WEBVTT - Ali Marpet: trading dollars for a doctorate, guarding Tom Brady, climbing Kilimanjaro 0:00:00.400 --> 0:00:01.200 What's up everybody. 0:00:01.240 --> 0:00:03.920 This is Spice Adams and you're listening to the NFL 0:00:04.000 --> 0:00:06.319 Player's Second Acts Podcast. 0:00:07.200 --> 0:00:24.959 Baby, and welcome back. Thank you for tuning in to 0:00:25.079 --> 0:00:28.640 the NFL Players Second Acts Podcast. It's been a minute, 0:00:28.640 --> 0:00:31.240 but were back on, Peanut, and I got my uncle 0:00:31.240 --> 0:00:33.560 Whitney as always, mister Roman Hormal. 0:00:33.280 --> 0:00:36.440 So what's happening you good? I was not ready for 0:00:36.479 --> 0:00:38.559 the drum roll or whatever you call that at the beginning. 0:00:39.280 --> 0:00:42.640 That's not the normal introduction, that's not how it actually works. 0:00:42.640 --> 0:00:44.120 I will not say your name because I don't want 0:00:44.120 --> 0:00:46.519 to give away who our guest is, but just know 0:00:47.800 --> 0:00:49.239 that it's a different. 0:00:49.000 --> 0:00:51.200 Opening every single time come on here. 0:00:51.320 --> 0:00:53.240 It's it's so I never know what's going to happen 0:00:53.640 --> 0:00:54.640 comes out of this guy's mouth. 0:00:54.720 --> 0:00:55.640 I don't know as well. 0:00:55.800 --> 0:00:57.440 All right, before we get all that this, you know, 0:00:57.480 --> 0:00:59.680 I want to thank all of our listeners for always 0:00:59.680 --> 0:01:02.440 tuning in. Could you give us a five star rating 0:01:02.680 --> 0:01:06.600 wherever you listen to your podcast where it's Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, 0:01:07.120 --> 0:01:11.160 Please give us a listen, a follow, subscribe. Let's continue 0:01:11.160 --> 0:01:14.000 to push it on forward. Peanut, who's our guest today? 0:01:14.160 --> 0:01:17.560 Today? We got an oldie but a goodie. This gentleman 0:01:17.720 --> 0:01:22.880 played seven years for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was 0:01:22.959 --> 0:01:26.160 drafted in the second round by Love Smith, one of 0:01:26.160 --> 0:01:29.319 my former coaches. He's a Super Bowl winning champion. He's 0:01:29.360 --> 0:01:35.520 an All Pro guard. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Ali Marpetts. 0:01:35.560 --> 0:01:36.559 What's going on, boss? 0:01:36.640 --> 0:01:37.679 I appreciate you, Thank you. 0:01:37.920 --> 0:01:40.160 Hold on all right now, all right, before you even 0:01:40.160 --> 0:01:42.800 go into Ali, we gotta address the elephant in the room. 0:01:42.880 --> 0:01:43.200 All right. 0:01:43.240 --> 0:01:46.440 You were a second round pick by Tampay Bucks from. 0:01:46.240 --> 0:01:50.800 A Division three, Yes school, that means you, William Smith 0:01:51.360 --> 0:01:52.600 and Baylor. 0:01:53.200 --> 0:01:55.120 I can't even pronounce it. They got like eight names. 0:01:55.280 --> 0:01:58.720 You got like three different D three programs right there. Yeah, 0:01:58.760 --> 0:02:03.120 so yeah, so three player. Uh so I'm hyping myself 0:02:03.160 --> 0:02:05.440 up here. I like to do it. You should introduction. 0:02:05.600 --> 0:02:06.440 I'm proud of it. Now. 0:02:06.600 --> 0:02:08.640 So I was the I'm playing with D two guys, 0:02:08.680 --> 0:02:09.400 never get three. 0:02:09.520 --> 0:02:13.560 That was the highest drafted Division three player in NFL history. 0:02:12.400 --> 0:02:18.919 So that the small school guys. You gotta you gotta 0:02:18.960 --> 0:02:21.160 have school guys. Yeah. 0:02:21.200 --> 0:02:24.760 So I read though that you were the offensive player 0:02:24.919 --> 0:02:26.720 of the year as a lineman. 0:02:27.400 --> 0:02:30.720 Yeah, other things I feel proud of. Yeah. So I 0:02:30.760 --> 0:02:33.160 was co offense. I don't know if does that work 0:02:33.240 --> 0:02:35.560 another quarterback, but yeah, so I was a co offensive player. 0:02:35.560 --> 0:02:39.600 At the conference, I was did you have any touchdowns? 0:02:39.639 --> 0:02:41.720 No touchdowns or anything like that. So no real stats, 0:02:41.760 --> 0:02:45.360 but I'm telling you I was better. Just put up politely. 0:02:45.400 --> 0:02:49.799 I was better than my competition pretty significantly enough to 0:02:49.800 --> 0:02:54.040 to garner that honor. But yeah, so I was like, oh, 0:02:54.080 --> 0:02:57.240 this is what football is like. You just like dominate, dude, dominate, 0:02:58.120 --> 0:02:59.359 and then when you get to the NFL, it's like, 0:02:59.400 --> 0:03:02.400 oh no, it's a bit different. These guys are getting paid. 0:03:02.240 --> 0:03:04.880 To how much you have dominated a D three school? 0:03:05.440 --> 0:03:06.600 Nowhere near as much as that. 0:03:06.720 --> 0:03:09.280 I'm just saying, like, so I play with a guy, 0:03:09.360 --> 0:03:12.040 Jarry Evans, who went to Bloomsburg University. It was a 0:03:12.120 --> 0:03:15.200 D two, right, and so I was like, how do 0:03:15.240 --> 0:03:17.120 you get drafted from a D two school? And he 0:03:17.160 --> 0:03:19.400 went like fourth round? You being second round. It is 0:03:19.480 --> 0:03:22.520 like that's like being first round of any If you 0:03:22.600 --> 0:03:24.919 went to D one, you're going first round. But he 0:03:25.000 --> 0:03:27.239 went to small school, so everybody's like they're going to 0:03:27.360 --> 0:03:29.280 question it, but second round is just like going first 0:03:29.320 --> 0:03:31.160 round from where you are. And he was like the 0:03:31.200 --> 0:03:33.640 only way you get drafted from a small school is 0:03:33.720 --> 0:03:37.400 literally you have to destroy people as an offer to Lineman, 0:03:37.440 --> 0:03:40.240 You're like, you're carrying him out of bounds, your body, 0:03:40.240 --> 0:03:43.520 slamming somebody every play. You're like, you just jump off 0:03:43.520 --> 0:03:45.600 the tape. You're like, I don't know, the film's kind 0:03:45.640 --> 0:03:48.160 of grainy, I don't know where they're playing at, but 0:03:48.880 --> 0:03:52.480 this kid is just dominating, kicking ass everybody. 0:03:52.760 --> 0:03:56.080 I mean, so that is kind of I got a 0:03:56.120 --> 0:03:58.160 little bit hype myself up here, but a little bit. 0:03:58.200 --> 0:04:01.120 That's how it has to play out. And also like 0:04:01.280 --> 0:04:03.520 for me, like it takes a GM like or a 0:04:03.600 --> 0:04:07.440 coach like to take their SHOT's gonna take the shot 0:04:07.520 --> 0:04:10.240 on the It's so much easier pick the Alabama or 0:04:10.280 --> 0:04:14.960 the SEC. You know what I'm saying. So like it 0:04:15.000 --> 0:04:17.400 does take it like to kind of put it out 0:04:17.440 --> 0:04:21.160 on the line, be like I trust my ability scouts, 0:04:21.200 --> 0:04:24.320 my ability to evaluate talent, which is like a really 0:04:24.320 --> 0:04:26.360 hard thing to do for those. 0:04:26.120 --> 0:04:28.479 Smaller school So how was it when you went to 0:04:28.520 --> 0:04:29.200 the Senior Bowl? 0:04:29.360 --> 0:04:31.880 Yeah, so that was kind of like an eye opening. 0:04:31.600 --> 0:04:34.240 Experience, Like damn, okay, I'm not really storing people or. 0:04:34.920 --> 0:04:37.000 So I actually did okay the Senior Bowl too, and 0:04:37.080 --> 0:04:39.120 that was like a surprise for me. So like my 0:04:39.160 --> 0:04:42.840 first rep one on ones, like that's the that is 0:04:43.320 --> 0:04:46.599 Wednesday exactly. So like they say, the game doesn't really matter, 0:04:46.640 --> 0:04:49.440 it's just really one on ones that matter anyway. So 0:04:49.720 --> 0:04:54.320 my I'm like getting all fired up. It's exciting for me. 0:04:54.440 --> 0:04:57.839 My first rep. I'm at left tackle against Nate Orchard, 0:04:57.839 --> 0:05:01.200 who was the D one sack leader that year, you 0:05:01.320 --> 0:05:04.440 tah and and so I'm like, well, I'm about to 0:05:04.640 --> 0:05:06.920 get found out, like they're going about to realize that 0:05:06.960 --> 0:05:09.479 I don't belong here, Like what am I doing against 0:05:09.480 --> 0:05:12.080 a sack leader? First rap? And I ended up winning it, 0:05:12.120 --> 0:05:13.920 and I was like, all right, maybe I do belong 0:05:14.040 --> 0:05:16.120 And then slowly throughout the course of the week, I 0:05:16.160 --> 0:05:18.080 was like, oh wait, I can actually do this, and 0:05:18.120 --> 0:05:19.600 I can do it at high level. So there's a 0:05:19.640 --> 0:05:22.280 couple of moments where I was like kind of surprising myself, Yeah, 0:05:22.279 --> 0:05:23.560 along the way, does that make sense? 0:05:23.600 --> 0:05:25.479 Yes, competition. 0:05:26.839 --> 0:05:29.520 Here, and I realized they realized that I shouldn't be 0:05:29.520 --> 0:05:32.000 playing left tackle, I think right. That was another. 0:05:31.800 --> 0:05:34.360 Thing I was gonna say, like, so you played tackle 0:05:34.440 --> 0:05:39.480 in college and then you transitioned to guard, because yeah. 0:05:39.000 --> 0:05:41.000 Even if the senior ball is playing next to Trent 0:05:41.040 --> 0:05:42.479 Brown is a tackle and. 0:05:42.960 --> 0:05:44.200 Six eight, yeah Trent three. 0:05:44.360 --> 0:05:46.960 Yeah, yething like that and had a terrible pro day, 0:05:47.240 --> 0:05:48.240 terrible combine. 0:05:48.320 --> 0:05:51.800 Yeah, exactly, great player, great dude, great player. But I was. 0:05:51.880 --> 0:05:53.960 I was playing left tackle and I'm six four, three 0:05:54.040 --> 0:05:56.640 oh seven or whatever. They got this left guard next 0:05:56.680 --> 0:05:59.560 to me who's six sevens whatever, he is three seven 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:02.760 or something. Maybe we should switch those guys. You'll play 0:06:02.880 --> 0:06:05.120 left guard tackle, you play left guard. So that was 0:06:05.320 --> 0:06:05.960 a switch. Real. 0:06:06.080 --> 0:06:08.440 So you were at your heaviest weight, you were three 0:06:08.560 --> 0:06:11.680 or seven. What was that process like to go through 0:06:11.720 --> 0:06:14.599 and eat the calories? I mean you weren't naturally big. 0:06:14.760 --> 0:06:16.360 I think I read somewhere where you were like to 0:06:16.560 --> 0:06:19.880 eighty to ninety three hundred, and you just kept putting 0:06:19.880 --> 0:06:21.240 those calories on and on. 0:06:21.160 --> 0:06:23.920 Like yeah, I mean yeah, you can see where I'm 0:06:23.920 --> 0:06:29.880 at right now. I mean like, yeah, yeah, some down 0:06:29.920 --> 0:06:32.320 seventy five pounds or whatever like that. So I'm at 0:06:32.480 --> 0:06:34.240 my weight where I feel like I should be sitting that. 0:06:35.360 --> 0:06:38.520 But yes, it was hard, like when people tell me 0:06:38.640 --> 0:06:41.080 they can't gain weight like young athletes, and I talked 0:06:41.080 --> 0:06:43.040 to them like, yeah, I can't, Like you know, I'm 0:06:43.040 --> 0:06:44.560 trying to put on weight, like I can't gain with 0:06:44.800 --> 0:06:47.280 like sit eat with me for a day, Like I 0:06:47.360 --> 0:06:49.800 guarantee you you're going to gain weight. Like I had 0:06:49.800 --> 0:06:52.400 my alarm set to eat food. Like I'm sure you've 0:06:52.440 --> 0:06:54.440 heard the story, you know, the guys in the locker room, 0:06:54.440 --> 0:06:57.320 they're like need to like like it's the job is 0:06:57.360 --> 0:06:59.680 to eat right, And that was that was my mentality 0:06:59.680 --> 0:07:03.039 around food. And so now what I've done since I 0:07:03.080 --> 0:07:06.320 stopped playing is that I still had that mentality around food. 0:07:06.560 --> 0:07:09.480 I just had to sort of like the awareness around 0:07:09.520 --> 0:07:12.000 food is now changed. I just flipped that switch, if 0:07:12.000 --> 0:07:13.840 that makes sense. Like I always I still have that 0:07:13.920 --> 0:07:17.080 same awareness around food. I just now need to change 0:07:17.120 --> 0:07:19.160 what that that goal is for me sense? 0:07:19.240 --> 0:07:21.160 So do you eat less or do you eat differently? 0:07:21.680 --> 0:07:23.800 I just eat less. I last night I had went 0:07:24.160 --> 0:07:25.280 if I don't know if you guys been here, but 0:07:26.680 --> 0:07:30.440 who's your Chicago baste? So ocell there's an Ocean burger 0:07:30.520 --> 0:07:33.760 place here and there. Last night, I'm still eating your hood. 0:07:34.120 --> 0:07:34.960 I'm just. 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:37.200 Bacon. 0:07:39.120 --> 0:07:42.120 One of the best burger get. 0:07:42.200 --> 0:07:46.400 You have no idea, one of the best Burgers in 0:07:46.480 --> 0:07:47.360 Chicago shout. 0:07:47.200 --> 0:07:47.480 Out to. 0:07:49.600 --> 0:07:50.000 Shout out. 0:07:51.960 --> 0:07:55.040 Yeah, so yeah, I just have to eat less of it. 0:07:55.080 --> 0:07:58.280 But again, the intentionality around food is not something I 0:07:58.280 --> 0:08:01.040 can just like, you know, forget. So that's that's ingrained 0:08:01.040 --> 0:08:03.160 in me from all those years of gaining to be 0:08:03.600 --> 0:08:04.280 you know, aligneman. 0:08:04.400 --> 0:08:07.080 So you look like a tight end right now. First 0:08:07.280 --> 0:08:08.880 said it looked like a tight end. 0:08:09.000 --> 0:08:10.000 Looks just like a tight end. 0:08:10.040 --> 0:08:11.600 Yeh. I don't know if I got the hands for it. 0:08:12.520 --> 0:08:16.280 So you you were co MVP and college you can 0:08:16.440 --> 0:08:16.680 do it. 0:08:17.560 --> 0:08:18.240 Hyping you up. 0:08:18.280 --> 0:08:20.440 Now you should come back as a tight end. You 0:08:20.480 --> 0:08:22.480 can go to tight End University to be with Greg 0:08:22.480 --> 0:08:24.280 Olsen and there do some stuff. 0:08:24.360 --> 0:08:27.600 No. So, Actually, one of my workouts for the in 0:08:27.800 --> 0:08:30.520 my senior year, I was with the Bills, and the 0:08:30.600 --> 0:08:32.880 o C tight ends coach and the line coach came 0:08:32.920 --> 0:08:34.319 to Hobart. So it was I don't know, two hour 0:08:34.400 --> 0:08:36.680 drive or whatever. So they all came out to the 0:08:36.720 --> 0:08:39.320 school and I did five minutes of line position work 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:41.520 and then I did thirty minutes of tight end stuff. 0:08:41.559 --> 0:08:45.280 I was like, i'mbout to play tight end. This would 0:08:45.320 --> 0:08:46.679 be about to be cool, Like I'm gonna have a 0:08:46.720 --> 0:08:49.440 whole different experience around football, like I'm gonna get my 0:08:49.520 --> 0:08:52.160 name called and stuff like that and score touchdowns. But 0:08:52.200 --> 0:08:52.760 I didn't end up. 0:08:53.080 --> 0:08:55.400 What I want to ask is, when I retired, I 0:08:55.720 --> 0:08:57.720 built a boat. I built a rowboat, and I rolled 0:08:57.720 --> 0:09:02.600 across Lake Michigan. It's fantastically twenty twenty five, twenty six hours, 0:09:02.640 --> 0:09:05.720 non stop straight. We built a boat. My buddy of mine, Jake, 0:09:05.720 --> 0:09:08.600 we built a bowl a rowboat from scratch, and that 0:09:08.760 --> 0:09:10.800 was kind of a you know what, I still got 0:09:10.800 --> 0:09:13.400 it in my tank to do something competitive orthing like that. 0:09:13.480 --> 0:09:17.760 So you retired after seven seasons. You retired fairly young, 0:09:18.640 --> 0:09:26.560 and you lost seventy five pounds and you climbed Mount Killing. Yeah, 0:09:26.760 --> 0:09:29.679 I hope I said that right, you got it. Do 0:09:29.720 --> 0:09:32.680 you think you could have climbed that mountain at your 0:09:32.880 --> 0:09:33.480 playing weight? 0:09:33.880 --> 0:09:37.439 It's a good question. Uh. I would like to think 0:09:37.480 --> 0:09:39.920 that I could have. But so I was inspired by 0:09:39.960 --> 0:09:42.840 a teammate of mine, so Bo Allen, who was he 0:09:42.920 --> 0:09:44.400 was three, He was a de tackle. He did it 0:09:44.440 --> 0:09:48.240 at three twenty probably at the time. So I like 0:09:48.280 --> 0:09:49.920 to think that if he did it, I could do it. Yeah. 0:09:49.920 --> 0:09:53.720 And then also, uh, that same trip Pilodinada. He announced 0:09:53.720 --> 0:09:54.760 his retirement up there. 0:09:54.920 --> 0:09:55.480 I remember that. 0:09:55.600 --> 0:09:58.600 Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, so I know you were So 0:09:58.920 --> 0:10:02.440 I did it a couple of years later. Yeah, but 0:10:04.679 --> 0:10:07.520 not to I heard stories about it. They need a 0:10:07.520 --> 0:10:11.400 little assistance now, But you're three thirty, you know, sometimes 0:10:11.440 --> 0:10:14.440 you need a little help carrying some So I like 0:10:14.480 --> 0:10:17.040 to think that I could do it. I think, yeah, 0:10:17.040 --> 0:10:18.000 I get it, I get it done. 0:10:18.200 --> 0:10:20.320 No is it Is it a walk or is it 0:10:20.360 --> 0:10:21.600 like like a legit climb. 0:10:22.480 --> 0:10:24.199 One of the reason it's so popular is because it's 0:10:24.240 --> 0:10:26.160 not like a technical climb, Like it's just like you 0:10:26.200 --> 0:10:28.480 just need you're on your feet for hours, so you guys, 0:10:28.800 --> 0:10:31.360 anyone can like get it done. Yeah, it's just it's 0:10:31.440 --> 0:10:32.600 just kind of a grind. 0:10:33.200 --> 0:10:34.040 And how long did it take? 0:10:34.280 --> 0:10:36.480 So it's six days in and out, but it's like 0:10:36.559 --> 0:10:39.360 five days in and like the summit night that's the hardest. 0:10:39.400 --> 0:10:42.319 The rest of the time you're just walking fine. So 0:10:43.000 --> 0:10:48.640 at like midnight, youbously you start your start your climb 0:10:49.080 --> 0:10:55.120 and you're hiking pitch black with your head lamps. Yeah, 0:10:55.200 --> 0:10:57.680 at like you know, seventeen thousand feet or something like that, 0:10:57.960 --> 0:11:00.960 and just one foot at a time. Incredibly slowly, just 0:11:01.040 --> 0:11:04.720 like inching away up until you get to at sunrise 0:11:04.760 --> 0:11:06.680 at six o'clock or seven o'clock in the morning when 0:11:07.360 --> 0:11:09.080 and that's when you reach the summit. That's kind of 0:11:09.480 --> 0:11:11.200 that's kind of what you do. It's it's a freaking 0:11:11.240 --> 0:11:12.760 crynd It's one of the hardest things I had to do. 0:11:12.840 --> 0:11:15.440 Like that hard. They're gooding getting up there to that 0:11:15.440 --> 0:11:19.160 that that peak summer night, totally totally manageable. 0:11:18.720 --> 0:11:22.679 Air, super thin, Like I was struggling. 0:11:22.880 --> 0:11:26.480 Really okay, So what was the training before you get there? 0:11:26.520 --> 0:11:28.640 Like did you train it all or you just showed up? 0:11:28.760 --> 0:11:32.520 Because you seem like a guy Ali that likes to prepare. 0:11:33.000 --> 0:11:35.200 I am you come off as that guy. 0:11:35.280 --> 0:11:35.880 I appreciate it. 0:11:35.920 --> 0:11:39.959 And so I'm friends with a guy that does a 0:11:40.000 --> 0:11:42.480 lot of these mountain climbs nowt he's really gotten into it. 0:11:42.640 --> 0:11:47.079 He has his own oxygen machine. He's like like high deprivation. 0:11:47.200 --> 0:11:49.920 He watches TV for hour every day and just at 0:11:49.960 --> 0:11:52.839 low oxygen levels just to like prepare and do all 0:11:52.840 --> 0:11:56.880 these things. The shoes, the gear, what all did you have? 0:11:57.040 --> 0:11:59.800 What did you not have? What would you suggest anybody 0:11:59.800 --> 0:12:00.720 else to do this? 0:12:01.120 --> 0:12:03.640 So I like to prepare. However, this trip kind of 0:12:03.679 --> 0:12:06.559 came last minute. Like three weeks before the trip, They're like, hey, 0:12:06.600 --> 0:12:08.120 someone dropped out, you want to come? I was like 0:12:08.520 --> 0:12:13.200 bet so. So what I ended up doing was buying 0:12:13.240 --> 0:12:17.000 all the gear and like walking around Central Park because 0:12:17.080 --> 0:12:18.440 like that's like what else are you going to do 0:12:18.480 --> 0:12:20.120 to train besides being on your feet? Like that's what 0:12:20.160 --> 0:12:22.400 they recommend. So I had three weeks from just walking 0:12:22.559 --> 0:12:24.360 with my dog around the Central Park trying to break 0:12:24.360 --> 0:12:26.839 in shoes that can work for it. And then when 0:12:26.840 --> 0:12:29.120 I get there, I realize you're supposed to have liked 0:12:29.360 --> 0:12:32.160 medicine that helps like your brain from swelling from like altitude. 0:12:32.520 --> 0:12:35.559 I didn't have that, So like I'm scrounging, like trying 0:12:35.600 --> 0:12:38.679 to get from other people whatever leftovers they have. So 0:12:38.720 --> 0:12:40.640 like I ended up it ended up working out, but 0:12:40.640 --> 0:12:43.079 I'm taking like a quarter of the dosage that they recommend. 0:12:43.920 --> 0:12:46.520 So like normally I like to prepare, this trip was 0:12:46.520 --> 0:12:50.520 like the last minute, Like, yeah, I wouldn't recommend that 0:12:50.559 --> 0:12:53.240 part of it. Okay, I recommend training for it and 0:12:53.480 --> 0:12:55.880 walking around, but yeah, the whole last minute, I. 0:12:55.840 --> 0:12:57.040 Didn't know brain swell either. 0:12:57.080 --> 0:12:59.079 I didn't either. You that's something new. 0:12:59.080 --> 0:13:02.640 I've never heard that. Did anybody know that the brain swell? 0:13:02.920 --> 0:13:05.600 You're not supposed to You're not supposed to tell. 0:13:05.520 --> 0:13:09.240 People that, right, because everybody just rose behind the cameras 0:13:09.360 --> 0:13:10.439 is all like, nah, I ain't know that. 0:13:11.720 --> 0:13:15.920 Nobody like isn't supposed to be at that elevation. Like, 0:13:16.040 --> 0:13:18.480 it's just your body is just not your organs aren't 0:13:18.480 --> 0:13:19.320 functioning properly. 0:13:19.440 --> 0:13:21.920 I was gonna say, let's climb the mountain, but you say, 0:13:22.000 --> 0:13:25.160 my brain is swelling. So I'm good, No, we're not 0:13:25.200 --> 0:13:25.719 gonna do that. 0:13:26.160 --> 0:13:30.360 I'm it's cold, I'm straight. I have adventures in my life, 0:13:30.360 --> 0:13:31.760 and I'm just like, no, I'm good. 0:13:31.840 --> 0:13:33.120 Yeah, but I'm. 0:13:33.000 --> 0:13:33.719 Glad you did that. 0:13:33.800 --> 0:13:34.880 It's fun, it's cool. 0:13:35.080 --> 0:13:35.760 It was really good. 0:13:35.800 --> 0:13:37.720 It's not for everybody, but that's cool too. But it 0:13:37.760 --> 0:13:39.600 was with honestly, I just want to plug it. It was 0:13:39.600 --> 0:13:43.440 with a great organization, so with Chris Long's Foundation, water Board. 0:13:44.400 --> 0:13:46.079 Yeah, so you're supposed to do it one year and 0:13:46.160 --> 0:13:46.760 I couldn't. 0:13:47.360 --> 0:13:49.720 Well, it's not too late, tapped out. Not too late. 0:13:50.280 --> 0:13:53.280 Hey, if you're listening at me, water boys, I'm down. 0:13:53.400 --> 0:13:57.360 Let's go. They're finalizing the list for next year, finalizing 0:13:57.400 --> 0:14:00.880 the list for next year. It's dope. So one of 0:14:00.920 --> 0:14:03.040 the reasons you got out, it's just for you know, 0:14:03.040 --> 0:14:06.520 talking about brain swelling and everything you played seven years. 0:14:06.800 --> 0:14:09.480 I mean, you just won a Super Bowl All Pro 0:14:09.800 --> 0:14:13.400 like Finn to come into like a large sum of cash, 0:14:13.960 --> 0:14:17.120 and for you you said, nah, I think I'm good. Yeah, 0:14:17.200 --> 0:14:23.000 I'm done. You just walked away. Why was that? How 0:14:23.040 --> 0:14:25.280 How hard was it that decision for you to get. 0:14:25.120 --> 0:14:28.760 To I mean, I think for most players and for myself, 0:14:28.760 --> 0:14:30.840 it's the hardest decision I've ever had to make. I 0:14:30.840 --> 0:14:36.440 mean it's it's so for me. I think I've always 0:14:36.440 --> 0:14:38.840 sort of valued my health, right, there are certain things 0:14:38.840 --> 0:14:41.960 that I value my life, and health is paramount for me. 0:14:42.840 --> 0:14:45.880 So if I'm going to live authentically within my own values, right, 0:14:46.160 --> 0:14:51.280 I couldn't continue to put my body in that you know, 0:14:51.680 --> 0:14:54.520 difficult place weekend week out. So like that's kind of 0:14:54.600 --> 0:14:56.600 was my framework was, Like, if I'm truly going to 0:14:56.680 --> 0:14:58.240 be honest with myself and I'm going to be like 0:14:59.400 --> 0:15:02.200 living within my health value, I can't keep playing football, 0:15:02.640 --> 0:15:08.080 and there's there's for me obviously, there's there's money on 0:15:08.120 --> 0:15:10.280 the table, right, and that's hard to walk away. From. 0:15:10.320 --> 0:15:12.040 But at a certain point, I think you have to 0:15:12.040 --> 0:15:14.720 be honest with yourself and say, like, what what sort 0:15:14.760 --> 0:15:17.920 of changes really is it's going to make for me? 0:15:17.960 --> 0:15:20.240 I think they're for me. It was really important to have. 0:15:22.640 --> 0:15:25.560 I'm satisfied kind of with where I was at, you know, 0:15:25.400 --> 0:15:28.720 like the truth is more, it can be better. But 0:15:29.400 --> 0:15:31.200 for me, it felt like I had reached a point 0:15:31.200 --> 0:15:32.680 where I could do the things that I wanted to do. 0:15:32.840 --> 0:15:34.480 I could travel, I a climb, kill and jar I 0:15:34.480 --> 0:15:36.280 could do the things that I wanted to and still 0:15:36.280 --> 0:15:38.560 having my health, and that was really important to me. 0:15:38.720 --> 0:15:40.080 Does it makes sense? It does it? Does? 0:15:41.120 --> 0:15:44.080 I want to put this perspective too, though, because it's 0:15:44.160 --> 0:15:45.120 not just a little bit of money. 0:15:45.120 --> 0:15:47.320 It was two years, twenty million dollars you left out there. 0:15:47.360 --> 0:15:53.280 I mean, so you checked a lot of boxes and 0:15:53.360 --> 0:15:55.240 so at that point, because I won't like for me, 0:15:55.280 --> 0:15:58.080 I'm like, did that decision did it already start to 0:15:58.120 --> 0:16:00.880 happen like early in that year or was it like 0:16:01.040 --> 0:16:04.360 starting your seven Like, man, I'm just tired because before retirement, 0:16:04.400 --> 0:16:07.280 we all kind of know that we sent something's changing 0:16:07.320 --> 0:16:10.480 in us, all right before we make that switch. And 0:16:10.520 --> 0:16:14.240 I'm just saying and I'm wondering for you, Ali, was 0:16:14.280 --> 0:16:17.960 it was it those thoughts already in your mind or 0:16:18.040 --> 0:16:20.080 was it Man I wanted I've got to the top 0:16:20.120 --> 0:16:20.600 of the mountain. 0:16:20.640 --> 0:16:23.680 I'm good. Yeah, now I can let go. 0:16:23.960 --> 0:16:27.080 So I so, actually, so my last game was actually 0:16:27.280 --> 0:16:29.360 Pro Bowl last the Pro Bowl out in Vegas, So 0:16:29.400 --> 0:16:32.160 that was my last game, which was kind of a 0:16:32.160 --> 0:16:34.360 cool way to end it for me. Yeah, but yes, 0:16:34.560 --> 0:16:37.200 I think actually, I know it sounds it might sound silly, 0:16:37.240 --> 0:16:40.760 but like I think I started my football career with 0:16:40.840 --> 0:16:43.080 the end in mind a little bit. I think, like 0:16:43.120 --> 0:16:45.400 we all know, right, it's not it's it's not forever, 0:16:45.560 --> 0:16:46.800 right exactly, And I think. 0:16:48.360 --> 0:16:50.800 Right starting at the end, So I think I. 0:16:50.760 --> 0:16:53.520 Think for me also coming from the D three school, right, 0:16:53.600 --> 0:16:57.080 so like anything was just like I felt like I 0:16:57.080 --> 0:16:58.920 was playing with house money, right, So, like I didn't 0:16:58.960 --> 0:17:00.560 think that I was going to have the career that 0:17:00.600 --> 0:17:04.680 I did. So I kind of always identified and expected 0:17:04.760 --> 0:17:07.520 that my career was not, i mean, going to be shorter. 0:17:07.600 --> 0:17:11.360 So I kind of always had that framework of what 0:17:11.440 --> 0:17:12.919 life after football is going to be. 0:17:12.960 --> 0:17:14.399 So it was just like a bonus for you to 0:17:14.440 --> 0:17:16.159 make it to the league, like I made it to 0:17:16.160 --> 0:17:18.280 the league. All right, cool, but it wasn't really in 0:17:18.320 --> 0:17:21.040 my I didn't see myself playing. But now that I'm here, 0:17:21.320 --> 0:17:23.120 y'all do it for a couple of years and then 0:17:23.640 --> 0:17:25.000 all right, now I'm gonna do something else. 0:17:25.119 --> 0:17:26.679 That's kind of how it felt for me. So like 0:17:26.760 --> 0:17:28.240 I wish I was the kind of guy that like 0:17:28.320 --> 0:17:30.200 circled like and like, I'm going to play in the 0:17:30.280 --> 0:17:31.440 NFL when I'm five years old, Like. 0:17:31.359 --> 0:17:33.680 That was not me, like a thousand person. 0:17:33.760 --> 0:17:37.000 I love that respect that was all day long. Yeah, 0:17:37.040 --> 0:17:38.800 I wish I could like and I worked. 0:17:38.960 --> 0:17:41.040 I worked for that. This is what I want to do, 0:17:41.160 --> 0:17:43.440 Like I have that mentality and Nope, I'm going to 0:17:43.480 --> 0:17:45.600 get drafted. I'm going to go here. I'm gonna like 0:17:45.640 --> 0:17:48.320 I had, I wrote out goals and you know I wrote, 0:17:48.400 --> 0:17:51.919 I had a chalkboard that I legit wrote my goal. Right, 0:17:52.080 --> 0:17:54.240 I'm going to run this, I'm going to this pro day, 0:17:54.240 --> 0:17:56.520 I'm going to do this, this, this and that and 0:17:56.520 --> 0:17:59.320 and it played out every way I I scripted my 0:17:59.440 --> 0:18:02.679 life and it played out exactly the way I wanted. 0:18:03.040 --> 0:18:04.720 And I think for me, it was harder to walk 0:18:04.720 --> 0:18:06.960 away from the game because I had wanted it for 0:18:07.040 --> 0:18:10.760 so long and so bad. So I respect the fact 0:18:10.800 --> 0:18:15.439 that you could say yeah, I'm good, whereas me I didn't. 0:18:15.520 --> 0:18:18.440 I didn't have that luxury. I didn't have that opportunity 0:18:18.480 --> 0:18:19.680 to be like, yeah, I can walk away. 0:18:19.800 --> 0:18:24.160 So first of all, you seem like a disaster prepper, right, 0:18:24.200 --> 0:18:26.800 like like I'm preparing for the worst all the time 0:18:26.880 --> 0:18:28.840