Speaker 1: Welcome to Games Lanes. I'm Julian Edelman and we got
Speaker 1: a brand new compilation highlight reels starting now now. Puka
Speaker 1: Nikola on becoming Matthew Stafford's go to guy. This is
Speaker 1: week two. You already what did you crack him for?
Speaker 1: In the first week? You had ten catches or something,
Speaker 1: ten for one, ten for one, twenty okay, So kind
Speaker 1: you kind of knew before that game that there was
Speaker 1: chemistry between you and Matthew Stafford. When did you feel
Speaker 1: that chemistry actually ignite? And like you knew you were
Speaker 1: gonna have this ten catch game going into the week
Speaker 1: two where you're gonna have the performance you have.
Speaker 2: So rookie Mini camp, we come, we get drafted, we
Speaker 2: show up, and then there's like.
Speaker 3: Two weeks after that the rookies got to.
Speaker 2: Stay after everybody else goes and everybody's leaving, but except
Speaker 2: me and my roommate Davis Allen. He was the I
Speaker 2: was one seventy seven, he was one seventy five, two
Speaker 2: picks in front of me. We're at the hotel together,
Speaker 2: we're both rookies, so we're staying and everybody's going We're like, oh,
Speaker 2: we're going to stay and we get a text of
Speaker 2: like yo from one of our strength coaches, like, yo,
Speaker 2: Matthew wants you to come out and catch for like
Speaker 2: Higgs is going to be there or other wide receiver
Speaker 2: Van Jefferson is going to be there. And they were
Speaker 2: like he wants you to come out and be like
Speaker 2: yo for real, like at of all the guys on
Speaker 2: the team, Like he asked me and like my roommates
Speaker 2: to come out. And I was like, yo, I got
Speaker 2: to run the best routes of my life. If I
Speaker 2: cannot drop a ball, like it's got to be as
Speaker 2: good or got it's got to be the best route
Speaker 2: run I've ever had in my life. And the first
Speaker 2: day and like you've thrown with him, like you see
Speaker 2: when like you're coming out of breaks and like the
Speaker 2: ball's in the perfect spot every time, and be like yo,
Speaker 2: if I keep my feet and like as long as
Speaker 2: I can see the ball spin for a second, I'm
Speaker 2: like this is I'm like he is not missing.
Speaker 3: Like no, whether it's.
Speaker 2: Upfield, we're running an out route, puts on your front shoulder.
Speaker 3: You can turn, tap and turn to get out the side.
Speaker 2: And you're running out of a crow break, it's on
Speaker 2: your inside paths so you can drop step and turn
Speaker 2: over your inside shoulder.
Speaker 3: And that was like, holy colch.
Speaker 1: Are you basically telling me that you guys had instant chemistry?
Speaker 4: I mean, low key felt I felt like first Yeah,
Speaker 4: I was.
Speaker 1: Like, honestly, I'm I'm not gonna I'm not even gonna
Speaker 1: second guess that because I went with him once to
Speaker 1: Golden West. Yeah, we threw together. I think we threw
Speaker 1: forty five balls. I think we went forty five for
Speaker 1: forty five We never even met each other. That's how
Speaker 1: elite his arm talent is. He like like Puka was saying,
Speaker 1: the ball come right out there, right out. That break
Speaker 1: is right on your forehead, literally right up on your forehead,
Speaker 1: and he just over here slings it.
Speaker 3: Oh man, he got the little half white arm sleeper. Yeah,
Speaker 3: wo dot him up.
Speaker 1: What do you think makes him so special? Is it
Speaker 1: the armstring? What? What do you see from his day
Speaker 1: to day that makes him special?
Speaker 2: I mean, I think his attention to detail like man
Speaker 2: like he just like I mean, I think of him
Speaker 2: and less neither like some man he does. He's not
Speaker 2: the guy who's going to go that have the most conversation.
Speaker 2: He's going to talk to everybody. But man, like you see,
Speaker 2: he's got the big old like year calendar like notebook
Speaker 2: where he's like he's got he's got an old.
Speaker 3: Pen and paper.
Speaker 2: It's like the yellow pages still like you know, where
Speaker 2: it's not like the little brown spot at the top
Speaker 2: and you fold it over. So it's like that he's
Speaker 2: got it and he's taking notes. He's got it all.
Speaker 1: That's how we used to do it in the NFL. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I know you're so used to iPads and fucking devices
Speaker 1: and stuff. You probably didn't ever read a book. You
Speaker 1: used to get a big ass binder with all the plays.
Speaker 3: No, yeah, hell no. They definitely don't do that anymore.
Speaker 1: Three incher, it'd be a three inch save some trees. Man,
Speaker 1: it's not using the iPad.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 1: I guess we are. I guess we are.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I think his toughness, I think is the
Speaker 2: one thing that's like, man, you have to cut up
Speaker 2: both arm and legs off for that guy to leave
Speaker 2: the football for thousand and I think as that quarterback position,
Speaker 2: you don't always get that. And I think that separates
Speaker 2: him from almost every other guy out there now.
Speaker 1: When the guys in the locker room see and know
Speaker 1: about Matthew Stafford's toughness. Does it bring does it have
Speaker 1: like an energy in the room where if a guy
Speaker 1: gets kind of banged up, they're like, oh, well, our
Speaker 1: fucking star quarter just played with broken ribs or whatever.
Speaker 1: He's he's always playing banged up. Yeah, I gotta play.
Speaker 1: Is there that energy with Matthew Stafford in that locker room?
Speaker 2: It's like it's definitely led into the identity of our
Speaker 2: team and stuff like that. How guys operate and be like, Yo,
Speaker 2: this is the most prized possession we have is our quarterback.
Speaker 2: You know how the locker room is like how the
Speaker 2: football like the whole football team operates through this guy.
Speaker 2: And he yeah, he will never take himself out of
Speaker 2: the game. And so it's like if unless you're unless
Speaker 2: your ankle is facing the opposite way, or there are
Speaker 2: ligaments that are completely torn there, you can't run anymore.
Speaker 3: You got to get back out there.
Speaker 1: I just remember that one video of him like going
Speaker 1: and doing the two point conversion when he like he
Speaker 1: fucked up his other shoulder when he's back in the
Speaker 1: Detroit early in his career, because we were drafting the
Speaker 1: same year. I think two thousand and nine.
Speaker 3: Really, and man, he's been playing.
Speaker 1: I remember because I've I've gotten crunched where a guy
Speaker 1: falls on you and you crunch your shoulder and you
Speaker 1: knock it out of place. Yeah, and the pain is
Speaker 1: I remember him going, oh, and I'm motherfucker sacked up
Speaker 1: through that two point conversion with a broken show. I
Speaker 1: was like, I'm a Matthew Stafford guy ever since then.
Speaker 1: Then he got with you guys. It's been fun to
Speaker 1: watch his story now. Poka talks about learning from Cooper Cup.
Speaker 1: You talk so much about your relationship with Cooper Cup,
Speaker 1: and I've heard you say he's been a huge help
Speaker 1: and he took that role of helping you. Like, can
Speaker 1: you talk about your relationship with Cooper Cup and what
Speaker 1: he's meant and what you guys have learned, and how
Speaker 1: it's gonna be, how you're gonna feel when he leaves. Yeah,
Speaker 1: when he's gone.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he is gone now, except I'm gonna see him
Speaker 2: two times a year, so that'll be exciting. I told him,
Speaker 2: I'm like, man, well, I'm like, if you're I'm gonna
Speaker 2: make sure somebody's gone for one fifty. I'm like, we're
Speaker 2: pushing each other, I'm gonna be out there. I never
Speaker 2: really talks back, and I know Cooper Cup, out of
Speaker 2: all people, doesn't talk smack either, So I'm like, that
Speaker 2: might be the only day I come out there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I'd be like, I know that guy. I'm like,
Speaker 3: we spend the.
Speaker 2: Off season together, and it's it's been it's been a
Speaker 2: true blessing to be around him the first two years
Speaker 2: of my career and absolutely be everywhere with him in
Speaker 2: the facility, get to learn from him, spend the off
Speaker 2: season together, work out, learn what it's like to be
Speaker 2: a professional athlete and a wide receiver who's doing at
Speaker 2: the top of his game right now, and it's been
Speaker 2: at the top of the league, who's won a Super Bowl,
Speaker 2: MVP like and just to watch it and I feel
Speaker 2: like I was stealing, Like I didn't like now that
Speaker 2: he's like realizing that it's gone and being like, oh cow,
Speaker 2: Like I was right next to this guy. I was
Speaker 2: in the breakfast club with Matthew Stafford, Cooper Cup and
Speaker 2: Coach mcvaghim like some of the best football minds currently
Speaker 2: right now in the NFL, and like to hang it,
Speaker 2: like to where the to where the Jersey with him.
Speaker 3: I'm like, I think about, man, the Eagles.
Speaker 2: Game, his first game back, and we got to line
Speaker 2: up information next to each other and being.
Speaker 3: Like yo, like this is real, Like Cooper Cup's out here.
Speaker 2: I'm playing football with Cooper Cup right now, and like
Speaker 2: what it felt like when I got called out before
Speaker 2: him and then they called Cooper Cup number ten.
Speaker 3: He has a song play and the whole stadiums.
Speaker 2: Like cool and being like what it's happening like all
Speaker 2: through like training camp. Oh he got hurt during training
Speaker 2: camp rookie year, and like he came back and it
Speaker 2: was like everybody you could feel like the leadership and
Speaker 2: then also like the football player of being like he controls,
Speaker 2: he knows what's going on.
Speaker 3: It made it made it so fun.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's a pro. I remember when he was a
Speaker 1: young buck. We used to work out together at Golden.
Speaker 3: West, the hot Spot.
Speaker 1: I remember he was coming off an injury. Threw with
Speaker 1: Matthew a couple of times. Oh man, he can light
Speaker 1: it up. What do you gotta do to get in
Speaker 1: this goddamn breakfast club? I mean the cool name you
Speaker 1: got McVeigh, you got with, you got Stafford Cup. That's
Speaker 1: it exclusivity. Soho home membership, How do you get in
Speaker 1: this thing?
Speaker 3: Hopefully?
Speaker 2: I'm like, they didn't ask me for any membership for you,
Speaker 2: but shoot, you got to get up there earlier.
Speaker 3: Like That's one of the things I was like that helped.
Speaker 2: I was watching Coop and I changed my routine of like, man,
Speaker 2: during season, I'm normally in bed at least by nine thirty, like,
Speaker 2: if not, like going to bed by nine thirty, so
Speaker 2: I could wake up and be up at five thirty
Speaker 2: five forty five, so I could get to the facility
Speaker 2: at six o'clock and they've already and I would be
Speaker 2: almost the last one there. They've already been there, like
Speaker 2: they're watching and they've probably gone through the last practice,
Speaker 2: and now we're about to start watching the explosive from
Speaker 2: all the other teams across the league. And I'm like,
Speaker 2: so I come in for the back half and then
Speaker 2: we rerun the tape. Me and Coop will be all right,
Speaker 2: now we're going to watch the receivers at the end
Speaker 2: while either Matthew's going to grab coffee, they're grabbing breakfast,
Speaker 2: and then like, can we kind of sit there, yeah,
Speaker 2: watch all the tape and it'll be like, all right,
Speaker 2: I keep them updated on like the newest slang terms
Speaker 2: because I'm like those two guys, I'm like, yeah, one,
Speaker 2: Coop probably never actually have gone on social media.
Speaker 3: And then Matthew.
Speaker 2: I don't think he even knows he has an Instagram.
Speaker 3: Damn on April Fools yesterday that he's all tatted it up.
Speaker 3: Do you see that Stafford has a full sleeve? That
Speaker 3: was the news yesterday.
Speaker 1: I ever seen him. That's a boot. That's such a
Speaker 1: dad joke right there, he is. Matt's cool freaking Uh.
Speaker 1: You know I when I hear you talk about it,
Speaker 1: I was in the same similar situation, you know. I
Speaker 1: we had Wes Welker when I got drafted, and uh,
Speaker 1: it's so good for a young player to get to
Speaker 1: learn from a guy who's a buck. Like you got
Speaker 1: to learn the routine of Cooper Cup. I got to
Speaker 1: learn the routine of West Walker. I got to learn
Speaker 1: the practice habits of Wes Woker Randy Moss. Like, when
Speaker 1: you're around certain players, that's so good for the development
Speaker 1: of a young football player if that young football player
Speaker 1: wants to learn and is in that back pocket. I
Speaker 1: was in West's back pocket all the time. He didn't
Speaker 1: always want to help me, but I was anytime he
Speaker 1: could go, I go right behind him because I knew
Speaker 1: he was the best at doing it, and I wanted
Speaker 1: to do what he did.
Speaker 2: You know what I mean, You're like, yeah, when you're
Speaker 2: there there, you're running indie drills, and like everybody's getting
Speaker 2: ready to line up, and I'm like, yo, I'm gonna
Speaker 2: make my way to the front, right behind Coop. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna make my way to the front to be
Speaker 2: number two, just so I can watch him. Go watch
Speaker 2: his whole rep. Watch how you like doing everything, whether
Speaker 2: it's routes on air, it was the cone drills, or
Speaker 2: he were going up in one on ones, like like yeah,
Speaker 2: And then when I got to go run the reps
Speaker 2: with him, I'm like, all right, Coop, like hey, we
Speaker 2: got this, or like we're lined up two by two
Speaker 2: and we're going to we're in a stack and it's
Speaker 2: me and Coop would be like, all right, what are
Speaker 2: you about to do right here? I'm like, and he'd
Speaker 2: be like, all right, I think I'm about to get
Speaker 2: inside leverage and then I'm gonna work in. I'm gonna
Speaker 2: cross face, and then I'm a one two at the
Speaker 2: top and be like all right, and we're like we're
Speaker 2: as we're going out, like we're still kind of talking
Speaker 2: and be like oh, and then you watch him say
Speaker 2: exactly do exactly what he said was gonna happen to
Speaker 2: be like, holy cow, Like this is how football should
Speaker 2: feel like. Man, there's a different type of feeling when
Speaker 2: you get to go and watch somebody because they're giving
Speaker 2: all these cues that man, you're like, oh, I just
Speaker 2: have my I have my.
Speaker 3: Corner route right here. I'm gonna go.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna find a way. And he's like, all right, No,
Speaker 2: it's gonna look like this. He's gonna roll down, he's
Speaker 2: gonna play outside leverage. I'm gonna get to his inside shoulder.
Speaker 2: I'm a one two at the top and i'ma win.
Speaker 2: And then he would go one to him at the
Speaker 2: top and he would win and be like damn cool.
Speaker 1: Reps time on task, Cooper Cup has a lot of them,
Speaker 1: and you're building a lot of them right now. Next
Speaker 1: pokon having to pay to change his number. Davante Adams,
Speaker 1: that's a big addition. I think he's gonna be a
Speaker 1: huge help for you guys, being able to be a
Speaker 1: guy that could win on the backside outside the numbers consistently,
Speaker 1: something you guys kind of lack last year, like or
Speaker 1: red area target. You guys would do all that, Hey,
Speaker 1: and then you get in the red area and Higgsby
Speaker 1: was a little banged up. So having Davante there, that's
Speaker 1: gonna be huge. What what are you gonna have?
Speaker 2: You guys talked a little bit when he came out
Speaker 2: of sign his contract. I think he's still been out
Speaker 2: in Vegas, but I wanted one first. I want to
Speaker 2: get him on the basketball court too, because I'm like,
Speaker 2: I feel like I always see that you have as
Speaker 2: a wide receiver. I feel like that you see it,
Speaker 2: like how they kind of moved through that on the
Speaker 2: basketball court. But I know he's a big basketball fan too,
Speaker 2: and I'm like, we'll get up what I'm for sure
Speaker 2: he's gonna show up to OTAs. We're gonna get a
Speaker 2: lot of routes and we're gonna talk about it. Once
Speaker 2: I can see you on the basketball court. I think
Speaker 2: I can understand how you think about football team, like
Speaker 2: you got that similar movement pattern is going to come out.
Speaker 1: I think, yeah, so, what what did would you do?
Speaker 1: For seventeen, Like.
Speaker 3: What did he that's a man? So it was so fun.
Speaker 1: I would the number? Did you give you a couple?
Speaker 3: I wish?
Speaker 4: Said he got it for the free skik.
Speaker 3: Did you play pig? Were you gonna play pick?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 3: No, he definitely didn't beat me a pig. No chance,
Speaker 3: So that that didn't happen.
Speaker 2: But I was already planning to switch to twelve, so
Speaker 2: you know, you gotta fire file the paperwork and stuff
Speaker 2: like that.
Speaker 3: They got to buy out your jerseys and stuff like that,
Speaker 3: and like I was still a fifth round pick.
Speaker 2: I'm like they asked like how, They're like, uh, it's
Speaker 2: will be five hundred thousand to switch your jersey. I'm like, uh,
Speaker 2: I think you forgot when I got drafted, I was like,
Speaker 2: I don't got that type of money.
Speaker 4: I was like for a jersey number, doll, that's time.
Speaker 3: I'm like no, so you fail out. The paperwork had
Speaker 3: to wait a whole year.
Speaker 2: So this year was like I was getting ready to
Speaker 2: like the springtime, once that official season March or whatever
Speaker 2: it is they switch over, I was gonna be going
Speaker 2: to number twelve. And it's like we signed Davante Adams
Speaker 2: and everybody's like, Yo, what are you about to do?
Speaker 3: And I'm like, man, if.
Speaker 1: I would have waited, I would have waited like three
Speaker 1: war weeks, like I would have came up five hundred.
Speaker 4: I know That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: Mill, you go five hundred, there, you get a couple here,
Speaker 1: and then then we got a fun trip in the
Speaker 1: off season.
Speaker 2: I know that's all I could took the guys out,
Speaker 2: But now Davante's got to do.
Speaker 1: I'm make sure, Hold, I think you need a couple
Speaker 1: more Jewish people in your life. Okay, I'm just letting
Speaker 1: you know, Bud, you can't be talking about age and
Speaker 1: you can't be getting impatient with number changes.
Speaker 3: A couple Bill, Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: Next up, Whoka tells the story of meeting Lebron living
Speaker 1: in LA What's the coolest thing you've done this offseason?
Speaker 1: What's the coolest thing you've done?
Speaker 2: Shoot, I had to be one hundred percent meeting Lebron James,
Speaker 2: Lebron James, Lebron James.
Speaker 3: Right after the Luca trade.
Speaker 2: His first home or the first home game is against
Speaker 2: the Jazz, and I'm supposed to do like a jersey
Speaker 2: swap with Luca. I'm so excited. I'm playing my best
Speaker 2: music on my way down to Crypto. I'm having a
Speaker 2: good time. My high school buddy calls me. He's like, Yo,
Speaker 2: what are you doing. I'm like, I'm about to go
Speaker 2: meet Luca. I'm like, we're about to do a jersey swap.
Speaker 2: As soon as I say jersey swap, I realized I
Speaker 2: forgot my jersey.
Speaker 1: Oh fuck. I'm like, oh my gosh, I blew it.
Speaker 1: Like it's where'd you go to the dicks? Right down
Speaker 1: the street? Your jerseys everywhere I wear.
Speaker 3: So I was like, I told so him, Like I don't.
Speaker 2: He's about to give me like a like a game jersey,
Speaker 2: Like I'm about to give him one of my game erys.
Speaker 3: Like so, I'm like, we got it. We're traded, like
Speaker 3: for real.
Speaker 2: For I don't want to give him like a something
Speaker 2: off of like fanatis that's not like one to the
Speaker 2: real ones. So I'm like, holy cow, what am I
Speaker 2: about to do? Lucky Lee the freaking we do it
Speaker 2: after game? So after game we got get we get
Speaker 2: a jersey, my actual jersey. He gives me a pair
Speaker 2: of shoes and we're sitting there taking photos right by
Speaker 2: the tunnel and then ten seconds after we're done taking
Speaker 2: a photo, Lebron James walks out of like their locker room.
Speaker 2: It's like the media is kind of right there, and
Speaker 2: he kind of he sees me. He's like, yo, I
Speaker 2: didn't I know you were coming into that. I'm like you,
Speaker 2: I only come to watch you, bro, And then he's like, oh,
Speaker 2: let me drop my yo. He's like, let me put
Speaker 2: away in my yo.
Speaker 1: Yo.
Speaker 3: He's like postgames call this stuff going on.
Speaker 2: He's like, and I'm like, I got this long sleeve
Speaker 2: like hoodie and I'm like, I need to pull my
Speaker 2: sleeves up. This needs to be the best dapth of
Speaker 2: my life. Like it's Lebron James bro like, so I
Speaker 2: will wind up for clean clean smack tap. I'm like,
Speaker 2: oh well, He's like, what's up?
Speaker 1: Man?
Speaker 2: Like I was like, man, how to come watch you
Speaker 2: and Luca? They won that game and then we got
Speaker 2: to chop it up for a little bit. There's kind
Speaker 2: of media around. He's like, man, you like you know,
Speaker 2: I'm always.
Speaker 3: Rocking with you.
Speaker 2: And I was like, bro, like every ounce and every
Speaker 2: cell in my body was just screaming because like I'm
Speaker 2: I'm born in two thousand and one. I've been watching
Speaker 2: Lebron James my entire life, ever since I remember watching basketball.
Speaker 2: He's been there. Now I'm living in LA and he's like, yo,
Speaker 2: like I'm rocking with you. I was, it was unreal.
Speaker 1: That's unreal. I got a quick question, though, what's how
Speaker 1: you shoot? Is Luca ware?
Speaker 2: I think he's like a fourteen or fifteen because yeah,
Speaker 2: because when I I I'm aside thirteen and a half,
Speaker 2: I wear some fourteens. He was like, yo, like, you
Speaker 2: got good sized feet too, And I was like, I'm
Speaker 2: not six six, but I'm like.
Speaker 3: I do, got a big foot.
Speaker 1: So you gave him cleats?
Speaker 3: No? No, no, no, he said, what if.
Speaker 1: Luca put on the cleats? He's like on the hardwood?
Speaker 1: Oh man, Lebron James getting me. I've never met him.
Speaker 1: I've done a bunch of stuff with his production company, Maverick. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I've met mav a few times. He's been real cool.
Speaker 3: He's bigger than you think too, right.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, they're all dude, I.
Speaker 2: Mean other than Rich Rich Paul is the only like
Speaker 2: kind of small one. But Maverick card, I'm like.
Speaker 1: I have's big. Yeah, that looks like a basketball player.
Speaker 1: But you know, with Lebron now that he's kind of
Speaker 1: an underdog because of his age, I've jumped on his
Speaker 1: wagon even harder because I went to college at Kent State,
Speaker 1: and the year he got drafted, I was in Northeast, Ohio,
Speaker 1: right down the street from where he grew up an Akron.
Speaker 1: I remember going to Chapel Hill mom buying his first
Speaker 1: his first shoe, thinking it was so cool being in
Speaker 1: Ohio with you know, Lebron at the university. And I mean,
Speaker 1: it's been so remarkable to see the longevity of this guy.
Speaker 1: Like he's forty years old and he's punkin dudes. Still,
Speaker 1: it's unreal. It's it's really a testament to how how
Speaker 1: hard he takes his craft, his dedication to his body,
Speaker 1: and he's never been in trouble. It's fucking nuts. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Like he's he's the epitome of what a professional athlete
Speaker 1: should want to be in his life. Regardless of what
Speaker 1: you think of Lebron James, he is a fucking he's
Speaker 1: our generation's Jordan.
Speaker 3: Yeah, set the standard for sure.
Speaker 2: It's been unreal. I can't imagine being inaccurate at that time. Like,
Speaker 2: while like, yeah, it's the prime hype, everybody waiting to
Speaker 2: see what Lebron James was going to look like in
Speaker 2: the NBA and you're right there in the heat of it.
Speaker 1: In the heat it was so crazy. They used to
Speaker 1: have this big mural of like Josh Cribs on the
Speaker 1: side of the like it was like a Nike ad
Speaker 1: on the side of the buildings in Cleveland, and as
Speaker 1: soon as uh oh know, it was Lebron. And then
Speaker 1: when Lebron left, they put Josh Cribs up there. But
Speaker 1: Lebron owned that city man in that area. It was
Speaker 1: so cool to be a part of What do you
Speaker 1: like about Lebron?
Speaker 2: Well, I think that like the mental toughness of being
Speaker 2: like man ever since I've walked in, even before I
Speaker 2: was the number one pick in the NBA draft, of
Speaker 2: like everybody was looking at me to be to be
Speaker 2: the one to lead the way, to be the great one,
Speaker 2: and like he's only surpassed everybody's expectations. Everybody's like, are
Speaker 2: you gonna be Michael Jordan? Are you gonna be Magna Johnson?
Speaker 2: And he just went out and became Lebron James to
Speaker 2: everybody who now we know is the fifty thousand leading
Speaker 2: the NBA and as a basketball fan, I'm like, I
Speaker 2: just I just love watching the game. There's something that
Speaker 2: the fluidness and like the elusiveness that is in the
Speaker 2: game of basketball that you don't get in football in
Speaker 2: the exact same way that I'm like, I could watch.
Speaker 3: Basketball all day, every day. Like there's there's something about it.
Speaker 3: This is so soothing to the brain.
Speaker 1: Now, Phoka talks about growing up in Vegas. Now, how
Speaker 1: was it growing up in Vegas?
Speaker 2: There's there's nothing like it's the best place in the world.
Speaker 3: For sure. I believe that it was hot. It was hot.
Speaker 3: I think that that's where definitely.
Speaker 1: So this is easy for you. Then when it's one
Speaker 1: ten over.
Speaker 3: There, it's way different over there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but like that's why I'm like, man, the tar,
Speaker 2: the tar outside all of the streets, like when we
Speaker 2: used to be running outside or hot, like hot like
Speaker 2: burn your socks right off, like and but it was
Speaker 2: it was so fun.
Speaker 3: I loved it out there.
Speaker 2: And that's where I mean I first started playing football
Speaker 2: as where my memories are at, and then everything kind
Speaker 2: of took off from there.
Speaker 1: Who were your sports teams growing up? If you're in
Speaker 1: from Vegas.
Speaker 2: I was a Packers fan and Hackers.
Speaker 3: Who's Aaron Rodgers?
Speaker 1: Jesus all right.
Speaker 2: So my family, uh, my mom's full saw more and
Speaker 2: my dad like grew up in Hawaii, so like one
Speaker 2: of the Polynesian team, the Steelers, everybody steers. Yeah, Troy
Speaker 2: palm All everybody loves him. So I was like, okay,
Speaker 2: they were fans. I was like, being the youngest, we
Speaker 2: didn't have any team. I was like, I kind of
Speaker 2: want to choose against everybody. So I remember in two
Speaker 2: and ten when they played the Packers and they won,
Speaker 2: and I'll be like, man, I'm glad I chose the
Speaker 2: right team. And then and the Steelers won it the
Speaker 2: year after, and then like so and then most of
Speaker 2: my family they grew up like your fans, because both
Speaker 2: my parents are from California. And then I had gone
Speaker 2: to a Thunder game with little Dana. We had gone
Speaker 2: to a football camp out there in Oklahoma, and then
Speaker 2: we went to a Thunder game and.
Speaker 3: I was like, Yo, that was unreal.
Speaker 2: I don't think anybody in the stadium sat down for
Speaker 2: forty eight minutes straight like wide out. People are rocking.
Speaker 2: They beat the Spurs in a playoff game. They got
Speaker 2: the Young Thunder. I was like, yo, this is my
Speaker 2: new favorite team. That was Harden and Durant hard like
Speaker 2: Sergei Baka, like they had home. It was a crazy
Speaker 2: and like this is two thousand and thirteen Spurs. So
Speaker 2: like they like Tony Parker or Tim Duncan, those guys
Speaker 2: aren't that old, Like I mean they getting ready to
Speaker 2: win a championship like in a year and a half
Speaker 2: two years later and it was wild geez.
Speaker 1: So like are all the people now that grow up
Speaker 1: in Vegas, are they all like adopting the new Vegas teams?
Speaker 2: I think so one hundred percent, especially like the I
Speaker 2: think the Raiders has been a little bit different because
Speaker 2: I mean I feel like a lot of people out here,
Speaker 2: like in the southern California, they're still they got it.
Speaker 1: They have a I think they have a Southwest like
Speaker 1: region that follows them because of Oakland, LA. And then
Speaker 1: there's Raiders fans everywhere.
Speaker 2: Yeah that is true one hundred percent, But I know
Speaker 2: like they'd love Everybody loves the Knights out there, especially
Speaker 2: like you come in your first season and you win it,
Speaker 2: Like I feel like that's you're gonna write it any
Speaker 2: better for that and that they've been rocking with the
Speaker 2: hockey team over.
Speaker 3: There for sure.
Speaker 2: So you grew up with little Dana, Little Dana and
Speaker 2: then Aid and too. So we played me and both
Speaker 2: of the.
Speaker 1: D Little Dana White, ye, little Dana White, and.
Speaker 3: Then Aid and two like he was number twelve. He
Speaker 3: was our quarterback.
Speaker 1: That was a guy on the show.
Speaker 3: He was great. We didn't really throw the ball.
Speaker 2: I mean I think maybe our second year we started
Speaker 2: throwing the ball. But our coach had coached at Oklahoma
Speaker 2: and was and he had coached DeMarco Murray at Bishop Gorman.
Speaker 2: So we weren't just our little league team like we
Speaker 2: had to hurry up offense like we were doing, like
Speaker 2: we had rocket rocket one like yeah, nast get up
Speaker 2: there in Oklahoma for the Pop orders team.
Speaker 3: We were we were working. We were trying to win.
Speaker 4: I don't think we ever we one was a pop Warner.
Speaker 3: Yeah this is Did you win a super Bowl? Yep?
Speaker 3: We won a Super Bowl?
Speaker 1: How many three of them? We then Orlando.
Speaker 2: No no, no, I wish oh we didn't go to Orlando,
Speaker 2: No no, but eight Baby.
Speaker 1: Red with City team No redwid City shout out Frank Edelman.
Speaker 1: We beat the Naperville Redskins. Thank God for that field
Speaker 1: goal kick, that bit right in Chris Reese the middle
Speaker 1: screen touchdown. Dude, those are some of the funnest times.
Speaker 1: When you got to we got to go miss a
Speaker 1: week of school right before Christmas break to go to
Speaker 1: Disney World to play two football games. We're twelve years old.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's unbeatable right there.
Speaker 1: Unbeatable.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, staying up late, going to like hang out with
Speaker 2: the friends, just running around the hotel being a menace
Speaker 2: to everybody else, staying there like that was the best time.
Speaker 1: Now, did little Dana did he throw like the sickest
Speaker 1: parties in high school? Like he had the sick house.
Speaker 4: Sure, I can't we when I went to no parties,
Speaker 4: no part.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the pool, the pool used to like basketball pool
Speaker 2: games like with those were always the most hectic. I
Speaker 2: feel like they always ended with somebody getting drowned or
Speaker 2: somebody having unbroken nose like they got They got intense.
Speaker 3: Everybody was trying to win, so.
Speaker 1: Fucking gaylord fokker over here, remember that bloody nose? Meet
Speaker 1: the parents? So what you got two bros in the UFO.
Speaker 1: They both scored last this last.
Speaker 2: Weekend yeah, open the weekend. It was sweet. So who
Speaker 2: do they play for? The Michigan Panthers, both of them,
Speaker 2: both of them.
Speaker 3: Yep.
Speaker 2: My brothers Samson plays wide receiver and then my brother
Speaker 2: Kai plays safety. He was the he's the bigger body.
Speaker 2: He's a little bit slow now he's I saw him.
Speaker 2: He was a little big gas on his pick six.
Speaker 1: He's running.
Speaker 2: He's at the twenty yard and I'm like, oh, you
Speaker 2: still got a ways to go, buddy, better.
Speaker 4: Not slow that on that much.
Speaker 1: So how many how many of the Nikouas are there
Speaker 1: in the house.
Speaker 3: I got five brothers and one sister.
Speaker 1: She's tough.
Speaker 3: She probably beat me up more than my brothers said. Honestly.
Speaker 2: There's like she knew at what age like we would
Speaker 2: be able to like beat her up or like fight
Speaker 2: back and be like, all right, you can't win anymore.
Speaker 2: Like my sister used to just like pin us down
Speaker 2: and like punch you in the lake until she like
Speaker 2: she knew she gets you with the Charlie horse, like
Speaker 2: she find the spot and just like keep and then
Speaker 2: it was probably like seventh or eighth grade where it
Speaker 2: was like all right, she tried to pin me to
Speaker 2: the ground. I was like I got up and I
Speaker 2: was like all right, it's over.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: Help Help
Speaker 4: Help help