WEBVTT - Player Storytelling: Michael Vick (Part 1) 0:00:03.200 --> 0:00:07.680 Welcome to the NFL Legends Podcast, an NFL podcast for 0:00:07.800 --> 0:00:13.039 the players, by the players. Here is your host, fourteen 0:00:13.160 --> 0:00:16.240 year NFL veteran and Hall of Famer and Enius Williams. 0:00:20.960 --> 0:00:23.680 Hello and welcome to the nfl a Legends Podcast. I'm 0:00:23.720 --> 0:00:27.920 a Nius Williams. Today we sit down with the incomparable, 0:00:28.400 --> 0:00:32.560 and I can testify to it. I was the victim 0:00:32.680 --> 0:00:36.720 of one of his ships. I promise you I'm in 0:00:36.920 --> 0:00:41.720 this guy's highlight reel. It's none other than a guy 0:00:41.840 --> 0:00:44.120 that I've walked from a distance and have got to 0:00:44.200 --> 0:00:48.600 know just a little but highly respect his story. And 0:00:48.640 --> 0:00:53.360 that's none other than Michael Vick, who I believe today's 0:00:53.520 --> 0:00:59.600 quarterback is really uh Michael uh in the year two 0:00:59.640 --> 0:01:03.360 dollars and twenty. When I think of Pat Mahomes, I 0:01:03.400 --> 0:01:08.840 think of Watson Jackson in Baltimore. When I think of them, 0:01:09.040 --> 0:01:12.120 I think of Michael Vick. The ability to night just 0:01:12.560 --> 0:01:16.520 run with the ball, but the ability to throw the 0:01:16.520 --> 0:01:21.120 ball with precision and depth. So, as we discussed Michael's 0:01:21.160 --> 0:01:25.840 personal journey how it led to his involvement with initiatives 0:01:26.360 --> 0:01:32.440 geared towards combating recidivism, I'm so excited Mike played fifteen 0:01:32.520 --> 0:01:36.160 season at quarterback with the Falcons, Eagles, Jets, and Steelers. 0:01:37.040 --> 0:01:39.959 It was a four time Pro Bowler and the recipient 0:01:40.080 --> 0:01:42.760 of the NFL's Comeback Player of the Year Award. In 0:01:44.480 --> 0:01:49.280 his groundbreaking career forced all of pro football to rethink 0:01:49.320 --> 0:01:53.400 the quarterback position, and his work today continues to challenge 0:01:53.440 --> 0:01:59.320 conventional thought. I'm so excited to have you on, Michael Welcome, 0:01:59.720 --> 0:02:02.720 Thank your niggas. I will say this, man, I always 0:02:02.920 --> 0:02:05.760 judge your interview, you know, at the end by the 0:02:05.800 --> 0:02:09.720 introduction and uh, so far, so good. I really appreciate 0:02:09.760 --> 0:02:13.040 those kind of words. And you can always alleviate the 0:02:13.120 --> 0:02:17.520 juke move um that I put on you and my 0:02:17.639 --> 0:02:20.400 rookie season. You know, you always find a way to 0:02:20.440 --> 0:02:23.240 bring that up, and I appreciate that, man. You helped 0:02:23.320 --> 0:02:25.720 keep me relevant. But hey, look, then is to be 0:02:25.720 --> 0:02:28.560 able to do that against it a great player such 0:02:28.600 --> 0:02:30.840 as yourself. You know, I know you was, you know, 0:02:30.880 --> 0:02:34.720 respectfully older at that time and I was younger. And 0:02:34.760 --> 0:02:36.079 you know how it is when you get them young 0:02:36.120 --> 0:02:38.520 guys in the league and they're fresh man, because I 0:02:38.600 --> 0:02:40.560 was a victim of it when I got older. You know, 0:02:40.680 --> 0:02:43.320 those you never know what could happen to you, man, 0:02:43.360 --> 0:02:45.840 So I appreciate you always paying respect to that moment 0:02:45.840 --> 0:02:48.000 because I don't know if it would happen if if 0:02:48.280 --> 0:02:50.520 men you would have been playing against each other and 0:02:50.600 --> 0:02:52.600 maybe a year two or three of your career, then 0:02:52.639 --> 0:02:57.000 that that would have been a conversation. But thank you well, Michael, 0:02:57.480 --> 0:03:00.440 Happy but lated birthday, by the way, you celebrate birthday 0:03:00.600 --> 0:03:06.240 on and that's my son's birthday as well. He turned nineteen, 0:03:06.360 --> 0:03:10.200 just graduated from high school. Glad he has the same 0:03:10.320 --> 0:03:14.679 birthday with you. So happy but lated birthday. And you 0:03:14.680 --> 0:03:18.760 you've turned forty man, I turned forty. Yeah, so it's 0:03:18.800 --> 0:03:23.440 hard to believe Michael Vick is forty years old. Yeah, 0:03:23.480 --> 0:03:26.200 I know, I know, And when I think about it, 0:03:26.240 --> 0:03:29.120 I feel very proud. Um. You know, I look back 0:03:29.160 --> 0:03:31.960 at my life over the last twenty years. You know, 0:03:32.080 --> 0:03:36.040 that's just that interval it's been. Um, it's been an 0:03:36.040 --> 0:03:38.960 amazing journey and uh to find myself at this point 0:03:38.960 --> 0:03:41.640 where you know, I look at life and it's just 0:03:41.720 --> 0:03:44.240 not all about me anymore. You know, It's about my family. 0:03:44.240 --> 0:03:46.000 It's about the people that I can help, the people 0:03:46.040 --> 0:03:48.720 that I can have an effect on. It does have been, 0:03:49.040 --> 0:03:51.560 you know, my legacy as well as the people around 0:03:51.600 --> 0:03:53.800 me who helped me get there. So you know, I'm 0:03:53.840 --> 0:03:56.120 just I'm thankful that I made it to see forty, 0:03:56.920 --> 0:03:59.920 you know, because you know that's a mouth stone within itself. 0:04:00.200 --> 0:04:02.840 And what did you do to celebrate your birthday? Michael? 0:04:03.640 --> 0:04:06.120 I just had family and friends come over. I was 0:04:06.480 --> 0:04:09.320 down in Virginia visiting my mom and my sisters, and 0:04:09.360 --> 0:04:10.960 I've been down there for the last three and a 0:04:11.000 --> 0:04:12.960 half months during the COVID. You know, I wanted to 0:04:13.160 --> 0:04:16.719 be close to my family. Uh so my mom, my sisters, 0:04:16.880 --> 0:04:19.320 you know, family and friends, people that I had a 0:04:19.480 --> 0:04:21.720 lot of a lot of love and respect for. I 0:04:22.000 --> 0:04:24.200 was invited over and I kept the group real small. 0:04:24.240 --> 0:04:27.000 You know, still wanted to stay conscious of not not 0:04:27.080 --> 0:04:29.320 wanting to be around a lot of people and invite 0:04:29.360 --> 0:04:33.040 everyone into space. So uh still thinking about you know, 0:04:33.240 --> 0:04:35.440 the pandemic that we in so but so it was 0:04:35.440 --> 0:04:37.280 a nice crowd, man. It was just good to have 0:04:38.120 --> 0:04:40.599 you know, my loved ones over and celebrating a special 0:04:40.680 --> 0:04:43.359 day with me. So there's a question at the age 0:04:43.360 --> 0:04:47.320 of forty, and you mentioned, man, not thinking about yourself 0:04:47.640 --> 0:04:51.360 as much and thinking about family, thinking about your children. 0:04:52.600 --> 0:04:56.680 Does that mindset come with age or does it come 0:04:56.680 --> 0:05:02.040 with experience? M I said, it comes with a little 0:05:02.040 --> 0:05:05.080 bit of both. Um I say, I say age because 0:05:06.040 --> 0:05:09.360 you know, every year you grow older. At some point, 0:05:09.440 --> 0:05:13.080 I think any individuals to look at this age and say, okay, 0:05:13.120 --> 0:05:15.560 at this age, you know, it's it's no set barrier 0:05:15.680 --> 0:05:17.560 for what I should be doing in my life. But 0:05:17.640 --> 0:05:19.200 I know I should be growing in a lot of 0:05:19.240 --> 0:05:22.359 different areas. Like when you turn thirty, you don't do 0:05:22.440 --> 0:05:24.239 the same things that you did when you was tween 0:05:24.320 --> 0:05:27.080 five or you know, we turned thirty five, you're looking 0:05:27.120 --> 0:05:28.919 at thirty like, man, I was a little while and 0:05:28.960 --> 0:05:31.360 out of control then. So you know, I do say 0:05:31.400 --> 0:05:35.440 age player player factor. And then experiences like everything that 0:05:35.520 --> 0:05:38.240 you go through within those you know, five year innivals 0:05:38.400 --> 0:05:41.200 or however you look at your life, so many things 0:05:41.200 --> 0:05:43.920 that you're gonna that's gonna happen to you're good and bad. 0:05:44.440 --> 0:05:47.839 You know, ups and downs and mistakes are gonna be made. 0:05:48.080 --> 0:05:51.720 So as you grow older, you know, because of those experiences, 0:05:51.760 --> 0:05:54.440 I think you should kind of create your life story 0:05:54.800 --> 0:05:57.960 and chronicle everything to get better. Um And and That's 0:05:58.080 --> 0:06:00.359 what I've been able to do over the last, you know, 0:06:00.920 --> 0:06:04.080 twenty years, but still knowing that I have another twenty 0:06:04.160 --> 0:06:06.159 years to go. God bless me. I gotta continue to 0:06:06.200 --> 0:06:09.200 grow and get better. So um, yeah, it's it's aging 0:06:09.279 --> 0:06:15.200 experience both, you know, combined. I think, what would forty 0:06:15.279 --> 0:06:18.599 year old Michael Vick tell Michael Vick when he was 0:06:18.640 --> 0:06:21.680 a rookie? What's one thing if out of anything you've 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:24.599 learned and experience, what's maybe one thing that comes to 0:06:24.680 --> 0:06:28.120 mind that you would say too Michael Vick when he 0:06:28.160 --> 0:06:30.760 was a rookie. Well, I tell you what. I would 0:06:30.760 --> 0:06:33.840 have gave him an earful um, but I don't know 0:06:34.040 --> 0:06:36.880 if he wouldn't necessarily listen. You know. That's the thing. 0:06:36.960 --> 0:06:40.960 I was hardhead, you know, at the age of twenty 0:06:41.000 --> 0:06:44.240 and then you know, we're talking about age and experience. 0:06:44.279 --> 0:06:46.520 When I turned twenty, I really thought that I was wrong. 0:06:46.960 --> 0:06:49.240 And I wasn't even twenty one yet, you know, so 0:06:50.120 --> 0:06:52.200 you know, but you couldn't tell me anything. I thought 0:06:52.240 --> 0:06:54.760 I had all the answers, um, And you know, like 0:06:54.800 --> 0:06:57.200 I turned twenty five and I'm looking back at twenty like, man, 0:06:57.640 --> 0:06:59.640 I really thought I knew something about life, and I 0:06:59.680 --> 0:07:02.600 really didn't, you know, So you know, right now. I 0:07:02.640 --> 0:07:05.920 would just tell Michael Vicker the age of twenty years 0:07:05.960 --> 0:07:09.560 old one and you know you're you're not grown, you know, 0:07:10.040 --> 0:07:13.640 respect your elders, continue to you know, rely on the 0:07:13.680 --> 0:07:16.960 people who you know guided you throughout the last five 0:07:17.040 --> 0:07:18.800 or six years of your life, whether that has been 0:07:18.880 --> 0:07:22.360 high school coaches, college coaches, coaches that I had in 0:07:22.440 --> 0:07:24.880 the NFL, because I knew they all had, you know, 0:07:24.960 --> 0:07:26.760 my best interests at heart, and I think it would 0:07:26.760 --> 0:07:29.400 have took me down a different path. And um, you 0:07:29.440 --> 0:07:31.840 know also to to to be real conscious of the 0:07:31.880 --> 0:07:34.200 people that you hang around. You are what you eat, 0:07:34.240 --> 0:07:36.280 so to speak. And uh, you know I would have 0:07:36.280 --> 0:07:38.800 just drilled that into him and hopefully he would have listened. 0:07:38.880 --> 0:07:42.080 I will say this, I did. I respect people who 0:07:42.400 --> 0:07:46.240 wanted to give me advice in life. I never just 0:07:46.360 --> 0:07:49.160 kind of like gave him the cold shoulder. You know. 0:07:49.200 --> 0:07:52.280 I wasn't that stubborn or or you know, that ignorant. 0:07:52.440 --> 0:07:54.720 I would say, you know, I gave him that respect, 0:07:54.760 --> 0:07:56.600 and I tried to listen to take bits and pieces 0:07:56.600 --> 0:07:58.960 of what they gave to me. But I still was 0:07:59.000 --> 0:08:01.200 just young with a lot of money, and uh, it 0:08:01.360 --> 0:08:04.120 just kind of made me look at life different, you know, 0:08:04.360 --> 0:08:06.080 like I had all the answers, but I really didn't. 0:08:07.160 --> 0:08:11.440 How would you help today's player, And I know we're 0:08:11.440 --> 0:08:14.840 talking later about mentorship that that you do. How would 0:08:14.880 --> 0:08:22.240 you help them understand how to go forward as a 0:08:22.280 --> 0:08:27.840 professional athlete with the friends that they have. How do 0:08:27.880 --> 0:08:32.480 you help them understand the necessity what needs to happen 0:08:32.960 --> 0:08:35.800 when it comes down to their friendship when they've been 0:08:35.840 --> 0:08:39.520 having friends their boys for a long time. Yeah. Yeah, 0:08:39.559 --> 0:08:41.920 What I learned at the age of forty is, and 0:08:41.960 --> 0:08:44.439 I stopped using that as a reference as I grew older, 0:08:45.080 --> 0:08:48.559 is that my real friends don't really ask me for anything. Um, 0:08:48.800 --> 0:08:51.760 my real friends, you know, we go out and we 0:08:51.800 --> 0:08:54.680 have dinner. You know, we can split it four ways 0:08:55.120 --> 0:08:57.040 if I decided to pick up the tad and that's 0:08:57.040 --> 0:09:00.440 what I decided to do. But the friends that I have, 0:09:01.320 --> 0:09:03.800 my real friends that I had since I was younger, 0:09:03.920 --> 0:09:06.520 they pick up the tab for me, or they won't 0:09:06.520 --> 0:09:09.240 allow me to pay that bill, you know, just because 0:09:09.280 --> 0:09:10.960 they know I got it. It was a it's a 0:09:11.000 --> 0:09:14.640 respect level and the respect you know, it's labeling ourselves 0:09:14.679 --> 0:09:17.560 as friends. You know, we don't owe each other anything, 0:09:17.640 --> 0:09:21.040 you know, we owe each other respect and loyalty, you know, 0:09:21.120 --> 0:09:23.720 if that's a week and provide. So you know, I've 0:09:23.840 --> 0:09:26.679 learned that those people in my life, you know, are 0:09:26.720 --> 0:09:28.439 the ones that I want to continue to be around 0:09:28.520 --> 0:09:32.040 every day because the relationship, the friendship don't come with 0:09:32.160 --> 0:09:35.400 any strings attached. It's like, I know what drives you 0:09:35.440 --> 0:09:37.920 and what motivates you, and what you like and what 0:09:38.000 --> 0:09:40.040 you don't like and and vice versa, and we can 0:09:40.160 --> 0:09:42.040 kind of keep it at that and just have fun 0:09:42.080 --> 0:09:44.839 and enjoy life. And and you know, those are your 0:09:44.840 --> 0:09:48.120 real friends. And that's a word that comes to me 0:09:49.120 --> 0:09:51.680 having listen to you describe the type of friend you 0:09:51.679 --> 0:09:53.960 want around you. It's it sound like it needs to 0:09:53.960 --> 0:09:58.920 be mutual. Yeah, yeah, like an understanding, like, um, every 0:09:58.960 --> 0:10:01.280 time we go somewhere, I shouldn't be happy the one 0:10:01.400 --> 0:10:03.760 And you know, I know it's not all about money. 0:10:03.800 --> 0:10:07.040 But I've learned through my experiences because of who I 0:10:07.200 --> 0:10:09.880 was and what I had, that you know, some people 0:10:09.880 --> 0:10:11.720 are just aren't your friends. They're around just to get 0:10:11.720 --> 0:10:13.880 what they can get, you know, and friends have come 0:10:13.920 --> 0:10:15.839 and go, but you know who the real ones are. 0:10:16.320 --> 0:10:18.840 And I just tried to stay in that space. Um, 0:10:18.880 --> 0:10:20.600 and I had to learn that over time. You know, 0:10:20.640 --> 0:10:23.320 I think throughout this whole conversation, we'll talk about age 0:10:23.600 --> 0:10:27.199 and we'll talk about experience, and that's just another example 0:10:27.240 --> 0:10:30.120 of it. You know, I had to find out who 0:10:30.120 --> 0:10:32.920 my real friends were, and the majority of them was 0:10:32.960 --> 0:10:35.079 the ones that I grew up with, you know, from 0:10:35.120 --> 0:10:38.640 the age of seven to eleven. You know, they understood 0:10:38.640 --> 0:10:41.360 me better than anybody else. They knew me, I knew them, 0:10:41.520 --> 0:10:44.160 and Uh, we can be grown and and have that 0:10:44.240 --> 0:10:48.440 same kid relationship in a sense, but being grown man, 0:10:48.679 --> 0:10:52.480 you know, so to speak. So it's even better now. Yeah, 0:10:52.480 --> 0:10:56.760 I churched those friendships now even more as we shifted 0:10:57.080 --> 0:10:59.000 now and some of the work that you're doing as 0:10:59.000 --> 0:11:01.040 a as a result, some of the experience you have. 0:11:01.240 --> 0:11:05.600 I find it's fascinating when we talk about recentivism, we're 0:11:05.640 --> 0:11:08.680 talking about the tendency of those released from prison to 0:11:09.240 --> 0:11:13.400 re offend. For those formally and coarcerrated, their release is 0:11:13.440 --> 0:11:16.920 a second chance at life. Michael, what are your thoughts 0:11:16.920 --> 0:11:20.080 on release being a second chance to do things differently 0:11:20.480 --> 0:11:24.200 for those formally incarcerated. Uh, it means a lot. It 0:11:24.200 --> 0:11:26.080 means so much to me to have a second chance, 0:11:26.240 --> 0:11:30.520 Like over the last ten years more than people will 0:11:30.559 --> 0:11:32.280 ever know. You know, I was trying to take the 0:11:32.320 --> 0:11:35.840 time to thank Tony Dungee and Roger Goodell and Andy 0:11:35.920 --> 0:11:39.960 Reid and author Kevin Winston from the Atlanta Falcons because 0:11:40.000 --> 0:11:43.920 they cared about me as a person, as a as 0:11:43.960 --> 0:11:47.120 a man more than anything. Um. I didn't even come 0:11:47.120 --> 0:11:48.679 back and play for the Atlanta Fiul because I went 0:11:48.760 --> 0:11:51.600 and play for the Philadelphia Eagles. But author blank was 0:11:51.640 --> 0:11:54.480 there every step of the way. Um, And that that 0:11:54.559 --> 0:11:58.760 was my second chance. Like so if you know, if 0:11:58.760 --> 0:12:02.600 I would have been just like the average um, you know, citizen, 0:12:02.920 --> 0:12:05.400 which I was, you know, when I came home, I 0:12:05.400 --> 0:12:07.600 I came home to nothing. I had no money, I 0:12:07.640 --> 0:12:10.240 was in bankruptcy, and I knew I had a long 0:12:10.280 --> 0:12:12.680 walk and a you know, a journey ahead at me. 0:12:13.240 --> 0:12:16.120 So you know, they have a chance to you know, 0:12:16.200 --> 0:12:18.880 have people in my corner. Was that was my second chance, 0:12:19.760 --> 0:12:21.440 you know, And and I thank god I had a 0:12:21.480 --> 0:12:24.760 platform before that second chance, and that was my re 0:12:25.000 --> 0:12:28.320 entry was back into you know, society, my family, and 0:12:28.360 --> 0:12:31.240 then the National Football League, which was my profession that 0:12:31.320 --> 0:12:33.000 I really loved. You know, it was a dream of 0:12:33.000 --> 0:12:34.920 mine growing up. So it meant a lot to me. 0:12:35.320 --> 0:12:36.960 Those people was there to help me. That was my 0:12:37.040 --> 0:12:41.280 second chance, and I had that platform. When ninety of 0:12:42.040 --> 0:12:45.440 men and women come home from prison, they don't have 0:12:46.280 --> 0:12:50.560 an opportunity. They don't have a chance to exhale through 0:12:50.640 --> 0:12:53.400 their re entry, you know, mainly because of the things 0:12:53.440 --> 0:12:55.679 they have to go through. One if they have a 0:12:55.679 --> 0:12:59.000 felony on their record, and and to you know, you 0:12:59.120 --> 0:13:03.280 perceived different. You know, you your stereotype and that's just real. 0:13:03.920 --> 0:13:05.480 You know. What I want to do is create change, 0:13:05.559 --> 0:13:08.520 create an opportunity for you know, men and women coming 0:13:08.520 --> 0:13:11.800 home to have a second chance. They have a second 0:13:11.880 --> 0:13:14.800 chance to to have no excuses and to do it 0:13:14.920 --> 0:13:17.959 right through the program that we're in the preliminary works 0:13:18.040 --> 0:13:22.080 on building. Um this is gonna be amazing. Um. I 0:13:22.160 --> 0:13:24.800 found out what the root of the problem was. You know, 0:13:24.880 --> 0:13:26.760 talk to a guy who had just been released from 0:13:26.760 --> 0:13:29.319 prison after a crime he didn't do for twenty six years, 0:13:29.440 --> 0:13:31.400 didn't come out better. Are the ones it was a 0:13:31.480 --> 0:13:35.400 chance opportunity met him over the last three months and 0:13:35.679 --> 0:13:38.400 we've been able to come up with what the root 0:13:38.440 --> 0:13:42.200 of the problem is. And and that's housing in transportation. 0:13:42.520 --> 0:13:44.440 You know, when they do have that, they have a 0:13:44.520 --> 0:13:47.559 chance that making every entry and success. So we kind 0:13:47.559 --> 0:13:50.800 of stopped right there, and I looked at that as 0:13:51.480 --> 0:13:55.040 them having a second chance, and what would that look like, Um, 0:13:55.080 --> 0:13:57.559 if we can create a program centering around that. So 0:13:57.920 --> 0:13:59.679 I found out that that was the root of the problem. 0:13:59.720 --> 0:14:01.520 I when continue to talk about and you might have 0:14:01.600 --> 0:14:03.959 some more questions, but I get excited when I talk 0:14:04.040 --> 0:14:06.400 about it because I look at the amount of people 0:14:06.400 --> 0:14:08.559 that we're gonna have an effect on, and this is 0:14:08.600 --> 0:14:12.200 something that can last a lifetime. As it stands now, 0:14:12.559 --> 0:14:16.360 most current second chance efforts aren't aimed at African Americans. 0:14:16.679 --> 0:14:21.360 Michael talk about the just a system you're involved in 0:14:21.560 --> 0:14:25.040 and how your second chance was a driving force pairing 0:14:25.080 --> 0:14:28.040 you with it. Well, I feel like my second chance 0:14:28.040 --> 0:14:33.000 wouldn't have happen without certain people, and those people know 0:14:33.040 --> 0:14:37.080 who they are. And the great part about it was that, 0:14:37.440 --> 0:14:41.560 you know, I had a platform. But in today's time, 0:14:41.760 --> 0:14:44.640 you know, just realistically, everyone don't have that platform. And 0:14:44.720 --> 0:14:48.840 for the last forty fifty years, we don't have that platform. 0:14:49.040 --> 0:14:52.720 You know, I think somewhether black or white, predominantly black. 0:14:53.120 --> 0:14:55.640 We just don't have resources and we don't have people 0:14:55.640 --> 0:14:57.880 who can reach in and pull us out of the 0:14:57.960 --> 0:15:01.160 situation that we're in. So know, I found out when 0:15:01.360 --> 0:15:04.440 doing some research that you know, when most inmates come 0:15:04.440 --> 0:15:07.440 home man and women, did they come home to um 0:15:07.600 --> 0:15:11.440 no form of housing and no phone transportation. But what 0:15:11.640 --> 0:15:15.720 it happened is that they'll go through the entire process 0:15:15.840 --> 0:15:20.000 of passing courses and curriculums whilet andconcerated. I know because 0:15:20.040 --> 0:15:22.560 I did it myself. You come come home with with 0:15:22.720 --> 0:15:25.840 a lot of accolades and a lot of certificates, but 0:15:25.960 --> 0:15:29.560 it don't equate to you know, the change that's necessary 0:15:29.600 --> 0:15:32.000 and need it needs to be made. So what they 0:15:32.040 --> 0:15:34.560 do is they end up, you know, after about a month, 0:15:34.760 --> 0:15:37.320 when they feel like they don't have anything or they 0:15:37.360 --> 0:15:39.840 don't have any hope, they end up going back and 0:15:40.000 --> 0:15:42.360 you know, just regressing into the person that they was, 0:15:42.560 --> 0:15:45.920 not the person they came out as when they was 0:15:46.520 --> 0:15:50.240 rented back into society. It's because the housing, the transportation, 0:15:50.760 --> 0:15:53.360 you know, that they don't have a chance to carry out, 0:15:53.480 --> 0:15:55.800 you know, what their dreams may they become because now 0:15:55.800 --> 0:15:58.000 they're worried about what they're gonna stay and how and 0:15:58.040 --> 0:15:59.840 how they're gonna get there. And I just felt like 0:16:00.000 --> 0:16:03.560 I was a great starting point, man. Um. You know, 0:16:03.640 --> 0:16:05.560 I was forcing enough to come home and have people 0:16:05.600 --> 0:16:09.520 in my corner, and it's just the zillion people who don't. 0:16:10.080 --> 0:16:12.920 And uh, if I can help, you know, fifty sixty 0:16:12.960 --> 0:16:16.000 people a year, you know, create some type of platform 0:16:16.080 --> 0:16:19.320 for themselves where they can believe that, you know, the 0:16:19.400 --> 0:16:22.280 system actually works. You know, we take these classes, we 0:16:22.360 --> 0:16:25.160 go through these courses. You know, we come out, we 0:16:25.200 --> 0:16:27.480 can become come, We can come out better because we 0:16:27.560 --> 0:16:29.760 have people who are going to reach in and help 0:16:29.840 --> 0:16:32.160 us get to where we need to go. I think 0:16:32.160 --> 0:16:35.360 that's very important, man, because it'll it'll keep the crime breakdown. 0:16:35.440 --> 0:16:39.800 People won't be with repeat offenders, and you know, those 0:16:39.840 --> 0:16:41.760 people can go off and teach other people how to 0:16:42.400 --> 0:16:45.000 you know, become successful in life. And then they'll just 0:16:45.040 --> 0:16:48.920 get assistance, you know, whether that assistance come from the state, local, 0:16:49.240 --> 0:16:53.400 the Bill of prisons, you know, transitional programs, things that 0:16:53.480 --> 0:16:56.160 we're getting involved in, people that we're gonna be you know, 0:16:56.320 --> 0:16:59.320 in direct connection with to help us to make sure 0:16:59.360 --> 0:17:01.760 our program and can sustain for years. We want to 0:17:02.040 --> 0:17:06.320 as a program, go out and buy property, create housing 0:17:06.400 --> 0:17:11.720 situations for it, and make create transportation opportunities. For the inmates, 0:17:11.800 --> 0:17:14.679 whether it's through you bood Counts, whether it's through partner 0:17:14.840 --> 0:17:17.920 with with the local car dealership, whatever it may be. 0:17:18.000 --> 0:17:19.960 Like I said, everything is still in the work says 0:17:20.000 --> 0:17:24.320 it right now. But this is something that hasn't been done. 0:17:24.760 --> 0:17:29.000 The surface hasn't been scratched. And I know that you know, 0:17:29.080 --> 0:17:31.680 inmates come home and they come home to nothing, They 0:17:31.720 --> 0:17:35.480 come home to no opportunity. Uh and you know they 0:17:35.600 --> 0:17:38.920 end up going back to prison. Uh and and it's 0:17:38.960 --> 0:17:42.359 proven fact um. So you know, I decided to create 0:17:42.400 --> 0:17:45.760 this program where people don't actually look into you know, 0:17:45.840 --> 0:17:48.679 helping people when they re enter it, when they re 0:17:48.840 --> 0:17:51.880 enter back into society, because it's so important. Like these 0:17:51.920 --> 0:17:54.159 are the same people that you walk past in the 0:17:54.200 --> 0:17:56.399 grocery stores and you might see, you know, at the 0:17:56.520 --> 0:17:59.080 local gas stations, and you know they might be sitting 0:17:59.080 --> 0:18:01.560 there thinking about doing some crazy because their life is 0:18:01.920 --> 0:18:04.200 in a bad mental state. You know, they don't know 0:18:04.280 --> 0:18:05.840 who to turn to, they don't know where to go, 0:18:05.920 --> 0:18:08.560 they can't find a job. Okay, this has been such 0:18:08.560 --> 0:18:11.199 an important issue that we're going to make it a 0:18:11.240 --> 0:18:15.640 two part Stay tuned for part two of our podcasts. 0:18:19.119 --> 0:18:23.080 This has been the NFL Legends podcast. To provide feedback 0:18:23.160 --> 0:18:26.400 or request the topic for discussion, email us at NFL 0:18:26.480 --> 0:18:38.800 Legends at nfl dot com.