Speaker 1: This is cut to it with Steve Smith Senior at
Speaker 1: production of The Black Effect and I Heart Radio. I'm
Speaker 1: Steve Smith Senior and I'm John and this is cut
Speaker 1: to it. Good Do, Good Do? What's getting down to
Speaker 1: do with good do It? We asked the questions you
Speaker 1: always want to know, but no one ever asked, let's
Speaker 1: cut to it. You ain't heard him about it? Then
Speaker 1: we're about to let you know. It's all buckle up, guys,
Speaker 1: because you're about to go on the airplane rock private plane. Alright, storytelling,
Speaker 1: story story this storytelling, storytelling. Uncle Smithy, Okay, alright, guys,
Speaker 1: who you're alright? So, um there's a guy that's been
Speaker 1: a good friend of mine. Um Andy, he's been asking
Speaker 1: me to play in this Turkey Bowl tournament flag football,
Speaker 1: And the first couple of weeks, first couple of years,
Speaker 1: I was like, bro, no, I cannot play competitive sports,
Speaker 1: especially on football. So second year he's like, hey, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna ask So second year, no no. So he finally
Speaker 1: asked me this year and I was like, you know what,
Speaker 1: just the weekend? How many games? But he was like, look,
Speaker 1: you're gonna play three games and we make a championship.
Speaker 1: I was like, all right, let's do it right. So
Speaker 1: that's me dusting off my stuff, right, my cliques, gloves,
Speaker 1: all that stuff. Bro. I got out there and first
Speaker 1: of all, text the group is like, look, man, I'm
Speaker 1: just gonna play, have some fun. We had a few practices,
Speaker 1: nothing big deal. Where was this? Where was it? It was?
Speaker 1: It was here in char I was here. You know,
Speaker 1: I played, he said, he said on airplane. So I
Speaker 1: just said, get on the airplane, just like, hey, come
Speaker 1: come with me, come with me. Think too hard, don't
Speaker 1: think your metaphor. Game was a little misleadal. So so
Speaker 1: we're playing here in Charlotte, and let me tell you something.
Speaker 1: First game, I'm playing quarterback. First of all I had
Speaker 1: to do that was yapping. I'm like, bro, just chill.
Speaker 1: But that's not even the conversation. You want to know
Speaker 1: what the real thing is. Let me tell you something.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna start. I'm I'm gona get an end. End,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna give it a finished product. You wanna know
Speaker 1: what the finished product is? Please? I got two pooled hamstrings.
Speaker 1: You washed up, dog? I am. I have been limping,
Speaker 1: spin cycle. I have been limping since Saturday afternoon till day,
Speaker 1: I have broken out all of my machines. I text
Speaker 1: my contact at Baltimore because I am looking for a
Speaker 1: normal tech through insurance workers and my new Game Ready
Speaker 1: because my old Game Ready is broken. Bro, I am hurt. Team.
Speaker 1: So now when I say her team, Bro, I I
Speaker 1: pulled both at line, like do this wasn't worth it
Speaker 1: if you blew both him? Yeah, it was definitely worth it.
Speaker 1: I'm never fucking playing football again. You still have answer.
Speaker 1: I played well. I played quarterback all that stop. I
Speaker 1: played receiver. But Bro, Swiss army not. You don't understand.
Speaker 1: You know, y'all get joking, joke. You don't understand. When
Speaker 1: I sit down in a chair to use a bathroom,
Speaker 1: it hurts. I have to roll over to get up.
Speaker 1: I am sore. If I ever played football again, flag
Speaker 1: football organized, I have to train at least three or
Speaker 1: four months prior to. Oh god. But here's here's why
Speaker 1: I went out there and played as if I was
Speaker 1: in shape to play football. Mine was still there. Body
Speaker 1: was there for a few players, Bro, for no there
Speaker 1: was alert. So here's how it went down. This is
Speaker 1: where it went all. Here's where the food's gaziness started. Here,
Speaker 1: here's where it all. Here's where the screws, Here's where
Speaker 1: the screws on the rims started to come under. So
Speaker 1: we're playing quarterback. Those few passes, you know, good passing,
Speaker 1: bad pass We go out there and I'm playing receiver,
Speaker 1: catching around boom boom, I go crossing folks over too nothing.
Speaker 1: It's like, okay, all right, take a few plays off,
Speaker 1: series of two off, and this is where it all
Speaker 1: went to ship. The second game. The second game, I'm
Speaker 1: playing corner, playing while I was fever. Catch a few
Speaker 1: rounds and I'm like, cool, a little bit of h
Speaker 1: a little bit of it feels like a cramp. No,
Speaker 1: the brother, that was no cramp. So I go ahead
Speaker 1: and try to play through it. My body, my mind's
Speaker 1: telling me yes, but my bids said hell no. Bro.
Speaker 1: My right hamstring titans, and I'm saying I'm gonna play
Speaker 1: through it. I played through it. You know what, My
Speaker 1: left hamstring said, joined the party. My left hand hamstring
Speaker 1: said stop. I said no, he said stop. I said no.
Speaker 1: The third time he said stop. Boy, I said okay,
Speaker 1: I was done. So you got a game and a
Speaker 1: half in. You got a game and a half in,
Speaker 1: and both my hamstrings quad growing um lower back. My
Speaker 1: lower half is if there's an old movie. In that
Speaker 1: movie it's called Old Yellow, and I am he think,
Speaker 1: I take you round the back and blow my freaking brains.
Speaker 1: So I'm cuttings I need to know with like we're
Speaker 1: y'all in the huddle, and your like Steve, like, I
Speaker 1: hate to do this, but you gotta go to the sideline. No, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: nobody knew because my last play was the best play.
Speaker 1: I played all right. I played corner and stopped the guy.
Speaker 1: But I realized you and you at least went out
Speaker 1: in the blazer. No no no, I realized. I said, no,
Speaker 1: we ain't gonna play no more. But he ain't catching
Speaker 1: his pass on so he was running. Luckily, thank goodness,
Speaker 1: the Lord was shining in his bright sun in the
Speaker 1: in the vision of me, so I recognized because I
Speaker 1: can see through that. I was putting my hand up
Speaker 1: using my using my long index finger to block the
Speaker 1: sun trick, and then the ball goes through my fingers,
Speaker 1: so I'm able to see the ball receiving trick right
Speaker 1: there and pump return to trump return trick right and
Speaker 1: then he didn't see it, so he proceeds to die
Speaker 1: for the past. Now, I played corner in high school.
Speaker 1: So I proceed to allow as he's airborne, to guide
Speaker 1: him out of bound. Show if he does catch it,
Speaker 1: it's incomplete. Yes, good job man, textbook. But bro, he
Speaker 1: almost towards me because he was not he was going
Speaker 1: to pass. Get run teeth, no safety help. It was
Speaker 1: all you. It was I was shut down. I shut
Speaker 1: him down. However, I was gonna make sure it was
Speaker 1: gonna be p I. But he wasn't catching his pass.
Speaker 1: And then you pulled on your jersey. Time to go.
Speaker 1: I didn't put all my jersey. No I didn't. No, No,
Speaker 1: here's what I did. Can't you can't let yourself do it.
Speaker 1: When he went out of bounds, I stayed out of bound.
Speaker 1: Y'all got it. It's pointing this good. So now for
Speaker 1: for all the folks who tweet at Smitty, get your jersey,
Speaker 1: come out, come on back. Now you're hearing the type
Speaker 1: of protection you got. You got something, but you're just
Speaker 1: saying you ain't got I'll give you two or three
Speaker 1: place to three plays. And then after I get hit
Speaker 1: or I try to, and I run a lot of
Speaker 1: decoy routes. Boy, don't you better stop him. I'm not
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna go out there and blow my knees
Speaker 1: out for I'm gonna go out with a blaze of cord.
Speaker 1: I want the picture. But Bro, when I tell you,
Speaker 1: I'm hurting. But here's what I figured out. I've been.
Speaker 1: I've been pellaton and bike riding so much. Quads are muscular,
Speaker 1: hamstrings fatigued. Bro, I am so duck. I believe if
Speaker 1: I play next year, I gotta train three four months
Speaker 1: ahead of time, training for no. But here's what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: training while y'all laughing, and I get it. It's it's
Speaker 1: the part of But when you're playing and you tried
Speaker 1: to like the explosiveness of stop and go, if you
Speaker 1: haven't done that and four years, your body goes, what
Speaker 1: do you do? Stop doing this a long time? When
Speaker 1: we stop at this rate with this power. I was
Speaker 1: out there, Bro, I was fly too. I had my
Speaker 1: outfit at Jay's all. Oh, I was good. I took
Speaker 1: no damn Jay's also quick gloves off. I went through
Speaker 1: my whole catcher routine. Wasn't gonna drop a nothing, didn't
Speaker 1: drop anything, but couldn't go anywhere either. It was remarkable
Speaker 1: and sad all at the same time because I'm sitting
Speaker 1: at home right. I was sitting at home yesterday. Bro
Speaker 1: I had to watch games either on the bed or
Speaker 1: in the couch to where I had to be in
Speaker 1: a good position because if Bro I was on my machines,
Speaker 1: I was sitting on ice ice up, son, hur did
Speaker 1: your team pick you up? For game three? Did y'all
Speaker 1: win it? Pick me up? He was out of permission.
Speaker 1: I packed up, and he took his toys and went home.
Speaker 1: They had appreciate you all appreciate this is good, but
Speaker 1: I gotta go. I was done. Hey man, welcome to
Speaker 1: wash Field. It's okay. I just didn't have it anymore.
Speaker 1: The same thing. Whatever I tell you what, I won't
Speaker 1: do it again. A lot of coaching, a lot of coaching.
Speaker 1: The only way I'm playing if I called my trainer
Speaker 1: and do it, that's the only way I have. No
Speaker 1: I have z bro interest. Oh, I bet you know.
Speaker 1: And what's funny is I get people all the time
Speaker 1: and say, man, man, let's get out of and I
Speaker 1: always say I don't. I don't feel like it like
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't feel like I have to prove anything.
Speaker 1: And I wasn't trying to prove anything. One cool thing
Speaker 1: is I got to play with Peyton, So it was
Speaker 1: out there playing it was cool, But it was like
Speaker 1: at the time I was going there, I was like, bro,
Speaker 1: I don't I'm not like I enjoyed. I enjoyed the people.
Speaker 1: The first team, it was all right. Second team that
Speaker 1: we played against it was fun, right, but it was
Speaker 1: I just have forgotten how much time and routine and
Speaker 1: training that I put in, and I just it reminded me,
Speaker 1: and it said this. All these guys that sit on
Speaker 1: the couch say, oh, what's the big deal all you
Speaker 1: have to do. I'm here to tell you if you
Speaker 1: go from the couch, I don't care who you I
Speaker 1: kea Ashley furniture, uh Ethan Allen, all the good cheap
Speaker 1: couch or expensive couch. I guarantee you I don't care
Speaker 1: what you used to be. I don't care what you
Speaker 1: say you are. If you have not done any football
Speaker 1: training prior to if you think you're gonna get your
Speaker 1: ass off the couch or the recliner and just go
Speaker 1: out there and go run around against some of these
Speaker 1: corners out in the league. Even as thirst right boy
Speaker 1: stuck you ain't doing it. I don't care what you
Speaker 1: used to do at Clemson. You said you getting m No,
Speaker 1: you may catch the ball, but I'm gonna tell you
Speaker 1: the next day, you're gonna be hurting, because today I'm hurting.
Speaker 1: The only reason I was not limping in here. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna tell you I did treatment on myself four times. Yesterday.
Speaker 1: I was watching the game when the dude got hit.
Speaker 1: That just reminds me ice when the dude got tackled,
Speaker 1: that h wave, hippo Matt. I used everything that I
Speaker 1: didn't have, And now trying to order through workers comp
Speaker 1: legally workers Camp. I'm getting all the contraptments that I
Speaker 1: need because I'm hurting you. File corkus come claiming it
Speaker 1: was bad. I ain't paying for it, not flex cheap.
Speaker 1: Who we got coming up on the Cut to It podcast,
Speaker 1: We've got Andre Reid inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1: In Andre Reid and the Buffalo Bills went to four
Speaker 1: consecutive Super Bowls. Andre rinks eight in NFL history and
Speaker 1: total career receptions and fourteenth in NFL history and total
Speaker 1: career touchdown receptions. Andre Reid on the Cut to A
Speaker 1: Podcast let's clear there, there's all there's this member. When
Speaker 1: I was playing with Baltimore with Carolina and we were
Speaker 1: heading in the halftime, and everybody thinks me and you
Speaker 1: were arguing, Oh I have seen that like viral clips.
Speaker 1: You know that. I get that one too, every ting
Speaker 1: and everybody is like, oh, They're like, oh, Steve, what's
Speaker 1: going there? Andre, who do you think? And they don't understand.
Speaker 1: I was going against one of the corners. I was
Speaker 1: marking him and he was talking and you just happened
Speaker 1: to walk past me and Andre g a legend, and
Speaker 1: Andre like, don't let don't let that your fellow get
Speaker 1: it get in you now. And I'm like, so, Andre
Speaker 1: kind of like he knew I was ripped up. So
Speaker 1: he's like he he's trying to get me to go
Speaker 1: in the locker room. And I go on the locker room.
Speaker 1: He know I'm coming back out like like yes, And
Speaker 1: so he's and so me and him talking about and
Speaker 1: I'm just like, man blankety blank blank blank black. And
Speaker 1: it's more of seeing my elder statesman, a dude that
Speaker 1: I respect. It looked up to watch going because here
Speaker 1: here here's what I gotta I gotta let you know,
Speaker 1: growing up in l A. You don't understand how much
Speaker 1: you crushed us as a l A kind of seeing
Speaker 1: l A r l A Raider Oakland Raider when both
Speaker 1: Jackson hurt his hip and we and you know, I'm
Speaker 1: in l A. So it's nine eight one, Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: nine am, nine thirty. While I'm getting up, I had
Speaker 1: Jimmy Dean's turkey sausage with some some blue baby preserves
Speaker 1: and the English muffin and uh some pineapple Chastis saster
Speaker 1: Shasta horrible breakfast. But um man, I'm watching the Buffalo
Speaker 1: Bills crush Young Eve's heart because Bo Jackson is not playing,
Speaker 1: didn't play, and y'all murked us. That was supposed to
Speaker 1: be hard. That was supposed to be our year and
Speaker 1: our team. We're going out there to play, and you
Speaker 1: guys just demolished this man. No vote, no Bo Jackson vote,
Speaker 1: didn't play. Uh. That is when Williams he was skinny
Speaker 1: Skinny number twenty two, Skinny Harvey Harvey. Williams is the
Speaker 1: running back who actually took over after that for a
Speaker 1: little bit. Yeah, man, I just remember that, and that's
Speaker 1: how that's that's uh you're talking about nostalgia, but that
Speaker 1: that's de Andre Reid that I see. So when I
Speaker 1: was playing, when I see Andre Reid on the sideline,
Speaker 1: and I'm going to get his team, and that's that's
Speaker 1: the guy I see. So I'm just charged up, like
Speaker 1: it's like big brout, like it's it's it's uncle Dre.
Speaker 1: I gotta show up. It's Mr Read, I gotta show up,
Speaker 1: and I gotta come calie. I'm oh, and he and
Speaker 1: he did and he did. So it's it's it's really
Speaker 1: man so to get you on my podcast and just
Speaker 1: really to talk to you. Mm hmm. Man, It's just
Speaker 1: it's um, it's like I'm daydreaming and I and I
Speaker 1: don't want to open my eyes because I dreamt so
Speaker 1: many times of hoping to be close to being in
Speaker 1: a thousand yard club I played when I when I
Speaker 1: played football, man, I had football cars. So call pickings
Speaker 1: Herman uh more, Andre Andre Read, Henry Ellert, the thous
Speaker 1: and yard club. That's what I wanted to be in.
Speaker 1: That's what I that's what I saw football last. I
Speaker 1: didn't see football as a financial path. I saw it
Speaker 1: as a path of the black heat men and heroes
Speaker 1: that I saw on the television because that was before
Speaker 1: we knew salaries. Man, I just wanted to be like
Speaker 1: those dudes. Man, I had a car collection. I had
Speaker 1: my car collection. My tops had that steel ass chalk
Speaker 1: gum right, white powder on your damn face. All right,
Speaker 1: he's right as at ampm bro go to a MP
Speaker 1: and rode my BMX bike with some cars. Yeah right, Spike, Yeah,
Speaker 1: you open you open it up and say who I
Speaker 1: got in there? Who I got? Yeah? Excited? Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: Mike quit and Randall cutting him. It's funny that you
Speaker 1: say that, Steve, because to go back even you know,
Speaker 1: before I played, it was the same way with guys
Speaker 1: like Lyn Swan and and John Stalworth and guys like that.
Speaker 1: And you know, I was a big Pittsburgh Steeler fan
Speaker 1: growing up in high school, in college, and I wore
Speaker 1: eight eight in college because I wanted to be Lyn Swan.
Speaker 1: And what's cementing that was when Marvel leaving our head coach,
Speaker 1: got inducted to the hall in two thousand one. Lin
Speaker 1: Swan was in that class and he gets up there
Speaker 1: and does his speech and I'm sitting in the audience.
Speaker 1: You know, I didn't retire until you know, I retired
Speaker 1: to a year before that, so I haven't been almost
Speaker 1: close to a year out. And he's doing his speech
Speaker 1: and he mentions me in his speech, and I turned
Speaker 1: around and looked at everybody else, like, who's he talking about?
Speaker 1: M And I just was like, that was my moment
Speaker 1: that a guy that I idolized as a as a
Speaker 1: young kid, as a high school kid, in college and
Speaker 1: awards number and he mentioned me in his Hall of
Speaker 1: Fame speech. So that was it for me when I
Speaker 1: when that happened. So you know, I understand where you're
Speaker 1: coming from, because this game is generational. Guys leave, guys
Speaker 1: take over. Guys leave, guys take over, and you you
Speaker 1: look at the guys before you you idolize them, and
Speaker 1: guys now idolize you. You hope they do because we're
Speaker 1: we're living in it. This is a different NFL players
Speaker 1: are totally different all the way from what they do
Speaker 1: to how they talk. Everything is different because social media
Speaker 1: has been a big influence on that. But the old
Speaker 1: school you can't get away from that. And I will
Speaker 1: always be old school when I talk. They talked about
Speaker 1: the greatest receivers of all time. Obviously Jerry and Chris,
Speaker 1: and you know, the guy I'm talking to definitely deserves
Speaker 1: to be in that in that category. I talked about
Speaker 1: those guys because they did it for me, and that
Speaker 1: is that is the bottom line that will never change. Well,
Speaker 1: I would take it. I'll take it a step further.
Speaker 1: They didn't do it for me. Y'all would have standard
Speaker 1: right when I look, can I talk and I have
Speaker 1: an opportunity that y'all are the standard right. And and
Speaker 1: you know a little bit with the Earth thing man,
Speaker 1: I always looked at Earth, He's the standard. I looked
Speaker 1: at irv is like, you know, the playmaker. And you know,
Speaker 1: even though we worked together we had a little tiff,
Speaker 1: it was like I've always respected Earth right, and not
Speaker 1: because he was a cowboy, but when you looked up,
Speaker 1: he was the playmaker and he made plays right. And
Speaker 1: so that's why you know, it's funny as I you
Speaker 1: know in here I've talked about that and everybody I've
Speaker 1: shared like when I talk about the way I played,
Speaker 1: I played the I played the game for the standard
Speaker 1: in which I learned it from where it's slobber knocker,
Speaker 1: it's bald. Now the saying this this, this, this, this
Speaker 1: same uh, the same PTA meetings. Right, this ain't the team.
Speaker 1: This ain't the team. M Uh you know the the YMC. Hey,
Speaker 1: this is this is when you go across middle Mel
Speaker 1: Blunt to blow you up. Donnie Shells had put you
Speaker 1: to sleep? Right, Ronnie a lot to give you that
Speaker 1: night night? Right? Give you ninety ninety Yes, Hey, Steve Atwater,
Speaker 1: make you change your whole perspective on how you looked
Speaker 1: at you become the Nigeria nightmare. Steve Atwater hit you
Speaker 1: you'd be just become Nigerian. You're doing some different type
Speaker 1: of contemplating now, Huh. I never heard that one. Hey,
Speaker 1: when I see Christian Nacorey, I'm gonna tell him that one.
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: at cut to It on Instagram? What about Twitter? At
Speaker 1: cut to It? Facebook cut to It feature? And Steve
Speaker 1: Smith Sr. 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. I know
Speaker 1: there's so many stories, and we're gonna get into so
Speaker 1: much of that stuff. But our first segment really quick,
Speaker 1: we'll get into it's called get ice up Smith. Why
Speaker 1: don't you give them the first one? You went to
Speaker 1: Cookstown University D two. Cookstown used to be name something else.
Speaker 1: What is that name? Uh, it was before it was
Speaker 1: a university. All I know is that Cookstown Teachers College.
Speaker 1: That's good, but that is incorrect, my friend, Okay, what
Speaker 1: is it? And you draft? You were drafted in the
Speaker 1: fourth round in m hm. They changed their name in
Speaker 1: three of That would indicate at some point you were
Speaker 1: there when they changed their name. Uh, you're gonna hit
Speaker 1: the cabinet back there. You're gonna knock off the wheaties.
Speaker 1: You're gonna hit you a little bit. I have no
Speaker 1: idea city. That's a good one. That's the first. That's
Speaker 1: the first one. You stubbed me one Cookstown State College,
Speaker 1: nineteen July. No, don't don't ride with me now. It
Speaker 1: ain't no room on this bandwagon. You can't get on.
Speaker 1: Before that, it was Ritown, Teacher's College before Cookstown State. Okay,
Speaker 1: who's your hero and why? My dad? Definitely? Um. I
Speaker 1: think most people say their dad because that's where you
Speaker 1: get all your knowledge from. UM. My dad, you know,
Speaker 1: he passed away in nine during one of my games, UM,
Speaker 1: passed away at home and during your game. During the game,
Speaker 1: it was a it was a Sunday game, four o'clock game.
Speaker 1: My mom and my two brothers came up to the
Speaker 1: game because it was a later game. My dad wanted
Speaker 1: to stay home because he had to get up for
Speaker 1: work the next morning. And actually it was just my
Speaker 1: one brother and oh yeah, he passed probably during the
Speaker 1: game when watching the game. My brother went to pick
Speaker 1: him up in the morning and the door was wide open.
Speaker 1: TV was on, and he kind of knew what was
Speaker 1: going on. He kind of knew something wasn't right. And
Speaker 1: he walked in the door. He was laying on the floor,
Speaker 1: so he had he had passed probably that night. UM.
Speaker 1: And I remember him calling me crying and it was yeah.
Speaker 1: So I told the coach and I said, Coach, I
Speaker 1: gotta get home. My dad just passed last night. And
Speaker 1: they put me on a private jet and I got
Speaker 1: home before my mom got home, and when my mom
Speaker 1: saw me that she knew something something happened. So yeah,
Speaker 1: it was pretty devastating. Man. He was fifty two years old.
Speaker 1: Mm and uh, like I said, he never missed the game. Rain, sleet, snow, hail, fire,
Speaker 1: The world could have been falling. My dad would have
Speaker 1: been there, so um, yeah that's what I Uh. It
Speaker 1: was crazy, crazy day, crazy time. Man. But he's proud.
Speaker 1: He's up there proud right now. Whoa, and let's let's
Speaker 1: hop into your journey, little bit. Andre. Where are you from.
Speaker 1: What's the place you call home? Uh? Well, San Diego
Speaker 1: is my home, but I'm from Allentown, Pennsylvania, a little
Speaker 1: old town. Uh about an hour fifteen minutes from Philly. So, um,
Speaker 1: I used to go to a lot of Eagles games. Um,
Speaker 1: used to go a couple of Steelers games. Again. You know,
Speaker 1: you guys knew I was a Steelers fan growing up. Um,
Speaker 1: and are real just a blue collar town? I mean,
Speaker 1: I know maybe you guys live in blue collar towns. Allentown.
Speaker 1: You can't get no more blue collar than that. Bethram Steel.
Speaker 1: They supplied of the steel in World War Two for
Speaker 1: for the Uh yeah, Bethram Steel there and they're still
Speaker 1: doing a lot of stuff, but just hard working people. Man.
Speaker 1: My mom and dad were just hard working. My mom
Speaker 1: worked in a factory, my dad was a construction worker. UM,
Speaker 1: and I learned everything from them about hard work and
Speaker 1: nothing's gonna be given to you unless you work for it.
Speaker 1: And I didn't. We didn't have I didn't have a lot.
Speaker 1: We didn't have a lot. But my dad taught me
Speaker 1: those values. And that's what I tried to tell kids nowadays,
Speaker 1: that you're no matter where you are, what you do,
Speaker 1: you're gonna have to work for it. You are Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame career, You're part of a special Bills team
Speaker 1: and made four consecutive Super Bowls? What was so special
Speaker 1: about those teams accomplish that? And I I talked to
Speaker 1: Steve about this a couple of times. You know, people
Speaker 1: as the years go on, they don't say, well you
Speaker 1: lost four and they dwell on it. Now they say,
Speaker 1: you guys went to four in a row. Maybe ten
Speaker 1: twelve years ago. I would hear that mostly, well you
Speaker 1: guys lost four, You did you did this and did that.
Speaker 1: I was like, well, what were you doing? You were
Speaker 1: watching me? Uh So I think the main thing that
Speaker 1: sticks out to me about those teams I was on
Speaker 1: is the togetherness and and I'm sure Steve can attest
Speaker 1: to this. Teams nowadays don't have that togetherness there together,
Speaker 1: but they don't have that's certain. Yeah, they don't have that.
Speaker 1: And we had that and we had there's six other
Speaker 1: Hall of famers from that team and a coach owner
Speaker 1: and the GM. Regardless if you were to lost six
Speaker 1: of them. Something was going right up in Buffalo during
Speaker 1: all those years, and we believed in each other, whether
Speaker 1: we want or loss. We knew that you were held
Speaker 1: accountable every time you stepped on the field, and that's
Speaker 1: that's how you approached it. You did your job, but
Speaker 1: you were held accountable for everything you did, soond you
Speaker 1: walk in that building. I don't think kids really here
Speaker 1: that they don't have. The kids nowadays don't have the
Speaker 1: accountability that they used to have. So what do you
Speaker 1: think is missing to where the teams don't have that
Speaker 1: level of camaraderie. Social media, that's one of them. In
Speaker 1: there was hardly computers. You couldn't you couldn't go to
Speaker 1: anywhere else and get the information. Um and the influence
Speaker 1: of everything has reshaped everything else. Even it's reshaped sports too.
Speaker 1: What do you enjoy about watching with today's wild receivers?
Speaker 1: Is there anything you wish you could bring from your
Speaker 1: here to today's or maybe vice versa? What do you
Speaker 1: enjoy about today's wilde receivers? Didn't catching catching a harder balls?
Speaker 1: Like they ain't nothing? Now? Uh? That's ah, that's probably
Speaker 1: the most the thing that I noticed the most tight
Speaker 1: ends are catching a hundred fifteen balls. I mean targets
Speaker 1: that I mean, did they have targets when you came
Speaker 1: to lead Steve like targets? Did they? Was that actually
Speaker 1: a statistic? No, it wasn't a stat I mean they
Speaker 1: would say it was targets, But they didn't like hold
Speaker 1: They didn't hold your feet to the fire like they
Speaker 1: do now. Your quarterback was Jim Kelly Andre You just
Speaker 1: called him the toughest individual you've ever met in your life.
Speaker 1: Twelve plus eighty three equals six. What was it like?
Speaker 1: And what did what did he mean to your career?
Speaker 1: Hold on? I literally did the maths like you get
Speaker 1: this double digits in this singles digits like I love
Speaker 1: how you love integers? Right, He's like, that's not the
Speaker 1: math they got that new math in school. I gotta
Speaker 1: seven year old, but it ain't thing. Yeah, let me
Speaker 1: let me tell you, man, Jim was When I said
Speaker 1: he was the toughest dude, I definitely was. Was one
Speaker 1: of the toughest guys I've ever met. And this is
Speaker 1: not because of what he's been going through the last
Speaker 1: sevent eight years of his life. I mean that didn't
Speaker 1: makes him tougher really, but he just he just had
Speaker 1: a knack for getting forty four other guys together, and
Speaker 1: he had a knack for always, you know, doing the
Speaker 1: right thing, even if it was bad. I mean, he
Speaker 1: always was one of those upbeat guys and you always
Speaker 1: knew that when he was in the huddle, that we
Speaker 1: can get we can get this thing done. You know,
Speaker 1: are you getting a huddle sometimes and you're looking you
Speaker 1: look at the quarterback and you're like, I don't know
Speaker 1: about this one. You just look at it. Uh, maybe
Speaker 1: we should just go back to the sideline. I don't know.
Speaker 1: But he just he just didn't have that his face.
Speaker 1: He didn't have that in his face, and I think
Speaker 1: we always had a chance, regardless of what the situation was,
Speaker 1: and that kind of permeated with everybody um, regardless to
Speaker 1: the situation. So that's that's what I mean by being
Speaker 1: a tough guy and being physically tough. You know, Jim
Speaker 1: was a big quarterback. I mean, he wasn't gonna run
Speaker 1: like a lot of these quarterbacks do now, but he just, uh,
Speaker 1: he knew how to get you up. He knew how
Speaker 1: to get you ready, how to get you ready for
Speaker 1: a game. And it was a pleasure to play with
Speaker 1: a guy like that, because I'd rather play with a
Speaker 1: guy like that that it doesn't have all the physical tools,
Speaker 1: but gets the job done with all the other little
Speaker 1: things that he got. And you know, we want in
Speaker 1: a ten year span at that time, we want more
Speaker 1: games than any team in NFL history and a ten
Speaker 1: year span, So that that just goes to show you that,
Speaker 1: you know, he had a command of everything. Um, he
Speaker 1: knew what the deal was, and he relied on his
Speaker 1: you know, his playmakers. I mean, I had Thermat Thomas
Speaker 1: behind me, mean, jeez um, and we had a pretty
Speaker 1: good offensive line at that time. I think we led
Speaker 1: the league in rushing and total offense for three straight years,
Speaker 1: so we were you're pretty pretty good locomotive going on
Speaker 1: for a while. So the thing. I'm in the Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame. There's no doubt about it because of him.
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously with God, you know, give me the ability,
Speaker 1: but you know, God had to find somebody who can
Speaker 1: throw me the ball too, and he was the guy.
Speaker 1: I've always wanted to ask you this, what made Don
Speaker 1: beebe so unique? Mh fastest white boy I ever seen,
Speaker 1: No doubt about it. Um, I think he just worked
Speaker 1: within our offense. I mean, you can find any guy
Speaker 1: that can go straight and fly, but you know, Bebie
Speaker 1: was that guy that he could take some hits over
Speaker 1: the middle. He wasn't known for that. He was known
Speaker 1: to stretch in the field. And um, we had James
Speaker 1: Lofton on the other side, yep. I mean James Lofton
Speaker 1: was just the consummate pro learned a lot from him
Speaker 1: about the game, about about everything, and we just all
Speaker 1: jailed together at that time. That's cool. I've always wanted
Speaker 1: to ask that because a lot of times, always I
Speaker 1: never connected the dots because man Don used to catch
Speaker 1: that fire from Ronnie lot every time. Oh yeah yeah,
Speaker 1: every time they was playing. Ronnie made sure he gave
Speaker 1: Bibe a tag man even when even when, uh when
Speaker 1: Ronnie went to the Jets. He had him on the
Speaker 1: side one time. Man, he tagged me one time, apologize
Speaker 1: for it. Really, yeah, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Bro, I'm
Speaker 1: sorry that a Steve that definitely is not a right
Speaker 1: lot treat. Apologize. He's like, hey, Dre, you all right
Speaker 1: to do it. I was like, yeah, I'm trying to
Speaker 1: get my face back on the sidemnd. I'm alright, thanks
Speaker 1: for asking. Yeah, I gotta go, I gotta go sit
Speaker 1: down for a couple of plays. But all right, appreciate you,
Speaker 1: appreciate your give me some loved do Let's get down
Speaker 1: to do it. Hey, Gerard, why did you get that
Speaker 1: T shirt? You mean this thing? Oh yes, I got
Speaker 1: it from cut to a podcast dot com where we
Speaker 1: have exclusive merchandise. Shout out to our guys at seven
Speaker 1: or four shot. But yeah, you can go on, buy
Speaker 1: you a T shirt, subscribe to us wherever you listen
Speaker 1: to podcasts. This process for the whole time, I've always
Speaker 1: you know, um Back in February Februar Are two thousand two,
Speaker 1: I started working with a sports psychologist who worked with
Speaker 1: golfers mainly, and we start doing the visitization and UM
Speaker 1: daily weekly, monthly, short term, long term, and then lifetime goals.
Speaker 1: And one of my lifetime goes I've not marked off yet.
Speaker 1: It's Hall of Fame, And um, I've already steered away
Speaker 1: from it because it's so subjective and it's a and
Speaker 1: you should and you should That's that's probably the most
Speaker 1: important thing for you for you now? Is that just God?
Speaker 1: But but I'm I know I'm doing that, but I
Speaker 1: also want to. I actually want to enjoy, no matter
Speaker 1: what the outcome is, the process, because I've steered away
Speaker 1: from it so much that I've almost set myself up
Speaker 1: for to believe that I'm not you know, I'm not this,
Speaker 1: I'm not that. But more of anything, do your journey.
Speaker 1: Why was it special to be inducted in the process
Speaker 1: and the procedure that made it such a special moment
Speaker 1: for you and your family? That's a great question. I
Speaker 1: think it's it's been seven years now, and I think
Speaker 1: every year. Uh. And this is just aside from how
Speaker 1: they go about doing things, How the Hall of Fame
Speaker 1: selectors and all that kind of stuff. Um, how they
Speaker 1: get to the point where they picked five guys that
Speaker 1: are the guys that they feel are worthy of induction
Speaker 1: and a bust and all that kind of stuff. And
Speaker 1: I always tell people they're like, well, who do you
Speaker 1: think should be? People ask me who do you think
Speaker 1: should be the next receiver going in? And I go, well,
Speaker 1: I can't really tell you the next one, but I
Speaker 1: can tell you about three or four guys have been
Speaker 1: waiting a while. They deserve mhm um. And the process.
Speaker 1: It took me nine years and I retired number three,
Speaker 1: five and seven yards touchdown catches of all time and
Speaker 1: it took me nine years. So to your point, Steve,
Speaker 1: the first three or four years I was eligible, you know,
Speaker 1: you're just like, Okay, do you think of it? Yeah,
Speaker 1: this is my year no matter what my stats say this,
Speaker 1: then I'm a team this that. But it took me
Speaker 1: four years to figure out how they go about doing it.
Speaker 1: And I had to respect that whether the outcome was yes,
Speaker 1: this is your year or it's not your year. You
Speaker 1: stepped out on the field, somebody had to somebody had
Speaker 1: to take somebody had to find you because you srupt
Speaker 1: and you you change games. That's what a Hall of
Speaker 1: Famer to me is, and you're in that category. You
Speaker 1: uh Tory halt all the receivers that are up now
Speaker 1: are just like when me Chris Tim Brown. You know,
Speaker 1: Jerry was in his own category, but me, Chris and
Speaker 1: Tim Brown for five years took votes from each other
Speaker 1: for five years. I go in Tim, I mean Chris
Speaker 1: goes in thirteen, I go into fourteen. Tim Brown goes
Speaker 1: in fifteen. So that that that's the process that I
Speaker 1: that I'm trying to get at, is that they do
Speaker 1: this regardless of who's saying something for you or not.
Speaker 1: When all forty four of those guys get in the room,
Speaker 1: they're influenced by each other, regardless if that's the guy
Speaker 1: I'm talking about or not. So the guy that's gonna
Speaker 1: be representing you not only has to convince the forty
Speaker 1: four other guys, he really has to convince himself that
Speaker 1: that's I'm in here because this is my guy, and everybody,
Speaker 1: every one of those guys, that's my guy I have.
Speaker 1: I'm on his behalf to make sure you guys go.
Speaker 1: Guys know why he should have a bronze bus that
Speaker 1: the last sixty tho years, no doubt about it. Everybody
Speaker 1: who's on the ballot, they don't put you on a
Speaker 1: ballot if they don't think you're worthy of it. I
Speaker 1: don't care how many years you played and whatever. If
Speaker 1: you're not on it. If you're on the ballot, you're
Speaker 1: worth you should be a Hall of Famer. That's just
Speaker 1: my that's why we don't have votes. Mm hmmm. They
Speaker 1: sent me a ballot every year, who do you think?
Speaker 1: And I checked people off or whatever. That's not going
Speaker 1: to them writers, it's it's not gonna influence what they
Speaker 1: feel and how they go about presenting no matter what.
Speaker 1: So right now, this is your first year eligibility, right, yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: so let me tell you just what you have. You
Speaker 1: got the holdovers. So you got Tori Hines, Ward, Uh,
Speaker 1: Reggie Wayne. These guys have been in it for a while,
Speaker 1: they've been in the finals for a while, and it's
Speaker 1: kind of like it's the same process that me, Tim
Speaker 1: and Chris Carter went through. So sooner or later, they're
Speaker 1: gonna have to start breaking these get breaking everybody up.
Speaker 1: They're gonna have to start breaking everybody up. And then
Speaker 1: once one goes and boom boom, boom, boom boom, domino
Speaker 1: effect almost would be a domino effect. So and then
Speaker 1: I always look at it, you look at errors, right,
Speaker 1: you look at errors. When they get in that room,
Speaker 1: they're gonna look at what are they played in? What
Speaker 1: type of game wasn't in that error? And that's maybe
Speaker 1: maybe one guy thinks of it that way and maybe
Speaker 1: three other just think of it a different way. Whatever
Speaker 1: it is. But they put all you guys, they're gonna
Speaker 1: put all you in a category, and they're gonna look
Speaker 1: at the error, and they're gonna look at numbers, are
Speaker 1: gonna look at play all. They're gonna look at all
Speaker 1: that stuff. But it's the one guy that says something
Speaker 1: that the other four guys or other five guys how
Speaker 1: many it is, doesn't say. So whoever is gonna be
Speaker 1: presenting you to the voters and the writers, he's got
Speaker 1: to be on his game and he's got to say
Speaker 1: something about you that none of these other three guys got. Mhm.
Speaker 1: That's gonna be the difference you're gonna get in. But
Speaker 1: what can he say about you? The same guy said
Speaker 1: something about me nine years and rupt did you say
Speaker 1: the same thing every time? I mean, let's reshuffle to deck, bro,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, like, did you say something year
Speaker 1: four that you didn't say? Oh, you're six or what
Speaker 1: what how did you go about doing that? The same
Speaker 1: movie script in every uh we saw this movie. I started, Hey,
Speaker 1: I started writing stuff down, said he thank you. You start,
Speaker 1: you start, you started meeting? Hey, what we got this week?
Speaker 1: What we got this ship? No? No, no, no wait
Speaker 1: wait wait Andrew, you had to google your own state,
Speaker 1: You had to google your own stats? No no, So
Speaker 1: I think you know the it's such a it's it's
Speaker 1: a dumb it's a dumb excuse my my friends as
Speaker 1: the dumb ass process. It is because if you were
Speaker 1: an impactful player and you showed up every game and
Speaker 1: you played, there should be no question. But that's not
Speaker 1: how they work. They don't work like that. In that
Speaker 1: room on Saturday morning, the day before Super Bowl. They
Speaker 1: don't work like that. I think it's gonna be you're
Speaker 1: you're you're gonna be going against those guys. That's the
Speaker 1: bottom line. When when you got that jacket to make
Speaker 1: it all worthwhile, then no doubt about it. Man. I
Speaker 1: wouldn't say it changed my life. It just it just
Speaker 1: put a stamp. It put the stamp of approve on
Speaker 1: what I did. Everybody else can think this and think
Speaker 1: that whatever they wanted but this jacket means that you
Speaker 1: were great at something that a lot of people weren't
Speaker 1: a lot of people weren't great at m That's what
Speaker 1: it means. And it just ain't any old jacket. You
Speaker 1: ain't gonna go down here to north Room to get
Speaker 1: one of the facts, that's for sure. So once that
Speaker 1: happens for you, will you be different, of course. But
Speaker 1: all the people around you, family friends, somebody had said
Speaker 1: something to you when you were in high school, somebody
Speaker 1: said something to you, and Pop Warner or whatever. That's
Speaker 1: that's the things you think about. That all flashed before
Speaker 1: my eyes the minute I got that call, m H.
Speaker 1: And it's it's a feeling that that I'll never ever
Speaker 1: be able to describe for you. I mean, like really
Speaker 1: describe it, because at that moment, man, I just had
Speaker 1: like an out of body experience and it was and
Speaker 1: I mean I thought about a lot of people, thought
Speaker 1: about my dad because my my dad wasn't there. He
Speaker 1: wasn't there in triment that he wasn't there to see it.
Speaker 1: So those are the emotions you get. And I'm in aquarious.
Speaker 1: I'm a very emotional person anyway, So it um it
Speaker 1: really put in perspective, not only you as a player,
Speaker 1: for you as a person. M you as a person. Man,
Speaker 1: that's the most important thing is what's in here. They
Speaker 1: can take a lot of things from me. They can't
Speaker 1: take that. That's hard to get from somebody, especially if
Speaker 1: they don't want to give it to you. It's hard
Speaker 1: to get M. So it's it's a and I sometimes
Speaker 1: when I'm alone, I think about it and believe it
Speaker 1: or not, just it tears me up because it is
Speaker 1: there's something you dream about. You know, you're getting the
Speaker 1: they have the gold jacket lunch and and you're in
Speaker 1: a you're at the hall, You're in this room and
Speaker 1: there's no media. Nobody's allowed in this room. Not either.
Speaker 1: If a fly got in the room, they're kicking his
Speaker 1: ass out. And it's a room with the greatest players ever,
Speaker 1: a hundred of us in that room. And we just talked.
Speaker 1: And it's a it's beyond any fraternity you can imagine
Speaker 1: being in. So you you're I'm looking forward to you
Speaker 1: being a part of our fraternity. Brother. Sure, Hey, you
Speaker 1: just sucked me up, man, picture didn't I felt like
Speaker 1: I was there it boys over here talking about right.
Speaker 1: I just put a glass on the on the door
Speaker 1: right there, and I just wanna listen. Yep, it's uh.
Speaker 1: I mean when you listen to Jim Brown talk, mhm,
Speaker 1: you can't help but listen to that man, and it's uh,
Speaker 1: it's a heck of an experience. Man, You'll never forget
Speaker 1: it the rest of your life. Next to your kids
Speaker 1: being born. It's a close second. Mhm. Did you guys
Speaker 1: get that? It's a close second. Y I go, man,
Speaker 1: Andre appreciate you sharing that. I mean, that was that
Speaker 1: was a picture that I don't know that anyone else
Speaker 1: could paint, probably, but you to be able to elaborate
Speaker 1: on that, and I know I speak for Smithie. Um,
Speaker 1: that was really really cool. That was really cool. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I I appreciate you guys having me on I respect. Uh.
Speaker 1: You know Steve so much as a player as a person.
Speaker 1: Every time I see him, we always laugh about things.
Speaker 1: I'm sure next time I see him gonna laugh about
Speaker 1: a few things. But he is a not only the
Speaker 1: consummate pro he was, but every time he stepped out
Speaker 1: on the field, you're you're gonna get your best from
Speaker 1: from eighty nine and he he showed that every single Sunday.
Speaker 1: Um he was a credit to the game, um, a
Speaker 1: credit to himself, his family, and again I can't wait
Speaker 1: for him to be like that. So they took an
Speaker 1: old picture and did that. I'm not trying to be funny,
Speaker 1: but I'm just asking pretty. It's pretty, it's pretty good. Actually,
Speaker 1: this is the one you get. It's made a resin,
Speaker 1: so this will last forty thousand years, and the one
Speaker 1: in Canton is bronze, so it's like six eight thousand
Speaker 1: h So, you know, if you don't mind me ask you,
Speaker 1: where do you put that? Like? I mean, I know
Speaker 1: for the show you got it right there, but yeah,
Speaker 1: putting I have downstairs. I put it on that just
Speaker 1: a mantle by itself, you know, not not calling you out,
Speaker 1: but you ever kind of walked down the hall and
Speaker 1: you know you're having a peek atam or no, not
Speaker 1: peek at them, but's like you you forgetty there and
Speaker 1: you know you think so you think it's a true
Speaker 1: like hey, hey, hey, oh no, that's just me, that's
Speaker 1: just me. Hey. You walk down the hall look at
Speaker 1: it and you go, who is that? You have to
Speaker 1: go back and you have to go back and look
Speaker 1: again and make sure. But it's it's it's coming, brother,
Speaker 1: I mean my you know, guys like John Randall and
Speaker 1: and guys that already been in the hall three or
Speaker 1: four years before I was there. I just have to
Speaker 1: have patience. You know. Patience is a virtue. It's really hard.
Speaker 1: But Dad taught me that it's hard to have patience,
Speaker 1: especially in this world, to be a patient person, because
Speaker 1: everybody wants it right now, give that now, now, now, now. Now.
Speaker 1: Patience is a virtue, man, and when that patient that
Speaker 1: pays off, it was all worth it. It's all worth it.
Speaker 1: You are a unique person. You are well worth it,
Speaker 1: you are competent, and most of all, your lovable. I'm
Speaker 1: Steve Smith Singer, I'm Gerald Little John and this is
Speaker 1: cut to It. Cut to It with Steve Smith Singior.
Speaker 1: That Is Me is a production of Cut to It LLC,
Speaker 1: Balto Creative Media, The Black Effect, and I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: For more podcast from I Heart Radio, visit the I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 1: your favorite shows from Cut to It. Executive producer Steve Smith,
Speaker 1: Singor co host Gerard Little John, talent and booking manager
Speaker 1: Joe Fusci, Social media team Wesley Robinson, and john Show
Speaker 1: from Balto Creative Media cut to It is produced by
Speaker 1: Brian Baltaschevic and Meredith Carter, with production assistance by Alex
Speaker 1: Lebrec Production Coordinator Taylor Robinson. Theme music by Alex Johnson,
Speaker 1: lyrics and vocals by Anthony Hamilton. You ain't heard about it,
Speaker 1: then we're about to let you know. It's all