Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody on dan Horde, and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth podcast. The oh oh sometimes I get
Speaker 1: a good feeling. Yeah. Addition, as I speak to a
Speaker 1: current Bengal who has emerged as one of the team's
Speaker 1: brightest young stars, and speak to a former Bengal who
Speaker 1: is among the franchise's all time best. The Bengals Boot
Speaker 1: Podcast is presented by Prime Sport, the official fan, travel
Speaker 1: and hospitality partner of the Cincinnati Bengals. And here's a
Speaker 1: quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of
Speaker 1: this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer
Speaker 1: by subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or pod Bean.
Speaker 1: It's the greatest thing since sportscaster Scenes. My buddy Jason Bennetti,
Speaker 1: the TV announcer for the Chicago White Sox, has been
Speaker 1: doing something very clever to amuse himself and the rest
Speaker 1: of us while we've been forced to stay at home
Speaker 1: because of the coronavirus. It's called sportscaster scenes. And here's
Speaker 1: how it works. Jason gets fellow sportscasters on a zoom
Speaker 1: call and they re enact famous scenes from TV and
Speaker 1: movie history. In one ESPN's Dan Dockets joins him in
Speaker 1: the role of Jack Nicholson to do the you can't
Speaker 1: handle the Truth scene from a Few Good Men. In
Speaker 1: another Cubs announcer Len Casper does an incredible ned Ryerson
Speaker 1: imitation from Groundhog Day. This week, I was honored to
Speaker 1: be involved for a zoom reading of an entire cheer
Speaker 1: script co written by the incredibly talented duo of Ken
Speaker 1: Levine and David Isaacs. The Cheers Gang of Sam, Woody, Frazier, Carla, etc.
Speaker 1: Were played by sports broadcasters with one exception, Norm was
Speaker 1: actually laid by George went V. George went If you
Speaker 1: would like to see it, or any episode of Sportscaster scenes,
Speaker 1: just search for Sportscaster Scenes on YouTube. Now let's get
Speaker 1: to football. My first conversation this week is with Bengals
Speaker 1: wide receiver Tyler Boyd, coming off a season that saw
Speaker 1: him set new career highs for catches with ninety and
Speaker 1: receiving yards with one thousand, forty six. Tyler lives in
Speaker 1: the Pittsburgh area in the off season, and when we
Speaker 1: spoke this week, I started by asking him what he's
Speaker 1: been doing on a daily basis while facing COVID nineteen restrictions.
Speaker 1: I'm still working out, you know, run on the field.
Speaker 1: You know, I just bought full I'm finally in my
Speaker 1: new house and I got a big backyard. Hasn't been
Speaker 1: running out there each and every day, and I have
Speaker 1: a facility with a trainer that I work out at
Speaker 1: forres not so many people were still limited to work
Speaker 1: out now, So I've still being able to work out
Speaker 1: and train for ball. This time of year, you would
Speaker 1: have been back in Cincinnati for OTAs. Do you miss it? Definitely?
Speaker 1: You know, because of this pandemic. You know, I hate
Speaker 1: to be in the House of twenty four seven on lockdown,
Speaker 1: not be able to go nowhere, and I just want
Speaker 1: to be around Mount Boys man and just meet the
Speaker 1: new rookies and just get this thing rolling. Tyler, there
Speaker 1: were plenty of rumors before the end of last season
Speaker 1: that the Bengals were going to draft Joe Burrow, and
Speaker 1: obviously that's the way it played out. Did you start
Speaker 1: paying attention to him last year? Yes, um, I didn't
Speaker 1: know too much about him the year before that, but
Speaker 1: during our LSU run when they started to go about
Speaker 1: eight went streak seven, one, streak ten and so forth.
Speaker 1: I started to, you know, realize that he was a
Speaker 1: very special guy, you know, in just every big moment
Speaker 1: each game that he played, and he always delivered. He
Speaker 1: never he never took bad sacks, and he always delivered
Speaker 1: the ball perfectly to the receiver almost every time. It
Speaker 1: was kind of shocking because I just seeing him being
Speaker 1: so poised, man, and it's and it's rare to see
Speaker 1: a guy in college play like that at the speed
Speaker 1: that he was planning to have. You had much contact
Speaker 1: with him, and what are your impressions of him so far? Oh? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I had talked to him. We had sent message a
Speaker 1: little bit back and forth before he had got drafted,
Speaker 1: but it was just not not nothing too crazy. He
Speaker 1: was talking about him winning the hisman stuff like that,
Speaker 1: just joking around. But then when he got drafted, I
Speaker 1: reached out to him, told him congratulations, can't wait to
Speaker 1: see him and play with her man, And uh, just
Speaker 1: right now, I was just just talking to him, actually
Speaker 1: I was. I talked to him last week. He wanted
Speaker 1: to try to get guys together. You can see him
Speaker 1: where I was at. I told him I was back
Speaker 1: in fixedbugs. I think he am higher right now, and
Speaker 1: I told him that I had Mike come up this
Speaker 1: weekend because I had to grab some stuff from up
Speaker 1: since you bring back here and if he was around
Speaker 1: that then we could get routes. But he had said
Speaker 1: the supposed to rain all weekend, so he said we
Speaker 1: could just wait. And I ain't really trying to rush it,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. So whenever he's ready ready
Speaker 1: to go, we're visiting with Tyler Boyd. So Joe Burrow
Speaker 1: was taken in the first round, te Higgins in the second.
Speaker 1: What does he add to the wide receiver room? Man,
Speaker 1: he's he's he's kind of like a I won't give
Speaker 1: him like a meeting and a tape factor. You know,
Speaker 1: he has tape body, the size and the catching ability
Speaker 1: in the catcher range him Tate and aj them doing
Speaker 1: guys got the got got the size and with me,
Speaker 1: you know, he checks the ball very well, he runs
Speaker 1: good routes and uh he uh get guards up to
Speaker 1: the catch. So I feel like he got a little
Speaker 1: of our game in them. You know. That's why I
Speaker 1: feel like we're gonna be more dangerous because we all
Speaker 1: feel like gonna feed off each other and just dude,
Speaker 1: we gotta do it to contain to move them sticks. Tyler,
Speaker 1: I look at this group. Now, they've got yourself with
Speaker 1: two straight one thousand yards seasons. You've got a seven
Speaker 1: time pro bowler in aj Green, You've got John Ross,
Speaker 1: You've got Autent Tate, you got Alex Ericson, now you've
Speaker 1: got T Higgins. Do you think people around the league
Speaker 1: realize how strong this group has become. I don't feel
Speaker 1: like anybody feels straight, and at this moment, you know,
Speaker 1: we we have to go out there and improve ourselves.
Speaker 1: You know, on paper, we have an all star stock team,
Speaker 1: you know, and I felt that last year, but things
Speaker 1: didn't go accordingly. So I mean, I don't want to
Speaker 1: continue to say the same thing each and every year.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna stop saying that we're gonna be the
Speaker 1: best core in the best offense of the league. So instead,
Speaker 1: I just want to go out there and just and
Speaker 1: just prove people wrong, you know, because we still have
Speaker 1: daughters and everybody's still saying we're going to be the
Speaker 1: weakest team. So you know, with me, um, I just
Speaker 1: love proving people wrong. So that's what we got to
Speaker 1: go out there and do. I mentioned that you were
Speaker 1: coming off back to back one thousand yards seasons and
Speaker 1: yet ninety catches last year, the fifth player in team
Speaker 1: history to have ninety or more in a season. What's
Speaker 1: the next step for you personally? Oh man, just just
Speaker 1: continue to to stay productive, you know, and stay injury free,
Speaker 1: you know, and continue to make plays when I got
Speaker 1: to for the team. You know, just just just stay
Speaker 1: reliable and consistent, man, and just continue to build as
Speaker 1: a leader, you know, trying to pick guys up, trying
Speaker 1: to get guys going, you know, when when they're down
Speaker 1: there and when I need somebody to make a place
Speaker 1: with me on offense and defense. So I think this
Speaker 1: year I'll be I want to work on being a
Speaker 1: better leader. How strange is it going to be for
Speaker 1: you not to have Andy Dalton a locker over. Oh man,
Speaker 1: It's gonna be very very, very very weird, you know,
Speaker 1: because that was a guy that was my locker mate
Speaker 1: coming into my rookie year, that sah they placed me
Speaker 1: next to, and uh, he guided me all the way through,
Speaker 1: you know, each and every every one of my years,
Speaker 1: even on and off the field. You know, we would
Speaker 1: talk about so much and relationship and he improved my
Speaker 1: game so much. He allowed me to play more freely
Speaker 1: and go off there and be me, you know, and
Speaker 1: just the chemistry you can came to build and building
Speaker 1: when you have that special relationship with a guy that's
Speaker 1: out there playing with you, alongside of you, delivering you
Speaker 1: the football is just like he feels feels like he
Speaker 1: grew up with me all my life, that he's my brother,
Speaker 1: you know. So, I mean, I'm gonna miss him a lot.
Speaker 1: How eager are you to play with a j again? Man?
Speaker 1: It was tough. You know. He was the guy who
Speaker 1: kind of allowed me to accou and become the player
Speaker 1: I wanted to become, you know, because he um allowed
Speaker 1: me to play more one on one and leave stress
Speaker 1: off him, you know. So I think I helped him
Speaker 1: as well. You know. Just having him back and playing
Speaker 1: alongside of me just makes things a lot easier for
Speaker 1: the both of us, you know, and just just just
Speaker 1: having him in our room, you know, just seeing how
Speaker 1: he works and seeing how he performed and compete. Man,
Speaker 1: It's just I ain't never seen a specimen like him.
Speaker 1: We're spending a few minutes with Tyler Boyd. The Bengal
Speaker 1: spent more than one hundred and thirty million bucks on
Speaker 1: an unrestricted free agents this year. What was your reaction
Speaker 1: as you saw name after name after name committing to Cincinnati.
Speaker 1: I felt I felt pretty great, you know, because of
Speaker 1: the guys who we got, you know, from on the
Speaker 1: defensive standpoint. Um, I feel like those are great guys
Speaker 1: and great players, you know, regardless of what they did
Speaker 1: at the team they was out previously. I just feel
Speaker 1: like those those individuals, those players are just competitive, you know,
Speaker 1: and they're just going to compete each and every down.
Speaker 1: And that's very much like what I want in the players.
Speaker 1: You know. I don't want players to feel like they're
Speaker 1: two good or players that's just out there just going
Speaker 1: with the flow, you know. I want guy who's gonna
Speaker 1: go out to compete, trash talking, just you know, uh,
Speaker 1: just battle all day, all night. The schedule came out
Speaker 1: last week. You got a couple of primetime games, Cleveland
Speaker 1: on the road in Week two on a Thursday night,
Speaker 1: the Steelers at home late in the season on Monday
Speaker 1: Night football. Did anything about the schedule catch your eye? Well,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say I'm gonna say the first game first
Speaker 1: and foremost, you just simply because it's the first game
Speaker 1: and it's home and I know it's gonna be nuts
Speaker 1: and uh the other definitely the Stiller game, And I'm
Speaker 1: always well any team in the division, I always look
Speaker 1: forward to those games. And a new team that we
Speaker 1: haven't seen in a while with the Cowboys, I'm very
Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to playing them them Boys. I know
Speaker 1: you're not in Cincinnati right now, Tyler, but you are
Speaker 1: on social media. You see how Bengals fans are reacting
Speaker 1: this offseason. Do you sense a building excitement after the
Speaker 1: drafting of Joe, the addition of all of these free agents,
Speaker 1: a good draft class, the return of aj etc. Definitely, Man,
Speaker 1: it's been it's so much tensing, you know, all through
Speaker 1: the internet, all through social media, just everywhere. You know.
Speaker 1: So I feel like, honestly, truthfully, I feel like the
Speaker 1: first game was gonna be sold off. You got Aja back.
Speaker 1: If we stay a solid core up until that first week, Yeah,
Speaker 1: anybody gonna do anything to get their hands, let'm tickets.
Speaker 1: We don't know exactly what's going to happen in terms
Speaker 1: of training camp, preseason games, regular season schedule. Obviously, the
Speaker 1: NFL is moving forward and hoping that they can start
Speaker 1: everything on time. What's your level of concern, nervousness, etc. Um. Well,
Speaker 1: I think at the end of the day, every player
Speaker 1: has to continue to train themselves, you know. I know
Speaker 1: that's probably hard, and it's tough for you to just
Speaker 1: go out there and train, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: especially when you don't got anybody to push you. You know,
Speaker 1: some guys have trainings, some guys don't. So I think
Speaker 1: it's a kind of a weird position for certain players
Speaker 1: because they don't get certain luxury as the players who
Speaker 1: who've been there a while, you know, and can go
Speaker 1: and get trainers and so forth, or is working out
Speaker 1: in their house and stuff like that. But um, I
Speaker 1: just I just want you gotta find a way, you know,
Speaker 1: to stay in shape and stay the course. I just
Speaker 1: I just I just think I don't I don't want
Speaker 1: to come back and we rushed into it, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. I don't. I don't want us to
Speaker 1: have to come back at the end of June or
Speaker 1: whatever August and jump straight into camp. You know. I
Speaker 1: don't feel like that's going to be healthy for the player.
Speaker 1: And I don't feel like guys who will all the
Speaker 1: way be in shape and be ready full camp. So
Speaker 1: that's the nervousness for me going through this pandemic. Understood.
Speaker 1: Would you find it difficult to play in front of
Speaker 1: empty stands if the NFL decided to try and do that. Yeah, absolutely,
Speaker 1: you know, um, because this is you go out there
Speaker 1: and do it for your family and the fans. You know,
Speaker 1: that's what drives you to compete at the highest level.
Speaker 1: You know. Not saying that I can't go out there
Speaker 1: and perform at that high level, you know, but when
Speaker 1: you put in all our good work each and every
Speaker 1: week and you do some ridiculous and outstanding you want
Speaker 1: people to see it first sight. You want people to
Speaker 1: recognize the work that you put in. Playing without crowds
Speaker 1: that'd be real tough for some players. Tell you what,
Speaker 1: it's good to hear your voice. It's good to hear
Speaker 1: that you're doing well and your family is safe, and
Speaker 1: we look forward to seeing you in person when that's
Speaker 1: allowed again. Definitely, Boss, I appreciate you. Tyler is only
Speaker 1: twenty five years old, but he'll be heading into his
Speaker 1: fifth NFL season in twenty twenty, and he signed for
Speaker 1: the next three years after agreeing to an extension prior
Speaker 1: to last season. Before we get to the next segment,
Speaker 1: here's a quick reminder that you can take your Bengals
Speaker 1: prior to the next level in twenty twenty with an
Speaker 1: official Bengals fan package from Prime Sport. My next guest
Speaker 1: is a former Bengal. He was a three time Pro
Speaker 1: Bowler and a key member of the nineteen eighty eight
Speaker 1: Super Bowl team who recently accomplished something that he is
Speaker 1: as proud of as anything he ever did on a
Speaker 1: football field. We are joined by one of the greatest
Speaker 1: Bengals of all time, voted sixth best among retired players
Speaker 1: a few years ago when the Bengal celebrated their fiftieth season,
Speaker 1: the great David Fulture. And we will talk a little
Speaker 1: bit of football in a little bit, But David, my
Speaker 1: primary reason for asking you to be on this podcast
Speaker 1: is to congratulate you on a fantastic achievement. This week,
Speaker 1: thirty four years after you left Arizona State after your
Speaker 1: junior year to turn pro, you earned your college degree.
Speaker 1: What motivated you to go back to school? Wow, A
Speaker 1: lot of things. The first I think it has something
Speaker 1: to do with watching my daughter Kayla, who graduated from
Speaker 1: Thomas Moore UH two years ago, she came up to
Speaker 1: me after she got her diploma and her degree and
Speaker 1: walked across the stage and said, Dad, I think you
Speaker 1: need to finish. And I heard it, but I was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's I'm not too sure that I want to go
Speaker 1: back to school and do that. And she pushed me
Speaker 1: enough to say that it should be done, and I
Speaker 1: decided to do it. And thank God that I did it,
Speaker 1: and I got it now, David, one of the coolest
Speaker 1: things is seeing her Facebook posts because she is so
Speaker 1: proud of you for doing this. Yeah, it's really quite touching.
Speaker 1: Yeah it is, man. I saw that, and I didn't
Speaker 1: expect her to do it, and I told him, I said,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna put anything on there, and I saw
Speaker 1: her and my wife collaborating about something. But it was
Speaker 1: it was it was good. It was good to see
Speaker 1: it and the people who responded. And you know, I'm
Speaker 1: not a big social media guy. I think I got
Speaker 1: it because I just want to look and see what
Speaker 1: everybody else is doing. And she put it up there, man,
Speaker 1: and so many people responded, and she constantly keeps telling me.
Speaker 1: Before I even came on here with you, she called
Speaker 1: me and said so what's next? Who else wants to
Speaker 1: talk to him? I said, well, I got something coming
Speaker 1: up at ten o'clock. So but yeah, she's very proud
Speaker 1: of what her dad did, and I wish she was around,
Speaker 1: was around to see me play the game right at
Speaker 1: the end of my career when I tried to come
Speaker 1: back and play with the Bengals. She was born in
Speaker 1: ninety five, so she never really saw her dad play.
Speaker 1: She just heard about it. But she saw her dad
Speaker 1: through this one. We are visiting with a grade David Fulture.
Speaker 1: I try to help my son with his eighth grade
Speaker 1: homework and it's hard for me. So this could not
Speaker 1: have been easy to go back to school thirty four
Speaker 1: years after you were last in college. No, no, this
Speaker 1: was not easy at all. And I encourage who the
Speaker 1: people who haven't finished to go back and finished. But
Speaker 1: you need some help. You know, the technology is different.
Speaker 1: You know, we got cell phones, we've got Siri, we've
Speaker 1: got echos, we've got all these things. And I had
Speaker 1: a family and I have And the good thing about
Speaker 1: me was I had a daughter who graduated two years ago,
Speaker 1: who was still fresh on what she was doing. But
Speaker 1: it didn't matter. She was not going to do the
Speaker 1: work for me. I know that first class I took
Speaker 1: was English one or two and basic English. And let
Speaker 1: me tell you, when I sat down in front of
Speaker 1: that computer and started looking at the work and I
Speaker 1: had to be done, it looked like it was English five.
Speaker 1: I had no idea what I was doing. And I
Speaker 1: tried to get her to help me, and every little
Speaker 1: question I asked her was so simple for her to do.
Speaker 1: She would looked at me and go, Dad, you know
Speaker 1: that it's easy, and I'm like, no, I don't, and
Speaker 1: we would argue about it, and it got to a
Speaker 1: point where I got tired of asking her how to
Speaker 1: do it, and I just said, I'm gonna do this
Speaker 1: on my own, and whatever happened is going to happen.
Speaker 1: And then it was just getting started again, getting back
Speaker 1: into the rhythm of, you know, doing homework, doing papers,
Speaker 1: you know, writing essays, and I'm like, oh, my gosh,
Speaker 1: but I signed up for But I did it, man,
Speaker 1: And it was, like I said, it wasn't easy. It
Speaker 1: wasn't easy at all. David. I heard in another interview
Speaker 1: that you did that. You actually heard radio ads for
Speaker 1: taking courses from Arizona State Online. Yeah, I was driving
Speaker 1: down downtown. I worked with the Hamilton County Justice Sign.
Speaker 1: I work with the guys and girls who are incarcerated,
Speaker 1: just trying to make a change and change your lives.
Speaker 1: And I just happened to hear Arizona State Online, Arizona
Speaker 1: State Online and I and I've been hearing that, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, you know, it's stared. It's gotta be a
Speaker 1: reason why this keeps coming up. And I started thinking
Speaker 1: because my wife and I had talked about who had heard,
Speaker 1: you know, from through the NFL and through the Trust,
Speaker 1: players who are finishing school, and we were talking about
Speaker 1: going back and finishing school. But I was thinking, you know,
Speaker 1: maybe taking some classes that you see. But then I
Speaker 1: started thinking, man if I take class that you see,
Speaker 1: and I finished, I'm gonna graduate from UC and that's
Speaker 1: not the school I went to. So I kept hearing
Speaker 1: that online online, issue online and how to sign up
Speaker 1: and lo and behold, we we looked into it and
Speaker 1: figured it out, and once we knew what to do
Speaker 1: with the issue, then the Trust has a program that
Speaker 1: it helps current and former players who have not finished
Speaker 1: college an opportunity for a scholarship. So we we wrote
Speaker 1: the essay and applied for it, and four months later
Speaker 1: I was approved and school started. So basically showed the
Speaker 1: effort in the NFL is there to help guys go
Speaker 1: back and get their degree. Oh, no doubt, man. I
Speaker 1: mean it didn't take much. And I've explained this to
Speaker 1: guys throughout Cincinnati and guys that I've been friends with
Speaker 1: their online and whatnot throughout the States, and I just
Speaker 1: told them, I said, you know, dude, if you don't
Speaker 1: call them, they're not gonna call you. And that's kind
Speaker 1: of it's almost like, if it's free, is for me.
Speaker 1: So thinking we're talking to Bengals legend David Fulture, who
Speaker 1: recently earned his college degree from Arizona State. Right now,
Speaker 1: college seniors are missing out on their graduation ceremonies unfortunately
Speaker 1: because of COVID nineteen. But you plan to eventually walk
Speaker 1: across that stage, correct, Yes, I am. In December, they're
Speaker 1: going to have a ceremony for the twenty twenty graduates.
Speaker 1: Graduates who want to walk across the states. Because I
Speaker 1: was supposed to walk on Tuesday of this week and
Speaker 1: because of the coronavirus, they canceled everything, and which obviously
Speaker 1: we knew that, so they're still giving us an opportunity
Speaker 1: because they normally graduate, and kids or students who graduate
Speaker 1: normally walk across in May of that year. So I
Speaker 1: need to do it December of this year to walk
Speaker 1: across or next twenty twenty one May. And I don't
Speaker 1: want to wait and then, so we're gonna go down there,
Speaker 1: and I'm bringing my Daughter's gonna come with my wife
Speaker 1: and I and my son David and his wife Mackenzie,
Speaker 1: and they're two littles, my two granddaughters. I'm gonna fly
Speaker 1: them down. My mom and dad are already in Arizona,
Speaker 1: so it's going to be a good family affair down
Speaker 1: there in December. David, as you mentioned, you have worked
Speaker 1: for years counseling inmates about how to re enter life
Speaker 1: basically and maintain a positive attitude. Will you use this
Speaker 1: as part of your message going forward? No, no doubt.
Speaker 1: I was using it while I was in there and
Speaker 1: telling them that I'm going back to school because it's
Speaker 1: really hard. I'm fifty five years old and this didn't
Speaker 1: come easy. So it's hard for me to get there
Speaker 1: and sit in front of that computer and write a
Speaker 1: twenty five hundred word and say, come on, man, I
Speaker 1: twenty five hundred words on what that's hard to do.
Speaker 1: So I had heard to my telling this. I mean,
Speaker 1: you guys are twenty five years old. You still got
Speaker 1: your laugh ahead of you. You know, here's another choice
Speaker 1: that you can make to become a better person in society.
Speaker 1: So when you get out, you know, those that may
Speaker 1: look at you because of what you've done in the past,
Speaker 1: they may not see that no more if you've got
Speaker 1: a different outlooking a different attitude towards life. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I do. I encourage them big time and I use
Speaker 1: every twol that I can to show them that no
Speaker 1: matter where you are, no matter what you have or
Speaker 1: don't have, the only way you can make things happen
Speaker 1: in life is that you have to get off your
Speaker 1: butt and do it. David, for those who don't know,
Speaker 1: explain what your manner program is old. Twenty two years ago,
Speaker 1: I was working with a charter high school in Cincinnati
Speaker 1: called Pace High School, and one of the young men
Speaker 1: trump the school got in trouble and was arrested. Pace
Speaker 1: High School was a school that gave kids who were
Speaker 1: obviously at risks were in trouble an opportunity to finish
Speaker 1: their schooling, and police took him into Hampton County, and
Speaker 1: I just thought I should go down there and take
Speaker 1: his homework. I don't want the kids sitting there doing nothing,
Speaker 1: so I did it. And as I was sitting there,
Speaker 1: then Sheriff Simon Lee saw me and said what am
Speaker 1: I doing in here? And I told him that I
Speaker 1: was trying to help the show him and finish his education.
Speaker 1: And he said to me that I needed to bring
Speaker 1: some kind of programming there to help everybody. And I
Speaker 1: was I was twenty two years ago, you know, And
Speaker 1: he and I brought in the program that I have now.
Speaker 1: But it wasn't called MANNA then, but MANNA stands for
Speaker 1: mentoring against negative actions. And the program is pretty simple.
Speaker 1: I called it my twelve step program. My twelfth Step
Speaker 1: program just talks about, you know, new beginnings when they
Speaker 1: get out their image, forgiveness, the justice part of being
Speaker 1: in jail. Education. Education is not just one, two three,
Speaker 1: but education is educating your kids to make better decisions
Speaker 1: or making you you make better decisions, you know. And
Speaker 1: then they talk about working, you know, get in the job,
Speaker 1: having a bank account, you know, drugs. I call it
Speaker 1: the drug my drug program is called Smoking Alcohol and Drugs,
Speaker 1: the SAD Team SAD. You know, a lot of those
Speaker 1: guys go to jail due to the fact that they're high,
Speaker 1: they're drinking drunk, or drugs just infected their lives, even
Speaker 1: their family lives. And then I talk about their community,
Speaker 1: the community, support the community that they live in. How
Speaker 1: could they be a better person in that community by
Speaker 1: making the best decision or helping someone. When I grew
Speaker 1: up in Los Angeles, we didn't have to know. Obviously
Speaker 1: La doesn't snow, but we had people who had a
Speaker 1: lot of leaves and trash in their yard and we
Speaker 1: used to help them clean it up. Well, I know
Speaker 1: in Ohio because my kids used to do it when
Speaker 1: it's snow. They would go out there and shovel the
Speaker 1: sidewalk or the driveway for the neighbor, and neighbor give
Speaker 1: them five bucks. So there's a lot of things you
Speaker 1: can do in your community to make it better. Instead
Speaker 1: of you going into your community and infecting it with
Speaker 1: drugs and crime, why don't you go into your community
Speaker 1: and stop some of the things that you see. You
Speaker 1: may not be able to stop. A kid who stands
Speaker 1: on the corner wants to sell drugs that you might
Speaker 1: be able to give him some influence by saying I
Speaker 1: used to be you, So why don't you get off
Speaker 1: the street change your life, Because I think it's all
Speaker 1: about communication, and it's to me, it's it's common sense.
Speaker 1: Common sense says don't do these things. And we've lost
Speaker 1: common sense in this country. And I think if people
Speaker 1: would understand, like it was back in my day, when
Speaker 1: you got in trouble, everybody's dad was your dad and
Speaker 1: you've got your bubb whoop, you can't do that today.
Speaker 1: And I just think it's I think it's important, and
Speaker 1: I love what I do, man, I said, I go
Speaker 1: down there twice a week, and I'm now working in
Speaker 1: Butler County's jail with Sheriff Jones, So I'm four days
Speaker 1: a week. I'm in the jail system, just teaching everyday life,
Speaker 1: everyday skills of making the right choice. David, As I mentioned,
Speaker 1: you were named the sixth greatest retired Bengals player of
Speaker 1: all time when the team celebrated it's fiftieth season a
Speaker 1: few years ago. You were a three time Pro bowler.
Speaker 1: You played in the Super Bowl, a key part of
Speaker 1: that nineteen eighty eight team. So your football accomplishments speak
Speaker 1: for themselves. Where does going back and earning your college
Speaker 1: degree rank to you among these great accomplishments? Oh my god,
Speaker 1: I think this is number one. I do. I think
Speaker 1: it's number one because I never thought that I would
Speaker 1: do it. I never thought that I would did it,
Speaker 1: and I think that was probably one of the biggest
Speaker 1: reasons why I left as a great shirt junior. It's
Speaker 1: because it got harder. You know, at twenty years old,
Speaker 1: it was hard for me to to really sit down
Speaker 1: there and understand some of the things that they were
Speaker 1: asking me to do and the ability that I had
Speaker 1: to play football. I didn't think that I could. I
Speaker 1: thought I would, I could have played in the NFL,
Speaker 1: But it was like, you know, I'm twenty years old
Speaker 1: and I'm been going to this National Football League and
Speaker 1: fight against guys who've been there eight nine years, ten years,
Speaker 1: twelve years, And I I said, you know what, this
Speaker 1: is my if I'm gonna really really get out of
Speaker 1: Los Angeles, you know, I my first part of getting
Speaker 1: out of LA was leaving high school and going to college.
Speaker 1: But I didn't want to go back to LA after
Speaker 1: being in college and not have achieved something, so I said,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go I'm gonna go out there and playing.
Speaker 1: When I got there, I never even thought about graduating.
Speaker 1: You know, I think that may happen to a lot
Speaker 1: of young kids who graduate from college and go to
Speaker 1: the pros and make a lot of money. Did you
Speaker 1: start thinking that, you know, you don't need your education.
Speaker 1: You know, you're making a hundred million dollars. Who who
Speaker 1: could tell you what to do when you got that
Speaker 1: kind of money. So I wasn't making that kind of
Speaker 1: money then and probably never will. But I thought it
Speaker 1: was important at once I finished and I heard about
Speaker 1: it that maybe I need to get this degree because
Speaker 1: I've been offered many jobs then that require what degree
Speaker 1: you have, And when I told him I didn't have one,
Speaker 1: and based off an assumption, everybody thinks that because you
Speaker 1: go to college and you played college football that you
Speaker 1: probably graduated. And no, and they turned me down because
Speaker 1: I didn't have that degree. So that was another incentive
Speaker 1: to do that. So now when somebody asked my degree,
Speaker 1: I could tell them what I got. It's tremendous. There's
Speaker 1: no shot clock required on getting one's degree. So the
Speaker 1: fact that you went back thirty four years after last
Speaker 1: playing at Arizona State and going to college there. It's
Speaker 1: a remarkable achievement and I'm really happy for you. I
Speaker 1: can hear the pride in your voice again. Your daughter's
Speaker 1: Facebook post was extremely touching, So congratulations from the bottom
Speaker 1: of my heart. I do want to ask you a
Speaker 1: few football questions before I let you go. First, your
Speaker 1: reaction to the Bengals spending more than one hundred and
Speaker 1: thirty million dollars in free agency this year. What did
Speaker 1: you think when you saw those names rolling in shop? Probably,
Speaker 1: like everybody else, probably didn't expect to see them spend
Speaker 1: that money, but maybe the table's attorney, and I mean,
Speaker 1: I think it makes it very exciting for this upcoming
Speaker 1: season for the Cincinnati fans. The base here in Cincinnati
Speaker 1: has been thirsty for something good to happen, and by
Speaker 1: doing that, the good has started. And once again everybody
Speaker 1: looks good on paper. These guys that they brought in
Speaker 1: are players that have made some plays for those teams,
Speaker 1: but they still got to perform. David one of the
Speaker 1: big editions with safety Von Bell, known as one of
Speaker 1: the best run stopping safeties in the NFL, he was
Speaker 1: part of a national championship team at Ohio State went
Speaker 1: to the playoffs every year with the Saints. Did you
Speaker 1: think a guy that fit that description was something needed
Speaker 1: on this defense? Oh yeah, you need a I would
Speaker 1: say making an outcast. Somebody that does doesn't look like
Speaker 1: the norm. He's coming from a wh an organization is
Speaker 1: coming from a a perspective of you know, he's a player,
Speaker 1: he's a game changer. He makes plays, and I think
Speaker 1: it's important that you know when he comes in here,
Speaker 1: he's going to be affected, affecting everybody. His motors is
Speaker 1: on ten and some of our other guys motor can
Speaker 1: only get up to five. Maybe he's going to bring
Speaker 1: that level of defense up a little bit more that
Speaker 1: it's going to be very impacted. That he brings in
Speaker 1: a winning attitude and a winning tradition that the Bengals
Speaker 1: defense and not a bad defense, but I think that
Speaker 1: he add a little flavor to the defense that gives
Speaker 1: them what they need to do so they can get
Speaker 1: off to fill on third downs and keep people from
Speaker 1: scoring touchdowns anytime they want to. These are obviously strange
Speaker 1: and difficult times for everybody. If you were still playing
Speaker 1: right now, what would you be doing to try to
Speaker 1: be ready for a football see when it resumes. Oh
Speaker 1: my gosh, damn, I couldn't even tell you. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: hopefully I have a gym or something in my in
Speaker 1: my house, um a yard and you know, a big backyard,
Speaker 1: and or I live over at King's Isnd right now,
Speaker 1: so I'd walk out my condo, run up and down
Speaker 1: the grass here and trying to keep myself right. I
Speaker 1: couldn't even tell you. You know, when I hear all
Speaker 1: these sports talking about basketball maybe coming back, in baseball
Speaker 1: coming back, you know, those those guys have been sitting
Speaker 1: around doing nothing, and how much is it going to
Speaker 1: take for those guys to get themselves ready to play
Speaker 1: their sport? Um? This this is tough. Man. We are
Speaker 1: in a time where we could have guys come out
Speaker 1: and they're not in shape. Um, the guys can get
Speaker 1: hurt because they haven't done as much as they really
Speaker 1: would like to. But you know, these guys are professionals,
Speaker 1: so they they they're finding a way to get themselves done.
Speaker 1: I just couldn't tell you the thought process that to
Speaker 1: go through of Hey man, here we are in May
Speaker 1: and football it's coming up in August. You know, in
Speaker 1: the last two months we've been locked in. He won't
Speaker 1: let us get out, So I don't know, Man's it's
Speaker 1: almost like, you know, you need a five week program
Speaker 1: that gets you ready for eighteen twenty games. Be tough, David.
Speaker 1: Just to wrap things up, this is a great story
Speaker 1: on behalf of Bengals. Fans are really proud of you
Speaker 1: and congratulations on a remarkable accomplishment going back more than
Speaker 1: three decades after playing at Arizona State and earning your degree. Brother,
Speaker 1: I thank you very much, fan, And like I said,
Speaker 1: I worked hard, and I think it's a you know,
Speaker 1: a real thrill to have my daughter and my son
Speaker 1: and my wife be a part of it. And you
Speaker 1: know one of those things that you know, it's a
Speaker 1: the degree asked David's name on it, but you know
Speaker 1: it's a family thing because they put in just as
Speaker 1: much work as I put in. I know my wife
Speaker 1: did because, like I said, she she was at one
Speaker 1: that was sleep at eleven thirty twelve o'clock and I
Speaker 1: had a question. I woke her up and asked her
Speaker 1: to come help me in and I could see her
Speaker 1: in facelight. I cannot believe you asked me didn't you
Speaker 1: wait till tomorrow? Could you wait till I get up?
Speaker 1: But they were right there with me, man, And I'm
Speaker 1: glad it's done. Thank you, my friend. That's going to
Speaker 1: do it. For This episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast
Speaker 1: brought to you by Prime Sport, the official fan, travel
Speaker 1: and hospitality partner of the Cincinnati Bengals. If you haven't
Speaker 1: done so already, please subscribe and if you have a minute,
Speaker 1: give it a rating or share a comment that helps
Speaker 1: more Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde, and
Speaker 1: thank you for listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast