Speaker 1: Are you ready for this? Sean Merriman on one of
Speaker 1: hand Effect. Boom boom, boom out, Go to light. This
Speaker 1: is Lights Out with Sean Merriman. Yo, what's up? This
Speaker 1: is Sean Merriman on the Lights of podcast with Sean Merriman. Guys,
Speaker 1: I can't wait. Seriously, We're gonna be jumping into so
Speaker 1: many different topics, talking to so many different people from
Speaker 1: all different kind of backgrounds, celebrity sports figures. We're gonna
Speaker 1: be talking sports and sometime talking not about sports, but
Speaker 1: bottom line, we're gonna be telling just like how it is,
Speaker 1: straight to the point, not beating around the bush. We're
Speaker 1: not walking on the eggshells and just really talking about
Speaker 1: what the world needs to hear. And notice I said
Speaker 1: needs to hear, not one of here. And today we
Speaker 1: are talking to one of my former teammates, Quentin Jammer
Speaker 1: from the San Diego Charges, and we were primarily talking
Speaker 1: about Dak Prescott and his press conference and in the
Speaker 1: mental health of football players and sports athletes. They don't
Speaker 1: get talked talked about enough. It just don't get talked
Speaker 1: about enough, so we're gonna dive into it. He's dealt
Speaker 1: with his own personal situations. I've dealt with my own
Speaker 1: personal situations, and many other athletes have their own personal
Speaker 1: battles going on, but not too many talk about it
Speaker 1: because it's looked at as being weak. Uh you know,
Speaker 1: we're we're modern day glady. It is. We're not supposed
Speaker 1: to talk about things like that. But back there was
Speaker 1: show leadership. And we'll dive into a little bit more
Speaker 1: with my former teammate and my boy, Quentin Jammer. One
Speaker 1: of the things I want to talk about, man, first is, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, the struggles that we go through as athletes
Speaker 1: and how we're like supposed to be not human and
Speaker 1: how we're perceived as to everyone else. You know, we've
Speaker 1: always been taught to uh toughen up. You're not not
Speaker 1: show any pain and um, not showing any emotions. And
Speaker 1: I can't remember and recalled how many times I actually
Speaker 1: put bones back in place and taped it up and
Speaker 1: went back in the game. And that's how we grow
Speaker 1: up and that's what we're learning. And so just the
Speaker 1: struggles that you know, we all go through and um,
Speaker 1: you know, on and off the field, and people really
Speaker 1: just don't understand. Yeah, they don't understand it. Man. I
Speaker 1: remember in college. Ship, I tour everything in my left shoulder,
Speaker 1: bro like shoulder came out. I put a little sleeve on,
Speaker 1: went back in the game. It came out twice during
Speaker 1: the game. Um And at a halftime they were like,
Speaker 1: you can't go back in, dude, Like we're just gonna
Speaker 1: decide to have the surgery on Monday. Uh. And I
Speaker 1: was like, Nope, I'm go back in. Give it one more,
Speaker 1: try tighten this ship up. Let's go went back in.
Speaker 1: That's right back out. But you know, because you know
Speaker 1: we're we're told to be gladiator and you learned that
Speaker 1: as a kid. I just remember growing up, like you're
Speaker 1: crying in the house. You got you got punched in
Speaker 1: your chest and told you to toughen up. And um,
Speaker 1: you know, sometimes you you learned it, that's the way.
Speaker 1: And you don't even really pay attention to the mental
Speaker 1: health aspect of it because you've been taught to be
Speaker 1: this way. But um, and and the reason why I'm
Speaker 1: bringing this up is because of the past and of
Speaker 1: Dak Prescott's brother and what happened and um him coming out. Man,
Speaker 1: it it hit me in a different way. Uh. That
Speaker 1: made me respect Dac and the whole different light because
Speaker 1: it's not easy you know, for us being told we're
Speaker 1: we're glad. He has grown up being told you you're
Speaker 1: not not showing any emotion, not do this, and not
Speaker 1: do that. And he just told the world man like,
Speaker 1: I need to get mentally right before I can lead
Speaker 1: this team. And people don't understand what we you know,
Speaker 1: what we go through and just in the mental aspect
Speaker 1: of it, period, we we go through it, yeah, mentally like, um,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean the NFL is made up primarily
Speaker 1: of black athletes who grow up you know, with without
Speaker 1: a dad or whatever the case may be. Um, we also,
Speaker 1: you know, we come from you know, tough backgrounds. A
Speaker 1: lot of us come from really tough backgrounds. A lot
Speaker 1: of us go through, you know, stuff that people can't
Speaker 1: even you know, imagine. So it starts there and then
Speaker 1: we grow up through this process and where you can't
Speaker 1: really talk about how you feel or or what has
Speaker 1: been done, uh to you because you're soft in the
Speaker 1: community where you know you're soft if you talk about
Speaker 1: you know, uh what what's wrong with you? And and
Speaker 1: so you know, for that to come out and and
Speaker 1: tell the world, you know, hey, listen, this is what
Speaker 1: what what went on with me? I went through a
Speaker 1: period of depression. It's big. It's big for the community
Speaker 1: who are who are dealing with depression and kind of
Speaker 1: hiden it, you know, because how how can you get help?
Speaker 1: How can we how can we get give How can
Speaker 1: we help somebody who doesn't talk about their issues if
Speaker 1: we don't think that there that they need help, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. So it's it was good that
Speaker 1: somebody on such a big platform, uh, came out and
Speaker 1: and said, Look, I deal with depression. Like I am
Speaker 1: not a fucking robot. I deal with depression. And I
Speaker 1: still have to lead a football team on Sundays and
Speaker 1: I have to lead them every day, every day we
Speaker 1: go to practice, every I have to you know, I
Speaker 1: have to lead my life. I have to lead kids.
Speaker 1: I'm a role model. I'm in commercials. So, you know,
Speaker 1: like I said, for him to come out with such
Speaker 1: a big platform and and tell you know the stuff
Speaker 1: that's going on with him, you know, I hope you know, uh,
Speaker 1: it will have you know, help more people come out
Speaker 1: and tell you know, people I need help because we
Speaker 1: have so many guys that that you know, don't open up.
Speaker 1: And then end up with a bullet in their chest,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. So, um, they and and
Speaker 1: they don't they don't get the help that they need
Speaker 1: because maybe they feel alone in the whole process. I
Speaker 1: don't know exactly, but you know from my experience, UM,
Speaker 1: I went through it bro honestly, and you know, I
Speaker 1: kept it in. I tried to hide it as long
Speaker 1: as I could. And and finally, you know, um, I
Speaker 1: just I just you know, spouted off to my wife
Speaker 1: like I can't do this no more. And my she
Speaker 1: got on the phone my brother. They sent me to
Speaker 1: this uh this brain rehabilitation place for like six and
Speaker 1: a half months. The best things that I've done. But
Speaker 1: you know, I mean if you don't if you don't
Speaker 1: talk about it and nobody knows, then how can you
Speaker 1: how could you get help? You know? What? What was
Speaker 1: the what was the day of the breaking point? Like
Speaker 1: for you? Did you realize like that that you that
Speaker 1: you had to talk to somebody and say, look, I'm
Speaker 1: I'm dealing with it and I'm going through it. Uh.
Speaker 1: It it got to a point like because I I
Speaker 1: literally like after the day I retired, I went through
Speaker 1: a real high point where I was just on top
Speaker 1: of the world, like uh through four a year and
Speaker 1: about a year year and a half. So basically to
Speaker 1: like me, I was good and then all of a
Speaker 1: sudden and like uh at at one point in uh bro,
Speaker 1: I just hit. I just hit a wall. And you know,
Speaker 1: I thought I didn't think that none of it was
Speaker 1: like okay, you know, it's just a bad day, bad week,
Speaker 1: bad month. And it kept going on. It went on
Speaker 1: five years, you know what I'm saying, where I just
Speaker 1: didn't do anything. I didn't want to go out. Um.
Speaker 1: I sat on the couch watch TV. I was drinking heavily,
Speaker 1: hit hiding liquor bottles from my wife and ship. So
Speaker 1: uh it got bad and um and there was one
Speaker 1: point when um um I I you know, I hate
Speaker 1: to talk about it, but like I literally got in
Speaker 1: the truck, left the house. Uh, and I thought that
Speaker 1: this was gonna be it for me, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. UM. And I had I had drank so
Speaker 1: much and I had I was on I was taking
Speaker 1: sleeping pills because I couldn't sleep. I was and I
Speaker 1: had drunk and took uh probably too many tris have
Speaker 1: done with the word like I parked thought I was
Speaker 1: gonna end it all and fell asleep and woke up
Speaker 1: and the next morning like ship that could have went
Speaker 1: sideways fast, bro, And I was like that was it
Speaker 1: to me? Like I needed some help. And then the
Speaker 1: first person, you know, you you went to obviously you're
Speaker 1: probably your wife, and yeah, my wife, my brother, uh,
Speaker 1: my younger brother. Now he's with a Detroit Lion, so
Speaker 1: he got well Seattle Seahawks now got traded last year.
Speaker 1: But he uh he knows me, um, probably better than
Speaker 1: I know me, and he knew something was going on
Speaker 1: and he had already, you know, gave my wife heads up.
Speaker 1: So like you come to a point man that you
Speaker 1: you have to talk to somebody or um, you know,
Speaker 1: it could it could go bad really really fast. You know,
Speaker 1: um kind of crazy. You were talking about the whole
Speaker 1: bull in the chest thing, and I'm thinking if you
Speaker 1: referring to to you know, late grade junior, say I
Speaker 1: and somebody who I looked at as a damn superhero
Speaker 1: like Joan bug Man, Like when I first came in,
Speaker 1: you saw him, you just thought like this damn globe
Speaker 1: was behind it. You're like, man, that's junior, say out
Speaker 1: And um, I never forget that. The day meeting him,
Speaker 1: uh in the lobby of the Charges practice facility and
Speaker 1: I come in, I see Junior say, and my face
Speaker 1: lit up. I'm like, whole ship, that's Junior, say I
Speaker 1: and uh, he shook my hand. We're talking for a
Speaker 1: couple of minutes, and he called me buddy, right, So
Speaker 1: I got all giggling, you know, the sv it man,
Speaker 1: I'm doing your say, I was buddy right, So I'm
Speaker 1: smiling into air. I thought everything was cool, and uh,
Speaker 1: he walked away or whatever, and I kind of trailed
Speaker 1: him walking down the hallway where all the pictures are
Speaker 1: at and I heard him call like ten other people buddy.
Speaker 1: You know, I just realized he called everybody buddy. And
Speaker 1: one thing that I knew and I found out quickly
Speaker 1: when I got to San Diego that it wasn't anything
Speaker 1: or nothing moving bigger than Junior say, how like he
Speaker 1: was San Diego and what he did in the community, Um,
Speaker 1: you know when he meant that people there, he was
Speaker 1: he was like the staple of everything. And I looked
Speaker 1: at him, um as as like somebody who wasn't real,
Speaker 1: like a cartoon character who um you know, played through
Speaker 1: crazy And because doctor child would tell me all the
Speaker 1: team doctor for the charges would tell me all this stuff,
Speaker 1: and I would ask everything. But I want to know
Speaker 1: every single thing the junior to say you out did,
Speaker 1: because I want to do what he did. I want
Speaker 1: to do more. And so I found out every place
Speaker 1: he was rehabbing, every place he worked out, his six
Speaker 1: AGM work out, his his breakfast club workouts with him
Speaker 1: Rodney Harrison. I tried to find out everything that junior
Speaker 1: say I did. And I saw this man working I
Speaker 1: think even this fourteenth and fifteenth year in the offseason,
Speaker 1: and I said, no way in hell, no way in hell,
Speaker 1: somebody's still running around here doing this in the year
Speaker 1: like fourteen fifteen. And so I thought of him when
Speaker 1: I got to San Diego as his superhero. And I'll
Speaker 1: never forget the day, uh, that I got that call
Speaker 1: I was in Buffalo that he took his life. And
Speaker 1: I'll never forget what I was doing. I won't forget
Speaker 1: the clothes that I had on. Um. I was just
Speaker 1: getting a massage in my living room. My massus was
Speaker 1: there and I got the call, and uh, I just
Speaker 1: tried to walk away. And I was living downtown Buffalo.
Speaker 1: I walked downstairs, and I'm tearing up just a little bit,
Speaker 1: trying to keep it in. I didn't want to want
Speaker 1: my massus to see me crying. And I walked downstairs
Speaker 1: for this little commentary, took the elevator and I walked
Speaker 1: and I just started the ball. I couldn't stop crying.
Speaker 1: And the first person I called was Ray Lewis. And
Speaker 1: you know, Ray was a mentor of mind since you know,
Speaker 1: since I was in college, and I called him and
Speaker 1: I don't even remember crying like that, since I was
Speaker 1: a kid. And I was crying and crying and crying.
Speaker 1: And when I called Ray Lewis, he was also crying
Speaker 1: on the phone, bawling out and we couldn't even get
Speaker 1: a word out. We couldn't even get a word out
Speaker 1: because we were crying on the phone for fifteen minutes
Speaker 1: straight before we were able to even say a word
Speaker 1: to each other. That from that day on, um it
Speaker 1: changed away. Did I looked at being vulnerable and letting
Speaker 1: people know that you need help? Because I said, and
Speaker 1: the way I looked at Junior say out and how
Speaker 1: big he was and what he meant to San Diego,
Speaker 1: what he meant to just so many people. I was
Speaker 1: thinking in my head and said, if he can do
Speaker 1: this to himself, this this this giant of a person
Speaker 1: and personality and who he was and all the pain
Speaker 1: and all the things that he played through, and he
Speaker 1: can take his own life and it's real. And that
Speaker 1: was a day for me that I knew that if
Speaker 1: I ever had problems and I went through it, if
Speaker 1: I had had problems, I had to sit down and
Speaker 1: talk to somebody because you don't know when that day
Speaker 1: it's gonna come, and you don't know the possibilities of
Speaker 1: taking your life or even having a thought process of
Speaker 1: doing it, and to talk to somebody before you get
Speaker 1: to that point. Yeah, it's it's bad, man, and it's
Speaker 1: you know. The thing about Junior was was, like you said,
Speaker 1: his personality, you would have never in life, if you
Speaker 1: ever met him, you would know you would have never
Speaker 1: in life thought that he had anything going on um
Speaker 1: to to the extent that it that it went, you know,
Speaker 1: never ever um. And because he was such a big personality.
Speaker 1: Every time you saw him, he greeted you with a
Speaker 1: big gass smile and hey buddy, and you never would
Speaker 1: have thought that, um, that a guy with with you know,
Speaker 1: with so much going on. Um, you know had you
Speaker 1: know in the demons, you know he was, he was
Speaker 1: such a tough guy. He just you know, I don't
Speaker 1: know if I see I don't know, like I I've
Speaker 1: seen that. You know that I think that ESPN did
Speaker 1: something on on his story. And that's when that's when
Speaker 1: it hit me, because you know, I didn't even believe
Speaker 1: believe it. When when I got the news that uh,
Speaker 1: that he took his life, I think it was like
Speaker 1: breaking news and I was just watching TV. Didn't even
Speaker 1: believe it. I was like, no, that Shi, it didn't happen,
Speaker 1: not at all. And UM, it really didn't hit me
Speaker 1: until you know, I think, uh, ESPN did it was
Speaker 1: a thirty for thirty or or something about about his
Speaker 1: life and um, just to hear you know, his formal
Speaker 1: former personal assistant, you know the uh I think her
Speaker 1: name was Betty who you know ran his foundations and
Speaker 1: um and ran his restaurant, and you know, to hear
Speaker 1: her talk about it, like I remember like sitting on
Speaker 1: the couch watching this and like just being in tears,
Speaker 1: like just in tears about it because you know, um,
Speaker 1: I think you know she tried to help him and
Speaker 1: uh and he was in for it in and then
Speaker 1: you know he's junior say I'm I'm you know, like
Speaker 1: I don't need help, bro, and um, and you know
Speaker 1: it it ended so badly and I hate to see
Speaker 1: it for for for his kids. I hate to see it,
Speaker 1: for his ex wife. I hate to see it for everybody, Betty,
Speaker 1: hate to see it for everybody involved, all the people
Speaker 1: who loved him, you know, as fans are included. You know,
Speaker 1: we all hate to see it. So you know, UM,
Speaker 1: I hope you know that uh, that Dax message you know,
Speaker 1: gets you know, uh, gets taken for what it was,
Speaker 1: and it was that you know, Um, I am just
Speaker 1: because I'm an athlete doesn't mean I don't have real world,
Speaker 1: real life problems, you know, and issues that can get
Speaker 1: me to go sideways. I am like money, it doesn't matter.
Speaker 1: I'm making thirty million dollars this year, but I still
Speaker 1: get depressed, you know what I'm saying. So, like I
Speaker 1: I hope the public you know, can can can process it,
Speaker 1: um the way we're processing it right now. You know
Speaker 1: exactly what he's said. What have UM if you have
Speaker 1: some advice with some of the people out there, because
Speaker 1: everybody deal with a difference. You know, I know I'm
Speaker 1: not big in the meditation. I tried it, and I'm like, man,
Speaker 1: I'd rather just go work out, you know, I like
Speaker 1: try to get into it, but I'm like not somebody
Speaker 1: who is the whole meditation things is not really for me.
Speaker 1: So you know, I'll go spar three four days a week.
Speaker 1: I'll get in the cage and you'll roll, you know,
Speaker 1: jiu jitsu out you know, box whatever, lift weights whatever.
Speaker 1: That is like that my outlet to keep me balanced.
Speaker 1: If you know you're going through your your your dealing
Speaker 1: some of the things you had to deal with. What
Speaker 1: would you tell other people, other players or anybody who
Speaker 1: know don't play sports, man, Like, what's what's the steps
Speaker 1: they would need to do in order to get help?
Speaker 1: But what what is you do in the past it
Speaker 1: can help somebody else. You need an outlet, like you
Speaker 1: just like you said, you go box, you go s far.
Speaker 1: But I I was, I'm still big in jiu jitsu.
Speaker 1: You need an outlet regardless of like, um, like I
Speaker 1: haven't I gotta It's chance I'm gonna have to have back, sir.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, Because like I got a
Speaker 1: lot of ship going on from football, but my outlet
Speaker 1: is jiu jitsu. And regardless of how I feel, how
Speaker 1: bad it hurts, like, you gotta go because that's your outlet.
Speaker 1: That's what you that's what you know, that's what keeps
Speaker 1: you going every day. That's what you know. You endorphins.
Speaker 1: You need to, you know, get out and do something physical,
Speaker 1: but you find it out, whether it's working out or
Speaker 1: yoga or just hikes, whatever it is. Find one, find multiple,
Speaker 1: just you know, getting out to to to do something
Speaker 1: and talk to somebody to help people how you feel,
Speaker 1: so you can get some milk and medication it works.
Speaker 1: Like maybe maybe you don't maybe you you know, you
Speaker 1: don't believe in um in in medication or you have
Speaker 1: something type of you know, um resistance towards UH towards medications.
Speaker 1: But find a medication that that can help you get
Speaker 1: back on track. So an outlet medication, even if it's
Speaker 1: medication for a little bit, so you can just you know,
Speaker 1: you can get through a hard time in your life
Speaker 1: and then you can come off when you're ready. Like
Speaker 1: that's that's that's all that's good too. But finding outlet,
Speaker 1: go try something new, you know what I'm saying, go,
Speaker 1: if you've never tried jiu jitsu, I'm I'm a big
Speaker 1: just to an advocate because one you're learning to skill,
Speaker 1: you know, a real life you know skill that you
Speaker 1: can use if you're you know, ever attack you know
Speaker 1: in life. You know what I'm saying that, Um too,
Speaker 1: it's a workout pushing, pulling, um, you know, uh cardio,
Speaker 1: you know those six minute rounds rolling on the floor
Speaker 1: with like six dudes. It's bro, It's it's real life
Speaker 1: cards and um and you know it's good for the soul.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. Boxing, Like I can't say
Speaker 1: enough about you know, just just uh an outlet being
Speaker 1: something you know, uh steeped in combat, you know, because
Speaker 1: you're learning to to to to be you know. Um.
Speaker 1: I always put it in context of you know, you
Speaker 1: learn the skill of being being a weapon if you
Speaker 1: ever need to be, because you know, we live in
Speaker 1: a society where should go sideways quickly, you know. Um,
Speaker 1: so being able to defend yourself is is checking your
Speaker 1: family is huge. So um, you know, like jiu jitsu, boxing, kickboxing,
Speaker 1: whatever it is, Uh, go do it, whether it's lifting weights, running,
Speaker 1: get into something like where you can get outdoors, out
Speaker 1: of the house, where you're not just sitting on the
Speaker 1: couch playing video games or or watching TV. And nothing
Speaker 1: against you know, playing video games or watching TV, because
Speaker 1: I still do it, but find time to get out
Speaker 1: and and uh and do something something productive that Like
Speaker 1: I said, learn a new skill, learn something new. I'm
Speaker 1: actually gonna like I got a little bored. I figured
Speaker 1: I'd get get my real estate license. So I'm gonna
Speaker 1: go through the process of getting the real estate. Whether
Speaker 1: I would use it or not, who knows, but just
Speaker 1: to have it just a new skill, to to be
Speaker 1: able to do something like keep your options open like it, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, just you know, uh, just being um uh
Speaker 1: immersed in something take your mind away from all the
Speaker 1: dark thoughts. So um like man, just immerse yourself into
Speaker 1: something to keep your mind off of off of the
Speaker 1: out of the darkness. Yeah. So you're speaking all all
Speaker 1: this combat sports, you know, Yeah, is there is there
Speaker 1: is there any chance or have you thought about ever competing?
Speaker 1: I know we talked about some time you possibly taking
Speaker 1: a fight with lights out. Um you know, we we
Speaker 1: talked about it some time ago. I know you had
Speaker 1: some injuries and some stuff and trying to get everything together.
Speaker 1: But was there any possibility that you was gonna compete
Speaker 1: on a professional level. Yeah, I've I've competed in multiple
Speaker 1: judicial tournaments, um, a bunch of them. Um, I can't
Speaker 1: even count how many, but it's been a lot. Um.
Speaker 1: I've uh competed in a couple of amateur fights around
Speaker 1: San Diego at clubs, but it's still fights or we
Speaker 1: all have, not old club and bar fights, not like
Speaker 1: that actual caya, yes, civilized edie. Yeah, and I still
Speaker 1: would like, uh still would like to fight like on
Speaker 1: a professional level. Yeah, it's still something that I want
Speaker 1: to do. Like I say, I'm I'm gonna immerse myself
Speaker 1: into something. But right now I'm just trying to trying
Speaker 1: to get healed up. But once ill, alright man, hey,
Speaker 1: so um no, that's all good man. I just wanted to,
Speaker 1: you know, get one of the big things across um
Speaker 1: and basically if if people, for example, you know, you
Speaker 1: said you're back her the injured and you've got some
Speaker 1: things going, um what what what can somebody else do?
Speaker 1: You know? The real estate license? I think I think
Speaker 1: that was that was brilliant. Man. It's just like I said,
Speaker 1: if if you're learning something every day and picking up
Speaker 1: a trade, you can't lose I mean you really can't.
Speaker 1: You can't lose man, because even if you don't use it,
Speaker 1: you haven't your in your back pocket. And what if
Speaker 1: one day, you know, you just like the thing that
Speaker 1: the thing about us, you know as athletes and former athletes,
Speaker 1: you know, um, we always have our names, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. So we meet a lot of people
Speaker 1: who know a lot of people, and you just never
Speaker 1: know who you will come across. The one you may
Speaker 1: come across a guy who you meet at the grocery
Speaker 1: store who is like brokeer or whatever it is that
Speaker 1: he may be. Maybe uh, he may own his own
Speaker 1: real estate company and you he's a fan, and and
Speaker 1: he may say, so what you up to now? And like, well, else,
Speaker 1: I'm just doing whatever. I got my real estate license,
Speaker 1: but I don't know if and he may just offer
Speaker 1: you to help him out, just you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: And then you can you may start up, you know,
Speaker 1: life after football with a real estate license, you may
Speaker 1: get into it and and and uh and and build
Speaker 1: your own business. Um, not what I plan on doing,
Speaker 1: but it could happen. It's but it's good too. It's
Speaker 1: good to learn, like you said, it's good learning trades,
Speaker 1: good to learning skill. It's good to always be progressing.
Speaker 1: Learn something, learn anything, read a book, read multiple books,
Speaker 1: like go whatever whatever you have to do, like um,
Speaker 1: like always push yourself forward, you know, don't stay stagnant
Speaker 1: and and and stay the same. And that's you know,
Speaker 1: it's funny you said that because I always have this thing.
Speaker 1: Did I say about former athletes? We wasn't guys wasn't
Speaker 1: great on the field because they were just bigger. Fact
Speaker 1: I seen stronger than everybody else. Like when you get
Speaker 1: up to the to the NFL, everybody's big, fast and strong.
Speaker 1: But the guys who separating themselves is because our mentality
Speaker 1: and our ability to go and learn and want to
Speaker 1: learn and want to keep getting better and keep getting better.
Speaker 1: And then when you retired, you find yourself in this
Speaker 1: weird space. I remember the first two years and I
Speaker 1: was broadcasting. I didn't feel comfortable talking about the game,
Speaker 1: and I was sitting up there and I was supposed
Speaker 1: to be analyzing the game. But I still felt in
Speaker 1: my heart that I was supposed to be out there,
Speaker 1: that I could not physically and like mentally and emotionally
Speaker 1: let the game go. So I tell guys, if you
Speaker 1: take that same mentality that made you great on the field, court,
Speaker 1: or whatever your sport was, and you apply that to
Speaker 1: something you you really want to do you love doing
Speaker 1: after the game, you're going to be successful one way
Speaker 1: or another, because we just we have just want to
Speaker 1: want to learn and be great at something and we
Speaker 1: won't stop until we get there, right, yeah, exactly. And
Speaker 1: this's like like for me, like and there's so many
Speaker 1: things like that I want to be great at, but
Speaker 1: I got stuck in the depression, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: Like get stuck and like, um, you need you know,
Speaker 1: you need a push to get out of it. Sometimes.
Speaker 1: Um maybe you know, um, there's there's people that you
Speaker 1: know that get you know, so far into it that
Speaker 1: that that a push just won't help. Maybe they need
Speaker 1: a kick. Um. But you know we all need to
Speaker 1: you know, um, to to to to help. Like I
Speaker 1: remember the other day, like just out of nowhere, like
Speaker 1: I just felt like I just I don't have a
Speaker 1: whole lot of followers on Twitter, but I just tweeted out, man, hey,
Speaker 1: check on somebody you never know when somebody needs you,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. And I really mean that, like, uh,
Speaker 1: like check on somebody just you know, shoot, somebody texts
Speaker 1: at you, like you we we won't text for you know,
Speaker 1: a month to three months, but you'll check up like whatever,
Speaker 1: like you just check you know me. You know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. Um, And that's that's uh that that like
Speaker 1: I I feel that, and I think more people should
Speaker 1: do it, like check on your people, like if you
Speaker 1: um and check on people that ain't your people, you
Speaker 1: don't know, like if if you consider them a friend
Speaker 1: or you have a have the number in your phone
Speaker 1: to just check on them, see how they're doing, make
Speaker 1: sure they're okay. Maybe they won't tell you, but you know,
Speaker 1: if something happened, at least you know you reached out
Speaker 1: to them to to try to you know, to try
Speaker 1: to see if there was anything going on. And maybe
Speaker 1: you you know, we all everybody, I don't care who
Speaker 1: you are, we all need people to talk to. You
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. You always need somebody to talk to.
Speaker 1: And if you always need somebody that you can just
Speaker 1: open up to. So if you don't have somebody you
Speaker 1: can open up to find somebody you can open up
Speaker 1: to man like that, you can just tell anything that
Speaker 1: you know because maybe you don't think that somebody has
Speaker 1: your back, but they've been in your life so long
Speaker 1: that if you open up to him, you find out
Speaker 1: that just how much, uh that they have your back.
Speaker 1: So um, it's like this, uh, like this is kind
Speaker 1: of near and dear to me the whole you know,
Speaker 1: depression and mental health thing, because I I've been through it.
Speaker 1: You've been through it with the whole, you know, uh,
Speaker 1: with you know, junior and with retirement, and you know
Speaker 1: a lot of athletes go through it. A lot of
Speaker 1: athletes go through so we all we all know. But
Speaker 1: and you think about everything under the sun. I mean
Speaker 1: certainly you might you may not go forward and go
Speaker 1: through with everything, or you may not even try something,
Speaker 1: do you know, try it and whatever? But you I
Speaker 1: don't I don't know very many people, especially former athletes
Speaker 1: that haven't thought about it. I don't know, at least
Speaker 1: thought about it. You might not take those next steps,
Speaker 1: but you at least thought about it at some point.
Speaker 1: And maybe that difference is you're not going a way
Speaker 1: through what it is reaching out and talking to somebody
Speaker 1: and maybe that might be it. Maybe that might be it.
Speaker 1: And I said, like we got on the subject, like
Speaker 1: I think, you know, Dad did a hell of a
Speaker 1: job of putting it out there that we are going
Speaker 1: through it. Even in the game, we're still going through it.
Speaker 1: And you know, if and even for fans going through
Speaker 1: and reach out, just you know, just go go talk
Speaker 1: to somebody. Right, You're not gonna you don't have to
Speaker 1: open up on you know, national TV, but open up
Speaker 1: to somebody and tell somebody. Hey, man, all right, I'm
Speaker 1: going through it a little bit like m and I
Speaker 1: just need to talk. It can help because save a life. Yeah,
Speaker 1: hey cool brother, Hey, I appreciate you coming on. Man,
Speaker 1: it was that was heavy. And then whenever you're trying
Speaker 1: to get those SPA rounds in, man, let me know, man,
Speaker 1: you know, not with not with me. You know. I
Speaker 1: just I just started working on the ground doing no no, no,
Speaker 1: I look, I want to stand up, man. I'll let
Speaker 1: you just I just start picking it up over the
Speaker 1: last three months and I'm on the ground now like
Speaker 1: two or three days a week, and I'm gonna see
Speaker 1: what one look like. Yeah, you know, if I feel good, man,
Speaker 1: I go I watched your video, so I'm i'm I'm
Speaker 1: looking at him and I'm saying and I'm saying to myself,
Speaker 1: I know exactly what you're doing, like it looks like
Speaker 1: you're preparing to fight, because everything you're going through is
Speaker 1: how to stand back up after you get taken down.
Speaker 1: So I was like, let let me start. Let me
Speaker 1: start what I hate the worst thing, and that's being
Speaker 1: taken down, and get my ass back up, back up. Bro. Yeah,
Speaker 1: good cool, Bro. Hey, I appreciate it. Yeah, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Appreciate you having me on many time you need me. Yeah,
Speaker 1: talk about anything you got me, bro, Yeah, my dog
Speaker 1: appreciate you. Guys, thanks for listening to my first podcast.
Speaker 1: I want to thank also Quinn jam for coming on
Speaker 1: and don't forget to subscribe and give me five stars,
Speaker 1: write a review and duh, We've got a lot of
Speaker 1: great stuff coming, so keep listening. We'll keep bringing the heat.
Speaker 1: H