WEBVTT - ATS REWIND: Michael Strahan | ALL THE SMOKE 0:00:00.800 --> 0:00:21.760 Hm mm hmmm, mm hmmm. 0:00:24.760 --> 0:00:27.680 Welcome back to all the smoke. We in New York. 0:00:27.880 --> 0:00:29.880 And wow it's been a minute. We have half a minute. 0:00:30.640 --> 0:00:33.920 Oh it's your turn. You got the sweaty palms this time. 0:00:33.960 --> 0:00:35.199 No, that was you. I was just gonna that was 0:00:35.200 --> 0:00:38.360 definitely you had. That was you. 0:00:38.479 --> 0:00:46.600 Shake Mike's hand, them are moist, right, I was regular right. 0:00:46.640 --> 0:00:49.320 I ain't gonna lie to you if I needed to 0:00:49.320 --> 0:00:51.480 seal an envelope for both of y'all, just shake y'all 0:00:51.479 --> 0:00:53.080 hand and do like that, and I seal. 0:00:52.920 --> 0:00:55.520 The envelope both of y'all. Little moist man New York 0:00:55.600 --> 0:01:01.880 got y'all. It wasn't moist. You know, he sweating. I'll 0:01:01.880 --> 0:01:04.000 be nervous when we have yet. You blame that shit 0:01:04.080 --> 0:01:04.240 on me. 0:01:04.280 --> 0:01:07.240 You've bamed my hands wet to shake his motherfucker anyway. Man, 0:01:07.920 --> 0:01:11.080 Today we like to welcome to the show super Bowl champ, 0:01:11.400 --> 0:01:15.040 co host of Good Morning America, and a Fox Sports analyst, 0:01:15.240 --> 0:01:17.920 the one and only man Michael Strahan. Thank you for 0:01:17.959 --> 0:01:20.640 being here. I appreciate it, MANE really I just wanted 0:01:20.680 --> 0:01:22.920 before we get going, man, I just want to commend you. 0:01:22.959 --> 0:01:25.480 I think you've really been an inspiration for a lot 0:01:25.480 --> 0:01:26.640 of us the way you've been able to have a 0:01:26.680 --> 0:01:30.040 successful career but then switching to the media space to 0:01:30.120 --> 0:01:32.960 be very successful in sports within crossover in main street media, 0:01:33.080 --> 0:01:34.959 and that's very hard to do and you've done that 0:01:35.120 --> 0:01:37.720 very gracefully. And you know when people ask, like, oh, 0:01:37.760 --> 0:01:39.160 who do you look up to in this space? Man, 0:01:39.200 --> 0:01:40.920 You're the one, I say, so what? That kind of 0:01:40.959 --> 0:01:41.520 freaks me out. 0:01:41.560 --> 0:01:44.440 Do I Aint gonna lie to you because I've talked 0:01:44.480 --> 0:01:46.600 to you before about this and Jack, I saw you 0:01:46.640 --> 0:01:49.040 at the boxing man, like a week or so ago, 0:01:49.520 --> 0:01:51.880 and you know, you kind of just start doing your thing. 0:01:51.880 --> 0:01:53.680 You don't even think about who's watching or whatever. And 0:01:53.760 --> 0:01:55.720 especially when you're a football player that you guys are 0:01:55.720 --> 0:01:58.920 playing basketball and I'll watch you guy both fourteen years 0:01:58.920 --> 0:02:01.600 in the NBA, both championships and I'm watching that. 0:02:02.160 --> 0:02:03.880 So to have you tube. 0:02:03.760 --> 0:02:06.720 Say that to me kind of makes me feel like, 0:02:07.600 --> 0:02:10.400 what the hell is going on? Like this don't seem right, 0:02:10.440 --> 0:02:13.079 But I appreciate it, man, and what you guys are doing. 0:02:13.360 --> 0:02:15.880 I'm in the transition that you've made and you know, 0:02:16.000 --> 0:02:17.919 it's not easy. It takes a lot of hard work, 0:02:17.919 --> 0:02:19.440 and y'all are putting in the work and now you 0:02:19.520 --> 0:02:21.680 got this show amongst the other things that you're doing. 0:02:21.960 --> 0:02:24.640 And it's a testament to just where you're willing to 0:02:24.680 --> 0:02:26.720 work and your personality in the fact that people want 0:02:26.720 --> 0:02:28.480 to listen to you because you got something to say. 0:02:28.520 --> 0:02:33.200 First and foremost absolutely so appreciate how she's off season. 0:02:33.280 --> 0:02:36.760 Right now? What are your day? 0:02:36.120 --> 0:02:36.320 Yeah? 0:02:36.840 --> 0:02:37.120 Right? 0:02:37.720 --> 0:02:39.160 What are your days like? These days? 0:02:39.680 --> 0:02:43.360 You know, a well a gma. Every morning I'm talking 0:02:43.440 --> 0:02:47.239 at five five listen to Bill Wetherson listening to Bill 0:02:47.280 --> 0:02:50.040 Withers's Lovely Day. You got to convince yourself when it 0:02:50.040 --> 0:02:51.840 ain't a lovely day sometimes to get up. 0:02:52.200 --> 0:02:53.560 So I'm up at five every day. 0:02:54.200 --> 0:02:57.040 I got to read my notes, take a shower, get 0:02:57.040 --> 0:02:59.120 in the car, and get to the studio. And now 0:02:59.200 --> 0:03:01.000 once I get in the student I'm running. So it's 0:03:01.000 --> 0:03:03.000 not like I get there to give me a couple 0:03:03.040 --> 0:03:05.720 of coffee, close the door, let me get my thoughts together. 0:03:06.160 --> 0:03:08.880 It's literally you hit the I hit the door like 0:03:08.960 --> 0:03:12.600 hair makeup, change, change my outfit. And by six point 0:03:12.600 --> 0:03:15.240 forty one, I'm sitting in front of a chair telling 0:03:15.320 --> 0:03:16.400 Chicago what's coming up. 0:03:17.040 --> 0:03:17.720 And then I go. 0:03:17.720 --> 0:03:20.079 Downstairs and right when I walk in the door, though 0:03:20.120 --> 0:03:21.799 I have to do like coming up on GMA to 0:03:21.880 --> 0:03:23.640 day we got blah blah blah blah blah, we do 0:03:23.639 --> 0:03:27.240 all those voiceovers and then seven and nine. It's just NonStop, 0:03:27.360 --> 0:03:32.360 man constantly changing. It's so different from sports. It's so 0:03:32.480 --> 0:03:35.080 different from doing entertainment. When I did that, when I 0:03:35.120 --> 0:03:37.280 feel doing I took over for Regis and did the 0:03:37.280 --> 0:03:40.400 show with Kelly. It's the most difficult thing I've ever done. 0:03:40.600 --> 0:03:45.440 But also at the same time, it's fulfilling because I'm 0:03:45.600 --> 0:03:46.840 learning stuff every day. 0:03:47.200 --> 0:03:49.400 I'm more attached to what's going on in the world. 0:03:49.800 --> 0:03:52.920 And it's not just like one lane of doing one thing, 0:03:53.280 --> 0:03:55.440 and it's a challenge and I'm like doing a compete. 0:03:55.440 --> 0:03:57.320 Don't think you can do it. We're not supposed to 0:03:57.320 --> 0:04:01.560 be able to do certain things. So for me, what 0:04:01.720 --> 0:04:03.640 motivates me is to be able to do things that 0:04:03.760 --> 0:04:09.160 kind of show people that as an athlete, as a 0:04:09.200 --> 0:04:11.880 black man, as a young black man, as a fut like, 0:04:11.960 --> 0:04:14.680 I can do other things outside of hit somebody who's 0:04:14.680 --> 0:04:17.320 carrying football, right, and y'all can do more than just drimming. 0:04:17.440 --> 0:04:19.960 You know, it's shooting dump right. We're bigger than that 0:04:20.000 --> 0:04:20.680 we're more than that. 0:04:20.880 --> 0:04:22.400 How do you keep the balance, because, like you said, 0:04:22.400 --> 0:04:24.800 there is no really all seasons. So sometimes you have GMA, 0:04:24.920 --> 0:04:26.960 then you got the NFL, you got a family, you 0:04:27.040 --> 0:04:28.640 got this, you got that. How do you immerge the 0:04:28.760 --> 0:04:30.400 balance right? How do you find that balance? 0:04:31.320 --> 0:04:32.320 Compartmentalized? 0:04:32.360 --> 0:04:32.560 Man? 0:04:33.120 --> 0:04:35.760 It is it goes to me. Everything backs up to sports. 0:04:36.160 --> 0:04:38.240 When I go to practice and I knew and we 0:04:38.320 --> 0:04:39.680 go to the sideline and I don't have to be 0:04:39.720 --> 0:04:42.240 in the game. I'm chilling. We can't have a conversation. 0:04:42.600 --> 0:04:44.520 The nego defense. I said, hold on hold to you. 0:04:44.520 --> 0:04:47.240 I go grab my helmet. I run out there, lock in, 0:04:47.480 --> 0:04:49.520 do my thing, come back, put the helmet down, and 0:04:49.560 --> 0:04:50.440 pick up the conversation. 0:04:50.760 --> 0:04:52.360 So that's pretty much what I do now. 0:04:52.400 --> 0:04:54.440 It's like I think about one thing, and when I'm there, 0:04:54.440 --> 0:04:57.400 I'm present, man, and I do it because I don't 0:04:58.160 --> 0:05:00.360 You never know who's watching whose list, and then you're 0:05:00.360 --> 0:05:02.800 never that commitment for you. It may be one of 0:05:02.839 --> 0:05:04.920 the many things that I do, but maybe it's one 0:05:04.920 --> 0:05:07.120 of only one thing that somebody else does. They need 0:05:07.160 --> 0:05:09.799 me there, so I want to give them everything I got. 0:05:10.440 --> 0:05:14.880 And so the second I leave that though half the time. 0:05:14.920 --> 0:05:17.000 If you asked me what happened on GMA, who did 0:05:17.040 --> 0:05:17.960 you talk to today? 0:05:18.520 --> 0:05:21.320 I'd be like, that's a good question. 0:05:21.400 --> 0:05:21.840 Let me tell you. 0:05:23.360 --> 0:05:23.560 Right. 0:05:24.720 --> 0:05:28.360 December eleventh, twenty twenty one, you became the tallest man 0:05:28.520 --> 0:05:33.320 to go to space Blue Origin with Jeff Bay on 0:05:33.600 --> 0:05:35.480 Jeff Bezo's experiment. What was that like? 0:05:35.600 --> 0:05:38.320 Yeah, wait here, it is the tallest man that go 0:05:38.360 --> 0:05:44.520 to space. That ain't hard, the little ass astronaut. Now 0:05:44.560 --> 0:05:46.640 they make it where we could fit, but before you 0:05:46.680 --> 0:05:47.480 couldn't fit anyway. 0:05:47.480 --> 0:05:47.800 It was. 0:05:47.920 --> 0:05:51.160 It was the most amazing thing I've ever done because 0:05:52.240 --> 0:05:55.360 there were reasons for like just not even the trip itself, 0:05:55.880 --> 0:06:01.800 things that happened before I went made it incredible because 0:06:01.839 --> 0:06:05.239 it makes you evaluate yourself, your life, your family, your friends, 0:06:05.279 --> 0:06:09.160 where you stand in the lives of people, where what 0:06:09.200 --> 0:06:11.240 they mean to you, where they stand in your life, 0:06:11.560 --> 0:06:14.880 what's important? Because you almost getting your eulogy before you. 0:06:14.920 --> 0:06:16.360 Even right do it? 0:06:16.760 --> 0:06:19.119 Because people, your boys are like yo, man, your boys 0:06:19.120 --> 0:06:22.279 you always you know, y'all, y'all always up, You're busting 0:06:22.279 --> 0:06:24.840 each other's you know, balls for lack of without a word. 0:06:25.160 --> 0:06:28.200 Then your boys are like yo, man, I'm like, hey man. 0:06:28.240 --> 0:06:31.480 Hopefully everything. I love you, man, and you're just like, damn, 0:06:31.560 --> 0:06:34.160 where had come from. Then you realize the severity of it, 0:06:34.640 --> 0:06:37.880 and you have your will. But then when you got 0:06:37.880 --> 0:06:41.039 to redo it and make sure everything is tight. Not 0:06:41.200 --> 0:06:44.120 because you're thinking in thirty years, forty years, fifty years. No, 0:06:44.240 --> 0:06:47.400 because you're thinking in three, four, five, six, seven days 0:06:47.800 --> 0:06:51.119 it might kick in. And you're looking at your kids 0:06:51.120 --> 0:06:53.640 and you're like, I ain't ready to leave my kids, 0:06:53.760 --> 0:06:56.520 you know, I my mom still living, my brothers and sisters. 0:06:56.600 --> 0:07:01.359 I'm like, I'm not ready to go to leave this planet, 0:07:01.839 --> 0:07:03.920 and they're not ready for you. And you realize that 0:07:03.839 --> 0:07:05.960 the ecosystem that you have around you, the people that 0:07:06.040 --> 0:07:08.480 love about you care. But then when you go up 0:07:08.520 --> 0:07:11.640 and you're looking back at the planet, damn, that's crazy 0:07:11.680 --> 0:07:14.840 to say, yeah, back at the part the arc of 0:07:14.960 --> 0:07:17.640 the planet, the different layers of atmosphere. 0:07:17.680 --> 0:07:20.320 You start out like down here is light. I mean, 0:07:20.400 --> 0:07:22.440 you're chilling. You're looking up and it's getting darker as 0:07:22.440 --> 0:07:22.840 you're going. 0:07:23.320 --> 0:07:25.200 And next thing you know, I'm up in darkness and 0:07:25.280 --> 0:07:27.160 I'm looking down at the light instead of the light, 0:07:27.200 --> 0:07:32.280 looking up at darkness, and you're floating, you're weightless. You 0:07:32.280 --> 0:07:36.400 push yourself around with two fingers and you're just moving 0:07:36.520 --> 0:07:40.040 effortlessly throughout this cap It was the most amazing thing 0:07:40.080 --> 0:07:41.120 I've ever ever done. 0:07:41.120 --> 0:07:41.320 Man. 0:07:41.360 --> 0:07:44.120 And I'm not a space right like, I'm not a 0:07:44.240 --> 0:07:48.840 risk person. I'm trying to live like god breathing. No, no, 0:07:48.880 --> 0:07:50.200 you can breathe. You don't need nothing. 0:07:50.600 --> 0:07:53.280 This is an air. It's like a silk chamber. 0:07:53.920 --> 0:07:55.640 The only thing I was like, Okay, if we get 0:07:55.720 --> 0:07:58.600 up there, what if that thing just starts floating off 0:07:58.640 --> 0:08:01.840 and we ain't coming back, and then you just got 0:08:01.840 --> 0:08:04.040 to sit up there until you starve to death or. 0:08:04.040 --> 0:08:06.320 Whatever it may be. But it was. 0:08:06.520 --> 0:08:07.080 It was. 0:08:08.800 --> 0:08:14.360 Made me the happiest I've been man, because it really 0:08:14.400 --> 0:08:17.160 you land and just smile on your face. 0:08:17.160 --> 0:08:18.160 You can't wipe it off. 0:08:18.200 --> 0:08:20.960 And you know, that's what we can say that Very 0:08:20.960 --> 0:08:23.040 few people can say that you're going up and there's 0:08:23.120 --> 0:08:25.240 like three g where you're sitting on that capsule and 0:08:25.280 --> 0:08:27.040 you can get off up until two and a half 0:08:27.080 --> 0:08:30.320 minutes before you know take off. You can say time out, 0:08:30.520 --> 0:08:32.719 or you can go I don't want to fly time out. 0:08:32.720 --> 0:08:35.040 They'll come on try and say yo yo, Matt, you're 0:08:35.080 --> 0:08:36.400 sure you don't want to do this. They try to 0:08:36.440 --> 0:08:38.599 talk you into it, but if you go out, I 0:08:38.640 --> 0:08:40.680 don't want to fly today, they just gonna come yank 0:08:40.760 --> 0:08:44.920 you off. And I was waiting for somebody to possibly 0:08:44.960 --> 0:08:45.400 save us. 0:08:45.400 --> 0:08:49.520 All join up. Somebody doesn't. 0:08:50.480 --> 0:08:52.240 Man, how long does it take to get up? 0:08:52.600 --> 0:08:57.040 The whole thing is less than twelve minutes up and down? Really, yeah, 0:08:57.840 --> 0:09:02.600 but you think about it. If no, no, it's fat. 0:09:02.600 --> 0:09:06.840 It's like a day now and our time of twelve minutes. 0:09:06.880 --> 0:09:09.400 But you're so in tune, like every sense you have 0:09:09.640 --> 0:09:14.079 is on alert, creak, and every movement you're just so intense. 0:09:14.760 --> 0:09:16.719 It seems like hours really, And. 0:09:16.679 --> 0:09:18.600 Then when you're sitting there and you're watching that clock 0:09:18.640 --> 0:09:21.160 and you know at two thirty before countdown, I can 0:09:21.200 --> 0:09:25.160 get off, but once again two twenty nine, and you're like, oh, 0:09:25.200 --> 0:09:28.600 the computer kick in now I can't stop. Then you 0:09:28.640 --> 0:09:31.240 just have to convince yourself like, yo, this is like 0:09:31.280 --> 0:09:32.400 a disney Land ride. 0:09:32.440 --> 0:09:35.400 Disney World. Just gonna go with it and hope for the. 0:09:35.280 --> 0:09:38.280 Best twelve minute running clock like they got it worked out. 0:09:38.320 --> 0:09:40.240 Man, that's crazy. 0:09:40.280 --> 0:09:43.160 But then when you hear like ten nine, it's like 0:09:43.200 --> 0:09:44.119 you're in a movie. 0:09:44.320 --> 0:09:46.360 And then when it lifts off and the thing is rumbling. 0:09:46.400 --> 0:09:49.240 You see the smoke and the inside that capsule turns 0:09:49.280 --> 0:09:51.160 red from the fire and the flames from the engine, 0:09:52.000 --> 0:09:54.560 and that thing just starts shaking and takes off. And 0:09:54.600 --> 0:09:59.000 then they're like, you know Blue Origin, you know New Shepherd, 0:09:59.040 --> 0:10:02.560 You cleared the towe and you just ste everybody on 0:10:02.600 --> 0:10:05.360 the literally everybody would being unprompted, just screening. 0:10:05.720 --> 0:10:05.960 Yah. 0:10:06.520 --> 0:10:08.320 I mean other people were in there with you, five. 0:10:08.120 --> 0:10:10.320 Other people man. And then once you're going up. 0:10:10.360 --> 0:10:12.760 They designed the ship that is starting to like a 0:10:12.840 --> 0:10:15.520 slow spiral that way. I don't have to look out 0:10:15.520 --> 0:10:17.200 the window over there to see what's going on. You 0:10:17.240 --> 0:10:19.920 just look at your window the whole see everything world. 0:10:20.440 --> 0:10:23.199 Forty thousand feet up, one hundred thousand feet up, two 0:10:23.280 --> 0:10:26.319 hundred thousand feet up, three hundred thousand feet up, face 0:10:26.360 --> 0:10:30.960 getting pushed back. It was sick. I got it in jack, 0:10:31.840 --> 0:10:34.800 y'all gotta do it. Y'all could be the tallest, because. 0:10:34.640 --> 0:10:38.800 I'm short in this room, right, it'll be crazy twelve 0:10:38.800 --> 0:10:40.200 minutes for me. I might fast out. 0:10:42.160 --> 0:10:44.319 Would you do it? 0:10:44.320 --> 0:10:50.760 It feels free? Probably that's hard. I ain't gonna lie 0:10:51.120 --> 0:10:54.000 it free is a good point. It was the second 0:10:54.000 --> 0:10:57.400 we landed. I see Bezos Jeff, and I'm like, yo, 0:10:57.520 --> 0:10:59.120 I want to do it again. He goes, next time, 0:10:59.120 --> 0:10:59.880 you got to pay us. 0:11:03.280 --> 0:11:08.600 Right, Texas boy, talking about the upbringing it in Houston. 0:11:09.800 --> 0:11:11.880 Your dad was an Army vet and the box of 0:11:11.960 --> 0:11:14.600 Army major in the boxer. I was growing up in Texas. 0:11:14.880 --> 0:11:18.840 It was great. I mean, you know you you know, Texas. 0:11:19.000 --> 0:11:23.240 Texas is Texas hot and hot. 0:11:22.520 --> 0:11:24.679 And so hot humid. 0:11:24.920 --> 0:11:28.000 Went to Texas Southern so HBCU right there in the 0:11:28.040 --> 0:11:30.520 middle of Houston, which I think a lot of people 0:11:30.600 --> 0:11:33.120 don't realize. They think I went to some big program, 0:11:33.720 --> 0:11:35.320 But you know, I went to the place that fit 0:11:35.400 --> 0:11:37.880 me the best. Right war right, no heart a third 0:11:37.920 --> 0:11:41.400 War man, and but it was. It was great because 0:11:41.440 --> 0:11:43.760 had I gone to a bigger school, because I came 0:11:43.800 --> 0:11:46.480 back from Germany, because my dad wasn't the military, I 0:11:46.520 --> 0:11:48.920 think I would have been swallowed up by just everything 0:11:49.160 --> 0:11:52.400 I got, the magnitude of everything. But TSU was perfect, 0:11:52.679 --> 0:11:56.040 and it was great being in Texas. It taught me 0:11:57.320 --> 0:11:59.520 so much to help me when I came here to play, 0:12:00.240 --> 0:12:02.160 Like I came to New York and I was a 0:12:02.200 --> 0:12:04.360 little green around the edge of a lot of things. 0:12:05.080 --> 0:12:07.560 But one thing, you, I was never gonna get tired 0:12:07.559 --> 0:12:09.800 because my ass was used to running in that Texas heat. 0:12:10.480 --> 0:12:14.320 You weren't going to outwork me, you know. And and 0:12:14.320 --> 0:12:17.120 and it was just I came here with an attitude 0:12:17.120 --> 0:12:19.240 that I had no choice, like I had no I 0:12:19.600 --> 0:12:21.959 had to win here all or nothing I had. Yeah, 0:12:22.000 --> 0:12:23.520 it was all or nothing for me. I didn't have 0:12:23.800 --> 0:12:26.199 a backup plan. I didn't have a thing where I 0:12:26.200 --> 0:12:28.360 can go home and do this and do that. And no, no, no, 0:12:28.400 --> 0:12:30.360 I ain't going back home. My whole gold in life 0:12:30.400 --> 0:12:32.240 has always been I move back in with my parents. 0:12:32.960 --> 0:12:37.760 That's it. Something that simple makes me go out and hustle. Real, Yeah, 0:12:37.920 --> 0:12:39.720 I'm a grown man living with my parents. 0:12:39.760 --> 0:12:40.199 Not at all. 0:12:40.280 --> 0:12:42.199 I don't want to ask permission. I'm forty years old 0:12:42.280 --> 0:12:46.000 to do something. Fifty years old, Mama, you know I'll 0:12:46.040 --> 0:12:47.080 be like, don't wait. 0:12:47.040 --> 0:12:48.920 Up, leader, chain off the door. 0:12:49.000 --> 0:12:55.480 Yeah, I'll turn along on when I get old. 0:12:56.920 --> 0:13:00.480 I ain't doing that. Man, when did football kick in? 0:13:00.559 --> 0:13:02.839 You just start playing see lady? Senior year, senior year 0:13:03.200 --> 0:13:07.960 and ended up being I was man my senior year 0:13:08.040 --> 0:13:08.520 high school. 0:13:08.600 --> 0:13:10.439 My dad was like, yeah, I'm a senior to Houston 0:13:10.960 --> 0:13:13.040 gonna stay with your uncle, you're gonna play football, You're 0:13:13.040 --> 0:13:17.280 gonna get a scholarship. Okay, but he made it sound simple. 0:13:17.960 --> 0:13:19.720 He made it sound like it was supposed to happen. 0:13:20.320 --> 0:13:25.320 So when I came back, okay, that's my mission. And 0:13:25.360 --> 0:13:27.760 I didn't know what I was doing, but I did 0:13:27.760 --> 0:13:30.240 it well enough to get one scholarship, and that was 0:13:30.280 --> 0:13:32.200 the mission. Mister of the car, He's like, schools free, 0:13:32.800 --> 0:13:33.600 that's where you're going. 0:13:33.760 --> 0:13:35.439 So that was the first time you put on paths everything. 0:13:35.760 --> 0:13:37.960 I was seven and eight years old, and then after 0:13:38.000 --> 0:13:39.040 that I didn't do anything. 0:13:39.360 --> 0:13:40.679 I was just growing up. 0:13:41.400 --> 0:13:43.600 And so for me, it was, you know, learning and 0:13:43.600 --> 0:13:46.240 put the pads on again, buckle up the helmet, put 0:13:46.240 --> 0:13:48.959 the pants, the pass in my pants and all that stuff. 0:13:50.000 --> 0:13:52.760 And I just figured it out. I watched a lot 0:13:52.760 --> 0:13:56.280 of TV. I just watched football on TV. I watched 0:13:56.280 --> 0:13:59.040 the pros on TV. I saw all the big college 0:13:59.040 --> 0:14:01.400 players where everybody was talking about what they were doing. 0:14:02.000 --> 0:14:04.200 And I didn't know what quarterback sack was important. When 0:14:04.200 --> 0:14:06.280 I was in high school, I played defensive end. 0:14:06.280 --> 0:14:07.640 I didn't know. I was just like, okay, where we 0:14:07.679 --> 0:14:08.640 got the ball, that's a good. 0:14:10.280 --> 0:14:14.920 Yeah, that's it, and yeah, so football from I didn't 0:14:14.960 --> 0:14:16.559 grow up playing football. 0:14:17.000 --> 0:14:18.480 I grew up watching football. 0:14:19.120 --> 0:14:22.600 And I think the simplicity of which my dad said it, like. 0:14:22.960 --> 0:14:25.160 Oh you're going to do this. I was like, Okay, cool, 0:14:25.880 --> 0:14:27.600 did it? That's simple. 0:14:28.200 --> 0:14:30.960 You followed it in your uncle's footsteps. You briefly touched 0:14:30.960 --> 0:14:32.560 on that you went to an HBCU, But can you 0:14:32.600 --> 0:14:34.280 elaborate on what that experience was, Like. 0:14:34.360 --> 0:14:38.120 Uncle Art, Uncle Art, Uncle Ray, Uncle Ray, shout out 0:14:38.120 --> 0:14:43.360 to my uncle Ray down in Houston. It was HBCU. 0:14:45.000 --> 0:14:49.880 It's unique, it's special, man. And I was just talking 0:14:49.920 --> 0:14:51.760 to somebody about this the other day. They was like, yeah, 0:14:51.800 --> 0:14:54.800 I went to Howard or something so that. But even 0:14:54.840 --> 0:14:57.920 at TSU, all the guys from University of Houston, you 0:14:57.960 --> 0:14:59.760 try to come over and hang out on our yall yep, 0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:01.400 not like no, no, no, no, it don't. 0:15:01.200 --> 0:15:02.480 Work that way. Y'all. They want the Frenches. 0:15:02.560 --> 0:15:04.000 Yeah, y'all got to go back and y'all got to 0:15:04.000 --> 0:15:04.880 stay away from Frenchies. 0:15:05.560 --> 0:15:06.880 Y'all got back over there. 0:15:07.040 --> 0:15:10.560 Because people don't realize it was TSU, Yates High School, 0:15:11.120 --> 0:15:14.200 Frenchies and then the University of Houston. We will throw 0:15:14.200 --> 0:15:18.560 a rock, but all right, all right there, all all 0:15:18.640 --> 0:15:21.960 like on top of each other. But the HBCUs experience 0:15:22.160 --> 0:15:25.520 was was was different and special because I felt like 0:15:25.560 --> 0:15:27.680 it was intimate, you know what I'm saying. We were 0:15:27.760 --> 0:15:30.680 all in there together, we all looking at it like basically, 0:15:30.720 --> 0:15:33.440 we all sound alike. We all here just trying to 0:15:33.520 --> 0:15:35.960 hustle and do what we gotta do. And I'm still 0:15:36.040 --> 0:15:39.480 great friends with Corey Johnson, Chris Daggs, all my guys 0:15:39.480 --> 0:15:42.560 from back then in college, and we've all gone on 0:15:42.640 --> 0:15:45.360 and done our different things in life. But yeah, man, 0:15:45.360 --> 0:15:48.720 the HBCU experience to you know, from the classes, to 0:15:48.840 --> 0:15:51.080 being on the yard, to being on the football team, 0:15:51.200 --> 0:15:55.120 to you know, the parties to the dorms and all 0:15:55.160 --> 0:15:57.440 those things were were you. 0:15:57.400 --> 0:16:00.440 Know, it looked like you got your like you're over 0:16:00.480 --> 0:16:03.680 here smiling, got his mind right. It's like it was 0:16:03.680 --> 0:16:04.200 a good. 0:16:04.280 --> 0:16:08.160 Good man all that and the projects. 0:16:08.240 --> 0:16:10.640 George Floyd was from his two blocks away from everything 0:16:10.680 --> 0:16:14.000 he talking about, which is yeah, it was crazy two 0:16:14.040 --> 0:16:15.960 blocks away. I remember all those schools. 0:16:15.960 --> 0:16:17.920 I remember Devin the dude rapping about all the schools 0:16:17.960 --> 0:16:19.800 y'all was just mentioning right there. I was used to 0:16:19.840 --> 0:16:21.520 listening to Devin the dude he was talking about all 0:16:21.520 --> 0:16:24.200 them schools right there. Explain the straight hand rule. I 0:16:24.200 --> 0:16:25.680 mean you were often double teamed. 0:16:26.080 --> 0:16:28.280 Oh man, that was. 0:16:29.680 --> 0:16:32.400 Yeah in the game, man, just getting beat up. It's 0:16:32.400 --> 0:16:34.120 funny you go out there in the game. People don't 0:16:34.160 --> 0:16:36.880 realize how intricate it's like basketball. People watching I can 0:16:36.920 --> 0:16:38.600 do that. They just throwing the ball around the guy 0:16:38.640 --> 0:16:41.920 that gets opening. It's plays, you running, you moving, it's technique, 0:16:42.040 --> 0:16:44.480 is all these different things, especially if you want to laugh, 0:16:44.560 --> 0:16:46.440 if you want to be great at it. So for 0:16:46.520 --> 0:16:49.600 me that three hand rules, like that being double team, man, 0:16:50.000 --> 0:16:53.680 like they just beat the hell out of me. Beat 0:16:53.680 --> 0:16:55.520 the hell out of it as a compliment though, But 0:16:55.840 --> 0:16:59.320 you know what, at first, old jacket was hard because 0:17:00.680 --> 0:17:04.119 when you're getting double teen, it's frustrated. Guy that just 0:17:04.359 --> 0:17:24.400 you know, pause by the way. 0:17:15.200 --> 0:17:18.680 I saw that. When you're just trying to maneuver. 0:17:18.760 --> 0:17:23.080 It's hard enough to beat one one block, but then 0:17:23.080 --> 0:17:26.440 when you're beating that guy, another guy's is once hitting 0:17:26.440 --> 0:17:28.800 you down low, one taking it, you know, hitting you 0:17:28.880 --> 0:17:29.840 up high, and it's like. 0:17:31.520 --> 0:17:32.119 Frustrated. 0:17:33.040 --> 0:17:35.760 I mean, you got two guys three hundred pounds, biggest 0:17:35.800 --> 0:17:37.639 fun and they're trying to take you out, and so 0:17:37.840 --> 0:17:40.280 it At first he pitches you off, but then you 0:17:40.400 --> 0:17:41.800 have to look at it as a compliment and go 0:17:42.200 --> 0:17:44.159 It means I'm good, you know what I'm saying. And 0:17:44.200 --> 0:17:46.359 then you try to you find a way around it. 0:17:46.480 --> 0:17:48.439 So whenever you're able to beat two guys that make 0:17:48.480 --> 0:17:50.880 a play, to be more satisfied to beat one. 0:17:51.400 --> 0:17:53.920 And once you get used to it, it is. It's 0:17:54.040 --> 0:17:55.119 actually kind of fun. Man. 0:17:55.160 --> 0:17:57.360 It's kind of like a science project and figuring out 0:17:57.840 --> 0:18:00.680 a math project and how to figure out the solution. 0:18:01.160 --> 0:18:03.280 And I'll never forget Justin Tuck, my teammate here in 0:18:03.359 --> 0:18:07.920 New York, and they caught me, old man, end of 0:18:07.960 --> 0:18:08.320 my career. 0:18:08.359 --> 0:18:10.560 Old man, I'm gonna kick your old ass out the league. 0:18:10.640 --> 0:18:10.840 That's what. 0:18:11.800 --> 0:18:13.920 Kick you old ass all the time, kick you out 0:18:13.920 --> 0:18:15.920 the league. I said, let me tell you, man, you'll 0:18:15.960 --> 0:18:17.840 be my backup. As long as I can team play 0:18:18.240 --> 0:18:20.960 cloths out, deside to play. You'll be my backup. And 0:18:21.600 --> 0:18:25.000 then I said, heavy is the crown. You don't realize 0:18:25.000 --> 0:18:27.159 how tough it is, because you can be one of 0:18:27.240 --> 0:18:28.960 the eleven. I could have been a starter for a 0:18:29.040 --> 0:18:31.359 few more years if I wanted, but to be the 0:18:31.480 --> 0:18:33.320 one of the eleven to one it every week, you 0:18:33.440 --> 0:18:35.480 got to show up. I can't have an off game, 0:18:35.560 --> 0:18:37.680 I can't have an off practice, I can't have nothing. 0:18:37.880 --> 0:18:40.320 Everybody's looking at me for leadership and guidance and then 0:18:40.359 --> 0:18:46.000