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Speaker 1: This is Wins and Losses with Clay Trevis. Clay talks

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Speaker 1: with the most entertaining people in sports, entertainment and business.

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Speaker 1: Now here's Clay Trevis walcome in Wins and lost his podcast.

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Speaker 1: We had a little bit of a break on the

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Speaker 1: podcast because it got so crazy with college football in

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Speaker 1: the NFL season, uh in twenty nineteen, as we ran

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Speaker 1: into we're gonna have a lot more of these coming

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Speaker 1: for you now that we're officially into huge backlog of

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Speaker 1: these that I think you guys will enjoy as well.

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Speaker 1: And I know you're gonna like the guy who's joining

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Speaker 1: us now. He is Eddie George. He has obviously been

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Speaker 1: incredibly successful Ohio State running back, won the Heisman Trophy there,

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Speaker 1: had a tremendous career with the Tennessee Titans and uh

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Speaker 1: and more so, we bring him in. First of all, Eddie,

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Speaker 1: thanks for being with us. Man. Always a pleasure. Clay Man,

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Speaker 1: You've been uh a good friend of mine through the years.

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Speaker 1: Although you gave me some really bad picks last week. Uh,

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Speaker 1: My gambling picks have always not been ideal. All right,

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Speaker 1: So so let's dive into uh your backgrounds. We worked

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Speaker 1: together on television quite a bit at Fox over the years,

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Speaker 1: But I don't really I occur to me. I always

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Speaker 1: like to interview people and ask I don't really know

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Speaker 1: a ton about your background other than I remember we

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Speaker 1: had high school photos and you were at military school,

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Speaker 1: and I'm gonna ask you about that because I imagine

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Speaker 1: that was an interesting experience. But before that, did you

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Speaker 1: grow up in Philadelphia? Is that right? Yeah? I grew

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Speaker 1: up mainly in Philadelphia, just outside of Philadelphia, UM called Adamton,

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Speaker 1: born to Abington Hospital. Uh. Grew up at North Hills

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Speaker 1: and my grandmother's south between there and Mount Airy, in

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Speaker 1: different parts of Philadelphia. UM, and uh, to say the least.

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Speaker 1: You know, I wasn't a bad kid, so to speak,

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Speaker 1: but I had the potential to be really bad or

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Speaker 1: really great, and I was veering down the path that

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Speaker 1: wasn't wasn't going to be very great in society. UM.

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Speaker 1: You know, the product of my my my environment, uh,

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Speaker 1: not conducive um for a great deal of success so

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Speaker 1: to speak. You know, my grandmother did the best she could.

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Speaker 1: My mom worked um for different jobs just to keep

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Speaker 1: everything going in our household. She provided the best force. UM.

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Speaker 1: But you know, without that a strong um, strong enough

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Speaker 1: male figure. Uh my life for a fifteen year old,

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Speaker 1: six year old kid at the time. Um, it wasn't.

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Speaker 1: It was just wasn't there. You know. My grandfather was older,

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Speaker 1: but he wasn't um necessarily uh my father. So it

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Speaker 1: was really difficult for me to be a geared in

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Speaker 1: the right direction in terms of going to school and

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Speaker 1: um knowing what to do in terms of working out,

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Speaker 1: and and just really ticking on a more proactive role

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Speaker 1: in rumps in my development and both as an athlete,

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Speaker 1: as a student, and really as a human being. So um,

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Speaker 1: you know, my mom made a hard decision to send

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Speaker 1: me the four Military Academy. Alright, So before we get

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Speaker 1: to fork Union, were you always a good athlete? You're

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Speaker 1: obviously a big guy. Now, were you always a big kid?

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Speaker 1: Do you remember any kind of yeah, like when you

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Speaker 1: were young, did you play sports? Like? What? How? How

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Speaker 1: would you just sort of characterize yourself as a kid

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Speaker 1: from an athletic perspective. Athletic perspective, I was. I was

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Speaker 1: a good football player, not not exceptionally great. Wasn't really

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Speaker 1: necessarily big. I don't my gross spurt until I was

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Speaker 1: like in the temp grade. I grew like like six

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Speaker 1: inches overnight. It seemed like I was. I was like

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Speaker 1: five into in the ninth grade, I was like five

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Speaker 1: six hundred and forty pounds. Did you did you have

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Speaker 1: any indication that you were gonna be like a big

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Speaker 1: guy or there are other people in your family or

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Speaker 1: did it kind of just hit you and you were

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Speaker 1: like wow, I guess I'm yeah. You know, like my

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Speaker 1: father was five nine five ten. My uncle's on my

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Speaker 1: father's side were like six two six four, But mainly

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Speaker 1: my mom's side was going to case now was going

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Speaker 1: to grow to be tall or big or anything. Um

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Speaker 1: in fact, you know, I was looking at They used

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Speaker 1: to try to watch Joe Morris for the Giants of

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Speaker 1: the Day, and I mimic my style after him because

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Speaker 1: I was so I was like short, and I was like, man,

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Speaker 1: how I don't know how I'm gonna do that a's

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Speaker 1: five four or five six in five six. It wasn't

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Speaker 1: until um uh, like again I got in six seventh grade.

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Speaker 1: But I will say this, my feet were always normally big,

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Speaker 1: and at eleven, I was wearing a size thirteen in

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Speaker 1: size four team and I could never find cleats my

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Speaker 1: size that I had to uh, wear baseball cleats for football.

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Speaker 1: The in they banned me from the league because of that.

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Speaker 1: It was crazy, but I guess that was the clear

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Speaker 1: physical indication that I would grow into my foot my

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Speaker 1: foot side. So did you? And I asked that question

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Speaker 1: because sometimes guys are great athletes from a young age

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Speaker 1: and they think to themselves, every kid, everybody who's listening

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Speaker 1: to us right now, at some point wanted to be

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Speaker 1: a pro athlete. But some people kind of become almost

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Speaker 1: accidental pro athletes where it's like, oh wow, I just

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Speaker 1: kind of grew into my body, or other people are

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Speaker 1: like they're dominant from the time they're five or six

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Speaker 1: years old. Did you think you had a realistic chance

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Speaker 1: to be a college level athlete? Uh, you know, looking

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Speaker 1: back on your career now, well probably inside out I

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Speaker 1: believe that, Um, But people looking at me from their perspective,

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Speaker 1: I would say absolutely not. Yeah, Um, I was. I

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Speaker 1: was a solid player. I was at best. UM. Growing up.

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Speaker 1: You know, people thought that, you know, I had had ability,

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Speaker 1: I could have potential to do some good things. Trophy

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Speaker 1: one is certainly not maybe playing at a college like

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Speaker 1: or a temple. UM along those lines that can probably

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Speaker 1: see that. But nothing to the degree of of what

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Speaker 1: I've accomplished. So um yeah, I would say, in my

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Speaker 1: heart of hearts, I believed it, um, because you have

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Speaker 1: to think that way in order to get to that level.

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Speaker 1: You have to believe it yourself. It's for this this

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Speaker 1: from my own experience, I've never once doubted the fact

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Speaker 1: that I couldn't play at Ohio State. You know. Um,

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Speaker 1: although other people looked at me differently, I I could

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Speaker 1: not look at myself that way. I had to work

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Speaker 1: to get there, but I had to have I had

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Speaker 1: to see in my mind first that makes sense. Take

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Speaker 1: me into Fork Union Military Academy. When your parents, your mom,

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Speaker 1: your grandmother, whoever took you there, or however you got there,

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Speaker 1: you find yourself sitting in that dorm room for the

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Speaker 1: first time looking out the window, and you're like, oh, man,

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Speaker 1: this is my life now. Well, you know it's funny

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Speaker 1: you say that. Man. I'm in the process of writing

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Speaker 1: about that experience for me as we speak, and I

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Speaker 1: remember I fought against it. Um My, my mom told

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Speaker 1: me about going taking me to Fort Union, and she

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Speaker 1: she packed up her night orange Mustang T Bird Mustang

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Speaker 1: and it was a seven hour drive from Philadelphia down

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Speaker 1: hit in the back roads of Virginia, and I didn't

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Speaker 1: see a word other than I have to use the bathroom.

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Speaker 1: The entire time, I was just so upset because I

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Speaker 1: thought that my football dream was destroyed, um by taking

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Speaker 1: me to this unknown place in the middle of nowhere. Uh.

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Speaker 1: But when I got there, I quickly realized that, man,

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Speaker 1: this might be the spot for me. Because every major

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Speaker 1: college in America, every recruiter, every coach from Bobby Bowden

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Speaker 1: to Joe Paterno, John Cooper, uh, Lavelle Edwards, um, you

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Speaker 1: name it, they all knew about this place, this little

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Speaker 1: place between Richmond and Charlottesville called Fort Union, and they

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Speaker 1: recruited and sent some of the best kids in America there.

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Speaker 1: And I wasn't there for athletics at all, was there

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Speaker 1: for my academics. But my first night in the dorms

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Speaker 1: was it was just an eye open experience. It was

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Speaker 1: like anything anything I've ever experienced in my life. There

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Speaker 1: were no stalls in the bathroom, so that you're sitting

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Speaker 1: there commode or literally right next to each other with

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Speaker 1: no privacy, So you're literally watching another guy take a

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Speaker 1: dump and having a conversation doing so. Uh. The showers

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Speaker 1: weren't the best. Um. We had to clean everything with

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Speaker 1: our truth brush, and we had chores to do. So

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Speaker 1: it was a It was an eye open experience. And

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Speaker 1: for my first month or so, I was homesick and

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Speaker 1: I cried to night. I cried every night, um for

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Speaker 1: a month straight, and listening to my my walk man,

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Speaker 1: listening to songs and reminded me of home. And all

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Speaker 1: I kept thinking about was the the violent sunset to

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Speaker 1: my grandmother's house and how that p peace to me

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Speaker 1: every time I went to our house, and how that

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Speaker 1: was home for me and I missed that. So it

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Speaker 1: was very, very difficult in the beginning. But something in me,

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Speaker 1: another voice in me, was saying, just see it through

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Speaker 1: and just continue to put your best foot forward here

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Speaker 1: and things are going to pay off, because I felt

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Speaker 1: like that was the right place for me, both academically

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Speaker 1: and discipline wise and athletically speaking. What were the kids

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Speaker 1: alike there? Oh yeah, they're kids from all over the world.

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Speaker 1: Man from Egypt to Venezuela, UH, South America, China, UM,

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Speaker 1: the South Africa, Ethiopia, Russia, UM, kids from UH, the

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Speaker 1: inner cities of New York City and and and Richmond,

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Speaker 1: Virginia and Washington, d C. To the sticks of Kentucky

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Speaker 1: and South Carolina and Georgia. So it was a multi

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Speaker 1: product culture. Guys from different backgrounds, different religious beliefs, different customs,

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Speaker 1: and different musical tastes and it was it was, it

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Speaker 1: was wonderful to be around these guys because it became

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Speaker 1: my brothers after a while, and you met guys. Kevin

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Speaker 1: Plank was a uh was was there when I was there? Yeah? Yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: so he was there the same exact time who went

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Speaker 1: to Maryland that you had like fourteen or fifteen guys

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Speaker 1: that all got drafted in the first round during my

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Speaker 1: time at Fourth Union. So with the different the different

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Speaker 1: guys from all over, and that's really where the learning

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Speaker 1: experience came from, was in the barracks because you had

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Speaker 1: to learn how to get along. And I had to, uh,

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Speaker 1: really humble myself to my superiors, guys that were much

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Speaker 1: younger than me, smaller than me, and a different hue

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Speaker 1: with my color skill on my skin. So I had

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Speaker 1: to take orders from different guys and it really told

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Speaker 1: me discipline and humility, um, and to adhere to to

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Speaker 1: my superiors and really challenge myself to be a better

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Speaker 1: leader in terms of leadership. So, UM, the guys were great.

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Speaker 1: I've had long last relationships UM at Fourth Union until

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Speaker 1: this very day because went through something that only the

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Speaker 1: strong can survive. That you know, anybody that around the

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Speaker 1: world to say hey, I was the Fourth Union, I

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Speaker 1: immediately stand up, give him a hugs. I understand what

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Speaker 1: it takes to make it through that school. Whether you're

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Speaker 1: there for six months or six years, it is an

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Speaker 1: experience like the other. But I wouldn't change it for

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Speaker 1: the world. What do you think would have happened if

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Speaker 1: your mom hadn't taken you there? Mm hmm. That's a

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Speaker 1: great question. Collect It's something I think about often, man, honestly,

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Speaker 1: because I certainly wouldn't be where I'm at now in

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Speaker 1: brent Within Tennessee. I wouldn't have won the Heisman Trophy.

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Speaker 1: I wouldn't have met my wife, I wouldn't have had

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Speaker 1: my my two beautiful sons. Um. I was on the

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Speaker 1: track of of being like anybody else in my neighborhood.

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Speaker 1: My friends. Most of my friends are dead in jail

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Speaker 1: or drug addicts or UM really never stepped outside their

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Speaker 1: comfort zone in terms of wanted to be more than

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Speaker 1: just um going to get a not regular nine to

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Speaker 1: five and working in the still mill or working at

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Speaker 1: some company in Pennsylvania and getting your pension and living

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Speaker 1: off of that, and and and just trying to take

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Speaker 1: a train ride down to Baltimore occasionally. You know. So

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Speaker 1: I certainly wouldn't have been where I am today or

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Speaker 1: thinking the way that I'm thinking, because that changing culture

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Speaker 1: The majority were focused on just being satisfied with c INDs.

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Speaker 1: The minority, we're wanting to be a's and be and

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Speaker 1: be students and and to be more in life. Whereas

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Speaker 1: I went to Fort Union, if you got poor grades,

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Speaker 1: it was because you tried really hard, and it was

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Speaker 1: different programs and to uh expound your mind into learn

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Speaker 1: about Shakespeare, to uh to American politics, taking trips to Washington,

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Speaker 1: d C. To the see the White House. That was

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Speaker 1: cool at that school. If you weren't doing that, then

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Speaker 1: you were the exact opposite. So it really opened my mind,

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Speaker 1: say that because I ended up at Martin Luther King

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Speaker 1: Magnet School, which is in downtown Nashville, for seven through twelve,

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Speaker 1: and I felt the same exact away. And I sometimes wonder,

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Speaker 1: you know, my mom and dad said, you have to

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Speaker 1: go here. It's a public school, it's a magnet school,

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Speaker 1: but it's an academic and it was the best decision

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Speaker 1: But I often wonder what would my life be if

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Speaker 1: I hadn't gone there. I don't I certainly wouldn't have

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Speaker 1: gone away and gotten a scholarship in d C for college,

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Speaker 1: and I wouldn't I don't know that I would have

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Speaker 1: gone to law school at Vanderbilt. Like that decision in

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Speaker 1: that time in your life is so incredibly important. Uh.

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Speaker 1: And and and having somebody who give you that direction, right,

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Speaker 1: because you never would have picked You never would have

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Speaker 1: been like, Hey, I'm gonna go to the the middle of

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Speaker 1: nowhere Virginia and go to military school. Your mom knew

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Speaker 1: that was the best thing for you. And you, I mean,

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Speaker 1: you were so mad at her. I can I can

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Speaker 1: you know, kind of visualize that on that drive or

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Speaker 1: you said, you didn't talk to her at all. You

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Speaker 1: never would have made that choice, you know what, Clay.

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Speaker 1: And now that i'm of that age, my mom's age

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Speaker 1: kind of when she sent me there, I can only

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Speaker 1: imagine how difficult it was fifteen year old son to

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Speaker 1: a military school. She saved my life. She saved my

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Speaker 1: life because she saw some things in me that would

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Speaker 1: be potentially bad or potentially great. She had she had

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Speaker 1: do it. In fact, she didn't finish paying for my

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Speaker 1: school until I was my my second or third year

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Speaker 1: in the NFL, and she never asked before a dome

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Speaker 1: to pay for She drove back down the forking and

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Speaker 1: and handed the minister creation the final check my third

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Speaker 1: year in the NFL, still paying that off and I

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Speaker 1: was that's after four years of college. Man. So it

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Speaker 1: was a huge sacrifice that she made the world did

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Speaker 1: it well? My uncle, that's a great question, man. My

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Speaker 1: uncle Derek um who who's from Philadelphia. Um, he went

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Speaker 1: to Admington. He was an exceptional baseball player, a great athlete.

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Speaker 1: Uh he need another year of development from athletic standpoint.

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Speaker 1: Very smart, bright guy. He went to Fort Union and

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Speaker 1: my mom and my grandmother and myself, my sister all

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Speaker 1: drove down to like at Annapolis when he played against

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Speaker 1: the Naval Academy UH for the postgraduate program for Fort Union.

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Speaker 1: They played against each other, and that's time my mom

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Speaker 1: initially found out about four Union. It was ten years

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Speaker 1: prior to me. So one summer, the summer that I

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Speaker 1: got in trouble, I went to military, I went to UH.

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Speaker 1: I was supposed to the summers school for geometry, and

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Speaker 1: I told my mom. I lied to our said mom

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Speaker 1: to go voluntarily to the summer school. He just signed

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Speaker 1: my mom was really impressed. He was like, oh my god,

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Speaker 1: you really embracing becoming a student and academically taking control

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Speaker 1: of it. Well, a long story short, I wind up

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Speaker 1: cutting class the entire summer. I was enticed by my

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Speaker 1: the girls, to go to La Mall and play basketball.

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Speaker 1: And I was flunking or failing UM geometry. So my

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Speaker 1: my guidance counsel called my mother's just miss George Eddies

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Speaker 1: in danger of not making not passing the seventh grade.

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Speaker 1: He's gonna be held back because he's not passed the geometry.

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Speaker 1: My mom said, that's impossible. He wanted to go to

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Speaker 1: geometry to get a better grace, you know, Miss George.

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Speaker 1: He had to go. And that was the straw that

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Speaker 1: broke the camel's back, the deception, the uh, the games

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Speaker 1: I was playing. I always told her, thinks you wanted

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Speaker 1: to hear make a you know, make things sound good,

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Speaker 1: and and she just she just had no other choice

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Speaker 1: to do it. And um that she made a strong

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Speaker 1: decision to send me away out of Philadelphia. Now keep

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Speaker 1: in mind, in the same area as Valley Forge Military

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Speaker 1: Academy in Philadelphia, very prominent school on this par with

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Speaker 1: Fort Union, a stellar reputation, um a strong background, strong pedigree.

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Speaker 1: But she wanted me out of the city of Philadelphia,

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Speaker 1: out of the area so she wouldn't be tempted to

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Speaker 1: come get me, and I wouldn't be tempted to run

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Speaker 1: away home. And um glass she did it. So when

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Speaker 1: do you realize that, so you're you've gotten a lot bigger,

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Speaker 1: you're stronger, you're faster. When do you realize at Fork Union. Hey,

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Speaker 1: I'm pretty good at football. Do you remember the first

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Speaker 1: time that you started to get some attention from college

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Speaker 1: coaches there? Well, my junior year when I went down there, Clay, Um,

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Speaker 1: I was in hopes of starting my first time. Um,

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Speaker 1: and I'm you know, I'm very arrogant, and you know,

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Speaker 1: I'm thinking I'm a city kid, and I'm sure these

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Speaker 1: guys boys up ball and all this stuff. So I'll

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Speaker 1: get it out here. And I asked the coach, coach

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Speaker 1: Mickey Sullivan. I said, okay, Um, I want a single

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Speaker 1: digit number. You know what numbers do you have available?

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Speaker 1: And uh, he says, well, you know, if you can

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Speaker 1: prove that you can play, then you know you can

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Speaker 1: have any number you want. I said, okay, great. I said, well,

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Speaker 1: who was who was the competition? Who's to start running back?

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Speaker 1: Because no nobody big you know that they're these guys

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Speaker 1: aren't or anything special. And he says they're Lee Green

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Speaker 1: and Keith Burton. They said. Lee is about six three,

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Speaker 1: two twenty five pounds. He was the state champion a

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Speaker 1: hundred meters runs of four or five. He's getting recruited

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Speaker 1: by every country school in the country. So you shouldn't

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Speaker 1: have any problems beating him out. And there's Keith Burton

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Speaker 1: who was six to two twenty pounds. UH, plays linebacker

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Speaker 1: and and running back. He runs probably about a four

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Speaker 1: or six four or five. He might have a better

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Speaker 1: chance of beating him out. He's getting in cruded something

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Speaker 1: some of the same schools. But you should be okay.

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Speaker 1: And I'm six ft, you know, a hundred sixty pounds,

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Speaker 1: so can wet. So I didn't start that year my

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Speaker 1: junior year. Might start my senior year. Um, and uh,

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Speaker 1: if things are going great, mind of being all print.

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Speaker 1: UM scored twenty two touchdowns, had well over fifteen hundred

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Speaker 1: yards rushing UM. But I had zero scholarship offers at

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Speaker 1: the end of the year. I had a partial scholarship

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Speaker 1: offer to Edinburgh in Pennsylvania, and I was approaching graduation.

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Speaker 1: There was my senior year, and I'm like, do I

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Speaker 1: take this opportunity to get out of here or do

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Speaker 1: I come back for a postgraduate year and really put

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Speaker 1: it at all on the table. There's no guarantee if anything.

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Speaker 1: So I elected to come back with post graduate years.

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Speaker 1: And uh, I got back and I came back bigger, stronger, faster,

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Speaker 1: and the first six games of the year, I rushed

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Speaker 1: for over fifteen hundred yards and fifteen touch downs. And

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Speaker 1: that's when I started to guard to the attention of

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Speaker 1: schools nationally. So you if you had left you would

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Speaker 1: have gone to play football where and Edinburgh, I don't

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Speaker 1: even know where that what would have happened? Is it? Like?

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Speaker 1: What do you think? What do you think would have

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Speaker 1: had you think you would have been good enough there

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Speaker 1: in a year that you would have transferred somewhere else?

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Speaker 1: Or what? How do you think your your career would

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Speaker 1: have got? Honestly, Travis, I didn't give it really a

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Speaker 1: second thought. I mean, the only reason I had left

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Speaker 1: Good Edinburgh was to just get away from poor king

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Speaker 1: In And I honestly asked myself that can I see

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Speaker 1: myself here for the next four years? You know, I'm

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Speaker 1: going to school being a good student and this. I

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Speaker 1: didn't want to just be a good student, and I

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Speaker 1: didn't want to just play football just to play football.

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Speaker 1: I wanted to be the best. And um I went

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Speaker 1: back for that that following year, and I never gave

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Speaker 1: it a second thought. I said, by by swinging miss

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Speaker 1: this this next go around, I just swinging miss but

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Speaker 1: I'm betting all the chips, putting all the chips on

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Speaker 1: the table. I'm all in. And I really dedicated myself

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Speaker 1: to my craft. And every day, every single day that summer,

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Speaker 1: I was doing something, whether it was ballet classes, whether

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Speaker 1: it was working out with the the the the University

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Speaker 1: of Penn football team. You know, something that's going to

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Speaker 1: make stretching better. I was. I was all in that

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Speaker 1: summer and and and there was no other option. There

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Speaker 1: was no plan B be sure to catch live editions

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Speaker 1: if I out kicked. The coverage with Clay Travis weekdays

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Speaker 1: at six am Eastern, three am Pacific, we're talking to

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Speaker 1: Eddie George just the Winds of Losses podcast. I'm Clay Travis.

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Speaker 1: How did you pick Ohio State? Why the Buckeyes? Man?

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Speaker 1: You know this, this is this one story after another. Man, Um,

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Speaker 1: I don't think I did leave out now get to

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Speaker 1: that to that in second was uh that that year

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Speaker 1: prior to my first graduate year, UM, I put it

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Speaker 1: upon myself to sneak in my coach's office and there

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Speaker 1: was a book about you know about I want to say,

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Speaker 1: five hundred pages stick of every school in the country

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Speaker 1: and every athletic director and there, and over a course

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Speaker 1: of four months, I ran up a telephone bill into

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Speaker 1: the thousands, calling every single school in that book and

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Speaker 1: just getting my name out there, trying to garner attention.

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Speaker 1: And I got zero response until I got to Georgia Tech.

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Speaker 1: And that was the same year they won the national championship.

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Speaker 1: Long story short, you would just call him up and say, Hey,

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Speaker 1: I'm Eddie George. I play running back at Fork Union,

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Speaker 1: like you know, like I'm interested in all series. It's

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Speaker 1: like I'm interested in couple playing football for you listed dude.

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Speaker 1: I got over there and I called, let's say, my

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Speaker 1: name is Eddie George. I'm a running back at forty

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Speaker 1: Military Academy. I'm six ft three, you know, a hundred

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Speaker 1: and nine five two into the team pounds something like that.

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Speaker 1: I want a four six forty. I can shoot you myself.

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Speaker 1: I got the film out to him. I got it

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Speaker 1: all out and everything. You were addressing the envelopes yourself

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Speaker 1: and like putting in the mail and everything. Yeah, I was.

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Speaker 1: I was as tape. I guess of like your highlights

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Speaker 1: up of all my highlights, and just waited. Four responses

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Speaker 1: called them from accurate to Xavier and Exavier didn't have

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Speaker 1: a football team, but but I did that over the

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Speaker 1: course of four months, and my coach was like, somebody's

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Speaker 1: been sneaking in my office and running up my telephone bill,

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Speaker 1: and I thinking, you know, if no one's gonna do

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Speaker 1: this for me, I gotta do it for myself because

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Speaker 1: I had nowhere to go, you know, And you know,

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Speaker 1: he was just telling me, well, you've got some other

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Speaker 1: opportunities coming down the pipeline, and you've got to get

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Speaker 1: better in certain areas as a person, as a player,

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Speaker 1: and this and that tell me everything I needed to

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Speaker 1: do to get to that level. So it's long story short.

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Speaker 1: I wanted making a decision to come back to Fourth Union,

429
00:24:02,800 --> 00:24:04,800
Speaker 1: and I only had one I wanted to say, I

430
00:24:04,880 --> 00:24:09,040
Speaker 1: got the one um offer from the offer, but attention

431
00:24:09,080 --> 00:24:11,840
Speaker 1: from Georgia Tech. But when they looked at my my

432
00:24:11,920 --> 00:24:14,320
Speaker 1: g p A and my SA T scores, there was like,

433
00:24:14,359 --> 00:24:17,040
Speaker 1: there's no way in hell you're coming here and walking

434
00:24:17,080 --> 00:24:21,560
Speaker 1: on here you come close to the academic requirements. So

435
00:24:21,680 --> 00:24:24,280
Speaker 1: that shut that door down. So that's when I just

436
00:24:24,320 --> 00:24:26,920
Speaker 1: went back to the Four Kings. So long store short,

437
00:24:27,600 --> 00:24:30,520
Speaker 1: go back to Fourth Union, post graduate year, Bigger, Stronger, faster,

438
00:24:31,080 --> 00:24:33,760
Speaker 1: and I'm getting the attention of Louisville and b y

439
00:24:33,840 --> 00:24:36,520
Speaker 1: U early in the recruiting process, and I'm excited, like,

440
00:24:36,560 --> 00:24:38,600
Speaker 1: oh my god, this dream is really starting to happen.

441
00:24:38,920 --> 00:24:40,439
Speaker 1: I really wanted to go to Penn State. That was

442
00:24:40,480 --> 00:24:43,560
Speaker 1: my dream. But there was a gentleman who I hated

443
00:24:43,800 --> 00:24:47,119
Speaker 1: at Fourth Union. He was my cartoon sergeant. Him was

444
00:24:47,200 --> 00:24:50,480
Speaker 1: His name was Danny Osmond, who wore glasses and he

445
00:24:50,600 --> 00:24:55,040
Speaker 1: was short. He was just this arrogant white kid, and

446
00:24:55,119 --> 00:24:57,639
Speaker 1: he stayed on my ask the whole time. He just

447
00:24:57,640 --> 00:25:01,119
Speaker 1: stayed up like drilling me, making sure that my shoes

448
00:25:01,160 --> 00:25:03,920
Speaker 1: were shigned coming to a student or this is an adult,

449
00:25:04,560 --> 00:25:08,000
Speaker 1: this is a student that was I started. So they

450
00:25:08,080 --> 00:25:12,119
Speaker 1: give the students, you know, rank and leadership positions to

451
00:25:12,400 --> 00:25:15,639
Speaker 1: come to my room ript up since the hospital corner

452
00:25:15,760 --> 00:25:18,680
Speaker 1: isn't tight enough, or you know, there's not enough spaces

453
00:25:18,720 --> 00:25:22,560
Speaker 1: in between your in between your your clothes and your closet,

454
00:25:22,600 --> 00:25:25,120
Speaker 1: the hangers, or to destroy everything. I mean, the dude

455
00:25:25,119 --> 00:25:27,000
Speaker 1: got on my nerves and he gave me extra work.

456
00:25:27,119 --> 00:25:28,760
Speaker 1: You stayed on top of me. Well a long story

457
00:25:28,800 --> 00:25:33,840
Speaker 1: where he went to a house stage as an athletic trainer, Okay,

458
00:25:33,840 --> 00:25:36,960
Speaker 1: he's taping ankles at Ohiose States. He's a bluck guy.

459
00:25:37,119 --> 00:25:39,320
Speaker 1: He's doing this thing. And this is the same time

460
00:25:39,400 --> 00:25:42,280
Speaker 1: Robert Smith is there. So he kept tabs on me

461
00:25:42,359 --> 00:25:44,440
Speaker 1: from time to time and you see how he's doing,

462
00:25:44,480 --> 00:25:46,280
Speaker 1: and kept calling me. And at that time he left

463
00:25:46,280 --> 00:25:50,240
Speaker 1: a message on a on a piece of paper and uh,

464
00:25:50,359 --> 00:25:52,120
Speaker 1: you call him back on the pay phone and through

465
00:25:52,200 --> 00:25:56,199
Speaker 1: a calling card number and all of that. So he

466
00:25:56,320 --> 00:25:58,240
Speaker 1: calls me and I'm like, why are you calling me?

467
00:25:58,280 --> 00:26:01,320
Speaker 1: I'm like, dude, I even like you why you were here? Why? What?

468
00:26:01,760 --> 00:26:04,320
Speaker 1: What do you with the deal? What's the entry? He's like, man,

469
00:26:04,359 --> 00:26:06,680
Speaker 1: I understand that you know of keeping up with you

470
00:26:06,800 --> 00:26:09,679
Speaker 1: and I hear you doing great things and fourth Junion

471
00:26:09,760 --> 00:26:12,520
Speaker 1: and you know, how would you feel about coming to

472
00:26:12,560 --> 00:26:17,560
Speaker 1: Ohio State? I said, wow, I said, you don't want that?

473
00:26:17,560 --> 00:26:19,840
Speaker 1: That sounds like a good idea. I would love that.

474
00:26:20,720 --> 00:26:23,240
Speaker 1: And then he said, well, Robert Smith is is probably

475
00:26:23,240 --> 00:26:26,320
Speaker 1: gonna come back. They have a ton of running backs here,

476
00:26:26,920 --> 00:26:30,000
Speaker 1: Robert Smith, Raymond, Harris Butler, but not that Jeff Cothorn,

477
00:26:30,400 --> 00:26:33,400
Speaker 1: Will Houston. The probably going to recruit the top two

478
00:26:33,440 --> 00:26:36,200
Speaker 1: running backs in the country. But I believe that you

479
00:26:36,240 --> 00:26:40,080
Speaker 1: can really play here. I was like, oh, I said, well,

480
00:26:40,119 --> 00:26:42,639
Speaker 1: I like, I love tennse state That's my first choice.

481
00:26:42,680 --> 00:26:46,280
Speaker 1: But say, you know what, what the hell see what

482
00:26:46,400 --> 00:26:49,400
Speaker 1: you can do? And I'm thinking, you're an athletic trainer.

483
00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:54,399
Speaker 1: Who's going to really listen to this kid? He called

484
00:26:54,440 --> 00:26:56,640
Speaker 1: you back two weeks later, go to the whole process

485
00:26:56,720 --> 00:26:59,720
Speaker 1: and get the note calling a calling, he said, Eddie

486
00:27:00,040 --> 00:27:02,679
Speaker 1: finally got in touch with the elite that the national

487
00:27:03,040 --> 00:27:07,720
Speaker 1: recruiting recruiting coordinator go calmly, and he's interested in seeing

488
00:27:07,760 --> 00:27:10,440
Speaker 1: your tape with he's mind put and tape together. I said,

489
00:27:10,440 --> 00:27:13,520
Speaker 1: absolutely I would, so I got the tape together, but

490
00:27:13,520 --> 00:27:15,960
Speaker 1: I coasted up the tape. Two weeks later, it calls

491
00:27:16,000 --> 00:27:20,639
Speaker 1: me back, he says, um, oh my god, they absolutely

492
00:27:20,760 --> 00:27:23,080
Speaker 1: love you. Then you believe that they were talking about

493
00:27:23,080 --> 00:27:24,880
Speaker 1: the all day in the meeting. They want to see

494
00:27:24,880 --> 00:27:28,040
Speaker 1: another tape. So I got another tape together and granted

495
00:27:28,119 --> 00:27:30,879
Speaker 1: only played six games. So I sent all my tape,

496
00:27:31,080 --> 00:27:34,680
Speaker 1: all the highlights, everything. Calls me back another two weeks later,

497
00:27:34,960 --> 00:27:38,080
Speaker 1: Oh my god, they absolutely love you. They want one

498
00:27:38,119 --> 00:27:42,960
Speaker 1: more tape. I said everything I had, I have nothing

499
00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:46,560
Speaker 1: else to the same, and I don't know what to say,

500
00:27:46,960 --> 00:27:50,920
Speaker 1: so he called me about two weeks later. He says,

501
00:27:51,280 --> 00:27:55,760
Speaker 1: Ron Hudson, Mahow State, who recruited Virginia areas. When it

502
00:27:55,840 --> 00:27:58,639
Speaker 1: comes to pour gain and visit with you, this is

503
00:27:58,640 --> 00:28:01,080
Speaker 1: a big deal because to come to visit with it,

504
00:28:01,200 --> 00:28:03,800
Speaker 1: that means that either going to have you come for

505
00:28:03,880 --> 00:28:08,000
Speaker 1: a visit where they're not. And I'm like, oh my god,

506
00:28:08,080 --> 00:28:11,080
Speaker 1: this is the moment of truth. So Ron Hudson's about

507
00:28:11,119 --> 00:28:13,720
Speaker 1: six four and a half tall, linky guy with the

508
00:28:13,840 --> 00:28:17,040
Speaker 1: big old head. He comes in the fourth king and

509
00:28:17,040 --> 00:28:20,040
Speaker 1: and he needs me. I stand up and we're almost

510
00:28:20,119 --> 00:28:22,800
Speaker 1: hide of eyes. So I checked box on the six

511
00:28:22,800 --> 00:28:25,760
Speaker 1: ft three deal and he's looking at me. He's looking

512
00:28:25,800 --> 00:28:28,160
Speaker 1: at my tape. He saw that I ran track, I

513
00:28:28,200 --> 00:28:30,639
Speaker 1: was the state champion and this and that it was

514
00:28:30,760 --> 00:28:33,439
Speaker 1: besides the mention he said at the end of our meeting,

515
00:28:33,920 --> 00:28:35,960
Speaker 1: he said, well, how would you feel about particular to

516
00:28:36,280 --> 00:28:41,000
Speaker 1: Ohio State? And when I heard those those those words,

517
00:28:41,040 --> 00:28:43,720
Speaker 1: that means they're very serious for you. So I said, here,

518
00:28:43,760 --> 00:28:47,680
Speaker 1: that's perfect, I'll do it. And mine had taken my visit,

519
00:28:48,640 --> 00:28:52,240
Speaker 1: and um, I just I remember being in Ohio Stadium

520
00:28:52,840 --> 00:28:55,240
Speaker 1: on the cold days of my last day and my visit.

521
00:28:55,360 --> 00:28:59,840
Speaker 1: My visit was okay um, but it was something in

522
00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:03,680
Speaker 1: the stadium where it was the the stadiums to me

523
00:29:03,880 --> 00:29:06,600
Speaker 1: is when no one's in there, so you can appreciate

524
00:29:06,640 --> 00:29:10,840
Speaker 1: the architecture. You can since the greatness of the great players,

525
00:29:10,880 --> 00:29:13,680
Speaker 1: the great games that were played in the stadium from

526
00:29:13,720 --> 00:29:19,000
Speaker 1: Michigan to Michigan State, and Archie Griffin and uh uh

527
00:29:20,320 --> 00:29:23,960
Speaker 1: Uh Bruce or Earl Bruce and Woody Hayes and all

528
00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:26,320
Speaker 1: these great coaches you know, walk to pace it down

529
00:29:26,320 --> 00:29:30,200
Speaker 1: the sidelines and so forth. And I was just thinking

530
00:29:30,280 --> 00:29:35,080
Speaker 1: and visualizing that this was it, regardless of who was

531
00:29:35,160 --> 00:29:37,760
Speaker 1: there at that particular time, who they were bringing in,

532
00:29:38,480 --> 00:29:42,120
Speaker 1: Robert Smith, Smith, Jones, it didn't matter who it was,

533
00:29:42,240 --> 00:29:45,320
Speaker 1: ranked one, two, three, four in the country. It didn't matter.

534
00:29:45,840 --> 00:29:49,560
Speaker 1: I was coming here to make my mark and I

535
00:29:49,600 --> 00:29:52,240
Speaker 1: committed right there on the spot. And in the rest

536
00:29:52,320 --> 00:29:55,080
Speaker 1: of histories when you got to Ohio State, where were

537
00:29:55,120 --> 00:29:58,840
Speaker 1: you on the death chart? I was number five? I

538
00:29:58,880 --> 00:30:02,680
Speaker 1: was number five, But I made enough noise to get

539
00:30:02,720 --> 00:30:06,520
Speaker 1: on the field and as a goal line specialist and

540
00:30:06,600 --> 00:30:10,440
Speaker 1: as a fullback, and uh played sparingly the first couple

541
00:30:10,440 --> 00:30:14,280
Speaker 1: of games UH played against Louisville. We squeaked out with

542
00:30:14,320 --> 00:30:17,600
Speaker 1: a win against Love when our opener UM played against

543
00:30:17,680 --> 00:30:20,760
Speaker 1: my had my first touchdown against Poland Green. And then

544
00:30:20,880 --> 00:30:22,440
Speaker 1: finally we had to go on the road game. He

545
00:30:22,440 --> 00:30:25,840
Speaker 1: had a big time national televised road game against Syracuse.

546
00:30:26,280 --> 00:30:29,040
Speaker 1: I think they were ranked top fifteen or top ten

547
00:30:29,040 --> 00:30:31,840
Speaker 1: of the country at the time. UM. Most people were

548
00:30:31,880 --> 00:30:34,400
Speaker 1: picking them to win the national championship this year. And

549
00:30:34,520 --> 00:30:38,640
Speaker 1: the and the rhetoric was the speed from the east

550
00:30:38,880 --> 00:30:42,360
Speaker 1: from the nomadic football team, slow guys from the west,

551
00:30:42,880 --> 00:30:46,280
Speaker 1: from the from the Midwest, and that was Ohio, Ohio State.

552
00:30:46,520 --> 00:30:49,600
Speaker 1: And I remember Kirk kirksty was our quarterback and he

553
00:30:49,680 --> 00:30:53,440
Speaker 1: got the idea of holding hands two by two into

554
00:30:53,640 --> 00:30:58,000
Speaker 1: the carrier dome UM where it was super loud and

555
00:30:58,040 --> 00:31:00,840
Speaker 1: it was just us against the world. And it worked.

556
00:31:00,880 --> 00:31:03,440
Speaker 1: You know. The first drive, you know, Kurt drives down

557
00:31:03,440 --> 00:31:05,560
Speaker 1: my doctor down the field. Of course he can't make

558
00:31:05,600 --> 00:31:10,080
Speaker 1: the forward pass. That's why he's on ESPN. And you

559
00:31:10,240 --> 00:31:12,800
Speaker 1: wind up getting all the way down to the two

560
00:31:12,880 --> 00:31:16,640
Speaker 1: yard line and I'm not expecting to go in. Coach

561
00:31:16,680 --> 00:31:19,240
Speaker 1: Cooper yells out, George go in there, and I'm like,

562
00:31:19,320 --> 00:31:23,720
Speaker 1: oh shit, really just go in there, go go, go go.

563
00:31:24,600 --> 00:31:28,160
Speaker 1: I sprint out there, man, and I am wide eyed,

564
00:31:28,440 --> 00:31:31,360
Speaker 1: and I'm like, oh my god, I'm actually in this

565
00:31:31,400 --> 00:31:34,200
Speaker 1: game on national television, and I'm thinking to myself. I

566
00:31:34,240 --> 00:31:37,040
Speaker 1: wondered if my boys are Porkis watching this because he

567
00:31:37,160 --> 00:31:40,040
Speaker 1: used to watch all the games on the ESPN back

568
00:31:40,080 --> 00:31:43,200
Speaker 1: in the day the same fashion. So he called the

569
00:31:43,280 --> 00:31:46,680
Speaker 1: play cost twelve nights over fourteen night sell ready break.

570
00:31:46,920 --> 00:31:50,040
Speaker 1: I get down on my stands. Man, I'm nervous as hell,

571
00:31:50,560 --> 00:31:52,880
Speaker 1: and all I'm thinking about is whatever it gets in

572
00:31:52,960 --> 00:31:55,320
Speaker 1: your way, just run it over. I don't give a ship.

573
00:31:55,400 --> 00:31:57,400
Speaker 1: If it's the rest, I don't care. If it's Kurt,

574
00:31:57,480 --> 00:31:59,960
Speaker 1: I don't care. Just run it over. I take my

575
00:32:00,080 --> 00:32:02,920
Speaker 1: drops it and I can't hear thing. Bro. It is

576
00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:06,440
Speaker 1: extremely loud. All things you lie on this movement? Did it?

577
00:32:06,760 --> 00:32:09,640
Speaker 1: I run school my touchdown and all health breaks lose.

578
00:32:09,680 --> 00:32:13,000
Speaker 1: I was so pumped. Long story short, I wanted scoring

579
00:32:13,040 --> 00:32:16,640
Speaker 1: three touchdowns and become touchdown eddie. And my first game

580
00:32:17,320 --> 00:32:20,520
Speaker 1: on national television. What's it like to go back to

581
00:32:20,600 --> 00:32:23,000
Speaker 1: campus after you score three touchdowns in a big game?

582
00:32:23,280 --> 00:32:25,880
Speaker 1: Oh my god, I was the man. I go to

583
00:32:25,960 --> 00:32:32,200
Speaker 1: McDonald's and get free cheeseburgers, apple pies and uh, you know,

584
00:32:32,320 --> 00:32:36,080
Speaker 1: free fries. I went from being a funny looking kid

585
00:32:36,240 --> 00:32:41,200
Speaker 1: being extremely fine by the girls. I mean, it was

586
00:32:41,520 --> 00:32:43,840
Speaker 1: it was love when the campus and we had a

587
00:32:43,880 --> 00:32:48,800
Speaker 1: bye week the following week. It was great. So then no, no,

588
00:32:48,840 --> 00:32:51,400
Speaker 1: I was gonna say, so, did you feel like the

589
00:32:51,520 --> 00:32:54,680
Speaker 1: college seemed extremely easy? After having been in a military

590
00:32:54,680 --> 00:32:57,040
Speaker 1: school to suddenly have all this freedom and like all

591
00:32:57,080 --> 00:32:59,480
Speaker 1: this stuff, I mean, and and to be in Columbus,

592
00:32:59,520 --> 00:33:02,280
Speaker 1: which is a sin sized town. Uh did it feel

593
00:33:02,440 --> 00:33:06,720
Speaker 1: easy to you compared to having been through the military school. Yeah.

594
00:33:06,880 --> 00:33:11,120
Speaker 1: I wasn't homesick most freshmen. I wasn't home six sick.

595
00:33:11,160 --> 00:33:13,400
Speaker 1: Those guys had to make an adjustment from being home

596
00:33:13,760 --> 00:33:16,880
Speaker 1: away from home and having some time. But I had

597
00:33:16,880 --> 00:33:19,840
Speaker 1: an idea, Like I knew how to structure my time.

598
00:33:20,000 --> 00:33:22,880
Speaker 1: I knew how I had to get on my work,

599
00:33:23,240 --> 00:33:26,720
Speaker 1: get my workouts in, and find squeezing time to find fun.

600
00:33:27,400 --> 00:33:30,600
Speaker 1: So it wasn't foreign to me to be away from

601
00:33:30,640 --> 00:33:35,560
Speaker 1: from from from Philadelphia or or for union I had.

602
00:33:35,640 --> 00:33:37,600
Speaker 1: I hadn't already gone through that. I had three years

603
00:33:37,600 --> 00:33:39,880
Speaker 1: of that under my under my belt. Because that definitely

604
00:33:39,880 --> 00:33:42,440
Speaker 1: prepared me for college. What do you think it would

605
00:33:42,480 --> 00:33:45,320
Speaker 1: have been like to go from nobody really knowing you

606
00:33:45,320 --> 00:33:47,800
Speaker 1: you scored three touchdowns in a game like that in

607
00:33:47,840 --> 00:33:50,320
Speaker 1: a social media age like so you're saying, like, I

608
00:33:50,360 --> 00:33:52,160
Speaker 1: can go out to McDonald's and people get me free

609
00:33:52,160 --> 00:33:55,000
Speaker 1: hamburgers and some people on campus might know who I am,

610
00:33:55,080 --> 00:33:57,200
Speaker 1: but you're still kind of anonymous. Can you imagine for

611
00:33:57,240 --> 00:33:59,600
Speaker 1: some of these kids who go, you know, at seventeen

612
00:33:59,640 --> 00:34:01,960
Speaker 1: eighteen years old, nobody knows them. Boom, they have a

613
00:34:01,960 --> 00:34:05,280
Speaker 1: big game on national television, and then suddenly everybody goes

614
00:34:05,320 --> 00:34:07,840
Speaker 1: through every tweet they've ever sent ever, you know, every

615
00:34:07,840 --> 00:34:11,080
Speaker 1: message on Instagram. It's why you think about right, you're

616
00:34:11,160 --> 00:34:14,440
Speaker 1: into celebrity nationwide? Yeah, I mean you might be, you

617
00:34:14,520 --> 00:34:19,040
Speaker 1: might be known, you know, regionally speaking, but but nowadays

618
00:34:19,080 --> 00:34:22,799
Speaker 1: with social media, it takes you from um being from

619
00:34:22,800 --> 00:34:25,520
Speaker 1: the back to the front immediately to everybody knowing who

620
00:34:25,560 --> 00:34:28,200
Speaker 1: you are. You know, literally overnight, you can go from

621
00:34:28,360 --> 00:34:31,879
Speaker 1: two followers to over two hundred thousand followers just by

622
00:34:32,040 --> 00:34:36,440
Speaker 1: by one one one play or took a couple of plays,

623
00:34:36,560 --> 00:34:40,600
Speaker 1: one great game. I mean, it's it's amazing. What so

624
00:34:40,680 --> 00:34:42,880
Speaker 1: after that debut. And by the way, you had an

625
00:34:42,920 --> 00:34:46,000
Speaker 1: incredible collection of people I believe on that team if

626
00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:50,520
Speaker 1: I'm not mistaken, Herb Street, who obviously works at ESPN. Now, uh,

627
00:34:50,560 --> 00:34:53,000
Speaker 1: you'll know obviously better than I am. Robert Smith, who

628
00:34:53,040 --> 00:34:55,680
Speaker 1: has done a lot of things in the media, yourself,

629
00:34:55,719 --> 00:34:57,480
Speaker 1: who has had a lot of success doing a lot

630
00:34:57,480 --> 00:35:01,400
Speaker 1: of variety of different media related project x as well. Um,

631
00:35:01,440 --> 00:35:03,640
Speaker 1: also a couple of others. Right, I'm trying to remember,

632
00:35:03,680 --> 00:35:07,600
Speaker 1: like that team that you were on, Yeah, Joey Galloway,

633
00:35:07,680 --> 00:35:11,880
Speaker 1: like an incredibly influential future media star team. In addition

634
00:35:11,880 --> 00:35:14,399
Speaker 1: to the talent on the field, no doubt, I mean

635
00:35:14,600 --> 00:35:18,240
Speaker 1: there are there are guys are pretty savvy and we

636
00:35:18,280 --> 00:35:20,719
Speaker 1: you know they know football inside. Now, we're all big

637
00:35:20,719 --> 00:35:25,080
Speaker 1: fans of the game. Um, we all work put each other,

638
00:35:25,880 --> 00:35:29,120
Speaker 1: uh like no other. Our toughest, our toughest games were

639
00:35:29,160 --> 00:35:33,439
Speaker 1: in practice and relatively speaking, unless you play you pinch

640
00:35:33,520 --> 00:35:36,640
Speaker 1: Date or Michigan because the talent was so thick and

641
00:35:36,719 --> 00:35:39,839
Speaker 1: you know, this guy wrest just sold. Terry Glenn was

642
00:35:40,000 --> 00:35:45,120
Speaker 1: just an incredible athlete that we all just saw great

643
00:35:45,160 --> 00:35:47,840
Speaker 1: things from. I mean his best highlights were in practice

644
00:35:47,880 --> 00:35:50,640
Speaker 1: and going up against our first teams, he was a

645
00:35:50,719 --> 00:35:54,640
Speaker 1: walk on, UM, running back wayn back, you know, so

646
00:35:54,800 --> 00:35:57,160
Speaker 1: it was it was pretty impressive. With Chris Sanders is

647
00:35:57,200 --> 00:36:01,279
Speaker 1: another one. It was probably the the best after you've

648
00:36:01,320 --> 00:36:04,080
Speaker 1: ever seen. He was jumping over guy's heads. You know,

649
00:36:04,160 --> 00:36:09,400
Speaker 1: he was the big ten UH long jump champions. So

650
00:36:09,560 --> 00:36:14,080
Speaker 1: it was just a plethora of guys talent wise athletically speaking.

651
00:36:14,520 --> 00:36:20,000
Speaker 1: But then also was able to transition that into um

652
00:36:20,040 --> 00:36:24,080
Speaker 1: a better situation after the game of football in terms

653
00:36:24,120 --> 00:36:29,000
Speaker 1: of media, business, UH, entrepreneurship, you know, you name it.

654
00:36:29,080 --> 00:36:31,879
Speaker 1: They we've been able to transition that into something else.

655
00:36:32,880 --> 00:36:34,920
Speaker 1: Your first two years at Ohio State, you carry the

656
00:36:34,960 --> 00:36:36,640
Speaker 1: ball at this at the stat that I'm looking at

657
00:36:36,719 --> 00:36:39,759
Speaker 1: right now, seventy nine total times and you had eight touchdowns.

658
00:36:39,760 --> 00:36:42,080
Speaker 1: So I mean, obviously that was a lot of success.

659
00:36:42,120 --> 00:36:44,239
Speaker 1: But what happened by the time you got to be

660
00:36:44,280 --> 00:36:48,400
Speaker 1: a junior where suddenly you exploded on the scene. UM

661
00:36:48,520 --> 00:36:53,320
Speaker 1: the opportunity, Yeah, I had an opportunity to uh to

662
00:36:53,719 --> 00:36:57,759
Speaker 1: the play, UM, and it really was I was the

663
00:36:57,800 --> 00:37:01,239
Speaker 1: next guy up. Um. There was still there was still

664
00:37:01,320 --> 00:37:03,200
Speaker 1: kind of on the fence with me in terms of

665
00:37:03,200 --> 00:37:06,200
Speaker 1: my fumbles and whether I can take the big run

666
00:37:06,360 --> 00:37:08,359
Speaker 1: if I can be every down back and in terms

667
00:37:08,440 --> 00:37:10,920
Speaker 1: of all of that, and I struggled at the first

668
00:37:11,120 --> 00:37:14,960
Speaker 1: two to three weeks with that. Um, it wasn't until

669
00:37:15,920 --> 00:37:21,000
Speaker 1: after we played Washington. Like man, you talked about intimidating.

670
00:37:21,040 --> 00:37:27,160
Speaker 1: We had to go to Washington and umour my junior

671
00:37:27,239 --> 00:37:29,920
Speaker 1: year without Joey Galloway, so we didn't have a threat

672
00:37:29,960 --> 00:37:32,520
Speaker 1: to stretch to field and they just loaded the box

673
00:37:32,560 --> 00:37:35,960
Speaker 1: up the lawyer malloy at the safety position. Uh, the

674
00:37:36,320 --> 00:37:38,640
Speaker 1: linebackers are big and and I mean they was just

675
00:37:38,640 --> 00:37:41,960
Speaker 1: bringing the house. And um, I remember we lost that

676
00:37:42,080 --> 00:37:44,400
Speaker 1: game and the coaches are like men. You know, I

677
00:37:44,440 --> 00:37:46,560
Speaker 1: have to look at the film. You should have had

678
00:37:46,680 --> 00:37:49,359
Speaker 1: well over you know, a two hundred and fifty yards

679
00:37:49,440 --> 00:37:53,520
Speaker 1: Russian had Corey Stringer and Orlando Paced on the same

680
00:37:53,560 --> 00:37:58,520
Speaker 1: offensive line, and uh, they were just really disappointed with

681
00:37:58,560 --> 00:38:01,120
Speaker 1: my performance and then lost winded getting over a hundred

682
00:38:01,120 --> 00:38:03,719
Speaker 1: and twenty five yards and a couple of touchdowns. But

683
00:38:03,800 --> 00:38:07,000
Speaker 1: that wasn't good enough. So it wasn't until a Michigan

684
00:38:07,040 --> 00:38:10,120
Speaker 1: State when I rushed with two hundred yards against the

685
00:38:10,719 --> 00:38:14,560
Speaker 1: Spartans at their place, and that's when things began to

686
00:38:14,560 --> 00:38:16,759
Speaker 1: slow down. And I began to feel like I could

687
00:38:16,800 --> 00:38:21,000
Speaker 1: be a dominant player. Fox Sports Radio has the best

688
00:38:21,040 --> 00:38:23,880
Speaker 1: sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our

689
00:38:23,920 --> 00:38:27,400
Speaker 1: shows at Fox sports Radio dot com and within the

690
00:38:27,440 --> 00:38:30,600
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio app. Search f s R to listen live.

691
00:38:32,440 --> 00:38:35,200
Speaker 1: We're talking to Eddie George's wins and losses. I'm Clay Travis.

692
00:38:35,239 --> 00:38:38,000
Speaker 1: I want to go back three touchdowns against Syracuse. But

693
00:38:38,040 --> 00:38:39,600
Speaker 1: I cut you off because I think you were about

694
00:38:39,640 --> 00:38:43,399
Speaker 1: to talk about this. You played against Illinois UM and

695
00:38:43,480 --> 00:38:46,520
Speaker 1: you had two fumbles in that game, one at the

696
00:38:46,560 --> 00:38:50,400
Speaker 1: Illinois four yard line and another one at the Illinois

697
00:38:50,520 --> 00:38:54,200
Speaker 1: one yard line. What happened there? And what did that

698
00:38:54,320 --> 00:39:02,960
Speaker 1: feel like? That was probably the worst feeling I've ever

699
00:39:03,000 --> 00:39:06,200
Speaker 1: had as a player UM To have those opportunities, to

700
00:39:06,440 --> 00:39:09,560
Speaker 1: feel the extreme high of scoring three touchdowns, so then

701
00:39:09,760 --> 00:39:13,960
Speaker 1: fumbling twice, one that went ninety nine yards for a touchdown,

702
00:39:14,000 --> 00:39:18,480
Speaker 1: the other one stilled the game. Was a huge blow

703
00:39:18,719 --> 00:39:22,759
Speaker 1: to my to my confidence, and I felt like my

704
00:39:22,920 --> 00:39:26,279
Speaker 1: career was over after that. Because of oil State, you

705
00:39:26,320 --> 00:39:28,440
Speaker 1: can't afford to get hurt. You can't afford that as

706
00:39:28,480 --> 00:39:31,480
Speaker 1: a bad game or his next man up. And that's

707
00:39:31,520 --> 00:39:34,440
Speaker 1: kind of how I felt, and I didn't see the

708
00:39:34,480 --> 00:39:38,080
Speaker 1: field a lot after that. UM I played the following

709
00:39:38,120 --> 00:39:41,520
Speaker 1: week against Northwestern. I wind up three yards shol a

710
00:39:41,600 --> 00:39:44,279
Speaker 1: hundred yards. But that was just like a bone that

711
00:39:44,320 --> 00:39:47,600
Speaker 1: they threw to me to say, Okay, you know we're

712
00:39:47,640 --> 00:39:49,439
Speaker 1: gonna shut you down for the rest of the year.

713
00:39:49,920 --> 00:39:52,400
Speaker 1: Any meaningful game from this point on is going to

714
00:39:52,520 --> 00:39:54,760
Speaker 1: be one of the guys that we know and trust.

715
00:39:55,520 --> 00:40:00,839
Speaker 1: And Corus Cooper got criticized for allow me to play

716
00:40:00,960 --> 00:40:02,960
Speaker 1: for as much as he did, and I felt like

717
00:40:03,000 --> 00:40:05,239
Speaker 1: I let him down. I felt like I let the

718
00:40:05,280 --> 00:40:07,360
Speaker 1: seniors down because there was a chance to get to

719
00:40:07,400 --> 00:40:09,799
Speaker 1: a Roll's bull and that's all they talked about. I'll

720
00:40:09,840 --> 00:40:12,799
Speaker 1: be Michigan when the Big Ten Championship and that, and

721
00:40:12,840 --> 00:40:15,520
Speaker 1: that really hurt me. So I went in the tank

722
00:40:15,520 --> 00:40:17,120
Speaker 1: and I was in the tank for a while and

723
00:40:17,360 --> 00:40:19,200
Speaker 1: I had to had to bounce back get out of that.

724
00:40:20,080 --> 00:40:23,920
Speaker 1: How do you go about curing an issue with fumbles

725
00:40:23,960 --> 00:40:26,400
Speaker 1: like that's such a psychological thing I would think of

726
00:40:26,400 --> 00:40:28,560
Speaker 1: where it's almost like the more you think of it,

727
00:40:28,600 --> 00:40:31,759
Speaker 1: the more it could become an issue. Yeah, and then

728
00:40:31,800 --> 00:40:34,279
Speaker 1: exactly that, you have to be conscious of it, but

729
00:40:34,360 --> 00:40:38,280
Speaker 1: you can't worry about it. Yeah, and at all times.

730
00:40:39,280 --> 00:40:43,400
Speaker 1: You know, when you've had fumbles, you have to at

731
00:40:43,440 --> 00:40:45,960
Speaker 1: all times holding on to the ball, no matter if

732
00:40:46,000 --> 00:40:49,600
Speaker 1: you're um finishing a play, welcome back to the huddle.

733
00:40:49,960 --> 00:40:52,160
Speaker 1: You know, the defense would all every time anytime I

734
00:40:52,160 --> 00:40:54,080
Speaker 1: had a ball in my hand, I was being challenged.

735
00:40:54,719 --> 00:40:57,560
Speaker 1: So therefore I was always thinking about it and it

736
00:40:57,600 --> 00:41:02,400
Speaker 1: never became and uh, situation where I can just relax

737
00:41:02,480 --> 00:41:05,440
Speaker 1: because there's no time chance to relax. Anytime you're going down,

738
00:41:06,560 --> 00:41:10,160
Speaker 1: you begin to relax, and that's when you're more prone

739
00:41:10,200 --> 00:41:12,760
Speaker 1: to have bumbles. Is when the guy or the runners

740
00:41:12,760 --> 00:41:15,680
Speaker 1: were going on the way down thinking that he's he's

741
00:41:15,719 --> 00:41:19,120
Speaker 1: giving himself up. But you're still alive and that ball

742
00:41:19,160 --> 00:41:21,600
Speaker 1: will come out. So you gotta you gotta be constant

743
00:41:21,640 --> 00:41:23,120
Speaker 1: of all time. So that's kind of how I got

744
00:41:23,160 --> 00:41:26,399
Speaker 1: over it. Uh, you win the Heisman Trophy your senior year,

745
00:41:26,440 --> 00:41:28,919
Speaker 1: you obviously got over it in a big way. When

746
00:41:28,920 --> 00:41:33,600
Speaker 1: did you start thinking, hey, I could win the Heisman trophy? Uh,

747
00:41:33,719 --> 00:41:36,000
Speaker 1: Burt after we played Mortre Dame, had a big game

748
00:41:36,040 --> 00:41:38,279
Speaker 1: against Nortre Dame where I rushed with two hundred and

749
00:41:38,360 --> 00:41:41,360
Speaker 1: six yards. I think I had a couple of touchdowns

750
00:41:41,400 --> 00:41:44,959
Speaker 1: three touchdowns with two touchdowns. It was a national televides game.

751
00:41:45,280 --> 00:41:49,000
Speaker 1: It was I will anticipate the game for that year

752
00:41:49,120 --> 00:41:52,520
Speaker 1: was a circle is such becausehi statan Mischigan the Sehigo

753
00:41:52,560 --> 00:41:56,239
Speaker 1: State in Order Dame had not played uh uposite that

754
00:41:56,320 --> 00:41:58,839
Speaker 1: time until for like, it was a forty year gap

755
00:41:59,000 --> 00:42:03,080
Speaker 1: in between the last time those two programs played each other,

756
00:42:03,719 --> 00:42:06,960
Speaker 1: So it was a highlight. And um, and I just

757
00:42:07,040 --> 00:42:11,439
Speaker 1: recall this us having a day we score forty five

758
00:42:11,480 --> 00:42:15,399
Speaker 1: points against Luhop's team and that put us from the map.

759
00:42:15,400 --> 00:42:18,120
Speaker 1: And I think that was the day that people and

760
00:42:18,200 --> 00:42:19,880
Speaker 1: I thought that, man, I have a shot at one

761
00:42:19,880 --> 00:42:22,239
Speaker 1: of the highman because they'll pen to that point. We

762
00:42:22,280 --> 00:42:25,399
Speaker 1: played some really good football teams and you can look

763
00:42:25,400 --> 00:42:27,120
Speaker 1: at our schedule and see, man, he's played against the

764
00:42:27,120 --> 00:42:30,040
Speaker 1: good competition. Um, he's on the number two team in

765
00:42:30,080 --> 00:42:34,240
Speaker 1: the country. And with that you have to pick somebody

766
00:42:34,280 --> 00:42:36,760
Speaker 1: say why are they doing so well? And I felt

767
00:42:36,800 --> 00:42:39,040
Speaker 1: like if I was doing my job, I had an

768
00:42:39,080 --> 00:42:42,759
Speaker 1: opportunity to do that. Did you enjoy walking up to

769
00:42:42,760 --> 00:42:45,960
Speaker 1: get the Heisman Trophy more or or getting drafted in

770
00:42:45,960 --> 00:42:47,719
Speaker 1: the first round. I don't know if you were there

771
00:42:48,400 --> 00:42:51,040
Speaker 1: present to walk up on the stage. I can't remember

772
00:42:52,040 --> 00:43:01,120
Speaker 1: of those two experiences, which one seemed more surreal. Ah man, um, wow,

773
00:43:01,160 --> 00:43:05,200
Speaker 1: that's a great question. The Heisman for sure, because I've

774
00:43:05,280 --> 00:43:10,919
Speaker 1: dreamt of a winning the Heisman. I uh, I used

775
00:43:10,920 --> 00:43:14,160
Speaker 1: to practice my speeches in the mirror and I was

776
00:43:14,200 --> 00:43:18,399
Speaker 1: a kid at the Barry Sanders one. So to win

777
00:43:18,520 --> 00:43:23,600
Speaker 1: that and to um, she's a look at my mother's

778
00:43:23,640 --> 00:43:28,040
Speaker 1: face and realized that while you know, my life has

779
00:43:28,080 --> 00:43:31,200
Speaker 1: just changed, my life just changed forever was everything because

780
00:43:31,360 --> 00:43:33,560
Speaker 1: I think my entire family knew what it meant to me,

781
00:43:33,640 --> 00:43:36,080
Speaker 1: my coach knew what it meant to me, everyone in

782
00:43:36,120 --> 00:43:37,960
Speaker 1: the house, state and what it meant for me to win.

783
00:43:38,080 --> 00:43:41,440
Speaker 1: To have that moment, my teammates on um, but I

784
00:43:41,480 --> 00:43:45,880
Speaker 1: had to go through personally. It was it was that

785
00:43:45,960 --> 00:43:50,480
Speaker 1: was a surreal moment looking back on it now, does

786
00:43:50,520 --> 00:43:52,880
Speaker 1: it even seem bigger? You know? Sometimes when and I

787
00:43:52,920 --> 00:43:54,799
Speaker 1: always think about this, like when you're a kid and

788
00:43:54,840 --> 00:43:57,560
Speaker 1: you're young, sometimes you can achieve things and you don't

789
00:43:57,560 --> 00:44:00,000
Speaker 1: realize how big they are until you reckon It might

790
00:44:00,040 --> 00:44:02,640
Speaker 1: take you twenty years to look back and be like, man,

791
00:44:02,680 --> 00:44:05,200
Speaker 1: that was really a big thing. Does it even seem

792
00:44:05,239 --> 00:44:07,320
Speaker 1: bigger now? Than it did then or in that moment,

793
00:44:07,400 --> 00:44:15,759
Speaker 1: was it like overwhelming? It's it's still overwhelming, like and

794
00:44:16,000 --> 00:44:18,280
Speaker 1: a time I want by a trophy of my house.

795
00:44:19,760 --> 00:44:23,080
Speaker 1: You know, I'm always looking like, wow, I really one

796
00:44:23,520 --> 00:44:26,439
Speaker 1: hys And trophy in my lifetime. And because you only

797
00:44:26,480 --> 00:44:30,520
Speaker 1: have a small window to do it in and sometimes

798
00:44:31,160 --> 00:44:34,800
Speaker 1: you know, even the predicted leader of prior to going

799
00:44:34,840 --> 00:44:40,280
Speaker 1: in doesn't win it. And gosh, man, I've been very fortunate.

800
00:44:40,360 --> 00:44:43,960
Speaker 1: So it's very surreal when I think about it. And

801
00:44:43,960 --> 00:44:47,839
Speaker 1: and now that I'm removed from the game, um so

802
00:44:47,960 --> 00:44:51,759
Speaker 1: like twenty years you move from it. You look at

803
00:44:51,760 --> 00:44:53,800
Speaker 1: that and every time I go to New York and

804
00:44:53,880 --> 00:44:57,600
Speaker 1: I see new Hysman winners, like wow, if you just

805
00:44:57,680 --> 00:44:59,360
Speaker 1: have a chance to we live that moment each and

806
00:44:59,400 --> 00:45:02,239
Speaker 1: every time they is better each and every year. Be

807
00:45:02,360 --> 00:45:04,880
Speaker 1: sure to catch live editions about Kicked the coverage with

808
00:45:04,920 --> 00:45:08,560
Speaker 1: Clay Travis weekdays at six am Eastern three am Pacific.

809
00:45:09,239 --> 00:45:11,800
Speaker 1: We're talking to Eddie, George, wins and losses. Clay Travis,

810
00:45:12,000 --> 00:45:13,960
Speaker 1: you get drafted. When's the first time you ever met

811
00:45:14,000 --> 00:45:18,399
Speaker 1: Steve McNair oh Man on the in the locker room

812
00:45:18,440 --> 00:45:22,359
Speaker 1: in the Houston so he he walks, he walks up,

813
00:45:22,400 --> 00:45:27,160
Speaker 1: You meet him and you think, what, that's Steve Air McNair.

814
00:45:27,239 --> 00:45:29,520
Speaker 1: Because I was a fan prior to being his teammate.

815
00:45:30,320 --> 00:45:35,080
Speaker 1: The year before, remember watching him on my couch um

816
00:45:35,080 --> 00:45:37,399
Speaker 1: where it was when it was cold as all get

817
00:45:37,440 --> 00:45:40,200
Speaker 1: out in Ohio and they were playing against Youngstown State

818
00:45:40,640 --> 00:45:43,239
Speaker 1: in a playoff game. And it's the first time that

819
00:45:43,800 --> 00:45:45,640
Speaker 1: I haven't actually had a chance to see him play.

820
00:45:45,719 --> 00:45:48,319
Speaker 1: I heard about him prior to that year. He had

821
00:45:48,840 --> 00:45:52,200
Speaker 1: the Sports Illustrated handed them Heisman. We saw highlights on

822
00:45:52,480 --> 00:45:56,000
Speaker 1: ESPN and on all the other networks, but never did

823
00:45:56,040 --> 00:45:58,880
Speaker 1: I have a chance to sit and really watch and play.

824
00:45:59,239 --> 00:46:02,239
Speaker 1: And when I watched them play, and I saw that

825
00:46:03,000 --> 00:46:05,440
Speaker 1: he was playing with the pools hamstring in the cold

826
00:46:06,560 --> 00:46:09,600
Speaker 1: and his team was getting throttled young State put it

827
00:46:09,600 --> 00:46:12,279
Speaker 1: on it, but he was still in there playing. And

828
00:46:12,320 --> 00:46:14,640
Speaker 1: this this guy had everything in the world to lose.

829
00:46:15,480 --> 00:46:17,799
Speaker 1: He didn't be he didn't build out on his teammates.

830
00:46:17,880 --> 00:46:19,560
Speaker 1: And at that time, you know, if you were a

831
00:46:19,640 --> 00:46:22,120
Speaker 1: high state and he knew were going pro, guys will

832
00:46:22,160 --> 00:46:24,640
Speaker 1: be sitting out. There wasn't no question about it. But

833
00:46:24,760 --> 00:46:28,279
Speaker 1: this guy was in the in the cold in Youngstown

834
00:46:28,640 --> 00:46:32,080
Speaker 1: of the torn hamstring and still playing for his guys

835
00:46:32,080 --> 00:46:34,080
Speaker 1: because he loved the game. He loved his teammates, but

836
00:46:34,200 --> 00:46:35,800
Speaker 1: always stood out to me. And I said, man, this

837
00:46:35,880 --> 00:46:38,480
Speaker 1: guy's he's a warrior. And little did I know that

838
00:46:38,520 --> 00:46:41,359
Speaker 1: I would a year later be his teammates. So when

839
00:46:41,360 --> 00:46:44,400
Speaker 1: I met Steve, you know, I was in the locker

840
00:46:44,480 --> 00:46:49,080
Speaker 1: room and the other rookies and all we could talking about, man,

841
00:46:50,239 --> 00:46:52,399
Speaker 1: we can't we see Steve mcmair. I mean we were

842
00:46:52,520 --> 00:46:56,080
Speaker 1: just teams as fans of them. And and he incomes

843
00:46:56,120 --> 00:46:58,680
Speaker 1: Steve and he has two cell phones on the clip

844
00:46:58,760 --> 00:47:02,200
Speaker 1: to his hip. He had his shirt tucked in, he

845
00:47:02,280 --> 00:47:07,080
Speaker 1: has some sunglasses on, some air Force ones and he

846
00:47:07,200 --> 00:47:10,239
Speaker 1: wasn't starting at the time. It was real quiet. He says, hey, man,

847
00:47:10,239 --> 00:47:14,040
Speaker 1: what's up. Very nice to meet you. Man, Um, welcome aboard.

848
00:47:14,040 --> 00:47:16,759
Speaker 1: Were gola have fun doing this? Was a pleasure to

849
00:47:16,800 --> 00:47:19,320
Speaker 1: meet you. If there's anything you need, here's my number.

850
00:47:19,320 --> 00:47:21,759
Speaker 1: Get me a call anything you need. Alt man, you

851
00:47:21,800 --> 00:47:24,319
Speaker 1: know you're gonna love Houston. And and that was it.

852
00:47:25,200 --> 00:47:27,520
Speaker 1: And I was like, oh man, that was back. And

853
00:47:27,600 --> 00:47:30,760
Speaker 1: I remember going back to my room and uh, sitting

854
00:47:30,800 --> 00:47:33,680
Speaker 1: down with my boy and I was talking to him

855
00:47:33,680 --> 00:47:36,080
Speaker 1: on the Fox match, met Stephen May He's real cool

856
00:47:36,120 --> 00:47:38,839
Speaker 1: and all this other stuff, and he said this to me,

857
00:47:38,920 --> 00:47:41,120
Speaker 1: and I was his wide eyed man. It was just

858
00:47:41,160 --> 00:47:44,320
Speaker 1: it was a real the real honor to meet that dude.

859
00:47:45,400 --> 00:47:47,880
Speaker 1: So when did you realize how good he was in

860
00:47:47,920 --> 00:47:53,200
Speaker 1: the NFL? You know? And you were that you were

861
00:47:53,320 --> 00:47:56,799
Speaker 1: the engine of that offense for the first couple of

862
00:47:56,920 --> 00:47:59,200
Speaker 1: years when you guys were on the field together, right,

863
00:47:59,239 --> 00:48:02,319
Speaker 1: and then they just gradually gave him more and more

864
00:48:02,440 --> 00:48:06,560
Speaker 1: opportunity and obligation in that offense. But did you could

865
00:48:06,600 --> 00:48:09,320
Speaker 1: you see it before, way before it actually took place

866
00:48:09,360 --> 00:48:12,759
Speaker 1: on the field, did you see that he had that ability? Yeah?

867
00:48:12,840 --> 00:48:17,200
Speaker 1: His arm challenge, this really stood out of practice. Um,

868
00:48:17,239 --> 00:48:19,879
Speaker 1: he had to fight through a lot of different injuries.

869
00:48:20,600 --> 00:48:24,799
Speaker 1: Um during those years, I think, how to how tough

870
00:48:24,960 --> 00:48:27,680
Speaker 1: was he? Uh? Well, do you know what we know

871
00:48:27,760 --> 00:48:31,799
Speaker 1: all about his on the field stuff, okay, and all

872
00:48:31,840 --> 00:48:36,640
Speaker 1: the stories of the Bruce sternhum to the toe injury,

873
00:48:37,280 --> 00:48:40,879
Speaker 1: he had infection in his shoulder. But the one thing

874
00:48:40,920 --> 00:48:42,640
Speaker 1: that stood out to me is when I was getting

875
00:48:42,680 --> 00:48:44,920
Speaker 1: my teeth clean, I was getting the root canal I

876
00:48:44,960 --> 00:48:48,160
Speaker 1: think done on my tooth by Dr macop that's your soul.

877
00:48:49,200 --> 00:48:52,760
Speaker 1: He and I'm scared of needles. It took them thirty

878
00:48:52,760 --> 00:48:55,360
Speaker 1: minutes to give no the gentman Ova king and I

879
00:48:55,360 --> 00:48:58,040
Speaker 1: can't stand needles in my mouth or igler with my body,

880
00:48:58,080 --> 00:49:01,080
Speaker 1: So it took him thirty minutes. And I thought he

881
00:49:01,120 --> 00:49:03,520
Speaker 1: was lying about this. He said, well, you know, Steve

882
00:49:04,320 --> 00:49:08,439
Speaker 1: didn't take nobcane and he just got his tooth pulled out.

883
00:49:09,520 --> 00:49:12,319
Speaker 1: But he said he didn't put to no becaine. Your

884
00:49:12,400 --> 00:49:16,680
Speaker 1: dear lives, asked Brad asked, asked the trainers, and he

885
00:49:16,840 --> 00:49:19,360
Speaker 1: don't tell you themselves. And so I went in the

886
00:49:19,440 --> 00:49:22,480
Speaker 1: training room. I said, Brad, I heard this ridiculous story

887
00:49:22,520 --> 00:49:25,320
Speaker 1: of Steve didn't take no became and his mouth say no,

888
00:49:25,480 --> 00:49:28,880
Speaker 1: he didn't. He's you know, it was something else. He

889
00:49:29,000 --> 00:49:32,000
Speaker 1: was numb from something else. But the bottom line is

890
00:49:32,080 --> 00:49:34,759
Speaker 1: he didn't take no becane to getting tooth pulled out

891
00:49:35,080 --> 00:49:37,839
Speaker 1: and the pain on that is ridiculous. So that to me,

892
00:49:37,960 --> 00:49:40,360
Speaker 1: when I heard that story, I said, this guy, this

893
00:49:40,440 --> 00:49:45,400
Speaker 1: guy is the real deal. Uh So you're in Houston,

894
00:49:45,640 --> 00:49:47,920
Speaker 1: and you said, Steve said, oh, you're gonna love Houston,

895
00:49:48,239 --> 00:49:51,080
Speaker 1: you know, like it's an awesome town, big city. Where

896
00:49:51,120 --> 00:49:53,799
Speaker 1: were you when you heard for the first time that

897
00:49:53,880 --> 00:49:58,120
Speaker 1: the team was moving to Nashville, and what did you think, Well,

898
00:49:58,160 --> 00:50:04,080
Speaker 1: there was always rumors um swirling around the facility that

899
00:50:04,120 --> 00:50:07,319
Speaker 1: we were moving, but it was two years. It was

900
00:50:07,360 --> 00:50:10,160
Speaker 1: like from ninety we were supposed to move it too,

901
00:50:10,239 --> 00:50:16,640
Speaker 1: like ninety nine eight or ninety nine, So that's kind

902
00:50:16,640 --> 00:50:19,200
Speaker 1: of the was the rumors, but the attempt was. The

903
00:50:19,239 --> 00:50:23,719
Speaker 1: attendance was so bad my first year in Houston that

904
00:50:24,239 --> 00:50:27,879
Speaker 1: I think our largest crowd may have been for Pittsburgh

905
00:50:28,200 --> 00:50:30,880
Speaker 1: and it was fifty thousand, but it was the majority

906
00:50:30,880 --> 00:50:35,360
Speaker 1: of Pittsburgh fans, So on average it was maybe sixteen

907
00:50:35,400 --> 00:50:41,160
Speaker 1: thousand fans And for a twelve o'clock kicked in the

908
00:50:41,239 --> 00:50:47,120
Speaker 1: kickoff and in as far as the the pregame warmups,

909
00:50:47,600 --> 00:50:52,239
Speaker 1: there were maybe five people in the stands. You know,

910
00:50:54,600 --> 00:50:59,560
Speaker 1: it was completely dead. It was that um. So I

911
00:50:59,600 --> 00:51:01,440
Speaker 1: think I was in Ohio when I heard that we

912
00:51:01,440 --> 00:51:05,239
Speaker 1: were definitely moving to Tennessee and not returning to to

913
00:51:05,600 --> 00:51:09,239
Speaker 1: UH to Houston for our final year, and that's when

914
00:51:09,280 --> 00:51:11,920
Speaker 1: then that's when we went on our noble journey. And

915
00:51:12,040 --> 00:51:13,760
Speaker 1: did you think though at the time, I can't believe

916
00:51:13,760 --> 00:51:15,239
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be living like you didn't have any clue

917
00:51:15,280 --> 00:51:18,200
Speaker 1: did you spend any time in Nashville. Never spent not

918
00:51:18,400 --> 00:51:21,959
Speaker 1: not one second in Nashville. To you, if I told

919
00:51:21,960 --> 00:51:23,759
Speaker 1: you back at ninety six, hey, you're gonna make it

920
00:51:23,840 --> 00:51:26,239
Speaker 1: your home even after you finished playing, you would have

921
00:51:26,280 --> 00:51:30,040
Speaker 1: probably told me I was crazy. Yeah, more than likely. Yes,

922
00:51:30,400 --> 00:51:33,000
Speaker 1: I would have definitely thought that because I was thinking

923
00:51:33,040 --> 00:51:38,200
Speaker 1: of going back to Philly or moving to Atlanta, going

924
00:51:38,280 --> 00:51:41,279
Speaker 1: to the place else than staying here in Nashville. All

925
00:51:41,320 --> 00:51:44,239
Speaker 1: they had that was the Highlight with Hooters and a

926
00:51:44,280 --> 00:51:46,680
Speaker 1: couple of other spots. I mean, who was the spots

927
00:51:46,680 --> 00:51:50,280
Speaker 1: to go to, you know, and and you know maybe

928
00:51:50,360 --> 00:51:53,680
Speaker 1: another spot called something Live. But outside of that, it

929
00:51:53,800 --> 00:51:57,480
Speaker 1: was downtown was the ghost town. Yeah, and it was.

930
00:51:57,600 --> 00:52:00,600
Speaker 1: It was had no character and no life and those

931
00:52:00,640 --> 00:52:03,319
Speaker 1: signs of it at all. And it was just like, well,

932
00:52:03,600 --> 00:52:06,239
Speaker 1: any sect and we get a chance to go to

933
00:52:06,280 --> 00:52:09,120
Speaker 1: Atlanta or Shooting New York or or Miami, want to

934
00:52:09,160 --> 00:52:12,640
Speaker 1: do this that. And now it sounds crazy because Nashville

935
00:52:12,680 --> 00:52:15,080
Speaker 1: has become a huge destination. So there's people who are

936
00:52:15,120 --> 00:52:16,799
Speaker 1: listening to you right now and they're like, oh, I'm

937
00:52:16,880 --> 00:52:19,719
Speaker 1: going on vacation to Nashville. But when you're at like

938
00:52:21,239 --> 00:52:23,280
Speaker 1: like you're right, there was a Hooters on Second Avenue

939
00:52:23,320 --> 00:52:26,080
Speaker 1: downtown and like, you know, a couple of dance clubs

940
00:52:26,160 --> 00:52:28,120
Speaker 1: or whatever. But it wasn't what you would didn't really

941
00:52:28,120 --> 00:52:30,879
Speaker 1: want to go down there and hang out, have a nice,

942
00:52:31,680 --> 00:52:35,840
Speaker 1: nice gram Gram Central station, Like there's an old school

943
00:52:35,840 --> 00:52:42,360
Speaker 1: for Nashville people. It was the worst night life you

944
00:52:42,360 --> 00:52:46,640
Speaker 1: can ever imagine. And here we are NFL team and

945
00:52:46,640 --> 00:52:50,440
Speaker 1: we couldn't get into clubs here. You couldn't even you know,

946
00:52:50,840 --> 00:52:53,680
Speaker 1: give away tickets to our games. We want to treat

947
00:52:53,719 --> 00:52:56,879
Speaker 1: it with any type of respect. The Nashville Cats got

948
00:52:56,880 --> 00:53:00,640
Speaker 1: more love than you know we It was like, what

949
00:53:00,760 --> 00:53:05,600
Speaker 1: are we doing here? What is this? And ye, well

950
00:53:05,640 --> 00:53:06,960
Speaker 1: I was gonna say, you make the run to the

951
00:53:07,000 --> 00:53:09,520
Speaker 1: super Bowl the year they build the new stadium, and

952
00:53:09,560 --> 00:53:11,759
Speaker 1: it's like a light switch suddenly goes on. And I

953
00:53:11,800 --> 00:53:14,800
Speaker 1: think people got spoiled because they had you and Frank

954
00:53:14,800 --> 00:53:19,240
Speaker 1: why Chick and McNair and Derek Mason and Blame Bishop

955
00:53:19,360 --> 00:53:22,400
Speaker 1: and all these guys who were good dudes, Al del Greco,

956
00:53:22,440 --> 00:53:25,000
Speaker 1: who fit really well in the community. And if I

957
00:53:25,000 --> 00:53:27,680
Speaker 1: forgot somebody's name, inevitably people blow me up on Twitter.

958
00:53:27,680 --> 00:53:29,360
Speaker 1: About it, but you but all of a sudden, you

959
00:53:29,360 --> 00:53:30,839
Speaker 1: make a run to the super Bowl. And I think

960
00:53:30,840 --> 00:53:33,120
Speaker 1: people kind of took it for granted because they're like, oh, yeah,

961
00:53:33,160 --> 00:53:35,000
Speaker 1: you get an NFL team, they go to the super Bowl.

962
00:53:35,239 --> 00:53:37,080
Speaker 1: And now twenty years later, if you could ever get

963
00:53:37,120 --> 00:53:38,560
Speaker 1: back to the super Bowl, it's like, oh my god,

964
00:53:38,560 --> 00:53:40,360
Speaker 1: to be the greatest thing ever. But it's like it

965
00:53:40,400 --> 00:53:43,799
Speaker 1: happened so quickly. Yeah, And I think that that was

966
00:53:43,840 --> 00:53:46,120
Speaker 1: the key. You know, we had a great product or

967
00:53:46,160 --> 00:53:51,920
Speaker 1: a mediocre product, and we were two or two pieces away,

968
00:53:52,200 --> 00:53:54,320
Speaker 1: two or three pieces away from really being great. That

969
00:53:55,680 --> 00:53:58,960
Speaker 1: the freak was just unbelievable. As a rookie, he really

970
00:53:59,040 --> 00:54:04,439
Speaker 1: solidified as legitimate contend because now we had hell coming

971
00:54:04,480 --> 00:54:07,360
Speaker 1: off the edge and there's nothing, there was nothing anybody

972
00:54:07,360 --> 00:54:11,920
Speaker 1: could do about it. Um So with myself, Steve frank

973
00:54:12,080 --> 00:54:14,400
Speaker 1: as the offense, the heart and soul the offense, and

974
00:54:14,480 --> 00:54:19,040
Speaker 1: really the team, Bruce S. Matthews had no mind. We

975
00:54:19,080 --> 00:54:23,399
Speaker 1: had a great nucleus of players, um to a man,

976
00:54:23,440 --> 00:54:26,680
Speaker 1: because all we had was us, I mean that that

977
00:54:26,800 --> 00:54:29,560
Speaker 1: was it. We had to entertain ourselves. We had spent

978
00:54:29,640 --> 00:54:32,000
Speaker 1: time with the with our teammates and really get to

979
00:54:32,040 --> 00:54:34,160
Speaker 1: know them in the community because we were foreign to

980
00:54:34,239 --> 00:54:36,719
Speaker 1: everything too. That really made us tighter because of their experience.

981
00:54:38,040 --> 00:54:41,480
Speaker 1: So you have this incredible run and we've you know,

982
00:54:41,560 --> 00:54:44,040
Speaker 1: talked a lot about over the years, the Titans success

983
00:54:44,040 --> 00:54:49,719
Speaker 1: and everything else. Um you you did the your your

984
00:54:49,920 --> 00:54:52,480
Speaker 1: the number for Steve McNair at. I believe it was

985
00:54:52,520 --> 00:54:55,320
Speaker 1: the Colts game this this past year in September. You

986
00:54:55,400 --> 00:54:57,719
Speaker 1: did a great job up there. Steve's brother I think

987
00:54:57,760 --> 00:55:01,200
Speaker 1: spoke to where were you when you heard the McNair

988
00:55:01,280 --> 00:55:06,920
Speaker 1: news and and could you believe it? No? I couldn't. Um.

989
00:55:06,960 --> 00:55:10,120
Speaker 1: I was actually in Atlanta with my wife. She had

990
00:55:10,160 --> 00:55:14,760
Speaker 1: performed that night. So we were driving back to um

991
00:55:15,000 --> 00:55:19,600
Speaker 1: Nashville that day, uh to celebrate the Fourth of July

992
00:55:19,760 --> 00:55:21,960
Speaker 1: to watch the fireworks. You know. It was a clear,

993
00:55:22,800 --> 00:55:26,800
Speaker 1: crystal clear, hot summer day. And I kept getting the

994
00:55:26,840 --> 00:55:30,040
Speaker 1: phone call some friends about Steve getting into a fight

995
00:55:30,080 --> 00:55:31,880
Speaker 1: at a club, and I said, that's some possible with

996
00:55:31,880 --> 00:55:35,319
Speaker 1: stevens and go to clubs and then more likely would

997
00:55:35,320 --> 00:55:38,319
Speaker 1: have somebody around him that she's not going to fight,

998
00:55:38,680 --> 00:55:40,640
Speaker 1: and then the gym from a fight and he got shot.

999
00:55:40,719 --> 00:55:42,800
Speaker 1: And I said, that's ridiculous. Now, and I know he

1000
00:55:42,840 --> 00:55:46,359
Speaker 1: didn't get shot at a club. And then I get

1001
00:55:46,360 --> 00:55:50,839
Speaker 1: a call from a police officer freend of mine. He said, well, um,

1002
00:55:51,239 --> 00:55:56,319
Speaker 1: we're not toast positive, but we think Steve Um may

1003
00:55:56,400 --> 00:56:00,719
Speaker 1: have got may have died last night, um because he

1004
00:56:00,800 --> 00:56:04,480
Speaker 1: was found inside apartment. And then I began to worry,

1005
00:56:04,560 --> 00:56:07,160
Speaker 1: so I called Jeff Fisher said, Okay, if this is

1006
00:56:07,239 --> 00:56:11,160
Speaker 1: at all a story of any sort, he's going to

1007
00:56:11,280 --> 00:56:14,040
Speaker 1: lose something along those lines. So I called Jeff. Jeff

1008
00:56:14,200 --> 00:56:17,120
Speaker 1: was I think in Iraq at the time, and he

1009
00:56:17,200 --> 00:56:23,040
Speaker 1: said Steve, Steve, and he had a a strong sense

1010
00:56:23,080 --> 00:56:26,399
Speaker 1: of panic behind his voice. That's not Eddie. And I said,

1011
00:56:26,560 --> 00:56:29,399
Speaker 1: what's going on? He said, well, I heard something into

1012
00:56:29,440 --> 00:56:33,319
Speaker 1: the effect that Steve passed away of something and um

1013
00:56:33,719 --> 00:56:36,600
Speaker 1: it was his wife was involved in His wife was

1014
00:56:36,719 --> 00:56:39,600
Speaker 1: there and I was like, oh, ship, this might be real.

1015
00:56:40,440 --> 00:56:43,759
Speaker 1: And then uh, maybe thirty minutes later, I got the

1016
00:56:43,800 --> 00:56:50,160
Speaker 1: confirmation that he had passed away um and the particulars

1017
00:56:50,160 --> 00:56:54,640
Speaker 1: around it. All the details came out, and we just

1018
00:56:54,760 --> 00:56:58,239
Speaker 1: made a bee line straight from Atlanta to Michelle's house

1019
00:56:58,400 --> 00:57:01,640
Speaker 1: to kind of comfort her. The kid Jim. As you

1020
00:57:01,719 --> 00:57:05,239
Speaker 1: got close to town, that's when it's just the fourth

1021
00:57:05,280 --> 00:57:10,000
Speaker 1: of July, Clay was just like just like a heavy

1022
00:57:11,120 --> 00:57:15,120
Speaker 1: emotional blanket, you know. It started off the clear, beautiful day,

1023
00:57:15,920 --> 00:57:20,919
Speaker 1: it rained the entire weekend um the fourth of July

1024
00:57:22,240 --> 00:57:24,560
Speaker 1: and the fourth of julycense going on. They are really

1025
00:57:24,600 --> 00:57:28,160
Speaker 1: never the same, do you think, And I know this

1026
00:57:28,320 --> 00:57:31,040
Speaker 1: is like there are people have different opinions, but do

1027
00:57:31,160 --> 00:57:34,280
Speaker 1: you believe that the girl killed him? Like there's been

1028
00:57:34,280 --> 00:57:36,440
Speaker 1: all these different reports. I know you talked to police

1029
00:57:36,480 --> 00:57:38,720
Speaker 1: officers and there's a lot of people have different theories.

1030
00:57:39,480 --> 00:57:42,680
Speaker 1: Do you think about that ever, wonder if that story

1031
00:57:42,880 --> 00:57:45,880
Speaker 1: is accurate or do you just not even think about

1032
00:57:45,920 --> 00:57:49,080
Speaker 1: it at all? Well? I used to think about it.

1033
00:57:49,360 --> 00:57:53,640
Speaker 1: I used to think about how she could must up

1034
00:57:53,680 --> 00:57:56,080
Speaker 1: the strength to kill him the way that she did,

1035
00:57:56,760 --> 00:58:00,360
Speaker 1: almost execution style, having never shot a gun before, and

1036
00:58:00,400 --> 00:58:03,080
Speaker 1: then taking our own life. And I just found that

1037
00:58:03,360 --> 00:58:06,520
Speaker 1: really really hard to fathom, Like it would think that

1038
00:58:06,680 --> 00:58:08,760
Speaker 1: bad for a twenty two year old, that she'll do that,

1039
00:58:10,600 --> 00:58:14,479
Speaker 1: and then but now you know, I'm at the point

1040
00:58:14,520 --> 00:58:16,880
Speaker 1: of what difference does it make? You know, it's not

1041
00:58:16,920 --> 00:58:19,640
Speaker 1: going to bring him back. All it's gonna do is

1042
00:58:19,720 --> 00:58:25,320
Speaker 1: just trystantly bring up bad memories of of for Michelle

1043
00:58:25,360 --> 00:58:27,760
Speaker 1: and the boys and who are definitely trying to bring

1044
00:58:27,840 --> 00:58:31,200
Speaker 1: closure to it. And I'm a firm believer in karma.

1045
00:58:31,320 --> 00:58:36,920
Speaker 1: I'm a firm believer that that God will take care

1046
00:58:36,960 --> 00:58:40,160
Speaker 1: of that, you know, in some form of fashion, um

1047
00:58:41,040 --> 00:58:43,240
Speaker 1: and and they'll be repaid and the way they're going

1048
00:58:43,280 --> 00:58:45,840
Speaker 1: to be repaid, and not worry about that, you know.

1049
00:58:45,920 --> 00:58:49,160
Speaker 1: But I have to choose to focus on the man.

1050
00:58:49,280 --> 00:58:53,000
Speaker 1: Steve was, who he is, um, who he was as

1051
00:58:53,040 --> 00:58:55,880
Speaker 1: a person, what he did for our community, what he

1052
00:58:55,960 --> 00:58:57,880
Speaker 1: did for me as a brother, as a teammates and friends.

1053
00:58:58,520 --> 00:59:00,120
Speaker 1: And that's how I have to look at it. And

1054
00:59:00,200 --> 00:59:03,280
Speaker 1: that's how I chives to look at it. How often

1055
00:59:03,320 --> 00:59:06,640
Speaker 1: do you think about the Super Bowl? Only when you

1056
00:59:06,720 --> 00:59:11,440
Speaker 1: mentioned it? Now I think about it every year. You know,

1057
00:59:11,560 --> 00:59:13,120
Speaker 1: this is the time of the year, Clay, where I

1058
00:59:13,240 --> 00:59:16,360
Speaker 1: really uh, this is where I missed the game. This

1059
00:59:16,560 --> 00:59:19,000
Speaker 1: is where I missed playing. This is where I missed

1060
00:59:19,080 --> 00:59:24,760
Speaker 1: the competition and the games really matters. And you're a

1061
00:59:24,920 --> 00:59:29,280
Speaker 1: good buying for for one one trophy. You have one

1062
00:59:29,360 --> 00:59:32,400
Speaker 1: game to get it done. There's no seven game series,

1063
00:59:32,520 --> 00:59:36,640
Speaker 1: there's none, no no no' no'll do overs. And this

1064
00:59:36,880 --> 00:59:40,360
Speaker 1: is where I missed the game the most um and

1065
00:59:40,480 --> 00:59:42,360
Speaker 1: every time this time of year when I have a

1066
00:59:42,440 --> 00:59:44,800
Speaker 1: chance to look at our run. I mean, man, that

1067
00:59:44,920 --> 00:59:48,000
Speaker 1: was a special time in my life and that can

1068
00:59:48,040 --> 00:59:51,680
Speaker 1: never be duplicated again. You know, that feeling of winning

1069
00:59:51,800 --> 00:59:54,200
Speaker 1: an AFC championship and the things we have to go

1070
00:59:54,360 --> 00:59:58,520
Speaker 1: through and the Music City Miracle, the run of Indianapolis,

1071
00:59:59,280 --> 01:00:02,280
Speaker 1: um that we're looking up at the jumbo tron as

1072
01:00:02,320 --> 01:00:06,240
Speaker 1: you're that was the time of my life and there's

1073
01:00:06,320 --> 01:00:10,600
Speaker 1: nothing that can replace those moments. And you know, I've

1074
01:00:10,640 --> 01:00:12,600
Speaker 1: done a lot of different things to my life at

1075
01:00:12,640 --> 01:00:15,720
Speaker 1: this point. You know, I've been on broadwave, acted on

1076
01:00:15,880 --> 01:00:20,400
Speaker 1: this and that, and that's great, but nothing, nothing compares

1077
01:00:20,440 --> 01:00:23,800
Speaker 1: to the feeling of running out of that tunnel and

1078
01:00:23,920 --> 01:00:26,240
Speaker 1: knowing that you're playing for a championship, or knowing that

1079
01:00:26,320 --> 01:00:29,760
Speaker 1: you're playing in Baltimore and it's going to take your

1080
01:00:29,960 --> 01:00:36,280
Speaker 1: entire being to uh conquer the Baltimore Ravens along with

1081
01:00:36,400 --> 01:00:40,080
Speaker 1: the guy named Ray Lewis, or come out of the

1082
01:00:40,120 --> 01:00:43,560
Speaker 1: tunnel and face a paper Manning or or Kirt Warren

1083
01:00:43,640 --> 01:00:46,320
Speaker 1: or some Hall of famers. I mean, that's that's the

1084
01:00:46,440 --> 01:00:50,800
Speaker 1: competition at his heist man, and that's something that that

1085
01:00:50,920 --> 01:00:54,240
Speaker 1: I always missed, was it tougher to lose the Super

1086
01:00:54,320 --> 01:00:58,320
Speaker 1: Bowl or lose the next year against the Ravens. Ravens,

1087
01:00:58,400 --> 01:01:04,880
Speaker 1: without a doubt, the Ravens, we didn't know how good

1088
01:01:04,920 --> 01:01:08,440
Speaker 1: we were, not until the end of the season. We

1089
01:01:08,600 --> 01:01:12,160
Speaker 1: really didn't know that year. We knew we were good,

1090
01:01:13,720 --> 01:01:16,640
Speaker 1: and we knew that Baltimore was the splitting the splitting

1091
01:01:16,680 --> 01:01:20,240
Speaker 1: image of who we were. And whoever won that game

1092
01:01:21,840 --> 01:01:23,560
Speaker 1: wasn't just going to win the game in advance to

1093
01:01:24,040 --> 01:01:28,120
Speaker 1: the next round. They were going to win the Super Bowl. Kerry,

1094
01:01:28,720 --> 01:01:30,280
Speaker 1: we knew what they knew it. I think the rest

1095
01:01:30,320 --> 01:01:33,840
Speaker 1: of the league know it. So all the stakes that

1096
01:01:33,960 --> 01:01:36,800
Speaker 1: were were built up on lines with that game, with

1097
01:01:38,520 --> 01:01:42,240
Speaker 1: the hatred, the pure hatred between both organizations, the arrival

1098
01:01:42,360 --> 01:01:46,520
Speaker 1: between me and Ray, what was said about me from McAllister,

1099
01:01:47,520 --> 01:01:49,640
Speaker 1: all of that played a part in that. And it

1100
01:01:49,800 --> 01:01:54,240
Speaker 1: was very personal. So if it was it meant that

1101
01:01:56,040 --> 01:01:59,480
Speaker 1: you lost your life that day, then God willing you

1102
01:01:59,560 --> 01:02:01,640
Speaker 1: know you of the great life and on on you go.

1103
01:02:02,200 --> 01:02:05,840
Speaker 1: It was okay, you know it was that. It was

1104
01:02:05,880 --> 01:02:07,320
Speaker 1: that type of the game. And I know most people

1105
01:02:07,400 --> 01:02:09,640
Speaker 1: don't understand if there was only a game, it's not

1106
01:02:10,080 --> 01:02:13,440
Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's it's your legacy is the things

1107
01:02:13,440 --> 01:02:17,400
Speaker 1: that you work hard for. It's the reasons why you

1108
01:02:17,800 --> 01:02:20,000
Speaker 1: you you get up and you ran at at five

1109
01:02:20,120 --> 01:02:22,520
Speaker 1: and six in the morning. It ran twice two times

1110
01:02:22,560 --> 01:02:26,320
Speaker 1: a day during the summers. And you work, you get

1111
01:02:26,400 --> 01:02:28,880
Speaker 1: to that point. You believe in it, you grind for it,

1112
01:02:28,960 --> 01:02:32,280
Speaker 1: you cried for it, and um, it's very much like

1113
01:02:32,400 --> 01:02:34,960
Speaker 1: any human being because you build you a best so

1114
01:02:35,080 --> 01:02:39,320
Speaker 1: much energy into that and when that when named, when

1115
01:02:39,320 --> 01:02:41,480
Speaker 1: we lost a rave, it just felt like someone died.

1116
01:02:41,960 --> 01:02:44,680
Speaker 1: That was the toughest loss I've ever had in my

1117
01:02:44,880 --> 01:02:47,760
Speaker 1: entire career because of what was at stake and knowing

1118
01:02:48,360 --> 01:02:51,200
Speaker 1: that it wasn't just another playoff game. It wasn't like, okay,

1119
01:02:51,400 --> 01:02:53,919
Speaker 1: it was there's next year. We had a great team,

1120
01:02:54,000 --> 01:02:57,880
Speaker 1: great players, and great momentum. We had the home field advantage,

1121
01:02:57,880 --> 01:03:00,920
Speaker 1: were the number one seed and comes Baltimore and it

1122
01:03:00,960 --> 01:03:03,960
Speaker 1: took that from us. So that that was that was

1123
01:03:04,000 --> 01:03:06,040
Speaker 1: a tough That was a tough pill the swallow. How

1124
01:03:06,080 --> 01:03:08,800
Speaker 1: long did it take to get over that loss? You

1125
01:03:08,960 --> 01:03:12,480
Speaker 1: never really get over it. I think you you you

1126
01:03:12,600 --> 01:03:18,520
Speaker 1: extract the blessings in it, you extract the lessons learned

1127
01:03:18,560 --> 01:03:24,120
Speaker 1: in it um you realize that, uh not everything is

1128
01:03:24,520 --> 01:03:28,880
Speaker 1: based on one game. I think you accepted a lot easier.

1129
01:03:28,960 --> 01:03:32,240
Speaker 1: It's easy and more powerful and palatable to to accept.

1130
01:03:33,240 --> 01:03:36,200
Speaker 1: But you never get over the lass. I mean, I'm

1131
01:03:36,200 --> 01:03:38,200
Speaker 1: not walking around saying, oh, I've got to get back

1132
01:03:38,240 --> 01:03:41,840
Speaker 1: in Baltimore, you know, but I look at it from

1133
01:03:41,920 --> 01:03:45,680
Speaker 1: a place now of Wow, that was a great experience.

1134
01:03:46,000 --> 01:03:48,920
Speaker 1: What that I learned from it. It hurts that that

1135
01:03:49,040 --> 01:03:52,600
Speaker 1: I lost, but I can now take that energy and

1136
01:03:52,680 --> 01:03:54,960
Speaker 1: to transform that to something else and used it towards

1137
01:03:55,000 --> 01:03:58,520
Speaker 1: something else. But you never get over something like that.

1138
01:03:58,960 --> 01:04:00,800
Speaker 1: You just learned from it, you grow from it, and

1139
01:04:00,880 --> 01:04:05,120
Speaker 1: you use that to your benefit versus just uh to

1140
01:04:05,480 --> 01:04:09,080
Speaker 1: to two. You're having the back of your mind to

1141
01:04:09,240 --> 01:04:11,160
Speaker 1: break you down, distract you from what you have to do.

1142
01:04:11,800 --> 01:04:17,640
Speaker 1: How hard was it to have your career end? In general? Yeah,

1143
01:04:17,640 --> 01:04:20,840
Speaker 1: I like to have your football career come to an end.

1144
01:04:20,920 --> 01:04:22,959
Speaker 1: You're putting all this effort when you're talking about getting

1145
01:04:23,040 --> 01:04:26,360
Speaker 1: up at five am, putting all this effort into being

1146
01:04:26,440 --> 01:04:28,840
Speaker 1: as good of a player as you possibly can. You're

1147
01:04:28,880 --> 01:04:33,080
Speaker 1: going full speed and then boom, it's suddenly over. That

1148
01:04:33,240 --> 01:04:35,800
Speaker 1: has to feel hit you almost like a void, right,

1149
01:04:35,920 --> 01:04:39,400
Speaker 1: because suddenly that purpose I guess, I don't know, I've

1150
01:04:39,400 --> 01:04:42,440
Speaker 1: never been there, but I can't you know it as

1151
01:04:42,480 --> 01:04:45,960
Speaker 1: hard as I can. Well, just imagine if tomorrow you

1152
01:04:46,080 --> 01:04:52,040
Speaker 1: woke up and your podcast is gone. You're not with Fox, Um,

1153
01:04:53,040 --> 01:04:55,240
Speaker 1: there's no other outlets that are one of they are

1154
01:04:55,320 --> 01:04:58,600
Speaker 1: willing to take you on. You're at a place of

1155
01:04:58,800 --> 01:05:03,000
Speaker 1: now like, Okay, your voice, your opinion really mattered, and

1156
01:05:03,720 --> 01:05:06,880
Speaker 1: people that followed you, that's all gone. Your purpose, that

1157
01:05:07,040 --> 01:05:10,280
Speaker 1: what you thought was the purpose is gone? Then what's next?

1158
01:05:11,840 --> 01:05:13,960
Speaker 1: And and granted I had a chance to go to

1159
01:05:14,040 --> 01:05:17,320
Speaker 1: other teams, but it wasn't the same. It just I

1160
01:05:17,400 --> 01:05:23,280
Speaker 1: saw the side of the business and it was it

1161
01:05:23,440 --> 01:05:25,439
Speaker 1: was I knew from my heart that I was over.

1162
01:05:26,280 --> 01:05:28,960
Speaker 1: So it was very difficult to say, wow, you know,

1163
01:05:29,920 --> 01:05:32,000
Speaker 1: where do I go from here? In fact, who am I?

1164
01:05:33,880 --> 01:05:37,360
Speaker 1: And divorced myself from being or or thinking and I

1165
01:05:37,520 --> 01:05:41,280
Speaker 1: was just a football player, but realizing that there was

1166
01:05:41,320 --> 01:05:44,160
Speaker 1: a bigger purpose in my life and that I had

1167
01:05:44,240 --> 01:05:48,280
Speaker 1: to use the platform that I created in football, but

1168
01:05:48,400 --> 01:05:51,760
Speaker 1: it was less to have into something else and just

1169
01:05:51,960 --> 01:05:54,560
Speaker 1: what that was I didn't know, but I had to

1170
01:05:55,800 --> 01:05:59,360
Speaker 1: um go down that path that journe to find out

1171
01:05:59,440 --> 01:06:01,000
Speaker 1: what it was and have you have the curage to

1172
01:06:01,040 --> 01:06:05,040
Speaker 1: do that. So it was very difficult but exciting at

1173
01:06:05,080 --> 01:06:08,480
Speaker 1: the same time. You know, it's scary but exciting. Something new,

1174
01:06:08,640 --> 01:06:13,520
Speaker 1: something fresh, and something in though. Fox Sports Radio has

1175
01:06:13,600 --> 01:06:16,480
Speaker 1: the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all

1176
01:06:16,560 --> 01:06:19,720
Speaker 1: of our shows at Fox Sports Radio dot com and

1177
01:06:19,960 --> 01:06:22,520
Speaker 1: within the I Heart Radio app search f s R

1178
01:06:22,640 --> 01:06:26,560
Speaker 1: to listen live. I got a just couple more questions

1179
01:06:26,600 --> 01:06:27,920
Speaker 1: for you, and I appreciate all the time. This is

1180
01:06:27,960 --> 01:06:31,320
Speaker 1: wins and losses, Clay Travis, Eddie George been fantastic with us.

1181
01:06:31,600 --> 01:06:33,280
Speaker 1: What's your Twitter handle, by the way, or where can

1182
01:06:33,320 --> 01:06:35,080
Speaker 1: people reach out to you? Because I guarantee you they're

1183
01:06:35,120 --> 01:06:41,200
Speaker 1: loving this, Eddie George, There you go, Eddie George, I'll

1184
01:06:41,200 --> 01:06:42,800
Speaker 1: obviously be tweeting it out. You can let him know

1185
01:06:43,160 --> 01:06:46,080
Speaker 1: how much you've enjoyed and thinking for the time on this. Uh,

1186
01:06:46,640 --> 01:06:51,080
Speaker 1: how does walking out onto a stage on Broadway compare?

1187
01:06:51,200 --> 01:06:54,800
Speaker 1: You talked about walking into the Ohio stadium when it

1188
01:06:54,920 --> 01:06:56,800
Speaker 1: was empty, which I agree with. If you're able to

1189
01:06:56,880 --> 01:06:59,760
Speaker 1: go into a football stadium empty, sometimes it's more powerful

1190
01:07:00,200 --> 01:07:02,400
Speaker 1: than it is when it's full. But what does it

1191
01:07:02,520 --> 01:07:05,280
Speaker 1: feel like to walk into a stadium and walk out

1192
01:07:05,360 --> 01:07:08,360
Speaker 1: into a theater. How is the similar feeling similar? How

1193
01:07:08,480 --> 01:07:12,560
Speaker 1: is it different? How would you characterize it? It's it's

1194
01:07:12,640 --> 01:07:16,080
Speaker 1: similar on all fronts because it's the energy of the audience.

1195
01:07:17,240 --> 01:07:19,919
Speaker 1: Um either way, they want to be entertained. They came

1196
01:07:20,000 --> 01:07:22,960
Speaker 1: to see a story unfold. It's much like the game

1197
01:07:23,040 --> 01:07:26,240
Speaker 1: has to unfold before you. Um. Theater is a bit

1198
01:07:26,320 --> 01:07:30,240
Speaker 1: more timidating because you're communicating with your mouth and your

1199
01:07:30,680 --> 01:07:35,200
Speaker 1: your voice and uh, and stage fright is very real

1200
01:07:35,600 --> 01:07:40,280
Speaker 1: if you it becomes a distraction. And you have your

1201
01:07:40,800 --> 01:07:43,680
Speaker 1: teammates which are the other actors, but you have to

1202
01:07:43,760 --> 01:07:46,560
Speaker 1: be at a certain place certain times, delivered with with

1203
01:07:47,640 --> 01:07:52,480
Speaker 1: with vulnerability and confidence and and realness and not just

1204
01:07:52,880 --> 01:07:56,600
Speaker 1: spout out words. So there, there's just so many different

1205
01:07:56,680 --> 01:07:59,720
Speaker 1: factors when you walk into a theater. And and that's

1206
01:07:59,760 --> 01:08:02,560
Speaker 1: the difful thing about life here that the stakes are high,

1207
01:08:02,720 --> 01:08:05,919
Speaker 1: just like the football game and the any football game.

1208
01:08:06,040 --> 01:08:11,080
Speaker 1: So UM, I don't see any any really, I don't

1209
01:08:11,080 --> 01:08:17,360
Speaker 1: see any um anything that where it's it's not different,

1210
01:08:17,560 --> 01:08:20,240
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. It's it really is similar

1211
01:08:20,320 --> 01:08:25,400
Speaker 1: on all um on all fronts. From the audience, to

1212
01:08:26,120 --> 01:08:30,920
Speaker 1: the energy of the crowd, Uh, to the lights. Um.

1213
01:08:31,160 --> 01:08:34,680
Speaker 1: You can get against age fright, and much like you

1214
01:08:34,720 --> 01:08:36,800
Speaker 1: can get it in a football field. You can freeze up,

1215
01:08:36,920 --> 01:08:40,760
Speaker 1: you can get um, you can get distracted by what's

1216
01:08:40,760 --> 01:08:45,360
Speaker 1: going on and and fold easily. So UM. But the

1217
01:08:45,479 --> 01:08:50,519
Speaker 1: theater is just so intimate and so precious and UM,

1218
01:08:51,520 --> 01:08:53,880
Speaker 1: it's a it's a given take with the audience once

1219
01:08:53,920 --> 01:08:56,400
Speaker 1: you really engage and you catch them within the story.

1220
01:08:57,080 --> 01:08:59,280
Speaker 1: So that that's That's what I was said. The similarities

1221
01:08:59,320 --> 01:09:02,320
Speaker 1: are what is it about Shakespeare that speaks to you?

1222
01:09:02,680 --> 01:09:08,400
Speaker 1: And when did it start speaking to you the first time? Shakespeare? Um,

1223
01:09:09,640 --> 01:09:14,879
Speaker 1: when I got into acting, I was just really emerged

1224
01:09:14,960 --> 01:09:19,080
Speaker 1: into storytelling and from all different artists, from different writers,

1225
01:09:19,120 --> 01:09:22,760
Speaker 1: play rights and so forth, and like anything else where,

1226
01:09:22,840 --> 01:09:25,720
Speaker 1: I find challenging. And Shakespeare, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm

1227
01:09:25,800 --> 01:09:29,040
Speaker 1: drawing to that. I'm I gravitate towards things. And I told,

1228
01:09:29,120 --> 01:09:31,680
Speaker 1: I'm told that I can't do or it's tough to do.

1229
01:09:31,840 --> 01:09:36,519
Speaker 1: A most actor shyly from that, and I went, I

1230
01:09:36,600 --> 01:09:41,040
Speaker 1: went towards that. And I remember going to early my

1231
01:09:41,160 --> 01:09:43,799
Speaker 1: early days. I think it was in two thousand seven,

1232
01:09:44,479 --> 01:09:48,440
Speaker 1: I went to Broadway and I wanted to see Shakespearean

1233
01:09:48,479 --> 01:09:53,720
Speaker 1: played my first experience play, and it was it was

1234
01:09:53,840 --> 01:09:59,720
Speaker 1: Hamlet and it was Jude Law and Broadway, and I'm

1235
01:09:59,720 --> 01:10:04,040
Speaker 1: gonna expecting just to go in there and just fall asleep. Immediately,

1236
01:10:04,200 --> 01:10:06,519
Speaker 1: I was tired as some wine. My wife and I

1237
01:10:06,720 --> 01:10:09,320
Speaker 1: my girlfriend of time. My wife was with me, and

1238
01:10:09,600 --> 01:10:12,320
Speaker 1: we're we're like, really not expecting much other than to

1239
01:10:12,520 --> 01:10:14,599
Speaker 1: have some nap time. But did you just say, hey,

1240
01:10:14,720 --> 01:10:18,320
Speaker 1: we just want to go see Hamling on Broadway? So um,

1241
01:10:19,080 --> 01:10:21,560
Speaker 1: I'm sitting in the audience and the life finally go

1242
01:10:21,720 --> 01:10:25,400
Speaker 1: down and getting comfortable, feeling good, thinking, okay, I'm just

1243
01:10:25,479 --> 01:10:29,320
Speaker 1: gonna watch the first actor too, and then then those all.

1244
01:10:29,400 --> 01:10:34,719
Speaker 1: But immediately I was transfixed into this environment that they created.

1245
01:10:34,800 --> 01:10:38,479
Speaker 1: The smoke comes out, t Law comes out, and immediately

1246
01:10:38,479 --> 01:10:42,559
Speaker 1: I don't understand what they're saying, but this the heightened language,

1247
01:10:42,680 --> 01:10:47,280
Speaker 1: the sense of urgency became clear to me what was happening.

1248
01:10:47,320 --> 01:10:49,920
Speaker 1: So I was able to follow along quickly until my

1249
01:10:50,040 --> 01:10:51,760
Speaker 1: ear was able to catch up to the words and

1250
01:10:51,880 --> 01:10:56,000
Speaker 1: so forth, and just how athletic he was and how

1251
01:10:56,200 --> 01:11:00,600
Speaker 1: he um used the tech the techniques of of of

1252
01:11:00,800 --> 01:11:07,920
Speaker 1: communication of turning that poetry into conversation, and I felt

1253
01:11:08,080 --> 01:11:10,640
Speaker 1: every beat that he was going through in his soliloquies

1254
01:11:10,680 --> 01:11:13,520
Speaker 1: and so forth. I was like, God, and this is fascinating.

1255
01:11:14,320 --> 01:11:15,880
Speaker 1: And at the end of the show, I'm doing a

1256
01:11:15,920 --> 01:11:18,400
Speaker 1: standing ovation. I told my wife I'm gonna do that,

1257
01:11:18,960 --> 01:11:21,240
Speaker 1: and she was like, please, you can barely speak the

1258
01:11:21,320 --> 01:11:28,719
Speaker 1: English language. So I made it a goal of mine

1259
01:11:28,880 --> 01:11:31,600
Speaker 1: to perform in Shakespeare. And I still want to do

1260
01:11:31,720 --> 01:11:34,120
Speaker 1: some more Shakespeare. When it comes down to a rich

1261
01:11:34,320 --> 01:11:36,439
Speaker 1: the third I would love to do one day and

1262
01:11:37,920 --> 01:11:41,000
Speaker 1: to go to my jobs for that. So, uh, that's what,

1263
01:11:41,160 --> 01:11:43,400
Speaker 1: That's what. That's why I gravitated toward Shakespeare because it's

1264
01:11:43,439 --> 01:11:46,920
Speaker 1: tough to do, but it's so once you really understand

1265
01:11:47,280 --> 01:11:50,760
Speaker 1: the language and you really delve into the story and

1266
01:11:50,960 --> 01:11:55,200
Speaker 1: it's so beautifully written. You follow the amic pentameter, the

1267
01:11:55,360 --> 01:11:59,200
Speaker 1: rhythm of it, and you express it in a real, honest,

1268
01:11:59,240 --> 01:12:03,360
Speaker 1: truthful way, Uh, to the point where people are engaged.

1269
01:12:03,840 --> 01:12:06,200
Speaker 1: That's there's nothing better, not no better feeling than that.

1270
01:12:07,280 --> 01:12:09,839
Speaker 1: Be sure to catch live editions about Kicked the coverage

1271
01:12:09,880 --> 01:12:12,760
Speaker 1: with Clay Travis week days at six am Eastern three

1272
01:12:12,800 --> 01:12:16,439
Speaker 1: am Pacific. Speaking of no better feeling. You started off

1273
01:12:16,479 --> 01:12:18,439
Speaker 1: talking with me and this is Eddie George. I'm Clay

1274
01:12:18,479 --> 01:12:21,360
Speaker 1: Travis Wins and Losses. Talking about the fact that you

1275
01:12:21,439 --> 01:12:24,080
Speaker 1: didn't really have a strong male role model in your

1276
01:12:24,120 --> 01:12:26,560
Speaker 1: house when you were growing up. You also said you

1277
01:12:26,640 --> 01:12:28,720
Speaker 1: have two sons. I've met those sons used to bring

1278
01:12:28,800 --> 01:12:30,920
Speaker 1: him out to Fox a decent amount. They've grown up

1279
01:12:30,960 --> 01:12:33,080
Speaker 1: a lot. It's amazing how much kids change in five

1280
01:12:33,200 --> 01:12:36,760
Speaker 1: or six years. What did it feel like for your

1281
01:12:36,880 --> 01:12:41,160
Speaker 1: son to graduate from Vanderbilt University and for you to

1282
01:12:41,360 --> 01:12:44,240
Speaker 1: be there for him, maybe in a way that when

1283
01:12:44,320 --> 01:12:47,200
Speaker 1: you were growing up you didn't have that same uh,

1284
01:12:47,400 --> 01:12:51,000
Speaker 1: that same experience. How gratifying was it? What did that

1285
01:12:51,160 --> 01:12:57,040
Speaker 1: feel like? It felt amazing man, um too, to my

1286
01:12:57,200 --> 01:13:01,880
Speaker 1: son walk across the stage and give it to create Vanderbilt, uh,

1287
01:13:02,439 --> 01:13:05,040
Speaker 1: and to see him across the street stage and in

1288
01:13:05,240 --> 01:13:10,760
Speaker 1: high school. My father unfortunately wasn't there um for either

1289
01:13:10,840 --> 01:13:12,320
Speaker 1: one of mine. And I don't hold that as a

1290
01:13:12,520 --> 01:13:14,840
Speaker 1: grudge against him. I know that he had his struggles

1291
01:13:15,320 --> 01:13:19,080
Speaker 1: in his life, um with drug abuse, and he's been

1292
01:13:19,120 --> 01:13:21,160
Speaker 1: through a lot in his life. There's no excuse for that,

1293
01:13:21,479 --> 01:13:26,640
Speaker 1: but um, he uh, he just wasn't there and I

1294
01:13:26,720 --> 01:13:28,560
Speaker 1: wanted him to be there. So it was important for

1295
01:13:28,640 --> 01:13:31,679
Speaker 1: me to be there and to see and to support

1296
01:13:31,760 --> 01:13:34,680
Speaker 1: my son in that because you go to Vanderbilt and

1297
01:13:34,800 --> 01:13:39,120
Speaker 1: to get any type of degree his success, that is

1298
01:13:39,160 --> 01:13:41,840
Speaker 1: one of the top schools in the country. And to

1299
01:13:41,960 --> 01:13:44,880
Speaker 1: come from the math of high school and to get

1300
01:13:44,880 --> 01:13:49,720
Speaker 1: a scholarship um, to to play football there, uh, and

1301
01:13:49,960 --> 01:13:52,600
Speaker 1: to to get his degree. I was one of the

1302
01:13:52,680 --> 01:13:54,840
Speaker 1: proudest moments of my life to say, man, you know,

1303
01:13:55,640 --> 01:13:58,240
Speaker 1: I'm really proud this dude. He really did a great

1304
01:13:58,320 --> 01:14:00,680
Speaker 1: thing and his life. Although he need not see it

1305
01:14:00,840 --> 01:14:05,240
Speaker 1: now per se, but later on down the line, I'm

1306
01:14:05,240 --> 01:14:08,120
Speaker 1: gonna realize that going to Vanderbilt was probably one of

1307
01:14:08,120 --> 01:14:12,360
Speaker 1: the greatest decisions he could ever make. Eddie George awesome dude.

1308
01:14:12,439 --> 01:14:16,400
Speaker 1: Follow him on Twitter at Eddie George. Not a bad

1309
01:14:16,520 --> 01:14:18,280
Speaker 1: guy for a buck eye. I look forward by the

1310
01:14:18,320 --> 01:14:20,519
Speaker 1: way to seeing you. I still haven't seen you in theater.

1311
01:14:20,560 --> 01:14:22,679
Speaker 1: I want to come by sometime and uh and see

1312
01:14:22,720 --> 01:14:26,639
Speaker 1: your perform all right, but I appreciate it. Man, that's

1313
01:14:26,760 --> 01:14:29,200
Speaker 1: Eddie George. I'm Clay Travis. This has been wins and losses.

1314
01:14:29,520 --> 01:14:31,840
Speaker 1: Thanks for hanging with us. Be back next week. Make

1315
01:14:31,880 --> 01:14:34,800
Speaker 1: sure you'll listen to the catalog. I'm Clay Travis once

1316
01:14:34,840 --> 01:14:36,000
Speaker 1: more Wins and Losses