Speaker 1: Before we get started, please rate and review our show
Speaker 1: that helps people find us. On this episode of Sports
Speaker 1: Illustrated Weekly, what a tree we have Cowboys Hall of
Speaker 1: Famer Emmitt Smith, who joins me to tell stories about
Speaker 1: the first time he was an s I, his iconic
Speaker 1: cover shoot from the pool in his backyard, and frankly,
Speaker 1: how he ruined my childhood fun conversation with a legend.
Speaker 1: I'm your host, John Gonzalez from Sports Illustrated and I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio. This is Sports Illustrated Weekly. Ammt Smith. Welcome
Speaker 1: to Sports Illustrated Weekly. Thanks for doing this. Thank you guys.
Speaker 1: Are you doing today? Doing excellent? So a couple of
Speaker 1: I guess it was a couple of weeks ago, maybe
Speaker 1: even a month ago. Now, you and I and Jerry
Speaker 1: Rice and Dick Buccas did something similar for Twitter spaces.
Speaker 1: But I want to want to run one of the
Speaker 1: similar questions past you. You have Grace the cover of
Speaker 1: Sports Illustrated many many times, but one of the most
Speaker 1: iconic covers in Sports Illustrated history. I mean, you were
Speaker 1: at the height of your powers, and so you are
Speaker 1: in a pool, your pool, lounging on a float, just
Speaker 1: looking cool as hell and it has become one of
Speaker 1: the most reference covers in history. And I just wonder
Speaker 1: what you remember about that and how that came about.
Speaker 1: Obviously it was at the height of my career. We
Speaker 1: may have just been coming off of our first or
Speaker 1: second Super Bowl at that time. So and the blessing
Speaker 1: of being knowns cover Sports Illustrated. Sports Illustrated at the
Speaker 1: time was one of the biggest publications around, and every
Speaker 1: every athlete wanted to be on the cover. And so
Speaker 1: especially after you won a Super Bowl or led the
Speaker 1: league in russ and it's something like of that nature,
Speaker 1: it became an honor. And so Sports Illustrated wanted to
Speaker 1: come out and shoot me doing an all season just
Speaker 1: doing things around my house and so forth, just absolutely
Speaker 1: just chilling our day in the life, if you will,
Speaker 1: just archiving that way with the interview. And so they
Speaker 1: wanted me to get into the pool, which I did,
Speaker 1: and I happened to be on the floating and the
Speaker 1: guy happened to go up top to the second story
Speaker 1: just shoot down and he said, oh, this is a
Speaker 1: look cool. Let me go up here and do this.
Speaker 1: So he went upstairs at up top and starts shooting
Speaker 1: down into the pool. I'm just floating around the pool,
Speaker 1: my lit floating on and just relaxing, and there was
Speaker 1: there's a shot. He got the shot he wanted. He
Speaker 1: got the money shot. He got the money shot. I
Speaker 1: think you're under selling it a little bit though, because
Speaker 1: you're saying that you were just floating around in the pool.
Speaker 1: It's one of the coolest things. I mean, it was.
Speaker 1: It was too cool. I would imagine that your teammates
Speaker 1: probably had something to say about this. Other people in
Speaker 1: the league probably had something to say about it. I
Speaker 1: bet you get asked about it a lot. Still here
Speaker 1: we are talking about it. You know, I really don't
Speaker 1: get asked a lot about it. But it was such
Speaker 1: a cool shot that, like you said that earlier, it
Speaker 1: became one of the most I don't know why it
Speaker 1: is one of the most talked about the covers, but
Speaker 1: it is an icond of photo for me. Is one
Speaker 1: that questioned me out there in a totally different light,
Speaker 1: showed me relaxing and a more soft decide of me.
Speaker 1: But it was like to swim suiting the issue from me.
Speaker 1: So it definitely was. And now you also have new
Speaker 1: s I n F T S. We had Jerry Rice
Speaker 1: on to talk about this previously. You're part of that
Speaker 1: project as well, along with a whole host of just
Speaker 1: like bold faced Names, shock me A Hamdwaine Gretzky, Michael Phelps.
Speaker 1: Talk to us a little bit about that, why you
Speaker 1: wanted to be involved in it, and what you think
Speaker 1: about the new s I n f T S Well.
Speaker 1: N f T S is becoming as such a popular
Speaker 1: discussion around sports memorabilia collectible markets as well as the
Speaker 1: digital markets. So when the opportunity presented itself and the
Speaker 1: idea the concept came together with Sports Illustrated, it was
Speaker 1: a natural fit because obviously they wanted to utilize the
Speaker 1: cover of the Sports Illustrator that you saw and that
Speaker 1: you talked about in reference earlier, but they wanted to
Speaker 1: have an action shot of me doing something as well,
Speaker 1: So it was a combination of both. It's kind of
Speaker 1: cool to see how they were gonna put it together,
Speaker 1: and so with jarr Rance and Big Buckets, as you mentioned,
Speaker 1: as just a few of us launching that thing, the
Speaker 1: n f T out it makes sense. Gave me an
Speaker 1: opportunity to be a part of something with fans alike
Speaker 1: can actually buy into it and get shares of it
Speaker 1: as well, so I'm pretty cool with it. Yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: I'm still a little fuzzy on like the actual imaginations
Speaker 1: of n f T s. But I have seen yours
Speaker 1: and Jerry showed me his and they seem pretty cool.
Speaker 1: So it's it's exciting to have you guys involved in that.
Speaker 1: So you've got that project going on. And then, as
Speaker 1: we said here, this is a podcast, so most people
Speaker 1: won't be able to see it, but there will be
Speaker 1: a video element. But you're sitting in front of a
Speaker 1: stack of pancakes and a cup of iye hoop. I
Speaker 1: would assume there's coffee in there, but I haven't seen
Speaker 1: what's inside. What kind of content is in there? Uh,
Speaker 1: tell us about what's going on with I hop oh man,
Speaker 1: I'm working with and up is announcing his brand new
Speaker 1: rewards program with the International Bank of Pancakes, which means
Speaker 1: every five dollars at you going to the just being
Speaker 1: five dollars, you get a pan corn and the pain
Speaker 1: corns can toll them to the number paining corns. We
Speaker 1: can come into a hab and eat free me get
Speaker 1: a free meal, and so for conversational purposes, business purposes,
Speaker 1: if you love breakfast food, if you love other kind
Speaker 1: of food, I have had everything that that you need
Speaker 1: is twenty four hours and the food is very good.
Speaker 1: So I like my pancakes pretty plain. I take a
Speaker 1: three stack or two stack, get my eggs fried or
Speaker 1: scrambled on the side with cheese. I get my my
Speaker 1: hash browns and my bacon extra crispy, and some sausages
Speaker 1: on the top of that with it. I mean, it
Speaker 1: is what it is, and you're making me hungry. Yeah. Hey,
Speaker 1: this has been in front of me for a couple
Speaker 1: of hours. I've been smelling the syrup on this thing
Speaker 1: pretty pretty much. I'm about to get about to tear
Speaker 1: into it a minute, but it's been saying you gotta
Speaker 1: get in there. Yeah, you're gonna have to get some freshmanes.
Speaker 1: I assume too, because you and I are doing this
Speaker 1: together now and we've become friends as a result, that
Speaker 1: you'll be sending me some pancakes. No, I wouldn't be,
Speaker 1: you know, pancakes, but I will be sitting you a
Speaker 1: gift card. Gets that will all right? You and I
Speaker 1: will go and we'll spend the gift card. Alright. So,
Speaker 1: so we've been having this conversation. I feel like we're
Speaker 1: making some headway here. But I told you at the beginning,
Speaker 1: before we started that I had a confession for you.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna run this past you. So during those
Speaker 1: years when you're lounging in the pool and you're running
Speaker 1: all over the league literally and you're winning super Bowls,
Speaker 1: not singular, but three super Bowls, you're at the height
Speaker 1: of your powers. You're playing exceptionally. At the same time
Speaker 1: that that's happening, I was a kid and I was
Speaker 1: growing up in a city watching this happen, and the
Speaker 1: city I was growing up in right behind me, next
Speaker 1: to my Jerry Rice signed football. I'm gonna show you
Speaker 1: as a Philadelphia Eagles football Yeah, Emt Smith. I wanted
Speaker 1: to tell you. I've been thinking a lot about this
Speaker 1: over the years, but I want to forgive you for
Speaker 1: ruining my childhood because it was tough as a Philadelphia
Speaker 1: Eagles fan to watch you guys and the Cowboys dominate
Speaker 1: the Eagles so thoroughly. Well, you know what, Your apology
Speaker 1: is accepted. Now you're supposed to apologize to me, you really,
Speaker 1: I mean it was tough. Your apology is accepted because
Speaker 1: you have accepted me now and you called them this
Speaker 1: freak and it's hard to become Philadelphian free of a Philadelphia.
Speaker 1: So thank you. Then, I appreciate you recognizing my talent.
Speaker 1: That's been something set apart from which you guys had
Speaker 1: on your team. So it's all good. I feel like
Speaker 1: this is like a peace summit. We should have met
Speaker 1: in a neutral country or something while we're here. Last
Speaker 1: one for you, Uh, it's been a while since the
Speaker 1: Cowboys have experienced the kind of success that you experienced
Speaker 1: while you're there. Yeah, you're making a face of me
Speaker 1: the same page on this one. Tell me what's going
Speaker 1: on with your Cowboys and what you expect from them
Speaker 1: this season. First and foremost, our Dallas Cowboys has never
Speaker 1: been anglet never, but even in the last twenty years,
Speaker 1: I think we've had some very talented football players and
Speaker 1: very talented teams. The things that has but me the most,
Speaker 1: and if you look back over the years, I think
Speaker 1: the consistency of what we are seeing, we have consistently
Speaker 1: made mistakes, consistently beat ourselves, consistently put ourselves behind a ball,
Speaker 1: and not developed the momentum that we need to establish
Speaker 1: in order to build upon something or established the foundation
Speaker 1: to build upon and keep building upon it until we
Speaker 1: can't do it any longer. I think that's the difference
Speaker 1: between the last twenty some years versus the first ten
Speaker 1: years of my career with the Lads Cowboys. We came
Speaker 1: out of the eighties and we was one in fifteen
Speaker 1: and eighty nine with Jimmy coming in at the first
Speaker 1: first year, and then we went seven and nine in
Speaker 1: my rookie year, and after that we went on a run.
Speaker 1: We built a team inside out. We built a team
Speaker 1: that was focused. We built a team that was dedicated
Speaker 1: and committed to the mission, and the organization was starting
Speaker 1: to grow. We had very talented football players, but those
Speaker 1: talented football players played together as brothers and arms, and
Speaker 1: we executed to the Hodge level. We did not make
Speaker 1: a lot of mistakes. We did not beat ourselves with
Speaker 1: small tikie tag cling. These We had guys that can
Speaker 1: count on the man to his right and the man
Speaker 1: on his left. We were not out so listening to
Speaker 1: become superstars. We was out auditioning to become champions and
Speaker 1: dominant champions over and over and over again. We didn't
Speaker 1: have to deal with social media. We didn't have to
Speaker 1: deal with all those kind of things, but we had
Speaker 1: to deal with other elements, elements amongst ourselves and elements
Speaker 1: that things that were out of our control as well.
Speaker 1: But we were committed, and we were committed even when
Speaker 1: Jimmy Johnson left. That's one reason why we won that
Speaker 1: third in four years. So what I don't see is
Speaker 1: the same type of mentality, if you will. I think
Speaker 1: a lot of players, and I'm not just talking about
Speaker 1: our Dallas Cowboys, I think the country itself has moved
Speaker 1: and shift to this participation generation. Everybody get a participation trophy.
Speaker 1: Nobody earned their right when you become a Dallas Cowboy.
Speaker 1: You participate as a Dallas Cowboys history of the organization,
Speaker 1: but you haven't earned the right to put your footstep
Speaker 1: on the history of the Dallas Cowboys. I think these
Speaker 1: players need to be focused on putting their hand prints
Speaker 1: and their finger prints on the history of the Dallas
Speaker 1: Cowboys organization. Therefore they can set themselves apart from the
Speaker 1: nineties team versus the current teams. And so it's been
Speaker 1: twenty some years. Trust me, everybody's gonna celebrate you and
Speaker 1: pat you on the back once you get back to
Speaker 1: that place of being a champion, including myself, because that's
Speaker 1: what I won't for you anyway. But until you get
Speaker 1: your discipline right, you're focusing your commitment right on the
Speaker 1: job in front of you, you might not get it.
Speaker 1: I'm not just talk about wanted to airs on some
Speaker 1: of the whole entire team, including the coaching staff too. Yes,
Speaker 1: Emmitt Smith, I love to hear you talk about what's
Speaker 1: wrong with the Cowboys. That feels like a perfect way
Speaker 1: to end this. As a Philadelphian, he's a Hall of Famer,
Speaker 1: He's been on the cover of Sports Illustrated many times,
Speaker 1: and now he's been on Sports Illustrated Weekly. Emmett Smith,
Speaker 1: despite you crushing my dreams as a kid, Thank you
Speaker 1: for this. Are you welcome any time? Dream crusher? Thanks
Speaker 1: for listening, and a reminder to please rate and review
Speaker 1: the show that helps people find us. Sports Illustrated Weekly
Speaker 1: is a production of Sports Illustrated and I Heart Radio.
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Speaker 1: favorite shows. And for more of Sports Illustrated, its best
Speaker 1: stories and podcasts, visit SI dot com. This episode of
Speaker 1: Sports Illustrated Weekly was produced by Jordan Rozsieri, Jessica your Amoski,
Speaker 1: and Isaac Lee, who was also our sound engineer. Our
Speaker 1: senior producers are Dan Bloom and Harry sward Out. Our
Speaker 1: executive producers are Scott Brody and me John Gonzalez. Our
Speaker 1: theme song is by Nolan Schneider and if You've stuck
Speaker 1: around this long, we leave you with this. As I
Speaker 1: was making an Eagles fan interview a Cowboys legend, this
Speaker 1: feels like an HR complaint