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Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. My name is Lindsay Young and I am

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Speaker 1: a staff writer and assistant editor here with the Minnesota Vikings.

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Speaker 1: Thank you so much for tuning in to another segment

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Speaker 1: of our Getting Open series, which focuses on all things

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Speaker 1: mental health. Throughout this series, we've had the opportunity to

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Speaker 1: talk with a number of current players, including Eric Kendricks,

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Speaker 1: Jalen Holmes, Adam Feelin. We spoke with Vikings general manager

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Speaker 1: Rick Spielman, and last week we had the honor of

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Speaker 1: hearing from Hall of Fame defensive tackle John Randall, who

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Speaker 1: really shared his thoughts and his heart around the topic

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Speaker 1: of mental health, specifically within the NFL Legends community. So

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Speaker 1: that's why I'm so excited this week to sit down

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Speaker 1: with fellow NFL legend Tony Richardson. Now, Tony had a

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Speaker 1: sixteen season career in the NFL. He spent most of

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Speaker 1: his career, the first part of his career in Kansas

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Speaker 1: City with the Chiefs, and he then played for the

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Speaker 1: Vikings in two thousand and six and two thousand and seven,

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Speaker 1: which we'll hear more about in a second. And Tony

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Speaker 1: is equally passionate about working with NFL alumni and really

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Speaker 1: being a part of that network, that community, and also

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Speaker 1: encouraging others to look out for their mental well being,

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Speaker 1: to be aware of mental health, and to really normalize

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Speaker 1: that conversation around not being okay. So let's tickle us

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Speaker 1: into what Tony had to say. Tony, thank you so

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Speaker 1: much for joining us. As we just mentioned in our

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Speaker 1: intro for fans who maybe don't know as much about

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Speaker 1: your career, sixteen season career in the NFL super impressive.

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Speaker 1: Of course, just two of those years were in Minnesota,

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Speaker 1: two thousand and six and two thousand and seven, the

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Speaker 1: ladder of which was a Pro Bowl season for you.

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Speaker 1: It was probably a short and sweet time for you.

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Speaker 1: But what did you appreciate about your time in Minnesota

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Speaker 1: with the Vikings? You know, I was definitely, Uh, it

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Speaker 1: was it was it was a change, I think just

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Speaker 1: because you know, I had been in Kansas City. So

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Speaker 1: actually I played seventeen years, so a lot of people

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Speaker 1: because I had one year with the Dallas Cowboys on

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Speaker 1: practice squad, so since the count against my pission, I

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Speaker 1: say seventeen um, but you know it was different, you know,

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Speaker 1: it was uh, you know, I spent eleven years in

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Speaker 1: Kansas City. And that's kind of where you know, I

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Speaker 1: kind of my football career kind of blossomed and and

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Speaker 1: you know, took off and then um, you know, uh,

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Speaker 1: the Vikings actually had a leadership change, a new head coach,

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Speaker 1: and then a dear buddy of mine by the name

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Speaker 1: of Les Pico happened to be uh, happened to come

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Speaker 1: over to Minnesota and he said, hey, you know, to

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Speaker 1: Rich uh, you ught yourself to just kind of look

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Speaker 1: around and come come check out and see what, you know,

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Speaker 1: what direction organization is going. And it was as soon

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Speaker 1: as my feet you know, touched the ground and uh,

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Speaker 1: in Minnesota, it was just like it just felt right,

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Speaker 1: you know, from the greeterers at the airport to you know,

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Speaker 1: the hospitality, the Vikings organization, the leadership and the direction

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Speaker 1: they were going. You know, it just felt right. And

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Speaker 1: then um, you know, obviously the first year I actually

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Speaker 1: had an injury, so I was, you know, I was

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Speaker 1: out time the first year. Second year, we bought this

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Speaker 1: guy and by the name of Adrian Peterson, who was

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Speaker 1: actually over my shoulder right now in a Pro Bowl picture,

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Speaker 1: and he gave me life. And it's interesting because you

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Speaker 1: know I initially said, okay, you know, come to Minnesota

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Speaker 1: two year deal and I'm pretty much gonna hang the

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Speaker 1: clicks up and ap literally he's just like taking um.

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Speaker 1: You know, her older dog starts to start slowing down

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Speaker 1: a little bit. You get him a puppy, and so

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Speaker 1: I got me a puppy, and so Ape would be like, hey,

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Speaker 1: Tis you want to run sprince after practice? I was, oh, yeah,

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Speaker 1: we want to sprince all the time. And I was like, Okay,

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Speaker 1: over back, that's one. He was like, no, let's do

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Speaker 1: this over back, over back, that's one. I'm like, how

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Speaker 1: do you want to do before? I'm like, bro, we

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Speaker 1: just finished practice and you want to do all this running.

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Speaker 1: But it, uh, you know, he gave me life, um,

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Speaker 1: you know, just to be able to see a young

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Speaker 1: man that gifted um, to be able to work in

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Speaker 1: you know, work in the community. It was, it was.

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Speaker 1: It was a great opportunity. Well I love to hear that, um.

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Speaker 1: And if I'm not mistaken, you ended up not hanging

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Speaker 1: up your cleats like you mentioned. And then you did

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Speaker 1: finish your career with the Jets, so played another few

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Speaker 1: seasons for the past ten years or so. Then, how

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Speaker 1: have you stayed connected to just the NFL family and

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Speaker 1: why is that something that's important to you. Yeah, so

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Speaker 1: the department actually I work right now and actually I work,

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Speaker 1: you know, along John Randall and obviously Tracey McDonald with

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Speaker 1: the Vikings, and so my position is I'm the Northeast

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Speaker 1: coordinator for Legends Community. And I think, um, you know,

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Speaker 1: it's kind of one of those things because my last

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Speaker 1: year in twenty ten twenty eleven was a year we

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Speaker 1: actually had the lockout and I was on the union

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Speaker 1: side of that lockout, and I think I just kind

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Speaker 1: of needed to take some space away just to kind

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Speaker 1: of clear my mind from the NFL as well as

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Speaker 1: from the Union. So I kind of, you know, it

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Speaker 1: was in kind of a different space where just trying

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Speaker 1: to figure out what was next and this opportunity, you know,

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Speaker 1: I'm still living here in New York City, and the

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Speaker 1: opportunity you know, um, you know, came to my table

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Speaker 1: about helping former players and helping them in that transition.

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Speaker 1: And I was thinking to myself, like, you know, I

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Speaker 1: kind of wish I had some them that kind of

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Speaker 1: pulled me through that transition. And you know, one thing

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Speaker 1: in life, we realize we're always transitioning, you know, I

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Speaker 1: don't care if you're eighty, if you're ninety. There's a

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Speaker 1: transition in some form in your life, and the more

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Speaker 1: people and the team that you can have around you,

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Speaker 1: you know easy that transition is going to be. And

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Speaker 1: so you'm the Northeast coordinated for Legends community and so

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Speaker 1: my two teams I support living here in New York

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Speaker 1: and New York Jets and the Giants. But we work

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Speaker 1: as a team. And so if there's someone you know,

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Speaker 1: maybe a former Viking that's here in the New York area,

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Speaker 1: John may call New York and say, hey, can you

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Speaker 1: get on the phone, you know with such and such

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Speaker 1: or vice versus. So, you know, we work side by side,

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Speaker 1: and the number one thing is just making sure our

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Speaker 1: guys are doing well, you know, after football, and just

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Speaker 1: trying to allow them and understand like the power to

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Speaker 1: shield and the opportunities that you can have m you know,

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Speaker 1: staying connected, you know, back with your NFL clubs. I

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Speaker 1: love that you brought up John too, because we just

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Speaker 1: did a recent segment with him, and it's great to

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Speaker 1: have both of you a part of this series. I

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Speaker 1: know that you had mentioned a little bit to me

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Speaker 1: about being involved with MVP can you try tell us

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Speaker 1: a little bit what that looks like. Yeah, So MVP

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Speaker 1: is something that's very near and dear to my heart. UM. So,

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Speaker 1: MVP the acronym is merging veterans and players, UM, and

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Speaker 1: it literally it's something I kind of knew about UM

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Speaker 1: for a while with my dad being former military. So

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Speaker 1: my dad served thirty thirty two years of Vietnam veteran

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Speaker 1: proper heart. My sister did twenty eight years and four deployments,

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Speaker 1: and so it's it's kind of the exact same transition,

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Speaker 1: you know, I saw my sister, Well, at first, I

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Speaker 1: saw my dad transition, you know, being uh, alpha male

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Speaker 1: and being uh, you know, someone in the leadership position

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Speaker 1: and having soldiers around, and everywhere he goes people saluting him,

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Speaker 1: and all of a sudden he comes home, my mom's

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Speaker 1: not saluting them. So I saw him kind of go

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Speaker 1: through that transition of uh, you know, just what's what's next?

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Speaker 1: And so what Jay Glazer and Nate Borrier um, they

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Speaker 1: actually they actually served with Pat Tillman and so he's

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Speaker 1: a he was a marine if I'm standing corrected, and

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Speaker 1: he actually served and he actually played for the Seattle Seahawks.

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Speaker 1: So they started just to kind of see, like you know,

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Speaker 1: veterans and professional athletes kind of go through that same

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Speaker 1: type of loss of identity, kind of trying to figure

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Speaker 1: out what's next, and you know, doing something at the

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Speaker 1: highest level and then all of a sudden it's over

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Speaker 1: and it's like boom, and so it's um, it's an

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Speaker 1: opportunity and it's really been great because it's something that

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Speaker 1: helped me tremendously through the pandemic. Because normally it's an

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Speaker 1: in person workout for thirty minutes and then you sit down,

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Speaker 1: drab some water, and everyone sits in a huddle, like

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Speaker 1: the true huddle like you have in football, and you

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Speaker 1: just talk and you share and it's unbiased. There's no judgment,

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Speaker 1: there's no politics. Don't force religions, really, don't force opinions

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Speaker 1: unless somebody asks, like for you know, for help. But

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Speaker 1: it's just an open opportunity just to sit and just talk.

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Speaker 1: Because I think, as men and women, because the servants

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Speaker 1: of women as well, you know, we harbor all of

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Speaker 1: this stuff up. You know what I mean. It's like,

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Speaker 1: you know, because we're told in football, hey, if you

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Speaker 1: break your finger, okay, tape it up. You gotta keep playing.

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Speaker 1: Oh you dislocate your elbow. Okay, you can't be hurting.

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Speaker 1: You gotta keep playing. And so I think what our

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Speaker 1: society has kind of raised us to say it is

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Speaker 1: like when you're hurting inside, um, if you're feeling lonely,

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Speaker 1: if you're feeling sad, you gotta tough it up. You

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Speaker 1: gotta build that scar tissue and just keep going. In life.

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Speaker 1: You can't do that. You cannot go through life building

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Speaker 1: it up because eventually, build up, build up, build up,

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Speaker 1: and it's going to be it's gonna be an overload,

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Speaker 1: and you know, unfortunately, bad things happen. And so what

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Speaker 1: it really allows me to do and I'm that's you know,

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Speaker 1: my day to day is zoom, zoom zoom. So yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: yesterday we just launched Seattle and so it's a hybrid,

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Speaker 1: so they actually there were some um, some members in

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Speaker 1: the gym and then afterwards we did a thirty or

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Speaker 1: we did an hour huddle and it's over zoom. So

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Speaker 1: I did Seattle yesterday, I did New York last night,

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Speaker 1: and I did La and it's just great because it's

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Speaker 1: like my family now and it's like I look forward

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Speaker 1: to it and you know, people share wins, and they

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Speaker 1: also share when they're having just things they just need

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Speaker 1: to talk about. And I think when you have a community,

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Speaker 1: it's like literally having sixty therapists at your anytime you

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Speaker 1: need them. And we say the magic really happens after

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Speaker 1: the huddle. So we make a point to check on

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Speaker 1: two or three people that you hadn't checked into. And

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Speaker 1: you just don't know that that a little check in, Hey,

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Speaker 1: you're just picking up the phone or sending the text

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Speaker 1: and to say, hey, you know, how are you doing?

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Speaker 1: What's going on? And just the way the weight of people,

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Speaker 1: you could just feel it, like sometimes you get on

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Speaker 1: the phone and you could just feel like, man, I'm

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Speaker 1: so glad you call it today because I was actually

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Speaker 1: just I was going through something. And I think just

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Speaker 1: having that community has really helped me tremendously and just

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Speaker 1: like it allows me to be vulnerable and it shows

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Speaker 1: me that I don't have to go through this life

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Speaker 1: alone and I can, you know, I can build my

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Speaker 1: team back up again, and I think that's very important. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and that was an organization that I was not super

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Speaker 1: familiar with before you shared it with me. So I

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Speaker 1: thought that was really a neat thing and I think

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Speaker 1: it's cool how you talk about the overlap between those

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Speaker 1: two different types of life transitions, and it sounds like

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Speaker 1: for you, it's really beneficial because it not only is

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Speaker 1: a support system for you through MVP, but you're also

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Speaker 1: able to help support other NFL legends through your role

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Speaker 1: that you work on with the Legends community. And it

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Speaker 1: sounds like mental health, um, and you know, maintaining your

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Speaker 1: mental wellbeing and of those around you is a really

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Speaker 1: important role in both of those positions. Yeah, it definitely is.

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Speaker 1: And I think that's one thing and I'm so glad

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Speaker 1: that we're able to talk about mental health because before,

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Speaker 1: you know, even when I had the stigma, if somebody

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Speaker 1: would seeing a therapist or said they had a therapist,

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Speaker 1: they just want to put you in the corner and

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Speaker 1: it's like, oh, something's wrong with him. And it's not

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Speaker 1: the fact that we're getting out in front of it

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Speaker 1: and understanding that. Uh. You know, just when I would

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Speaker 1: go to the gym and do biceps, I'm building my

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Speaker 1: bicep muscle. If I'm doing squats, I'm building my quad.

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Speaker 1: You definitely have to continue to keep working on your

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Speaker 1: on your mental health. It's because mental health is not

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Speaker 1: a bad thing. Mental health is mental health. Um, you

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Speaker 1: cannot be mental health disorders, of course. But the more

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Speaker 1: we get out in front of it, and the more

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Speaker 1: we can say, hey, you know what, I'm actually not

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Speaker 1: doing so well today, Hey I actually need to talk

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Speaker 1: to someone. Um, that's when we really can start to

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Speaker 1: make a difference in our society. And it's you know,

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Speaker 1: it's and it's unfortunate because even you know, in our

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Speaker 1: NFL family, um, you know, we've seen the tragedies, you know,

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Speaker 1: weekend and week out, and you hear about, you know,

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Speaker 1: different things that are going on. And you know, uh,

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Speaker 1: Al tomb who's a great receiver, just had a situation

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Speaker 1: that I found out about yesterday that his daughter was

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Speaker 1: her life was taken by her husband in front of

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Speaker 1: an eight month old child. Like that's that's some real

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Speaker 1: heavy stuff. And it's even though it didn't if it

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Speaker 1: even though I know Al and it's not my daughter,

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Speaker 1: but it still wears on you. And if you it's

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Speaker 1: still just you know, because you hurt for him, and

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Speaker 1: you hurt for that family, hurt for that community. And

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Speaker 1: so I think the more and more you just kind of,

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Speaker 1: you know, just have someone to talk to and have

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Speaker 1: a support system, get out in front of mental health.

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Speaker 1: And it's just um because every day in our in

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Speaker 1: our world, you know, it's it's almost sometimes where I

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Speaker 1: just don't you want to turn a TV on because

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Speaker 1: I'm afraid of like, okay, what, you know what, what's

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Speaker 1: going to be the news of the day. And so

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Speaker 1: I think the more we get out in front of

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Speaker 1: it and understanding like our young people, UM, I do

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Speaker 1: a lot of work in the anti bullying space. I

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Speaker 1: just did a really nice deal with a high school

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Speaker 1: here in New York yesterday over zoom of just talking

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Speaker 1: about you know, just dealing with you know, bully like

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Speaker 1: cyber bullying and all like all that stuff plays on

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Speaker 1: your mental health. So yeah, I'm glad we're able to

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Speaker 1: get out in front of them and talk about it

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Speaker 1: and share that mental health is okay, it's okay to

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Speaker 1: have a therapist. Is welcome to have a therapist. I

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Speaker 1: love talking about therapist and it's a it's a great thing.

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Speaker 1: Since you brought that up, having a therapist to talk

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Speaker 1: to you. And I think especially you hit the nail

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Speaker 1: on the head. I think life is always hard, but

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Speaker 1: this past year people have been isolated so many difficult

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Speaker 1: things going on, you know, whether it's racial tensions, the pandemic,

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Speaker 1: loved ones being ill. What would you maybe say to

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Speaker 1: somebody who is intimidated by the idea of seeing a

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Speaker 1: therapist or who has never gone through that process before,

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Speaker 1: about what it's been like for you. Yeah, I would

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Speaker 1: just say, uh, just drop the stigma because I think

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Speaker 1: you know, and I would just give examples of my

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Speaker 1: own personal life. It's just like you know, living here

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Speaker 1: in New York City when the whole world shut down,

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Speaker 1: you know, living in an apartment obviously, you know, like

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Speaker 1: not seeing this easier if you're living like a ten

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Speaker 1: thousand square from home, it's just more space to be lonely.

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Speaker 1: But you're a when you're in New York City, it's

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Speaker 1: like the walls, Like some days the walls felt like

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Speaker 1: they were they were closing in. And you know, for me,

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Speaker 1: you know, having my dog obviously was a tremendous help,

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Speaker 1: but just having someone to talk to, because you know,

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Speaker 1: it's and a lot of times it's not even necessarily

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Speaker 1: like you're asking for an opinion, but just having someone

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Speaker 1: to talk to because you know, I could talk to Rambow,

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Speaker 1: he's not my dog he's not gonna talk back, but

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Speaker 1: just you know, just having someone So I would just

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Speaker 1: I would telling anyone who's just um, it's healthy. It's

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Speaker 1: it's healthy, and it's and it's needed. And if you're married,

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Speaker 1: sometimes your spouse might not be that person, you know

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Speaker 1: what I mean, because you might be sharing some things

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Speaker 1: that potentially that you just need to you know, work through.

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Speaker 1: And so just having someone to be able to talk

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Speaker 1: to and have someone that's trained in that space, I

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Speaker 1: think it's really really helpful. And that's the beautiful thing

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Speaker 1: about MVP is we do have each other, but we

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Speaker 1: have a clinician that's on all of our calls because

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Speaker 1: you know, sometimes there's some guys share different things and

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Speaker 1: you can kind of pick up on signs and the

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Speaker 1: clinician to jump in and she's like, hey, as soon

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Speaker 1: as we get off this call, you know, I can

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Speaker 1: tell you're angry, I can tell there's some things that

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Speaker 1: you're really harboring, and let's get on the phone call afterwards.

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Speaker 1: And so having someone's trained, I think it's very beneficial.

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Speaker 1: And I was just telling anyone to just drop the

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Speaker 1: stigma and just try it, because I think, you know,

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Speaker 1: it was things that it's funny too. It It just

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Speaker 1: and I just acquired a new therapist, like right at

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Speaker 1: the beginning of the pandemic, and the first time we

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Speaker 1: were on the phone and I was like, okay. I

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Speaker 1: think it was like a thirty minute, you know, meeting,

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Speaker 1: and we end I'm talking for an hour and a

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Speaker 1: half and I just remember sharing stuff about my childhood,

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Speaker 1: about things were just popping up, and I'm just like, man,

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Speaker 1: next thing I know, I'm in the kitchen and I'm

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Speaker 1: like cooking, and she was like, oh, you're like cooking.

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Speaker 1: I'm like, I love cooking, and it's like my therapy.

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Speaker 1: And so it's just it's just all those different kind

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Speaker 1: of things. And I think the more you share it

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Speaker 1: and you start to pull back the layers and you

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Speaker 1: start thinking, like, man, maybe the things that I'm dealing

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Speaker 1: with at age forty nine was something that I didn't

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Speaker 1: address when I was three, you know what I mean.

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Speaker 1: It's like all of that goes hand in hand. So

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Speaker 1: I would tell anyone who's listening, you know, to this,

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Speaker 1: or anyone's hesitant about seeing a therapist, I would say,

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Speaker 1: just go for it, because it's the best thing I

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Speaker 1: have going in my life. And I wish, you know,

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Speaker 1: I wish I would have done this a lot earlier

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Speaker 1: in my life, and I can definitely, you know, personally

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Speaker 1: attest to everything that you just shared too, and would

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Speaker 1: encourage people to do the same to at least kind

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Speaker 1: of explore that. One of the things that I love

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Speaker 1: about the Vikings organization is that they do have a

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Speaker 1: clinical psychologist and a clinical psychiatrist that are available for

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Speaker 1: the players, the coaches, but also all of the staff

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Speaker 1: within the organization as well, which I think are such

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Speaker 1: important resources. When we were talking with John Randall, I

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Speaker 1: know his career started a little bit before Years and

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Speaker 1: ended a little bit before Years, but you guys did

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Speaker 1: overlap there for some time in the NFL, and he

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Speaker 1: was just talking about the way that the stigma has

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Speaker 1: kind of started to break down over the years, and

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Speaker 1: how mental health has been to become a more accepted

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Speaker 1: topic to talk about, especially within professional sports. What do

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Speaker 1: you appreciate about seeing the tide kind of starting to

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Speaker 1: turn there and seeing the league put an emphasis on

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Speaker 1: this topic. Yeah, I actolutely applaud the league. And so

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Speaker 1: a dear friend of mine is In Yaka. So In

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Speaker 1: Yaka actually works for the NFL and she even just

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Speaker 1: had We just did our Legends summit and our second

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00:16:24,400 --> 00:16:28,880
Speaker 1: day of training was an hour and a half training

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Speaker 1: on mental health. And I applied the NFL because it's

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Speaker 1: it's a thing that I think we should have been

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Speaker 1: doing a long time ago, because you know, I mean,

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Speaker 1: we do realize that, you know, we play a sport,

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Speaker 1: and you know, and I know for a fact, like

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Speaker 1: the day I signed my first NFL contract was the

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Speaker 1: day they were already trying to replace me. So that's

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Speaker 1: just the nature of how our business sales. But I

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Speaker 1: think we owe it to these young men who come

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Speaker 1: into this National Football League to not just build up

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Speaker 1: their football body, but build up their overall body. And

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Speaker 1: so I think we in effect that the NFL has

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Speaker 1: really jumped out in front of it now of saying

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Speaker 1: that we have to you know, I know, part of

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Speaker 1: the CBA, every team has to have a clinician and

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Speaker 1: psychiatrist on staff, and it's it's something that's definitely needed

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Speaker 1: because and for me, I would make it mandatory, but

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Speaker 1: at least they're available, but I would make it mandatory,

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Speaker 1: like you know, every Tuesday, you got fifteen, you got

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Speaker 1: thirty minutes, forty five minutes just to talk to somebody,

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Speaker 1: because you know, I was talking to a buddy of mine,

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Speaker 1: Orlando Pace, and he's part of the Legends community as well,

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Speaker 1: and he was just sharing a little bit about his journey.

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Speaker 1: So he was the first overall draft choice as an

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Speaker 1: offensive linement, so he was getting drafted. He got drafted

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Speaker 1: to the Saint Louis Rams. They were one of the

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Speaker 1: losing his teams in football history, so all of a sudden,

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00:17:46,280 --> 00:17:48,399
Speaker 1: they're like, Okay, why would you draft an offensive linement

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00:17:48,440 --> 00:17:50,640
Speaker 1: that's not a fancy pick. And so he was talking

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Speaker 1: about that mental stress that he had to endure because

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Speaker 1: everyone was saying, Oh, he's going to be a bus

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Speaker 1: or he's not going to pan out, um oh this

392
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Speaker 1: draft pick is too high, and he was like, I

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Speaker 1: had nobody that I can talk to because you can't

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Speaker 1: talk to your parents about what that stress level is,

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Speaker 1: like they haven't done that. You can't even really talk

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00:18:07,280 --> 00:18:09,920
Speaker 1: to your coaches about what it is to be really

397
00:18:09,960 --> 00:18:11,760
Speaker 1: they have to carry the weight of the world. He's

398
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Speaker 1: a big man, so he was able to do it,

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00:18:13,520 --> 00:18:16,280
Speaker 1: but to carry the weight of the world or the

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00:18:16,320 --> 00:18:19,040
Speaker 1: city on your back every single day and just the

401
00:18:19,119 --> 00:18:21,879
Speaker 1: stress of like of obviously he said, you know, the

402
00:18:21,920 --> 00:18:24,840
Speaker 1: expectations they put on me were very high, but I

403
00:18:24,840 --> 00:18:27,840
Speaker 1: could high expect chessons on myself. But just now, as

404
00:18:27,880 --> 00:18:29,720
Speaker 1: I was listening to him sharing, we were talking to

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00:18:30,560 --> 00:18:34,359
Speaker 1: the draft eligible rookies coming in this year, so we

406
00:18:34,359 --> 00:18:36,560
Speaker 1: were doing like a panel talking to them, and just

407
00:18:36,640 --> 00:18:38,439
Speaker 1: when I was hearing him speaking, first of all, he

408
00:18:38,480 --> 00:18:40,720
Speaker 1: was speaking to me and it was just like, you know,

409
00:18:40,800 --> 00:18:42,760
Speaker 1: it was just it resonated inside of me, and I'm like,

410
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Speaker 1: here's a man obviously made it to the Hall of Fame,

411
00:18:45,080 --> 00:18:47,359
Speaker 1: you know, join John you know, in the NFL Hall

412
00:18:47,400 --> 00:18:49,800
Speaker 1: of Fame's offensive linemen. But he had to carry the

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Speaker 1: weight of the world, like he needed someone there, and

414
00:18:53,440 --> 00:18:55,280
Speaker 1: at that time it was do one there. You know,

415
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Speaker 1: there was no therapist, and it could have went obviously

416
00:18:57,680 --> 00:18:59,440
Speaker 1: it weren't great for him, but it could have easily

417
00:18:59,480 --> 00:19:01,520
Speaker 1: went the direction. So I'm so glad now that the the

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00:19:01,680 --> 00:19:03,919
Speaker 1: NFL is out front of it. I'm glad that all

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00:19:03,920 --> 00:19:06,479
Speaker 1: the teams are supported and now we just have to

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00:19:06,480 --> 00:19:09,040
Speaker 1: get more players. Just to understand that it's okay to

421
00:19:09,080 --> 00:19:11,280
Speaker 1: say I'm not okay, I think you kind of hit

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00:19:11,320 --> 00:19:13,080
Speaker 1: the nail on the hide two. And another thing that

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00:19:13,119 --> 00:19:15,560
Speaker 1: we've kind of talked about at times throughout the series

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Speaker 1: is that mental health challenges don't discriminate. I think people

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Speaker 1: tend to think that, oh, well, they're a professional athlete,

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Speaker 1: they have the finances to deal with things they have X, Y,

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00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:27,960
Speaker 1: and Z, and that's just not the case. I think

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Speaker 1: people maybe don't recognize the different pressures that come with that.

429
00:19:32,160 --> 00:19:34,040
Speaker 1: But regardless of that, you know the fact that it

430
00:19:34,080 --> 00:19:36,520
Speaker 1: doesn't matter who you are, what your background is, what

431
00:19:36,520 --> 00:19:39,720
Speaker 1: your economics standing is. You know, mental health is important

432
00:19:39,760 --> 00:19:41,840
Speaker 1: to focus on, and so I know that's important to

433
00:19:41,840 --> 00:19:44,040
Speaker 1: you as well. Yeah, And that's the thing about it.

434
00:19:44,040 --> 00:19:46,200
Speaker 1: It's like, and it's interesting you said about money. It's

435
00:19:46,200 --> 00:19:49,920
Speaker 1: like there's more money, more problems, So more money, more stress.

436
00:19:49,960 --> 00:19:51,679
Speaker 1: And that's the thing about It's like, and people do

437
00:19:51,800 --> 00:19:54,240
Speaker 1: think like, Okay, if you have a lot of money,

438
00:19:54,280 --> 00:19:55,919
Speaker 1: you can solve your problems. And actually a lot of

439
00:19:55,920 --> 00:19:59,200
Speaker 1: times sometimes the most successful people are the most other

440
00:19:59,240 --> 00:20:03,240
Speaker 1: loneliness because you isolate yourself and you you climb, You

441
00:20:03,320 --> 00:20:05,159
Speaker 1: just climb that ladder and as you climb, you're just

442
00:20:05,200 --> 00:20:07,280
Speaker 1: like weeding people out, and all of a sudden, you

443
00:20:07,280 --> 00:20:08,960
Speaker 1: get to the top. Of that mountain and there's no

444
00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:10,520
Speaker 1: one there and you're there by yourself, and then you're

445
00:20:10,560 --> 00:20:12,439
Speaker 1: just looking around like I have no one to you know,

446
00:20:12,480 --> 00:20:13,879
Speaker 1: really talk to, and no one to share it with.

447
00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:16,199
Speaker 1: So I I do think that, Yeah, it's not it

448
00:20:16,240 --> 00:20:19,080
Speaker 1: doesn't discriminate. It's not you know, it's not a it's

449
00:20:19,119 --> 00:20:20,720
Speaker 1: not a white problems on a black problem's on his

450
00:20:20,720 --> 00:20:23,040
Speaker 1: spanding problem. It's just a side of problem. And it's

451
00:20:23,040 --> 00:20:24,800
Speaker 1: just like you, you know, you look at all of

452
00:20:24,800 --> 00:20:26,960
Speaker 1: these things that are going on in our community and

453
00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:31,120
Speaker 1: it's like, you know, and stress obviously stressors affect your

454
00:20:31,119 --> 00:20:34,879
Speaker 1: mental health, and so you know, the Black Lives Matter movement, Like,

455
00:20:35,320 --> 00:20:37,679
Speaker 1: did it directly affect me on my day to day

456
00:20:37,720 --> 00:20:39,639
Speaker 1: life as far as the streets. Yeah, when I can

457
00:20:39,680 --> 00:20:41,119
Speaker 1: look out the window and see that and there was

458
00:20:41,320 --> 00:20:43,920
Speaker 1: those are those are stressors. And you see those people

459
00:20:44,040 --> 00:20:45,600
Speaker 1: that are angry and in the street, it's like all

460
00:20:45,600 --> 00:20:47,000
Speaker 1: of a sudden, even though if I'm not out there,

461
00:20:47,080 --> 00:20:50,159
Speaker 1: margin I still feel it and I still um, you know,

462
00:20:50,200 --> 00:20:52,200
Speaker 1: I still feel their weight and I feel their pain,

463
00:20:52,359 --> 00:20:54,200
Speaker 1: and it's just like, you know, so all those things

464
00:20:54,240 --> 00:20:55,720
Speaker 1: and the more you can just get up and just

465
00:20:55,760 --> 00:20:57,639
Speaker 1: talk about it and just share it. Like you know,

466
00:20:57,640 --> 00:20:59,400
Speaker 1: when I was watching something on TV it really kind

467
00:20:59,400 --> 00:21:01,359
Speaker 1: of you know, struck me a different way, and to

468
00:21:01,400 --> 00:21:03,000
Speaker 1: be able to share that and saying I really didn't

469
00:21:03,040 --> 00:21:05,239
Speaker 1: like how it made me feel. So that's the thing.

470
00:21:05,280 --> 00:21:07,120
Speaker 1: I think we just had to continue to just just

471
00:21:07,280 --> 00:21:09,679
Speaker 1: you know, be open about it and you understanding that

472
00:21:09,720 --> 00:21:11,359
Speaker 1: there's a lot of people out here who are hurting

473
00:21:11,680 --> 00:21:14,439
Speaker 1: and when people when hurt. When people are hurting, they

474
00:21:14,520 --> 00:21:16,040
Speaker 1: hurt people. And I think that's why you're seeing a

475
00:21:16,080 --> 00:21:19,359
Speaker 1: lot of unfortunate incidents and grocery stores and malls and

476
00:21:19,400 --> 00:21:21,879
Speaker 1: different things like that, because you know, they've been pinning

477
00:21:21,960 --> 00:21:25,520
Speaker 1: up all this stuff and they just it's gonna come

478
00:21:25,520 --> 00:21:27,280
Speaker 1: out some way, and unfortunate it comes out in bad

479
00:21:27,280 --> 00:21:30,320
Speaker 1: ways sometimes. When you were talking about seeing a therapist

480
00:21:30,359 --> 00:21:33,120
Speaker 1: and how important that's been for you, are are there

481
00:21:33,119 --> 00:21:35,920
Speaker 1: any other kind of practices that you've adopted into your life,

482
00:21:35,960 --> 00:21:38,960
Speaker 1: you know, not n professionally, that are just helpful for

483
00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:41,560
Speaker 1: you and maintaining your mental health and what would those

484
00:21:41,560 --> 00:21:44,199
Speaker 1: be that other people could implement you? Yeah? Mine is

485
00:21:44,200 --> 00:21:46,840
Speaker 1: I'm a I'm a huge yogi, so I love yoga.

486
00:21:46,840 --> 00:21:49,479
Speaker 1: And it's funny because I started doing yoga in like

487
00:21:49,720 --> 00:21:53,480
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety seven, and funny enough, so Mary Reving with

488
00:21:53,680 --> 00:21:57,240
Speaker 1: the Vikings. I introduced Mary to my yoga studio. I

489
00:21:57,280 --> 00:21:59,760
Speaker 1: got Kevin Warren doing yoga, so they all got into

490
00:21:59,760 --> 00:22:02,280
Speaker 1: big yoga and all that stuff. But yeah, I started

491
00:22:02,280 --> 00:22:04,920
Speaker 1: doing yoga in ninety seven and I mainly started doing

492
00:22:04,960 --> 00:22:09,840
Speaker 1: it for the flexibility, um, but then it then as

493
00:22:09,880 --> 00:22:11,800
Speaker 1: I started to you know, get really into it. Then

494
00:22:11,920 --> 00:22:14,240
Speaker 1: just like the breathing, and it's just like, Okay, in

495
00:22:14,240 --> 00:22:15,560
Speaker 1: the middle of a game and you're in a high

496
00:22:15,560 --> 00:22:17,920
Speaker 1: stress situation and it's like fourth and two and you

497
00:22:17,960 --> 00:22:20,080
Speaker 1: gotta get the first down, you go to your breath.

498
00:22:20,320 --> 00:22:21,840
Speaker 1: And that's the same thing in life. And that's the

499
00:22:21,840 --> 00:22:23,960
Speaker 1: thing that yoga teaches you when you get to a

500
00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:27,679
Speaker 1: stress situation or your backs against the wall, if you

501
00:22:27,800 --> 00:22:29,920
Speaker 1: breathe and you think about back and you think through

502
00:22:29,920 --> 00:22:31,840
Speaker 1: your life, and it's like, you know, what if I

503
00:22:31,840 --> 00:22:34,320
Speaker 1: would have just took four more breaths before I made

504
00:22:34,359 --> 00:22:37,280
Speaker 1: that decision, or before I actually responded to that question,

505
00:22:37,800 --> 00:22:40,919
Speaker 1: or before I set that text, or before you know,

506
00:22:41,240 --> 00:22:43,479
Speaker 1: you know, it's before you hit sin, then it's it's

507
00:22:43,520 --> 00:22:46,919
Speaker 1: a whole different situation. I think it, you know, you know,

508
00:22:46,960 --> 00:22:48,440
Speaker 1: even for here living in New York City, it's a

509
00:22:48,520 --> 00:22:51,320
Speaker 1: high stress driving and I find myself like, you know,

510
00:22:51,400 --> 00:22:53,080
Speaker 1: someone cuts me off and they're yelling at me, and

511
00:22:53,160 --> 00:22:55,399
Speaker 1: I'm like man, and I'm like, okay, let me just breathe,

512
00:22:55,640 --> 00:22:57,840
Speaker 1: let me take a deep breath. So so that that

513
00:22:57,960 --> 00:23:02,200
Speaker 1: helps a lot, you know, just the breathing meditation, just

514
00:23:02,280 --> 00:23:04,879
Speaker 1: taking time out of just because we don't like we

515
00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:07,440
Speaker 1: spend you know, all day long on that this little

516
00:23:07,440 --> 00:23:09,320
Speaker 1: thing and we're here call a phone and I look

517
00:23:09,359 --> 00:23:10,800
Speaker 1: at it and I'm just like, oh, my screen time

518
00:23:10,840 --> 00:23:13,160
Speaker 1: today it was fourteen hours. I'm like, this is ridiculous.

519
00:23:13,160 --> 00:23:15,560
Speaker 1: So do you know, so just like put that thing down.

520
00:23:17,040 --> 00:23:18,680
Speaker 1: It takes no one takes a lot of people don't

521
00:23:18,680 --> 00:23:22,000
Speaker 1: even take thirty minutes for themselves out of a given day.

522
00:23:22,080 --> 00:23:23,760
Speaker 1: But I try to take like at least an hour

523
00:23:23,960 --> 00:23:28,560
Speaker 1: sometimes two hours of just like stillness, quietness. And I

524
00:23:28,600 --> 00:23:32,040
Speaker 1: know for a fact, if I'm not if I don't have,

525
00:23:32,160 --> 00:23:34,840
Speaker 1: if I'm not one hundred percent given to myself, then

526
00:23:34,840 --> 00:23:36,600
Speaker 1: I can't give nothing to anyone else. And so I

527
00:23:36,600 --> 00:23:38,760
Speaker 1: think that yo, I know for a fact that yoga

528
00:23:39,119 --> 00:23:41,800
Speaker 1: meditation helps and I like cycling. It's kind of the

529
00:23:41,800 --> 00:23:43,920
Speaker 1: same thing. It's you know, it's a sport. Obviously you

530
00:23:43,960 --> 00:23:45,879
Speaker 1: can ride with other people, but it's also a sport

531
00:23:45,920 --> 00:23:47,919
Speaker 1: that you can get out and ride by yourself. And

532
00:23:47,960 --> 00:23:50,320
Speaker 1: then just like you know, sometimes like man, I really

533
00:23:50,359 --> 00:23:52,199
Speaker 1: want to go on do thirty miles today, and then

534
00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:54,000
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, I'm like, you know, I'm out there,

535
00:23:54,119 --> 00:23:58,399
Speaker 1: my mind is clear, I'm just enjoying being outside, and just, um,

536
00:23:58,520 --> 00:23:59,879
Speaker 1: it did not come back, and I'm just a different

537
00:24:00,280 --> 00:24:03,600
Speaker 1: So just I guess, I guess all overall, exercise, exercise

538
00:24:03,640 --> 00:24:07,160
Speaker 1: really helps. Yeah. I mean I've never been a good

539
00:24:07,240 --> 00:24:09,080
Speaker 1: yoga person, but a number of people have brought it

540
00:24:09,119 --> 00:24:11,400
Speaker 1: up during the series, so maybe I'll have to give

541
00:24:11,440 --> 00:24:14,160
Speaker 1: it another shot after this. It would be great, definitely,

542
00:24:15,280 --> 00:24:18,480
Speaker 1: and Tony, I think lastly, just I loved getting to

543
00:24:18,640 --> 00:24:20,359
Speaker 1: chat with you a little bit on the phone before this,

544
00:24:20,600 --> 00:24:22,520
Speaker 1: and I shared with you a little bit about this

545
00:24:22,560 --> 00:24:25,040
Speaker 1: project and about kind of our mission behind it, and

546
00:24:25,080 --> 00:24:26,600
Speaker 1: you are all in. You know, you and I have

547
00:24:26,680 --> 00:24:29,200
Speaker 1: never really worked together before, and I love how much

548
00:24:29,240 --> 00:24:31,600
Speaker 1: you jumped in. Do you have anything else I guess

549
00:24:31,600 --> 00:24:34,560
Speaker 1: that you haven't mentioned that you would love for listeners

550
00:24:34,560 --> 00:24:37,240
Speaker 1: to take away from this today from your message, Yeah,

551
00:24:37,280 --> 00:24:39,040
Speaker 1: I think that. I think you know, and obviously thank

552
00:24:39,040 --> 00:24:40,480
Speaker 1: you so much for having me on today, but I

553
00:24:40,800 --> 00:24:43,840
Speaker 1: think it's your biggest thing. It's just like um self

554
00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:47,480
Speaker 1: check ins, and I think UM checking on like your

555
00:24:47,480 --> 00:24:50,040
Speaker 1: friends and your family because I'm always and I've always

556
00:24:50,040 --> 00:24:51,720
Speaker 1: I don't even know how I started to adopt this,

557
00:24:51,840 --> 00:24:53,520
Speaker 1: but you know, obviously now with a lot of things

558
00:24:53,520 --> 00:24:56,600
Speaker 1: still being closed, but I always would if I see

559
00:24:56,640 --> 00:24:59,480
Speaker 1: someone in a restaurant server, I was like, hey, how's

560
00:24:59,480 --> 00:25:01,560
Speaker 1: your day going? And it's amazing how many times when

561
00:25:01,560 --> 00:25:03,920
Speaker 1: you ask someone how their day is going. And I've had,

562
00:25:04,080 --> 00:25:06,080
Speaker 1: you know, some servers like oh, you know, today's great,

563
00:25:06,080 --> 00:25:07,919
Speaker 1: and then somebody be like, wow, you know what, I'm

564
00:25:07,960 --> 00:25:10,960
Speaker 1: so glad you're asking that because you know, I literally

565
00:25:11,359 --> 00:25:13,040
Speaker 1: just having the worst day of my life. And I

566
00:25:13,040 --> 00:25:15,720
Speaker 1: think if we just check on two or three people,

567
00:25:16,200 --> 00:25:17,880
Speaker 1: it's not hard to check on your family and your

568
00:25:17,880 --> 00:25:20,280
Speaker 1: friends just to kind of see like, you know, no

569
00:25:20,359 --> 00:25:22,359
Speaker 1: one get and no love them give you, like it's like, hey,

570
00:25:22,400 --> 00:25:24,120
Speaker 1: how are you doing? I'm doing great, and just keep

571
00:25:24,240 --> 00:25:26,399
Speaker 1: moving like no, how are you really doing? And I

572
00:25:26,400 --> 00:25:29,320
Speaker 1: think the more we can do self check ins, and

573
00:25:29,359 --> 00:25:30,919
Speaker 1: it doesn't have to be two people a day, but

574
00:25:30,920 --> 00:25:32,480
Speaker 1: if you just check on like two or three people

575
00:25:32,480 --> 00:25:35,159
Speaker 1: a week and just ask them like seriously, you know,

576
00:25:35,200 --> 00:25:36,960
Speaker 1: how are you doing, and hey, I'm here for you

577
00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:38,840
Speaker 1: if you need someone to talk to. I think the

578
00:25:38,880 --> 00:25:41,520
Speaker 1: more we do that because you know, unfortunately we live.

579
00:25:42,040 --> 00:25:43,919
Speaker 1: You know, everyone has different lives, and you know, this

580
00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:46,199
Speaker 1: pandemic is still affecting a lot of people. But I

581
00:25:46,240 --> 00:25:49,560
Speaker 1: think just when people, you know, when they know someone

582
00:25:49,600 --> 00:25:52,800
Speaker 1: really cares about them, they know there's another day that

583
00:25:53,000 --> 00:25:54,560
Speaker 1: you know that they can live. And that's the thing

584
00:25:54,560 --> 00:25:57,560
Speaker 1: I just unfortunately we've seen unfortunately seem you know, people

585
00:25:57,600 --> 00:25:59,760
Speaker 1: take their lives and that's the thing that we need

586
00:25:59,800 --> 00:26:02,800
Speaker 1: to get we get arms around that. Well a man,

587
00:26:02,840 --> 00:26:05,760
Speaker 1: I can definitely echo all that Tony, and I really

588
00:26:05,800 --> 00:26:07,679
Speaker 1: appreciate you taking the time to hang out with us

589
00:26:07,680 --> 00:26:09,359
Speaker 1: today and share some of your thoughts and I know

590
00:26:09,359 --> 00:26:11,040
Speaker 1: it's going to make an impact for a lot of people.

591
00:26:11,520 --> 00:26:17,719
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Thank you, Thank you to Tony

592
00:26:17,960 --> 00:26:21,120
Speaker 1: for joining us for that conversation. I learned so much.

593
00:26:21,240 --> 00:26:24,639
Speaker 1: I love hearing from Tony and just his passion for

594
00:26:24,680 --> 00:26:27,760
Speaker 1: this area and his connection to to Minnesota and the

595
00:26:27,840 --> 00:26:31,480
Speaker 1: Vikings community still just a really great person to listen to.

596
00:26:31,960 --> 00:26:35,320
Speaker 1: Thank you guys for listening to another segment of Getting Open,

597
00:26:35,640 --> 00:26:37,560
Speaker 1: and I do want to encourage you to continue to

598
00:26:37,640 --> 00:26:40,840
Speaker 1: keep your eyes on all Vikings digital platforms. We do

599
00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:44,320
Speaker 1: have one more segment coming up of this series and

600
00:26:44,320 --> 00:26:47,240
Speaker 1: then we'll additionally have a wrap up segment as well,

601
00:26:47,280 --> 00:26:49,720
Speaker 1: so really looking forward to sharing that content with you,

602
00:26:49,960 --> 00:26:50,800
Speaker 1: So keep an eye out