Speaker 1: From the King of sports Books comes the Key sports
Speaker 1: podcast Unleashed, presented by the MGM. Here's your host, Olivia
Speaker 1: Harlan Decker. Welcome back to Unleashed. NFL training camps are
Speaker 1: underway as the preseason begins this weekend. I'm so excited.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be going to Texans at Packers. Green Bay
Speaker 1: is the favorite at minus one. You're probably going to
Speaker 1: see quarterback Jordan's love. The big question mark is Deshaun
Speaker 1: Watson for Houston, if he's even still a Texan by
Speaker 1: the weekend. I can't wait to smell the bronze cooking
Speaker 1: in the parking lot, the sticky spilled beer in the concourse.
Speaker 1: There's just something so great about being at an NFL stadium.
Speaker 1: I really wish my co host could go with me.
Speaker 1: Janice Office, You're honest. How was your week going and
Speaker 1: how you excited the football's back. I'm very excited the
Speaker 1: football's back. And yeah, all of those nostalgic smells, the
Speaker 1: hot dogs cooking, the beers, the courts underneath the stadium
Speaker 1: is being full with people getting arrested for being drunk.
Speaker 1: And I've just been in one of those holding cells. No,
Speaker 1: I've never been in one of those holding cells, Thank god,
Speaker 1: I have not been, but I've seen a lot of
Speaker 1: people go into them. You know, people like to drink
Speaker 1: at a certain sport if there is the legal system
Speaker 1: is present in the sport that you play. So, but
Speaker 1: I just got a new seventy TV from my basement. Wow,
Speaker 1: I want to hang it out and I want to
Speaker 1: turn it into like just a football mecca. So I'm
Speaker 1: excited for that. I'm very excited. But you know, because
Speaker 1: of the pandemic, it's like my couch isn't coming till
Speaker 1: so so you're standing and watching. Yeah, let me ask
Speaker 1: you a question. Did you break into a pottery barn
Speaker 1: to it to do this episode? Because that background looks
Speaker 1: very manicured or a funeral home kind of looks like
Speaker 1: that as well. I will confirm we are all well
Speaker 1: and alive. You're in the doctor household. These were not
Speaker 1: sent over by concerned friends and fans. Um No. I
Speaker 1: just I like flowers everywhere, and when I have a
Speaker 1: simple shot, why not you know, cram it with flowers. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we're not endorsed by one flowers. That is just should
Speaker 1: be though, that would be great. I would send myself
Speaker 1: flowers a lot. Yeah. Yeah, my wife does that every week.
Speaker 1: She gets new flowers and throws over here. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: she's buying herself flowers. Well, one thing you were busy
Speaker 1: doing this week helped our show a lot. We appreciate
Speaker 1: that you went on the Joe Rogan Show. Tell me
Speaker 1: about that. Yeah, I went on the Joe Rogan Show,
Speaker 1: thank god, not to talk about vaccines. Thanky didn't bring
Speaker 1: that up. We just had fun. You know, he's a
Speaker 1: comedian and he's a good friend now and I plugged
Speaker 1: our show, got a nice plug. So hopefully we'll get
Speaker 1: a lot of m m A fans, a lot of
Speaker 1: guys were you know, drinking energy drinks and like a
Speaker 1: good mm A shirt, like a Brazilian. We're gonna have
Speaker 1: a lot of fans wearing Brazilian jiu jitsu shirts. So
Speaker 1: maybe we'll be sponsored by Monster Energy or something. You know.
Speaker 1: I gotta stop you there though, because you tried to
Speaker 1: plug our show, and our loyal listeners will remember my
Speaker 1: dad also tried to plug our show on a T
Speaker 1: and T n P A game and fudged it a bit.
Speaker 1: You fudged it a bit here too. Let's just let's
Speaker 1: roll yeah, I have this new sports podcast, um and
Speaker 1: uh we undefeated. I'm sorry it's not called defeat. Sorry,
Speaker 1: I had a little it's called Unleashed. I'm sorry. It's
Speaker 1: called Unleash for us for gu Bet MGM with me
Speaker 1: and Olivia Harlan Decker. Yeah, so I'm glad you tried
Speaker 1: to save it. There. I'm glad you plugged carry strung
Speaker 1: and you know, it's very strong. Last week you were
Speaker 1: struggling with some some NBA player names. But it kind
Speaker 1: of keeps me on my toes. I like that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: my nickname is Yanni Biden's so I will miss now stuff.
Speaker 1: But I nailed your name. I nailed your name. And
Speaker 1: that's the harder name because I'm one of those pretentious,
Speaker 1: weird people with three names because I can't decide what
Speaker 1: one to go with, so I just kept all three,
Speaker 1: and because I don't want to do the paperwork. The
Speaker 1: paperwork is a pain. So you nailed it. Yeah, I nailed. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you got the three names. It almost looks like you're
Speaker 1: Whenever I see the three names, it should come with
Speaker 1: like a book deal. You know, it always sounds like
Speaker 1: a writer's name. Whenever there's three just sounds official or
Speaker 1: a law firm. I sound like a law firm. Law firm, yeah,
Speaker 1: Harlan du do you suffer from pelvic mesh imps? All right, well,
Speaker 1: let's get to some football. We're glad to have everyone
Speaker 1: with us because this week preseason starts. As I mentioned
Speaker 1: on Thursday, Um, but we're gonna have a really good
Speaker 1: interview coming up later in the show. It's NFL great
Speaker 1: Barry Sanders, Jannese, you gave it a listen. What was
Speaker 1: your impression of Barry? Well, my impression of Berry. First
Speaker 1: of all, like you said, he is a living legend,
Speaker 1: and he's he's typically like a closed guy, doesn't talk
Speaker 1: my totally celebrate much. And in the interview he said
Speaker 1: that's part the error he grew up in part his style.
Speaker 1: He kind of led by example. But you really opened
Speaker 1: him up. I gotta say it was like a very
Speaker 1: very engaging interview. So well done, partner. Well, thank you, partner.
Speaker 1: I'm excited for everyone to listen to that one. It
Speaker 1: was it was very cool to sit down with them.
Speaker 1: And then later in the show, we wrap up as
Speaker 1: always with Peter Andrew for our Lions luck. He's gonna
Speaker 1: tell us about some big bets around the NFL. We
Speaker 1: kind of picked the corner last week with tent lines that,
Speaker 1: but there are some more and you might want to
Speaker 1: think about it. You know that that's how you make
Speaker 1: the big money. You gotta bet big money, and you
Speaker 1: gotta be a little outrageous sometimes. So Peter is gonna
Speaker 1: hold our hands through that one. I'm still betting with
Speaker 1: my heart and that is not the way to do it.
Speaker 1: So I need him because I just I I bet
Speaker 1: for the Knicks Giants, and I've been doing that for
Speaker 1: years because I'm a Greek and I have big heart,
Speaker 1: and that's that hasn't been paying off for me. I
Speaker 1: don't know, follow your heart too, but make sure your
Speaker 1: wallet goes along. Hey, you're gonna fill me on some
Speaker 1: m m A storylines. That is a whole world I've
Speaker 1: never covered as a sports reporter. I don't dabble in
Speaker 1: much as a viewer. But catch me up because I
Speaker 1: know there was a big fight this week. Frenchman Cyril Ghani.
Speaker 1: Am I saying that? Right? Yeah? I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: we're Americans, so we get a pass, right. I call
Speaker 1: him gone Ghani. Whatever. It's like, they get pissed about that,
Speaker 1: but we're American, you know. It's like they say Duval.
Speaker 1: We see you know, they we say Duval. They correct us,
Speaker 1: were like, look, we save you, we save you in
Speaker 1: World War two. How about you let me misspronounce a
Speaker 1: few names. Okay, how about you let me misspronounce a
Speaker 1: few names, Frenchie, It's okay. So yeah, he's uh yeah,
Speaker 1: he is a heavyweight and he is a problem. I
Speaker 1: mean he is you know, the heavyweight is always the
Speaker 1: baddest guy on the planet because he can he can
Speaker 1: obviously beat up all the other weight classes. And now
Speaker 1: m m A, which is very exciting, has like an
Speaker 1: exciting heavyweight division with two big stars who used to
Speaker 1: train together in France. So it's a nice storyline that
Speaker 1: they're gonna now fight. Let's call him Ghani Gunny and
Speaker 1: Francis and Ghanu are gonna fight and their former training
Speaker 1: partners friends and it's a much anticipated fight in Ganya
Speaker 1: has only had like ten professional m m A fights,
Speaker 1: but he's an absolute phenom. He destroyed Derrick Lewis, who
Speaker 1: I'm a big fan of and I was rooting for,
Speaker 1: but I mean, it was total destruction. It was an
Speaker 1: exciting night of fights. And jose Aldo look great. He
Speaker 1: moved down to one thirty five and he looks as
Speaker 1: sharp as ever. And he's a guy who's taking a
Speaker 1: lot of punishment and higher weight classes, and he's been
Speaker 1: around for a while. He's kind of a living legend himself.
Speaker 1: But he looks like he looks as fresh as new,
Speaker 1: like he could clean up at one thirty five. So
Speaker 1: M m A is exciting, and I'm gonna get you
Speaker 1: into it because you don't look like a person who
Speaker 1: kind of grew up watching because I like watching women
Speaker 1: fight too, but I also like watching women try to
Speaker 1: destroy each other with fake compliments as well. Like I
Speaker 1: told you, so, those are my two favorite sports. Is
Speaker 1: it the hydra angels that make me look like I'm
Speaker 1: not really into m m A or what is it?
Speaker 1: I think it's the you were missed teen Kansas right,
Speaker 1: you can seOne check their Wikipedia. I am a Wikipedia slut.
Speaker 1: I'm so high if you looked in a mind yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean yeah, I mean you were missing you, you
Speaker 1: were doing you. You play golf. I mean you know,
Speaker 1: you just don't seem that the type that would tune
Speaker 1: in to watch people smatch each other. Faces sponsored by
Speaker 1: an energy drink just for the sake of proving you wrong. Now,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do a deep dive. Deep dive and this
Speaker 1: is what I do for a living, So I'm gonna
Speaker 1: I'm gonna find like backstories you've never even heard of. Yeah,
Speaker 1: doing deep dive like my my good friend Joe Rogan
Speaker 1: hasn't done about vaccinats. Oh that is too funny. Well
Speaker 1: that was again, thank you for the plug. That was
Speaker 1: pretty cool. He's he's a legend in this space. He
Speaker 1: is beyond successful. So that was That's a that's a
Speaker 1: pretty cool connection there. Honest. Did you watch any of
Speaker 1: the Hall of Fame induction? I watched Peyton mannings and
Speaker 1: I got kills. I got He's so he's such a
Speaker 1: good speaker, he's so charismatic, he's funny. I loved it.
Speaker 1: I got chills at the end when he said God
Speaker 1: bless you and God bless football. Yeah, it was very
Speaker 1: was like, oh my god, can I have that bumper
Speaker 1: sticker tattooed? Like where can we put that thing? Because
Speaker 1: he also said it at his retirement so that was
Speaker 1: pretty cool. Um. Also, Charles Woodson, I'm a huge Packer fan.
Speaker 1: Obviously I thought his speech was killer, shouting at his mom.
Speaker 1: He even saying boys to men, which was really cool.
Speaker 1: And then what he said, he has two boys, and
Speaker 1: he said, you know his wife was there. He said,
Speaker 1: I hope you will love your mom the way I
Speaker 1: love mine. I mean, here, I am just holding the remote,
Speaker 1: tearing up and like I need a son. I need
Speaker 1: to love me that much. Yeah, it's um. They always
Speaker 1: choke up when they talk about their parents, and Peyton
Speaker 1: choked up too. But let me ask you, did he
Speaker 1: not mention Eli? You know, I don't think he did.
Speaker 1: He choked up speaking about his dad, but he didn't
Speaker 1: mention his brother. He did. I don't think he mentioned Eli.
Speaker 1: The whole speak each and I didn't even think about
Speaker 1: that until you brought it up. So that was shady.
Speaker 1: That was shady. That was a little shady. I also
Speaker 1: noticed at the beginning he got a huge ovation, obviously,
Speaker 1: and the camera was cutting to Tom Brady a lot.
Speaker 1: They're good friends. But I've read in that expression tom
Speaker 1: Brady might have got a little competitive. He might have
Speaker 1: thought that ovation was a little too much, because I
Speaker 1: saw in his face he had a little like fake smile,
Speaker 1: and you know, maybe he was starting a little shade,
Speaker 1: maybe you start a little shade of Peyton, or maybe
Speaker 1: your full of conspiracy theories. Today, I'm into the gossip.
Speaker 1: I don't care about the numbers, and I want to
Speaker 1: know who's fighting, was dating, what's going on behind seats. Well,
Speaker 1: speaking of Hall of Fame Hall of Famers, let's get
Speaker 1: to our Barry Sanders interview because it's pretty long, but
Speaker 1: you're gonna want to make sure you were listening to
Speaker 1: it in the car, walking your dog, whatever, because there's
Speaker 1: so much info. Barry Sanders is a Heisman winner, NFL
Speaker 1: Rookie of the Year, Pro bowler every year of his
Speaker 1: NFL career, which is incredible. Hall of Famer, like I
Speaker 1: mentioned in so much more, He's thought by some to
Speaker 1: be one of the best players to never play in
Speaker 1: a Super Bowl, which is a title no one once.
Speaker 1: He never suffered a major injury, and his retirement seemed
Speaker 1: a bit premature after just ten seasons. We get into
Speaker 1: all of that, but I've got to say I've met
Speaker 1: a lot of athletes past and present, and he is
Speaker 1: as respectable and down to earth as any honest. He
Speaker 1: spent so much time talking with our whole production team
Speaker 1: and crew which was a big crew. He stayed later
Speaker 1: than he had to contractually. He took pictures with everyone,
Speaker 1: signed stuff. He was incredible, which made this conversation that
Speaker 1: much more interesting to me. Without further ado, let's bring
Speaker 1: in my fellow cans in Barry Sanders, Welcome to Ford Field.
Speaker 1: I'm Olivia Harland Decker. I am joined by Hall of
Speaker 1: Famer detroit lyon great Barry Sanders with Bet MGM. We
Speaker 1: are so excited to talk Barry. Thanks for joining us.
Speaker 1: Great to be here. Okay, Barry Sanders, I'm going to
Speaker 1: read off your list of accolades and I could have
Speaker 1: memorized it if I wanted to Heisman, All American, Rookie
Speaker 1: of the Year, Offensive Player of the Year, Pro Bowler,
Speaker 1: All Pro, m v P, Hall of Fame. I'm curious
Speaker 1: which title meant the most at the time when you
Speaker 1: were awarded it, oh, man um, which title meant the
Speaker 1: most at the time? Probably I would probably have to
Speaker 1: say Heisman, just because so much change for me after
Speaker 1: I won the Heisman. I'm not gonna say no one
Speaker 1: knew about me, right, but it's been said that I
Speaker 1: sort of came out of nowhere. Was that you? Well?
Speaker 1: I mean I was. I was probably almost as surprised
Speaker 1: as a lot of people when I won, you know,
Speaker 1: just because uh as my first year starting, you know,
Speaker 1: and I just played special teams and done really well
Speaker 1: before that, you know, and I remember the big Heisman
Speaker 1: campaigns of Troy Aikman and Rodney Pete before that season. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, I just never thought. I just never thought
Speaker 1: a million years and it would be me, you know,
Speaker 1: So it just kind of happened. But yeah, but but
Speaker 1: to asker your question, yeah, I would probably have to
Speaker 1: say just because it was such a big change in
Speaker 1: my life and when that happened, that junior season of
Speaker 1: yours is regarded as one of the best individual performances
Speaker 1: in college football history. Now in retrospect, is that give
Speaker 1: you chills? What do you think when you hear that.
Speaker 1: It's it's really amazing, man, It's phenomenal when I hear it,
Speaker 1: just because you know, I grew up watching um so
Speaker 1: many great players play the game. I remember all those
Speaker 1: great USC running backs that I watched as a kid,
Speaker 1: you know, Anthony Davis and Charles White and of course
Speaker 1: Marcus Allen, and you know guys like Billy Seams or
Speaker 1: Tony Dorris Set and even just other Heisman Trophy winners.
Speaker 1: But yeah, and I watched so much college football UM
Speaker 1: as a kid, and just the fact that that my
Speaker 1: numbers stack up against all those great players that I watched,
Speaker 1: it's a part of it doesn't seem very real. Honestly.
Speaker 1: It seems like it's some other guy. But but no,
Speaker 1: and you know, I think back, it was such a
Speaker 1: phenomenal year. And it was such a phenomenal situation I
Speaker 1: was in, you know, because I had um, you know,
Speaker 1: I was fortunate enough to have five fifth year senior
Speaker 1: offensive lineman at a fifth year senior fullback court you know,
Speaker 1: Coach Gundy, you know, he was a quarterback, you know,
Speaker 1: and so there was another first round why receiver, Hartley Dikes,
Speaker 1: And so it was such a great situation for me.
Speaker 1: And I'm not saying I wouldn't have done well anywhere,
Speaker 1: but but it just seemed like the perfect situation. UM.
Speaker 1: And those guys love blocking and and um, you know,
Speaker 1: and they love seeing me be successful. So I'm fortunate
Speaker 1: in that sense, perfect situation. But like you said, I
Speaker 1: have a feeling you would have found your gaps anywhere
Speaker 1: you anywhere you played when you look back at that
Speaker 1: season you mentioned Coach Gundy. Is that group still tight?
Speaker 1: Do you have like a cowboy text throat or something?
Speaker 1: We do still talk every now and then. You know,
Speaker 1: we had a reunion, thirty year reunion. Uh, just in
Speaker 1: the last year or so. So it was great, great
Speaker 1: seeing all those guys come back to Stillwater and and
Speaker 1: men having a chance to really highlight highlight that season. Heisman.
Speaker 1: That's a pretty unique fraternity as well. What's it like
Speaker 1: having that name attached to yours? Oh, it's amazing. It's
Speaker 1: amazing because it's such an iconic name and there's so
Speaker 1: many great players that played the college game and only
Speaker 1: only just to select few when the Heisman. And I
Speaker 1: remember being a kid watching NFL. The first guy I
Speaker 1: remember as a as a really good Heisman player, Heisman
Speaker 1: Trophy winner in the pros was Roger stall Back. And
Speaker 1: I just remember his his Heisman trophy picture, you know,
Speaker 1: and seeing how dominant he was with the Cowboys, and uh,
Speaker 1: the fact that I'm in in a group with guys
Speaker 1: like him in some ways had an impact on the
Speaker 1: game the way he did. I mean, it's just, you know,
Speaker 1: it's really remarkable to think about it. For me, any
Speaker 1: early Heisman favorites this season? Are you? Are you? I
Speaker 1: don't know if I can say favorites, right, I don't
Speaker 1: know say favorites. And I know you're not going to
Speaker 1: say someone who played at ALCOHOL And I know there's
Speaker 1: a kid, obviously there's a kid another another quarterback at
Speaker 1: the University of Oklahoma who who was a favorite UM?
Speaker 1: And obviously I mean, but hey, look, you know I
Speaker 1: wouldn't want to lean one one one direction or another UM.
Speaker 1: And hey, may the best man win. Every position has
Speaker 1: its presence in the locker room, team meetings, on the bus,
Speaker 1: you know. And you think of quarterback being the face
Speaker 1: of the team, the leader, and then when you come
Speaker 1: in as running back, you're the face of the team
Speaker 1: that season. Especially what type of presence does a star
Speaker 1: running back need to have among his teammates. Whenever you
Speaker 1: talk about attach star, I think people are watching what
Speaker 1: you do, watching what you say. But I think mostly
Speaker 1: they're watching, you know, how you carry yourself on the
Speaker 1: things that you do. I wasn't a very vocal leader.
Speaker 1: If you're talking about, you know, my Husman Trophy year,
Speaker 1: and I think people were wanting, you know, we're curiously Okay,
Speaker 1: what kind of player here is going to be as
Speaker 1: a full time starter. But I think you know, you
Speaker 1: have to be consistent. I know, in my case, I
Speaker 1: believe you have to be a hard worker. You have
Speaker 1: to be willing to do anything else that anyone else's
Speaker 1: is doing and realize that you're you're invested as much
Speaker 1: in that group as anyone else, and be a great
Speaker 1: team player, you know, and and so things like that.
Speaker 1: Um so, because it is a great team game. And
Speaker 1: like I mentioned before, all the guys that that, um
Speaker 1: you know, I felt like we're doing a lot of
Speaker 1: the heavy lifting up front, you know, and and that
Speaker 1: kind of thing. So you know, you lead by example,
Speaker 1: and they want someone who's consistent, who you know is
Speaker 1: gonna show up on Saturday, you know, and make plays.
Speaker 1: It's funny I could interview a current college star and
Speaker 1: ask them, you know, how they're having a great season.
Speaker 1: They would still tell me the guys that from the
Speaker 1: guy's blocking here, we are all these years later and
Speaker 1: you're still pointing out your online that's pretty incredible. No, absolutely,
Speaker 1: you know, if you met these guys, you would understand
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. But if you think back to my
Speaker 1: Heisman Trophy a year because in today's football, really this
Speaker 1: couldn't really happen to have five fifth your senior office lineman,
Speaker 1: you know. I mean, you know, most of the most
Speaker 1: most of you guys now are gone. If they're really
Speaker 1: really good, they're going by, you know, their junior year
Speaker 1: or whatever. You know. So to have those guys that
Speaker 1: had played that much college football together, right, definitely absolutely
Speaker 1: definitely benefited me. And they think about it too. Is
Speaker 1: the thing about it too, was I was a true junior, right,
Speaker 1: so they so so they were a couple of years
Speaker 1: older than me, right and so late. So it's funny
Speaker 1: because they kind of knew or felt like we had
Speaker 1: a chance to win the Hysman earlier than I did.
Speaker 1: They when they would say stuff like that, I was like,
Speaker 1: these guys gonna be crazy, man, you know. And then
Speaker 1: it sort of called on. After we played that, which
Speaker 1: I think it was maybe like the fourth game of
Speaker 1: the season, we go to Colorado because we had we
Speaker 1: hadn't played, um any really top teams until then. Um
Speaker 1: and then we go to Colorado and we knew it
Speaker 1: I was gonna be a tough game for us. And
Speaker 1: then after the game, I remember people started saying, you know,
Speaker 1: fans and things like that started sort of a Hysan
Speaker 1: Trophy chant, which I just thought, Okay, these are like,
Speaker 1: you know, they're really going overboard with this win against Colorado.
Speaker 1: But but it's sort of caught on after that. If
Speaker 1: we played you know, some tougher teams got more into
Speaker 1: the schedule, you know, and then and then once we
Speaker 1: played Nebraska, then OU and I had a good game.
Speaker 1: Then I thought, okay, maybe maybe it's possible. Yeah, maybe
Speaker 1: it's possible. That season you had two thousand fifty rushing
Speaker 1: yards forty two touchdowns in twelve games. That's incredible. And
Speaker 1: you said you were a guy who came out of
Speaker 1: nowhere special teams backup running back. Did your mental change
Speaker 1: much after that? Then you go to the draft? I
Speaker 1: mean it changed gradually, you know, it changed gradually. I think,
Speaker 1: you know, the same way I approached everything in college.
Speaker 1: You know, I got there in we had a ton
Speaker 1: of running backs, and I don't I don't know where
Speaker 1: I was on a depth chart going in, but I was.
Speaker 1: You know, people say I backed up Thurman Thomas, and
Speaker 1: I always think, well, yeah, I backed up Thurman and
Speaker 1: about five other guys. You know, it wasn't just Thurman
Speaker 1: Thomas um. And then I just kind of gradually worked
Speaker 1: my way. Uh. I was very hungry, you know. And
Speaker 1: and and so my freshman year I ended up playing
Speaker 1: a lot more than I thought I would because some
Speaker 1: of the older guys we're injured. There was a few
Speaker 1: guys that had gotten call up into Prop eight thing,
Speaker 1: and so I you know, so I played. You know,
Speaker 1: I don't know how many carries I had, um I
Speaker 1: had for the season with three yards or something like that.
Speaker 1: And you know, and so they weren't expecting me to
Speaker 1: come in and play running back as a fresh as
Speaker 1: a freshman back then. And then my sophomore year pretty
Speaker 1: much took over the kick return duties. You know, I
Speaker 1: was was All American kick returner and I love you know,
Speaker 1: and and at that point, I was pretty much firmly
Speaker 1: set as Dermond's back up as a sophomore, which I loved,
Speaker 1: right my you know, my second year and you know,
Speaker 1: I'm backing up this guy who I know was going
Speaker 1: to the league. Um, you know, you know, something like that.
Speaker 1: But but I just knew that yeah, this is yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, this is this I'm living a dream man,
Speaker 1: I'm playing college football, you know, in a in a
Speaker 1: great conference. I had grown up watching the Big Eight Conference. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, and so and so I couldn't ask for
Speaker 1: much more. But it was it was gradual, you know.
Speaker 1: And so when you talk about he's been the draft,
Speaker 1: I had to um sort of be brought along, I think.
Speaker 1: And I was fortunate that my my dad, you know,
Speaker 1: it just kind of pulled me aside and it was like, son,
Speaker 1: you gotta you gotta go, you know, you gotta go.
Speaker 1: You were going to come back for your senior. Absolutely absolutely,
Speaker 1: I was gonna come back to my senior and my
Speaker 1: and my dad said in so many words, you know,
Speaker 1: and they weren't the nicest of words. When he's like, no, son, son,
Speaker 1: um you got you gotta go. You're crazy. You're crazy
Speaker 1: if you stay in school. It's what he said. And
Speaker 1: so it took me a while to come around. Okay,
Speaker 1: Well I guess I guess this is sort of a
Speaker 1: new thing because no one really had um. There have
Speaker 1: been players back then, juniors that had gone to the USFL. Right,
Speaker 1: so I remember Herschel went to the USFIL Remember Mike
Speaker 1: Rosier had gone to the USFL. I don't know. I
Speaker 1: think Doug Flutie may had gone to Canada or something
Speaker 1: like that, you know. Um, but but as juniors, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, so, yeah, I was expecting to go back
Speaker 1: to school. Even when we played our bowl game, Um,
Speaker 1: I was still expecting that. I remember getting questions from
Speaker 1: the media, um about what I was gonna do. And
Speaker 1: at that point, I was still thinking coming back to school,
Speaker 1: you know. And so but like I said, you know,
Speaker 1: Dad pulled me aside. We had a few hard hearts
Speaker 1: and yeah, and he said, no, son, you gotta be grazy.
Speaker 1: You gotta be out of your mind if you go
Speaker 1: back um to school. And so eventually that that spring,
Speaker 1: you know, I guess, warmed up to the idea of
Speaker 1: going to the NFL. I remember coach Fons, I don't
Speaker 1: know all the other coaches that they came to Stillwater,
Speaker 1: but did like a pro day. But we you know,
Speaker 1: we did them the vertical and the forty and whatever
Speaker 1: else they had us do. And then after that, Coach Fonts,
Speaker 1: who was obviously the Lions coach at the time, he
Speaker 1: just pulled me aside. It's like, son, if you if
Speaker 1: you're coming out, then we're going to draft you, we're
Speaker 1: gonna draft you. You know, they had number three spot.
Speaker 1: But even then I knew that, Okay, well anything, anything
Speaker 1: could happen. You know, they could promise you anything. You know,
Speaker 1: it happens absolutely and end happened the year before with Thurman.
Speaker 1: You know, we thought was gonna be a first round
Speaker 1: and he end up he end up slipping into the
Speaker 1: second round, you know. And so so anyway, but coach
Speaker 1: once he told me that, um, and so that was
Speaker 1: another thing. I think that that sort of warmed me
Speaker 1: up to the idea of of of leading school. So
Speaker 1: that's that's kind of how that part happened. So they
Speaker 1: held their under the bargain. You're selected third overall, your
Speaker 1: rookie of the year. I mean, talk about the highest
Speaker 1: of highs two years in a row. How did your confidence,
Speaker 1: because you seem to operate with like a quiet confidence,
Speaker 1: which I really like about you. You have this energy.
Speaker 1: Did that change as you got up to this big stage.
Speaker 1: I would say no, it didn't, because I think I
Speaker 1: think there's always been a part of me that was
Speaker 1: at high school kid that didn't get heavily recruited. We
Speaker 1: didn't get heavily recruited. Um. And so I was still
Speaker 1: really trying to convince myself. UM, and I knew I
Speaker 1: had to. But you know, the thing I understood is
Speaker 1: that I knew I had to just go to work
Speaker 1: every day, you know, just continue to to lift and
Speaker 1: run and and um try to try to physically improve
Speaker 1: be ready for the NFL for me, you know, just
Speaker 1: coming here. I don't. I don't. I wouldn't say I
Speaker 1: had great confidence, but I was excited to see what
Speaker 1: kind of player I would be great confidence because anything
Speaker 1: could happen in the NFL. Anything could happen, you know,
Speaker 1: and a lot of great players come and play in NFL.
Speaker 1: And they were great college players, and it just doesn't translate,
Speaker 1: you know, to to the NFL. And so I had
Speaker 1: no idea, but I was. I was excited to get
Speaker 1: here to see what I would be able to do,
Speaker 1: you know. And and so I knew that the team
Speaker 1: hadn't won much. Um. The one of the things that
Speaker 1: I loved about the team was that one of my
Speaker 1: try to at idols, Billy Sims, that played here, and
Speaker 1: Coach Fond said, well, you know, we we know you
Speaker 1: were twenty one in college. People, I want to put
Speaker 1: you in Billy's number number twenty. You know, so I
Speaker 1: was like, hey, whatever you say, coach, um, you know
Speaker 1: so so Um, but I was excited for the opportunity,
Speaker 1: and that that's really all I can say. I didn't
Speaker 1: I didn't know what kind of NFL player I would make,
Speaker 1: you know. I knew that I loved being being a
Speaker 1: running back. I tried to do everything I could to
Speaker 1: be ready. Um, I held out. And another thing I
Speaker 1: guess that that um, they kind of threw a wrenching
Speaker 1: things was that I didn't sign until the week of
Speaker 1: the first game. I missed all the training camp, I
Speaker 1: mean every better training camp, you know, so I didn't
Speaker 1: know any plays. Uh. I was coming into a new system,
Speaker 1: you know, like grown up playing basically I back tail
Speaker 1: back with a fullback and from being a tight end. Right,
Speaker 1: and so we get here and now there's this sort
Speaker 1: of new bangled offense, the running shoot you know, and
Speaker 1: so just things like that. You know, again, it was
Speaker 1: just it was just different, you know. But but um,
Speaker 1: having signed the week of the first game, right and
Speaker 1: not having gone through training camp, and that's just another thing,
Speaker 1: you know, where I just wasn't sure. Okay, what you know,
Speaker 1: what's gonna happen, you know, when I get out there
Speaker 1: and you didn't really know your teammates. Absolutely no, I
Speaker 1: did not. I did not. I come to one preseason,
Speaker 1: preseason game. I may have met a couple of guys
Speaker 1: whatever in passing, but that was about it, you know.
Speaker 1: So just so happened. I suited up for the first
Speaker 1: game and and that the toward the end of the game,
Speaker 1: the coach asked me that I want to go in,
Speaker 1: you know, and they showed me a few players on
Speaker 1: the sideline and the rest of history. Did they keep
Speaker 1: it pretty simple just so everything they did? No, Yeah,
Speaker 1: for sure, Yeah they did. They did. They kept pretty simple. Um,
Speaker 1: they showed me a few steps, like I said, UM,
Speaker 1: something like that, something like that. Obviously, you know, it
Speaker 1: couldn't be too complicated. And you know, I mean the
Speaker 1: first time I touched the ball, you know, it's well documented.
Speaker 1: I ran for I don't know, seventeen yards or something
Speaker 1: like that, and it was it was such a thrill,
Speaker 1: you know, to be in the NFL playing against these
Speaker 1: guys in the Silver Dome back then for me, it
Speaker 1: was it was the thrid of a lifetime. I think
Speaker 1: it was on your tenth carry or something. You scored
Speaker 1: your first touchdown? Does that sound right? I should know that.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure it was. It was pretty soon after later,
Speaker 1: It was pretty soon after. It was pretty soon after
Speaker 1: in that game, I scored a pretty short touchdown run
Speaker 1: and and no, hey, look man, I was um, no
Speaker 1: pun intended. I was often running. It's funny that is
Speaker 1: a part of your playing style to which we don't
Speaker 1: see a lot these days. But you were known to
Speaker 1: just not be flashy. You know, you hand the ball
Speaker 1: to the ref. You're not really celebrating you You see
Speaker 1: that now every once in a while, but it's almost
Speaker 1: refreshing now when you see it. Why was that a
Speaker 1: part of your game? Was that maybe something from your
Speaker 1: dad or a coach? I think it came from my dad.
Speaker 1: I think it came from my dad and just my
Speaker 1: personality perspect Yeah, I think I think also, you know,
Speaker 1: it's sort of the era that I grew up in
Speaker 1: as well. Um, I think you know, there there was
Speaker 1: some guys that celebrated, you know, I guess my formative
Speaker 1: years watching the NFL, there were some guys that celebrated,
Speaker 1: but not everyone I enjoyed, you know, the Billy white
Speaker 1: shoes Johnson dance as much as anyone, you know. But
Speaker 1: you know, when I was playing, I just and that
Speaker 1: when I was on the field playing the game, I
Speaker 1: just didn't think about it in that way. Um and um,
Speaker 1: I think I was more business minded and and uh
Speaker 1: and kind of this is what I'm supposed to do.
Speaker 1: Like I said, my dad, you know, he was a
Speaker 1: part of that as well, you know, just telling me
Speaker 1: to to you know, make sure I play the gaming
Speaker 1: right way. And I don't. I don't have to do
Speaker 1: anything crazy, you know when I celebrate. But I think
Speaker 1: a lot of it was just you know, my my
Speaker 1: approach and personality and and um, the way that I
Speaker 1: just you know, processed the game. It's funny, now, if
Speaker 1: you're a rookie this year, what would be different about
Speaker 1: life off the field with all the blonde spotlight that
Speaker 1: was on you candlefied standards? Oh man, I don't I
Speaker 1: don't know I could take it man, Instagram and Twitter,
Speaker 1: I don't know that I could take it. There's a
Speaker 1: lot of a lot of distractions out there. But I
Speaker 1: think the main ingredient, or the most important thing is,
Speaker 1: you know, obviously what you do on the field, and
Speaker 1: it accentuates everything else, you know, and so I'm sure
Speaker 1: you know, most of the good players understand that certainly
Speaker 1: the world is much different now than than back then,
Speaker 1: you know, and just sports supports media. The thing about
Speaker 1: it is, I think these kids kind of grew up
Speaker 1: with it, you know, So I don't. I'm not even sure.
Speaker 1: I'm not I'm not sure how I would react, honestly,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm I'm sure it would be much the
Speaker 1: same way as all the kids who kind of have
Speaker 1: learned how to balance it, you know, balance it effectively, UM,
Speaker 1: to be able to do all those things, but also
Speaker 1: understand that, you know, it's also important to have you know,
Speaker 1: maybe a trainer and the chef watching what you eat. UM.
Speaker 1: I think there was more savvy about and aware of
Speaker 1: things like that. I certainly think there are some some
Speaker 1: very good things, um that are that benefit the modern athlete.
Speaker 1: When you look at what these college facilities have now,
Speaker 1: and even NFL facilities, what they have in terms of
Speaker 1: nutrition and health. What seems the most archaic things when
Speaker 1: you look back at your experience that you all dealt with,
Speaker 1: probably at the college level more than here in Detroit. Well,
Speaker 1: the most archaic thing is probably pregame meal of just
Speaker 1: you know, any kind of meat you want, which I
Speaker 1: love meat, but that's probably not that's that's probably not
Speaker 1: the you know, just loading up on a bunch of
Speaker 1: steaks before a game is probably not the great idea,
Speaker 1: you know, or pancakes or whatever. Um you know, so
Speaker 1: um yeah, and no one had, you know, no one
Speaker 1: had like a personal chef or something like that. You know,
Speaker 1: the stuff we used to cater for lunch, you know,
Speaker 1: from whatever fast food joint, uh donuts or whatever else.
Speaker 1: I mean, it never happened. Now, Yeah, I don't think so.
Speaker 1: I don't think so. Especially have the hyperbaric chamber and
Speaker 1: the guns. You don't have all that. I don't know
Speaker 1: if that had been invented at that point. Definitely not Yeah,
Speaker 1: definitely not. Well, you were recently playing in a golf
Speaker 1: tournament and you're speaking to the press about the Lion
Speaker 1: season coming up and how you know, the city can
Speaker 1: have championships and other sports, but it's a football town.
Speaker 1: Why do you feel like this city rallies so much
Speaker 1: around the Lions year after year after year. How do
Speaker 1: you see that in the community. I don't know if
Speaker 1: it's because of the great championships from the fifties, um,
Speaker 1: and just that kind of football tradition. Maybe it's because
Speaker 1: of Thanksgiving, the Thanksgiving tradition. I just know that that
Speaker 1: one of the things I did learn when I got
Speaker 1: here is that's certainly the case. And maybe it's even
Speaker 1: because of the great college teams that have played Michigan
Speaker 1: State in Michigan, you know, one championships, um or or
Speaker 1: just because of they won championships and other sports, you know,
Speaker 1: and they're they're eager to have one in the NFL,
Speaker 1: you know, but certainly, yeah, but this is certainly a
Speaker 1: football centered town. You know. They love their Lions, have
Speaker 1: been very loyal forever, um and uh you know, and
Speaker 1: and that's that's the way it is, you know, and
Speaker 1: so they certainly are deserving of a winner. Um. There's
Speaker 1: still there's still a few people around from you know,
Speaker 1: fans from the early days you know that remember the
Speaker 1: the the early championships, you know, and some of them
Speaker 1: even joked, they know, I'm not I'm not leaving this
Speaker 1: earth until I see you know, another Lions championship. Hopefully
Speaker 1: not long. Hopefully not very long. Absolutely, you know, that
Speaker 1: is the hope. Anyways, you were very active with this
Speaker 1: recent coaching hire. What were you searching for? What did
Speaker 1: you think you needed in this building? Well, I think
Speaker 1: just someone who people can follow, these young men can follow,
Speaker 1: and who they respect. You know, I'm not I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna say I was. You know, I don't know how
Speaker 1: much input I had. You know, I did a lot
Speaker 1: of listening, um, um, you know, but but um, but
Speaker 1: certainly more involved than any other time. And obviously, uh,
Speaker 1: the one who was really um leading the search, Chris
Speaker 1: Fielman and I played together for many years. I know
Speaker 1: what kind of player he was. I know I passionate
Speaker 1: he was about the team, and I think that's one
Speaker 1: of the things he was looking looking forward. And I
Speaker 1: just you know, someone who leader, who was gonna be
Speaker 1: followed with someone who was really passionate about football that
Speaker 1: he understood and knew that that um, they were fanatical
Speaker 1: about trying to come in and make a difference. And obviously,
Speaker 1: you know you want X and os and things like that,
Speaker 1: and someone who's been around a champion, which coach Campbell had,
Speaker 1: you know. So So to answer you a question, I
Speaker 1: guess those would be some of the top priorities. So
Speaker 1: you hired Dan Campbell, new GM at Holmes fresh blood
Speaker 1: can do a lot for a company, for a business,
Speaker 1: for university, certainly for a sports team. What are you
Speaker 1: most excited about in this new regime? Well, yeah, there
Speaker 1: are there are a lot of new faces and even
Speaker 1: even going to the quarterback um. You know, I certainly
Speaker 1: didn't see that one coming, but I know that you know,
Speaker 1: Jared has played a lot of big time football. You know,
Speaker 1: you look at some of the some of the teams
Speaker 1: that he's played with, and you know, and just a
Speaker 1: few years a few years and moved from the super Bowl.
Speaker 1: And yes, we're we're excited about about that. And uh,
Speaker 1: the GM as you as you stated in around once
Speaker 1: again you know a lot of fantastic successful football and
Speaker 1: so yes, we're hopefully hoping that you know, the new
Speaker 1: vision um excitement, you know, whatever it is that that
Speaker 1: they do, you know, and it's almost like a team, um,
Speaker 1: you want that chemistry to come together. We know that
Speaker 1: that same thing has to happen at the top. You know,
Speaker 1: we're something you know where you can really breathe new
Speaker 1: life into a situation, and that's what we're all hoping for.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, as fans, we're gonna we're gonna
Speaker 1: do our part. We've we've been here and so we're
Speaker 1: just hoping that it carries over onto the field. I
Speaker 1: think you're a little more than a fan. I think
Speaker 1: you're a little bit at a higher echelon than fandom.
Speaker 1: But but at my core though, that's that's what I am,
Speaker 1: you know, fan, I'm like you know and and you know,
Speaker 1: so along with all the other fans, you know, I mean,
Speaker 1: we we with this town is hoping and praying, really
Speaker 1: expecting right championship football. So that's why I say that
Speaker 1: because at the end of the day, yeah, we were
Speaker 1: investing everything we can into turning this team around. And
Speaker 1: it comes from this just that place of Okay, look,
Speaker 1: I'm a fan and and I'm a member of the family,
Speaker 1: and let's let's get this done. We look at the
Speaker 1: Tampa Bay Buccaneers championship run and it's very much plugged
Speaker 1: pieces in the right place and go. It seems like
Speaker 1: that's the outlier, like you really have to set up
Speaker 1: culture before that takes years to build. Do you feel
Speaker 1: like that's where the Lions are right now? Well, I
Speaker 1: think we're gonna see I think I think it can
Speaker 1: be done several ways. I mean generally speaking, yes, you
Speaker 1: do build it over time. But I think in today's NFL,
Speaker 1: you know, if you already have the right ingredient, then
Speaker 1: I don't think. I don't think it's something you know,
Speaker 1: that takes as long. There isn't much that doesn't have
Speaker 1: to be as much of a build up, you know,
Speaker 1: to to whatever that is. Are going to be happy
Speaker 1: to hear you say that. Absolutely, No, I didn't. I think.
Speaker 1: I think in today's NFL, absolutely you can. You you know,
Speaker 1: it shouldn't it shouldn't take And in plus, you don't
Speaker 1: you don't necessarily have five years necessarily have a five
Speaker 1: year plan. You know, you have more two or three
Speaker 1: years to get it done. You know so, and you know,
Speaker 1: and that's encouraging to see what Tampa did last year.
Speaker 1: I don't know that we necessarily have weapons in every
Speaker 1: position that they have. You know, that's what that's what
Speaker 1: you're draft is for, and your off seasons, off seasons
Speaker 1: for bringing in guys who you think can help you.
Speaker 1: And I I don't just look at I mean the
Speaker 1: team that I look at obviously, I mean the Tampa
Speaker 1: is a great example. But obviously green Bay is a
Speaker 1: team that you know, you think about, Okay, well this
Speaker 1: that's a team you really have to beat in this
Speaker 1: division for the most part. And then you look at that,
Speaker 1: and then you have to look at but then you
Speaker 1: look at all the great football that's been played by Minnesota, right,
Speaker 1: look at the big games that they played. Look at Chicago,
Speaker 1: you know been, I mean, you know, so this is
Speaker 1: this is a tough division. You got your work cut
Speaker 1: out for you every week, you know, and and so
Speaker 1: um you know when you're drafting and when you're bringing
Speaker 1: in free agents and and things like that. I mean,
Speaker 1: those are those are really the teams you're thinking about
Speaker 1: that you have to see weekend. And we go a
Speaker 1: guy you drafted a couple of years ago, running back
Speaker 1: DeAndre Swift. I told you I went to Georgia, so
Speaker 1: I follow him kind of closely. I love his game.
Speaker 1: What's your involvement like with some of your star running
Speaker 1: backs here? Do you do you talk much with them?
Speaker 1: I'm not around them much, honestly, But I like what
Speaker 1: I saw in DeAndre last year. I thought he adopted
Speaker 1: in transition all to the pro game, you know, he
Speaker 1: I thought he broke tackles well, I thought he still
Speaker 1: showed that separation and speed you know which which you know,
Speaker 1: you gotta get to this level to really see how
Speaker 1: your game, Like I said before, he's really going to translate.
Speaker 1: I don't know how many yards he ended up with
Speaker 1: last year, but for a rookie, I thought he really
Speaker 1: earned his keep. You know, I'm looking for even bigger
Speaker 1: things this year, you know, and he looks like he
Speaker 1: could be a really solid running back. What's life like
Speaker 1: for you these days? Like update people on on your
Speaker 1: involvement here with the team, on what you do. You
Speaker 1: have so many business ventures you're involved in, but you know,
Speaker 1: we we love watching all your highlights. But you're a
Speaker 1: living legend. So what are you doing these days? I
Speaker 1: feel like I'm pretty fortunate and lucky to be in
Speaker 1: a position I'm in. I'm sort of an ambassador for
Speaker 1: the team, for the Lions, so I come to a
Speaker 1: couple of games and I'll say hi to some fans,
Speaker 1: or say hi to sweetholders, or maybe doing some things
Speaker 1: in the community for on behalf of the team. I
Speaker 1: have my own businesses that I'm involved in. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm fortunate enough to own a couple of car dealerships
Speaker 1: in Oklahoma. You know, my agent keeps me pretty busy
Speaker 1: doing doing different things that I just just as they know,
Speaker 1: you just want to relax. Well, you know, he can't
Speaker 1: relax all the time. You got to get out there
Speaker 1: and make some things happen. And so just just coming
Speaker 1: from shooting um hide house commercial. It's a blast, man,
Speaker 1: it's blast just being a part of it. You know.
Speaker 1: So I have four sons, you know, UM, winning college um.
Speaker 1: You know, so I feel like I feel like I
Speaker 1: have the best of both worlds um, just being able
Speaker 1: to spend time with my sons and do a lot
Speaker 1: of really cool things like this. You know. Um, I
Speaker 1: mentioned my car dealerships um, and obviously they were today
Speaker 1: we're shooting um some stuff for MGM, bet MGM, you know,
Speaker 1: and so UM and so yeah. I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: it's really a good mix of just big things, UM,
Speaker 1: and personal things and playing a little golf every now
Speaker 1: and then. Are you glad you can enjoy yourself a bit?
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for your time with us. It's
Speaker 1: an honor to get to talk to you. You truly
Speaker 1: are a legend, a name that I'll be telling my
Speaker 1: grandkids about that I sat down with you, so I
Speaker 1: appreciate that. It's we'll have to look at your videos,
Speaker 1: but YouTube will still be around. Yeah, they'll still have
Speaker 1: YouTube video to think. Well, thanks again for your time. Well,
Speaker 1: Barry Sanders, sure was a lot of fun. You're honest,
Speaker 1: what do you think I think it was? It was
Speaker 1: funny that he just kept giving credit to his offensive line,
Speaker 1: and I like that you pointed that out. You're like,
Speaker 1: you're retired and you're still crediting your offensive line. Like
Speaker 1: I wonder if like he has a great day to supermarket,
Speaker 1: he's like, I just want to take my offensive line.
Speaker 1: He's arguing with his wife. He's like, you know what,
Speaker 1: I really want to give credit to my offensive line
Speaker 1: for this victory over my wife and this argument. It
Speaker 1: was hilarious. God, it was a great interview. He's really humble,
Speaker 1: And I don't know how much of that is like
Speaker 1: you like you alluded to media trading, or if he's
Speaker 1: just he's just that humble. All the greats like that
Speaker 1: always seem to be very humble and give credit to
Speaker 1: everybody else. Oh, I don't know. I kind of have
Speaker 1: a saying that the only thing worse than an athlete
Speaker 1: is a retired athlete. So I just I feel like
Speaker 1: that's a that's a rare breed. So when you come
Speaker 1: across one who is so humble, I find that just
Speaker 1: so appealing because you better believe living in the Detroit
Speaker 1: area being Barry Sanders is pretty sweet. It's pretty seat. Also.
Speaker 1: You know, if you've got a little money in your
Speaker 1: pocket in the Detroit area, you can buy about twenty
Speaker 1: houses five bucks. That's pretty sweet as well. So you
Speaker 1: haven't been to Detroit in a while, my friend, it
Speaker 1: has had a glow up. It's like my living room
Speaker 1: right here at the Hydranges. It is has it really
Speaker 1: is an experience you to come back. Well, yeah, Peter,
Speaker 1: have you been backed recently because our property there, I
Speaker 1: was there recently, that's when we did this interview. It's
Speaker 1: it's gorgeous. Yeah, I was talking to someone a couple
Speaker 1: of minutes ago about Detroit. You know, it used to
Speaker 1: be you drive through and there's good bullet shots everywhere
Speaker 1: as you're as you're kind of driving through a bad area.
Speaker 1: But yeah, to be fair, they've done a really good
Speaker 1: job over the last couple of years. Our property is
Speaker 1: obviously nice. It's a little brag on our part. But
Speaker 1: the MGM Grant Detroit is beautiful. So yeah, twenty houses
Speaker 1: back in the days, maybe only ten houses now for
Speaker 1: bear Well, that is the voice of Peter Andrew. You
Speaker 1: all know him by. Now let's get into some NFL
Speaker 1: big bets as we're looking at the first weekend of
Speaker 1: the preseason. Man, don't you know it's August when here
Speaker 1: we are going over every little storyline and getting so
Speaker 1: excited about the first slate of games. Peter, what are
Speaker 1: some of the big bets that you're seeing in each conference? Really?
Speaker 1: That's one that you sent me. Well, there was a
Speaker 1: big bet that didn't hit last week, and I think
Speaker 1: it was you saying the over, and so couldn't go
Speaker 1: on without saying that it was a It was a
Speaker 1: good game for about fourteen minutes, and obviously the defense
Speaker 1: has prevailed or the offenses didn't prevail. Maybe that's a
Speaker 1: better way to put it. Um, But yeah, we're starting
Speaker 1: to see a lot of big bets come in. I
Speaker 1: know I mentioned last week couple of the lines bets.
Speaker 1: We're seeing some interesting ones, peculiar. I think a couple
Speaker 1: as an example, Falcons too in the NFC at plus
Speaker 1: sixty hundred customer put a hundred k um. I think
Speaker 1: that's something we can call a donation to the bed
Speaker 1: MGM fund. But you never know, and that's why they
Speaker 1: played the game. But there are some good ones I
Speaker 1: think that come in. You get Seahawks plus fourteen hundred,
Speaker 1: so I was over seventeen thousand when two D fifty k,
Speaker 1: which is a big amount of money right there. Seahawks,
Speaker 1: like most of the teams in the NFC West, have
Speaker 1: a pretty legitimate shot, uh to at least make it
Speaker 1: to the playoffs, and then everyone knows what Russ can
Speaker 1: do as they get there. And and also with the
Speaker 1: Seahawks trying to lock down their left tackle and as
Speaker 1: those things will be discussed in the next coming weeks,
Speaker 1: how much will that line change and is it actually
Speaker 1: attractive to take that now? Yeah, you probably can look
Speaker 1: at it both ways, but those lines will vary. That's
Speaker 1: probably the part of their team that they're most focused on.
Speaker 1: They've had a couple of really bad years, even dating
Speaker 1: back to when they lost Max Hunger in that Jimmy
Speaker 1: Graham trade, they haven't been the same. So as they
Speaker 1: locked them up that it could be beneficial that you
Speaker 1: locked it in early or if things don't pan out,
Speaker 1: you can actually get probably a better price in in
Speaker 1: a week or two. Times. Be interesting to see, yeah, exactly,
Speaker 1: so interesting to see. But but you know, I think
Speaker 1: sometimes players have a pretty good idea of what's going
Speaker 1: to happen, so they want to lock that that in early.
Speaker 1: You get teams like the Patriots. Someone had them at
Speaker 1: plus eighteen hundred to win the a f C. Lots
Speaker 1: of really good teams there, so that's an if you won.
Speaker 1: But you never can count out Belichick. Who knows about
Speaker 1: mac Jones. He's looking promising already in training camp, I
Speaker 1: think camp, Yeah, sooner than later. I think he could
Speaker 1: be QB one. I know they obviously have Cam still,
Speaker 1: but but you never know, especially with Cam's injuries. Um
Speaker 1: So the Patriot way, you never know what's going to
Speaker 1: happen with them, could be really interesting. And then the
Speaker 1: last big one we saw was Vikings to win the
Speaker 1: NFC at I'm not sure what to make of that
Speaker 1: because I think that team can really go both ways.
Speaker 1: Um So that's the one that you kind of say,
Speaker 1: let's wait and see see what first four or five
Speaker 1: weeks come out for the Vikes, and and then take
Speaker 1: it from there. An interesting thing with the Vikings is
Speaker 1: the COVID aspect, as Kirk Cousins has been very vocal
Speaker 1: about not getting the vaccine and if he's to miss
Speaker 1: a game or two that that changes a lot. And
Speaker 1: I wanted to ask you about that in general, because
Speaker 1: it's not just Cousins, it's Lamar Jackson Ravens quarterback. He's
Speaker 1: been on the record saying he hasn't and won't get
Speaker 1: the vaccine despite having COVID twice. And I wanted to
Speaker 1: kind of take this time to tell our viewers what
Speaker 1: the protocols are this season in the NFL, because if
Speaker 1: you're vaccinated, there are very few restrictions. You're tested once
Speaker 1: every two weeks, you wear this contact tracing device, but
Speaker 1: no masks, no social distancing. You can even leave on
Speaker 1: a bye week, you know, go see your friends and family,
Speaker 1: go on vacation and whatever it is, go out to dinner.
Speaker 1: But if you're unvaccinated, there's daily testing. You wear a
Speaker 1: mask everywhere, but when you're in the game or in practice,
Speaker 1: you have to stay in town in the bye week,
Speaker 1: which that really surprised me. You travel separately for road games,
Speaker 1: you can't leave your hotel. You can't see your family
Speaker 1: without them also being subject to testing, and what is
Speaker 1: going to impact the gambling world as well as players
Speaker 1: missing games. If an unvaccinated player triggers an outbreak that
Speaker 1: postpones a game that can't be made up, it is
Speaker 1: a forfeit and players on both teams lose that game check.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is really serious. And the NFL can't
Speaker 1: say you have to or you cannot whatever. They cannot
Speaker 1: tell players get vaccinated, but they sure are making a
Speaker 1: case for it. How will this affect betting in the
Speaker 1: NFL this season. Yeah, there's probably two pieces to it.
Speaker 1: So you know, hypothetically one player goes down, let's say
Speaker 1: our cousins as an example, you're really testing the depth
Speaker 1: of the team. So that's first and foremost. So a
Speaker 1: lot of these teams, especially a Baltimore Ravens or a
Speaker 1: Minnesota Vikings, have to make sure they have a pretty
Speaker 1: capable backup quarterback. But then you get to the other
Speaker 1: part of you know, point of it where you potentially
Speaker 1: can forfeit a game and then the whole team is
Speaker 1: looking at you and they're losing game checks and it's
Speaker 1: not because of them. So it's gonna be really interesting.
Speaker 1: It will impact lines. I mean, we we saw a
Speaker 1: little bit of it last year. I think what the
Speaker 1: Broncos as an example one game where they didn't have
Speaker 1: a quarterback to play. I don't know that we'll get
Speaker 1: to that that realm of it, but but it's gonna
Speaker 1: be really interesting and lines will dramatically move, you know,
Speaker 1: in real time as Thursday and Friday come, as you
Speaker 1: know injury reports came out, but certainly as you get
Speaker 1: closer to your game and you find out half the
Speaker 1: offensive line is out, that's a big disadvantage for a team,
Speaker 1: and that line will fluctuate by three to five points,
Speaker 1: maybe even more. How how in depth do they go
Speaker 1: when they come up with these lines? Do they like,
Speaker 1: For example, Josh Allen gets that big contract, a hundred guaranteed, um,
Speaker 1: do you take it to consideration? His personality is lifestyle
Speaker 1: like Mahomes got half of all and it didn't he
Speaker 1: stayed motivated? But does do do they do any assessment
Speaker 1: on whether a guy gets his bag and then he
Speaker 1: kind of falls off. I guess it depends if you're
Speaker 1: playing in Miami or if you're playing in Buffalo, And
Speaker 1: that's the only thing you got to do is play. Uh,
Speaker 1: let's play football. Yeah, it's it's interesting. I don't think
Speaker 1: they put too much into that. I think getting that bag,
Speaker 1: as you said, it is um it could warrant players
Speaker 1: to kind of fall off a little bit. But you
Speaker 1: get these big name guys like a Mahomes or like
Speaker 1: a Josh Allen, they're they're there to win. You can
Speaker 1: see how hungry they are the way they play the game.
Speaker 1: I mean Josh Allen. You know, some could say he's
Speaker 1: a bit reckless when he's running with the ball, big boy,
Speaker 1: but I think he don't take too much stock into it.
Speaker 1: It's good that he got paid and paid more than
Speaker 1: some quarterbacks having their entire career. Um, but lines won't
Speaker 1: fluctuate too much more there. I think those guys are
Speaker 1: understanding of it's a business and they have to perform
Speaker 1: and and NFL contracts are not guaranteed. So even though
Speaker 1: you have a subset of it that's guaranteed, soever he
Speaker 1: made two hundred plus meal or uh you know, high hundreds,
Speaker 1: only portion that's guaranteed. So if he gets cut after
Speaker 1: two years, he's not seen that whole amount A hundred
Speaker 1: fifty million is guaranteed in this contract, which is an
Speaker 1: NFL record. So now he's the second highest paid player
Speaker 1: in NFL history behind the Homes with his annual average salary.
Speaker 1: You guys ready for this forty three million? Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: and in Buffalo that's worth about five hundred million. You
Speaker 1: could buy all of Buffalo with that amount of money. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they may rename Buffalo after Josh Allen gets Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: it's it's gonna be interesting even I mean the money
Speaker 1: that he made, and then even if you go to
Speaker 1: NBA for a second, Luca done, the money he's made.
Speaker 1: They've made more money than a lot of players have
Speaker 1: in their entire career, and a lot of big name
Speaker 1: players too. I think Vince Carter was one that Luka
Speaker 1: has already surpassed. And he's only in the league. He's
Speaker 1: put four years. So it's crazy to see some of
Speaker 1: these numbers now and shows where the NFL and the
Speaker 1: NBA are compared to twenty years ago, fifteen years ago. Yeah,
Speaker 1: if if you're if you're an NBA player from like
Speaker 1: the eighties, you are you're not happy about what you're seeing,
Speaker 1: Well you'll see you'll see a lot of those players
Speaker 1: doing the podcast rounds right, yes, I'll you're doing the
Speaker 1: podcast trying to monetize whatever they say. I mean, you
Speaker 1: got it. The money has gone up. Yeah. Hey, Peter,
Speaker 1: as this airs Thursday morning. I want to take a
Speaker 1: quick look before we wrap at the Thursday night games.
Speaker 1: There are two of them. The Washington football team at
Speaker 1: New England Patriots. You mentioned Mac Jones, Cam Newton. Uh,
Speaker 1: that is a favorite for Washington minus one thirty um
Speaker 1: or you can look at the over under thirty five.
Speaker 1: What do you like there? Well, you know me with
Speaker 1: the unders, I'll take you cockey now that's taking unders
Speaker 1: until I see different. But I actually really like the
Speaker 1: Pats plus two. I think you've got guys that are
Speaker 1: going to see considerable amount of time, potentially jared' Stidham,
Speaker 1: Mac Jones, guys that have something to prove. I know
Speaker 1: stid him to a degree is fighting for a job.
Speaker 1: So I like Pats plus two. I don't know what
Speaker 1: Washington is gonna do. I don't think Fitzpatrick is gonna
Speaker 1: be playing much. Um, So I like the teams that
Speaker 1: have a little bit more depth and guys that are
Speaker 1: that are, you know, have something to play for. I
Speaker 1: think Another example is uh Niners on Saturday Night. I
Speaker 1: think they play actually the Chiefs. You might see Trey
Speaker 1: Lance for a pretty big portion of that game. I
Speaker 1: think it's understood that he's the backup now to Jimmy
Speaker 1: g But you've got guys that want to prove themselves
Speaker 1: and are gonna go out and play like it's a
Speaker 1: regular season game. So I think you have to take
Speaker 1: some of that into effect. And and even if you
Speaker 1: think about Jags, they're playing the Browns, a lot of
Speaker 1: the first team Browns are not gonna be playing Jags
Speaker 1: are minus two. You can expect to see Trevor Lawrence
Speaker 1: at least playing a quarter maybe two. Um, So you
Speaker 1: got guys there that want to perform and just show
Speaker 1: that hey, I got drafted one overall for a reason,
Speaker 1: I am fighting for the spot for a reason. And
Speaker 1: you've got to just back them because are they still
Speaker 1: are they still the Washington football team or have they
Speaker 1: come up with a name yet? One more year of
Speaker 1: Washington football team. I I personally think it's just a
Speaker 1: little bit of a scheme to get people to buy
Speaker 1: more of their their of the ft gear. It's gonna
Speaker 1: become retro at some point. So yeah, you sell it
Speaker 1: all now and then they switch over and all that
Speaker 1: stuff is worth a ton of money in twenty years times. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's that's what you call. You're a conspiracy theorist. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm out numbered now to the world is also the
Speaker 1: world is also flat too, so I'm all me and Kyrie. Yeah,
Speaker 1: good lord, now I was gonna say that's a good
Speaker 1: place to wrap. Now we just have to wrap before
Speaker 1: they get that. Peter, thank you again for joining us.
Speaker 1: A lot of fun as always, and hey football is back.
Speaker 1: God bless you and God bless football. Good luck this weekend. Guys. Okay, honest,
Speaker 1: that was a lot of fun. Do you feel like
Speaker 1: you're ready for the first late of games this weekend?
Speaker 1: I am ready. My TV is not, though, so I'm
Speaker 1: gonna have to watch it is not. My couch is not,
Speaker 1: but I might. I might just sit on the floor,
Speaker 1: or I might just go to Target and get a
Speaker 1: bean back there you go. Yeah, but yeah, I'm super excited.
Speaker 1: I can't wait to see what my team, the Giants
Speaker 1: do this year hopefully good Thanks absolutely, we are so excited.
Speaker 1: I can't wait to get back at lambeau Field this weekend.
Speaker 1: Next week we're gonna wrap everything up. We have NFL
Speaker 1: guests coming up over the next couple of months, so
Speaker 1: make sure you still stop off and hang out with
Speaker 1: us every week on Unleashed, follow us wherever you are
Speaker 1: on social media at bet MGM, and listen wherever you
Speaker 1: find your podcasts. CEO, don't forget to shout out your
Speaker 1: offensive line.