WEBVTT - Player Storytelling: Langston Moore 0:00:03.120 --> 0:00:07.600 Welcome to the NFL Legends Podcast, an NFL podcast for 0:00:07.760 --> 0:00:13.000 the players, by the players. Here is your host, fourteen 0:00:13.080 --> 0:00:23.160 year NFL veteran and Hall of Famer Anius Williams. Hello 0:00:23.200 --> 0:00:26.560 and welcome to the NFL Legends Podcast. I'm a Nias Williams. 0:00:27.160 --> 0:00:32.000 Our guest today's NFL Legend defensive tackle Langston Mueller, who 0:00:32.080 --> 0:00:35.680 is the host of his own podcast, everybody listening in 0:00:36.240 --> 0:00:39.280 It's called but in Guts. I'm gonna say it again, 0:00:39.960 --> 0:00:43.839 but in Guts, not but in Nuts, but in Guts, 0:00:45.120 --> 0:00:49.199 which focuses on the big men of the NFL and 0:00:49.440 --> 0:00:55.520 specific challenges they face as legends. Welcome Langston Man. It's 0:00:55.600 --> 0:00:58.000 it's great to be here, Anias, and it's great to 0:00:58.120 --> 0:01:00.560 talk button gut. I mean it's a it's is a great, 0:01:00.600 --> 0:01:03.840 great deal and uh it's gonna be fun. Man. You 0:01:03.880 --> 0:01:07.320 have a you have a smile, You have a gracious smile. 0:01:07.480 --> 0:01:09.720 You also have the voice. I know you're doing a 0:01:09.760 --> 0:01:15.600 podcast in how much television have you done? Well? My 0:01:15.680 --> 0:01:18.240 daddy was in radio, and uh, you know, I kind 0:01:18.240 --> 0:01:20.760 of got the gift of having a face for radio, 0:01:20.840 --> 0:01:22.520 as folks like to say a lot of times, so 0:01:23.280 --> 0:01:26.039 I get some of that guy given voice talent from him, 0:01:26.240 --> 0:01:28.520 and uh, I guess the rest will just attribute to 0:01:28.560 --> 0:01:31.679 my sweet mother. So um, you know, having the the 0:01:31.680 --> 0:01:34.120 ability to grow up around a teacher and and somebody 0:01:34.280 --> 0:01:36.559 was in broadcast. It kind of helped me get onto 0:01:36.560 --> 0:01:38.600 this path of being a podcaster and trying to be 0:01:38.640 --> 0:01:41.959 creative and come up with these ideas. I want to start, well, 0:01:42.000 --> 0:01:46.559 why you started a podcast specifically for the big guys. Yeah, 0:01:46.560 --> 0:01:49.360 one of the big things is, you know, um, you 0:01:49.400 --> 0:01:51.840 can't have a football game without lineman. You always hear about, 0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:54.760 you know, winning in the trenches with offense and defensive linement, 0:01:54.800 --> 0:01:56.960 but a lot of times the star guys that guys 0:01:56.960 --> 0:01:59.000 who get to take their helmet off for for the 0:01:59.040 --> 0:02:01.880 touchdowns are for the other things are usually the skinny 0:02:01.920 --> 0:02:05.200 guys and so um, for me, the biggest thing was 0:02:05.240 --> 0:02:06.960 just talking about how all of this is kind of 0:02:07.000 --> 0:02:09.560 tied in being a football guy, because, um, you know, 0:02:09.600 --> 0:02:11.880 I'm sure everybody has a story if you've made it 0:02:11.919 --> 0:02:15.320 to elite level football, playing in college or anything like that, 0:02:15.880 --> 0:02:17.840 but for the most of us, we've been big our 0:02:17.960 --> 0:02:20.679 entire life. So you know, trying to figure out and 0:02:20.960 --> 0:02:23.520 talk about that that Moniker of being a big guy 0:02:23.560 --> 0:02:26.000 and what that meant like somebody. For myself, I was 0:02:26.000 --> 0:02:28.760 like a hundred fifty pounds in the third grade, and 0:02:28.880 --> 0:02:31.720 as long as we had that backdrop of football, you 0:02:31.720 --> 0:02:34.440 know you're good, you're not you're not an obest kid, 0:02:34.600 --> 0:02:37.320 or you know you're doing something positive. But without football, 0:02:37.440 --> 0:02:39.160 somebody would look at you and probably say what they 0:02:39.160 --> 0:02:41.000 said to my mother, the doctor said that they're like, 0:02:41.440 --> 0:02:43.840 we gotta do something about this. So I was still 0:02:43.840 --> 0:02:45.680 trying to I had those baseball dreams at that time. 0:02:45.720 --> 0:02:47.760 But my mom, God bless her, she took me to 0:02:47.800 --> 0:02:49.280 go get ice cream after the doctor said, man, we 0:02:49.320 --> 0:02:51.000 gotta get this boy to lose some weight. In the 0:02:51.280 --> 0:02:53.920 third grade win a hundred fifty pounds. So everybody we 0:02:54.000 --> 0:02:55.519 kind of talked to in this series are any of 0:02:55.600 --> 0:02:57.639 the guys we you've ever been in the locker room with. 0:02:57.720 --> 0:03:01.160 They kind of had similar stories about being taller than everybody, 0:03:01.160 --> 0:03:04.680 are bigger than everybody, but beyond all that, being extremely 0:03:04.680 --> 0:03:07.320 talented athletically and trying to figure out how they fit 0:03:07.360 --> 0:03:09.880 into the world. So you know, for a lot of guys, 0:03:10.240 --> 0:03:12.760 they take that medium, they take their bodies and they 0:03:12.800 --> 0:03:15.280 go into uh playing football, and it takes them a 0:03:15.320 --> 0:03:17.600 really far place. And what we also wanted to cover 0:03:17.639 --> 0:03:20.920 in our Button Got series was, uh, the challenges for 0:03:20.960 --> 0:03:23.880 guys afterwards, you know, losing the week because there's so 0:03:23.960 --> 0:03:28.000 much food and reward and different things tied in with football. Um, 0:03:28.040 --> 0:03:30.360 you know when it needs Winns would pick off. You know, 0:03:30.520 --> 0:03:32.840 all these guys in the NFL. You know, it doesn't 0:03:32.840 --> 0:03:35.360 matter if he had five interceptions. That quarterback who threw 0:03:35.400 --> 0:03:37.480 those five interceptions, he would get a bag of burgers 0:03:37.560 --> 0:03:40.440 or a pizza or something, and food and rewards and 0:03:40.600 --> 0:03:42.360 all these different things were always tied in, and we 0:03:42.400 --> 0:03:43.920 wanted to kind of highlight a lot of that and 0:03:43.960 --> 0:03:46.640 get into kind of some of the psychology of those things. 0:03:46.960 --> 0:03:50.320 Like you brought up something that I hadn't anticipated talking about, 0:03:50.560 --> 0:03:54.720 and it's the psychological dynamics are being big when it 0:03:54.720 --> 0:03:57.600 comes down to the game of football. You get, you 0:03:57.680 --> 0:04:00.520 get accolades for it. Just as you said it. How 0:04:00.560 --> 0:04:04.720 would you share with those who are bigger and societists 0:04:04.720 --> 0:04:08.680 saying something is wrong if you're bigger, right, particularly with 0:04:08.800 --> 0:04:12.480 ladies and with men, the big guys that played the 0:04:13.080 --> 0:04:15.960 great game in the National Football League, it's an honor 0:04:16.080 --> 0:04:20.400 to be big. What's the psychological challenges you could speak 0:04:20.440 --> 0:04:25.360 to for those that don't play football and a big well, 0:04:25.400 --> 0:04:27.719 a lot of it is confident, um. You know, especially 0:04:27.720 --> 0:04:29.520 in the world we live in now, it is very visceral. 0:04:29.680 --> 0:04:33.320 Everybody sees the highlights and we call that social media Instagram. 0:04:33.360 --> 0:04:35.839 Nobody ever puts their low lights on there um. And 0:04:35.880 --> 0:04:37.839 so a lot of times when you see that that 0:04:37.920 --> 0:04:41.680 guy who is you know, uh six five, you know, 0:04:41.839 --> 0:04:44.600 two eight pounds and he has the timbercent body fat 0:04:44.680 --> 0:04:46.240 and you're like, man, I played in the NFL. I 0:04:46.240 --> 0:04:48.800 think maybe Andre Wadsworth was maybe the only due to 0:04:48.839 --> 0:04:50.680 ever was chisel like that, and that was just kind 0:04:50.680 --> 0:04:52.839 of God given you didn't you know you you you 0:04:52.920 --> 0:04:54.880 really get to you don't get to see those type 0:04:54.880 --> 0:04:56.720 of things. So for a lot of folks, if if 0:04:56.720 --> 0:04:59.880 they're not the typical guy on the chart and the 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:01.760 doctors office stage, they start to look at it. Now, 0:05:01.800 --> 0:05:04.120 there is health consequences for a lot of those things. 0:05:04.160 --> 0:05:07.040 And I grew up in the South and so with that, um, 0:05:07.080 --> 0:05:08.479 that was one of the things we also want to 0:05:08.480 --> 0:05:11.240 touch on because there is a lot of obesity, diabetes, 0:05:11.600 --> 0:05:13.839 a lot of these things that are weight related that 0:05:13.920 --> 0:05:16.719 a lot of folks, especially football guys, have to deal 0:05:16.760 --> 0:05:18.640 with and we're not immune to those just because we 0:05:18.720 --> 0:05:21.320 play in the NFL. A lot of guys we interviewed, 0:05:21.400 --> 0:05:23.480 like like Kendall Simmons for example, was a guy who 0:05:23.520 --> 0:05:26.280 played for Pittsburgh for many years and Kendall didn't find 0:05:26.279 --> 0:05:28.479 out he was a diabetic till he was in the NFL. 0:05:28.760 --> 0:05:31.080 And you talk about you know, performance and different things 0:05:31.080 --> 0:05:33.480 like that. Um, it's all the things we touch on 0:05:33.560 --> 0:05:36.240 within that. But for a lot of folks, especially women included, 0:05:36.600 --> 0:05:39.240 you know, it's a big deal body image. UM, A 0:05:39.279 --> 0:05:41.359 lot of guys we interviewed myself as well, we have 0:05:41.520 --> 0:05:44.400 daughters and so being bigger guys, you know, we we 0:05:44.480 --> 0:05:46.480 still feed and you kind of see I got a 0:05:46.480 --> 0:05:50.000 double chuck, all right, I still so how do we 0:05:50.120 --> 0:05:53.120 how do we try to change that dynamic for our children. 0:05:53.360 --> 0:05:55.000 We we kind of touched on all of that within 0:05:55.040 --> 0:05:56.919 the theories and it has just been really interesting to 0:05:56.960 --> 0:05:59.960 dive into that that psychology. It's been interesting seeing ledger 0:06:00.080 --> 0:06:02.160 Is after they left the game. One of my teammates 0:06:02.200 --> 0:06:07.200 who's done broadcasting at the collegiate level Ed Cunningham and 0:06:07.440 --> 0:06:09.760 Ed probably was over three hundred pounds when I played 0:06:09.760 --> 0:06:12.560 with the man. When I saw him later a few 0:06:12.600 --> 0:06:14.320 years later and he was out of the game as 0:06:14.320 --> 0:06:18.039 a legend, Ed looked like he could play strong safety. 0:06:18.800 --> 0:06:21.680 So so that dynamics. I just want to stick with 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:25.400 this weight, just maybe a little longer because it's still 0:06:25.440 --> 0:06:28.919 it's such a challenge, right, and we're gonna talk about it. 0:06:29.360 --> 0:06:31.599 So how do you know when you help it? Like 0:06:32.160 --> 0:06:36.320 Ed gets down? He's small, But how does a bigger 0:06:36.360 --> 0:06:40.520 person know when their health Then I guess, well, and 0:06:40.560 --> 0:06:42.560 that's the that's another thing we kind of find out 0:06:42.600 --> 0:06:44.400 because for you with think going into it, it it would 0:06:44.400 --> 0:06:46.400 be a number on the scale for a lot of guys, 0:06:46.520 --> 0:06:48.600 and that does have something tied into it. We're talking 0:06:48.640 --> 0:06:51.240 about weight goals and different things, but for a lot 0:06:51.279 --> 0:06:54.520 of guys, this functionality. Uh, some of these guys played 0:06:54.520 --> 0:06:56.760 at the higher end of three hundred, closer to three 0:06:56.760 --> 0:06:58.560 semi fives. So he put some paths on them. These 0:06:58.640 --> 0:07:01.000 dudes at the pregame. It might be four d pounds 0:07:01.040 --> 0:07:03.080 on any given Sunday, but still out there running on 0:07:03.120 --> 0:07:05.640 their toes like their deers and all those different things. 0:07:05.640 --> 0:07:09.080 So they gotta figure out what's their ideal way for them? 0:07:09.160 --> 0:07:11.360 They're they're gonna be. They've been off the charts their 0:07:11.480 --> 0:07:14.240 entire life, So trying to figure out maybe being under 0:07:14.280 --> 0:07:17.240 three D is not realistic. But having my body fat right, 0:07:17.600 --> 0:07:20.200 having my blood pressure right, having my A one C 0:07:20.440 --> 0:07:23.040 numbers if I'm diabetic, all those different things. So that 0:07:23.120 --> 0:07:25.040 was the other interesting thing talking to guys. And if 0:07:25.080 --> 0:07:28.600 we know anything about football, dudes, is we all know stats, 0:07:28.640 --> 0:07:32.080 we all watch numbers, we all pay attention to something 0:07:32.400 --> 0:07:34.880 that's stat related, and there's no difference when we're talking 0:07:34.920 --> 0:07:38.119 about our bodies. Talking about self scouting, Uh, if I'm 0:07:38.160 --> 0:07:40.840 if I'm a zone corner, I know better than to 0:07:40.880 --> 0:07:42.760 try to lock somebody up man the man who can 0:07:42.800 --> 0:07:44.760 beat me. But it's the same way with your own self. 0:07:45.000 --> 0:07:47.040 You gotta skeelf scout and know your own self. As 0:07:47.040 --> 0:07:48.960 far as when it comes to to your diet and 0:07:49.040 --> 0:07:51.160 changing that diet, it sweets as your deal. You gotta 0:07:51.160 --> 0:07:53.640 figure out some way to get that sweet tooth off you. 0:07:53.720 --> 0:07:56.640 If it's fried foods, you gotta get the air frier, 0:07:56.720 --> 0:07:58.600 you gotta you gotta do something. So I think the 0:07:58.600 --> 0:08:00.440 biggest thing for a lot of guys that having kind 0:08:00.440 --> 0:08:02.440 of that soberer moment. And we all had this as 0:08:02.480 --> 0:08:04.760 a football player, like when we were totally going to 0:08:04.880 --> 0:08:08.000 commit and say I'm gonna go all the way with football, 0:08:08.040 --> 0:08:10.160 whether it be in college, high school, and once you 0:08:10.280 --> 0:08:12.400 made that commitment, you didn't deviate. And I think it's 0:08:12.440 --> 0:08:14.400 the same way when it comes to really getting serious 0:08:14.440 --> 0:08:17.119 about not just going after your weight, but the entire 0:08:17.200 --> 0:08:19.400 holistic type of deal, because there is a lot of 0:08:19.400 --> 0:08:22.200 mental stuff tied into this. And um, you know, for 0:08:22.320 --> 0:08:25.400 a lot of guys who were super successful playing football, 0:08:25.680 --> 0:08:28.360 they were bigger. Um of course you were making money, 0:08:28.360 --> 0:08:31.280 you have fame and all of those things. But without football, 0:08:31.600 --> 0:08:33.440 people just kind of look at you like a big dude. 0:08:33.480 --> 0:08:35.160 And so if you don't have a lot of your 0:08:35.160 --> 0:08:36.960 confidence starts to win with a lot of guys, and 0:08:37.000 --> 0:08:39.640 we see it affect in other things family life, and 0:08:39.679 --> 0:08:41.439 so that's the other thing we try to tackle within 0:08:41.480 --> 0:08:45.080 this deal is guys getting more confidence, guys talking about 0:08:45.360 --> 0:08:48.400 having just control over things and and this is something 0:08:48.440 --> 0:08:51.560 that ultimately we all as high achievers, we like to 0:08:51.600 --> 0:08:53.920 have a sense of control. And that's and that's the 0:08:53.920 --> 0:08:55.800 thing I think a lot of guys are are figuring 0:08:55.800 --> 0:08:58.120 out through this whole series and and understanding how they 0:08:58.240 --> 0:09:00.680 really have control over their weight and their the image. 0:09:01.080 --> 0:09:05.079 When did you get the mental shift after becoming a 0:09:05.200 --> 0:09:08.160 legend when you were at the eating you were eating, 0:09:08.320 --> 0:09:11.680 and when did you start thinking, Okay, I'm no longer 0:09:11.720 --> 0:09:15.760 playing and I have to be mindful when I now eat. 0:09:15.880 --> 0:09:19.600 What was that conscious interrupt I just I know this 0:09:19.640 --> 0:09:22.640 is gonna help so many people, Langston. I just have 0:09:22.720 --> 0:09:27.240 a passion. And as this podcast and started to hear 0:09:27.960 --> 0:09:31.240 how you've the challenges and the guys you've talked with, 0:09:31.720 --> 0:09:34.720 how that shift has taken place. Well, for me, it's 0:09:34.840 --> 0:09:36.920 um a couple of things for me, And this has 0:09:36.960 --> 0:09:39.440 been a couple of kind of uh salient moments in 0:09:39.480 --> 0:09:42.080 my life. Where my father passed away earlier on. He 0:09:42.160 --> 0:09:45.040 was a bigger guy. Uh he played some football a 0:09:45.040 --> 0:09:46.920 little bit, but you know, high school hero of that 0:09:47.000 --> 0:09:50.400 type of stuff. But afterwards, I've always known my my 0:09:50.440 --> 0:09:53.000 old man to be a bigger guy. But he passed 0:09:53.000 --> 0:09:55.480 away earlier on in my college career because of congested 0:09:55.559 --> 0:09:59.160 heart failure. UM, a lot of that with my my cardropathy, 0:09:59.200 --> 0:10:00.840 a lot of the things that going on with COVID, 0:10:00.880 --> 0:10:03.040 some of the things that's left over. So for him, 0:10:03.120 --> 0:10:05.280 he was a fit guy, was always working out. Work 0:10:05.360 --> 0:10:08.400 was never a thing that that hurt him or he 0:10:08.480 --> 0:10:11.000 was afraid of. But I saw this, you know guy 0:10:11.040 --> 0:10:12.920 in essence, you know, his heart just gave out on 0:10:13.000 --> 0:10:15.199 him because of him being a bigger dude and never 0:10:15.400 --> 0:10:17.880 really ultimately getting that weight down. The other thing that 0:10:18.040 --> 0:10:20.559 was really sobering for me with him was there was 0:10:20.600 --> 0:10:22.800 opportunities for us to, you know, try to do some 0:10:22.840 --> 0:10:26.360 different things with maybe a heart transplant, different things like that. 0:10:26.400 --> 0:10:28.920 But because my dad was over three hundred pounds, they're 0:10:28.920 --> 0:10:31.559 not even gonna put you on the transplants until you're 0:10:31.559 --> 0:10:35.320 two seventy five. So if your heart is already at capacity, 0:10:35.360 --> 0:10:37.320 you can fall dead at any moment. So it's kind 0:10:37.320 --> 0:10:39.360 of like the catch twenty two. The thing the workout 0:10:39.480 --> 0:10:41.800 or the are the stuff that might save you is 0:10:41.840 --> 0:10:43.440 the thing that might actually kill you. But that didn't 0:10:43.440 --> 0:10:46.360 stop my dad from eating not as healthy as he 0:10:46.400 --> 0:10:48.240 could have been in that moment, the same way with 0:10:48.240 --> 0:10:50.760 my mom. But also just to tie it into football, 0:10:51.120 --> 0:10:54.040 I mean, uh, Norman Ham is a guy who grew 0:10:54.120 --> 0:10:56.079 up played in the Saints. He passed away as a 0:10:56.120 --> 0:10:59.319 guy I used to pay attention to UM all the time, 0:10:59.400 --> 0:11:02.280 Chester him because Blackling a lot of these different guys 0:11:02.559 --> 0:11:06.160 who are tied into South Carolina, UM, guys who were 0:11:06.679 --> 0:11:09.160 my heroes, even some of the guys we try to interview, 0:11:09.200 --> 0:11:11.880 guys I played against in college, Jared Lorenzen, who is 0:11:11.920 --> 0:11:15.120 the hefty lefty who again had his own battles of 0:11:15.559 --> 0:11:19.680 being a bigger quarterback but never really being able to 0:11:19.720 --> 0:11:21.680 lose the weight to save himself in essence. And so 0:11:21.920 --> 0:11:24.079 it's really sobering to hear those things, to see those things, 0:11:24.160 --> 0:11:26.480 but to also, you know, look around in my my 0:11:26.480 --> 0:11:29.360 my other brothers and and folks in the NFL and 0:11:29.400 --> 0:11:32.760 seeing their weight lost journey already and being inspired by that. 0:11:32.880 --> 0:11:35.280 So that's the same thing, the same thing that inspired 0:11:35.320 --> 0:11:36.480 me to want to get out there and try to 0:11:36.480 --> 0:11:38.920 compete and play football. Those are some of the things 0:11:38.920 --> 0:11:40.559 that I keep in my mind when it talks about 0:11:40.600 --> 0:11:42.360 you know, do I reach for those cookies at night? 0:11:42.400 --> 0:11:44.280 Are are any of those things that I try to 0:11:44.320 --> 0:11:46.600 make uh Am, I am I presented with a choice 0:11:46.600 --> 0:11:48.600 to make a bad choice or a good choice. And 0:11:48.640 --> 0:11:50.800 that's the thing. We've all made great choices to get 0:11:50.840 --> 0:11:54.560 to play football. To be legends, and those those skill 0:11:54.600 --> 0:11:57.000 sets don't the minutes, we just kind of forget that 0:11:57.080 --> 0:12:02.040 superpower of choice and and skill afterwards, because we are successful, 0:12:02.080 --> 0:12:04.079 we have money. Who's gonna tell us no? And so 0:12:04.160 --> 0:12:06.640 that's why you know, your family life is important, you know, 0:12:06.720 --> 0:12:09.240 making sure your spouses and your kids all having all 0:12:09.280 --> 0:12:12.360 those things hold you accountable as if all helps and 0:12:12.360 --> 0:12:14.800 and every little bit accounts for all of us. Because again, 0:12:15.120 --> 0:12:17.079 for a lot of big guys, it could be you know, 0:12:17.120 --> 0:12:19.240 if somebody dropped that of a heart attack at forty two, 0:12:19.240 --> 0:12:21.880 they're not gonna say, oh, man, he he died. Uh, 0:12:21.960 --> 0:12:23.520 you know, he died early. They're gonna look and say, no, 0:12:23.640 --> 0:12:25.000 he was a big dude, and he was a ticking 0:12:25.000 --> 0:12:27.120 time ball. So and that's the thing. We got to 0:12:27.160 --> 0:12:30.200 be responsible for what ultimately we put into our bodies 0:12:32.440 --> 0:12:35.199 is on the way. Any suggestions as relates to New 0:12:35.280 --> 0:12:38.400 Year's resolutions for guys who wants to make a difference 0:12:38.440 --> 0:12:41.280 with their weight right today, Man, you don't have to 0:12:41.400 --> 0:12:43.160 you don't have to wait. And that's that's the other 0:12:43.200 --> 0:12:45.360 thing we get. We don't even have to look at 0:12:45.360 --> 0:12:47.280 a counter or sometimes we can just close our eyes 0:12:47.280 --> 0:12:50.920 and feel the man, it feels winter time, so either 0:12:51.000 --> 0:12:53.120 I'm in the playoffs or I'm getting ready for the 0:12:53.160 --> 0:12:56.040 next season or springtime, so I gotta be in priming 0:12:56.080 --> 0:12:58.680 myself up for this type of deal. We all know, 0:12:58.880 --> 0:13:01.640 we kind of all have that saying kind of calendar, 0:13:01.720 --> 0:13:04.040 a clock in our brain and we never really lose that. 0:13:04.440 --> 0:13:05.920 So not to say that we need to go back 0:13:05.960 --> 0:13:08.640 to training camp mode or different things, but a lot 0:13:08.760 --> 0:13:11.400 of it is just being aware, uh, starting off with 0:13:11.520 --> 0:13:13.960 what you put into your body. We're big guys. We've 0:13:14.000 --> 0:13:17.120 been consumers our whole life. You know, everything we've ever 0:13:17.160 --> 0:13:19.240 done has been extra. The coach there, you're gonna run 0:13:19.280 --> 0:13:22.640 eight half gassers, somebody gonna run four and more after that. 0:13:22.840 --> 0:13:24.800 And so the same thing happens when we go eat, 0:13:25.160 --> 0:13:27.240 or when it came to relationships, or when it came 0:13:27.240 --> 0:13:29.079 to drinking and all these different so we know when 0:13:29.080 --> 0:13:31.080 it goes down that road. And this is where food 0:13:31.080 --> 0:13:34.560 gets really I like this word insidious. It gets really 0:13:34.679 --> 0:13:37.360 insidious for a lot of the big guys because you know, 0:13:37.440 --> 0:13:40.160 we can close our eyes and and kill thirty wings 0:13:40.200 --> 0:13:43.199 sometimes or you know, all these different things, so you're 0:13:43.240 --> 0:13:44.880 not as a coach used to tell me you're not 0:13:44.920 --> 0:13:47.480 getting all that weight eating Brussels sprouts and rock you 0:13:47.600 --> 0:13:49.719 out there eating the bad stuff. So first thing is 0:13:49.800 --> 0:13:52.360 self scouting, shaking in on yourself, seeing what you're doing, 0:13:52.400 --> 0:13:54.960 what your habits are. A lot of times it's film study. 0:13:55.000 --> 0:13:57.080 We go through the day on on autopilot a lot 0:13:57.160 --> 0:13:59.720 of times and don't realize, Um, you know I start 0:13:59.800 --> 0:14:02.000 my in and off with a coffee and a doughnut. Well, 0:14:02.040 --> 0:14:04.240 maybe you just eliminate some of those things can help 0:14:04.480 --> 0:14:07.640 going to sleep, especially with a lot of hormonal different things. 0:14:07.640 --> 0:14:09.840 For a lot of us guys, we get cranky, and 0:14:09.960 --> 0:14:11.960 you know you talk about brain injuries. Sleep is some 0:14:12.000 --> 0:14:14.320 of the best stuff that we can do for ourselves 0:14:14.320 --> 0:14:17.040 and having consistent sleep. So I think if guys start 0:14:17.120 --> 0:14:20.400 doing that, watching what they kind of intake, give yourself, 0:14:20.440 --> 0:14:22.480 maybe a week or two. The holiday times might be 0:14:22.520 --> 0:14:25.440 a little you know, exacerbated, what your menu might be 0:14:25.520 --> 0:14:27.800 like because you know mom is bringing the stuff in, 0:14:27.880 --> 0:14:29.800 or you're gonna Friday at Turkey or whatever it is 0:14:29.800 --> 0:14:32.920 you're gonna do. But ultimately putting up game plan together, 0:14:32.920 --> 0:14:36.480 because that's something we all understand, game planning, having a plan, 0:14:36.760 --> 0:14:39.240 but also having the ability to adapt and change those 0:14:39.280 --> 0:14:41.840 plans because you know the Neils. I played for the 0:14:41.880 --> 0:14:43.960 Cardinals too, man like, we had the best games in 0:14:44.000 --> 0:14:46.360 the world. Sometimes and get punched in the mouth, You're like, 0:14:47.280 --> 0:14:50.400 what different, I'm not gonna be vegan this one. I 0:14:50.520 --> 0:14:52.720 gotta be. I gotta be in the vegan reserves. I 0:14:52.800 --> 0:14:55.360 only gonna be vegan Tuesday and Thursdays or something like that. 0:14:55.440 --> 0:14:58.280 So I think that's the biggest thing with that. But 0:14:58.360 --> 0:15:01.320 also understanding going to this idea of self scouting is 0:15:01.360 --> 0:15:04.400 that you gotta know your body. So everybody's injuries are different. 0:15:04.680 --> 0:15:07.520 Everybody likes something different. Some guys never want to touch 0:15:07.560 --> 0:15:10.320 weights again. Some guys get into really love and running. 0:15:10.640 --> 0:15:13.240 Some guys love to do the old kind of cocoon 0:15:13.360 --> 0:15:15.720 workout in the pool with all the old folks and 0:15:15.760 --> 0:15:18.520 all that different stuff. Whatever it is. Try out a 0:15:18.520 --> 0:15:20.520 bunch of stuff and see what works for you and 0:15:20.600 --> 0:15:22.800 ultimately have fun with this stuff, because that's why you 0:15:22.840 --> 0:15:26.120 eventually started playing football, because it was fun, started competing, 0:15:26.480 --> 0:15:29.080 and that's sounded the same things. In our Button Guts series. 0:15:29.560 --> 0:15:31.880 One of the guys that we talked to, uh Cold 0:15:31.960 --> 0:15:35.560 cublic Um. All these guys do the peloton stuff. They 0:15:35.600 --> 0:15:38.320 got this thing called the Buns of Anarchy, and all 0:15:38.320 --> 0:15:42.080 these guys working remotely. Everybody's at home, but they all 0:15:42.200 --> 0:15:45.240 made a commitment to get on on Saturday mornings, are 0:15:45.280 --> 0:15:47.440 Friday evenings or whatever, and they all do a group 0:15:47.520 --> 0:15:50.760 ride virtually together. And so it's that same football stuff 0:15:50.760 --> 0:15:52.960 of competing. And you see tons and tons of guys 0:15:52.960 --> 0:15:56.040 on their Damien Woodie, all these old, big, old football 0:15:56.080 --> 0:15:59.280 guys still out there spinning it out on these peloton bikes. 0:15:59.280 --> 0:16:02.280 So combat fishing is something. But also I mean, guys 0:16:02.320 --> 0:16:05.080 know what they can do. Uh, and they're they're closer 0:16:05.120 --> 0:16:07.920 to their goal of being on a healthier path than 0:16:07.920 --> 0:16:11.080 they think they are. That's good. Let's shift into your 0:16:11.080 --> 0:16:15.520 broadcast career first. Let's talk You talked about your dad 0:16:15.880 --> 0:16:20.760 and his influence a jazz DJ as well. Is that correct? Yeah, 0:16:20.840 --> 0:16:22.560 he kind of did a little bit of everything. My 0:16:22.640 --> 0:16:24.800 old man. He was you know, always had it in 0:16:24.800 --> 0:16:27.160 his mind that he wanted to be in radio, had 0:16:27.200 --> 0:16:29.640 that it was a big guy, had that big voice, 0:16:30.120 --> 0:16:32.520 but kind of like football, would go anywhere to get 0:16:32.520 --> 0:16:34.560 that opportunity to be on the radio, whether it be 0:16:34.680 --> 0:16:38.040 a UM, you know, a country station or working on 0:16:38.160 --> 0:16:40.720 talk radio. I mean he was, I mean, at one 0:16:40.720 --> 0:16:42.880 time he was. He was a black man who had 0:16:42.880 --> 0:16:44.600 the number one country radio show in the state of 0:16:44.600 --> 0:16:47.440 South Carolina. So that's kind of like a unicorn really, 0:16:47.480 --> 0:16:50.000 So that just goes to the goals to say, I mean, 0:16:50.200 --> 0:16:52.720 you know, I love country music. You know, Charlie Pride, 0:16:53.160 --> 0:16:57.040 Darius Rucker, all those guys, South Carolina guys. Um, you know, 0:16:57.080 --> 0:16:59.920 it doesn't matter. So I think ultimately, you know, see 0:17:00.000 --> 0:17:01.960 and my dad kind of do the broadcast and stuff 0:17:01.960 --> 0:17:05.239 gave me the opportunity to understand that, um, you know, 0:17:05.280 --> 0:17:07.360 you're not just pigeonholed is just to being a football 0:17:07.400 --> 0:17:10.520 guy or just being a uh maybe a hip hop guy. 0:17:10.600 --> 0:17:13.040 You I mean, whatever you're interested in, it will come 0:17:13.080 --> 0:17:15.760 across in the broadcast, and that's where people you know, 0:17:15.800 --> 0:17:18.159 you can't think authenticity with a lot of folks. So 0:17:18.520 --> 0:17:20.240 for me that was a great, great thing. But also 0:17:20.280 --> 0:17:22.800 to see the biggest thing for me, especially in my 0:17:22.880 --> 0:17:26.080 next kind of career doing podcast, is that you know, 0:17:26.119 --> 0:17:28.320 you gotta write this stuff out, you gotta you gotta 0:17:28.480 --> 0:17:30.560 edit this stuff. And that's the thing what we talk 0:17:30.600 --> 0:17:32.639 about when I go into the schools and speak with kids. 0:17:32.640 --> 0:17:34.879 Is that you know, everybody thinks they're gonna play football 0:17:34.880 --> 0:17:37.879 and that's probably not going right, but everybody has the 0:17:37.960 --> 0:17:40.640 opportunity to build the skills up of reading, writing, and speaking, 0:17:41.119 --> 0:17:43.040 and those are the things I saw and my dad 0:17:43.080 --> 0:17:46.119 made it cool to be well spoken, well written, have 0:17:46.280 --> 0:17:49.840 somebody read your copy, have compelling copy, all those different things, 0:17:49.880 --> 0:17:52.680 because ultimately that's what you did as a football player. 0:17:52.760 --> 0:17:54.680 You just did that in a in a movement and 0:17:55.080 --> 0:17:57.960 kind of out there with your body. So that was 0:17:58.080 --> 0:17:59.520 that was the cool thing. And then you know, you 0:17:59.560 --> 0:18:01.159 back it up with my mom who was a teacher. 0:18:01.240 --> 0:18:03.680 You know, God bless all teachers across the world, man, 0:18:03.720 --> 0:18:06.000 because uh, you know, if they can get anybody to 0:18:06.040 --> 0:18:08.199 sit still and pay attention, especially big guys who are 0:18:08.280 --> 0:18:11.840 hungry and classrooms, you know, if it takes a special 0:18:11.840 --> 0:18:13.520 skill set to do that. So I was very very 0:18:13.600 --> 0:18:16.080 lucky in that set. And you mentioned righting that's kind 0:18:16.119 --> 0:18:19.920 of like a lost art for some of our millennial generation. Z. 0:18:21.040 --> 0:18:24.440 So you're still you're encouraging them to write. And when 0:18:24.440 --> 0:18:28.480 you see just write, your thoughts are what are your suggestions. 0:18:28.880 --> 0:18:32.160 I'm a great proponent of journaling. I'm a great proponent 0:18:32.240 --> 0:18:37.000 of morning pages. I talked to another former NFL legend, 0:18:37.119 --> 0:18:40.199