Speaker 1: This is cut to It with Steve Smith Senior at
Speaker 1: production of The Black Effect and I Heart Radio. I'm
Speaker 1: Steve Smith Senior and I'm John and this is cut
Speaker 1: to it. Good do it, Good do it. They's getting
Speaker 1: down to do it. Good do it. We asked the
Speaker 1: questions you always want to know, but no one ever asked,
Speaker 1: let's cut to it. You ain't heard him about it,
Speaker 1: then we're about to let you know. It's all good.
Speaker 1: All right, We're gonna cut straight to it. So I
Speaker 1: was in the gym the other day, Steve, Okay, I'm
Speaker 1: doing excellent. I've been waiting for this one. And so
Speaker 1: I was in the gym the other day and five
Speaker 1: eight about a hundred seventy pounds of soaking with So
Speaker 1: I ain't the biggest guy, but I got a couple
Speaker 1: of muscles whatever, and so you can live. Yeah. So
Speaker 1: so it was a leg day on Sunday, and hold on,
Speaker 1: hold on what what we want? Let what you do? Legs?
Speaker 1: Yea with weight? You're doing with bands? Non do no bands? Ways? Right,
Speaker 1: So I thought you was trying to You thought you're
Speaker 1: trying to pour the apple bottoms. First off, you should
Speaker 1: never with a man talking about Apple bottoms that it
Speaker 1: was petr Apple Apple. I wish you would have discontinue
Speaker 1: both options anyway. So I'm working on legs with your bands,
Speaker 1: no with wights. Did you have ancho way? So I
Speaker 1: did not have on anko ways. I don't do none
Speaker 1: of this stuff y'all be doing. So who's the y'all?
Speaker 1: The people a the stable? Okay, okay, cool, alright, so alright,
Speaker 1: doing squad to doing leg press, all this stuff. So
Speaker 1: I went heavy. He's doing all the selfie shots, selfish shot.
Speaker 1: Let me tell my story. I apologize. I apologize. So
Speaker 1: I don't do that stuff for show. I don't post
Speaker 1: my workout. I don't do all that stuff. However, as
Speaker 1: I'm probably three quarters of the way through my workout,
Speaker 1: I see this guy who's probably don't know, five eleven,
Speaker 1: probably about two twenty something like that, and so he's
Speaker 1: doing all the show off the type workouts, right Like
Speaker 1: he's got the weighted vest and he's doing the pull
Speaker 1: ups and then inverts the dips on top of the
Speaker 1: smith machine. And then he's got um with a weighted vest,
Speaker 1: with a weighted vest, and he's doing push ups on
Speaker 1: top of the dumbbells to balance himself. And he's got
Speaker 1: a videographer with him. So I'm like, all right, this
Speaker 1: is just odd, right, Like, he ain't a trainer, he's
Speaker 1: not on staff, he's just here with a videographer. So
Speaker 1: I'm just like, all right, dude, just doing the most
Speaker 1: but whatever. So I'm finishing up my works. Not to
Speaker 1: my knowledge, but he's probably I'm just asking. He's probably
Speaker 1: early to mid forties maybe, yeah, So he's and then
Speaker 1: he's ripped up, like I I ain't gonna do this,
Speaker 1: he ripped up or whatever. So I was across machines
Speaker 1: from him. I was on the leg extension. I'm towards
Speaker 1: the end of my workout now, so I'm just trying
Speaker 1: to burn out. I'm trying to do lightweight how reps
Speaker 1: on lego Stensi'm just trying to burn out. And so
Speaker 1: he gets my attention. He's like, hey, you're gonna put
Speaker 1: some more weight on there, and I'm like, uh Na,
Speaker 1: said Brom, I'm doing how reps. I'm burning I'm about
Speaker 1: to get about here. Oh man, I'm just messing with you, bro,
Speaker 1: I'm just messing with you. I'm like, I'm gonna be offended.
Speaker 1: I'm just telling you, like, that's what my workout was.
Speaker 1: So he's on the bench pressed right, so it's videographers
Speaker 1: on the way and I see him. I think he
Speaker 1: put on maybe to sixty five weight on two plates
Speaker 1: and probably had two to sixty five And so he
Speaker 1: puts his legs on the bench so you know how
Speaker 1: you can do it. Oh, but it don't stop there.
Speaker 1: So he puts his he puts he still has the
Speaker 1: weight vest on. No, he took the weight vest on. Okay,
Speaker 1: so um, so his his videographers, you know, loading up
Speaker 1: like between sets because he had changed something out whatever,
Speaker 1: and so he puts his feet on the bench and
Speaker 1: then I'm thinking he's just like he's ripped up. So
Speaker 1: I'm thinking he's gonna he's gonna kill this whatever. Then
Speaker 1: I see him turn his grip and he goes underhand grip, underhand, underground,
Speaker 1: so he's underhand. So you know, typically your bench fresh
Speaker 1: like this underhand to sixty five legs up. I'm like,
Speaker 1: this ain't gonna work out. This is not gonna work.
Speaker 1: And guess what happened. It didn't work. So my man
Speaker 1: who's been doing the most with the videographer why he's
Speaker 1: filming goes underhand grip and his right hand. I don't
Speaker 1: know what happened all of a sudden, shoot Ah asked
Speaker 1: me what I did? Oh hell no, I ain't helping him.
Speaker 1: I'm watching him, my man say, telling somebody to help him.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't have said that, you know, I said that
Speaker 1: in my mind. I didn't say. You know what I said, Hey,
Speaker 1: my man, you matter one lighting up that way? So
Speaker 1: what actually what I did? I put the hoodie back
Speaker 1: over my head. I wouldn't locker room. I got my
Speaker 1: stuff and I dipped. You know what I wut to say?
Speaker 1: I walk past him stupid. Oh my bro, it costs you,
Speaker 1: Like my man jay Z said, it cost you nothing
Speaker 1: to pay me no more. You worried about what I
Speaker 1: got on my way? It was a brother too, Oh
Speaker 1: yeah it was man. He had on He had on
Speaker 1: the Hogan tank top that goes you know, around your aun.
Speaker 1: There's two sixty five fall straight on your pack, Like,
Speaker 1: come on, bro, you know all this, you're doing all this?
Speaker 1: They got a videographer, So did they help him? The videographer, Yeah,
Speaker 1: he put his camera down and up the mountain was
Speaker 1: like dangn But it wasn't me. I can tell you
Speaker 1: that now I would to stay and want because I'm like, Bro,
Speaker 1: you like you over here worried about everybody else flavor
Speaker 1: that cool aid, and you ain't worried about you know.
Speaker 1: Here's what it is. He worried about your flavor of
Speaker 1: the kool aid and he out here drinking crystal like that.
Speaker 1: What happened at two six five? So my man, I
Speaker 1: have no idea first time Sam, have no idea who
Speaker 1: he was. But that was tragic. Bro, I'm sorry. Oh
Speaker 1: be did in RiPP his peck? Hope he didn't do
Speaker 1: anything like that. But the moral of this story is
Speaker 1: it pays to mind your business. Man your weight, son
Speaker 1: man weight. Who we got coming up on the Cut
Speaker 1: to A podcast. We've got Mike Garafolo. He's got over
Speaker 1: twenty years experience covering the NFL, works for the NFL Network,
Speaker 1: and the native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Mike garre Folo on
Speaker 1: the Cut to It podcast, get iced up Smithy's versions
Speaker 1: of icebreakers. And you know him well enough that you
Speaker 1: don't know what this man may throw at you. So
Speaker 1: there may or may not be a follow up, just
Speaker 1: depends on what he has Smitty, go ahead, give him first.
Speaker 1: All right, this is an easy one. It's all about
Speaker 1: Mike Gara, Folo. So if you fail the test, you
Speaker 1: failed yourself. I'm ready. All right. What was your first
Speaker 1: car you drove? Uh? I think it was you know
Speaker 1: or think? Why are you well? Because my mom had
Speaker 1: two cars and I'm trying, Oh my cos he had
Speaker 1: two cars at two different times, and I'm trying to remember. Wait,
Speaker 1: but like literally the first car ever drove, like literally
Speaker 1: got behind the wheel of Uh, it was a it's
Speaker 1: a bad story already, Like you're getting me in trouble already,
Speaker 1: you get me in I mean, look, if if you
Speaker 1: illegally drive, we it's a recorder line. I don't want to,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't want I mean first car, first
Speaker 1: car I had, I did not have license. I bought
Speaker 1: it for a hundred and sixty bucks and it was
Speaker 1: it was a Dodge something my mom used to let
Speaker 1: me drive for chron. So so here's my friend was
Speaker 1: Nobody knows this story? I mean nobody what two people
Speaker 1: know this story? Me and my Okay, there's one, two, three, four, five,
Speaker 1: eight people in here and the world. So, uh, he
Speaker 1: was banged up and I didn't have a license and
Speaker 1: never driven a car. And I'm like, bro, you can't
Speaker 1: drive us home. You cannot drive us home. There's no way.
Speaker 1: You are like, you're not seeing straight. And so I said,
Speaker 1: we gotta leave the car here, we gotta get a cab.
Speaker 1: And he's like, no, because my parents will know that
Speaker 1: I was drunk underage. And so now I gotta get like,
Speaker 1: the car has to be home. I have to get
Speaker 1: home in the car. So I drove home. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's the short version. And I had never driven a
Speaker 1: car ever before in my life. There was a Plymouth. Um,
Speaker 1: it was a disgusting brown plymouth. It well, it did
Speaker 1: no hatchback, no hatchback. Those has no hatchback. It was
Speaker 1: a four. It was a sedan. Uh And I drove
Speaker 1: it and I was I just like, I didn't try
Speaker 1: one time. I don't know why. I remember changing lanes
Speaker 1: in the middle of the bridge and I asked him.
Speaker 1: I was like, dude, I don't know how this works.
Speaker 1: I'm not looking at my mirrors. Can I change lanes
Speaker 1: right now? He's like, yeah, you're good. And then I
Speaker 1: realized I listened to a guy that was incapacitated, and
Speaker 1: I heard, so I just look, we've all done stupid
Speaker 1: things when we were kids. I mean it was it
Speaker 1: was stupid and semi responsible because I was trying to
Speaker 1: get us home and get everybody safe and not in
Speaker 1: trouble and all that stuff. But I probably should have
Speaker 1: called the cab and let him deal with the consequence
Speaker 1: trying to make yourself at night. Everybody got to have
Speaker 1: the team dead, except the team. Dad would have probably
Speaker 1: punished himself on that one. Because I shouldn't have drove.
Speaker 1: I never driven before, and I drove over over a bridge.
Speaker 1: I went from state to state. That's a federal case. Now.
Speaker 1: Rules don't lose things. How old were eight seventeen eighteen?
Speaker 1: Maybe I didn't drive. I'd have my license until I
Speaker 1: was eighteen. Um, so it's probably seventeen ish seventeen eighteen ish, Okay,
Speaker 1: I like that all right? The last movie you went
Speaker 1: to at the theater before COVID nineteen, I have no
Speaker 1: earthly idea. I couldn't guess bas Park Persons. I was
Speaker 1: literally like, I can't even remember the last movie I saw,
Speaker 1: but I do because it was a black movie. Har
Speaker 1: you tught me? M hmmm, that's a good one. Um,
Speaker 1: remember that coming out. That's how bad it is now.
Speaker 1: You know, we talked about it was a great movie,
Speaker 1: but I didn't see it. I don't. You know. Well,
Speaker 1: let me think about this, because the Oscar contenders this year,
Speaker 1: I think I saw them all at home. So Oscars
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen insider. That's why I heard him close his glasses,
Speaker 1: his glass case that he usually pops on. That's the
Speaker 1: glasses he uses. You know, he's really hunkering down. He's
Speaker 1: about to get into it. Was our first guest to
Speaker 1: ever google to get up questions. This is well, I
Speaker 1: want to get it right right, so best him and
Speaker 1: he's googling right now. Green Book, green Book. I saw
Speaker 1: on a plane, Black Panther, I saw on a plane,
Speaker 1: Klansmen Plane, Bohemian Rhapsody, saw at home. I don't A
Speaker 1: Star is Born, I saw it. I'm trying to remember
Speaker 1: Roma the favor I have. Dude, I have no idea time. Yeah,
Speaker 1: well that's what I said this year I saw. I
Speaker 1: definitely saw them. I definitely did not go to the
Speaker 1: movies this year, right, because dude, I honestly don't know.
Speaker 1: I have to alright, Uh so, where did you propose
Speaker 1: to your beautiful wife Jess the Big Apples ergus uh
Speaker 1: in the center ring, because um, that's where we went
Speaker 1: on our first date. And UM, you'll love this story.
Speaker 1: So I said, that's where she had told me, you know,
Speaker 1: don't do the stadium proposal. For some reason, she thought
Speaker 1: I was going to do a stadium proposal, which I
Speaker 1: never want to do. I just I don't listen, you
Speaker 1: want to do that, and that's romantic for you go crazy,
Speaker 1: But I was never ever going to do that. So
Speaker 1: I was worried that and I didn't want to ask
Speaker 1: her at that point, be like, hey, remember when you
Speaker 1: said stadium proposal, What if I do it at a circus?
Speaker 1: Like I think you just didn't want the stadium thing.
Speaker 1: But I was afraid that she was gonna get mad
Speaker 1: at me if I did it in the middle of
Speaker 1: a public event. But the day that, UM, I asked
Speaker 1: her if we were like exclusive? We went to the
Speaker 1: circus that day, Um, the Saturday afternoon in the city. Whoa, whoa,
Speaker 1: whoa what? So you you asked her? Are you exclusive? One?
Speaker 1: I mean, were you thinking about not being right? Are you?
Speaker 1: You were trying with my wife? Now? Hey, we exclusive?
Speaker 1: We're going well that's such an an African American question.
Speaker 1: But I had never had hold on. I had never
Speaker 1: hold on. I had never dated. I you know, I dated,
Speaker 1: but I was never in an exclusive relationship before my wife.
Speaker 1: Like I just the longest I dated a girl was
Speaker 1: like three months maybe, and we just had a dated.
Speaker 1: We weren't we weren't exclusive. So I never really had
Speaker 1: a true, you know girlfriend. I was always sports work stuff.
Speaker 1: So I just really didn't you know, you know how old.
Speaker 1: Did Like, so you're twenty five years old, you're asking
Speaker 1: your girl we exclusive? Well it started with you like
Speaker 1: give her a paper. Yeah, so you're not. I mean
Speaker 1: the moral of the already here's I Like, I didn't know,
Speaker 1: so Mike, we we went to that circus. Then we
Speaker 1: met my cousin for dinner in the city. She and
Speaker 1: her friends met us because she went to Fordham and
Speaker 1: they were around. I said, come join us for dinner
Speaker 1: and whatever. Um, And so she asked me when when
Speaker 1: Jess snuck away for a second, She's like, so are
Speaker 1: you too exclusive? And I was like, I don't know,
Speaker 1: Like what do I have to ask that or is
Speaker 1: that just kind of assumed? She's like, no, you gotta
Speaker 1: ask her, So I said, okay, So I asked her
Speaker 1: on the way home. And to this day she thinks
Speaker 1: that I was copying out by saying, oh, my cousin
Speaker 1: asked me and then I didn't know. She's like, why
Speaker 1: couldn't you just ask me. I was like, because I
Speaker 1: didn't know, and I just saying, hey, by the way
Speaker 1: she mentioned it to me, that's a good question. Are
Speaker 1: we exclusive? Anyway? So that was that was the first.
Speaker 1: That was two thousand uh six, I believe, and then uh,
Speaker 1: two thousand nine, we got engaged and I said, I
Speaker 1: want to do something special. So I contacted the guy
Speaker 1: at the Big Apple Circus because that's where we you know.
Speaker 1: I said, well, look, it's is a fitting that I
Speaker 1: would ask her to marry me in a place where
Speaker 1: I asked her were we exclusive? And um, but I
Speaker 1: tried to barter with him. Yes, uh, it's but it's
Speaker 1: not like it's not like Ringling Brothers used to be.
Speaker 1: It wasn't in a big arena. It's under a it's
Speaker 1: kind of an old fashioned circus where they have animals
Speaker 1: and stuff. But it's it's it's more throwback type stuff. Um,
Speaker 1: like a juggler and so it's not they have like
Speaker 1: a type role. Yeah, they got a type rope guy
Speaker 1: jumps off to then I get traps and all this stuff.
Speaker 1: Um shocks. Yeah. And it's under it's under an actual tent.
Speaker 1: They put a big tent up in in Lincoln Center. Um.
Speaker 1: So I did a deal with the guy. I said, listen,
Speaker 1: here's the deal. Um, I'll tell you what. You let
Speaker 1: me do this. And I don't think I had to
Speaker 1: do this deal. You let me do this. I will
Speaker 1: get s n Y, which is Sports Net New York.
Speaker 1: I'll get s n Y to do my weekly interview
Speaker 1: with Brandon Jacobs of the Giants from the Big Apple Circus.
Speaker 1: So you give me a little bit, I'll give you
Speaker 1: a little public dude. I know. Yeah. So we so
Speaker 1: it gets better. So we I proposed my wife knocked
Speaker 1: her socks off. She loved it, which was great. I
Speaker 1: was relieved it was worried she wasn't gonna like it. Um.
Speaker 1: And then we set up a date like the following
Speaker 1: week for for Brandon, and Brandon confirms with me, yeah,
Speaker 1: we're good, We're good, We're good, and then bounce on
Speaker 1: me the more of the morning of the show, and um, yeah,
Speaker 1: I gotta get surgery on my tooth because he got
Speaker 1: his he got hit by Albert Haynesworth. They got into
Speaker 1: a fist fight during the game, and so he and
Speaker 1: so the guy was pissed. Obviously he had promoted it. Uh,
Speaker 1: he got a letter from a fan that was pissed
Speaker 1: because her kids showed up in a Brandon Jacob's jersey.
Speaker 1: So then I had to arrange for like Brandon to
Speaker 1: send the kid a note and a video and all that.
Speaker 1: I mean it was worth and then we finally did it.
Speaker 1: We rescheduled and he showed up and we all did it,
Speaker 1: you know, and he was in the center ring. And
Speaker 1: so there's a lot that went into it, but it
Speaker 1: went well, three or four layers deepen all that. That's Jesus,
Speaker 1: that's Mike Gus right there. I love miss and Mike Jesus.
Speaker 1: We actually we argue on television. But actually, like he
Speaker 1: pushes me, I'll push him. So were we really don't
Speaker 1: dislike each other. As much as I didn't think at all,
Speaker 1: you said as much, I didn't think at all. A
Speaker 1: few times I could uh thump you in your abom
Speaker 1: dropple a few times, But I mean, yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: especially on live TV, you watch a man just grasp
Speaker 1: of air? Is it? Is it NFL Network? Was it
Speaker 1: like copra CoA? Just don't just a little though? So
Speaker 1: last one, if you had to choose one thing to
Speaker 1: eat for the rest of your life, what would that be?
Speaker 1: Mm hm, assuming all things are you know, we're not
Speaker 1: doing this based on health because if I, yeah, this
Speaker 1: is just you gotta eat something, that'd probably be pizza. Right.
Speaker 1: I like that? Now do I do I have one
Speaker 1: kind of pizza? Or can I vary the different kinds
Speaker 1: of pizza? I'm sure we're always living in a brother
Speaker 1: So yeah, that's good. It gives me some variety. You
Speaker 1: could do a little veggie pizzas one day, do a
Speaker 1: little meat lovers the next day. You could like that
Speaker 1: meat lover. So I appreciate you coming on. We love
Speaker 1: to really just talk all sports, all the dynamics. So
Speaker 1: um growing up? Who is your team? Eagles? Yeah? Up
Speaker 1: for Eagles because I grew up in Philly, UM rooting
Speaker 1: for Buddy Ryan's team. And I still it's Sixers. Sixers
Speaker 1: not so much but Flyers and and Phillies. I'm still into.
Speaker 1: You can't be a fan and I covered the Giants,
Speaker 1: and for some reason they found out the fans did
Speaker 1: I was from Philly, and it was an ongoing joke
Speaker 1: every year that you know, you're an Eagles fan, and
Speaker 1: you heard about it, and you brought it up on
Speaker 1: air a few times. Steve busted me and Colleen about it.
Speaker 1: Her It's true. She's still because she's not a reporter,
Speaker 1: so she could still be a fan. Me. I'm a reporter,
Speaker 1: so you know, it was my fandom. Here you go,
Speaker 1: my here's where we crossed paths. My fandom started to
Speaker 1: taper off as I would every now and then cover
Speaker 1: the Eagles, which still allowed me to kind of be
Speaker 1: a fan because I wasn't, you know, entrenched with them.
Speaker 1: I just kind of helicopter ring because I was covering
Speaker 1: everything in Philly. Uh. The two thousand three UH championship
Speaker 1: game that you guys came in and punched that Eagles
Speaker 1: team in the mouth. And that's the last one that
Speaker 1: I was upset about. And I said, you know what,
Speaker 1: I can't truth you renounced your fandom after that, true
Speaker 1: Philly f Yeah, I mean sort of. Yeah. That's probably
Speaker 1: the last game that I actually a rooting interest. The
Speaker 1: bottom of the bottom field, they will turn on their team.
Speaker 1: But did you notice how at first he tried to
Speaker 1: position and like, you know, I'm a professional. He's a
Speaker 1: journalist and I have you know, journalistic standards. He has
Speaker 1: to not have a team. But it was really at
Speaker 1: the end of that game, I ain't mess with them
Speaker 1: no more, Taylor Phillies. We have to take a break
Speaker 1: and the morning a thing. We gotta pay some bills.
Speaker 1: You got checks. I love cut to It and I
Speaker 1: love it even more when you download us and subscribe
Speaker 1: and you can follow us on social media too, Smithie
Speaker 1: where where at? That's at? Cut to It on Instagram?
Speaker 1: What about Twitter? At? Cut to It? Facebook? Cut to
Speaker 1: It featuring Steve Smith singr? What about online? And you
Speaker 1: can follow us at cut to It podcast dot com
Speaker 1: where you can buy merch and you can subscribe to
Speaker 1: us wherever you listen to podcasts. I got all my
Speaker 1: answer question Um yeah, I got all my questions answered.
Speaker 1: That's what I'm here for, a brother, cut to a
Speaker 1: podcast dot Com. Where are you from in a place
Speaker 1: you call your hometown? Uh? Well I'm from phil I
Speaker 1: mean I used to walk to the Vet Veteran Stadium. Uh,
Speaker 1: the Phillies games were dollar general admission, so you could
Speaker 1: go to a game for a dollar in the middle
Speaker 1: of the yea and those were the cheapest seats and
Speaker 1: need sneak your way down obviously. Um. And then they
Speaker 1: went to the World Series and uh, the price went
Speaker 1: up to five dollars, which is a increase or is it?
Speaker 1: I never get that right, but regardless, it was an increase.
Speaker 1: That was a lot for a fourteen year old. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So yeah, that's that's my neighborhood. I wouldn't change a
Speaker 1: thing about where and how I grew up. I loved
Speaker 1: growing up in the city. Uh, in a neighborhood that
Speaker 1: was tightly knit. I learned a lot of things on
Speaker 1: the on the streets and then the on the playground. Um,
Speaker 1: that you don't learn in school. That you have to
Speaker 1: learn life lessons. And I wouldn't ever change a thing.
Speaker 1: Tell us like, what what did you learn in the streets? Uh? Well,
Speaker 1: when I say it that way, you start to think, like,
Speaker 1: you know the streets the streets, I knew what I
Speaker 1: knew what you meant, but I just I just took
Speaker 1: what you said row with it. I figured that cut
Speaker 1: you off at the past before you went. I knew
Speaker 1: you wasn't slanging dope. I just meant you said you
Speaker 1: learned stuff in the streets on the playground, Mike young jeezy,
Speaker 1: dear Pholo. Hey, what's what's your name? My name is Mike,
Speaker 1: but they call me Mike. Mike. You got my cash.
Speaker 1: I'm not talking about that. I'm just talking about really.
Speaker 1: You know, it's sometimes people will say the streets and
Speaker 1: you know, as you know now, as parents, right, you
Speaker 1: can't have your kids hanging out with all kids because
Speaker 1: you know, some kids well pick up cursing, will pick
Speaker 1: up bad habits from mothers other places. So that's what
Speaker 1: I'm That's what I meant more as a parent perspective,
Speaker 1: not like, oh, you know, Mike garfolds of fugged like
Speaker 1: none of that. Well, And this is something that I
Speaker 1: My daughters just turned three, so we're not there yet
Speaker 1: by any stretch, um, But this is something that I
Speaker 1: wrestled with because I learned a lot. The most that
Speaker 1: I learned in life was by doing dumb stuff, um
Speaker 1: and making mistakes. And so you know, I want to
Speaker 1: sit there and kind of tell my my daughter along
Speaker 1: the way to not make it. But I think you
Speaker 1: have to in life. Um, oh, they're gonna make it.
Speaker 1: We were in break earlier today and my son Peyton
Speaker 1: is um one of the one of the UH staff
Speaker 1: was asking, Um, Sarah was asking how is how is
Speaker 1: Steve as a dad? And he was like, oh, sarcast
Speaker 1: He was like, oh, he was great, you know, but
Speaker 1: we're just talking about how parenting and my style and
Speaker 1: all that stuff. And he made some mistakes. But it's
Speaker 1: really cool now seeing him three kind of life is
Speaker 1: starting to evolve for him. But you gotta kind of
Speaker 1: allow them. Yeah, but it's tough as like you don't
Speaker 1: want them to Like, I like scared for him to
Speaker 1: fall on his face, right, and I don't. I'm I'm
Speaker 1: scared to admit, like I worry, Like I'm like, man,
Speaker 1: you know, even just him dating people, I'm like, I
Speaker 1: gotta right, choose the right one, get a prenup, don't
Speaker 1: bring home. You know, just my mind just goes down
Speaker 1: the rabbit trail to the point of like if he
Speaker 1: brings a girl, if he ever brings a girl back
Speaker 1: over to the house, I'm literally like, I'm like, what's
Speaker 1: she doing? What her parents do? What she lived? When
Speaker 1: you know, you know, what's her favorite color? All that
Speaker 1: stuff that I sabotage in my mind, like I ain't
Speaker 1: gonna like her. You're already going into my preconceived notion.
Speaker 1: Is she ain't good enough? Look at you, Dad, I'm
Speaker 1: so I'm so territorial, like you know, like to the point.
Speaker 1: It's like I told, look, if it ain't serious, don't
Speaker 1: bring the answer to the house, just straight up, you know,
Speaker 1: don't ask to come on a vacation. Hey can if
Speaker 1: they last name Ae Smith, don't ask me. I don't care.
Speaker 1: So I get it. Bro, and your little girls three,
Speaker 1: I only got one. If we had if we had,
Speaker 1: if me and Age had another child and it was
Speaker 1: a daughter, run me over. Your daughter is a different man.
Speaker 1: And I'm right there with you. We got We're a
Speaker 1: month away from number two. We got to coming. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So Mikey, tell us about your family dynamic, how you're
Speaker 1: growing My family dynamic? Uh. We were a family of five,
Speaker 1: older sister and a younger brother, all with extremely different interests,
Speaker 1: but we were we were still tight. I was really
Speaker 1: the only sports fan. My mother and I were the
Speaker 1: only sports fans. Now that's not true. My sister a
Speaker 1: little bit, but mostly my mother and me, Uh into
Speaker 1: sports in the family. Um, my brother and father not
Speaker 1: so much, which was weird, right, Like you're supposed to
Speaker 1: learn sports from your dad and all that stuff and
Speaker 1: all those stereotypes. No, it's not not how it was
Speaker 1: in our family at all. And my brother was three
Speaker 1: years younger than me, my sister two years older. Uh.
Speaker 1: We had a My parents has celebrated their forty six
Speaker 1: wedding anniversary yesterday. Congratulation. Yeah, yeah, we have a tight family.
Speaker 1: Where where's your family's place of lorge? Uh? Well, nationality,
Speaker 1: which I don't that's the words the nationality or is
Speaker 1: it heritage is Italian? Uh. My great grandparents were born
Speaker 1: in Italy. My grandparents were born here. Uh, and we've
Speaker 1: been both sides of the family been h Philly all
Speaker 1: the way. I don't know why they settled here or there.
Speaker 1: Excuse me. I'm up in North Jersey. Now. See that's
Speaker 1: the that's the fun part of it all is my
Speaker 1: sister moved when she got married, moved five doors away
Speaker 1: from my parents. My brother when he got married, moved
Speaker 1: across the playground. I moved to North Jersey. You'd think
Speaker 1: I moved to you know, Russia. The way that they reacted.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm only an hour and a half away, relaxed,
Speaker 1: We're not that far We're not that far away, um,
Speaker 1: but uh yeah, we're still we're still very technic. Founder.
Speaker 1: We're used to having you know, we'll have sports folks,
Speaker 1: but we want every aspect, every dynamic of sports. We've
Speaker 1: had Colleen on here, and now we have you, and
Speaker 1: and I love having you on here because it's a
Speaker 1: different perspective. Right. You love sports so much that you
Speaker 1: got involved into it. So take us down that road
Speaker 1: of how your career began. You know, I knew my
Speaker 1: athletic ability was not going to take me to places
Speaker 1: where they actually pay me money to play the sports.
Speaker 1: So I think I made that determination earlier that I knew.
Speaker 1: I pretty much knew exactly what I wanted to do. Um,
Speaker 1: whether it was how did you know exactly what you
Speaker 1: want to do? Because I would watch the broadcast and
Speaker 1: and see what the reporters or announcers or analysts would
Speaker 1: bring to the table and say, yeah, I like that,
Speaker 1: that's cool. I always love kind of putting on a show.
Speaker 1: When I was a kid, I kind of like the
Speaker 1: notion of what went into it and you know how
Speaker 1: these guys brought their information and um let it out
Speaker 1: on national TV. UM. So I kind of didn't know that.
Speaker 1: I like that, Yeah, I uh, you know, I appreciated
Speaker 1: it from afar UM. And then I got to college
Speaker 1: and my father, UH said to me, well, why don't
Speaker 1: you check because everybody's doing internship. So I'm gonna get
Speaker 1: an internship here, an internship here and into that's okay.
Speaker 1: There was one for uh. They called them producers, but
Speaker 1: basically they were boarded were board ops and engineers who
Speaker 1: ran the board and answered the phones for w I
Speaker 1: p UH radio in Philly. We would answer the calls
Speaker 1: and get the calls. Were basically run the whole show. UM.
Speaker 1: And I answered the the ad they called me back.
Speaker 1: I had an interview. I was a junior, was my
Speaker 1: second I was going to my second semester of my
Speaker 1: junior year what college at LaSalle University? And I just
Speaker 1: want I just I need you to do. I had
Speaker 1: to ref rush your memory on television. You just sir, yes, sir,
Speaker 1: I got you're letting your fans not here the important part.
Speaker 1: I have fans, yes, you have all. After this, there
Speaker 1: we go. That's what that's why I'm doing this? Um,
Speaker 1: the mess up thing. Ste We mess with each other
Speaker 1: all the time. You know what Garl follow does really well?
Speaker 1: M m, that's why he kicked to he plays. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: you're yelling at me. I get more fans every time
Speaker 1: you man. People take it so serious, You'll get I'll
Speaker 1: get a tweet. Man, How you let Steve Spend do
Speaker 1: that to you? I don't know, man, that was that
Speaker 1: was pretty bad. Why why to follow me? People take
Speaker 1: that so serious? You'll have like with anything, like whether
Speaker 1: it's you and Steve or whether it's Steve when you
Speaker 1: on with any of the girls on Thursday night, Like
Speaker 1: that's always the poet responses. They don't like each other, like, yeah, man, relax,
Speaker 1: which is good and bad. You want you want people
Speaker 1: to be into it, but you don't want people to
Speaker 1: be too serious and recognize the joke for a joke.
Speaker 1: But we just mess with Like he literally will say, hey,
Speaker 1: I'm saying this, and I'll be we're being good. I'm like,
Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm gonna say that was dumb. He's like,
Speaker 1: now some of it has been authentic. Bs, Like we
Speaker 1: got an argument on TV. That's so we're in the
Speaker 1: green room. Uh third, um, good morning football weekend. On
Speaker 1: a Sunday, Ryan Tenhill doesn't play well and he literally says, Integreen,
Speaker 1: this is now. Um you usually got in after me,
Speaker 1: so well, just like five forty five. Now I've eaten
Speaker 1: my my, my, my breakfast, my waffles with my my
Speaker 1: sirul he comes in and he's like, oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: can you believe how this poor Why does he have
Speaker 1: a British accident? I don't know. And he's like and
Speaker 1: he says and he goes, my goes, they look like
Speaker 1: a high school team. Flipped my lid. I'm like what
Speaker 1: he's like high school team? Like all of damn practice
Speaker 1: they have. And then I was like, see that's what's
Speaker 1: the matter with your reporters had had the index fingers
Speaker 1: you went in the media anymore? Oh yeah, I just
Speaker 1: took my myth piece out of my mouth. Like he's like,
Speaker 1: what what you know? What what? I'm like, that's bs.
Speaker 1: He's like, no, it's now you see how they play
Speaker 1: and said, yeah, I've seen some high school games, said
Speaker 1: I mentioned some Friday night games. They don't look that good.
Speaker 1: He's like, no, no, And what does he do? He
Speaker 1: doubles down, we're gonna air and said it, and I
Speaker 1: said the same thing, said and he all the second time.
Speaker 1: I was gonna be less animated. I was hot. He
Speaker 1: thought you got it out in the ground. I was
Speaker 1: hot because I was like, Oh, you're gonna try meal
Speaker 1: TV too. Oh, it's just like some of the stories
Speaker 1: we have. But listen, don't don't think that I you
Speaker 1: say it like I expected that, Oh I get you
Speaker 1: in front of the cameras, and I wasn't. I wasn't
Speaker 1: saying it like it was a gotcha. I just meant
Speaker 1: as a former player, and then as a as an analyst,
Speaker 1: I mean, as an insider. We have these conversations good
Speaker 1: and bad that goes from his journalistic point of view.
Speaker 1: I'm part of that journalistic point of view, but also
Speaker 1: as a former player's point of view, and we kind
Speaker 1: of battle between the journalists information and how he takes
Speaker 1: it and and dissects it, and then how that comes
Speaker 1: across as a former player, in which why reporters and
Speaker 1: players sometimes have this friction right right, because reports like
Speaker 1: I have to tell I have to explain it like
Speaker 1: I'm talking to my eight year old grandmother, and the
Speaker 1: players like, first of all your eight dy o grandmother
Speaker 1: isn't watching the game. Yeah, So it's it's always this
Speaker 1: dynamic that we go through. It's it's pretty interesting though. Well,
Speaker 1: so just to be clear, we're not gonna spend a
Speaker 1: ton of time. We'll go back and forth and all
Speaker 1: these things. Uh, but what I was saying was not
Speaker 1: even towards the players. By the way I was saying
Speaker 1: their offense, they weren't stretching the ball down the field.
Speaker 1: They were I don't even remember what team it was,
Speaker 1: but it was like there were no passes over ten
Speaker 1: or fifteen yards. And I said that was like a
Speaker 1: high school offense. And we still got into it, and
Speaker 1: I was like, well, I'm not saying that they look
Speaker 1: like high school players and they're not playing hard. What
Speaker 1: I'm saying is you can't play that way and the
Speaker 1: hitting care we were we were into it by that,
Speaker 1: but I wasn't. I wasn't the only one though, wasn't.
Speaker 1: I believe Mike rob may have backed you up. Yes,
Speaker 1: you has some backup, No, but it was Mike is different,
Speaker 1: and I'm learning not Mike is different, but I'm learning
Speaker 1: in TV the perspective of a beat writer or the
Speaker 1: perspective of an insider, and they're all about information and
Speaker 1: players were all about process. And when those two are
Speaker 1: on television, they don't operate the same way. They're literally
Speaker 1: it's like a different perspective. I don't mean the soundness
Speaker 1: in the mean way. And I'm not saying he's the
Speaker 1: man or the female. I'm the man of female. It's
Speaker 1: literally Mars and Venus, husband and wife. It's just we
Speaker 1: don't see it the same. We literally see it totally opposite. Right,
Speaker 1: he sees us, he sees us all that cup is
Speaker 1: half full. I see is No, I'm still thirsty. Right,
Speaker 1: it's so different. So let me tell a Tannehill story,
Speaker 1: because that's that's another illustration of what you don't do.
Speaker 1: And Stevill, you know, Steve called ye out for it
Speaker 1: on national TV. So I'm at the Dolphins training camp
Speaker 1: practice in the middle of July. It's like ninety degrees
Speaker 1: and human as all hell sons beaten down on me.
Speaker 1: I'm off camera while they're practicing it two in the
Speaker 1: afternoon for some reason, like it's I could do a
Speaker 1: morning practice or late afternoon where it's nice and cool,
Speaker 1: and Steve's somewhere else. I was actually in Canton. It
Speaker 1: was how does fish grease? Okay, I say, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm talking about Tannehill, and I'm referring to the year
Speaker 1: before when Gaye had to back it down with this,
Speaker 1: with how much he fed Tannehill, how much he's allowing
Speaker 1: him to do with the line of scrimmage, and I'm saying,
Speaker 1: you know what, what what Gays did was was stripping
Speaker 1: all the way down, and now he wants to rebuild
Speaker 1: it because you gotta remember, this is a guy that's
Speaker 1: used to the way Peyton Manning did things. And I'm
Speaker 1: telling you the Steve's yelling get him on camera. I
Speaker 1: want to see his face. Meanwhile, this sweat is just
Speaker 1: pouring down my face. I was enjoying the fact that
Speaker 1: I was off camera I'm dying, and now I come
Speaker 1: on camera. She fits in and looking horrendous, probably making
Speaker 1: it look even worse that like, oh, Steve's calling him
Speaker 1: out and now he's melting on camera, when really I
Speaker 1: was just hot because of the heat. And he's like,
Speaker 1: don't you ever put Ryan Tannehill, Ryan Tannehill's name in
Speaker 1: the same sentence with Peyton Manning, And I said, no,
Speaker 1: I wasn't competing. I don't care, you don't How could
Speaker 1: you make And I'm heard about that for months and years.
Speaker 1: I think I'm still hearing about it. Yeah, how to
Speaker 1: work out for Adam Gayson? Ryan Tannehill? Hello? Is this thing? Hello?
Speaker 1: I didn't guess. I don't know how many times I
Speaker 1: gotta tell you. I'm not telling you that he was
Speaker 1: going to play like Peyton Manning. I am telling you
Speaker 1: that Gates was used to a certain thing. It's listen.
Speaker 1: If anything, I was highlighting bad coaching right that he
Speaker 1: was expecting a certain level of Peyton Manning from a
Speaker 1: guy who wasn't Payton Manning. Hey the wail, Hey, is
Speaker 1: Adam Gates are really a good coach right now? Because
Speaker 1: he ain't doing Maybe we, maybe the Jets among others,
Speaker 1: should have seen the writing on the wall. How about that.
Speaker 1: That's a whole different conversation right now. I think it's
Speaker 1: about that time. Just so I'll take a little breathe. Good,
Speaker 1: do it, good do it. Let's getting down to do it? Good? Hey, Gerard,
Speaker 1: why did you get that T shirt? You mean this thing? Oh? Yes,
Speaker 1: I got it from cut to a podcast dot com
Speaker 1: where we have exclusive merchandise shout out to our guys
Speaker 1: at seven or four shot. But yeah, you can go on,
Speaker 1: buy you a T shirt, subscribe to us wherever you
Speaker 1: listen to podcasts. I don't known to do this, but
Speaker 1: all right, I was super excited. You're procited to have
Speaker 1: you on here because I love what you're doing, how
Speaker 1: you do it. Also give you an opportunity because you
Speaker 1: will tell us how it is, and I wanted you
Speaker 1: to tell us everything is involved. A lot of times
Speaker 1: people see us on television, they think one that the
Speaker 1: producers feed us all our information. Yeah, that is, and
Speaker 1: it's imagine having I mean, we've had dinners together where
Speaker 1: we're both talking to different sources on two teams that
Speaker 1: are playing each other. He's talking to a source for
Speaker 1: maybe a coach somewhere, and then I'm talking to a
Speaker 1: player on the opposite team and they're discussing a lot
Speaker 1: of different things and we're both talking. And I've learned
Speaker 1: I've learned from Mike how to get a little bit
Speaker 1: more comfortable and settling in my cell on having sources
Speaker 1: and dialogue and talking because I have been considered this
Speaker 1: very high strong player who doesn't have the ability to
Speaker 1: look neutral or think neutral, and you know, and I
Speaker 1: think before I became on TV, Michael was the same.
Speaker 1: Mike kind of saw me that same way. And as
Speaker 1: I he's got to know me. I am how strong,
Speaker 1: I am intense. However, I studied my butt off and
Speaker 1: I work hard and I try and I am to
Speaker 1: some degree teachable and I try to learn. He's been
Speaker 1: one of those guys that I've learned from and at times,
Speaker 1: even in competition, have broken stories that the insiders usually
Speaker 1: get because I do go to training camps and talk
Speaker 1: and and I go to training camps and I decided
Speaker 1: to go to training camps and I go to the Combine.
Speaker 1: I go to Combine extra day and a half, two days,
Speaker 1: and I'm in the I'm in the suite talking to
Speaker 1: general managers and coaches and so I've learned by rap
Speaker 1: sheet and Mike girl follow on how and what, and
Speaker 1: we've spent numbers evenings, Hey Mike, how do you do this?
Speaker 1: And you know, he's walking me through. So I've been
Speaker 1: really side to have him on to educate us on
Speaker 1: what is really is. It's been Yeah, I mean it's been, Uh,
Speaker 1: We've we've learned a lot from each other and me
Speaker 1: probably more from Steve because you know, it's been good
Speaker 1: to have. And they asked us when we first started
Speaker 1: the show, you know, what are you most excited about?
Speaker 1: I said, I'll tell you right now. Um, it's a
Speaker 1: unique opportunity for me to work in the studio alongside
Speaker 1: uh two guys in Mike Rab and Steve Smith. Remember
Speaker 1: we were at dinner as at dinner at your favorite
Speaker 1: stake place in Jersey. Um, And I said, because if
Speaker 1: I say something that doesn't pass the smell test, they're
Speaker 1: don't let me know. On on live TV, Steve more
Speaker 1: than Mike Rab. Mike tends to pull a few more
Speaker 1: punches because that's that's his personality. But he'll let me
Speaker 1: know at times too. Uh. But but you know that's
Speaker 1: that's been a good a good thing for me. Um,
Speaker 1: so let me I'll go to bat for him though.
Speaker 1: So yeah, well I don't know. Yeah, it goes both ways.
Speaker 1: So of course people come out and like, hey, it's
Speaker 1: like my it's like my little brother. You know, I
Speaker 1: don't beat up on Mike. But but nobody don't come.
Speaker 1: Don't come to the family now the fishes, Well let
Speaker 1: me so, let me so, I answered the ad. They
Speaker 1: hired me w i P. And Now the point I
Speaker 1: was originally making was, you know, people went and did internships, UM,
Speaker 1: and I chased a different path. I was actually working
Speaker 1: while I was in college. UM, and I got better
Speaker 1: experience because mine was hands on. A lot of these
Speaker 1: internships you were just doing stuff that wasn't hands on work.
Speaker 1: You were just kind of hovering it in the area.
Speaker 1: I I'm glad that I followed my father's advice because
Speaker 1: it allowed me to really start working in radio while
Speaker 1: I was still in in in uh in school. My
Speaker 1: first shift, I'll tell you this was New Year's Eve
Speaker 1: seven to midnight because nobody wanted that shift. I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: I was actually seven to one am. So I was
Speaker 1: there for midnight and beyond the only person in the
Speaker 1: entire studio, not even a host because everything was on tape. UM,
Speaker 1: and nobody wanted that shift. And I'm the new guy.
Speaker 1: So I'm like, all right, cool, I guess I gotta
Speaker 1: take this ship. So I'm twenty years old and all
Speaker 1: my friends are out getting smashed, and I'm I'm working
Speaker 1: my first shift at w i P Radio. And here's
Speaker 1: so here's the funny part. Uh at midnight from from
Speaker 1: eleven to one. Everything was on these reels, the old
Speaker 1: style reels that you had, you know, where you you
Speaker 1: get the tape going, you hit the button whatever, and uh,
Speaker 1: midnight comes and I hit the reel to start it
Speaker 1: right then, and I hear boom boom boom boom boom
Speaker 1: boom boom, like like right as I hit the button.
Speaker 1: And so this is two thousand into two thousand one.
Speaker 1: So my mind immediately was like, oh my god, it's
Speaker 1: y two k a year later like they thought it was.
Speaker 1: But maybe they were wrong and it was actually two one,
Speaker 1: and oh my god, I just blew up the building
Speaker 1: right And it turns out it was the fireworks from
Speaker 1: nearby Penn's landing at that at midnight. But it's scared
Speaker 1: the Bejesus out of me. Um, But that I listened.
Speaker 1: I screwed up so many times in those early days
Speaker 1: and put some stuff on air and and had a
Speaker 1: bunch of dead air and learned along the way. Um.
Speaker 1: I was there for four years, almost four years, I think, uh.
Speaker 1: And I started when I graduated college in two thousand two,
Speaker 1: two years into being at the radio, I said, well,
Speaker 1: I'm it's a slow Sunday I'm doing a show. I'm
Speaker 1: looking across the host and I said, I don't know
Speaker 1: if I want to do this. I said if, and
Speaker 1: if I did want to do this. I knew I
Speaker 1: wanted to be in sports media, but I said, if
Speaker 1: I do want to do this, the guys they put
Speaker 1: on the air former writers. So I gotta get out
Speaker 1: and right and UM. I mentioned it to a couple
Speaker 1: of guys and they said, Hey, call this guy Rob Maddy,
Speaker 1: who is the AP sportswriter for all the Philadelphia Sports editor.
Speaker 1: He's the only full time guy who covers all the sports.
Speaker 1: He used to work here. Let him know that you know,
Speaker 1: you reached out and we told you to yet it.
Speaker 1: So I reached out to him. He says, come on
Speaker 1: up the Eagles training camp day one, UH, and I'll
Speaker 1: meet you and we'll talk. So I go, when I
Speaker 1: drive up Lehigh two hours, dravel the way up there
Speaker 1: and meet him. UH. And it's through the course of
Speaker 1: conversation I learned that he was in my UH. He's
Speaker 1: from my neighborhood. Number one, Number two we went to
Speaker 1: my high school. And number three his brother was really
Speaker 1: good friends with my neighbor who had this channel and
Speaker 1: Philly called Prison. It was this premium channel that my
Speaker 1: father he didn't pay for it, but my neighbor did.
Speaker 1: And that's where all the home six years flyers Phillies
Speaker 1: home games. So I go in my neighbor's house to
Speaker 1: go watch the game, even though those guys were older.
Speaker 1: And so once he found all this, he really took
Speaker 1: me under his wing and he allowed me to cover things.
Speaker 1: I mean, my first assignment was cover an Eagles training
Speaker 1: camp by myself. The first day, I think they made
Speaker 1: Lido Shepard available to the rookie first round pick um.
Speaker 1: And so through through those two jobs and giving you
Speaker 1: the shortest version possible, I got recommended for the Star
Speaker 1: Ledger job in two thousand four to go cover the Giants.
Speaker 1: I went into the interview process thinking there's no way
Speaker 1: I'm getting this job. So I was loose, right because
Speaker 1: I didn't think I had a shot. And probably because
Speaker 1: I was loose, I interviewed, well, um, and you know
Speaker 1: I can. I said I can do this, and I
Speaker 1: can do this, and I can do this, and I
Speaker 1: can do this, and then they hired me and I said,
Speaker 1: are you nuts? I can't do that? Now I gotta
Speaker 1: back it up you nutting shot you believed all that?
Speaker 1: Kidding me? Um, And I'll tell you what that was
Speaker 1: an education. First time living away from home in an
Speaker 1: area where I knew nobody, with Tom Coughlin as the
Speaker 1: new coach, trying to lay down a law and he's
Speaker 1: got no time to suffer fools in the media. The
Speaker 1: players are hating him. The team was doing well with
Speaker 1: Kurt Warner, and they pull him and they put Eli
Speaker 1: in and everything went to crap. I mean that was
Speaker 1: that was. I learned more in that one year than
Speaker 1: I probably learned and you know, and so that that
Speaker 1: was pretty much my start, uh in sports media. It's amazing.
Speaker 1: You fast forward eighteen years later and we're in San
Speaker 1: Francisco working me Colleen and and and and Mike. Only
Speaker 1: thing is the only thing we were missing was Mike
Speaker 1: rob And we're in San Facisco and we're walking around
Speaker 1: and I'm you know, I got my notepad and he
Speaker 1: has this notepad and we're just He's like, what are
Speaker 1: you watching? And we just went through the whole thing,
Speaker 1: like telling him what I watched and why I see this,
Speaker 1: and you know, why I'm looking for these things and
Speaker 1: and and it's funny we go back, right. I remember
Speaker 1: going back because I used that. I use alive. I
Speaker 1: still save all my training camp notes as reference through
Speaker 1: that season. And me and Mike Jeez, we're sitting there talking.
Speaker 1: I'm like, bro, look at this, and he was like,
Speaker 1: what are you saying. I'm like, look at that corner,
Speaker 1: look at the say the receiver. He's like yeah, he's
Speaker 1: and typical Mike right, typical insider, beat writer, reporter. He's like,
Speaker 1: the receiver's pissed because he's not getting the ball. I'm like, no, bro,
Speaker 1: why is he not getting the ball. He's like, I
Speaker 1: don't know why you remember this, Jeezy. We're watching and
Speaker 1: they were emphasizing, right, emphasizing throwing the ball deep down
Speaker 1: the field. So they're running double moves and Jimmy G
Speaker 1: doesn't throw the double move, he throws the check down.
Speaker 1: Why is that key? Why do you have to emphasize
Speaker 1: throwing the ball deep. It's like emphasizing your baker baking.
Speaker 1: If you're a baker, you baker. If your quarterbacker has
Speaker 1: a seventy five million dollar contract, they emphasize throwing the
Speaker 1: ball deep. It's part of that's part of what you do,
Speaker 1: right or maybe or maybe it's something you don't do.
Speaker 1: So Mike, how did you how did you make the
Speaker 1: transition from writing from the Star Allegers and now where
Speaker 1: you are with NFL Network and being on their programming. Well,
Speaker 1: I went to school for mass communication. What's interesting is, UH,
Speaker 1: at my school is a liberal art, liberal arts university
Speaker 1: at LaSalle and UM, you had to have a h
Speaker 1: a wide ranging UM curriculum, and so even outside of
Speaker 1: your major, you had to have a wide ranging thing
Speaker 1: and an inside your major, you couldn't just take one track.
Speaker 1: You had to have all kinds of communication. That's what
Speaker 1: they made you do, which I hated at the time,
Speaker 1: but then I came to understand that communication is about
Speaker 1: different ways of actually communicating with people, so it's a
Speaker 1: smart way of doing things. UM and so I had
Speaker 1: to take public relations classes and advertising and scriptwriting and
Speaker 1: UH screenwriting like movie screenwriting, news writing. I took everything
Speaker 1: except for journalism. I didn't take journalism. I don't know
Speaker 1: why I didn't take it. So what's interesting to me
Speaker 1: is I had all these video and audio production classes,
Speaker 1: and yet I wound up starting in my full time
Speaker 1: career doing the thing that I didn't take, which was journalism,
Speaker 1: which I had to learn on the job, um, which
Speaker 1: was which was fine. I mean those lessons you learned
Speaker 1: quickly are you don't learn them and you're just gonna
Speaker 1: be You're just gonna be eating up if you don't learn.
Speaker 1: The first year goes by on the beat, and towards
Speaker 1: the end of the first year, the producer who had
Speaker 1: this roundtable show with all the writers, uh, he actually
Speaker 1: worked for the Giants. It was the Giants production and
Speaker 1: he said, hey, we do this show on MSG network
Speaker 1: called Giants Online. And said, yeah, I've seen it. Yeah
Speaker 1: it's great, and he goes, would you like to be on?
Speaker 1: And I said yeah, sure. He didn't get it. He
Speaker 1: didn't get to me until the next year. I did it.
Speaker 1: Probably a couple of weeks into the next season. We
Speaker 1: do the show. I'm walking off and he's like staring
Speaker 1: at me and walking towards me, and I'm like, is
Speaker 1: he about to tell me you're never coming back? Like
Speaker 1: what's he And he goes, you're really good at this
Speaker 1: and I was like, oh, well, thank you, and he's
Speaker 1: like no, no, like really good at this. It's like,
Speaker 1: thank you, Joe, I appreciate it. I said, Frankly, this
Speaker 1: is what I've am trained in. You should be surprised
Speaker 1: I could do the other thing at the writing like that.
Speaker 1: That's the one that that I actually had to learn
Speaker 1: on the job and figure out how to do as
Speaker 1: I went along. Um. So, a couple of years later,
Speaker 1: the Giants win the Super Bowl. That's another thing, by
Speaker 1: the way, I was really fortunate to cover a team
Speaker 1: that won two Super Bowls in four years, because that
Speaker 1: helps you. That thrust you, as a local beat writer
Speaker 1: into the national spotlight and people notice your work. So
Speaker 1: I part of the I gotta give Tom Coffin and
Speaker 1: Eli Manning and everybody that won those two Super Bowls
Speaker 1: credit and thanks because that allowed me to kind of
Speaker 1: display some of my abilities along the way. Um. But
Speaker 1: after they win their first Super bowl S n Y
Speaker 1: who I mentioned earlier Sports Network, uh, Sports Network New York. UM,
Speaker 1: they would send out they were Jets, they had a
Speaker 1: Jets affiliation, so they had a devoted Jets reporter. But
Speaker 1: every day they would send out a different reporter to
Speaker 1: the Giants, and that person didn't really know what was
Speaker 1: going on because they're not in the locker room. They're
Speaker 1: not following this stuff. One of those reporters, by the way,
Speaker 1: at one time was Scott Hanson, who actually did a
Speaker 1: really good job when you came out now now the
Speaker 1: NFL Red Zone host. Um, And so I pitched to them.
Speaker 1: I said, listen, um, why don't you have me do it.
Speaker 1: I'm here every day, I've got a little bit of
Speaker 1: TV background. Let me audition. Um, I'll do your daily reports.
Speaker 1: You don't have to send a reporter out here every day.
Speaker 1: You don't have to pay for somebody's travel because I'm
Speaker 1: at every game. You just have to send a camera
Speaker 1: and producer. I said, so that'll save you money. I
Speaker 1: make a little my money myself, right, you know, but
Speaker 1: it'd be more convenient for you. And they said, well, thanks,
Speaker 1: but uh, we're we're good right about. Hold on, hold on,
Speaker 1: this is great. About two months later, I get an
Speaker 1: email from a woman at s n Y, not the
Speaker 1: person that I talked to, a different woman, who says, hey,
Speaker 1: we were thinking uh idea, Oh yeah, oh yeah, we
Speaker 1: were fakingaking, you know maybe and like lay out in
Speaker 1: my whole case for why that we should do it.
Speaker 1: And you know what, I replied, I said, that's a
Speaker 1: tremendous idea. I'd love to talk to you. And that
Speaker 1: was my early lesson that, particularly in TV, it's mostly
Speaker 1: important whose idea it is, and if you want to
Speaker 1: get done what you want to get done, sometimes you
Speaker 1: gotta pretend it wasn't your idea. And that's what I did,
Speaker 1: so I started to do a bunch of TV for them.
Speaker 1: I went after the Giants won their second Super Bowl. Uh,
Speaker 1: this is another long story. I'll give you a short version.
Speaker 1: I went to USA Today for a year and then
Speaker 1: I jumped to Fox Fox Sports one launched in two
Speaker 1: thousand thirteen. I believe it was um and I was
Speaker 1: there for three years and then made the jump N
Speaker 1: I found that work and here we are now. Our
Speaker 1: last stepment is called Deep three, and banksically what deep
Speaker 1: three is is it's three questions in order to be
Speaker 1: at a deeper take on you, who you are as
Speaker 1: a person, not necessarily a reporter, but who you are
Speaker 1: as a person. So Smithie, go ahead and give him
Speaker 1: the first question. So the first question is, when you
Speaker 1: are like old as dirt, nine to five years old,
Speaker 1: what do you want people to say about you as
Speaker 1: a as an insider, as a reporter or just Mike
Speaker 1: Mike garfollow Um, Well, we'll start with the first part. Um.
Speaker 1: I would say that I want them to say that,
Speaker 1: you know he was he was fair, you could trust him. UM.
Speaker 1: And if he if he made a mistake, he owned
Speaker 1: up to his mistake. UM. And uh, you know he
Speaker 1: was he wasn't always right, but he tried his hardest
Speaker 1: to be UM. And then as as a person, you
Speaker 1: know I want to be he was a good family man,
Speaker 1: a good father, a good husband. Uh. They could say
Speaker 1: that my work on this earth will be complete. What
Speaker 1: do people not know about you? That I'm actually probably
Speaker 1: kind of a shy guy, a shy individual. My wife
Speaker 1: says it all. Yeah, my wife says that all the time.
Speaker 1: She's like, uh, we all thought you were kind of weird.
Speaker 1: I said, what do you mean? She's like, we didn't
Speaker 1: talk much. You asked a lot of questions, and you observed.
Speaker 1: And that's the way I come like some people don't.
Speaker 1: Some people think that or have thought over the years
Speaker 1: that I'm not a nice person because I come off
Speaker 1: in a certain way. When I first beat somebody, I
Speaker 1: don't offer a lot. I kind of let them show
Speaker 1: their hand and then I kinda uh, you know, start
Speaker 1: to reveal my personality a little bit more. UM, and
Speaker 1: I sometimes rouse people the wrong way, and I've tried
Speaker 1: to kind of, uh do whatever I can offset that
Speaker 1: a bit. But yeah, I would say that that was
Speaker 1: surprised a lot of people. What's your big goal not
Speaker 1: in work, in life? I listen, I to me, I
Speaker 1: I've kind of taken on this whole fatherhood thing, um
Speaker 1: with a you know, you're you're molding your child's life,
Speaker 1: but you're you're also they're here to teach you as
Speaker 1: much as you. You're here to teach them, if not,
Speaker 1: if not more of the other way. UM. And you
Speaker 1: start to see things in them that you realize about yourself,
Speaker 1: and you know you want to correct it in them.
Speaker 1: It but really what you got corrected in yourself first
Speaker 1: and they will follow. UM. So I think that that's
Speaker 1: where I am right now with regard to parenthood and
Speaker 1: understanding what it's about. UM, if I could become a
Speaker 1: better person through parenthood, I know it'll go the other
Speaker 1: way to my children. And so I'd say that that's
Speaker 1: probably one of my bigger goals in life right now.
Speaker 1: Do you relate to NFL network in a similar way
Speaker 1: to your NFL teammates. Mm hmmm, because it's different. I
Speaker 1: think so because with NFL team, the plan of NFL,
Speaker 1: you you see what it is, right, you see a
Speaker 1: guy lined up, you see a right guard that gets beat,
Speaker 1: who's having a tough day. You can't hide from it.
Speaker 1: There's no script, there's not there's not a producer who
Speaker 1: maybe turned on their own camera. It's it's there. In
Speaker 1: in TV, you can in sometimes and I want to
Speaker 1: say hide the negative way, but you can cut your
Speaker 1: words shorter. You can maybe not talk or maybe you're
Speaker 1: talking in terms of performance, yeah, and not be not
Speaker 1: be included in that dialogue, right because I don't like
Speaker 1: the player or I don't feel comfortable talking about the
Speaker 1: content or the subject. In sports, you can, right. You
Speaker 1: you can't hide or change or remove yourself like if
Speaker 1: you have to, let's just say you know current right now,
Speaker 1: you gotta go against Aaron Donald. Nah, can't miss that one, right.
Speaker 1: Your editor cannot your your producer can help you. The
Speaker 1: makeup person cannot give you makeup. They ain't on anti shine.
Speaker 1: Like you are in the trenches and you are solo.
Speaker 1: You got number from the Los Angeles Rams on your head,
Speaker 1: and it's just you right. In TV, I think it's
Speaker 1: you can support each other, uh, you know, kind of
Speaker 1: like what the coaches on the sideline, Hey do the best.
Speaker 1: And TV is such a different dynamic in which would
Speaker 1: you say you've built the strongest relationships AFL network or
Speaker 1: playing in the league. M M, I think both. I
Speaker 1: think because I switched over the journalism, guys are asking
Speaker 1: you know, you know, how are you I'm still Steve No,
Speaker 1: but I'm not into the guy You're making you look bad.
Speaker 1: But I will say, hey, you know, we're gonna we're
Speaker 1: gonna be real. Now, We're not gonna sugarcoat it, but
Speaker 1: we're not going to put it out there to where um,
Speaker 1: we're all embarrassed. Okay, So I I try to do
Speaker 1: that line where people know they're getting a real from me,
Speaker 1: but also can I've had general managers, I've had coaches
Speaker 1: tell me things. I'm like, is this this is great information?
Speaker 1: But are they telling me this to me to do
Speaker 1: with this? Yes? Are they yes? Are they testing me? Um?
Speaker 1: Like I've had some reporters who state this about a
Speaker 1: team and the team to call is called me and say,
Speaker 1: why is that dude saying that? And I've had to say, hey,
Speaker 1: this team has called me and tell me this is
Speaker 1: not completely accurate. Boss, and my you are you okay
Speaker 1: with me going on there? Because I still have this
Speaker 1: in these individuals who are looking at me as as
Speaker 1: a holder of the information. They're saying that's not the
Speaker 1: complete truth. So do I moment do I lay that
Speaker 1: that reporter? I'll just say, hey, basically, Johnny, you're a
Speaker 1: liar because I spoke to that team and this is
Speaker 1: what they told me. Or do I not saying thing?
Speaker 1: And the team now is there upset in me because
Speaker 1: I haven't said anything. So I've been at times caught
Speaker 1: in the middle and I've kind of something times. Luckily
Speaker 1: I haven't been on air, so I'm like, I ain't
Speaker 1: on air four weeks, it ain't right out. There was
Speaker 1: one time I was off air in July because we
Speaker 1: were moving and I wasn't I was not scheduled to
Speaker 1: be on. We were in the rental and we I
Speaker 1: didn't say anything, and luckily I wasn't on the air,
Speaker 1: so I didn't have to really dispute the conver you
Speaker 1: know what was stated. But I was on the phone
Speaker 1: with with my boss, like, hey, this team is calling
Speaker 1: me saying this isn't correct. They're telling me they called
Speaker 1: me at on Thursday night at eleven pm saying blah
Speaker 1: blah blah. I'm like, oh, and so I get off
Speaker 1: the phone with them at one am. At twelve am,
Speaker 1: Angie sleep, She's like a used to I'm like yep,
Speaker 1: and then I gotta call my boss talking to him.
Speaker 1: He's like, well, you know, so just kind of craziest.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of stories that I've heard. I'm like,
Speaker 1: I don't want to know. Yeah, don't tell me. I
Speaker 1: don't know what. I don't want to know where the
Speaker 1: bigger I don't even don't tell me nothing. I don't
Speaker 1: want to know his name, her name, his Nope, no,
Speaker 1: thank you, No, I'm not listening. You are a unique person.
Speaker 1: You are well worth it, you are competent, and most
Speaker 1: of all, your lovable. I'm Steve Smith singor I'm Gerald
Speaker 1: Little John and this is cut to It cut to
Speaker 1: It with Steve Smith Senior. That Is Me is a
Speaker 1: production of Cut to It LLC, Baltol Creative Media, The
Speaker 1: Black Effect, and I Heart Radio. For more podcast from
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio Apple Apple
Speaker 1: Podcast or wherever you listen to your favorite shows from
Speaker 1: Cut to It, Executive producer Steve Smith, SINGR co host
Speaker 1: Gerard little John, talent and booking manager Joe Fusci, Social
Speaker 1: media team Wesley Robinson and John Show from Balto Creative Media.
Speaker 1: Cut to It is produced by Brian Baltaschevic and Meredith Carter,
Speaker 1: with production assistance by Alex Lebrek, Production manager Sarah Pollock,
Speaker 1: Theme music by Alex Johnson, lyrics and vocals by Anthony Hamilton.
Speaker 1: You ain't heard about it, then We're about to let
Speaker 1: you know. It's all