Speaker 1: This is cut to it with Steve Smith Senior at
Speaker 1: production of The Black Effect and I Heart Radio. I'm
Speaker 1: Steve Smith Senior and i' and this is cut to it.
Speaker 1: Good Do, Good do? What they're getting down to do
Speaker 1: with good do It? We asked the questions you always
Speaker 1: want to know, but no one ever asked. Let's cut
Speaker 1: to it. You heard him about it, then we're about
Speaker 1: to let you know it's all all right. Well, this
Speaker 1: is part two of Michael Vick the Human Highlight Reel.
Speaker 1: This is his words and then also being on the
Speaker 1: other side not know you may know it. I witnessed it,
Speaker 1: and I've seen it. You got you got us. I
Speaker 1: got a first side, and I got post dramatic stress
Speaker 1: about it. Right now, right he's still gliding across this.
Speaker 1: Right now, you're gonna hear about Michael Dwayne vic the man,
Speaker 1: the man, the husband and father, what he learned about
Speaker 1: himself and what he learned about playing the game. It's remarkable.
Speaker 1: It's a lot of it's some nuggets up in there.
Speaker 1: I'm talking about nugget dropping, Mike dropping everything. Um, you
Speaker 1: can't wait for you guys to here. But it's less
Speaker 1: about ball. It's more about the person. I've always struggled
Speaker 1: with trusting people overall. So I can't even imagine, you know,
Speaker 1: what you've gone through, how do you filter friends now
Speaker 1: and and you know, and how it's changed, Yeah, in
Speaker 1: those ways after going through everything you went through. I
Speaker 1: try to, um just not have a lot of friends.
Speaker 1: I try to just keep my circle small, like I
Speaker 1: got a lot of respect for, you know, especially my
Speaker 1: piss like like you and Danny and Thomason and Drew
Speaker 1: Breves and guys you know from my draft and draft
Speaker 1: class guys I played with, guys who I respect so much,
Speaker 1: you know, and I, you know, guys not saying it
Speaker 1: that you've gotta be successful because I can meet somebody
Speaker 1: to charity event and having good relationship with him from Afar,
Speaker 1: But I try to center myself around, you know, people
Speaker 1: who who think like me, who you know, don't have
Speaker 1: the same walk of life, might not be in the
Speaker 1: same walk of life, but you know, we kind of
Speaker 1: experienced the same things, and you know, what life is
Speaker 1: all about the importance and family and and things that
Speaker 1: really matter, you know. So you know, I felt like
Speaker 1: those are the more of renatable people, and those are
Speaker 1: the people who kind of you know, help keep leads
Speaker 1: on my dean when when I when I could be
Speaker 1: slipping a little bit, passie. We all none of us
Speaker 1: are perfectly you know. We all you know aren't shopping
Speaker 1: iron man. What are the core values look for in
Speaker 1: the friendship? And when do you know you need to
Speaker 1: leave a friendship? You give them time, Like it's gonna
Speaker 1: be things that's gonna happen where you know, decisions gonna
Speaker 1: have to be made and somebody's gonna have to save
Speaker 1: with one another. Just call out what's really real or
Speaker 1: what's right and if that person can't do that, you know,
Speaker 1: and just in the smallest situations to make a decision
Speaker 1: that you like, Man, thanks for having my back on
Speaker 1: this because you know I was right and you know
Speaker 1: I'm not wrong. That's when you know you got a
Speaker 1: good friend, when they're gonna step up and do what's right.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, Like situation like, Steve, I know,
Speaker 1: I know you see, like I can tell you probably
Speaker 1: tell you something like if it don't make no sense,
Speaker 1: I can almost expect ninety in time you can be like, yo,
Speaker 1: what the hell are you talking about? Pretty much like
Speaker 1: like if I give you a scenario. It was like, man,
Speaker 1: what do you think about this? I did this? He
Speaker 1: did that? Who we were? Like? Who was right? Just
Speaker 1: with your assause if you if you tell me to
Speaker 1: ask something looking for him, like, Yo, that's a good friend.
Speaker 1: Not because it's not because I'm your boy, Because it's
Speaker 1: like you're telling me the truth, whether good or bad.
Speaker 1: I'm like, that's a good friend. But I just been
Speaker 1: around people who just couldn't do that as a late
Speaker 1: friends and family, and it's hurtful. And I've learned to
Speaker 1: walk away from those people because those type of people
Speaker 1: that can hurt you. That's one thing I've learned. Everybody
Speaker 1: can't go with you. That one's a hard one to
Speaker 1: learn that everybody can't go with you. Man, that's so good.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm sitting next to you. I said, that was
Speaker 1: really good. But it's true though you and you have
Speaker 1: to go through it by trialing there. All right, let's
Speaker 1: let's we always have this segment called Let's Talk Ball.
Speaker 1: So I was listening to um MoManI Jones podcast that
Speaker 1: you did back in and I heard you say in
Speaker 1: this is why this is when you were still playing
Speaker 1: with the Philly there for your Eagles at the time
Speaker 1: is when you finally put everything together. And I heard
Speaker 1: you say that, and I I mouthed the word that
Speaker 1: I will not repeat on this podcast. Bro, Like, m
Speaker 1: what is Mike vix standard? Because the other sideline watching
Speaker 1: you play and you're saying you just getting it to
Speaker 1: get you just figuring it out. What was you doing
Speaker 1: prior to that? Because I remember that game that I'm
Speaker 1: back game when you broke your ankle. Remember the mad
Speaker 1: Curse he broke his ankle. Ye remember that. U dang
Speaker 1: they had who they have Samuel Jackson, he's back. They
Speaker 1: had to make they have folks that McDonald's talking about.
Speaker 1: He's back now that that was the game when you, uh,
Speaker 1: you scrambled around and I'm exaggerating, but he literally dove
Speaker 1: in from the thirty and hurt just kind of go.
Speaker 1: He was like, I know his knee touched the ground.
Speaker 1: I know it. Man. We ran an instant replay. We
Speaker 1: ran every year that it went under the hood. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he capt didn't touch book. There was Moses. No. We
Speaker 1: walked on water. I mean, I know Jeus water. Peter
Speaker 1: came out water with Jesus, right. He said, don't look
Speaker 1: down and there's Michael vad who hovered over the turf
Speaker 1: and made it. You made it, but but good times.
Speaker 1: But yet your own words you didn't even have. You
Speaker 1: didn't put it all together. No, get get me to
Speaker 1: understand how Rookie of the Year Madden coming over Pro Bowls,
Speaker 1: you know, is doing all this stuff. You were doing
Speaker 1: nine h two yards in one season, right, six thousand
Speaker 1: yards Russian season and yeah, you have no idea what
Speaker 1: you're doing out there. Yeah, so I said, I'll say, look,
Speaker 1: I had an understanding of the game. So I understand.
Speaker 1: I understood our offense. I understood what was trying to accomplish.
Speaker 1: You know, I understood, you know, the the whole single
Speaker 1: high too high. You know, how to be discoverage and
Speaker 1: how to be that coverage. But you know, when I
Speaker 1: had Dan Reeves, um, you know, Dan forced me to
Speaker 1: look at certain things on defense and and watch this
Speaker 1: guy and watch this guy guy, and you know, look
Speaker 1: out for this defense. So I was standing like seriously,
Speaker 1: get into the exits and oats and like really learn
Speaker 1: our offense and pieces together. So so this is what
Speaker 1: I know because I was young, and as I think
Speaker 1: about this, this is why when I got the Philly
Speaker 1: I really didn't no nothing. And this could be a
Speaker 1: lesson for you know, coaches to young quarterbacks in the league,
Speaker 1: as you know, stop changing offenses and change offers and coordinators.
Speaker 1: Let a guy grow. So damn, we're starting to teach
Speaker 1: me how to you know, six and seven men fronts
Speaker 1: and protections and how to how we protected our offense.
Speaker 1: So i' mean this offensive two and a half years
Speaker 1: and then then gets fired in my third year, you know,
Speaker 1: So now you know, I'm like, I gotta go off
Speaker 1: what we got the last three games of the season,
Speaker 1: and now it was a new coach coming in, teaching
Speaker 1: different rules and different principles and the whole new offense.
Speaker 1: And now I gotta learn the whole offense. I gotta
Speaker 1: learn what this offense in tales and what we're trying
Speaker 1: to do in this West Coast system. And then I
Speaker 1: gotta get back to learning defenses and how to piece
Speaker 1: these defenses with what we're trying to do to get
Speaker 1: the best of what we're trying to do in the offense.
Speaker 1: So in trying to do that, it's like, you know,
Speaker 1: things not going right sometimes, and now I'm using my
Speaker 1: natural instance. I'm running and that far out of my
Speaker 1: game was coming out more because I'm just unsure, you know,
Speaker 1: and I got you know, I got weeks to you know,
Speaker 1: put it all together, constantly add new stuff. It's constant
Speaker 1: new defenses that we gotta see. I think that was
Speaker 1: around the time, like Steve, you will remember when the
Speaker 1: zero Blitz was starting, like oh full five, it was
Speaker 1: starting to show up, like yo, what is this and
Speaker 1: how do you beat it? So that's where we drafted
Speaker 1: Thomas Davis. They drive to Thomas. They just took literally
Speaker 1: to Shadow Michael spy, no, not spy to shadow like
Speaker 1: to mem Yes, break that down with the differences. So
Speaker 1: the difference it was shadow mad players like myself are
Speaker 1: probably you're the spy Shadow. But here's the thing. Your
Speaker 1: job was too. Wherever number seven is, you go, you
Speaker 1: go kind of like want to tradition, a true lockdown corner,
Speaker 1: a true lockdown corners. I talked about Champ Bailey if
Speaker 1: I if I drove my car, Champ would be the
Speaker 1: parking attendant. Right. That's that's and Thomas assignment was. I
Speaker 1: don't care what Algae Compler does, I don't care what
Speaker 1: ABC does. Your job is to keep up because Thomas
Speaker 1: was really really fast to keep up with Michael Vick.
Speaker 1: Wherever Vick go, you go, Well, coach, you drinking water? Well,
Speaker 1: why are you not go? And that's what it was,
Speaker 1: and he did it. He did it. But but yeah, Vick,
Speaker 1: what one or two plays playing us because we're so
Speaker 1: much we knew each other playing inside your division twice
Speaker 1: a year, you know, you know it is almost you
Speaker 1: can utilize information against each other because it's like playing
Speaker 1: against your brother, you know. It's Tennessee's Oh well, I
Speaker 1: know they're gonna they're gonna do a sprint right option,
Speaker 1: but Vickers left handed, so they're gonna do a sprint
Speaker 1: left option. But every West Coast coach is gonna run
Speaker 1: a sprint left for sprint right option. It's in the playbook.
Speaker 1: While all this is happening with Thomas Davis and the
Speaker 1: Panthers getting better, and they end up beating us, and
Speaker 1: oh six, I think they beat us twice if I'm
Speaker 1: not mistaken. Um, you know, I'm just learning, trying to
Speaker 1: learn all these all these offensive plays and trying to
Speaker 1: learn this offense where teams are getting better. And that's
Speaker 1: why by the time I got the Philly I felt
Speaker 1: like I was starting all over again, and I just
Speaker 1: started to put it together because I had that year
Speaker 1: time with donnov Been to learn that system, put it
Speaker 1: all in place. And in a year too, I was
Speaker 1: much more mature. I was ready to take on those
Speaker 1: challenges and what dan Is stilled in me, and I
Speaker 1: was able to kind of play catch up. But yeah,
Speaker 1: so that was that's why I was like, man, I
Speaker 1: knew pretty much. I knew I was playing off. I
Speaker 1: knew nothing. Now now you know, I'm I'm ready and
Speaker 1: I can look better in the passing game. And I
Speaker 1: was able to flourish a little bit. So so it's
Speaker 1: safe to say is in early in your career you
Speaker 1: were playing from the shoulders down, and when you got
Speaker 1: and when you when you were in Philly, you learn
Speaker 1: how to play from the shoulders up. Yeah, that's correct.
Speaker 1: I was playing shoulders down, but mentally I was just
Speaker 1: I was using my vision, using my vision to make decisions. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and athleticism the Bailli's out, you know, to be you know,
Speaker 1: dynamic and just keep the change moving. I just said that.
Speaker 1: I just yeah, when I got the feeling them like, man,
Speaker 1: you know it's they're gonna let me pass the ball here.
Speaker 1: I gotta learn the passing game. This is fun, ay
Speaker 1: like the throw it. I gotta, I gotta. I gotta
Speaker 1: show him that I can handle the responsibilities. I can
Speaker 1: handle the responsibility of, you know, running the offense. M So,
Speaker 1: how manly tough do you have to be playing quarterback
Speaker 1: in the NFL. Man you gotta be willing. You gotta
Speaker 1: be willing to get hit like you gotta that night
Speaker 1: before the game. You gotta go into this game knowing
Speaker 1: that I got a lot of responsibilities. My biggest responsibility
Speaker 1: it's sowing toughest, hanging in that pocket and getting the
Speaker 1: ball out to my receivers. You know who busday tales
Speaker 1: all week long, you know, running routes and trying to
Speaker 1: understand how to beat their you know, their opposition. Like,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna hang in there and I'm gonna do whatever
Speaker 1: I need to do. I'm gonna show the grit and
Speaker 1: hopefully everybody else will follow. So you just gotta be
Speaker 1: mentally tough in the mind and know, I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: let the defense to defeat me because they're hit me.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm a I'm a you know, earned my
Speaker 1: stripes and let my put my pride to the side,
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna hanging here and I'm gonna be tough
Speaker 1: about it. And that's what That's what you gotta go
Speaker 1: into the game knowing that you're gonna do. I'm hesitant
Speaker 1: to say it, but I wanted I always want to
Speaker 1: ask this to a quarterback. Man, do you think it's
Speaker 1: Do you think it's fair unfair that most quarterbacks are
Speaker 1: thrusted into that you know, token, the franchise quarterback because
Speaker 1: the person that that figurehead for the every organization. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so when they put that stamp on you, man, the
Speaker 1: franchise quarterback, because we drafted you number one, Like when
Speaker 1: we when the team draft you number one, they drafted
Speaker 1: you in that position and say, look, you're gonna be
Speaker 1: playing in the next six months to a year, and
Speaker 1: we expect you to live up to our expectations and
Speaker 1: hopefully yours. And when they say franchis quarterback, they do
Speaker 1: it to put pressure, you know, on that guy, and
Speaker 1: that make him feel what being a face of a
Speaker 1: franchise is gonna be. Like, they're gonna put that on
Speaker 1: the song you, They're gonna put that tag on your
Speaker 1: back so you can wear it proudly. And I think
Speaker 1: especially your rookie year, that's when you're like you like
Speaker 1: you come in and you're learning and you're seeing like
Speaker 1: how everything works and how you practice, how you know,
Speaker 1: how the games to play, how you travel, and then
Speaker 1: you just continue to grow, you continue to growing in
Speaker 1: by yeah too, you should be all right, I'm ready
Speaker 1: to take this thing over. I want this to be mine.
Speaker 1: And like my first year, I wasn't. I felt like
Speaker 1: I wasn't ready until like the second to the last
Speaker 1: game of the season where things finally slowed down from
Speaker 1: me and I was able to go out there and
Speaker 1: just react and play. Had a good game. Christianna went
Speaker 1: down and heard his elbow and I went in and
Speaker 1: we almost beat the Dolphins. And then I my last
Speaker 1: game of my rookie year, I had to play against
Speaker 1: the greatest show on turf, you know, in St. Louis,
Speaker 1: and you know, I put on a good shot. We
Speaker 1: didn't win the game, but I put on a good shot.
Speaker 1: And by that time, like you know, my my chain
Speaker 1: was up, Like you know, I'm ready to run this franchise.
Speaker 1: You know, if I if I if they have to
Speaker 1: make some changes next year, I'm gonna be ready. But um,
Speaker 1: you know so I'm speaking from the experience how you
Speaker 1: know I felt and the pressure that was put on me,
Speaker 1: But I was I was ready for I accepted it. Mike.
Speaker 1: I heard the excitement in your voice when you first
Speaker 1: came on. You were Smitty. Both played in the NFC
Speaker 1: South at this inception. So would you please give me
Speaker 1: some really good Steve Smith stories? Mike Oh um, m
Speaker 1: m man, let me tell you the good ones, the
Speaker 1: good ones, Mike, don't don't give it. Don't give me
Speaker 1: the skip over. I want the good Smitty stories. So man, man, Steve,
Speaker 1: we we because we played on you know, obsoutaneously actually
Speaker 1: really yeah. So, so I'm gonna tell you what I
Speaker 1: just didn't like about Steve. I'm like, Yo, this dude
Speaker 1: is so good, right, you know what I mean? But
Speaker 1: he rubbed it in though. No, I mean, like, yo,
Speaker 1: that's part of his game. Like, but because I couldn't
Speaker 1: be that way. I couldn't be and like on emotional
Speaker 1: high all the time, you know what I'm saying. So
Speaker 1: like Steve like slowly became that guy. You know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, thing after like yeah too and yeah too,
Speaker 1: like you use that dude, and yeah three, And I'm
Speaker 1: like he didn't emerge this true number one, but he toughness. Hell,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. So like I'm I'm what
Speaker 1: stands out. It's just the touchdown celebration dances like and
Speaker 1: you know, I can't remember them all, but it was
Speaker 1: like a plethora of a bunch of good ones. And
Speaker 1: I was like, Yo, his swag is different, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying that, And I felt like that's what
Speaker 1: That's what carried the team. But you know, I always
Speaker 1: a mind Steve as a player, you know, and and
Speaker 1: and and as a as a person, you know. So
Speaker 1: you know, I know about the story when you um,
Speaker 1: Ken Lucas got into it because I think he didn't
Speaker 1: play against us or something or when it happened, you know.
Speaker 1: And I'm not you know, I'm not trying to bring
Speaker 1: up what I'm saying, like like when it happened, I
Speaker 1: was like, man, damn, we was like in the playoff race,
Speaker 1: so he was in the race for wins. And I'm like, man,
Speaker 1: like Ken Lucas gave us problems And I'm like, damn,
Speaker 1: you know, respect the kid Lucas, but he might not
Speaker 1: play this week, so you know we might get a
Speaker 1: win or something. You know, it might help us in
Speaker 1: the way column. But you know, I just I just
Speaker 1: knew Stephen spically man, and like it was like he
Speaker 1: was you know, I was on one. He was on
Speaker 1: one like yo. He was on one like yo. When
Speaker 1: you told him ice up like that was like thet man,
Speaker 1: Like bro really took it there, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: But it was all done. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: I'd respect you know what I mean, and just put
Speaker 1: it in secretary of the game like you never disrespected
Speaker 1: the game. The youngest can look at that and say,
Speaker 1: like if my son played received, I'm cutting your film
Speaker 1: off the bottom line, I appreciate it. It's been kind
Speaker 1: of like as now that I'm done and I see
Speaker 1: I go back and look at some of the stuff
Speaker 1: that I used to do. Is like he he didn't
Speaker 1: say it. The worst was when I if I caught
Speaker 1: the ball on their sideline, Oh my god, I was
Speaker 1: I talked to the whole sideline as if the corner
Speaker 1: was not present. May be like you gonna, are you
Speaker 1: gonna just talk about this man, because I can't. But
Speaker 1: I've seen Steve run up like like a square at
Speaker 1: one time against us, and I've seen that I was
Speaker 1: standing right there on the sideline and defensive back like
Speaker 1: grabbed them or like trying to put his hand on him.
Speaker 1: And when I say, Steve, like put his hand out
Speaker 1: and like it wasn't a stiff m like you didn't know.
Speaker 1: It was an offensive passing the friends, which I was
Speaker 1: like tangling and you pushed them and you broke left
Speaker 1: and I just playing so far back. I was like
Speaker 1: it was like a welcome to the NFL moment for me,
Speaker 1: Like it was in our third year and I was playing,
Speaker 1: I was hurt, and I was like, damn, like bro
Speaker 1: just he just pushed like one of our best corners,
Speaker 1: like to the ground like with one hand, and as
Speaker 1: I just knew like he was gonna take off. He
Speaker 1: was gonna be something special, man. But I was like, damn.
Speaker 1: But he and I same division and that wasn't good.
Speaker 1: And Jake their home. I had a lot of respect
Speaker 1: with Jake their home, so they did his thing. I like,
Speaker 1: what was what was that like the for both of y'all?
Speaker 1: What was that like being on the onset of building
Speaker 1: a robber And I know falcons Panthers. Isn't you know,
Speaker 1: Package Bears, Raven Steelers. But what's it like both of
Speaker 1: y'all being drafting two thousand and one NFC South starting
Speaker 1: in two thousand and two, what's it like helping to
Speaker 1: form a whole division? Almost? I know, for me, it
Speaker 1: was really interesting because we were still in that you know,
Speaker 1: me and Vick were young, but we were also on
Speaker 1: teams that were in transition that there were guys that
Speaker 1: just were older, and we were the younger guys and
Speaker 1: we were supposed to just shut up and play and
Speaker 1: learn from older guys. But we didn't want to shut
Speaker 1: up and play. We wanted to be loud and play.
Speaker 1: And Vick is doing his thing. I'm a young upcoming receiver.
Speaker 1: You got the I eighty five battle. I mean, it
Speaker 1: was like we were we were bad teams that was
Speaker 1: fighting for who's gonna be worse, right, and we were
Speaker 1: trying to make the Falcons worse than us, and the
Speaker 1: Facons were trying to make us bad. And the New
Speaker 1: Orleans Saints were New Orland Saints that obviously Tampa Bay
Speaker 1: Buccaneers or the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and we were kind
Speaker 1: of looked at just as the as just two teams,
Speaker 1: you know, So it was it was like it was
Speaker 1: like two kindergarteners boxing over you know, the same lot
Speaker 1: when there's all these other you know, play some playgrounds
Speaker 1: to play with, but we were we were boxing focused
Speaker 1: on that same box. That's the truth, man, that's the truth.
Speaker 1: And I tell you, I'll tell you what like when
Speaker 1: I think about the players, like both five teams was
Speaker 1: just talented on on both sides of the ball. You know, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think I had what Stephen Davis you know at
Speaker 1: the time, and then you get motion, you know, defense,
Speaker 1: then Morgan and then I just said I'll let you
Speaker 1: say this. Then Julius Peppers. People. Actually it was the
Speaker 1: toughest defender that I ever had to play against in
Speaker 1: my life, and it was Julia's Peppers. On that end,
Speaker 1: there was no mercy. Like one thing he was not
Speaker 1: gonna do, you know, was let me break in team,
Speaker 1: like I just I had just had problems with him, man,
Speaker 1: And it was like so yeah, it was like you
Speaker 1: know that divisional battle, like this is a game where
Speaker 1: I know, like I know I'm about to get hit.
Speaker 1: I know, pep ain't gonna let me just it's not
Speaker 1: gonna be free will out here to day and no
Speaker 1: good interior defensive alignment. Chris um a big brol name,
Speaker 1: Chris Jenkins, oh man, Chris left was let me hear
Speaker 1: it all game, you know, I learned. I learned that
Speaker 1: I couldn't fight defensive alignment and all that, Chris. It
Speaker 1: slam me to the ground and thinking like pushed my
Speaker 1: head down to something. I got up, thinking I was tough,
Speaker 1: and I ran into him, Steve. When I tried, I
Speaker 1: was looking up at the ceiling though I was sticking
Speaker 1: up at the top of the stadium like damn. I
Speaker 1: just ran into this dude and guess what he did.
Speaker 1: He helped me up. He laughed at me. I said,
Speaker 1: brother like, like that's when I realized, like on mats,
Speaker 1: with none of them guys on, you can just up.
Speaker 1: I can't run up. But I think it's about that time.
Speaker 1: Just take a little breather, come back. We have to
Speaker 1: pay some bills, um, I have to use a bathroom.
Speaker 1: And Gerard has a radio face. I love cut to
Speaker 1: it and I love it even more when you download
Speaker 1: us and subscribe and you can follow us on social
Speaker 1: media too. Smithie where where at? That's at cut to
Speaker 1: It on Instagram, what about Twitter at cut to It Facebook,
Speaker 1: cut to It featuring Steve Smith singr what about online?
Speaker 1: And you can follow us at cut to It podcast
Speaker 1: dot com, where you can buy merch and you can
Speaker 1: subscribe to us wherever you listen to podcasts people want
Speaker 1: to hear about, continue to hear about. The stories are
Speaker 1: really you know, like I said, Mike Vick and when
Speaker 1: you're alone with the family, knows no cameras, nothing going on.
Speaker 1: What three words would your wife used to describe you? Um,
Speaker 1: she will say, uh, karen mm hm, ok um, honest
Speaker 1: now honest m hm and and and probably respectful mhm,
Speaker 1: like for real, Like that's what I tried to be
Speaker 1: in the household, Like those three words that can define
Speaker 1: me right and and then I know we can wake
Speaker 1: up and you know it's it's a great day for
Speaker 1: the big family. You know what I'm saying, because I
Speaker 1: do anything for my kids, you know, I you know,
Speaker 1: I try to, you know, be the quarterback of the
Speaker 1: household out being too overbearned, you know, and not always
Speaker 1: trying to call shots to send that send people in
Speaker 1: different directors. You know, you know, I try to be
Speaker 1: as loyal as I can and honest as I can be.
Speaker 1: You know, I try not to allow about all the
Speaker 1: like little stuff like it's still a point of my
Speaker 1: wife know what I'm lying, you know, if you know what,
Speaker 1: I'm not telling the truth. So I try to even
Speaker 1: get into that so I even don't have to make
Speaker 1: that dumb face that you talk about real good at that, yeah, bro,
Speaker 1: like like and so so those you know, those three
Speaker 1: things that I think that's that's the best way to
Speaker 1: describe me. Man. And I'm you know, I try to
Speaker 1: maintain that image without looking different or being different because
Speaker 1: it's noticeable when I do. It's taking me. He's taking
Speaker 1: me a while to really be comfortable in my own skin. Yea,
Speaker 1: how comfortable with you and your own skin? And man,
Speaker 1: it's taking me a while too, man, um. You know,
Speaker 1: just all the things that I had to, you know,
Speaker 1: go through that, just like in in my life, you know,
Speaker 1: even at the quarterbacks just have been a black quarterback,
Speaker 1: like you know, you gotta be a certain way, you
Speaker 1: gotta sunk a certain way you gotta and and that
Speaker 1: was at the point where I was like, yo, but
Speaker 1: I just want to be me, you know, So I wasn't.
Speaker 1: So I was walking around uncomfortable because I was trying
Speaker 1: to be me, you know, when I wanted to be comfortable,
Speaker 1: but it wasn't accepted. And it's like I'm just like
Speaker 1: I kind of look at you know where we are,
Speaker 1: you know, you know and in our current state as
Speaker 1: a country, and you know how we're fighting for certain
Speaker 1: things and I'm just like, yo, certain things that you know,
Speaker 1: ye have, perception matter. But you know, when you're identifying
Speaker 1: people and categorizing people like you, you put them in
Speaker 1: a category based on you know, how they communicate and
Speaker 1: how you know, your personal vibe with them not you
Speaker 1: know not but they come around looking like you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying, Like I'm never gonna you know, stereotype
Speaker 1: or anybody. You know, Black, white aren't different, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. So I'm that's how you find confidence
Speaker 1: within your own skinner. I feel like recently, just recently,
Speaker 1: I've been like you know and be myself. Man, whoever
Speaker 1: accept me, accept me, and I appreciate it, you know,
Speaker 1: I can that sounding to be the best version of
Speaker 1: me just being me. So I was deep though, that
Speaker 1: was right up for a long time. Football was me
Speaker 1: and I was football, Like my whole identity was wrapped
Speaker 1: around football. I didn't really believe you can't separate yourself
Speaker 1: from it. Not I could not separate from myself from that.
Speaker 1: So because of football. There's a lot of times, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm thankful football, but then there's the gift
Speaker 1: and the curse I'm thankful for. But then, uh, I
Speaker 1: asked myself if I wasn't able, especially the way I
Speaker 1: grew up in the education or the lack of education
Speaker 1: and the support system that I had um for a
Speaker 1: long time, I really thought I was dumb, right, and
Speaker 1: and because I lacked something, I lacked confidence. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: I got a good story for you for that though
Speaker 1: I don't want to know. Man, I dreaded Let'm telling
Speaker 1: my company on can see. I dreaded media day my
Speaker 1: first six years of my career. While first six I thought, man,
Speaker 1: I thought that, man, because I just felt like I
Speaker 1: was I got more confident like year four or five, six,
Speaker 1: But man, I just felt like I got I couldn't
Speaker 1: find the words and say like I kind of felt
Speaker 1: like I was dumb, like because there was an article
Speaker 1: written about me my first my first year because I
Speaker 1: shot away from the media. So you know, somebody wrote like,
Speaker 1: you know, doesn't sound intelligent when you talk, you know,
Speaker 1: And then I read it. Somebody in the organization told me,
Speaker 1: you know, and I was like this just like bought
Speaker 1: me out. I was like, damn, that's how they're looking
Speaker 1: at me. And I'm like, I already know my might
Speaker 1: the insecure. I know him like media day, I know,
Speaker 1: I hate it. I know him like talking in front
Speaker 1: of these cameras. It just ain't what I right now
Speaker 1: like and I and I, you know, if I grew
Speaker 1: that insecurity over the years and over the years, and
Speaker 1: then that's what I was saying when I was in prison.
Speaker 1: I was like, I'm gonna embrace everything. I'm embrace the
Speaker 1: media and media part of it. So what I did
Speaker 1: I started reading. I started trying to educate myself, Like
Speaker 1: I'm in there, like yo, I'm reading books and I
Speaker 1: ain't doing it for media purposes, and I'm like, I'm
Speaker 1: just trying to keep my mind going and write down words.
Speaker 1: And yeah, obviously I could write a downage you got
Speaker 1: no one to use them, you know, But I had more.
Speaker 1: I had enough time to just kind of like just
Speaker 1: better myself in that area, and I was, you know,
Speaker 1: when I came out, I was like, yo, I'm gona
Speaker 1: embracing that part of the introverted side of and try
Speaker 1: to It's gonna always be there, but I'm gonna just
Speaker 1: trying to open up a little bit, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. But then I realized, like, ya, I won't dump.
Speaker 1: So when you like, hey, you say that, I was
Speaker 1: just you know, that's kind of proud of finding yourself,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, Like being comfortable in your
Speaker 1: own skin, even just turned down to the way you
Speaker 1: speak to people. The boy, I agree with you. I
Speaker 1: think why there one of the reasons why we all
Speaker 1: think we're dumb is because, like one, we're already nervous, right,
Speaker 1: You're already you're already nervous talking. You already have played
Speaker 1: in your head. Um. You know when we talk about
Speaker 1: ball or you talk about football, you know a player
Speaker 1: is comfortable because he doesn't have to think. He just
Speaker 1: reacts right, And and that's that's when you know you're
Speaker 1: in that zone. If you have not been introduced to
Speaker 1: public speaking, then you are stumbling over your words. You
Speaker 1: get crossed up, and you get nervous, and you don't
Speaker 1: want to screw up. So then what if you're saying,
Speaker 1: like nobody a wide receiver run across the middle, says
Speaker 1: I don't want to drop the ball. Don't want to
Speaker 1: drop the ball. Well, when you run across the middle,
Speaker 1: and that's in your thought, you're gonna drop the ball.
Speaker 1: So when you're sitting in front of media, I don't
Speaker 1: want to sound dumb. I don't want to sound dumb.
Speaker 1: Where you have mind blocked yourself into thinking clearly, so
Speaker 1: you maybe sound nervous or dumb. And so then now
Speaker 1: you know that, oh he is dumb. So now you
Speaker 1: got the media saying he's dumb. Then you got people
Speaker 1: thinking you're dumb. You already insecure. Man, That's that's a
Speaker 1: recipe of dumbness. And that just as I'm assuming I'm
Speaker 1: gonna ask both asking both of you guys, does that
Speaker 1: add more pressure to your role? Like a teakettle playing quarterback?
Speaker 1: Does that add more pressure? Already being a quarterback who
Speaker 1: also happens to be black, does that put more pressure
Speaker 1: on you? Yeah? I just felt like I wanted to
Speaker 1: be like and I wish I could be like this guy.
Speaker 1: I wish I could be like that guy. You know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying, like you stop feeling sorry for your stuff,
Speaker 1: like man, damn, like why I can't find the words
Speaker 1: and speak? And then you realize, you realize that, like
Speaker 1: this person in front of me asking me this question, Himan,
Speaker 1: just like me, I learned and I'm probably educating him
Speaker 1: a little more than he educating me. And you know,
Speaker 1: so what, I know what I've learned. Let that little
Speaker 1: bit come out, especially when it was it was saying
Speaker 1: the football. It was easy, you know, it was easy
Speaker 1: to explain football. And I'm like, damn, I'm making that
Speaker 1: hard too. I'm making everything hard. So now I'm feeling
Speaker 1: this added pressure, just identity crisis. Who am I? You know?
Speaker 1: Who am I now? Like fighting at you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, and like what really helped me? The blank
Speaker 1: came to me one day and he told me he
Speaker 1: was like, man, I like the braids. I like the
Speaker 1: way it looks. I was growth right there. I was like, man, thanks,
Speaker 1: all right? You know now I know I can keep
Speaker 1: my braids, man, because that's what I want to do.
Speaker 1: I don't want everybody looking at me funny because I
Speaker 1: feel like, you know, I just trying to be myself,
Speaker 1: you know, but you've got a person coming in a
Speaker 1: lot of different forms, man, and we just you know,
Speaker 1: it's amazing like what we have to deal with. And
Speaker 1: it's good that we could talk about issues like this
Speaker 1: because we might be helping somebody in the next genervation
Speaker 1: come up. We might be feeling the same thing like
Speaker 1: now they know it's oh, it's okay because they can
Speaker 1: listen to platform and and you know that it's real.
Speaker 1: What would you be right now if you didn't discover
Speaker 1: how gifted and football you are? Oh? Man, Well, I
Speaker 1: had intenss of being an FBI. I wanted to do
Speaker 1: a FBI asment and I always told myself about I
Speaker 1: didn't make it because I know my road travel I
Speaker 1: was gonna have to travel is gonna be difficult. If
Speaker 1: I don't make it, you know, then I'm gonna I'm
Speaker 1: gonna be the the best one FBI investigative that I
Speaker 1: can be, you know, So I had to I had
Speaker 1: a decent backup plane. I think I would have pursued that,
Speaker 1: you know. I was part of my reason that I'm
Speaker 1: going to begin and tex Um to pursue that type
Speaker 1: of career criminal justice thing. I liked it too if
Speaker 1: I had have been able to be in So you know,
Speaker 1: I just always want to do something I can put
Speaker 1: my heart into what I love doing it. Every day
Speaker 1: I'm like, what else would I love doing? I don't
Speaker 1: think I'm gonna like too much too much else that,
Speaker 1: you know, because I'm helping people. I feel like I'll
Speaker 1: be helping people and trying to make change a lot
Speaker 1: of things is trying to do now sitting around just
Speaker 1: making change you know, for the next generation that people
Speaker 1: will need help, you know. Now, So what's your mantra
Speaker 1: that you live by now? Because I've heard you say
Speaker 1: that you you you can you can create your own destiny. Yeah, um,
Speaker 1: like I hear, and like, man, I just kind of
Speaker 1: every day I'm like, bro, you are what you eat.
Speaker 1: So what you mean anything you're sending around, I'm even success.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to find success and whatever form like, you know,
Speaker 1: whether it's charitable, you know, whether it's some form of
Speaker 1: you know, opportunity or obligation or it's TV. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm trying to get better every day, you know. And
Speaker 1: I can't let people, you know, I can't let nobody
Speaker 1: come in the way of that. You know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: if you know, if you don't have the same goals
Speaker 1: and ambuiness that I have, Like if you're talking, we're
Speaker 1: not on the same page, and I can't really be
Speaker 1: around you. You know. Um That's why I said, I'm
Speaker 1: just I'm eating my family. Man, I'm eating you know,
Speaker 1: Seth Orient and a couple and business relationships and corporate
Speaker 1: partners that I have. But like those people have become
Speaker 1: you know, good friends of mine, and you're trying to
Speaker 1: you know, just make change and whatever we can. Like,
Speaker 1: I can't bring a lot of people with me, can't
Speaker 1: have no tagle on, can't have people who don't understand
Speaker 1: the vision. You know, maybe I can pull them back
Speaker 1: in later on down the road. But you know, I
Speaker 1: said a lot of things that I gotta but I
Speaker 1: got a legacy to try to protect. You know, I
Speaker 1: care about you know, my kids and their generations with
Speaker 1: kids and and they had kids kids, and I want
Speaker 1: ever want to go back to that. You know, I
Speaker 1: never want them to experience that. You know, you know,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: You don't you don't have You're on that relationship faster,
Speaker 1: You're trying to get rid of all of the relationship.
Speaker 1: That's what I'm going through. That one A little sugar sometimes. Yeah,
Speaker 1: sure was one of the biggest lessons you've learned about
Speaker 1: yourself then since retirement, Um, I learned I don't need necessarily. Um,
Speaker 1: I learned football wasn't everything. You know. It was a
Speaker 1: point in my life where I was like, you know,
Speaker 1: I just cannot be playing in the NFL. I just
Speaker 1: I can't see that happening. Like it's funny because before
Speaker 1: I went to prison, I was like, I'm gonna tire
Speaker 1: thirty one, thirty two years old. When that happened, I
Speaker 1: was like, yeah, I'm playing to some forty. And then
Speaker 1: when I hit thirty five, it was a roadblock, and
Speaker 1: it was like, you know, I didn't feel the same,
Speaker 1: you know, I was you differently, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: Like I was older than guys wanted the teams want
Speaker 1: the younger guys, and you know, I got kind of
Speaker 1: got caught up in that mix and just faded out.
Speaker 1: And it was cool when I was like, Okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know what, I made a decision to retire. I
Speaker 1: could have kept pursuing it, you know, thirty six thirty
Speaker 1: seven thirty eight, Like, no, then, you know what, I'm
Speaker 1: good because I believe it's I'm out there better for me.
Speaker 1: I don't know what it is, but I'm gonna taking
Speaker 1: time to figure it out. And you know, I just
Speaker 1: wasn't I wasn't afraid to walk away. You know. I
Speaker 1: walked away with my head up high and feeling good
Speaker 1: about you know, the things that I accomplished. I commlish
Speaker 1: more than what I thought I would. Uh So that
Speaker 1: so that helped. But I was like, you know what
Speaker 1: my goal is gonna be initially started helping kids. You
Speaker 1: know what I might get in coaching. I might you know,
Speaker 1: I might just run football camps and do little combines
Speaker 1: and help and and and spread the knowledge somehow, some way.
Speaker 1: And I think that just led to other opportunities. And
Speaker 1: you know, now get a chance to be on TV
Speaker 1: and talk about the game, and you know, try to help.
Speaker 1: You know, we know how we do Steve. We try
Speaker 1: to help him a fox. You know, we gotta call
Speaker 1: it out the good and the bad. It's cool, it's
Speaker 1: like the bad, but but we gotta give him the bad.
Speaker 1: They gave us the bad. You know what I'm say
Speaker 1: that bad initially makes you play good, so they can't
Speaker 1: act like indirectly, this ain't something that that's benefiting them,
Speaker 1: you know. So I kind of look at it like that,
Speaker 1: not being too overbrown with it, but just you know,
Speaker 1: we're still teaching takes. So that made it comfortable, man,
Speaker 1: and maybe maybe proud to be able to make it.
Speaker 1: Proud to be able to say that. And then what
Speaker 1: have you learned about yourself during the pandemic? Oh? Man,
Speaker 1: I learned. I learned during the pandemic that, um, you know,
Speaker 1: family time is the best time. We don't did every
Speaker 1: we don't did everything together a lifetime. Now the time
Speaker 1: and I'm like, yo, we're making it and we're still happy.
Speaker 1: You know, we got enough to keep. Everybody can go
Speaker 1: on their own directions and had a space, and we
Speaker 1: can all come together and do it again, like yo,
Speaker 1: this this, I'm like, this's my crew. This how I
Speaker 1: realized that, y'all all, I need for real, y' all,
Speaker 1: I need for real. I don't need to be walking
Speaker 1: around with a game to people. I don't need to
Speaker 1: walk around you know. I don't need friends. I need y'all.
Speaker 1: I need y'all. You know. That's when I'm at my best,
Speaker 1: you know when when it's family family orian is so Yeah,
Speaker 1: I just and I never knew that, you know, they
Speaker 1: day in and day out. You know, we can still
Speaker 1: have a great time. Let's take a little break and
Speaker 1: come back to you in about two or three minutes.
Speaker 1: Good do what, goud do what? Let's getting down to
Speaker 1: do it? Hey, Gerard, why did you get that T shirt?
Speaker 1: You mean this thing? Oh? Yes, I got it from
Speaker 1: cut to a podcast dot com where we have exclusive merchandise.
Speaker 1: Shout out to our guys at seven or four shot.
Speaker 1: But yeah, you can go on, buy you a T shirt,
Speaker 1: subscribe to us wherever you listen to podcasts. How you
Speaker 1: see forgiveness now is obviously totally different than what you
Speaker 1: thought forgiveness was the way you were raised. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: just thought that was like as simple as Okay, I
Speaker 1: forgive it, don't do it again, you know, get a
Speaker 1: second chance. You know, I always believing the second chance.
Speaker 1: Always used to hear that. My teachers always said I'm
Speaker 1: gonna give you another chance. I'm give you a second chance,
Speaker 1: and it was I never heard of anybody saying I'm
Speaker 1: gonna give you a third chance. You don't get that,
Speaker 1: you know. So I believe in second chances. You just
Speaker 1: don't know when you're gonna need it, you know, or
Speaker 1: when it's gonna be, you know, at a time where
Speaker 1: you needed the most. So like I just thought it
Speaker 1: was that simple, bro. What I learned like the more severe, um,
Speaker 1: you know, the crime maybe, or the more severe you
Speaker 1: may uh you know, hurt or harm somebody or somebody
Speaker 1: who who affected by that person or place of things. Man,
Speaker 1: giving this don't come easy, you know. So I just learned, like, yo,
Speaker 1: that's just that I'm not. I only I don't want
Speaker 1: a second chance. I'm gonna get it right the first time.
Speaker 1: Because people, you know, they may forgive, but they don't forget,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying Sometimes when that lingers, oh, man,
Speaker 1: like we forgive you, but I ain't gonnaver forget it.
Speaker 1: So whenever they want to act up with you or
Speaker 1: they want to feel like, you know, they can judge
Speaker 1: you or categorize you, then that's what's happening to you.
Speaker 1: So man, just kind of avoid that at all costs,
Speaker 1: you know. So people, I just learned that you know,
Speaker 1: most people not even center that people forgive, They just
Speaker 1: so they don't forget though, Mike. This saiment we're gonna
Speaker 1: go into right now is called the deep three. There
Speaker 1: are a series of questions of really, we just want
Speaker 1: to get behind you and know you as a person,
Speaker 1: beyond your jersey, beyond just the name on the back
Speaker 1: of the jersey. We want to get to know you.
Speaker 1: So simitthy, go ahead and fire off the first question.
Speaker 1: If you could put a billboard in Newport News, Virginia
Speaker 1: with any message on it, what would it be and
Speaker 1: why I put it a big billboard? Let's say love
Speaker 1: that named because you know, even when like people they
Speaker 1: hurt harm people in their own communities, like and I
Speaker 1: grew up in no friends who grew up together, Who
Speaker 1: would I hurt harm and kill one another? And like
Speaker 1: and like yo, we just all like you know, under
Speaker 1: your neighborhood or your peers. Right, people understood that concept then, like,
Speaker 1: it's really not that much altercation going on in the world,
Speaker 1: like I think, I mean it is. It is because
Speaker 1: we make it that way. You know, it's several situations
Speaker 1: that caused conflict and in the communities. Man, And you know,
Speaker 1: for one, it's just too many people trying to do
Speaker 1: the same thing and then you know, like it's just
Speaker 1: no lordy and no respect. But if everybody went their
Speaker 1: own separate way here, their own goals and a vendors,
Speaker 1: then you know they easily said and done it. I think,
Speaker 1: you know, it will have highest success rate, more success stories.
Speaker 1: People just fall into that trap. They don't have no
Speaker 1: respect for one another, you know, you know one young
Speaker 1: kids and you know even when the adults sometimes the
Speaker 1: level of disrespect it is just way too great. It's
Speaker 1: just far too great. And then you hear about sad
Speaker 1: stories and like, damn, where where the integrity go? So
Speaker 1: I'm trying to change that. But like I'm not neighbor Mike.
Speaker 1: How impactful can a second chance be? Second chance to
Speaker 1: change the person's life? That happened to me. That's why
Speaker 1: I'm stopping out my own prison reform program um to
Speaker 1: help you know, incarcerated fellas man and women with their
Speaker 1: re entry back into society. You found out through a
Speaker 1: friend who just finished up twenty six years for a
Speaker 1: crime he didn't do um and coming home to hardships,
Speaker 1: you know, and not complaining about it. And I'm just like,
Speaker 1: these people need they need help, you know, they need help,
Speaker 1: you know, obviously I found out transportation and housing it's
Speaker 1: what's most important, and then they need assistance, a little
Speaker 1: assistance after that. So you're trying to create some programs
Speaker 1: and I'm partner with programs that can help. You know,
Speaker 1: I never God, but you know, I just know what
Speaker 1: what what that second chance to do? You like, guys
Speaker 1: come out of their feelings and that that's their label
Speaker 1: and never it never goes away in their life is
Speaker 1: never the same. NB seven Prison Reform program will be
Speaker 1: target and do um men and women. You know, just
Speaker 1: trying to help them with every entry back into society.
Speaker 1: And you know it's not always easy. They don't have
Speaker 1: platforms and like I had, you know, they don't have
Speaker 1: people in their corner um to give them that second chance.
Speaker 1: So you know, we're trying to create that second chance
Speaker 1: opportunity and hopefully we'll see that, you know, the success stories, ah,
Speaker 1: you know, far greater than what they are now, because
Speaker 1: I just know that they just need a chance. You
Speaker 1: don't once you get that felling me tag, like everything
Speaker 1: kind of goes out the window and then you know
Speaker 1: it's just no real opportunity in life and that's not fair.
Speaker 1: Um So, so I think you know, my initiative, you know,
Speaker 1: it's a social reform. Um, it's too you know, I
Speaker 1: want to attach myself to things that that that my
Speaker 1: heart is really gonna be into and that I'm asocio
Speaker 1: you know, justice programs as well. UM, but this one
Speaker 1: is where I really can have an impact my heart
Speaker 1: and be into it. And because it happened to me,
Speaker 1: you know, being the second chance and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: I had resources and then these resources can be presented
Speaker 1: to these spellings of men and women and help them,
Speaker 1: you know, hopefully go off and do some greater things.
Speaker 1: You know, we all struggle with things. And I heard
Speaker 1: this and I wrote it down and I thought it
Speaker 1: was extremely imp appropriate for you because you have overcome
Speaker 1: a ton of things and so struggling. I heard that
Speaker 1: struggling is successfully not giving up. So what have you
Speaker 1: struggled with that you haven't dealt with yet? Um? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think UM probably still certain, you know, insecurities and
Speaker 1: just trying to you know, continue to be UM trustworthy man,
Speaker 1: UM don't trust a lot of people. I just be
Speaker 1: very a lot with a lot of people. And it's
Speaker 1: um almost the point where it is like, you know,
Speaker 1: I'll be thinking about friends, and I'm like, do I
Speaker 1: like it's so people like, man, do I didn't even
Speaker 1: really need friends? Who do I need to talk to
Speaker 1: every day? If I, you know, if I want to
Speaker 1: just get something off my chest, or if I want
Speaker 1: to explain something to somebody, like who can I really trust?
Speaker 1: You know what I mean? Because it's okay so many
Speaker 1: times and then the simplest situations and violence forms like
Speaker 1: I can't understand why, you know, people make the decisions
Speaker 1: to do some of the things that they do, and
Speaker 1: and I just like, yo, damn, that person really wasn't
Speaker 1: for me. He really don't care, Like you know, I
Speaker 1: gave him the world. I just I did so much.
Speaker 1: And that look how you look at me now, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. So I'm like, that's two years
Speaker 1: and years and years and you know, um developing a
Speaker 1: friendship and giving and make it to people like you know,
Speaker 1: taking care of and they're able to feed their families.
Speaker 1: And then sometimes they look back at you and they
Speaker 1: be like, yo, well, I guess they feel like you
Speaker 1: ain't doing enough, and like, damn I did. I didn't
Speaker 1: have to do anything, you know, So I'm like, Damn,
Speaker 1: how am I supposed to trust me. Somebody said, Yo,
Speaker 1: this is my boy, and that's my friends. Because I've
Speaker 1: just been told by some of the people that I
Speaker 1: love the most, like that's just not the pay sometimes
Speaker 1: be like, all right, so that's how life is, and
Speaker 1: that's how life this. But I'm I don't really trust
Speaker 1: people like that. So that's what I've been dealing with, man.
Speaker 1: And I don't think it's gonna change. I think it's
Speaker 1: going in there. It's not going in there and the
Speaker 1: right direction, you know what I'm saying. But this is
Speaker 1: going in the direction that I wanted to go in,
Speaker 1: and I wanted to flow in where like, yo, I
Speaker 1: can control the crowd around me and I just appreciate
Speaker 1: your time and we appreciate it. And um, this has
Speaker 1: been bothering me for probably about thirty uh, probably about
Speaker 1: ten years now. So just we were beating y'all here
Speaker 1: in Carolina. Uh, it was game was going on. It
Speaker 1: was it was a four fifteen game and we were
Speaker 1: beating y'all. You were trying to scramble and you came
Speaker 1: out of bounds, um on our shideline, and I looked
Speaker 1: straight at you and I said something, and I took
Speaker 1: a shot at you verbally and I and I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna say what it was, but you know what it was.
Speaker 1: And I want to tell you, bro, Um, it's taking
Speaker 1: me ten years. I've been waiting for this opportunity, and
Speaker 1: I kind of tiptoed around even just telling you man,
Speaker 1: I was out of pocket and I and I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: and I appreciate um the way you handled it. You
Speaker 1: know what I'm talking about. Yeah, you see this, This,
Speaker 1: this how I looked at it, bro, because I don't know,
Speaker 1: hold on, hold on, hold on hold. But I took
Speaker 1: something and I came at you in a way that
Speaker 1: for my standard, it was inappropriate, and it was and
Speaker 1: I shouldn't have. And I've been waiting for this opportunity
Speaker 1: just to apologize, and so I wanted to tell you
Speaker 1: all apologize and I'm sorry I said it that way
Speaker 1: because I looked you in your eye when I said it,
Speaker 1: and we're not physically next to each other. But I
Speaker 1: also want to have the opportunity to tell you the
Speaker 1: same way I said it is I was wrong, dog. Yes, well,
Speaker 1: I I just wanted to tell you that because, you know,
Speaker 1: even preparing for this, he kept coming back in the
Speaker 1: Lord kept just telling me, So you're not gonna say
Speaker 1: nothing this time. Because when we was at the p A,
Speaker 1: I wanted to say something, but I could And then
Speaker 1: because everybody was always around us. Yeah, you know, I
Speaker 1: wanted to make sure, man, that I didn't miss the
Speaker 1: opportunity that the Lord has been kind of given me.
Speaker 1: And because I feel like this is the last time,
Speaker 1: I'm like, we're in this pandemic. We're sitting around you, man, hey,
Speaker 1: step up or shut up, right, And my mantra, even
Speaker 1: with my my business and my foundation and even with
Speaker 1: my family is man about tightening up. And so I
Speaker 1: got to tighten up myself. So I can't tell my
Speaker 1: folks that I'm I'm paying, or the children that I'm guiding,
Speaker 1: or or the leadership role that guys put me in
Speaker 1: and for me not to tighten up myself, man. So
Speaker 1: I just want to tell you that because you deserve
Speaker 1: that that apology and and and I need to humble myself, man.
Speaker 1: So I just want to make sure that I didn't
Speaker 1: miss this opportunity. And I appreciate that, Steve, you know
Speaker 1: I do, and that's the reason we're talking. But look,
Speaker 1: I had a feeling that that was gonna come out today. Um.
Speaker 1: But but Steve, let's let me just say that, bro,
Speaker 1: like I know the type of competitively work. And I'm
Speaker 1: not taking that away from what you said, because I
Speaker 1: feel like what you said was, you know, it was
Speaker 1: were winning, you finally winning and like yo and and
Speaker 1: and I'm like, you know, I don't. We didn't really
Speaker 1: know each other person every time, but I kind of
Speaker 1: like knew of you. And so when you said that,
Speaker 1: I was like, yo, like he means you're understand. I'm like, yo,
Speaker 1: he oh, he means he really means and after the game,
Speaker 1: So let me let me tell you the true story.
Speaker 1: And that's how I really feel about this, all right.
Speaker 1: So Steve, you say what you say, I throw an
Speaker 1: interception on purpose that in the game. I say, I
Speaker 1: gotta go talk to Steve one on one. You know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. So this is what I do. I
Speaker 1: walked up to Steve when I said, Steve, if you
Speaker 1: ever called me all my name again, man, you're gonna
Speaker 1: have it on the fifty yard last something like that, Steve, right,
Speaker 1: and and but I know, so, look, I know Steve,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, yo, I'm probably gonna he probably gonna
Speaker 1: try to haul off him, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: But and I was prepared. I was like, damn, like,
Speaker 1: I'm taking a risk with this man. This is like
Speaker 1: you know this, I know, I know his reputation, but
Speaker 1: I felt like I had to do it as a man.
Speaker 1: But when you stepped back and looked at me, I
Speaker 1: knew in your heart, I knew you didn't really mean that,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, because it wasn't. We just
Speaker 1: both backed up away from each other, and it was
Speaker 1: like expecting, yeah, he's gonna dump back back and the
Speaker 1: other person and that was and that wasn't the case.
Speaker 1: Like I didn't get that from him. And and then
Speaker 1: we've seen each other like like two months later at
Speaker 1: the pro Bo because I was like, oh man, we
Speaker 1: gotta go to the pro BOI Ye, look, man, I'm
Speaker 1: not you know what I'm saying, I ain't trying to
Speaker 1: fool with this dude. Well, we got our families and
Speaker 1: my whole month a mantra. My mantra is straight up,
Speaker 1: you could beat me up when I ain't with my family,
Speaker 1: but I ain't catching alas in front of my key. Right,
Speaker 1: You're gonna have to kill me in front of my
Speaker 1: kids because I can't be a panel that I can't
Speaker 1: be my oldest don't respect me, man, shut up popping
Speaker 1: from after that first practice, we all, you know, I
Speaker 1: had to be yo without everybody that but and I
Speaker 1: was just like that, ain't got a worry about that, mo.
Speaker 1: More like I was relieved. I was like, yo, I
Speaker 1: don't want to drum with my man for real. And
Speaker 1: then like this over the years, you know, just growing
Speaker 1: to respect you and just love you as a brother man,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, Like the last two years
Speaker 1: that spend the time, but speaking when with in Houston
Speaker 1: and doing little stuff together, it was like, yo, I
Speaker 1: just always felt like that's that's my man, like real man.
Speaker 1: You know, we can say we got a friendship for
Speaker 1: a lifetime. Always got a brother and me and that's
Speaker 1: that's that's the cool part about this whole thing. Man,
Speaker 1: I appreciate it. I tell you another story. Though, we
Speaker 1: had a Chantilly Chantilly Oh yeah, man, we had an
Speaker 1: autograph sign it and most of the time I struggle
Speaker 1: um in public, Like with big events, I get really,
Speaker 1: I get yeah, I get real and I get heavy anxiety. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And so for me, is I kind of keep that
Speaker 1: PERSONA don't don't you know I have the uh A
Speaker 1: lot of women say resting blank face like they won't
Speaker 1: they won't creeper guys approaching. So I have that same
Speaker 1: face in public, like I don't want to be. I
Speaker 1: don't want to be. I got resting, don't approach me face. Man.
Speaker 1: I'm in Chantilly, which is in Virginia. Man, they got
Speaker 1: a private so I do private signings. I used to
Speaker 1: do private scieties mainly because it was easy. I do
Speaker 1: the signings, get off, I'm out. But they had some
Speaker 1: people pay for public signings where they had a line.
Speaker 1: Well long, behold my slot time is damn right next
Speaker 1: to Michael Vicks this bro, they got like ten people
Speaker 1: in my line. They got like a honey and fifty
Speaker 1: people waiting to get a Michael vick autograph. I ain't
Speaker 1: there the damn public signing sense. You know that well
Speaker 1: part of my strategy. But the other part is I
Speaker 1: don't like I ain't doing these public signings. Man, it's
Speaker 1: a bull crap. I ain't never did. A public utility
Speaker 1: has asked me every time. Now that Michael Vicklin got
Speaker 1: me scared, Mom, good I have not been until since. Hey, Steve,
Speaker 1: you need to get on him and ask a lot
Speaker 1: of money in that business. Man. I know I'm about
Speaker 1: My signature is pretty much almost another probably another year.
Speaker 1: My signature is out of circulation. You're gonna let it
Speaker 1: hit this people when you hit the Hall of Fame,
Speaker 1: when all that come back, it ain't gonna be no signatures.
Speaker 1: So you're gonna have to pay top doll. I want
Speaker 1: to get that Michael Vick. Yes, that's when it's gonna
Speaker 1: come in heavy too. Let me get that Michael Vick.
Speaker 1: I don't want that, Steve Smith line. We really appreciate
Speaker 1: your time, man. We kept you um man, We just
Speaker 1: we appreciate you just being transparent, sharing your story and
Speaker 1: just telling us everything about Michael Vick the football player.
Speaker 1: But man, I love it though. If it's okay to
Speaker 1: the Michael Dwayne Vick, the NFL football player, but also
Speaker 1: the man you know, I got sitting, I got sitting
Speaker 1: built sain Vick. You don't say me a bill because
Speaker 1: you know, we had a little council session just to
Speaker 1: disgust to the lack of confidence that we have in
Speaker 1: ourselves as athletes. And we're on the stage and he
Speaker 1: was button neck. He was in his birthday suit because
Speaker 1: he bared it all. It's his vulnerability instead of trying
Speaker 1: to be big and bad. And you know, man, I'm
Speaker 1: Mike Vick. He was like, no, this is I am.
Speaker 1: One thing that sticks out for me is perception versus reality.
Speaker 1: I remember Mike Vick. He's He's one of the guys
Speaker 1: that when I was in high school, everybody wanted to
Speaker 1: be like Mike Vick and perception back then when I
Speaker 1: was seventeen eighteen is that. Man. This is a guy
Speaker 1: that is totally confident themselves, like untouchable. I wish I
Speaker 1: was like that because I found myself having that same thing.
Speaker 1: Am I good enough? He was going through the same thing.
Speaker 1: And this is a guy that m VP candidate, cover
Speaker 1: a Madden all these different accoladies that we could roll off.
Speaker 1: He just told us he struggled with I think people
Speaker 1: think I'm dumb? Am I good enough? All of these?
Speaker 1: And even now at forty, I'm dealing with insecurities. Man
Speaker 1: makes him feel as normal as I am. And so
Speaker 1: it's just it normal and all of us go through
Speaker 1: go through that, whether you're an athlete, a banker, you administer.
Speaker 1: I don't care like we all go through that same
Speaker 1: thing up? Am I good enough? And it's just a
Speaker 1: constant battle every day that I think you have to
Speaker 1: go past. Cut to It with Steve Smith Senior. That
Speaker 1: Is Me is a production of Cut to It LLC,
Speaker 1: Balto Creative Media, The Black Effect, and I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: For more podcast from I Heart Radio, visit the I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 1: your favorite shows from Cut to It. Executive producer Steve Smith,
Speaker 1: singer co host Gerard little John, talent in booking manager
Speaker 1: Joe Fusci, social media manager Payton Smith from Balto Creative Media.
Speaker 1: Cut to It is produced by Brian Baltaschevitch and Meredith Carter,
Speaker 1: with production assistance by Alex Lebrek, Production manager Sarah Pollock.
Speaker 1: Theme music by Alex Johnson, lyrics and vocals by Anthony Hamilton.
Speaker 1: You ain't heard about it, then we're about to let
Speaker 1: you know. It's a ca