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 a little John and this
Speaker 1: is cut to it. Good do it, cud do it,
Speaker 1: Let's get down to do it. Good do it. We
Speaker 1: asked the questions you always want to know, but no
Speaker 1: one ever asked, let's cut to it. You ain't heard
Speaker 1: about it, then we're about to let you. Now it's all.
Speaker 1: We got to two guys in here and actually in
Speaker 1: the cut to It studio, uh Trey Boston former Caroline
Speaker 1: and Panther san Diego charger. Yeah, when they just moved,
Speaker 1: I was I was San Diego for three months. It
Speaker 1: was live though. It's an all right, and then back
Speaker 1: to Carolina. Yeah, I forgot Arizona. Yeah, I almost forgot it.
Speaker 1: To listen, I'm I'm widow. Listen. I was just I
Speaker 1: would let him go. No, no, no no, yeah, go ahead.
Speaker 1: I mean your story about you know, figuring out where
Speaker 1: to choose and yeah, the station. I mean that's a
Speaker 1: pretty cool story. That is that is that is we're
Speaker 1: too head to all right, you want to do this?
Speaker 1: Are you even introduced? You just? Did you not say
Speaker 1: I was introduced that bound the ball. Welcome to Kurt's podcast.
Speaker 1: We could do this. You got Steve Smith Senior and
Speaker 1: then obviously co host Gerard Little John and backstage Joe. Hello, yeah,
Speaker 1: uh show. What's going on, fellas? How are you doing? Blessed? Cursed?
Speaker 1: I'm doing well, doing well a professional man? Feel like
Speaker 1: buzz energy energy? How you feeling before? Right? Is he
Speaker 1: letting you do this to him? Already? We just said
Speaker 1: held on like i'd Honestly, I'm happy to be in
Speaker 1: the booth and I'm excited to hear what we're gonna
Speaker 1: talk about. So I got a lot to say to Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's cool. Okay, No, it's gonna make it on the pod.
Speaker 1: That's great. He did say we're in the BOOTHTEPS, so
Speaker 1: shout after that. Yeah, we're in the studio. Hey, So
Speaker 1: what we're gonna do is, uh, start off on the beginning,
Speaker 1: which is get iced up. It's just you know, random questions. Okay, Um,
Speaker 1: there's no rhyme of reason. It's just random Okay, Okay, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm okay, yeah, Ranch, Ranch, you can't already let's go.
Speaker 1: So how many months have twenty eight days? What? Yeah, stupid.
Speaker 1: It was quick fast. Hey, if we're all wrong, we
Speaker 1: all right? Yeah, communication communication on the same page. We
Speaker 1: would yep, yep, back right now. It's defensive. We got
Speaker 1: everybody lined up and we played the same coverage. Yeah
Speaker 1: we did. Y'all getting burnt the same but they all
Speaker 1: on the same micle. Yeah, yeah, we all played one
Speaker 1: one thing. Yeah, sounds about good. Come on, coach, come on,
Speaker 1: I bet you'll get us with the next one. Depending
Speaker 1: on what time it is, it won't be the next one.
Speaker 1: Come on, ny on. I'm glory right now. So uh
Speaker 1: if you I'm on the podcast, Yeah, read the question
Speaker 1: club all right, um, yeah, if Kurt was a pair
Speaker 1: of shoes, Yes, what brand would he be? Okay, if
Speaker 1: Kurt was a pair of shoes, what brand would he be? Damn? Man,
Speaker 1: I feel like he would be like a six like
Speaker 1: like no, no, listen, listen, listen, listen, listen, listen, listen.
Speaker 1: We need to listen. Listen. Slept on. But the people
Speaker 1: who wear them in that crowd knows they're comfortable, they're reliable,
Speaker 1: and they're hard working shoes. If you got them shoes,
Speaker 1: you're gonna have them for a minute. You know what,
Speaker 1: I'm saying, So I wouldn't give him like nothing too
Speaker 1: fancy designer, because that's not who Kurt is. That's not him.
Speaker 1: So the a sick give him like a good brand,
Speaker 1: reliable brand, knowing that again it's gonna be in your closet.
Speaker 1: You're gonna be running with these shoes probably like five
Speaker 1: six years, Like dang, I finally need some new shoes
Speaker 1: compared to running some Jordan's and being like I can't
Speaker 1: run the Jordans Air assistant living Now what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, but listen it get up
Speaker 1: into the you know what I'm saying. Your grandma, Your
Speaker 1: grandma ain't rocking the ones said all right, man, so
Speaker 1: that's what I would at a six man. Ok, yeah here,
Speaker 1: look you did he said some a sex Like I
Speaker 1: got it. It's the it's the way you look though,
Speaker 1: like like you you you said what you said, it's
Speaker 1: not you get a good support. But you know, Steve,
Speaker 1: we're that you like only on the icebreakers. Focus. Alright,
Speaker 1: this is this is me and all the time, what
Speaker 1: if there's only there's only one that I'm thinking about.
Speaker 1: It's going to be the Jordan's and it's Now it's
Speaker 1: about what Jordan's I look at him, he's a patent
Speaker 1: leather Okay, I see him in the elevens. But Carolina
Speaker 1: blue elevens. Yeah, that's it. That's it. Oh, loads are highs?
Speaker 1: I mean I'm just oh mine, But which one? We were? Not? Lejohn?
Speaker 1: Now we're gonna miss I mean, listen, it's don't do
Speaker 1: me on the mid Ye, no eleven got mints? How
Speaker 1: is that a fleet market? I'm trying to check some
Speaker 1: bootleg wet side. Thank you man, My Michael Jordan local
Speaker 1: doing a layoup finger rooms. Yeah, man, I appreciate that. Man.
Speaker 1: That's Trey. Where are you from in the place you
Speaker 1: call your hometown? Yeah, Fort Mins, Florida. Um, yeah, so
Speaker 1: I'm from Creo nine. What about you? Kurt Date Ohio
Speaker 1: grouping Clayton. What's the jip colder area? Cool? Nine three seven?
Speaker 1: The gyms can't ripping loud, dude, you don't have to
Speaker 1: worry about the ones that speak loud. Yeah, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. You're trying to call me that's my
Speaker 1: that's my dog. I see. I started to see. Now
Speaker 1: it's some clear some things coming very clearly now because
Speaker 1: Kurt is very subdue quiet. And then now you're around trade,
Speaker 1: he brand new a little bit. Whoa, this is my god,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying that that's what I know
Speaker 1: him to be. It's good. I like it. Trade. Everyone
Speaker 1: knows Trade gonna bring energy to the table, always, always,
Speaker 1: So you either got to bring your energy up. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Sometimes sometimes it's it's it's energy. You gotta exert so
Speaker 1: much energy to keep up with the energy. Sometimes it's
Speaker 1: like it's exhausting. Yeah, it can be. And then it
Speaker 1: almost kind of comes. I know, we got some topics,
Speaker 1: is more of a round table you know, discussion or whatever.
Speaker 1: One of the topics we actually have is being authentic.
Speaker 1: Are you the same person on and off the field?
Speaker 1: So like, al right, try you you're hiring guy when
Speaker 1: your hiring guy out on the field as well as
Speaker 1: off the field. So how does that How is that?
Speaker 1: Because Steve just kind of preluded to it, like keeping
Speaker 1: up that same energy, being the same person on and
Speaker 1: off the field, I think, like you said, authentic For me,
Speaker 1: it's genuine. It's just who I am when I step
Speaker 1: into a room. I know, um, my role in it,
Speaker 1: you know, going to work every day, Um, it can
Speaker 1: get just repetitive. Um. You have long days, you have
Speaker 1: weeks that you are losing, UM, and it's easy to
Speaker 1: have that energy kind of sucked out of the building.
Speaker 1: And for me, if I can be the same guy, Uh, understand,
Speaker 1: I'm blessed. Understand. We're in good situations. We're playing football,
Speaker 1: something that we love. Bringing that same energy, it can
Speaker 1: bring the guys around you up and it allows your
Speaker 1: coaches everybody to have a deep breath knowing that, Um, yeah,
Speaker 1: we have a task at hand, but it's not it's
Speaker 1: not as serious as we're making the same things can
Speaker 1: be better. Um. But we gotta do that as men
Speaker 1: and keep our energy up because obviously, you know, if
Speaker 1: you get your energy south out of the build, there,
Speaker 1: it's over, you know what I mean. Like you can
Speaker 1: lose the whole season, Um in week seven, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean? Just like in week nine you can
Speaker 1: gain the whole all of it back. But yeah, that's
Speaker 1: that's what I do. That That wasn't me, Um, What
Speaker 1: do you mean? It wasn't you know? I was I
Speaker 1: was two different people on the field. I'm a I'm
Speaker 1: a monster on the field, and I'm looking to cut
Speaker 1: your head off. Um, but off the field, like there
Speaker 1: has for me, there had to be more of a
Speaker 1: humanity side and epathetic side of things. I think what
Speaker 1: was great. You know, when you look at on the field,
Speaker 1: it's the process to get onto the field. So for myself,
Speaker 1: I was in the meetings, I was very serious. I
Speaker 1: would call the coaches out when they're wrong. Um. But
Speaker 1: when we got into the locker room, you know, I
Speaker 1: would you know, kind of let's lose a little bit.
Speaker 1: But then when we got back onto the practice field,
Speaker 1: you know, from my off like I was very driven,
Speaker 1: like very serious. Um. But what what is great though,
Speaker 1: is you know when you do have a guy like Trey, um,
Speaker 1: he he keeps that other side of me that that
Speaker 1: needs to stay alive, you know, because sometimes I can
Speaker 1: just get so focused and tie down, um to the
Speaker 1: craft that I forget that there needs to be fun
Speaker 1: along along with it. And so what what was great
Speaker 1: was for Trade. Trade would always you know, bring that
Speaker 1: fun energy side and sometimes we would have to ring
Speaker 1: him back in and give him the serious like this
Speaker 1: is this is go time, and this is what we
Speaker 1: need to buckle down. And so I honestly like it
Speaker 1: was great because you know, and I'm just thinking about
Speaker 1: this two fifteen season in general, because we had guys
Speaker 1: that were very loose, we had guys that were very serious,
Speaker 1: and we had a little bit in between them. We
Speaker 1: are crazy j No, Josh Norman and then you know,
Speaker 1: and then we had some young cats. But then you
Speaker 1: also had Peanut Tillman, who was he was the clown
Speaker 1: of clowns. He was the clown of clowns. But like
Speaker 1: you you respected, you know, what he had done his
Speaker 1: body of work up to that, so like it was
Speaker 1: just a great exture everything. But for me, you know,
Speaker 1: I would say off the field, I'm very relaxed, and
Speaker 1: I try to be very relaxed. Um, But on the field,
Speaker 1: like I'm up, I'm upright row trash talking. So I know,
Speaker 1: y'all get together, you'll play golf. Is a lot of that.
Speaker 1: Where does that end on the field and maybe not
Speaker 1: even become personal off the field? It doesn't go he
Speaker 1: I got some chuck, Kurt, Yeah, go ahead, you want
Speaker 1: gonna watch it? Does It's actually it's kind of walking
Speaker 1: a little bit between me and Trey, just a little
Speaker 1: bit because like we we played golf when was it
Speaker 1: and Trey is cool. It's It's one of those things
Speaker 1: where like I enjoyed being around him, and then we
Speaker 1: kind of butt heads, but he thinks we butt as
Speaker 1: because he thinks that we're very much alike and we're
Speaker 1: actually not. We're polar opposites. And then but Kurt knows
Speaker 1: both of us, so it's like Kurch good friends and
Speaker 1: we're both of us, and he he interacts and he understands, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, each of us. But it's like this little battle,
Speaker 1: and it's like I don't like for me, what I
Speaker 1: really struggle if I'm just being honest, what I really
Speaker 1: struggle with with is it's like the fight, and I
Speaker 1: just like, now that I'm older, I don't want to
Speaker 1: fight anymore. So it's like for you, for both of us,
Speaker 1: it's like, you know, because when we played golf one time,
Speaker 1: he was like, um man, you know, we played against
Speaker 1: each other and like he'd be like, man, it be
Speaker 1: on and he'd be like, oh man, every play, and
Speaker 1: it's like to some degree, it's like it is every play.
Speaker 1: And because me and Trade never played against each other,
Speaker 1: but me and Kirk ha and Kirk knows like I
Speaker 1: don't I'm not there's no I'm not one person on
Speaker 1: the field and one person off the field. Now I
Speaker 1: believe we're evolving, like I'm involving. But I just like
Speaker 1: if we play seventy plays like I would establish the
Speaker 1: first two plays like this is how I'm gonna play
Speaker 1: for the next sixty eight plays, like I'm not taking
Speaker 1: a playoff. And it's just it's just different for me.
Speaker 1: I like it. I think it's a refreshing, you know,
Speaker 1: if we're talking on and off the field, to be
Speaker 1: able to have guys like Steve that I know and Kurt,
Speaker 1: all of our guys. When I when we talk trash,
Speaker 1: it's not malicious. We're not We're not trying to come
Speaker 1: at each other the wrong way. Um, And at home,
Speaker 1: you might not get that with your spouse sometimes obviously,
Speaker 1: if I'm a guy, like I told you my energy,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm I like to take stuff home, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. So I could be talking smack to
Speaker 1: my wife, but she didn't trying to hear that, like
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. But if I can, if
Speaker 1: I got another game what I'm saying. So it's like, um,
Speaker 1: having your friends to be able to do that too.
Speaker 1: And I know that I'm dynamic between us, um, not
Speaker 1: truly playing each other. Um. It's how I try to
Speaker 1: get underneath the skin because I truly know that I've
Speaker 1: I've watched acknowledged um from a far and near the
Speaker 1: competitor that he is. When was you near me? Well,
Speaker 1: I've been to Bucks games, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: like you as a fan. Yeah, you're the news bleeds.
Speaker 1: But now now, but now, now, now, I've been around
Speaker 1: you enough. But that's so, here's a secret. When we
Speaker 1: play golf, like me and being Curt in the golf cart,
Speaker 1: curags like, bro, just let it go. No, he doesn't
Speaker 1: get it though, Like I'm like when I say, like, really,
Speaker 1: I would like want to kill you, bro, Like I
Speaker 1: really wanted to kill you, Like I'm not like Kirk.
Speaker 1: He doesn't understand, Like I'm not like like he he
Speaker 1: like I was like like like I I go like
Speaker 1: most people like, oh, we go ten rounds. I'm like, Tyson,
Speaker 1: I want to knock you out in the first fifty seconds.
Speaker 1: I'm not interested in going twelve rounds because for me,
Speaker 1: if I go twelve rounds, it turns. It takes me
Speaker 1: into a dark place, it goes into a place where
Speaker 1: it's like now, I'm just narrow focus and I don't.
Speaker 1: I just I don't. I don't want to live that
Speaker 1: way anymore. That's like it's can I ask you a question? Absolutely,
Speaker 1: you welcome to ask me any question. Would you say,
Speaker 1: have you learned that through just some of the time
Speaker 1: of working with um, you know, speaking with people like Uh,
Speaker 1: would that be therapists, uh, sports psychologists or just you know,
Speaker 1: mental training or is that just something that you have
Speaker 1: figured out on your own. Uh. It's a it's a
Speaker 1: combination of all. It's also self reflection to right, having
Speaker 1: that time where you can sit and really kind of
Speaker 1: you know, go through the process. Right. So, so for
Speaker 1: what I mean by that is like, first of all,
Speaker 1: when I used to get mad, for me, I would
Speaker 1: I would narrow in my focus like my For most
Speaker 1: people when they get upset, they get out of control.
Speaker 1: Should we never played again each other? But you have
Speaker 1: When I get piste, I'm a different Like it's not
Speaker 1: like oh I'm slipping or I'm just like out of control. Now,
Speaker 1: it's just like like it's blinders, not blinders to wild
Speaker 1: don't see everything, but blinders to now this is my
Speaker 1: I have my assignment like a laser like focus, and
Speaker 1: I know how you take, and I know how you take.
Speaker 1: So he feeds off of that, and and I think
Speaker 1: that that's that's the thing where I sit in the
Speaker 1: middle of it and almost referee because he's feeding off
Speaker 1: of him. But he also knows that at some point
Speaker 1: he's feeding, he's feeding. He thinks, oh, tick tick, and
Speaker 1: he's over there like, man, this brother ain't got he
Speaker 1: got about he go to four if it don't go
Speaker 1: to count down from thirty. And and that's that difference
Speaker 1: where it's like the he feeds off of it. But
Speaker 1: then I try to, like you said, you don't try
Speaker 1: to go for the juggnairet that that's and that's the
Speaker 1: thing is like that you don't. You don't you don't
Speaker 1: try to feed into it, and you don't you don't
Speaker 1: want it to get there, but when it gets there,
Speaker 1: you're you're you don't care where it gets to because
Speaker 1: getting guy straight just wants to like and I love
Speaker 1: it because I like we always knew like if Trey
Speaker 1: was um like he needed like we needed like what
Speaker 1: we said we talked bad to Tray talk bad. And
Speaker 1: he feeds off of that um. So that that was
Speaker 1: just like when I'm watching him like hold on, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I see where this is going. So how much of
Speaker 1: that is because you also talked about before. When you're
Speaker 1: just talking about of it's almost sounds like leadership to like,
Speaker 1: even if I take it back to being on the
Speaker 1: field of knowing who's supposed to be where, knowing your teammates,
Speaker 1: is that part of leadership that you had to develop
Speaker 1: your style of just knowing Like in this senstance, there's
Speaker 1: knowing to people who are friends, but on the field
Speaker 1: of knowing like all right, you know for wow, Like
Speaker 1: until we played, I didn't want to be his friend. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I was like I don't know about this and I
Speaker 1: don't think it's gonna work. But you get what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: is that that that intangible Like how how do you
Speaker 1: build that up? Well? I think just taking the time
Speaker 1: to build the relationships with each and every person, Like, um,
Speaker 1: you know, Smitty and I and we play when I
Speaker 1: was in Philadelphia, and and you know, you always have
Speaker 1: this perception of people, and I never had a bad perception,
Speaker 1: but I knew, you know, I better bring my heart
Speaker 1: hat to every single game. Spendy was lined up because
Speaker 1: he was gonna find I felt like he was always
Speaker 1: gonna find somebody at times, and you better be ready
Speaker 1: when when that shot. Yeah, well I mean just like
Speaker 1: you better be being ready. But then him and I
Speaker 1: went golfing down in Kiwa, and I thought it was
Speaker 1: just a great time. Our families, our wives you know,
Speaker 1: and talked even before then, so like it was it
Speaker 1: was great because like you know, it's always nice when
Speaker 1: your wives, you know, you can bring the whole family along.
Speaker 1: It's not just boom boom. And so like I really
Speaker 1: got to know him on a real personal level and
Speaker 1: vice versas. So like I felt like that that was
Speaker 1: like the beginning of you know, us really actually taking it,
Speaker 1: you know, just from you know, competitors to actually friends.
Speaker 1: But then you know, try and I it was, you know,
Speaker 1: the same thing in two thousand and fifteen when we started,
Speaker 1: and then from there, you know, going to his wedding
Speaker 1: and and and doing all that stuff like with our family.
Speaker 1: So you know, him remember just bringing bringing a little
Speaker 1: little trade to the house, um, you know when he
Speaker 1: was first born, Like it's just stuff like that. It
Speaker 1: was it. But but um, at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: like whether we didn't have that, like if we're in
Speaker 1: the locker room. If you expect to be a leader,
Speaker 1: you better get to know people, because I think leadership
Speaker 1: is more than just what you do. It's who you
Speaker 1: are and what you want the atmosphere to become. And
Speaker 1: if you don't get to know somebody, I can't expect
Speaker 1: something out of you. And if I do expect that
Speaker 1: out of you, well, if I'm asking something out of you,
Speaker 1: like I better have taken the time to invest into you.
Speaker 1: And I think that's the only, um, the only fair thing.
Speaker 1: And so what it's that old saying nobody cares what
Speaker 1: you know right until I know that you care. I
Speaker 1: love cut to It and I love it even more
Speaker 1: when you download us and subscribe, and you can follow
Speaker 1: us on social media too, Smithy where where at? That's at?
Speaker 1: Cut to It on Instagram? What about Twitter? At? Cut
Speaker 1: to It Facebook? Cut to It featuring Steve Smith singr.
Speaker 1: What about online? And you can follow us at cut
Speaker 1: to It podcast dot com where you can buy merch
Speaker 1: and you can subscribe to us wherever you listen to podcasts.
Speaker 1: I got all my answers questions. Um, yeah, I got
Speaker 1: all my questions answered. That's what I'm here for. A
Speaker 1: brother cut to a podcast dot com. You know, I
Speaker 1: think that's the struggle with with with fans and and
Speaker 1: and and in athletes, right, because there is this um expectation, right,
Speaker 1: but then there's no Sometimes there's no expectation on the
Speaker 1: other end, expectation of like you expected to when I
Speaker 1: see you give me what I want. But then there's
Speaker 1: the expectation of the other sometimes athletes like hey, some
Speaker 1: days is it's cool, but the other days just a
Speaker 1: little bit of privacy, like my expectations when I'm my
Speaker 1: whole deal. Bro, when we're in the bathroom, I don't talk.
Speaker 1: We're not talking, dethletean and not. I think that's what
Speaker 1: you would think that I know definitely what's going on.
Speaker 1: I know they're definitely talking to him any chance they get.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, they're taking they're taking advantage
Speaker 1: of the opportunity because so they got this bathroom. So
Speaker 1: the question, so, so the question is, uh, person versus
Speaker 1: the performer? Yeah, how do how do you handle how
Speaker 1: do you handle the person versus the performer? And then
Speaker 1: after you break that down, do you find your do
Speaker 1: you find yourself at any moment in in your career
Speaker 1: where you were maybe playing to the audience. Okay, I
Speaker 1: would say person versus to perform me. I know that
Speaker 1: my energy already comes off as um, fun, energetic, so
Speaker 1: I know I'm gonna meet a lot of people around
Speaker 1: um from me. Honestly, I think it's important for me
Speaker 1: to just acknowledge them, say hello, how you doing. Take
Speaker 1: a picture with him? You have a great day, have
Speaker 1: a blessed one. So we have a respect of Okay,
Speaker 1: I gave you what you needed, just like you said.
Speaker 1: Now can I get back to my privacy. It ain't
Speaker 1: no sitting here five minutes and talk to me. It's
Speaker 1: like you met me. I was a great guy, gave
Speaker 1: your pick saying how do your kids family? Now, let's
Speaker 1: go on by our privacy and so let me ask you.
Speaker 1: From what I hear, then you don't separate the person
Speaker 1: from the performer a little bit. If you say no,
Speaker 1: I get yeah, I get what you're saying. No, I
Speaker 1: don't much. I don't much like I don't think there's
Speaker 1: ever a time that I wouldn't let I think at
Speaker 1: the same time, as a respect from who my performer
Speaker 1: is to win, Like there's been people who have been
Speaker 1: who's dm me like Hey, I saw you at dinner
Speaker 1: with your wife and kids. Didn't want to come over.
Speaker 1: But I just want to let you I'm not talking Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about just Persian performers,
Speaker 1: That's what I'm saying. So for me, um, no, I'm
Speaker 1: pretty much the same. I wouldn't I wouldn't see myself
Speaker 1: like not not doing the things I do off the
Speaker 1: field or on the field. Like I don't really change
Speaker 1: for you know many you know what I mean, unless
Speaker 1: I got like a curt whose telling me, hey, dollar
Speaker 1: in you know what I mean. But for the most part, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be the same on and off because that's
Speaker 1: just who I am. UM used to talking to people
Speaker 1: my mom if you if you got to meet my mom,
Speaker 1: same way people person energetic, um, single mother. My mom worked,
Speaker 1: you know, two or three jobs at a time, my
Speaker 1: whole life. Um, So to see her grind see um
Speaker 1: at the same time we might we might have been
Speaker 1: where we're at, where she still took us to suit
Speaker 1: kitchens and food banks. That's why I do that stuff
Speaker 1: because even though we were I mean pretty much living
Speaker 1: in the hood, we were still going to you know,
Speaker 1: offer our time if it wasn't money, We're gonna give
Speaker 1: our time back to the people to also show me
Speaker 1: that you know, I'm here, but it could be worse.
Speaker 1: You like, you can have better, but it could be worse.
Speaker 1: And I think that's where a lot of like my
Speaker 1: energy comes from because of just knowing that, Man, a
Speaker 1: smile can change somebody the whole day. Um. You know,
Speaker 1: somebody just acknowledging, somebody telling him, you know, you have
Speaker 1: a great day, have a blessed day, can just flip
Speaker 1: the whole perspective of an NFL player, of a black
Speaker 1: man with dreads you know what I mean? Uh, you know,
Speaker 1: it's just so much to it. So for me, um,
Speaker 1: it's yeah, that's just who I am. So lives mean
Speaker 1: to just be easy with it. Yeah. How about you, Kurt?
Speaker 1: How you? How are you right? Um? So, my parents
Speaker 1: spent up when I was five, and UM, so I
Speaker 1: have I was one of nine kids, um, youngest, youngest boy,
Speaker 1: um growing up, but I never felt like I didn't
Speaker 1: have what I needed, but always surrounded by you know,
Speaker 1: things that that you want. But I think the great
Speaker 1: thing about it was even though my parents were split, um,
Speaker 1: they both were in a UM in a role within
Speaker 1: their jobs that was UM giving back. So my mom
Speaker 1: was a speech pathologist at the Veterans Hospital and so
Speaker 1: going to spend time with her and serving the vets
Speaker 1: and seeing you know, I remember I was seven years
Speaker 1: old and I was in third grade and we were
Speaker 1: we uh it was like a go to go to work,
Speaker 1: you know, with your parents and I it was a
Speaker 1: soldier that it came back and he had a m
Speaker 1: he had a really bad stroke and she was trying
Speaker 1: to teach him how to swallow, just to swallow, let
Speaker 1: alone eat UM. And it was just one of the
Speaker 1: things where like I from that moment, like I would
Speaker 1: uh kind of penpole him and he ended up passing
Speaker 1: UM shortly after that. But it was an easy reminder
Speaker 1: of just UM, just being able to give yourself UM
Speaker 1: in the service of others. And then my dad has
Speaker 1: been a coach UM teacher principle I'm still teaching to
Speaker 1: this day. And so you know, my my my life
Speaker 1: was like what can I do that UM where success
Speaker 1: isn't defined by maybe touchdowns or this or that, but
Speaker 1: unless UM, but in the success of others, and so UM.
Speaker 1: I was very fortunate enough though obviously I was athletic
Speaker 1: enough and and had everything UM in line that I
Speaker 1: was able to play in the NFL. But I knew,
Speaker 1: regardless of the NFL, UM, being a teacher of some
Speaker 1: sort was something that I was going to do. So UM.
Speaker 1: In high school, I worked with a special needs program
Speaker 1: there and it was unbelievable being able to work with
Speaker 1: the children UM there. And you know, the things that
Speaker 1: you know that you can learn from somebody that may
Speaker 1: have Down syndrome or um autism or whatever whatever the
Speaker 1: case may be, is the simplest things are the most
Speaker 1: gratifying things sometimes in life. And I would look at
Speaker 1: them and we would we would color, we would make something,
Speaker 1: cupcakes didn't matter. And they're smiling and laugh And I'm like,
Speaker 1: how am I complaining about what I have going on
Speaker 1: in my life? Um about a simple hurdle obstacle when
Speaker 1: that is probably challenging to them, and yet they do
Speaker 1: it with the most loving and kind hearted spirit. So UM,
Speaker 1: it's just it's a different approach of life. And I
Speaker 1: try to see life through that perspective of I know
Speaker 1: things are tough. Um, life is not easy for anybody.
Speaker 1: I don't care if you have a lot of money
Speaker 1: or if you don't have a lot of money, life
Speaker 1: is tough. And UM, it's just about gaining that perspective
Speaker 1: for me, is having that godly view of what life
Speaker 1: is really about. I mean, I'm sure we can all
Speaker 1: test that. You know, how you grow up, you know,
Speaker 1: it shapes um kind of your perspective on things. And
Speaker 1: and a lot of times the things that that you
Speaker 1: are affected by, it makes you want to influence um.
Speaker 1: You know, and so you know with cancers and in
Speaker 1: different types of illnesses, that's what it's affected my life. UM.
Speaker 1: And I love what you know, what you're doing, um
Speaker 1: with the health clinics and and all that, and and
Speaker 1: with your foundation. Love what you're doing down to Fort
Speaker 1: Myers with the Beyond Belief. UM. I mean, it's just
Speaker 1: it's just amazing. Like when you are affected by something
Speaker 1: in your life, you can have one or two different outcomes.
Speaker 1: You can let it affect you or you can become
Speaker 1: an influence. UM and for others to uh to become
Speaker 1: affected and change their LIVESCENSU directories. And I think that's
Speaker 1: what we've been able to do. Let me ask you,
Speaker 1: let me ask you this. This came up and UM,
Speaker 1: someone said it to me today and then I know
Speaker 1: you said it. Um So think about this right as athletes,
Speaker 1: as people, we're we're I've heard several I've heard several
Speaker 1: people and several times and different times, and I think
Speaker 1: it would be good to have this dialogue. So have
Speaker 1: you ever has anyone ever said to you because of
Speaker 1: you being trade Boston playing in and fail? Uh? What
Speaker 1: do you like? Say? You're uh? A birthday? Come up
Speaker 1: on holiday and they say what do you get? What
Speaker 1: do you give a person who has everything you've been?
Speaker 1: You've been told that about you? You Okay? Then this
Speaker 1: is the other one I've heard. You've said it to me,
Speaker 1: someone else said it and it and it clicked and
Speaker 1: it and chose you would be a great conversation. Um Gee,
Speaker 1: you said, man, I don't you know what accountability partners
Speaker 1: with boys would be like, I'm not your yes, I'm
Speaker 1: what are you saying? I'm not your yes man? Yes? Ma'n. Okay.
Speaker 1: So somebody today said to me my sister, she goes,
Speaker 1: I'm not your I'm not your mess yes person. Here's
Speaker 1: my problem with that statement. So think about it. You're
Speaker 1: not my yes guy? Correct? Correct? You know that's Kurt
Speaker 1: Gee Joe B. You're my yes guy. Alright, cool, I
Speaker 1: love it. So let's just multiply these people. Meredith my yes,
Speaker 1: she knows, but so she's not gonna respond. Think about it.
Speaker 1: If I have people or a hundred people that not
Speaker 1: that you guys are not my yes people. Do you
Speaker 1: think that's good or bad? Don't don't think it, just
Speaker 1: just response. You just told me to think it. I'm
Speaker 1: saying think it, but you know what, I'm just go
Speaker 1: with your real, gut, go to gut answer. Do I
Speaker 1: need a lot of people to to be my yes person?
Speaker 1: I think that or no, you don't need them, you
Speaker 1: don't want them to be yes correct? Yeah, Okay, here's
Speaker 1: my problem with that statement. Okay, And I'm just this
Speaker 1: is just me being transparent. I think that is the
Speaker 1: worst answer if you're a true friend of mine, The
Speaker 1: worst answer you can give me to not be your
Speaker 1: yes yes. You want to know why? Why? Yeah? Why?
Speaker 1: The problem is is your one. I believe this is
Speaker 1: my person. I think it's the insecure that we may
Speaker 1: have in us. And you're saying I don't want you
Speaker 1: to jeez, like, man, I don't want you to be
Speaker 1: my yes guy. I didn't say, I wanted you to
Speaker 1: the problem with all the people. If I have fifteen
Speaker 1: people in my life that are not my yes guys
Speaker 1: or not my yes woman or man, whatever you identify with, well,
Speaker 1: if it's fifteen and y'all so every day of the week,
Speaker 1: three d sixty five days, no yes, So what the
Speaker 1: hell are y'all doing? If if you're not yes with me,
Speaker 1: you ain't encouraging me like you you're taking up You're
Speaker 1: taking on this persona like you're I'm not your yes guy.
Speaker 1: You're not my friend because you're my yes guy. You're
Speaker 1: my friend because you're qualified to be my friend, because
Speaker 1: there's something that God puts something inside of you that
Speaker 1: makes you my friend. I didn't want you to be
Speaker 1: friend because you're my yes guy. I want you to
Speaker 1: be my friend because of who you are. But we
Speaker 1: get this persona I don't want you to be I
Speaker 1: don't want you to be my yes But don't shoot
Speaker 1: me down to where I got fifteen people who won't
Speaker 1: be my yes guy. But damn, you're also not encouraging
Speaker 1: me either. We never said wouldn't. That's what That's what
Speaker 1: I was thinking to. But yeah, I'm sitting I'm just coming.
Speaker 1: Let's just walk this out. There is no right or wrong.
Speaker 1: I'm just I'm being transparent to have a moment because
Speaker 1: here's what I've heard. I'm the oldest. I'm an oldest,
Speaker 1: and my family right. I love my mom. My mom
Speaker 1: was a hard worker. I never had anybody shoulder to
Speaker 1: cry on. I was the oldest at the cook, at
Speaker 1: the clean to do everything makes sense. So everybody keeps
Speaker 1: telling me they're not my yes guy. I'm not looking
Speaker 1: for the yes people. But I also when I'm sitting
Speaker 1: here thinking about it, sometimes I don't get no damn encouragement.
Speaker 1: I don't get I don't get it. Like bro, I'm
Speaker 1: proud of you that I really appreciate it and say,
Speaker 1: you know, no, I ain't gonna be yes. I don't
Speaker 1: want you to be my yes guy. So I never
Speaker 1: wanted you to see that. I think part of that.
Speaker 1: So I think part of that. Two different things can
Speaker 1: happen at the same time. I can be your friend
Speaker 1: and love you and still not just say something because
Speaker 1: oh man, Steve thinks is a good idea. So something,
Speaker 1: I understand what you're saying, but listen to my list.
Speaker 1: But I'm here's what I'm listened to my heart. What
Speaker 1: I'm trying to say is I don't care of what
Speaker 1: you think. Is think the only reason you jee the
Speaker 1: only reason I'm probably the only reason you're my fucking friend.
Speaker 1: It's because of who you are who you are. I'm
Speaker 1: not saying I want you to be my yes guy,
Speaker 1: if I wanted you to, if I want, if I
Speaker 1: wanted you to say yes, I want to ask you.
Speaker 1: I don't ask somebody else that I think it's gonna
Speaker 1: tell me. But I can because I'm your friend. I
Speaker 1: can encourage you on one and wait, wait wait, I
Speaker 1: can encourage you. I can encourage you on one thing
Speaker 1: you're encouraging, but I can you can do two things
Speaker 1: at the same time. There are times when I encourage you.
Speaker 1: There are times when I may say I don't know
Speaker 1: about that, bro, because I love you, Because if I
Speaker 1: because if I didn't love you, I would say I
Speaker 1: don't give a do what you want to do. But
Speaker 1: what you're saying is great, and you're filling up your cup.
Speaker 1: But you have before you say, but you're not asking me,
Speaker 1: and I'm speaking from the performer. You're asking me be
Speaker 1: the person I'm being a person. Then you're telling me
Speaker 1: as a performer, I'm filling you up. You're not filling
Speaker 1: me up. I know how I beat. I know, like
Speaker 1: at going on forty three, I know how I need
Speaker 1: to be filled. You've been air quotes, not my yes. Guy,
Speaker 1: that's not filling me up. I'm also I don't I
Speaker 1: don't want you to not to everything of the essence
Speaker 1: of Joe, of trade of Kurt. Like I didn't ask
Speaker 1: you all to be on the podcast because I thought
Speaker 1: you're all gonna be the jackass of the podcast. I
Speaker 1: asked you because we like to hear from authentic men
Speaker 1: and women in which they have they bring substance to
Speaker 1: the table. So as you're trying to play it out
Speaker 1: in your mind of like I think I know what
Speaker 1: Steve needs, Like everybody knows what Steve needs, but ain't
Speaker 1: nobody asked Steve I can man, you were words of
Speaker 1: affirmation love him, man, that's you. This is this is
Speaker 1: this is this is what I hear like and this
Speaker 1: goes into knowing somebody's background to get to know them.
Speaker 1: But like him, being the oldest of the children, he
Speaker 1: had nothing but blunt work that he shouldn't have had
Speaker 1: to do. I've been doing since our seven you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying, but had but he had to do it. Um.
Speaker 1: You usually you don't get a lot of love being
Speaker 1: the oldest because you can do most of the stuff yourself.
Speaker 1: Um and you hear right now Steve saying, Man, I
Speaker 1: just want you all to love on me and talk
Speaker 1: to me. You know what I'm saying. Don't what you
Speaker 1: think I want to? Hear asked me personally, so I
Speaker 1: can talk to you like like He's like, so, here's
Speaker 1: here's what I mean. I was doing boxing the other
Speaker 1: day and the first time I connected the dots. Bro
Speaker 1: I'm tired of I'm tired of fight. So I was
Speaker 1: boxing and shout out to Anthony, what it hits me
Speaker 1: in the face? Right, my I was. I was giving
Speaker 1: it that that and he and he hit me. I
Speaker 1: saw and you know, I saw her out of my
Speaker 1: priv I saw it coming, but I couldn't do anything,
Speaker 1: so Bop hit me in the face. When he hit
Speaker 1: me in the face, Old Steve was like, like, let's
Speaker 1: go current my legs said, I don't care what you
Speaker 1: think you're gonna happen. We just got hit in the face,
Speaker 1: so we're going down right, you pictured that right, like
Speaker 1: my legtion. Please you know what happened though when I
Speaker 1: went into the corner, probably wanted to cry, damn not
Speaker 1: because what he did hurt me. But I was like, wow,
Speaker 1: I'm done fighting, And so what I had to do
Speaker 1: is actually go back to my technique instead of trying
Speaker 1: to throw haymakers, instead of trying to like I'm saying,
Speaker 1: convince y'all of don't be my yes man. It's really
Speaker 1: it's like I'm going back and going I gotta go
Speaker 1: to my technique. I gotta go what I've been taught.
Speaker 1: And so that that's why this conversation, like I piece
Speaker 1: it together, that I'm saying is sometimes our insecurities and
Speaker 1: we all bring something some kind of insecurity, all bring
Speaker 1: some kind of wound of like we're telling ourselves what
Speaker 1: the other person needs, and yeah, yet you don't even
Speaker 1: ask the other person what they need because you are saying, well,
Speaker 1: I know what he needs, he doesn't need anybody. That
Speaker 1: he doesn't need any yes man. But if everybody knows me,
Speaker 1: I'm authentic and only roll, we're real people anyway, So
Speaker 1: why would I have any yes people? I actually have
Speaker 1: a whole bunch of folks that will shoot me the
Speaker 1: truth that I really aren't. I really am honored and privileged,
Speaker 1: but I don't have any guys that really at the
Speaker 1: end of it that I can call up and say, Man,
Speaker 1: I see I need some encouragement today, right, Or maybe
Speaker 1: it's I don't feel comfortable because sometimes we so much
Speaker 1: into I'm not gonna be as yes man, and so
Speaker 1: what I'm I'm not. I'm not saying that I need
Speaker 1: that right now. But what I'm saying is like, y'all
Speaker 1: are my yes man. But and I know that that's
Speaker 1: one of the reasons why I picture as a fringe
Speaker 1: g e like if you yes man, and we wouldn't
Speaker 1: be friends. If you was a yes man, we wouldn't.
Speaker 1: You will not be in my home brother, because you're untrustworthy.
Speaker 1: If you're yes man, that means you're just here for
Speaker 1: the benefit of the circumstances advice versa. You're not you
Speaker 1: definitely yo. You definitely is not my yes man. You
Speaker 1: you won't tell me yes even if I said you
Speaker 1: won't go let me hope, right, and then obviously Joe
Speaker 1: same thing. It's like, it's just I think we we
Speaker 1: have we have conditioned ourselves to answer and know what
Speaker 1: the other person needs without actually asking that individual, like
Speaker 1: what do we need? Especially as men, and we don't
Speaker 1: even know, specially because a lot of us either single home,
Speaker 1: broken home, and there's no like, there's no the empathy
Speaker 1: understanding how do you feel? How do they feel? We
Speaker 1: don't really as men, we don't it into there because
Speaker 1: a lot of us we feel unsafe. And I think
Speaker 1: a lot of it we feel unsafe just me doing
Speaker 1: myself out there, and we feel unsafe. It's because we're
Speaker 1: so worried about Oh, I know, I'm gonna encourage you.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna be here. Yes man, Okay, Yeah, you've
Speaker 1: proven that that's the whole purpose of our friendship. Yeah no,
Speaker 1: And I agree with that, and and I think you
Speaker 1: were you were kind of alluding to it. And I
Speaker 1: think between our our environment of in football, like you
Speaker 1: said that that affirmation, it's very clear like you could
Speaker 1: you you go to practice, you have a game or whatever,
Speaker 1: and your coach is either gonna tell you a great job,
Speaker 1: that's a great play, Like you're gonna get that constantly.
Speaker 1: And the one thing that I hear a lot of
Speaker 1: in my home is like I'll do something and go
Speaker 1: ahead and then and then she's like, what do you
Speaker 1: want me to tell you? Thank you for that? I'm like, yeah,
Speaker 1: ever did. But but it's it's it's kind of that
Speaker 1: environment that we have, you know, on to play in
Speaker 1: our whole life. Well, here's here's here's here's the thing.
Speaker 1: Go ahead, But I want to finish with this though.
Speaker 1: But um one thing that and I agree with you.
Speaker 1: You're not gonna surround yourself with someone that's just always
Speaker 1: gonna tell you. Yes, like you're not. You're not gonna
Speaker 1: surround yourself, but you circling. Man, That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: But we just talk about here. But I know I
Speaker 1: know from myself, regardless of whether you want to hear
Speaker 1: it or not, I'm gonna speak in truth and love.
Speaker 1: And so my truth maybe that, yes, that you're looking
Speaker 1: for that truth. Maybe that I never said I was
Speaker 1: looking for that, but yeah, but you but I get
Speaker 1: what we're saying. But you but you, But I know
Speaker 1: I get what you're saying now because you did a
Speaker 1: good job of explain it. But I think what you
Speaker 1: were trying to say earlier is just that truth and love.
Speaker 1: So sometimes it could be yes, sometimes it could be no,
Speaker 1: but you it's just the simple task of you, like
Speaker 1: you killed this podcast something like that. It's just like,
Speaker 1: but I'm not talking I'm not talking about giving, I'm
Speaker 1: not talking about addressing the symptoms. I'm not talking about
Speaker 1: the system. When I'm talking about is the deep rooted issue.
Speaker 1: I'm talking about the manhood of In this regard, Bro,
Speaker 1: I personally struggle sometimes with my relationship with my dad
Speaker 1: because I see the relationship that I have with my boys. Okay,
Speaker 1: so there are sometimes I walk out of my boys
Speaker 1: room teary eyed because I know what I have with
Speaker 1: my boys as a father and son. But there are times, Bro,
Speaker 1: I break down because I know what I'm missing as
Speaker 1: a as a son, because I see the example of
Speaker 1: myself to my kids. But then I'm missing as a son,
Speaker 1: but I'm able to connect as a father. So I'm like,
Speaker 1: I'm going between a don't child and don't child child
Speaker 1: adult between giving them a kiss, laying them down, and
Speaker 1: walking out of their room. That much I battle inside
Speaker 1: and so all all I'm saying is I'm not like
Speaker 1: I don't we use the word given truth and love,
Speaker 1: but sometimes what if your truth and love you sometimes you,
Speaker 1: or you believe that you're believing like I need to
Speaker 1: give him the truth or I'm loving you this way
Speaker 1: I love. But the truth is I know you give
Speaker 1: me the loving truth because we have a true friendship.
Speaker 1: So why do you have to reprove something that you've
Speaker 1: already proven. That's why I'm able to share with you.
Speaker 1: While we're talking like we we are, we're over processing
Speaker 1: it to where we can't especially as men. I'm just
Speaker 1: talking about as men. And it it hit me last week.
Speaker 1: It hit me in my face where I wanted to
Speaker 1: fight back, but I said, I didn't want to fight back.
Speaker 1: But yet y'all know, Oh, I know what he wants
Speaker 1: to do, and I'm saying at that moment, I don't
Speaker 1: even know because my mind and my heart said, let's go.
Speaker 1: My legs said, boys, stop, you see what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: And that's all. It's just that we could talk circles,
Speaker 1: but we're saying the same thing. But I'm I'm just saying,
Speaker 1: let's stop assuming what we know that the other person needs,
Speaker 1: because sometimes the other person is just taking me forty
Speaker 1: three years to figure out what I just need and
Speaker 1: I'm just processing figuring out So what you just need.
Speaker 1: Does that change? Absolutely? Changed every day we're human. But
Speaker 1: what I'm saying is what we need to stop doing,
Speaker 1: Like I need to stop telling trade what I know
Speaker 1: Trade needs and his shoes. Yeah, good, do it good,
Speaker 1: do it, get down to do it good. Hey Gerard,
Speaker 1: why didn't you get that T shirt? You mean this thing? Oh? Yes,
Speaker 1: I got it from cut to a podcast dot com
Speaker 1: where we have exclusive merchandise. Shout out to our guys
Speaker 1: at seven or four shot. But yeah, you can go on,
Speaker 1: buy you a T shirt, subscribe to us wherever you
Speaker 1: listen to podcasts Carolina the Panthers. You know, what's what's
Speaker 1: what's your most memorable time? Because you know, obviously you've
Speaker 1: been in Carolina Pather longer than you've been anywhere else. Right,
Speaker 1: how would you three words to describe being a Carolina Pather?
Speaker 1: I would say honor okay. I would say integrity okay.
Speaker 1: And you said integrity yeah, integrity as a Carolina Panther Yeah,
Speaker 1: gett A man was still a gentleman. Oh sorry, listen man, listen,
Speaker 1: they cut me too. They cut me, they give but
Speaker 1: um um. And I would say a brotherhood, yeah, Kurt. Three,
Speaker 1: I would say number one was life changing. Look, so
Speaker 1: as you said, that's so as you saying, I was,
Speaker 1: I was this time, who's the smart people in the room?
Speaker 1: Is that one word or two? When you hyphenated it
Speaker 1: becomes one. So he found a loop. But when he
Speaker 1: said it though, we'll get into that later. Short he's
Speaker 1: changing it. No, I'm not changing anything. I'm sticking to
Speaker 1: my word. I just like what he's saying. Try got
Speaker 1: six words now, broad and Tray is agreeing with all
Speaker 1: of them. I gotta run on. I like Tray is
Speaker 1: the he's the worst hype man. I like you can
Speaker 1: see blest show. Yes, like I needed a blest I
Speaker 1: gave it to you said it was it was fun. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I just say, oh no, I was gonna make it
Speaker 1: my third. I was like, man, I gotta be smart. Man.
Speaker 1: You see my words got the whole wordly wise, word
Speaker 1: of the word of the day. Let me get that
Speaker 1: word of a day. Yeah man, in the words, man,
Speaker 1: I didn't. I wasn't debating it. You guys focused on
Speaker 1: why is going to the super Bowl, going to the
Speaker 1: playoffs considered the pinnacle? Give me just one word you
Speaker 1: can use trying to explain to this well I'm trying
Speaker 1: to because it's like, oh, man, that two thousand fifteen
Speaker 1: I was special. How many years you're playing in the league.
Speaker 1: You're telling me only one out of your ten was special.
Speaker 1: I feel you saying it's definitely the most special. Both special.
Speaker 1: It's not because I'll hear people saying they're like, oh
Speaker 1: my proudest moment that what happened. Something happened obviously in fourteen,
Speaker 1: that it's for the people, the guys that are on
Speaker 1: the team and they're translating into something great. But then
Speaker 1: if you're on the team before you saw some things
Speaker 1: percolat in thirteen that made you say, hey, we're gonna
Speaker 1: stay in fourteen, and then you know what it was
Speaker 1: worth it and we we reached in the fifteen. But
Speaker 1: then I can go backwards even further and even like, man,
Speaker 1: well now you know what I mean. So that so
Speaker 1: the Sames point, what were some of your proudest moments
Speaker 1: outside of okay, outside of it. When I was with
Speaker 1: l A Chargers, that was probably one of the like
Speaker 1: funniest times I've had playing football. Like we had. You
Speaker 1: got to cast the characters, some of them, name some
Speaker 1: of them guys. So let me So we had twelve
Speaker 1: guys from Florida, and if you know, being from Florida,
Speaker 1: if you get other Florida guys around you, it's gonna,
Speaker 1: We're gonna it's gonna be like high school all over again.
Speaker 1: And one we haven't you don't really get that fun
Speaker 1: feel in the league because really, by business, you might
Speaker 1: be around a guy like Steve who don't want you
Speaker 1: to dance and ship, make tiktoks, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: He might want to, but he that um. But we
Speaker 1: had let's say, Keenan Allen, Melvin Ingram Uh, it's a
Speaker 1: little die Casey Hayward, Rayshon Jenkins, Desmond King. Let me see,
Speaker 1: I'm trying to think who else we had. Brandon Maybean
Speaker 1: is a o g um core legit. We had a
Speaker 1: few guys man so Travis Benjamin offense as well. So
Speaker 1: we had a plethora of guys who man, we were
Speaker 1: truly not from the same area to most of us,
Speaker 1: at least South Florida high school or y'all played against
Speaker 1: each other in high school. Most of them boys played
Speaker 1: against each other. I ain't played against were Southwest, Yeah, Wenna,
Speaker 1: I don't know, I don't know the different and I'm
Speaker 1: just answering, bro, it's all good. Hey that um so. So,
Speaker 1: I think that was the most fun we had playing football.
Speaker 1: And I was also on the virgin of That was
Speaker 1: my fourth year, so it was fun like time for
Speaker 1: me to take the next step. Um so, Not only
Speaker 1: was it um fourth year in the league, yeah, um so,
Speaker 1: I end up taking a step in how I played.
Speaker 1: UM stats went up. I think it finished the season
Speaker 1: with five an t s. I think like second on
Speaker 1: the team and tackles, you know, so just being able
Speaker 1: to have fun and play well. On top of that,
Speaker 1: I was always in my career I wanted to go.
Speaker 1: I always wanted to go somewhere else because I had
Speaker 1: had UM I like Carolina, but I always had this
Speaker 1: thought that I always wanted to experience. I've always wanted
Speaker 1: to experience or see different stuff. I didn't want people
Speaker 1: to say, well, I don't even want to be in Carolina,
Speaker 1: or you know, there's some people I only want to
Speaker 1: live here, like I want to see the world, and
Speaker 1: I also want to see the world, and you know,
Speaker 1: through through a professional lens that affords me the opportunity
Speaker 1: and through a different professional lens, and so you know,
Speaker 1: some people love it. Some people don't, you know. And
Speaker 1: obviously if you're chasing it with the wrong intent, you
Speaker 1: find yourself and some marriage. And that leads me to Arizona.
Speaker 1: Was one of those places for you on Arizona was cool? Man,
Speaker 1: Um Arizona. How did you make that decision to pick Arizona?
Speaker 1: Take us back in that time you're talking about the
Speaker 1: gas station. Yeah, that's how it was. We'll take us
Speaker 1: through that process then. Okay. So when I first got
Speaker 1: released from the Panthers, uh my three last twice and
Speaker 1: up being um like Pit Chargers and then Buffalo, I
Speaker 1: had went to Pit and I had to go to
Speaker 1: Chargers and I was gonna fly straight into Buffalo. So
Speaker 1: I'm flying back home from Buffalo after the full round trip,
Speaker 1: and I had just prayed to God, like, God, give
Speaker 1: me a sign. And I had heard so many times
Speaker 1: from people like when you pray for that sign, be
Speaker 1: ready to see it because it's gonna slap you in
Speaker 1: the face. And that's gonna be what you you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying, So UM, I pray for that on
Speaker 1: the plane ride back, and on the plane ride back,
Speaker 1: I land and I'm going down Wilkinson and I stopped
Speaker 1: at that quick trip. That quick trip, I'm looking at
Speaker 1: gas and the gas. Yeah, I'm in the third lane
Speaker 1: from the rock across street from the to the super
Speaker 1: wal mart. And you best be careful. Best to be careful.
Speaker 1: I'm saying. I'm good. So I see two nineteen for
Speaker 1: gas prices. It was like, so it wasn't in twenty
Speaker 1: two you got that. I ain't realized time. You haven't
Speaker 1: think about gas prices. I ain't a lot of kind
Speaker 1: of hot bay. They had to be. They had to
Speaker 1: be three nineteen. Then it got to be so okay,
Speaker 1: So it was like twenty cents less than what it was, right.
Speaker 1: So I'm like, I look, oh, I got half a tank.
Speaker 1: I'm like, well, shoot, let me get the rest of
Speaker 1: the half. Skirt in a listen, come on to kiddy
Speaker 1: about the gas, all right. So I pulled up at
Speaker 1: the pump and um, I start pumping my gas. Um,
Speaker 1: A guy pulls up next to me and he just
Speaker 1: asked me for a couple of dollars and he pulled
Speaker 1: up like in the next pump. So if you if
Speaker 1: you know, if you're pumping your gas, and they pull
Speaker 1: up on the other side of the pump. So he
Speaker 1: puts up on the other side of the pump and
Speaker 1: he asked, you know, for a couple of dollars. Man,
Speaker 1: he got three kids in the bat and you know,
Speaker 1: he just need a couple of dollars or some lunch
Speaker 1: me to get get it from Walmart. I'm like, bro,
Speaker 1: I got you, you know what I mean. Like, So
Speaker 1: I go on my wallet. Um well, I go to
Speaker 1: go to the car and I see like, um, like
Speaker 1: a Jesus saves the word like and if you know
Speaker 1: the guy he uptown, he always leaves Jesus saves. So
Speaker 1: I see the Jesus saves like where you can get
Speaker 1: like the infra infra mail for like the cars for gas.
Speaker 1: So I see that, you say, it's like whoa, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. Like, So, I'm like, that's I'm
Speaker 1: coming back out with the money. I'm thinking already, like
Speaker 1: use this tight, Like I don't know what it's gonna be,
Speaker 1: but this is this is the moment, like it got
Speaker 1: to be. So I come back over to him. I
Speaker 1: given them money. He says, man, thank you. You know.
Speaker 1: Um we end up chopping it up. He tells me
Speaker 1: his name, and when he's chopping it up with me.
Speaker 1: I'm instantly thinking, like, what do I say, Lord, what
Speaker 1: do I ask him? Should I ask him A or B?
Speaker 1: That's gonna be Chargers or Buffalo? Stranger? Stranger? I was
Speaker 1: gonna ask a stranger this he he ends up so
Speaker 1: or I was gonna say, should I just go l
Speaker 1: A or Buffalo? Just tell him? So before I can
Speaker 1: get anything out of my mouth? Are you assuming he
Speaker 1: knows who you are? He does not know who I
Speaker 1: am even better, so so I'm just chopping up with him.
Speaker 1: So you're telling a complete stranger your whole life. I
Speaker 1: ain't told him nothing yet. I'm just trying to follow No, no, no,
Speaker 1: I got you. I got you. Ain't told him nothing yet,
Speaker 1: So I in my mind, I'm already saying God is
Speaker 1: about to use me, because I've seen Jesus say it's
Speaker 1: on the thing. So I'm already like, all right, come
Speaker 1: on to sit. Before I can ask him A or
Speaker 1: B or l A buffalo? He says, Man, he said,
Speaker 1: my name is Mike Daniels. The people call me l A.
Speaker 1: And I'm like like stunned, like mouth open, like shoot,
Speaker 1: like whoa? Hold up? So I'm chopping up with him
Speaker 1: a little bit more. We're going about thirty minut this
Speaker 1: uh just chopping up, like getting to know about his family,
Speaker 1: legitimate questions, Go ahead, go ahead, that's just kind of
Speaker 1: hot thing. So you're doing all this talking and you
Speaker 1: feel like you got the Lord is using him. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: you just gave him three dollars. No, no, no, I
Speaker 1: came like forwarded at that time. I'll just making sure, no,
Speaker 1: make sure for three dollars. He's killing all this time.
Speaker 1: You just didn't give him. Come on, man, I got you, bro,
Speaker 1: So God using us, you know what I mean. So
Speaker 1: that's why I was at no, no, no, I got you.
Speaker 1: I got you, so I give him. This is the
Speaker 1: forty before we even start talking on you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. So now we're chopping it up. In thirty
Speaker 1: minutes later, we finally get done um telling me about
Speaker 1: his kids, all that good stuff, and he's about to leave. Well,
Speaker 1: he drove a charger like the car, the car l A.
Speaker 1: It's all the coincidence, but it's your car. They make
Speaker 1: several But again, if you don't want if you asked
Speaker 1: God to get you a sign, I knew what time
Speaker 1: it was. Like some people can play with it like hah,
Speaker 1: but I knew I want to know. I know you know,
Speaker 1: I know you're not. But that's how it happens in life.
Speaker 1: You know, people think it would be silly stuff like that,
Speaker 1: but it can be. Gud was talking through bushes, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, Like, so for me to see
Speaker 1: the l A charger l A Chargers and then, um,
Speaker 1: the gas pump that he pulled up to did not
Speaker 1: have gas like it had the yellow bag on it.
Speaker 1: So I have all these gas pumps you could have
Speaker 1: pulled up to. You pulled up to mine to tell
Speaker 1: me l A Chargers driving the charger might now like
Speaker 1: getting to really see my testimony right there. And then
Speaker 1: when I was done, I gave him like a total
Speaker 1: hundred dollars. I know what Steve want to to Uh
Speaker 1: now I'm just playing, bro, Damn listen. Oh that's like
Speaker 1: get on you know. So I finished. I finished that.
Speaker 1: I finished that, Bro, Instantly, I get on the phone.
Speaker 1: I'm crying, I'm boo hooing. I'm telling my wife like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I already know what we're gonna go. And at the
Speaker 1: time I was fighting, um my idol being money and
Speaker 1: everywhere else I had been offered more money to go
Speaker 1: to but God told me go to l A. And
Speaker 1: I promised, Like I already knew. He was telling me, like,
Speaker 1: you're gonna get everything you want. Just go to l A.
Speaker 1: Listen to me, and again I go to l A.
Speaker 1: Had my best season, my funny season. I tell you
Speaker 1: all about girl that love for um just who I am.
Speaker 1: Just being able to give the gospel on the other
Speaker 1: side of the world to the West coast, just uh,
Speaker 1: you know, seeing where those guys are to this day,
Speaker 1: building those relationships. Um, I knew God was using me
Speaker 1: for that, for that role, and you know, I appreciate him.
Speaker 1: Shout out to God. That's that's cool. That's cool, all right,
Speaker 1: we'll appreciate it. Yeah, man, appreciate God bless you are
Speaker 1: a unique person. You are well worth it. You are
Speaker 1: competent and most of all, your lovable. I'm Steve smith Singer.
Speaker 1: I'm Gerard Little John and this is cut to It.
Speaker 1: Cut to It with Steve smith Singer. That Is Me
Speaker 1: is a production of Cut to It LLC, Balto Creative Media,
Speaker 1: The Black Effect, and I Heart Radio. For more podcast
Speaker 1: from I Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app
Speaker 1: Apple podcast or wherever you listen to your favorite shows
Speaker 1: from Cut to It, Executive producer Steve Smith, singer co
Speaker 1: host Gerard Little John, talent and booking manager Joe Fusci,
Speaker 1: social media teamer Wesley Robinson, and John Show from Balto
Speaker 1: Creative Media. Cut to It is produced by Brian Baltaschevitch
Speaker 1: and Meredith Carter, with production assistance by Alex Lebrek, Production
Speaker 1: coordinator Taylor Robinson. Theme music by Alex Johnson, lyrics and
Speaker 1: vocals by Anthony Hamilton. You heard about it then without
Speaker 1: to let you know, you know, it's all. It's all
Speaker 1: Cas