Speaker 1: This is cut to it with Steve Smith Senior at
Speaker 1: production of The Black Effect and I Heart Radio. I'm
Speaker 1: Steve Smith Senior and I'm John and this is cut
Speaker 1: to it. Good do, good do. Let's getting down to
Speaker 1: do it. Good do it. We asked the questions you
Speaker 1: always want to know, but no one ever asked. Let's
Speaker 1: cut to it. You ain't heard them about it? Then
Speaker 1: we're about to let you know. It's all all right,
Speaker 1: So we were straight crook, all right, all right, cut
Speaker 1: to it, crewe what's going on? What's going on? Smith?
Speaker 1: How you doing? I got a question for you. Why
Speaker 1: are you already laughing? This is a whole podcast like
Speaker 1: I'm supposed to have questions. I'll tell you why because
Speaker 1: I'm on the microphone. You've been coming to regular now coming,
Speaker 1: you're not backstage anymore. A lot of things happen, man, right,
Speaker 1: question for you. Have you ever had any weird fan interactions?
Speaker 1: And and do any any any recent ones? Walk me through,
Speaker 1: walk us through. I don't think it was. I don't
Speaker 1: even know what it was. Okay, weird super It was
Speaker 1: at the gas station the other day. You were with men,
Speaker 1: the three of us were in quar together, went inside
Speaker 1: because the um the pump said please wait, never stick
Speaker 1: your card inn where it says please wait where fortune cookie.
Speaker 1: I'm like, no, I'm going inside. So on the side
Speaker 1: you some money filled up. I thought it was pretty cool.
Speaker 1: I didn't know. Pulled up. Hey, let me put such
Speaker 1: and such on eight h come outside finish because my guess,
Speaker 1: no guess thank hopping the car from turn on my
Speaker 1: car and there's a gentleman pulls up in a car.
Speaker 1: He had his homeboy in the back seat, which was
Speaker 1: a dog d o g roof dog. Now he doggie dog,
Speaker 1: but you know, animal his companion and h. I pulled
Speaker 1: up and said, hey, I got a question. I said yes,
Speaker 1: and then he goes, oh I figured it out, and
Speaker 1: pretty much after that I was lost. Mind you, we
Speaker 1: have no idea what this question. We didn't ask him
Speaker 1: a question, so he didn't ask me a question. It
Speaker 1: was he pulled out. But I thought it was like,
Speaker 1: come on, bro, let's not play the lost like other dudes.
Speaker 1: Don't ask other dudes, Hey, you lost? You know? Hey,
Speaker 1: do you know where? No? I don't. That's my goal
Speaker 1: to you can ask. I can be I can be
Speaker 1: in front of an ice cream shop and you say, hey,
Speaker 1: do you know what the ice cream shopping is? Like, Nope,
Speaker 1: not from around here. That's my So he rolls up.
Speaker 1: He says he figured it out, and says he figured
Speaker 1: it out. And then so now of course I'm in
Speaker 1: the back seat, You're riding shotgun and we look over
Speaker 1: and that we're kind of interested, like because it was
Speaker 1: a showdown. This guy is quiet. Steve's just sitting there
Speaker 1: because we don't know what's going on, ueless, and so
Speaker 1: like there's this five second pause where it's like a
Speaker 1: it's a showdown. And so then he looks it and
Speaker 1: goes looks at Steven goes, you're good. Right now, that
Speaker 1: ain't the answer when you ask me, am I goodlet's
Speaker 1: fighting words, thank you? It implies you're not, or that
Speaker 1: we have an issue. Yes you kids call it. So
Speaker 1: he says, you're good. I said you're good. I'm good.
Speaker 1: Now when you say generally, when you say no, that's
Speaker 1: where the problems started. So for the most part, when
Speaker 1: someone says you good, it's it's not a greeting for you.
Speaker 1: What is you? What is you? What is your disposition
Speaker 1: on you good? Because I've heard other people go to someone, hey,
Speaker 1: Y know, what's up? Man? You're good? Is it is
Speaker 1: it the way that someone says it or is it
Speaker 1: just the words you're good with a question mark behind it?
Speaker 1: That generally is a we got problems? Do you understand that?
Speaker 1: And my answer is yes, and so be I know
Speaker 1: we got problems. So if I depth you right now,
Speaker 1: what's up? Maybe you're good? You're taking that we are
Speaker 1: we good? Because we're friends. Yeah, but if it's okay,
Speaker 1: so that help. So Now if I'm a stranger and
Speaker 1: I say you're good, if you're a stranger, you roll
Speaker 1: up in your car and I don't know you don't
Speaker 1: you don't on me? And you say, now that's a
Speaker 1: that's a whole different context. And you say, hey, yo,
Speaker 1: you good man? You got what do you got this?
Speaker 1: What do you got? Shot gun? Right? My response right
Speaker 1: right is not gonna be yes, It's gonna be you good.
Speaker 1: So you said you asking me, am I good? And
Speaker 1: I'm asking? I didn't ask her? Did I? I asked you?
Speaker 1: Are you good? Now? What comes out of your mouth
Speaker 1: after that? That's when they say this fireworkship that sets
Speaker 1: the table for next step bringing this thing full circle
Speaker 1: to this individual with you good that we didn't know
Speaker 1: you pulled up, and so he goes, you're good, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm good, you good? Yeah? Man, And his response after
Speaker 1: I said you good, this is where because I want
Speaker 1: to know what his narrative is when he pulled off,
Speaker 1: because this man's response after Steve said are you good?
Speaker 1: Was yeah, and what are you? What do you use to? Like?
Speaker 1: He here's what happens again? Gerard and I we're you know,
Speaker 1: we're out with Steve a lot, so we run across
Speaker 1: situation like this all the time. The most awkward and
Speaker 1: silly ass individuals for lack of better word, people have
Speaker 1: a scenario plate out in their mind when they walk
Speaker 1: up to say Steve. In their mind, they're gonna say, hey,
Speaker 1: how you doing. I'm good? How are you? Maybe I
Speaker 1: get a picture, we have a few minutes conversation, we
Speaker 1: walk off. This dude had that in his mind. But
Speaker 1: when the conversation didn't go with hey, how's it going
Speaker 1: and went with you good, it was an awkward way
Speaker 1: to get out of conversation. Like he was shook. Because
Speaker 1: usually Steve is the one that says, yeah, it's fine.
Speaker 1: I get it all the time, and you know, he's
Speaker 1: cordial nice and its company. It depends on how you
Speaker 1: come up to me. Have you come up to me
Speaker 1: expecting I owe you something? Are you gonna get some
Speaker 1: old on? Where does this rank amongst you're awkward, fan
Speaker 1: or just individual? Well, this one right ranks in the
Speaker 1: category of this is why stay in the house a lot.
Speaker 1: I'm used to that, and and because what it generally
Speaker 1: happened is and I think I've done a better job.
Speaker 1: But there are times here in Charlotte I'm known for
Speaker 1: not being very approachable. And a lot of it is
Speaker 1: because I've you know, I want to say, been burned,
Speaker 1: but I have been approached at times where it's really
Speaker 1: just taken away from what I'm currently doing. Right, And
Speaker 1: my oldest boy, Peyton, remember we were I broke my
Speaker 1: leg and Mars like, you need to go do something.
Speaker 1: So I started coming to his lunch and he was
Speaker 1: in I think the second grade. The Peyton is twenty
Speaker 1: two years old. So I was going to lunch and
Speaker 1: sitting there at lunch and one of these keys I
Speaker 1: knew who I was, So we had like my rookie
Speaker 1: or checking year car checking year in the league. You
Speaker 1: out of the car, he says, Hey, Mr Smith, can
Speaker 1: you sign a car for me? I was like sure,
Speaker 1: and Peyton had this such defeated look. Peyton was in
Speaker 1: the second grade, second grade. He looks at me says, Dan,
Speaker 1: are you here to sign autographs? Are you here to
Speaker 1: have lunch with me? Think about that, Think about how
Speaker 1: a seven year old connects that, And what it really
Speaker 1: told me is He's like, I don't care how many
Speaker 1: damn passes you catch, Bob, I just want you to
Speaker 1: be my dad. And from there, I've tried to balance that.
Speaker 1: I don't go to events for your kids. I go
Speaker 1: for my kids. And I'm not trying to be rude,
Speaker 1: but I've been at taking my kids and out of
Speaker 1: the family and bowling, and people have been upset because
Speaker 1: I won't stop bowling my family and go over to
Speaker 1: their lane to be part of their birthday party because
Speaker 1: that will make their kids today. But I I mean, ultimately,
Speaker 1: I understand the responsibility. But ultimately God is gonna judge
Speaker 1: me on how I tend to my flock before I
Speaker 1: start going to other mother flocks, how I handle my
Speaker 1: my kids and my present for and my present for
Speaker 1: my family. I can't be this great superstar football player
Speaker 1: for all these other people and be a dirt bag
Speaker 1: at the house. And so a lot of times when
Speaker 1: I'm out with my family, I don't have time off.
Speaker 1: You turned off, I'm off. I'm like the bank. And
Speaker 1: there are some people who respect it, some people who
Speaker 1: get it. And I've had people who because me out. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you don't have the responsibility to be always being on
Speaker 1: for everybody. You know why. And here's my philosophy. If
Speaker 1: the bank ain't open, neither are you. But you know what, though,
Speaker 1: I'm used to it. Yes, he is who we got
Speaker 1: coming up on the Cut to a podcast. We've got
Speaker 1: London Fletcher's sixteen year NFL VET. He's a four time
Speaker 1: pro bowler. He's an NFL All Pro and he's currently
Speaker 1: an NFL analyst for CBS Sports. London Fletcher on the
Speaker 1: Cut to a Podcast, appreciate you all having appreciate you,
Speaker 1: appreciate you being on. So our first segment is called
Speaker 1: get iced up. You know Smitty well, so I have
Speaker 1: no idea what he has up his sleeve. So Smitty
Speaker 1: go ahead and give him the first one. You ready,
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, I'm ready, right, I'm ready. So what
Speaker 1: was your first concert you went to back in the day.
Speaker 1: It was a it was a rap concert. Uh no,
Speaker 1: actually it was like it was a mixture of rapping
Speaker 1: and uh like old school like U t FO. I
Speaker 1: don't know if you remember those. You might be a
Speaker 1: little too young to remember. Yeah yeah, yeah, you're a
Speaker 1: look too. And West coast. Oh yeah that's true too. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Like see people on the East Coast they know about UTFO. Man,
Speaker 1: but what is u tm? Oh yeah yeah, fairy tale
Speaker 1: lover see yeah yeah, see you know on the West
Speaker 1: coast see oh man, Yeah, you gotta have to google that,
Speaker 1: Google the man you TFO. So basically your first concert
Speaker 1: was Brian Me Night. Is that what you're just telling? Hey,
Speaker 1: but I did go to a private that concert. Um
Speaker 1: the crazy thing when I went up that now Roxane
Speaker 1: Roxanne Now yeah yeah yeah, see you google that, didn't
Speaker 1: you didn't? Yeah, I know it, but it's but I
Speaker 1: did do too. But that's that fast forward. Hey, my
Speaker 1: mother and my mother took me to the concert. That's
Speaker 1: how christ who's your first concert? Smitty who? I want
Speaker 1: to see? Uh he forty language? I know. My first
Speaker 1: concert was until I was adult, so it was probably
Speaker 1: it was a West coast concert. Mom was rough Riders Casher.
Speaker 1: I remember I was, I was fifteen years old. Where
Speaker 1: were here in Charlotte? The old the old councy were
Speaker 1: sitting in the very top. So I'm like, what smell
Speaker 1: funny up here? Oh yeah, oh yeah, yeah yeah yeah. Man, Hey,
Speaker 1: but I'll tell you what. The best concept I ever
Speaker 1: went to was Prens in Cleveland and the UH Cavaliers Arena. Man,
Speaker 1: this was Prince Prince put on the show. Heck of
Speaker 1: a show. We gotta he got about a ten minute
Speaker 1: standing ovation after he left, and and he had coming
Speaker 1: back out of doing an hardcore performance. He was, Man,
Speaker 1: you talk about a concert, Yeah, that was a bad concert.
Speaker 1: Another really good concert I went to that. I was
Speaker 1: just amazed at what he was able to do. Um Stevie,
Speaker 1: wonder what that brother can do blind? I can't do
Speaker 1: with tense. And you know they say, Steven really conceive
Speaker 1: now with that hairline walking around hairline? So Jack, he
Speaker 1: gotta be blind somebody, somebody. His praise is at damn
Speaker 1: near the back of his hand. He got dug. You
Speaker 1: know he blind because his head he go fuehead skeeball
Speaker 1: hair man. You know what that might be? You got
Speaker 1: a good point that that right there as the story Stevie,
Speaker 1: he's blind. Yeah, and this is how you know it's
Speaker 1: blind because and he was if he could really see,
Speaker 1: he put on you know, Oakley got some nice glasses.
Speaker 1: That brother be wearing blue blockers. So no, so anyway,
Speaker 1: blue blockers received. Um. So, what's your favorite item of clothing? Oh? Man, um,
Speaker 1: golf shirts? Yeah, because I'm I'm always uh, you know, golf,
Speaker 1: I would say golf clothing. Okay, okay, I know this one,
Speaker 1: but I had to ask, and I was cheesing the
Speaker 1: whole time I was typing this up. Do you prefer
Speaker 1: swimming in the pool or ocean? Pool? Why are you chuckling?
Speaker 1: I don't tell me why pool man? Scan ocean? Man? Well,
Speaker 1: he will mess it. I'm I'm the same way though. No,
Speaker 1: London is a ferocious linebacker. Man, get his ass that water,
Speaker 1: that ocean. You don't You don't go further than probably
Speaker 1: your knees, right man. I I go a little bit fun,
Speaker 1: but I ain't that a little bit. You can't go
Speaker 1: further than what you can see. No, me and my so,
Speaker 1: my daughter, my oldest, she just like me because the
Speaker 1: rest of the family they want to take cruise. Her
Speaker 1: and I were like, listen, y'all go do y'all thank
Speaker 1: or and I were good, we'll stay back. We'll y'all
Speaker 1: have a good time. We we we are not with that.
Speaker 1: We don't want to be in a cruise. I don't
Speaker 1: want to be out there on that water like that.
Speaker 1: You got taught that that the same way with my family.
Speaker 1: And I could swim up, but I just do. Yeah.
Speaker 1: It's like, would you like ranch your blue cheese? Nita?
Speaker 1: You don't? And I when I was typing it up,
Speaker 1: I was smiling, laugh like area know this answer, but
Speaker 1: I'm gonna ask anyway. So what was your favorite team
Speaker 1: growing up? Any sports? Oh? Man? The Browns? Yeah, Cleveland Browns.
Speaker 1: I love the Browns growing up back when they had
Speaker 1: Bernie Cole's are Webster slaughter Um shoot Man, the mac
Speaker 1: Ernest Byner, Kevin Mack. When they were going to ANFC
Speaker 1: championship games. They went to three championship hip games, lost
Speaker 1: to the Broncos and all three. I I hate John Elway,
Speaker 1: still don't like him to to this day. That's uh,
Speaker 1: that's de grooted right there. I love the brown so much, man.
Speaker 1: So you you know how you got You always have
Speaker 1: that one friend who wants to go against the grain regard,
Speaker 1: like if everybody likes blue, he's gonna be the one
Speaker 1: that like red. Yeah. So he was the one guy
Speaker 1: who all of us like the Browns, but he wants
Speaker 1: to out of all the players, he his favorite players,
Speaker 1: John Elway. So we we're going to school one morning.
Speaker 1: It's in middle school. It's cold in Cleveland, like January.
Speaker 1: It walking to school, he gets to talking um and
Speaker 1: he likes to talk a lot. So you're talking about
Speaker 1: John l He's like, yeah, wait wait, I said, listen, man,
Speaker 1: he said, l wait one more time, hitting you and
Speaker 1: your mouth you say, wait one more time? He say,
Speaker 1: he said he he didn't get the way out. Man.
Speaker 1: I hit him right this moth mad dude. Nobody want
Speaker 1: to hear No John Elway, you can't be You couldn't
Speaker 1: be a John that Way fan in Cleveland. Now, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1: That's that's how much I love the Browns back there.
Speaker 1: So then who was? Who is your favorite athlete that
Speaker 1: you admired growing up as acute? Uh, I really didn't
Speaker 1: have just one guy used to love Eric Dickerson is
Speaker 1: running back used like a lot more and more a
Speaker 1: lot of the Browns, but I didn't have you know,
Speaker 1: Dickerson was probably my favorite guy. Other than that, it
Speaker 1: was just more like players. Me and you are neighbors.
Speaker 1: We played off together, are you know you We've come
Speaker 1: over each other's house, our kids have played together. But
Speaker 1: one of the interesting things about um this sit down
Speaker 1: and cut to it is the London Fletcher that I've
Speaker 1: played against on the football field and the London Fletcher
Speaker 1: I played golf with. You know, we walk well, you know,
Speaker 1: we rolled together, played a lot of sports, played, you know,
Speaker 1: our kids have played together. But the London Fletcher that
Speaker 1: I've got an opportunity to do the research of, I
Speaker 1: don't know, I'm learning a lot. And so one of
Speaker 1: the things I kind of wanted to say to you,
Speaker 1: I feel like I've short changed our relationship man, that
Speaker 1: really I've learned so much about you that I I
Speaker 1: think a little bit because I I admire you and
Speaker 1: see you as a mentor our our our listeners get
Speaker 1: opportunity and learn about the London Fletcher and how you
Speaker 1: grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. But also for me, Man,
Speaker 1: I get to learn about you. So I'm just honored
Speaker 1: to be able to do this, but also again say
Speaker 1: that the perspective I've gained about you, man, is the
Speaker 1: next time we play golf, bro, I'm just gonna be
Speaker 1: staring at you because it's like, gosh, you know, so,
Speaker 1: I mean, I'll just get into it. You know, I
Speaker 1: said it. You grew up in and the place you're from,
Speaker 1: your hoteln is Cleveland, Ohio. But how the Cleveland, Ohio
Speaker 1: shape your perspective of how you see the world today. Oh,
Speaker 1: it's should It's shaped my perspective. I mean everything the
Speaker 1: way I see the world is was shaped you know
Speaker 1: during my time in Cleveland from the you know, from
Speaker 1: my early childhood up until when I finally left Cleveland
Speaker 1: for good. And shoot, I've moved out of Cleveland finally
Speaker 1: at around two thousand six, I want to say two
Speaker 1: thousand seven. But you know, just growing up in the
Speaker 1: inner city, like like a lot of people in the
Speaker 1: city Cleveland, you have your different challenges that you face,
Speaker 1: but you have to, um, Cleveland kind of hard hardened you.
Speaker 1: It's a it's a blue collar time, but it's also
Speaker 1: you know, it's uh just a rough city. Um. You
Speaker 1: have to be mentally and physically tough to five when
Speaker 1: you walk out of the out of your house. You know,
Speaker 1: I leave my door and crack people selling crack right
Speaker 1: on right on the corner right you know, next door over. Um,
Speaker 1: a lot of drugs, gang violence. Um, I mean I've seen,
Speaker 1: you know, a lot of shootings, just all all the
Speaker 1: things that that you shouldn't have to see as a
Speaker 1: young kid and have to navigate when you as soon
Speaker 1: as you leave your house. Um, you know, it's just
Speaker 1: it was. It was tough. So you had to definitely
Speaker 1: be mentally tough and physically tough because you'd be challenged, Um,
Speaker 1: you know physically a lot of fighting things like that.
Speaker 1: It definitely tests your metal. So I man, when you
Speaker 1: think about that as especially as a young kid being um,
Speaker 1: having to deal with that on a daily basis, it um,
Speaker 1: it definitely, um makes you stronger. We have to take
Speaker 1: a break and the morning thing, we gotta pay some bill.
Speaker 1: You got checks. I love cut to It and I
Speaker 1: love it even more when you download us and subscribe
Speaker 1: and you can follow us on social media too. Smithie,
Speaker 1: where where at that's at? Cut to It on Instagram?
Speaker 1: What about Twitter? At? Cut to It? Facebook? Cut to
Speaker 1: It featuring Steve Smith singr what about online and you
Speaker 1: can follow us at cut to It podcast dot com,
Speaker 1: where you can buy merch and you can subscribe to
Speaker 1: us wherever you listen to podcasts. I got all my
Speaker 1: answers questions. Um, yeah, I got all my questions answered.
Speaker 1: That's what I'm here for, a brother cut to a
Speaker 1: podcast as that come. I mean, you had a lot
Speaker 1: of big events impact you, just like, how did you
Speaker 1: overcome that? Because you know, just as a dad, I
Speaker 1: can't look at my kids. When I look at my
Speaker 1: kids and I see who they are, I cringe at
Speaker 1: imagining what I've been through, you know, because I know
Speaker 1: what it's done to me. So I know what it's
Speaker 1: done me. I'm like, man, I wouldn't I wouldn't want to,
Speaker 1: you know, if I had the choice. Obviously this is
Speaker 1: all hypothetical, but I had the choice, Like I really
Speaker 1: put myself in that position. I go, man, it is
Speaker 1: it has impacted me. How did you get through it?
Speaker 1: You know? Thinking about my kids and and them I
Speaker 1: was growing up on a country club, and and how
Speaker 1: I grew up where man, we barely could um. There
Speaker 1: was times where you know, we didn't have much to eat.
Speaker 1: Just the contrast and just how how naive they are
Speaker 1: too to just the challenge is that that people facing
Speaker 1: in this world. I mean, I man, my from the
Speaker 1: time I was in UM college, we had a lot
Speaker 1: of a lot of dash that happened to my family. UM,
Speaker 1: A couple of suicides, uh you know with my aunts
Speaker 1: to two months committed suicide. UM, all within the span
Speaker 1: of of shoot probably about a year each other. Then
Speaker 1: my UM when I was in college, my freshmanyor in college,
Speaker 1: I used to get um when you get it off
Speaker 1: campus rings, you knew it was like to get the
Speaker 1: double ring, and UM, I used to always kind of
Speaker 1: worry about the double rings that you would get off campus. Actually,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna take you back even further than that because
Speaker 1: my older sister, So I'm one of five kids. My
Speaker 1: mom she had a five kids. I was the middle
Speaker 1: child to have a have an older brother who's um
Speaker 1: nine years older than me, had an older sister who
Speaker 1: was six years older than me. I'm the middle child.
Speaker 1: Got a younger sister's five years younger than me, and
Speaker 1: then a sister that seven years younger than me. So
Speaker 1: when I was eleven years old, my sister who who
Speaker 1: was not six years older than me. She was murdered
Speaker 1: at eighteen years so she was right and left dead
Speaker 1: by some railroad tracks at the age of eighteen years old. Um,
Speaker 1: I was eleven years old, and that that had a
Speaker 1: tremendous impact on on me, my mom, just our family
Speaker 1: in general. Where you have you know here she is,
Speaker 1: you know, should be graduating high school and going off
Speaker 1: to college wood and she was murdered and and uh
Speaker 1: she was she was into the street life at a
Speaker 1: at her early age, probably around the time she was
Speaker 1: thirteen years old. She was you know, uh, hanging out
Speaker 1: doing things that she shouldn't have been doing. Um, using drugs,
Speaker 1: just just something that you wouldn't think of a thirteen
Speaker 1: year old should be doing. UM. My older brother he
Speaker 1: was selling drugs in and out of jail, um, incarcerated.
Speaker 1: Things like that. My mom when my with my sister's death,
Speaker 1: that had an impact on us. We're all parents or
Speaker 1: can you imagine if you that we lost the child,
Speaker 1: what that would do to us and what type of
Speaker 1: impact that would have on her. So at UM, a
Speaker 1: few years after my my sister was murdered, my mom
Speaker 1: you know, didn't know how to cope with that. She
Speaker 1: turned to a using drugs and I found out about
Speaker 1: that she started smoking crack at it. And when I
Speaker 1: was like I found out, I was like fourteen years
Speaker 1: old when when I found out my mom my mom
Speaker 1: by my mom and her situation, and that just man,
Speaker 1: that shook me to the core I was and that hurt,
Speaker 1: Like what just to um, you know that your mom
Speaker 1: is using drugs and and the uh, the way that
Speaker 1: that drug what it did to the families would have
Speaker 1: did to people, how I destroyed, destroyed family. So it
Speaker 1: was just a lot of challenges and difficult time to
Speaker 1: that you start to deal with them that I was
Speaker 1: dealing with from the time I was eleven years old
Speaker 1: and um through uh you know, through college. Really just
Speaker 1: like man, you know, somebody shouldn't have to deal with
Speaker 1: with these types of situations. And um, freshman year in
Speaker 1: college had freshman year to my sophomore year in college,
Speaker 1: we had you know, four relatives who who died. One
Speaker 1: was my younger cousin was murdered undied of a heart attack,
Speaker 1: and two other unstyed of suicide. So it's just like, man,
Speaker 1: just so much stuff that it can overwhelm you would,
Speaker 1: um have you question all kinds of things. UM, just
Speaker 1: some difficult situations that myself and my family we had
Speaker 1: to go through over over period of time. How do
Speaker 1: you carry all of that as black men? You know,
Speaker 1: they don't want you to. You gotta kind of be tough,
Speaker 1: not really um, show your true emotions. I went through
Speaker 1: some in college. I used to like have anger issues
Speaker 1: that they actually said be in consolate for for uh
Speaker 1: because some anger issues because you know, I would uh
Speaker 1: who was playing basketball football. I would definitely had some
Speaker 1: moments where I I let my frustrations out, you know,
Speaker 1: on somebody in practice or on the on the court,
Speaker 1: on the practice field or whatever, because you know, you've
Speaker 1: just been carrying that burden around for so long. Um
Speaker 1: in high school, you know, maybe it's a lot of
Speaker 1: fights I would get into. It was it was just
Speaker 1: dealing with those That was my way of kind of
Speaker 1: dealing with those things, coping with it. UM. I wasn't
Speaker 1: gonna I didn't cry, um it just like I would
Speaker 1: just let out my frustrations through fights or things like that.
Speaker 1: Being where I'm at now, um, at forty or five
Speaker 1: years old, I understand how if you let things faster
Speaker 1: and manifest, how how something's really small could you know,
Speaker 1: blow up to something bigger? But it was it's not,
Speaker 1: it's more of a black product of something else. Um.
Speaker 1: But not having you know, not how to not knowing
Speaker 1: how to deal with those things and and really being
Speaker 1: able to talk to somebody about the I've heard I
Speaker 1: was dealing with or you know what, especially when you
Speaker 1: you know, you're fourteen years old and your mom is
Speaker 1: not the mom that you knew for so many years.
Speaker 1: She was there physically, but you know, motionally, and and
Speaker 1: being that supportive person that you needed, that I needed
Speaker 1: in my life. That that has an impact on you.
Speaker 1: You were part of a really unique mentoring program. There
Speaker 1: was a couple, uh, Charlotte Kramer and Leonard Schwartz. What
Speaker 1: what was what was that mentoring program? Like? Yeah, so, um,
Speaker 1: Charlotte Kramer, Mrs Kramer, she she adopted our sixth grade
Speaker 1: graduating class in this program called the I Averag Dream Program.
Speaker 1: It was started by a gentleman named Eugene Lane in
Speaker 1: New York and he did it did a similar deal
Speaker 1: in New York City with some kids graduating now from
Speaker 1: elementary And what she did, she she promised us this
Speaker 1: is back in nine seven. Um. It was like a
Speaker 1: quarter of a million dollars that she donated or she
Speaker 1: set aside for us. I don't know how much that
Speaker 1: would be in today's money, but it was geared towards
Speaker 1: M Yeah. Yeah, we talked. Yeah, So it was a
Speaker 1: lot of money that was geared towards Hey, this is
Speaker 1: money for you all to go to utilize for your
Speaker 1: college tuition or secondary education, UM, once you graduate high school.
Speaker 1: This was uh, a white Jewish lady who wanted to
Speaker 1: give back. She had done very well. Her husband was
Speaker 1: his name was Mr Mr Schwartz. UM. During that time,
Speaker 1: they didn't just they they didn't just say, hey, here's
Speaker 1: this money, we'll see you when you graduate. But they
Speaker 1: also provided each one of us. It was like seventy
Speaker 1: think about seventy two kids, so they got each one
Speaker 1: of us a mentor. And I was kind of Mr
Speaker 1: Schwartz meant men team because out of default, because I
Speaker 1: was so bad and like you know, we we we
Speaker 1: gotta we gotta give a special kid. It was specially once.
Speaker 1: So I was I was the crazy thing, Like I
Speaker 1: was like a straight age student aids and bees. But
Speaker 1: again I had a lot of angerous side of me.
Speaker 1: So I was you know, I was a child, I
Speaker 1: was a challenging kid. So he was my mentor UM
Speaker 1: and they providers with mentors throughout throughout that um that
Speaker 1: time frame to help us navigate everything we're going through.
Speaker 1: Out of those seventy two kids, probably only about fifteen
Speaker 1: truly took advantage of of the opportunity that was there. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, a lot of the girls dropped out of
Speaker 1: high school, had or junior high or whatever, had babies. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, the same thing with a lot of the boys,
Speaker 1: drug chelling, someone uh had early deaths, you know, dropped
Speaker 1: out of high school or school. Just a lot of
Speaker 1: different challenges that took place between the time she made
Speaker 1: that commitment and when it was time to graduate high school.
Speaker 1: So not only only a small percentage actually took advantage
Speaker 1: of of what she had there, but she they did
Speaker 1: so much for me because they not only help me
Speaker 1: with my colleague, they also helped me. You know, they
Speaker 1: paid for me to go to a private high school
Speaker 1: to be able to utilize my athletic ability. Is like, hey,
Speaker 1: you know, we're gonna help you with some high school
Speaker 1: your high school tuition to go to this uh Catholic
Speaker 1: high school, which that really changed the course of my
Speaker 1: my life. And and and you know, played an integral party.
Speaker 1: And while I'm here where I'm at right now, that
Speaker 1: had to be a little challenging. It's different, uh for
Speaker 1: what's the word for a knuckle head? Oh yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: it was. It was definitely a culture shock because I
Speaker 1: transferred to the school and the middle my tenth grade year,
Speaker 1: so I I didn't I actually transferred in the middle
Speaker 1: between semesters um and I go from a Cleveland public
Speaker 1: school to a Catholic high school and just the disciplined,
Speaker 1: the you know, I couldn't get away with what I
Speaker 1: was getting away with it at the clean public school,
Speaker 1: I couldn't, you know, if I didn't show up in
Speaker 1: class and clean public school, it wasn't any different. If
Speaker 1: I you know, didn't, nobody cared. It wasn't called home.
Speaker 1: If I cut school that day, whatever, nobody called home. Man.
Speaker 1: If I missed, if I was five minutes late to
Speaker 1: a class, it was an issue, um at the at
Speaker 1: that kind of Catholic high school. Um. Not only that
Speaker 1: I had to take you know, depending I take two
Speaker 1: buses to school, So I went from walking to school too.
Speaker 1: Now having to have the discipline to get up early.
Speaker 1: You don't know those take those two buses to school.
Speaker 1: The just the rigger and the discipline. It was difficult
Speaker 1: that first, uh first semester, major adjustment, just the the
Speaker 1: type of kids that were there. Most of them had
Speaker 1: been in Catholic private school for the time, never elementary,
Speaker 1: so they have been you know, used to this where
Speaker 1: it's posted where coming in there. From From my background,
Speaker 1: I'm you know, I was I was rough to say
Speaker 1: the least I was. I was a challenger. They definitely
Speaker 1: you know, had their work kind out with me. Man.
Speaker 1: It really helped me because you're dealing with I go
Speaker 1: from dealing with the people who are in the same
Speaker 1: situation as me, having the same challenges. Um. Just one
Speaker 1: perspective on the world too. You go to uh So
Speaker 1: there where you is multi ethnic, um, you know, different
Speaker 1: socio economic backgrounds. You had you know, some of the wealth,
Speaker 1: some wealthy kids there and you have to ask them
Speaker 1: some kids who were poor who needed a financial assistance.
Speaker 1: So you had a range, um from from an economic standpoint.
Speaker 1: But just the it just help me be able to
Speaker 1: deal with more people, um and understand that you know,
Speaker 1: the life is just life is not black and white.
Speaker 1: But how important was sports growing up in terms of
Speaker 1: collegiate opportunity for you to you know, for you to
Speaker 1: go off to college. How important was sports for you? Man?
Speaker 1: That it was ship, It was everything. Even though I knew, hey,
Speaker 1: you had to go to college in order to play pro,
Speaker 1: you had to do this. You had to And I
Speaker 1: was very familiar with like PROP forty and all that
Speaker 1: type of stuff, so all the different things that that
Speaker 1: was going to be required for me in order to,
Speaker 1: you know, get a college scholarship. I wanted to play
Speaker 1: college of college sports, college basketball in particular, So I
Speaker 1: learned very quickly once I got to that school. Hey,
Speaker 1: I gotta I gotta do right in the classroom. You know.
Speaker 1: I saw athletics as my way out. I saw college.
Speaker 1: I didn't see academics, which is sad. It was, Hey,
Speaker 1: sports is gonna be my way out of this situation.
Speaker 1: You say it's sad. Why is that sad? Because we
Speaker 1: don't emphasize the amount of money that's available to you
Speaker 1: from a merrit based scholarships or or or academic scholarship.
Speaker 1: It's not even it's so much more. Athletic money is
Speaker 1: only like a fraction of what is available to compare
Speaker 1: to the academic money. That's a bab you you much,
Speaker 1: you much used far easier to get up your school
Speaker 1: paid for academically than it is athletically. You said you
Speaker 1: had dreams of playing college basketball. Yes, he did football
Speaker 1: and basketball in high school. You aspired to play collegiately?
Speaker 1: Which one was your first love? Basketball? Many a London.
Speaker 1: He has the film of himself playing basketball. He transferred
Speaker 1: from a VHS cause I got my stuff. I gotta squint.
Speaker 1: Now here's the best part, though, let me give you
Speaker 1: a visual as people London Fletcher London's, I give you
Speaker 1: five ten London's five ten, two hundred and forty pounds.
Speaker 1: Not the boy. I wasn't gonna two hundred forty pounds
Speaker 1: wearing the same exact shorts that John fer and when
Speaker 1: they were call Jazz, when they were delivering the mail.
Speaker 1: When when you start that video, though, he was a
Speaker 1: little bit surprised by skills though you you you thought
Speaker 1: I was gonna be just a brute out there. Here's
Speaker 1: what I like to say. He when he was over
Speaker 1: in the house and he showed me, I was surprised
Speaker 1: and like, wow, look at London, but I couldn't give
Speaker 1: them because me and London are really good friends, but
Speaker 1: we were competitive. Now like if we playing golf, give
Speaker 1: me a stroke, now giving you no stroke? Come on me,
Speaker 1: you should have caught that pass over the middle. Me
Speaker 1: and London still talk if they show a highlight of me.
Speaker 1: When I knew it was with Washington on my football life,
Speaker 1: there's a player, I'm going across the middle. London hit me,
Speaker 1: but London actually hit me so hard he knocked himself
Speaker 1: off of credit, knocked it down. That's if I group
Speaker 1: text those group of men and like six in the
Speaker 1: morning when I saw it because I was running. It's
Speaker 1: like came it was on and I was watching. I
Speaker 1: was watching work and then doing work. Sometimes the ads
Speaker 1: come on and it was my football life like and
Speaker 1: I saw that set the group text like, yeah, look
Speaker 1: at this man. I don't want to. I don't want
Speaker 1: to find I didn't want to. I didn't want to
Speaker 1: catch a fine. I also know his wife. You know.
Speaker 1: I was like, I'm gonna take it easy. I would
Speaker 1: he think when he was trying to knock the snot
Speaker 1: out of me. I don't want to. I just want
Speaker 1: to want to lock a Ribblers, but I was really
Speaker 1: surprised how athletic because he was still a line I'm backer. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he was a big boned dude. Charlie Ward Robinson, you
Speaker 1: know who you remind me of if you go back
Speaker 1: and watch Charles Barkley games when he was younger. Bro,
Speaker 1: he could move London, but he just it was surprised
Speaker 1: he was moving. That boy had him hiding Nick in
Speaker 1: the in the short shorts. But I was pretty I
Speaker 1: would say, now on here it's own recording for a
Speaker 1: middle linebacker, and I believe one of the best ones
Speaker 1: in the game, who's who has the same amount and
Speaker 1: slightly better than the former raving London can move And
Speaker 1: that that was the part that I was really shocked on.
Speaker 1: The biggest shocker that London has film of himself playing basketball.
Speaker 1: That that was the biggest that this dude walking around
Speaker 1: with this footage. Look look, look. But because of the
Speaker 1: position London play, I get and I understand it right.
Speaker 1: And also to the competitiveness of the type of the
Speaker 1: type of folks we are, Um, we're always going at
Speaker 1: we I mean, bro, we will play golf and bet
Speaker 1: who who can finish this whole? Can you not getting right.
Speaker 1: It's just just to spend someone else's quarter. We will bet,
Speaker 1: we will bet around of golf and the person has
Speaker 1: to buy the wings, like, oh, we're in the clubhouse.
Speaker 1: Who's buying. Oh I'm not buying in London. I'm not
Speaker 1: buying because I want. Yeah, but it's a great, healthy relationship.
Speaker 1: It pushes says. I mean, we were sure when I
Speaker 1: was first, first retired man. We used to put, we
Speaker 1: used to walk. Yeah, you know, Steve, you started working
Speaker 1: too much, man, you stopped golfing. I think I think
Speaker 1: he's running from me. I think you're actually running from me.
Speaker 1: That's what it is. It more than anything. Yeah, you're
Speaker 1: always talking about you. You're working, you're busy. Now I
Speaker 1: think you're running. I am running. When the spring come,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna run up on your ass on the golf course.
Speaker 1: How about that? Wherever you want to play. I'm always
Speaker 1: game for some golf cool. I think it's about that time.
Speaker 1: Just so take a no breathing, good God, getting down
Speaker 1: to do it. Hey, Gerard, why did you get that
Speaker 1: T shirt? You mean this thing? Oh yes, I got
Speaker 1: it from cut to a podcast dot com, where we
Speaker 1: have exclusive merchandise shout out to our guys at seven
Speaker 1: or four shot. But yeah, you can go on, buy
Speaker 1: you a T shirt, subscribe to us wherever you listen
Speaker 1: to podcasts. We know London Fletcher, the Super Bowl winning St. Louis,
Speaker 1: Washington Redskins, Buffalo Bills. But you on tour the Visual
Speaker 1: One School, Catholic School and basketball scholarship. Good take us. Yeah. So, um,
Speaker 1: as I mentioned, my my first love was basketball. I um,
Speaker 1: I didn't play football until my senior year in high school.
Speaker 1: Had did well, had some has some Division once scholarship
Speaker 1: offers for football and basketball, but I was my heart
Speaker 1: was set on playing basketball at that point in time.
Speaker 1: So I ended up taking the taking the basketball scholarship
Speaker 1: to St. Francis in Pennsylvania. Um, and I get up there,
Speaker 1: I was. I was after that year high school football.
Speaker 1: I really just did that too, so I wouldn't have
Speaker 1: any regrets when I got older. You know what I
Speaker 1: should have could have like, I should have did this
Speaker 1: and all that. So I got to I got to
Speaker 1: college my freshman year and I'm watching, Uh, I went
Speaker 1: to a football game at St. Francis and I'm watching
Speaker 1: these these guys out there playing. Man, I need you playing.
Speaker 1: I started missing football. I wanted to play, UM, and
Speaker 1: I actually was like man and me playing football, but
Speaker 1: I didn't. UM. I didn't think about playing that same
Speaker 1: fast because the head coach of the football team was
Speaker 1: also the athletic director or that I did not did
Speaker 1: not care for him and he was just not a
Speaker 1: not somebody. I I liked it all. I didn't want
Speaker 1: to play for him, so go through, uh stay there
Speaker 1: my freshman year. I decided to transfer the middle of
Speaker 1: my sophomore years. I was like, if I wanted to
Speaker 1: play football, so if you go from a Division one
Speaker 1: to a Division two three two or three school, you
Speaker 1: don't have to sit out. But yeah, I could play immediately,
Speaker 1: So I went. I Treedferre to John Carroll. And part
Speaker 1: of the reason why I chose John Carroll was close
Speaker 1: to home. It was only like twenty minutes from where
Speaker 1: I grew up. My mom's situation was getting a lot
Speaker 1: of worse. UM. I wanted to be there for my
Speaker 1: younger sisters. I just needed to be home. UM. So
Speaker 1: it was like everything was kind of lining up. My
Speaker 1: my high school football coach was the defensive coordinator at
Speaker 1: John Carroll. My high school basketball coach had had become
Speaker 1: the head basketball coach of John Carroll. So things were
Speaker 1: just lining up to where it made sense for me
Speaker 1: to transfer to John Carroll. Um I did that. I
Speaker 1: was able to play. Let's just play right away. John
Speaker 1: Carroll requires you to average a g p A of
Speaker 1: three point five five three point five five in high school.
Speaker 1: The average S A T score high is up to
Speaker 1: twelve eighty. That's only right, checks that Big Steve, here's
Speaker 1: the kicker out of high school. I wouldn't crawl up
Speaker 1: qualified for Carroll. Yeah, first, fresh out of high school,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't. I didn't. I wouldn't. My g p A
Speaker 1: would not have been would have needed B OR or
Speaker 1: s A T not because it's just hey, I wouldn't qualify.
Speaker 1: But once I got to college at St. Francis, I
Speaker 1: was for some reason, college was easier, you know, academically
Speaker 1: for me. I made the honor road days, lift list
Speaker 1: and everything at St. Francis. So they looked at my
Speaker 1: collegiate grades. It was like, oh, he's you know, he
Speaker 1: can have the work. So I transferred. They they allowed
Speaker 1: me to transfer based off my college grades, not not
Speaker 1: my high school transcript. I want to give contact to
Speaker 1: this to your college something. The notable alumni the late
Speaker 1: grade Don Shula. Now he's not looking like the great
Speaker 1: offense coordinator right now with the New England Patriots. But John,
Speaker 1: but Josh McDaniels. And then you got this guy who
Speaker 1: just the founder of cable, Chuck Dome. How do you?
Speaker 1: How do you? How do you become the founder of cable?
Speaker 1: I don't know, but here a billionaire, not even because
Speaker 1: a billionaire. It's not like, oh, you know, let's do
Speaker 1: this cable right so that that's the college that you
Speaker 1: transferred to to play football, and we know they're not
Speaker 1: known for football, but they're a pretty good job. When
Speaker 1: I went there, playing football professionally wasn't even that wasn't
Speaker 1: on my radar at that point in time. I was like,
Speaker 1: let me John Carroll and great academic school. I was
Speaker 1: focused on getting my education, graduating college, and being able
Speaker 1: to have a better life. That was that was my mindset.
Speaker 1: I wanted, Yeah, I wanted to play sports, but you
Speaker 1: don't go to Carroll thinking you're about to go to
Speaker 1: the NFL or NBA or whatever the case may be.
Speaker 1: It was like, hey, I get to get my degree
Speaker 1: from Carol out, I'll be set up pretty good. And
Speaker 1: um ohio because you know, just I knew that, I
Speaker 1: knew the connections I would have with the degree from
Speaker 1: John Carroll. So you know that the other stuff, as
Speaker 1: far as excelling and making it to the NFL, that
Speaker 1: was that was icing, man, That was I said, all
Speaker 1: the stuff I had survived from. You know, man, I
Speaker 1: I've had a double barrel shotgun pointed in my face
Speaker 1: at point blank range, you know, gud put on me.
Speaker 1: So by the time I got through you know, college, man,
Speaker 1: all this stuff is just extra now you know the
Speaker 1: NFL that's gravy house money. Yeah, And if I'm playing
Speaker 1: with house money means I'm not supposed to be here.
Speaker 1: I'm supposed to be dead. I'm supposed to be in jail.
Speaker 1: So if I'm not supposed to be it, really I
Speaker 1: ain't got nothing to lose, right and and and also
Speaker 1: not even not having anything to lose. You just look
Speaker 1: at the You look at the situation totally different way
Speaker 1: where somebody else that situation she may overwhelm them. A
Speaker 1: challenge that you may face, a situation that you may face. Um,
Speaker 1: you just you're You're It doesn't affect you the same way,
Speaker 1: and you take the situation serious, but you're not going
Speaker 1: to show the same type of emotions or reactions or
Speaker 1: the panic that somebody else who may not have had
Speaker 1: the same type of challenges growing up. So, you know
Speaker 1: a lot of times people like even my wife's uh,
Speaker 1: you know family that man, you're a demeanor is so
Speaker 1: you know, like your demeanor you're just so even killed
Speaker 1: and common about certain situations. In my mind, I'm saying, man,
Speaker 1: this all right, this is the problem. You got it.
Speaker 1: It has to be solved. Regardless I've gone through something
Speaker 1: like this is not something to panic over. Under our
Speaker 1: last segments called the Deep three, there are three questions
Speaker 1: that just take us beyond who you are as a
Speaker 1: football player to get it a deeper level. So Smithie,
Speaker 1: go ahead and ask from the first one, if you
Speaker 1: can tell any young kid in Cleveland right now who
Speaker 1: dreams are playing in NFL but doesn't feel like he
Speaker 1: has a shot, what would you say? I would say,
Speaker 1: always believe in yourself. Don't let someone else's uh, you know,
Speaker 1: doubt or whatever negativity creep into your mind. But you
Speaker 1: have to have confidence in yourself. Um, you never know,
Speaker 1: there's too many examples of guys making it in pro
Speaker 1: sports regardless of where they comes from. Everybody's not coming
Speaker 1: from the power of fire confidence anymore. You've had, you know,
Speaker 1: examples of guys coming from Division three schools like myself
Speaker 1: or in AI or There's so many different um routs
Speaker 1: that you can take to be um, to be noticed.
Speaker 1: So just just continue to believe in yourself prepared, and
Speaker 1: when you get that opportunity, be ready to show your
Speaker 1: to show your skills. But you know, never never, never
Speaker 1: think you're not gonna get an opportunity. You have a
Speaker 1: legacy on the field, London, what is the legacy that
Speaker 1: you are creating? Now? My legacy is with my children.
Speaker 1: You know, that's the That's the thing that when we're
Speaker 1: when I'm done, when I'm gone, that's the thing that
Speaker 1: I think, you know, I have to be most concerned
Speaker 1: with this my children, my three children, UM, my two girls,
Speaker 1: Page and Brooke and then my son. Still, what are
Speaker 1: they gonna How will they be as adults? How will
Speaker 1: they be as um parents? You know what kind of
Speaker 1: things I can steal with them and steal in them
Speaker 1: two um to hope that they're better people that they're
Speaker 1: you know, doing the things that that I would be
Speaker 1: proud of them. You know. That's that's really the legacy
Speaker 1: that I think about most. You can write a letter
Speaker 1: Charlotte Kramer and and the Swords. What would what would
Speaker 1: you What would it contain? Well, at first, it would
Speaker 1: contain just a gratitude, tremendous amount of gratitude and appreciation
Speaker 1: for them carrying enough to to give back because it
Speaker 1: wasn't something that they they had to do. It was
Speaker 1: something that they wanted to do and for Mrs Kramer
Speaker 1: too feel the the need to give back and say,
Speaker 1: you know what, I want to be able to make
Speaker 1: these kids lives better or help make these kids lives better,
Speaker 1: just so it would be a tremendous amount of gratitude
Speaker 1: and appreciation for it for though, because they didn't have
Speaker 1: to do it, and and she chose to do it,
Speaker 1: and they chose to do it, So it would just
Speaker 1: be a tremendous amount of appreciation. London never missed a game. Now,
Speaker 1: I know you missed some games, but were there times
Speaker 1: where you just didn't feel it for whatever reason and
Speaker 1: you played through it? Oh? Yeah, you feel it all
Speaker 1: the time. I wouldn't say necessarily because the injuries is
Speaker 1: like it may be because of the way the season
Speaker 1: is going. Shoot, sometimes you don't feel it. You start
Speaker 1: playing and all of a sudden, the game gets out
Speaker 1: of here really quickly. You're like, gracious, you look up. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's still the first quarter. So do you have to do?
Speaker 1: You have to fake it till you feel it almost can't.
Speaker 1: You can't go across the middle faking it, right, That's
Speaker 1: how you get out, and that's how you get your reaction.
Speaker 1: Now you you don't, you don't do that. It's just
Speaker 1: one of those things, just like any other job. Right,
Speaker 1: It's it's tough, and you got a white Knucklet you
Speaker 1: gotta figure it out and you gotta problem solve and
Speaker 1: go about your day. Um, there are factors on why
Speaker 1: and how. There's nothing you can do about it. You
Speaker 1: are a unique person, you are well worth it, you
Speaker 1: are competent and most of all, your lovable. I'm Steve
Speaker 1: Smith Singer, I'm Gerard Little John and this is cut
Speaker 1: to It. Cut to It with Steve Smith singor That
Speaker 1: Is Me is a production of Cut to It LLC,
Speaker 1: Baltol Creative Media, The Black Effect and I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: For more podcast from I Heart Radio, visit the I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 1: your favorite shows. From Cut to It. Executive producer Steve Smith,
Speaker 1: singer co host Gerard little John, talent and booking manager
Speaker 1: Joe Fusci, Social media team Wesley Robinson and John Show
Speaker 1: from Balto Creative Media. Cut to It is produced by
Speaker 1: Brian Baltaschevitch and Meredith Carter, with production assistance by Alex Lebrek,
Speaker 1: Production manager Sarah Pollock, Theme music by Alex Johnson, lyrics
Speaker 1: and vocals by Anthony Hamilton. You ain't heard about it,
Speaker 1: then we're about to let you know. It's all