Speaker 1: Cut open that DJ Moore end zone touchdown touchdown pairs.
Speaker 1: I am Jeff Joniyack Blitz is not Donny go.
Speaker 2: R. What was like playing for Cody Goodgoh.
Speaker 1: I don't want to answer any questions like that pressure
Speaker 1: coming is a big trouble. Donny Goes Montest Sweat.
Speaker 2: Bears, et cetera.
Speaker 1: Brought to you by Miller Light with the voices of
Speaker 1: the Bears, Jeff Joniac and Tom Thayer. Well you can't
Speaker 1: get wrong at all with a pair of fifty sevens,
Speaker 1: a pair of Super Bowl offensive linemen and iron men
Speaker 1: with a combined three hundred and thirty one starts in
Speaker 1: Bear uniforms. With Super Bowl winning Bears guard Tom Thayer,
Speaker 1: I'm Jeff Joniac. We're brought to you by Miller Lights.
Speaker 1: Tom Thayer one hundred and thirty three games, including one
Speaker 1: hundred and thirty straight starts at right guard and one
Speaker 1: of the best centers in NFL history, Six time Pro Bowlder,
Speaker 1: OH six First Team All Pro olden CRUs number twenty
Speaker 1: seven of the Bears one hundred list our guest one
Speaker 1: hundred ninety eight games on hundred ninety one starts in
Speaker 1: a Bears uniform. First start against the Packers season finale,
Speaker 1: Soldier Field finished on a streak of one hundred and
Speaker 1: thirty six straight starts. And this is episode one on
Speaker 1: the Bears Et Cetera podcast. Good to have you, Onen.
Speaker 1: The only reason I'm bringing up all that stuff is
Speaker 1: because it's rare, certainly in today's game, and I'll give
Speaker 1: you some statistical proof of that. But uh, you guys
Speaker 1: were both iron man. Thank you for taking the time
Speaker 1: to join us talk a little ball talk about what's
Speaker 1: going on in your life and Chicago Bears football.
Speaker 3: Well, I got an email, I said, Jeff, Joni I
Speaker 3: could talk there, and I said, Matt, it'd be my pleasure.
Speaker 2: To jump on with you guys.
Speaker 3: I mean, you guys were doing it when I was there,
Speaker 3: so it's always honored to be on with you guys.
Speaker 3: You guys are real as you guys know, I do
Speaker 3: some of this analyst stuff nowadays, and you guys are
Speaker 3: the real o gs of this this work and guys
Speaker 3: that I've listened to and learned a lot from.
Speaker 2: So it's a pleasure for me.
Speaker 1: Honestly, we we were looking forward to it, believe when
Speaker 1: we found out this was going to go down, I
Speaker 1: bring up the iron Man angle. For this reason, Detroit
Speaker 1: Lions last year were by far the only team in
Speaker 1: the league they have the same starting five offensive linemen
Speaker 1: for the most snaps. They were at eighty percent of
Speaker 1: snaps and the next closest team and I don't remember
Speaker 1: what it was like fifty five percent in this league. Now,
Speaker 1: you guys wouldn't have it back in your day. I mean,
Speaker 1: you had you had appendic appendix removed, you were in
Speaker 1: the lineup the next week. Oland. Do you find that
Speaker 1: one of the biggest changes in offensive line in the
Speaker 1: current NFL landscape?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I mean guys playing every week, playing
Speaker 3: through injuries. I mean you could say guys are a
Speaker 3: lot smarter nowadays, right, the doctors know a lot more.
Speaker 2: I remember playing through a high ankles frame.
Speaker 3: Probably shouldn't have, right, basically I was useless that game,
Speaker 3: but we did Detroit in the last game of the
Speaker 3: year play with a high ankles frame. Couldn't really walk
Speaker 3: on LA. I don't know if they'd let you do
Speaker 3: that nowadays. So a lot of times people are always
Speaker 3: talking to you about in your career, your life after football. Uh,
Speaker 3: you know, in my day and especially in Tom's day,
Speaker 3: we weren't smart enough to talk about those things. I mean,
Speaker 3: guys nowadays know the name of every muscle on their body. Right,
Speaker 3: if you would have told me olin work on your
Speaker 3: so as. Back I talked about the dinosaur. I didn't
Speaker 3: know what that was a so as. Maybe there was
Speaker 3: some kind of food at a buffet somewhere.
Speaker 2: But what is it?
Speaker 1: What is it?
Speaker 3: By the way, educating, it's your hit flexer. It's your
Speaker 3: hit flexer runs from your hip to the middle of
Speaker 3: your spine.
Speaker 2: Right. But see, even I know that nowadays, and an
Speaker 2: idiot like me knows that, means.
Speaker 3: Everyone knows it. I went to this Gridiron Greats. It
Speaker 3: was a great event. Uh, they put me in their
Speaker 3: Hall of Fame. But you know they helped players in
Speaker 3: dire need. And my daughter actually said, what are you
Speaker 3: doing dad? In my I was in my office and
Speaker 3: I said, I'm working on giving a speech at Gridiron
Speaker 3: grat She looked at me, she shook her head. She goes,
Speaker 3: chat GBT, Dad just punched your name, and sure enough, man,
Speaker 3: you do that. And they came up with a speech
Speaker 3: for that exact event. And I only tell you that
Speaker 3: because that's what these have nowadays, right, Google, What do
Speaker 3: you have? What's wrong with you? Should you play with this?
Speaker 3: Should you play with that? We didn't know those things.
Speaker 3: Took a lot of pride and playing every game. Honestly.
Speaker 3: I remember we played the Minnesota Vikings one year. I
Speaker 3: think it was two thousand and five. Remember we had
Speaker 3: to buy we were going up there to play in Minnesota,
Speaker 3: and we already were set in we're gonna buy and
Speaker 3: we're gonna play the next week, and love You called
Speaker 3: me in. He said, we're not going to play this week.
Speaker 3: You have a straight anchor. I said, the hell you're not.
Speaker 3: The hell you're not going to play men this week?
Speaker 3: Especially with you guys knew how I felt about Pat Williams.
Speaker 3: Didn't really like him when I played, and really wanted
Speaker 3: to play against him. And I said, I am not
Speaker 3: taking myself out of a game against Pat Williams. And
Speaker 3: there was an argument there for a while, right, and
Speaker 3: really just really my argument to love You was, this
Speaker 3: is why I train all year, this is why I
Speaker 3: work so hard in the weight room. I want to
Speaker 3: play every game. If the starter's out there, I want
Speaker 3: to be out there. And like you're saying, Jeff, things
Speaker 3: are changed.
Speaker 2: It's your opinion whether it's better or for worse.
Speaker 3: Old timer like me, I like to see guys play
Speaker 3: every game, get on the field with their teammates, get
Speaker 3: out there. And you know, the Bears talf a lot
Speaker 3: about culture, and you're talking about culture.
Speaker 4: You know, Ohen, there's a few guys in the history
Speaker 4: of my broadcasting career, which is twenty nine years, that
Speaker 4: I admire as much as you. And I'm only telling
Speaker 4: you this because we're on Zoom, But the reason is
Speaker 4: the reason is ollen and you talk about the culture,
Speaker 4: the requirements you put on the rest of the offensive
Speaker 4: line room, and the kind of filtered over to the
Speaker 4: rest of the team. But that whole all for one
Speaker 4: and one for all attitude. I think that's what's missing
Speaker 4: from the game today. And if they could have someone
Speaker 4: that led by example like you did. Because when I
Speaker 4: would sit on the bus and I'd be watching the
Speaker 4: team getting ready to travel or being in a game
Speaker 4: and watching all you guys come out, I really appreciated
Speaker 4: that man, and I think that's something that's missing in
Speaker 4: the game today, and for all the guys that we've
Speaker 4: been around for what you did for this organization, this
Speaker 4: team in terms of the culture and the requirements that
Speaker 4: you put on their back. I think that's something that's
Speaker 4: hard to replace nowadays.
Speaker 3: Oh well, first of all, I appreciate it and be respected,
Speaker 3: as you know, Jeff, I guy like Tom. It means
Speaker 3: the world to a former football player like me. But
Speaker 3: you know, we also had a great locker room, as
Speaker 3: you guys know. You guys are there, man, We had names.
Speaker 3: We had Roberto guards that we had, Ruben Brown, Brian
Speaker 3: Urlac or Peanut Tilm and Lance Bridge, Mike Brown. There
Speaker 3: were so many leaders there that leading on that team
Speaker 3: was easy, right, and saying the temple every day and
Speaker 3: is getting guys who followed because you had so many
Speaker 3: guys who believed in the same things and believe in
Speaker 3: playing football. And like you're saying, it's changed, right. I
Speaker 3: coach a lot of little league football, coach high school
Speaker 3: football the last three years.
Speaker 2: Some of these high school guys are getting paid now, right.
Speaker 3: I got two sons who play for Illinois once who
Speaker 3: started center on one's ballet for a linebacker job.
Speaker 2: They get paid over there at Illinois.
Speaker 3: Keeping them moving in the right direction, keeping them worried
Speaker 3: about the right stuff. I always tell them, we're about
Speaker 3: being good in football and it nothing else really matters
Speaker 3: and everything else will fall into place. So it's a
Speaker 3: different it's a different world we live in now with
Speaker 3: social media and the culture and the way things are done.
Speaker 3: But like you're saying, Tom, the same thing, still winning football,
Speaker 3: and can you find it? Can you find it? Can
Speaker 3: you go out there and find somebody? And I always
Speaker 3: say this, I don't know if you guys agree. When
Speaker 3: you talk about culture. Players build your culture. You have
Speaker 3: to draft culture, right. You want guys who lift weights,
Speaker 3: You better draft someone who lift weights, right. You want
Speaker 3: guys who hit people on every play, They better be
Speaker 3: hitting guys on every play on the film, Like you're
Speaker 3: not going to create that when they walk in the building.
Speaker 2: I think players make your culture. Obviously, coaches do to.
Speaker 3: I know the Bears have a new coaching staff up
Speaker 3: there to try and get things moving in the right direction.
Speaker 3: But man, I appreciate you saying that, but we really
Speaker 3: really had a good locker room, good coaching staff. Love
Speaker 3: He really really empowered us to lead, really gave us
Speaker 3: a locker room and let us let us go from there.
Speaker 1: This podcast brought to you by the official beer partner
Speaker 1: of Your Chicago Bears tastes like Middle Time Chicago. Go
Speaker 1: to middle of Light dot com slash bears spot to
Speaker 1: find delivery options near you. Celebrate responsibily. Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Speaker 1: Ninety six calories and three point two carbs per twelve ounces.
Speaker 4: Oh and what you know, the dedicated player that you
Speaker 4: were and now you're a father of dedicated football players.
Speaker 4: What's what game is harder for you to watch the
Speaker 4: film of you playing or the live action of your
Speaker 4: kids playing.
Speaker 3: The live action will wear me out, man, I mean
Speaker 3: the film with me, I just think it's funny Tom,
Speaker 3: because I always realized I wasn't as good as I
Speaker 3: thought I was. Whenever I turned the film, I'm like, hey, well, hey,
Speaker 3: I didn't even know I got beat there.
Speaker 2: I don't remember that, right, So I only remember the
Speaker 2: good plays.
Speaker 3: And I you know, my uh my kids always laughed
Speaker 3: at me because I'll turn the film on and my
Speaker 3: boys will be like, I tell you said, he never
Speaker 3: got beat.
Speaker 2: And I said, my mind, you know that didn't even happen.
Speaker 3: But I remember last year the Illinois starting linebacker went
Speaker 3: down and James, my young little boy, started at Mike
Speaker 3: and so he plays on every special team too, and
Speaker 3: he ended the year started about the last five or
Speaker 3: six games at middle linebacker with Josh Lang center. I thought,
Speaker 3: that's what I always wanted, right, I was like, I
Speaker 3: gotta get James on the field, and it is what
Speaker 3: you want. But man, was I exhausted me and my wife,
Speaker 3: Voe said after the game, because there was never a
Speaker 3: play where one of them weren't in there playing. And
Speaker 3: every time I thought, okay, you know the offense is
Speaker 3: going to pun I'm a take a break here, I
Speaker 3: forgot James is coming out on the punt team.
Speaker 2: And then he was playing middle linebacker.
Speaker 3: You just you know, like you're you're like, okay, like
Speaker 3: don't screw this up, right, like like going there and
Speaker 3: you like the whole time. I'm an old ball player,
Speaker 3: like you guys know, and everything to me is wrong,
Speaker 3: right yeah, because you're foot in the right place, Like.
Speaker 2: Why didn't you do this? Why didn't you do that?
Speaker 3: This year, James set me film and I was watching
Speaker 3: it with him and it's some clips to him playing
Speaker 3: middle linebacker, and I said, James, I've told you a
Speaker 3: million times I want you to blow that center's head off.
Speaker 3: In the spring springball and he like goes quiet, and
Speaker 3: I'm like, I'm telling you, I said, James, are you there?
Speaker 2: I want that guy's head blown off? Right?
Speaker 3: And he like and like no said he like. Finally
Speaker 3: he goes Dad, I go, yeah, he goes, that's Josh.
Speaker 3: I go, don't maybe not maybe, don't blop your maybe,
Speaker 3: don't blow your brother. I'm sorry, you know, so I said,
Speaker 3: I don't want too much brother in law going on.
Speaker 3: But I said, I understand, man, You're not coming down
Speaker 3: here and try to take that guy's head off.
Speaker 1: That's funny because we're interviewing some folks yesterday. Well you Dolman,
Speaker 1: his dad Chris Dowman, former forty nine er, Tom asked
Speaker 1: him a great question. You know, who's the first person
Speaker 1: you call after a game? He calls his dad and
Speaker 1: they break it down. Do you do they call you
Speaker 1: as well, first thing after a game.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they do, and we talk and I'm in most
Speaker 3: games there in Champagne and we talk after every game
Speaker 3: and it's awesome.
Speaker 2: Man.
Speaker 3: I mean, like, you guys know you can't force him, right,
Speaker 3: You can't force him to play this game.
Speaker 2: You can't force them to love it, but they do.
Speaker 3: So I got lucky there and I get to talk
Speaker 3: to them after every game and learned the game from
Speaker 3: a middle linebacker's position, right.
Speaker 2: And sometimes I.
Speaker 3: Called Bob Babbage and talk to him about you know,
Speaker 3: he's retired now, so I think he's a perfect guy.
Speaker 3: He talks about linebacker playing what he should be doing,
Speaker 3: what they shouldn't be doing, and just really enjoying that
Speaker 3: part of it.
Speaker 2: Even my daughter plays a volleyby.
Speaker 3: Mina, Ohio. Now I get to learn that game, right.
Speaker 3: Of course, I'm an expert at I just trust me.
Speaker 3: She's rolled her eyes a million times a week. So
Speaker 3: the more I've learned about that game of volleyball, the
Speaker 3: more I realized, like the first three years, boy was
Speaker 3: I strewing her up?
Speaker 2: Was wrong?
Speaker 1: Well you are a I mean it's it's your father
Speaker 1: of six, like you got you got some of the
Speaker 1: pipeline yet, So James six two twenty five. I checked
Speaker 1: on the u OFI website. I don't know if that's accurate.
Speaker 1: Junior linebacker had a twelve tackle game against Rutgers last
Speaker 1: year in common young guys, so you could tell us
Speaker 1: about that guy. And then Josh.
Speaker 3: Man, I watched it before that game and I was
Speaker 3: like James, you better buckle up this guy.
Speaker 2: I mean, you never seen one guy tackling my long
Speaker 2: guy man.
Speaker 3: I mean he was tough on film in college, so yes,
Speaker 3: I have watched him play and he is tough.
Speaker 2: He's a tough football player.
Speaker 1: Heck of a pass pro guy. And then Josh six
Speaker 1: ninety is that about right, playing the center position, team captain,
Speaker 1: senior season two time All Big ten.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 1: And then daughter Grace freshman at Miami Ohio, one of
Speaker 1: four daughters. So you can fill us in on the
Speaker 1: other ones.
Speaker 2: But uh, yeah, pray for me.
Speaker 1: I had two in it about killed me.
Speaker 2: I don't care what religion you are. Just pray for me.
Speaker 2: And they don't have religion, then do your breathing breed
Speaker 2: for me. Just do something for me because I suffer.
Speaker 1: So they so what are there? They love the game.
Speaker 1: NFL is in their cards.
Speaker 2: We'll see, We'll see.
Speaker 3: They have to improve, right, they have to keep getting better.
Speaker 3: They have to keep working on their game. And you
Speaker 3: guys know what it takes to play in the NFL,
Speaker 3: and you know how few guys do it. And you know,
Speaker 3: like the transferring your college game to the NFL game
Speaker 3: and making the corrections and adjustments and working and getting
Speaker 3: to where you got to be. I would say they
Speaker 3: have a chance. I don't think either of them are guaranteed,
Speaker 3: and they still have a.
Speaker 2: Lot of work to do.
Speaker 4: Hey, Olan, does the NIL complicate the process for these kids?
Speaker 4: Are they always thinking of what could possibly be out there?
Speaker 4: Or are they trying to be Are they being enticed
Speaker 4: by somebody else? Or is that they're settled in at
Speaker 4: Illinois They're ready to roll until they get done.
Speaker 3: Of course it does. It does for everybody. Right, The
Speaker 3: money is out there. It's it's extraordinary how much money
Speaker 3: is out there. Josh is you know, he's a cruise.
Speaker 3: He wants to be where he is, right, He never
Speaker 3: even thought about it. He's gonna play for his team.
Speaker 3: He's standing in Illinois. You know, he went to play
Speaker 3: high school football Loyola. He's all in there, so and
Speaker 3: so is James, and they just believe in that. But
Speaker 3: as far as his NIL goes, Man, it's crazy out there.
Speaker 3: I don't know what parameters are going to put around it.
Speaker 3: The game is still great, right, The game is still great.
Speaker 3: Just tells you how much money the people involved in
Speaker 3: college football are making and have been making and a
Speaker 3: lot of times these guys who are yelling about it's
Speaker 3: broken and are once who broke it, right, he's saying
Speaker 3: it too long. He's in a system too long that
Speaker 3: just you knew it wasn't gonna work. There was you know,
Speaker 3: once you start making what is the NFL, man got
Speaker 3: a fifteen billion. The college is making something close. Man,
Speaker 3: there's just a lot of money out there. They got
Speaker 3: to find a way to put parameters around it and
Speaker 3: make it fair for everybody. But also stop acting like
Speaker 3: you don't have to pay the players and the coaches
Speaker 3: just gonna get paid. And now they're in a system
Speaker 3: that's a while wild west, And really the coaches who
Speaker 3: were in there the longest, the coaches who are watching it, administrators,
Speaker 3: the NCAA, they're really the ones who broke it. It's
Speaker 3: not the kid's fault, right, the kids just going through
Speaker 3: the process of the rules and everything that's going on there.
Speaker 3: So the same people who broke it now scrambling to
Speaker 3: fix it and say, wow, I mean it's unfair and
Speaker 3: these kids are crazy, they're hard to coach.
Speaker 2: You're making so much.
Speaker 3: Money that was now, that's why, that's why when most
Speaker 3: of these coaches are driving to their ten million dollars
Speaker 3: home in Florida. They're worried about the system that's broken
Speaker 3: his dominoes.
Speaker 1: I mean the transfer portal. I'm sure the cret was
Speaker 1: dangled to both your sons. I mean, you don't have
Speaker 1: to say.
Speaker 3: It's all the ways there, right, it's always there out there,
Speaker 3: and you always know.
Speaker 2: It's an option now. And that's that's it's it's.
Speaker 3: Hard even as a parent, right because you want to
Speaker 3: teach stick it out, work through it, get better, stick
Speaker 3: where you are, stop complaining about things and all these stuff.
Speaker 3: But you know, I'll tell you a little story about
Speaker 3: even Joshua's now going to his third year starting. You know,
Speaker 3: they were bringing in some portal guys, some portal centers,
Speaker 3: and we talked about it and I called coaches around,
Speaker 3: and you know, josh ended up staying there. And I
Speaker 3: just told them, I said, well, if you're going to say,
Speaker 3: then you got to go there and beat these guys out.
Speaker 3: But you know, I called coaches that I was highly
Speaker 3: respect the guys and I said, look, I tell my son,
Speaker 3: you should stay, you should work, you should compete.
Speaker 2: And they said it's not like that anymore.
Speaker 3: Older it's not you got to watch because if they
Speaker 3: bring a guy in to pay them, they got to
Speaker 3: play them.
Speaker 2: So it's just there's a lot. There's a lot going on.
Speaker 3: There's about this other side of story that a lot
Speaker 3: of Duodle don't hear. A lot of times you hear
Speaker 3: like the school side, the coaches side hard is to recruit.
Speaker 3: There's also the player's side too, that they're going through
Speaker 3: the same process of dealing with something that's brand new
Speaker 3: for everybody that.
Speaker 1: Either of you ever would have imagined in your wildest dreams,
Speaker 1: with life progressing as rapidly as it does on an
Speaker 1: annual basis, that there would be actual general managers going
Speaker 1: out and scouting and getting players for colleges like like
Speaker 1: this is blown up and that's big money. I mean,
Speaker 1: both of you guys could get the call, Hey help
Speaker 1: us out. I mean you could have never imagined.
Speaker 4: I could never imagine it because I'm so far behind
Speaker 4: with being drafted in eighty three that it was never
Speaker 4: even a process.
Speaker 2: You consider.
Speaker 4: You just wanted to stay eligible, graduate and get into
Speaker 4: the NFL. Those words, we'll get into the NFL graduate,
Speaker 4: and that was my goals.
Speaker 2: Anyways, you could I mean if you were watching, you know,
Speaker 2: if you watched it played in it, you kind of.
Speaker 3: Felt something coming after a while when culture were getting
Speaker 3: a hundred minute dollar contracts and what was it?
Speaker 2: You wasn't the guy who went to USC yet. I
Speaker 2: mean he got like a house, his private jets.
Speaker 1: From the school Lincoln Riley, Like.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's Lincoln Ryland.
Speaker 3: It's kind of like, okay, Like eventually with all this happening, guys,
Speaker 3: what are you going to do for the players? Right
Speaker 3: What are you gonna do for the guys that are
Speaker 3: actually playing out there in the stadiums getting the TV contracts?
Speaker 2: It just was interesting and it's interesting.
Speaker 3: To watch right now how they're going to do all
Speaker 3: this and how they're going to get their arms around
Speaker 3: it and get it moving in the right direction.
Speaker 1: Again, We're brought to you by PNC Official Bank of
Speaker 1: the Bears. Our broadcast teammate is your old teammate, and
Speaker 1: I guess your boss is at Carmel High School, Jason McKee. Jason,
Speaker 1: how first of all, how proud you are of j
Speaker 1: Mack and the other guys, Rashid and anybody that has
Speaker 1: gone into coaching and helping out these young guys it's
Speaker 1: quite quite a thing. I think j Mack loves it
Speaker 1: and he's thriving in it. And you work with him
Speaker 1: firsthand in that, How would you assess that? And how
Speaker 1: proud are you of him?
Speaker 2: You guys work with j Mac, Jason McKee man.
Speaker 3: I don't know if there's a better human being out
Speaker 3: there who helps kids, who works in his family. I
Speaker 3: know his wife's a big part of Carmel Catholic too.
Speaker 3: The amount of work he does up there at Carmel
Speaker 3: Cathley and a number of things he deals with from parents,
Speaker 3: from administrators, from getting that football program moving in the
Speaker 3: right direction, training kids at six in the morning, getting
Speaker 3: guys who are calling kids, meeting with colleges for kids
Speaker 3: to go to college, working with them, mentoring them, helping
Speaker 3: them with their life problems. Look, I just go up
Speaker 3: there and install power row man, I go up there,
Speaker 3: I yell at people, right. I mean, J Mac, he
Speaker 3: lets me just do my thing. I enjoy coaching with him.
Speaker 3: Rashid Davis another former teammate who I enjoy coaching with
Speaker 3: big cats over there at Lake Forest High Steel.
Speaker 2: We train in my gym. We talk about it.
Speaker 3: But as far as Jason McKee goes man the amount
Speaker 3: of work he does for the community getting things moving.
Speaker 2: In the right direction.
Speaker 3: At Carmo, you can't help but respect it and love
Speaker 3: to go up there and try to help them in
Speaker 3: any way you can, you know.
Speaker 4: Oh, and I think in every community. My brother's been
Speaker 4: coaching the freshman program for thirty years at JOEYACAFN. My
Speaker 4: nephew's the offensive coordinator. But in our community, we have
Speaker 4: a gym it's called Rudy's Gym that brings in all
Speaker 4: the high school athletes around the area, both boys and girls,
Speaker 4: and they do an incredible amount of work developing the
Speaker 4: confidence with these kids. Is that the kind of the
Speaker 4: same program that you have going in your weight room
Speaker 4: or how do kids get attracted to you your gym?
Speaker 3: Mostly is from kids I know, and they're a little
Speaker 3: older because with my family and stuff, but mostly only
Speaker 3: over there in there in the morning. Right But I
Speaker 3: have kids, And during COVID time and Loyola had a
Speaker 3: ton of kids in there obviously training and there wasn't
Speaker 3: a lot of places to go, and then there was
Speaker 3: in school going on, so we had those kids in there.
Speaker 2: But right but right now, most of it's old. I
Speaker 2: get a lot of college kids.
Speaker 3: I get some high school kids in the summertime, but
Speaker 3: mostly it's just a word of mouth and people I
Speaker 3: know and.
Speaker 2: They come to the gym and to help them train
Speaker 2: and develop.
Speaker 3: And it's more of like an offensive line friendly system.
Speaker 3: But we also have running backs and wide receivers and
Speaker 3: like you know, strong and strong in the weight room
Speaker 3: teaches you all kinds of things. If you're not a spot,
Speaker 3: put weights away, put things where they belong, how to
Speaker 3: pay attention. One one thing I ask these kids nowadays, Tom,
Speaker 3: you'd be amazed. I say how much weight is on
Speaker 3: that bar? And they don't know?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 3: They go, they go into your phone, Like I said,
Speaker 3: you know how to get your phone.
Speaker 2: Right, We're not adding the weight. Stop right? And then
Speaker 2: I'll say put a quarter on. They don't know.
Speaker 3: That's twenty five, right, Put twenty five? Put two cent five,
Speaker 3: one thirty five? What's one eighty five? They don't know,
Speaker 3: They have no idea. I always tell them I have
Speaker 3: weight room and chicken fight math. That's what I do, right, dude.
Speaker 3: My math is from those two things, and it seems
Speaker 3: to work pretty well. But the weight room is great
Speaker 3: for everybody we do have some young kids. J I
Speaker 3: wouldn't say I'm like a you know, I'm not an
Speaker 3: open gym to the public where everybody come in. But
Speaker 3: if someone asked me and I know them and we
Speaker 3: have time, we.
Speaker 2: Will help them trade.
Speaker 3: And it's good because my two boys are in there
Speaker 3: and they're made, you know, they're thinking about those kinds
Speaker 3: of things, what they want to do after football and stuff.
Speaker 3: And everyone trains in there, and we have you remember,
Speaker 3: for former Bear center Sam Muster, for his brother PJ.
Speaker 3: Muster for bid me a long time. We have a
Speaker 3: bunch of big cats in there with his son and
Speaker 3: he's playing at Quincy. And we actually have a bunch
Speaker 3: of people in their training j Max son Jordan was
Speaker 3: in there today with another alignment that I've known at Carmel.
Speaker 3: So just a just a good place for guys to
Speaker 3: come and really more of like you know, former players
Speaker 3: too need somewhere to go. And you know, mental health
Speaker 3: sometimes is punching each other in the face. So we'll
Speaker 3: do that boxing and wrestling and everyone will leave feeling
Speaker 3: a little bit better about what they're doing. It's amazing
Speaker 3: you talk about loading the bar, because I always said,
Speaker 3: if I was a general manager in the NFL and
Speaker 3: I had a guy that I was thinking about drafting.
Speaker 3: I would say, hey, let me follow you on around
Speaker 3: the weight room and put on two seventy five and
Speaker 3: see if you're thinking about it or you know how
Speaker 3: to do it, or show me the fifty pound dumbbells
Speaker 3: and see if they can walk right to them. And
Speaker 3: that's kind of funny that you bring it up. Whether
Speaker 3: it's your generation or my generation, the weight room can
Speaker 3: really tell a big story about what your percentage of
Speaker 3: being successful is going to be.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 3: And then, like what you're saying at the end of
Speaker 3: the workout the other day, I said, guys, probably you
Speaker 3: know a lot of these guys are going off to college.
Speaker 3: I say, probably the best way I can help you
Speaker 3: is this. I watched a lot of guys today. I
Speaker 3: explained an exercise three guys did and the last guy
Speaker 3: did it wrong. I see your coaches are watching that, Like,
Speaker 3: make sure you're not doing that. If someone's in front
Speaker 3: of you or if somebody explaining it, make sure you're
Speaker 3: watching it doing it correctly.
Speaker 2: And then I said, they're time.
Speaker 3: To put the weights away, take weights off, make sure
Speaker 3: you're helping make sure, you're spotting most guys nowadays. I
Speaker 3: mean someone goes to work out there looking at their phone, right,
Speaker 3: and it's just like okay.
Speaker 2: Like someone has to spot this guy.
Speaker 3: So, like you're saying, Tom, you can learn a lot
Speaker 3: from somebody just watching them in the weight room, what
Speaker 3: they care about, what they think about, and what the
Speaker 3: weight room teaches an athlete and the kind of guy
Speaker 3: you're talking about, Like all these football teams, I hear them.
Speaker 3: I always hear him say they want culture. I never
Speaker 3: hear him define it. I never hear you them tell
Speaker 3: me what is their culture? How do you create culture?
Speaker 3: And what's the kind of guy you're looking for? Where
Speaker 3: do you look for culture at? And what's usually said, Tom,
Speaker 3: is what they need to know. Where do you look
Speaker 3: for culture? You look for it in the weight room.
Speaker 3: You look for the guy you want and what's he
Speaker 3: doing in there?
Speaker 1: You know?
Speaker 4: Ohen the great client Emeric, he never allowed chalk in
Speaker 4: the weight room because it made the weight room dirty.
Speaker 4: So does an Owen Cruise Does he allow chalk in
Speaker 4: the weight room? And the chalk is something that you
Speaker 4: put on your hands for a better grip on the bar.
Speaker 2: We do use chalk.
Speaker 3: I'm always say like, they'll go in there and I'll
Speaker 3: be Okay, we're not chalking for one hundred pund dumbbells.
Speaker 3: Guys like we canet show for the one forties to
Speaker 3: one fifties and stuff.
Speaker 2: But we have it. But but we do have to
Speaker 2: wipe down and mop after.
Speaker 3: And that's one of my favorite teasts to do is
Speaker 3: I had a mop to like a young kid or a.
Speaker 2: Player and to washed in try to use a mop
Speaker 2: is hilarious.
Speaker 3: And usually what I'll do is I'll film the first
Speaker 3: time in some on mops because that's the number one
Speaker 3: thing they can approve on is their mop. And you know,
Speaker 3: you you have to control the mop. You can't let
Speaker 3: the mop control you. He's a saying in our.
Speaker 1: Gym and my oldest daughter Kelly, which you you know
Speaker 1: olin is a competitive weightlifter. Now she tells me that
Speaker 1: that talk is anti bacterial, So yeah, she's away ahead
Speaker 1: of the curve on the biology of the floor. Dirty
Speaker 1: Hey Bears. Fan steinoffls, a proud partner the Chicago Bears,
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Speaker 1: you're an analyst on six seventy of the score outstanding
Speaker 1: of what you're doing there and in season offseason, your
Speaker 1: analysis is right on the money. How do you feel
Speaker 1: if this were a stock right now? The Chicago Bears.
Speaker 1: And let's begin at the offensive line, because we interviewed
Speaker 1: several of those guys yesterday and I said, you know
Speaker 1: that interior three is kind of the billboard for the season.
Speaker 1: That's where it's going to start. And you guys got
Speaker 1: to be the leaders, and let's go.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you cannot be excited about Tony Dolman and Jonah Jackson, right,
Speaker 3: and Jonah Jackson.
Speaker 2: We all want to.
Speaker 3: See him when he was in Detroit. Man, I don't
Speaker 3: know about you, Tom, but I was a really big
Speaker 3: fan of this. I thought he'd moved guys off the ball.
Speaker 3: I thought he came off the walk that I got
Speaker 3: after guys. I actually at one point he was playing
Speaker 3: the best football at all the guys on the Lions
Speaker 3: offensive line. I'm surprised they let him go. So excited
Speaker 3: for him to be there. Interesting to see what he
Speaker 3: looks like at right guard. Obviously we know the professional
Speaker 3: that Joe Toney is an in dollmen man is a young,
Speaker 3: good young center lay on outside zone right funneled watch
Speaker 3: play football over.
Speaker 2: There in Atlanta.
Speaker 3: So they really put spent a lot of money there,
Speaker 3: which you know is music to my ears right to
Speaker 3: rebuild that offensive line, and Darnelle Wright keep taking another step,
Speaker 3: and I think he's gonna be I think it's chanced
Speaker 3: to be a really good football player. And I have
Speaker 3: a lot of stress for coach Roschar and what he
Speaker 3: does and the things he believes in and the fundamentals
Speaker 3: and the waylegs guy's coming off the ball and the
Speaker 3: drills he uses. So I am excited about the offensive
Speaker 3: line and see what they can do with it after
Speaker 3: putting those assets in there. And we'll see which direction
Speaker 3: they're going. And let you guys know, that's the unit
Speaker 3: that leads right, that's the unit that you win late
Speaker 3: in the year at at Soldier Field in late December.
Speaker 2: That's the unit ass to take over the game.
Speaker 4: You know, It's funny because I think about the Bears
Speaker 4: offensive line and the kind of the rebuilding process. Then
Speaker 4: I think about the offensive lines around the division. So
Speaker 4: you got Frank rag Now who retired yesterday, and you're
Speaker 4: going to try to make a guard into a center
Speaker 4: at green Bank. You're going to try to make a
Speaker 4: guard into a center at Detroit. The difficulty of that,
Speaker 4: I've listen. I was a backup center, but I was
Speaker 4: no good. I was just doing it because I could
Speaker 4: do it, and I don't I don't think it's that
Speaker 4: I don't think it's that easy. So it's gonna be
Speaker 4: interesting if you just look at the center position in
Speaker 4: the division. That how it's all gonna work itself out.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it will be interesting, right and and just you know,
Speaker 3: to throw it back at your toime. I was a
Speaker 3: backup guard my rookie year and I was no good.
Speaker 3: So I think I was supposed to be a center.
Speaker 3: But uh, that that'll be interesting, right. I know the
Speaker 3: Packers would after Aaron Banks Notre Dame Prospect and added
Speaker 3: him and the movie Elton Jenkins over which Manstein. He's
Speaker 3: a big guy. I think he's a really good guard.
Speaker 3: So HD's choice by them. And then uh, like you're
Speaker 3: talking about with Frank right now, I think they draft
Speaker 3: the Lions drafted a kid, Tate Rutley is gonna try
Speaker 3: and move him to center, and I'm sure it was
Speaker 3: kind of surprise for them, right, But Frank's studling showing
Speaker 3: with injuries over the last two or three years, and
Speaker 3: nowadays with the money these guys are making, you can
Speaker 3: see early retirements more and more coming your way.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 3: But it's Pine School instead of Taylor Decker, and they
Speaker 3: still have Glasgow and they're still very good up the front,
Speaker 3: especially you got Pane Seowel and Decker as your book ends.
Speaker 3: But center is an important position, right And I know
Speaker 3: that the Vikings through money at Will Fries and brought
Speaker 3: over the coach center too, and they've revamped their offensive
Speaker 3: line and drafted a guy and everyone knows that eventually
Speaker 3: right now, man like you have to win that the
Speaker 3: Eagles have shown us there's a way to win this
Speaker 3: game is fight front at the line of scrimmage, either
Speaker 3: stopping or run gain after the passer or protecting your
Speaker 3: quarterback and running the ball. So interesting the where the
Speaker 3: North has gone here, but it's good to see the
Speaker 3: Bears have have a young guy and Darnell right who
Speaker 3: can maybe a send and be their culture center, their leader.
Speaker 3: Have a young guy and dolmen there at center. Same thing,
Speaker 3: Jonah Jackson, Tuney can show them the way a little
Speaker 3: bit right to see some develve someone over there at
Speaker 3: left Tapple and try to compete the way they want
Speaker 3: to compete there with the way they put money in
Speaker 3: that offensive line.
Speaker 1: Interesting, every every division team has a new center here
Speaker 1: in twenty you know, and I listen. The idea is
Speaker 1: they got to see the game through the eyes of
Speaker 1: the quarterback. You guys got to be on the same
Speaker 1: page in that regard, and the play caller in this case,
Speaker 1: the head coach as well. So it's not a position
Speaker 1: of insignificance by any means. I know people don't think
Speaker 1: it's sexy. Olen, I mean, I gotta tell you, I
Speaker 1: gotta have a good center. I gotta have a bad
Speaker 1: man at center. I got it. And Tom and I
Speaker 1: were talking about this today too, about size. What do
Speaker 1: you prefer?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 1: What's the ideal center in terms of size? Not necessarily
Speaker 1: you're going to be about three hundred, little under three
Speaker 1: hundred to play the position nowadays. But does the hype
Speaker 1: matter to you? What do you think?
Speaker 2: No, if I turn a film on.
Speaker 3: If he's blocking somebody, I'm good, right, if he's blocking somebody,
Speaker 3: if he gave these moving in the right direction, if
Speaker 3: he can point out where blitz is coming from, he
Speaker 3: can help the quarterback organize circtain aspects of the football game.
Speaker 2: Right, and they call it.
Speaker 3: They always tell about quarterbacks processing information. Centers have to
Speaker 3: do the same thing. Right, Centers at the process information,
Speaker 3: at the pivot. In a matter of twelve to fifteen seconds,
Speaker 3: everybody lined up, everybody moving in the right direction, especially
Speaker 3: in a run game. Right, if you look at a
Speaker 3: coaching staff, you always have an OC, a pass game coordinator.
Speaker 2: And a run game coordinator on the field.
Speaker 3: The quarterback is the pass game quarter and the center
Speaker 3: is the run game coordinator. Right, you're the guy coordinating
Speaker 3: the run game side. In the run game siding where
Speaker 3: a matchup store, where to get the point, where to
Speaker 3: get the double team's moved to, how to get an advantage,
Speaker 3: how to get a plus one on the defense. So
Speaker 3: centers are really important to Obviously I'm a former center.
Speaker 3: But as as far as size goes, I mean, Jony,
Speaker 3: you give me over six feet if you're over two
Speaker 3: hundred and seventy pounds. I'm good to know Jason Kelsey
Speaker 3: just showed you that he can a smaller center can do.
Speaker 3: But now listen, it's like a basketball team to me,
Speaker 3: and Tom can disagree with me if he wants. But
Speaker 3: if you get a small center, get him a big guard. Right,
Speaker 3: you get a big center, get a small guard. Right,
Speaker 3: you're trying to make like you're trying to be a
Speaker 3: power forward a small forward. Someone's got to be on
Speaker 3: a second level blocking linebackers. And then you've got to
Speaker 3: be strong enough. And that's where small centers. The weight
Speaker 3: room comes into play. Everyone said, well, why did you
Speaker 3: love the way? I need it to be in there, right,
Speaker 3: I need to be in there getting stronger, straining through weights.
Speaker 3: If you get a guy who's three hundred and thirty
Speaker 3: pounds sixty six sixty seven, guys say, oh.
Speaker 2: He doesn't train.
Speaker 3: I say, man, if you have his genetics, yeah, fine,
Speaker 3: don't right if you're if you're that kind of monster, right,
Speaker 3: I always tell my kids, Dad, we're working out there.
Speaker 2: I say you are because you have to.
Speaker 3: Right, Well, your genetics, you better get in that weight
Speaker 3: room and you better work out and you better get strong.
Speaker 3: So as far as the size goes, whatever you have
Speaker 3: there at the pivot, whoever you think is a good
Speaker 3: football player, just make sure you're building around him that's
Speaker 3: matching whatever his weakness is. My best years, we're always
Speaker 3: with the Ruben Browns, the big Roberto guards as the
Speaker 3: Chris Valarios, the Todd Perry's right. When I walked out
Speaker 3: one time, I remember telling Jerry Angel I said, Jerry,
Speaker 3: I'm the tallest guy in the middle walking to the
Speaker 3: line of scrimmage.
Speaker 2: Do you see that as a problem? Right?
Speaker 3: I love Josh Beekman, but me and um sure to
Speaker 3: be walking together to the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 4: Hey, oh, I wasn't going to ask you this, but
Speaker 4: I'm going to ask you this. So in my forty
Speaker 4: years of being around the Bears, I think I've seen
Speaker 4: two centers that I believe that can run the tush push,
Speaker 4: and that's you and Hilgey. When you look at that
Speaker 4: play from this point of view of the center, is
Speaker 4: the mandatory job that has to be done by the center.
Speaker 4: You have to have a quick snap, you have to
Speaker 4: earn leverage and then get some movement.
Speaker 1: How do you what do you think about.
Speaker 4: The center position and the specifics of that play.
Speaker 3: Yes, Pat under pad right, can you keep your feet
Speaker 3: moving forward like you're saying at that height right? So
Speaker 3: to get most guys can dive and they're done, right.
Speaker 3: They can't keep moving, keep digging their feet forward. So
Speaker 3: that takes a lot of athleticism. By letters, I mean,
Speaker 3: I mean we can go into it right, like your
Speaker 3: ankles have to be able to move in that direction.
Speaker 3: It takes it takes a guy who can do that,
Speaker 3: like you're saying, and when you really start that play
Speaker 3: like you guys probably have. I mean, I remember watching
Speaker 3: jac Kelsey's hands are actually on the ground. I thought
Speaker 3: to myself, but if you want to stop the place,
Speaker 3: step on their hands.
Speaker 2: But I'm sure they can't do that right.
Speaker 3: So but it's just a it's a cool it's a
Speaker 3: rugby play right. As Tom knows, I grew up in Hawaii.
Speaker 3: I've watched a lot of rugby. Polynesians are huge on rugby.
Speaker 3: It's you know, it's that pile play again, a moving
Speaker 3: and they have a six hundred and fifty pounds squatting
Speaker 3: quarterback like, I mean, I don't know, I don't know
Speaker 3: what you're gonna do there? If the center and the
Speaker 3: guards and keep their feet moving with that pad level.
Speaker 2: And your quarterback is that strong.
Speaker 3: And I don't know what sa Kwon Barkley who backward
Speaker 3: jumps over guys, I don't know what he squats. So
Speaker 3: that play seems very specific to the Philadelphia Eagles and
Speaker 3: what they're capable. And I think, like I think you
Speaker 3: guys probably noticed. But Kelsey, he scouted Cam Durgons, right,
Speaker 3: He had them draft Cam Durgens and bring them in
Speaker 3: and then taught him how to play center.
Speaker 2: And there's another thing that the Eagles do right.
Speaker 3: They don't let the guys leave like Fletcher Cox, Todd
Speaker 3: Jalen Carter. Right, Kelsey taught Cam Jurgens how to play center.
Speaker 3: So when they have someone great, it's a smart thing
Speaker 3: to do. When you have someone great, amazing at a position,
Speaker 3: why not draft somebody and let them teach them how
Speaker 3: to play that position.
Speaker 1: Excellent point.
Speaker 2: Good news.
Speaker 1: Chicago United Airlines is getting brand new planes with all
Speaker 1: the bells and whistles, like Bluetooth connectivity, screens at every
Speaker 1: seat and a room for everyone's rolder bag. United proud
Speaker 1: to fly the Chicago Bears. And you two handicap the
Speaker 1: left tackle because I think it'll be the number one
Speaker 1: story of training camp. Who wins that job.
Speaker 3: Who wins that job? At left tackle? I haven't seen
Speaker 3: any of Ozzi Trapillo. I haven't seen him play. I'd
Speaker 3: be lying to you if I told you I did,
Speaker 3: and I don't.
Speaker 2: Let you. Guys know.
Speaker 3: You have to see him against this level of competition,
Speaker 3: and then you guys see him in pass and then
Speaker 3: you guys see week one, and then you got to
Speaker 3: see how he adjusted the week two. And when they
Speaker 3: figure out what he's bad at, can he adjust it
Speaker 3: at right? Those are the things we all know what
Speaker 3: it is takes in the NFL. Man they study all
Speaker 3: of a sudden that guy's abildings for nine hours, study
Speaker 3: just how to beat you.
Speaker 2: So that's one thing we have to watch with him.
Speaker 3: But with Audit Trapillo, they're Braxin Jones, Karanamagaji. They have
Speaker 3: three guys who can go after I don't know what
Speaker 3: Braxin's health is light Karanamagaji. I know I saw him
Speaker 3: a couple of times in my gym twice exact, and
Speaker 3: he had that quad and he was just trying to
Speaker 3: get a strong and get that leg moving in the
Speaker 3: right direction and for him to kick straight back and
Speaker 3: reload that leg and that hip and.
Speaker 2: That ankle and get moving.
Speaker 3: I don't know where he is now, so it is
Speaker 3: a question mark dret left out on it. And then
Speaker 3: it's a good question. And if I told you I
Speaker 3: knew who was gonna win that job, I don't know.
Speaker 3: Maybe we can e motion coach and leveling over and
Speaker 3: have him chip over there all day long.
Speaker 1: Well, I tell you we could. We could go on
Speaker 1: for hours with you. Olen, that just scratched the surface.
Speaker 1: I knew it would be good, and you delivered in
Speaker 1: a big way. So we appreciate your time. Thank you
Speaker 1: so much for joining us.
Speaker 2: It's an honor man. You guys are the best.
Speaker 1: We'll have you on again sometime.
Speaker 2: Thanks. Alan, appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Guys, appreciate it. Olen. We're brought to you by PNC
Speaker 1: Official Bank of the Bears and our aches, pains or
Speaker 1: injuries keeping you on the sidelines. Athleticos moving experts are
Speaker 1: here to help you turn your setbacks into comebacks and
Speaker 1: create a personalized game plan for your recovery with no
Speaker 1: prescription or a referral needed. Athletical physical therapy is where
Speaker 1: your comeback story begins. Athletico proud to be the official
Speaker 1: physical therapy partner of the Chicago Bears Special Thanks again
Speaker 1: to Olin Cruits and for Tim There. I'm Jeff Joniac.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to everybody. Please subscribe now in the
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