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 Gerar a little John and
Speaker 1: this is cut to it. Good do it, Good do it.
Speaker 1: That's getting down to do it. Good do it. We
Speaker 1: asked the questions you always want to know, but no
Speaker 1: one ever asked, let's cut to it. You ain't heard
Speaker 1: him about it, then we're about to let you know.
Speaker 1: It's all Tory Smith, two times Super Bowl champions, eight
Speaker 1: year NFL veteran with the Ravens, forty Honors Eagles Panthers,
Speaker 1: and he's the founder of the Tory Smith Family Fund
Speaker 1: with his wife Shannel. Yeah, we're about to go into
Speaker 1: a part of our podcast we like to call the
Speaker 1: deeper three. And so we know that a three route
Speaker 1: isn't deep. So you're gonna let us be great anyway.
Speaker 1: So we know that, but uh, these next three, these
Speaker 1: next three questions just allow us to take a deeper
Speaker 1: dive into you, you know, as a person beyond your profession.
Speaker 1: So Smitty, go ahead and uh lead us into the
Speaker 1: deep three. You celebrated an anniversary with your wife, Um
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks back, and so I want to
Speaker 1: ask you, what is being a father and a husband
Speaker 1: meaning you today means everything? You know, we just celebrated
Speaker 1: year seven and the responsibility that comes with that. Every
Speaker 1: time I look at my wife, every time I look
Speaker 1: at my kids, I look at the individuals that I
Speaker 1: prayed for and that I made decisions for without even
Speaker 1: knowing they existed. And to add a responsibility to provide
Speaker 1: for them, to be challenged by my wife, to be
Speaker 1: a better communicator, to not let my past um impact
Speaker 1: the way that I am with my kids, and to
Speaker 1: be able to see them through and lead them. Um.
Speaker 1: It's special, you know, and she's special and the way
Speaker 1: she helps challenge me. So I'm for sure thankful for it.
Speaker 1: And that's the biggest responsibility that I'll ever have on
Speaker 1: this on this earth. And I don't take it for granted,
Speaker 1: and I don't take the responsibility lightly. You know. It's
Speaker 1: I'm fortunate that, you know, I was able to play
Speaker 1: as long as I did, and I'm looking forward to,
Speaker 1: you know, being more present now with my kids, and
Speaker 1: I'm trying to be a better father and a better
Speaker 1: husband myself. That's where you talked a lot about your childhood,
Speaker 1: what you saw, what you what your experience looking back
Speaker 1: on it? Now, what does forgiveness mean to you as
Speaker 1: an adult? M hm hmm. It's really good right there.
Speaker 1: But but put me in counsel right now now. Forgetting
Speaker 1: this is huge, man. Do you know for me how
Speaker 1: hard it was? Forgettness is everything, but for givingness isn't easy.
Speaker 1: I will say that, um. But when you do it,
Speaker 1: it's very free, Like you feel like you have a
Speaker 1: weight lifted off of you, like it's not yours to carry. Um.
Speaker 1: But I've been able to forgive my mother's ex husband.
Speaker 1: Forgive doesn't mean that we're buddies or that we're gonna
Speaker 1: be hanging out, nothing like that. That might work for
Speaker 1: some people, but that's not working with me in this situation. Um.
Speaker 1: But I forget. I forgive him, um. And you know,
Speaker 1: but we're all sinners just like him, UM, and I'm
Speaker 1: no better. So I forgive him. Man, I I can
Speaker 1: move on. I don't care that same type of hatred
Speaker 1: that I used to have, that same type of hatred
Speaker 1: that would cause me to be up at night or
Speaker 1: the being a rage every time I even think of
Speaker 1: his hear his name or picture his face, you know,
Speaker 1: like I don't have that anymore. UM. I think of
Speaker 1: forgetting this for my mother as well. M hm. I
Speaker 1: used to judge my mother and and for the situations
Speaker 1: that she put me through, or my brothers and my
Speaker 1: siblings through. Um, I carried a lot of weight. You know,
Speaker 1: I've always loved my mother through that. But I carried
Speaker 1: I was, I had carried a lot of weight, and
Speaker 1: and honestly, I would say hatred towards a lot of
Speaker 1: things towards her in a lot of ways, UM, that
Speaker 1: I no longer have because my perspective is different. I've
Speaker 1: forgiven her and I understand, you know when I think
Speaker 1: about now again, I'm not taking away from the fact
Speaker 1: that these were her decisions and she made them. But
Speaker 1: I just take a look back at where I was
Speaker 1: at twenty five and where she was at five, and
Speaker 1: if I was in this situation, what I have been
Speaker 1: or done any better? And when you think about it,
Speaker 1: it's you know, it's it's a tough situation, UM, And
Speaker 1: your perspective is different. Right, I was twenty five years old, Stephen.
Speaker 1: I think I was just around you, right, I was
Speaker 1: around that age, and you know, my mother had must
Speaker 1: for kids and still trying to survive, literally survived for
Speaker 1: abusive relationship. So, um, it was a different thing. But
Speaker 1: I've been able to forgive her, and now I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't bring that up, you know. I
Speaker 1: try not to talk about the past towards her, because
Speaker 1: you can't truly forgive someone to interact with them if
Speaker 1: you're gonna throw it in every phase, every single time,
Speaker 1: you know, you get into an argument or you bring
Speaker 1: back these old feelings. They may never go away. But
Speaker 1: I forgiven it, so I know not to bring it up,
Speaker 1: you know, And and that's huge for me. That's powerful.
Speaker 1: Show the last question to end it all, if you,
Speaker 1: if older Tory had the opportunity to go back in
Speaker 1: time and write a letter to young Tor what to say, Um,
Speaker 1: don't let your circumstances of situations make your heart cold.
Speaker 1: I feel like everything I'm telling y'all, I've missed out.
Speaker 1: Not even that I missed out. I've carried a lot
Speaker 1: of weight. Um. I built up these walls to protect
Speaker 1: me from so many things, and it's even blocked me
Speaker 1: from the ability to love the right way. Like I'm
Speaker 1: I'm I'm a thirty one year old man, and I'm
Speaker 1: I have to learn how to love, like that's the
Speaker 1: weirdest thing to say, um, because love to me, like
Speaker 1: I said that people around me, I like, if this
Speaker 1: is loved and and you're saying you love me, like
Speaker 1: this doesn't add up, like you know, like these decisions,
Speaker 1: the situations you put me in, this isn't love right.
Speaker 1: And so for me that process is with my my wife,
Speaker 1: um being I was I'm super awkward, Like I didn't
Speaker 1: tell people, um, I love them, like I made sure
Speaker 1: because of what I saw and what people said, I
Speaker 1: love you and I love you carried no weight. I
Speaker 1: needed to know that your action showed it. So I
Speaker 1: went until I was probably about years old but probably
Speaker 1: been told my people around me and started telling them
Speaker 1: that I love them because it didn't make any sense
Speaker 1: as the acci didn't show. And I always and everyone's like,
Speaker 1: you know, you just know how tor is. You know
Speaker 1: how tor is, Like he's gonna show, he's not gonna
Speaker 1: say it right, And I just kind of started listening
Speaker 1: to that a little bit and think like, well, if
Speaker 1: I'm gonna complain about how it was for me coming up,
Speaker 1: I'm no better in the way that I'm handling these things,
Speaker 1: and it made me cold in a lot of ways.
Speaker 1: I'm used to disappointment, um from other people. I'm used
Speaker 1: to being disappointed from other people's actions. I'm used to
Speaker 1: uh failure, and so all of these things kind of
Speaker 1: built this cold heart that honestly, my wife has probably
Speaker 1: felt the biggest blow from that and and her journey
Speaker 1: with me and helping me to be better. So, um,
Speaker 1: I would say that just open up more and not
Speaker 1: take as long, because I think God would be a
Speaker 1: lot more. I think my heart is pure in terms
Speaker 1: of like my intentions and my love is. I feel
Speaker 1: like it's being the goal and the objective and what
Speaker 1: I want and what I projected is pure and real.
Speaker 1: But um, I know my co heart and feelings have
Speaker 1: hurt some people along the way. We appreciate you coming on, man,
Speaker 1: We appreciate your time. And I think the last thing
Speaker 1: after that tour, yep, I love you bro, Love you too, man,
Speaker 1: love you too, Love you too. Bro. Appreciate you Man.
Speaker 1: Mohammed Massaqui, five year NFL veteran, a graduate of the
Speaker 1: University of Georgia, an entrepreneur, graduate from the Harvard Business
Speaker 1: School and just overall, good dude. All right, here's my
Speaker 1: first one. And I put a lot of thought into
Speaker 1: it because I, you know, just preparing for this, knowing
Speaker 1: how how deep you are, what you've been through, and
Speaker 1: it's been it's been awesome to kind of just walk
Speaker 1: through this journey with you. You've you've had many mountaintop
Speaker 1: experiences and some valleys. When you sit on the porch
Speaker 1: of life with a beverage in one hand and two
Speaker 1: listening capable ears? What is life? Taught you that you
Speaker 1: can use what is life? On my thoughts? Going crazy?
Speaker 1: I don't want to It is a six pound Jorkie. Poor. Uh,
Speaker 1: you just off that you lost so man and came
Speaker 1: with marriage. Bro, you you know, don't put that on
Speaker 1: their life. Now. We're not gonna let you do that. No, miss,
Speaker 1: Why that's what you gotta do, even though I'm the one.
Speaker 1: That's why he's backing it up. Yeah you know. Um,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry. What what is life? Yeah? What is like? Yeah?
Speaker 1: What is like? Taking me? Um? I got a friend.
Speaker 1: He has a quote he said, the unknown opportunities excite me,
Speaker 1: whether the future makes me nervous. And so I've I've
Speaker 1: lived by that to where you know a lot of
Speaker 1: times we're gonna live in the past and we want
Speaker 1: to think of like the best days of whatever have
Speaker 1: have gone. And so whatever these future opportunities are, they're
Speaker 1: they're exciting, and if you do what you need to do, um,
Speaker 1: you can prepare for it. And even at the end,
Speaker 1: like the future opportunities sometimes not even yours is living
Speaker 1: through your seats, living through your kids, and so that
Speaker 1: legacy of you know, given the next generation something to
Speaker 1: build for it on is what's exciting. Mo If you
Speaker 1: had to go back in time to Cleveland with the
Speaker 1: knowledge you have now, what would you do differently? And
Speaker 1: I would? I would I would reach out two vets.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't try to figure it out on my own
Speaker 1: like I would. I would figure out a way to
Speaker 1: get in contact with some media, to figure out a
Speaker 1: where to get in contact with Moose. I figure out
Speaker 1: a way to spend more time with Hinds versus trying to,
Speaker 1: you know, put together all these pieces by myself. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, when I don't think people like rely on
Speaker 1: just other good people functions at the high level a
Speaker 1: lot of times, and so I would know how to
Speaker 1: do that better. M What drives you now what's your why?
Speaker 1: My why? Man? I could say my daughter, uh and
Speaker 1: and having a child that puts everything in perspective. Um.
Speaker 1: But then I I told somebody like I think I
Speaker 1: got fifty percent out of my athletic ability, and he
Speaker 1: thought I was crazy. Um, and I like broke it
Speaker 1: down just like some of the things that we talked
Speaker 1: about of just not knowing um, some of the areas
Speaker 1: that you don't develop it And so the why now,
Speaker 1: it's just maximizing my human potential, like whatever gifts God
Speaker 1: has given me on this planet and not wanting them
Speaker 1: go um, undeveloped and unshared. You know, especially when you
Speaker 1: you know a lot of times people don't athletes don't
Speaker 1: do things selfishly just because of themselves. They're doing it
Speaker 1: for family, they're doing it for impact. That the work
Speaker 1: that you're doing in the community, or both of you're
Speaker 1: doing in the community. It's not just all about speech Smith,
Speaker 1: it's not just all about g And the higher you function,
Speaker 1: the more you're able to give, the more you're able
Speaker 1: to do to empower other people. And so in realizing
Speaker 1: that there's a lot that can be done to do that,
Speaker 1: it's just the potential to see it all the way
Speaker 1: through UM in all aspects. Paige Demacos, she's the chief
Speaker 1: operating officer of the Draft Neckwork. She's co host of
Speaker 1: the TV in Fantasy podcast, and she makes a mean
Speaker 1: Greek chicken. How do you want to impact the world? UM?
Speaker 1: Right now and also in five years? The good question, UM,
Speaker 1: thank you. I want to impact. I want to impact
Speaker 1: the world and talked about it a little earlier, but
Speaker 1: I want to be a leader of a sports media
Speaker 1: company that helps change what what it looks like in
Speaker 1: sports UM. And that means getting more women and minorities
Speaker 1: and making sure that there are more opportunities at the
Speaker 1: ground floor to make sure that we are allowing those
Speaker 1: people to elevate properly, because unless we change it at
Speaker 1: the beginning, we're gonna have some of the situations like
Speaker 1: we talked about, where you're gonna make a higher just
Speaker 1: to make a higher and they're not going to be qualified.
Speaker 1: Our responsibility is to foster people and have internships and
Speaker 1: create opportunities so we can get more diversity, so that
Speaker 1: when I go to on a trip to the combine,
Speaker 1: it's not ninety eight percent white guys. It's a more
Speaker 1: honest reflection of what our country looks like. And I
Speaker 1: think that's I know that that's super ambitious, but I'm
Speaker 1: an ambitious person. So that's that's what I want now,
Speaker 1: and it's what I wanted in five years, because I
Speaker 1: would hope that in five years I'm gonna be an
Speaker 1: even better, more prominent, more powerful position to do more
Speaker 1: of it and quite honestly expect more of it from
Speaker 1: other people that are also in my position, and I
Speaker 1: think that will that will be something that will be
Speaker 1: exceptionally powerful. So then what does success mean to you?
Speaker 1: What if this it success mean to use? Success is
Speaker 1: every single day. To me, there is there is something
Speaker 1: to be said about competing with yourself and I have
Speaker 1: always done this, and to me, it's a success every day,
Speaker 1: a competition every day, a challenge every day. Because if
Speaker 1: you start setting benchmarks of this is success for me,
Speaker 1: then what's after that? Right? So to me, it's it's
Speaker 1: every day and there's no there's no endgame here. That's
Speaker 1: not there's no endgame. It's it is constantly getting better
Speaker 1: at every aspect of what I do, whether that's in
Speaker 1: my work life, in my personal life. Quite frankly, one
Speaker 1: of the things I love competing and having success in
Speaker 1: most is is as an ass ead and and working
Speaker 1: out every day and setting little micro challenges that make
Speaker 1: me feel successful every day. Like that, it's success to me.
Speaker 1: It's every day, it's showing up. It's it's making those
Speaker 1: competitions that force you to always be the right amount
Speaker 1: of uncomfortable, so you're constantly getting better. You can go
Speaker 1: backwards and write a letter to young page, what would
Speaker 1: you tell her to be on the lookout for, UH
Speaker 1: for this year? Specifically, I would tell myself eight months ago,
Speaker 1: I would tell myself to relax because it's man, it's
Speaker 1: it's been a journey, UH, this this last since I
Speaker 1: left the Combine, UH, life change a whole lot. The
Speaker 1: second that I got back from being in a bubble
Speaker 1: for ten days in Indianapolis. And if I could talk
Speaker 1: to myself just getting back to the Combine, I would
Speaker 1: tell myself just relax, like everything's gonna be okay. Just relax. Um.
Speaker 1: But if I could talk to my younger self, UM,
Speaker 1: I would definitely go back to you know, a much younger,
Speaker 1: ambitious eighth grader who at that time was like, I
Speaker 1: want to work in sports and was getting bullied by
Speaker 1: a lot of people at school, and would tell that
Speaker 1: person that those people were going to ask you for
Speaker 1: fantasy football advice and tickets and and being and having
Speaker 1: access to your friends who play in the league, and
Speaker 1: that they don't matter. And so I would tell that
Speaker 1: eighth grader to not care about other people so much
Speaker 1: and just know that eventually those people are gonna be
Speaker 1: asking you for stuff and it's never not going to
Speaker 1: feel good. And and that's what I would tell younger page.
Speaker 1: I love cut to It, and I love it even
Speaker 1: more when you download us and subscribe, and you can
Speaker 1: follow us on social media too, Smithie where where at?
Speaker 1: That's at? Cut to It on Instagram? What about Twitter?
Speaker 1: At cut to It Facebook? Cut to It featuring Steve
Speaker 1: Smith singr? What about online? And you can follow us
Speaker 1: at cut to It podcast dot com where you can
Speaker 1: buy merch and you can subscribe to us wherever you
Speaker 1: 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 for.
Speaker 1: A brother, cut to a Podcast dot Com. Harold Varner.
Speaker 1: He's a PGA Tour member since two thousand and sixteen.
Speaker 1: He's a native of Gaston in North Carolina. He went
Speaker 1: to college at East Carolina University and he's a member
Speaker 1: of Brand Jordan's So tell us, so you said you
Speaker 1: had a good chafing story, tell a show when I
Speaker 1: turned pro. My really good friend and agent now he manager.
Speaker 1: He caddy for me for my first seven er or so. Yeah, No,
Speaker 1: he came. He came out to hopper nice. We missed
Speaker 1: the cut the first week, and then we went down
Speaker 1: this place. We missed the cut. But when he wins,
Speaker 1: he don't say we takes all the glory. We missed
Speaker 1: the co He went the next week. We get so.
Speaker 1: I I just as a kid growing up, I just
Speaker 1: always if I chafed, you know, you do that, you
Speaker 1: do it afterwards, you like, you know, make sure you
Speaker 1: don't put any lotion on, you know, like it'll burn whatever.
Speaker 1: But we get down the river landing. I had never
Speaker 1: heard a baby powder like being uh yeah, using baby
Speaker 1: papers period, were just using it as a No. I've
Speaker 1: heard a baby but not for like grown men chafing.
Speaker 1: You know, I never i'd have heard of gold bin.
Speaker 1: I didn't like the way that goldon smelled, you know,
Speaker 1: I just never really yeah, and they're all in the
Speaker 1: locker rooms. I wonder you don't go in there. That's disgusting.
Speaker 1: Go ahead. So we uh he played professional baseball and
Speaker 1: I'm like, he's like, man, you don't put on baby powder.
Speaker 1: I'm like, I ain't never heard of. It smells good,
Speaker 1: Like if it does the same trick, you know, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna start using that. Man. I came out there and
Speaker 1: I put on my shorts. Then I had baby powder
Speaker 1: going everywhere, like coming through my shorts. We use baby powder.
Speaker 1: Were you playing because there's so much And that was
Speaker 1: first time about the hitting. You hit your side. I
Speaker 1: got on the lebron thing just in reverse. So the
Speaker 1: one thing that I like until so I didn't chafe.
Speaker 1: And all I remember is that week it was like
Speaker 1: a hundred and we were sweating. Every time my hands
Speaker 1: got you know, sweaty, hit my shorts and it was
Speaker 1: driving because the baby they called that cheap, So it
Speaker 1: was yeah, that's my that's my chafing story. I've never
Speaker 1: chafed sinceon. So I just it smells so much better.
Speaker 1: Whenever you know, you're like, because sometimes when you use
Speaker 1: that gold band, you start sweating. Man, you don't, I
Speaker 1: know you don't change. But m hm mm hmm started happening.
Speaker 1: You travel all the world around the world, and the
Speaker 1: only thing you picked up in golfers learned how not
Speaker 1: to chase and use gold Yeah you chafe one time,
Speaker 1: you know you better have I used A. I was
Speaker 1: using A and D and it was just like look
Speaker 1: you know, oh yeah you was definitely some old person.
Speaker 1: And yeah, it's unbelievable. Once you chafe, what does A
Speaker 1: and D. It's like thing and you just you put
Speaker 1: it where you're chafing. It like chaffing is basically where
Speaker 1: your inner thighs are rubbing against each other because you
Speaker 1: can get it right here, oh because of the swing.
Speaker 1: It's wherever Like there's like again this audio podcast, they
Speaker 1: don't know what you're pointing to. Oh, under your armpits.
Speaker 1: People get it when they run. You didn't know that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I didn't know until I got to the baby pattered thing.
Speaker 1: I started looking up why people chasing? That's how I
Speaker 1: found out now. But Goldband did come out with a
Speaker 1: deodorant stick that is fire. I should be sponsored by
Speaker 1: gold What about blistering with with with shoes? Shoes never
Speaker 1: had a blister period, No on my feet. I got
Speaker 1: the worlds they did kind of shoot you guy your
Speaker 1: feet on. I mean maybe as a kid when they
Speaker 1: came out with the classics that look like old shoes,
Speaker 1: maybe then. But even then, I don't know if I
Speaker 1: had cowst up in the right spots. But my on
Speaker 1: my little toe, I have like a little thing. I
Speaker 1: got one on my thumb side too, but it just
Speaker 1: doesn't I don't chafe. It's or I don't blister up.
Speaker 1: Do you do you lay out any of your clothes before? No, man,
Speaker 1: I could be color blind when it comes to match
Speaker 1: and I get I get Amanda to do on my shot.
Speaker 1: What yeah, mandal pick on my outfits and then iron
Speaker 1: them and then I'll travel. He gets it done for me,
Speaker 1: but I did. We bought a rug for the house
Speaker 1: and she said it was blue, and I didn't see
Speaker 1: any blue in this right. I'm the worst matcher ever. Really,
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, dude, you don't understand. Here's the last
Speaker 1: question I got. A question is is there is there
Speaker 1: the unwritten rule there's only one person allowed to wear
Speaker 1: red on Sunday? Patrick read wear's red on Sunday. I
Speaker 1: don't think there's I mean, if you like being talked about.
Speaker 1: You wear that red, I wear purple. I went to
Speaker 1: East Carolina just you just Sunday. I mean people, I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't. It's very few people that wear the same
Speaker 1: colors on Sunday. In general. They might have a night
Speaker 1: outfit that they're picked out to wear on Sunday, but
Speaker 1: very few people are like, I'm wearing the same color Sunday.
Speaker 1: Everybody knows tiger works. That be you try to come
Speaker 1: back out and wear red and black when you know
Speaker 1: good and what talking about? To read one of the
Speaker 1: masters in red? I know, but we ain't talking about him.
Speaker 1: What you said your unwritten rule? Then I'm just talking
Speaker 1: about you know. I was like, I mean, like there's
Speaker 1: certain things you're like, no, bro, you can't do that
Speaker 1: right right right? Red and black? The thing uh I
Speaker 1: would say would be people say, don't wear white belts.
Speaker 1: I'm wearing a white belt. Why I still first heard
Speaker 1: that one. Yeah, people are like white belts and some
Speaker 1: golferd thing. I see it on Twitter all the time.
Speaker 1: So I wear the white belt. I'm wearing a damn
Speaker 1: white belt. If I want to wear a white belt.
Speaker 1: What about guys that have guys because I've seen it
Speaker 1: in tennis, like you see it Australian Open and all
Speaker 1: these major tennants, and like they'll be wearing the same outfit. Man,
Speaker 1: I wear the same outfit. No, I'm talking about the
Speaker 1: same two people. Yeah, they might wear all yeah, and
Speaker 1: it's twinsies. Have you ever been partnered with someone you
Speaker 1: same thing, the same like, y'all both Nike, y'all both
Speaker 1: go you really got that problem? You don't? Are you
Speaker 1: the only Jordan guy? The only one that wears the clothes? Um?
Speaker 1: So you shouldn't have fun factor today in the Jordan brand.
Speaker 1: If you're if you wear everything Jordan's tota head, they
Speaker 1: go opposite because they start with the shoes. I never
Speaker 1: knew it. Fred told me that one time. I was like,
Speaker 1: all right, you know I didn't know that. So um so,
Speaker 1: Keegan Bradley, Kinging Bradley, Me, Pat Perez and Luke Don
Speaker 1: would wear the shoes. So does Jamie love Martin. I
Speaker 1: think you just started wearing so a lot of people
Speaker 1: wearing the shoes. Ryan Palmer wears him. I played with
Speaker 1: him in this team event and we wore in matching shoes.
Speaker 1: I brought shoes. I was like, hey, man, just wear
Speaker 1: these shoes. You're gonna like him, trust me. He's like,
Speaker 1: I don't know now, that's all he wears influencer. I
Speaker 1: don't understand though, if you gave me a pair of
Speaker 1: shoes and they look good, I'm wouldn't be looking at
Speaker 1: because it's the day of the match. Sc trying to
Speaker 1: get used like Jedi in the last place. You're gonna
Speaker 1: be all right, put on the damn shoes. Yeah exactly, Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: we're gonna play playing your shoes on my team. Cool,
Speaker 1: all right, man, we'll appreciate it. Thanks. You gotta stop
Speaker 1: by your podcast. Michael Vick he went to Virginia Tech University.
Speaker 1: He's a four time pro bowler. He was the NFL
Speaker 1: Comeback Player of the Year, and he's the NFL's all
Speaker 1: time leader in rushing yards by a quarterback over six
Speaker 1: thousand yards. If you could put a billboard in Newport News,
Speaker 1: Jenior with any message on it, what would it be
Speaker 1: and why I put it a big billboard? Let's say
Speaker 1: love that I made it because you know, even when
Speaker 1: like people, they hurt harm people in their own communities,
Speaker 1: like and I grew up in no friends who grew
Speaker 1: up together who would I hurt, harm and kill one another?
Speaker 1: And like and like yo, we just all like you know,
Speaker 1: on your neighborhood or your peer right, people understood that
Speaker 1: concept then like it's really not that much altercation going
Speaker 1: on in the world, Like I think, I mean it is.
Speaker 1: It is because we make it that way. You know,
Speaker 1: it's several situations that cause conflict and in the communities, man,
Speaker 1: and you know, for one, it's just too many people
Speaker 1: trying to do the same thing. And then you know,
Speaker 1: like it's just no lordy or no respect. But if
Speaker 1: everybody went their own separate way, hed their own goals
Speaker 1: and in vendors, then you know, they easily said they've
Speaker 1: done it. I think, you know, it will have a
Speaker 1: highest success rate, more success stories. People just fall into
Speaker 1: that trap. They don't have no respect for one another,
Speaker 1: you know, one young kids and you know even with
Speaker 1: the adults, just sometimes the level of disrespect is just
Speaker 1: way too great. It's just far too great. And then
Speaker 1: you hear about sad stories and like, damn, where where
Speaker 1: the integrity goes? So I'm trying to change that. But
Speaker 1: like I'm don neighbor, Mike how and pat folk can
Speaker 1: a second chance? Speed second chance to change the person's
Speaker 1: life and happen to me. That's why I'm stop out
Speaker 1: my own prison reform program UM to help you know,
Speaker 1: incarcerated fellas man and women with their re entry back
Speaker 1: into society. You found out through a friend who just
Speaker 1: finished up twenty six years for crime he didn't do
Speaker 1: UM and coming home to hardships, you know, and not
Speaker 1: complaining about it. And I'm just like, these people need
Speaker 1: a need help, you know what they need help? You know,
Speaker 1: obviously I found out transportation and housing it's what's most important,
Speaker 1: and then they need assistance, a little assistance after that.
Speaker 1: So you're trying to create some programs and on partner
Speaker 1: with programs that can help. You know. I never God,
Speaker 1: but you know, I just know what what what that
Speaker 1: second chance to do? You Like, guys come out of
Speaker 1: their feelings and that that's their label and never it
Speaker 1: never goes away in their life is never the same,
Speaker 1: and I just don't think they get to the fair
Speaker 1: opportunity to go out of the go and try to
Speaker 1: be successful again. You know, hopefully we'll see that. You know,
Speaker 1: the success stories are you know, far greater than what
Speaker 1: they are now. Because I just know that they just
Speaker 1: need a chance. You don't. Once you get that felling
Speaker 1: the tag, like everything kind of goes out the window
Speaker 1: and then you know it's just no real opportunity in life,
Speaker 1: and that's not fair. Um So, so I think, you know,
Speaker 1: my initiative, you know, it's a social reform. Um, it's
Speaker 1: too you know, I want to attach myself to things
Speaker 1: that that that my heart is really gonna be into
Speaker 1: and that I'm a social you know, justice programs as well, um,
Speaker 1: but this one is where I really can have an
Speaker 1: impact my heart and be into it. And because it
Speaker 1: happened to me, you know, betting the second chance, and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, I had resources. And then these resources can
Speaker 1: be presented to these spellings of men and women and
Speaker 1: help them, you know, hopefully go off and do some
Speaker 1: greater things. Well. I appreciate that, man, I love I
Speaker 1: love that and look forward um to seeing all the
Speaker 1: great things is doing. The last one though, this is
Speaker 1: kind of just gonna make you think. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: we all struggle with things. And I heard this and
Speaker 1: I wrote it down and I thought it is extremely
Speaker 1: imp appropriate for you because you have overcome a ton
Speaker 1: of things and so struggling. I heard that struggling is
Speaker 1: successfully not giving up. So what have you struggled with
Speaker 1: that you haven't dealt with yet? Um? Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: UM probably still certain, you know, insecurities and just trying to,
Speaker 1: you know, continue to be UM trustworthy. Man, UM don't
Speaker 1: trust a lot of people. I've just been very a
Speaker 1: lot with a lot of people, and it's UM almost
Speaker 1: the point where it's like, you know, I'll be thinking
Speaker 1: about friends and I'm like, d do I Like it's
Speaker 1: so people like, man, do I didn't even really need friends?
Speaker 1: Who do I need to talk to every day? If
Speaker 1: I you know, if I want to just get something
Speaker 1: off my chest or if I want to explain something
Speaker 1: to somebody, Like who can I really trust? You know
Speaker 1: what I mean? Because so many times I'm and the
Speaker 1: simplest situations and violence for him, Like I can't even
Speaker 1: understand why, you know, people make the decisions to do
Speaker 1: some of the things that they do, and and I
Speaker 1: just like, yo, damn, that person really wasn't for me.
Speaker 1: He really don't care, Like you know, I gave him
Speaker 1: the world. I just I did so much and that
Speaker 1: look how you look at me now, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. So I'm like, that's two years and years
Speaker 1: and years, and you know, um developing a friendship and
Speaker 1: giving and make it to people like you know, taking
Speaker 1: care of and they're able to feed their families. And
Speaker 1: then sometimes they look back at you and they be like, Yo, well,
Speaker 1: I guess they feel like you ain't doing enough. And
Speaker 1: You're like, damn, I did. I didn't have to do anything,
Speaker 1: you know. So I'm like, damn, how am I supposed
Speaker 1: to trust me? Somebody said, Yo, this is my boy
Speaker 1: and that's my friends because I've just been told by
Speaker 1: some of the people that I love the most, like
Speaker 1: that's just not the pay. Sometimes be like, all right,
Speaker 1: so that's how life is, and that's how I like this.
Speaker 1: But I'm I don't really trust people, like so that's
Speaker 1: what I've been dealing with, man, And I don't think
Speaker 1: it's gonna change. I think it's going in there. It's
Speaker 1: not going in the right direction, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: But this is going in the direction that I wanted
Speaker 1: to go in, and I wanted to flow in where like, yo,
Speaker 1: I can control the crowd around me. You are a
Speaker 1: unique person. You are well worth it, You are competent,
Speaker 1: and most of all, your lovable I'm Steve Smith, singer,
Speaker 1: I'm Gerard Little John and this is cut to It.
Speaker 1: Cut to It with Steve Smith Senior. That Is Me
Speaker 1: is a production of Cut to It LLC, Baltol Creative Media,
Speaker 1: The Black Effect and I Heart Radio. For more podcast
Speaker 1: from I Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio Apple
Speaker 1: Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows
Speaker 1: from Cut to It. Executive producer Steve Smith, singor co
Speaker 1: host Gerard John, talent and booking manager Joe Fusci, Social
Speaker 1: media team Wesley Robinson and John Show from Balto Creative Media.
Speaker 1: Cut Too It is produced by Brian Baltaschevic and Meredith Carter,
Speaker 1: with production assistance by Alex Lebrek. Production coordinator Taylor Robinson.
Speaker 1: Theme music by Alex Johnson, lyrics and vocals by Anthony Hamilton.
Speaker 1: You ain't heard about it, then we're about to let
Speaker 1: you know. It's all