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Speaker 1: This is Quite Franklin with LeVar Arrington.

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Speaker 2: Each week, Penn State head coach James Franklin and Penn

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Speaker 2: State legend LeVar Arrington will discuss game strategy and other

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Speaker 2: insights on Penn State football.

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Speaker 1: Quite Franklin with LeVar Arrington is time.

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Speaker 3: Hey, but I will say this, this is LeVar Arrington

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Speaker 3: and that's coach Franklin, and you are listening to Quite Franklin.

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Speaker 3: And that's my guy, and I'm LeVar Arrington. I'll be

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Speaker 3: taking you along this journey of this here show.

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Speaker 1: That we're going to do today.

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Speaker 3: First, you know, coach, let's get the obvious out of

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Speaker 3: the way. You know, it was a rough saturday. It's

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Speaker 3: been a rough few days. On social media, everyone seems to,

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Speaker 3: at least the everyone's out there that are the everyone's

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Speaker 3: out there, love to flood in with their opinions and

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Speaker 3: their thought processes and their expertise on on situations. You know,

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Speaker 3: what were your takeaways just from from the game. And

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Speaker 3: and then when the harsh you know, critics say, which

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Speaker 3: in some cases you got to say, if we're being real,

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Speaker 3: you know, we have lost to Michigan, we have lost

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Speaker 3: Ohio State. If we're being real, How do you how

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Speaker 3: do you handle where we're at right now? What's James

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Speaker 3: Franklin doing to get through and handle where James Franklin,

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Speaker 3: the man is at right now? I would say, would

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Speaker 3: be my first what I'm thinking?

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Speaker 2: Yep, I appreciate the question. I think, first of all,

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Speaker 2: I view myself as a servant leader, and that is

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Speaker 2: for my family number one, and that is for the

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Speaker 2: players and the staff number two. So my focus is

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Speaker 2: completely on making sure that my family at home and

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Speaker 2: my family at work are good, that we can learn,

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Speaker 2: that we can grow, that we can move on, be honest,

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Speaker 2: be transparent, be real. But then but then move forward,

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Speaker 2: And then you got to you got to give credit

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Speaker 2: where credit's due. It's also, I think, been really good

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Speaker 2: to be with Pat Craft and rather than just sit

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Speaker 2: back and say, okay, we lost, it's a very different

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Speaker 2: environment now where it's okay, what do we need to do?

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Speaker 2: What do we need to do to put us in

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Speaker 2: the best position moving forward? But I want to make

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Speaker 2: sure my family's good. I want to make sure that

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Speaker 2: the players good. I want to make sure the staff

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Speaker 2: is supported. And then obviously, you know I made a

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Speaker 2: tough decision, and you know the reality is that's why

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Speaker 2: I mean, if you look at us, whether it's strength

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Speaker 2: and conditioning, whether it's players, support, nutrition, the training room,

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Speaker 2: the doctors, defense, special teams are all operating at a

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Speaker 2: very very high level and offensively, if you look at

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Speaker 2: our numbers overall, they're not They're actually pretty good. But

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Speaker 2: the issue is they have not been good against our

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Speaker 2: biggest opponents, specifically Ohio State and Michigan. So that's why

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Speaker 2: you know I made the change because although I'm loyal

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Speaker 2: to all of my staff and loyal to all my players,

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Speaker 2: I have to be thinking about the big picture and

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Speaker 2: be able to make tough decisions for the best interest

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Speaker 2: of the entire organization. And then the last thing I'll

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Speaker 2: say what I won't do is I won't apologize for

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Speaker 2: being eight and two and being ranked in the top

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Speaker 2: ten in the cuntry you're top eleven in the country

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Speaker 2: and having a chance to be nine and two on Saturday,

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Speaker 2: and not disregard all of the great things that these

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Speaker 2: players have done and all the great things that the

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Speaker 2: staff has done over ten years. I won't do that.

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Speaker 2: I will not apologize and I will not disregard all

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Speaker 2: the great things that have happened.

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Speaker 1: I like that.

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Speaker 3: Let me you talk about your family and you talk

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Speaker 3: about the family of the players. This was one of

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Speaker 3: them weeks where because I'm family too, I mean, people

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Speaker 3: may call me a homer, they may call me an apologist.

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Speaker 3: I shoot from the hip if you were what if

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Speaker 3: it's X, then I'm gonna say, Coach Franklin, this is

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Speaker 3: what you are to me, your ex if it's why,

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Speaker 3: it's why, if it's z is Z. I say to

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Speaker 3: my wife, I say to my kids, I say to

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Speaker 3: my mama, I say to my dad. I always shoot

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Speaker 3: from the hip, and I'm always honest. But I am biased.

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Speaker 3: I am biased, and I don't have a problem saying

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Speaker 3: that and admitting that, especially if I buy into what

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Speaker 3: it is that I see. I see a man who

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Speaker 3: does believe in family and does do a lot more

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Speaker 3: than just coach football. That's not what the general public

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Speaker 3: would want to hear. But that's what I see, and

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Speaker 3: that's what breeds the amount of a belief and buy

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Speaker 3: in that I have and who you are as a

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Speaker 3: person and as a man. First, So I say that

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Speaker 3: to say, what do you say to your daughters, what

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Speaker 3: do you say to your wife or to your your coaches,

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Speaker 3: or to your team, the players when they have to

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Speaker 3: go out into the world and deal. You said this

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Speaker 3: on the show last week, and I kind of felt

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Speaker 3: like we should expand on it. When the social media

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Speaker 3: comes the way that the social media comes, or you're

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Speaker 3: at school and things may be said, or you're at

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Speaker 3: the grocery store, or you're getting your tires changed or

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Speaker 3: your oil checked or whatever it may be, there are

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Speaker 3: always we're going to get hit the hardest. The people

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Speaker 3: who care the most are always going to be the

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Speaker 3: biggest targets of when these moments happen. What what are

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Speaker 3: your words that you have given that helped them to

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Speaker 3: get through or even be able to kind of either

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Speaker 3: cope with or even powerfully respond to what comes their

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Speaker 3: way when these things happen.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so I guess the first thing is with my wife,

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Speaker 2: she's the toughest in the family, so I don't got

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Speaker 2: to take I don't got to say anything to her.

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Speaker 2: With my with my daughters, you know, part of the

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Speaker 2: reason why they don't go to the local school anymore.

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Speaker 1: They haven't now.

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Speaker 2: For the last the last two years, and for a

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Speaker 2: number of reasons. But that's that's one of them. You

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Speaker 2: know that that's that's what it's. It's you know, as

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Speaker 2: you as you know kids can be ruthless. Ruthless, yes,

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Speaker 2: and I want my kids, you know, feeling good, you know,

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Speaker 2: at school every day, not just on certain days. But

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Speaker 2: my kids are in a good place. You got to remember,

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Speaker 2: I've been a head coach now for thirteen years in

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Speaker 2: the SEC the Big ten, so two pressure cookers. This

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Speaker 2: is kind of all that we know as a family.

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Speaker 2: We think this is somewhat normal. I know that sounds crazy.

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Speaker 2: And then and then with the players and stuff, you know,

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Speaker 2: we try to talk to them as much as I can,

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Speaker 2: to stay off social media as much as possible. I

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Speaker 2: don't really think it's a positive for most people unless

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Speaker 2: you're just really strategic about who and what you're following

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Speaker 2: and who and what you've blocked or muted or whatever

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Speaker 2: it is. But that's easier said than done. So for me,

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Speaker 2: I can't control any of those other things. I want

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Speaker 2: when they walk into the last football building, that they

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Speaker 2: feel like this is a great place, a safe place,

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Speaker 2: a place where they're going to be challenged, a place

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Speaker 2: where they're going to grow, but all within a positive environment.

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Speaker 2: All the other stuff I can't I can't really control.

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Speaker 2: But the things that we can control, we want to

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Speaker 2: do a good job with it. Make sure our players

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Speaker 2: feel great about it. It's not always easy, but I

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Speaker 2: want them to feel great about the environment that they're

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Speaker 2: walking into every day.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's it makes sense. The whole family approach. That's

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Speaker 3: that's dope.

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Speaker 1: To have a strong woman, obviously.

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Speaker 2: And to have your kids think Lamar, she's a little

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Speaker 2: too strong though, Like like I'm worried about the opposite,

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Speaker 2: Like she may she may cut somebody, like.

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Speaker 1: Might go out and get real with it. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: She she's like she's always says to me, I can't wait,

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Speaker 2: like to the day you retire, because then I can

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Speaker 2: say all the things I want to say, and I

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Speaker 2: can do all the things that I want to do.

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Speaker 3: Tell all book coming from from Mama Franklin. All right,

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Speaker 3: I'm with that. I'm with that and the burn and

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Speaker 3: the burnt bacon that comes along with it while you're

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Speaker 3: reading it, you know what I mean.

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Speaker 1: I had the burn.

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Speaker 3: Bacon as a player when you when you have to

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Speaker 3: deal with the harsh realities that come along with moving

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Speaker 3: forward to that next game. It's still want to know

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Speaker 3: and now you have new offensive coordinators co coordinators that

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Speaker 3: are are going to step in. You know, of course

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Speaker 3: a lot of people may mess up Jay One's name,

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Speaker 3: but I know Jay One's name and I say it

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Speaker 3: the correct way. So you got Jay one sider coming in,

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Speaker 3: and you have Ty Howell coming coming in, who is

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Speaker 3: a letter winner and a captain for our team at

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Speaker 3: one point twenty twelve, I do believe. And now they're

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Speaker 3: the co co offensive coordinators moving forward. Rutgers is a

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Speaker 3: tough team to play against. That's they're hard knows. They

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Speaker 3: are certainly an image of the person coaches them, and that's.

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Speaker 1: Not going to be an easy guy.

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Speaker 2: Here was Greg here when you were here.

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Speaker 1: No, he was not. He was not.

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Speaker 3: But I know Greg pretty well though I know him

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Speaker 3: pretty well, and and so and I know how he is.

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Speaker 3: You know, he's almost like a wrestling coach that coaches

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Speaker 3: football like almost like someone who should be in the

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Speaker 3: military as a drill sergeant versus being a football coach.

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Speaker 1: But very hard nos.

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Speaker 3: Guy and and and brings that mentality to his team.

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Speaker 1: Those Scarlet Knights are going to be chippy.

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Speaker 3: And when you look at the disappointment of where what

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Speaker 3: took place this past weekend.

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Speaker 1: What is the message? What has the message been for

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Speaker 1: this week?

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Speaker 3: Moving towards this game where you had to make a

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Speaker 3: big decision on the offensive coordinator, you replace them with

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Speaker 3: co in the realm coordinators and you gotta go into

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Speaker 3: this game thinking we still have to win.

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Speaker 1: What's the message?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's exactly that. Look, here's the reality of

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Speaker 2: where we're at. The most important thing that we got

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Speaker 2: to do is bounce back and get a win this

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Speaker 2: week and get better as an organization. Be honest and

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Speaker 2: transparent upfront about you know, the things that we did

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Speaker 2: not do well, But it's each week. It really doesn't

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Speaker 2: change the result should not change your process. We got

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Speaker 2: to come in and get back to work. And the

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Speaker 2: reality is, as you know, LeVar, you're going to be

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Speaker 2: dealing with adversity the rest of your life. So not

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Speaker 2: only is this a football lesson, but it's a life lesson. Like,

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Speaker 2: you know, you don't feel good one day, you got

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Speaker 2: to go to work. You know, you got issues at

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Speaker 2: home with your family, you still got to go to

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Speaker 2: work every single morning, and and there's there's lessons in

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Speaker 2: this as a football player, but there's lessons in this

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Speaker 2: as a as a young man, and we're in a

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Speaker 2: production oriented business and we're playing a tough team this week.

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Speaker 2: As you know, they've played everybody on their schedule tough.

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Speaker 2: They're really good on defense and special teams, which is

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Speaker 2: how Greg has always been. And then he went out

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Speaker 2: and hired a really good offensive coordinator and a wide

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Speaker 2: receivers coach that are doing a really good job of

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Speaker 2: managing the game how Greg wants the game run. Where

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Speaker 2: in years past I think maybe they were losing games

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Speaker 2: on offense, and now you know they're not losing games

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Speaker 2: on offense and putting the defense and special teams in

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Speaker 2: positions to win the game.

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Speaker 3: All right, I got a touch on this one, and

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Speaker 3: then I'm gonna hit you with your hardest question of

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Speaker 3: the day, of course, but I got a touch on this.

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Speaker 3: I was in the I was in the media room

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Speaker 3: on Saturday, and I saw how they they exchanged went

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Speaker 3: with one of the reporters in particular, went viral.

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Speaker 1: People were talking about it when.

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Speaker 3: You find yourself in because this is something that it's

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Speaker 3: hard for players to be able to navigate when there's

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Speaker 3: already I always say, when the story's already went, which.

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Speaker 1: About the way. Let me give you a short little

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Speaker 1: tipbit here.

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Speaker 3: The reason why I went into media and media is

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Speaker 3: so different now because there's so many outlets. But when

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Speaker 3: I was coming through and when you were coming through,

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Speaker 3: the coaches could control the media and could control the

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Speaker 3: narrative or the outlet could control the media and control

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Speaker 3: the narrative of any and everything they wanted, right. And

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Speaker 3: I always say, they come in with their story already

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Speaker 3: ready to go. They just need the quote that they're

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Speaker 3: looking for. Yep, that was a reporter on Saturday. They

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Speaker 3: already had their story that they were going to report on.

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Speaker 3: They were already had their conclusion and they did not

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Speaker 3: get the response that they wanted from you and trying

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Speaker 3: to complete their whatever their story was and whatever the

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Speaker 3: angle was that they were coming from. How has it

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Speaker 3: been handling, you know, yourself and the guys handling themselves.

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Speaker 1: With the media this week? How has the media been?

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Speaker 3: How have you guys kind of approached you know, what's

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Speaker 3: going on with the media.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I think it's been good.

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Speaker 2: Monday was good. We had our normal press conference when

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Speaker 2: we kind of review the previous game after watching the

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Speaker 2: tape and then kind of move on to the next opponent,

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Speaker 2: you know, and it was good. And I think I've

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Speaker 2: gotten better in you know, leaving the emotion outside of

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Speaker 2: the room and taking a deep breath. That's where the

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Speaker 2: press conferences postgame are are are more challenging. But I

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Speaker 2: think at the end of the day, I think the

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Speaker 2: hard part, LeVar, for you, for me, for a lot

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Speaker 2: of people in today's society is people feel like they

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Speaker 2: have the ability to talk to you crazy the setting,

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Speaker 2: in a setting where they wouldn't do it in any

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Speaker 2: other setting, you know. And that's that I think is

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Speaker 2: the challenging thing. Whether it's social media and people posting

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Speaker 2: crazy things and they won't even put their picture on

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Speaker 2: their profile, or whether it's you know, in a in

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Speaker 2: another setting where they know you can't respond, uh, and

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Speaker 2: they're they're taking advantage of that. So that that's that's challenging.

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Speaker 2: You got to take a deep breath and and you

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Speaker 2: got to move forward. But the way I was raised,

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Speaker 2: the way you were raised, you know, you would handle

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Speaker 2: it differently in a different setting, you know what I'm saying.

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Speaker 2: I'm saying it is as politically correct as I can.

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Speaker 3: I had to leave the press conference. I left, I

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Speaker 3: left the press conference because I probably felt the same

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Speaker 3: way you felt. I just always feel like there should

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Speaker 3: always be a level of respect and and what the

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Speaker 3: approach because it is a working relationships. That's why I

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Speaker 3: got into media because I was depicted in a way

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Speaker 3: based off of people creating false narratives about me, and

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Speaker 3: I actually had to live in that narrative my entire career.

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Speaker 3: Coach like my entire career, and that was why and

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Speaker 3: that's why I got into media, because it was like,

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Speaker 3: you're depicting me as this neanderthal that was raised in

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Speaker 3: the wilderness and was bred to take down lines, tigers

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Speaker 3: and bears and had no education, no intellect, no no

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Speaker 3: anything of substance outside of just being an athlete, just

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Speaker 3: being this is a great athlete.

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Speaker 2: They never if you ever listened, obviously so much more

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Speaker 2: than that.

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Speaker 3: Well, and if you didn't know that, this is how

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Speaker 3: I can turn it on and off. If I'm on

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Speaker 3: the field, I'm going to try to kill you, like literally,

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Speaker 3: and that might not even be politically correct at this

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Speaker 3: point in our society, but my mentality when I was

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Speaker 3: on the field was when ex Caliber touched my head,

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Speaker 3: which was the name every badass player to name their helmet.

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Speaker 3: By the way, when x ex caliber touched my head,

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Speaker 3: I transformed into what would be an assassin. I considered

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Speaker 3: myself a Special Forces warrior that was sent in on

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Speaker 3: a duty and a mission to handle things when the

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Speaker 3: negotiations went wrong and there was no more talking to

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Speaker 3: be had. That was what I saw myself as. So

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Speaker 3: when you've been to X, when you depict the person

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Speaker 3: that played the way that I played, and you can't

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Speaker 3: differentiate my personality and my intellect and how I played

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Speaker 3: the game versus what it looks like, you know, and

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Speaker 3: what I really am, it really was damaging to who

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Speaker 3: I was as a person and as a brand. I

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Speaker 3: always was kind to people, always did a lot of

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Speaker 3: things man right, But that's who I was off the field.

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Speaker 1: I hold the door for people. I was a gentleman.

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Speaker 3: I walk old ladies back to where it is they

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Speaker 3: needed to get to, across the street. Whatever it is.

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Speaker 3: My point that I'm making here is there should always

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Speaker 3: be a level of integrity and a level of respect

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Speaker 3: when you approach doing interviews with people that you're going

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Speaker 3: to see on a weekly basis. I didn't feel like

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Speaker 3: I saw that totally within the room and then just

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Speaker 3: easedropping on what I was hearing before you.

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Speaker 1: Entered the room.

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Speaker 3: It didn't sit well with me. When you swim with

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Speaker 3: sharks or whatever type of what they would be in

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Speaker 3: the water, are you, like, are you aware of that?

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Speaker 3: Like I know you say you wouldn't handle it because

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Speaker 3: we would handle it differently in other other forms, but

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Speaker 3: because we are men of integrity and have to handle

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Speaker 3: things in a way where it is an example to others,

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Speaker 3: you do have to handle it in a way where

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Speaker 3: you maintain your composure and you're poise. Are you aware

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Speaker 3: of the fact that, like you feel in those moments

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Speaker 3: that there are people that really are are wanting or

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Speaker 3: waiting or looking for the most negative approach to you

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Speaker 3: being the coach? How do you how does that like

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Speaker 3: do you get does that compute for you? And do

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Speaker 3: you look at those people like are you aware of

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Speaker 3: who they are? And like how does that work?

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Speaker 1: Coach? Yeah?

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Speaker 2: I just I try the best I possibly can to

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Speaker 2: treat people the way I would want to be treated.

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Speaker 2: And over thirteen years, I've had a few moments where

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Speaker 2: where I would probably like a redo. I had one

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Speaker 2: a few weeks back. But the reality is again I

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Speaker 2: think if you look at the overall body of work,

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Speaker 2: I think there's been a healthy world working relationship. But

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Speaker 2: it's interesting because I think if if as coaches or

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Speaker 2: as players, if we crossed the line as many times

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Speaker 2: as maybe the other professions who it would not, it

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Speaker 2: would not go over well. And I think that's one

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Speaker 2: of the challenges too, is sometimes people only hear the response.

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Speaker 2: They can't hear the question that was asked. And I

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Speaker 2: think that's important as well that people hear the question

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Speaker 2: because nowadays they'll take just the SoundBite. Well, you don't understand.

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Speaker 2: The only reason I even brought that up is I

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Speaker 2: was asked a direct question that I'm trying to answer. So,

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Speaker 2: you know, the whole press conference dynamic is very interesting

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Speaker 2: and there's a lot of questions that are asked that

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Speaker 2: if you answer them, you know this LeVar, if you

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Speaker 2: answer them, it's divisive to your locker room and to

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Speaker 2: your team, and I might, you know, I'd like to

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Speaker 2: say that they don't understand that when they asked a question,

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Speaker 2: but I think sometimes they do.

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Speaker 3: Coach, We're gonna I'm gonna wrap you up. I had

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Speaker 3: a good one for you, I really did. This was

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Speaker 3: a good one.

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Speaker 1: I felt like this was a necessary one to have.

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Speaker 3: And I appreciate your candor and and and being open

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Speaker 3: and in this moment in time.

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Speaker 1: That's coach, coach Franklin. I carried him across the line.

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Speaker 1: He was way far across the line. He ain't need to.

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Speaker 3: Go, but hey, this is quite frankly. I'm LeVar Arrington.

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Speaker 3: That's coach Franklin. Hey, we'll talk next week. I appreciate you, coach.

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Speaker 1: Hang in there. Keep the good fight, keep the good fight.

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Speaker 1: There's a lot of people.

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Speaker 3: That believe in you and want to see you, know

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Speaker 3: what what what you've set out to do succeed. And

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Speaker 3: and just you should know that you know and the

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Speaker 3: and the guys that are in the trenches with you,

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Speaker 3: and the players that are in the trenches with you.

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Speaker 3: Just know there are some people that aren't fair weather

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Speaker 3: and how they approach and look at what it is

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Speaker 3: that's taking place. It's time and resources. What I say

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Speaker 3: is where we're at, we need time, we need resources.

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Speaker 1: So hey, there it is.

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Speaker 3: Appreciate your coach, Ol Livar Arrington, that's coach Franklin. If

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Speaker 3: you want to check it out, make sure you check

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Speaker 3: it out. A happy Valley on demand, or you can

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Speaker 3: hear the audio of it on up on Game Presents.

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Speaker 3: That's right, it's quite Franklin. Make sure you check it

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Speaker 3: out and we'll be back next week.

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Speaker 1: Y'all. Y'all be well,