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 they's getting down
Speaker 1: to do it? Good do it. We asked the questions
Speaker 1: you always want to know, but no one ever asked,
Speaker 1: let's cut to it. You ain't heard am about it,
Speaker 1: then we're about to let you know. It's all. So, Meredith,
Speaker 1: congratulations on getting Marattith and I got that wedding glow.
Speaker 1: No longer living in sin Thank you so bringing that
Speaker 1: up as well. So, um you are going, so you
Speaker 1: have not you decided to not drop drop the Meredith
Speaker 1: Carter was your was your last name, but technically it
Speaker 1: currently still is your last name. And why why, why
Speaker 1: why are you keeping Carter? Because I've been Meredith Carter
Speaker 1: for thirty six years, so you've been so low. So
Speaker 1: no one has got no one has no one has
Speaker 1: earned the right to have your hand in marriage until Jimmy,
Speaker 1: until Jimmy and so but so after walking down the
Speaker 1: aisle with him and tell him him, I do. You're
Speaker 1: saying I do, but not on my last name, not
Speaker 1: all my last name change. Why can't he beat Jimmy Carter?
Speaker 1: I mean it was president. Excuse me, wasn't that the president?
Speaker 1: Jimmy Carter? On my story? Yeah? Why why are you
Speaker 1: shucking and driving for the last name? Huh? Say the truth?
Speaker 1: Say the truth? He records, So you don't want to
Speaker 1: tell you, you you don't want anybody know. No, I just
Speaker 1: got married a week ago. It's also it takes a lot.
Speaker 1: It's a lot of effort to change your last name.
Speaker 1: By the way, I remember what my wife went through.
Speaker 1: It is a lot of paperword. You gotta you gotta
Speaker 1: do a lot. But that's part of the deal when
Speaker 1: you get married, right, I think. I mean, there's lots
Speaker 1: of deals. There's Meredith Carter, hyphen Philbin, there's Meredith Philban,
Speaker 1: there's Meredith at Carter. Why are you? Why are you?
Speaker 1: Shelly Shall, Why don't you want to? So? For me,
Speaker 1: I struggle for a while. I wanted my daughter to
Speaker 1: keep I want I want my daughter to keep what
Speaker 1: I wanted, and then Angie changed my mind after change
Speaker 1: a position on she's saying my position. But I still
Speaker 1: sometimes I still want my kids to have a pre
Speaker 1: numb Okay, But what was the thought on keeping the
Speaker 1: last name even for your daughter when she child and
Speaker 1: and Smith and Smith has Wait, that's why, Like if
Speaker 1: she marries some dude name I was gonna say Jimmy,
Speaker 1: but I like Jimmy. I don't want to disrespect. Maybe
Speaker 1: me marry something dude name Ricky Johnson, then her name
Speaker 1: would be Bailey Johnson. That works that when he goes
Speaker 1: in Charlotte and he wants to you know, they say
Speaker 1: it's all booked up, Well it's it's Ricky Johnson. Well, Ricky,
Speaker 1: we don't. We still don't have anything. Whoa I'm with
Speaker 1: Bailey Smith. Oh, Steve Smith starter flex aspect, So it's
Speaker 1: not here's here's it's not the flex. You know. What
Speaker 1: it is is the is the glow. It's what being
Speaker 1: as Smith is. Like, I I feel like I text
Speaker 1: my family Smith gang, like there's there's there's like the
Speaker 1: Little Johnson that's a gang. That that's the Fucies. Yeah, yes,
Speaker 1: that's my clan. And I don't want this average Joe
Speaker 1: to come in here and let me just say how
Speaker 1: I want to just sunk up the flue bro like
Speaker 1: I just want to you know, just kind of you know,
Speaker 1: just I just wanted to be something got you so
Speaker 1: all I but I do understand that really minimizes him
Speaker 1: and makes him more inefficient or makes him feel lesser
Speaker 1: than And I don't want to do that, m but
Speaker 1: I struggle with it. But she is gonna have to
Speaker 1: get that prenum because if if something were to happen
Speaker 1: to me and my wife right now, we will be
Speaker 1: dividing up a whole lot of things. And it's not
Speaker 1: things that in like monetary, but just memories and stuff
Speaker 1: that we've accumulated for our family. And I don't want
Speaker 1: some dude or some chick to just come in and
Speaker 1: have a piece of that. And they weren't part of
Speaker 1: the bones and the sacrifice of being me for my
Speaker 1: family that that started, you know, twenty something years ago.
Speaker 1: So future son in law, you will be in the
Speaker 1: words of Kanye West, we won't prying up. So I
Speaker 1: just struggle with a little bit. If I'm being real,
Speaker 1: well especially you can't, you can't if it's Ricky Johnson.
Speaker 1: Johnson better come in with a flyer. I'm just I'm
Speaker 1: just saying, right, So, Meredith, was a decision. You gotta
Speaker 1: make it right now, right now, make a decision on
Speaker 1: a national podcast, Unasural podcast. I think we're probably going
Speaker 1: to become Philbin. You've got to be the Philbin's, you know,
Speaker 1: we got because then if but then if you have
Speaker 1: the hyphenated last name, then that means your daughter is
Speaker 1: gonna have it. Yeah, and then they're so confused. They're
Speaker 1: in kindergarten and they're like, why is my name Luna
Speaker 1: Carter Philbin. You know, that's a lot for a kindergartener
Speaker 1: to say letters, Oh, that's your you already have the
Speaker 1: daughter's name. Huh. No, that's just our dog's name. I thought.
Speaker 1: I was like, wow, that's so cool. No, that's the
Speaker 1: dog's name. Wow. Yeah, you can't have a kindergartener with
Speaker 1: a hyphenatian name. That's just so confusing. Yeah, but there
Speaker 1: it is. Well, you had to make your decision. So
Speaker 1: but think about it. If you if if your child
Speaker 1: you know, obviously this isn't I'm not trying to sound racist,
Speaker 1: but if your child is not black, you gotta black folks.
Speaker 1: They go by two different names, like Deuce like the
Speaker 1: other day, or nicknames. The nicknames like my son Deuce.
Speaker 1: He knows I come to the house and I'm like, hey, dudes,
Speaker 1: he's watching TV, you know the Hey Steven, Oh yes, daddy, Yeah,
Speaker 1: we are go with nicknames. So your nickname, like even duce,
Speaker 1: like that son's nickname is fat Man. My daughter's nickname
Speaker 1: is juice box. But will they go to school with that?
Speaker 1: That's a nicknames. Everyone has a family nickname. So now
Speaker 1: that he's not gonna put fat man on like his
Speaker 1: uh on on his scan drown. Now when he's doing
Speaker 1: the test, I'm gonna even I'm already speaking it into
Speaker 1: existence on the s a T super duper smart. But
Speaker 1: the little bit of jelly on there that had to deduct. So, hey,
Speaker 1: who we got coming up on the Cut to It Podcast.
Speaker 1: We've got Mike Golick Jr. The co host of Chennai
Speaker 1: and Goldi Jr. On ESPN. He played college football at
Speaker 1: Notre Dame and he's the son of Mike Golic. Mike
Speaker 1: Golick Jr. On the Cut to It Podcast, first segment
Speaker 1: is called get iced up. You have no idea what's
Speaker 1: coming to Nobody has any ideas. Subtly person knows is
Speaker 1: me and it's in my head right now and I'm
Speaker 1: still figuring it out. So first question, since you live
Speaker 1: alone and you, uh, you are a self proclaimed proclaimed
Speaker 1: lazy guy. What's your go to a meal? Breakfast and dinner?
Speaker 1: Go to breakfast, so I've been trying to lose a
Speaker 1: little weight, so I go egg white omelet with usually
Speaker 1: a bowl of oatmeal and some blueberries. Go to dinner
Speaker 1: has largely right now been like one or two salmon
Speaker 1: filets and then usually like asparagus or maybe I'll cut
Speaker 1: it up put into a salad. So I've been eating
Speaker 1: kind of kind of bland lately. That's that's good healthy eating.
Speaker 1: I ain't necessarily saying it's tasty. I'm trying to figure
Speaker 1: why are you? Why are you getting ready for football? Sea?
Speaker 1: And Bro? You're doing is watching that? See that's the
Speaker 1: thing and what I learned. So this will be my
Speaker 1: sixth fall at ESPN going through all this, and what
Speaker 1: I realized is as I get ready to travel out
Speaker 1: and go to college games and spend all weekend on
Speaker 1: the couch watching I tend to gain more weight than
Speaker 1: I would like to, especially once I'm out on the
Speaker 1: road here. And so I'm trying to I'm trying to
Speaker 1: this year break the habit, get into a better routine
Speaker 1: and see if I don't gain like the freshman fifteen
Speaker 1: during football fan based off your statement, favorite airport Minneapolis.
Speaker 1: It's the perfect combination of big airport amenities. You've got
Speaker 1: the main concourse, they're about the top golf place that
Speaker 1: you can play, to simulators. Yes, you got the golf
Speaker 1: simulator right there, right below that. In non COVID times,
Speaker 1: there's also usually one of those on like emotional like
Speaker 1: support dogs that they have out there. No more emotional dogs.
Speaker 1: So are you one of those guys that sees a
Speaker 1: cute dog and you go and like, oh, I want
Speaker 1: to touch it? You want those guys? Yeah? Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: big time, big time, very well known, walking down like
Speaker 1: the beach and seeing random dogs and touching them, going
Speaker 1: up and asking everyone if I can pet the dog,
Speaker 1: if your dog wants If someone's dog like looks my
Speaker 1: way and approaches me, I consider that honor. And so
Speaker 1: if your dog wants a pet, if your dog wants
Speaker 1: to give me a kiss, I'm fine with that too.
Speaker 1: So you just let random dogs kiss you, says so
Speaker 1: you got dog face lips? Yeah, oh yeah, big time.
Speaker 1: That's why you're single. Yeah, that could play for there's
Speaker 1: probably there's probably a few readings because if you do
Speaker 1: that with dog probably if you do that with dogs,
Speaker 1: know what's happened later when the lights come on at
Speaker 1: the lounge. It's always a different story with so shaving,
Speaker 1: are you a razor guy like the you know the
Speaker 1: clippers or you use use a razor straight edge. I
Speaker 1: do a bit of both, especially because like now, I
Speaker 1: shaved my head usually like once a week, and so
Speaker 1: I'll usually take everything down with clippers and then I'll
Speaker 1: take the straight straight razor and edge all this up
Speaker 1: and then pick this thing close to the skull. Mm hmm. Yeah,
Speaker 1: well doesn't have that problem. But I'm a chilet guy myself.
Speaker 1: Sometimes I have. I went about three or four weeks
Speaker 1: without shaving. You know, COVID is like I'm not going anywhere,
Speaker 1: you know, My longest journey is maybe to the kitchen.
Speaker 1: How was the hairline game? The hairline A was awesome
Speaker 1: from where it started and stopped. That was the struggle
Speaker 1: like where is it? Like? Was it here or back?
Speaker 1: So three years ago? It was about right here today
Speaker 1: and I got a little bit It's yeah, it's struggle.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm I'm a handsome ball here guy, so
Speaker 1: I think I mean I don't really have a choice.
Speaker 1: I was thinking about growing it back out, but oh yeah,
Speaker 1: then I have my Stevie Wonder going. Yeah, I wasna say,
Speaker 1: let's let's let's let's not do that. Bro. I love
Speaker 1: you too much for you to go out. I love
Speaker 1: Stevie Wonder too. With that brother, some dresses. Somebody got
Speaker 1: to left My man's no. I know that's how you
Speaker 1: know he blonde and he ain't got no accountability partner,
Speaker 1: because I'm not gonna let you. I'm not letting you
Speaker 1: go out like that. Your hairline is all the way
Speaker 1: back here, and but what's what's the left of it?
Speaker 1: All right? So okay, let's go. Let's let's get into it.
Speaker 1: Where are you from and the place you call your hometown?
Speaker 1: Uh so I am, I'd say I'm from Connecticut. So
Speaker 1: my home town is Avon, Connecticut. I was born in
Speaker 1: South Jersey. Like we moved around a lot when my
Speaker 1: dad was finishing up playing. I was born when he
Speaker 1: was still with the Eagles, and so I moved around
Speaker 1: a bunch. But when I was in third grade, Dad
Speaker 1: started working with ESPN full time out here in Connecticut,
Speaker 1: so we got here. Then I've lived in Connecticut, you know,
Speaker 1: between here and going away for college and other stuff
Speaker 1: for the better part of the twenty three years, so Avon,
Speaker 1: Connecticut would be the hometown. What is the state flower
Speaker 1: for Connecticut? The state flower for Connecticut? For some reason,
Speaker 1: I want to say, like the white lotus. I don't
Speaker 1: think that's right, but it's what's what came to mind. First.
Speaker 1: I have no idea. I just thought i'd randomly ask you, dude,
Speaker 1: I do know the state tree is the white fur.
Speaker 1: I believe I know that random Connectic as about the flower. Yeah, no,
Speaker 1: listen again, this is like radio bullshit patting. I love
Speaker 1: because you know you had a face like, well if
Speaker 1: you don't know, why did you asked me? Well, I
Speaker 1: just wanted to. I just wanted to throw you off
Speaker 1: a little bit, just because it's sometimes I like to
Speaker 1: do that just to see, like, who knows the say flower?
Speaker 1: No one. That's the whole point, just to kind of
Speaker 1: just just keep you on your pas and cues. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I know, you know, you know a lot of sports,
Speaker 1: but you can care less about the flower in the tree.
Speaker 1: I just throw that out there. Apparently, man, I got
Speaker 1: walk into my flower stuff now fer game, you know,
Speaker 1: let's just jump right into it. I'm gonna just say
Speaker 1: how I feel about it, and and I'll let you
Speaker 1: kind of go for it for it. But you know,
Speaker 1: watching you over the years, you do a fantastic job. Right,
Speaker 1: But initially when I first saw you on and understanding
Speaker 1: media and how there's only so many seats, but there's
Speaker 1: an ump team athletes that want to do this or
Speaker 1: feel they can do it. And I was a little
Speaker 1: I felt some type of way at first, you know,
Speaker 1: I was like, man, Michael Jr. The only reason he's
Speaker 1: on there because of his dad. And yet me being
Speaker 1: part of the business now and seeing you may be
Speaker 1: on there because you know, you may have gotten your
Speaker 1: opportunity because your dad or the last name, but you
Speaker 1: earned your spot. And I just want to tell you, Ma,
Speaker 1: I think you do a fantastic job you on on
Speaker 1: the radio show, you know, but then just seeing you
Speaker 1: do the games, have so much respect and admire how
Speaker 1: you come across. You come across very well polished. There
Speaker 1: are some things you do. I see your dad in
Speaker 1: you as well, right, I see it. Tattoo game is
Speaker 1: uh is steady, increasing is getting better. But just seeing
Speaker 1: you grow up under your dad and understanding and now
Speaker 1: knowing this business. How you get in is how you
Speaker 1: get in, but how you stay is on your own merit.
Speaker 1: And what I love about you know, cut to it
Speaker 1: is we just kind of just keep it one hundred.
Speaker 1: What has that transition been like for you? Because you
Speaker 1: are Mike golicck Jr. That's the name that you were given,
Speaker 1: that was the parents that you were blessed with. But
Speaker 1: some people who are getting into the business or attempting
Speaker 1: to get in the business, you know, they they frowned
Speaker 1: upon it. They look at you and kind of go, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, they say whatever they're gonna say, what has
Speaker 1: that been like for you personally? And how have you
Speaker 1: overcome that? And just kind of dealing with the with
Speaker 1: the shade that comes with it just because of um,
Speaker 1: you know, the opportunities you've been given and taking advantage
Speaker 1: of it and it's and it's sending with that small opportunity. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think for me, I had a lot of good
Speaker 1: practice in that football honestly because the nepotism comments were
Speaker 1: things that I heard even when I was growing up
Speaker 1: trying to play ball. Like you mentioned, what comes with
Speaker 1: dad being who he is. I always said I had
Speaker 1: the perfect role model, Like I, I grew up wanting
Speaker 1: to be my dad my entire life. Him and my
Speaker 1: mom were you know, unbelievable role models for me and
Speaker 1: my siblings, and so I just looked and said, all right,
Speaker 1: what were the things that made him him? Football was
Speaker 1: one of the things that made him him? So I
Speaker 1: gravitated that game, and I was, you know, a heavy set,
Speaker 1: aggressive little kids. So it kind of worked out well.
Speaker 1: But then you start going on, you start setting goals.
Speaker 1: It's like, all right, I want to go to note
Speaker 1: name and playball because that's what my dad didn't That's
Speaker 1: the place I grew up loving. And so you get
Speaker 1: everyone then saying all right, you're only getting that opportunity
Speaker 1: because of your dad, because of your last name, and
Speaker 1: so I know you appreciate this, I mean the best
Speaker 1: part about sports, and that way I always approached it,
Speaker 1: especially as a young player, you know in sports going
Speaker 1: to college or young broadcaster getting into this is I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna say much. I'll keep my head down, I'll
Speaker 1: let the work speak for itself. I understand I'm gonna
Speaker 1: come in with extra sets of eyes on me, and
Speaker 1: people feel in some type of way When I came
Speaker 1: into this job, I said, if anyone looked at me
Speaker 1: and said that guy shouldn't be here and this is
Speaker 1: BS and I can't stand the kid, I would have
Speaker 1: totally understood it. That's why I was not going to
Speaker 1: come in and like I was anything other than what
Speaker 1: it was. Someone who was lucky they had the last
Speaker 1: name that they did, who loves what I'm getting into,
Speaker 1: but also knows all right, I gotta go in and
Speaker 1: work twice as hard. Then I gotta take every opportunity
Speaker 1: and show up and show them I am going to
Speaker 1: be prepared. I am going to be easy to work
Speaker 1: with here. I'm gonna understand whatever the assignment is, whether
Speaker 1: it's radio, whether it's calling games, whether it's digital, whether
Speaker 1: it's podcast, and say what do I need to do
Speaker 1: to be prepared for this, and then knock that out
Speaker 1: of the freaking park, same way I had to do
Speaker 1: as a player, because I wasn't the most athletically gifted
Speaker 1: guy in the world. I wasn't the biggest, strongest guy
Speaker 1: in the world, so I always had to overcompensate in
Speaker 1: those other areas. The way I watched film, the way
Speaker 1: I went about taking care of my body and things
Speaker 1: like that, and so I just applied all that same
Speaker 1: stuff I got here. I kept my head down and
Speaker 1: I said, I will take every opportunity related to this
Speaker 1: I can, and I'll just try and show people. I
Speaker 1: don't need to tell people a damn thing. I'll try
Speaker 1: and show people that I care about this job. I understand,
Speaker 1: and I want to honor the opportunity that I got
Speaker 1: because I know a lot of people won't get that
Speaker 1: and that you know that part. They'll always be a
Speaker 1: little bit of guilt about that. But all I can
Speaker 1: say is, all right, if this is what I really
Speaker 1: wanted to be doing, and this is something I really
Speaker 1: love and want to do, then I can honor the
Speaker 1: opportunity With the way I work, I can honor the
Speaker 1: people who wish they could have had that opportunity and
Speaker 1: at least say, all right, I didn't go to some
Speaker 1: lazy ship who's not gonna do anything on this. I'm
Speaker 1: going to go in here. I'm trying to make sure,
Speaker 1: all right, I keep channeling my energy into these places,
Speaker 1: because you know, I'm five years into this, but I
Speaker 1: still feel very much like a rookie, feel very much
Speaker 1: like someone was something to prove, and so I just
Speaker 1: I think that's the only way I've been able to
Speaker 1: come back. And if people still feel some type of way,
Speaker 1: I don't hold that against them. Like I can understand
Speaker 1: if people went the traditional route or had to come
Speaker 1: up another way look at me and see something that
Speaker 1: they resent, That's fine. All I can do is show up.
Speaker 1: Know that this is the job I love doing doing,
Speaker 1: No that I think I'm good at it at this point,
Speaker 1: know that I'm going to work my absolute ass off
Speaker 1: to make sure it stays now. I love cut to It,
Speaker 1: and I love it even more when you download us
Speaker 1: and subscribe, 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: this wherever you listen to podcasts. I got all my
Speaker 1: answers questions. 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. Steve, you just nodded your head when
Speaker 1: he said he feels like a rookie? Why why do you?
Speaker 1: Why do both of you who have been in this
Speaker 1: media and they realized it five years just my fifth
Speaker 1: year too, So both y'all five year ebone and good singer. Sorry,
Speaker 1: it's it's it's cool, it's cool, it's cool. No, I listen.
Speaker 1: I liked that I was giving your space to keep
Speaker 1: going if you wanted. You don't want that second Stanza producer,
Speaker 1: Brian's just gotta pay for that one, you know, five
Speaker 1: years in for both of y'all, why do you? Why
Speaker 1: do you? Boat? You nodded your head. I mean, Mike,
Speaker 1: you said why I still feel like rookies. Someone's gonna
Speaker 1: hear someone's gonna hear that and say you're a rookie,
Speaker 1: Like not for me. Last year COVID really changed the
Speaker 1: dynamic of things. And now things are opening back up
Speaker 1: and we're going back on the road and starting to
Speaker 1: be starting to have a little bit of consistency. I
Speaker 1: feel like I started all over again, like, oh, I
Speaker 1: gotta get on the airplane again. I gotta study because
Speaker 1: the way things were so condensed last year, all right,
Speaker 1: doing Thursday night from the house, staying up till one
Speaker 1: in the morning, you controlled. There was only so much
Speaker 1: we can talk about because we weren't in the stands.
Speaker 1: There weren't fans there, so you couldn't say, man, I
Speaker 1: felt the momentum change. There is no momentum change. You
Speaker 1: can hear people cursing at each other, you know, from
Speaker 1: the TV. So it was so quiet. So now going
Speaker 1: back out there, it's like, oh, oh yeah, I have
Speaker 1: to have a clear back. You know, you can't just
Speaker 1: all those little small things. And then obviously you know,
Speaker 1: bring my mask and um do this stand in line traffic,
Speaker 1: airport traffic security, uh t s A like all of
Speaker 1: those little small things that for the last eighteen months
Speaker 1: we haven't really been dealing with. I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: you hop on airp airplane a little bit. But now
Speaker 1: to go every week there's a new place. Every week,
Speaker 1: there's a new hotel. You're going to be physically interacting
Speaker 1: with someone you forget. And so now I've I feel
Speaker 1: like it's my first year all over again. I gotta restart, relearn, repair, uh,
Speaker 1: build up relationships from people that I haven't been able
Speaker 1: to see in two years or eighteen months, and they're
Speaker 1: not comfortable just you know, spilling their guts about the
Speaker 1: team via text, so you know you gotta kind of
Speaker 1: talk to him face to face. Yeah, I think there's
Speaker 1: a lot of that. We just have like our big
Speaker 1: college football meeting at ESPN and Zoom you had a visoom, Yeah,
Speaker 1: via via zoom like everybody else. So learning how to
Speaker 1: do that at different way. And we had these like
Speaker 1: breakout sessions, and Dusty dvor Checker is a great job
Speaker 1: as an analyst for us, got on and he talked
Speaker 1: about just what Steve was mentioned in there, and he
Speaker 1: brought that up. He goes, it's a new team for
Speaker 1: us again this year, and we get to be around
Speaker 1: each other in person. And so it's not only not
Speaker 1: taking that for granted, but remembering, hey, you can you
Speaker 1: can be a leader the way you go about this,
Speaker 1: make sure you know know everybody on your team, make
Speaker 1: sure you're putting everybody in a position to win. And
Speaker 1: that takes work that we haven't done in the last
Speaker 1: year in that same way. So it's it's equal parts
Speaker 1: that for me and I always say it just because,
Speaker 1: like you know, I did not have a pro career.
Speaker 1: I went to three training camps, I got cut at
Speaker 1: the end of those training camps like it was what
Speaker 1: it was. But I spent three years trying to hammer
Speaker 1: through that door and didn't make it. I was an
Speaker 1: undrafted free agent offensive linement, so the road was always
Speaker 1: going to be tough. And I always still kind of
Speaker 1: feel like the undrafted guy walking into a lot of
Speaker 1: these situations where that's a hard mentality of a right
Speaker 1: I'm gonna show up every day and try and prove
Speaker 1: you why I'm supposed to be here, Like you can
Speaker 1: ask my dad. I always used to joke and like
Speaker 1: he would laugh at it because my dad looks situation
Speaker 1: and sees things were progressing well for me and all
Speaker 1: that stuff. And I said, every day I show up
Speaker 1: in my badge still works that that to win like
Speaker 1: and and the goal is to make sure that happens
Speaker 1: again tomorrow and it you know, it doesn't work like
Speaker 1: that if not, like you know, someone's waiting or the
Speaker 1: Turk's wait could cut me or anything like that. But
Speaker 1: it's just kind of that feeling I can't ever shake,
Speaker 1: at least not at this point. Something you said also too,
Speaker 1: I want you to expound on this. You said you
Speaker 1: feel guilty. Why do you what do you feel guilty about? Well,
Speaker 1: just like you said that, I know that as like
Speaker 1: a general idea and nepotism something that can take opportunities
Speaker 1: from people that are really struggling to get them and
Speaker 1: go about them in the traditional ways. And so maybe
Speaker 1: guilty is not even the right word, but I understand, like,
Speaker 1: all right, there was like there are we talked about
Speaker 1: this all the time, whether it's sports or otherwise, Like
Speaker 1: there's X amount of seats at the table here, and
Speaker 1: so if you're occupying one from someone who's been doing
Speaker 1: this a long time, and and you know, there is
Speaker 1: something that says, all right, I kind of it to
Speaker 1: all of these people, and you hear it all the time,
Speaker 1: like these people that say I've been working all the
Speaker 1: time for this, or I came up through local and
Speaker 1: did this, and so there is a little bit of
Speaker 1: understanding that, all right, there are a lot of people
Speaker 1: that would kill for this opportunity, and so it's just
Speaker 1: it's kind of something that sticks in my head of it,
Speaker 1: all right, I gotta go earn this every day because
Speaker 1: I know I got to jump in front of the
Speaker 1: line a little faster than a lot of people get to.
Speaker 1: And you know that that kind of feeling once you
Speaker 1: just said jumped in front of the line, which means
Speaker 1: you still have to you still have to stand in line.
Speaker 1: Some people don't think you have to stand the line
Speaker 1: at all. Some people think you, oh, you got a
Speaker 1: great opportunity. You just got this opportunity. Like I mean,
Speaker 1: players all the time now, going back to training camps
Speaker 1: and stuff. I had three or four guys over the
Speaker 1: last couple of weeks literally tell me, now, I want
Speaker 1: to do your job, and I want to I want
Speaker 1: to do your job and I want to do this.
Speaker 1: And they ask me, you know, how did you how
Speaker 1: do you start not telling you know, the long slap,
Speaker 1: a short version of doing local radio, then doing Excel,
Speaker 1: you know, working with your dad on Mike and Mike
Speaker 1: while I was playing and they and then after I
Speaker 1: started going through and they kind of look at me, like, man,
Speaker 1: I signed up for this ship. Like so I just
Speaker 1: want to know how you got the job, bro, So
Speaker 1: like this is how I got the job. And so
Speaker 1: that's the back end. I think that everyone doesn't see,
Speaker 1: whether it's in sports, meta or whatever, but you gotta
Speaker 1: put the work in on the back end. Like his
Speaker 1: last name may have gotten him in the door, but
Speaker 1: just like he's saying, he's got to prove himself each
Speaker 1: and every day. If he didn't do that, then he'd
Speaker 1: be just he used to be, just as much as
Speaker 1: out as anyone else. But people don't. People never want
Speaker 1: to see the back end story. They don't want to
Speaker 1: see that Steve Smith is in this position, maybe because
Speaker 1: of Steve Smith the name. But yeah, you were doing
Speaker 1: you were running the board at a local radio station.
Speaker 1: Everyone won't put that same amount of working. Everyone won't
Speaker 1: put in the same amount of work that Mike did
Speaker 1: to keep him there. Yeah, you might have got expedited
Speaker 1: to the front of the line that it happened that
Speaker 1: had pins, but you gotta put the work in on
Speaker 1: the backing here. Yeah. Well, I mean that's the thing too,
Speaker 1: is like it is where you start. Also like when
Speaker 1: I say I jumped to the line. The first job
Speaker 1: I got at ESPN was Sunday mornings nine to one
Speaker 1: Easter in a show called Fantasy Focus, a four hour
Speaker 1: radio show talking fantasy football heading into the one o'clock
Speaker 1: window there I showed I showed it into that once
Speaker 1: a week, and as the year went along, if they
Speaker 1: needed someone else to fill in on any show, where
Speaker 1: I was. I was doing it and it was mainly weekends,
Speaker 1: like they weren't letting me near the weekday line. So
Speaker 1: like they were and I'm blaming them, Like god, if
Speaker 1: I went back and listen to some of those shows now,
Speaker 1: I'm sure they'd be awful. But it was that. It was,
Speaker 1: you know, continuing to do that and then transitioning into
Speaker 1: the four to six am slot before Mike and Mike
Speaker 1: doing that with you know, Robin Lemberg as a partner
Speaker 1: at first, and then doing solo radio from four to
Speaker 1: six in the morning for three and a half years.
Speaker 1: Whoa whoa, whoa whoa four to six, that's what I mean.
Speaker 1: Just driving into work and truck drivers listening to me,
Speaker 1: Like my bosses weren't even up listening to me at
Speaker 1: that point. But it was reps every day in front
Speaker 1: of the microphone. It was the most valuable thing that
Speaker 1: I have done so far. And four to six that
Speaker 1: means you got up it. You got up at least
Speaker 1: to something to get ready right, alarm went off at
Speaker 1: two thirty, was out of the house by like two.
Speaker 1: How many times did you hit the snooze though? Oh
Speaker 1: I see, I'm so I'm a neurotic, former offensive lineman.
Speaker 1: I had like six alarms set every morning because I
Speaker 1: was terrified of being late for work. That would wake
Speaker 1: that used to wake me up. I used to do
Speaker 1: is Sunday Show's on that call time was at five.
Speaker 1: Had to be at the at the State, at the
Speaker 1: studio for four four oh five, and then I had
Speaker 1: to snooze question seven. Seven minutes and thirty five seconds
Speaker 1: was my snooze. That seven minutes felt good? Didn't No
Speaker 1: minutes felt that thirty five seconds that was to make
Speaker 1: a break. I'll get up. That's and wake up in
Speaker 1: the shower. The snooze sleep is good. It's risky though
Speaker 1: that set you start to see, Okay, I'm back, I'm back.
Speaker 1: I used to go to sleep scared though have you
Speaker 1: ever went to sleep scared? Oh? So the first time
Speaker 1: I ever, um, I wasn't even filling in, but I
Speaker 1: was getting to come over and do like an hour.
Speaker 1: So this was a couple of years into that where
Speaker 1: they let me come over and fill in like an
Speaker 1: hour portion of Mike and Mikey when it was you know,
Speaker 1: it was still Mike and Mike at that point, I
Speaker 1: slept for forty five minutes that night. I was like,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna get up there and say something dumb. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna cuss on air. They're never gonna let me back here,
Speaker 1: like I was night before a game, nervous and slept
Speaker 1: for five minutes before that, just like could not get
Speaker 1: myself to settle down. That is the worst I've been.
Speaker 1: I've done that too. Were you just kind of like
Speaker 1: or you wake up every hour checking o'clock and yeah,
Speaker 1: and it's and people are like, oh, he looked like
Speaker 1: he was out all night. No, brothers are struggling. He
Speaker 1: in that nine. You sit there sleep story five. Now,
Speaker 1: your heart in your in your shoe. You got an
Speaker 1: alarm set on the phone. You have alarm setting another
Speaker 1: clock in the room. You gotta put one across the room.
Speaker 1: So all those sales, you gotta get up and get
Speaker 1: that one. Or the one time I foolishly did had
Speaker 1: them call me from downstairs. And one time they well
Speaker 1: they called me and I'm in a shower. Damn. They
Speaker 1: almost died trying to get get get to the phone
Speaker 1: because they keep calling. They keep calling. I hit when
Speaker 1: you nack it, Oh no, just listen when you naked
Speaker 1: mean and you don't have socks on. You just got
Speaker 1: bare feet. You hit that water and that you try
Speaker 1: to hit that curve in the bathroom, whoa wait, almost
Speaker 1: an accident. I'm bleeding out. You get that little hydroplane
Speaker 1: that that'll wake you up more than any shower by
Speaker 1: the way to that first time you like almost slip
Speaker 1: on something at like three in the morning, wide away,
Speaker 1: ready to go. The worst thing though, the glass uh
Speaker 1: shower door, walk straight into it. I forgot it was there.
Speaker 1: They reminded you. I thought it was open, she was closed.
Speaker 1: And that's happened to you before I call myself all
Speaker 1: kind of stuff. Yep, that'll that'll wake you up and
Speaker 1: humble you. Yeah, it's nothing like walking into that glass
Speaker 1: door that that you thought was open and it's really
Speaker 1: not and you run smack into it. That this happened
Speaker 1: to the best of us. Play has happened to you? Yeah,
Speaker 1: it happened to me. Work once. It was pretty embarrassing work. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's that's that's embarrassing. Damn. So what they did they
Speaker 1: nickname me for a couple of days. Nah, there are
Speaker 1: a lot of people. See it's just a few, it's
Speaker 1: only two or three. So I I tested myself off,
Speaker 1: keep it going, keep it moving. How is this set up?
Speaker 1: How did you walk in one of those are like
Speaker 1: glass fishbowl kind of conference rooms and it looks I
Speaker 1: mean it's just you know, straight thin glass, so you
Speaker 1: couldn't tell if it was open and closed, and there
Speaker 1: happened to be you know, it was. It was a
Speaker 1: little bit sun someone's in my eyes. I walked smack
Speaker 1: into it trying to did you walk into it trying
Speaker 1: to go into the meeting leaving? Yeah? It was, it was.
Speaker 1: It's all good. Hopefully it wasn't. Hopefully it wasn't like
Speaker 1: I'm leaving you can actually we're gonna lay you off
Speaker 1: after that. I've been kicked out a bit of homes.
Speaker 1: This what's um? What what has been a process been
Speaker 1: like for you? At ESPN? You know, we see this
Speaker 1: big old you know what they called it the car wash,
Speaker 1: but you see just this big old institution cranking out
Speaker 1: content left and right. You know, there's I've been there
Speaker 1: and they've always you know, I've been there several times
Speaker 1: and they've switched it. You know, it's been it's always
Speaker 1: been a campus, but it's not. It hasn't always been
Speaker 1: the glorious campus that it is today. Yeah, that was
Speaker 1: that was a crazy purpose. I guess. I grew up
Speaker 1: out here. So when I first got here and dad
Speaker 1: was working at the ESPN, it was like three buildings.
Speaker 1: And now it's it is what you just described. It's
Speaker 1: college campus. You've got this huge you know, it used
Speaker 1: to be these big satellite dishes for everything, and now
Speaker 1: it's all gone digital. Like the growth of campus has
Speaker 1: been pretty wild here. And then like you get there
Speaker 1: on the inside, and I don't know, like I remember
Speaker 1: a lot of like the first like you go around
Speaker 1: and you see the inside of the Sports Center studio
Speaker 1: for the first time, and you're looking around at this
Speaker 1: thing like I would sit around in college and watch
Speaker 1: three times back to back during the course of the day,
Speaker 1: and you just kind of have those pitch yourself moments.
Speaker 1: And and I think for me, like getting opportunities to
Speaker 1: work with people that I had been watching as like
Speaker 1: you know, a high school and a college player, and
Speaker 1: and getting a chance to see them up close and
Speaker 1: then really just kind of seeing seeing through them more
Speaker 1: of the stuff that I wanted to do. Like obviously
Speaker 1: I grew up with the you know, the best role
Speaker 1: model for this and my dad and getting to see
Speaker 1: the way he did it up close for two decades
Speaker 1: was invaluable for me. Like getting to see, like, you know,
Speaker 1: Michelle Beatle and Marcelis matt Crew out in Sports Nation
Speaker 1: and the way that they made TV out there. I
Speaker 1: looked at that and said, all right, that's a really
Speaker 1: interesting way they're doing this. What can I take from that? Um,
Speaker 1: Michael Smith and Jamal Hill and they were doing his
Speaker 1: and hers. I was like, okay, you're you're doing a
Speaker 1: show with your friends, taking chances on air, and they're
Speaker 1: giving you the space to do that like they were.
Speaker 1: They were the cool kids table when I got to ESPN,
Speaker 1: like smell and all the stuff that they were doing,
Speaker 1: and I I tell anyone who will listen, I am
Speaker 1: so indebted to them because again you talk about how
Speaker 1: I came into ESPN, I was very self conscious about
Speaker 1: being Mike goli senior son around there and how people
Speaker 1: would perceive me. And Michael and Jamal treated me like
Speaker 1: me and they gave me opportunities on their shows. They
Speaker 1: took me in and treated me like a friend, and
Speaker 1: it settled me down own so much because these people
Speaker 1: that were, you know, at the time, two of the
Speaker 1: most successful people and like unbelievably kind and nice and
Speaker 1: still are even you know, not in our building anymore.
Speaker 1: But just the fact that those people like reached reached
Speaker 1: out and made me feel at home really kind of
Speaker 1: helped start to settle me in. It's like, all right,
Speaker 1: you can start to be your own person here. You're
Speaker 1: gonna be able to find an identity here. Let me
Speaker 1: ask you without mentioning names. There you're talking about so
Speaker 1: many people that I knew who your last name, we were,
Speaker 1: and they just allowed you to be yourself and they
Speaker 1: looked past that without naming names and just really just
Speaker 1: talking about talking about the others, the ugly side of
Speaker 1: the business, what you experience and how you retreat it
Speaker 1: because of your name and and this isn't about you know,
Speaker 1: you out in people any of that stuff, but just
Speaker 1: kind of giving the audience understanding of what you see
Speaker 1: the final product. Just like a football game you see
Speaker 1: on Sunday or Thursday night or Monday night, you're you know,
Speaker 1: the shows you're on. There's so much that goes on
Speaker 1: behind the scenes that people think one of your fad
Speaker 1: lines that you don't have your own personality you don't
Speaker 1: really know what you're talking about. I just go through
Speaker 1: that business aspect of it that no one really sees
Speaker 1: that you you don't really reveal on social media because
Speaker 1: nobody really wants to see the ugliness of of business, right, Like,
Speaker 1: this is a horrible analogy, but I'll say it. You know,
Speaker 1: loved me and a wife loved and everybody here who's
Speaker 1: a parent love making the kids. But there are some days,
Speaker 1: depending on what illness they have, what time of day
Speaker 1: it is, or hot early it is in the morning,
Speaker 1: and you're like, God, bless him, right, you know, whether
Speaker 1: it's a poopy diaper or somebody's throwing up at one
Speaker 1: in the morning, you have sleep, like just all that
Speaker 1: stuff that was just a teenagers that was a go yeah.
Speaker 1: But you know, so tell us about that part of it.
Speaker 1: The thing that we get hit with the most, especially ESPN,
Speaker 1: is people act like, well, they tell you what to
Speaker 1: talk about, or they tell you you can't have an
Speaker 1: opinion on X, Y or Z. Especially you know a
Speaker 1: lot of times that's with subjects that come up and
Speaker 1: have to do with you know, the intersection of racing,
Speaker 1: sports and what's going on in politics. When they connect
Speaker 1: with sports and stuff like that was like feedback is
Speaker 1: so hard to come by in general. Good, Yeah, you
Speaker 1: gotta seek people out and ask people that you trust
Speaker 1: and like have them do it because everyone's got their
Speaker 1: own jobs, they're worried about their stuff, and with how
Speaker 1: hard that is to come by, I'm always like, guys,
Speaker 1: they're they're not going to take the time to come
Speaker 1: down to dictate every little thing I'm going to say
Speaker 1: on Eric here, Like that is not how it works.
Speaker 1: And so because I'm always that always ticks me off
Speaker 1: because it's like, listen, you can sit here and blame
Speaker 1: the SPN and say they told you to say this,
Speaker 1: or you can realize that I got this opinion, and
Speaker 1: then you've got to just have this conversation with be.
Speaker 1: You don't have the out of blaming it on somebody else,
Speaker 1: and then Washington is the way You're gonna have to
Speaker 1: sit here and have this out with me. So that's
Speaker 1: that's the most bothersome thing because we put a lot
Speaker 1: of work into that. Like when I get done with
Speaker 1: you guys, I'm gonna go to our one o'clock show
Speaker 1: meeting and we're gonna bat around ideas there and try
Speaker 1: and figure out first off, what do we think anyone's
Speaker 1: gonna be interesting in? What do we feel strongly enough
Speaker 1: about here? How can we make it interesting because for
Speaker 1: our time slot, and this was part of feeling like
Speaker 1: a rookie this past year was I went from doing
Speaker 1: the morning show with Dad and Trade for the last
Speaker 1: two and a half years, tending out doing afternoon Drive
Speaker 1: from four to seven. And by the time you get
Speaker 1: to us, you know, unless news breaks, you've heard these
Speaker 1: stories two, three or four times. You've heard about ten
Speaker 1: different networks, ten different personalities, ten different voices. You got
Speaker 1: the yellows, the screamers, the mumblers, to whisper. You just
Speaker 1: have everything and people don't even realize that everything you're
Speaker 1: going through from four to six, you gotta have two
Speaker 1: two and a half hours of content and then if
Speaker 1: something crazy breaks, you have to form your opinion about
Speaker 1: that immediately. That was the most interesting part about this
Speaker 1: year was learning how to do that. Like you talk
Speaker 1: about something new. We had been on the air for
Speaker 1: maybe a month, me and and we had a whole
Speaker 1: show ready to go again. Like so we start at
Speaker 1: one o'clock and we start putting the show together. From there,
Speaker 1: we're constantly in contact with our producers and trying to
Speaker 1: make sure we give them stuff early enough so that
Speaker 1: the TV side of things, because we're on Plus, can
Speaker 1: have this queue up. And so then it is three
Speaker 1: fifty six, and all of a sudden, it's hey, um,
Speaker 1: the Milwaukee Bucks aren't going out in the court in
Speaker 1: the bubble, and hey, the rest of the NBA they're
Speaker 1: all not going out tonight either because of what we're
Speaker 1: on in Milwaukee and the you know, the violence and
Speaker 1: the violence by police officers and going on in the country. Then,
Speaker 1: and so we had to scrap the entire show and
Speaker 1: then immediately go into all right, we gotta get guests
Speaker 1: that are going to be able to tell us what's
Speaker 1: going on inside the NBA bubble, who are people in there?
Speaker 1: And then oh, by the way, try and navigate you know,
Speaker 1: you know, we were extremely fortunate at that point is
Speaker 1: a current w NBA player, she's playing with Sparks still
Speaker 1: her sister. You know, she wasn't in the bubble because
Speaker 1: she was dealing with coming back from injury. But her
Speaker 1: sister is the president of the w n B A
Speaker 1: p A. And so we immediately had to do, Steve,
Speaker 1: what you guys. You know what we always hear about
Speaker 1: as former players is take people inside what's going on
Speaker 1: that locker room and in that space. It wasn't only
Speaker 1: take people inside what they're dealing with as a players
Speaker 1: association and leagues trying to go through and navigate this
Speaker 1: incredibly complex developing situation, but also then for Tone, I
Speaker 1: was like, you're a you're a black woman in this
Speaker 1: country having to watch all this stuff play out right now,
Speaker 1: And we had to have those conversations that we hadn't
Speaker 1: had together yet off air, that we hadn't had time
Speaker 1: to plan for. We had to have them on air
Speaker 1: pretty candidly. Good, do it, good, do it? Then get
Speaker 1: down to do it good? Hey, Gerard, why did you
Speaker 1: 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. How does a guy who primarily you know,
Speaker 1: dad played in the NFL. You know you had your
Speaker 1: standard NFL um You're in New Jersey in Connecticut, you know,
Speaker 1: I mean you have no idea what it's like to
Speaker 1: go through with any of the people were going through
Speaker 1: or the stands that they were taking, And how do
Speaker 1: you talk about a subject that you have no damn
Speaker 1: idea about? Mostly by listening. Like I grew up in like,
Speaker 1: I grew up in an incredibly like homogeneous like my
Speaker 1: town was basically all white name I didn't want to
Speaker 1: so I just let you say, I appreciate that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I went to I mean, I mean basically in all
Speaker 1: white middle school. My high school was a little different.
Speaker 1: I went to a Catholic high school right in the
Speaker 1: town where I actually live in now, and that was
Speaker 1: a lot more diverse group of people. So there I
Speaker 1: started to meeting with backgrounds that were way dissimilar from
Speaker 1: my own. And then the same thing happens. I'm in
Speaker 1: a college football locker room here, So now I'm around
Speaker 1: a lot of people that don't look like me and
Speaker 1: don't come from where I came from. And I was
Speaker 1: fortunate that I had friends that would sit down and
Speaker 1: talk with me about this stuff. And I just made
Speaker 1: the decision that I'm going to shut the hell up
Speaker 1: and listen to stuff that I don't know about, and
Speaker 1: so before I got to Yeah, it's just it became
Speaker 1: that where I was fortunate, I had friends that took
Speaker 1: the time to explain to me what they were going through,
Speaker 1: and I just tried to stop and listen along the way.
Speaker 1: And and when people push back on that, when people
Speaker 1: that look like me push back on some of those things,
Speaker 1: I try and see if I can't be you know
Speaker 1: someone who says, all right, well, have you considered this
Speaker 1: perspective that this group of people have offered up here?
Speaker 1: Have you thought about it from the way that they're
Speaker 1: dealing with and having to go through these things, even
Speaker 1: if the perspective is at your own, Because for a
Speaker 1: lot of people, they don't have the luxury of the
Speaker 1: experience I've had where they've got to sit and not
Speaker 1: only like sit and talk with you know, black brown
Speaker 1: people from all different backgrounds, but then like god, in
Speaker 1: a football locker room, you go through hell together. So like,
Speaker 1: I love so many things about this person in the
Speaker 1: way they handle themselves here. That's why I always get
Speaker 1: hung up when people try and like act like folks
Speaker 1: are lying about this stuff. I was like, you, you
Speaker 1: love and go through so much and respect so much
Speaker 1: about who this person is to you in this locker
Speaker 1: room and your experiences with them, and all of a
Speaker 1: sudden you assume that on this one thing that's so
Speaker 1: near and dear to them, they're gonna I knew about that.
Speaker 1: It just doesn't make sense. I mean, you you brought
Speaker 1: up I think, just a remarkable answer and just listening,
Speaker 1: especially in the day and age on social media where
Speaker 1: everyone wants to respond and not a lot of people
Speaker 1: say that they want to listen, and you are very
Speaker 1: active on social media. Everyone seems to love it, they
Speaker 1: hate it. What do you love about social media? And
Speaker 1: then what do you hate about social media? Umof what
Speaker 1: do I love is that it can expose you to
Speaker 1: a lot of different ideas, Like it's still I think
Speaker 1: in the best form a gateway to like longer form
Speaker 1: comment Like I really enjoy following writers that I liked
Speaker 1: on there, people that are content creators and other mediums. There,
Speaker 1: people that bring opinions again from you know, backgrounds and
Speaker 1: areas that I haven't been a part of, and you
Speaker 1: can get exposed to a lot of that just by
Speaker 1: the way the algorithm works there, and you know, you
Speaker 1: get to interact with fans like I think in this
Speaker 1: job especially, we're always looking for ways to try and
Speaker 1: figure out what fans are talking about or what the
Speaker 1: conversation looks like, and so that's a pretty unique window
Speaker 1: into that. The thing that I hate about it is
Speaker 1: any time it actually takes away from living life away
Speaker 1: from the screen, like I've tried to make like a
Speaker 1: really big habit, especially now because I mean hell, most
Speaker 1: of my close friends are spread all over the country,
Speaker 1: so when I get a chance to see them, especially
Speaker 1: post pandemic, that time is precious. Those moments are limited.
Speaker 1: My family is the same way now, so you know,
Speaker 1: it's almost a running joke in my family where if
Speaker 1: I'm visiting someone and that include my family, you usually
Speaker 1: won't hear from me for that couple of days because
Speaker 1: I'm trying to keep the phone stuffed in my pocket.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to stay off social as much as i
Speaker 1: can and make sure that, like, the main thing is
Speaker 1: still the main thing. So when it gets it, when
Speaker 1: it gets in the way of the real life interactions,
Speaker 1: that's when it becomes bad for me. I hate, Yeah,
Speaker 1: what what do I I just dislike I just dislike
Speaker 1: you have There's really no gray anymore. It's either you
Speaker 1: know it's black or white, right, It's literally yes or no,
Speaker 1: love or hate. There's there's no in between. There's no like, Man,
Speaker 1: I can see your perspective. It's just like you're you're dumb,
Speaker 1: You're this, you're that. You don't know anything that was great.
Speaker 1: It's never any like happy medium of Hey, um, you
Speaker 1: know I was. I was doing a couple of weeks ago.
Speaker 1: I was doing the Colts and Panthers game, and unfortunately,
Speaker 1: when the players got hurt, right, and I just said, man,
Speaker 1: way looks way hit. I know I'm not supposed to
Speaker 1: say it, but it looks like in the way his
Speaker 1: responding looks like you towards a c L. Someonne's on there. Um,
Speaker 1: the team showed me the guy. Literally, you're barely an analyst.
Speaker 1: Don't start trying to say whether guy's hurt or not. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: guy's hurt. So I was kind of right, and I
Speaker 1: so wanted our team to respond back to him like, hey, dumbass,
Speaker 1: I kind of know what I'm talking about, right. My
Speaker 1: job is the as a receiver. I looked at body movement,
Speaker 1: right or the other thing. Everybody came on got on
Speaker 1: me so much, and I've been saving this one? Is
Speaker 1: it what I take right now? You know? You remember
Speaker 1: when the Arizona Cardinals drafted Kyler Murray? Remember that? And
Speaker 1: I was on the show. And the next day Josh
Speaker 1: Rosen goes head and he unfollows the Arizona Cardinals, and
Speaker 1: I went in on him like, man, this kid blah
Speaker 1: blah blah blah blah, and I got so and everybody
Speaker 1: steve your dirt bag, you're this, you're that. Four years later,
Speaker 1: now that brother is parking Actually no, he got a
Speaker 1: lot of money, not play, so he's not parking any cars.
Speaker 1: But it's just like everybody was on me, how dare
Speaker 1: you this and that? Now four years later? Mm hmm.
Speaker 1: Handsome boy genius was correct. But I guess no box
Speaker 1: of cookies. No one's sending me any flowers, congratulated me. Nothing.
Speaker 1: Cleo didn't see me anything saying that I foresaw. She
Speaker 1: was called me now for your free I called me now, yes, yes,
Speaker 1: when you want your reading. Carl Smitty smitty psychic, smitty
Speaker 1: psychic Now in make I'm a lot longer, but he'd
Speaker 1: tell you it's gonna come. Yeah. And and so so
Speaker 1: many people just have so many bad things to say,
Speaker 1: and I was four years later and now all those
Speaker 1: mamma jammers, it's been four years. Been four years. It's
Speaker 1: been four years, bro, what four teams or four years?
Speaker 1: And it is amazing too. People will always come out
Speaker 1: of the woodwork years later to remind you when you're wrong.
Speaker 1: When I'm right. Nope, So let me roll this thing
Speaker 1: back up and take it off the table. Now. I'm
Speaker 1: glad I was here when you're dusted it off. He
Speaker 1: started laying all that I thought you would never ask.
Speaker 1: Mike Golick Jr. What makes you tick? Man? Who are
Speaker 1: you outside of all the sports stuff and your dad
Speaker 1: just you know, just removed the junior Who who are you? Um?
Speaker 1: When I when we see you the next time on
Speaker 1: television here and you talk about college football and doing
Speaker 1: the games that you do an excellent job on who
Speaker 1: who are you? Who? Who is the who's the man
Speaker 1: that that that everybody knows who his father is, but
Speaker 1: not necessarily have a great understanding who who you are
Speaker 1: independently outside of your family family name. Yeah, yeah, I
Speaker 1: think for me, my my goal is to always be
Speaker 1: a great teammate, like whatever whatever part of life that is.
Speaker 1: So if you see me on you know, a TV
Speaker 1: or radio program or doing a game, and or you
Speaker 1: work with me in one of those. My goal is
Speaker 1: to hopefully always come out of that leaving the impression
Speaker 1: that all right, I was gonna do whatever I could
Speaker 1: to make sure that everyone there succeeded, because like, we
Speaker 1: all got a job, Like we've got different titles and
Speaker 1: all these things, but we're all here to put a
Speaker 1: show on here, and I want to make sure that
Speaker 1: everyone's getting what they need to succeed. And you know
Speaker 1: that for me goes off the field too. Like I said,
Speaker 1: I got, you know, family that all lives in different spots.
Speaker 1: Now I have my close friends who all live in
Speaker 1: different spots. Now they all have young kids, some of
Speaker 1: whom I'm god parent too. But for the rest of them,
Speaker 1: I uncle Mike you. So I want to be there
Speaker 1: for all of those people. I want to make sure
Speaker 1: that you know, the people that take I take care
Speaker 1: of the people that take care of me. And so
Speaker 1: however that looks, whether it being there in person to
Speaker 1: support them, whether it's a phone call or anything like that.
Speaker 1: Like I I like to think that no matter what
Speaker 1: I'm doing, I'm always trying to go out of my
Speaker 1: way to be a good teammate. And that's not a
Speaker 1: thing that's you know, for me to say. I don't
Speaker 1: know whether I'm getting a passing grade on that or not,
Speaker 1: but that's usually the intention I'm trying to walk into
Speaker 1: the situation with, which is all right, you know what,
Speaker 1: I had a unique experience in the way that I've
Speaker 1: gone through my life here, I have an opportunity to
Speaker 1: be able to share that with people, and in the
Speaker 1: process of that, I just always want to make sure,
Speaker 1: all right, I am fortunate in a lot of ways.
Speaker 1: And I mean that's, you know, outside of just the
Speaker 1: opportunity to again, I grew up not wanting for much
Speaker 1: like I grew up with, you know, with a good
Speaker 1: life that my parents made for me here. And so
Speaker 1: it's like, all right, you started off at a certain
Speaker 1: spot on the ladder here, can you not only go higher,
Speaker 1: but can you try and bring people with? Can you
Speaker 1: try and make sure that you're getting opportunities where it's possible?
Speaker 1: So let me ask you this there is it is
Speaker 1: so what you've experienced as a kid, Is it a
Speaker 1: step up now you're adult or step down? Um? I
Speaker 1: think that's honestly still TBD right, like I'm at a
Speaker 1: good place for work. Lighting in the back will say
Speaker 1: it's a step down. Yeah, well listen, if we're talking
Speaker 1: about just the house, it's my mom and dad got
Speaker 1: nicer house. They got plural I have. I have this one,
Speaker 1: so it's a step down from there. I was just
Speaker 1: at their house in the South End here and coming back,
Speaker 1: I just like look around for a second life. Shit,
Speaker 1: all right, we still not worked. But honestly, that part's
Speaker 1: cool too, because like I got but like Kyle Rudolph
Speaker 1: a place for the giants with one of my roommates
Speaker 1: in college daughter, and um, you know, like I was
Speaker 1: just at Kyle's house two weeks ago in Minnesota and
Speaker 1: it is this like gorgeous, beautiful, huge home on the
Speaker 1: lake out there, and it's like not one of those
Speaker 1: things where it's like ever a jealousy thing, but it's
Speaker 1: a motivator to see the people around you accomplishing at
Speaker 1: a high level. Like everyone always talks about, you know,
Speaker 1: the circle you keep and you being a reflection of that.
Speaker 1: Like I always look around and like take a lot
Speaker 1: of pride in the fact that my friends are doing
Speaker 1: well as parents, you know, whatever their respective careers have
Speaker 1: been and stuff like that, and so, uh, it's at
Speaker 1: the same with my parents, Like, god, how how much
Speaker 1: prouder could you be of two parents than my mom
Speaker 1: and dad? And what my dad's accomplished, and you know what,
Speaker 1: my mom has helped him with so much behind the
Speaker 1: scenes that no one sees the thankless jobs that she's
Speaker 1: done along the way. And so yeah, it's it's it's
Speaker 1: one of those things where I don't know where I
Speaker 1: am on that. That's that's part of the story is
Speaker 1: still getting written. But I know I came in with
Speaker 1: a great opportunity and a little bit ahead of that,
Speaker 1: and I have, you know, kind of taken moments here.
Speaker 1: They're like my moment every year where I kind of
Speaker 1: sit back and like, you know, reflect on everything, is
Speaker 1: always the National Championship in college football. It was a
Speaker 1: game that I was fortunate enough to play him as player.
Speaker 1: I've gotten to cover it every year i've been here
Speaker 1: at ESPN, and so you just get there and it's like,
Speaker 1: all right, like, you know, how how have I changed
Speaker 1: in the last year since we were here last year?
Speaker 1: What have we gone what have I gone through? Or
Speaker 1: you know, what's what's improved? What have we accomplished here?
Speaker 1: And then you know, where do we go from there?
Speaker 1: So that's that's kind of the coolest spot to do
Speaker 1: that every year. And then where we're sitting right now,
Speaker 1: a lot of work to get done, but still feeling
Speaker 1: feeling pretty good about where we're at. Certainly proud of
Speaker 1: a lot of the stuff. The stuff I've put on
Speaker 1: tape so far, what you put on tape is excellent. Man,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna just tell you how I listened to you.
Speaker 1: I'll watch you. There's a limited number of seats at
Speaker 1: s being at NFL network, at Fox. You are just
Speaker 1: like me. We're grateful for our seats, but we also
Speaker 1: we don't get up every day. Said, man, you know
Speaker 1: I need to be grateful you. You're grind and you're
Speaker 1: willing to study. Says that you know you can't come
Speaker 1: to work not knowing your job. If you don't know
Speaker 1: your job, over time, you will get exposed. Oh god, yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1: But it's also one of those things where you haven't
Speaker 1: rest on your laws. You haven't been like, Man, I'm
Speaker 1: Michael let Junior, So I just come and I'll have
Speaker 1: as do it. You I've seen and watch and I'm
Speaker 1: just man, it's pretty cool. Bro. No, I appreciate that
Speaker 1: I'm listen and you mentioned that last name. I could
Speaker 1: not be prouder, Like there is of all the things
Speaker 1: and that I can promise I've always said the last
Speaker 1: name has been a blessing. Like you always do ask
Speaker 1: what the you know, what the drawbacks have been to
Speaker 1: being I was like, man, if they're there, they're so
Speaker 1: small in comparison to what the benefits have been. Like
Speaker 1: I'm know what a good marriage is supposed to look like.
Speaker 1: I know the way people love each other and how
Speaker 1: they're supposed to treat each other it looks like, and
Speaker 1: how you're supposed to treat other people, let alone all
Speaker 1: the work stuff. That's been great. So now that's uh,
Speaker 1: the last the last name is something I definitely try
Speaker 1: and make sure I go out there and honor because
Speaker 1: a lot of people know it. Like that's been the
Speaker 1: cool part. Man. I got to share my family with
Speaker 1: a lot of other people, like through that show. It
Speaker 1: was a family show, So they got to meet the
Speaker 1: people that I see all the time and see a
Speaker 1: little bit of what makes them tick and see why
Speaker 1: I'm so proud of them. We asked you that this.
Speaker 1: If you can change your name, what name would it be?
Speaker 1: Your first name? Oh, oh man, thought about that. Mine
Speaker 1: was Bishop Bishr. That called me bish Take that and
Speaker 1: make as many jokes as you want. His was his
Speaker 1: was if from Back to the Future. Back to the future.
Speaker 1: So I would say this. I always feel like I'd
Speaker 1: make a decent Bubba. I feel like I got a
Speaker 1: lot of Bubba tendencies. But this is so hit the
Speaker 1: racial profile right there. But I'm gonna bounce. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: balance the scales for you here because the other name
Speaker 1: that I'd have waiting in the wings is Darius. So
Speaker 1: when I was growing up, when I was growing up,
Speaker 1: and Darius Jr. Daris is a black name. Yes, when
Speaker 1: I was growing up, I grew up. I grew up Catholic,
Speaker 1: And so when you grew up Catholic, you go through
Speaker 1: one of the sacraments is confirmation, where you basically is
Speaker 1: an adult, stand up and say I confirm these beliefs
Speaker 1: and all that stuff, and you pick a confirmation then
Speaker 1: and at the time, like I grew up a huge
Speaker 1: Notre Dame football fan, and so at the time, one
Speaker 1: of the great players on there Dame team was there
Speaker 1: running back, dar Us Walker, and I thought, man, that'd
Speaker 1: be cool as hell. That was my confirmation name, and
Speaker 1: so I went, it's got to be correlated to a saint.
Speaker 1: So I found a saint and made it made sense.
Speaker 1: But my like confirmed name in the Catholic Church is
Speaker 1: Michael Lewis Darius gold Jr. I was trying to figure
Speaker 1: out how that Catholic tie was gonna get us to Darius.
Speaker 1: I never heard, brother, I never heard. I ain't never
Speaker 1: heard the Catholic tied to a black man. Right, But
Speaker 1: you made a work, brother. I appreciate Hey, appreciate your time. Man.
Speaker 1: All right, Darius, see you later, Darius. Alright, bitch, you
Speaker 1: are a unique person. You are well worth it, you
Speaker 1: are competent, and most of all, your lovable. I'm Steve
Speaker 1: Smith Senior. I'm Gerard Little John and this is cut
Speaker 1: to It. Cut to It with Steve Smith Senior. That
Speaker 1: is Me is a production of Cut to It, LLC,
Speaker 1: Balto Creative Media, The Black Effect, and I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: For more podcast from I Heart Radio, visit the I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 1: your favorite shows from Cut to It. Executive producer Steve
Speaker 1: Smith SINGR co host Gerard Little John, talent and booking
Speaker 1: manager Joe Fusci, Social media team Wesley Robinson and John
Speaker 1: Show from Balto Creative Media. Cut to It is produced
Speaker 1: by Brian Baltaschevitch and Meredith Carter, with production assistance by
Speaker 1: Alex Lebrek Production Coordinator Taylor Robinson. Theme music by Alex Johnson,
Speaker 1: lyrics and vocals by Anthony Hamilton. You ain't heard about it,
Speaker 1: then we're about to let you know. It's so cass