Speaker 1: Where are they now? The Houston Texans have played football
Speaker 1: since two thousand and two. Some were here for a
Speaker 1: long time, others shorter, but all who suited up for
Speaker 1: the Texans have a unique journey before, during, and after
Speaker 1: their stint in Houston. It's time to catch up with
Speaker 1: a former Texans and find out where are they now?
Speaker 1: Former Texan David Anderson, wide receiver in the NFL for
Speaker 1: six years, five and change of those or with the Texans,
Speaker 1: joins me. Now, where are they now? David? You're in
Speaker 1: front of You're in front of a blue shed. What's
Speaker 1: going on? Man? Where are you now? What are you?
Speaker 1: I'm in elsagun To, California. I live in man Beach, California,
Speaker 1: not too far from my hometown Thousand Oaks. I run
Speaker 1: a company called Breakaway Data, which helps athletes collect and
Speaker 1: utilize their data and performance. So I'm I'm a moneyball
Speaker 1: dork now, which is great? Um, finished ball? What's to school?
Speaker 1: And I've been doing this ever since. And I think
Speaker 1: some people who just maybe don't know you would say, oh,
Speaker 1: that's that's kind of a weird transition. For people who
Speaker 1: have been around you, that's not an odd transition at all,
Speaker 1: you always had something going on upstairs between your ears.
Speaker 1: You were always kind of a I don't know, curious player.
Speaker 1: When you were in the league, you kind of took
Speaker 1: an interest in a lot of different things and did
Speaker 1: a lot of different How did you though, segue from
Speaker 1: the NFL into that? Yeah? So, um, I was always
Speaker 1: taking advantage of the NFL. We're called BM and E programs,
Speaker 1: business management, entrepreneur programs at different graduate schools. So I
Speaker 1: did they want to kell Og, Wharton and Stanford. And
Speaker 1: then when I finished ball, went back to school. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, my mom was a little disappointed, disappointed in
Speaker 1: me that I picked Colorado, stayed over some better schools.
Speaker 1: I won't say which ones, um, but uh so I'm
Speaker 1: back to graduate school. Got my MBA UM focused on
Speaker 1: data science. My dad was an engineer, UM, so I
Speaker 1: had that side going on. I was always good at
Speaker 1: math in high school. I was kind of the dork
Speaker 1: that was in the math mod competitions and whatnot. I
Speaker 1: just took a liking to it. And then I think,
Speaker 1: more than anything I knew, I wanted to be involved
Speaker 1: in sports. I wanted to be involved in ball. I
Speaker 1: didn't have enough stones to go back into the coaching
Speaker 1: world and kind of do that whole thing. As much
Speaker 1: as I admired him, jealous to those guys, that's always
Speaker 1: something I wasn't willing to do to myself for my family.
Speaker 1: And then I knew I wanted to do some form
Speaker 1: of media, so I've been I've always dabbled in kind
Speaker 1: of that stuff, but I feel like data gives me
Speaker 1: interesting kind of storytelling aspect of the media. Media play
Speaker 1: instead of just being a pundit and kind of saying
Speaker 1: my opinion, kind of gives me a little more based
Speaker 1: in my opinion. So I've been doing that for a
Speaker 1: while and it's been a success and it's been a
Speaker 1: lot of fun. Although you might think every now and
Speaker 1: then when Danny Am and Doola runs around in eighty
Speaker 1: nine that that's me. You know. He was a roommate
Speaker 1: of mine back in the day. No, Okay, So that's
Speaker 1: interesting you bring that up, because my first year working
Speaker 1: for the Texans was two thousand and nine. It was
Speaker 1: one of your best years with the Texans, and before
Speaker 1: you guys played the Rams in Saint Louis, I was
Speaker 1: down on the field shooting some photos for a pregame
Speaker 1: photo slide show, and I had come from Lubbock. I'd
Speaker 1: worked there for four years, so I'd covered Danny and
Speaker 1: I covered him in the kind of the pre draft process.
Speaker 1: He was hoping he'd get drafted. I don't know that
Speaker 1: he was necessarily thinking, Hey, I'm definitely but I covered
Speaker 1: it and I covered him, gave him a bro hug,
Speaker 1: and you were actually warming up and you're like those
Speaker 1: two guys talking about and you came over and started
Speaker 1: chit chatting with them, and it was kind of cool
Speaker 1: to see, I think, an appreciation because you were sort
Speaker 1: of an undersized receiver. We have a we have a bond,
Speaker 1: you know, it's like when two deers recognize each other
Speaker 1: in the wild. Um. Uh, we had seen each other.
Speaker 1: I mean, I I was in year when I met
Speaker 1: Danny for uh, it was it was really the lockout
Speaker 1: year twenty eleven. Yeah. Um, Julian Ellman, Danny and myself
Speaker 1: were kind of roommates or living all in the same
Speaker 1: city June roommates. Um. I just saw the work worth,
Speaker 1: work ethic of those guys, the determination. Um, they were
Speaker 1: all about ball, you know what I mean. I knew
Speaker 1: they had a chance. You always got to have a
Speaker 1: little bit of luck on your side, and they took
Speaker 1: advantage of every opportunity to given to them. And more,
Speaker 1: they earned everything that those guys got because they certainly,
Speaker 1: you know, Danny and Julian. Not to prepare those guys together,
Speaker 1: but Danny has certainly earned everything that's come his way.
Speaker 1: So my hat's off to him. He's had a still
Speaker 1: having a great career. You know, comes in, shows up
Speaker 1: with on Tuesday, scores a touchdown on Sunday. So I'm
Speaker 1: proud of him, sitting happy to say I know him. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was awesome to see, and I mean it was
Speaker 1: it was not surprising. If you know that guy, it
Speaker 1: was not surprising. It's funny not to make this all
Speaker 1: about Dany mdul because we wouldn't pay about you. But
Speaker 1: my last little add on to it was I was
Speaker 1: talking with him last week and he said, the first
Speaker 1: snap I was in the game, I knew the ball
Speaker 1: was coming to me. And it wasn't a touchdown. It
Speaker 1: was on the first drive and he caught like an
Speaker 1: eight or nine yarder, but he said he knew the
Speaker 1: ball was coming to him just because of what he'd
Speaker 1: seen in all that that in the background. So I'm
Speaker 1: sure he's got a little bit of the matrix going
Speaker 1: on in there. He's been an amazing time he sees
Speaker 1: what's going on. Yeah, I mean it happened into every
Speaker 1: athlete at some point in their career. When you've been
Speaker 1: there long enough where um, the speed of your legs
Speaker 1: is fast enough, which where Danny is, and the speed
Speaker 1: of game is slow, So you can take advantage of
Speaker 1: a situation. You just got to hope that those don't
Speaker 1: those don't foot flop. Ever. Yeah, Hey, analytics, that's a
Speaker 1: very wide ranging word. It covers a lot of different things.
Speaker 1: What exactly are you doing analytics wise? What what does
Speaker 1: your company do? Yeah? So, um, our focus is is
Speaker 1: helping the athlete at first better understand and collect their
Speaker 1: own data. Right. I think a simple way to describe
Speaker 1: it as mint dot com for athletes performance data. Right,
Speaker 1: there's Apple health Kit and there's other things that collect
Speaker 1: your data and information. What we do is we help
Speaker 1: an athlete better understand how their off field performance affects
Speaker 1: their on field performance. Right now, Apple health Kit doesn't
Speaker 1: tell you about your yards, your targets, your catching percentage,
Speaker 1: and stuff like that. What you value from an athlete perspective.
Speaker 1: So we bring that money ball aspect to to an athlete.
Speaker 1: Right for forever, it's been sold to teams, and they
Speaker 1: certainly take advantage of that situation. And we've helped a
Speaker 1: lot of teams along the way. But now I want
Speaker 1: to kind of pivot and focus to athletes helping them
Speaker 1: better understand and get more use out of their data,
Speaker 1: because I think, when you know, kind of like the
Speaker 1: rising tide raises all ships, if we can increase the
Speaker 1: data literacy and competency of athletes, help them use their
Speaker 1: data for more information, help them with their performance. And
Speaker 1: we've all seen like with GDPR and all this stuff,
Speaker 1: like your data is yours. How can we help an
Speaker 1: athlete get more of it and maximize it? That's our
Speaker 1: whole thesis. That's awesome, man, that's really cool to hear.
Speaker 1: Congratulations on the success and best of luck to more
Speaker 1: success down the line. Let's rewind it though, back to
Speaker 1: when you're coming out of Colorado State, highly productive receiver
Speaker 1: for the Rams. You get picked by the Texans. You're
Speaker 1: in one of the best drafts, probably the best draft
Speaker 1: in franchise history. What was that day like when you
Speaker 1: got selected? Did you think Hey, I got a chance
Speaker 1: of going there because of kind of the sort of
Speaker 1: Colorado State mafia that was happening here in Houston at
Speaker 1: the time, or what was that day like for you?
Speaker 1: So I started the mafia, you can call me the
Speaker 1: term soprano of the car Out Saint mafia that was
Speaker 1: at CSU for little or on the Texans for a while,
Speaker 1: you know what. Like you go through the process in
Speaker 1: your mind during the draft day, and now I was
Speaker 1: picked two fifty one, so I had a lot of
Speaker 1: time to think and go through a lot of kind
Speaker 1: of things. I wasn't like Mario picked number one. So
Speaker 1: I remember the different coaches talking to me, I remember
Speaker 1: the different teams. I remember the different what agents had
Speaker 1: told me, what my agent had told me, all these
Speaker 1: different things. I'm trying to weigh this as draft picks,
Speaker 1: you know, come and go as guys that I thought
Speaker 1: or knew that I was much better than got picked
Speaker 1: ahead of me. You just I just felt this, you know,
Speaker 1: that chip on your shoulder grow and grow and grow,
Speaker 1: and you know, I was getting more frustrated, and then
Speaker 1: I remembered, So sixth round comes along, and the Denver
Speaker 1: Broncos called me and they say, hey, if you don't
Speaker 1: get picked up in the seventh, we're gonna bring you
Speaker 1: on as a free agent. And they had just taking
Speaker 1: Brandon Marshall and I was like, well, I don't know
Speaker 1: if that's a good fit for me. And then I
Speaker 1: was kind of looking in my agent and I got
Speaker 1: on a phone call and he's like, hey, here's all right,
Speaker 1: I think I three teams are if you don't get
Speaker 1: picked up, they're all offering good deals. Da da da da.
Speaker 1: I was like, all right, so um so then the
Speaker 1: phone rings and I thought it was going to be
Speaker 1: an agent and who who was going to be And
Speaker 1: it was coach Kubiak and he's like, hey, this is
Speaker 1: Kobe's You're gonna pick you up here in the seventh round.
Speaker 1: I was like all right, And I remember when I
Speaker 1: finished my forty, like at that time, I like it
Speaker 1: clicked for me. At that time I finished my forty,
Speaker 1: Kobe told me, hey, if you're available light in the draft,
Speaker 1: we're gonna pick you up. Now. They didn't have a
Speaker 1: sixth round. They'd either didn't have a fifth round pick
Speaker 1: or a sixth round pick. I don't remember which one
Speaker 1: it was because Wally Lundie I think I don't know
Speaker 1: if Wally Willing was fifth or sixth. Um, but we
Speaker 1: went Mario Williams, Damiko, Ryan's, Eric Winston, Chester Pitts, m
Speaker 1: Owen Daniels, Wally Lundie and myself and Chester was Chester
Speaker 1: was as he was a good he was a good boy.
Speaker 1: He was off to a great start and then broke
Speaker 1: his broke his leg. But yeah, um but anyway, so
Speaker 1: like I remember getting picked up and then immediately thinking like,
Speaker 1: all right, here we go, and then the phone hung up.
Speaker 1: And then the next phone call I got was Joe Joe.
Speaker 1: Marcian was like, you're ready to play special teams. You're
Speaker 1: here run out and kick off and cast however, and
Speaker 1: I was like, no, I want to catch passes, good touchdowns.
Speaker 1: But of course when you're drafted, you're like, yeah, I'll
Speaker 1: do whatever it needs coach and uh. And you quickly
Speaker 1: learn when you get to the NFL. You know what
Speaker 1: I mean, I think what's crazy is but you get
Speaker 1: drafted at Leasta's how it was back then. The dates
Speaker 1: were a little different. Now you get drafted and then
Speaker 1: like two weeks later your helmets on practicing. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: you quickly realize how little you know about football, right,
Speaker 1: and that like you're in you're with a group of
Speaker 1: grown men who've been doing this for a profession, and
Speaker 1: like you are just following what the script says or whatever,
Speaker 1: and it doesn't look like that once, you know, once
Speaker 1: once the pet the humans are actually running around and
Speaker 1: you're like, well, all the dots on the page are
Speaker 1: the same size, except that guy's six seven, two hundred
Speaker 1: ninety pounds and this guy is like the fastest human
Speaker 1: I've ever seen in my life. That his dutmost after
Speaker 1: than mine. So um, you got to find out who
Speaker 1: you are and find your fit pretty quickly, otherwise you'll
Speaker 1: find your way out of the locker room. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: a lot of noble guys, thousands of them over the years,
Speaker 1: have not survived that may, you know, like they're gone
Speaker 1: or that summer. You stuck around in the end, and
Speaker 1: you were an active on the active roster through six years.
Speaker 1: I mean you were there at a time too that
Speaker 1: was very very It was a turning point in franchise
Speaker 1: history because they never won. You get there that first
Speaker 1: year is tough, but then next year or the year after,
Speaker 1: you get to five hundred, which that was a big deal.
Speaker 1: Year after that, you guys win the chance and have
Speaker 1: a chance. Yeah, when you walk off the field that day,
Speaker 1: you still are in the playoff hunt, depending on what
Speaker 1: happened later the day that didn't happen, but yeah, you were.
Speaker 1: You were part of a transition there, Texans wise. What
Speaker 1: was that like seeing them kind of turn a little
Speaker 1: bit of a corner so to speak. You know what
Speaker 1: it was? Looking back at it, it's uh hindsight, you know,
Speaker 1: you wish you had a little more of that when
Speaker 1: you're when you're playing in and whatnot. Like, I don't
Speaker 1: think any of us knew we were part of that,
Speaker 1: right You train nearing your oute and you think you
Speaker 1: got a chance. Um, you put better players on your
Speaker 1: team and you fee you're like, you know, this might
Speaker 1: be another winner too, but you know everyone does that,
Speaker 1: so um, you quickly realize when you step out there
Speaker 1: that every Sunday it's it's gonna be tough. I think
Speaker 1: what really was really hard for us was to win
Speaker 1: those really close games. When you follow the NFL, and
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter who it is, you either consistently win
Speaker 1: or consistently lose those games that come down to a
Speaker 1: field goal in the fourth quarter or possession here or there.
Speaker 1: And for a while, we couldn't get over that hump.
Speaker 1: And we got over to enough to be eight in eight,
Speaker 1: nine to seven, I think, you know, like you mentioned,
Speaker 1: I think we went eight and eight like two two
Speaker 1: of those years, M, but we weren't getting over that
Speaker 1: hump of of of winning those really close games consistently.
Speaker 1: You look at the elite teams when you roll off,
Speaker 1: you know, six seven, eight wins in a row, they're
Speaker 1: they're winning three of those games, why a touchdown or less,
Speaker 1: and it's probably coming down to the last drive. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And so I think we it took us a while
Speaker 1: to get over that M and figure that out and
Speaker 1: just how meaningful every possession is in the NFL, UM.
Speaker 1: And you know, that took some maturity, and it took
Speaker 1: it took the guys in the locker room growing up
Speaker 1: and growing up with each other and realizing that the
Speaker 1: guy next year has been through this situation. UM, And
Speaker 1: that was just something it took us a while to do.
Speaker 1: I also didn't realize how knew the Texans were until
Speaker 1: I came back to California my first and second year,
Speaker 1: you know, like even my second year in the NFL,
Speaker 1: which would have been two thousand and eight, and the
Speaker 1: Texans would ring around for six years at that point.
Speaker 1: I'd tell, you know, friends or whatever. I'd be at
Speaker 1: a restaurant to be like, what team do you play for?
Speaker 1: I be like, oh, the Texans and they'd be like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: you guys beat USC and the Rose Bowl. I'm like, no,
Speaker 1: that's University of Texas and then like and they'd be like,
Speaker 1: because you're a real NFL team, I'd be like, oh, wow,
Speaker 1: like we have you know. I mean, it's different when
Speaker 1: you're like, oh, I go to play for the Steelers
Speaker 1: and the teams have this tradition for you know, fifty
Speaker 1: sixty years. Um, the te Sins are getting there, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, But they're no longer a team
Speaker 1: that people don't know of a recognize. But we were.
Speaker 1: We were, You're right going through that kind of like team.
Speaker 1: You're almost like it wasn't team because we're around that
Speaker 1: long yet. But it is those teenager years where you're
Speaker 1: trying to find your identity who as an organization. Hey,
Speaker 1: at a personal level, you just discussed how you get
Speaker 1: out there for the first time, and you're you've kind
Speaker 1: of got wide eyes. When did you think, hey, I
Speaker 1: belonged here or I can hang there? Did you ever
Speaker 1: not think that? What was that like for you? Was
Speaker 1: there a moment that made that happen? I tell you
Speaker 1: I was confused my second year. I got cut my
Speaker 1: second year. I thought I thought I knew my second year,
Speaker 1: and I got cut and then I immediately got brought
Speaker 1: back that second year, and so that's when that set
Speaker 1: me back about a year. Even my third year, in
Speaker 1: training camp, I was announced as the third receiver and
Speaker 1: that I was going to be taking all the slot roles.
Speaker 1: It felt like it was something that I was constantly
Speaker 1: fighting to hold on too. And I think that, um,
Speaker 1: that just reminded me how tough it was to stay
Speaker 1: in the NFL. So I can't say only in games
Speaker 1: did I feel comfortable, right Like, I felt like every practice,
Speaker 1: every every training camp, I was fighting for a spot.
Speaker 1: And I don't think that that's not everyone, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. That's but that is for about forty
Speaker 1: three of the fifty three guys on a roster, right
Speaker 1: everyone's you know, there's about ten, maybe fifteen guys that
Speaker 1: are confident enough that even if they have a decent
Speaker 1: training camp they're going to be starting. That was never
Speaker 1: an option for me. I had to have a lights
Speaker 1: out training camp. I had to be there every day.
Speaker 1: I had to show up at practice and perform. And
Speaker 1: I think that's something that has definitely helped me out
Speaker 1: as I transition out of sports because I didn't have
Speaker 1: to be like that at Colorado of State. I certainly
Speaker 1: didn't have to be like that at high school. I
Speaker 1: could not practice four out of five days in high
Speaker 1: school and show up and have four touchdowns same probably
Speaker 1: a Colorado of State. But that wasn't That wasn't who
Speaker 1: I was in the NFL. I wasn't Andre Johnson who
Speaker 1: could take, you know, Wednesday Thursday off practice, go through
Speaker 1: the walkthrough, and then still come out and have an
Speaker 1: amazing catch against the Dolphins and beat them in overtime
Speaker 1: or something like that. So U kind of like what
Speaker 1: I mentioned, you quickly learned who you are in the NFL,
Speaker 1: and that wasn't who I was. I did get comfortable
Speaker 1: in games I can't remember like a kind of like
Speaker 1: like I was mentioned about Amendola Matrix moment against the
Speaker 1: Seahawks that in two thousand and nine year where I
Speaker 1: had a choice route. I knew he was inside leverage,
Speaker 1: but he would fall for the outside move. Matt and
Speaker 1: I and Matt show when I were on the same page.
Speaker 1: I was patient he fell for the move Boom got inside,
Speaker 1: had like a nice thirty five yard game and I
Speaker 1: was like, ah, there it is and I kind of
Speaker 1: felt my felt my feet get under me a little bit.
Speaker 1: So it happens. But it certainly wasn't like, you know,
Speaker 1: not never got to Tom Brady status where it's just
Speaker 1: walking around standing in the pocket lab out there. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you just bring up that matrix play that you had.
Speaker 1: Was that that's not? Also your highlight is like, what's
Speaker 1: the your most favorite memory you know on the field
Speaker 1: in a game with the Texans? Is it? Ah, you
Speaker 1: have one? Are they many? Or you know? I think
Speaker 1: I had many. I didn't really have, um, you know,
Speaker 1: I had some pretty memorable touchdowns. Obviously, I have some
Speaker 1: silly coning and stuff like that was gonna come up. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I was gonna ask about that. That always comes up.
Speaker 1: I always tell people I was planning on scoring a
Speaker 1: lot more touchdown so that would have been drowned out
Speaker 1: and YouTube was just coming around. Sure, I wasn't sure
Speaker 1: it ended up on the YouTube, but I'm fine with that.
Speaker 1: Um the you know what, it was funny I got
Speaker 1: cut before we actually made the playoffs, so I wasn't
Speaker 1: in the locker room. We made that playoff team. But
Speaker 1: the most memorable game and team, whoever part it, was
Speaker 1: when we went into Green Bay. It was December, it
Speaker 1: was probably negative three and I was part of that
Speaker 1: last drive where Chris Brown hit the game winning field
Speaker 1: goal and never forget walking into the huddle and everyone
Speaker 1: was kind of wide eyed, and I look at On
Speaker 1: Daniels and I was like, who wants to be a
Speaker 1: hero And it was like, I'm like, dude, we have
Speaker 1: a chance to like beat Green Bay at Green Bay
Speaker 1: and minus two degree weather, like this hasn't happened before,
Speaker 1: and we did it, and that locker room was special.
Speaker 1: It felt like, uh felt like we had actually accomplished
Speaker 1: something that hadn't been done in a franchise history before. Yeah,
Speaker 1: all right, you're back in southern californ You're in one
Speaker 1: of the greatest spots in the world, Manhattan Beach. It's
Speaker 1: an awesome place to visit, awesome place to live. I'm
Speaker 1: sure if you're living there, Um, what do you miss
Speaker 1: most though about the city of Houston from your time here,
Speaker 1: because you were here for a bit. Yeah. Um, well
Speaker 1: I can start with the restaurants. Um, Los Angeles has
Speaker 1: good restaurants, but not in the kind of like spacing
Speaker 1: that Houston has. Um I missed the space. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of beach towns are great. But my
Speaker 1: neighbor lives about this far away from more I do,
Speaker 1: and the traffic is way worse out here than it
Speaker 1: is out there. Um. The weather is way better here
Speaker 1: than it is out there. So I don't miss the weather,
Speaker 1: I'll tell you. Like the the people of Houston, I think, Um,
Speaker 1: when I was there, it seemed like there was this
Speaker 1: kind of transition, Katrina transition. There was a lot of
Speaker 1: more southern, kind of New Orleans flavor came into Houston,
Speaker 1: and it was fun to see that city kind of
Speaker 1: evolved into the flavor that it is because it's a
Speaker 1: lot different than any other city in Texas, and that
Speaker 1: like it's it's nothing like Dallas. It's kind of got
Speaker 1: a little bit of Austin in there. And because it's
Speaker 1: got the got the uniqueness, and it's got the people
Speaker 1: have their own their own colorful behavior, but it has
Speaker 1: a lot more of kind of that southern kind of
Speaker 1: draw that comes into people's kind of language and whatnot.
Speaker 1: And so I do miss that. You know, in Californians
Speaker 1: we have our own. It's not something I hear because
Speaker 1: I probably sound like that, but I do miss. I
Speaker 1: do miss Texans in general, and I do think what
Speaker 1: was fun about Texans is that, like they have a
Speaker 1: natural love and hate relationships with Californians. Right, We're like
Speaker 1: the only them In New York maybe Florida, people too,
Speaker 1: are the only states that will just argue in terms
Speaker 1: of a state which is better. It's not like anyone
Speaker 1: from Colorado's arguing with Texas and who's better. But Californians
Speaker 1: can argue with Texas. And I always enjoyed that kind
Speaker 1: of conversation and whatnot. And so yeah, i'd say those
Speaker 1: are up there as the things I miss the most. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: I mean, I love Texas from here. I'm a Houstonian.
Speaker 1: But when the Texans played the Chargers a couple of
Speaker 1: years ago, I went and hung out with a buddy
Speaker 1: who's now living in California and we met in the
Speaker 1: middle in Manhattan Beach, and I was like, I could
Speaker 1: live here, so, uh yeah, I see why you're there.
Speaker 1: Makes it easy. No stunner there. Hey how about former
Speaker 1: Texans teammates? You keep I imagine you still keep in
Speaker 1: touch with a few of them, don't you. Yeah, bunch.
Speaker 1: Um still really close with Eric Winston, really close to
Speaker 1: Loan Daniels. Um talked pretty frequently with Andre Aaron Foster.
Speaker 1: Keep up with him obviously, Joel Greeson, Mike Brizel from
Speaker 1: my college. Joel Jeson just made it into the Colorado
Speaker 1: State Hall of Fame. So for Joel Um, that was
Speaker 1: that was a big accomplishment for him. Um on the
Speaker 1: defensive side of the ball, Demiko, you know what, Okay,
Speaker 1: So I always tell this funny story about my first year.
Speaker 1: I'll tell really fast, um my rookie year. Uh. We
Speaker 1: were sitting around until twenty eight. We're sitting around. It's
Speaker 1: like this after the second day at camp and coach
Speaker 1: Kubiak says, hey, you guys, we got an announcement someone's
Speaker 1: birthday here. We're really excited about him. He's been really contributing.
Speaker 1: We brought him in this year. We know he's gonna
Speaker 1: kick it. And I was like thinking, like brought me
Speaker 1: in this year. It's my birthday, July twenty eighth. I
Speaker 1: guess he's talking about me really gonna kill He's gonna
Speaker 1: kill it blah blah blah, he's gonna start for us,
Speaker 1: he's gonna dominate blah blah. Everybody give it up for
Speaker 1: Anthony Weaver, and so Weaver. Everyone claps for Weaver. And
Speaker 1: then someone, I think it was Cooper or you know,
Speaker 1: Kevin Cooper comes up, or maybe it was Wiley comes up,
Speaker 1: whispers in Kubiak's ear and he goes, oh, hell on,
Speaker 1: we got one more birthday. And I was like, okay,
Speaker 1: he's gonna get to me. And he's like, uh, we
Speaker 1: drafted this guy. You know, we would think the world
Speaker 1: of him. And I was like, oh, he's giving me
Speaker 1: all these compliments. You know he's out here, you know,
Speaker 1: killing it. Blah blah blah. I think he's gonna be
Speaker 1: a starter, he's gonna be a leader for this team.
Speaker 1: Data everyone give it up for Demiko Ryans, and so
Speaker 1: to me that everyone's I'm like, holy crap, Anthony Weaver,
Speaker 1: Demiko Ryans. And then they didn't didn't shout out for
Speaker 1: my birthday. The seventh round pick gets no love, but
Speaker 1: it was a big bonding moment. So every year I
Speaker 1: text Weaver and Demiko happy birthday, and then they wait
Speaker 1: like a day to send it back to me because
Speaker 1: it was always a joke, like a Kubiak forgot the
Speaker 1: seventh rounder's birthday. But um, so I keep up with Weaver,
Speaker 1: um Damiko. Um. You know Tanovic who played for US,
Speaker 1: who's now offensive line coach in Green Bay. I talked
Speaker 1: to him every now and then. Um. Remember Von Hutchins
Speaker 1: played for US for quarterback. You out from the Raiders.
Speaker 1: I talk with Van here and there. Um let's see,
Speaker 1: I don't know, you know, sprinkled in and out there
Speaker 1: been Uh you mingled. You always mingled well, at least
Speaker 1: as an as an observe. You always mingled well with
Speaker 1: just about everybody in the locker room. You're you kind
Speaker 1: of talked with because it's not always like that, you know,
Speaker 1: You're no kind of Some people are more to themselves
Speaker 1: and you, uh, you were good about that. I always
Speaker 1: remember it seemed like you always had a really good
Speaker 1: relationship too with Jacoby Jones, who I contend is a
Speaker 1: is a genius in the sense of he could go
Speaker 1: into a party that you're throwing. He'd go into a
Speaker 1: party that I'm throwing. He'd go into a party that
Speaker 1: this guy off to the side is he's working on
Speaker 1: the puter right here, that he's throwing, and he would
Speaker 1: be the life of those any of those parties, doesn't
Speaker 1: matter if your grandmother's party, he would be the life
Speaker 1: of any party he walked into that t Isn't that
Speaker 1: an accurate statement when you say we were both chameleons.
Speaker 1: I think he is definitely more of a life of
Speaker 1: a party as well as well as I will. I
Speaker 1: will make him the life of the party. I'm a promoter, um,
Speaker 1: but I could I fit in those situations. I think
Speaker 1: that's why we both had a lot of friends throughout
Speaker 1: the locker room and hung out and got along well,
Speaker 1: even though we were oftentimes competing for you know, competing
Speaker 1: for passes and competing for a spot on the roster. Um. He's, yeah,
Speaker 1: I talked with Jacoby here and there. I haven't talked
Speaker 1: spoke with him in a while, but yeah, he is
Speaker 1: uh in a similar way. I'll never forget. So he
Speaker 1: came and he was the only black guy at a
Speaker 1: party one time, and he was like, I'm perfectly fine
Speaker 1: blah blah blah, and we went and he killed it,
Speaker 1: just like you mentioned. He was the life of the party.
Speaker 1: And then I went to like a receiver defensive line
Speaker 1: party and I was only white, only white dude, and
Speaker 1: Jacoby and Andre like, he'll be fine, don't leave him,
Speaker 1: he'll be all he'll mingle and so like I you know,
Speaker 1: I mean there was always yea worry about your teammates
Speaker 1: kind of every now and then, because the real world
Speaker 1: is not like a locker room where like it's a
Speaker 1: safe place to communicate. The locker room is a safe
Speaker 1: place to communicate, to be yourself, to to say things
Speaker 1: you wouldn't otherwise say. Um. And some people are scared
Speaker 1: of that when when they get in the real world.
Speaker 1: But Jacoby and I and there's certainly a lot of others,
Speaker 1: um that can kind of socialize in any situation. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I agree with Jacoby. Jacoby couldn't be invited to my
Speaker 1: grandmother grandmother's ninety seven birthday and he'd kill it. Yep,
Speaker 1: you sure would. So what's next for you? Man? You know?
Speaker 1: And I want to turn this business is something big. Um.
Speaker 1: I think sports date is a ripe industry. I think
Speaker 1: that it takes the right person kind of with the
Speaker 1: right attitude and kind of experience. You know, I can
Speaker 1: be a nerd, but I'll always be a ballplayer at heart.
Speaker 1: And I think that's ah, that's the key, um, to
Speaker 1: have a kind of that real kind of um spirit
Speaker 1: and neath those of the company. UM. So I'm excited
Speaker 1: to do that. Uh. You know, I got two kids now, Uh, congratulations.
Speaker 1: It's a daughter that's four, Johanna, and I have a son, Vigo.
Speaker 1: M Vigo carries a shovel with them and hits left handed.
Speaker 1: So I might be doing a lot more baseball coaching. Um.
Speaker 1: Everywhere I go, it's fine with me. And you play.
Speaker 1: You're a pretty good baseball player. Growing I was pretty
Speaker 1: good baseball player, basketball player. UM. I kind of pick
Speaker 1: up all sports. And then you know, I call her
Speaker 1: out of state. You learn how to play all the
Speaker 1: all the all the drinking games as well. I can.
Speaker 1: I can get it around a shuffleball, a dart boarder
Speaker 1: or a beer pong table with the best of them. Um.
Speaker 1: And then and then my wife's an actress and so
Speaker 1: kind of just supporting the fam and what they want
Speaker 1: to do is certainly something I really enjoy as well.
Speaker 1: That's fantastic man. I'm really happy for you, and it's
Speaker 1: fun seeing the success that you've had. It's been fun.
Speaker 1: Here are you on the radio because you do pop
Speaker 1: in time to time, and I gotta give pender gas
Speaker 1: and yeah, and those guys from Crap you know, I mean,
Speaker 1: they know what they're talking about half the time. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's funny to hear you mixing it up. We'll listen. Man.
Speaker 1: Glad you're doing great. Can't wait to do this again
Speaker 1: with you sometime down the road. And best of luck
Speaker 1: with the business, best of luck with your kids kids.
Speaker 1: I hope we're looking at the next shoheo tani there
Speaker 1: in in Manhattan Beach. Sound good, Vigo, you can keep
Speaker 1: it and keep a lookout, Vigo Anderson, he'll be smashing,
Speaker 1: smashing Homer's two gs or one and two gz. Okay,
Speaker 1: good to know that's Adam and Anderson. Where are they now,