see you. He actually recommended I talked to a counselor.
Speaker 1: That's a good brother. Therapist, that's a good brother. In
Speaker 1: mind you I like, I'm my dad is a therapist.
Speaker 1: My dad's a counsel so I kind of know he's
Speaker 1: a Merritt counselor, so I kind of know, feel like
Speaker 1: I know what they're looking for, what to stay away from?
Speaker 1: Whatever is? I never really you know what, I never
Speaker 1: really In other words, that you feel when you went
Speaker 1: talk man, when he first recommended that you go see
Speaker 1: a therapist, how did that make you feel in that moment? Well,
Speaker 1: at that moment, it was loved. I knew he loved me, because, Bro,
Speaker 1: my marriage is about I felt like my mayor the
Speaker 1: way I was acting, my marriage would have been in
Speaker 1: the tank, right, my relationship with my kids, no, I
Speaker 1: would have no friends, no nothing. I mean all these
Speaker 1: things he has successful in money and thank nothing. And
Speaker 1: so that I felt like that was the kindest thing
Speaker 1: anyone could have done for me. And you know what,
Speaker 1: I said, yes, I said yes. And so the very
Speaker 1: next week, which is the dudes first opening, Um, we
Speaker 1: actually reported a training camp that night. That morning in Bourbon, Illinois,
Speaker 1: right two hours away from Chicago. That morning, I'm up,
Speaker 1: I'm up in uh I remember what the what? Forty
Speaker 1: minutes worth of the city in Barrington, Illinois, sitting in
Speaker 1: the council's office the first time in my life. We're
Speaker 1: sitting down and I'm in mind you right, Okay, I'm here,
Speaker 1: but let me just get in and get out right, perfect.
Speaker 1: I got you don't You don't know me, but I'm
Speaker 1: I'm saying I got this handle right. Let me get
Speaker 1: my session or two and check it off the list.
Speaker 1: That's what I thought. I walk in that meeting. He
Speaker 1: asked me a couple of questions, and he asked me
Speaker 1: one specific question. He said, hey, Sam, I got a
Speaker 1: question for you. What do you do when you get angry?
Speaker 1: My answer is simple, So I just I just try
Speaker 1: not to get angry. But then he asked me, he said, no, Sam,
Speaker 1: well you know what do you do when you get angry?
Speaker 1: I said, I just really just trying not to get angry.
Speaker 1: He looks at me, he said, Sam, everybody gets angry,
Speaker 1: So what do you do when you get angry? And
Speaker 1: once again, now a week later, now in front of
Speaker 1: a counselor I began to cry. Mhm. Why I cried
Speaker 1: because he he wasn't gonna let me. I cried because
Speaker 1: I was about to be seen mm hm. And and
Speaker 1: he wasn't gonna There was no escaping that moment, right
Speaker 1: Usually like you're talking about, Okay, I gotta go, I'm
Speaker 1: going to crack, i'n go, I'm getting my car on
Speaker 1: a drive, I'm whatever on. Want a second, hold on
Speaker 1: a second, because I don't want to miss this. You
Speaker 1: struggle to answer this right now. And here's the thing
Speaker 1: I want to. I want to I want to hug
Speaker 1: you on this. You have written a book. You are
Speaker 1: the son of a pastor, son of a counselor, and
Speaker 1: yet you are just like the rest of us, flawed, human,
Speaker 1: non robotic, and you didn't want to reveal. Even after
Speaker 1: publishing and accomplishing what you've accomplished through the Council and
Speaker 1: going through the Council, you still kind of tiptote running around,
Speaker 1: and I appreciate it. Don't don't let are questioning because
Speaker 1: you're giving us old Don't let that deter you from
Speaker 1: speaking the truth. Because somebody else is listening to this
Speaker 1: who does not have the advantages or the head start
Speaker 1: on life that you have, but they still got the insecurities.
Speaker 1: They still have their insecurities. Mm hmm. That's real. And
Speaker 1: what would you say to that person who still has
Speaker 1: insecurities that that's listening right now because somebody, somebody talk
Speaker 1: to me. Then if nobody talk, if nobody else in
Speaker 1: this room got some insecurities, I I'm not facing on
Speaker 1: the sword. I'm just raising my hand. I gotta hold.
Speaker 1: I'm from North Coost. I got a whole heap of insecurity.
Speaker 1: So what do you tell? What do you tell Smithy
Speaker 1: who has insecurities? Because I have my bank account is good,
Speaker 1: my life is good. But I still question question everything
Speaker 1: I questioned. Maybe I should have made that catch, or
Speaker 1: maybe I should have went to this team, or maybe
Speaker 1: I should have went to Baltimore sooner, or maybe I
Speaker 1: should have said in Carolina. Maybe should have World nine,
Speaker 1: Maybe I should have warred him? Right? What tell me?
Speaker 1: Why is my insecurity? Okay? God takes the light in you.
Speaker 1: God like God enjoys being around you, like he loves
Speaker 1: when you spend time with him. He loves spending time
Speaker 1: with you. He loves you, all of you. The insecurities,
Speaker 1: the doubt, the shame, the pain, the fear, the trauma.
Speaker 1: He loves all of you. And know he didn't intend
Speaker 1: for the trauma to happen or the shame to happen. No,
Speaker 1: but he'll still use it for his glory and for
Speaker 1: you're good, for you're good, and it won't stop there,
Speaker 1: because hes gonna He's gonna use you as a conduit
Speaker 1: for other people's good. All the trauma, the pain, the
Speaker 1: fearity insecurity, the doubt, the shame that you've been through,
Speaker 1: that you've shouldered because you have broad shoulders. Right, God
Speaker 1: gave you that for a reason, all of that. He
Speaker 1: hadn't met mean for you to carry it, intend for
Speaker 1: you to carry, but you decided to carry. And that's okay.
Speaker 1: But you carried it, and now someone else doesn't have to. Right.
Speaker 1: But in the midst of that, right, it's not about them,
Speaker 1: It's about you. In the midst of that, God wants
Speaker 1: you to know that he is not only is he
Speaker 1: for you, but he likes you, like he really really
Speaker 1: likes you. It's not like, oh, I love you because
Speaker 1: I have to love you, or you're my son like
Speaker 1: I was like, no, sybybe I like you. I love
Speaker 1: the way you compete. I love your heart. I love
Speaker 1: the way you love people well. No people don't know this.
Speaker 1: You love people well and I love that about you.
Speaker 1: And no, you don't have to be ashamed about that.
Speaker 1: People need that. I try to push people away. I
Speaker 1: try to make it, try to make myself vable, unapproachable. No.
Speaker 1: The key word, he sam said, is But the thing is,
Speaker 1: there's nothing you can do that will make God love
Speaker 1: you any less, right like, even as you try to push.
Speaker 1: And I experienced this firsthand. But it's not about me.
Speaker 1: Let me not go to me right now. But there's
Speaker 1: a song says he saw the best in me all
Speaker 1: right when everyone else around could only see the worst
Speaker 1: in me. He saw the best in me when everyone
Speaker 1: else around could only see the worst in me. And
Speaker 1: he's mine and um his. And it doesn't matter what
Speaker 1: I did. He only sees me for for who I am.
Speaker 1: No matter what you have done, God sees you for
Speaker 1: who you are. And so what I would say to
Speaker 1: you is I would say, get to know Jesus, spend
Speaker 1: time with them. I didn't say go to church. I
Speaker 1: didn't say what get to know Jesus? Open up that word.
Speaker 1: Not with your wife, not with the kids, by yourself,
Speaker 1: with you and God. Talk to him. Oh and by
Speaker 1: the way, listen to him. Oh and by the way,
Speaker 1: let him love you because he sees the best in you.
Speaker 1: And yes, other people, they may see the worst, and
Speaker 1: that's okay, that's okay, because it's not about them. Right
Speaker 1: there there, little aunts, this is the creator of the universe. Mhm.
Speaker 1: So yes, the insecurities will come, but I'll remind you
Speaker 1: to breathe. Breathe Number one. Number two, be kind to yourself.
Speaker 1: I learned that from the counselor be kind to yourself.
Speaker 1: That little kid in you. You don't want anybody to
Speaker 1: see that you try to protect and bow up and flex. Right,
Speaker 1: that little kid, He's still there, and God loves him.
Speaker 1: God loves him, and I understand you want to protect him,
Speaker 1: and that's that's okay. That's that's that's that's okay. But
Speaker 1: sooner or later, and as you're realizing, right your adult
Speaker 1: this is you know, that adult, like the Steve, the
Speaker 1: grown adult will step in and and take the job
Speaker 1: and protect that little kid inside of you. But the
Speaker 1: way that happens is why we gotta breathe. We gotta breathe.
Speaker 1: Gotta let it go. I gotta let it go. M
Speaker 1: gotta let it go. You accept payment plans for counsel.
Speaker 1: I think it's about that time. Just take a little breather.
Speaker 1: Good do it, good, do it. Let's get down to
Speaker 1: do it good. Hey Gerard, why did you get that
Speaker 1: T shirt? You mean this thing? Oh? Yes, I got
Speaker 1: it from cut to a podcast dot com where we
Speaker 1: have exclusive merchandise. Shout out to our guys at seven
Speaker 1: or four shot. But yeah, you can go on, buy
Speaker 1: you a T shirt, Subscribe to us wherever you listen
Speaker 1: to podcasts. Explain to Sam what our Deep three is.
Speaker 1: So our deep three Sam is basically a series of questions,
Speaker 1: three questions that will ask you that just basically takes
Speaker 1: us to a deeper level. Who is Sam beyond your jersey,
Speaker 1: behind your helmet? So Smitty give him the first deep
Speaker 1: three questions? Are doing your playing days? You were striving
Speaker 1: for excellence or perfection, all perfection? And how did that
Speaker 1: hurt you now that you're looking back on it? So
Speaker 1: it hurt me tremendously until that moment where I realized
Speaker 1: I could be me. I could be me because I
Speaker 1: was realizing, like you said, like Bro, it was one
Speaker 1: year team playing with Arizona. Like the coaches were telling
Speaker 1: me I was a bad player essentially, and I'm like, no,
Speaker 1: I'm not a bad player. I had to go back
Speaker 1: and watch the field myself because I with what I
Speaker 1: was doing. I was trying to do it their way.
Speaker 1: I'm on the edge. Coach, Look, I kept contained. Look
Speaker 1: you told me to be outside. Look, look, look I
Speaker 1: did my job. And all of a sudden, ten with
Speaker 1: ten games in, it's like, well we we're losing games. Well,
Speaker 1: anybody could anybody could keep you? Anybody, bro, coach, you
Speaker 1: told me to do that? I thought you see know
Speaker 1: what I mean? No, go make plays? Oh now I
Speaker 1: make plays. But before you're giving me check marks? So
Speaker 1: what change you're getting pressure now will be the DC,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. So so anyways that it
Speaker 1: hurt me tremendously early on, trying to people please right
Speaker 1: the Bible Times about it. You can't you know you
Speaker 1: can't serve two masters, right, Damn that coaches in Tampa
Speaker 1: Bay scrowing that up right now, any man, Well I
Speaker 1: told you I'm not bringing up coaches, manau I did together.
Speaker 1: But yeah, so I was striving for perfection and then.
Speaker 1: But later in my career, I think I started now,
Speaker 1: I think I started to shrive for excellence. I started saying,
Speaker 1: you know what, God, I'm doing this for you. I'm
Speaker 1: not doing it for them, because what happens is I
Speaker 1: started doing it for my coaches, and either I get
Speaker 1: the approval that I want and and it doesn't feel me,
Speaker 1: or I don't get it and I'm like, why aren't
Speaker 1: they giving me? You know why I'm getting, you know,
Speaker 1: game ball or what you know what I mean? And
Speaker 1: so I said, you know what, forget y'all, I'm doing
Speaker 1: this for God. And I started playing super super well,
Speaker 1: even even and even if it was a few plays
Speaker 1: or a lot of plays. So, Sam, your your husband, believer,
Speaker 1: your football player. Now you're an author. How do you
Speaker 1: handle disappointment? You don't want to know I do, I
Speaker 1: guess you that's why you asked g honestly, dude, like,
Speaker 1: I don't do well with disappointment. I really don't. I
Speaker 1: get like sad, you know what I mean, I'll get sad.
Speaker 1: I'll be like, man like, what did it? Why did not?
Speaker 1: Why didn't it go the way I thought it was
Speaker 1: gonna go? So kind of even as I'm saying now,
Speaker 1: I could feel my heart getting sad. You know what
Speaker 1: I mean, Because I'm thinking about some of these times,
Speaker 1: whether it was football or even book stuff or whatever,
Speaker 1: things that could be so great, right, and I'll get sad.
Speaker 1: And that's how I That's how in the past handle it.
Speaker 1: I'm what I'm working towards. Um. There's a verse that says,
Speaker 1: like in everything, give thanks right, and everything give things right.
Speaker 1: There's another verse that says, Philippines four, I think six,
Speaker 1: don't be anxious about anything, but in everything, don't somebody
Speaker 1: slow down. Don't be anxious about anything, but in everything,
Speaker 1: through prayer and petition, like asking, asking, asking right, and
Speaker 1: with thanksgiving, let your request be ma known to God,
Speaker 1: and the peace of God, what surpasses all understanding, will
Speaker 1: guard your hearts and minds. In Christ Jesus, how do
Speaker 1: you handle disappointment? How do you handle anxiety? What I'm
Speaker 1: learning to do is to be thankful. So the biggest
Speaker 1: things I'm learning to do is instead of being sad
Speaker 1: about whatever expectation that I felt wasn't met, I'm learned
Speaker 1: to say thank you for whatever I do have, and
Speaker 1: even if it wasn't met, at that time, man, God,
Speaker 1: thank you, thank you. And then I start remembering, oh wow,
Speaker 1: I got a lot. You know how Manna, how gonna bothered?
Speaker 1: You got a lot? I got a lot. I got
Speaker 1: a lot. You know what I mean? Thank you? You
Speaker 1: know what I mean? And so that, and then also
Speaker 1: talking for me talking. If you ever cast me not talking,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm probably not in a good place, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. And then talking or even share
Speaker 1: with my wife right or the counselor with a you're
Speaker 1: talking my wife, you're going that out sad about something,
Speaker 1: you know. I was doing my first show and I
Speaker 1: was like, man, I feel like I did a good
Speaker 1: I know I did it good, but I didn't tell
Speaker 1: my agent that. You know that, I really love it
Speaker 1: and I am I gonna get more opportunities. She said,
Speaker 1: just call them, Just call your agent, tell him, tell
Speaker 1: him what you want to tell. And I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: really I can do that, ye know what I mean?
Speaker 1: Like the enemy wants you to think that all hope
Speaker 1: is lost. Enemy the devil right like wants you to
Speaker 1: think all hope is lost. And see you should have
Speaker 1: changed numbers. Shouldn't than this. My dude I met with said,
Speaker 1: don't shoot on yourself. Don't shoot on yourself. Don't shoot
Speaker 1: on yourself. So what do you think Jerry Price would
Speaker 1: say about your book? Mhm mm hmm. Uh, I think
Speaker 1: he would. Uh. He would be proud of you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he would be proud of the young man that has
Speaker 1: been on this podcast as has allowed his pain and
Speaker 1: his insecurities to live throughout every essence, every fabric of
Speaker 1: that book to be able to be transparent and be
Speaker 1: open and not to be afraid of the people to
Speaker 1: see the same. The Sam macho, the damaged, the strong,
Speaker 1: the wounded, the worthy, the unfitted. The last thing he
Speaker 1: told me, Um, I'm wiping the tears away from my
Speaker 1: eyes right now. A mind too, bro. The last thing
Speaker 1: he told me, he told me two things. The last
Speaker 1: two things he told me, he said, Number one, Sam
Speaker 1: essentially on his death behead right my mentor my so
Speaker 1: he Uh, he said, the most important thing you can
Speaker 1: do on this earth is to get to know Jesus.
Speaker 1: I don't care about achievement. This dude has done at all.
Speaker 1: This dude was, you know, talking about NFL to due
Speaker 1: was an MLB. As far as counseling all the things
Speaker 1: about the mark to share is all the best baseball
Speaker 1: players like they would sit in his office for marriage
Speaker 1: help and life he help or whatever. It's a man
Speaker 1: among he was a man of God. Mhmm. And he
Speaker 1: said he's my next door neighbor. He was my mentor,
Speaker 1: and he had cancer and it wasn't getting better. And um,
Speaker 1: so he posted a message on Facebook. This is chapter
Speaker 1: one is introduction of the bookcase. You who haven't got
Speaker 1: it yet stopped three. Yeah. He wrote a message on
Speaker 1: face and and I didn't. Here's another part committee He hadn't.
Speaker 1: He had messaged me a few months before during the season,
Speaker 1: but I was busy and I, you know, had stuff
Speaker 1: going on, so I didn't respond. And I respond, Oh,
Speaker 1: you know, I got something. I'll get back to it. Um.
Speaker 1: He posted on Facebook post asking for permission to go,
Speaker 1: permission to go? Tell me to die? He posted on
Speaker 1: Facebook problem Facebook you no, No. He a public message
Speaker 1: on his Facebook page. He's been going through this cancer
Speaker 1: battle for five seven years and it wasn't getting any better.
Speaker 1: This dude knew God, and knew God well. He was
Speaker 1: ready to be go home, seventy some years already to
Speaker 1: go see Jesus. He was ready and he knew it
Speaker 1: was He knew it was his time, so he posted
Speaker 1: on Like a true gentleman, he posted. He shared with
Speaker 1: his friends, Hey guys, I'm ready to go home and
Speaker 1: see Jesus. Um, I just want to let y'all know
Speaker 1: I want to see if I get your permission. And
Speaker 1: so my wife saw that post, said, hey, have you
Speaker 1: called Jerry? Was like, yeah, I'll get to him. No, no no, no, like,
Speaker 1: have you called Jerry? She shares the post with me.
Speaker 1: I called immediately, and this man like this, you know,
Speaker 1: he's like you man like in your face, will tell
Speaker 1: like it is, don't give a crap what you think
Speaker 1: or what you say. Well tell you the truth. A gregarious, energetic, strong,
Speaker 1: And now we're on the phone. And he was weak.
Speaker 1: He wasn't it was it was like a shell of him.
Speaker 1: And so I said, Jerry, he said, you know, I said,
Speaker 1: I don't want I don't know what you want me
Speaker 1: to tell you. And you said, I'm ready to go
Speaker 1: see see Jesus. That's like, what do you do? What
Speaker 1: do you I want to say? Um? You know, I said,
Speaker 1: I don't know what I want to tell you, but
Speaker 1: I do need something from me. I need some some advice, anything,
Speaker 1: anything you could tell me about life, about deaf anything
Speaker 1: you could tell me, what would it be? And the
Speaker 1: last two things that I ever heard from my friend.
Speaker 1: He said, Number one, the most important thing you can
Speaker 1: do on this earth is to get to know Jesus intimately.
Speaker 1: He said, God takes no greater joy than when you
Speaker 1: get to know his son. Get to know Jesus intimately,
Speaker 1: and you will get no greater joy. Many the last
Speaker 1: few nights mornings, I'm getting up um and getting to
Speaker 1: know Jesus, spending time in the Word of God, reading
Speaker 1: just reading, not a verse or two, just trying to
Speaker 1: open up and see what happens, and praying and I'm learning,
Speaker 1: Oh wow, God really does love me, he says, asking
Speaker 1: to be given to you? Why so God can receive
Speaker 1: the glory. Whatever you want, he says, if it's in
Speaker 1: God's will, you ask for it. Why do you want
Speaker 1: me to ask for Because I love you, I literally
Speaker 1: love you, he said, get to know Jesus intimately. And
Speaker 1: the second thing, the last thing that he said, he said,
Speaker 1: you are worth getting to know. Never forget that you
Speaker 1: are worth kay okay, he said, you are worth getting
Speaker 1: to know. And so I think what Jerry would tell me.
Speaker 1: Now and the book is out and stay well done
Speaker 1: and there's more to come. When's the last time you
Speaker 1: shoot it on yourself? Man? Several times? About ten times today.
Speaker 1: You know it's just for me. It started this morning,
Speaker 1: just that run and I'm doing, you know, going through
Speaker 1: that process being uncomfortable. Um, you know a process of
Speaker 1: changing the the butterfly, the calipillar, all that stuff. It's
Speaker 1: it's it's tough. And you know you look up and
Speaker 1: you gotta stop, watch your time and you look up
Speaker 1: and said you figure out for the minute run you
Speaker 1: can still got twenty five minutes of what are you
Speaker 1: gonna do? Right? For me, running has become that place
Speaker 1: where I get to examine myself. I get to examine
Speaker 1: my heart. I'm up, the house is quiet. You know,
Speaker 1: I spend my time in the world word, but it
Speaker 1: also telling me how I have to with Sam is
Speaker 1: help your communities. For my desire now is leave an imprint,
Speaker 1: Leave a legacy for my family, not leave a financial legacy.
Speaker 1: Believe something that when you imparted in them. Yeah yeah,
Speaker 1: that's good. Yeah, Well, I mean for me, taken away
Speaker 1: from don't shoot on yourself is what should I be doing?
Speaker 1: Looking right, I should be doing this, and that turns
Speaker 1: into the internal battle, Well, I should be I should
Speaker 1: be up earlier, I should be uh spending more time
Speaker 1: with my daughter. I should be spending more time with
Speaker 1: my with my son, with my wife, whatever the case
Speaker 1: may be. So I'm when he said that, it immediately
Speaker 1: took me to the place of I'm always beating myself
Speaker 1: over what I should be doing. I should be at
Speaker 1: worked longer, I should be a work short, your bosson
Speaker 1: your job. Yeah, you should be look at but then
Speaker 1: I have Then you have to balance that with I
Speaker 1: should be spending more time with my family. I should
Speaker 1: I should unplug, I should be working a little bit long,
Speaker 1: like all those different things. So, um, it definitely gives
Speaker 1: a lot of things to think about, you know, and
Speaker 1: and and he gave us so many nuggets and his
Speaker 1: book that I've been able to start let the world
Speaker 1: see you how to be real in the world full
Speaker 1: of fakes. Man. He has got a winner on his hands.
Speaker 1: If you haven't, you should be behind his book. Appreciate
Speaker 1: your time, Appreciate you listening to us until the next episode.
Speaker 1: I'm Steve Smith Senior. I'm a Little John, Just cut
Speaker 1: to It. Cut to It with Steve Smith Senior. That
Speaker 1: Is Me is a production of Cut to It LLC,
Speaker 1: Baltol Creative Media, The Black Effect, and I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: For more podcast from my Heart Radio, visit the Heart Radio,
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Speaker 1: From Cut to It. Executive producer Steve Smith, singer co
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Speaker 1: to It is produced by Brian Baltaschevitch and Meredith Carter,
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Speaker 1: Theme music by Alex Johnson, lyrics and vocals by Anthony Hamilton.
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