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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Official Titans Podcast. This is the OTP

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Speaker 1: between It's Mike Keith. Amy Wells is off this week,

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Speaker 1: and so I have a special co host and I

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Speaker 1: want to explain something about exactly how we're going to

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Speaker 1: set him up here. You must know from whence you

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Speaker 1: come to fully understand where you're going. The Tennessee Titans

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Speaker 1: certainly know they come from Houston and are the former

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Speaker 1: Houston Oilers. But part of the twenty three and me

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Speaker 1: of this team, as you take the DNA, was a

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Speaker 1: year in Memphis in nineteen ninety seven, and my guest

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Speaker 1: was an integral part of that year. From the Titans

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Speaker 1: radio standpoint. Larry Stone, Welcome to the OTP. It's good

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Speaker 1: to be here. Thanks for asking. Let's go back through

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Speaker 1: this nineteen ninety seven year and your involvement. You are

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Speaker 1: in North Carolina and you are preparing to be a

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Speaker 1: doctoral student actually at the University of Tennessee. You finished

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Speaker 1: your undergraduate at the University of North Carolina. You finished

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Speaker 1: your master's degree at UNC Charlotte, I believe, Greensboro, Greensborough.

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Speaker 1: I'm sorry, okay, And so you're gonna go to Tennessee

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Speaker 1: and you're gonna get a doctorate and you get a

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Speaker 1: phone call about being involved with the NFL in Tennessee.

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Speaker 1: How did that go down? I was wrapping up. I

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Speaker 1: had been the producer for the University of North Carolina

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Speaker 1: football and basketball in that year. That would have been

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Speaker 1: ninety six ninety seven. That was the year, of course,

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Speaker 1: the Dean Smith broke Adolph Rupp's record and North Carolina

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Speaker 1: lost in the final four. But we had done a

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Speaker 1: ninety minute documentary about Dean Smith, and so I was

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Speaker 1: in Chapel Hill one day, just kind of putting the

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Speaker 1: wraps on everything, and the phone ring and it's a

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Speaker 1: company in Raleigh that I had worked with over the years. Larry, understand,

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Speaker 1: you're moving to Tennessee and we'd like to talk to

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Speaker 1: you about the Tennessee Oilers radio network. And my response was,

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Speaker 1: what in the hell of the Tennessee Oilers, right? Because

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Speaker 1: I wasn't really an NFL fan growing up. You know,

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Speaker 1: college sports is prime in North Carolina. And so he

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Speaker 1: al Mangum goes on to explain that, you know, the

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Speaker 1: Oilers are moving from Houston to Nashville. Knew that, but

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Speaker 1: just kind of vaguely and said we'd like to talk

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Speaker 1: to you about this opportunity. And so we met at

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Speaker 1: a food court at an outlet mall near the Raleigh

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Speaker 1: Durham Airport, three o'clock in the afternoon, nobody there, and

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Speaker 1: he explains what they're trying to do. Three days later,

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Speaker 1: I'm on an airplane to Nashville to meet with Steve Dickart,

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Speaker 1: who was the general manager of Dick Broadcasting in Nashville.

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Speaker 1: And it was a co partnership between Capitol Radio, who

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Speaker 1: had kind of come to the NFL through the Panthers,

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Speaker 1: and Dick Broadcasting, who of course has been, as you know,

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Speaker 1: a legendary part of the broadcasting history in this state.

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Speaker 1: And three days after that I got the job. So

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Speaker 1: you came at it from the standpoint almost like the team,

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Speaker 1: which is it's this bizarre circumstance where the club is

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Speaker 1: getting a late jump on a move to Nashville, but

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Speaker 1: they can't play in Nashville. They're going to have to

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Speaker 1: play in Memphis. Did that make any sense to you? No?

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Speaker 1: And in fact, when I was hired, it was a

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Speaker 1: provisional hire because they said, we're not exactly sure yet

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Speaker 1: that the team will move here. In nineteen ninety seven,

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Speaker 1: there's some things that have to be worked out, and

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Speaker 1: in fact, you might go to Houston and produce a

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Speaker 1: Tennessee version of the Houston Oilers broadcast in Houston. But

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Speaker 1: just hang on and we'll figure it all out and

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Speaker 1: we'll let you know. And they didn't know for sure

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Speaker 1: until the end of May in nineteen ninety seven that

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Speaker 1: the team was going to move to Nashville slash Memphis,

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Speaker 1: So you understand from the start. I guess now in retrospect,

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Speaker 1: how goofy this was for Jeff Fisher and this ball

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Speaker 1: club to try to make this move, not just in

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Speaker 1: nineteen ninety seven, not just Nashville and playing in Memphis,

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Speaker 1: but at the you know, basically at the point of

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Speaker 1: the year we're recording right now. The answer, actually, Mike

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Speaker 1: is no, I didn't understand how goofy it was until

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Speaker 1: you actually got into it, and then you're like, this

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Speaker 1: is probably not really how the NFL works, And looking

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Speaker 1: back on it now, it's absolutely bizarre. Absolutely, it's incredible

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Speaker 1: to me that that team went eight and eight, And

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Speaker 1: I think if the same situation were to happen today,

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Speaker 1: I don't think you could. I don't think you could

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Speaker 1: keep it together. Just because was there's so much more

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Speaker 1: attention and focus and social media and all of those

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Speaker 1: things that every little misstep would have been magnified. And

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Speaker 1: there were thousands of missteps and problems and issues and

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Speaker 1: things that that people didn't know about at the time

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Speaker 1: that you knew about if you were in the middle

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Speaker 1: of it. What was your first meeting with Jeff Fisherlike

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Speaker 1: it was at Tennessee State and that that was where

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Speaker 1: they were practicing, and I was impressed. And yet you

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Speaker 1: saw someone who was trying to just keep it all together.

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Speaker 1: And we were talking about, you know, his coaches show,

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Speaker 1: and you know, how do you want to do this,

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Speaker 1: coach and he would kind of look to whomever from

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Speaker 1: the upper management was there with us at the meeting,

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Speaker 1: was if it was Dave Pearson, who was the media

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Speaker 1: coordinator at the time, where Don McLaughlin or whoever it was,

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Speaker 1: and it was kind of like, well, yeah, we'll do

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Speaker 1: a coaches show, absolutely, you know, we'll do a pregame

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Speaker 1: interview that sort of thing. But you could also tell

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Speaker 1: how important it was for him to keep those players together,

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Speaker 1: and that, to me is one of the most undersold

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Speaker 1: parts of what happened at ninety seven, that he would

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Speaker 1: not whine, that he would not complain because if he did,

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Speaker 1: it would give license to everyone else to do. Absolutely,

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Speaker 1: he understood the circumstance probably better than the players. Did

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Speaker 1: you know, the ones that had been in the NFL

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Speaker 1: for a while had been in the lame duck situation

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Speaker 1: in Houston, And for those that don't remember, the ninety

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Speaker 1: sixth season was played in Houston in front of fifteen

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Speaker 1: thousand fans at the Astrodome. I mean it was a

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Speaker 1: terrible situation. And yes they were home, but every question

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Speaker 1: at every media availability after every game was you know,

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Speaker 1: what about the move? What about you know, why don't

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Speaker 1: you have fans support all of those kinds of things,

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Speaker 1: And he didn't let any of that get in the way.

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Speaker 1: Did you sense the players were unhappy? I don't think annoyed.

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Speaker 1: At least I think it was annoying. I remember, for example,

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Speaker 1: that they were trying to figure out the best way

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Speaker 1: to get families from Nashville to Memphis for home games.

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Speaker 1: And one of the one of the undersouled parts I

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Speaker 1: think of the whole story of nineteen ninety seven was

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Speaker 1: that maybe Nashville and Memphis don't like each other. Okay, Fine,

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Speaker 1: maybe Nashville fans were never going to drive to Memphis. Fine,

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Speaker 1: maybe Memphis fans were never going to support the organization

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Speaker 1: because they were upset about the past. Fine. But one

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Speaker 1: of the undersouled things was I forty was under construction

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Speaker 1: between Nashville and Memphis. Oh gosh, and our first trip

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Speaker 1: for the first preseason game. The first preseason game was

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Speaker 1: played at the Liberty Bowl and then they played at Vanderbilt.

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Speaker 1: We drove down as a broadcast team and it took

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Speaker 1: six and a half hours from Nashville to Memphis. And

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Speaker 1: so if you're a player and you're getting ready for

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Speaker 1: a game, and you know how players are, I mean,

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Speaker 1: they're they're focused, and here's your wife on the telephone.

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Speaker 1: You know, we're sitting in traffic on a bus trying

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Speaker 1: to get to Memphis to watch this game. So there

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Speaker 1: were all those kinds of things that you know, the

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Speaker 1: average fan might say, well, how does that impact a player? Well,

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Speaker 1: how does it impact you at work when your wife

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Speaker 1: is upset? You know. So there's all those kinds of

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Speaker 1: little things that were there, and they had no time

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Speaker 1: to move their families to Nashville for ninety seven because

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Speaker 1: they didn't know they were going to go until roughly

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Speaker 1: Memorial Day, right, and so you're already in You're into

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Speaker 1: the last phase of offseason work at that point, right.

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Speaker 1: You got the month of June, and then you got

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Speaker 1: to be in Nashville at the end of July to

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Speaker 1: start training camp at Tennessee State. You don't know the area,

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Speaker 1: you know, you don't know anything about house. I remember

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Speaker 1: the first day that I ever worked in Nashville, they

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Speaker 1: brought a contingent led by mister Adams and aldel Greco

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Speaker 1: I believe was part, and Frank Whicheck was part, and

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Speaker 1: Eric Eddie George was part, and they brought them to

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Speaker 1: town and part of the trip was a pr but

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Speaker 1: part of it was to just Okay, here's what Nashville's like,

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Speaker 1: and you guys can help spread the message to the

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Speaker 1: other guys on the team that you know, here's where

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Speaker 1: you might want to live and those types of things.

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Speaker 1: Because remember too, Mike, that Nashville in nineteen ninety seven

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Speaker 1: was still regarded as a sleepy southern town. Oh hayseed down.

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Speaker 1: I mean, that's what we got, and we got this

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Speaker 1: for the first roughly ten years that we were working

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Speaker 1: with the radio network. Is when national people would come

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Speaker 1: to town, they would be dumbfounded that our streets were paved,

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Speaker 1: that we wore shoes and had a north plumbing and

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Speaker 1: had they really were they were, Especially people from the

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Speaker 1: Northeast were in particular taken aback by how much they

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Speaker 1: liked Nashville, because they were prepared to think it was Yahooville.

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Speaker 1: And see I said before that there are a lot

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Speaker 1: of little There are a lot of little parts to

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Speaker 1: this story that are undersould mentioned I forty that was

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Speaker 1: an undersoul part. A second undersoul part was that the

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Speaker 1: Oilers that year had the luck of playing the NFC East.

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Speaker 1: So you're talking at that time the five teams which

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Speaker 1: included Arizona, still in the East before realignment took place.

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Speaker 1: What more high profile NFL cities are there than the

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Speaker 1: ones in the NFC East. So you can imagine when

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Speaker 1: the Giants came to Memphis, when the Redskins came to Memphis,

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Speaker 1: New York media, Washington media, what I mean. This is

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Speaker 1: not the National Football League, This is not the NFL.

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Speaker 1: This is some backward you know. One of the great

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Speaker 1: radio stories, behind the scenes story is that at that

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Speaker 1: time we used id in lines to transmit the broadcast.

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Speaker 1: Those are digital phone lines that are installed. Well. The

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Speaker 1: other use of those lines is big companies use those

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Speaker 1: to transmit data, or they did before the Internet age,

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Speaker 1: and so in Memphis they had a limited number of

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Speaker 1: what they called trunk lines that come out of Memphis.

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Speaker 1: We learned this at the first preseason game. We couldn't

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Speaker 1: get hooked up to broadcast. Turned out the reason was

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Speaker 1: that First American Bank was transporting all of its data

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Speaker 1: from its Memphis office to its Nashville office or back

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Speaker 1: and forth in all of this. So every game we

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Speaker 1: would get to the Liberty Bowl early hook up, our equipment,

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Speaker 1: grabbed the line, seized one of those lines, and then

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Speaker 1: invariably ten thirty comes around and you hear the Bills

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Speaker 1: radio network, or the Giants radio network or the Redskins

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Speaker 1: radio neet, we can't get a line out. What kind

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Speaker 1: of hicktown is this place? Again, It's just one of

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Speaker 1: those little undersold parts of this whole experience. What was

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Speaker 1: the first game in Memphis? Like, what are your memories

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Speaker 1: not being ready? You know from a radio standpoint, Joe

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Speaker 1: McConnell obviously had a long history in the NFL. Jeff

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Speaker 1: Van Note obviously had a long history in the NFL.

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Speaker 1: You're broadcast time broadcast team. I had no history, and

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Speaker 1: so and the radio stations had no history, and so

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Speaker 1: you're just trying to get up in Adam. But the

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Speaker 1: atmosphere was was great. We played the Saints and you

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Speaker 1: saw the passion even for a preseason game, of the fans.

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Speaker 1: And it was the first game. I mean, it was

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Speaker 1: the first game, and you know, we'd gotten George Jones

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Speaker 1: to do the opening of the broadcast because it was

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Speaker 1: a historic moment. Even if it was a preseason game,

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Speaker 1: it was still the first time that a Tennessee team

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Speaker 1: was playing an NFL game, preseason whatever, in the state,

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Speaker 1: and that was pretty cool. So then, how disappointing was

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Speaker 1: it that when you opened the regular season against the

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Speaker 1: Raiders and Eddie George has the great day he does

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Speaker 1: and the team wins the game, it wasn't better received,

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Speaker 1: There wasn't a better crowd. There wasn't that same sort

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Speaker 1: of feeling as for ironically the first preseason game. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and you know, it's interesting because you mentioned Eddie and

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Speaker 1: the game went to overtime and it was it was

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Speaker 1: a thrilling game and you look back on it now

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Speaker 1: and you say, guys, you got to witness one of

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Speaker 1: the historic rushing days in league history. But it was

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Speaker 1: more about that there were empty seats. It was more

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Speaker 1: about I remember there was a theme around the whole

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Speaker 1: situation was you see, gosh, it's hot, and I mean

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Speaker 1: it was an absolutely blistering day in Memphis. And that

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Speaker 1: was when they still played before Labor Day. I think

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Speaker 1: that game was August thirty first, and so just a

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Speaker 1: sweltering day. And and so that was all the focus

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Speaker 1: of this. And here's an NFL regular season game being

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Speaker 1: played in Memphis, and look at all these empty seats.

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Speaker 1: And again it just got painted. It got generally painted.

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Speaker 1: Tennesseeans are not going to support pro football. This is

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Speaker 1: a college football town. It's college football state. Pro football

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Speaker 1: will never work here. And that that snowball just started

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Speaker 1: rolling downhill stronger and stronger. And it wasn't until really

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Speaker 1: the ninety nine season that it started to slow down.

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Speaker 1: The travel. The team got on a plane and traveled

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Speaker 1: not only to eight road games, but they would fly

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Speaker 1: to Memphis as well. The hotel, everything that went with it.

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Speaker 1: What was that, like, you spent more time waiting on

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Speaker 1: the tarmac than it took to fly. Coach Fisher up

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Speaker 1: until the final day that he coached for the organization,

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Speaker 1: you know, wanted to be in the visiting town around

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Speaker 1: four thirty, and so you'd get to the Nashville Airport

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Speaker 1: around two thirty. You'd sit there for forty five minutes

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Speaker 1: while everybody boarded, and then in fifteen minutes you were

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Speaker 1: in Memphis. But the wear and tear getting on a plane,

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Speaker 1: getting off a plane, you know, going to the to

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Speaker 1: the hotel, and the visiting team got the nicer hotels

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Speaker 1: in Memphis, and so they would stay at the Peabody.

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Speaker 1: They would stay at the Peabody most of the time.

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Speaker 1: As you know, Coach Fisher never he also didn't like

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Speaker 1: to stay kind of in town. He did not wherever

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Speaker 1: we went, you know, we would stay kind of on

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Speaker 1: the outskirts, and so we were a little bit on

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Speaker 1: the outskirts of Memphis. And it was not the nicest hotel.

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Speaker 1: Just sorry, I hope they're not listening, but it wasn't.

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Speaker 1: And you know, you were there for ten weeks during

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Speaker 1: the course of the year, and there's there's stories, there's

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Speaker 1: all kinds of stories about that. People went into their

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Speaker 1: room and got to sign the same room the next time,

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Speaker 1: and they didn't think it had been clean since I mean,

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Speaker 1: they were just all that. But I think it goes

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Speaker 1: back to it the point you made earlier. I think

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Speaker 1: people were just uncomfortable. They just weren't happy, and so

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Speaker 1: how did you manage all of that? How did Jeffisher

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Speaker 1: manage all of that? The other thing that people forget

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Speaker 1: is that team started one in four. You know, they

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Speaker 1: won that opener against the Raiders and then went down

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Speaker 1: to Miami and lost just a Waco game the next

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Speaker 1: week in another swelter box. Should have won it, should

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Speaker 1: have won it, and then they lose three more before

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Speaker 1: they turn it around. So you've got the negative perception

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Speaker 1: about the state, and then you've also got the negative

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Speaker 1: perception out of this team's not very good. What was

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Speaker 1: the media like in Memphis? I think that I think

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Speaker 1: as media members so often are as we tend to do,

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Speaker 1: we are we take up for the communities that we cover,

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Speaker 1: and I think Memphis overall, there were some exceptions. There

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Speaker 1: were some wonderful people that we met during the course

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Speaker 1: of that year that really loved pro football and understood

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Speaker 1: what it was, but I think the overall feeling in

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Speaker 1: memphiss were being used. You know, we're the city that

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Speaker 1: has done all the work for so many years in

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Speaker 1: trying to get pro football, whether it was the World

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Speaker 1: Football League or the USFL or whatever the case may be,

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Speaker 1: and we're being used to help out Nashville. And we

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Speaker 1: don't like Nashville very much anyway, and so I don't

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Speaker 1: think that those inside the organization had a really clear

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Speaker 1: view of that before they ever made the decision. Now,

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Speaker 1: the other part of the story is what else would

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Speaker 1: you have done? Because Vanderbilt was not open to it

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Speaker 1: at the time, and there was concerned about the alcohol,

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Speaker 1: right there was concerned about alcohol and it then I

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Speaker 1: guess Mayor breticon Or was yes, he was still Mayor

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Speaker 1: breticon basically working over Vanderbilt publicly to convince them to

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Speaker 1: take the team in ninety eight. Um. I don't want

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Speaker 1: to say shaming, but it was something. There was something

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00:18:18,720 --> 00:18:22,399
Speaker 1: akin to that to make it happen because there was

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00:18:22,480 --> 00:18:24,840
Speaker 1: no other option and they weren't going to play in Tennessee,

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Speaker 1: couldn't really and you know, what would it have been

305
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Speaker 1: like to play in a one hundred thousand seat stadium

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Speaker 1: and have twenty five thousand seats sold, right, it wouldn't

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Speaker 1: have been any different. Well, in Tennessee had just converted

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Speaker 1: three years earlier to natural grass, So there was no

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Speaker 1: way that they were going to allow somebody to play

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Speaker 1: in Knoxville, especially for where Tennessee football was at that moment.

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Speaker 1: You know, there were I remember there was talk would

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Speaker 1: they play a game or two there would they do?

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Speaker 1: And that never that never got off the ground. In

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Speaker 1: late May in nineteen ninety seven, the only option was Memphis,

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Speaker 1: and in fact, it was talked about in the fall

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Speaker 1: of ninety seven. I remember on a plane ride that, well,

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Speaker 1: maybe the plan for ninety eight could be that we

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Speaker 1: play one week at Old Miss, right, and we play

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Speaker 1: a week in Memphis, and we play a week at

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Speaker 1: Tennessee and we you know, we play a week in

321
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Speaker 1: Bowling Green or you know, all of this kind of thing.

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Speaker 1: And then you start thinking about, all right, what are

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Speaker 1: the logistics of that, What are the logistics for television

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Speaker 1: to do something like that? And so, you know, it's

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Speaker 1: just one of those situations where I think that because

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Speaker 1: it came together quickly, it's like most things that come

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Speaker 1: together quickly. You don't consider all of the ramifications of this.

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Speaker 1: And if you were in Memphis and your original question

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Speaker 1: was how was the media, I think their point of

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Speaker 1: view was, you know, anything we can do to jab

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Speaker 1: you because you're using us. You're basically using us for

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Speaker 1: these two years as it was originally was going to

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Speaker 1: be the two ninety seven and ninety eight football wise,

334
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Speaker 1: could you see the Steve and Eddie thing coming together?

335
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Speaker 1: Could you see the how that was going to take

336
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Speaker 1: hold and be something for what turned out to be

337
00:20:17,160 --> 00:20:23,480
Speaker 1: eight years? Honestly, no, because Steve was still very very raw,

338
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Speaker 1: and remember that that was really his first chance to

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Speaker 1: hold the reins of the franchise. He had been in

340
00:20:31,080 --> 00:20:34,119
Speaker 1: the league for two years, but Chandler had been the starter.

341
00:20:34,280 --> 00:20:39,400
Speaker 1: They dealt Chandler to Atlanta so that Steve could take over,

342
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Speaker 1: and Chandler had been a very little help to Steve.

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Speaker 1: And it's funny when you when you hear these stories

344
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Speaker 1: about Joe Flacco and this kind of thing. I mean,

345
00:20:48,840 --> 00:20:52,200
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know what people expect, but if

346
00:20:52,200 --> 00:20:54,119
Speaker 1: you're the starter, your job is to be the starter.

347
00:20:54,560 --> 00:20:56,600
Speaker 1: It's not to groom the next guy. It's not to

348
00:20:56,640 --> 00:20:58,840
Speaker 1: be the student teacher. It's not any of that, and

349
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Speaker 1: so but Er was overly not helpful to Steve. And

350
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Speaker 1: so I think what you saw was that there were

351
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Speaker 1: moments and then there were moments that just you know,

352
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Speaker 1: can he really do this? The other thing about that

353
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Speaker 1: ninety seventeen is they just did not have any weapons.

354
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Speaker 1: They had Willie Davis was kind of on the backside

355
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Speaker 1: of his career. Receiver receiver Chris Sanders was inconsistent. That's

356
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Speaker 1: probably the word from a football standpoint, Mike, that I

357
00:21:30,760 --> 00:21:34,199
Speaker 1: would use for that ninety seventeen. And I think if

358
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Speaker 1: there's one thing you cannot win with in the NFL,

359
00:21:37,840 --> 00:21:43,119
Speaker 1: you cannot be inconsistent, right, even if you're dull and consistent,

360
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Speaker 1: which some would argue the ninety nineteen was pretty dull

361
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Speaker 1: in terms of just how they played the game. It

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00:21:48,359 --> 00:21:52,080
Speaker 1: was smash mouth and strong defense. But every week it

363
00:21:52,160 --> 00:21:54,800
Speaker 1: was kind of the same thing. You know. The ninety

364
00:21:54,800 --> 00:21:59,119
Speaker 1: seventeen would lose, you know, inexplicable games and then come

365
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Speaker 1: back and beat Dallas. Thanksgiving Day was the Dallas win

366
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Speaker 1: with the drive that took I guess the whole third

367
00:22:05,840 --> 00:22:11,639
Speaker 1: quarter right over Troy Aikman on Thanksgiving day. Was that

368
00:22:11,760 --> 00:22:15,000
Speaker 1: a harbinger of things to come? I think so, because

369
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Speaker 1: I think you started to see, you know this, there

370
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Speaker 1: might be something here. Steve played well, Eddie rushed the

371
00:22:22,800 --> 00:22:27,280
Speaker 1: ball well, and defensively, they just didn't have the studs.

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Speaker 1: You know, they had blame Bishop and the secondary was strong,

373
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Speaker 1: but up front they weren't very good. Kenny Holmes was

374
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Speaker 1: a rookie. He did some nice things during the course

375
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Speaker 1: of the season, but he was inconsistent. But yeah, that

376
00:22:40,760 --> 00:22:43,679
Speaker 1: was that was the game. The most fun game of

377
00:22:43,720 --> 00:22:47,360
Speaker 1: the entire season was going out to Arizona and they

378
00:22:47,400 --> 00:22:52,800
Speaker 1: absolutely wore out Jake Plumber in that game in ninety seven.

379
00:22:52,880 --> 00:22:55,560
Speaker 1: That was a fun game and that that showed you

380
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Speaker 1: here's the Steve McNair that everybody had talked about in

381
00:22:59,600 --> 00:23:02,760
Speaker 1: college because he's running around, throwing the ball, making plays

382
00:23:02,880 --> 00:23:06,480
Speaker 1: and just fabulous. But you're right, the Dallas game was

383
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Speaker 1: kind of Okay, I see what they're talking about. Now.

384
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Speaker 1: Were you surprised when they finished eight and eight from

385
00:23:13,280 --> 00:23:18,399
Speaker 1: where they started? Absolutely? Absolutely to get to that point

386
00:23:18,880 --> 00:23:21,640
Speaker 1: and to go through everything that they had gone through

387
00:23:21,680 --> 00:23:26,960
Speaker 1: and again to start one and four, absolutely, and you

388
00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:31,040
Speaker 1: know that what's talked about so much is the Steelers

389
00:23:31,080 --> 00:23:33,480
Speaker 1: game was the last game which the Oilers won. Many

390
00:23:33,480 --> 00:23:36,520
Speaker 1: people don't remember that, but they won that game, and

391
00:23:36,600 --> 00:23:39,920
Speaker 1: it was a misty day in Memphis. And yes, there

392
00:23:39,920 --> 00:23:43,159
Speaker 1: were all of these Steelers fans. But what you and

393
00:23:43,200 --> 00:23:46,479
Speaker 1: I came to know over the course of our career

394
00:23:46,640 --> 00:23:50,440
Speaker 1: covering the team that really wasn't as big a deal

395
00:23:50,480 --> 00:23:53,920
Speaker 1: as it was made out to be. Because people in

396
00:23:53,920 --> 00:23:58,199
Speaker 1: this area for so many years, you either got the

397
00:23:58,280 --> 00:24:01,680
Speaker 1: Steelers on television or you got the Dolphins on television

398
00:24:02,280 --> 00:24:04,959
Speaker 1: in the AFC pack. In the AFC package, those were

399
00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:06,679
Speaker 1: the two teams that you got, and then in the

400
00:24:06,800 --> 00:24:11,439
Speaker 1: NFC you got Washington or Dallas. Right, so what four teams?

401
00:24:11,520 --> 00:24:14,679
Speaker 1: Naturally are people going to be fans of? Right? The

402
00:24:14,760 --> 00:24:19,480
Speaker 1: Steelers also travel incredibly well, still do, and so that

403
00:24:19,600 --> 00:24:23,240
Speaker 1: was made that this was some referendum on that. It

404
00:24:23,280 --> 00:24:27,400
Speaker 1: was absolutely a dismal situation. And you know, I'm sure

405
00:24:27,400 --> 00:24:30,359
Speaker 1: it didn't please mister Adams because he hated the Steelers

406
00:24:31,080 --> 00:24:34,760
Speaker 1: and didn't like to see that. But was that so

407
00:24:34,800 --> 00:24:37,240
Speaker 1: far out of the realm of possibilities that that would

408
00:24:37,280 --> 00:24:41,080
Speaker 1: happen that I never thought so, especially looking back on

409
00:24:41,160 --> 00:24:44,720
Speaker 1: it now, Well, here's the legendary story about it that

410
00:24:44,920 --> 00:24:46,800
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's one hundred percent true or

411
00:24:46,840 --> 00:24:50,320
Speaker 1: not because I wasn't there, but that so it starts

412
00:24:50,359 --> 00:24:54,560
Speaker 1: to rain, and they sell ponchos, and the only color

413
00:24:54,640 --> 00:25:00,199
Speaker 1: of ponchos they have are yellow, right, And so for

414
00:25:00,440 --> 00:25:03,560
Speaker 1: whatever the crowd is, and obviously it was a larger crowd,

415
00:25:03,640 --> 00:25:08,200
Speaker 1: and it was predominantly a Steeler crowd, but virtually everybody

416
00:25:08,240 --> 00:25:11,040
Speaker 1: in the stadium is wearing a yellow poncho. So mister

417
00:25:11,119 --> 00:25:14,920
Speaker 1: Adams sees this and is so infuriated that at that

418
00:25:15,040 --> 00:25:18,040
Speaker 1: moment he decides he will do whatever it takes to

419
00:25:18,119 --> 00:25:21,040
Speaker 1: not play in Memphis again in nineteen ninety seven. And

420
00:25:21,119 --> 00:25:22,760
Speaker 1: it was just because of the color of the pot.

421
00:25:22,880 --> 00:25:24,760
Speaker 1: Who knows. I don't know if that's true or not.

422
00:25:24,880 --> 00:25:27,640
Speaker 1: It's a great story. I hope it's true because it

423
00:25:27,680 --> 00:25:31,480
Speaker 1: makes it makes for a good telling at any recitation

424
00:25:31,520 --> 00:25:35,840
Speaker 1: of the Memphis year. But it was something that aide

425
00:25:35,920 --> 00:25:38,960
Speaker 1: him to no end because he hated the Pittsburgh Steelers.

426
00:25:38,960 --> 00:25:43,800
Speaker 1: They cost him two Super Bowls at least at least Yeah,

427
00:25:43,840 --> 00:25:46,720
Speaker 1: And you know the thing about it was, I remember

428
00:25:46,720 --> 00:25:50,000
Speaker 1: as we were boarding the bus after that game, and

429
00:25:50,440 --> 00:25:53,560
Speaker 1: there were fans, as there are at many stadiums that

430
00:25:53,760 --> 00:25:57,520
Speaker 1: you know, come around towards where the buses are and

431
00:25:57,640 --> 00:26:01,800
Speaker 1: I remember this group older gentleman and his wife from

432
00:26:01,840 --> 00:26:05,360
Speaker 1: Memphis and they just there were tears coming down her

433
00:26:05,359 --> 00:26:10,680
Speaker 1: face and he's yelling, you know, we appreciate the fact

434
00:26:10,760 --> 00:26:13,680
Speaker 1: that you've been here. This has been fabulous for us.

435
00:26:14,240 --> 00:26:16,200
Speaker 1: And we heard that over the years when we would

436
00:26:16,200 --> 00:26:19,000
Speaker 1: do Titans caravan stops in Memphis, that young people would

437
00:26:19,040 --> 00:26:20,760
Speaker 1: come up and say, you know, that was my first

438
00:26:20,880 --> 00:26:24,600
Speaker 1: NFL gate was to go see the Ravens in Memphis,

439
00:26:24,720 --> 00:26:27,960
Speaker 1: or to see the Red Skins, or whatever the case

440
00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:30,480
Speaker 1: may be, so to call that year. And there was

441
00:26:30,600 --> 00:26:32,480
Speaker 1: a column that came out a year or so ago

442
00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:35,560
Speaker 1: about you know, what a horrible experience that was and

443
00:26:35,560 --> 00:26:38,240
Speaker 1: that that's never healed in all of this, and I,

444
00:26:39,000 --> 00:26:42,280
Speaker 1: as somebody that was there, I don't believe that. Again,

445
00:26:42,320 --> 00:26:47,440
Speaker 1: it was a circumstance that was born out of rushing

446
00:26:47,880 --> 00:26:49,879
Speaker 1: and trying to get stuff done and trying to get

447
00:26:49,920 --> 00:26:52,880
Speaker 1: stuff done for the right reason. But it wasn't a disaster.

448
00:26:53,000 --> 00:26:55,800
Speaker 1: There were a lot of people that had a good

449
00:26:55,800 --> 00:26:58,840
Speaker 1: experience with that team that year, and there are some

450
00:26:58,920 --> 00:27:03,199
Speaker 1: who believe that it was a fixed plan that was

451
00:27:03,240 --> 00:27:07,480
Speaker 1: a massive mistake in design. It was a plan that

452
00:27:07,520 --> 00:27:12,119
Speaker 1: occurred out of necessity for a lot of people, and

453
00:27:12,720 --> 00:27:16,240
Speaker 1: was a situation where a lot of people had to

454
00:27:16,280 --> 00:27:19,119
Speaker 1: make the best of what they were handed. It's also

455
00:27:19,160 --> 00:27:23,639
Speaker 1: a situation that the NFL would never allowed today. No,

456
00:27:24,200 --> 00:27:26,720
Speaker 1: I think you're right, But again, you look back at

457
00:27:26,760 --> 00:27:30,560
Speaker 1: what forced it that made decision that we talked about

458
00:27:30,600 --> 00:27:32,679
Speaker 1: at the beginning of the podcast was based on the

459
00:27:32,720 --> 00:27:35,199
Speaker 1: fact was the city of Houston going to let the

460
00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:37,880
Speaker 1: Oilers out of that year at the Astrodome and they

461
00:27:37,880 --> 00:27:40,479
Speaker 1: were making it as hard on mister Adams as they

462
00:27:40,520 --> 00:27:45,240
Speaker 1: possibly could. Absolutely, Okay, so you know your stadium's not

463
00:27:45,280 --> 00:27:48,159
Speaker 1: going to be ready, You got the Vanderbilt situation, you

464
00:27:48,240 --> 00:27:51,959
Speaker 1: got the UT situation. Where else are you going to go?

465
00:27:52,720 --> 00:27:58,280
Speaker 1: And yes, did some people sell a line that probably

466
00:27:58,400 --> 00:28:03,280
Speaker 1: was not true, Yeah they did, But again you understand why,

467
00:28:04,680 --> 00:28:06,960
Speaker 1: you know, you understand why they were trying to sell

468
00:28:06,960 --> 00:28:09,640
Speaker 1: the situation Old Memphis will get behind this and it'll

469
00:28:09,680 --> 00:28:12,600
Speaker 1: be great and and all of that. You and I

470
00:28:12,680 --> 00:28:16,560
Speaker 1: both know it's a long drive between Nashville and Memphis,

471
00:28:16,640 --> 00:28:19,920
Speaker 1: especially now when you consider there was road construction going

472
00:28:19,960 --> 00:28:22,480
Speaker 1: on at the time, and so, yeah, you're right, it's

473
00:28:22,480 --> 00:28:26,000
Speaker 1: just a it's a it's a comedy of errors. Almost

474
00:28:26,840 --> 00:28:31,440
Speaker 1: did everybody do everything they could? Absolutely not. But here's

475
00:28:31,480 --> 00:28:34,760
Speaker 1: the thing too, that's fascinating about him, Mike, is that

476
00:28:34,920 --> 00:28:37,560
Speaker 1: Paul Tagliboo came. He was the commissioner at the time.

477
00:28:38,240 --> 00:28:42,400
Speaker 1: He came to the first regular season game at Vanderbilt,

478
00:28:43,520 --> 00:28:46,640
Speaker 1: and every Titans fan will remember that game. That's the

479
00:28:46,920 --> 00:28:50,000
Speaker 1: Ryan Leaf Classic, you know, the only of his career.

480
00:28:50,960 --> 00:28:56,320
Speaker 1: But we interviewed him before the game, and I've always

481
00:28:56,400 --> 00:28:59,320
Speaker 1: I've always found it fascinating that he said this because

482
00:28:59,400 --> 00:29:04,480
Speaker 1: usually piseners don't say anything right, it's just vanilla. Yes,

483
00:29:04,800 --> 00:29:07,800
Speaker 1: it's a beautiful sky, isn't it. Commissioner, Well it's very blue.

484
00:29:08,320 --> 00:29:11,560
Speaker 1: You know, that's just kind of their way. But I

485
00:29:11,600 --> 00:29:16,240
Speaker 1: remember asking, you know, do you have optimism about this? Well,

486
00:29:16,320 --> 00:29:19,960
Speaker 1: we'll see what happens. Well he didn't. He was not

487
00:29:20,040 --> 00:29:22,600
Speaker 1: at all optimistic about this. He had bought into what

488
00:29:22,680 --> 00:29:27,160
Speaker 1: everybody said that this has been a terrible mistake. This

489
00:29:27,240 --> 00:29:30,120
Speaker 1: has been an absolute mistake for the NFL to make

490
00:29:30,160 --> 00:29:33,360
Speaker 1: this move to Tennessee. But let's look at what came

491
00:29:33,440 --> 00:29:37,640
Speaker 1: from it. Memphians, I think got a bad rap in

492
00:29:37,680 --> 00:29:39,640
Speaker 1: the whole deal. I agree, they were put in an

493
00:29:39,680 --> 00:29:44,560
Speaker 1: incredibly difficult situation, and as you said, a lot of things,

494
00:29:44,600 --> 00:29:48,840
Speaker 1: pr wise, were not handled well. But many of them

495
00:29:48,920 --> 00:29:52,960
Speaker 1: became pro football fans and are Titans fans to this day,

496
00:29:53,120 --> 00:29:56,680
Speaker 1: So that good came out of it. And then as

497
00:29:56,760 --> 00:29:59,640
Speaker 1: they have shown what they are about with the Grizzlies,

498
00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:03,760
Speaker 1: and I go to Grizzlies games, it is a great atmosphere.

499
00:30:04,200 --> 00:30:07,959
Speaker 1: I think having their own pro team has healed a

500
00:30:07,960 --> 00:30:10,960
Speaker 1: lot of the wounds, and certainly they came out to

501
00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:14,400
Speaker 1: see us on Titans caravans. I mean the rap that

502
00:30:14,520 --> 00:30:18,480
Speaker 1: Memphis doesn't support the Titans is wrong, and I mean

503
00:30:18,520 --> 00:30:21,200
Speaker 1: it is flat out wrong. And I think from the

504
00:30:21,240 --> 00:30:26,000
Speaker 1: difficulty of that first year, a lot of that base

505
00:30:26,280 --> 00:30:29,320
Speaker 1: developed and has stayed with it. And some of those

506
00:30:29,360 --> 00:30:32,640
Speaker 1: ten year olds are thirty two year olds now and

507
00:30:32,760 --> 00:30:36,600
Speaker 1: make the drive up I forty two Nissan Stadium. I agree,

508
00:30:36,800 --> 00:30:40,560
Speaker 1: and I think that what helped is that the Titans

509
00:30:40,880 --> 00:30:43,040
Speaker 1: didn't allow and I'm talking about the Titans as in

510
00:30:43,080 --> 00:30:48,960
Speaker 1: the upper brass starting with mister Adams. They did not

511
00:30:49,400 --> 00:30:52,400
Speaker 1: allow that experience in ninety seven because there would have

512
00:30:52,400 --> 00:30:55,080
Speaker 1: been some people that would we're never going back to Memphis,

513
00:30:55,120 --> 00:30:57,000
Speaker 1: We're not going to have anything to do with Memphis,

514
00:30:57,360 --> 00:30:59,960
Speaker 1: And they didn't do that, and I think they realized

515
00:31:00,600 --> 00:31:03,880
Speaker 1: that they had some fence mending to do. Sure, and

516
00:31:03,920 --> 00:31:07,160
Speaker 1: so with programs like the Titans Caravan of going back

517
00:31:07,160 --> 00:31:11,000
Speaker 1: to Memphis and you know, giving the community a chance

518
00:31:11,040 --> 00:31:14,160
Speaker 1: to connect with the team and not in a way

519
00:31:14,200 --> 00:31:16,360
Speaker 1: that kind of shoves it down their throat, because there

520
00:31:16,400 --> 00:31:19,760
Speaker 1: are some people that felt like they got used. There

521
00:31:19,760 --> 00:31:21,600
Speaker 1: were some people that felt the NFL used them with

522
00:31:21,640 --> 00:31:25,120
Speaker 1: the whole Jaguars expectandably sure, which is another part of

523
00:31:25,120 --> 00:31:27,720
Speaker 1: this we didn't talk about, which is the deeper part

524
00:31:27,720 --> 00:31:30,959
Speaker 1: of the Memphis You know, some people take the history

525
00:31:31,000 --> 00:31:34,320
Speaker 1: and think it's just the Titans in ninety seven. The

526
00:31:34,400 --> 00:31:38,760
Speaker 1: bitterness about the NFL and the using part was much deeper,

527
00:31:38,840 --> 00:31:42,320
Speaker 1: went back a lot further, and there was some justification

528
00:31:42,400 --> 00:31:44,880
Speaker 1: in that feeling. There were there were those that said

529
00:31:44,920 --> 00:31:49,800
Speaker 1: that the NFL had promised they were coming and that

530
00:31:49,960 --> 00:31:52,920
Speaker 1: basically they used that on the other side to get

531
00:31:52,960 --> 00:31:56,200
Speaker 1: a better deal out of Jacksonville. So, I mean, who knows,

532
00:31:56,280 --> 00:31:58,880
Speaker 1: you'll never know the story, but I think that the

533
00:31:59,320 --> 00:32:03,280
Speaker 1: work that inside the Titans organization did, and the fact

534
00:32:03,400 --> 00:32:07,720
Speaker 1: that you know, in Jeff Fisher he would always be

535
00:32:07,880 --> 00:32:09,800
Speaker 1: there would be people that would try to egg him

536
00:32:09,800 --> 00:32:13,240
Speaker 1: on just saying, you know that the fans support is

537
00:32:13,320 --> 00:32:15,880
Speaker 1: terrible and Memphis doesn't support you, and all of that

538
00:32:15,960 --> 00:32:18,840
Speaker 1: kind of thing. But again, his whole mentality through this

539
00:32:18,920 --> 00:32:22,480
Speaker 1: whole thing was I'm not getting involved in that. This

540
00:32:22,600 --> 00:32:26,080
Speaker 1: is about football. And the Memphis media liked him very

541
00:32:26,160 --> 00:32:29,320
Speaker 1: much and still likes him to this day, took up

542
00:32:29,360 --> 00:32:33,560
Speaker 1: for him all the way through because they were overwhelmed

543
00:32:33,680 --> 00:32:37,520
Speaker 1: with his professionalism during all that. For what they thought

544
00:32:37,600 --> 00:32:40,240
Speaker 1: of the NFL or for what they thought of the

545
00:32:40,320 --> 00:32:44,880
Speaker 1: situation when they covered the team, they got an NFL

546
00:32:44,960 --> 00:32:48,360
Speaker 1: experience from the head coach, and the media was very appreciative.

547
00:32:48,720 --> 00:32:52,560
Speaker 1: I think you'll agree with this. But for whatever you

548
00:32:52,640 --> 00:32:55,200
Speaker 1: think about Jeff Fisher as an X, as an OS coach,

549
00:32:55,400 --> 00:33:00,280
Speaker 1: or whatever you think about that he's too conservative, I'm

550
00:33:00,320 --> 00:33:07,040
Speaker 1: not sure there's anybody past or present who could have

551
00:33:07,360 --> 00:33:14,200
Speaker 1: navigated the situation seven ninety eight ninety nine and had

552
00:33:14,200 --> 00:33:17,720
Speaker 1: it turned out the way it did other than Jeff Fisher.

553
00:33:17,800 --> 00:33:22,760
Speaker 1: It was almost as though he was perfect for the

554
00:33:22,840 --> 00:33:27,400
Speaker 1: situation because he was level headed, because he knew the

555
00:33:27,520 --> 00:33:33,240
Speaker 1: NFL game, because he was never about excuses, because he

556
00:33:33,360 --> 00:33:35,800
Speaker 1: was a young guy. I think that helps, But I've

557
00:33:35,840 --> 00:33:38,520
Speaker 1: often played the game in my mind of Okay, let's

558
00:33:38,560 --> 00:33:44,440
Speaker 1: insert let's insert Bill Bilichick in that situation, Ken Wizzenhut,

559
00:33:44,800 --> 00:33:49,520
Speaker 1: let's insert Mike Ditka, sure and somebody of that ilk. Yeah.

560
00:33:49,840 --> 00:33:54,920
Speaker 1: I mean Fisher was so amazing because he taught us

561
00:33:55,680 --> 00:33:59,560
Speaker 1: the NFL game. He took the time with us because

562
00:33:59,560 --> 00:34:02,160
Speaker 1: we were all college guys, you know, that was our

563
00:34:02,240 --> 00:34:05,920
Speaker 1: background in terms of coverage. He taught us certain things

564
00:34:05,960 --> 00:34:09,600
Speaker 1: and didn't didn't belittle us when we would say things

565
00:34:09,640 --> 00:34:13,000
Speaker 1: that looking back now, it would make you cringe to

566
00:34:13,120 --> 00:34:16,040
Speaker 1: think how bush league we must have seemed to him,

567
00:34:16,640 --> 00:34:20,040
Speaker 1: and yet he wasn't that way at all. The other

568
00:34:20,080 --> 00:34:23,000
Speaker 1: part two about about Jeff that I think was so strong,

569
00:34:23,040 --> 00:34:25,520
Speaker 1: as I'll never forget. When we were picking our first

570
00:34:25,520 --> 00:34:29,600
Speaker 1: Titans radio color analyst, we got down to the end

571
00:34:29,600 --> 00:34:32,400
Speaker 1: and went to him and just to have a conversation

572
00:34:32,520 --> 00:34:35,240
Speaker 1: out of the respect to the head coach and said

573
00:34:35,360 --> 00:34:37,439
Speaker 1: what do you think? And he says, you know, I'd

574
00:34:37,440 --> 00:34:40,840
Speaker 1: go with Pat Ryan because Pat played in the NFL,

575
00:34:41,280 --> 00:34:43,640
Speaker 1: and I think we need to teach people the NFL

576
00:34:44,840 --> 00:34:48,880
Speaker 1: totally logical. I mean, not a dig in anybody else,

577
00:34:48,960 --> 00:34:51,880
Speaker 1: just saying, hey, we've got to be four. Have the

578
00:34:51,920 --> 00:34:53,719
Speaker 1: foe thought. I think the other thing that jumps out

579
00:34:53,760 --> 00:34:57,120
Speaker 1: to look at where the Los Angeles Rams are right

580
00:34:57,160 --> 00:35:01,440
Speaker 1: now at this moment, coming off two great seasons and

581
00:35:01,560 --> 00:35:04,759
Speaker 1: a Super Bowl. Do you think, knowing with what you

582
00:35:04,800 --> 00:35:08,000
Speaker 1: know from that Memphis year and everything else you saw

583
00:35:08,080 --> 00:35:12,960
Speaker 1: Jeff Fisher do, that there's any correlation between where they

584
00:35:13,000 --> 00:35:15,759
Speaker 1: are at this moment and how he set them up

585
00:35:16,120 --> 00:35:19,719
Speaker 1: to normalize the organization after the move from Saint Na.

586
00:35:19,880 --> 00:35:21,799
Speaker 1: I think that's a great point, and it's it's been

587
00:35:21,920 --> 00:35:25,000
Speaker 1: hurtful for me because I have such great respect. I

588
00:35:25,080 --> 00:35:29,400
Speaker 1: learned so many lessons from him. It's been hurtful to

589
00:35:29,560 --> 00:35:32,279
Speaker 1: see kind you know, he's labeled the eighth and eight

590
00:35:32,520 --> 00:35:35,960
Speaker 1: and all of this sort of thing. But there's no

591
00:35:36,040 --> 00:35:39,920
Speaker 1: doubts that he got them through that and the fact

592
00:35:39,960 --> 00:35:44,719
Speaker 1: that he had this experience to to call on and

593
00:35:44,760 --> 00:35:48,520
Speaker 1: if you think about it, very very similar situations. You know,

594
00:35:49,080 --> 00:35:53,200
Speaker 1: you know a community in Los Angeles that man, yeah,

595
00:35:53,360 --> 00:35:56,080
Speaker 1: NFL great, you know whatever, Well, they're getting the two

596
00:35:56,120 --> 00:36:00,000
Speaker 1: best games every week on TV because at that time,

597
00:36:00,280 --> 00:36:04,200
Speaker 1: the blackout situation is still in effect. Legally, well, there's

598
00:36:04,239 --> 00:36:07,440
Speaker 1: no team there, so there's no blackout, right, so they

599
00:36:07,520 --> 00:36:10,880
Speaker 1: see they see the three best games in the early

600
00:36:10,960 --> 00:36:14,120
Speaker 1: window in the one game in the late window every

601
00:36:14,120 --> 00:36:19,000
Speaker 1: single week. The NFL is a successful market in LA

602
00:36:19,200 --> 00:36:23,200
Speaker 1: TV wise because there's no team there, and so now

603
00:36:23,239 --> 00:36:25,560
Speaker 1: you put a team there, and you've got to get

604
00:36:25,600 --> 00:36:28,000
Speaker 1: a bunch of people who have tons of stuff to

605
00:36:28,040 --> 00:36:31,799
Speaker 1: be interested in off the fence and interested in the

606
00:36:31,920 --> 00:36:35,719
Speaker 1: NFL again, and the Fisher effect goes beyond And you're

607
00:36:35,719 --> 00:36:38,160
Speaker 1: so right about the teaching of those of us who

608
00:36:38,200 --> 00:36:42,000
Speaker 1: covered the team, but it also goes to the fans

609
00:36:42,840 --> 00:36:44,920
Speaker 1: because think about this. You and I were hearing it,

610
00:36:45,400 --> 00:36:47,719
Speaker 1: so I know Jeff Fisher's hearing it. You know, why

611
00:36:47,719 --> 00:36:51,120
Speaker 1: don't you why don't you draft more valls? You know,

612
00:36:51,160 --> 00:36:53,480
Speaker 1: why don't you just be the pro valls? Why why

613
00:36:53,480 --> 00:36:57,760
Speaker 1: don't you know these things? And this is never gonna work,

614
00:36:57,840 --> 00:36:59,640
Speaker 1: and blah blah blah blah blah. So you're going to

615
00:36:59,640 --> 00:37:02,160
Speaker 1: the grosser store, you're at you're at a meet and

616
00:37:02,200 --> 00:37:05,799
Speaker 1: greet with fans, you're whatever, it is and you're hearing this. Well,

617
00:37:05,800 --> 00:37:08,560
Speaker 1: he got up at West High School and his first caravan,

618
00:37:09,400 --> 00:37:11,719
Speaker 1: and some student asked him, he was doing a Q

619
00:37:11,800 --> 00:37:14,759
Speaker 1: and A with students West High School in Knoxville, how

620
00:37:14,800 --> 00:37:17,640
Speaker 1: would what would the score be between you and the Valls?

621
00:37:18,960 --> 00:37:21,000
Speaker 1: And I mean I just wanted to And the kid

622
00:37:21,040 --> 00:37:24,000
Speaker 1: asking the question, I mean, bless his heart, he's a

623
00:37:24,080 --> 00:37:28,120
Speaker 1: thirty six year old man. Now, if you're listening, probably

624
00:37:29,120 --> 00:37:33,080
Speaker 1: if you're listening, we love you, but so so I mean,

625
00:37:33,080 --> 00:37:36,000
Speaker 1: we're about to go under our seats. Were so embarrassed,

626
00:37:36,560 --> 00:37:39,080
Speaker 1: you know that. And and he's like, man, we'd probably

627
00:37:39,120 --> 00:37:41,359
Speaker 1: beat him thirty five to nothing. And he just goes on.

628
00:37:41,560 --> 00:37:46,160
Speaker 1: He answered the question honestly. But he didn't belittle people.

629
00:37:46,520 --> 00:37:49,799
Speaker 1: He didn't. He was so kind, He wasn't nasty. He

630
00:37:49,880 --> 00:37:53,200
Speaker 1: wasn't ever nasty. And so now he was funny behind

631
00:37:53,200 --> 00:37:56,000
Speaker 1: the scenes occasional. I mean, there's some great sure. He

632
00:37:56,120 --> 00:37:59,279
Speaker 1: was so much fun. And I think I think they

633
00:37:59,320 --> 00:38:03,600
Speaker 1: had a bomb, those players, those coaches. I think they

634
00:38:03,600 --> 00:38:06,560
Speaker 1: had a bond because once you got on the airplane,

635
00:38:06,640 --> 00:38:08,120
Speaker 1: or once you got on the bus, or once you

636
00:38:08,120 --> 00:38:10,080
Speaker 1: got on the RV on the caravan, you kind of

637
00:38:10,080 --> 00:38:14,320
Speaker 1: had to laugh. Oh, sure you did cry right because

638
00:38:14,400 --> 00:38:16,759
Speaker 1: here you are. I mean, who wouldn't want to be

639
00:38:16,800 --> 00:38:20,840
Speaker 1: an NFL coach. Well, you remember this too. When we

640
00:38:21,120 --> 00:38:27,280
Speaker 1: got on the bus after the caravans stop in Camden, Tennessee,

641
00:38:27,360 --> 00:38:31,680
Speaker 1: on April first, nineteen ninety nine, and Steve McNair had

642
00:38:31,760 --> 00:38:38,480
Speaker 1: closed that town down. Everybody in that town came and

643
00:38:38,600 --> 00:38:43,040
Speaker 1: it was so symbolic because it was the first moment

644
00:38:43,160 --> 00:38:47,080
Speaker 1: that we sensed how big it could be. And it

645
00:38:47,200 --> 00:38:51,040
Speaker 1: happened in West Tennessee. It happened. I mean, Camden is

646
00:38:51,440 --> 00:38:54,000
Speaker 1: almost Middle Tennessee, but it's just across the river, so

647
00:38:54,239 --> 00:38:59,480
Speaker 1: most people consider it West Tennessee. And it was like, Okay,

648
00:38:59,520 --> 00:39:02,680
Speaker 1: this can happen. And then in two thousand when we

649
00:39:02,719 --> 00:39:06,760
Speaker 1: went back for the caravan in Memphis and the turnout

650
00:39:06,840 --> 00:39:10,759
Speaker 1: was massive, and it felt so good to see all

651
00:39:10,840 --> 00:39:14,240
Speaker 1: the work that everybody had put in. And you also

652
00:39:14,320 --> 00:39:17,200
Speaker 1: felt so good for the Memphians who came who were

653
00:39:17,239 --> 00:39:22,200
Speaker 1: fans because they had been I think again unfairly belittled

654
00:39:22,200 --> 00:39:25,719
Speaker 1: by what was an unfortunate situation, and they continue to

655
00:39:25,719 --> 00:39:28,200
Speaker 1: be a strong part of the fan base today. I mean,

656
00:39:28,239 --> 00:39:31,200
Speaker 1: there are moments that came after the fact where there

657
00:39:31,280 --> 00:39:35,320
Speaker 1: was payoff, there was and it worked. It just didn't

658
00:39:35,360 --> 00:39:39,800
Speaker 1: work exactly the way everybody thought it would work. And

659
00:39:40,400 --> 00:39:42,759
Speaker 1: I think that's one of the lessons that being on

660
00:39:42,800 --> 00:39:45,319
Speaker 1: the outside now that I look at the NFL, and

661
00:39:45,360 --> 00:39:51,320
Speaker 1: I think sometimes that the NFL thinks that we snap

662
00:39:51,360 --> 00:39:55,800
Speaker 1: our fingers and it will happen, right social media gratification,

663
00:39:56,040 --> 00:40:01,200
Speaker 1: and it doesn't always happen that way. You know, some

664
00:40:01,239 --> 00:40:03,880
Speaker 1: people will say that it was the Music City miracle

665
00:40:04,160 --> 00:40:08,360
Speaker 1: that you know fortified the Titans. Well, the Titans sold

666
00:40:08,360 --> 00:40:12,080
Speaker 1: out every home game before there ever was a Music

667
00:40:12,080 --> 00:40:17,960
Speaker 1: City miracle, the the passion and some of it negative.

668
00:40:18,440 --> 00:40:21,640
Speaker 1: In the opening game against the Cincinnati Bengals, I mean,

669
00:40:21,680 --> 00:40:26,200
Speaker 1: that was as an electric atmosphere as I ever covered

670
00:40:26,239 --> 00:40:30,000
Speaker 1: in any venue we ever went into. And that's what

671
00:40:30,160 --> 00:40:34,239
Speaker 1: dozens of times at lambeau Field and Gillette Stadium and

672
00:40:34,480 --> 00:40:39,839
Speaker 1: you name which Cowboys, whatever your your stadium is. But

673
00:40:41,200 --> 00:40:43,480
Speaker 1: there was good that came out of it, and it

674
00:40:43,640 --> 00:40:46,640
Speaker 1: just it was, you know, it was all of the thing.

675
00:40:46,680 --> 00:40:49,920
Speaker 1: It was the Memphis year, it was the name, you know,

676
00:40:50,000 --> 00:40:55,000
Speaker 1: it was Steve and Eddie growing up. And then you know,

677
00:40:55,040 --> 00:40:57,920
Speaker 1: a guy like Javan curse coming to you in ninety nine.

678
00:40:57,960 --> 00:41:02,120
Speaker 1: They're just all Jeff Fisher's just all these little pieces.

679
00:41:03,040 --> 00:41:06,080
Speaker 1: How did it work? How did it change? I don't

680
00:41:06,080 --> 00:41:08,640
Speaker 1: think there is one thing that changed it. It just

681
00:41:08,800 --> 00:41:11,600
Speaker 1: kind of changed. And then when people got to walk

682
00:41:11,640 --> 00:41:15,360
Speaker 1: into that building, you know, in Faith Hill's sang the

683
00:41:15,440 --> 00:41:18,360
Speaker 1: national anthem in the preseason and all of that that

684
00:41:18,480 --> 00:41:21,920
Speaker 1: went on, it's kind of like, Okay, I get it.

685
00:41:22,080 --> 00:41:25,919
Speaker 1: I understand it. Now. The NFL playing at Vanderbilder, playing

686
00:41:25,920 --> 00:41:29,200
Speaker 1: at the Liberty Bowl, That's that's one thing. But here,

687
00:41:31,080 --> 00:41:34,160
Speaker 1: you know, in our own stadium, our own place, the

688
00:41:34,280 --> 00:41:38,760
Speaker 1: NFL is here. Now it's a bunch of little things.

689
00:41:39,840 --> 00:41:42,680
Speaker 1: Do you have a favorite Memphis story from nineteen ninety

690
00:41:42,680 --> 00:41:45,400
Speaker 1: seven that you can share that I can share, that

691
00:41:45,520 --> 00:41:47,359
Speaker 1: you can share. I mean, I know there's some you can't.

692
00:41:47,400 --> 00:41:51,200
Speaker 1: There's got to be a Joe McConnell's story. Because Joe McConnell,

693
00:41:51,200 --> 00:41:53,960
Speaker 1: who had been the voice of the Broncos, the Vikings,

694
00:41:54,120 --> 00:41:58,320
Speaker 1: the Bears, and the Colts before he got to the Tights.

695
00:41:58,360 --> 00:42:00,960
Speaker 1: I think about that, he'd been he'd also been with

696
00:42:01,000 --> 00:42:04,080
Speaker 1: the White Sox. Did he do the bulls? He did

697
00:42:04,080 --> 00:42:07,080
Speaker 1: the Bulls? He also did NBA radio. He did NBA radio,

698
00:42:07,200 --> 00:42:10,960
Speaker 1: he did Purdue. I mean, you're talking about as accomplished

699
00:42:11,000 --> 00:42:15,439
Speaker 1: a broadcaster as you could probably bring in and as

700
00:42:15,520 --> 00:42:20,640
Speaker 1: a serbic a wit. Joe never hesitated to throw out

701
00:42:20,680 --> 00:42:22,960
Speaker 1: an opinion, and it was generally something with a bit

702
00:42:22,960 --> 00:42:27,280
Speaker 1: of an edge. Yes, is he involved in your best memory? Gosh,

703
00:42:27,320 --> 00:42:29,160
Speaker 1: that's a great story. And the great thing too about Joe,

704
00:42:29,200 --> 00:42:31,640
Speaker 1: God Rest his soul, is that Joe was the oldest

705
00:42:31,680 --> 00:42:35,520
Speaker 1: living human being ever. I mean, he just he was

706
00:42:35,560 --> 00:42:37,839
Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty when he was twenty five. I mean,

707
00:42:38,120 --> 00:42:40,239
Speaker 1: he was a bitter old man. Hen just was a

708
00:42:40,239 --> 00:42:43,040
Speaker 1: bitter old man. And by the way, folks, we used

709
00:42:43,040 --> 00:42:45,200
Speaker 1: to call him that to his face, So don't think

710
00:42:45,480 --> 00:42:50,160
Speaker 1: we loved him for that reason. The best Memphis story,

711
00:42:51,320 --> 00:42:54,080
Speaker 1: there are so many of them, I think I think

712
00:42:54,080 --> 00:42:59,919
Speaker 1: it was just seeing the atmosphere at that Oakland game.

713
00:43:00,560 --> 00:43:07,720
Speaker 1: I think that's the best moment because you're you're sitting

714
00:43:07,760 --> 00:43:09,960
Speaker 1: there and you're reflecting on the fact that you've just

715
00:43:10,120 --> 00:43:15,200
Speaker 1: seen a historical, rushing accomplishment at the last place on

716
00:43:15,280 --> 00:43:20,040
Speaker 1: earth anybody would expect, not just Memphis, but with the

717
00:43:20,080 --> 00:43:24,520
Speaker 1: Tennessee Oilers, and with Eddie George and on an incredibly

718
00:43:24,600 --> 00:43:28,120
Speaker 1: hot day, and I mean he just like he barreled

719
00:43:28,239 --> 00:43:31,680
Speaker 1: over people. I mean in that game. And I've seen

720
00:43:31,760 --> 00:43:34,680
Speaker 1: some of the highlights over the last several years on

721
00:43:34,800 --> 00:43:40,320
Speaker 1: an NFL film special, and you forget just how Eddie

722
00:43:40,360 --> 00:43:43,840
Speaker 1: was able to just I mean it was Jeff Fisher

723
00:43:43,920 --> 00:43:45,799
Speaker 1: said this, how many times and meetings with us. We're

724
00:43:45,800 --> 00:43:48,200
Speaker 1: going to get two yards in the first quarter, and

725
00:43:48,400 --> 00:43:50,839
Speaker 1: two point five yards in the second quarter, and then

726
00:43:50,880 --> 00:43:53,520
Speaker 1: four yards in the third quarter, and it'll be six

727
00:43:53,560 --> 00:43:56,640
Speaker 1: and the fourth because people just couldn't take the punishment.

728
00:43:58,320 --> 00:44:02,400
Speaker 1: I think that's probably. There's a lot of funny things

729
00:44:02,520 --> 00:44:06,360
Speaker 1: that happened, but most of them I can't can't share.

730
00:44:07,239 --> 00:44:09,440
Speaker 1: But most of those have very little to do with

731
00:44:09,480 --> 00:44:12,560
Speaker 1: Memphis and have more to do with just you know,

732
00:44:12,840 --> 00:44:15,280
Speaker 1: looking back on it, I mean, I had no business

733
00:44:15,360 --> 00:44:18,360
Speaker 1: doing what I was doing, and most of the people

734
00:44:18,400 --> 00:44:21,480
Speaker 1: involved had no business doing what we were doing. But

735
00:44:22,000 --> 00:44:25,200
Speaker 1: we were kind of trying to find our way. And

736
00:44:25,880 --> 00:44:28,680
Speaker 1: here's Joe, who you know, has called Any of the

737
00:44:28,719 --> 00:44:31,680
Speaker 1: great Walter Payton calls that you hear from NFL films

738
00:44:31,680 --> 00:44:37,279
Speaker 1: are generally Joe McConnell and as a serbic as he was,

739
00:44:37,400 --> 00:44:41,120
Speaker 1: and as as crotchety as he was at times. I

740
00:44:41,160 --> 00:44:45,560
Speaker 1: think it was a great moment in his career to

741
00:44:45,719 --> 00:44:48,839
Speaker 1: do what he did, which is kind of take all

742
00:44:48,840 --> 00:44:52,239
Speaker 1: of us under his wing and say, here's what this

743
00:44:52,360 --> 00:44:56,040
Speaker 1: is all about. You know, here's what this NFL game

744
00:44:57,280 --> 00:44:59,799
Speaker 1: is all about. And here's here's what you got to

745
00:44:59,800 --> 00:45:05,520
Speaker 1: know about that. So you saw it at the start. Literally,

746
00:45:06,920 --> 00:45:09,800
Speaker 1: you saw the NFL Draft this past spring in Nashville.

747
00:45:10,719 --> 00:45:15,280
Speaker 1: Can you describe the start to what is not the finish,

748
00:45:16,120 --> 00:45:20,800
Speaker 1: but is the continuation of the evolution of the NFL

749
00:45:20,920 --> 00:45:25,320
Speaker 1: in the Mid South through the NFL Draft in twenty nineteen.

750
00:45:26,360 --> 00:45:28,720
Speaker 1: I'm not ashamed to admit that I got a little

751
00:45:28,719 --> 00:45:34,200
Speaker 1: emotional watching the draft because we were told this will

752
00:45:34,239 --> 00:45:37,760
Speaker 1: never work, this will never happen, this area won't support

753
00:45:38,320 --> 00:45:44,040
Speaker 1: pro football. And to see that atmosphere and to see

754
00:45:44,200 --> 00:45:53,319
Speaker 1: the way the region has taken to this team, it's

755
00:45:53,360 --> 00:45:56,839
Speaker 1: pretty amazing. It's pretty amazing to see it come from

756
00:45:56,840 --> 00:46:01,200
Speaker 1: those ninety seven origins. And people always ask, you know,

757
00:46:01,320 --> 00:46:04,000
Speaker 1: what about that super Bowl run? That Super Bowl run

758
00:46:04,080 --> 00:46:09,399
Speaker 1: started in Memphis. I firmly believe that through the adversity

759
00:46:09,440 --> 00:46:12,760
Speaker 1: that that team had to deal with. They they grew

760
00:46:12,840 --> 00:46:15,200
Speaker 1: some grit. That's probably not the way to say it,

761
00:46:15,239 --> 00:46:16,840
Speaker 1: but I could say it in another way and that

762
00:46:16,840 --> 00:46:20,640
Speaker 1: wouldn't be appropriate either. But they they kind of they

763
00:46:20,719 --> 00:46:22,840
Speaker 1: kind of got some metal. They got some of that

764
00:46:22,920 --> 00:46:25,920
Speaker 1: Memphis grinding them. Yeah. I mean, they found that and

765
00:46:25,960 --> 00:46:29,360
Speaker 1: they found that way to overcome it. And you know,

766
00:46:29,440 --> 00:46:33,239
Speaker 1: you look at that ninety nine team, and I don't

767
00:46:33,239 --> 00:46:35,560
Speaker 1: think that was I don't think that was the most

768
00:46:35,560 --> 00:46:38,840
Speaker 1: talented team that we ever covered by no means. Maybe

769
00:46:38,840 --> 00:46:41,800
Speaker 1: the fourth best team, but they just had that something

770
00:46:42,000 --> 00:46:45,239
Speaker 1: m you know, they just had that kind of that

771
00:46:45,440 --> 00:46:49,520
Speaker 1: thing that you can't describe. And so many teams have that,

772
00:46:49,680 --> 00:46:54,080
Speaker 1: so many teams that have that ability and win. I

773
00:46:54,120 --> 00:46:56,360
Speaker 1: thought the Eagles a couple of years ago had that.

774
00:46:57,280 --> 00:47:01,040
Speaker 1: They just had that kind of that grit. And so

775
00:47:01,760 --> 00:47:04,479
Speaker 1: to see all of that and to now see when

776
00:47:04,520 --> 00:47:08,160
Speaker 1: you go through some lean years, and you know, we've

777
00:47:08,200 --> 00:47:10,200
Speaker 1: talked about this a million times. The NFL is all

778
00:47:10,239 --> 00:47:12,920
Speaker 1: about forcing you into lean years. That's what makes the

779
00:47:12,960 --> 00:47:17,400
Speaker 1: Patriots thing such an unbelievable And yet if you're not

780
00:47:17,440 --> 00:47:20,520
Speaker 1: a Patriots fan, kind of sickening story is that everything

781
00:47:20,560 --> 00:47:23,080
Speaker 1: in the National Football League is designed for the Patriots

782
00:47:23,080 --> 00:47:26,960
Speaker 1: to never happen. That shouldn't happen, and yet it has.

783
00:47:28,120 --> 00:47:30,200
Speaker 1: And so when you go through those lean years, to

784
00:47:30,239 --> 00:47:32,560
Speaker 1: see the excitement is still there and to see the

785
00:47:32,640 --> 00:47:35,520
Speaker 1: passion is still there. The other part about the draft thing,

786
00:47:35,560 --> 00:47:39,600
Speaker 1: just to bring that full circle, is that teaching you

787
00:47:39,680 --> 00:47:43,960
Speaker 1: talked about. To see those fans there on Night two.

788
00:47:45,800 --> 00:47:49,239
Speaker 1: To see those fans there on day three on a

789
00:47:49,320 --> 00:47:52,600
Speaker 1: Saturday in Nashville in the spring, and we're going to

790
00:47:52,640 --> 00:47:57,400
Speaker 1: come downtown and watch the sixth round of the NFL Draft.

791
00:47:58,040 --> 00:48:01,400
Speaker 1: That shows you that there's a level of understanding and

792
00:48:01,600 --> 00:48:07,839
Speaker 1: interest in this sport that it wasn't there obviously at

793
00:48:07,840 --> 00:48:12,840
Speaker 1: the beginning. You know, I think most Tennessee fans of

794
00:48:12,920 --> 00:48:15,600
Speaker 1: the NFL in nineteen ninety seven, if they could have

795
00:48:15,680 --> 00:48:18,920
Speaker 1: named five oilers, you would have given them a prize.

796
00:48:19,120 --> 00:48:22,360
Speaker 1: But I was an NFL fan. I couldn't name five oilers.

797
00:48:22,719 --> 00:48:26,279
Speaker 1: It was one of the challenge about this particular franchise

798
00:48:26,440 --> 00:48:30,560
Speaker 1: coming to our region was this wasn't a team that

799
00:48:30,640 --> 00:48:33,000
Speaker 1: you loved or a team that you hated. It was

800
00:48:33,040 --> 00:48:36,719
Speaker 1: a team you didn't know. We never saw the Oilers here.

801
00:48:36,719 --> 00:48:39,120
Speaker 1: It had been the same as the San Diego Chargers

802
00:48:39,120 --> 00:48:43,200
Speaker 1: had come had moved here. Yeah, more like from a

803
00:48:43,200 --> 00:48:46,239
Speaker 1: baseball standpoint, taken a different way if the San Diego Padres,

804
00:48:46,760 --> 00:48:49,759
Speaker 1: he I mean, it was like, who I mean, they've

805
00:48:49,760 --> 00:48:52,759
Speaker 1: had success, but I couldn't tell you. I mean, you know,

806
00:48:53,440 --> 00:48:55,560
Speaker 1: Dave Winfield played for him at one time, I mean,

807
00:48:55,600 --> 00:48:59,000
Speaker 1: but otherwise it's not It's just one of those franchises

808
00:48:59,040 --> 00:49:03,360
Speaker 1: you don't see, don't follow. And as you talk about

809
00:49:03,480 --> 00:49:08,920
Speaker 1: that draft and the development of the league. I had

810
00:49:08,920 --> 00:49:11,480
Speaker 1: a chance to do a speaking engagement at a breakfast

811
00:49:11,560 --> 00:49:15,279
Speaker 1: just recently, and the gentleman who was presently association was

812
00:49:15,320 --> 00:49:18,560
Speaker 1: talking to me and he brought his son to the

813
00:49:18,640 --> 00:49:22,480
Speaker 1: Music City Miracle Game. His son was eight. Now his

814
00:49:22,520 --> 00:49:26,879
Speaker 1: son is twenty seven, and he told me that it

815
00:49:27,120 --> 00:49:33,600
Speaker 1: was one of their best father son memories of anything

816
00:49:33,920 --> 00:49:38,120
Speaker 1: in their lives together, was that they were together at

817
00:49:38,120 --> 00:49:41,040
Speaker 1: the Music City Miracle Game on January eighth, two thousand.

818
00:49:41,920 --> 00:49:44,319
Speaker 1: That story made me so happy. But the best part

819
00:49:44,360 --> 00:49:46,719
Speaker 1: of the story to me is they drove up from

820
00:49:46,760 --> 00:49:53,120
Speaker 1: Memphis and that I guess there's just a part of

821
00:49:53,120 --> 00:49:55,839
Speaker 1: me that always you know, when we felt it, when

822
00:49:55,880 --> 00:49:58,279
Speaker 1: we planned things, when we did things when we worked

823
00:49:58,320 --> 00:50:01,279
Speaker 1: with our radio stations. He wanted to be extra good

824
00:50:01,320 --> 00:50:04,399
Speaker 1: to Memphis because we were not going to give up

825
00:50:04,440 --> 00:50:08,000
Speaker 1: on that place, because we just did not think ninety

826
00:50:08,000 --> 00:50:11,399
Speaker 1: seven was a fair representation of what they could be

827
00:50:12,040 --> 00:50:16,160
Speaker 1: to the Titan experience. And you know, it's still growing

828
00:50:16,560 --> 00:50:18,640
Speaker 1: that generation. The other guy who was key in that

829
00:50:18,680 --> 00:50:22,680
Speaker 1: too was George Lapidis, who was a Memphis media legend.

830
00:50:24,000 --> 00:50:26,920
Speaker 1: Wrote for the Press Cimeter I think it was called,

831
00:50:27,719 --> 00:50:31,480
Speaker 1: and worked in radio, worked in television at that time.

832
00:50:31,520 --> 00:50:33,879
Speaker 1: He was running that He was the sports director at

833
00:50:33,880 --> 00:50:37,320
Speaker 1: the CBS affiliate in town. He was my first phone

834
00:50:37,360 --> 00:50:41,080
Speaker 1: call on my first day getting the job to ask him,

835
00:50:41,640 --> 00:50:45,600
Speaker 1: would you please carry our games in nineteen ninety eight?

836
00:50:45,600 --> 00:50:49,200
Speaker 1: Would you please make the decision? And he reamed me

837
00:50:49,280 --> 00:50:53,319
Speaker 1: out outside of Jeff Fisher, you're all a bunch of losers.

838
00:50:53,400 --> 00:50:55,799
Speaker 1: You don't know what you're doing. Da da da da

839
00:50:55,840 --> 00:50:57,719
Speaker 1: Da Da da da da. And at the end of the

840
00:50:57,680 --> 00:51:01,440
Speaker 1: the conversation, I mean he talked for five minutes and

841
00:51:01,560 --> 00:51:04,200
Speaker 1: it was not good. And anybody who knows him, he

842
00:51:04,280 --> 00:51:07,080
Speaker 1: was a Joe McConnell type. He was. He was very

843
00:51:07,200 --> 00:51:08,600
Speaker 1: kind to me over the years, but he was a

844
00:51:08,640 --> 00:51:12,279
Speaker 1: grouchy guy, talented guy, but he said, yeah, I'm gonna

845
00:51:12,280 --> 00:51:17,600
Speaker 1: put your games on. Like what you're like? Did you wait?

846
00:51:18,480 --> 00:51:20,560
Speaker 1: That was just on the phone. But the reason was,

847
00:51:20,600 --> 00:51:27,040
Speaker 1: he said, because my grandchildren will be Oilers fans, Titans fans.

848
00:51:27,080 --> 00:51:29,640
Speaker 1: As it turned out, we were still the Oilers, he said,

849
00:51:29,640 --> 00:51:32,040
Speaker 1: And I've got to face the fact that twenty years

850
00:51:32,120 --> 00:51:35,520
Speaker 1: from now this will be the team people will follow.

851
00:51:35,920 --> 00:51:39,600
Speaker 1: He said, if I'm doing the right thing, I'm putting

852
00:51:39,680 --> 00:51:42,160
Speaker 1: I'm choosing to put your games on because the CBS

853
00:51:42,200 --> 00:51:45,440
Speaker 1: affiliate with the AFC partnership. For those who don't know,

854
00:51:45,520 --> 00:51:48,239
Speaker 1: they have that choice. Out of market, they can pick

855
00:51:48,320 --> 00:51:51,440
Speaker 1: what games they want. They chose to show our games

856
00:51:52,000 --> 00:51:56,040
Speaker 1: because George Lapitas made that choice, even though he wasn't

857
00:51:56,040 --> 00:51:59,239
Speaker 1: happy with what happened in nineteen ninety seven. Well, I

858
00:51:59,280 --> 00:52:02,880
Speaker 1: go back to all the years of planning Titans caravans

859
00:52:02,880 --> 00:52:05,840
Speaker 1: that we were involved in, and the one thing that

860
00:52:05,880 --> 00:52:10,960
Speaker 1: we always came back to was the ability to a

861
00:52:11,520 --> 00:52:16,439
Speaker 1: make a positive impact on young people. But b that's

862
00:52:16,480 --> 00:52:20,399
Speaker 1: the generation you're working on. Absolutely, And so you know,

863
00:52:21,000 --> 00:52:24,080
Speaker 1: until you said that now, I hadn't really thought about it.

864
00:52:24,080 --> 00:52:26,799
Speaker 1: But yeah, I we're talking about young people that in

865
00:52:26,880 --> 00:52:29,759
Speaker 1: those caravans stops from two thousand to two thousand and ten,

866
00:52:29,840 --> 00:52:31,880
Speaker 1: when we're sitting in front of second and third and

867
00:52:31,920 --> 00:52:37,080
Speaker 1: fourth graders, they're all probably married and having their own kids. Right.

868
00:52:37,160 --> 00:52:40,600
Speaker 1: The gentleman's son now is twenty seven and has a

869
00:52:40,600 --> 00:52:45,600
Speaker 1: great job in Virginia. And you know that's the that's

870
00:52:45,640 --> 00:52:48,320
Speaker 1: the whole thing is they are that generation of fans.

871
00:52:48,400 --> 00:52:52,600
Speaker 1: We are now into our second generation of Titans fans.

872
00:52:52,960 --> 00:52:56,040
Speaker 1: And it all started with a bizarre season in Memphis

873
00:52:56,120 --> 00:53:00,400
Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety seven with Larry Stone running Oilers Radio.

874
00:53:00,600 --> 00:53:05,200
Speaker 1: Tell people what you're doing now. I stepped away from

875
00:53:05,680 --> 00:53:07,960
Speaker 1: the Titans Radio network a couple of years back to

876
00:53:08,640 --> 00:53:12,000
Speaker 1: buy radio stations in Cookville, So we operate a group

877
00:53:12,040 --> 00:53:15,080
Speaker 1: of four stations in Cookeville. And which station are we

878
00:53:15,160 --> 00:53:18,520
Speaker 1: on here at stone Com one oh six nine Kicks Country,

879
00:53:19,760 --> 00:53:22,600
Speaker 1: the Home of the Titans. Thank you for sharing these

880
00:53:22,640 --> 00:53:27,480
Speaker 1: memn Thank you good stuff. Larry Stone put together Titans

881
00:53:27,600 --> 00:53:30,600
Speaker 1: Radio part of the Memphis year and so much a

882
00:53:30,640 --> 00:53:32,840
Speaker 1: part of what we did on Titans Caravan for so

883
00:53:33,120 --> 00:53:36,320
Speaker 1: many years. He's our guest this week on the Official

884
00:53:36,400 --> 00:53:39,160
Speaker 1: Titans podcast. Amy Wells is back with us next week.

885
00:53:39,239 --> 00:53:41,640
Speaker 1: My name's Mike Keith. Thank you for listening to the

886
00:53:41,760 --> 00:53:42,480
Speaker 1: OTT