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 John And this is cut
Speaker 1: to it. Good do What good do? They's getting down
Speaker 1: to do with good do it? We asked the questions
Speaker 1: you always want to know, but no one ever asked,
Speaker 1: let's cut to it. You ain't heard them about it?
Speaker 1: Then we're about to let you know. It's all I
Speaker 1: came across this just looking for, you know, questions and banter.
Speaker 1: So text messaging. So we got a little intern in
Speaker 1: here be Um, what are be come? Come get to
Speaker 1: the mic a little bit. Yeah, the Lord ain't gonna
Speaker 1: help you, just fix your hair. So we're good. Intern
Speaker 1: intern Intern B is on the way RB so um,
Speaker 1: text message, you're you're you're pretty good into text message
Speaker 1: and short tex. What's it called? Yeah? Him too? Abbreviation,
Speaker 1: So give me some abbreviations if you're talking to people
Speaker 1: that of your age and your circle, like, oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: what what we it's called? OMG, oh my god. I
Speaker 1: guess l L is another one that I use kind
Speaker 1: of ironically. I guess laugh out loud l m F
Speaker 1: A oh excuse me. Wait, wait a minute, what's what's
Speaker 1: l l L M F A O. What's that mean?
Speaker 1: Hold on? You cuss a lot of your text message
Speaker 1: just in general? Why? Yes? Answer? She looked at me like,
Speaker 1: of course, why are you cussing a lot? How do
Speaker 1: you I'm sixteen? Oh my gosh, you barely gotta my pearls. Wow?
Speaker 1: All right, So give me some of those that's not
Speaker 1: cuss works, it's not customers like, yes, because I used
Speaker 1: some of those and I'm thirty six, So give some
Speaker 1: like the new the new ones on that old timers. Yeah,
Speaker 1: m f R is for real, that's one. I guess.
Speaker 1: I guess it can also be Instagram. Yeah, I would
Speaker 1: have never got I would have guessed Instagram. I feel
Speaker 1: like we're missing that on the good ones because we
Speaker 1: don't want her cousin. That's what it feels like to
Speaker 1: make I don't think so, Mom and dads. She lying, now, Yeah,
Speaker 1: the thing is she's trying to come up all those
Speaker 1: things that you can't decode those text mess That's what's
Speaker 1: that's what's going on. We're parents. That's the difference in this.
Speaker 1: And so those are my two are well, we appreciated
Speaker 1: thank you back, go back sitting your in turn chair. Um. So,
Speaker 1: so here's I have some text mesters on senior texting code.
Speaker 1: All right, so I'm gonna say senior citizens. Yes, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna say it, and you guys have to guess yes,
Speaker 1: that includes you. Yeah, it does. Listen, don't get your
Speaker 1: don't get any your feelings right now? Okay? Sometimes Oh
Speaker 1: my gosh, l O L what does F you mean?
Speaker 1: Is that one? I'm just asking. Yeah, So I'm I'm
Speaker 1: gonna throw it out there and then you guys get
Speaker 1: the guests. All right, So first one A T D.
Speaker 1: Think about senior sentences. A T D. Uh uh? I
Speaker 1: got at the doctors. Are you looking about the doctors
Speaker 1: right now? You don't don't cheat? Taylor at t at
Speaker 1: the nobody you know somebody's done a penalty when they
Speaker 1: put their hands up. That was the first thing she
Speaker 1: went to. So at D was at the doctor's. At
Speaker 1: the doctor's h b F f uh come on, best
Speaker 1: friends forever? So I got best friend fainted. What's senior
Speaker 1: senior citizens? Man, I wouldn't listen. I had a wrong game.
Speaker 1: I'm no, I didn't know. I'm go ahead. Here's one
Speaker 1: and I'm pretty sure your grandmother. We use bt W
Speaker 1: bring the the cream of wheat, Willie, bring the wheelchair. Yeah,
Speaker 1: B y o T bring your own teeth. Why did
Speaker 1: you know that? So fact? I don't know. I was
Speaker 1: gonna say, bring you on testing ah CBM C b
Speaker 1: M yep, could somewhere. This is so sad covered by medicare.
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, every senior citizen would know this, and
Speaker 1: if they even have a phone to help you. So
Speaker 1: c g U, I have no idea, can't get up.
Speaker 1: Brought you my life alert, all right, f w B
Speaker 1: get your minds out of go alright, friends with beta blockers,
Speaker 1: all right? Last last I didn't know what the beta
Speaker 1: blocker is. I don't know either, but just heard of
Speaker 1: blue blockers back in today from a commercial. Alright, So
Speaker 1: every every I think every old person has found this.
Speaker 1: Um as as as as went through this fl W
Speaker 1: I W for what it's worth, kind of pass away,
Speaker 1: forgot where I was. No, God, that's wrong. It was
Speaker 1: r O F L dot dot dot c GU rolling
Speaker 1: on the floor. I can't get up. Yes, yes, good job,
Speaker 1: I mean it was it was in the last to dude,
Speaker 1: it was go back and review good a context clues. Yes,
Speaker 1: this is the last one. This is the best one.
Speaker 1: G g P b L. I forget all those letters already,
Speaker 1: g g P b L. Gotta gotta go. Is bowling
Speaker 1: there anywhere? I gotta go. I gotta pass a kid close,
Speaker 1: gotta go, pacemaker battery low damn. That's hey, we cut
Speaker 1: to it. Do not stand by AGESM I just want
Speaker 1: to put that disclaimer out. No, I'm just saying it
Speaker 1: was it was. It was cute. I just was like,
Speaker 1: so there's some other was w t P last one?
Speaker 1: W t P? What where's the prunes? Yeah, that's what
Speaker 1: we're saying. All right, Well listen, hey, if you don't know, now,
Speaker 1: you know, seniors have a abbreviation text code. Youngsters have
Speaker 1: abbreviation test code that obviously, uh has a lot of
Speaker 1: cuss words in it, but appreciate it. Hey, who we
Speaker 1: got coming up next on the Cut to It podcast?
Speaker 1: We have Montreal, Canada native and mixed martial arts journalist
Speaker 1: Ariel Helwani. Ariel is one of the leading voices in
Speaker 1: the hand to hand combat sports world. Has been named
Speaker 1: m m A Journalists of the Year consecutively from two
Speaker 1: thousand twelve to two thousand nineteen, an old school Montreal
Speaker 1: expos fan Ariel Helwani on the Cut to It podcast.
Speaker 1: Oh it is an honor. Thank you, guys, I appreciate
Speaker 1: you having me. Well, we do a section called get
Speaker 1: I sed Up, and there's, uh, there's gonna be some
Speaker 1: random questions and no one knows what these questions are.
Speaker 1: When I say, no one knows, I have the questions
Speaker 1: right here. I get all these questions randomly through miscellaneous, stupid,
Speaker 1: random places that you would not even think about. But
Speaker 1: then when I ask you, you will have a such
Speaker 1: a profound look on your face that that just gives
Speaker 1: me understanding that that was a damn good question. And
Speaker 1: I will say, I know. We're deep on the Cut
Speaker 1: to It podcast. So you're ready, I'm ready, I'm ready.
Speaker 1: Buckle up, butter cup, here we go. All right, let's go.
Speaker 1: Let's all right. What was your favorite child hood meal? Oh? See,
Speaker 1: gave it to me. He gave it to me. This
Speaker 1: is deep, This is really deep. I thought you were
Speaker 1: going to go in a different direction there when you started,
Speaker 1: you know, pausing after each word childhood meal, probably pizza,
Speaker 1: every you know what I used to do as a
Speaker 1: kid and I think you would appreciate this. We had
Speaker 1: a tradition every Sunday night, uh in my house, we'd
Speaker 1: order from Dominoes. And I know Domino's isn't great these days,
Speaker 1: but the one near my house was really, really good.
Speaker 1: And I know a lot of people don't like my
Speaker 1: toppings choice, but I will maintain today I die green
Speaker 1: olives and pineapple, a little sweet, a little salty, but
Speaker 1: now I could taste it right here in the back
Speaker 1: of my throat, taste so good. Don't don't you ever
Speaker 1: again on any podcast say the back of my throw
Speaker 1: and do that. Okay, don't do that right here? You know,
Speaker 1: you know what the tradition was. I'd sit with my
Speaker 1: brothers in our kitchen and we'd watch NFL Prime Time.
Speaker 1: That was the Sunday tradition. Which historical time period would
Speaker 1: you like to visit most? Oh man, that is a
Speaker 1: tough one. Um. So you just thought you was going
Speaker 1: on so weak as dudes podcast. This is great, God,
Speaker 1: this is refreshing. I thought we're going to talk about
Speaker 1: boring career stuff sports. This is great stuff. Um. You
Speaker 1: know what I'll give you the I'll give you the
Speaker 1: one that first came to mind right off the top
Speaker 1: of that, that's what I would like, that's what we want. Yeah.
Speaker 1: The first one that came to mind was, um May,
Speaker 1: that's when the State of Israel was was born, and
Speaker 1: I'm I'm proud of you. I believe strongly in the
Speaker 1: State of Israel. And that seemed like a really important
Speaker 1: time in my people's history, coming off the Holocaust in
Speaker 1: World War Two and they needed at home, and so
Speaker 1: I think it would be pretty damn cool to be
Speaker 1: there when the State of Israel was born. So that
Speaker 1: is awesome. Been at Israel? Love it? Oh wow? Um
Speaker 1: and uh for my son's junior senior year, junior year
Speaker 1: of spring break? Uh, me and my son for Easter.
Speaker 1: Would you like to know where we spent our time
Speaker 1: at I'm gonna gainst Jerusalem. No, I wish okay um
Speaker 1: in Poland? Oh wait a second, you went? Did you
Speaker 1: go on the March of the Living? Is that what
Speaker 1: it's called the March? Did you did you go to
Speaker 1: like the concentration campt Oh? So I went wait what
Speaker 1: year was that? Uh? I probably went listen, Uh, Covid
Speaker 1: is screwed up my my my time back yonder that's uh,
Speaker 1: it would be two years. It was he's a he's graduated,
Speaker 1: so about probably two years with COVID, so three years ago, okay, okay,
Speaker 1: So I went in he was ninety nine, he was three.
Speaker 1: He was too bad. That's amazing, though. Wow, So you
Speaker 1: went to out. I went to Auschowitz. We did that
Speaker 1: in the beginning of our trip and then we went
Speaker 1: to Iceland at the end because we kind of needed
Speaker 1: some something up lifting. It was it was awesome and
Speaker 1: it was depressing. Um we it was tough. What prompted
Speaker 1: you to do that? I So the interesting thing is,
Speaker 1: h when I was you know, I grew up in
Speaker 1: l A and UM back when we were our ages,
Speaker 1: back in the eighties and nineties, that's when they talked.
Speaker 1: They taught history in its entirety. It was nothing about
Speaker 1: sex or um people's you know, sex or gender people's opinion.
Speaker 1: It was it was our history. It was history. Wouldn't
Speaker 1: it wasn't parsed out what they wanted to do. And
Speaker 1: so in most times back then you would always have
Speaker 1: to read and frank and that's what it was. And
Speaker 1: so I've always had a really a very intellectual mind
Speaker 1: on the Holocaust. What has done the impact My ultimate
Speaker 1: place I would love to go is her museum, the
Speaker 1: museum that they made out of her home ne Netherelands. Yes,
Speaker 1: and so I'm just I love history. I love I'm
Speaker 1: a little weirdo on like what type of history I love? Um,
Speaker 1: informational history, like something that I can gather and obtain,
Speaker 1: and how I can apply it to my personal life,
Speaker 1: for my business life in which that can cultivate growth
Speaker 1: in me. That is awesome, man, much respect. I went.
Speaker 1: I grew up Um going to Jewish school and in
Speaker 1: the eleventh grade we had to apply to a trip
Speaker 1: called the marchin Living where they took a select few
Speaker 1: of us and we went in April, so around the
Speaker 1: same time that you were there, Um, and we went
Speaker 1: to Auschwitz. We went to Poland we were there for
Speaker 1: about eight nine days, and then on the back end
Speaker 1: they take us. So it's kind of it's exact same
Speaker 1: thing that you did, but at a different place. We
Speaker 1: needed some uplifting after that because it was very depressing,
Speaker 1: a trip that changed my life forever. We went to
Speaker 1: Israel to celebrate Israel's independence, so uh, it's around its
Speaker 1: birthday May and then we go there and uh, I
Speaker 1: don't know if there's two days that go by that
Speaker 1: I don't think about being in those you know, gas
Speaker 1: chambers and seeing the scratches on the walls or all
Speaker 1: the shoes, the shoes man, silver, it's tough. I would
Speaker 1: I would talk a one living on this earth would
Speaker 1: go on that trip and to give you some perspective
Speaker 1: about how precious life can be. You want to talk
Speaker 1: about even something so talking about Israel, my son Peyton,
Speaker 1: my son Boston, and my daughter Um I baptized him.
Speaker 1: Yeah in the Jordan River. Wow. Yeah, when we were
Speaker 1: on our trip back in two thousand and eight. So
Speaker 1: that's great, man, respect that's cool, all right? Uh? And
Speaker 1: then last one, you being a Canadian, what do you
Speaker 1: love about your hometown? Oh, man, I love a lot
Speaker 1: about my hometown. Yeah. Yeah, Montreal, the greatest city in
Speaker 1: the world. I will say that I love how um, culturally,
Speaker 1: culturally diverse it is. I love that, you know, there's
Speaker 1: French speaking people there, there's English speaking people. You go there,
Speaker 1: you think you're in Europe. Um, it just feels, you know, America,
Speaker 1: God bless. It can be a bit of a melting
Speaker 1: pot in in Canada and in Montreal. I feel like
Speaker 1: everyone is sort of accepted for who they are and
Speaker 1: where they come from. And it's a lot of immigrants,
Speaker 1: and it's a lot of people from different backgrounds who
Speaker 1: speak different languages. Everything has to be bilingual. I just
Speaker 1: love how different it is. Uh, And so it's an expectation.
Speaker 1: There areals of what you're saying. I don't know if
Speaker 1: it's an expectation, but I mean, like half of the day,
Speaker 1: by law, if you live in Quebec and the province
Speaker 1: of Quebec, half of the day has to be in French.
Speaker 1: So it doesn't matter what kind of school you go to,
Speaker 1: your school day has to be in French. And so
Speaker 1: you're just grown up, you know, you kind of you know,
Speaker 1: I'm still figuring out English. Yeah, it's just a great thing.
Speaker 1: In fact, that was born French, like my first language
Speaker 1: for life, for six years of my and you listen,
Speaker 1: I just you know, you know, uh was French and
Speaker 1: now I can hardly speak it because I haven't been
Speaker 1: home for twenty years. Victim, Okay, exactly. No retention in
Speaker 1: the Montreal school system. Listen, I'm messing with you because
Speaker 1: I done some research on you. Man. I got some questions.
Speaker 1: I just got some questions about your personality, which is
Speaker 1: it's very intriguing to me. It is, I can I
Speaker 1: see this interview as a why receiver me and you're
Speaker 1: the dB, You're the d okay, So in other words,
Speaker 1: your the fon digs. My man, you know the Bills
Speaker 1: are about to win the Super Bowl. I don't know
Speaker 1: if you know this. I'm a lifelong Buffalo Bill fans
Speaker 1: actually actually didn't care. But continue, I mean, are you
Speaker 1: Jordan Jordan Poyer? I don't know. That's not a good
Speaker 1: one because he used to play for another team before
Speaker 1: he was with Buffalo, used to play with you. Should
Speaker 1: I'm talking about that. I'm talking about the two thou
Speaker 1: one Buffalo understand. But if but if you're if you
Speaker 1: are technically rolling with a dude that has a history
Speaker 1: with me. You a guy you may be counting on
Speaker 1: when you when you when your game comes my game.
Speaker 1: He may be liked you. Just say, well, Steve now
Speaker 1: won't like Jordan. He just had to cancel that order
Speaker 1: from Amazon. Street lights her own. That's right. I love
Speaker 1: cut to it, and I love it even more when
Speaker 1: you download us and subscribe and you can follow us
Speaker 1: on social media too. Smithie where where at? That's at
Speaker 1: cut to it on Instagram? What about Twitter? At cut
Speaker 1: to It Facebook? Cut to It featuring Steve Smith singr.
Speaker 1: What about online? And you can follow us at cut
Speaker 1: to It podcast dot com, where you can buy merch
Speaker 1: and you can subscribe to us wherever you listen to podcasts.
Speaker 1: I got all my answers questions. Um, yeah, I got
Speaker 1: all my questions answered. That's what I'm here for, a brother,
Speaker 1: cut to a podcast dot Com. I love starting this
Speaker 1: off this way. I love asking this way because with
Speaker 1: the right people you ask this question in the right manner,
Speaker 1: they light up and they talk about it. So where
Speaker 1: are you from and the place you call your hometown.
Speaker 1: I'm from Undo, Quebec, Canada. I was born there July two.
Speaker 1: I'm extremely proud to be from Montreal. I'm extremely proud
Speaker 1: to be Canadian. Um for many reasons, but one of
Speaker 1: the reasons why I love Canada so much is because
Speaker 1: Canada was a place that accepted my parents. My parents
Speaker 1: aren't from Canada. My mom is from Beirut Lebanon, and
Speaker 1: my dad is from Alexandria, Egypt, and my parents had
Speaker 1: to leave the Middle East in the late seventies because
Speaker 1: of the rise of anti Semitism there. My grandparents in
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty were kidnapped by the PLO because their neighbor
Speaker 1: in Beirut wanted their jewelry store. He wanted the location,
Speaker 1: so he called the PLO to come kidnap them in
Speaker 1: the middle of the night. Ji POLO was the Palestinian
Speaker 1: Liberation Organization uh and so they were, you know, in
Speaker 1: many respects, a terrorist group that just clashed with the
Speaker 1: Israelis and the Jews, and that's part of the reason
Speaker 1: why there aren't any Jews left in Lebanon anymore. Um.
Speaker 1: And so luckily they were let go after a week.
Speaker 1: It's a long story, but they fled to Canada, and
Speaker 1: for me, I have always felt very strongly about the
Speaker 1: fact that Canada and no other country accepted my family
Speaker 1: and gave them a home and an opportunity to live
Speaker 1: out their dreams. My dad's first job was working in
Speaker 1: a factory graveyard ships sweeping up and eventually some fifteen
Speaker 1: years later, he ended up buying the company and and
Speaker 1: that gave us, you know, a great life, and I
Speaker 1: learned a lot about work ethic and following your dreams
Speaker 1: and doing right by others from him, and so, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, obviously, America has given me a lot, and
Speaker 1: I'm able to have a family here and work here.
Speaker 1: But I will always consider myself Canadian first and foremost.
Speaker 1: I love the way Canadians treat people. I love the
Speaker 1: way uh Canadians are viewed around the world. I love
Speaker 1: the reputation that our country has. And I'm just very
Speaker 1: very proud to to calm myself a Canadian because of
Speaker 1: that reputation. And for the most part, you know, I've
Speaker 1: had a really great life and a lot of great
Speaker 1: memories and a lot of great experiences. But the twenty
Speaker 1: years that I spent in Canada from zero to twenty
Speaker 1: are memories that I'll never forget, just because I just
Speaker 1: think it's a phenomenal pace place to to raise children
Speaker 1: and to have a good life. And and so when
Speaker 1: I talk about Canada, people are like, well, you don't
Speaker 1: live there, how can you feel so strongly about it.
Speaker 1: I accept the fact that there are opportunities available to
Speaker 1: me here in the United States that aren't available to
Speaker 1: me in Canada, But without a doubt in my heart,
Speaker 1: Number one for me will always be the Great White North. Wow,
Speaker 1: We've had a lot of guests on and everybody's pride
Speaker 1: fullo over their hometown, and everybody speaks highly of it.
Speaker 1: I consider and tell you, out of all the episodes
Speaker 1: we've done, the passion and the exuberance in which you
Speaker 1: rep your city is really amazing. I mean, that's that's
Speaker 1: something else. Oh thank you, and it's it's legit, like
Speaker 1: even on my Twitter, Avatar and Instagram. That's right, that's
Speaker 1: my team. And they no longer exist. Two thousand four,
Speaker 1: they left, and it broke my heart because I grew
Speaker 1: up a massive sports fan. You lose in the playoffs,
Speaker 1: you stumble, Okay, there's always next year. But they were
Speaker 1: just gone, and I had great memories going to that stadium,
Speaker 1: the Olympic Stadium, to watch them play. Did you have
Speaker 1: a Tim Rains Jersey? Tim Rain is actually one of
Speaker 1: the first people I ever interviewed, which was a crazy
Speaker 1: story in its own right. I had a Moises lose,
Speaker 1: my favorite player, Yeah, remember him, number eighteen, the son
Speaker 1: of Felipe Uh. They had the best record in baseball
Speaker 1: and then the strike happened on August twelve. They were
Speaker 1: six games ahead of the Atlanta Braves in the in
Speaker 1: the NL East and that kind of killed the team
Speaker 1: and they had to get rid of a lot of
Speaker 1: the players, Larry Walker being one of them who was
Speaker 1: just inducted into the Hall of Fame. That picture is
Speaker 1: a very old picture, is because that's me representing my
Speaker 1: hometown that was before snacks actually existed. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: it's not that old, but no, I'm just I'm just
Speaker 1: saying that in the way and the way that that
Speaker 1: structure had that is an old school hat. That is
Speaker 1: that is specific and intentional on your part, so that
Speaker 1: I reckon absolutely. You know what I love about it.
Speaker 1: You know what I love about it. It's like you
Speaker 1: know now that my you know, like you get more
Speaker 1: fame and notoriety whatever attention and people like will use
Speaker 1: your tweets and it will show up on TV or whatever.
Speaker 1: And I think it was always like it makes me laugh,
Speaker 1: warms my heart's like, man, the Expos are dead, my
Speaker 1: favorite baseball team dead. They've been dead for now seventeen years.
Speaker 1: But the hat, I'm doing my part and keeping them alive.
Speaker 1: And so it's that that logo is popping up in
Speaker 1: places that it shouldn't be popping up on and a
Speaker 1: lot of people probably don't even know what it symbolizes
Speaker 1: and what it means. Most don't, but the right people
Speaker 1: paying attention. Yeah, I'm you know what I can tell.
Speaker 1: I can see that, I can hear the inflection in
Speaker 1: your voice, and I can see your face. You are
Speaker 1: enjoying sitting down with me a lot more than you anticipated.
Speaker 1: Look at the green and that's like that was a yes.
Speaker 1: But I can't give him credit. I've been married for
Speaker 1: twenty one years. I'm used to it. I didn't I
Speaker 1: didn't resist this. I got the call and I and
Speaker 1: I said, wait a second, are we talking about Steve
Speaker 1: Smith of the Atlanta Hawks or Steve Smith of the
Speaker 1: Carolina Panthers, Because if it was the Hawks, guy would
Speaker 1: have said no. Just for the record, I mean, I
Speaker 1: appreciate that funny story. I have been text by a
Speaker 1: person wishing me happy birthday, thinking I was him, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, no, it's not my birthday. I'm pretty sure Steve,
Speaker 1: it's not your birthday. And I finally looked it up
Speaker 1: and I was like, you're texting the wrong Steve. To
Speaker 1: give Ariel a little credit, he did a little research
Speaker 1: as well, too, so so when I reached out to
Speaker 1: Ariel and said, hey, you know Steve Smith, you know,
Speaker 1: come on the podcast. And I started going into my
Speaker 1: normal elevator pitch speel, and he said, let me cut
Speaker 1: you off right now, he goes, already listened, already understand it.
Speaker 1: And you probably wouldn't be doing this if I didn't
Speaker 1: know the level of detail that you guys get into.
Speaker 1: So come on, you know I do have I do
Speaker 1: have one moises Alu, random question for you? Ready? So
Speaker 1: I'm the king of random information and Steve's looking at
Speaker 1: me sideways right now. I know you're gonna ask, By
Speaker 1: the way, I know what you can ask. What are
Speaker 1: you gonna ask me? You know you I know what
Speaker 1: you're gonna ask me. What am I gonna ask you?
Speaker 1: Are you gonna ask about the batting gloves? Absolutely? That's
Speaker 1: how good is. Let's ask how about that? Let's ask Steve? So,
Speaker 1: do you know moisses Alu never wore batting gloves? Do
Speaker 1: you know how he made his hands tough because he
Speaker 1: never wore batting gloves? Do you know Steve uh doing
Speaker 1: something some manual labor? Ariel, please answer? He would urinate
Speaker 1: on his hands before the game? True story? Look at
Speaker 1: can you see his face right now. Podcast Look and
Speaker 1: you know what? You know how I found out about
Speaker 1: that as a kid? Excuse me? What do you mean?
Speaker 1: How do you do I want? No, I do not
Speaker 1: want to know how you find out a grown as
Speaker 1: man was pisting on his hands. No, I do not
Speaker 1: want to know. I do not want to be part
Speaker 1: of that criminal case as a character witness. Steve, did
Speaker 1: you were you in the room? No? I was not
Speaker 1: your Is that not you in that hat? No? It
Speaker 1: is not. I must say, how about his teammates who
Speaker 1: have to high five and throughout the game and the
Speaker 1: ball that he catches and he goes. But I'm a
Speaker 1: little kid. I think it's two or ninety three, last
Speaker 1: game of the season. All the kids rushed to the
Speaker 1: dugout to try to get you know, ball, bat whatever.
Speaker 1: And I'm wearing a Moises Alu jersey and I and
Speaker 1: I say to him, as a young kid, Boises, could
Speaker 1: I have your batting gloves? And I said yes, I
Speaker 1: said it in English because no, no, I said, try
Speaker 1: to keep up. He said, first five years French? Up. Well,
Speaker 1: it was the evening game. So if it was the
Speaker 1: evening game, had to be in French. What does that
Speaker 1: have to do with anything because you said, you said
Speaker 1: in your native hometown. Yeah, second half of the afternoon, Okay, gotcha,
Speaker 1: got you. That's just the day, that's just It could
Speaker 1: be the first half, could be the second half. It
Speaker 1: always changes in any event. I say to Moises, you're
Speaker 1: my favorite player. Look, I'm wearing your jersey. He looks
Speaker 1: up at me and he says, if I'm your favorite player,
Speaker 1: you should know that I don't wear batting gloves. Now
Speaker 1: me a coupa. I didn't know. I'm just a young kid.
Speaker 1: Do my research. I find out he urinates on his
Speaker 1: hands before the games and doesn't wear the batting gloves
Speaker 1: and is one of the last guys to ever do that.
Speaker 1: And I would I would urge anyone out there who's
Speaker 1: you know, a young football player, baseball player to try it,
Speaker 1: because it seems to have served him well. Long pause,
Speaker 1: that's going to podcast. So he's official, he's legit. That's
Speaker 1: all I heard. Oh hand sanitizer. I can't even imagine.
Speaker 1: It's I can't even amount high five. And to do that,
Speaker 1: I know, just tinkled on himself on his hands. It's
Speaker 1: a crazy I don't even understand you touching me, Hi
Speaker 1: five if you want to Moises in the second ending
Speaker 1: general manager Steve Smith with the with the educational goal. Okay,
Speaker 1: so at the age of eleven, you fell in love
Speaker 1: with martial arts, you saw your first UFC match he
Speaker 1: has founded. Give me the short version of the rundown
Speaker 1: of how you are just so involved in you consider that.
Speaker 1: Adam Schefner No, no, no, no, let's get it right.
Speaker 1: Adam Schefter is considered the arial Haawani of the NFL world.
Speaker 1: I'm in the NFL, I'm in NFL. I'm in the States. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm just going to call that's listen, I've ever done.
Speaker 1: You're not talking to uh? What's he ever done? Adam Scheffner. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you don't even know his name. It's Adam Schefter. That's
Speaker 1: how irrelevant. If you were sitting next to me, I
Speaker 1: will flick you in your forehead. Mary. This is our podcast.
Speaker 1: We can do what we want to do. I told you,
Speaker 1: I'm silly. I just told you. I'm still trying to
Speaker 1: figure out English. I worked at ESPN for three years.
Speaker 1: I never had an opportunity to actually work with him
Speaker 1: because we were kind of in different lanes. But I
Speaker 1: have a lot of respect for what he's done in
Speaker 1: his career, and I was just messing around. I know,
Speaker 1: I know, I was messing around to this is all
Speaker 1: the good. Look listen, none of this is taking serious enough.
Speaker 1: For the last eighteen months. We've been in lockdown all
Speaker 1: that stuff. Bro, I'm telling you two and moving forward.
Speaker 1: I really can't take life too serious, right, I really
Speaker 1: I used to, but now I'm just kind of like, right,
Speaker 1: just kind of have fun, joke around, not being super
Speaker 1: super duper serious. But also you gotta be able to
Speaker 1: laugh at yourself. Man, yolo, live your life, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean? That's what I say. Yeah, I have
Speaker 1: have a screen, have a backdrop of all these books,
Speaker 1: books that you ain't never read. Right, I'll give you
Speaker 1: a different one and you want a different one. I
Speaker 1: got backgrounds for days. That's did you get the ten
Speaker 1: free book backgrounds? What happened that the budget? Right? Well?
Speaker 1: What's free books? Okay, let me get two books. Let
Speaker 1: me get these glasses are real. I was just trying
Speaker 1: to look as smart as because when you go down
Speaker 1: a little bit, I can see the enhancing of your eyes.
Speaker 1: They are real then, and technically blind is a back too. Yeah,
Speaker 1: all right. Back to the question, Back to the question
Speaker 1: why do you love a sport in which when we
Speaker 1: look at football, baseball, basketball, everything, it's such a fluent sport.
Speaker 1: It's going on so much, there's always something going on.
Speaker 1: M M a USC And I'm really struggling with understanding.
Speaker 1: How are you considered the insider where other than a match,
Speaker 1: there's nothing really going on. You're crazy. And that's why
Speaker 1: I said it that way. I wanted that passion that
Speaker 1: sell me. Give me UFC M M a ario one
Speaker 1: oh one. And I'm okay with saying I don't the
Speaker 1: football players play from let's say July late July. You
Speaker 1: guys need six months in order to get back on
Speaker 1: track and feel better about that. You get a six
Speaker 1: month off season. There is no off season in mixed
Speaker 1: martial arts. There is no off season in the music.
Speaker 1: UFC events, well, we could get into that as well.
Speaker 1: I'd love to get into that. Forty three UFC events
Speaker 1: a year, forty three a year and nine nine off
Speaker 1: weeks aren't in a row. There's like, you know, one
Speaker 1: random one here, one random one there. And then it's
Speaker 1: not just the UFC, there's other organizations. There's one called
Speaker 1: Bellator that's owned by via Commy have thirty something events.
Speaker 1: There's another one belt has been going on like ten
Speaker 1: if memory serves me correct. There's tons in Europe, in Japan.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's all over the place. And so what
Speaker 1: I love about the sport um as a journalist is
Speaker 1: there is no off season. There's never a time like
Speaker 1: March when I turn on TV and you guys are
Speaker 1: debating whether or not you know, the Bucks are going
Speaker 1: to repeat in freaking March, you know, or you're debating
Speaker 1: whether or not the third string you know, O line
Speaker 1: the guard for the Packers, should you know? Stairs Like,
Speaker 1: there's none of that fabrication. There's none of that, you know.
Speaker 1: So so I love what you're saying. And two analysts too, right,
Speaker 1: because you've started doing some analyst work. So I love that.
Speaker 1: But you also understand if we talk about two weeks
Speaker 1: ago the Green Bay Packers, a third string attack or guard,
Speaker 1: they could have used his ass uh for sure. That's
Speaker 1: between that's between September and February if they make it
Speaker 1: that far. What I'm saying is every week in m
Speaker 1: m A, if you're covering it, there's a different event
Speaker 1: with a different set of characters and a different set
Speaker 1: of stakes and a different set of storylines, and every
Speaker 1: fight means so much those fighters because they don't make
Speaker 1: a lot of money, because they're trying to climb the ladder,
Speaker 1: because the loss can set you back. And so I
Speaker 1: love that. You know, if you talk to an NBA
Speaker 1: beat right and you say, okay, let's be honest, like
Speaker 1: you're sitting out of bars, and you're like, come on
Speaker 1: game fifty six of the regular season between the Celtics
Speaker 1: and the Bucks, like, just how much doesn't mean you
Speaker 1: see guys sitting out? You can't sit out. You can
Speaker 1: never because you get the A's former wide receiver Johnny
Speaker 1: Morton who tried his hand at m M A way
Speaker 1: back in the day, got knocked down and was sent
Speaker 1: to the hospital. If you remember that story at the
Speaker 1: l A Colosseum, it's serious. You don't play fighting right,
Speaker 1: it's it's it's it's almost life and death. So I
Speaker 1: love that. I love the characters personalities. I love all that.
Speaker 1: Did you say almost, I would say getting hit with
Speaker 1: a two piece that's not a wing or thigh, that's that.
Speaker 1: That's that's not almost you. Thank God. In the UFC.
Speaker 1: There's never been a death or you know, paralysis or
Speaker 1: anything like that. There have been some scary moments, crazy
Speaker 1: breaks and all that, but thank god. Um and it
Speaker 1: sometimes feels like we're playing with fire, especially with the
Speaker 1: weight cutting that doesn't get enough attention, Like the it's
Speaker 1: danger hydrating them, it's very dangerous. There was one fighter
Speaker 1: they have to change her whole yep, pre match routine
Speaker 1: because she what she has to do and go through
Speaker 1: it is its extremely um it's extremely dangerous. Yes, her
Speaker 1: name is aspen Lad. But there was a fighter back
Speaker 1: in two thousand, I don't know, fifteen sixteen UFC one
Speaker 1: seventy seven. A guy named Henne Barrow, who at the
Speaker 1: time was one of the best fighters, was cutting weight
Speaker 1: in a small hotel room because again they're not making
Speaker 1: a lot of money, they're all staying and he slips
Speaker 1: in the bathroom because he's dehydrated and lightheaded and he's
Speaker 1: going in and out of the hot bath and he
Speaker 1: hit his head on the counter and luckily was okay,
Speaker 1: but went to the hospital and was ruled out of
Speaker 1: the fight the day before. Imagine if he hits his
Speaker 1: head in the wrong spot, you know, it could be fatal.
Speaker 1: So we've we've had some scary moments. Why did they
Speaker 1: name in all the UFC because today I look right,
Speaker 1: I look now at the UFC, and it's you know,
Speaker 1: fight one seventy or fight three, right, And it seems
Speaker 1: like now every weekend it's just a pandemic. And maybe
Speaker 1: just because I was homeborn and I was paying attention,
Speaker 1: the pandemic seemed like every weekend now there's a there's
Speaker 1: a fight where maybe two and a half years ago,
Speaker 1: three years ago, four years ago, I'm not sure, there
Speaker 1: weren't as many contests on a day to day weekend basis.
Speaker 1: Now they you guys, are seeming to now create that content,
Speaker 1: create almost like a season, but yet not make a season.
Speaker 1: But the true fans, which I am not, don't really
Speaker 1: understand it. How do you take a sport that is
Speaker 1: a sport is grueling, it's a gladiator like event that
Speaker 1: doesn't make the amount of money, but yet has the
Speaker 1: loyalist and the avid fan sitting on the edge of
Speaker 1: your chair waiting for the next fight to go. But
Speaker 1: for the the nonchalant fan like myself, you know, I
Speaker 1: don't really know how and where and how it goes Yeah,
Speaker 1: So there's a few things there. Number one, there have
Speaker 1: been events of this um of this number, you know,
Speaker 1: Forto for the last few years. I think one thing,
Speaker 1: you know, it was controversial, but it ended up working
Speaker 1: out for them. They were the first ones to come
Speaker 1: back in the pandemic, so everything shuts down in March.
Speaker 1: They tried to keep it rolling, they tried to never stop. Uh.
Speaker 1: They came back in early May, and I was still
Speaker 1: two and a half or so months before the NBA
Speaker 1: came back Major League Baseball NHL. So there was a
Speaker 1: period there where everyone was jonesing for sports and live
Speaker 1: events and wanted to gamble or do fantasy or whatever,
Speaker 1: and they were the only game in town. And I
Speaker 1: think they benefited from that and got a lot of
Speaker 1: new fans from that. And so I think we're seeing
Speaker 1: now paying dividends than being on ESPN. I think is
Speaker 1: helping keep them in the conversation as well. But I
Speaker 1: agree with you, and I think you're alluding to this,
Speaker 1: Like I have long been a proponent, and this is
Speaker 1: part of the reason why some people in the sport
Speaker 1: maybe don't like me. I think the fighters are severely underpaid.
Speaker 1: I think that they should have an association, a union,
Speaker 1: something that you guys that there needs to be collected bargaining,
Speaker 1: There needs to be revenue sharing. The fact that they
Speaker 1: make no money off the TV deal is outrageous to me.
Speaker 1: The fact that they get their sponsors taken away and
Speaker 1: they have to wear stuff and they make no money
Speaker 1: off of that, that's outrageous to me. The fact that
Speaker 1: they have no say in the drug testing and all
Speaker 1: these things that they should have to say, they're treated
Speaker 1: like employees. That they're being called independent contractors. Well, I
Speaker 1: can assure you if I call someone who's an independent
Speaker 1: contractor to fix my garage today that's broken, I can't
Speaker 1: tell that dude what to wear. I can't tell that
Speaker 1: dude where seven. Yeah, it ain't gonna go over that,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. And so I want these fighters.
Speaker 1: You know, Look, I've often said that m m A,
Speaker 1: which is essentially the UFC in America because the UFC
Speaker 1: is the dominant brand, has has not even been around
Speaker 1: for thirty years. And I think that we're still in
Speaker 1: the leather helmet days of m M A. A lot
Speaker 1: changed in the NFL since the leather helmet days, right,
Speaker 1: And so I hope that in twenty years from now,
Speaker 1: we're going to see a lot of changes, And at
Speaker 1: the very top of that list is I want the
Speaker 1: fighters to have some kind of pension. You fight eight
Speaker 1: nine years, you should be taken care of when you're done.
Speaker 1: They have none of this. They have no rights, no
Speaker 1: say no, not any healthy they have any health insurance.
Speaker 1: Health insurance only if you get injured in a fight
Speaker 1: that night, like at the event, if you cross the
Speaker 1: street and get hit or this, and that, they're not
Speaker 1: taking care of you. It has to be fight related.
Speaker 1: And so kudos to them, they give them that, and
Speaker 1: it took a while to get to that point. But
Speaker 1: these are men and women with kids and whatnot like that.
Speaker 1: You know that's that's not going to cut it. And
Speaker 1: so do you think with with UFC m m A
Speaker 1: expanding and having more eyes on them on a weekly basis,
Speaker 1: that that will be able to maybe justify making some
Speaker 1: of those concessions over time. Possibly, Look, I hope it's
Speaker 1: over time. I hope it's in my lifetime. UM I
Speaker 1: have been disappointed in the lack of her agency on
Speaker 1: the fighter's part. They all will talk to me about
Speaker 1: it off the record and I get it. They don't
Speaker 1: want to. They don't want to get reprimanded or or
Speaker 1: exactly or punished for them speaking about they feel they're treated.
Speaker 1: I get it. It's easy for me to talk about it.
Speaker 1: It's not my job. And you're sitting back there with
Speaker 1: all those books back there, you know, and I get that.
Speaker 1: But they all agree with me, I all agree with we.
Speaker 1: We have to agree with you because you're speaking to truth.
Speaker 1: But the other thing is, if you complain about your
Speaker 1: contract with the Panthers, there are twenty nine other teams
Speaker 1: or thirty one other teams that will give you an
Speaker 1: opportunity if you complain um publicly about the UFC. Yeah,
Speaker 1: sure you could go to belt are these other promotions,
Speaker 1: but let's be honest, it's not it's it's not the
Speaker 1: same um. And so you have basically you have like
Speaker 1: three tiers of fighters. You've got the top, top top guy,
Speaker 1: you know, the Connor McGregor, the Habiber Maga matops who
Speaker 1: those are unicorns. Everybody is trying to be that and
Speaker 1: it is hard to duplicate that, very hard. And they
Speaker 1: made it, and they exactly how they did it. They're
Speaker 1: on a yacht. They have no worry. And then you
Speaker 1: have the other guy who looks like this guy is
Speaker 1: like either just became a champion or has been a
Speaker 1: champion for a couple of fights, and he's like, man,
Speaker 1: I don't want to rock the boat at this point, right,
Speaker 1: like like I'm about to make it. I'm about to
Speaker 1: get Connor money. Right then you have the guy who's
Speaker 1: like contender who thinks it's about to get a title shot.
Speaker 1: He's like, this is my chance. I sure as hell
Speaker 1: ain't gonna rock the boat. And then you have the
Speaker 1: guy who just came into the UFC and is making
Speaker 1: ten thousand dollars to win in ten thousands the show, uh,
Speaker 1: And he's like, man, I have no place to say anything,
Speaker 1: And so no one wants to speak up for the
Speaker 1: other guy, and they have their their time in the UFC.
Speaker 1: And and by the way, it's not just UFC, like
Speaker 1: there's no pension, there's no you know, collective bargaining in
Speaker 1: any organization. But of course they're the top one who
Speaker 1: makes the most amount of money, and so there's no change.
Speaker 1: And sometimes it just feels like the media are the
Speaker 1: ones talking about it more so than the fighters, when
Speaker 1: I know the fighters want to do it, and I
Speaker 1: sympathize with them because they don't want to be blackballed.
Speaker 1: But at some point, just like it was in baseball
Speaker 1: with you know, fighter Kurt Flood who spoke out and
Speaker 1: you know it took a chance, and just like we've
Speaker 1: seen it in another sports, like someone's gonna have to
Speaker 1: be that guy. Do it good, do it. Let's getting
Speaker 1: down to do it good. Hey Gerard, why did you
Speaker 1: get that T shirt? You mean this thing? Oh yes,
Speaker 1: I got it from cut to a podcast dot com
Speaker 1: where we have exclusive merchandise. Shout out to our guys
Speaker 1: at seven or four shot. But yeah, you can go on,
Speaker 1: buy you a T shirt, subscribe to us wherever you
Speaker 1: listen to podcasts. One of the things that I'm interested
Speaker 1: to ask you is were you seen to start a
Speaker 1: lot of ships? Sometimes you're talking to your sources, are wrong,
Speaker 1: my friend, everyone loves me at the street stalk area.
Speaker 1: We know. Well, I just mean here's what I say you.
Speaker 1: You you start, you start mess mhm because you asked
Speaker 1: the right questions, then go respect respect and when you
Speaker 1: are asking the right questions, when you're sitting at home
Speaker 1: and you start to listen and you're an active listener,
Speaker 1: and then you write down a question, you write down
Speaker 1: an answer that someone in an authorityitative position says, or
Speaker 1: a place where they hold people's paychecks or people's employment,
Speaker 1: and then they utilize when they don't hear what they
Speaker 1: want to hear the right way, and they manipulate that.
Speaker 1: Then you take that information, you hold on to it,
Speaker 1: you take notes, and then it starts to resonate with
Speaker 1: you where formulates other questions. Then you ask that those
Speaker 1: individuals that you start to create a uncomfortable situation for
Speaker 1: yourself because all you're doing is asking a question. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but for the most part, the guys know that. There
Speaker 1: have been times where people have said, you're an instigator.
Speaker 1: I'm like, what do you mean by an instigator? Like
Speaker 1: I'm trying to make fights between the fighters who are
Speaker 1: actually going to fight each other. Like what does that
Speaker 1: even mean? You know what I mean? Like what what?
Speaker 1: What you're trying to say? Essentially, what you just said
Speaker 1: is I'm not they're fawning over them. I don't think
Speaker 1: the athletes want that. I don't think they want someone
Speaker 1: kissing their ass. They just don't want to dumb questions. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: and so I try to be a little thoughtful. And look,
Speaker 1: a lot of this sport deals in conflict. This guy
Speaker 1: doesn't like this guy, and so if I'm asking this
Speaker 1: guy about what this guy said about him, like that
Speaker 1: to me is interesting because reason, listen, if you say
Speaker 1: that I fabricate things that still take it personally, Yeah, absolutely,
Speaker 1: I don't want to be a liar. But if you're
Speaker 1: saying that, oh, you ask things that make people sometimes uncomfortable.
Speaker 1: This is that. But you're fair and you get it
Speaker 1: right and you're accurate. I could live with that, because
Speaker 1: that's what I always We're going to have a banter
Speaker 1: about this, and so I want to hear your answer
Speaker 1: to this. Let's go all right. Is the truth more
Speaker 1: important than being nice or it's being nice more important
Speaker 1: than the truth. That's a tough one, man. I mean, ultimately,
Speaker 1: the truth is most important. Me. Um see, I'm not
Speaker 1: talking about you. I'm talking about from your professional opinion,
Speaker 1: because truth number one. Number one, Bro, you know that's
Speaker 1: a lie. What are you talking about? Here's from your
Speaker 1: professional opinion. How many times have you asked a question
Speaker 1: and you know they have to tell you the truth? Mhm?
Speaker 1: But because maybe they received a question in a certain way.
Speaker 1: They take offense that that was a bullshit asked question
Speaker 1: because the way you asked it, And so they allow
Speaker 1: the tone or maybe the surrounding of how you presented
Speaker 1: a question where they they have allowed your tone to
Speaker 1: distract from the actual content because you see what I'm saying. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: I always try to be very respectful. But and as
Speaker 1: you do that, they still reply and respond in a
Speaker 1: way as if you ask them a lie. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: and look there there have been tense moments, and there
Speaker 1: have been moments where people don't like a question and
Speaker 1: they think that you're Yeah, I look at this point
Speaker 1: like you're going to run into those situations. But I
Speaker 1: feel as long as you're fair, as long as you're
Speaker 1: coming from a place with you know facts behind you,
Speaker 1: and you're accurate and you're unbiased, you're not taking pot shots,
Speaker 1: and you're not being disrespectful, and you're not looking down
Speaker 1: on someone, you're not kicking them while they're down. If
Speaker 1: you're just treating it. I've always treated believe it or not.
Speaker 1: I do a lot of interviews. That's kind of the
Speaker 1: main thing that I know. I believe it. I've looked
Speaker 1: at a lot of stuff there's a common there. I
Speaker 1: don't write anything down. I don't write any questions down.
Speaker 1: I have nothing in front of me because to me,
Speaker 1: number one, if I'm not prepared, if you and I
Speaker 1: like right now we're just shooting, we go get a coffee.
Speaker 1: Like I'm not I'm not going there with a sheet
Speaker 1: of questions. I'm just talking. We're conversating. And so if
Speaker 1: I'm like, tell me in this you know, da da dada,
Speaker 1: then I feel like the I lose the connection with
Speaker 1: the you know, with with the subject. And so I
Speaker 1: have to I have to, you know, maybe telling myself.
Speaker 1: And I'll give you context on why I have sheets
Speaker 1: of paper because I'm not hating on you. Everyone has
Speaker 1: their own things. That's just what you mean. Listen, I
Speaker 1: didn't take you is hey, I'm not not at all.
Speaker 1: I'm telling you I have to have sheets of paper
Speaker 1: because here's what happened with me that I realized I've
Speaker 1: had to retrain my body, my mind and this is
Speaker 1: the sport, right you. You will respect this. So every
Speaker 1: week you line up and when they give us seventy
Speaker 1: new plays and we learn and we have they present
Speaker 1: the plays on Wednesday. So we go through training camp
Speaker 1: and go through training camp, you learned the fundamentals of
Speaker 1: the structure of the offense. Right I write means you're
Speaker 1: line up right. If your z X you go opposite
Speaker 1: of the call right thirty six wham six even numbers
Speaker 1: to the right, to the left. Thirty six is through
Speaker 1: the three holes. Six is outside right. Wham it hits
Speaker 1: up the middle. So you them out that way. Bang,
Speaker 1: you hit up in the three whole bank. That's the
Speaker 1: play right, That's the fundamentals of football. Then throughout the season.
Speaker 1: On Wednesday, so Monday you lose when they come in
Speaker 1: and evaluate two says you off. Wednesday you come in
Speaker 1: and they give you your place, and in that place
Speaker 1: they give them to you. Then after that on Thursday's
Speaker 1: third down and fringe, and then Friday's red zone. Saturday's
Speaker 1: is a walk through and get on the airplane for
Speaker 1: suway game. If not it's a home game, go home Sunday,
Speaker 1: checking the hotel. Saturday night. Sunday you play the game.
Speaker 1: You do that all over and each week you have
Speaker 1: your fundamentals. Out of seventy five, you have the same twenty,
Speaker 1: but then or the same fifty or the same forty
Speaker 1: five and then other plays are different. I did that
Speaker 1: for seventeen years, sixteen weeks, so my short term memory,
Speaker 1: I've had to retrain it because it is I have
Speaker 1: taught myself absorb as much information as I physically possibly can.
Speaker 1: When is a draw, disregard to start all over the
Speaker 1: next week, and so I have trained my mind to
Speaker 1: take information, get it, and then disregard and discarded. So
Speaker 1: for me, I have to right now at two, I
Speaker 1: have to have that because I had probably a billion
Speaker 1: questions I wanted to ask you. Probably five million of
Speaker 1: those questions I've forgotten because my mind has disregarded them
Speaker 1: because of how I trained myself. I'm sure correct me
Speaker 1: if I'm wrong, and I appreciate that context. And by
Speaker 1: the way, just again to reiterate, I was not. It
Speaker 1: was a great It was a great opportunity for me
Speaker 1: to do. You talk ball on what I've experienced that
Speaker 1: I learned a behavior pattern that I now have to
Speaker 1: break after doing it for twenty five years. Do you
Speaker 1: think the hits to the head, bro, you didn't get it.
Speaker 1: You didn't get a real good hit on me. I'm
Speaker 1: deser you didn't for me. I can't I only have
Speaker 1: one concussion in sixteen years, and that one concussion was
Speaker 1: like I actually got kneed in the back of the
Speaker 1: helmet getting up. It wasn't actually a physical hit. Wow.
Speaker 1: So for me, I trained my mind a certain way
Speaker 1: to where I was really good at what I did.
Speaker 1: But I did it for so many years that now
Speaker 1: I have to retrain my mind to now stop and
Speaker 1: retain information, don't grab it disregarded. So I write it.
Speaker 1: I take a lot of notes because all I need
Speaker 1: to do is see that note and bang. It comes
Speaker 1: back so quickly. So I have muscle memory playing, but
Speaker 1: also have muscle memory and memory as well where I
Speaker 1: can hear a play and watch a lip. I can
Speaker 1: watch Guys lips on and I can know the play
Speaker 1: because I can remember the sequence of lips and also
Speaker 1: being in the huddle because of the muscle memory. Wow.
Speaker 1: As you're going through this on your process and not
Speaker 1: writing notes down and you just go with which is
Speaker 1: an extremely impressive. It's extremely impressive. Well, we we have
Speaker 1: fans that that we've reached out to on our social
Speaker 1: media and we have a as we walk through this podcast,
Speaker 1: there's some certain questions that they want to ask you.
Speaker 1: So one that came through from one of our guys,
Speaker 1: Dylan Dmitri underscore t who's the best interview you've sat
Speaker 1: down with? It may not have been received the best way,
Speaker 1: but for Aerial himself, what's the best interview? Man? That's
Speaker 1: a tough one. I love. I love stunting him right now.
Speaker 1: I try to give you. I will say it is
Speaker 1: the cop out until I could give you like two.
Speaker 1: But I just did an interview with Tyson Fury yesterday.
Speaker 1: Who's the heavyweight champ? Heavyweight champ? You know sometimes you
Speaker 1: talk to fighters on the on the Monday before a
Speaker 1: big fight. Yeah, he went to a place with me
Speaker 1: and uh, it was just magical, Like I didn't want
Speaker 1: it to end. And so that is one of my
Speaker 1: favorite interviews. And I know it just happened. So there's
Speaker 1: a bit of recency bias. It happened. That's good. I
Speaker 1: mean sometimes the you like I, you've you will interview
Speaker 1: just like I've played and you probably have forgotten more interviews.
Speaker 1: Yeah you have that that you've done. Hey, that's a
Speaker 1: that's a that's a rich person problem. That's true. There
Speaker 1: was one that people bring up a lot, and that's
Speaker 1: in two thousand and thirteen. I was doing my show
Speaker 1: and the people have asked me to have this, uh,
Speaker 1: this European fighter on. They're like, you're gonna love him,
Speaker 1: You're gonna love him. He's great and he's about to
Speaker 1: make his UFC debut in a couple of months. And
Speaker 1: so I said sure, you know, obviously knew of him,
Speaker 1: but didn't know a lot about him. And that was
Speaker 1: in February of two thirteen, and the fighter was telling
Speaker 1: me that he was on welfare, that he didn't have
Speaker 1: a pot to pisson, that he didn't have nice clothes,
Speaker 1: he didn't have a car, he hardly had any food,
Speaker 1: but he had and he goes to be to win
Speaker 1: belts and all this stuff. And that guy was Connor McGregor,
Speaker 1: and that that how true? How true? Was that it
Speaker 1: was all true? He was unwelfare. Um, so it's an
Speaker 1: incredible story when you go back and watch that interview,
Speaker 1: this guy who now has a lot of money talking
Speaker 1: not that long ago, less than ten years ago, about
Speaker 1: being on welfare. That's an interview that a lot of
Speaker 1: people bring up till that day. I know, you gotta go, yeah,
Speaker 1: all good, all good. This has been fun, guys, And
Speaker 1: I just want to tell you I appreciate you, appreciate
Speaker 1: the hard questions coming. I'm just wondering. Never you gave
Speaker 1: us all of him. I like it. Thank you, guys,
Speaker 1: Thank you, but with you, guys the best, Good luck
Speaker 1: with the rest of the way, with this podcast and
Speaker 1: obviously with the season. I'll talk to you soon. You
Speaker 1: are a unique person. You are well worth it, you
Speaker 1: are competent, and most of all, your lovable. I'm Steve
Speaker 1: Smith Senior, I'm Little John, and this is cut to It.
Speaker 1: Cut to It with Steve Smith Senior. That Is Me
Speaker 1: is a production of Cut to It LLC, Balto Creative Media,
Speaker 1: The Black Effect and I Heart Radio. For more podcast
Speaker 1: from I Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app,
Speaker 1: Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows
Speaker 1: from Cut to It. Executive producer Steve Smith, singer co
Speaker 1: host Gerard Little John, talent and booking manager Joe Fusci,
Speaker 1: Social media team Wesley Robinson and John show from Balto
Speaker 1: Creative Media. Cut to It is produced by Brian Baltaschevic
Speaker 1: and Meredith Carter, with production assistance by Alex Lebrek, Production
Speaker 1: coordinator Taylor Robinson. Theme music by Alex Johnson. Lyrics and
Speaker 1: vocals by Anthony Hamilton. You ain't heard about it, then
Speaker 1: we're about to let you know. It's all