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Speaker 1: Welcome to the NFL Legends Podcast, an NFL podcast for

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Speaker 1: the players, by the players. Here is your host, fourteen

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Speaker 1: year NFL veteran and Hall of Famer Aeneas Williams. Hello,

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the NFL Legends Podcast. I am Aneus Williams.

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Speaker 1: Has been a year of transition for most Americans. The

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Speaker 1: sudden changes brought by COVID nineteen has thrust each of

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Speaker 1: us into constantly adapt into a new reality. Like any

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Speaker 1: other kind of transition, there are people stepping up to

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Speaker 1: support those who are struggling. For those who played in

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Speaker 1: the NFL, tough transitions are nothing new, and today we're

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Speaker 1: welcome two men who know all about helping others through

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Speaker 1: rough transitions. Joining us today is the great Nate Boya who,

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Speaker 1: as an NFL legend walk on in college, never played

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Speaker 1: organized football to my knowledge, a former Green Beret, and

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Speaker 1: a man who has traveled the world trying to make

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Speaker 1: a difference in people's lives. We also have journalists Trainer

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Speaker 1: fired Ja Glazer, and together they helped create m v P,

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Speaker 1: which stands for Merging Vets and Players. This organization has

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Speaker 1: helped both on service veterans and NFL and Legends adapt

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Speaker 1: together to the challenges of transitioning from our one life

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Speaker 1: experience to the next. Welcome gentlemen. Before we get started, Jay,

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Speaker 1: real quick, any breaking news. I'm taking off brother, taking

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Speaker 1: the day off, years and strands and oution man. Oh Man, Yes,

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Speaker 1: it was great and you did a fantastic job and

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Speaker 1: introducing him and uh at another time. I would love

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Speaker 1: to know about how you guys connected in and also Nate,

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Speaker 1: what you'd be in a form of veteran uh opiate

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Speaker 1: had a great Memorial Day weekend as well. Welcome guys.

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Speaker 1: I want to start out by asking what led your

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Speaker 1: group to start in this program at two two thousand fifty. Well,

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Speaker 1: you know I had um Nate comes walking into my

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Speaker 1: gym five years ago and I'm breakable and says, hey, uh,

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Speaker 1: I understand you're the guy I want to see if

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Speaker 1: I want to play in the NFL. I'm like, who

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Speaker 1: are you? He's like, I'm a senior of Texas. Like

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Speaker 1: how you were senior Texas? You have gray in your

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Speaker 1: beard and he's starting four years old and uh man.

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Speaker 1: He tells me a story about how he was a

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Speaker 1: green Barret and then for the last few years and

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Speaker 1: University of Texas. They set up a deal for him

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Speaker 1: for play football and then uh go Overseas Special Forces

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Speaker 1: and go, uh, you know, defend democracy, democracy and fight

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Speaker 1: for our country and come back out and play in Texas.

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Speaker 1: And was going back and forth, back and forth. I'm like,

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Speaker 1: you gotta be kid me and I google the story

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Speaker 1: and I'm like sure enough. And I literally said to him, hey, dude,

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Speaker 1: I see what you've done, but I don't know what

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Speaker 1: you can't do. So let's go walking walk together. You know.

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Speaker 1: I trained him up, got him signed by the Seahawks,

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Speaker 1: um Seattle, you know. Then you know, and listen, they

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Speaker 1: played in the game there. He played there. He's an

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Speaker 1: NFL football player. He has walked that walk. And you

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Speaker 1: know when he was done, he was gonna go back

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Speaker 1: in the military. And I'm like, no, dude, I love you.

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Speaker 1: You know, you kind of become my brother here. I

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Speaker 1: don't want you an arms play anymore. So, Uh, Nate

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Speaker 1: moved in with me, um and trying to figure some

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Speaker 1: other stuff out kind of a Hollywood agent now as

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Speaker 1: a big time actor, uh and director and producer. But

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Speaker 1: he and I are when he was living with me,

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Speaker 1: We're sitting in my house I'm on the phone with

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Speaker 1: a player's wife, who a guy I had helped get

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Speaker 1: another few jobs were at the end of his career

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Speaker 1: with some you know in the NFL, and but it

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Speaker 1: was over. Time was it's time for the transition. I'm

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Speaker 1: on the phone with his wife and she's saying, hey,

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Speaker 1: you gotta do something about your boy. And I said, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I understand. He's sick, right, he has pneumonious. She's like, no,

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Speaker 1: he doesn't have pneumonia. It's just that it's finally over.

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Speaker 1: He has not left the house in three weeks. Lines

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Speaker 1: are shut, shades are closed, and he's just feels like

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Speaker 1: he has no value anymore. And you know, she's like,

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Speaker 1: I need help. And as I'm on the phone with

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Speaker 1: her about the football player, Nate is in the next

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Speaker 1: room over having the exact same conversation with one of

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Speaker 1: his teammates in the Green Berets how he doesn't feel

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Speaker 1: like he fits in out there. And I'm like, hey, man,

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Speaker 1: let's put these guys together. And the biggest thing I

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Speaker 1: know from you know, being in this league, since um,

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Speaker 1: it's you lose that team, you lose that locker room,

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Speaker 1: you lose that tribe. That's the issue. All the other stuff, man,

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Speaker 1: that's you know that, that's not the main thing. And

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Speaker 1: the main thing is you know, when you lose your

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Speaker 1: your team, you lose that tribe, you lose that brotherhood.

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Speaker 1: That scary. The transition sucks because the bottom line, we're

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Speaker 1: not like the rest of the world. And I say

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Speaker 1: we You know, I walked the three steps up into

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Speaker 1: a change to fight. I know I'm different than everybody else.

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Speaker 1: You guys are different, Nates different to me, if you're different,

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Speaker 1: different is good. But unless somebody tells you different is good.

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Speaker 1: You think you got to try and fit into society

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Speaker 1: when it's done, and that's not the case. Man. They

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Speaker 1: need to fit in around us. What about you, Nate, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean, you know it. It's uh, it's always been

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Speaker 1: interesting to me, the mutual respect between the two groups, uh,

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Speaker 1: growing up being a huge sports fan. First, like, I

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Speaker 1: I didn't think I was going to join the military

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Speaker 1: when I was a kid. Growing up, it wasn't something

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Speaker 1: I really thought about. I mean, I always respected what

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Speaker 1: those people did, but it just was I didn't think

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Speaker 1: that would be my reality. You know, I wanted to

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Speaker 1: be uh, Like I think half of America, I wanted

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Speaker 1: to be a professional athlete when I was a little kid,

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Speaker 1: you know, and uh, that was just a dream. And

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Speaker 1: that was like you see these guys and girls on

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Speaker 1: TV that are just the best, and it looks like that,

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Speaker 1: you know, they're having so much fun, and like sports

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Speaker 1: are such a huge part of the fabric of America,

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Speaker 1: and especially football. I mean, I grew up in the

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Speaker 1: Bay Area. The Niners were like a dynasty when I

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Speaker 1: was a little kid, you know, and I was Joe

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Speaker 1: Montana for Halloween two years in a row, because like

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Speaker 1: that's who I wanted to be, and it was my

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Speaker 1: posters on my walls were all, you know, Ronnie Lott

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Speaker 1: and Jerry Rice and all these guys, and so I

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Speaker 1: always had that. And then even as as I got

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Speaker 1: older and you know, as a teenager in high school

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Speaker 1: and realizing I don't have the talent or the I

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Speaker 1: didn't have to work ethic either, but I just you know,

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Speaker 1: I wasn't a great athlete, and that was that was

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Speaker 1: like I just remember that being a tough thing to

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Speaker 1: sort of a tough pillow swallow and accept. But it

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Speaker 1: was like that's all right, Like I could still be

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Speaker 1: around the game, love the game, um, and it was

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Speaker 1: always an escape for me, even as a it and

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Speaker 1: and later in the military, being able to watch watch

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Speaker 1: football and you know, watch the NFL and um, and

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Speaker 1: then I just you know, eventually I went over to

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Speaker 1: the Darfur and did some relief work in my early twenties.

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Speaker 1: Completely changed my life. And it was through that time

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Speaker 1: that I I realized I wanted to serve in the military.

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Speaker 1: You know. It was just a couple of years after

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Speaker 1: nine eleven and we were now going to not just Afghanistan,

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Speaker 1: to Iraq, and we had a lot of people signing

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Speaker 1: up across the country and I became one of those people.

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Speaker 1: And then going over there. It was always interesting how

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Speaker 1: football just continued to be a part of my life

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Speaker 1: even though I was in the middle of Iraq or Afghanistan.

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Speaker 1: It was like during the season, I can't wait to

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Speaker 1: get back after a mission at five am so I

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Speaker 1: can watch Monday night football, you know, And it's like

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Speaker 1: Tuesday morning at five am, and I'm watching the game live.

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Speaker 1: But it was just such an escape for us, and

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Speaker 1: it always has been, and it was it was a

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Speaker 1: time for me too and everything off and and you know,

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Speaker 1: not worry about the tough stuff we're experiencing over there,

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Speaker 1: and not anxiety about any of that. Just like for

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Speaker 1: three hours, I've got the game. I can just watch

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Speaker 1: the game and you know, watch the watch my heroes

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Speaker 1: and those that mutual respect has maintained and continued and

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Speaker 1: it does today. And I mean the relationship with the

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Speaker 1: league and the military has always been pretty strong, I think.

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Speaker 1: But now when we talk about transition, you know, and

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Speaker 1: former players and veterans and guys that aren't in the

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Speaker 1: spotlight anymore on the football field, and guys that don't

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Speaker 1: have um, their battle buddies and the mission overseas. Uh,

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Speaker 1: that's that's a tough pillar swallow too, you know. And

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Speaker 1: and we we haven't had we haven't done a great job.

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Speaker 1: We have to admit that as as a country, I

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Speaker 1: think we haven't done a great job with transitioning people

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Speaker 1: like that out of these uh, pretty elite fields because

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Speaker 1: we just want the next thing. We want to watch

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Speaker 1: who's the next rising star? And and uh, you know, well,

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Speaker 1: let's support the guys that are over there right now.

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Speaker 1: And it's like that is very important. I'm not saying

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Speaker 1: it's not. But there's a huge population millions, um that

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Speaker 1: played sports at an elite level and serve their country

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Speaker 1: at an elite level that now don't have that uniform

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Speaker 1: and locker room and and identity and purpose and value

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Speaker 1: and self worth, and it's like they feel like I'll

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Speaker 1: never be great again. You know. Tony Jay got Tony

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Speaker 1: Gunzala was to come into m v P a couple

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Speaker 1: of years ago, um, when we were really really starting

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Speaker 1: to grow, and him for him to share that, you know,

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Speaker 1: the greatest tight end of all time to say I

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Speaker 1: felt like I'd never be great again. And then to

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Speaker 1: watch the faces of all the veterans sitting on the mat,

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Speaker 1: you know, listening to this guy, and their jaws dropped,

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Speaker 1: like Wow, Tony Gonzalez feels the same way that I do,

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Speaker 1: you know. And I was a marine and I went

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Speaker 1: over there and farming football and what I did that

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Speaker 1: couldn't seem farther apart, but it's it's so similar. So anyway,

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Speaker 1: it's uh that that respect and and partnership as maintained,

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Speaker 1: and um, it's really cool to see to see m

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Speaker 1: v P be able to grow with the support of

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Speaker 1: the league and the support of the of the veteran community.

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Speaker 1: And he is what we do with these guys, by

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Speaker 1: the way, is we put them together. We're trying to

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Speaker 1: build a new team. So right now we're in five cities.

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Speaker 1: But each session we trade again for about a half

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Speaker 1: hour just to get a burn, just you know, people

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Speaker 1: holding your brothers or sisters on your right or left,

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Speaker 1: and right now we're doing it unsoon. But then after

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Speaker 1: we sit and we it's like we have our locker

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Speaker 1: room we call our huddle, and we talk about everything,

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Speaker 1: and we talk about as our football players. You gotta

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Speaker 1: look at it like not like, oh man, I used

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Speaker 1: to play in the NFL. No, do you play in

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Speaker 1: the NFL? Right, and you play in the NFL? Is

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Speaker 1: not who you are like? And he is what's behind

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Speaker 1: your rib kids. It got you to beat out millions

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Speaker 1: and millions and millions two people of people to play

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Speaker 1: in the NFL and get on the level you are.

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Speaker 1: That's who you are that doesn't leave when the uniform

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Speaker 1: comes off. You need somebody to remind you, guys of

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Speaker 1: that constantly. And who better than our vets and this

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Speaker 1: new team and the same of our vets. They go

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Speaker 1: over season, they do all this great stuff and it's

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Speaker 1: be all you could be right and you come back

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Speaker 1: over here, They're like, oh, man, we're different. We're like, no,

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Speaker 1: you're different. Different is good and even for you know,

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Speaker 1: we come on there and we talk about our scars,

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Speaker 1: and I know a lot of football players will we'll

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Speaker 1: talk about, you know, what the game has done to them.

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Speaker 1: I look at it differently. The first guy we ever

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Speaker 1: helped was a guy named Warren O'Neill um well played

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Speaker 1: for the Raiders Rookie of the Year under Lane Kiffen.

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Speaker 1: First day we met him, man, he was just in

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Speaker 1: the dark place because of his injuries. And I come down,

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Speaker 1: I meet him and say, hey, you know what you got?

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Speaker 1: And um, you know I am again. I've had a

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Speaker 1: long career in the fight game, and I'm a lousy fighter.

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Speaker 1: I'm a good ghost, but I'm a lousy fighter. So

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Speaker 1: I have ruptured L one L two twice, L four

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Speaker 1: L final that's one four times, hurried in five, got

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Speaker 1: bone cut out of my nose, I've got my dislocated,

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Speaker 1: my elbow, tour, my bistep tour, my cap, broke my

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Speaker 1: ankle twice, but knocked out more than every one of

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Speaker 1: my friends I know combined. Uh, And I'm freak and

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Speaker 1: proud of every single scar. Man, It's made me different,

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Speaker 1: and you've got to be proud of your scars and

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Speaker 1: you know, build yourself up. I could walk around the

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Speaker 1: street or any room I want and know I'm not

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Speaker 1: like the rest of the world because of my scars.

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Speaker 1: And we're trying to really get our vets and and

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Speaker 1: our football players and our athletes to understand that it's

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Speaker 1: your spar scars and your vulnerability makes you sit so

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Speaker 1: damn special. But Jay, how did you come to this

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Speaker 1: realization to be able to have that type of paradigm

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Speaker 1: about your experience Because it was a decision. I could

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Speaker 1: have been depressed every day, Um, because I'm in paying constantly, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: like constantly. My friends Chuck Lindell and Randy Guitar of

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Speaker 1: my training partners, Man, they're brutal to me over the years.

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Speaker 1: It was awful. And you know, life's about our decisions.

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Speaker 1: And I could choose to be depressed that I'm constantly

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Speaker 1: in back pain and that I have, you know, some

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Speaker 1: memory loss and um, really bad depression anxiety. I don't

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Speaker 1: think you know, getting hit let me to get have

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Speaker 1: depression anxiety. I think that led me into a cage. Um,

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Speaker 1: and it was about me making the decision how did

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Speaker 1: I want to live my life. I could have had

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Speaker 1: a pity party for myself the whole time and you've

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Speaker 1: been upset, or I could look at it as No,

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Speaker 1: every single one of these stars makes me different than

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Speaker 1: everybody else. And you know, we have our veterans too,

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Speaker 1: Like we have people in our group who have done

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Speaker 1: incredible thing save the American bows, pull people out of

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Speaker 1: bridge that have been blown up by suicide bombers. Nate

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Speaker 1: has done most ridiculous things in the world. But these

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Speaker 1: guys are gray not to talk about it, not that individuality,

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Speaker 1: and my job is doing Our job is to get

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Speaker 1: them to understand, No, you've got to be proud of

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Speaker 1: everything you've done that makes you different, that helps you

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Speaker 1: through the transition more if you're able to, you know,

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Speaker 1: make that decision to be proud of it all. Man,

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Speaker 1: that's phenomenal. Here's a here's a good question. So we're

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Speaker 1: doing this podcast remotely, which leads me to ask, how

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Speaker 1: has this pro weron adapt to the COVID nineteen situation. Uh? Yeah,

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Speaker 1: we adapted immediately to that situation, which sort of speaks

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Speaker 1: to speech to our team. You know, it speaks to

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Speaker 1: the the vets and the players involved in our entire organization.

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Speaker 1: I mean, within within a couple of days, we were

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Speaker 1: up on Zoom conducting all of our sessions, you know.

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Speaker 1: And so then we've got, like Jay said, we got

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Speaker 1: five chapters. You know, we were in l A, Chicago, Vegas, Atlanta,

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Speaker 1: and now New York City. In New York City, we

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Speaker 1: had just opened like the week before this, you know,

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Speaker 1: everything went into lockdown and uh and so that was

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Speaker 1: that was tough. It was like we're trying to grow

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Speaker 1: this new chapter and now we can't get together. What

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Speaker 1: are we gonna do? And bam, like without hesitation, and

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Speaker 1: one of our one of our chapter leaders out in

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Speaker 1: Vegas was like, I'm gonna set this up. We'll do

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Speaker 1: it on Zoom. We'll figure it out. And like week one,

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Speaker 1: we've got you know, eightiesome people logging into this thing

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Speaker 1: and we're making it happen. And it worked. It worked great,

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Speaker 1: and it was like an opportunity to connect with people

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Speaker 1: that would never have had a chance to to get

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Speaker 1: on an m v P session. You know, somebody lives

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Speaker 1: in in the middle of Nebraska, you know, or something,

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Speaker 1: and it's like they're feeling more alone than ever, and

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Speaker 1: now they're hearing about this organization and they're on they're

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Speaker 1: they're they're being able to log in and listen to

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Speaker 1: these stories and share some of themselves. And um, so

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Speaker 1: now we're we've got another predicament, which is a good

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Speaker 1: problem to have, is like, how are we going to

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Speaker 1: continue with this broad connectivity and get back in the

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Speaker 1: gyms when we're able to do that and continue to

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Speaker 1: do the sessions that we've been doing for years. But

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Speaker 1: we'll figure that out too, Like I've no doubt because

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Speaker 1: of the team we have, UH, and we've we've definitely

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Speaker 1: lead the way I think in the way that a

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Speaker 1: lot of people are talking about, uh social distancing. You know,

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Speaker 1: like that term is that it's it's probably not the

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Speaker 1: best term, and it's already tweaked a little bit. And

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Speaker 1: part of it was some of the guys in our

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Speaker 1: group that we're saying, hey, look like with social social

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Speaker 1: distancing is not the right message for us. You know,

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Speaker 1: it's physical distancing while staying socially connected and emotionally connected

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Speaker 1: and all these things. And and now I watched commercials

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Speaker 1: on TV and I see like they're sort of changing

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Speaker 1: the way they say it too. But I'm you know,

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Speaker 1: I think we're proud to say we were we were

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Speaker 1: part of the leading the way in those conversations. And like,

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Speaker 1: let's let's let's rethink how we're talking about this year.

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Speaker 1: And Nate, if I could jump back in here, Um,

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Speaker 1: you know, Nate and I guys real talk here. You know,

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Speaker 1: we have a bunch of veterans and players who were

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Speaker 1: always trying to convince not to isolate when the uniform

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Speaker 1: comes off, and now suddenly they were being told they

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Speaker 1: have to isolate and real talk. Nate and I were

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Speaker 1: on twenty four hour suicide watch for those first two

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Speaker 1: weeks with our crew because are being told you have

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Speaker 1: to isolated. It was it was, man, it was a

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Speaker 1: scary time. But again, as he's saying, um, and that

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Speaker 1: shows the power of our group. We haven't lost anybody.

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Speaker 1: And instead we haven't just not lost anybody. We've now

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Speaker 1: figured out a where to stay more connected. And during

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Speaker 1: this time we reunited uh an American pow named Shushanna

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Speaker 1: who was caught by Saddam's guards seventeen years ago. We

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Speaker 1: have the unit, the marine unit that rescued her on

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Speaker 1: and they met her again for the very first time.

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Speaker 1: Seventeen years later on they rescued her, she got put

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Speaker 1: right on a helicopter. Out of there. They went and

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Speaker 1: fought for another eight years. They never met each other,

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Speaker 1: and we reunited them on Zoom, which wouldn't have happened

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Speaker 1: if we weren't in this situation. We We've had everyone

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Speaker 1: from Commissioner Gadell come on too and and choke up

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Speaker 1: in front everybody, to um, you know, veterans wh are

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Speaker 1: going through a lot of family issues, UM that we've

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Speaker 1: been able to be there for them and get their

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Speaker 1: backs for them. UM. To other people literally calling us

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Speaker 1: from cars that are homeless that need help, that are

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Speaker 1: zooming in from there, that we're able to circle around

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Speaker 1: and help out and be of service to them. So

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Speaker 1: it's kind of and you know, it ended up being, uh,

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Speaker 1: there's a blessing and everything, and I think we've all

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Speaker 1: seen the blessing in this training such a huge part

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Speaker 1: of the program. It's just, you know, everybody in there

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Speaker 1: is a badass, and you know, there are a lot

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Speaker 1: of times both the uniforms come off, they just stopped

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Speaker 1: because they want to compare themselves to how they were

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Speaker 1: at their prime. So my thing is always you know,

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Speaker 1: first of all, the training part releases endorphins in the brain,

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Speaker 1: so it gets you, um, it gets you in a

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Speaker 1: much better headspace to them be vulnerable and open up

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Speaker 1: and look. My best talks that I ever have is

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Speaker 1: after I'm dumb sparring with Randy or Chuck or somebody

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Speaker 1: and man, that's when we talk about life. And same

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Speaker 1: thing for you right in the locker room, you know,

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Speaker 1: after practice or you got worn out, that's when that's

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Speaker 1: when the vulnerability comes out. And you know, same thing

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Speaker 1: for nating them in the military. After uh, you know,

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Speaker 1: a firefight, man, your your guard is down, and that's

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Speaker 1: when you connect and listen. Muscles are not what makes

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Speaker 1: you strong. Vulnerability, it's really truly what makes a true

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Speaker 1: man or true woman that true strength. And our crew

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Speaker 1: comes on there. Man, we cried each other. No one's

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Speaker 1: question our man or womanhood. So you know, the workout

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Speaker 1: is just to release the endorphins. The magic is the

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Speaker 1: mental health total that we have. The empowerment part. Badasstes

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Speaker 1: empowering other bad asses because we all get each other

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Speaker 1: on there. It's not about us fitting in the rest

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Speaker 1: of the world and not the rest of the world,

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Speaker 1: you know, fitting in around us. I can almost I

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Speaker 1: wish we could just record you, Jay. It just allows

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Speaker 1: you to speak into this Legends podcast where literally for

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Speaker 1: a minute, every every Legend, every vet could just hear

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Speaker 1: some of the words that you and Nate are sharing.

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Speaker 1: Because it goes back to it is a decision regardless.

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Speaker 1: I would have never known all the things that each

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Speaker 1: of you all go went through a certainly, Jada, things

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Speaker 1: that you've shared, you've experienced, you you would never know that.

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Speaker 1: But you've you've boiled it down to vulnerability. And please

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Speaker 1: one more time, speak to why is important to be vulnerable.

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Speaker 1: The vulnerability is is true strength. Muscles aren't true strength.

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Speaker 1: And now we're we as a as a group, whether

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Speaker 1: your players or vets, or fighters, or Olympians or football, basketball,

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Speaker 1: whatever it is, you're different, right, Different is good If

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Speaker 1: you look at different, is being good? Different is what

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Speaker 1: leads to success. So you know, the thing that's going

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Speaker 1: to build up your heart and help you with the

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Speaker 1: roommates in your head when they're talking and the gray

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Speaker 1: is getting bad is to open up and just unpack.

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Speaker 1: And the only way you're gonna be able to love

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Speaker 1: yourself up is if you unpack, you'd be vulnerable. You

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Speaker 1: open up to your crew. You've got a crew right there.

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Speaker 1: The more vulnerable you are with your crew, the more

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Speaker 1: empowered you guys get together. Your crew will always be

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Speaker 1: there as long as you're just true with it and

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Speaker 1: and real and open up. And again, no one's ever

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Speaker 1: ever gonna question you're mad of the stuff you've done.

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Speaker 1: The more you cry and open up, that's what makes

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Speaker 1: you strong man. And and right now is again in

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Speaker 1: this transition, when you don't have that locker room every

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Speaker 1: single day, you got to build yourself another locker room.

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Speaker 1: You've got to build yourself another team or another tribe

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Speaker 1: of people who get you so you could walk this

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Speaker 1: walk together. And you've already said you have five locations.

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Speaker 1: Here a couple of questions that closes out. How can

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Speaker 1: legends participate uh each each week? We want you to

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Speaker 1: go to our website and listen. I want to a

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Speaker 1: legends know. There's also we have a hard time getting

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Speaker 1: players in there because players are are ingrained. He look

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Speaker 1: vets in them there there. They know therapy, v A

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Speaker 1: all that. Okay, um, fighters, we do it all the

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Speaker 1: time because um yeah, we do it more for the

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Speaker 1: sports psychology, but we again, we know something talk about us.

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Speaker 1: They were walking into a change and willingly getting kicked

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Speaker 1: in and hit in the head. Football players they come

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Speaker 1: on thinking they're doing appearance because that's how it was

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Speaker 1: when they were playing. And I'm like, no, no, dude,

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Speaker 1: you're one of us, and listen what we do. Okay.

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Speaker 1: The some of the mastery of it is whenever you

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Speaker 1: know I get done, I'm I'm quarantined. With Olden Smith

426
00:22:20,520 --> 00:22:23,439
Speaker 1: and Luke Wilson from the from the Seahawks, we've been

427
00:22:23,440 --> 00:22:25,800
Speaker 1: trained together and every time we have an m v P,

428
00:22:26,240 --> 00:22:27,920
Speaker 1: we get in the car after man, we just talked

429
00:22:27,920 --> 00:22:29,720
Speaker 1: about all these great stories we heard about from this

430
00:22:29,800 --> 00:22:32,320
Speaker 1: vet or this vet. Will opened up about this and

431
00:22:32,320 --> 00:22:34,480
Speaker 1: the stories are crazy. They're beyond what you hear in

432
00:22:34,520 --> 00:22:37,600
Speaker 1: the movie. But the same right, I make our players

433
00:22:37,600 --> 00:22:41,639
Speaker 1: and fighters open up and regale our vets with stories

434
00:22:41,680 --> 00:22:44,360
Speaker 1: from football and something they may think is just ask

435
00:22:44,440 --> 00:22:46,200
Speaker 1: just happened up? Because the vets love to hear that.

436
00:22:46,760 --> 00:22:48,640
Speaker 1: So we both pulled the curtain back for each other,

437
00:22:48,680 --> 00:22:51,240
Speaker 1: and that's really the key. But if we don't have players,

438
00:22:51,720 --> 00:22:53,680
Speaker 1: we're not able to do that. But also if we

439
00:22:53,720 --> 00:22:56,080
Speaker 1: don't have players, we're not able to help them. So

440
00:22:56,119 --> 00:22:58,960
Speaker 1: the biggest thing we want for these players to understand, man,

441
00:22:58,960 --> 00:23:01,840
Speaker 1: this is a pretty cool team of Green Berets and

442
00:23:01,920 --> 00:23:05,119
Speaker 1: Navy seals Marie Reekan and people who took out the

443
00:23:05,200 --> 00:23:07,760
Speaker 1: last sniper and Falujah so they could have the first

444
00:23:07,760 --> 00:23:11,080
Speaker 1: democratic election, and people who put the first ever sandals

445
00:23:11,080 --> 00:23:14,040
Speaker 1: on little children in Afghanistan, and people who pulled people

446
00:23:14,040 --> 00:23:16,560
Speaker 1: out of burning you know, hung bees, they're blown up

447
00:23:16,600 --> 00:23:20,320
Speaker 1: by roadside bomb and it's incredible what these people have done.

448
00:23:20,920 --> 00:23:23,800
Speaker 1: But you know, our vets know they need to help

449
00:23:23,800 --> 00:23:25,880
Speaker 1: our players, act like they don't. They need as much

450
00:23:25,880 --> 00:23:29,720
Speaker 1: as anybody. So go to Vets and Players dot org

451
00:23:30,320 --> 00:23:34,000
Speaker 1: and again, just build yourself a new team, be vulnerable.

452
00:23:34,200 --> 00:23:36,639
Speaker 1: If not for yourself at first, then do it for

453
00:23:36,640 --> 00:23:40,359
Speaker 1: the people who served your country. And late, how's this

454
00:23:40,520 --> 00:23:45,840
Speaker 1: funded and how can legend support it? Well, like Jay said, yeah,

455
00:23:46,080 --> 00:23:49,400
Speaker 1: go to Vets and Players dot org. Whether you want

456
00:23:49,400 --> 00:23:53,359
Speaker 1: to support us H from a financial standpoint or you

457
00:23:53,400 --> 00:23:55,760
Speaker 1: just want to be part of our organization, that's the

458
00:23:55,800 --> 00:23:58,919
Speaker 1: first place to start. But I mean there, we've got

459
00:23:58,960 --> 00:24:01,080
Speaker 1: a lot of great partnership out there, but we're always

460
00:24:01,119 --> 00:24:03,480
Speaker 1: looking to build more and in every city that we

461
00:24:03,520 --> 00:24:05,199
Speaker 1: want to grow to, which starting out, we want to

462
00:24:05,200 --> 00:24:07,080
Speaker 1: be in every NFL city. I mean that is the

463
00:24:07,119 --> 00:24:09,800
Speaker 1: first goal. We gotta be a we gotta be everywhere.

464
00:24:09,840 --> 00:24:12,760
Speaker 1: But we need local sponsorship, We need local buying from

465
00:24:12,760 --> 00:24:16,040
Speaker 1: the community, because all these places are gonna have plenty

466
00:24:16,080 --> 00:24:18,879
Speaker 1: of veterans that need our program. I guarantee that, and

467
00:24:18,880 --> 00:24:21,280
Speaker 1: plenty of athletes as well. Um, it's just a matter

468
00:24:21,320 --> 00:24:26,119
Speaker 1: of like making sure they're on board, they're committed to it, engaged,

469
00:24:26,520 --> 00:24:28,560
Speaker 1: and then you know, we will find we will figure

470
00:24:28,560 --> 00:24:32,640
Speaker 1: out um local sponsorship and and national sponsorship and all

471
00:24:32,680 --> 00:24:36,280
Speaker 1: that as we go. But getting connected with us is

472
00:24:36,280 --> 00:24:38,360
Speaker 1: the first way, because there's there's a way you can

473
00:24:38,359 --> 00:24:40,879
Speaker 1: start building that. A lot of our cities where these

474
00:24:40,960 --> 00:24:44,920
Speaker 1: chapters have started then because veterans and athletes took initiative

475
00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:47,040
Speaker 1: that live in that city and they said, all right,

476
00:24:47,359 --> 00:24:49,959
Speaker 1: you know, I know this company and and and and

477
00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:53,320
Speaker 1: this foundation, and I know that this gym and all this,

478
00:24:53,359 --> 00:24:55,480
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna start putting the pieces together with the

479
00:24:55,480 --> 00:24:58,640
Speaker 1: guidance of our national team for m v P and

480
00:24:58,640 --> 00:25:00,240
Speaker 1: and that's how that starts. That's how you get that

481
00:25:00,320 --> 00:25:02,600
Speaker 1: chapter going and but it takes money, like it takes

482
00:25:02,640 --> 00:25:04,880
Speaker 1: money because we hire every place we go. We've got

483
00:25:04,880 --> 00:25:07,160
Speaker 1: a couple of vets that are on the payroll run

484
00:25:07,160 --> 00:25:09,560
Speaker 1: in the chapter. You know, every week they're getting those

485
00:25:09,560 --> 00:25:11,800
Speaker 1: people in the room and they're checking in on on

486
00:25:11,880 --> 00:25:15,080
Speaker 1: everybody throughout the week, and they're doing other things daily.

487
00:25:15,160 --> 00:25:17,640
Speaker 1: We have some kind of connect way to stay connected,

488
00:25:17,920 --> 00:25:20,639
Speaker 1: you know, whether it's going on hikes. Uh, you know,

489
00:25:21,040 --> 00:25:24,399
Speaker 1: guys play golf together, Guys go out to lunch, Guys

490
00:25:24,480 --> 00:25:26,600
Speaker 1: are there to rescue one another when they're we're in

491
00:25:26,640 --> 00:25:29,119
Speaker 1: a we're in a tough time and you know, somebody's

492
00:25:29,600 --> 00:25:32,040
Speaker 1: thinking of doing something that's going to really affect the team.

493
00:25:32,560 --> 00:25:35,520
Speaker 1: We're there, you know. So so that's that's uh, that's

494
00:25:35,520 --> 00:25:37,919
Speaker 1: the best way to support is just is getting get involved,

495
00:25:37,960 --> 00:25:39,880
Speaker 1: reach out to us, get connected and like we'll find

496
00:25:39,880 --> 00:25:41,560
Speaker 1: a way to get a chapter going wherever you're at.

497
00:25:41,960 --> 00:25:45,120
Speaker 1: Giving that website one more time that some players dot

498
00:25:45,240 --> 00:25:46,720
Speaker 1: org and I just want I want to give a

499
00:25:46,720 --> 00:25:48,800
Speaker 1: little love here some people in the NFL. But this

500
00:25:48,960 --> 00:25:51,520
Speaker 1: originally started with man Nate and I just grinded and

501
00:25:51,760 --> 00:25:56,320
Speaker 1: I was funding it um but then Mike McCarthy jumped

502
00:25:56,359 --> 00:25:59,439
Speaker 1: in and he gave hundred thousand run on the spot,

503
00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:01,720
Speaker 1: and Quinn jumped in and he's up there about a

504
00:26:01,760 --> 00:26:05,120
Speaker 1: quarter of a million. Roger Goodell himself jumped in, UM.

505
00:26:05,119 --> 00:26:07,520
Speaker 1: And Roger actually comes to meetings and hangs out with

506
00:26:07,560 --> 00:26:11,000
Speaker 1: our vets um without anybody knowing. He just connects with

507
00:26:11,040 --> 00:26:13,600
Speaker 1: these guys and he was like, how much do we

508
00:26:13,640 --> 00:26:16,600
Speaker 1: need to open up New York? I'm in um. Uh.

509
00:26:16,680 --> 00:26:20,720
Speaker 1: Andrew Witworth from the Rams, he's huge financial supporter these

510
00:26:20,720 --> 00:26:24,439
Speaker 1: guys really, you know, said okay, we understand, you know

511
00:26:24,520 --> 00:26:26,800
Speaker 1: how hard this will be. God has blessed us with

512
00:26:26,840 --> 00:26:29,439
Speaker 1: these incredible lives that we're we have the finances to

513
00:26:29,520 --> 00:26:32,600
Speaker 1: help and uh, they just they helped us really get

514
00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:36,159
Speaker 1: off the ground. We're very grateful for them. Well, j

515
00:26:36,359 --> 00:26:40,800
Speaker 1: and Nate, this has been incredible. Your information, You're inspiring

516
00:26:40,880 --> 00:26:44,159
Speaker 1: words will change the lives of many. So thank you

517
00:26:44,200 --> 00:26:47,480
Speaker 1: so much for joining us and thanks for listening in

518
00:26:47,840 --> 00:26:58,640
Speaker 1: The best is yet the cover This has been the

519
00:26:58,760 --> 00:27:02,440
Speaker 1: NFL Legends podcast. Asked to provide feedback or request a

520
00:27:02,520 --> 00:27:06,280
Speaker 1: topic for discussion, email us at NFL Legends at NFL

521
00:27:06,359 --> 00:27:14,280
Speaker 1: dot com. M Yeah, H