Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. My name is Lindsay Young and I am
Speaker 1: a staff writer and assistant editor here with the Minnesota Vikings.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for tuning in to another segment
Speaker 1: of our Getting Open series, which focuses on all things
Speaker 1: mental health. Throughout this series, we've had the opportunity to
Speaker 1: talk with a number of current players, including Eric Kendricks,
Speaker 1: Jalen Holmes, Adam Feelin. We spoke with Vikings general manager
Speaker 1: Rick Spielman, and last week we had the honor of
Speaker 1: hearing from Hall of Fame defensive tackle John Randall, who
Speaker 1: really shared his thoughts and his heart around the topic
Speaker 1: of mental health, specifically within the NFL Legends community. So
Speaker 1: that's why I'm so excited this week to sit down
Speaker 1: with fellow NFL legend Tony Richardson. Now, Tony had a
Speaker 1: sixteen season career in the NFL. He spent most of
Speaker 1: his career, the first part of his career in Kansas
Speaker 1: City with the Chiefs, and he then played for the
Speaker 1: Vikings in two thousand and six and two thousand and seven,
Speaker 1: which we'll hear more about in a second. And Tony
Speaker 1: is equally passionate about working with NFL alumni and really
Speaker 1: being a part of that network, that community, and also
Speaker 1: encouraging others to look out for their mental well being,
Speaker 1: to be aware of mental health, and to really normalize
Speaker 1: that conversation around not being okay. So let's tickle us
Speaker 1: into what Tony had to say. Tony, thank you so
Speaker 1: much for joining us. As we just mentioned in our
Speaker 1: intro for fans who maybe don't know as much about
Speaker 1: your career, sixteen season career in the NFL super impressive.
Speaker 1: Of course, just two of those years were in Minnesota,
Speaker 1: two thousand and six and two thousand and seven, the
Speaker 1: ladder of which was a Pro Bowl season for you.
Speaker 1: It was probably a short and sweet time for you.
Speaker 1: But what did you appreciate about your time in Minnesota
Speaker 1: with the Vikings? You know, I was definitely, Uh, it
Speaker 1: was it was it was a change, I think just
Speaker 1: because you know, I had been in Kansas City. So
Speaker 1: actually I played seventeen years, so a lot of people
Speaker 1: because I had one year with the Dallas Cowboys on
Speaker 1: practice squad, so since the count against my pission, I
Speaker 1: say seventeen um, but you know it was different, you know,
Speaker 1: it was uh, you know, I spent eleven years in
Speaker 1: Kansas City. And that's kind of where you know, I
Speaker 1: kind of my football career kind of blossomed and and
Speaker 1: you know, took off and then um, you know, uh,
Speaker 1: the Vikings actually had a leadership change, a new head coach,
Speaker 1: and then a dear buddy of mine by the name
Speaker 1: of Les Pico happened to be uh, happened to come
Speaker 1: over to Minnesota and he said, hey, you know, to
Speaker 1: Rich uh, you ught yourself to just kind of look
Speaker 1: around and come come check out and see what, you know,
Speaker 1: what direction organization is going. And it was as soon
Speaker 1: as my feet you know, touched the ground and uh,
Speaker 1: in Minnesota, it was just like it just felt right,
Speaker 1: you know, from the greeterers at the airport to you know,
Speaker 1: the hospitality, the Vikings organization, the leadership and the direction
Speaker 1: they were going. You know, it just felt right. And
Speaker 1: then um, you know, obviously the first year I actually
Speaker 1: had an injury, so I was, you know, I was
Speaker 1: out time the first year. Second year, we bought this
Speaker 1: guy and by the name of Adrian Peterson, who was
Speaker 1: actually over my shoulder right now in a Pro Bowl picture,
Speaker 1: and he gave me life. And it's interesting because you
Speaker 1: know I initially said, okay, you know, come to Minnesota
Speaker 1: two year deal and I'm pretty much gonna hang the
Speaker 1: clicks up and ap literally he's just like taking um.
Speaker 1: You know, her older dog starts to start slowing down
Speaker 1: a little bit. You get him a puppy, and so
Speaker 1: I got me a puppy, and so Ape would be like, hey,
Speaker 1: Tis you want to run sprince after practice? I was, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: we want to sprince all the time. And I was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: over back, that's one. He was like, no, let's do
Speaker 1: this over back, over back, that's one. I'm like, how
Speaker 1: do you want to do before? I'm like, bro, we
Speaker 1: just finished practice and you want to do all this running.
Speaker 1: But it, uh, you know, he gave me life, um,
Speaker 1: you know, just to be able to see a young
Speaker 1: man that gifted um, to be able to work in
Speaker 1: you know, work in the community. It was, it was.
Speaker 1: It was a great opportunity. Well I love to hear that, um.
Speaker 1: And if I'm not mistaken, you ended up not hanging
Speaker 1: up your cleats like you mentioned. And then you did
Speaker 1: finish your career with the Jets, so played another few
Speaker 1: seasons for the past ten years or so. Then, how
Speaker 1: have you stayed connected to just the NFL family and
Speaker 1: why is that something that's important to you. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: the department actually I work right now and actually I work,
Speaker 1: you know, along John Randall and obviously Tracey McDonald with
Speaker 1: the Vikings, and so my position is I'm the Northeast
Speaker 1: coordinator for Legends Community. And I think, um, you know,
Speaker 1: it's kind of one of those things because my last
Speaker 1: year in twenty ten twenty eleven was a year we
Speaker 1: actually had the lockout and I was on the union
Speaker 1: side of that lockout, and I think I just kind
Speaker 1: of needed to take some space away just to kind
Speaker 1: of clear my mind from the NFL as well as
Speaker 1: from the Union. So I kind of, you know, it
Speaker 1: was in kind of a different space where just trying
Speaker 1: to figure out what was next and this opportunity, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm still living here in New York City, and the
Speaker 1: opportunity you know, um, you know, came to my table
Speaker 1: about helping former players and helping them in that transition.
Speaker 1: And I was thinking to myself, like, you know, I
Speaker 1: kind of wish I had some them that kind of
Speaker 1: pulled me through that transition. And you know, one thing
Speaker 1: in life, we realize we're always transitioning, you know, I
Speaker 1: don't care if you're eighty, if you're ninety. There's a
Speaker 1: transition in some form in your life, and the more
Speaker 1: people and the team that you can have around you,
Speaker 1: you know easy that transition is going to be. And
Speaker 1: so you'm the Northeast coordinated for Legends community and so
Speaker 1: my two teams I support living here in New York
Speaker 1: and New York Jets and the Giants. But we work
Speaker 1: as a team. And so if there's someone you know,
Speaker 1: maybe a former Viking that's here in the New York area,
Speaker 1: John may call New York and say, hey, can you
Speaker 1: get on the phone, you know with such and such
Speaker 1: or vice versus. So, you know, we work side by side,
Speaker 1: and the number one thing is just making sure our
Speaker 1: guys are doing well, you know, after football, and just
Speaker 1: trying to allow them and understand like the power to
Speaker 1: shield and the opportunities that you can have m you know,
Speaker 1: staying connected, you know, back with your NFL clubs. I
Speaker 1: love that you brought up John too, because we just
Speaker 1: did a recent segment with him, and it's great to
Speaker 1: have both of you a part of this series. I
Speaker 1: know that you had mentioned a little bit to me
Speaker 1: about being involved with MVP can you try tell us
Speaker 1: a little bit what that looks like. Yeah, So MVP
Speaker 1: is something that's very near and dear to my heart. UM. So,
Speaker 1: MVP the acronym is merging veterans and players, UM, and
Speaker 1: it literally it's something I kind of knew about UM
Speaker 1: for a while with my dad being former military. So
Speaker 1: my dad served thirty thirty two years of Vietnam veteran
Speaker 1: proper heart. My sister did twenty eight years and four deployments,
Speaker 1: and so it's it's kind of the exact same transition,
Speaker 1: you know, I saw my sister, Well, at first, I
Speaker 1: saw my dad transition, you know, being uh, alpha male
Speaker 1: and being uh, you know, someone in the leadership position
Speaker 1: and having soldiers around, and everywhere he goes people saluting him,
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden he comes home, my mom's
Speaker 1: not saluting them. So I saw him kind of go
Speaker 1: through that transition of uh, you know, just what's what's next?
Speaker 1: And so what Jay Glazer and Nate Borrier um, they
Speaker 1: actually they actually served with Pat Tillman and so he's
Speaker 1: a he was a marine if I'm standing corrected, and
Speaker 1: he actually served and he actually played for the Seattle Seahawks.
Speaker 1: So they started just to kind of see, like you know,
Speaker 1: veterans and professional athletes kind of go through that same
Speaker 1: type of loss of identity, kind of trying to figure
Speaker 1: out what's next, and you know, doing something at the
Speaker 1: highest level and then all of a sudden it's over
Speaker 1: and it's like boom, and so it's um, it's an
Speaker 1: opportunity and it's really been great because it's something that
Speaker 1: helped me tremendously through the pandemic. Because normally it's an
Speaker 1: in person workout for thirty minutes and then you sit down,
Speaker 1: drab some water, and everyone sits in a huddle, like
Speaker 1: the true huddle like you have in football, and you
Speaker 1: just talk and you share and it's unbiased. There's no judgment,
Speaker 1: there's no politics. Don't force religions, really, don't force opinions
Speaker 1: unless somebody asks, like for you know, for help. But
Speaker 1: it's just an open opportunity just to sit and just talk.
Speaker 1: Because I think, as men and women, because the servants
Speaker 1: of women as well, you know, we harbor all of
Speaker 1: this stuff up. You know what I mean. It's like,
Speaker 1: you know, because we're told in football, hey, if you
Speaker 1: break your finger, okay, tape it up. You gotta keep playing.
Speaker 1: Oh you dislocate your elbow. Okay, you can't be hurting.
Speaker 1: You gotta keep playing. And so I think what our
Speaker 1: society has kind of raised us to say it is
Speaker 1: like when you're hurting inside, um, if you're feeling lonely,
Speaker 1: if you're feeling sad, you gotta tough it up. You
Speaker 1: gotta build that scar tissue and just keep going. In life.
Speaker 1: You can't do that. You cannot go through life building
Speaker 1: it up because eventually, build up, build up, build up,
Speaker 1: and it's going to be it's gonna be an overload,
Speaker 1: and you know, unfortunately, bad things happen. And so what
Speaker 1: it really allows me to do and I'm that's you know,
Speaker 1: my day to day is zoom, zoom zoom. So yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: yesterday we just launched Seattle and so it's a hybrid,
Speaker 1: so they actually there were some um, some members in
Speaker 1: the gym and then afterwards we did a thirty or
Speaker 1: we did an hour huddle and it's over zoom. So
Speaker 1: I did Seattle yesterday, I did New York last night,
Speaker 1: and I did La and it's just great because it's
Speaker 1: like my family now and it's like I look forward
Speaker 1: to it and you know, people share wins, and they
Speaker 1: also share when they're having just things they just need
Speaker 1: to talk about. And I think when you have a community,
Speaker 1: it's like literally having sixty therapists at your anytime you
Speaker 1: need them. And we say the magic really happens after
Speaker 1: the huddle. So we make a point to check on
Speaker 1: two or three people that you hadn't checked into. And
Speaker 1: you just don't know that that a little check in, Hey,
Speaker 1: you're just picking up the phone or sending the text
Speaker 1: and to say, hey, you know, how are you doing?
Speaker 1: What's going on? And just the way the weight of people,
Speaker 1: you could just feel it, like sometimes you get on
Speaker 1: the phone and you could just feel like, man, I'm
Speaker 1: so glad you call it today because I was actually
Speaker 1: just I was going through something. And I think just
Speaker 1: having that community has really helped me tremendously and just
Speaker 1: like it allows me to be vulnerable and it shows
Speaker 1: me that I don't have to go through this life
Speaker 1: alone and I can, you know, I can build my
Speaker 1: team back up again, and I think that's very important. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and that was an organization that I was not super
Speaker 1: familiar with before you shared it with me. So I
Speaker 1: thought that was really a neat thing and I think
Speaker 1: it's cool how you talk about the overlap between those
Speaker 1: two different types of life transitions, and it sounds like
Speaker 1: for you, it's really beneficial because it not only is
Speaker 1: a support system for you through MVP, but you're also
Speaker 1: able to help support other NFL legends through your role
Speaker 1: that you work on with the Legends community. And it
Speaker 1: sounds like mental health, um, and you know, maintaining your
Speaker 1: mental wellbeing and of those around you is a really
Speaker 1: important role in both of those positions. Yeah, it definitely is.
Speaker 1: And I think that's one thing and I'm so glad
Speaker 1: that we're able to talk about mental health because before,
Speaker 1: you know, even when I had the stigma, if somebody
Speaker 1: would seeing a therapist or said they had a therapist,
Speaker 1: they just want to put you in the corner and
Speaker 1: it's like, oh, something's wrong with him. And it's not
Speaker 1: the fact that we're getting out in front of it
Speaker 1: and understanding that. Uh. You know, just when I would
Speaker 1: go to the gym and do biceps, I'm building my
Speaker 1: bicep muscle. If I'm doing squats, I'm building my quad.
Speaker 1: You definitely have to continue to keep working on your
Speaker 1: on your mental health. It's because mental health is not
Speaker 1: a bad thing. Mental health is mental health. Um, you
Speaker 1: cannot be mental health disorders, of course. But the more
Speaker 1: we get out in front of it, and the more
Speaker 1: we can say, hey, you know what, I'm actually not
Speaker 1: doing so well today, Hey I actually need to talk
Speaker 1: to someone. Um, that's when we really can start to
Speaker 1: make a difference in our society. And it's you know,
Speaker 1: it's and it's unfortunate because even you know, in our
Speaker 1: NFL family, um, you know, we've seen the tragedies, you know,
Speaker 1: weekend and week out, and you hear about, you know,
Speaker 1: different things that are going on. And you know, uh,
Speaker 1: Al tomb who's a great receiver, just had a situation
Speaker 1: that I found out about yesterday that his daughter was
Speaker 1: her life was taken by her husband in front of
Speaker 1: an eight month old child. Like that's that's some real
Speaker 1: heavy stuff. And it's even though it didn't if it
Speaker 1: even though I know Al and it's not my daughter,
Speaker 1: but it still wears on you. And if you it's
Speaker 1: still just you know, because you hurt for him, and
Speaker 1: you hurt for that family, hurt for that community. And
Speaker 1: so I think the more and more you just kind of,
Speaker 1: you know, just have someone to talk to and have
Speaker 1: a support system, get out in front of mental health.
Speaker 1: And it's just um because every day in our in
Speaker 1: our world, you know, it's it's almost sometimes where I
Speaker 1: just don't you want to turn a TV on because
Speaker 1: I'm afraid of like, okay, what, you know what, what's
Speaker 1: going to be the news of the day. And so
Speaker 1: I think the more we get out in front of
Speaker 1: it and understanding like our young people, UM, I do
Speaker 1: a lot of work in the anti bullying space. I
Speaker 1: just did a really nice deal with a high school
Speaker 1: here in New York yesterday over zoom of just talking
Speaker 1: about you know, just dealing with you know, bully like
Speaker 1: cyber bullying and all like all that stuff plays on
Speaker 1: your mental health. So yeah, I'm glad we're able to
Speaker 1: get out in front of them and talk about it
Speaker 1: and share that mental health is okay, it's okay to
Speaker 1: have a therapist. Is welcome to have a therapist. I
Speaker 1: love talking about therapist and it's a it's a great thing.
Speaker 1: Since you brought that up, having a therapist to talk
Speaker 1: to you. And I think especially you hit the nail
Speaker 1: on the head. I think life is always hard, but
Speaker 1: this past year people have been isolated so many difficult
Speaker 1: things going on, you know, whether it's racial tensions, the pandemic,
Speaker 1: loved ones being ill. What would you maybe say to
Speaker 1: somebody who is intimidated by the idea of seeing a
Speaker 1: therapist or who has never gone through that process before,
Speaker 1: about what it's been like for you. Yeah, I would
Speaker 1: just say, uh, just drop the stigma because I think
Speaker 1: you know, and I would just give examples of my
Speaker 1: own personal life. It's just like you know, living here
Speaker 1: in New York City when the whole world shut down,
Speaker 1: you know, living in an apartment obviously, you know, like
Speaker 1: not seeing this easier if you're living like a ten
Speaker 1: thousand square from home, it's just more space to be lonely.
Speaker 1: But you're a when you're in New York City, it's
Speaker 1: like the walls, Like some days the walls felt like
Speaker 1: they were they were closing in. And you know, for me,
Speaker 1: you know, having my dog obviously was a tremendous help,
Speaker 1: but just having someone to talk to, because you know,
Speaker 1: it's and a lot of times it's not even necessarily
Speaker 1: like you're asking for an opinion, but just having someone
Speaker 1: to talk to because you know, I could talk to Rambow,
Speaker 1: he's not my dog he's not gonna talk back, but
Speaker 1: just you know, just having someone So I would just
Speaker 1: I would telling anyone who's just um, it's healthy. It's
Speaker 1: it's healthy, and it's and it's needed. And if you're married,
Speaker 1: sometimes your spouse might not be that person, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, because you might be sharing some things
Speaker 1: that potentially that you just need to you know, work through.
Speaker 1: And so just having someone to be able to talk
Speaker 1: to and have someone that's trained in that space, I
Speaker 1: think it's really really helpful. And that's the beautiful thing
Speaker 1: about MVP is we do have each other, but we
Speaker 1: have a clinician that's on all of our calls because
Speaker 1: you know, sometimes there's some guys share different things and
Speaker 1: you can kind of pick up on signs and the
Speaker 1: clinician to jump in and she's like, hey, as soon
Speaker 1: as we get off this call, you know, I can
Speaker 1: tell you're angry, I can tell there's some things that
Speaker 1: you're really harboring, and let's get on the phone call afterwards.
Speaker 1: And so having someone's trained, I think it's very beneficial.
Speaker 1: And I was just telling anyone to just drop the
Speaker 1: stigma and just try it, because I think, you know,
Speaker 1: it was things that it's funny too. It It just
Speaker 1: and I just acquired a new therapist, like right at
Speaker 1: the beginning of the pandemic, and the first time we
Speaker 1: were on the phone and I was like, okay. I
Speaker 1: think it was like a thirty minute, you know, meeting,
Speaker 1: and we end I'm talking for an hour and a
Speaker 1: half and I just remember sharing stuff about my childhood,
Speaker 1: about things were just popping up, and I'm just like, man,
Speaker 1: next thing I know, I'm in the kitchen and I'm
Speaker 1: like cooking, and she was like, oh, you're like cooking.
Speaker 1: I'm like, I love cooking, and it's like my therapy.
Speaker 1: And so it's just it's just all those different kind
Speaker 1: of things. And I think the more you share it
Speaker 1: and you start to pull back the layers and you
Speaker 1: start thinking, like, man, maybe the things that I'm dealing
Speaker 1: with at age forty nine was something that I didn't
Speaker 1: address when I was three, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: It's like all of that goes hand in hand. So
Speaker 1: I would tell anyone who's listening, you know, to this,
Speaker 1: or anyone's hesitant about seeing a therapist, I would say,
Speaker 1: just go for it, because it's the best thing I
Speaker 1: have going in my life. And I wish, you know,
Speaker 1: I wish I would have done this a lot earlier
Speaker 1: in my life, and I can definitely, you know, personally
Speaker 1: attest to everything that you just shared too, and would
Speaker 1: encourage people to do the same to at least kind
Speaker 1: of explore that. One of the things that I love
Speaker 1: about the Vikings organization is that they do have a
Speaker 1: clinical psychologist and a clinical psychiatrist that are available for
Speaker 1: the players, the coaches, but also all of the staff
Speaker 1: within the organization as well, which I think are such
Speaker 1: important resources. When we were talking with John Randall, I
Speaker 1: know his career started a little bit before Years and
Speaker 1: ended a little bit before Years, but you guys did
Speaker 1: overlap there for some time in the NFL, and he
Speaker 1: was just talking about the way that the stigma has
Speaker 1: kind of started to break down over the years, and
Speaker 1: how mental health has been to become a more accepted
Speaker 1: topic to talk about, especially within professional sports. What do
Speaker 1: you appreciate about seeing the tide kind of starting to
Speaker 1: turn there and seeing the league put an emphasis on
Speaker 1: this topic. Yeah, I actolutely applaud the league. And so
Speaker 1: a dear friend of mine is In Yaka. So In
Speaker 1: Yaka actually works for the NFL and she even just
Speaker 1: had We just did our Legends summit and our second
Speaker 1: day of training was an hour and a half training
Speaker 1: on mental health. And I applied the NFL because it's
Speaker 1: it's a thing that I think we should have been
Speaker 1: doing a long time ago, because you know, I mean,
Speaker 1: we do realize that, you know, we play a sport,
Speaker 1: and you know, and I know for a fact, like
Speaker 1: the day I signed my first NFL contract was the
Speaker 1: day they were already trying to replace me. So that's
Speaker 1: just the nature of how our business sales. But I
Speaker 1: think we owe it to these young men who come
Speaker 1: into this National Football League to not just build up
Speaker 1: their football body, but build up their overall body. And
Speaker 1: so I think we in effect that the NFL has
Speaker 1: really jumped out in front of it now of saying
Speaker 1: that we have to you know, I know, part of
Speaker 1: the CBA, every team has to have a clinician and
Speaker 1: psychiatrist on staff, and it's it's something that's definitely needed
Speaker 1: because and for me, I would make it mandatory, but
Speaker 1: at least they're available, but I would make it mandatory,
Speaker 1: like you know, every Tuesday, you got fifteen, you got
Speaker 1: thirty minutes, forty five minutes just to talk to somebody,
Speaker 1: because you know, I was talking to a buddy of mine,
Speaker 1: Orlando Pace, and he's part of the Legends community as well,
Speaker 1: and he was just sharing a little bit about his journey.
Speaker 1: So he was the first overall draft choice as an
Speaker 1: offensive linement, so he was getting drafted. He got drafted
Speaker 1: to the Saint Louis Rams. They were one of the
Speaker 1: losing his teams in football history, so all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: they're like, Okay, why would you draft an offensive linement
Speaker 1: that's not a fancy pick. And so he was talking
Speaker 1: about that mental stress that he had to endure because
Speaker 1: everyone was saying, Oh, he's going to be a bus
Speaker 1: or he's not going to pan out, um oh this
Speaker 1: draft pick is too high, and he was like, I
Speaker 1: had nobody that I can talk to because you can't
Speaker 1: talk to your parents about what that stress level is,
Speaker 1: like they haven't done that. You can't even really talk
Speaker 1: to your coaches about what it is to be really
Speaker 1: they have to carry the weight of the world. He's
Speaker 1: a big man, so he was able to do it,
Speaker 1: but to carry the weight of the world or the
Speaker 1: city on your back every single day and just the
Speaker 1: stress of like of obviously he said, you know, the
Speaker 1: expectations they put on me were very high, but I
Speaker 1: could high expect chessons on myself. But just now, as
Speaker 1: I was listening to him sharing, we were talking to
Speaker 1: the draft eligible rookies coming in this year, so we
Speaker 1: were doing like a panel talking to them, and just
Speaker 1: when I was hearing him speaking, first of all, he
Speaker 1: was speaking to me and it was just like, you know,
Speaker 1: it was just it resonated inside of me, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: here's a man obviously made it to the Hall of Fame,
Speaker 1: you know, join John you know, in the NFL Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame's offensive linemen. But he had to carry the
Speaker 1: weight of the world, like he needed someone there, and
Speaker 1: at that time it was do one there. You know,
Speaker 1: there was no therapist, and it could have went obviously
Speaker 1: it weren't great for him, but it could have easily
Speaker 1: went the direction. So I'm so glad now that the the
Speaker 1: NFL is out front of it. I'm glad that all
Speaker 1: the teams are supported and now we just have to
Speaker 1: get more players. Just to understand that it's okay to
Speaker 1: say I'm not okay, I think you kind of hit
Speaker 1: the nail on the hide two. And another thing that
Speaker 1: we've kind of talked about at times throughout the series
Speaker 1: is that mental health challenges don't discriminate. I think people
Speaker 1: tend to think that, oh, well, they're a professional athlete,
Speaker 1: they have the finances to deal with things they have X, Y,
Speaker 1: and Z, and that's just not the case. I think
Speaker 1: people maybe don't recognize the different pressures that come with that.
Speaker 1: But regardless of that, you know the fact that it
Speaker 1: doesn't matter who you are, what your background is, what
Speaker 1: your economics standing is. You know, mental health is important
Speaker 1: to focus on, and so I know that's important to
Speaker 1: you as well. Yeah, And that's the thing about it.
Speaker 1: It's like, and it's interesting you said about money. It's
Speaker 1: like there's more money, more problems, So more money, more stress.
Speaker 1: And that's the thing about It's like, and people do
Speaker 1: think like, Okay, if you have a lot of money,
Speaker 1: you can solve your problems. And actually a lot of
Speaker 1: times sometimes the most successful people are the most other
Speaker 1: loneliness because you isolate yourself and you you climb, You
Speaker 1: just climb that ladder and as you climb, you're just
Speaker 1: like weeding people out, and all of a sudden, you
Speaker 1: get to the top. Of that mountain and there's no
Speaker 1: one there and you're there by yourself, and then you're
Speaker 1: just looking around like I have no one to you know,
Speaker 1: really talk to, and no one to share it with.
Speaker 1: So I I do think that, Yeah, it's not it
Speaker 1: doesn't discriminate. It's not you know, it's not a it's
Speaker 1: not a white problems on a black problem's on his
Speaker 1: spanding problem. It's just a side of problem. And it's
Speaker 1: just like you, you know, you look at all of
Speaker 1: these things that are going on in our community and
Speaker 1: it's like, you know, and stress obviously stressors affect your
Speaker 1: mental health, and so you know, the Black Lives Matter movement, Like,
Speaker 1: did it directly affect me on my day to day
Speaker 1: life as far as the streets. Yeah, when I can
Speaker 1: look out the window and see that and there was
Speaker 1: those are those are stressors. And you see those people
Speaker 1: that are angry and in the street, it's like all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, even though if I'm not out there,
Speaker 1: margin I still feel it and I still um, you know,
Speaker 1: I still feel their weight and I feel their pain,
Speaker 1: and it's just like, you know, so all those things
Speaker 1: and the more you can just get up and just
Speaker 1: talk about it and just share it. Like you know,
Speaker 1: when I was watching something on TV it really kind
Speaker 1: of you know, struck me a different way, and to
Speaker 1: be able to share that and saying I really didn't
Speaker 1: like how it made me feel. So that's the thing.
Speaker 1: I think we just had to continue to just just
Speaker 1: you know, be open about it and you understanding that
Speaker 1: there's a lot of people out here who are hurting
Speaker 1: and when people when hurt. When people are hurting, they
Speaker 1: hurt people. And I think that's why you're seeing a
Speaker 1: lot of unfortunate incidents and grocery stores and malls and
Speaker 1: different things like that, because you know, they've been pinning
Speaker 1: up all this stuff and they just it's gonna come
Speaker 1: out some way, and unfortunate it comes out in bad
Speaker 1: ways sometimes. When you were talking about seeing a therapist
Speaker 1: and how important that's been for you, are are there
Speaker 1: any other kind of practices that you've adopted into your life,
Speaker 1: you know, not n professionally, that are just helpful for
Speaker 1: you and maintaining your mental health and what would those
Speaker 1: be that other people could implement you? Yeah? Mine is
Speaker 1: I'm a I'm a huge yogi, so I love yoga.
Speaker 1: And it's funny because I started doing yoga in like
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety seven, and funny enough, so Mary Reving with
Speaker 1: the Vikings. I introduced Mary to my yoga studio. I
Speaker 1: got Kevin Warren doing yoga, so they all got into
Speaker 1: big yoga and all that stuff. But yeah, I started
Speaker 1: doing yoga in ninety seven and I mainly started doing
Speaker 1: it for the flexibility, um, but then it then as
Speaker 1: I started to you know, get really into it. Then
Speaker 1: just like the breathing, and it's just like, Okay, in
Speaker 1: the middle of a game and you're in a high
Speaker 1: stress situation and it's like fourth and two and you
Speaker 1: gotta get the first down, you go to your breath.
Speaker 1: And that's the same thing in life. And that's the
Speaker 1: thing that yoga teaches you when you get to a
Speaker 1: stress situation or your backs against the wall, if you
Speaker 1: breathe and you think about back and you think through
Speaker 1: your life, and it's like, you know, what if I
Speaker 1: would have just took four more breaths before I made
Speaker 1: that decision, or before I actually responded to that question,
Speaker 1: or before I set that text, or before you know,
Speaker 1: you know, it's before you hit sin, then it's it's
Speaker 1: a whole different situation. I think it, you know, you know,
Speaker 1: even for here living in New York City, it's a
Speaker 1: high stress driving and I find myself like, you know,
Speaker 1: someone cuts me off and they're yelling at me, and
Speaker 1: I'm like man, and I'm like, okay, let me just breathe,
Speaker 1: let me take a deep breath. So so that that
Speaker 1: helps a lot, you know, just the breathing meditation, just
Speaker 1: taking time out of just because we don't like we
Speaker 1: spend you know, all day long on that this little
Speaker 1: thing and we're here call a phone and I look
Speaker 1: at it and I'm just like, oh, my screen time
Speaker 1: today it was fourteen hours. I'm like, this is ridiculous.
Speaker 1: So do you know, so just like put that thing down.
Speaker 1: It takes no one takes a lot of people don't
Speaker 1: even take thirty minutes for themselves out of a given day.
Speaker 1: But I try to take like at least an hour
Speaker 1: sometimes two hours of just like stillness, quietness. And I
Speaker 1: know for a fact, if I'm not if I don't have,
Speaker 1: if I'm not one hundred percent given to myself, then
Speaker 1: I can't give nothing to anyone else. And so I
Speaker 1: think that yo, I know for a fact that yoga
Speaker 1: meditation helps and I like cycling. It's kind of the
Speaker 1: same thing. It's you know, it's a sport. Obviously you
Speaker 1: can ride with other people, but it's also a sport
Speaker 1: that you can get out and ride by yourself. And
Speaker 1: then just like you know, sometimes like man, I really
Speaker 1: want to go on do thirty miles today, and then
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, I'm like, you know, I'm out there,
Speaker 1: my mind is clear, I'm just enjoying being outside, and just, um,
Speaker 1: it did not come back, and I'm just a different
Speaker 1: So just I guess, I guess all overall, exercise, exercise
Speaker 1: really helps. Yeah. I mean I've never been a good
Speaker 1: yoga person, but a number of people have brought it
Speaker 1: up during the series, so maybe I'll have to give
Speaker 1: it another shot after this. It would be great, definitely,
Speaker 1: and Tony, I think lastly, just I loved getting to
Speaker 1: chat with you a little bit on the phone before this,
Speaker 1: and I shared with you a little bit about this
Speaker 1: project and about kind of our mission behind it, and
Speaker 1: you are all in. You know, you and I have
Speaker 1: never really worked together before, and I love how much
Speaker 1: you jumped in. Do you have anything else I guess
Speaker 1: that you haven't mentioned that you would love for listeners
Speaker 1: to take away from this today from your message, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think that. I think you know, and obviously thank
Speaker 1: you so much for having me on today, but I
Speaker 1: think it's your biggest thing. It's just like um self
Speaker 1: check ins, and I think UM checking on like your
Speaker 1: friends and your family because I'm always and I've always
Speaker 1: I don't even know how I started to adopt this,
Speaker 1: but you know, obviously now with a lot of things
Speaker 1: still being closed, but I always would if I see
Speaker 1: someone in a restaurant server, I was like, hey, how's
Speaker 1: your day going? And it's amazing how many times when
Speaker 1: you ask someone how their day is going. And I've had,
Speaker 1: you know, some servers like oh, you know, today's great,
Speaker 1: and then somebody be like, wow, you know what, I'm
Speaker 1: so glad you're asking that because you know, I literally
Speaker 1: just having the worst day of my life. And I
Speaker 1: think if we just check on two or three people,
Speaker 1: it's not hard to check on your family and your
Speaker 1: friends just to kind of see like, you know, no
Speaker 1: one get and no love them give you, like it's like, hey,
Speaker 1: how are you doing? I'm doing great, and just keep
Speaker 1: moving like no, how are you really doing? And I
Speaker 1: think the more we can do self check ins, and
Speaker 1: it doesn't have to be two people a day, but
Speaker 1: if you just check on like two or three people
Speaker 1: a week and just ask them like seriously, you know,
Speaker 1: how are you doing, and hey, I'm here for you
Speaker 1: if you need someone to talk to. I think the
Speaker 1: more we do that because you know, unfortunately we live.
Speaker 1: You know, everyone has different lives, and you know, this
Speaker 1: pandemic is still affecting a lot of people. But I
Speaker 1: think just when people, you know, when they know someone
Speaker 1: really cares about them, they know there's another day that
Speaker 1: you know that they can live. And that's the thing
Speaker 1: I just unfortunately we've seen unfortunately seem you know, people
Speaker 1: take their lives and that's the thing that we need
Speaker 1: to get we get arms around that. Well a man,
Speaker 1: I can definitely echo all that Tony, and I really
Speaker 1: appreciate you taking the time to hang out with us
Speaker 1: today and share some of your thoughts and I know
Speaker 1: it's going to make an impact for a lot of people.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Thank you, Thank you to Tony
Speaker 1: for joining us for that conversation. I learned so much.
Speaker 1: I love hearing from Tony and just his passion for
Speaker 1: this area and his connection to to Minnesota and the
Speaker 1: Vikings community still just a really great person to listen to.
Speaker 1: Thank you guys for listening to another segment of Getting Open,
Speaker 1: and I do want to encourage you to continue to
Speaker 1: keep your eyes on all Vikings digital platforms. We do
Speaker 1: have one more segment coming up of this series and
Speaker 1: then we'll additionally have a wrap up segment as well,
Speaker 1: so really looking forward to sharing that content with you,
Speaker 1: So keep an eye out