Speaker 1: Are you ready for this? Jean Merriman a one hand effect.
Speaker 1: Boom boom boom, out go the lights. This is Lights
Speaker 1: Out with Sean Merriman. What's up? Guys were back again
Speaker 1: with another Lights out podcast and me Sean Merriman and Uh.
Speaker 1: We got a treatment one of my former teammates for
Speaker 1: a short period of time. But we got some pretty
Speaker 1: funny stories. And I'll bring up a bar bar mill
Speaker 1: Um and also the host of American Ninja Warrior, which
Speaker 1: I appeared for a short period of time on UH
Speaker 1: and it didn't go so well. I'll just say that
Speaker 1: it didn't go so well, but I tried it. I
Speaker 1: had a good time. Um, but I think we will
Speaker 1: will get into that a little bit. So Bar, I
Speaker 1: don't know if it's true or not. So when I
Speaker 1: got to spend in two thousand and six, you came in.
Speaker 1: Did you officially get vetted at that time? Actually I
Speaker 1: did so because you need you needed four years to
Speaker 1: Actually I owe you a lot. Actually I don't want
Speaker 1: to tell people. So I got to spend it in
Speaker 1: two thousand six. Everybody to know what for. And so
Speaker 1: I was out. I've gone four games and out ball
Speaker 1: came in and he came in. And when you play
Speaker 1: in the the NFL for a certain period of time, you
Speaker 1: get vetted after a certain money. It wasn't four years. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you needed four years to get that that that vet card,
Speaker 1: so um, and you know that's all the you know,
Speaker 1: the pension and all of that stuff. So getting that
Speaker 1: allowed me to get that fourth year. So I was
Speaker 1: super grateful because as you know, two thousand six, so
Speaker 1: I came in, I was with you know, through the
Speaker 1: UH through summer training camp, got cut and released, and
Speaker 1: then came back again four us I think it was
Speaker 1: six games that I came back for because I think
Speaker 1: you and I crossed over for a little bit again,
Speaker 1: So it was a total of six weeks. And I
Speaker 1: was like, man, that was a blessing. That was a
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty six thousand dollars under fifty six thousand
Speaker 1: dollars that I didn't have, because I remember I set
Speaker 1: out all of five. So I went oh three oh
Speaker 1: four with the Raiders, sat out all of oh five,
Speaker 1: showed up randomly to the charges facility in December of
Speaker 1: two thousand and five and ran into Marty in the
Speaker 1: in the in the and right in the entry way
Speaker 1: right where Georgette desk was and I asked for a
Speaker 1: job on the spot and he kind of looked at
Speaker 1: me like, all right, you know what, let me let
Speaker 1: me talk to the scouting department. And that's how I
Speaker 1: ended up on the team. That's crazy, man, because you know,
Speaker 1: I look back on it and even when somebody asked
Speaker 1: asked me about the planned days and things like that,
Speaker 1: like at that time, everything's moving so damn fast, right,
Speaker 1: and you don't really get even get a chance to
Speaker 1: enjoy the moment. Like I look back on the now
Speaker 1: and being outside the locker room, and I'm like, damn,
Speaker 1: you know I missed such and such, you know, being
Speaker 1: a clown in the locker room where you've been. You know,
Speaker 1: everything's moving so fast. You never get a chance to
Speaker 1: like enjoy certain moments at certain times. And you look
Speaker 1: back on it, you need to know almost that sense
Speaker 1: step away from it so you can kind of sit
Speaker 1: back and like, damn and that was cool. Yeah, you know.
Speaker 1: I think what happens is that we we have this
Speaker 1: model that we live by in the locker room, like
Speaker 1: this is that moment, this is that time. The coaches,
Speaker 1: you know, the coach is always like you know, what
Speaker 1: else are you gonna make this type of living? And
Speaker 1: you know this has gotta be your number one focus.
Speaker 1: So players are just you know, all in, and then
Speaker 1: I think what ends up happening. You're so serious about it,
Speaker 1: you forget that it's a child's game still, um, even
Speaker 1: though you got grown men playing it. And you look
Speaker 1: back and you reminisce kind of like that song you know,
Speaker 1: you know, back in the days when I was young.
Speaker 1: A yeah, But then you sit back and you wish
Speaker 1: that you had those moments again, Like I missed those
Speaker 1: times with you, Coop and you know, sp and coach
Speaker 1: Monusky going you know in the like those were some
Speaker 1: good times. But you're so I gotta make the team
Speaker 1: in you know. You know, for you, you would just
Speaker 1: signed I think it it was oh six, maye oh five.
Speaker 1: You would just signed a big contract. And I remember that,
Speaker 1: and I just remember the feel of that, like that
Speaker 1: was a life for me as a just slightly older
Speaker 1: than you. You know, I'm sitting back and you're seeing
Speaker 1: the young man's life change like and those things. For me,
Speaker 1: I've always been this way. I've always been happy for
Speaker 1: other other people in their success. So it's cool to
Speaker 1: see people have that type of that change in the
Speaker 1: in their life, you know, so you look back on
Speaker 1: it and and I think we talked about a little
Speaker 1: bit on the phone about guys transitioning right and trying
Speaker 1: to trying to figure out like the next thing to do.
Speaker 1: And I'll tell anybody that I talked to, especially when
Speaker 1: they're about to be retired, like I just talked with
Speaker 1: Antonio Gates. I talked with a bunch of guys and
Speaker 1: they always always asked me, what is it like? And
Speaker 1: I said, dude, the first year or two you're gonna struggle.
Speaker 1: I don't care if you got stuff lined up. You know,
Speaker 1: I went straight into TV. You wentn't straight into TV
Speaker 1: and was doing that side. But I still when I
Speaker 1: got off set and I got done out the gym,
Speaker 1: I still felt empty in certain ways because that competition,
Speaker 1: that schedule wasn't there. How was that transition period for you? Man? Like,
Speaker 1: because you jump right in the you know, on the
Speaker 1: on screen and start doing your things. Well, it took
Speaker 1: me a couple of years before I kind of found
Speaker 1: my footing. But you know, I liken it to those
Speaker 1: who kind of like I don't get it because for
Speaker 1: those who have never played professional sports, they may not
Speaker 1: get it like you. People see athletes as you make
Speaker 1: millions of dollars, like you should be happy take the
Speaker 1: money away, just like let's not bring money into play.
Speaker 1: I would like it for the young folks listening to
Speaker 1: think of. Imagine if you're all tied up in your
Speaker 1: social media and you've got a hundred thousand followers and
Speaker 1: all of a sudden you lose fifty three thousand followers.
Speaker 1: When you wake up the next day, you're gonna be like,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, what happened? And you're and you don't like,
Speaker 1: what did I do? And you're you're trying to figure
Speaker 1: out and readjust because you're certain you're used to a
Speaker 1: certain type of engagement. Well, it's the same thing that
Speaker 1: happened in the NFL. Players. You walk in and you're
Speaker 1: living this life with fifty three other or fifty two
Speaker 1: other people, and then just like that, that fifty three
Speaker 1: man roster you no longer have access to and to me.
Speaker 1: And this is gonna sound funny, but athletes in that
Speaker 1: locker room are really no different than groupies because the
Speaker 1: relationship is really lead you know, Uh, how should I
Speaker 1: say that? It's conditional, right, the relationship is conditional. It
Speaker 1: feels like you have a brother. It's as if your
Speaker 1: brother or your sister isn't really your brother says, it's conditional.
Speaker 1: As long as you're in this house, you're my brother.
Speaker 1: But the minute you leave, you're not. So the access
Speaker 1: that I had to the locker room and say, oh yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: let's hang out come to the house. The minute you out,
Speaker 1: you don't have that access. Nobody wants to be around you.
Speaker 1: It's almost like you've got you know, leprosy or COVID
Speaker 1: or something. You know, nobody nobody wants to hang out
Speaker 1: with you. And that that's the part that I think
Speaker 1: puts people into this identity crisis. I would I would
Speaker 1: just I would just say what I was about to say.
Speaker 1: People struggle with hav an identity, especially when you don't
Speaker 1: have other stuff going on, Like that's you identified by
Speaker 1: a football player. You're identified by what you do and
Speaker 1: that's what people know the way you and I can't
Speaker 1: shake it. You'll never be able to shake it, by
Speaker 1: the way, because I see how you work out. But
Speaker 1: your size alone will make people how can you not playing?
Speaker 1: Like how many times have you gotten that since you retired, Like,
Speaker 1: how can you not still like you just just do it?
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, and you're like, no, I'm no longer that
Speaker 1: person and you can never shake that or not never,
Speaker 1: but it's hard to shake that off. And so it was,
Speaker 1: you know, two years before I jumped into media. Those
Speaker 1: two years were in I mean, they were tough, and
Speaker 1: I was just like I thought I was a nobody.
Speaker 1: That's what I felt like on the inside. And that
Speaker 1: sucks when you feel like you're nobody, but you've accomplished
Speaker 1: so much, so I think the perspective is just jacked up.
Speaker 1: And then who do you talk to? You can't go
Speaker 1: talk to the guy that you just spent you know
Speaker 1: too three years with because he's playing and he don't
Speaker 1: want to deal with you because you're on the out right.
Speaker 1: Who do you go to? You talk to your friends,
Speaker 1: They can't relate to you because you made millions, you know,
Speaker 1: so you stuck. You're just like nobody wants to talk.
Speaker 1: The first thing anybody want to say is, oh, you
Speaker 1: made millions of dollars. You don't understand like where I'm coming,
Speaker 1: Like I see I see people all the time. Even
Speaker 1: when you see um, you know, certain guys get injured,
Speaker 1: but they got a guaranteed contract, right, So like, why
Speaker 1: is he mad he's hurt? He just he making ten millionisies.
Speaker 1: No matter what's it. That doesn't matter to some guys.
Speaker 1: Like when that part of you is taken away is different.
Speaker 1: And also you know when you when you start talking
Speaker 1: about the identity crisis part of it. You know, guys,
Speaker 1: even if you're doing something else, the money is different.
Speaker 1: And I know it's one thing you said, uh, and
Speaker 1: I just recently seen that. I don't know where it was.
Speaker 1: I forgot where I've seen that, but you were talking
Speaker 1: about being the place of the black superman for uh
Speaker 1: financial people in the community. And and I and I
Speaker 1: called you because I didn't know, I knew I thought
Speaker 1: I knew what you meant, but I didn't know what
Speaker 1: it meant until I until we talked on the phone.
Speaker 1: Well so, yeah, after I made that transition and started
Speaker 1: to get going, and my my career took off. It
Speaker 1: took a long time before it took off, but it did.
Speaker 1: And once I got to a certain point, and again,
Speaker 1: you know, I've made more money, um in in my
Speaker 1: post career that I made in my career and the
Speaker 1: access that you get to the financial advisors and the
Speaker 1: people that just want to be around you and so
Speaker 1: on and so forth. And you look at the wealth
Speaker 1: the gap, the wealth gap bet for racist and you
Speaker 1: look at African American is to white counterparts, and you
Speaker 1: see there's a huge racial wealth gap in this country.
Speaker 1: And I just wish that there was something that I
Speaker 1: could do to be able to help uh to close
Speaker 1: that gap. And I think a lot of that has
Speaker 1: to come down to, you know, just opportunity, literacy. When
Speaker 1: I say literacy, most people get off like, what do
Speaker 1: you mean, we're you know, it's just what you know
Speaker 1: about the financial world. I have people who are very
Speaker 1: very close to me who the highest level of you know,
Speaker 1: finances that they understand it is perhaps a CD. And
Speaker 1: the minute you try to maybe exposed to more, there's
Speaker 1: just resistance and you're trying to fight and it's like hell,
Speaker 1: Like I've actually been exposed to these things, and I'd
Speaker 1: love to share it with you to be able to
Speaker 1: grow because I think now more than ever, there's so
Speaker 1: many different avenues to be able to get access to investing.
Speaker 1: Investing is you know, investing is the quickest way to
Speaker 1: build your your your wealth, right, and it's is having
Speaker 1: to access to capital that's really I think we're talking
Speaker 1: about the wealth gap. It's not like, yeah, of course
Speaker 1: is we can bring a rac and stuff all that
Speaker 1: all day, but I think it's really comes down to
Speaker 1: having the access to capital. I mean, there's a bunch
Speaker 1: of great businesses out here, especially black owned businesses, and
Speaker 1: good good things, but you don't even know how to
Speaker 1: get to the money. You don't even you don't even understand,
Speaker 1: like what. And I always that was my biggest problem, right,
Speaker 1: so I can't you know, I retired, I had some
Speaker 1: money in the bank, I was good, and I was
Speaker 1: doing other stuff and I was making even more money.
Speaker 1: But even then I had a problem with trying to
Speaker 1: ask an investor for something that's calling for for my
Speaker 1: light's out of polding brand, right, I'm in eight stores.
Speaker 1: I was funding everything myself when I retired, because I
Speaker 1: just I felt a certain way about asking for money,
Speaker 1: asking for capital, because my whole entire life, especially my
Speaker 1: whole entire adult life, has been me providing for everyone else.
Speaker 1: So I felt I felt weird. I felt weird even
Speaker 1: asking for money, and I so my first I'm never
Speaker 1: forgetting my first retail stores at the bank off the
Speaker 1: that was uh, you know, was in units to a
Speaker 1: retail store that was in um in the south part
Speaker 1: of the country, in the southeast part of the country. Um.
Speaker 1: And you're talking about seventy but maybe seventy five thousand
Speaker 1: or a hundred thousand dollars out of my pocket. Now
Speaker 1: a lot of these places don't uh, they do like
Speaker 1: a net thirty on net forty five, some of them
Speaker 1: a net sixty. So now I'm I'm out a hundred
Speaker 1: thousand dollars for sixty days and my own money. And
Speaker 1: so when I started to understand and learn how to
Speaker 1: ask for capital and sit down with people, uh and
Speaker 1: and and and show them that this is something you
Speaker 1: should invest in, I got a great business. I it
Speaker 1: took me years to feel comfortable to sit down and
Speaker 1: act for capital because my whole entire life, everybody was
Speaker 1: depending on me. So that has a lot to do
Speaker 1: again with literacy, like I was going back and forth
Speaker 1: on So that's why I say that about literally, because
Speaker 1: it's not about being dumb. It's it's it's that was
Speaker 1: that's so that's illiterate in a way, it's an education process.
Speaker 1: We all have it. I have it. I'm not I'm
Speaker 1: no expert, right, I'm just but the more information that
Speaker 1: I get, it's just like I'm the type of person
Speaker 1: that if I get something, I want to hook the
Speaker 1: next person up, Like, Yo, I got this, let me
Speaker 1: show you this, Like just basic basic levels of investments.
Speaker 1: No matter if you have ten thousand dollars, five thousand
Speaker 1: dollars in the bank, or a million dollars in the bank,
Speaker 1: you could have that. I mean, how many players do
Speaker 1: we know that came You know, a lot of us
Speaker 1: came from the same type of background they got. I
Speaker 1: remember this one guy player that I played with had
Speaker 1: four million dollars sitting in a checking account. What bro Like,
Speaker 1: hold on, let me, let me, let me, let me
Speaker 1: talk to you all of a sudden. I'm not trying
Speaker 1: to shame you, but you know how much money this
Speaker 1: four million by itself can produce for you. That's the
Speaker 1: type of stuff. And people always want to say, oh,
Speaker 1: athletes are dumb. No, it's not a it's not an
Speaker 1: athlete thing. Where in our formal education do we ever
Speaker 1: learn about finances? Right, We've been groomed the entire educational
Speaker 1: system grooms us to make money, but never grooms us
Speaker 1: to take care of money to be able to learn
Speaker 1: those things. So it is a to me athletes are
Speaker 1: only a microcosm of the world. The same thing you
Speaker 1: see in the locker room is the same thing that
Speaker 1: happens outside of the locker room. Excuse me, but we
Speaker 1: get the most amount of attention because we make the
Speaker 1: most amount of money, and so we're then demonized for
Speaker 1: our inability to you know, to educate or whatever. So anyways,
Speaker 1: if I could do it, I would love to be
Speaker 1: the black financial Superman and go into each and every
Speaker 1: neighborhood and show people exactly how to do it, turn
Speaker 1: ten thousand into fifty thousand and build from there. Fox
Speaker 1: Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation.
Speaker 1: Catch all of our shows at Fox sports Radio dot
Speaker 1: com and within the I Heart Radio app search f
Speaker 1: s R to listen live. You know, it's funny. It's
Speaker 1: funny you said that because at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: you never really stopped learning. There's so many things when
Speaker 1: it comes through taxes, so many, so many different you know,
Speaker 1: I'm even now, I'm still and I know so much
Speaker 1: and I'm around uh so many wealthy people. So when
Speaker 1: you sit down, the starts talking about him and they say, oh,
Speaker 1: you can do this or you can do that. This
Speaker 1: is what I do. And I'm like, really, what, hey know?
Speaker 1: I got I tax guys, I have attorneys, I have
Speaker 1: financial you know, I have a team. But it's also learning.
Speaker 1: You know, somebody instead of taking a point out of
Speaker 1: your you know, portfolio, they should be taking half a
Speaker 1: point or point you know. So just little things just
Speaker 1: sitting around and you're like, what the hell is going on?
Speaker 1: And you constantly finding things out and so for that,
Speaker 1: you know, that's humbling learning hearing that from you, Because
Speaker 1: I still remember walking down the strand um in in
Speaker 1: San Diego, and I'll never forget I saw this black
Speaker 1: construction um little thing on the fence and it said
Speaker 1: lights out construction. I'm going this guy's baby Magic Johnson
Speaker 1: over here. I mean this it's got lights out construction.
Speaker 1: But you you of anyone, and I remember, you know,
Speaker 1: when we're locking on, we would have some conversations and
Speaker 1: I just thought for you, like the your ability to
Speaker 1: be able to know that you were bigger your brand,
Speaker 1: you had brand awareness before you actually had the crash. Course,
Speaker 1: like you created your own like your own essentially lesson planned,
Speaker 1: and you started to you know, I'm sure you took
Speaker 1: your lumps, like you talked about, but the fact that
Speaker 1: you had to wherewithal at twenty seven years old to
Speaker 1: have a company, a construction company, and then to have
Speaker 1: a T shirt company, and you had all these different
Speaker 1: things going on. I was like, man, good on you.
Speaker 1: And I remember here is some of the chatter like, oh,
Speaker 1: he's doing too much. And I remember there's somebody that
Speaker 1: I kind of was eavesdropping and trying to compare you
Speaker 1: to Marcellus Wiley and saying that you had too much
Speaker 1: going on and you weren't focused on football. It was
Speaker 1: it was actually it was an article in the and
Speaker 1: and uh Union tribute and A. J. Smith is one
Speaker 1: of who who said that in the Union and it
Speaker 1: piste me off. And I'll tell you why it did,
Speaker 1: because essentially it was trying to put you in this
Speaker 1: place and saying I don't want you to learn anything
Speaker 1: else but football, and then when you leave here whatever,
Speaker 1: I'm like, hold on, why shouldn't because the biggest platform
Speaker 1: you have is when you are not the biggest, but
Speaker 1: it is a you would be silly not to utilize
Speaker 1: the platform of being a professional player. I tell players
Speaker 1: this all the time. I go when you, I don't
Speaker 1: care if you're the man on the roster or the
Speaker 1: top guy on the roster. If you say, hey, I
Speaker 1: played for the Los Angeles Chargers, I'd like to meet
Speaker 1: with the CEO from whatever company. Chances are you're gonna
Speaker 1: get that meeting that you'd be one day removed from
Speaker 1: that roster. And see how long it takes you to
Speaker 1: get that meeting. You see how long it takes you
Speaker 1: to get that meeting. So so for someone to say
Speaker 1: in the front office that you shouldn't do these things
Speaker 1: and you're not focused on it, it was a way
Speaker 1: to shame you, to put you in your place. And
Speaker 1: I love how you still stayed above it. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: you and you have to it. I tell guys all
Speaker 1: the time, especially and for me, the reason why I
Speaker 1: really started to turn it on and get that way.
Speaker 1: I've always had that, but it was the first big
Speaker 1: injury I have when I missed two thousand and eight.
Speaker 1: When that happened, I said, hold on, I'm not superman,
Speaker 1: like this thing could be over for me. Because I
Speaker 1: never at that point have I ever missed any extended
Speaker 1: period of time in my life. And so I'm sitting around.
Speaker 1: I'm sitting around, and you know, you go to rehab,
Speaker 1: you work out, and and you try to be a
Speaker 1: part of the team as much as possible. But at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, you start realizing what normal
Speaker 1: life is, you know, a couple hours a day and
Speaker 1: then you're done. And so at that point I really
Speaker 1: started kind of turning on and put on this this
Speaker 1: hat that man, this thing is could be over any
Speaker 1: given day. So I turned it onto another notch. And
Speaker 1: so that's why I wanted to ask you about because
Speaker 1: you know, normally a lot of guys when they get
Speaker 1: done with UH, with their with football, especially, they to
Speaker 1: go coach or do something around the game. You got
Speaker 1: into the American, which my favorite mane American and Ninja woya.
Speaker 1: How now, how did that happen? Do they have you
Speaker 1: to come out in audition or like, who reached out?
Speaker 1: Who gave you the idea to go and do that? Yeah,
Speaker 1: So I'll take you through a quick little timeline. So
Speaker 1: after I got done, I went to UH the local
Speaker 1: you remember Jim Laslavic in San Diego, And I went
Speaker 1: to the k NBC down in San Diego, local San
Speaker 1: Diego station, and I knocked on the door and I said, Hey,
Speaker 1: can I do the post game for the Chargers and
Speaker 1: the Aztecs. They're like yeah, and I said, I'll do
Speaker 1: it for free, but in turn, you guys will give
Speaker 1: me my take so I could learn. Because I knew
Speaker 1: I didn't have a big enough name, like I didn't
Speaker 1: have a name like my brother, So no one's just
Speaker 1: gonna go, yeah, you can cop on television because you know,
Speaker 1: I was a no name guy, right, So I had
Speaker 1: to create my own, you know, value. So I did
Speaker 1: that locally in a small market, grew that. That led
Speaker 1: to me calling UM college football games for CBS College
Speaker 1: Sports for twenty six thousand dollars a year. The next
Speaker 1: year I made twenty eight thousand, five hundred. The third year,
Speaker 1: I signed with NBC Sports which just changed from Versus
Speaker 1: to NBC Sports UM, and then I started doing the
Speaker 1: Pack twelve at that time. That was the first year
Speaker 1: Pack twelve, uh, making thirty five thousand dollars a year,
Speaker 1: and then I get the job at the Inn. In fact,
Speaker 1: before then, there's a gap in between. I actually took
Speaker 1: a year off to sell artificial turf because at that
Speaker 1: time I had left the NFL. And I wrote this
Speaker 1: in my book, Everyone Can Be a Ninja. I had
Speaker 1: left the NFL with three hundred thousand dollars to my name.
Speaker 1: That was it, That's all I had. I got down
Speaker 1: to my last forty thousand dollars and I'm like, oh shoot.
Speaker 1: My wife was like, you know, like, are you chasing
Speaker 1: a pipe dream like this? This? You know? So I said,
Speaker 1: you know, let me sell this turf for seventy thousand
Speaker 1: dollars a year. I did that for a little bit,
Speaker 1: but it just it took me a long time. And
Speaker 1: then all of a sudden, I got this audition call
Speaker 1: for the NFL Network NFL Network in two thousand twelve.
Speaker 1: Somebody saw me, say you should audition for American Ninja Warrior.
Speaker 1: And at that time I had gone out on a
Speaker 1: hundred auditions, and everybody says, oh, yeah, we liked you,
Speaker 1: but you know, we decided to go a different direction.
Speaker 1: So when I walked into the audition for American Ninja Warrior,
Speaker 1: I actually was kind of numb to being rejected. So
Speaker 1: I said, I'm just gonna act to food. I picked
Speaker 1: up the mic, and just started freestyle and like I
Speaker 1: was on w w oh look at him? Go are
Speaker 1: you kidding me? Look at that guy? And I'm just
Speaker 1: having fun. And I walked out and shook everybody's hand.
Speaker 1: Didn't even call my agent and asked if I got it,
Speaker 1: And he called me like a week and a half later,
Speaker 1: he says, hey, congratulations, except for what I forgot that audition. So, uh, congratulations,
Speaker 1: You're the new host, you know, co host of American
Speaker 1: Ninja Warrior, and my just dropped. That was March two thousand,
Speaker 1: two thousand thirteen. And so the crazy part about that is,
Speaker 1: so I remember the episode that I did, and so
Speaker 1: I saw that they were uh, I saw that they
Speaker 1: were doing this, and they had different parts of the
Speaker 1: country they were doing. I don't know it was the
Speaker 1: two thousand six team. Maybe I think you did. You
Speaker 1: came in two thousand, two thousand. I think it was
Speaker 1: the season six of American. It was a couple of
Speaker 1: it was a couple of years after you, after you
Speaker 1: came on, and so you know, I watched the show. No,
Speaker 1: I didn't watch it that much before, but I started
Speaker 1: watching and when you came on there something like you
Speaker 1: know what I'm gonna go and get get this a shot.
Speaker 1: And so they had all these parts of the country,
Speaker 1: but some of the dates didn't match up. The only
Speaker 1: date to match up what I could do it was
Speaker 1: in Denver, was in Colorado, and so I said, you
Speaker 1: know what, I'm gonna go and do that. So I've
Speaker 1: been watching the show. I know the obstacle courseing like,
Speaker 1: I'm strong, I can do this. I played football in
Speaker 1: the NFL. Ain't nobody could tell me Ship, right, so
Speaker 1: something they're like, don't, I'm gonna knock this out. So
Speaker 1: in fact, you know, I started doing uh, I started
Speaker 1: doing a cross fit right because I'm like that was
Speaker 1: the closest. This was when CrossFit was like really getting
Speaker 1: hot or hot at the moment. So I said, you
Speaker 1: know what, I'm gonna go do some cross fit and
Speaker 1: I'm this is the closest thing that I'm gonna get
Speaker 1: to doing American Man Warrior. So I go in there.
Speaker 1: I dropped fifteen pounds. I'm feeling good, right, I mean,
Speaker 1: you couldn't tell me Ship. I know that I'm about
Speaker 1: to go out and kill this course. And I've been
Speaker 1: working out. I feel good and so I get down
Speaker 1: there flying to Denver and I'm standing in the hotel
Speaker 1: and I come out the next day and everybody warming
Speaker 1: up and they got cameras out there, and so for
Speaker 1: the first time, I'm getting nervous, right, So, I'm getting nervous.
Speaker 1: I'm started seeing like people doing some crazy, crazy stuff
Speaker 1: out there. So I'm like, yo, this is crazy. So
Speaker 1: mind you. I got in my head that I did
Speaker 1: I did this cross fit. I'm in shape. I feel good,
Speaker 1: I can do this, do that, do that. And I'm
Speaker 1: doing the interview and in the an interview, an interview,
Speaker 1: somebody else get an interview behind me, and I heard
Speaker 1: somebody said, yeah, man, I just uh, I just finished
Speaker 1: up Ninja school. And I'm like, what Ninja school? What
Speaker 1: what do you they got to school for this? I'm like,
Speaker 1: you know, and people are building out actual stuff and
Speaker 1: they you know, an obstacle course in their backyard, and
Speaker 1: they got gyms like this is for real. I'm getting
Speaker 1: down them everywhere. They got gyms everywhere. So I'm really
Speaker 1: thinking in my head, I'm ready. I'm about to go
Speaker 1: tear this thing up. You can't tell me nothing. I
Speaker 1: played in the NFL. Yeah, y'all know who I am about.
Speaker 1: To get out here and killing this course, right. I
Speaker 1: go in and when he's when I heard Ninja school,
Speaker 1: my heart dropped to my socks. I just knew I
Speaker 1: was in trouble. I go out, and I'm comfortable being
Speaker 1: in front of crowds and stuff like that, when I'm
Speaker 1: not comfortable doing this, failing in front of crowds. So
Speaker 1: I'm getting nervous now. So I go out and my
Speaker 1: heart is raising about the jump clean out of my
Speaker 1: shirt and I go. When I'm going and I'm passed
Speaker 1: the first part, past the second part. I got it.
Speaker 1: I'm goodt yeah, yeah, I'm feeling good. You couldn't. I'm like,
Speaker 1: I'm about to knock all these out. And so the
Speaker 1: third one was when I you run and you jump
Speaker 1: off of the trampoline onto the ropes. Now I'm looking
Speaker 1: at that, that's the easy one for me. In my head.
Speaker 1: I jumped on the trampoline. I forgot that I'm two
Speaker 1: fifty plus at the time. The trampoline touched the bottom
Speaker 1: of the ground and I didn't get high enough to
Speaker 1: get to the ropes. I go and I reached the ropes.
Speaker 1: I'm not there yet. I splash all the way down
Speaker 1: big and then not only that, now my leg is
Speaker 1: caught in the ropes. I'm damn I'm an drown you know,
Speaker 1: not only not only I didn't get to the roles,
Speaker 1: but I got drowned on National TV. Right So I'm
Speaker 1: sitting there thinking like, yo, my life is over. That's it,
Speaker 1: that this is it for me right now. And I
Speaker 1: got up and I was so piste off. At the
Speaker 1: same time, I was glad it was over because I said, man,
Speaker 1: that's that's not built for nobody our size. It's just
Speaker 1: that that type of stuff there is well, I will
Speaker 1: think you season four four camera but here, but that's
Speaker 1: not I did. I did a challenge on MTV with him.
Speaker 1: That dude. It's like like that's what he did. Like
Speaker 1: I haven't had too many shoulder surgeries. And I'm like, no, no,
Speaker 1: I'm good, bro, I'm good. You know, it really isn't.
Speaker 1: Jordan Babano came out, John Ryan, Cameron Wimbley. Uh, And
Speaker 1: we've had a couple other yourself bringing the other I
Speaker 1: am Badajia. He came out, and it's just it's a
Speaker 1: different type of muscle. I got humbled, like I did it,
Speaker 1: but for three months. Yeah, I trained for three months
Speaker 1: and I did two days with the Ninjas because I
Speaker 1: had the same thing you had. I was like, I
Speaker 1: can't fail. And like the day I stepped on that course,
Speaker 1: my heart was beating so fast, Like it was beating
Speaker 1: so fast. I called my brother just to kind of
Speaker 1: give me a pep talk to kind of just calm
Speaker 1: me down, because I'm like, I don't know why I'm
Speaker 1: so deep nervous, but I'm like, I don't. But it's
Speaker 1: the same thing, like I don't want to fell in
Speaker 1: front of all these people because there is a certain
Speaker 1: gloss that you get when you have that title former
Speaker 1: NFL player, no matter how good you know or sorry
Speaker 1: you were in the league, you made pay yeah yeah yeah,
Speaker 1: and you don't want that gloss to be raised. And
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, man, man, when I hit that
Speaker 1: buzzer and I said, and then people ask me, will
Speaker 1: you run again? No, I got lucky to hit that buzzard.
Speaker 1: I'm not doing it again. No. Yeah, now that I'll
Speaker 1: tell him, I will. Yeah. No, that that was one
Speaker 1: of done for me. Dude. I'm like, look, if you
Speaker 1: want to mother me to come out and promote some
Speaker 1: stuff for doing it, but if there's no way I'm
Speaker 1: touching another trampoline in my life. And you know who
Speaker 1: hit me up about that, Aaron Rodgers. Yeah, I wanted
Speaker 1: to do the course. He was like, yeah, he said
Speaker 1: I can't because at the time he and Olivia were
Speaker 1: together and they would watch the show together and he
Speaker 1: was telling me. He was like, man, I can come
Speaker 1: out there. I'd say, yeah, but you you're too expensive,
Speaker 1: like like you cost too much money. I don't think.
Speaker 1: I don't want the packers up on on Ninja Warter,
Speaker 1: But it would be nice to see Eric come out there.
Speaker 1: It'd be crazy if you went out there through a
Speaker 1: hell Mary and just hit that buzzard, that'd be great.
Speaker 1: Oh deal. And all you can think of in your
Speaker 1: head is is like he's doing one of the course
Speaker 1: and then the shoulder slip out, you know on like
Speaker 1: something like that happened that everybody's just gonna pass out.
Speaker 1: You can't even stay in that. So what what's what's
Speaker 1: the next steps? Man? What else you got going on?
Speaker 1: Because I know the pandemic kind of hit hit all
Speaker 1: of us. And did you guys, did you guys shut
Speaker 1: down you you shut down production for a while, right,
Speaker 1: we did? We did. We We were getting ready to
Speaker 1: shoot last March, and we shut it down for like
Speaker 1: four months and then we came back up. But we
Speaker 1: filmed what we call a special season, season twelve. We
Speaker 1: shot eight episodes, so it's a special season. We created
Speaker 1: a Ninja bubble. We're getting ready to go back into production.
Speaker 1: We'll have another uh like you know, it's a reduced season.
Speaker 1: It won't be the same full thing, but it's the
Speaker 1: same protocol where we will have the Ninja bubble to
Speaker 1: kind of protect everybody. We didn't have any incidents last year.
Speaker 1: Hopen to again have that same type of thing going
Speaker 1: on this year. Of course there's like vaccines and stuff
Speaker 1: like that being pumped out, but yeah, I'm excited about that.
Speaker 1: And for me, like you know, people ask me all
Speaker 1: the time, what's next, I'm just I'm very happy where
Speaker 1: I am right now, just doing the Ninja thing. Being
Speaker 1: a father's been a lot of time at home and
Speaker 1: that's been the silver lining, is just being able to
Speaker 1: be at home, be more involved with the kids, um
Speaker 1: instead of just you know, jet jet setting across the country.
Speaker 1: Taking the advantage of all the different opportunities. But I
Speaker 1: think for this, I mean, if if anything next, I
Speaker 1: probably want to stay in the game, the game show
Speaker 1: family and kind of do that. I've talked to Michael.
Speaker 1: Michael's done, you know, straight hand has done an amazing
Speaker 1: job of really I mean he is like that that
Speaker 1: blueprint if you want to take that to the next
Speaker 1: step exactly hundred percent. Man, Well, look, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Due for coming on. Um. You know, we talked a
Speaker 1: little bit earlier just just off about some of the
Speaker 1: stuff we've got going on. We we gotta figure somebody
Speaker 1: at some point in time to uh, you know, maybe
Speaker 1: create a show, will come up with some good content somewhere. Man.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm I'm down for it. But I do have
Speaker 1: a question for you because I gotta keep it real
Speaker 1: like as I trained. I got you know, Jim here
Speaker 1: at the house, and I'm just you know, trying to
Speaker 1: stay in shape and whatever. I'm starting of feeling because
Speaker 1: I'm not mistaking you with your thirties seven? Do you yeah,
Speaker 1: we're both may I made six your matekay? Yeah? Yeah,
Speaker 1: So so be honest. Do you feel because you played
Speaker 1: at a high level now impact everything when you go
Speaker 1: for a jog, when you go to sprint, do you
Speaker 1: feel it in your joints or you feel nothing at thirty.
Speaker 1: My my lower body's fine. My knees and I had
Speaker 1: the knee and I had the achilles. If anything, I
Speaker 1: would say lingers that I feel probably the most in here.
Speaker 1: And there is my shoulder, right my. I have shoulder stuff.
Speaker 1: And obviously you know, once you have surgery, you lose
Speaker 1: a couple of degrees in your range and that stuff
Speaker 1: like that. So it's a constant. I still get. I
Speaker 1: still get therapy. I said, can rehab, you know, once
Speaker 1: once a week or once every other week, to just
Speaker 1: go in there and and and and clean everything out
Speaker 1: my shoulders, make sure I can keep my range, because
Speaker 1: I'll tell anybody this. And and when you were tired
Speaker 1: from anything as brutal as we did that it becomes
Speaker 1: a lifelong thing. Like you can't just stop this thing
Speaker 1: is I'm getting rehab and therapy for the rest of
Speaker 1: my life. It's just it is what it is. But
Speaker 1: also it allows me to go out and I still
Speaker 1: spar man like that'spar today, you know, I think, you know,
Speaker 1: so on on that part of it, I feel great.
Speaker 1: On that part of it. I feel then I'm blessed
Speaker 1: enough to still do what I what I do, and
Speaker 1: I can scrap, and I like to scrap because it
Speaker 1: keeps me violence. That keeps me saying, it keeps me even.
Speaker 1: But yeah, man, I got my days. I used to
Speaker 1: think because I'm from christiaw I was like, shoot, man,
Speaker 1: if lights come up talking some mess, man, I take
Speaker 1: them mom from the hood. Now I'm not evenna lie dog.
Speaker 1: When I see the only thing, I was like, I
Speaker 1: will never fight him. All that stuff you're doing in
Speaker 1: an octagon and I'm like, no, if you come up
Speaker 1: to me ask me for my car, Like yo, man,
Speaker 1: happy birthday, it's me and you know how it is.
Speaker 1: And everybody because we had so we had so much
Speaker 1: of a competitive spirit that once that take is taken
Speaker 1: away from you, you're like still trying to find that itch.
Speaker 1: You're still trying to So for me, I'll go and
Speaker 1: spar too. Three days, I'll train some type of mmy
Speaker 1: or something three four days a week. I'll still hit
Speaker 1: the weights. I'll do different stuff. But that, to me
Speaker 1: is is my way of still staying competitive and kind
Speaker 1: of keeping the violence and the good body are for
Speaker 1: you ten million dollars right now to step in the ring,
Speaker 1: not with the biggest fighter right now. But you know,
Speaker 1: maybe you have like your lights out circuit and they say, hey,
Speaker 1: look we're gonna do look kind of like what they
Speaker 1: did with that Tyson celebrity thing for big money? Do
Speaker 1: you step in on a national platform right like you know,
Speaker 1: direct TV, whatever, pay per view? Would you step in
Speaker 1: the ring for ten million dollars? I'll do it with
Speaker 1: Logan Paul, I'll do it for way less. Wait, okay,
Speaker 1: would you get in a ring with Logan Paul? Easy?
Speaker 1: But I wouldn't even I wouldn't even do that to Logan.
Speaker 1: I'm like, you know what I mean, Like I like
Speaker 1: I like them too much, him and his boy and
Speaker 1: his brother Jake. Now, I like them. So if he
Speaker 1: ever did that, it'll be a big problem and not
Speaker 1: for me. And so you know my and I'm serious
Speaker 1: about that, man, Like for me, Um, it's not I
Speaker 1: hope you know you didn't even blink. You're you're getting
Speaker 1: ready to ask me the next question already. But but
Speaker 1: it's it's the truth. It's the truth because I scraped
Speaker 1: all the time, and these guys I'm going against a
Speaker 1: real guys. I mean ninety guys I trained with are
Speaker 1: all professional, right, and then you got some days you're
Speaker 1: going and you're just getting some work and you're just
Speaker 1: getting a good sweat. You're just going and just working
Speaker 1: with a guy. But you got some guys in the
Speaker 1: gyms I go to, who in the hell not gonna
Speaker 1: want to put hands on Sean Mormon? You know, somebody
Speaker 1: somebody wanna, you know, somebody want to take it to
Speaker 1: that level. But I'm always willing to go there. And
Speaker 1: the fact is, and this is the truth, I'll fight
Speaker 1: somebody right now on side of the seven leven right now.
Speaker 1: The fight isn't the problem. It's the It's the training,
Speaker 1: right It's the It's the two you know, you're getting
Speaker 1: in the camp for eight to ten weeks. It's the training,
Speaker 1: and it's what else I gotta step away from. Like
Speaker 1: I've been talking, I talked to Dana White at least
Speaker 1: three or four times about fighting Greg Hardy. We've talked
Speaker 1: talked at least three or four times. We talked about
Speaker 1: fighting and me fighting in general. But it's not the fight.
Speaker 1: It's the training that is gonna take away. And you're running,
Speaker 1: You're you're running, I mean a big time incorporating me.
Speaker 1: You've got a pretty Obviously you've got the your your
Speaker 1: your clothing brand, but then you've got the whole, you know,
Speaker 1: the fighting thing. Like me, You've you've got a lot
Speaker 1: of things going on, so uh, that would take a lot.
Speaker 1: You'd be like Vince McMahon trying to step out, step
Speaker 1: out and get into the ring. Not to answer your question,
Speaker 1: I whoop Locus asked in like two seconds. But Oka
Speaker 1: and Jake two Jake to Jake, wanted both my love
Speaker 1: you know what. I love him boys death man, they're cool,
Speaker 1: but I put hands no problem. You know that's gonna
Speaker 1: go Virol. You know they're gonna That's fine, that's good,
Speaker 1: but that's it's nothing. I won't pick up the phone
Speaker 1: and tell them. You know that's not it. So you
Speaker 1: know I'm telling it right now. I'm buying. I'm buying
Speaker 1: front Row Sea. Yeah, we'll be in. We'll be in. Man, Hey, dude,
Speaker 1: I appreciate it. I know you've got stuff to do, man,
Speaker 1: so I appreciate you taking a couple of minutes and
Speaker 1: then up. That's definitely let's wrapping and put it together,
Speaker 1: all right, man, Thanks for having Bro. You got him
Speaker 1: any time, any time, Bro, Thank you thanks guys for
Speaker 1: tuning in to another lights Out podcast. Me Sean Merriman.
Speaker 1: And uh, how funny was that story about American and Joya.
Speaker 1: I mean, seriously, how funny? And look I trained for it.
Speaker 1: I did all this cross fit and I lost fifteen
Speaker 1: pounds and I just you couldn't tell me nothing. I'm
Speaker 1: going to just destroy this course. And uh, I took
Speaker 1: a swan dive in the pond. Uh. You guys can
Speaker 1: check that up on YouTube somewhere. But anyway, it was
Speaker 1: great talking to our bar han't talked to him uh
Speaker 1: in some time, at least on camera, and UM talk
Speaker 1: about the transition and how well he's doing and how
Speaker 1: some other guys can find a way to transition, and
Speaker 1: we got it to financial literacy and all. Man, it
Speaker 1: was really good conversation with me. So thank you, guys, always,
Speaker 1: thank you. I appreciate it for listening in. Uh to
Speaker 1: another lights Out podcast. Me Sean Merriman. Don't forget to subscribe.
Speaker 1: Leave those great reviews. I read all the reviews you
Speaker 1: guys leave, so I appreciate that. Next week we're gonna
Speaker 1: fire off another beat.