Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast. The Vacation all I ever wanted addition,
Speaker 1: as I take a pre training camp break this week
Speaker 1: but still bring you some Bengals podcast content. Instead of
Speaker 1: the usual offseason topics like free agency in the draft,
Speaker 1: this is a best of edition. More specifically, it features
Speaker 1: my five favorite fun facts interviews from this past year
Speaker 1: with Chitabeya woo Jey, Mike Hilton, Evan McPherson, Frank Pollock,
Speaker 1: and Mike Brown. The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by
Speaker 1: Ultimate Bengals. Download Ultimate Bengals ahead of the twenty twenty
Speaker 1: two season. It's free to play next level fantasy football
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Speaker 1: you can have the latest edition of this podcast delivered
Speaker 1: right to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing wherever
Speaker 1: you get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since preseason
Speaker 1: football magazines. I love magazines and find it sad that
Speaker 1: so much of that content is now only available online. Thankfully,
Speaker 1: you can still get thick preseason guides for NFL and
Speaker 1: college football, and I always buy a couple of each.
Speaker 1: So here's to you Lyndy's Athlon, etc. As long as
Speaker 1: you're still publishing, I'm buying Now. Time for the first
Speaker 1: of my favorite fun facts interviews from this past season,
Speaker 1: where you get to know the person under the pads.
Speaker 1: Time for some fun facts with Bengals cornerback chitabey A Woogie.
Speaker 1: I read that when you were a kid, you were
Speaker 1: so rough and tough that you weren't allowed to play
Speaker 1: certain things with other kids. Was that true and what happened? Yes? True.
Speaker 1: I think it wasn't really a rule up by a
Speaker 1: school or by a teacher or a parent. It was
Speaker 1: kind of you know, the kids that I was playing
Speaker 1: with didn't want me to play with them because I
Speaker 1: was everything. Home i played, someone was getting hurt or
Speaker 1: injury was happening. So h yeah, you know, I think
Speaker 1: that definitely led me into football. It seems like the
Speaker 1: perfect outlat to take out that aggression. Your parents are
Speaker 1: Nigerian immigrants who earned college degrees in the US. How
Speaker 1: did their values in their work ethic impact you? Oh,
Speaker 1: it impacted me so heavily. I definitely grew up with
Speaker 1: the duality of being Nigerian American to the tea. When
Speaker 1: I was home raising a Nigerian home, my auntie's uncles, cousins.
Speaker 1: We go to parties on the weekend, whether it be
Speaker 1: a meeting or a celebration. The Nigerian culture definitely was
Speaker 1: in me. And then when I would go into school
Speaker 1: and I'd get a very good taste of the American culture.
Speaker 1: So definitely that duality has raised me to understand others,
Speaker 1: to be heavy on family, to have faith in God,
Speaker 1: and you know, just to always work hard. Have you
Speaker 1: made it to Nigeria to see where your family's from?
Speaker 1: I have. I have. The first time I went was
Speaker 1: my sophomore year in high school. I was sixteen or
Speaker 1: fifteen or something like that, and you know, it was
Speaker 1: beautiful just to see cousins who I've never met before,
Speaker 1: family members, see where my parents grew up, and see
Speaker 1: where my grandparents and my lineage basically started. You know,
Speaker 1: we have a village house in the village of Football
Speaker 1: here and that's where everybody congregated, and it was just
Speaker 1: a beautiful, beautiful time in my life. We're visiting with
Speaker 1: chittabe A Wugier many stories about you say that your
Speaker 1: first name means God will guide me. Do you take
Speaker 1: that to heart? Oh? I definitely do. And my culture,
Speaker 1: the Ebo culture this our names mean everything. And you know,
Speaker 1: my brother has a similar name, my mom, dad, sister,
Speaker 1: all of it usually resonates with something to do with God.
Speaker 1: You know, we're very spiritual people. So yeah, I think
Speaker 1: my name praised for me every day and they able
Speaker 1: to live comfortably. Because you grew up near San Jose, California,
Speaker 1: what were some of the things you were interested in
Speaker 1: as a kid. As a kid, I was very impressionable.
Speaker 1: I love watching things on YouTube and just learning about
Speaker 1: different things, especially dance. You know, where I grew up,
Speaker 1: I had a dance called turfing, and they had this
Speaker 1: thing called the Hype movement, and the LA had crump
Speaker 1: and the South had crump, and I was interested in
Speaker 1: just like all the cultures, just everything you know that
Speaker 1: was happening. So I think when I was a kid,
Speaker 1: I was just very impressionable when it came to hip
Speaker 1: hop culture, dance culture. Yeah. So, so if you have
Speaker 1: a pick six, is there a dance in mind for
Speaker 1: the celebration. I've been thinking, man, I've been trying to
Speaker 1: plan it out already. I got a lot. I gotta
Speaker 1: I gotta do something honor the African people, so I
Speaker 1: gotta dance there. I gotta do something under the area
Speaker 1: people to dance there. So yeah, I'm a planet. I'm
Speaker 1: playing something out for sure. We're chatting to Chitabey Wouje.
Speaker 1: You attended Oak Grove High School, where you ran for
Speaker 1: more than a thousand yards your senior year, but you
Speaker 1: also blocked ten kicks. How do you block ten kicks?
Speaker 1: I mean, honestly, just being an athlete and then having
Speaker 1: a good get off, And I don't know. I think
Speaker 1: it was just something I found out I was good
Speaker 1: at thinking my sophomore year in high school. I would
Speaker 1: just rush off the ball real fast and then block
Speaker 1: block punts, kicks, field goals. And yeah, I wonder why
Speaker 1: they have me do that more in college or NFL.
Speaker 1: But it's all good. I think I sell it in
Speaker 1: that corner pretty good. So I'm playing this for Darren
Speaker 1: Simmons to make sure that he's aware of that you
Speaker 1: chose to attend the University of Colorado. What did you
Speaker 1: enjoy most about college? The thing I enjoyed most about
Speaker 1: college was the camaraderie I got to see and be
Speaker 1: a part of something real special. Came into a program
Speaker 1: that was rebuilding, and by the time my senior year happened,
Speaker 1: you know, we started to win, ended up being seventh
Speaker 1: in the ranked seventh in the country at one point.
Speaker 1: And those guys, you know, that's something that I think
Speaker 1: will always hold on too, just how we had all
Speaker 1: those experiences that led to that point, and that's led
Speaker 1: us to be great friends even now to this day. Um,
Speaker 1: that sior class, I'm blessed to play with Josh Tupo
Speaker 1: who was on that team. We still have that connection
Speaker 1: and you know, all those guys have that connection. So
Speaker 1: that camaraderie was very something that that taught me a
Speaker 1: lot how to be a team. And you know when
Speaker 1: I got to the NFL in your sophomore year, you
Speaker 1: lacerated your kidney. That's serious stuff. How bad was it?
Speaker 1: It was bad, man, It was bad because I didn't
Speaker 1: understand what it was or the severity of it. I
Speaker 1: guess when I fail, and it happened. You know, I
Speaker 1: just went to the bathroom in the locker room, and
Speaker 1: you know, I started to see blood in my us.
Speaker 1: You know, in my in my pee and H went
Speaker 1: back up and I was like, Yo, this is happening.
Speaker 1: Took me to the hospital and thank God that they
Speaker 1: took it serious enough to where I was able to
Speaker 1: we're able to diagnose it properly, and you know, that
Speaker 1: helped me out for the last three games with my
Speaker 1: sophomore year. And it was just a real interesting time,
Speaker 1: first time that I really had an injury that kept
Speaker 1: me out of football and I could walk. I mean,
Speaker 1: I could think I could do everything. I just couldn't.
Speaker 1: I had to be careful, you know, and I just
Speaker 1: want I realized that, you know, football is such a
Speaker 1: precious sport to me. I don't want to not play.
Speaker 1: So from that time I started to be real conscious of,
Speaker 1: you know, every step I took. We're doing fun facts
Speaker 1: with chitube a Wouge. You were a second round draft
Speaker 1: pick by the Dallas Cowboys in twenty seventeen and it
Speaker 1: was a memorable moment in NFL draft history because it
Speaker 1: was in Philadelphia. Cowboys legend Drew Pearson announced the pick
Speaker 1: and he took the occasion to troll Eagles fans. Were
Speaker 1: you amused or did it kind of detract from your moment. No, No,
Speaker 1: I'm all for the splendor and the and the joy
Speaker 1: and the hate that he got for that too. I
Speaker 1: know Drew from that moment, I got to know Drew Pearson.
Speaker 1: You know, it's a great guy, great energy, obviously a
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame player now who Thank God that he
Speaker 1: was able to make it in this year. I know
Speaker 1: it meant a lot to him, and it means a
Speaker 1: lot to me and my family, you know, because we're
Speaker 1: forever tied with that momentum. I think they also, you know,
Speaker 1: put people on notice that they Drew's not in the
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame yet, like let's you know what I'm saying, Like,
Speaker 1: let's get him in the Hall of Fame. I think,
Speaker 1: um that that that that just a lot of good
Speaker 1: came from that moment, and I'm glad that I was
Speaker 1: part of it. The Dallas Cowboys are known as America's team.
Speaker 1: Their fan base is really worldwide, not the US wide.
Speaker 1: What was it like to be a Cowboy for four years? Oh?
Speaker 1: It was a blessing. Um. I wouldn't trade it for anything.
Speaker 1: Um that picked me obviously from UH College and that
Speaker 1: moment will always hold hold dirt in me and those
Speaker 1: moments that I shared with that team will always hold
Speaker 1: dirt to me. So I'm always thankful for the Dallas Cowboys.
Speaker 1: A lot of my friends still on that team, so
Speaker 1: I'm a fan of those guys and you know, ruin
Speaker 1: for them for the best. So you became a free agent,
Speaker 1: and it sounds like the Bengals really came after you
Speaker 1: with a lot of passion. Yeah. Yeah, I think that's
Speaker 1: one thing that stuck out to me was how much
Speaker 1: they wanted me here and everything that coach Zack, coach Lou,
Speaker 1: coach Jackson, all the guys who I talked to, even
Speaker 1: the front office people, was about the culture here that
Speaker 1: they're starting to get the coachure right, the locker rooms good,
Speaker 1: all this kind of stuff. And when I was able
Speaker 1: to visit here and be here now, it all holds true.
Speaker 1: You know, I really believe that I'm in the perfect
Speaker 1: place right now to be my best and hopefully to
Speaker 1: help this team be their best. So I'm real excited
Speaker 1: for things to come. I'm real comfortable here already. You know,
Speaker 1: the guys are real cool, the coaches are cool. So
Speaker 1: just excited to get this stand Roland all Right, a
Speaker 1: few non football topics. To wrap things up with, Chitabe wouje.
Speaker 1: You are an avid chess player. How did that start
Speaker 1: and what you enjoy by chess? So, chess started in
Speaker 1: college when me and my teammates slash peers in my class.
Speaker 1: It used to be kind of bored in class. We
Speaker 1: had our laptops out, and you know, during a subject
Speaker 1: that maybe we knew about already, we would play some chess,
Speaker 1: you know, virtually on our laptops and it is real competitive,
Speaker 1: and you didn't want to lose, because if you lose,
Speaker 1: chess kind of makes you feel like something smarter than you,
Speaker 1: and that that doesn't really feel going when you know
Speaker 1: that something smarter than you. So we would compete there
Speaker 1: and then it kind of died down. And then when
Speaker 1: I got to the Cowboys, there was a couple of
Speaker 1: chess players and again real competitive, don't want to lose.
Speaker 1: And I think I fostered a lot of relationships through chess.
Speaker 1: Um I've learned a lot about life, how to put
Speaker 1: things in order. You don't want to lose your queen,
Speaker 1: you know, obviously, don't want to lose the game by
Speaker 1: losing your king. You know, the rook's more worth more
Speaker 1: than the pond and the bishop in the night. But
Speaker 1: each peace moves, you know, in great symmetry. To have
Speaker 1: a full team basically, so um, I think it's helped
Speaker 1: me articulate and put things in order very well. Are
Speaker 1: you the grand Master of the Bengals locker room. I
Speaker 1: wouldn't disrespect the name grand Master up I put in
Speaker 1: my name next to it, but I will say that
Speaker 1: I don't think anyone can beat me on this team.
Speaker 1: So yeah, all right. If you could meet anyone in history, athlete, actor, statesman, politician,
Speaker 1: whatever it might be, who would that be. That's a
Speaker 1: very deep question, to be honest. The first name of
Speaker 1: popt to my mind was Muhammad Ali. But as you
Speaker 1: finished the question, I think my real answer would probably Jesus.
Speaker 1: I think that would mean that I made it to heaven.
Speaker 1: It should be a good thing, so I think, uh, yeah,
Speaker 1: those would be. That was my first reaction, and when
Speaker 1: I got my thoughts together, it was like, yeah, Jesus,
Speaker 1: two great answers. Last thing, what's the all time worst
Speaker 1: mispronunciation of chittabay wuje? Dang? It's been a lot, man,
Speaker 1: I'll say this. One time someone couldn't send my name
Speaker 1: elementary school that instead of calling me Chuddle Bay, they
Speaker 1: called me cheddar Bay Biscuits. So that was my nickname
Speaker 1: for that guy called Cheddar Bay Biscuits from d Lobster. So, hey,
Speaker 1: you should get an endorsement dealt Hey, man, I enjoyed them.
Speaker 1: They are good. Yeah, yeah, they are really good. They're
Speaker 1: really good. So is this. I appreciate your time, have
Speaker 1: a great season. Appreciate it. Chittaby, of course, was not
Speaker 1: the only free agent defensive back that the Bengals signed
Speaker 1: prior to last season. They also helped themselves and hurt
Speaker 1: the dreaded, hated but grudgingly respected Pittsburgh Steelers by signing
Speaker 1: one of the league's top slot cornerbacks. Time for some
Speaker 1: fun facts with cornerback Mike Hilton from Fayetteville, Georgia, about
Speaker 1: twenty miles away from Atlanta. What were some of the
Speaker 1: things that young Mike Hilton liked to do as a
Speaker 1: kid growing up in Georgia. Man, one, I used to
Speaker 1: go to six Flags all the time. You know, if
Speaker 1: you heard about six Flags over George, you know they
Speaker 1: have some of the best roller coasters. So if I
Speaker 1: did that a lot. Of course, play football and you
Speaker 1: know just enjoyed enjoying my time as a queue. We
Speaker 1: have King's Island nearby. Do you still like roller coasters?
Speaker 1: I've heard about King's Island. Everybody said, definitely someplace I
Speaker 1: have to visit. So I'm gonna take my daughter there
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna have some fun. We're doing fun facts
Speaker 1: with Mike Hilton. You attended Sandy Creek High School. You
Speaker 1: were more of a running back than a cornerback back then, right, Yes,
Speaker 1: I was. I got recruited mainly to play running back,
Speaker 1: and when I got to college, when I really flipped
Speaker 1: over to play corner Were you okay with that? I
Speaker 1: wasn't at first, but I knew, especially in the SEC
Speaker 1: in my size, running back was kind of a ife situation.
Speaker 1: So I know if I made that switch, you know,
Speaker 1: you'll put me in a position to be here. So
Speaker 1: you're in the process of having a great NFL career,
Speaker 1: But you are not the most famous football player from
Speaker 1: your high school. Recently inducted Hall of Famer Calvin Johnson
Speaker 1: Megatron went to Sandy Creek. Did you see him when
Speaker 1: you were a kid. Did you get to see him? Player?
Speaker 1: Get to know him? Now? I've never actually seen him
Speaker 1: play when I was growing up, but during my high
Speaker 1: school games he would come. So I've had chances to
Speaker 1: talk to him and you know, just ask him about
Speaker 1: the NFL life, and you know, we had some good conversations,
Speaker 1: and you know, I just want to say congrats to
Speaker 1: him for being inducted. Was that pretty exciting for folks
Speaker 1: back home to see him getting the all of fame? Oh? Absolutely,
Speaker 1: especially for our town, which you know isn't really the
Speaker 1: biggest town. So you know, everybody knows everybody, and when
Speaker 1: you have a guy like Calvin Johnson that's inducted, you know,
Speaker 1: we take pride in then. So you are an outstanding
Speaker 1: player at one of Georgia's top high school football programs,
Speaker 1: but the University of Georgia wasn't interested. What did head
Speaker 1: coach Mark Richt say to you? I remember my high
Speaker 1: school coach pulled me out. You know, during recruiting time,
Speaker 1: you get pulled out the type to college coaches, and
Speaker 1: you know, my high school coach was hyped me up
Speaker 1: and everything, and I met Rick and the first thing
Speaker 1: he said to him, he was like, You're just not
Speaker 1: just not big enough for me. So that's kind of
Speaker 1: been sticking with me throughout my whole career. You know,
Speaker 1: I don't look at it as a bad thing. You know,
Speaker 1: he's just him being honest. But it definitely pushed me
Speaker 1: to help me get to where I am, and it
Speaker 1: still motivates you. Absolutely. I absolutely I still here to
Speaker 1: this day, whether it's from other people or the fans
Speaker 1: of the coaches that I'm not small, but I know
Speaker 1: what I'm capable of. So Mark Wrecht made a terrible
Speaker 1: mistake and not recruiting you, but All Mess was smart
Speaker 1: enough to recruit you. What was the best part of
Speaker 1: your college experience, man? Really just being around everybody, getting
Speaker 1: though my college teammates and getting that true college field.
Speaker 1: You know, just when they say that's the best years
Speaker 1: of your life, that's honest truth. And I enjoyed all four.
Speaker 1: As a senior at All Mess, you received one of
Speaker 1: the highest honors a player can receive at that school.
Speaker 1: You were chosen to wear the number thirty eight in
Speaker 1: honor of the late Chucky Mullen's a great player who
Speaker 1: has paralyzed in the game. Can you articulate what that
Speaker 1: honor means? Number One, it goes to a senior defensive
Speaker 1: player every year. It shows leadership qualities owning off the
Speaker 1: field most importantly, especially off the field, you know, just
Speaker 1: being in the community, doing right in the classroom, and
Speaker 1: then when it comes to own the field, being a playmaker,
Speaker 1: being a voice, being a leader. I really I really
Speaker 1: took to he to it my freshman year when I
Speaker 1: started to learn who he was and why they were
Speaker 1: passing the water down every year, and it was one
Speaker 1: of my goals to become the winner. And you know,
Speaker 1: I was blessed a winning We're doing fun facts with
Speaker 1: Mike Hilton. Following your senior year at All Mess, you
Speaker 1: signed with Jacksonville as an undrafted free agent. Things didn't
Speaker 1: work out there. You signed to the Patriots for their
Speaker 1: practice squad. They let you go. Did the thought of
Speaker 1: moving on from football even enter your mind? Oh? Absolutely.
Speaker 1: After I got cut by New England, which I was
Speaker 1: only up there for a week, so that was like
Speaker 1: a true experience, like this game is cut through, it's
Speaker 1: a business. I was at home from like week twelve,
Speaker 1: I mean week two. It's about week twelve, week thirteen.
Speaker 1: So during that whole span I had stopped working out,
Speaker 1: started applying for jobs. I kind of just started to
Speaker 1: accept that you know my opportunity wasn't was going away,
Speaker 1: but you know I got that call from Pittsburgh and
Speaker 1: everything took off. Sense, that's for sure. They gave you
Speaker 1: a chance. You capitalized with four great seasons in the
Speaker 1: Steelers uniform. When did you know you made it? I
Speaker 1: kind of had a feeling through it through that preseason,
Speaker 1: you know. Then it was four preseason games after the
Speaker 1: second and third when I was just making a lot
Speaker 1: of plays and I just had my ears around the
Speaker 1: locker room that like everybody like Mikey, you're good man.
Speaker 1: You have nothing to worry about because you know, being undrafted,
Speaker 1: you're always worried, like today's the day I'm probably getting cut.
Speaker 1: But all those guys kind of kept me, kem me
Speaker 1: confident and kem me rolling. We're talking to Mike Hilton. So,
Speaker 1: as we've referenced, you're not a big guy, five nine
Speaker 1: eighty four according to the roster, but you're one of
Speaker 1: the best blitzing defensive backs in the NFL. What's the secret.
Speaker 1: I don't want to give away too much, but you know,
Speaker 1: it's just learning the tendencies of the quarterback. You know
Speaker 1: when they're going to snap it, if they're gonna possibly
Speaker 1: have a motion before just you know, watching field and
Speaker 1: just picking out those bits and pieces I can use
Speaker 1: to time up listening up better. Do you have a
Speaker 1: favorite sack one? If we go one, I would say
Speaker 1: when I actually tied the record in Pittsburgh in twenty
Speaker 1: seventeen where I had three, So it was that third
Speaker 1: one when I obviously tied the record is my favorite one.
Speaker 1: Now what was that record for three in a game
Speaker 1: or three three in a game? It was I say
Speaker 1: Troy Polamalus on that list and Carneal Lakes on that
Speaker 1: list and myself. So just knowing Pittsburgh history and being
Speaker 1: up there with those guys, it's a great on. I
Speaker 1: have to find out what records you're gonna break. Here
Speaker 1: we're talking to Mike Hilton. You became a free agent.
Speaker 1: You signed a four year, twenty four million dollars deal
Speaker 1: with the Bengals. That's generational, changing wealth potentially. When you
Speaker 1: go from undrafted free agent who had been let go
Speaker 1: a couple of times to highly coveted free agent signing
Speaker 1: a big deal, is it a little bit overwhelming? I
Speaker 1: wouldn't say so, because I know how hard I've worded
Speaker 1: to get in this position from our early experiences being
Speaker 1: cut that kind of just got my mentality rolling, you know,
Speaker 1: being at home and seeing other guys who, honestly, I
Speaker 1: felt like I was bettering, you know, out there competing
Speaker 1: on Sundays. I didn't let it get me down. And
Speaker 1: you know, over the four years I was able to perform,
Speaker 1: and I'm ready to perform here and since it so
Speaker 1: since joining the Bengals, you have brought an accountability chart
Speaker 1: essentially to the defensive backs room. Tell us about that one.
Speaker 1: It's something I learned from the learning from Joe Hayden.
Speaker 1: So shout out Joe, our appreciation man. But you know,
Speaker 1: it's just something especially in the secondary, we're all about
Speaker 1: getting getting our hands on the ball, being in great
Speaker 1: coverage and just making plays. And when I brought it here,
Speaker 1: you know, guys really really embraced it because they know
Speaker 1: if we're doing these things correctly, it's going to pay
Speaker 1: off on Sunday. So I'm excited to see see how
Speaker 1: we fair Sunday. One of the categories is apparently loafs.
Speaker 1: You get punished for loafing, and as a defender of
Speaker 1: the worst thing you can do is loaf to the ball.
Speaker 1: If all other teen is running to the ball and
Speaker 1: you're that one that's have a jog and sticking out,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be seen. You're gonna get called out. So
Speaker 1: I kind of put that not just on the secondarybody
Speaker 1: as a defense, as a whole, like, we want to
Speaker 1: be fast, we want to be physical, and we can't
Speaker 1: have no loafs. All right, let's get to some wildcard
Speaker 1: categories for Mike Hilton. Who is your all time favorite
Speaker 1: athlete in any sport? Any sport? Man? I have to
Speaker 1: go with the King, Lebron James Man. He's the goat.
Speaker 1: He's the best to ever do it. And I'm kind
Speaker 1: of saying his career slowly coming to an end, but
Speaker 1: you know, I've enjoyed watching him my whole lifetime. Have
Speaker 1: the other chance to meet him, I haven't, but you know,
Speaker 1: hopefully one day, whether he's still playing or not, I
Speaker 1: have that opportunity. All right, what do you like to
Speaker 1: spend your money on? Oh? Man, we're getting personal. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna give a husband answer. I have a wife and
Speaker 1: a daughter, so all my money goes to them too,
Speaker 1: and you know, especially my daughter or whatever she wants,
Speaker 1: it's hard to say no. So really them too. How
Speaker 1: old is your daughter? And what's your favorite part about
Speaker 1: being a dad? She she turned to on the nineteen
Speaker 1: so she just turned to and favorite part just just
Speaker 1: seeing them grow up. You know, every day is like
Speaker 1: they learned something new, and you know, it just puts
Speaker 1: a smile on my face. And when every time I
Speaker 1: come home or first d daddy, daddy. So it's a
Speaker 1: great feeling. Now we're gonna get really deep. If you
Speaker 1: could meet anybody in history, athlete, entertainer, statesman, for whatever
Speaker 1: it might be, who would that person be? Hint anybody
Speaker 1: to meet, I would say Michael Jackson. It's kind of
Speaker 1: an old school answer. I like it. Yeah, man, I
Speaker 1: kind of got an old school So then you know,
Speaker 1: I've raised around a lot of older people, so that
Speaker 1: s what I know. Do you have any hidden talents?
Speaker 1: I don't. That's what we're gonna think about it. I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't play any instruments, can't see or nothing. So
Speaker 1: you know, God bless me. Play football. So that's what
Speaker 1: I'm doing. Last thing, is there anything that you are
Speaker 1: really bad at? Really bad it? I'll be honest, I'm
Speaker 1: not the best mathematician like easy math. Yes, but if
Speaker 1: we go in you know, equations, fractions, dancing, where things
Speaker 1: get a little hectic for me. As long as you
Speaker 1: know the value of a pick six, that's the only
Speaker 1: Matthew you need to know. Absolutely, this has been fun.
Speaker 1: I appreciate your time. Welcome to US Cincinnati investal luck
Speaker 1: this year. Thank you. I'm excited to be a next
Speaker 1: a baby faced kid who arguably had the best rookie
Speaker 1: season of any kicker in NFL history. Go for some
Speaker 1: fun facts with kicker Evan McPherson from Fort Payne, Alabama,
Speaker 1: population roughly fifteen thousand in the northeast part of the state.
Speaker 1: Describe Fort Payne and some of the things you like
Speaker 1: about your hometown. It's a small town where how I'll
Speaker 1: explain it is everybody kind of knows everybody. It was
Speaker 1: a lot of fun growing up. There not much going on,
Speaker 1: and so all you're all you had to really focus
Speaker 1: on was you know, your your sports and then uh
Speaker 1: and then really church was a big thing in our
Speaker 1: community too, and so you go church on Sunday and
Speaker 1: then pretty much sports, um, every day of the week. Um.
Speaker 1: But small town feel, um. You know, there's only one
Speaker 1: school really in the city. And so everybody goes to
Speaker 1: that one school and um, you pretty much know almost
Speaker 1: everybody in the in the city. Sounds like Lakewood, New York,
Speaker 1: where I grew up. Fort Payne is the home of
Speaker 1: the band Alabama, one of the biggest selling country music
Speaker 1: bands of all time. In fact, there is a museum
Speaker 1: dedicated to the band in Fort Payne. Are you a
Speaker 1: country music guy and have you ever gone into the museum? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm one hundred percent a country music guy. If you
Speaker 1: were to get in my car with me right now,
Speaker 1: that's what would be on the radio. Um. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: just grew up listening to it. Um, you know, being
Speaker 1: for Fort paynees. Like you said, it's probably a big
Speaker 1: part of our culture with the band Alabama being from
Speaker 1: Fort Payne, and it's super cool just to um, you know,
Speaker 1: I have them represent FOURT Payne in a great way
Speaker 1: and you know, on the national country music stage. But
Speaker 1: I've never been in the museum. I drive past it
Speaker 1: every single day, but I've never actually been in it.
Speaker 1: Something to look forward to on your next visit home.
Speaker 1: We are chatting with Evan McPherson. You're from a family
Speaker 1: of kickers. Your older brother was a college punter. Your
Speaker 1: younger brother is headed to Auburn. He's considered to be
Speaker 1: the top high school kicker in the country. How did
Speaker 1: the McPherson boys become such good kickers? I mean, I
Speaker 1: think it just comes down to us just playing a
Speaker 1: lot of sports grown up, and the main one being soccer.
Speaker 1: You know, we were out in the yard every day
Speaker 1: shooting at a goal, just kind of working on our
Speaker 1: legs strength then even though we didn't really realize how
Speaker 1: we were going to use it, you know later down
Speaker 1: the road. I think it just all started. You go,
Speaker 1: playing soccer to young age and just continuing to play
Speaker 1: it as we grew up. And then you know, when
Speaker 1: my older brother got in the ninth grade, he went
Speaker 1: out and tried out and just saw the kicker at
Speaker 1: the time at the other field, at the other end
Speaker 1: of the field kicking and he thought it was pretty cool,
Speaker 1: and so he just went over and tried it out,
Speaker 1: came home and told the family that he was going
Speaker 1: to be the kicker, and he kind of went from there.
Speaker 1: I mean, I probably went outside that day and I
Speaker 1: was like, I've never seen this before, and I probably
Speaker 1: went out and tried it, and you know, the rest
Speaker 1: is history. I mean ever since then, we turned our
Speaker 1: soccer goal into uprights, and so that's kind of how
Speaker 1: it's been since since then. I am the least handy
Speaker 1: person in the world. I can barely change a light bulb.
Speaker 1: How did you guys turn a soccer goal into basically
Speaker 1: a makeshift goal post. Yeah, so we just had some
Speaker 1: extra PVC pie laying around the house or around the
Speaker 1: garage or something, and then we just grabbed him. UM
Speaker 1: took some bungee cord and wrapped it tied around the
Speaker 1: soccer goal post, and UM just tied it to the
Speaker 1: soccer goal and that's kind of how we made it work.
Speaker 1: Described the history of the high school state record for
Speaker 1: longest field goal in Alabama, because it seems like it's
Speaker 1: gone from brother to brother to brother. It has UM.
Speaker 1: I know, when my older brother was in in high school,
Speaker 1: I think the record might have been fifty six fifty six,
Speaker 1: and for him to get the fifty seven was huge
Speaker 1: at the time. You know, we're all excited for him,
Speaker 1: and you know, it's really cool to have your name
Speaker 1: in a record book, especially for for it to be
Speaker 1: for the longest field goal UM in state history. And
Speaker 1: so you know, after you hit that, obviously, then my
Speaker 1: goal is to beat him. And you know, I really
Speaker 1: got fortunate with you know, my coach give me the
Speaker 1: opportunity to attempt long ones, and my senior year, I
Speaker 1: broke his record, said it with a sixty yard field goal.
Speaker 1: And then obviously from there, my little brother now his
Speaker 1: goal is to break my record. And he's had so
Speaker 1: many attempts over the course of his career. I mean,
Speaker 1: his coaches out there letting him attempt seventy yard field goals,
Speaker 1: which is which is pretty crazy. And he almost made
Speaker 1: the seven yard field goal he attempted, but he came
Speaker 1: up a little short. And then last week he hits
Speaker 1: a sixty one yard field goal in the first quarter,
Speaker 1: but his teammate false starts, so back him up to
Speaker 1: sixty six, came up short, and then later in the
Speaker 1: game he came back and hit another sixty one with
Speaker 1: no false start. And so he broke my record last
Speaker 1: last week, and so took my name out of the
Speaker 1: record book, but same last name. And you know, I'm
Speaker 1: super super excited for him, and you know, it just
Speaker 1: shows it as a good coach. So that's awesome. We're
Speaker 1: doing fun facts with Havan McPherson kicker's dream of walk
Speaker 1: off kicks that win games. But your first walkoff moment
Speaker 1: in sports was actually in soccer state championship. You're a
Speaker 1: ninth grader. Tell me about the game winning goal and
Speaker 1: what that moment meant to you. And that moment was
Speaker 1: super special. We had five freshman starting on that team
Speaker 1: and just growing up with those those guys and playing
Speaker 1: with them ever since we were probably seven years old.
Speaker 1: It was just super special to to honestly win a
Speaker 1: state championship with the team, but and then on top
Speaker 1: of that, to score the game winning goal. It was
Speaker 1: super special, a lot of fun. I mean, I gotta
Speaker 1: give credit where credits to do. I mean, my teammates
Speaker 1: did a great job putting me in the position to
Speaker 1: score that goal. I had a great pass and all
Speaker 1: I had to do is kind of go put my
Speaker 1: head on it and flip it over the goal. But yeah,
Speaker 1: that was such a special moment for me and I
Speaker 1: guess for my sports career. People can watch the video
Speaker 1: on YouTube, and I recommend listening to the commentators as well.
Speaker 1: They got very excited about that double overtime state championship
Speaker 1: winning goal. We're talking to Vin McPherson, when it came
Speaker 1: time to go to college, you chose to leave the
Speaker 1: state of Alabama and become a Florida Gator. Why. You know,
Speaker 1: I really trusted in everything that coach Mullen was doing.
Speaker 1: You know, I was committed to Mississippi State for over
Speaker 1: a year, and that just kind of came down to
Speaker 1: I mean, one, I really enjoyed Startville. I'll talk a
Speaker 1: little bit about Mississippi State, but I really liked Starvilling,
Speaker 1: the town that it was in, and but too like
Speaker 1: the coaching staff, the strength staff. You know, I really
Speaker 1: blended well with those guys and really liked what they
Speaker 1: were doing, and I felt really confident in them, and
Speaker 1: you know they felt confident in me. And so that's
Speaker 1: really why I decide to go there. And then whenever
Speaker 1: coach Mullen got the job at Florida, he calls me
Speaker 1: the day landed and offered me a scholarship there. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, I sat there and thought about it for
Speaker 1: a couple of days, and then I was like, you know, um,
Speaker 1: where my heart lies was kind of with the coaching
Speaker 1: staff that went to Florida, and you know, I really
Speaker 1: wanted to play in big games, and I thought, um
Speaker 1: that Florida would give me the opportunity to play in
Speaker 1: a lot bigger games than if I had gone to
Speaker 1: Mississippi State. And you know, that's what it kind of
Speaker 1: came down to. And you know, I felt, I guess
Speaker 1: a little more comfortable at Florida just because I had
Speaker 1: that that bond with the whole the whole staff that
Speaker 1: was down there. You had a great career for Florida,
Speaker 1: and then the Bengal selected you in the fifth round
Speaker 1: of the draft, the only kicker selected in this year's draft.
Speaker 1: Describe your draft day experience. Draft day was was awesome.
Speaker 1: We had some people get together at the house to
Speaker 1: watch because I had a pretty good idea that I
Speaker 1: was going to get drafted, and you know, I was
Speaker 1: hoping I would just didn't know where. It's kind of
Speaker 1: a mystery. And the whole day it was pretty special.
Speaker 1: I mean, we had this Mexican restaurant in town where
Speaker 1: I pretty much called my second home. I'm there whenever
Speaker 1: I'm back home, I'm there all the time. And you know,
Speaker 1: they were kind enough to to cater food to the
Speaker 1: house for everybody that was there, and I think, shoot,
Speaker 1: we probably started sitting around the TV, probably fourth round
Speaker 1: and just sitting around, sitting around the TV, just sitting
Speaker 1: there with all my friends and family that I've all
Speaker 1: supported me throughout my career was super special. And then
Speaker 1: you know, the fifth round, whenever it came around and
Speaker 1: I got the phone call, whole place kind of erupted
Speaker 1: and a super special moment for me. Um. Obviously my
Speaker 1: fiance sitting a round by my side, and she's been
Speaker 1: with me since my freshman year of high school, and
Speaker 1: so she's she's watched me grow and help me grow,
Speaker 1: you know, into what I am today, And it was
Speaker 1: honestly just a super special moment for everyone involved. Your
Speaker 1: NFL career began with a bang as you kicked an
Speaker 1: overtime game winning field goal to beat the Minnesota Vikings
Speaker 1: at Paul Brown Stadium. Who was the most nervous you,
Speaker 1: your parents or your fiance. I would probably say my
Speaker 1: parents are a fiance for sure. I can't tell you
Speaker 1: which one was probably more nervous, But I think I
Speaker 1: was super confident in myself, so once I was really
Speaker 1: nervous at all, I know they panned over to me
Speaker 1: after they called the time out, and I was kind
Speaker 1: of smiling. You know, I'm all super confident and my
Speaker 1: abilities to make that kick. It's a pat in my
Speaker 1: mind and on you. I was gonna do everything in
Speaker 1: my power to put it through. You had a walkoff
Speaker 1: game winner in your first home game, a walkoff game
Speaker 1: winner in your second home game, and you thought you
Speaker 1: had a walkoff game winner in your third home game
Speaker 1: for a gust of wind led to a miss against
Speaker 1: Green Bay. Do you cringe when you see footage of
Speaker 1: the postgame celebration. I don't think I cringe. I laugh
Speaker 1: more than everything, because you know, you can't really do
Speaker 1: anything about it now. It's it's it's in the past,
Speaker 1: and so I kind of it's honestly more funny than
Speaker 1: it is cringey to me, just based off of what
Speaker 1: I felt in the moment. Thought it hit it well,
Speaker 1: and I thought it was just gonna stay its course
Speaker 1: and you know, split the uprights, but the wind had
Speaker 1: different plants, and so that's definitely something I learned from.
Speaker 1: And I don't think you'll see me celebrate early on
Speaker 1: a field goal again. I do think we will be
Speaker 1: seeing you celebrate game winning field goals again, though, that's
Speaker 1: for sure. A few wildcard categories. To wrap up fun
Speaker 1: Facts with Evan McPherson. You have a very youthful appearance.
Speaker 1: Do you have any amusing stories about people not buying
Speaker 1: that you are a professional football player? I got a couple,
Speaker 1: I guess too. Um, since I've been here, it's funny because, um,
Speaker 1: outside the facility, UM, Kevin Hubert, he's really you know,
Speaker 1: taking me under his wing and you know, we'll go
Speaker 1: golf a little. Or we went to the Friday night
Speaker 1: you UC game and at the golf course, Um, we
Speaker 1: were checking in getting our golf cart, and the guy
Speaker 1: that was checking us in was like, UM, what he's like,
Speaker 1: is this your son or something? And he's like he's
Speaker 1: like no, he's just a guest. He's with me, all right.
Speaker 1: That was my first experience hearing somebody say something like
Speaker 1: that about me and Kevin. And then at the UC game,
Speaker 1: the Friday night UC game, we go down and um,
Speaker 1: we're talking to Kevin's X neighbor and she asked about
Speaker 1: it was Kevin's nephew. Kevin was like, no, we're He
Speaker 1: was like no, we're co workers. And so we go
Speaker 1: on talking whatever, and she didn't believe it. Ever, he
Speaker 1: said it and so Kevin's other friends knew who I
Speaker 1: was and you as a kicker, and later on she
Speaker 1: was like, so who are you really? Still wasn't still
Speaker 1: wasn't buying it, and his other friends were like, he's
Speaker 1: the kicker for the Bengals. And she's like what. She's like,
Speaker 1: I don't believe you. She's like, you looked like you're seventeen.
Speaker 1: Like yeah, I mean he looked like I'm seventeen, but
Speaker 1: I'm twenty two. And then the last one I'll give
Speaker 1: you it was when we were at Detroit and I'll
Speaker 1: walk out of the out of the locker room and
Speaker 1: the security lady is sating right there and she's like,
Speaker 1: do you have credentials? And I'm like, no, I'm a player,
Speaker 1: she said. She said nah. She's like, I don't believe you.
Speaker 1: I need to see credentials. And I was like, well,
Speaker 1: I'm a picture on myself. I could show you because
Speaker 1: I had my phone, and so I'll show her a picture.
Speaker 1: He's like that's not enough, like I need to see credentials.
Speaker 1: And luckily at that time Al Golden was walking out
Speaker 1: and the lady said, hey, sirs, is he a player?
Speaker 1: And he's like yeah, and so she'll let me go.
Speaker 1: And finally got onto the field, and what it was funny?
Speaker 1: And when I got to the field, they were giving
Speaker 1: me a hard time. They wouldn't let me onto the field.
Speaker 1: So those just a couple of instances. But um, you know, hopefully,
Speaker 1: like you said, we'll be celebrating a lot of more
Speaker 1: game winners and maybe people start to recognize me a
Speaker 1: little more. Trust me, someday you'll be very happy you
Speaker 1: have this youthful appearance. Who is your all time favorite
Speaker 1: athlete in any sport? So I grew up really liking
Speaker 1: it's gonna be funny Tom Brady. I was a Patriots
Speaker 1: fan growing up. I really liked how he competed and
Speaker 1: what he brought to the team and obviously how much
Speaker 1: he won. And so he's probably one of my favorite
Speaker 1: athletes growing up. But um, other than him, a wild
Speaker 1: card that nobody really think of. His name is Ronald
Speaker 1: Dino and he played for Barcelona AC Milan and I
Speaker 1: appreciate you played for Brazil national team. He was my
Speaker 1: favorite soccer player, I'd say, and whenever I was growing
Speaker 1: up playing soccer, he was the guy that I really
Speaker 1: looked at to I guess you could say, emulate last thing.
Speaker 1: If you could meet anybody in history, athlete, actor, statesman,
Speaker 1: historical figure, whoever that might be, who would be at
Speaker 1: the top of your list. Probably God. I think that
Speaker 1: would be pretty cool. You can ask about that gust
Speaker 1: of wind. Yeah, I'll ask him what was up with
Speaker 1: that gust of wind against Green Bay? Because I was like,
Speaker 1: I knew what my mind and what my body was
Speaker 1: telling which way the wind was blown. But I was like,
Speaker 1: I guess he had a different, different plan. So I'll
Speaker 1: definitely ask him about that. This has been great. I
Speaker 1: really appreciate your time. Congratulations on a great start and
Speaker 1: best of like this year. Thank you. Before we get
Speaker 1: to our next fun facts interview, here's a reminder that
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth podcast just presented by Ultimate Bengals, the
Speaker 1: free to play fantasy football game. This past season, Ultimate
Speaker 1: Bengals awarded a weekly winner during the course of the
Speaker 1: year with tickets, autographed merchandise, and money can't buy experiences
Speaker 1: all up for grabs. Find Ultimate Bengals in the app
Speaker 1: Store and Google Play. Up next, the man who made
Speaker 1: the term glass eaters famous. This offseason, time for some
Speaker 1: fun facts with offensive line coach Frank Pollock born in
Speaker 1: Camp Springs, Maryland, near Washington, DC, before attending high school
Speaker 1: in Phoenix, Arizona. Frank, where did you spend the bulk
Speaker 1: of your childhood and what did you like to do
Speaker 1: as a kid? A group in Phoenix. I moved out
Speaker 1: there when I was two. My parents were in the
Speaker 1: Navy and when they met and got married and had
Speaker 1: me and we moved out to Phoenix. So our group
Speaker 1: Phoenix seventies and eighties and love sports, love football right
Speaker 1: from the get go, and just did all the sports
Speaker 1: growing up as a kid, like probably every other kid,
Speaker 1: and just blast. I always assume and maybe it's stereotypical
Speaker 1: that the child of military parents has a very disciplined
Speaker 1: life as a kid. Was that the case for you? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't say they were military parents because they got
Speaker 1: out like right after I was born, within two years,
Speaker 1: because then my younger sister was born in the same
Speaker 1: DC area and then we left, so I know, we
Speaker 1: really remember my dad ever being in the military. I
Speaker 1: was like two, so but yeah, I mean I was disciplined.
Speaker 1: My dad grew up in Cleveland and then went to
Speaker 1: Benedict in high school and so kind of a you know,
Speaker 1: midwestern upbringing out there in the West Coast. You know,
Speaker 1: discipline was big in our house, and you know, so
Speaker 1: he kept me in line off every got a little squirrelly.
Speaker 1: We're doing fun facts with Frank Pollock. You're a big man.
Speaker 1: You're a former NFL offensive lineman. Were you always the
Speaker 1: big kid in the neighborhood? No, Actually, I was a
Speaker 1: late bloomer. I was decent sized young with then by
Speaker 1: the time I got the high school, everyone was taller,
Speaker 1: bigger than me. It's funny to see someone my high
Speaker 1: school JV team pictures and some of my good buddies
Speaker 1: that they were all taller and bigger than me, and
Speaker 1: now I tower over them. So I was a late
Speaker 1: bloomer and grew a ton right before my senior year
Speaker 1: and then obviously throughout college. When it came time for college,
Speaker 1: he became a lumberjack at Northern Arizona University y NAU.
Speaker 1: It was the only scholarship offer I had outside of
Speaker 1: a couple of local junior colleges, so I took it
Speaker 1: and ran with it. Northern Arizona has a remarkable record
Speaker 1: of sending coaches to the NFL. Who did you overlap
Speaker 1: with as a player and then as a young assistant coach. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I was very fortunate to be coached by some incredible
Speaker 1: coaches early on in college. Are my office a line
Speaker 1: coach my sophomore junior years was Bill Callahan and then
Speaker 1: before him, actually for one year really my true sophomore year,
Speaker 1: I had a late redshirt hardship there, but was Andy
Speaker 1: Reid was my line coach before coach Callahan came in.
Speaker 1: And then the see for most of those years. Four
Speaker 1: out of the five was Brad childress Um Marty morney
Speaker 1: Wig was a young GA running back coach on that staff.
Speaker 1: Steve Hagen, who coached a long time in the league
Speaker 1: tight ends and receivers, was our was our receivers coach. Um.
Speaker 1: I was very fortunate. And then uh, they had a
Speaker 1: few good coaches kind of came in after me when
Speaker 1: I had left on a different staff. And actually Brad
Speaker 1: Craigthorpe's dad was on that staff. Uh, the younger Zampez
Speaker 1: Ken Zampez was on that staff. I'm drawing a blank.
Speaker 1: The head coach Carl Darelle at Colorado was on that staff.
Speaker 1: All these young guys that have gone and have great career,
Speaker 1: so um and hes had a lot. Mike Shanahan coach
Speaker 1: there early in his career. Um, I'm drawing a blank.
Speaker 1: Now I'm the old New England old line coach's Karnekia
Speaker 1: He's he coached there early in his career. So it's
Speaker 1: kind of one of those unique, weird places. I always
Speaker 1: call it the cradle to coaches on the West coast.
Speaker 1: I know Miami of Ohio's got that title on the
Speaker 1: east the Mississippi. I'm I'm gonna claim it on the
Speaker 1: West Mississippi rightfully. So we're visiting the Frank Pollock. You
Speaker 1: mentioned Bill Callaghan, who is the brother the dad I
Speaker 1: should say of offensive coordinator Brian Callahan. He was Zach
Speaker 1: Taylor's head coach at Nebraska. He is a big reason
Speaker 1: why you became a coach. Correct, Yeah, he's He's He's
Speaker 1: been huge impact on my life from a player in coaching.
Speaker 1: I'm a member writing him a letter when I was
Speaker 1: playing that I wanted to come in GA for him
Speaker 1: at Wisconsin and then and he wrote me back a
Speaker 1: nice letter saying that love to have you GA for me.
Speaker 1: In fact, I saved that letter and years later when
Speaker 1: I ended up coaching with him form in Dallas as
Speaker 1: his assistant. I showed him that letter. He was flabbergast
Speaker 1: that I still kept it. So he's been huge for me.
Speaker 1: Learned a ton and still learning a ton from him.
Speaker 1: He's been been very fortunate in that regards. He learned
Speaker 1: a degree in advertising. If you didn't get into coaching,
Speaker 1: is that what you would have done? No, it was
Speaker 1: the classic. I didn't want to I didn't want to
Speaker 1: go down to the pe route. I wanted something a
Speaker 1: little bit different. So I just decided advertising didn't have
Speaker 1: a lot of math in it, like, yeah, I'll do that.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I kind of always knew I wanted to coach.
Speaker 1: I tried to stay away from it later in my
Speaker 1: life and then got back into it. That's where my
Speaker 1: badgion is. After being named an All American in Northern Arizona,
Speaker 1: you were a sixth round draft pick by the forty
Speaker 1: nine ers in nineteen ninety. Describe your draft experience. It
Speaker 1: was funny you ask. It was a little different than
Speaker 1: how they do things now, but it was kind of
Speaker 1: a drawn out process over three days, and in fact,
Speaker 1: it went like Saturday, Sunday, and Monday was kind of
Speaker 1: like the last day. So my agent at the time
Speaker 1: in Phoenix had a you know, a big to do
Speaker 1: party and whatnot during the first day of the draft,
Speaker 1: and he had a bunch of you know, high first
Speaker 1: round draft guys. I knew I clearly was not going
Speaker 1: to be taken that day, but just enjoyed the festivities.
Speaker 1: But I was under the impression that maybe the next
Speaker 1: day I might go. And then I didn't get any information,
Speaker 1: and so I had to get up early on Monday
Speaker 1: morning go to his office. He was a little kid
Speaker 1: in Phoenix, and I was just a wreck. I mean,
Speaker 1: we're getting into the later rounds. The sixth rounds gone,
Speaker 1: the seventh rounds gone. This is about me. Had twelve rounds.
Speaker 1: We're in like the ninth and tenth round. My agents
Speaker 1: calling around teams. He calls the Washington Redskins and hits
Speaker 1: up Charlie Castle. I guess he showed interest in me
Speaker 1: pre draft draft and he goes, what do you mean
Speaker 1: the Niners took him way back in the sixth round.
Speaker 1: And he goes, what, they haven't even called him. And
Speaker 1: he tells me that. I go, I'm not believing I
Speaker 1: get a phone call. So he calls the Niners and
Speaker 1: he said, yeah, yeah, we're gonna call him. We were
Speaker 1: just we just worked out a draft a trade, and
Speaker 1: we haven't a chance to call him yet. So that's
Speaker 1: sums up in a nutshell. It's like, you know, there's
Speaker 1: some sixth round old line guy. We'll get back. We'll
Speaker 1: get to him whenever we can get to him. So
Speaker 1: that was kind of my draft experience, but nonetheless I
Speaker 1: got my foot in the door. That might be the
Speaker 1: greatest example of how the draft has changed that I
Speaker 1: have ever heard. You were an NFL player for nine years,
Speaker 1: seven in San Franz, two in Denver. You won a
Speaker 1: Super Bowl ring with the ninety four San Francisco forty
Speaker 1: nine Ers when they beat the Chargers. What do you
Speaker 1: cherish the most about your experience as an NFL player?
Speaker 1: The great teammates, the camaraderie with all my teammates. I
Speaker 1: told the guys all the time, that's what you're gonna miss.
Speaker 1: Number one, the great experiences and that we had. We
Speaker 1: wanted a lot of football games. Loved my experiences with
Speaker 1: all the different coaches that came through the Niners years
Speaker 1: that I was there and in Denver, and then just
Speaker 1: just those great experiences and being part of being able
Speaker 1: to you know, play pro football. This is a dream
Speaker 1: come true. And being able to be on such a
Speaker 1: great winning organization again a championship there with the Niners
Speaker 1: was tremendous. Something always uh, we're relish, we're doing fun
Speaker 1: facts with Frank Pollock. The list of Hall of Fame
Speaker 1: players that were your teammates is remarkable. I'm going to
Speaker 1: name a few and I would like you to just
Speaker 1: share a memory or a description, whatever comes to mind.
Speaker 1: Joe Montana prankster. First thing it comes to my training camp,
Speaker 1: you'd take guys bikes and throw them up into the trees.
Speaker 1: He had at Rockland Community Sieri Community College in rock And, California,
Speaker 1: because he didn't have to stay in late meetings. He
Speaker 1: knew the skiss system so kind of an old veteran.
Speaker 1: They led him out of the meetings early and you'd
Speaker 1: find it was on the campus as like. He'd ride
Speaker 1: bikes to the meetings back to the dorms and he
Speaker 1: would put guys bikes in the trees. Great guy loved
Speaker 1: to go out with the old line especially and take
Speaker 1: him out, treat him out for some drinks and dinners.
Speaker 1: And it was a lot of fun. Great guy. Did
Speaker 1: he prank you, No, he never pranked me, but he
Speaker 1: did save me from getting just abused as a rookie
Speaker 1: from Charles Haley. But he was a guy was constantly
Speaker 1: liked to pick on rookies. One day in the locker room,
Speaker 1: we would sign his autograph footballs in front of the
Speaker 1: equipment room every day. It was part of our deal.
Speaker 1: And then Charles Haley sees me over there, so he's
Speaker 1: just you know, taking his ribbings, getting his opportunities at
Speaker 1: me as a rookie. And Joe lockers right there and
Speaker 1: he said, hey, hey, Charles, leave him alone. And then
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, this is a great guy. And
Speaker 1: so Charles never messed me again because Joe told him
Speaker 1: not to mess with the man. It's like, okay, I'll
Speaker 1: take it. I have newfound respect for Joe. Montana. John Elway.
Speaker 1: John el was another guy loved hanging out with the
Speaker 1: old line. Good time guy loves loves to hang out
Speaker 1: with the fellows. He was rehabbing his shoulder hit an
Speaker 1: injury and then I was on an ir with the
Speaker 1: back surgery that year, so at some point doing rehab
Speaker 1: together like they have you off to the side. He
Speaker 1: was gonna start throwing some balls, So they asked if
Speaker 1: I would just go stand over there and he's gonna
Speaker 1: throw these deep out routes to him. I just had
Speaker 1: to stand there. Oh my god. I mean he must
Speaker 1: have been like thirty forty yards away, and how hard
Speaker 1: he through. My hands were hurting in red and hurt afterwards.
Speaker 1: I mean, I was just trying to protect my face
Speaker 1: from not getting just I mean, it is ridiculous how
Speaker 1: hard that guy throws. That was like, like, wow, it's impressible.
Speaker 1: They talk about the elway cross, the point on the
Speaker 1: end of the football where you've got the scenes that
Speaker 1: come together, and how he used to leave an indentation
Speaker 1: of that cross on guy's chest and stuff that's legit
Speaker 1: because he zipped the ball in there. Man, it was crazy.
Speaker 1: Jerry Rice, unbelievable work ethic. I shared stuff like this
Speaker 1: with my guys all the time. This guy was so talented,
Speaker 1: but you were never ever going to outwork him. He
Speaker 1: was just my niacole over it. Just relentless prepractice, post practice.
Speaker 1: It was it got He's just an animal. On how
Speaker 1: he would work out in his conditioning, his work ethic
Speaker 1: was unbelievable. Unbelievable. Ronnie Lott. Ronnie Lott is one of
Speaker 1: my most favorite individuals. I got the utmost respect for
Speaker 1: that guy for how he was on the field and
Speaker 1: in the locker room, but him afterwards, years later before
Speaker 1: I got on the coach and I got to do
Speaker 1: some business stuff with him and got to learn just
Speaker 1: get to know him little bit better. Such a class
Speaker 1: to act and just a man, a man's man, a gentleman.
Speaker 1: He does a lot for the community with his all
Speaker 1: star helping kids charity. He's genuine, he's He taught me
Speaker 1: as an early player leadership from the locker room and
Speaker 1: chemistry matters more than anything on a football team. I
Speaker 1: played with him for two years and when he left
Speaker 1: to the Raiders, we had a slow start the next
Speaker 1: year and we had a team only players meeting and
Speaker 1: I'm a young guy. I'm as when they're listening, and
Speaker 1: all the old guys our leaderships then got up in
Speaker 1: every one of them to a man reference where Ronnie
Speaker 1: would say this, Ronnie would do that. He wasn't on
Speaker 1: our team anymore. I'm like, when I coach someday, never
Speaker 1: forget that. So it's all about leadership got come from
Speaker 1: the players, and chemistry matters more than anything. Line one,
Speaker 1: culture matters. Gan Sanders he was. He came in with
Speaker 1: all the hype right primetime. You're like, what's this guy
Speaker 1: gonna be like? You know? And then when he came in,
Speaker 1: he was just like one of the guys that all
Speaker 1: that was just his persona off the field to get
Speaker 1: himself endorsements. He was just a regular guy, worked his
Speaker 1: butt off. His work ethic was right up there with
Speaker 1: the rest of the fellas and how we ran things there,
Speaker 1: and his talent and speed were incredible. We had a
Speaker 1: pretty good player. Dexter Carter was our kick returner, first
Speaker 1: round draft pick out of Florida State, same year as me.
Speaker 1: Fast and he was good. And then Dion got there,
Speaker 1: well he's gonna start returning kicks, and then you could
Speaker 1: literally see the difference of speed and I'm like, oh
Speaker 1: my god, That's when I ever realized how fast he was,
Speaker 1: and some of these players in this league was We
Speaker 1: could literally see the difference where Dexter Carter is not slow,
Speaker 1: he's fast, and you're like, holy cow, up close and
Speaker 1: seeing that, and he would lay out his whole uniform,
Speaker 1: pregame ritual, his shoes, his socks, like it was like
Speaker 1: one of them chalk lines of a dead body. His pants,
Speaker 1: his band dans, his sweet towels, all that laid out,
Speaker 1: his wrist bands on his elbows and wrist whatever it was,
Speaker 1: his gloves, his helmet, That's how he would he would
Speaker 1: lay it out and he would walk around the locker
Speaker 1: room and dollars signed boxer shorts to get getting ready
Speaker 1: for a game. And it was kind of like where
Speaker 1: I learned. Also, is like every players got their own
Speaker 1: unique way to get themselves ready. They're all professionals. You
Speaker 1: just have their own unique way getting So I was
Speaker 1: ready to play a fantastic player. You don't do that
Speaker 1: with your clothes. Now, I don't. I don't have the
Speaker 1: physique or a skill set he had. I keep my
Speaker 1: IKEA clever it up there all right. A couple of
Speaker 1: wild card categories to wrap things up. Who is your
Speaker 1: all time favorite athlete in any sport? Jeez, that's a
Speaker 1: great question. I was a big Cowboy fan growing up,
Speaker 1: so I love twenty doors set Roger stall Back. We
Speaker 1: didn't have any professional sports teams set the Suns, so
Speaker 1: at the time that the Sons. Is a big Walter
Speaker 1: Davis fan, and then I was a Dodgers fan, so
Speaker 1: Dusty Baker was my favorite player growing up in the seventies.
Speaker 1: Those are really the guys I idolized at the time
Speaker 1: growing up as a kid. Do you have any hidden
Speaker 1: talents or off field interests that might surprise us? My
Speaker 1: wife would definitely say, I have no hidden talents whatsoever.
Speaker 1: I'm worthless at home. I got I can't do anything,
Speaker 1: So I would say probably not, except I do like
Speaker 1: to golf a little bit on my time off in
Speaker 1: the summer. But I'm horrible, but I love it. It's
Speaker 1: fun to get outside and a beautiful setting on a
Speaker 1: golf course and drink and eat while you play. It's
Speaker 1: always fun to do that. If you're horrible but you
Speaker 1: love it, we'll play. We'd be a good match. Last thing.
Speaker 1: And this is kind of deep. If you could meet
Speaker 1: anybody in history, athlete, actor, statesman, politician, religious figure, whatever
Speaker 1: it might be, who would that person be. That's a
Speaker 1: great question, and I've always I have pondered that if
Speaker 1: I could go back in time, and I'd always want
Speaker 1: to go back in time to meet some of the
Speaker 1: legendary athletes and coaches. And then so with my position
Speaker 1: right now, I have to say Vince Lombardi and just
Speaker 1: pick his brain on his approach to the game and
Speaker 1: practice and just experience and meet a guy like him
Speaker 1: what he's done so much to the sport and person.
Speaker 1: But really anybody. I'm a real big sports historian, h
Speaker 1: I love that stuff. So I'd love to meet any
Speaker 1: of those guys. I mean, Babe Ruth, who would not
Speaker 1: want to go back in time and just just to
Speaker 1: be able to be around Babe Ruth. I mean, he
Speaker 1: was heard he's pretty fun too to be around. But
Speaker 1: Vincent Brie is the first guy that comes to mind.
Speaker 1: Just would love to pick his brain on everything that
Speaker 1: he'd done, And I can't. I'd be remiss if I
Speaker 1: didn't mention Paul Brown, all right, So he would. He's
Speaker 1: incredible how much he's invented for this game. Um, and
Speaker 1: since since I come to the Bengals and learn a
Speaker 1: little bit more about him, already knew some of the
Speaker 1: stuff that he's done and created invented. But he'd be
Speaker 1: another guy to be really cool. We have a I
Speaker 1: guess mister Brown upstairs has got a lot of his
Speaker 1: artifacts and memorabilia upstairs, and my first time I was here,
Speaker 1: I got to go check out some of that stuff.
Speaker 1: I know some of those things. I'm his writings are
Speaker 1: up there. I'd love to go up there one of
Speaker 1: these days in the off season and read some of
Speaker 1: his notes on plays and whatnot. This has been great.
Speaker 1: It's awesome to have you back on the Bengals coaching staff.
Speaker 1: Continued success and thanks for the time. Thank you very
Speaker 1: Much's awesome to beback. Appreciate it. My final favorite interview
Speaker 1: from this past season was with Bengals president Mike Brown.
Speaker 1: We sat down in his office shortly before the Bengals
Speaker 1: headed to Los Angeles for Super Bowl fifty six. Mike,
Speaker 1: football has been your life personally and professionally. Can you
Speaker 1: articulate what this Super Bowl trip means to you? What's
Speaker 1: very satisfying. Our team came together and we've had a
Speaker 1: string of amazingly close games. They were exciting. We prevailed
Speaker 1: in four of them, really to get to this point.
Speaker 1: Twice against Kansas City, the first one here and we
Speaker 1: had to win that one to win the division and
Speaker 1: get into the playoffs. And just as pleased as it's
Speaker 1: possible to be. If you're in my position, this is
Speaker 1: what your goal is in life. And here we are.
Speaker 1: We have a chance to win a big winning That
Speaker 1: would be great if we could pull it off. But
Speaker 1: it's an exciting time for me and for all the
Speaker 1: people here with the Bengals. At what point did you
Speaker 1: think that this team could be a contender. Well, Joe
Speaker 1: Burrow makes you think you can win any game that
Speaker 1: you go into, and we have amazing white outs. We've
Speaker 1: got three guys that are just tremendous. That gives us
Speaker 1: a live offense. These days in the NFL, the goal
Speaker 1: is to score thirty points or more. That's what you
Speaker 1: need to win it. You can even lose it that figure,
Speaker 1: but if you can get there with enough defense to
Speaker 1: go with it, you prevail. And we did Noise get there.
Speaker 1: We did Noise prevail. But as we went along, our
Speaker 1: confidence built because you could see we could play with anybody.
Speaker 1: And then we got to the point where we were
Speaker 1: winning these close games. And here we are. We'll see
Speaker 1: what happens next, but this is a good group of players,
Speaker 1: a good group of people, and they look forward to
Speaker 1: see what happens out in La Mike. When your father's
Speaker 1: Cleveland Browns are winning championships. His quarterback was Autogram, the
Speaker 1: Tom Brady of his era winning seven championships. Does Joe
Speaker 1: Burrow remind you of Autogram in any way they compete?
Speaker 1: They just performed best when the pressure is greatest. And
Speaker 1: remember having utter confidence and Auto grammart somehow, some way
Speaker 1: he would get us where we needed to go. And
Speaker 1: the same as true with Joe. Joe finds the way
Speaker 1: and the players believe in him here, just as the
Speaker 1: old Browns players believed in Otto. They thought that they
Speaker 1: were going to do it. They had confidence, and Otto
Speaker 1: was the one that instilled that, just as Joe does
Speaker 1: with our guys these days. I don't know if you've
Speaker 1: ever seen the movie Jerry McGuire, but there's a cheesy
Speaker 1: line in it where the female character says to Tom Cruise,
Speaker 1: the sports agent, you had me at hello when you
Speaker 1: met with Joe Burrow at the NFL scouting combine? Did
Speaker 1: he have you at hello? He was focused, and he
Speaker 1: wasn't very interested in small talk. Zach did some football
Speaker 1: discuss with him then and at another time as well,
Speaker 1: I think, and you perked up when you saw him,
Speaker 1: and how he conducted him, so he has a air
Speaker 1: about him that calls for respect. When he came here,
Speaker 1: he earned that. Everyone believes in him here. That's what
Speaker 1: you want from your quarterback. After clinching the AFC North,
Speaker 1: Zach Taylor gave you and your wife Nancy a game
Speaker 1: ball and said if he was working for a different owner,
Speaker 1: he probably would not have had a third year as
Speaker 1: the head coach. What did you see that gave you
Speaker 1: confidence that Zach ultimately would be successful. He's organized, he's
Speaker 1: a good person, He's knowledgeable about football. He was young
Speaker 1: and went through some things. But quite honestly, we were
Speaker 1: injured the year with Joe and the team was injured,
Speaker 1: and that was what set us back more than anything.
Speaker 1: But you could see the basic structure was what I
Speaker 1: hope for. He knows the passing game and that's where
Speaker 1: the NFL is these days, and he teams well with Joe.
Speaker 1: They both believe in each other. I never thought that
Speaker 1: there was any question that he was capable of doing this.
Speaker 1: So it's off to Super Bowl fifty six in Los Angeles.
Speaker 1: Do you typically attend the Super Bowl? I used to.
Speaker 1: I'm old now and so I don't. I have in
Speaker 1: recent years, had get together with a group of friends
Speaker 1: and we sit and watch and have a nice time
Speaker 1: at home. Here Katie has taken over. She goes to
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl. I've seen that stick and it's quite amazing.
Speaker 1: It's fun, but I've done it enough times that I'm
Speaker 1: ready to hand it off to Katie. I covered a
Speaker 1: Super Bowl years ago where Marv Levy, the Buffalo Bills coach,
Speaker 1: refused to pose for a picture with the Lombardi Trophy
Speaker 1: before the game. He thought it was bad luck. Have
Speaker 1: you ever held the Lombardi Trophy? No? Have you dreamed
Speaker 1: of that moment where the commissioner hands you the Lombardi
Speaker 1: Trophy after a Bengal Super Bowl win? Oh? I don't
Speaker 1: dream of such things. Yes, I know that's what you
Speaker 1: would like to have happened, But I don't have night
Speaker 1: thoughts along those slides. I didn't live here in nineteen
Speaker 1: eighty one or nineteen eighty eight, but Dave Lappham has
Speaker 1: dis gribe for me what the city was like when
Speaker 1: the Bengals were going to those two Super Bowls. What
Speaker 1: does it meant to you to see the city of
Speaker 1: Cincinnati and this area gets so excited about this team.
Speaker 1: This is a wonderful moment for me. What our goal
Speaker 1: is beyond winning on the field. That's how you get
Speaker 1: to the next goal, which is to excite the city
Speaker 1: and get our supporters feeling happy about how it's going
Speaker 1: and enjoying it. Getting involved in the ways they do
Speaker 1: that for me is a real treat and enjoying that
Speaker 1: part of it as much as anything. Tyler Boyd recently
Speaker 1: described how much he appreciates you attending every practice, regardless
Speaker 1: of the weather, regardless of the circumstances. You are always there,
Speaker 1: and he went on to say he enjoys going over
Speaker 1: and as he put it, chopping it up with you,
Speaker 1: having brief conversations with you. What did those interactions with
Speaker 1: the mean to you. Well, as I've gotten older, I
Speaker 1: know our players less well. I watched them. Tyler's one
Speaker 1: I still get to talk to occasionally, and I appreciate
Speaker 1: the fact that he comes over and treats me as
Speaker 1: buddy if you will for a moment or two. It's fun.
Speaker 1: And once upon a time I knew all the guys
Speaker 1: I had. I signed them all every year I did that,
Speaker 1: and they were on a first name basis with me
Speaker 1: from those days. These days a lot of them want
Speaker 1: to call me mister Brown, and that's that puts me
Speaker 1: a notice of where I am in life. But it's
Speaker 1: fun to watch them. I have nothing that I would
Speaker 1: prefer to do more than sit and watch the team practice.
Speaker 1: They're remarkable athletes. Enjoy the passing game. I enjoy watching
Speaker 1: the offensive line and the defensive line when they get together. Oh,
Speaker 1: it's just for me. What is the thing I like
Speaker 1: to do best? Some people rather play golf, some people
Speaker 1: rather collect stamps. I don't know that. This for me
Speaker 1: is all that and more, and it's what I want
Speaker 1: to do and I'm lucky to have it. You'd rather
Speaker 1: be on a golf cart next to the practice field
Speaker 1: than on a beach in Acapulco. Well, I'd rather be
Speaker 1: out with the players. I would. I don't have anything
Speaker 1: any desire and be to be an Alcapulco. But I
Speaker 1: believe I'm very happy with what my lot is. I
Speaker 1: feel fortunate, and the weather is the weather. I just
Speaker 1: accept that part of it. In some ways makes it
Speaker 1: more interesting because it presents challenges, and that's sort of
Speaker 1: fun to see how that can be handled. The NFL
Speaker 1: is big business, but it remains family business. In Cincinnati.
Speaker 1: You are experiencing this with your son, your daughter, your
Speaker 1: son in law, two of your granddaughters. Does that add
Speaker 1: to how meaningful this whole experience is? Oh, it was
Speaker 1: my goal to be able to do this. My father didn't.
Speaker 1: I've been involved with this as his assistant and then
Speaker 1: really for a while with him in his older days.
Speaker 1: I had a big role in it really that wasn't
Speaker 1: recognized outside of here. And now it's gone to where
Speaker 1: I ran it to where now I am passing it
Speaker 1: on to Katie and Paul and Troy and the girls
Speaker 1: Elizabeth and Caroline. They're smart, they work hard, they like it,
Speaker 1: and it's the point now where I have to learn
Speaker 1: to shut up more. What do you think your father
Speaker 1: would think of the twenty twenty one Cincinnati Bengals. He
Speaker 1: would have liked this team. This was his kind of team,
Speaker 1: and we're wide open. We get some remarkable plays on offense,
Speaker 1: we have a defense that is solid, we have a
Speaker 1: lot of pieces. Maybe we won't prevail every time out,
Speaker 1: but believe me, they'll know they had to go and
Speaker 1: this team can play with anybody. This was his dream
Speaker 1: fifty four years ago when he bought professional football to
Speaker 1: Cincinnati for the Bengals to be Super Bowl champions? Is
Speaker 1: that part of the motivation for you to realize his vision? Honestly,
Speaker 1: I don't think of it in those terms. I think
Speaker 1: of it as to what it means for the people here.
Speaker 1: That's what pleases me. I enjoy seeing them celebrate and
Speaker 1: have fun. One of the things that was just first
Speaker 1: straight for me. After the game in Kansas City where
Speaker 1: we won the way we did, I was out in
Speaker 1: the parking lot on the bus. I go with the
Speaker 1: players on the bus and I'm sitting there watching and
Speaker 1: they're interacting with their families and their children, And for me,
Speaker 1: that was about as good a time as I could have.
Speaker 1: I didn't do anything except watch to see them feeling
Speaker 1: good about themselves and how it had gone. That was
Speaker 1: what made me happy. Well, I share your happiness over
Speaker 1: the excitement of Bengals fans, but I'm really happy for
Speaker 1: you and I truly hope that we all get to
Speaker 1: see you holding that Lombardi Trophy after a Bean Super
Speaker 1: Bowl win over the Rams. Thank you so much for
Speaker 1: your time, Congratulations on this great season, best of luck
Speaker 1: on Super Bowl Sunday. Thanks Unfortunately, Mike didn't get to
Speaker 1: hold up the Lombardi Trophy this past February, but I
Speaker 1: think we all like his chances within the next few years.
Speaker 1: That's going to do it. For this episode of The
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth podcast, presented by Ultimate Bengals. Download Ultimate Bengals
Speaker 1: ahead of the twenty twenty two season. It's free to
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Speaker 1: rating or share a comment that helps more Bengals fans
Speaker 1: find us. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for listening to
Speaker 1: The Bengals boot Podcast.