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'm Drew a Little John and
Speaker 1: this is cut to It. Good do It, Good do it.
Speaker 1: Let's getting down to do it. Good do it. We
Speaker 1: asked the questions you always want to know, but no
Speaker 1: one ever asked, let's cut to it. You ain't heard
Speaker 1: them about it, then we're about to let you know
Speaker 1: it's all all right. Well, want to welcome everyone to
Speaker 1: the first ever live podcast of the Cut to It Podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm Drew a Little John w the co host. We've
Speaker 1: got backstage Joe, and of course we've got Steve. That's it.
Speaker 1: That's just Steve. Just Steve, just some dude named Steve.
Speaker 1: You're run up, all Steve. Now you have a bad day,
Speaker 1: but just just piece five piece, some kind of pieces
Speaker 1: that the whole chicken can't see. Whatever, whatever, however, however
Speaker 1: and wherever you want, finger looking good. So of course
Speaker 1: we want to welcome everybody. Uh, this is the one
Speaker 1: is the first time we've ever done this, and too
Speaker 1: we definitely want the first time we've ever done a podcast.
Speaker 1: It's the first time we've done a live podcasts like
Speaker 1: I Feel out on my natural Habitat. Typically we're in
Speaker 1: a studio, we're recording. Um, we've never had a studio audience.
Speaker 1: We've never like this is like we're on an episode
Speaker 1: of Family Matters or something that's first sitcom. The kind
Speaker 1: of show is that I've never seen that. Well, it
Speaker 1: was a black show back in the day. It was
Speaker 1: so we've got to go there, man, ever, but you
Speaker 1: didn't know it, would you ever? Rather me said like
Speaker 1: step by step, who's the boss? Growing pains? So I
Speaker 1: watched a little bit to dancing, like I don't know
Speaker 1: who that is? Wonder Years Fred Savage, Oh, why you
Speaker 1: gotta bring up race because they saw one of the
Speaker 1: years it was black folks. I was like, they're remaking it. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's what we're talking about. Is your year. Look, you
Speaker 1: got an audience gone there, like, stay away from this one.
Speaker 1: I want to thank all the sponsors, Domas Direct, want
Speaker 1: to thank Pinnacle Bank, Tito's uh j F. She enterprises, um,
Speaker 1: but before we get there's other agent NATed some the
Speaker 1: v I p's the v I P event. We don't
Speaker 1: think everybody, but thank you Agano. That's all right, we
Speaker 1: got how we got visual evidence. Now they can see
Speaker 1: what you're's the police officer in here and I can
Speaker 1: tell that. So cameras is hired by me, and all
Speaker 1: these cameras are hired out of me. You know what
Speaker 1: they say, Man, the Richard always can wipe it away.
Speaker 1: So here's a healthy dose of elite. Is so about
Speaker 1: wonder years before we get started? Why are we here today?
Speaker 1: Of course the Steve Smith Family Foundation TA for Health event.
Speaker 1: But tell the folks a little bit we always start
Speaker 1: with whenever we're doing this Q and A. Tell the
Speaker 1: folks a little bit about your your foundation, where it
Speaker 1: originated from, your your your passion for philanthropy, and just
Speaker 1: just speak a little bit to that. Well, I mean
Speaker 1: as as an executive director, Gerard little John. You know,
Speaker 1: we started um in the basements. We started in the
Speaker 1: home office, and they started way before you even met me.
Speaker 1: But they're just saying in the home offices, UM, just
Speaker 1: trying to figure out, you know, how we can make
Speaker 1: an impact in the community in Charlotte. And so it
Speaker 1: just kind of has started a little bit a little
Speaker 1: by little and expanded, uh to the place of who
Speaker 1: now it's uh, we are UM. Just making an impact
Speaker 1: in Charlotte, whether it's after school program, after school and
Speaker 1: Richmond program, Uh, doing the t F health for the clinic,
Speaker 1: uh and now soon to be a behavioral health urgent care.
Speaker 1: So uh, just doing all those things here in Charlotte,
Speaker 1: giving back to a community that's given so much for
Speaker 1: me during my football season, uh, during my football days,
Speaker 1: and so now as in retirement, trying to make impact
Speaker 1: that UM is lasting for the community, but also something
Speaker 1: that my family can be proud of as well. As
Speaker 1: you speak a family, where did it originate from? So
Speaker 1: everyone may or may not be familiar with your story
Speaker 1: or your upbringing, like how what what maybe happened in
Speaker 1: your life too, maybe spark your desire to give back
Speaker 1: the way that you do. Uh, yeah, I guess it's sparked.
Speaker 1: I think, you know, utilizing and understanding where I grew up,
Speaker 1: in how I grew up and understanding that, and so
Speaker 1: with understanding that, that means a lot of the programs
Speaker 1: we do are based off of what I've experienced. So uh.
Speaker 1: In the behavioral health they call that right now, they
Speaker 1: call that indigent, which is the uninsured u UM. And
Speaker 1: I was uninsured and so I understand that UM SEX
Speaker 1: and eight government assistance. I experienced all that, so understanding
Speaker 1: that are really building our programs around the need of
Speaker 1: what UM I experienced, what you've experienced as well. And
Speaker 1: so with that being said, UM, we we already know
Speaker 1: the system. We know what the system presents. The system
Speaker 1: was originally presented Section eight Government systems was presented UH
Speaker 1: to a community to help to extend a helping hand
Speaker 1: to lift them up. It was not intended for people
Speaker 1: to be on government assistance for it their whole life. However, UM,
Speaker 1: there are some people believe that those types of folks
Speaker 1: don't want to be off government assystems. They don't want
Speaker 1: to be UM whatever it that, whatever your perspective of
Speaker 1: that is. But the matter, the facts are government assists
Speaker 1: sense was there for temporary help. But now that it
Speaker 1: is considered permanent health. No one's really asking why is
Speaker 1: it considered permanent health. It's because there's such a huge
Speaker 1: gap and there's such a huge need and there aren't
Speaker 1: really their lack of resources. There aren't resources there, UM,
Speaker 1: there are is that there is a gap in certain communities,
Speaker 1: in certain school systems. That there's a reason why you know,
Speaker 1: people only feel that, and it's not about racist people
Speaker 1: feel like, well, I'm only gonna be a guy or
Speaker 1: a girl that can have an hourly wage job because
Speaker 1: sometimes that's all they see or that's how they're taught,
Speaker 1: or they have so many deficits education wise, they they
Speaker 1: don't feel like they can get out of the hole.
Speaker 1: And so I think with all that being said, is
Speaker 1: we try to do like our enrichment program, we try
Speaker 1: to help academically but also socially um emotionally, helping those
Speaker 1: people understand and figure out why they're there. So if
Speaker 1: you grow up and experience something that's traumatic, you just
Speaker 1: become an adult that experienced something traumatic with with complex
Speaker 1: trauma and it has never been addressed. So you grow
Speaker 1: up being a hint football player that experience not my dad,
Speaker 1: watching my mom get beat up and yelled and and
Speaker 1: talked down to by her husband thirteen years old. I
Speaker 1: didn't know how to address that, didn't know who to
Speaker 1: talk to, get up in the morning and go to school.
Speaker 1: I'm not telling that to my friends. I'm not going
Speaker 1: through that. So didn't know how to handle that, didn't
Speaker 1: figure it out, didn't understand how to get through the
Speaker 1: muck and mire the messiness of that and so um.
Speaker 1: And that happened a few times to the point of
Speaker 1: where I just held it in and it impacted me
Speaker 1: into the in the world. Now I'm an adult, you know,
Speaker 1: and and I just see it, and it it's hard
Speaker 1: to get out of my mind. It's hard to at
Speaker 1: times when I'm you know, on I closed my eyes.
Speaker 1: I can almost replay it as if it was yesterday.
Speaker 1: But the blessing is I have you know, I have
Speaker 1: the resources to give get counseling, got that shorted out.
Speaker 1: But there are times where I still sometimes close my
Speaker 1: eyes and I just I wake up because I can
Speaker 1: still see it. It's never it's never an end all right,
Speaker 1: Like it's a constant It's a constant journey because I
Speaker 1: can't even speak to as well you you you referenced
Speaker 1: a little bit. But even my upbring, right, there's there's trauma.
Speaker 1: There is things that you see that maybe your parents
Speaker 1: went through. There's things that you see that maybe you
Speaker 1: witness to. To your point, You've got poverty, You've got um,
Speaker 1: you've got different neighborhoods, you've got violence, You've got all
Speaker 1: these different things that a lot of kids probably shouldn't
Speaker 1: be exposed to some of the stuff that you are,
Speaker 1: but it is then you're in the adult and you're
Speaker 1: now left carrying the bags of whether it's the things
Speaker 1: that you've seen, or whether it's the stuff that you've
Speaker 1: seen happen to your parents or within your family, and
Speaker 1: you bring that with you as an adult into your
Speaker 1: marriage and to your job, into your career, into your sports,
Speaker 1: like whatever it is that you do, you take that
Speaker 1: with you. And so it is very, very very tough
Speaker 1: to navigate and and I think it's really been good
Speaker 1: because even for the three of us, um, we're not
Speaker 1: just hosts on the podcast, like we're really friends and
Speaker 1: so we have these conversations. We have a lot of
Speaker 1: common threads, whether it's parents en upbringings that we all
Speaker 1: um are lucky enough that we have someone to talk to.
Speaker 1: But now with Steve talking about with the foundation, we're
Speaker 1: able to provide those resources to other people in the
Speaker 1: community who may not have the When we're out and
Speaker 1: about in in the community, like we said, we hang
Speaker 1: out a lot, and you know, people always come up
Speaker 1: to us and they're like, Oh, I'm glad to see
Speaker 1: your back, Steve. It's kind of funny because he's always
Speaker 1: been here. What a lot of folks are knowing this
Speaker 1: community is all the good work than his foundation, his
Speaker 1: family has done that. I'm lucky. I've been lucky to
Speaker 1: be a part of and so is Gerard. And Steve
Speaker 1: kind of said it in his normal under the radar.
Speaker 1: Doesn't want to bring attention to himself because that's truly
Speaker 1: who he is. But what the Steve Smith Family Foundation
Speaker 1: has done for years, We've served youth, We've served under privilege. Um,
Speaker 1: we have the luxury upcoming, and you're gonna hear more
Speaker 1: and more about this over the next couple of weeks.
Speaker 1: And he kind of said it real fast. It's a
Speaker 1: b huck, which don't google it, I'll tell you. It's
Speaker 1: called the Behavioral Behavioral Health Urgent Care. Today in Charlotte,
Speaker 1: North Carolina, if someone wigs out, goes crazy, needs some assistance,
Speaker 1: they got two choices. They go to jail, but they
Speaker 1: have to travel him to Raleigh because that's the closest
Speaker 1: facility to be able to take care of somebody. So
Speaker 1: the county because of what Steve's done, Um, they've come
Speaker 1: to our foundation and we've been busting our you know,
Speaker 1: what's for the past four or five six months, we
Speaker 1: didn't know acronyms. We didn't know anything. We were sitting
Speaker 1: in these meetings early on, like so in our head
Speaker 1: and then like I said, laughingly, we would have to
Speaker 1: google something. What we're doing is we're providing a twenty
Speaker 1: four seven three sixty five mental health facility to take
Speaker 1: care of folks that are in need. And we all
Speaker 1: know somebody. I see everybody looking up here right now.
Speaker 1: Everybody's going in their mind, it's a friend, it's a
Speaker 1: family member, it's that guy in the street corner. So
Speaker 1: we're actually building a facility here in Charlotte, North Carolina
Speaker 1: to take care of these folks, to give them an
Speaker 1: opportunity to grow, to get out of the systemic stuff
Speaker 1: they've been through their whole entire life. So, um, that's
Speaker 1: what Steve Smith Family Foundation is all about. We've always
Speaker 1: known it's been about that. Um, we're gonna be on
Speaker 1: a larger stage now. So I want to thank everybody
Speaker 1: for being here and helping us out. So we really
Speaker 1: appreciate that. That's what your dollars and what you're volunteer
Speaker 1: shift and everything else is going towards. So like I said,
Speaker 1: hats off to you for getting us involved in this stuff. Well,
Speaker 1: it's it's been a long process. There's been a lot
Speaker 1: of names, but faceless folks that have contribute a lot
Speaker 1: of their time away from there for family, uh, traveling
Speaker 1: to make this happen. And so it's it's it's been
Speaker 1: a long process. It's been encouraging, it's been frustrating, but
Speaker 1: it's also um, now we're at the end of the
Speaker 1: negotiation process and now we start with the fund stuff.
Speaker 1: So it's been cool. I love cut to It and
Speaker 1: I love it even more when you download us and subscribe,
Speaker 1: and you can follow us on social media too, Smithie
Speaker 1: where where at? That's at? Cut to It on Instagram?
Speaker 1: What about Twitter? At? Cut to It Facebook? Cut to
Speaker 1: It featuring Steve Smith singr. What about online? And you
Speaker 1: can follow us at cut to It podcast dot com
Speaker 1: where you can buy merch and you can subscribe to
Speaker 1: us wherever you listen to podcasts. I got all my
Speaker 1: answers questions. Um, yeah, I got all my questions answered.
Speaker 1: That's what I'm here for, a brother. Cut to a
Speaker 1: Podcast dot Com. We got uh, we got a short
Speaker 1: round and uh and' stillart here so we're gonna get
Speaker 1: into like a live podcast and uh so short round
Speaker 1: is Mactober and Johnson Stewart good friends of mine. Uh,
Speaker 1: come on up, and so we're just gonna do a
Speaker 1: little podcast. Appreciate it, welcome to cut to it is
Speaker 1: that is that the intro you wanted from from smithy Man,
Speaker 1: So I definitely want to welcome in Jonathan Stewart and
Speaker 1: October Jonathan native of Washington, attended Oregon University ten season
Speaker 1: with Carolina Panthers one with the New York Giants. He's
Speaker 1: the Panthers franchise leader in career, Russian attempts and Russian yards.
Speaker 1: And of course we got Mike Tobert, a native of Carrollton, Georgia.
Speaker 1: There were from what part of Georgiana from I was
Speaker 1: born in Carrolton. We get into that, were getting that,
Speaker 1: we were getting that, We get that we're getting because
Speaker 1: that sound right. I don't know. I know now that
Speaker 1: tring Wikipedia? What's wrong with I don't control with Wikipedia?
Speaker 1: You can end it. Karon has like three stoplights. So
Speaker 1: you're gonnadom embarrassed by that? I don't know, just not
Speaker 1: So where are you from? Huh? We got like seven stoplights.
Speaker 1: Don't just respect and I know how to be when
Speaker 1: they tried to dition next, right, you don't from lex
Speaker 1: Have you ever heard don't do it? Yeah? Have you
Speaker 1: ever heard of lexa to being lex Vegas? Why you
Speaker 1: gotta smart like this? Like you like you from something
Speaker 1: like we finally got a light like like I thought
Speaker 1: you're from the West coast, but it ain't like you
Speaker 1: exactly from like you know, I'm from Olympia and Olympia,
Speaker 1: Washing is the capital. You tried to put me in
Speaker 1: my p boring Fort Lewis, Washington, which is a military base.
Speaker 1: So that's once again it's known. Uh, I'm a rock
Speaker 1: with there's five people up here and folk didn't know
Speaker 1: it a man. Well, now you're looking at you rock
Speaker 1: though a uh where are you from the place you
Speaker 1: call your hometown from Douglasville, Georgia, Oh, about fifteen minutes
Speaker 1: west of the wet As you asked, I'm gonna where
Speaker 1: you're fine? And all right? Okay, so you know you
Speaker 1: want you want to you wanna do to get ice up?
Speaker 1: When get up? It's part of our podcast where we
Speaker 1: just asked random Iceberger questions like I don't know he
Speaker 1: just brought up the sheet. We haven't talked about this.
Speaker 1: We don't have no pre production meet, none of that stuff.
Speaker 1: So yeah, he gets yeah, so let him so just
Speaker 1: one we got this question, all the questions whose podcast
Speaker 1: is I'm just I'm ansking questions the stage all right,
Speaker 1: um you guys, and you can answer if you choose to.
Speaker 1: If you can buy any type of food, what would
Speaker 1: you buy any type of food? Look at me, shround
Speaker 1: for a reason. I'm doing gonna buy anything though you're eating.
Speaker 1: One thing you don't know about Toba is he's not
Speaker 1: a sweets guy. Really, yeah you sweets my my, my
Speaker 1: meat come from meat and potato, not one like that.
Speaker 1: You're out of here. That's one all right, no more,
Speaker 1: and we're friends. We're not going to add that out, Brian.
Speaker 1: But don't do that again. Oh if I go on
Speaker 1: your web browser, your history, what I find stut today,
Speaker 1: you would find uh top golf trying to figure out
Speaker 1: the fastest impossible. That because stew he's also he he
Speaker 1: is lightweight, lazy sometimes. Hey man, that was the answers
Speaker 1: right there, because one time I got to be there.
Speaker 1: You can't tell him early because he will forget and
Speaker 1: he will take a nap before you're supposed to ask
Speaker 1: you and then oversleep. Yeah, nowadays I don't really get
Speaker 1: to take that million naps, you know, So things have
Speaker 1: changed a little bit more responsible. So what how would
Speaker 1: you characterize your just football career? Football career? Um trials,
Speaker 1: you know, just injuries, um, but just stay in the course,
Speaker 1: um and making it last. What can I just want
Speaker 1: to jump in real quick? Why would you characterize those
Speaker 1: two things? First? Like, even just in your you the
Speaker 1: franchise leader in Russian attempts rushing yards, you went straight
Speaker 1: to injuries. Yeah, because I mean I think at the
Speaker 1: end of the day, that's one of the things that
Speaker 1: knock you out. And that's what I'm you know, grateful
Speaker 1: for and blessed you know too. I mean Smitty, you know,
Speaker 1: introduced me to his guy that prolonged, that made my
Speaker 1: career last longer than what it should have, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. So when I think dr that, but
Speaker 1: when I think about football now, I'm just I just think,
Speaker 1: you know, just the bratefulness to be able to walk
Speaker 1: away from the game. But also looking back, you know,
Speaker 1: I played eleven seasons. Um, you know, I'm just just grateful,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, more than anything. So that's
Speaker 1: the first thing that comes to mind, is the things
Speaker 1: that I've come over that you know, the adversity. I
Speaker 1: think you look at a person's career, you're more satisfied
Speaker 1: with the bounce back stories, You're more satisfied with what
Speaker 1: that person had and dur You're more satisfied with all
Speaker 1: those things because that's how you can connect um. And
Speaker 1: I mean Smithy is good at stories for days for
Speaker 1: adversity of how he's bounced back. Told 's got stories
Speaker 1: for days for how he's bounced back. And I've been
Speaker 1: able to watch these guys along their side, you know,
Speaker 1: through the you know, parts of the career. And that's
Speaker 1: what's inspirational, you know what I'm saying within the locker room.
Speaker 1: But so that's why. So so what when you have
Speaker 1: bounced backs and you have injuries, what is that internal
Speaker 1: motivation that makes you come back from that? Like what
Speaker 1: your drive to come back from that? That's a great question.
Speaker 1: We should have you one more one. I mean, ultimately
Speaker 1: it's you know, for me, it's your why, right, and
Speaker 1: I believe your why changes, you know, through different seasons
Speaker 1: of life and but the ultimate y stands tall and
Speaker 1: first at the end of the day, which is my
Speaker 1: why is I have a plat from given by God
Speaker 1: to do something bigger than myself. So once you get
Speaker 1: out of your own way, that's when you can go
Speaker 1: through those things with the right attitude, with the you know,
Speaker 1: with the mindset of I need help. I need people
Speaker 1: like my teammates or family members or coaching, um, whatever
Speaker 1: it is to get you to that next phase. UM.
Speaker 1: And I mean, you know there's there's right you know,
Speaker 1: towards the end of my career, you know, I got
Speaker 1: married and had my first baby girl, and you know
Speaker 1: that became my why. Um. And we have another baby girl,
Speaker 1: uh Nora, she's eight months. She's part of that why
Speaker 1: Now nothing else matters. So told, but what about she?
Speaker 1: Which what's those internal motivators for you? Um? Just always
Speaker 1: been on adult you know, I was always short and
Speaker 1: fat and not considered the biggest or the strongest or
Speaker 1: the fastest. So I like to pride myself on being
Speaker 1: a lucky worker, you know what I'm saying, Like I was,
Speaker 1: I was lucky because I didn't have to go through
Speaker 1: the major injuries that y'all went through. But I worked
Speaker 1: my tail off, and I'm saying I worked hard to
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. I don't only keep my
Speaker 1: weight down, but you know, make sure that the person
Speaker 1: that was six four two fifty across from me, he
Speaker 1: knew I was who I was. You know, he had
Speaker 1: the game playing for me stuff like that. You know.
Speaker 1: So I prided my cell phone UM making. I prided
Speaker 1: myself on sacrifice, you know when I played UM sacrificing
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying in my mind and my
Speaker 1: body to make sure that this guy went to the
Speaker 1: Pro Bowl. You know what I'm saying, to make sure
Speaker 1: that you on those end of rounds that you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying, that linebacker was cut down and the
Speaker 1: defense end was cut down, stuff like that. So you know,
Speaker 1: I just I like sacrificing, you know, saying my body.
Speaker 1: I mean that was my position, so it was I
Speaker 1: was signed to sacrifice. So let's talk about football a
Speaker 1: little bit, because listen, we're not gonna have too many
Speaker 1: ex teammates that actually trust on my podcast. I'll tell
Speaker 1: like the real story. This is the first time I've
Speaker 1: ever listening you segue into your own storytelling like typically
Speaker 1: he always dance around around. So what what what was
Speaker 1: it like to be at practice with me in a
Speaker 1: good way because I can say whatever hell I want
Speaker 1: to and I'll make sure Brian edits it out the
Speaker 1: way I wanted to. Um, this is well, I was
Speaker 1: gonna say. I was gonna say the good way because
Speaker 1: a lot of people always just go to you was aggressive,
Speaker 1: blah blah blah and not. That's why. That's why I
Speaker 1: think one thing that not only playing with you, but
Speaker 1: like being a friend off the field, Like you're gonna
Speaker 1: get what you're gonna get out of you. You know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. So when you come in everything like
Speaker 1: so when you come in the morning and you know
Speaker 1: what kind of day is gonna be, Like when you
Speaker 1: see the expression on his face if he if he
Speaker 1: high five in short round, what's up man? This and
Speaker 1: that at seven o'clock in the morning, I have a
Speaker 1: good day. But if he come in mugging back, you know,
Speaker 1: has back over show. This is hanging on the floor,
Speaker 1: one of them cornerbacks probably gonna get fought in practice. Like,
Speaker 1: don't feel bad, it's podcasts and we read the room too.
Speaker 1: That's that's just how would you you filled up the tension.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, good or bad, But I
Speaker 1: mean it's it's a lot of stories that we can
Speaker 1: get into it for two years, but we're here so time.
Speaker 1: But I got a few him. Yeah, that's part on
Speaker 1: because I usually have the same kind of demeanor. I'm
Speaker 1: either very mild or low, like as far as in
Speaker 1: the mornings, like like here you go here on that day,
Speaker 1: his feet, his feet heard him or something alone, Let's
Speaker 1: leave him alone, leave alone. They hurt the best though,
Speaker 1: This is when you know it's bad. He would come
Speaker 1: in and be like, yeah, Steve, I feel like you today.
Speaker 1: I supposed to me that even a complimentary but he's
Speaker 1: still savage. But the thing that would get me about
Speaker 1: Steve is you could think one thing about him, but
Speaker 1: you could be wrong. I blized Steve's home on today,
Speaker 1: and he might he Mike, I don't know my custombody out.
Speaker 1: He'll he'll walk by me, He'll be like, and I'll eat.
Speaker 1: I'll be eating a doughnut Friday mornings or Saturday mornings,
Speaker 1: whatever the those mornings, I'll be having the last bite.
Speaker 1: I'm like, so you want that today? So are you
Speaker 1: playing today? Okay? I mean, so ultimately you get everything.
Speaker 1: But guys are always played with and we have fun.
Speaker 1: There's other guys. There's guys. Yeah, there's guys that all
Speaker 1: that that. Ultimately, do you know if Steve's messing with
Speaker 1: you or not? And those guys you shouldn't. You don't
Speaker 1: talk to them. You don't mess with him. You're not
Speaker 1: You're just not there. Um. But the main thing that
Speaker 1: I appreciate about a Steve about Steve is locker room.
Speaker 1: And a lot of guys in our locker room was
Speaker 1: different than a lot of people's locker room. But you're
Speaker 1: not just gonna get football. You're gonna get life. You're
Speaker 1: gonna get life lessons. You're gonna get like your finances.
Speaker 1: You don't get married, you're gonna get kids all that.
Speaker 1: And one of the very first things that Um Smithy
Speaker 1: had told me, I was kind of like hanging. I
Speaker 1: was with Jeff Ota and Um, and I just kind
Speaker 1: of overheard the conversation, and you know, Smithy is talking,
Speaker 1: you know about spending habits, like don't be over there
Speaker 1: buying jewelry and all these cars and all this stuff.
Speaker 1: And if people ask you for things, tell them no,
Speaker 1: you know, oh, anyone anything except your wife and kids.
Speaker 1: And I remember hearing that. I don't know if you
Speaker 1: remember telling him. I remember he was talking about how
Speaker 1: after the season he was gonna buy a Rose Royce
Speaker 1: and he was like, no, don't do it. And then
Speaker 1: you know, and then Jeff was fighting him on it
Speaker 1: like it was like they was arty. He was arguing
Speaker 1: with Steve about advice Steve was giving him, so he
Speaker 1: was he was defending his potential purchase. Yeah, are he
Speaker 1: was gonna rolling it either way, he was rolling it.
Speaker 1: You know what, I hold back And I'm like, where
Speaker 1: is Jeff Faltar right now? But he glad ain't by
Speaker 1: that room. Maybe he parking it. But you know what,
Speaker 1: do you get it? Like, you get the off the
Speaker 1: field stuff like that with Jeff, but you also get
Speaker 1: the owner field stuff too, which is which is fun.
Speaker 1: You know. I remember, um my first year playing with you,
Speaker 1: here it was and you come in the locker room
Speaker 1: joking shot around, what's up? Man? You don't hae baby?
Speaker 1: I said, what's up? Alright? Cool? We soon we're walking
Speaker 1: out of practice together and you go, I'm gonna make
Speaker 1: everybody better today, And I'm like, what do you mean
Speaker 1: by that. You know what I'm saying, Like he already
Speaker 1: wanted the best in the game, Like we all got
Speaker 1: to step it up. So I'm talking about warmups, hitting
Speaker 1: the heart, running, running, running around. Something about every route
Speaker 1: was like bomb bomb re rot was. Christine said, we're
Speaker 1: running plays back to back and we're going to seven
Speaker 1: on seven and he was like, this is what I'm
Speaker 1: gonna do it. I'm like, dude, what this Dude, what
Speaker 1: what is he talking about? Every time the ball came
Speaker 1: to him, he looked at it. Remember you remember that
Speaker 1: he looked at the ball. One ball came right to
Speaker 1: a face mask, knocked it down. I'm like, what is
Speaker 1: he doing? He was like, he's gonna have to learn
Speaker 1: to be accurate. And I was like, WHOA made sense,
Speaker 1: make complete sense, but you was asshole doing it. At
Speaker 1: the time, I thought he was an asshole, But I
Speaker 1: get it now. You know what I'm saying. You remember
Speaker 1: that right out routes to come back. He looked at
Speaker 1: every ball go right, But I mean he was five
Speaker 1: or six yards open on every play and he just
Speaker 1: looked at the ball fly out abound. He knocked the
Speaker 1: pass down himself. It wins to his like if he
Speaker 1: didn't put his hands up. It was gonna stick in
Speaker 1: his face. Man's like little John's, I'm trying. It was
Speaker 1: that it was the point and he just and going
Speaker 1: through stuff like that, and you know, we all laugh
Speaker 1: about it, but deep down inside, I believe we all
Speaker 1: know he was doing to make everybody better. It wasn't antagonistic.
Speaker 1: It wasn't trying to some of it was, but something
Speaker 1: of it, some of it was. But what what the
Speaker 1: detail of what he's missing is. So in my two
Speaker 1: thousand til so, I'm thirty thirty years old at some
Speaker 1: point right running the a t yr come back thirty
Speaker 1: years old, eighteen yard stop on the time coming back
Speaker 1: in the ball is I'm coming running to come back
Speaker 1: and the ball hasn't been thrown yet. If we're in
Speaker 1: the game by the time the ball comes, that means
Speaker 1: if I'm coming back, that means the guy that's covering
Speaker 1: me it's coming back. So that means time and is
Speaker 1: off right and and analyzing and talking about it involved right.
Speaker 1: If I put in balls for a football, for a
Speaker 1: quarterback to get paid seventy five million dollars, you must
Speaker 1: be confirming what you see in the defense, not discovering.
Speaker 1: So if you are discovering what's going on and I'm
Speaker 1: running the eighteen come back and you're just throwing it
Speaker 1: after I've run eighteen yards come back and the guys
Speaker 1: covering me, and you're just discovering it and you're throwing it,
Speaker 1: that means you are late. If you are late and
Speaker 1: I'm on time, that's a pick. So if that's a pig,
Speaker 1: I am paid to catch, not tackle. Is that fairtely? Next? Perfect?
Speaker 1: So I'm trying to figure out what's my job description?
Speaker 1: What'd you say? I got you? I still was ass over.
Speaker 1: I didn't so understand. I asked, I asked it improper question,
Speaker 1: my fault. But what I was trying to leave you No, No,
Speaker 1: I I say that just because sometimes there are things
Speaker 1: that people don't understand, like the nuances of football, like
Speaker 1: in practice and game. If you're doing it in practice,
Speaker 1: you're gonna do it in the game. If you don't
Speaker 1: do it in practice, it ain't no damn way you're
Speaker 1: gonna do it in the game either. So just trying
Speaker 1: to figure that part out. And that's why the old
Speaker 1: Iverson thing is is, you know, we're talking about practice.
Speaker 1: For me, I looked at practice with practices where I
Speaker 1: what I would try it out, figure it out. Game
Speaker 1: is deja vu. I've already done it. So when I'm
Speaker 1: doing it again, we've supposed we've worked out all the kings. Right,
Speaker 1: Like you guys are running backs. Y'all had another running
Speaker 1: back in there, D'Angelo. And if ded' angelo bothered me
Speaker 1: that week or he said something sideways, what I used
Speaker 1: to tell y'all, remember, hey, I better get your board
Speaker 1: because we always had that safety, our mask of our linebackers, coach,
Speaker 1: our alignement, a line coach or line coach. He would
Speaker 1: draw the plays and don't say, all right, we run
Speaker 1: into the left. We don't have to account for the safety.
Speaker 1: Why who is that wide receiver? So if you tiptoe,
Speaker 1: and if a dude tiptoe, what I used to do
Speaker 1: in the game, if you go, that's yours. If you
Speaker 1: go tiptoe through the home, all right, you better run
Speaker 1: through that separating it from the great I really appreciate
Speaker 1: you blocking from me. Man, we go down there and
Speaker 1: we'll there'd be Stewart be sitting there and he see
Speaker 1: that safety creep down. He'd be like street be looking around,
Speaker 1: like I got him. I got him. I go ahead him,
Speaker 1: Stewart go still like, man, I told you to see
Speaker 1: him for real. Man Like, but Steve, you'd be lifting
Speaker 1: people out of the air bro like so Denver, the
Speaker 1: Denver Broncos. I think it was vulnerable about I caught
Speaker 1: a swing pass or a flat pass, curl had a
Speaker 1: curl right and was about get you all that. I
Speaker 1: was like, I just remember turning up the sideline with
Speaker 1: closed on. You know what's coming, huh. I knew he
Speaker 1: was true and so like it was just one of
Speaker 1: them like you just get there so that way you
Speaker 1: just embraced the hit and you stay on your feet
Speaker 1: because you got the bad of bounce. Man. I heard
Speaker 1: the contact so loud that I felt it, but it
Speaker 1: wasn't me. It was about to get hit. It was
Speaker 1: Steve hitting von Miller. All I hear is like at
Speaker 1: the whole sideline, the whole stadium. And then they throw
Speaker 1: a flag because it was just so aggressive and then
Speaker 1: they picked it up right I'm saying, I thought it
Speaker 1: was a leading. It was that one in the Chad Greenway.
Speaker 1: One stands out as well too. Who was running the
Speaker 1: ball on that one? DeAngelo was running ball DeAngelo would
Speaker 1: he would use me. But I was also like, come
Speaker 1: this way here, you know, and I leaned into that
Speaker 1: and you said it, both of you guys said, you know,
Speaker 1: as you transform through your career, you what's your wise?
Speaker 1: Different things. But as you mature, being able to ask
Speaker 1: a teammate a friend for help because a lot of
Speaker 1: times we have that pride on our shoulder and I
Speaker 1: just don't want to ask. And but you, for you guys,
Speaker 1: to admit asking for help start started to make you
Speaker 1: a better player? Was there every time you talk about
Speaker 1: missing the box like on an end around? I know
Speaker 1: my man here would elevate everybody's game because of things
Speaker 1: like you said, where there are times where it was
Speaker 1: an end around he was coming around. You missed that
Speaker 1: blocking like, damn man, he's gonna say something to me
Speaker 1: on that one. Um not a lot because he didn't
Speaker 1: like running the end around too much, you know. But
Speaker 1: um so my my position affects to more than his,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. But I was in the
Speaker 1: in the game a lot on third downs and I
Speaker 1: needed to protect because we were late a lot, and
Speaker 1: you know, we gotta run routes to get open. So
Speaker 1: that that's kind of how indirectly my my position and
Speaker 1: you know, blended with his. But I mean there's there's
Speaker 1: been plenty of times where, um, you know, you gotta
Speaker 1: account for somebody else's responsibility, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: whether it be picking up an old line, got it
Speaker 1: fell in his in his kick slide, or you know,
Speaker 1: ball is in the back for I dropped the ball
Speaker 1: right like it would be times if I dropped the ball,
Speaker 1: I'll be the first one coming back to the huddle said, man,
Speaker 1: you know, I'll let you all down. I remember my
Speaker 1: first year we played the Charges in San Diego, or
Speaker 1: it was still in San Diego at the time. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we played the Charges in San Diego. And I'm in
Speaker 1: it's like second in like three and I catch a
Speaker 1: wide route. I'm not supposed to be trying to jump
Speaker 1: nobody or nothing like that. I try to make a
Speaker 1: move and cornerback trip me up like half of y'ard,
Speaker 1: you know, from the from the first down, and everybody's like,
Speaker 1: come on, man, just run through and get the first down.
Speaker 1: I mean, we're gonna we're gonna make it work, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. We're gonna go back next play,
Speaker 1: next play we come up, he run a short um
Speaker 1: short dig route catch ball. First time. He's like, don't
Speaker 1: worry about it. I got you. I remember that. You
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, little stuff like that. Don't worry
Speaker 1: about that. I got you. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1: And it's been it's multiple cases where not just him,
Speaker 1: but other people cover up from other people's mistakes. You know,
Speaker 1: if nobody's perfect on the field, man, that's that's life.
Speaker 1: That's business, you know, not just on the football field.
Speaker 1: A lot of times you do need help from other folks. Man.
Speaker 1: So we've been hearing athletes like yourself understanding you're only
Speaker 1: as good as the guy next to you. With that,
Speaker 1: that's really cool to hear about one of the toughest things.
Speaker 1: So I think I believe um in in a huddle hu.
Speaker 1: I don't think I ever told that this is um.
Speaker 1: So we were in cream Bay and this Stewie breaks
Speaker 1: out on a run. But we were in Green Bay
Speaker 1: and it was cold, so Stewie didn't warm up. Let
Speaker 1: me hold on, stop that Smithy doesn't doesn't warm up ever,
Speaker 1: and so I would wear a lot of clothes Dame
Speaker 1: day up. But he's an alien Okay, so he doesn't
Speaker 1: have to warm up. Everyone should warm up. That's the name,
Speaker 1: that's the name of the story. Continue. So we get
Speaker 1: give the ball to Stey, Stewet breaks one. Stewey breaks one,
Speaker 1: and about it's about fifty sixty yard touchdown and about
Speaker 1: thirty five yards saying he starts breaking down and he
Speaker 1: still got about thirty more yards to go, Like, bro,
Speaker 1: what are you doing? And so I have to I'm
Speaker 1: speeding up to catch him because I see I'm like
Speaker 1: slowing down he's about to get walking. So do we
Speaker 1: end up scoring? You end up scoring? Warton carriage? Know,
Speaker 1: I I got hit from behind and into the end
Speaker 1: zone and then Treville Wharton was running behind me and
Speaker 1: jumped on the ball. But he's he was there so
Speaker 1: and I'm like, what are you doing? His reply, I
Speaker 1: didn't warm up? It's a football game. How did you
Speaker 1: not warm up? Skip pasting on the sideline for too long? Man?
Speaker 1: They put him back on the side after that game.
Speaker 1: I don't think none of us warmed up when we
Speaker 1: played in Minnesota there, you know, man? Yeah, that Trevl
Speaker 1: Wharton's wanted only touchdowns? Do we know stats guy? Where's
Speaker 1: my stats guy? But but shall we fast forward? And
Speaker 1: that was the catch against Charles Wilson. I believe show
Speaker 1: we in there, Tobers over there rolling people over in
Speaker 1: San Diego. So he's not even there yet. This is
Speaker 1: what Coach Fox. And so we're in there, and Jake's
Speaker 1: the quarterback, moose In's there, and so we're all in
Speaker 1: the huddle, and Jeff Altar was there, Travell Wharton, Jordan's
Speaker 1: gross and Ryan Khalil. So one of the things I
Speaker 1: struggle with is in that in that moment, especially in
Speaker 1: Coach Fox's offense, about third down, third down come and
Speaker 1: I always used to put my head down, a Smithy,
Speaker 1: we need to play from me. We played Smithy, we
Speaker 1: need to play from me. And I always used to
Speaker 1: have my head down because I would here to play
Speaker 1: as he would say to play, I would go go
Speaker 1: over it in my head. But one also the things
Speaker 1: that I always thought about why I put my head
Speaker 1: down is I would put my head down and close
Speaker 1: my eyes sometimes because of the fear that lettin the
Speaker 1: guys down in that huddle. So the unique it's up
Speaker 1: that huddle. You got Ryan khalil usc Um, great great
Speaker 1: athletic center, Jeff Altar from pitt first round Treville Warden
Speaker 1: from South Carolina third or second round pick. He was
Speaker 1: a tackle, they transferred him to guard. And then my
Speaker 1: guy Jordan Gross, who I played two years with at
Speaker 1: Utah and then played pretty much thirteen years with in Carolina.
Speaker 1: So I paid I when I went to Baltimore, that
Speaker 1: was the first time in my career that my left
Speaker 1: tackle wasn't Jordan Gross. And so I'm sitting there and
Speaker 1: Jake would ask me, you know what you want? Hey,
Speaker 1: what's play you on? But the interesting thing about that
Speaker 1: is I would close my eyes because I did not
Speaker 1: want to let these guys now because I knew they
Speaker 1: were I knew that significant others. I knew, I knew
Speaker 1: their wives, our kids had birthday birthdays together. And so
Speaker 1: one of the toughest things is to manage that pressure
Speaker 1: but also look at the look the men in the eye.
Speaker 1: If you messed up that you let them down. And
Speaker 1: so for me, that routine was was imperative because if
Speaker 1: I had failed, I just didn't failed myself. I felt
Speaker 1: those guys. The way I look at is I'm I'm
Speaker 1: in house, I'm on house, h I'm on house money.
Speaker 1: But I don't want to mess up you guys is money.
Speaker 1: So that was one of the toughest things I always
Speaker 1: struggle with. If you go back and you google or
Speaker 1: look at it or even watch you old tape. I
Speaker 1: always had my head now because I was fearful of
Speaker 1: letting the guys tell other guys down in the hall.
Speaker 1: That's interesting, man, because I think I was gonna say,
Speaker 1: what was your reaction to that? That? I think everyone
Speaker 1: has that right, But like, I mean, you're explaining that
Speaker 1: and me actually, like going back into a huddle, I
Speaker 1: can see that. I see that like I've seen that before,
Speaker 1: and you would have never thought that that existed in you.
Speaker 1: I think most people when they're when they're watching football,
Speaker 1: when they're watching professional athletes, that's probably a thought that
Speaker 1: never crosses the general person who's watching the game of fans,
Speaker 1: that's probably never cross in their mind. They see all
Speaker 1: the athletic plays you guys make, they see the touchdowns,
Speaker 1: they see the celebrations, they see overcoming adversity. But I
Speaker 1: don't think raise your hand, because we have we have
Speaker 1: an audience. Now, this isn't just us, Like raise your hand.
Speaker 1: If you really think that when you would see a
Speaker 1: guy like Steve or Jonathan or mikeet that they're in
Speaker 1: that hole and they have fear on top of them. Like,
Speaker 1: is that something that you guys think to everyone's shaking
Speaker 1: their head like Nope, have no clue. Well, but you know,
Speaker 1: you say fans, But here's the man that's a side
Speaker 1: by side with him in a huddle and did you
Speaker 1: know that coming in that bothered him like that. I mean,
Speaker 1: the right thing to say is everyone probably has that,
Speaker 1: but there's just because there's very few that you think
Speaker 1: that it really like hits them the way it was
Speaker 1: just explained. Because there's been times where I've seen somebody
Speaker 1: coming to the huddle and said, you better run the
Speaker 1: you better hope that you better get the first down
Speaker 1: because of not you better throw the ball me like,
Speaker 1: but like, look, I think it was an Arizona game.
Speaker 1: Um Jake called something and he was you were mad.
Speaker 1: I think we were drawing, like called the draw play
Speaker 1: because we ran draws like it was nothing my rookie year,
Speaker 1: and and we'd be losing running draws and he called something.
Speaker 1: You can tell he was upset. And then it didn't
Speaker 1: go well. He came back to the huddle and he
Speaker 1: told us to run some play. It was a bubble screen,
Speaker 1: and he came and told us that is what he
Speaker 1: wanted to run. So you see one of those things
Speaker 1: where a player at at his stature come into the
Speaker 1: huddle saying I want this play because I'm about the score.
Speaker 1: He rubbly run the play and he scores a sixty
Speaker 1: yard touchdown step songs, a guy spins off another guy
Speaker 1: or whatever, and he goes down the sideline. So you
Speaker 1: see that, and you hear that in a huddle, and
Speaker 1: then I hear that when the line. That's what That's
Speaker 1: what I's That's what I was about to ask, like
Speaker 1: when you are in that mood when you were in
Speaker 1: told me the ball, I want the ball, give it
Speaker 1: to me. I'm like, which is like, because then I
Speaker 1: put Then we say to play. I put my head down. Man,
Speaker 1: I can't fun. Why don't say that? And then I'm going.
Speaker 1: But then I'm jogging, jogging out and I'm looking at
Speaker 1: the defense like, yeah, that wasn't a good. That wasn't
Speaker 1: a good. That was just the parallel I was trying
Speaker 1: to paint to everything. Stupid just said, like you you
Speaker 1: I don't think most people of course watching, but you're
Speaker 1: in the huddle and you you don't even see that
Speaker 1: that dynamic exactly. I hid it so well, yeah, I
Speaker 1: never saw that, you know what I mean. But I
Speaker 1: think on a football team, like coaches and the players,
Speaker 1: they all breathe camaraderie, so we don't want to let
Speaker 1: each other down. But to hear somebody say that they
Speaker 1: didn't want to look at everybody else because I didn't
Speaker 1: want to let you down, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: It hits a little different, you know, but it could be,
Speaker 1: Like I said, that could go both ways, because you
Speaker 1: can be in there with your head down, shaking in
Speaker 1: your draws because you're scared that you're gonna let everybody down,
Speaker 1: as opposed to going out there. I'm like that I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go make his play, and it would go through
Speaker 1: that whole process. Put my head down, go through my routine,
Speaker 1: you know, blah blah blah, just to play and okay,
Speaker 1: and then I walk out and I go through my routine. Okay,
Speaker 1: safety is right here, linebacker, Okay, cool? You know what
Speaker 1: what release am I going and show that preparation during
Speaker 1: the week of watching film, nor you know, knowing all
Speaker 1: of my information that I knew so, and then before
Speaker 1: the game, I would literally walk. I would walk or
Speaker 1: slight jog. I would walk through every single route before
Speaker 1: the game, and so I technically I never stretched, but
Speaker 1: I would walk through it mentally, and then I would
Speaker 1: just catch. I would catch the footballs and work on
Speaker 1: my hands and then work on different kind of acrobatic
Speaker 1: catches in practice to really control and train my eye
Speaker 1: hand coordination. And I was the way it out. I
Speaker 1: would do it, but that's why. But my confidence wasn't
Speaker 1: and I was a really good player. My confidence was
Speaker 1: in my preparation and that's why I like it was
Speaker 1: at least once a week when I come to practice.
Speaker 1: I'm not playing with you all the day. Good do it? Good,
Speaker 1: do it? Get down to do it. Hey, Gerard, why
Speaker 1: did you get that T shirt? Oh? Yes, I got
Speaker 1: it from cut to a podcast dot com where we
Speaker 1: have exclusive merchandise. Shout out to our guys at seven
Speaker 1: or four shot. But yeah, you can go on, buy
Speaker 1: you a T shirt, subscribe to us wherever you listen
Speaker 1: to podcasts. Talk about confidence and knowing everything about the game.
Speaker 1: You know, I've my friendship with Steve. He he gets
Speaker 1: really jazzed up and gassed up to talk about plays
Speaker 1: like he has every playbook from every team that he's
Speaker 1: ever played on. And uh, I remember being in Steve's
Speaker 1: house a handful of times where he gets just getty
Speaker 1: talking about he knows every position, every play, what the
Speaker 1: lineman is doing, with the tight ends doing, with the
Speaker 1: quarterbacks doing. He knows everything about that piece. And that
Speaker 1: goes to your studying, and that goes to still have
Speaker 1: our playbook when I was with the Panthers on the
Speaker 1: culture of the whole offense, like the lineman. So when
Speaker 1: I'm watching television and I hear T STU are here
Speaker 1: to a gap or b gapp or double b gapp
Speaker 1: or to see gap, I go back in that terminology
Speaker 1: to read it, to make sure not to correct the TV.
Speaker 1: Got to make sure that I'm hearing it right. So
Speaker 1: when I do TV, I'm not just talking out of
Speaker 1: my butt. Yeah, we've got any questions in audience, anybody
Speaker 1: can you come up? Can you come on the show
Speaker 1: a microphone? We want to make sure so security number.
Speaker 1: I'm Brian, Hi, Brian, he claim for ten years now. Welcome.
Speaker 1: Tell us about the play against the Rams. I know
Speaker 1: all of his Panthers fans. Remember where we were watching that.
Speaker 1: I was in college what Lenora in playing baseball position
Speaker 1: there with all my buddies third base. Yeah, yeah, we're
Speaker 1: sitting on Lenora rahon third base. You were drinking beers.
Speaker 1: Uh there, look at it. But now that's one of
Speaker 1: my favorite players as the Panthers fans. So just talk
Speaker 1: us through that. It was a play in which everybody knows,
Speaker 1: you know, just like practice, we're trying to figure it out.
Speaker 1: I ran a certain way. Um, I never in this
Speaker 1: I never ran the same route the same way. I
Speaker 1: always did something different. He said, that would frustrate Jake.
Speaker 1: That frustrates office coordinator. But that was just something that
Speaker 1: I always did. I never ran the same route the
Speaker 1: same way. My name is Blake. I'm good, happy to
Speaker 1: be here. But um, for three of you guys, especially
Speaker 1: you with the new Jersey change rule, would you think
Speaker 1: that you would have ever seen yourself moved to seven? No? No,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't. Not young since high school, so now right, No,
Speaker 1: I've always been double digit. Yeah, like agent seven just
Speaker 1: doesn't hit right. But but the thing is is so
Speaker 1: the long story, the long and short version of that
Speaker 1: is so um when I was drafted. I had seven
Speaker 1: in college war seven and junior college. I went to
Speaker 1: a public school, so we had whatever Jersey it was
Speaker 1: that week, we had three, and I had three and
Speaker 1: seven in high school. But the way I had to
Speaker 1: wear fifteen because we didn't have a Jersey public school
Speaker 1: and and then I wore seven in junior college and
Speaker 1: then I wore seven in college. When I got drafted
Speaker 1: by the Panthers, I wanted eighty seven. But Mose Muhammad,
Speaker 1: I think at that time it was like a second
Speaker 1: or third Pro Bowl, he didn't want to give it up.
Speaker 1: And then Carl Hankton big Bank told me, he's like
Speaker 1: he had go ask him. I didn't know that was
Speaker 1: a set up. I went and asked, Moose, kill the dog,
Speaker 1: sit your ass down somewhere. And so when I locked
Speaker 1: when I got into the locker room. The one thing
Speaker 1: I did not want I was on the on the
Speaker 1: whole flight. I was on a remember Continental, that was
Speaker 1: my flight Continental from Utah to Charlotte, and I was
Speaker 1: on that and I was like, I do not want
Speaker 1: eighty nine. I do not want eighty nine because eighty
Speaker 1: nine was he had two numbers. Ray crews had eighty
Speaker 1: three and eighty nine. I did not want that number,
Speaker 1: but they gave me that number. Like, I don't they
Speaker 1: gave me that numb So they gave me a number
Speaker 1: aven angels like please, du I kill made nine please
Speaker 1: because it was what it was associated with. Right. He
Speaker 1: was from Colorado, he was originally from Cali. He was
Speaker 1: light skinned. I'm from Cali, went to Utah. I'm light skinning.
Speaker 1: The similarities, the similarities, I just did not want any
Speaker 1: of it. So I had in my rookie year and
Speaker 1: and so I had lunch with the team president at
Speaker 1: the time, which is still a good friend, which is
Speaker 1: Mark Richardson, And I said, bro, like, I do not
Speaker 1: want this jersey. Why do you give me this jersey?
Speaker 1: And Mark said, listen, we gave it his jersey is
Speaker 1: because we know the association to this jersey. But we
Speaker 1: also gave it to you. Is because this is the
Speaker 1: number that we've given guys who aren't just only been
Speaker 1: here temporarily. So there's a guy receiver that played with
Speaker 1: you in San Francisco with George Seyffert name always it came,
Speaker 1: so they gave it to him. He was gonnae. They
Speaker 1: gave it to the out blow birds he was gonna
Speaker 1: and so they gave it to me, and I was like,
Speaker 1: all right, So after the lunch, I really felt bad.
Speaker 1: After lunch, he was like, look, if you want to
Speaker 1: change the number, that's fine, but this is the reason
Speaker 1: we gave you this number. We gave you this number
Speaker 1: hoping you will change what this number represents for organization.
Speaker 1: Everybody knows what he did, everybody knows what's going on.
Speaker 1: That's why we gave it to you. Hopefully it can
Speaker 1: be a number that's relative to something good, just stability.
Speaker 1: So if you want to change it, go ahead and
Speaker 1: change it now. I was when I got drafted, I
Speaker 1: just turned two years two years old, so I was
Speaker 1: very you know, I was very young. So I was like,
Speaker 1: I'm sitting in my car. After that, I'm like, damn,
Speaker 1: I can't change it. Nown After that, like you know,
Speaker 1: years old, after they tell you that, you know, you go, well,
Speaker 1: if I change it now, I'm in an asshole, right,
Speaker 1: I'm already in assholes. I don't want to be associated
Speaker 1: with being one out and open, right, And so after that,
Speaker 1: I just and that's why I stuck with it. And
Speaker 1: so that's why, you know, and That's why I never
Speaker 1: would change is because for me, me changing that number
Speaker 1: would say that I would be wanting to throw away
Speaker 1: the investment that someone else had in me before I
Speaker 1: even knew that that's what they were doing. That's deep.
Speaker 1: So that's why I won't. That's that the origin of
Speaker 1: the origin. That's the reason why I wouldn't. I wouldn't
Speaker 1: change like I wouldn't do that just because of how
Speaker 1: and what they what they what they did on the
Speaker 1: reason why. And it was Mark who told me. He
Speaker 1: was like, this is why, that's what's up. But I didn't.
Speaker 1: I didn't even know that he had ano. He wore
Speaker 1: two numbers. He wore like two or three numbers. But
Speaker 1: like his last finished, he finished with eighty three. He
Speaker 1: feel flip flop. But his last game before it all
Speaker 1: went down was eighty nine. But he was one of
Speaker 1: eighty three and eight and one more for these guys,
Speaker 1: anybody it's going on, Steve, my name's Adam Lewis. Appreciate
Speaker 1: you having me on here. UM So not only are
Speaker 1: you an all time receiver, but it definitely um all
Speaker 1: time trash shocker. Did you come into the league like
Speaker 1: that or was that something you kind of had to
Speaker 1: learn to stand your ground being in the NFL. That's
Speaker 1: a great question. This is my reply is totally racist.
Speaker 1: But I'm just okay, here's here's what I'm gonna saying.
Speaker 1: It's a racist. Why my statement is racist. I grew
Speaker 1: up as a black man. Noisha shocker, me too. But
Speaker 1: many so many people in here will know where I'm
Speaker 1: going with this and why I said this. I grew up.
Speaker 1: My mom is one of thirteen my mom's My mom
Speaker 1: had me and my brother. Okay, so it's my grandmother,
Speaker 1: my mom, me and my kids. There are sixty five
Speaker 1: of us. Okay, so can you imagine what the barbecues
Speaker 1: are like? Yeah? And the cards Domino's tumped space. There
Speaker 1: is a lot of talking going on. And so I
Speaker 1: grew up watching old folks play cards, right, Domino's, let
Speaker 1: trees fall on that ass stress, right, just all of
Speaker 1: that stuff. So when I grew up watching and listening
Speaker 1: to old folks play rds, you inspire to be that.
Speaker 1: But our deal was if you couldn't count, you couldn't
Speaker 1: play cards. So you have to learn how to count.
Speaker 1: And if you didn't know how to count, they would
Speaker 1: talk you off the card table, and so you I
Speaker 1: went through that show by the time I was twelve
Speaker 1: years old. I'm playing spades, I'm playing dominoes, I am
Speaker 1: playing cards and playing games with men who have no filter.
Speaker 1: But she goes around a reading on that space table
Speaker 1: and see what happens. Yes, and so that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: So so now, and the reason I said, as I
Speaker 1: love my wife married twenty one years, my wife's from
Speaker 1: you talk. They don't play cards like that. They ain't
Speaker 1: dog cussing, No fifty year old kid, it's like, oh
Speaker 1: my gosh, don't say that. Get your stuff like that. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: So it's just a different level. That's why I said,
Speaker 1: my the way I said is racist, because that's also
Speaker 1: where the where your character is built. That a good
Speaker 1: old fashioned community that our kids lacked. Now, right, get
Speaker 1: your ass outside and gonna play. Get from around grown folks. Right,
Speaker 1: mom is making uh, you know, the fry on on Saturdays.
Speaker 1: You're cooking all that stuff. Keeno, right, said all of
Speaker 1: that stuff. That's how I grew up. And so for me,
Speaker 1: when you man sixteen years old, what I heard on
Speaker 1: the in the card table. Yeah, as a football player,
Speaker 1: I'm like I'm not trash talking, this is playing. This
Speaker 1: is just what it is. And and so I'm from
Speaker 1: a huge family of sixty but we talked. It's some stuff.
Speaker 1: It's like I thought we was family exactly. And and
Speaker 1: so it's like a great example and what I mean
Speaker 1: by race. There's friends of mine that I know. And
Speaker 1: you don't put fish on the grill, you don't grill,
Speaker 1: you barbecue, just little things like that that when I
Speaker 1: grew up, that that's how it was. I experienced that
Speaker 1: ten at five years old, six years old, ten years old, twelve,
Speaker 1: twenty to now where now it's like, you know, I'm
Speaker 1: at the house and it's the family. We're playing cars
Speaker 1: and I always you know, my kids were over this Sunday,
Speaker 1: was playing nerves, hilarious. We're talking about everything. Nothing is
Speaker 1: off the table with family, talking cards. And so now
Speaker 1: you add that I can do that against strangers on
Speaker 1: a football field, zero regard for your field because I
Speaker 1: learned it from my grandma. I've seen my grandma dog
Speaker 1: cuss my mama. And I'm just like reading like it's
Speaker 1: just coming back from you know, from the archives. I'm
Speaker 1: just pulling from the archives. Yeah, So and that's why
Speaker 1: I say it was a racist statement, just more of
Speaker 1: that was the way I grew up. And it's more
Speaker 1: of a cultural thing, right, And I know it's cultural
Speaker 1: because my wife sometimes she said, great example, my mama
Speaker 1: told my daughter at the time Bailey is twenty years old, now,
Speaker 1: my daughter was eight years old. She went in tattletale
Speaker 1: on her big brother. When know, my mama told my
Speaker 1: daughter at eight, you read it, don't be no snitch.
Speaker 1: Snitches get stitches, mama, she ate, she went on, but
Speaker 1: just that statement at for eight year old, Like my
Speaker 1: mom was like, you can't tell eight year old that.
Speaker 1: And I'm going, yes, Mom, you can't. Yeah, right, And
Speaker 1: so that's what I mean, And that's why it's just
Speaker 1: it was just a different sort of certain set of
Speaker 1: circumstances back in the day. We all can recite that
Speaker 1: that we all got that uncor and that when they
Speaker 1: come to the family union or some family function day,
Speaker 1: the ring ligature of trouble day, the ring leader of
Speaker 1: alcoholic activities facts right, or or you got that ring
Speaker 1: leader of food. But just that family dynamic, everybody hasn't
Speaker 1: you got that? You got that still? Do you know?
Speaker 1: Do you gotta uncle pe nut, you're going to my
Speaker 1: mom's exactly. You'd be looking forward to those un you know, Georgia,
Speaker 1: check out the world. Yeah, it's just a cultural thing. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: thank you, Jonathan, Mike Man, thank you guys for being
Speaker 1: up here with you. Apreciate it. Y'all. Give it up
Speaker 1: from Jonathan and Mike. You are a unique person. You
Speaker 1: are well worth it, you are competent, and most of all,
Speaker 1: your lovable. I'm Steve Smith Senior, I'm Gerard Little John
Speaker 1: and this is cut to It. Cut to It with
Speaker 1: Steve Smith Senior. That Is Me is a production of
Speaker 1: Cut to It LLC, Baltol Creative Media, The Black Effect
Speaker 1: and I Heart Radio. For more podcast from I Heart Radio,
Speaker 1: visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever
Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows from Cut to It.
Speaker 1: Executive producer Steve Smith, singer co host Gerard Little John,
Speaker 1: talent and booking manager Joe Fuscy, Social media team Wesley
Speaker 1: Robinson and John Show from Balto Creative Media. Cut to
Speaker 1: It is produced by Brian Baltaschevitch and Meredith Carter, with
Speaker 1: production assistance by Alex Lebrek. Production coordinator Taylor Robinson. Theme
Speaker 1: 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 all