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Speaker 1: Welcome to the NFL Legends Podcast, an NFL podcast for

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Speaker 1: the players, by the players. Here is your host, four

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Speaker 1: team year NFL veteran and Hall of Famer, A Nius Williams. Hello.

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Speaker 1: This is a Nius Williams and welcome to the Legends Podcast.

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Speaker 1: As part of our Storyteller series, we present the story

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Speaker 1: of running back Fred Taylor, who has become something of

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Speaker 1: an international ambassador for his old team. Hi, it's Fred Taylor. UM.

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Speaker 1: I'm here in London as I always am. I enjoy

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Speaker 1: being here. Nowadays, I'm just staying close to the Jaguars.

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Speaker 1: They brought me in. They thought it was a pretty

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Speaker 1: good opportunity for myself and for the team to engage in. UH.

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Speaker 1: Just maintaining our relationship, relationship that was developed over eleven

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Speaker 1: year career. Upon retiring, I went away for two years,

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Speaker 1: but upon retiring, I came back to retire as a

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Speaker 1: Jacksonville Jaguar uh In A year after that, I was

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Speaker 1: inducted into the Jaguars Ring of Honor, which was called

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Speaker 1: the Pride of the Jaguars and and since then I

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Speaker 1: was contracted by the team to host a postgame radio

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Speaker 1: show as well as a in stadium, game day live analysis,

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Speaker 1: uh set for the team, and that's really kept me

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Speaker 1: close to the team. I get to engage with the

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Speaker 1: current players. I have an opportunity to also ming go

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Speaker 1: and meet with former players and a lot of my

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Speaker 1: former teammates. So it's still things still remain and feel

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Speaker 1: like the locker room in the camaraderie just returns when

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Speaker 1: when I see all of those guys. Sours a huge

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Speaker 1: alumni base uh locally there in Jacksonville, and that part

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Speaker 1: for me is great. You know. It just keeps me

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Speaker 1: active and one supporting the team and and really just

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Speaker 1: being able to talk to the guys about what they're

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Speaker 1: doing and share old stories and old memories and I

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Speaker 1: think from a health standpoint, keeping that sharp mind and

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Speaker 1: and and focus and learning about what other guys have

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Speaker 1: going on. You know, it just keeps me focused and

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Speaker 1: realizing that I'll always have a support system and the

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Speaker 1: brotherhood that that bond that we shared, you know that

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Speaker 1: that will forever remain. So staying close to the Jaguars

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Speaker 1: has afforded me that opportunity and and also in the

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Speaker 1: community locally, I'm able to with my foundation. I've I've

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Speaker 1: engaged with a few elementary schools there and we've given

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Speaker 1: back with reading programs and have provided you know, backpacks

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Speaker 1: and books and uh shoes for the kids and things

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Speaker 1: of that sort. So going out in the community, whether

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Speaker 1: it's with my foundation or simply just being out there

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Speaker 1: for a team request that Jack Jaguars charity, just engaging

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Speaker 1: with the fans, you know, always being available to sign autographs,

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Speaker 1: take photos. It's for me. It's about the little things

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Speaker 1: you can do to try and put a big smile

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Speaker 1: on someone's face. So that's what I've been doing lately

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Speaker 1: in the Jaguars market locally there but abroad here in

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Speaker 1: the UK. I've been fortunate and blessed to to come

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Speaker 1: here for several years now, I want to say this,

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Speaker 1: maybe years seven, Uh, just coming over and I've seen

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Speaker 1: a lot grow, you know. I've seen the locals undertake

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Speaker 1: the underdog mentality where they cheer and they love the underdog,

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Speaker 1: and in which the Jaguars have come over here several

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Speaker 1: times as the underdog and uh. And for me being

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Speaker 1: able to embrace and engage, you know, with those fans

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Speaker 1: and visit a lot of the local pubs and being

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Speaker 1: able to meet a lot of the dignitaries and uh,

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Speaker 1: members of parliament. Uh. It's a blessing in disguise and

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Speaker 1: something growing up I never would have imagine in a

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Speaker 1: million years. So the NFL has afforded me a lot

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Speaker 1: of opportunities post career, well throughout my career and my

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Speaker 1: playing time, but even more uh in my post career,

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Speaker 1: and I've learned more than anything that the life is

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Speaker 1: about relationships. You know. It's the people you keep close,

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Speaker 1: the true natural relationships. And as a player, we can

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Speaker 1: get so caught up and and and our priority, which

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Speaker 1: is the wind ball games, because the NFL is such

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Speaker 1: a business, we can get caught up in. It's it's

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Speaker 1: just a focus, mindset and mentality that we forget about

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Speaker 1: that that the relationships that we could develop and grow

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Speaker 1: over those years. And at some point that light goes

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Speaker 1: on in your head where you say, you know what,

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Speaker 1: I can't leave these relationships behind because they're gonna last

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Speaker 1: a lifetime. So for me, I've was able to develop

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Speaker 1: those relationships where they were able to help me in

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Speaker 1: the local community now and now abroad they're able to

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Speaker 1: help me over here and see a lot of the

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Speaker 1: same people that I've met years ago. Here that when

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Speaker 1: I see them, you know, a smile instantly comes to

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Speaker 1: my face, and the same with them. Uh. Just embracing

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Speaker 1: a lot of the same fans that show up at

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Speaker 1: the Jaguars Pub, which I'll see you on Saturday, which

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Speaker 1: will be a great event. And there there are so

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Speaker 1: many great events here and it's it's been a blessing.

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Speaker 1: It's been a true blessing, and I want to be

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Speaker 1: a part of it as long as I can, uh

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Speaker 1: in supporting the legend community one part of it, and

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Speaker 1: also supporting the Jaguars and being an ambassador in the

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Speaker 1: face for them. It's been great. And so you have

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Speaker 1: you have some hardcore fans that are here, much like

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Speaker 1: in the States. You have a small group initially that

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Speaker 1: I met that were very hardcore. They will know the

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Speaker 1: game inside out much like they were out there playing.

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Speaker 1: And then you have, much like a few people back

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Speaker 1: in the States, you will have certain fans that just

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Speaker 1: didn't quite get certain things that were going on down

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Speaker 1: on the field or being abroad. I should say, the pitch, uh,

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Speaker 1: something that I learned while being here, but I can

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Speaker 1: honestly say that over the years. Well, actually, let me

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Speaker 1: reverse going back a few years, you would see multiple jersey,

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Speaker 1: multiple team jerseys in the stadium, no matter what team

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Speaker 1: was out there playing. You will see support for every

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Speaker 1: NFL organization in forms of the jerseys that the fans

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Speaker 1: were wearing and the teams that they would support, so

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Speaker 1: they would have a favorite team. UH. The fans here,

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Speaker 1: what I noticed early on was one they would always

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Speaker 1: embrace the underdog, and that has always been a theme,

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Speaker 1: even before the Jaguars started playing here me have an

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Speaker 1: opportunity to see other teams that were here, they embraced

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Speaker 1: the underdog first and foremost. Initially they would cheer off Q,

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Speaker 1: not necessarily knowing when the cheer what team to cheer for,

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Speaker 1: and it was it was a decent amount of fans.

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Speaker 1: But now I can honestly say, as the the game

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Speaker 1: has been here, you know, it's grown from one game

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Speaker 1: to two and now three games a year here across

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Speaker 1: the Pond, it's it's it's been, I mean amazing. The

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Speaker 1: fans know exactly what they're looking at, they know what

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Speaker 1: they're cheering, They support the team that naturally they want

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Speaker 1: to support. You still see every single NFL UH jersey

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Speaker 1: in the stadium on game day. Prior to the game.

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Speaker 1: If you tellgate back in the States, the tailgating here

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Speaker 1: is amazing. Uh No. I had an opportunity to experience

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Speaker 1: about sixty thou fans four or five hours before kickoff

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Speaker 1: outside Wimbley, and that's something you don't see in the States.

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Speaker 1: So that's the one up that they have here that

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Speaker 1: over the fans back in the US. And they really

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Speaker 1: really embraced the players, they embraced the NFL, and I

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Speaker 1: think the growth here has probably exceeded expectations because I

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Speaker 1: think the fans here sincerely loved the game. I also

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Speaker 1: noticed that when the tickets go live, they're usually sold

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Speaker 1: out within hours, which is great for the fans. Not

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Speaker 1: every fan, because some people aren't able to get tickets,

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Speaker 1: but it's a great thing for are the fans that

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Speaker 1: are able to, and also great for the NFL. This

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Speaker 1: has been the NFL Legends podcast. To provide feedback or

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Speaker 1: request a topic for discussion, email us at NFL Legends

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Speaker 1: at NFL dot com. H